We Are Going To Miss Being Able To Use FedEx!

We only occasionally send items to our kids in the States and we have always used FedEx for those "couple of times a year" mailings.  So when we headed over there the other day to send the first such parcel in many a month we got a nasty surprise!  We found out that in order to use their ground services delivery we now have to get ourselves a customs broker!  In order to do that we have to sign all manner of paperwork and also provide said broker with a Power of Attorney that allows that person to act on our behalf.....uhhhhhh....nope, not gonna do and pay for all that.  Not worth it to send two or three hundred dollars worth of gifts each year.  We could still use their air transportation services with the base price being two hundred and fifty dollars!  Nope, not going to do that either. The cost associated with air transportation would be more than the cost of the gifts! 

So our son is going to contact us today and explain to us what better ways are available to us for less hassle and cost. He ships things all the time between countries both for his work and for personal items, so he is up to date on all these things.  There are other ways of course than using FedEx, but they have been so delightful to work with, every package arrived on time, it was easy to track each one's whereabouts and the staff at the desk here have always been so efficient and so great at explaining things to us....as they were the other day when they were explaining the customs broker requirement.  If we were sending things regularly for business reasons it would be worth it to have a broker....or at least MORE worth it.  

The times they are a'changing...(thank you Mr. Dylan for those song lyrics and you are so right about that!)   

Living Vicariously Or Just Plain Jealous??

Our son is spending this week installing the lighting for a new exhibition at the Chicago Art Institute.....sigh.....I do tend to live vicariously through his and his wife's artistic lives, but this time I have to admit as I sit here in the freezing cold and snow and ice of the Canadian prairies, that I am downright jealous of their access to the arts, to the large and amazing cultural events that happen in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.  They attend so many wonderful exhibitions, ballets, art shows, plays.....I feel like I am strangling from the inactivity here in the winters.  It isn't that there aren't a few very decent events to attend here, but on the scale that I enjoy....well, not so many.  I am craving a totally different life and have for the past ten or more years, but it is not to be. Lord, restore my contentment!  I pray it is just due to the surgical recovery time coupled with the winter weather that is causing my strong, nearly urgent, desire to depart this place for a location more in line with my interests in life.  Perhaps I am always this antsy every year at this time.... when the last vestiges of winter begin merging ever so slowly with the outdoor weather changes indicating the prolonged prairie voyage into spring.

Taking My Chastisement Like An Adult Today!

Sometimes the Lord has to give me a slight rap on the knuckles when I am tempted to disobey him out of fear and that is something I should be able to avoid by now, based on past experience, but today.....sigh.....

It is payday for we oldsters and when I saw our pensions had arrived, I began preparing the various payments due for the first of each month.  One category is our tithing and other giving. Weeeeelllll, we have one large, extra expense coming up in two days' time, so I was extremely tempted to give no credence to the still small voice in my head telling me that I should double my giving to the church this month, that it wasn't really necessary...not this month, surely not THIS month.  After a bit of a fight with myself, weighing out what seemed most practical to me today, hemming and hawing like an idiot, I finally crumbled and arranged to give the larger amount, then wondered if maybe I had "misheard" the instruction to give more. What had I done to our finances for the coming month by giving a larger gift?

Weeeeeellllll, about an hour ago my husband received a phone call from an old buddy who has done well financially in recent years.  For some reason he always felt very badly that over twenty years ago when we were on a mission overseas he had not been in a position financially to provide support to us.  He decided that, although he sent us some funds a few months ago for the same reason, he should send a bit more.  If you have had experiences with the Lord in regard to financial provision for yourself, you know where this is going right? 

Yup, sure enough the amount he sent covered the larger than usual gift to the church, plus the one big extra expense we have coming up at the end of this week, and the total of what he sent is twice the cost of those expenses.  Duh....oh me of little faith....and after all my experiences of God providing for us if we will just be obedient and GIVE as he asks us....I am beyond embarrassed at my reluctance to give, my lack of faith when I know better than to be that way.

I am deservedly chastised and just pray that the next time I am asked to give more than I had prepared to give, to just do it and assume that God will also provide for us if we need extra by month's end.  Aiii yiiiii....I am confessing my lack of faith in hopes it will encourage some of you not to be afraid to obey what you know is the right thing to do because you worry about leaving yourself in a precarious position later on.  I do hope you can learn some good things about God from my mistake. 

Hoooo haaaa....hopefully I will remember this day next time I am tempted to put my own provision above the needs of others. 

It Isn’t Up To The Kids To Exonerate Their Parents’ Unresolved Guilt!

I am learning things now that I wish I had understood much earlier in my life, as it would have made for more adult emotional security for myself and may have helped my parents understand the reality of the consequences of some of their actions toward me. If nothing else I could have changed my own pathetic responses to some of the things they said to me, even when I was an adult, but stupidly I never did. 

A few examples stand out to me. There are many more, but no need to share them all because I have forgiven my folks. All parents make mistakes and I am guilty of some real lulus with my own son. 

I am now realizing that some things said to me by my parents were for the purpose of getting ME to absolve  THEIR guilt; things in some cases that I never needed to know. I didn’t need to know at age 4 that a lovely young woman we knew had asked my parents if I could be the flower girl at her wedding and they said no because they felt I was not mature enough. Even at that young age I knew inside, when they confessed the situation and their decision to me, that my job was to tell them it was okay even though for me it wasn’t, that I understood, even though I didn’t and that I wasn’t upset about it, even though my little four year old heart was breaking with overwhelming disappointment. How on earth was I so aware of my “duty” to absolve at the ripe old age of four years? And why did I even have to know the possibility of being a flower girl had even come up? 

