Daybook: Monday, Apr. 16/18

Outside my window.....it is gray and wet. It feels like the precipitation has not stopped since Friday morning. It started as rain, turned to freezing rain and ice pellets, and now back to rain. It is melting the accumulations of ice and ice pellets, which is good because I cannot move the ice dam at the end of my driveway.

I am thinking.....I don't feel like doing anything again today. I cannot motivate myself.

I am thankful for.....not having lost my electric power over the weekend. So many people did.

From the kitchen.....I have finished up the chicken soup I made last week. I roasted some chicken thighs last night with a baked sweet potato and steamed cauliflower with broccoli. I will be shredding and frying some cabbage later this afternoon to eat with some cooked ground beef for dinner tonight.

I am wearing.....blue jeans and a long sleeved blue and gray hooded t-shirt.

I am creating.....nothing. I am gathering boxes of materials to take with me when I go up north.

I am going.....nowhere today.

I am hoping.....the rains remove most of the snow and ice before the temperatures drop again tonight and freezes everything over.

I am hearing.....the patter of rain outside and the blower on the furnace coming on again.

Around the house.....it looks exactly like it did a week ago today. I have done nothing.

One of my favourite things.....these days is Netflix. I am still watching movies in the evenings. I have been "off" watching television series.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....allude me right now. I am totally uninspired right now. So far Wednesday looks like the best day for traveling, but I will have to keep my eye on the weather.

Here's the picture I am sharing.....

Friday afternoon, just after the ice storm started.

I'm Still Here

I felt so beaten up this week. I retreated to my lair and licked my wounds and generally just stayed hidden away. It was not the best week of my life but I am slowly coming back.

  Monday and Tuesday did not go well for me. I won't go into detail except to say that the colonoscopy went well and that is what is important to me. There are no polyps. The results were great. My recovery was quick.

  Wednesday started with me not having any Wifi. My son tried every fix  he could imagine over the phone with me, but to no avail. I decided to get away from it all by taking my car into Canadian Tire to have my winter tires changed over to my summer tires. I also wanted to arrange for them to store my winter tires for me (at $60 for the season) since I can't keep them here IF I sell the house. Then I thought I would go over to Oil Changers and have the oil changed and the Spring inspection done.  I never did get to Oil Changers. At the end of the day I came home $750 poorer, but my oil change was free. The Manager at Can. Tire must have felt really bad for me but the work needed to be done. My son came out later that night to fix my Wifi.

  I cannot remember Thursday at all. Did we have a Thursday this week? I know I haven't done anything towards the Yard Sale this week at all...no cleaning... no packing...no purging. That must be the day I had my Pity Party, because I am still feeling hung over by it. Ha.

  Friday I went out for a few groceries. I already knew my trip to Elliot Lake was being postponed or cancelled, and bad weather was moving in, so I wanted to make sure I had enough provisions to make it through the storm. The rain already started before I got home. There was an accident on the 401 and traffic was being diverted along Hgwy #2 between Odessa and Kingston, so it took more than an hour to drive the usual 5 minute route.

And it has been raining ever since. It was freezing rain and ice pellets all day yesterday, through the night, and into this morning. It will be turning to just rain later tonight and into this week. *sigh*

I spent this weekend on the computer catching up on reading Nathalie's blog postings. I was somehow disconnected from her feed and haven't been able to reconnect, so I had a lot of catching up to do.
I talked with family members this weekend as well. My brother's surgery has been cancelled yet again and it is devastating news. He is in considerable pain and yet has been told to NOT take any pain medication because of the impending surgery that has been cancelled twice already. That sort of put my crappy week into perspective, and though I didn't feel like posting today, I did. The whole purpose of doing the blog was my way of communicating with my family and friends. So there it is.

I read another blogger every day. She is one of the most positive people I know and in her daily blogs, she always includes 5 things she is grateful for that day. I asked Bless when I was feeling pretty low, how she would turn the day into a gratitude; and of course, she did. I was feeling so down, I couldn't see the obvious.

So here are my gratitudes for the week:

•  I have terrific friends.
• My colonoscopy was clear
• I have Wifi to keep me connected
• My van is in top working condition 
• I was not traveling on the roads when the big ice storm hit. 

Daybook: Monday, April 9/18

Outside my window.....the sun is shining. I don't know how cold or warm it is because I haven't stepped foot outside today. I just checked my tablet. It is minus 5 degrees Celsius. I watched a black squirrel scamper up the tree in my backyard.

I am thinking.....about not being able to eat solid food today and tomorrow until after the colonoscopy. Normally, I would only be making my omelet now on any other day, but suddenly I feel quite hungry knowing I cannot eat anything. I have had two cups of clear tea and a cup of chicken broth already.

I am thankful for.....all the messages of condolence on the passing of my buddy Satchel. It was a difficult weekend for me, even though I consider his death a blessing in many ways.

From the kitchen.....I made a chicken and vegetable broth overnight in the crock pot. Yesterday afternoon I prepared two bowls of Jello made with sweetener.  My dinner last night was a chicken stir fry.

