Sunday, April 27, 2014

Among the missing??

It has been busy here, sort of.  I'm still not able to blog on my laptop, so have to find time when David isn't using his.

Yes, I have heard of the Hooded Merganser--a very pretty and distinctive duck. Ducks and geese all over the place around here--and we don't have a lake!  Where are you staying in Pinawa, Cathy?  At Wilderness Edge?  My memory of that is a nice place that has seen better days, but the food was good, especially the desserts.  I'll be spending the weekend of May 10& 11 in Pinawa attending a mixed media workshop, but will be staying with a friend.

This week I have had a terrible time trying to sleep.  So I have been dealing with those appointments I have and then napping, as it seems to reach the point of lay down or fall down.  My little quilting group met on Wednesday, which is three hours of constant vigilance, as my ladies work on their own projects, but I have to keep watching to make sure they  don't get in trouble.  Thursday we ran a lot of small errands, paying bills etc, & "between pay day" grocery shopping.  Friday I had scheduled a day of indulgence, and went in for a manicure, pedicure and facial.  After not sleeping well, the night before, I was in a bit of a fog the whole time, only made worse as the whole process is designed to help you relax and "zone out".  Saturday, I was out at the gallery in Selkirk, and then Amber took us out for supper.  Now what all this means is that I get up, have breakfast, and then head out the door.  You can imagine what the kitchen is looking like, and I still haven't finished the laundry from Friday.  Thank Goodness for the meals I have in the freezer.  One of the errands was picking up the two books on the Tarot, that I had ordered from the library.  I have read of a lady who makes $$$ with art based on the Tarot, and we recently read some books that referred to the Tarot.  I thought I would try to research some of the symbolism involved.  Cathy, didn't you say that Keri is familiar with the Tarot?

Lately, David and I have taken to asking each other, at bedtime, if we have had a good day.  This has lead me to thinking about how we measure a "good" day.  I imagine each individual person has their own system.  This week, David got to see a John Wayne marathon, including some movies from the very early 30's.  Yesterday we saw pelicans on the river amongst the ice flows.  I got my spa day.  We saw, and talked with Amber.  More small things than big things.   In the end, it seems to be becoming a satisfying ritual to actual pause for a moment, at bedtime, and say "This has been a good day".  Any thoughts?

What a week

Ever had one of those weeks that you just can't figure out what happened?  On Good Friday I did something to my foot. I have no idea what, but it became quite swollen from the instep back, and up the side.  I went to the clinic on Monday and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong either.  I saw the Dr. on call, and he asked another dr. to come in and check me out.  They eliminated a number of things and decided that they would treat me with anti inflamatory and see what happened.  I got crutches for a week, but I found them hard to walk with.  The swelling has gone down a lot, but there is still a large lump on my foot.  I am trying to walk normally, but I keep walking on the side of my toes, which causes the rest of my foot to hurt.  Unfortunately, in the midst of all of this, Jim hurt his back, so I had to take care of the "poor baby".  How come women are not allowed to hurt as much as men?  I did take Friday off work, but I didn't rest my foot as much as I wanted to.  I will finish my pills and see how my foot feels then.  Oh, and yeah!  The crutches hurt my shoulder, which I was already on medication for.  I just can't win!  We go to Pinawa next weekend for the ACT Festival.  Everything is already paid for, except any alcohol we drink on Saturday at the banquet.  The room is being held by credit card, but ACT will reimburse us for almost $200 of that cost.  The room rate of $129 per person for the whole weekend includes our breakfasts and lunches and evening snacks.  I am not sure who is taking care of the animals while we are gone.  Jim asked Rodney, but I am not sure if he said yes or no.  His daughter has a volleyball tournament in Brandon, but I think he said they are coming home every night.  If that fails, Rrain said she would do it.   I have a Union meeting tomorrow in Brandon.  Jim is driving me in, and we are stopping at Walmart on our way home.  New underwear !!!!  Yippee!!! (How sad is that :)  )  He is going to go to the "gun store" while I am at the meeting.  The snow has finally dropped here.  All that is left is the remains of the large drifts  I even found my garden yesterday and started to look at what I am planting.  Tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peppers, maybe garlic, and my "eating" garden..... peas, beans and cucumbers.  I will see what survived in my herb garden, but I think I will be starting over with that one.  We threw away our swimming pool last fall and were going to get a small one, but now Jim is having second thoughts.  We will see what Walmart has when we are there.  Have a great week