For the next more than 50 years I had many similar situations occur: that my parents rejected my acceptance into the accelerated learning programme in elementary school, that after assuming I would be going  along and included as a grandchild, I was not taken to my grandparents’ funerals when I was in high school…missing my most dearly loved paternal grandfather’s funeral, ("We had planned actually to take you to this final funeral for your one remaining grandparent, but decided you should not miss a week of school.", despite my being an honour student at the time). That was a tipping point for me as I cascaded into an emotional breakdown for which no professional medical help was offered. Why at a time of great need for my family did I need to know this: my parents told me what they had planned to do to assist us, but, “now we’re not because we can get this great situation of ourselves instead.” In all these cases I did not need to know what wonderful things they had originally planned for/with me and then decided not to for various odd reasons. I just remember myself continuing decade after decade to go through the expected motions of telling them it was okay that they had changed their minds and that it was okay that they told me about these possibilities they then decided were not going to happen…even though it wasn’t.  How much guilt about their own changes of mind in regard to what was going to happen in regard to events that impacted me were they harbouring that made them so needy for my forgiveness over things they could have just said nothing at all about?

As I say, I have forgiven them and harbour no more resentment, but I had a strong feeling this morning during my prayer time that I needed to attempt to send out a message to parents who read this blog:  DO NOT expect your children to rid you of your own guilt over actions that you have taken in regard to decision making for them. Expecting a young person to understand why you have changed your mind as to how they should be involved or not involved in a situation where you have that kind of control, a situation they did not even know had arisen, to wave the tempting carrot after the race to decide has already ended without including their input is not fair to any child.  Please don't do that.  Don't expect a pre-schooler to make you feel better about your decisions affecting them....decisions about situations they had no awareness of until you told them about it and made it seem like they were going to be participating in the situation or receiving something from the situation and then pull the good possibility out from under them because you know inside yourself you feel guilty for some reason for the decision you have made.  Please, please, please don't do that to your babies.  Assess very carefully their need to know the situation or possibility has arisen in the first place.  As a four year old I didn't need to know I had had the opportunity to do something that sounded so wonderful and then had it snatched away with no input on my feelings about it. Discuss with your child before the decision is made, not afterwards, and then only IF the child is old enough to understand what is being offered and why the offer is being withdrawn.  Ask yourselves, do they even need to know about this?  Are they too young to understand our decision?  If so why, REALLY, are we telling them and expecting them to forgive us for our decision?

Thank you for reading this and thinking about what I am saying.  As I mentioned, I made some horrendous mistakes myself as a parent that still haunt me when I remember them, but this is one bit of advice I can offer as someone who paid the price for that kind of communication glitch with my own parents.  As an adult I could have and should have responded with calm honesty to these kinds of situations, but I didn't and that is on me. 

Blessings on your day!  My own day has been blessed because my husband and I were able to get out grocery shopping in the nice warm sunshine.  We were able to get to multiple stores and stock up on many sale items.  My boots provide wonderful support for my sore foot, so although I probably didn't need to wear winter boots today for most of our walking about, it was marvellous to be on my feet that much and be pain-free!  We stopped for lunch at Roots and took advantage of their daily $10.99 lunch specials...really, really nice hand formed burgers and three cheese with spinach dip and uber fresh corn tortilla chips.  No wonder it is so crowded at lunch time there....really good food, low in salt in our case as requested and the price...amazing!  

So all the groceries are put away, my bank book is updated, I have done this blog post, had a good chat on the phone with a BC friend....must be time to go and do a few physio exercises.

Thank you God for a very good day today! 

Tomorrow my coffee buddy is coming over and in the afternoon is Bible Study, plus it is to be a few degrees above zero again....lots of happy things to look forward to. 

 

 

PS Today The Sun Is Shining.....

 ...and all is right with the world once again....this weather related depression at least lifts at the first sign of the sun!  YAY and Happy Day!

Today we have been grocery shopping at a couple of different stores, gone out for tomato bisque and toast at London Belle, been in touch with some relatives in Ontario and here in town, scoped out where we are to meet with friends for dinner tomorrow evening....it is a wonderful day despite the -21C with gusty winds.   It is amazing what a little bit of sunshine, even on a bitterly cold day, can accomplish for one's spirits.  I am grateful the sun is shining so that I don't feel as caged in and miserable as I have the past couple of grey, snowy days.

We got a phone call this morning in regard to a (remotely) possible rental property sometime in the new year.  It is all very tentative and has as much chance of not happening as happening, but it is a start to this coming year's search.  Details will be shared in a few weeks' time IF this actually comes about.  Prayer request? Perhaps..... 

Gotta Do Better With The Proof Reading On These Posts!

I apologize that I have been rather laissez faire, lackadaisical and just plain lazy in recent weeks when it comes to proof checking these posts. Spelling errors, grammatical errors and completely missing words have decorated too many of them. 

Guess if I have a New Year’s Resolution, this is it.

A Good Lesson From The Postal Strike Of Late!

I am extremely grateful for one lesson learned during the postal strikes that have happened here the past two autumn seasons!

Since I still have my utility and other bills delivered by snail mail in paper form, I have learned exactly what time of each month to make phone calls to each company to ensure those bills are all paid on time during mail delivery stoppages.  Going through each company's security process to gain access to our accounts takes less time and stress than waiting for the end of a strike, or lately of watching the mailbox closely every day while waiting to find out if whatever storm has just occurred is going to mean a temporary stop work order for the delivery folk.  Bills that should have arrived by yesterday at the very latest were trapped by the stop delivery order after having two blizzards in three days.  (I do have very personal, practical reasons based on some past debacles for refusing to receive my bills online that I don't need to go into here....just in case you were wondering why I am still living in the dark ages of having bills delivered in the post.) 

