Outside my window.....it is gray and overcast. Most of the snow is gone, but there is a chance for freezing rain today and it was a very cold weekend with our night time temperatures around -17 Celcius.
I am thinking.....of ways to organize my life and routines to help me deal with my new normalcy. I feel the need to purge stuff and to do a real deep cleaning. But I don't want to make any drastic changes for a year or more.
I am thankful for.....my family and all my wonderful friends who are constantly checking in with me.
From the kitchen.....there has been a lot of slow cookery going on this past week. I have made two pots of chicken broth and one has been turned into soup already. I have cooked pots of black beans, pinto beans and red kidney beans which have gone into the freezer. I roasted four chicken legs with backs attached and removed and froze the meat for future meals. I fried up some ground beef with onions and red peppers to add to the freezer for spaghetti sauce and for chili con carne. I roasted a beef roast for my son and his GF who came out this past Saturday, and I have enjoyed leftovers from that meal.
I am wearing.....blue jeans, a thin knit sweater, socks and slippers.
I am creating.....a birthday card for one of my grand daughters in Vancouver who is turning five. (I forgot about her birthday coming up this week and I feel terrible about that) I am also making a birthday card for my SIL who has been helping me purge and Spring clean. She is going to a party where the birthday recipient is turning 90.
I am going.....to the bank today to deposit a death benefit cheque from Rick's Millwright Union. It will apparently take three months or longer for my husband's pension to come to me. I don't even know yet how much it will be for. So this death benefit will have to carry me through for a few months until I start getting my finances in order.
I am hoping.....these feelings of loss will lessen in time. Sometimes the tears seem to come out of nowhere.
I am hearing.....the blower on the furnace and the click of the keyboard as I type this.
Around the house.....I am trying to do some purging and cleaning because my housework has been on the back burner for quite some time.
One of my favourite things.....is the cell phone that I gave my husband at Christmas. While he was in hospital, I had my son and his girlfriend set it up for me as I was spending less and less time at home, and my family and friends needed to know what was going on and wanted to get in touch with me. Nowadays, I have been using it to text with my kids during the day. They don't need to call everyday because they are hearing from me now on a daily basis. And I have unlimited texting. It still takes me forever to text anything because I suck at it, but I am improving. I never in my wildest dreams would have called a cell phone my favourite thing.
A few plans for the rest of the week......include a couple of visitors. One of my husbands best friends just dropped in on me this morning and stayed for over an hour. He is in town for a few days after having moved to the Parry Sound region a few years ago. Tomorrow, my son's GF is coming over to do some laundry and I will try to teach her how to knit cotton dishcloths. It will be like the kettle teaching the pot. (I have barely learned how to knit myself) On Wednesday morning, my SIL is coming back from Smith Falls for another round of purging and organizing. She will go back Thursday afternoon and we will see how much we can get done. Thursday night I have a ticket to see a Musical called "Menopause" at the Grand Theatre. The girls (from the Girls' Weekend) bought these tickets months ago, and although we have all seen this performance before, it was so comical and enjoyable, that we jumped at the chance to see it again.
Here's the picture I am sharing.....one of my favourite views from the pool lounger in Cuba.