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Hooded merganser

Ever heard of this duck? I spotted a strange duck at the lake the other day - never seen it before and there was only one swimming in the shallow waters now open around the shore.  Had a white plume at top of head similar to an Iroquois hair cut.  I told my friend Sue about it and she sent back some pictures of this particular merganser and it looks like a match. I haven't spotted it since but I'm on the lookout now. Wondering if it is off it's normal migration path and has lost his buddies?
I enjoyed my Luncheon yesterday with Sue and of course she came bearing gifts for my Birthday. She keeps me in good standing with my Owl collection. She says she wanders about in her excursions and spots different Owls and always says "they were calling your name Beth" so buys them. She had about four different Owls wrapped up in a gift bag. A notepad, a package of serviettes, a candle holder and a solar light for the garden. I felt spoiled! Once the ground warms up, I shall place the solar ornament in my Herb Garden that I made last year. Can hardly wait.  It was a very pleasant outing for me, and I look forward to the next visit with all the others on June 21 at the same Swiss Chalet restaurant in Huntsville. There will be five of us on this occasion - one of whom I have not seen since I left the CCAC in 2007.  Today as soon as it warms up - still hovering around freezing mark with a sharp wind - it will be greenhouse work. I have to make space for more transplanted pots but the shelves are so full, it may be a challenge. The snow is almost gone in our yard - some piles of ice and snow in sheltered areas but if this nicer weather holds up, it should melt soon enough. And if the rains hold off, I shouldn't have big worries with water? so all is good.  How are things there? Take care for now.  ps the issue with blue underlined words is on this end and I am still not sure what. When you put curser on the word a pop up comes up saying something about Spyware? Maybe this computer is infected somehow?

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Just testing the spelling icon as suggested.

No, apparently the icon was not on, but the blue underlined words are still in my blog page. I guess no harm is done as everything seems to work otherwise and I'll just ignore the coloured prose. Bye for now

Monday, April 21, 2014

So, another week begins...

...it was fun having a little celebration to break our persistent weather woes, so thanks to Easter for coming our way.  Raining here right now but on the mild side today at plus 10 or so, so quite nice. I was out a few times and raked two flower beds but it is too wet and still too frozen to make a difference right now.  So I sewed a few more of the two inch pieces of fabric into some nine square blocks. I will sew 30 in total and then arrange them between a border of one solid colour. That colour is unknown at present until I find the Rubbermaid container with all my stash and see what I have on hand. I would love a bright yellow - what do you think of that? The sad part is that I have almost depleted the mystery box of 2 inch pieces that I keep going into to create my work. On the other hand, all my pieces of work look the same because I have been using the same fabric pieces. So maybe this is a good thing? I may have to move beyond my comfort level and cut into new fresh fabric haha  Tomorrow I go to North Bay to take care of a few chores, and then Wednesday I go to Huntsville to meet my friend Sue for lunch. So this week is already looking like a good week. Hard to believe that April is almost over. I paid our Income Taxes the other day - the government should like that - they could maybe go on a spending spree with all my money haha  But all is not lost as I won $5.00 on the last Lottery. Maybe not enough for my much anticipated bus trip to Toronto to pick up my winnings - but believe me, one day I will take that trip!!!  So it is off to bed now, and read a bit before lights out.  Hope all is well with you folks. Take care

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has a relaxing and pleasant day.  I sure wish that damn rabbit had been to my house, I have such a craving for chocolate!  But--it will be on half price tomorrow and maybe I can indulge.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Today's obituaries

In today's obituaries I found one for William Harold Tomlinson, wife Mary.  I checked with Loren and he says this is definitely Mary Overwater's husband.  (Loren was/is close friends with two of their sons)  There is no service.  This is the first of our family, of our generation to die, of "an age", as Judy McCrea died in her early 30's, of breast cancer, and the two of Flo's children who died, were quite young.

Here comes Peter Cottontail...