There has to be some kind of good thing to come out of things like postal strikes, blizzards and other reasons for mail shut downs.  We have been told by our kids to expect a parcel delivery from them on a particular day next week, so there is just a bit of stress with that because the one delivery company sometimes delivers to the front door that we rarely use, but occasionally still delivers at the back doors that all of us tenants use the most often.  I expect I will spend the day running back and forth between doors every half hour to try to thwart the package pirates that have begun infiltrating our neighbourhood.  Hopefully I have to sign for this parcel.  We will make certain at least one of us is home that day until said parcel arrives.  This after we all promised each other there would be no gifts at all, of any kind, this year for Christmas.  Bless their  hearts. hahaha At least WE complied this year!!  (Yup, first time, I admit it.)

I Am Already Enjoying My Christmas Present!

 Today I had the chance to wear my Christmas necklace that a friend presented me with a couple of days ago.  I wore it with a black sweater and pants and received many compliments on it. Thank you dear friend for the sparkly, fun gift!!

 

 

I love that it reminds me of a Jessica Stockholder sculpture!  Merry Christmas to moi!
 

Allergic Rhinitis....What A Nuisance!!!

 So.....a full week after returning from Vancouver and experiencing the allergic reaction to the new cleaning products used at our hotel for the last 2 days we were there, the rhinitis continues to get worse.  My head feels thick, my eyes are puffy, my sinuses are dripping on and off....oh my goodness it is has been years since I have had a case this bad to start the winter.  I was hoping to have it under control prior to my annual physical exam in a couple of weeks, but it appears I am going to have to ask the pharmacist if he is allowed to prescribe anything without me having to make yet another doctor's appointment in the next week.  Aaaaaargh!  I went out for coffee with a friend this morning and something in the restaurant set both of us off.  She was snuffling on the way back to the car and my own head, which was starting to clear out a bit once I left home and got active this morning, got all stuffy and thick feeling again.  Dang it!  Guess, since the condition usually relies on an application of corticosteroids, I am going to have to go see the doctor prior to the physical.  Well, she is going to be my "best friend" by the time I add in all these appointments on top of the several I just had with her before our trip.  

Yesterday when we were out of town I did very well. By the time I got to my friend's house, after a miserable night with my sinuses, I was feeling quite alright again and we had the best visit and a wonderful lunch at her local art gallery cafe. Chicken almond sandwiches with spinach salad are the best....and the lovely slice of dark gingerbread and lemon sauce we shared for dessert topped it off so nicely.  Yum!!  Then I wandered over to another restaurant a few blocks away to join my husband and his work colleagues as they finished up their lunches post meeting and was able to enjoy a nice visit with them as well.  The weather was perfect for an autumn drive....warm and breezy with no snow or ice on the roads or sidewalks.

I knew I was going to be late for a monthly evening group meeting because I was determined to see my friend who I attend the Taize services with and go to that meeting first, but I didn't realize just how late I would be, hahaha.  The priest was really wound up last night and incorporated a lovely candle lighting ceremony into the prayers.....of course it would be MY candle I couldn't get lit, so my wonderful friend stepped in and lit it for me, bless her. Then the priest gave an extended personal testimony. Then at the very end as I was about to put on my coat and leave, the priest decided that God had given her a word specifically for me!  Okay then.....  It was a good word and one that meant something to me, and has inspired me to continue on in a spiritual direction I have neglected for some time, BUT some of the things she said made me wonder if she has an incorrect perception of me.  It was both a good and also confusing word, but I am sure it was inspired by God...mostly. AND my dear friends and family, although I did check my watch a couple of times I did NOT freak out about the service going on so much longer than usual.  I relaxed and enjoyed it and my friend was swift afterward to take me over to meeting number 2! Bless her once again!!! 

I was feeling badly about being so late for meeting 2, but I needn't have. One of the other folk was also late as he was called to an emergency meeting at his place of employment.  About the time we thought he wasn't going to be there at all, he texted his wife and she left the meeting to race off and pick him up so he could join us as well.  He hadn't been with us long when a call came in to one of our hosts that a person she is helping to care for had missed a committment in the building where she lives, and others could not locate her. She didn't answer either her door or phone, so our host and the fellow who had just arrived from his meeting went racing off to see if they could help the missing senior lady.  Short story....they were gone for about a half hour. When they arrived at the lady's house, expecting her to have fallen (again) or to have passed away, she wasn't home!!  Where the heck could she be? Fortunately she arrived home after they had been there a while and her absence was quite legitimate and she was safe.  She just hadn't thought to inform "her people" that she was doing something unusual that evening. hahaha So the host and friend returned to our place of meeting. By this time my husband realized he would not be preaching his scheduled sermon and was actually very relieved as when he checked it over before leaving home, he realized it needed some work he had missed doing on it before he can really present it properly. hahaha What a crazy night!  We have scheduled the next meeting in a few weeks' time and hopefully this time we will all be together at the same place and for the same amount of time as scheduled.  The visiting the rest of us got done around the late and missing members was also very valuable as we have not seen each other for quite some time. Getting caught up was very important and edifying for the group.  