I am wearing.....black denim jeans, a gray sweater with a white cardigan over that because I feel chilled, and white and black fuzzy socks.

I am creating.....piles of boxes around the house. Some contain items for the yard sale and some are packed with the contents of furniture I have sold, but I want to take the items with me.

I am going.....nowhere today. I am sticking close to home.

I am hoping.....to be able to take that trip to Elliot Lake later in the week.

I am hearing.....deafening silence in the house.

Around the house.....everything is topsy-turvy. It looks like a tornado moved through.

One of my favourite things.....is the sunshine streaming through the house. I don't think I could have taken another gray, overcast day.

A few plans for the rest of this week.....are centered around this procedure tomorrow. I haven't been able to think much beyond that.

Here's the picture I am sharing.....

Taken at my son's place by his fiancee about a month ago.

Emotional Weekend

I aptly named my last post End of the Week, Almost.  That was a bit of fore shadowing. Friday turned out to be a very long day. The day started with paying my accountant for doing up my tax forms, mine and my husband's estate. I owed the CRA $300....not bad at all considering that I had not requested any funds to be with held. Someone was coming at 1 o'clock to take the solid wood dining room table and four chairs; so while I waited, I took all the nails out of the ceiling planks that had come down and stacked all the planks in the small closet under the stairs. It has been a job on my To-Do list for a couple of months now, so I was glad to get it done and out of sight. I know now that I gave my table and chairs away. I only asked $30 for the set (with two leaves) and there were 9 people on the list who really wanted this table if the first people didn't show. When they did show up, they brought a small truck and no tools with them. It was also snowing. So I lay on the floor and took out the eight bolts and helped them carry all the heavy pieces outside.

 They hadn't left yet when someone came for the tread-master..... driving a hatchback. Yes the tread master is a space saver (folds up when not in use), but there is no way it was going into that little trunk. She wanted to try so we carried it out...... and then carried it back in. So, no sale.

So now I needed a table for me to use here, and at the new place. I had one in my craft room that I needed to clear off and bring through into the dining room; but lo and behold, there was no way it was going to come in through the doorway. How did we get it in the craft room? We must have brought it in through the patio door. But remember, I don't have a deck anymore. I had to open the patio door and walk out another door to the outside and step down into the embankment and pull the table out through the door with it held over my head. It was still snowing. What a picture! Once it was in place in my dining room, I got out the carpenter's glue and found six one-inch wood screws to re-attach one of the drop leaves that had come off. More crawling around on the floor under a table.

It looks very small in the space compared to the huge table that was there before, but with a tablecloth on it, it looks lovely and will work for my purposes.

It had been quite a while since I last checked my emails, so decided to do that before I fed Satchel and took him outside and make my own supper. Someone wanted the antique desk with typewriter, so we made arrangements for him to come at 7 o'clock. I grabbed my tools again and proceeded to crawl on the floor under the desk to remove the typewriter. There is NO WAY you can lift that heavy desk with the drawers and typewriter in it.

This is a very unique piece of furniture. By pulling the handle straight up, the hide-away typewriter comes up for use. Fold the typewriter down, and it becomes a writing desk. I only asked $50 for this antique. I have enjoyed these pieces and now it is time to let go....the sooner, the better. The young man who bought it is very happy with it. 
I started to eat my supper when someone else came to the door to pay for three pieces she bought. She took the side table and night stand with her but has to come back later this week to pick up the dresser.

 This table is also antique. It once held an old radio inside. The veneer is peeling off the top, so I only asked for $20. The lady is very happy with it and plans to remove the rest of the veneer and paint it.

She also bought and removed this bedside table for $10 and paid $20 for the dresser below.

 I had started to eat my supper, but now it was cold. I was texting my sister-in-law with the good news of all the items I had sold in only two days (making a total of $235), when I was alerted to a strange noise at the bottom of the stairs. I ran towards the commotion to find my beloved dog Satchel in seizure. I don't know how I managed it, but I was able to slip a blanket in underneath him (he weighs 80 pounds). I was trying to make him more comfortable. Then suddenly he was dead. I am thinking he had a heart attack, but I'm not sure. I know it is a blessing, but I can't believe he is gone. I called my son's place. He was working the night shift, so his fiancee came over and between the two of us we were able to use the blanket as a sling to carry him out to my van. She stayed with me until I regained my composure and went to bed. The next morning I drove to Napanee to take him to the vet. I was going to go Saturday morning anyway to pick up his two prescriptions. Now I was paying for his cremation costs instead. The last two days I have just been trying to do up laundry. I keep "hearing" him and I go to call his name when I remember he isn't there. I am missing him terribly. There is just so much change going on in my life right now. I am hoping things will get easier with time.

End of the Week, Almost.