.. hopping down the Bunny trail! Hippity Hoppidty, Easter's on it's way!
Happy Easter to all! Nice and sunny here today and snow melting away slowly just as I had hoped.
Tomorrow we go to Mike's for dinner so today was prep day for some of the food items, and organizing the other items needed to be taken. I bought some bright yellow paper napkins for the table - they have big white polka dots all over them, and the yellow matches the plastic tablecloth I chose to take. I found a little centrepiece downstairs - a tree on a stand and small little Easter ornaments hanging on the limbs. That will be the only fussing on my part for the celebration. Mike plans to put on the Batman movie - the one with Heath Ledger as the Joker - for me to see as I have never seen it.
Hoping everyone enjoys your Easter no matter what your plans are - and Cathy hoping that the snow never did reach you and the BBQ will be a great success. Take care

Friday, April 18, 2014

Yippee!

The heavy snowfall warning is ended. It is headed north of us.  This is one time I really hope the weather report is right!

Spring, take 2

Well, here we are at Easter, and under a heavy snowfall warning yet again.  This is really starting to get me down.  Kris and I traded yard pictures on Tuesday. There were taken within minutes of each other.  His yard had no snow at all, and he had a lawn chair out on his deck.  My SNOW has no yard at all, and my patio table is just appearing out of the snow bank it has been buried in all winter.  I guess it will disappear again tonight :( 



I did another power cooking today.    2 big bags of crockpot stew, 4- 4 cup bags of chili and 4 - 8 x 8 lasagne.  I am all set to make a couple of quiches, but I have to wait for what I have done to freeze so I can stack it and have a flat surface to freeze the quiches on.  If I am ambitious I will do some chicken tomorrow or maybe Monday.  Rrain is coming over for supper on Sunday.  When the forecast was for 14 degrees we decided on BBQ steak and chicken pieces wrapped in bacon .  Good thing Jim still has the BBQ inside the garage door.  He should be able to get to it, but it won't be the outdoor meal we had planned.  Since I am on this cooking spree I think I will make a bumble berry pie for desert.  The last one disappeared really fast, so I guess people like it.  (No wonder I have gained so much weight!  I seem to be obsessed with food!) The really sad thing is that I don't have anything for supper tonight!  I think I mentioned that we ordered new windows.  Unfortunately, because of the weather, they can't install them yet.  Firstly, because it is still too cold to leave the house open and secondly, the snow is still to deep for them to work.  And now I get to call MTS cause I managed to lock my voicemail.  Some days you wonder why you got out of bed.  At least it is a nice long weekend and maybe I can sleep in one day.  Love Ya

Thursday, April 17, 2014

A tough decision made

Yesterday we spent a good part of the day checking out chairs in the furniture stores in the Polo Park area.  As we found around here, there was no evidence of the sort of chair I have in mind.  The feedback from salespeople has been telling us the same thing.  We also recognize that we are at a stage in life when we should be down-sizing, not buying furniture.  So we decided to go no further.  The chair we have ordered will do fine, for somewhere for me to sit in the living room, and should serve me well in terms of the after effects of my pending surgery and the rehab process.  My small wing chair from the basement will do fine as a second chair in the area formerly taken up by the couch--which has now gone to thrift store heaven along with the matching chair and a dresser that has been in the garage--here and on Woodside,--for ever 25 years.  The decision from my perspective was to settle for a living room full of mis-matched furniture, or make myself crazy searching for the right colour.  But--I have always had a touch of smokey blue in my living room, --now there will be more--along with a blueish burgundy.  Thank Goodness, my larger wing chair is a nice neutral ivory.

We were out and about right after breakfast, today, thinking that we would be better to grocery shop early in the day, than later.  We found out that gas has gone up 6 cents a litre over night--Bah!  Humbug!  Since I have so much that I want to do over the weekend, we decided to cook both a ham and a turkey, and dine  on leftovers over the next few day, but still had to stock up on fruit and veggies.  Now I am waiting to hear about my sewing machine.  I'm hoping to get it back today, otherwise it will probably be next week.  But, I have to say that my old Pfaff is just trucking along, and doing fine.  I did a good portion of the quilting on my last quilt using the Pfaff, and it looks good.  ( Maybe better?? fewer thread nests on the back.)  About the only thing I really miss, right now, is the larger harp on the Janome.

So now I am off to the studio.  I have a couple of "arty" ideas--finally!

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Winter is finally here......