This afternoon we were supposed to be heading off to see some friends and share lunch together and a bit of a Bible study, but my husband got a call from a former parishioner to ask for help with a family member who is suicidal.....since being a pastor is not actually a job a person can retire from, my husband is happy to assist in any way he can, so we cancelled our attendance with our other friends and he will be free to do what he needs to do this afternoon.  The up side for me about the cancellation is that I will have plenty of time to get my sinuses back under control with some OTC products so that I can do my physiotherapy properly this afternoon before I am too tired to do much at all. Rhinitis is energy draining....along with the sinuses draining.....yawn....it also makes me sleepy! 

A Million Dollar Smile For Only Forty Dollars!!

A six year old Rwandan boy who lives a few doors down from us has been asking my husband for the past ten days if he would try to fix his bicycle.  He and his siblings live with their mom here in our complex, Dad is elsewhere for whatever reason and mom is struggling to make ends meet.  There is no money for bike repairs, that's for sure.  My husband promised the young man he would look at his bike after the camping trip, so today that is what he did.  The tire needed more than a pump up with air.  The little guy had been riding it with a flat tire trying to keep up with the other kids on their far superior bikes so he wouldn't get left out of the fun, so the tire and inner tube were completely thrashed.  My husband brought the bike to our back lawn and took it apart, then we went and bought a new tire and inner tube, along with some patching material for his eleven year old sister's tire that has a small slit in it and only holds air for a day or so before going flat again.  The young man, two of his siblings and a five year old we have never seen before and who doesn't live in our complex at all, came along to watch my husband make the repairs....nearly driving him crazy picking up the tools and trying to play with the remaining tire on the upside down bicycle, but they were fascinated and thrilled to have the attention, so who can blame them, right? hahahaha  Every time my husband had to come into the house to get something for the job, I had to go out and guard all the materials so the little fellows wouldn't run off with them. hahaha  It was quite hilarious to watch the interactions. Eventually, just as the sun was setting, the new tire was all set in place and ready to roll.

Little guy had come home from school when we were away picking up parts and apparently when he saw his bike all taken apart at our place with a tire missing, he bawled his eyes out thinking his beloved cycle was not fixable.  He was nearly ill with excitement when we got home and he found out not only was it fixable, but he was going to have a new tire so he could keep up with the other kids.  My husband didn't have time to fix his hand break or reinstall the kick stand because he was running out of daylight,  but he promised he will do it tomorrow morning while wee man is in school and also blow up and patch his sister's bike tire.  As our little friend sat on his bike and began riding away he turned back and flashed the biggest, sweetest smile of joy we have ever seen before riding off, literally into the sunset, with the rest of his teeny buddies.  And THAT is all the payment my husband needed.  

We don't know mama at all.  We do know from a couple of brief previous interactions that her English is nearly non-existent and we suspect she too has no idea we spent money from our own pockets to fix her son's bicycle.  She has so many needs and is trying to raise six children between the ages of 1 and 15 years on her own in a new country.  A charitable food delivery service brings a lot of their food to the family, as well as other Rwandans bringing clothes and used toys to the children.  Whatever their circumstances, they are here without dad and husband, facing whatever tough circumstances they are facing that we likely will never fully be able to comprehend.  An inexpensive fix for a couple of her kids' bicycles seems the least we can do for them.

I am proud of my husband for wanting to help the kids.  He loves them so much and seeing him interacting and learning about the kids, it seems that perhaps there IS a reason we are still living in this tenement. Maybe God has a bit of work yet here for us to do? We can only hope that is the case. 

A Bad Case Or The "Sleepinesses"!

It has been so long since I had a few days to myself I forgot that, after the running around getting supplies and the other stresses involved getting my husband ready for an outdoor adventure, helping him get packed up and then having to create things to do and times with friends for myself to enjoy while he is gone, I tend to collapse like a punctured balloon for a day or two!  It actually hit me last evening after my friend went home, but I chalked it up to the excitement of the day of visiting.  I dozed out right before and right after dinner for a few minutes and as previously posted, went to bed early.

 

Today after the women's meeting I came home and dozed out again, then again before dinner tonight. Presently at this still early in the evening time, I am feeling like a limp dishrag.  All the general daily stresses of having another person in the house, HIS stress getting ready for outdoor trips and coordinating all the details with the other people going along, plus his concern for me and all the help I have needed since my surgery, have plum worn ME out as well!  

So, since I have already been awake for nearly 15 hours, minus two short naps during the day, and am feeling exhausted again, I suspect I will be heading off to bed uber early once again this evening.  Oh dear....I hope this doesn't happen again tomorrow. I need to get some house chores done after I get home from church, not lie around dozing in my comfy recliner chair!!!  It is the same kind of weariness that hit me for ten straight days after delivering my son to college and realizing his "creative ways" were no longer my problem.  Ten days and nights of sleeping before I snapped out of it...I thought I was dying or something, but it was just a reaction to the lifting of stress. Good grief..... 

An "Out Of Sorts" Sorta Day!

 I am very grateful we are meeting good friends for dinner tonight at Agave!!  I can't seem to settle into any of my needed house chores, or anything entertaining or relaxing or exciting or anything at all.

There are a couple of reasons for my feelings today.  First of all I woke up to a steady snowfall and while it is melting on the streets and obviously not going to hang around very long, the sky is grey, my car is parked on a side street collecting snow while our neighbour has the moving van outside in our parking space while the movers pack up her belongings....which brings me to the second reason I feel rather morose today:  the last of my wonderful, quiet, friendly, "other side of the wall" neighbours is leaving for another accommodation. Sigh....Although we didn't spend a great deal of time together in person, her texts and phone calls kept us in touch about all manner of things; personal things, issues with this building complex, spiritual things.  Until I saw her drive away in her car, followed by the moving van, a few minutes ago it hadn't really hit me that she is not coming back to be my neighbour.  Guess  I am just feeling kind of sad about that.

