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March 30 Out on a limb...My "baby" Alya won't be a year for another few weeks. But she has grown so much! The little rascal is up in this old tree waiting for a bird or squirrel to come by.
 Here she is again.
 This is the view from my deck:
 But close by the house is some promise of spring:
 Monday, last week, was nice a warm and the snow was melting wonderfully, but by Tuesday morning we had more snow as a storm settled in with lots of snow and wind. It was afternoon before the plow made it up the side roads so I had to pull on my boots again as I trudged through snow and drifts over the tops of my boots. Again it turned nice and spring like later in the week. Saturday was beautiful! Alas...we are expecting another snow storm to blow in today with lots of snow and blowing snow, first we are supposed to get freezing rain and ice pellets.
Saturday I spent the morning sewing curtains for a puppet thingy for Mr. Boss for his church youth group. He didn't ask me, I offered, but it did take more time then I expected.
Later that afternoon I got the bad news we have been expecting for the last couple days. A former employee, friend who worked as "the hardware man" at our store "forever" up until his retirement 3 years ago passed away from cancer. He will be sadly missed. He was well known in the community not just at the store but he was sort of a handy man, if you had a problem with your pump or wiring he would come and fix things. Saturday afternoon our kitchen taps died so that water was pouring out under the sink. As Paul and I struggled to remove it I said, "We need Elmer" and if it had happened a few years ago that's who we'd call. I can't count the number of times he was at our house fixing our pump among some wiring. The store used to deliver propane years and years ago, Elmer got to know so many people even out in the country when he'd deliver their propane. He'll be sadly missed by many.
Hope you have a great week! March 21 Little signs that spring is on the way! First I want to bring attention to a disaster that was averted. You could have been reading the news of a school massacre only for the actions of a 21 yr old from Winnipeg going to school in Montreal.
"J.P. Neufeld, a 21-year-old Winnipeg native, alerted authorities on Tuesday after he stumbled across a posting on a web forum from a student claiming he was going to burn down his school in Norfolk, England."
"Eventually, police and other contributors to the web forum tracked down information about a suspect and narrowed down the school. In less than an hour, police made an arrest." To read the entire article, go to this link: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/03/20/concordia-student-forum-norfolk.html
All in all it was a quiet week. We had our first meeting on Wednesday night for our search committee for a new minister. Even the shows I look forward to watching weren't on due to some sports that's on. I think it's football? No Survivor on Thursday nor Ghost Whisperer last night...sigh. But that was about the extent of any "excitement" in my week. The temperatures have been hovering around freezing but no new accumulation of snow. Here it is the 20th of March and we didn't get our "St. Patrick's Day" storm which we often get either on that day or a few days following.
 There is actually a few hopeful signs of spring, nothing major but little things that make me realize that winter will come to an end.
1/ No storms in March nor any forecast to come. Maybe some small snow fall the first of the week but that will just help take away and/or cover the old dirty, crusty snow.
2/ Even the days when it is still below freezing, the sun has been warm enough to help the snow melt and run down the gutter. What a lovely sound!
3/ We even have a bit of red Island mud in non-grassy/paved areas! But not muddy enough that I can get the car up the old country lane I have to work at twice a week. This will come as the ground thaws more.
4/ I have a few crocus shoots coming up in that narrow space between house and snow banks and even have one purple crocus in bloom! It's neat to see it and then a few inches away is still a foot of snow!
 5/ We've had one squirrel in the tree the corner of our lot that joins our neighbour. A great big old tree with branches spreading up and out. Well this one lone squirrel has been (I think the same one) playing in this tree for years, but yesterday when I was bringing in clothes from the line (another sign of spring) I thought I heard someone else's clothes line squeaking but as it progressed I realized and saw TWO squirrels having a great time chasing each other along it's branches and into the intertwined branches of other trees! So, if Alya doesn't realize they could be a potential lunch, we may have a family come spring.
6/ I haven't had on my winter boots for a week now. Though with March not quite over I won't pack them away yet!