.....with snow, blowing snow, and more windy blowing snow. Thank goodness I heard the forecast and covered the greenhouses best I could last night. So hard to believe that yesterday we were working outside, shovelling rain that came in torrents, and transplanting in the greenhouses and mixing soil, and filling watering cans. This morning I had to shovel the snow accumulated at the front door in order to take the dog out first thing. I know it is no different with you folks, but enough already! I had a little Birthday party with Mike and Erin yesterday in North Bay. I had to go up early so dropped in at their place after my chores were done, and had coffee and Birthday cake and presents. It was so nice to visit and relax and enjoy.
Today must go to Burk's Falls to pick up our Income Taxes that are completed - they phoned Friday to give me a heads up that both Harry and I have to pay mucho dollars this year.
So spoiler alert - and a heads up for you folks as well, I must re evaluate my plans to come to Winnipeg this year and at this point, realize that the trip will be too much of a challenge for me for a number of reasons, and therefore, plan to cancel plans. Glad that we didn't make any firm commitments. Also glad Cathy is already planning her vacation getaway to meet with Tim and family. You will have a wonderful trip Cathy. For my part, I still look forward to a Christmas trip to Winnipeg for 2015 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary!!  Take care
.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Another birthday!

Have a great day Beth.  Maybe enjoy a little Black Forest cake?

When we were in buying my chair, the salesman and I spent a couple of minutes reminiscing, mainly about people we knew "in the day".  One I mentioned was our cousin Ian Cochrane, and darned if I didn't find Ian's obituary in Saturday's paper.  He was married to Catherine McIntyre, who was daughter to Lori and Sandy McIntyre.  Lori was a niece/cousin to Grannie McGrath, and the two had been of an age, so were raised almost as sisters.  Lori gave her name to Lorraine, and perhaps, Laurence as well.  Certainly there have been a string of Catherines in the family, on both sides, if you remember Auntie Cay, Grandpa McGrath's sister.  In any case, Catherine McIntyre was an OT and was responsible for getting me into the profession.  We used to see each other at meetings, etc, and she was very much a mentor to me.  She died in middle age of Cancer of the Pancreas.  David and I took Lorraine to the funeral.  Lori was there at quite an old age, and seemed to think it was a social occasion.

I'm trying to think about what you could freeze, Cathy.  I freeze a lot of casseroles.  I will mix them up and put them in casserole dishes ready to cook and then freeze them.  If there are left overs, we freeze them, and then just heat them in the microwave.

The old stand-by, chicken, rice and mushroom, with mushroom soup freezes well.  My Kraft dinner casserole actually lasts us for two meals, so half gets frozen,  That is: one box of Kraft dinner cooked according to package.  Mix in meat scraps (Ham is best, but chicken, turkey, salmon work well), and a bit of chopped celery or green pepper.  Then add a can of Cream of Celery soup, and about 1/2 can of milk. Pour into a casserole and add a few bread crumbs on top ( I have also used a half can of French's French Fried Onions, on top.  WOW!).  Bake for about 40 minutes, or until warmed through.

Another one we make is "That Wild Rice Thing"
Crumble and brown 4 oz of Italian sausage.  (I use "mild")  Cook 1/2 cup white rice in 1 cup water, cook 1/3 cup wild rice in 1 1/3 cup water.  Prepare one package of French's onion Gravy mix according to package directions.  Mix everything together,  adding 1/2 can of French's French Fried Onions.  Pour into a casserole dish and cook covered for about an hour.  Remove the lid and sprinkle the other half can of fried onions over the top and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Do you have Daddy's recipe for Seven Layer Dinner?  Some people call it "Shipwreck".  Raw potatoes don't freeze well, but the casserole, itself, freezes nicely, once cooked.  We'll be having it later this week--provided I can find the sausages in the freezer.  We still haven't sorted that out.

I also freeze things like cooked rice in meal size packages.  What sort of meats are you freezing?  I often freeze sliced pork tenderloin cooked in French's Mushroom gravy mix, with canned mushrooms mixed in.  Daddy's ribs freeze well.

French's gravy mixes can be expensive, but I buy them at Dollarama for 2/$1.25.  French's French Fried Onions, are sometimes found in stores with canned vegetables, but more often with salad dressings.

Let me know if this helps.  David is off right now trying to buy Hot Cross buns, on sale at Safeway.  If he gets any we plan to freeze those, as well.