Going out last night with some other dear friends to the Cottage for some very nice meals kept my mind off of today's impending loss. There was so much laughter and joy around the table as we celebrated quite a few events that have happened in all of our lives over the past year.  I am grateful for the fun and friendship that kept my spirit light last night.

Tonight will be a great time as well with another pair of wonderful friends.  The four of us have been taking a few journeys of discovery into the wonderful world of local restaurants over the past couple of years and that has been a ton of fun.  She and I are a kind of picky eaters with limited numbers of things we enjoy and our husbands are pretty open to enjoying large plates and bowls of almost anything at all, hahaha.  I think Agave will give us all plenty of choices, but I am certain I will order my usual taco salad with beef barbacoa because I like it so much.  We are familiar enough with the menu that I hope we can steer her toward less spicy items she will also enjoy.  Ooh, what a balm to my hurting heart that we get to celebrate life with fun friends tonight.

To get out of this funk I think I should go to visit a hospitalized friend after lunch. The best way to get my mind off my own self absorbed self is to try to encourage someone else....the "rub off" effect should be most helpful to me as well.

The weather is going to be improving daily, with single digit plus high temperatures toward the end of the week and by next  Monday it is possible we will have a day or two in the double digits plus daytime high range!  YAY!

I Made It To The Breakfast After All!

I was delighted to wake up this morning and discover that there had been no freezing rain overnight and the snowfall was minimal.  It meant I could go to the women's breakfast at church.  It took less than 5 minutes to get the car started, the snow brushed off the car and the tiny amount of windshield ice scraped off.  I had to cross one busy intersection on foot when I parked near the church, but the ice patch in the centre of the crosswalk was easy to skirt around, so there was no problem in getting from car to building and back.  I am happy that I went as it has been some months since I have been free to attend.  It is a gathering where I usually get the opportunity to visit with some of the church women I don't cross paths with very often on Sunday mornings at services, so that is always a treat.  The food was yummy....Easter bread with toppings available, yogurt and fruit, coffee and an excellent selection of teas.  The short Bible study from the Book of Ruth set the group up for a bit of discussion about some of the female mentors we have each had in our lives over the years. One of the women sang a couple of songs she wrote during times of stress, when God used other women to get her through the dark times, so that was most meaningful.  It was a nice morning and I am glad I was able to be there.  Now that the weather is better I hope I will be able to go to the next two or three before the annual summer shut down of the church programmes.

The freezing rain possibility has moved into the wee hours of tomorrow morning and that may have an effect on getting my husband first to church to teach his next installment of his Forgiveness seminar, then quickly over to another church where he is supposed to be attending a weekend evening and Sunday morning seminar....which he sadly forgot about last night when it was slated to begin.  Fortunately he is not a presenter, but he felt very silly and very disappointed that his memory failed him about the event.  Should there be freezing rain coating car and streets, I will stay home and watch his class and the church service as well on Zoom....he doesn't need the worry of me being outside on the ice....sure hope that once again the forecast will be incorrect!!! How many times will my "luck" hold on this one in the coming week or two? hahaha

I am already praying about our trip out of town next Sunday for my husband to preach and preside at a former church of ours.  In good weather it takes nearly an hour, but snow is predicted to start next Thursday or Friday and continue throughout the weekend, leaving the highways in a mess of ice and slush once the semi traffic melts the snowfall down. It will depend on the air temperature whether or not the highway is safe to travel.....or even open.  The forecast appears to indicate one of our infamous end of March spring storms is on the way.  We will watch the forecast predictions each day this week and my husband will get his sermon prepared by Thursday in case we have to head out for a winter laced "mini-holiday" that would encompass the entire weekend and maybe then some.  It WOULD be fun to get away for a few days.....neither of us would complain.....  So time will tell over the coming week. Maybe something unique to look forward to????

When Your Bathtub Drains Into Your Neighbour’s Basement……

 ……and she calls to let you know, the sick feeling in the pit of your stomach intensifies greatly.  That call came here a few minutes ago and we are all waiting for the emergency plumbing crew to arrive. Sigh…..with yet another serious maintenance issue arising today, I fear we will lose our wonderful next door neighbours in a few months when their lease is up. Sigh again….

My husband had a bath a short while ago and when he drained the water out it ended up gushing into the basement of the suite next door. Our shared plumbing stack is on their side of the wall and we suspect the ongoing freeze, thaw, refreeze cycle this winter has put ice down into the stack where it has cracked the pipe. Oh my……I don’t want to imagine the amount of water the neighbours are dealing with. Right before my husband had his bath I had a shower. Oh dear….

Guess I will go and make dinner, keep an eye out for the plumbers in case they have to access the connecting pipe from our bathroom, and pray that for our neighbours’ sakes , and ours, the pipe can be repaired right away.

Henry Rollins Captured My Own Feelings

We have moved so many times in the past 25 years that I am feeling rather rootless and disconnected as life marches on.  Losing most of our family members and many close friends in the areas we lived longer term prior to beginning all the years of moving is not helping me feel an ongoing sense of connectedness to any place I can truly call "HOME".  The writing below by Henry Rollins sums up my feelings well:

"Someday, I would like to go home. The exact location of this place, I don't know, but someday I would like to go. There would be a pleasing feeling of familiarity and a sense of welcome in everything I saw. People would greet me warmly. They would remind me of the length of my absence and the thousands of miles I had travelled in those restless years, but mostly, they would tell me that I had been missed, and that things were better now I had returned.  Autumn would come to this place of welcome, this place I would know to be home.  Autumn would come and the air would grow cool, dry and magic, as it does that time of the year.