 Of course I have lots of "plans" for the day but Saturday doesn't have any more hours than the rest of the week days so only a small portion will be done. Don't worry, I won't be bored
 . I have all my papers together to do Paul's, Dad's and my income taxes, but don't know if that will be in the cards for today. When Paul gets up in a couple hours we have wood to bring in. Of course there's housework, blog-walking, hobbies to pursue and little stuff that's been postponed I can do. And as I finish writing this I can stroke off Write new blog! Now I'm off for some "exercise"....blog-walking!Whatever is going on in your corner of the world....
 March 15 Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda I have no idea were the time goes. Here it is Sunday afternoon and I am just beginning to blog! All week I make plans of what I'll do on the weekend. I even decided to cut back/hurry the necessary housework so I can get down and do these "things". My list barely has a line through it. I did get around to visiting most of you. I had to make a hard decision...I had to take some friends off my regular "route". Not to say I won't be by...but not as often. These were mostly ones that rarely come by but I have been dropping by regularly to their blogs. I feel bad but I also feel bad that I can't get around to everyone and figure if I cut back that this will give me more time to visit my closer and devoted friends more often. I give myself a guilt complex if I can't get by to visit regularly. Not much happened besides work either. Though I got to my regular Tuesday night ASL class all else I remember is finishing a book of short stories, "Ordinary Life", and today I finished a short novel, "Durable Goods", by the same author, Elizabeth Berg. Other than that my early mornings and evenings seemed to vanish somewhere.
 Which leads up to my blog I've planned on talking about....
Woulda' Coulda' Shoulda'
 I lay in bed, a weekday morning, it is early and I have a few hours before work considering I get up at 5:30 or 6 and don't have to be to work 'til 8am three mornings and 9am the other two. I SHOULD be able to get lots done, shouldn't I?
Most people work a full week and get so much done, have a clean house, exercise and have time to do fun stuff. so I have no excuse. I consider that I should begin my day with some exercise. Everyone says you should exercise an hour at least four days a week. So that is what I SHOULD do. ...
 Next...well to keep me organized and still have a half decent looking home Flylady is a great help. I used to follow her plan which includes morning and evening routines and daily "missions" from Kelly and still follow it half heartedly. All these only take 15 minutes. As she says...
 Next SHOULD follow a good breakfast, after all it's the most important meal of the day right? That would just take a few minutes to make a bowl of cereal or toast, a piece of fruit and zap an egg in the microwave. Say 15 minutes at the most.
 Well when I took my art class, the instructor said if you want to be a real artist you must paint at least 15 minutes everyday...I haven't painted for over a year and figure...as I lay in bed....I SHOULD begin doing this again and get out of this slump I'm in.
So all totaled (1 hour exercise, 30 minutes for flylady tasks, 15 for breakfast and another 15 for painting) this should come to 2 hours. So getting up at 5:30 this would put me at 7:30 not quit enough for a quick shower and dress and 5 minutes to walk to work. So getting up at 5am WOULD. But what DID I do when I get up each morning? Well put on the kettle, feed the cat and dog, let the dog out, and put on a pot of tea. Then I put on some old clothes so I can exercise, clean the house, paint etc. Still thinking I have LOTS of time...but first, I need to have a "spot of tea" to fully wake up and since I can't do these other things with a hot mug in hand I'll just check the weather forecast. While I'm at it I'll check the local news...oh well might as well check out the national CBC news too...hmm interesting, lets see what comments people made on that article....and while I'm at it see what's going on in the States so I check out CNN. Oh...my face-book...wonder who's on now...I send a message to a friend, nice pictures too...Well what is going on in blog land. Got to check Spaces of course...who left a new blog...I go to check one or two or... Hmm..teas cold, need to add some hot, let Homer in, let cat out, put some wood on the fire...where was I? I wonder if I got any important mail in my "in" box...ha-ha that's a great joke to start the day, one more to read then I'll just drop by one more blog....I look at the clock...Oh my it's 10 after 7! And I still have to shower, dress, no time for breakfast 'cause I'll have to unlock the Community Center and turn up the heat on the way to work! Shut down computer, let in the cat, let out the dog, hop in the shower and I'm off! So there you have it. All I SHOULDA done, all I COULDA done and if I changed my morning habit, all I WOULDA done! I can't give up my computer friends, I know, get on the computer in the evenings, I planned that before but that's another story of more "SHOULDA, WOULDA & COULDA" and what I actually DID.  March 07 Prepare for a long, rambling blog if you dare!