Another day of celebration in our family

Happy Birthday Beth.  I hope it is a fun day for you.  Maybe even another fire.  Our firepit is out of the snow now. Or at least the snow is below the top of it for a change.  Yesterday's snow melted off the roads quickly, but is still covering all of our yard.  It is not supposed to get above 0 here until next Saturday.  I wasn't able to find a small turkey here, so our Easter dinner is going to be bbq steak and bacon wrapped chicken pieces.  If the forecast holds true it will be 11 on Easter Sunday.  Enjoy your birthday, Beth, and hopefully Pati's day will be just as nice

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Anticipating plus plus rainfall....

...and not very pleased with prospect of pumping and shovelling. Just read Wpg Free Press and following news about your snowstorm, and the potential for flooding on Assiniboine River as water levels are rising quickly. Apparently Highway 5 south was closed - I expect this doesn't affect you Cathy? Also says they may open Portage Diversion within 24 hours to help with expected water and ice jams.  I guess in our desire to be done with Winter and get on with Spring we forget to remember that with Spring comes rain and water and flooding etc etc.
Well, as a sort of ritual I went out to my stove and made a fire just now. I have been thinking about this for some time now, and tonight seemed like the right time to light up my very first fire for this year. It felt good. A neighbour walked by and talked to me through the trees so I guess I wasn't really alone, was I?  The other day I prepared by shoveling a path to the stove and my bench, and gathered up some dead sticks lying all over the snow from Winter windfall. I really like this new stove, and hopefully will be able to spend many an evening of enjoyment during the Summer as last Fall when we got it, I didn't get to try it out much.
Hope you recover from your rogue storm Cathy, and hope that Pati was not affected with the weather for her day of volunteering at the studio. Take care

Spring?

There is something about being under a heavy snowfall warning in the middle of April that just seems wrong.  I know it is not going to stay, but it is very depressing to look out the window and see it coming down. I finished my first two weeks with my new employer and they paid me!  I still haven't heard what my classification is, but they are paying me at the DEX level which works for me.  They added our $500  signing bonus into our first pay cheque, so the income tax went up. I ended up with only $288 extra.  Better than nothing, I guess.  Elizabeth asked Shirley to do the accounting again, so that freed up time for me to catch up on my own work.  I actually got somewhere on Friday and was feeling pretty good when I left work.  Of course a weekend does help my mood.  We worked out what to do with all my overtime hours.  I will take the 4 days after May long, and I will take May 2 to go to the ACT Festival in Pinawa.  That leaves 1 1/2 days that I will use by the end of May.  From now on all overtime will be recorded and become "official" overtime.  We have never counted alarm call ins as official overtime before, but that is how I ended up with 6 1/2 days!  I now have 10 1/4 hours of "official" overtime recorded. It adds up fast when every alarm call is a minimum of 3 hours at time and a half.  Not that I enjoy driving into the office at 2am. I gave Jim $6 last night to win Turkeys at meat draw.  Instead, I was the turkey 'cause he came home empty handed yet again.  I was looking for more recipes to make ahead and freeze.  It seems that it is always the same.   Meatballs, Lasagne, Chili, Soup, Stew and sometimes meat in gravy.  I seem to be in a rut.  Any ideas out there?  I was working on our income tax, but I guess I was too slow, 'cause Jim gathered it all up and took it into H&R block yesterday.  I resent paying $180.00 just to be told I owe.  Oh well.   The snow is coming down even heavier now.  I checked the radar and I think we will be out of it in a couple of hours.  It is going to be below 0 for the rest of the week.  Will this ever end?  Enough complaining.  I think I will go and drag Jim away from the TV and talk him into a game of crib.  Have a great weekend

Friday, April 11, 2014

Poor Mouse!

I guess that after a long winter they are looking for fresh green food too.

Emotional day today.  Makes me think of the old saying--" Man plans, God laughs".  EMAC has an exhibition in the gallery in Selkirk this month and every person displaying is expected to volunteer at least one day to sit in the gallery and act as a docent. I have never minded this job, as it gives me a quiet day, out of the house, and with a bit of company.  I have always taken some hand sewing along to amuse myself, as patrons are often few and far between.  My days this month are April 12 and 26th, so I planned to finish the quilting on the small quilt I'm working on and then attach the binding to sew on by hand on Saturday. HAH!!  My machine starts making a noise like metal rubbing on metal and I smell something hot.  Trying to trouble shoot, I taken the throat plate off to take a look and maybe clean it up a bit.  I'm fussing with it and suddenly the needle comes down in the wrong position, hitting the special free motion foot and actually bending it w-a-a-y out of position.  Oh,oh.....?!!  So the machine is in the shop.  He found a mechanism that is supposed to be spring loaded and no spring in sight, and, of course, the timing is now off, not to mention the need for a new special free motion foot (Ka-ching!)