At night, I would walk the streets but not feel lonely, for these are the streets of my home town.  These are the streets that I had thought about while far away, and now I was back, and all was as it should be. The trees and the falling leaves would welcome me. I would look up at the moon, and remember seeing it in countries all over the world as I had restlessly journeyed for decades, never remembering it looking the same as when viewed from my home town."  --Henry Rollins

Yes, I would love to have a place to return to that would be home in my heart, but such a place at this time does not exist....the most obvious city of choice still stands but the former beauty and most all the friends and family are now gone.  It will be interesting to see how my longing for home eventually turns out. It makes me think of Jim Reeves old gospel hymn "This World Is Not My Home".

Nabisco Has Discontinued Our Favourite Stoned Wheat Thins....WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

 For the past couple of months my husband and I have been haunting the cracker aisles of every grocery store in town trying to track down the only crackers we have ever liked....Nabisco's Stoned Wheat Thins.  Nada, nil, nothing at all in any of the stores.  It seemed odd to us so finally tonight I got online and tracked down the reason: the are no longer being made!!!  The last of the stock in any of our local stores was nearly gone when we made our last purchase, but we didn't know they wouldn't be on the shelves again or we would have bought a few more boxes. Sigh....first Tong Peanuts and now Stoned Wheat Thins....GONE FOREVER!!!!  We are so sad.  At other peoples' homes we have already sampled the newer versions of wheat thins produced by other companies and there is no comparison.  The Stoned Wheat Thins were far superior in quality and crispness and flavour to any of the attempts to mimic them.  I made the mistake of trying a box of another brand last week and 3/4 of them are now in the garbage....SO BAD in comparison: tasteless and crumbly. Trying to spread butter or cream cheese on them resulted in them falling completely apart, unlike the Stoned Wheat Thins that held together wonderfully when spread with various toppings. Sigh....cry.....weep and wail.  We will miss you Stoned Wheat Thins.  Our wonderful cracker eating days are over after several decades of enjoyment.  Sob......

This morning while I was shopping I discovered something I have looked for for many years and never found: an inexpensive, nearly ankle length casual long winter dress with long sleeves and a turtle neck.....like an overgrown, thick cotton winter teeshirt.  I bought two of them!  I can wear them as in the house dresses when it is bitterly cold outside instead of wearing one of my long summer in the house sleeveless, vee necked dresses with a ratty old cardigan sweater over top to try to keep my arms and neck warm.  The ones I bought are nice enough to wear out casually with a pair of skinny pants underneath to keep my ankles warm.  Just because I am stuck inside this cold suite for days at a time in the winter doesn't mean I have to look like I crawled out from under a rock in the attempt to keep warm!!  Mentally I think these warm, oversized dresses will give me quite a boost on the -40C days!!  YAY! I am going to go through my winter wardrobe totes this weekend and sort through what is there. I am certain there must be some older items I can take to the thrift store.  I have new warm sweaters to replace the old ones that didn't really stand up to last winter's cold due to their age, but now I have no other needs for winter wear and I should be warm enough for a change this time around. YAY!

From 8 Hours To 2.5 Hours! YAY!!!

We are very glad we didn't feel the urge to go away for the day today due to the planned power outage for our complex!  We were to be without power from 8am to 4pm, but the power didn't go out until about 10am and was back on around 12:30pm.  YIPPEE!!!  I did get up at 6:30am so I could eat a hot breakfast at 7am.....gotta have that bowl of piping hot unflavoured oatmeal for the sake of my cholesterol reduction.....which was difficult as I slept so poorly during the small hours of the morning, but it was worth it because had the power gone out at 8am as predicted it would have made my breakfast routine difficult.  I will do the same thing tomorrow morning because I do that every Thursday anyway.  My friend and I go out for steamed milk on Thursday mornings and I need to have sufficient time between when my breakfast is ingested and that large cup of deliciously hot no sugar caramel flavoured 2% milk to keep my blood sugar stable.  It was a nice treat today to have such a short time without electrical power.

My husband had kind of a miserable day today.  He had to fast for about 13 hours overnight for his quarterly cholesterol test this morning at 9am.  He fought with stomach acid for part of the night since he was unable to have his bedtime tummy settling snack, but he managed to keep things under control and get to his appointment on time....albeit driving the car the short distance to the lab rather than going for his usual highly anticipated walk.  Well, that is overwith for another four months! YAY and RELIEF for him!!  😅

It has cooled off considerably today and rain has been tumbling down for the past couple of hours.  It is the first day in the past couple of months that at least one of us has been home during the daytime hours with all the windows firmly shut.  REALLY enjoying the cool air and breezes for a change. Tomorrow will be similar and then the temperatures begin heating up again, but hopefully they won't quite get to +30C and above any more now that the peak of summer has ended and we are heading into September this coming weekend.

My old PC is showing a few initial signs that it isn't going to be with me for much longer.  I have still been running Windows 7 on it, but as more websites and systems upgrades don't support the programme any more I need to accept the fact that this poor old machine needs to be replaced with a new computer with a Windows 11 installation. My husband has been using that for awhile now on one of his computers and he has Ubuntu on the other. Since he is already very familiar with the differences between W7 and W11 he will be a great guide for me as I work through the frustrations I always experience when trying to learn any sort of new technology.  Bless his patience with me.  When we get back from our trip south we will purchase my new machine.  I love having a desktop PC!!  So many more things I can do on it than on my wee iPad.