Saturday
Well Saturday was my "big" trip to town
I pretty well wasted an hour just trying to find a bra that fit. One of my blog friends, I can't remember who, blogged about bras. Well she told the truth as it is so hard to find one that fit especially since I don't know my size (after losing weight, yes guys, loss is there also!) This meant taking four sizes of each style to try on. Well after only a few styles I finally found one that would pass. I decided that buying bras are even worse than finding good fitting jeans!After lunch I went to Indigo while Paul "browsed" in one of his favourite shops, the Bulk Barn. He's an avid baker and loves to rambled and buy the various snack foods. Well there was no books at all on Sea Glass so that was stroked off my list of books I wanted. I also was considering buy a new Bible in "The Message" version. My bosses were raving about it and also our minister. Well all they had in that department was one New Testament so passed that by. My other choice was a book on Sign Language. Now will help from the clerk I was led to a shelf with about 1/2 dozen books to choose from. As Millie already gave me her ASL books with dictionaries and I had a small handbook, I found two books that we're different than a dictionary. One has a DVD included which I never got a chance to look at yet and also teaches about gestures etc. the other is a phrase book. What I've been learning is really called English Sign. True ASL doesn't translate word for word like I've been learning so far.
While I was at the book store I also bought a book for my dad for his new computer he got a couple months ago, a Mac. The book is called "Mac for Seniors" adults 50+. (It was his birthday on Thursday)
As I said in my last blog, my B-I-L, Freddie was going to have an operation. We went to the hospital, our second last stop, to visit him. At the main desk we found out what room he was in, #209. I guess us "seniors" more hard of hearing then we though, as we walked down the ward looking for his room we came to "room" 209....on the door it said "SHOWER". O.K....that wasn't right so we asked the nurse what room and was given it, 239, but Freddie had just came out of surgery and would be another 1/2 hour in recovery. We knew he was having surgery but didn't know how soon so we were quite surprised. He got along good, and they removed his appendix while they were in the general area. He got home yesterday and though a bit weak is recovering just fine.
We left for town at 9 in the morning and it was nearing on to 8 pm when we got home so I was bushed by the time we got stuff put away!
Sunday and Monday were just my typical days, church and nap on Sunday and work on Monday. Though I was able to get some of the housework done in the morning that got neglected Saturday 'cause I wasn't going out to the country with the freezing rain we were having.
Tuesday
A close friend, a lady of 73, passed away on Sunday after a being ill a couple years. She was very active in the community and even more so in our church. Tuesday evening we went to her wake. We got home early enough so I was able to still attend over half my Sign Language class. Attendance has decreased dramatically, once we had a dozen, last week it was just the two of us and this week three.
Wednesday
Wednesday I found it hectic. I worked at the store in the morning but had to leave early to be at Esther's funeral for 1pm. As I clean for my dad on Wednesday afternoons, Paul dropped me off on the way back home at Dad's home.
Tomorrow was his 90th birthday, since that day was going to be full for me too, I brought his birthday presents, the book and a painting I did. It was funny with the painting...I had two that were my favourite and was debating which one to give him. In the mean time I posted one on "face book ". Well Dad saw it and said he loved it and wouldn't mind having it. (Dad has never asked for anything before) Without a thought I said "It's yours."
Well we had our final service in our old church in Murray River that evening. It was our closing or "Decommissioning" service. Lots of my own memories flooded my thoughts as the service progressed. It was the church Paul and I were married in, I remembered going to Sunday School and CGIT as a teen. I could hear the echos over the years of the Sunday School classes I taught and visualized our three darling, rascals as they behaved as siblings do when they are supposed to keep quiet but can't in church!
Thursday
Thursday was pretty predictable other than a Session meeting in the early evening. Again I had the devotion, I think I'll continue to have as the others say they really enjoy them, I'll believe they are being honest and not getting out of doing it themselves...haha. We got home in plenty of time to pop up some pop corn and get settled on the couch for Survivor: Tocantins!
Friday
Friday was just work, no extreme weather to keep me home from the shore in the morning...drats...and work as expected at the store in the afternoon. Oh yeah we also watched "Ghost Whisperer" last night!
So there you go...my week. I really should get in the habit blogging more often through the week then it won't get so long!!!
And how was your week?
Hope you are having a great weekend!
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