When we left the shop, David suggested that we go home via Polo Park, and take a look at a chair store that had been suggested.  It was Medi-Chair, a company I often dealt with when I was working.  We found an electric Lift Chair that suits me nicely, and ordered it.  Not sure when it will be delivered, but we are aiming at two weeks.  However, it is more than we had budgeted, and getting a second chair right now is pretty iffy.  David is off at the bank right now, to pay his income taxes and find out exactly where we stand, and I'm at home worrying.  However, we both agree that fixing my sewing machine is more important than a second chair, for now.

The new fridge was delivered yesterday, and is purring along in the kitchen.  The little bar fridge is working nicely down stairs, but doesn't really fit well on top of the bar, so we''ll maybe have to re-think that one.  My water, and Dr. Pepper fit quite nicely in there and it sure saves trips up and down the stairs.  The old fridge is sitting in the back yard. There is a magic phone number that you call and say " Pick up a fridge at such and such an address", and someone comes along in a truck and takes it away--any appliance, actually.  I don't know what happens to them, but I think they either get refurbished and sold, or go to charity. Probably the former, but it's out of my house, so I don't care.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

I caught a mouse.....

Yesterday I had to set up mouse traps in the greenhouses because something - I thought moles- was eating the little pepper sprouts. This morning one trap had a dead mouse. So I have set them all again for tonight and hope to catch something - just so the plants don't get all eaten. It is nice today, and mild temps but with rain this afternoon and as a result, the snow is disappearing nicely.
The Government has sold our server ONTERA, to a private provider - Bell Aliant.  Two years ago they announced that the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) was to be privatized. The ONTC has several business assets including the rail freight, rail refurbishment, the Polar Bear Express, and motor coach service, and the telecommunications company called Ontera. The passenger train from Toronto to Cochrane was cancelled immediately, but public and local government lobbying has resulted in announcement that all the other assets will remain publicly-owned. So I don't know what will happen with our services through Ontera- I expect for sure that our costs will increase and the news paper article states job loses. And today the CBC announced drastic cuts to services. where does it all end?  Anyway, time for bed. Hope all is well with you folks? Take care.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

My philosophical respose to such situations....

I am so sorry for this Pati and I can feel your disappointment - happens to me as well. Most frequently I would tell myself that when such a situation  occurs, for some reason unknown to me at the time, it was not meant to be. I know that is a hard pill to swallow when your heart was set on it, but could it be that you shall find an even more welcome chair - actually one that comes in one piece? There is a beautiful and perfect chair calling out for you Pati! Here is one of my favourite sayings that I read frequently to myself: Hope anticipates, Faith believes, and Patience quietly waits.
We went to Midland today starting out in snow but ending with sun. I was up during night shoveling at front because it rained all night and then at 7 am started to snow. When we got home I shovelled  more but was able to chip away the ice at the back of the house because it had rotted enough for me to lift. This will help greatly to alleviate potential for water into basement. So far, so good and perhaps, just maybe, the melting will be slow and steady. Tomorrow I hope to take our Income Tax papers into the Accountant - hope they can do them within the week, I will then be able to plan for the expected large payment I have to make by end of month. The unknown for me is what effect turning 65 years will have on 2013's numbers - I am told (by you Pati ?) that there may be a considerable difference. I have always had to pay large amounts every year.
I received another message about my 45th Nursing Reunion end of May - I have already sent my regrets but just reading more info, and lists of classmates who have already responded positively makes you start to wonder about your decision. But enough of that. I have the garden work to keep me busy, and have started to do pick up work with sewing and quilting which makes me happy.
I won $5.00 on Lottery Sat night - this is a big win for me and a long time coming so I think maybe the tide has turned? I bought another ticket for tomorrow night with fingers crossed haha  Take care.