Speaking of new purchases, my husband was able to purchase a new mobile phone yesterday with a very handy stylus to help his large finger pads when he texts and writes emails.  I am delighted for him. His old phone was purchased in 2017 and didn't have the VOLTE communication system he needed to do more than text message when he was in NYC in June.  My phone also has that capacity I discovered even though it is not a 5G, so we will put the US coverage plan in place before our trip. We are both going to need to phone home occasionally to see if we have received any outstanding calls from specialists who have had referrals for us for some weeks now.  For me that is kind of unlikely, but my husband can't afford to miss any calls from his own specialist that could be coming in by then. I am praying he hears from her before we go south so that will be one less stress for him to carry when he is supposed to be enjoying fun with family.

All these purchases we have had to make recently and the upcoming purchases for me of a computer and a couple of other things have us rethinking......AGAIN.....the idea of moving in the near future.  Hmmm....since we are still here in the lowest rent in town divy place, we have a substantially larger amount of money to spend on other things like computers and phones and travel and lunches out and giftings to charitable organizations than we are going to have if we end up in the next least expensive sorts of places which will cost us at least seven hundred dollars a month more in rent and utilities than we are paying here....even with the rent here going up one hundred dollars a month in January.  We admit that after forty years of struggling along making ends meet "through many dangers, toils and snares", it feels pretty wonderful to be able to have some fun in retirement.  Perhaps it will be worth spending the winter here and then reassessing rents and available places come early spring.....perhaps.....God may have other plans.....again......  Today we went over the numbers for the umpteenth time, talked about my lack of physical ability to pull off a move before the hip surgery with any ease at all and how much more it will cost to hire movers to do what I can do myself when I am not struggling with decreased mobility and increased pain, how much more time my husband could use to complete ALL of his downsizing tasks....AND....hmmmmm.....depending on what God might lead us to after the NYC trip, we may just be spending a few more months rather than weeks right here in our own personal lal la land of a suite.  Tradeoffs....which ones are we willing to make in the near future???  Lots to think and pray about, that's for sure.  We continue to get confirmation that now is not the time to move after all....not just yet....maybe soon.....maybe not......

Shaping The Hot Summer Days

 I woke up very, very late this morning, luxuriating in the knowledge that we  have no committments away from home today.  What a wonderful feeling!  However, it was also somewhat daunting as today's high temperature is supposed to be at least +35C, so too hot to go anywhere and staying home all day will just make me feel sluggish and nauseous.  Hmmmm....

As usual things have worked out just fine.  Due to my very late breakfast I can't eat my lunch until after 2pm, so after calling the hair salon to get the surprise news that there is an opening for my haircut today at 2:15pm, I can look forward to eating "lupper" at about 3:30pm and get by with a later evening snack. My diabetes should be quite happy about this arrangment actually.  My day has a shape to it now. I can stop in at the grocery store before my hair appointment and pick up a couple of litres of milk as well.

Yesterday had an amazing "shape" to it.  A group of friends decided we should all travel about a half hour from here to the small community of Wilcox, where the Notre Dame private school is located.  The school was started in 1927 by a group of American nuns and began its life as a school for girls.  A few years later a Roman Catholic priest, Pere Athol Murray got involved and brought in a small group of juvenile delinquent boys he wanted to help and, due to the ability of the priest to connect with politicians and business men of that time, he was able to fundraise decade after decade to build the school into an amazing institution.  Pere Murray believed that any kind of sincere spiritual connection with God would give focus and centering to all people and he was a great promotor of the three main eastern religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity....but pretty much any form of sincere spirituality was welcome.  If there is actually such a thing as a Christian humanist, Pere Murray was it.

The small museum building holds a fascinating collection of archives....photos, art, correspondence, antique books, the history of the original nuns and Pere Murray, stories about the life of the school over the decades.  It was fascinating to say the least...another hidden gem tucked away out of sight of the main highways and byways  here on the Saskatchewan prairies.  Pere Murray was very involved in fighting against the introduction of Medicare in the early 1960's, met with many a politician over the years.  His pet project at the school is a small bell tower containing tributes to the previously mentioned three eastern religions, along with beautiful stained glass depictions of commonly held stories and a wall of significant sayings about religion by well known people from all walks of life.  A few years before he died, Pere Murray travelled to visit the King of Saudi Arabia to promote the idea of of building a similar tower there, but unfortunately that king died  shortly thereafter, his successor had no interest and Pere Murray also died not long afterward. We toured the lovely church on the grounds and had an excellent viewing of the Olympic sized hockey rink where, much to our delight, there was a goalie camp in progress so we were able to see the rink being used.  Inside the arena is a wall of photos of the many hockey and football players who attained great fame in their sports after spending some of the highschool years at Notre Dame.  

The couple we drove down with are from our church, but we have had very little opportunity to get to know them, so we really enjoyed our time together.  We met up with the other carload of people and had a lot of fun. This tour happened because one of those friends has an interest in almost anything that comes across his path, he knew about the school and wanted to learn its history.  Thank you friend for a lovely day.

We arrived home at about 4:30pm, ravenous and tired.  It was rather hot out at Wilcox and I spent nearly 2 hours mostly standing and walking about, so even with my cane for support, my hip and leg were giving me heck.  My husband said he had no interest in waiting for dinner to be made, so off we went to DarBar because somehow, magically, he has much more interest in waiting the same length of time for his meal over there. hahahaha  Our meal was fabulous, we brought home enough leftovers for another meal...or two....and then we raced off to meet with some other friends for a "godly chit chat".  This group of friends are all younger than we are, still working full time and we have all been a bit frustrated by the lack of time to get together to visit. So, a few months ago we decided to just choose a date once a month to be social together and chat about what God is doing in our lives.

A busy, happy day! My only misfortune was drinking a cola drink too late in the evening, so the caffeine kept me awake until just after 2am. Hence the sleep in.  However, I feel great today and knowing I am going to get out of the house for at least an hour this afternoon is keeping my spirits up. 

Snagging a hair appointment for today was a happy surprise. I have been fighting all week to keep up with caring for it....the humidity is not helping right now.  I finally looked back on the calendar to see when my last hair cut actually was....five weeks to the day.  No wonder it seems to have grown past the point of me being able to deal with it....time for a cut!!

One more very hot day forecast for tomorrow, but I have to say that the one positive associated with our last few days of higher altitude forest fire smoke, is that it has kept out some of the warmest rays of the sun, keeping the daytime highs just under what has been predicted. Of course that also means the heat doesn't escape as well overnight, BUT last night we had some rain so that cooled things off nicely. Last night I slept well....once I fell asleep! 

No, we have not heard back from the management company who were unable to show us the suite we applied to see back on Monday and attempts to contact them have gone unanswered. Thinking back on the experience we are wondering if there was some sort of dispute between them and either the owner or last tenant of the condo, resulting in the fiasco we experienced trying to see that place.  We likely will never know, but for now we will continue to search elsewhere....when we feel up to it...when we feel prompted....when and however it happens. Nothing new showed up today.

It Appears You (And I) Are Not Alone In Struggling To Pack Items Into Various Shaped Spaces!

There are mathemathmaticians and scientists devoting large chunks of their careers into solving this problem. WHO KNEW????

https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-is-this-shape-so-terrible-to-pack-20240628/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

Reneging On The Spring Cleaning...And Thoroughly Enjoying It!!

One joy of preparing in the spring for an upcoming move is being able to ignore some of the usual spring cleaning tasks in the current residence.  

My vacuuming tasks are becoming less onerous as more boxes filled with "moveables" line the walls in every room, taking up at least some of the floor space that normally would need vacuuming attention.  Those spaces will get a good cleaning with the baseboard attachment when we leave here.  

I am not washing the venetian blinds this spring.  It has been an exercise in futitility the past two springs because the blinds are aging and their dust resistant finish is getting soft and gummy, attracting more dust and trapping it on each slat. Some of the slats are beginning to bend and twist and crack with age. When we move, all the blinds here will come down and be thrown out into the big garbage bin by the maintenance staff because window coverings are no longer provided by the management like they were when we moved in nearly ten years ago.

I am not washing the windows.  This property management company does not clean the windows.  It seems to be up to the tenants and from what I have seen in our particular court, we are the only tenants since we moved here who actually do wash the windows.  It is almost useless as it only takes one dust storm followed by a bit of early morning dew to cover them up again with sludge, but twice a year we have been faithfully removing the grime, even on the upper floors where we have to pop one window out and clean the window beside it with a soft rag attached to the curved end of a hockey stick to reach all of the corners of the glass.....then pray like ten bears that we will be able to pop the window back in just as easily as we popped it out. 

I am not going to clean the gutters up under the eaves this spring.  It should never have been our job to have to do it in the first place, but after our first year here, the management company ceased to clean them.  We had to do it ourselves and we did do it because clearing out those gutters full of leaves and spiders and tree fuzz redirected the rain water over to the downspout on the side of the building and drained it away from our leaky basement; no more curtains of water flowing down over the edge of the packed gutters and straight down into the soil right beside the main leaking points.

I am not going to scrub out the shelves in the cupboards. I will wait and do it when moving day finally arrives, but it is not on the regular spring cleaning schedule this year.  I washed down the doors and frames a week or two ago and that will be sufficient effort to put into the project until we leave.

I am not going to clean the carpets professionally this spring, or likely even when we do move out, because it will all be torn up and replaced with vinyl plank flooring for the new tenants.  I will clean all the fixtures in the bathroom and kitchen of course, but only the minimum required as all the appliances and bathroom fixtures will be replaced to get rid of the rust and broken enamel and dials and burners and cracked hoses.  

My husband will spend no more money and time chasing down where the new leaks in the basement occur and sealing them. He is slowly getting stuff moved out of there and pushing what is left either farther up the walls or into the centre of the floor, farther away from whatever new leaks may show up this spring.

There will be cleaning to be done in whatever our new place of residence turns out to be. No matter if it happens to be a brand new build, there are always a few cleanups required before we know it is safe to move into a place.  My prayer is that there won't be as much basic cleaning for this next place as there has been for the last eight out of fourteen places!  

My regular weekly cleaning chores are slowly being reduced as the pile of packed boxes grows and the realization that I no longer need to take such good care in the cleaning of some of the items and places in this suite gains traction.  It will be so easy to clean cupboards and carpets and linoleum once we have all our possessions moved out of here.

Knowing we are planning to leave and beginning preparations is cheering me up considerably....along with the wonderful weather forecast for the rest of this week and into next.  While I continue to pray for badly needed rainfall, it is wonderful to see the predicted temperatures beginning to rise by the end of this week. Spring may actually be in the process of arriving and that is another boost to my spirit.