Could have been a great day but----

Yesterday, after I got back from spending the afternoon with Dianne in Steinbach, we went out and bought the chair that I loved.  The one that made my jaw drop and my heart sing.  Didn't match the living room at all and I was prepared to change my whole decorating scheme to match it.  We were told we could have it delivered for an extra $69.00, or could pick it up at the warehouse close to home.  So today, Loren cleaned out his van and took time off work to help get the chair home.  They got to the warehouse and took delivery of a chair--"assembly required".  Yes, the whole thing was in pieces.  Would you pay over $600.00 for a chair that you had to put together yourself?  At least with Ikea they warn you up front!  To add insult to injury, we could not refuse delivery at the warehouse.  So David had to take the box to the store and request his money back there.  I wasn't with him and couldn't get in touch with him, so couldn't warn him that we had bought it with my credit card, and legally they couldn't refund the money onto his credit card.  I don't want to know how it played out, but he arrived home with a total refund slip against my credit card.  We never be able to show our faces in Dufresne again, and maybe that's okay. So, I'm sad and we are back to square one in terms of the chairs.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Fridges and Falls

How very fortunate that Scooby was there to help you!

The new fridge is the same model as the old one.  We found it in Sears on clearance but about $400.00 less than similar models in other stores.  Even if it only last the same 10 years of the old one, we figure we'll be ahead of the game. We really like the bottom freezer, especially now that we're both less able on the stairs.  With a little planning and discipline, we can have a weeks worth of meals in there and save a lot of trips up and down the stairs.

What a day, indeed.

Nice to look for new furniture and appliances but makes for a long day for sure!
Hope your beer fridge suits your purposes until the big one comes haha  Do they take away the old one for you? Did you get a fridge with the freezer at the bottom like your current one?
Working in the greenhouses today - transplanting and carrying from one to the other. I was carrying a box of little plants and slipped just outside the door with the box going flying. Harry rescued his plants and redid them quickly, and I struggled off the ground with Scooby's help - what a good dog!
It's a short lunch break for now but back at it shortly. Melting slowly today and with no rain scheduled today or tomorrow I'm hoping for some real good melting without the threat of water overflowing and shovelling needed. I can only hope.
Take care for now.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Lost Day

Well, nothing turned out today the way we expected. This week has been dedicated to the studio, as we had nothing else planned for the whole week. Yesterday I had put together a small baby quilt top to practice my quilting, and hoped to  do the same today.  But when I reached into the fridge for my juice, I felt nothing but warmth.  Yep, fridge has had it.   David played with it quite a bit and it now is much colder, but it is turned to coldest, and we see the writing on the wall.  So, off we go to look at buying a fridge.  We have been talking about getting rid of the couch in the living room and replacing it with two chairs.  I prefer Wing Chairs ( ?Queen Anne chairs?), and want a specific size, as I have now shrunk enough that getting my feet on the floor is a consideration. So we set off to look at everything.  We also talked about getting a very small bar fridge for the basement.  This is not something we had talked about a lot, but by buying one now we would have something to use in the kitchen, while waiting for delivery of a new, large one.

We visited a lot of stores, and found out two things: firstly, there is no colour anywhere.  Everything is grey, dark brown and dark blue, and secondly, there are very few wing chairs out there. We found one store where we could custom order one, and even have it covered in a coloured fabric, but they could offer no size to suit me.  We didn't worry too much,about the chairs, finally finding two that "would do".  We didn't buy either of them today.  I want to find a chair that I love--not one that 'would do".  There was one that I loved, but it was a side chair like the ones Mom used to have , with wooden legs, arms, and and back support that was upholstered on the front of the back and the seat. I'm still thinking about that one. Functional, and it made my heart sing, but not really practical.

We finally bought a fridge in Sears ( certainly not the first store we visited, nor our first choice of stores), and a bar fridge in Canadian Tire.  By this time it was the middle of the afternoon and we were both sore and tired, but we no sooner got home, than a friend called asking me out for coffee. This is a friend who is going through a very difficult time, so off I went.  By the time I got home, it was off for a nap and then almost too late for supper.  We agreed to each look after himself, in terms of food, and  then both of us sat in a stupour watching couples by Real Estate in Alaska, for almost two hours.

And the day is done, and I never got downstairs.  But, for the first time in months, have been able to blog from my lap top.

Procrastinating?

Today I wanted to try to tidy a bit in the front room - we had taken a few more boxes to the shed and put some of the boxes labeled for the auction trip on Tuesday Apr 8 into the trunk of the car so thought I might have a fighting chance but it hasn't gone too well. I was shovelling and pumping water until about 8 pm last night when the temps started to fall and the water flow started to dry up (freeze up?) so I brought the pump inside so it would not freeze and went to bed. This morning I was greeted with a snow storm - blowing winds/gusts and snow covering everything and blowing about. So far today it remains cold and snowy so concentrated on housework. I guess my heart is not really in it - I've done everything I could to put things off. But I was rewarded as I found two huge chocolate bars from Christmas that were hidden on the coffee table, and... a bottle of Ice Wine so here I sit with a glass of wine on the rocks! I do have a wash on, and I have actually vacuumed so all is not lost.  Harry wants to open the greenhouses to water when he gets up from his nap, so I'll have to motivate myself as that is my job- not desired but necessary!
So I better get back to pretending to be busy. Hope your day is going the same as mine so I'll feel justified haha Take care

Friday, April 4, 2014

And we have geese!

We were down Lagimodiere yesterday, and past the sites where the geese gather--and there they were--huddled down in the falling snow.  Stupid geese!

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Robin

First sighting for this Spring this morning in the apple tree at the back of the house. I was so very excited! Windy and coldish but the sun did shine a bit today and thus some melting occurred around the yard. I even started to shovel snow onto the driveway in attempt to see the mountains diminish haha. I just took some time to watch more of The Quilt Show. I find I fall behind so try to play catch up when I can get the use of the computer, and at same time view a couple of the shorter videos on the Daily Blog. So now I should go to bed. The thought of a drink interests me as well, but alas nothing in the cupboard these days. I had a bottle of Kahlua I got a Christmas and finished that the other day - just having a little bit on the rocks every so often I found refreshing! Take care.

To Drink or not to drink that is the question

I must admit that I have stopped for a beer at the Legion everyday this week.  I am soooo confused.  Everyday I think I have a handle on the new instructions and then EMAIL!! they have changed.  On the other hand, my blood pressure was 120 over 80.  It has not been that good in years, so I guess, even with the current stress, things are okay.  Today I timed my cash out.  Yesterday I left it for Shirley and she took 45 minutes.  Today I did it all in 30 minutes including walking to the bank and waiting line and answering some emails.  So my determination is that all the cash out can be done between 4 & 4;30. We were also having trouble setting up a speaker phone for a conference call next week.  The only speaker phone is in Elizabeth's office and we needed  it  on a different desk.  I could not get it to work with the phone jack at that desk.  I talked to a friend who USED to work for MTS.  His solution?...... why not get a longer phone cord and leave it connected where it is and just carry the phone to where you need it.  DUH!!!  Everyone is finding glitches in what they are doing, but it will all work out eventually.  As for me... I had my Rickards Red after work and all is good.

April 3rd, eh?

Why is it snowing so hard that I can barely see across to the yard behind us?
To be fair, we are noticing that the snow piles are getting much lower.  You can actually see well enough to get out of our street now.  And some of the streets that were so badly rutted that they were almost impassible, are now bare pavement.So change is happening, whether we realize it or not.

Cathy, are you surviving?  Have you resorted to strong drink before supper yet? Do I need to send a care package?

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Poor Winnipeg

That song was great but poor Wpg seems to be getting most of the publicity about horrible weather this winter - people from other places are taking note . Nice that Toronto has to share with the news as we always hear about their 10 cm snow falls and how they can't cope. Speaking of weather, it is miserable  here today - windy and below zero and snowy. I guess we had our spring the other day? I just went to check the mail and now I'm chilled so made a nice hot coffee and intend to sit for a minute and enjoy. I had to scrap the ice and snow off the windshield before I could drive off. Not nice for April 2.
I sewed a top for a wall hanging, or a table topper the other day. It is only small with only the centre done, but once I put a border on, and then binding after quilting it, it should be very nice. The nicest part is that I actually sewed it and took my time and got my all my tips and corners matched ( mostly all haha). I will try to send a picture on the email as still have not mastered the blog attachment process.
We are still sorting through boxes and yesterday it was millions and millions of VHS movies. Most people do not want VHS anymore, but maybe we can get rid of them cheap on Kijiji?
So off to drink my coffee and then back to work. Take care