Normally I would be relieved that it is Friday but the day has barely begun. With my SIL's help and the tech support from my niece, I was able to load 10 items on Kijiji (the local on-line selling group). I have already sold two pieces (both of them are antiques), and I am getting payment  tonight for 3 more pieces. She can't take them away for two days. I have two different buyers coming this afternoon. I have had inquiries on all the pieces but one. That in itself is a full time job looking after the inquiries coming in constantly. But my SIL and I were both very busy packing up stuff in boxes that we picked up on Wednesday morning. As I held each item, I had to decide if it was coming with me in a small apartment or if I was going to put it in the yard sale on the first weekend of May (hopefully). Everything else was garbage. I bought 5 garbage tags this week and I have used all but one. I will definitely have 5 bags at the curb next week.

This week I also got my papers in to my accountant and so this morning he came over to get my signature and drop off the package. I owe $300 in provincial taxes, so I will be e-transferring that amount today as well. At some point this afternoon, I also have to drive to Napanee to pick up my dog's two prescriptions. One is the flea and tick medication for 3 months, and the other is the new pain medication that is much cheaper than the last one he was on. Tomorrow or Sunday will be the end of the "wash-out" period and he will again be able to take pain medication. I think I need to gas up my car for this month if I want to get to Napanee and back, so today I will be paying out a boatload of money. I hope I am successful with my sales this aft. As each item leaves the house, there is space freed up to hold the packed boxes and bins that my SIL and myself have successfully packed up. Mind you, we were only in the sorting stage, so I will have to go through the boxes again to clean up and price. I will have to have a separate sale in the summer for the outside furniture and tools, because emptying the house is my first priority and it is already overwhelming.

This sideboard was in very poor repair, but there was so much positive response. It is very difficult to know what dealers are looking for. I sold cheap because I wanted it out of here quickly. I had it for years with the hopes of having it refinished, but it never happened. Have a great weekend everyone and  I hope the weather co-operates for you.

New Goals for April

Environment:
House- The actual Spring Cleaning  is going to be put on hold this month I think, as I need to gather together boxes and bins for items I will be putting in the yard sale. It will still be a purge room by room, but I will worry about the clean-up and/or fix-up until just before  I put the house on the market.  It is difficult to figure out what needs to be done first. Getting ready for the yard sale will be time consuming. I don't really want to deal with real estate agents before then. I will try to sell the larger items on-line.

Garden- Since the house may not sell for a while, I think I would still like to put in a vegetable garden this summer. I have over $70 worth of credits that I could apply to tender vegetable starts like broccoli, tomatoes and cucumber, and then I could plant seeds for  zucchini, squash and beans directly into the ground.  I won't be selling the lawn mowers or the roto tiller until after the sale of the house.

Finances:
Spending- Looking back at last month's finances, I have learned that my discretionary spending is still way too high. I have made some significant cuts in my variable spending (like dropping cable, using less hydro) but I need to plan ahead for all my additional spending. If I put aside an envelope at the beginning of the month and only spend from that, then when the money runs out, there is no more left. I will be forced to prioritize my needs and wants. I am going to file my taxes this month.

Saving- I want to be able to put more money towards c.c. payments and also into my savings. I guess I could start with the proceeds of my yard sale. I hope to spend less of my discretionary funds.

Family and Friends: I have a closer relationship with my family than I have had in a very long time. I would still like to drive up north sometime this month, but I will have to wait and see if time and money will allow it.

Health: I have a colonoscopy next week. I continue to eat the diet recommended to me by my GP. I try to buy my veggies and meat by what is in season and on sale.

Crafts and Leisure: I was able to produce a finished craft project every week through March, but I will not be able to keep up the pace this month. I resolve not to buy any more crafting materials in April.

Easter Monday Morning

I got a call from my daughter's two kids this morning. The Easter Bunny had paid a visit to their house overnight (Sunday night) and they were excited to show me what he left. As you may already know, sometimes Santa and the Easter Bunny will make special trips during the year if you ask nicely. Because their dad is a shift worker, they sometimes have to ask for a special favour...either come earlier or later than the actual day so daddy can get some goodies as well. So the Easter Bunny came last night and there must have been lots of treats left over because they got so much. He even played some April Fool's jokes on them. It sounded like a lot of fun.

I had a lot of fun as well. I decided to go to Freshco again to pick up some groceries today. This store must be having some great sales lately on meat and veggies because I have chosen this store now 4 straight times in a row, after checking the flyers. I did not pick up any dairy today.

Protein cost me $37.48
I got a lot of bargains in meat. The boneless pork chops were discounted to $5 because the best before date is Wednesday. The chicken breasts were only $5.38/kg, and bacon was $2.88 a pkg. A carton of 18 eggs was only $2.88  I paid the regular price of $5 for the pkg. of salami slices and $10 for three chubs of lean ground beef.

Produce cost $38.20  The bags of avocados were 4 for $2.49, but I found a bag that had 5 inside.

I bought pantry items this week which cost me $16.82   The large cans of diced tomatoes were 99 cents. I learned from the last shopping trip to pick up the larger cans, use only half and freeze the rest of it. I bought the Keurig pods for my SIL visiting. I use refillable pods myself. I picked up more stevia because I have used a lot of it when eating the frozen berries. This time I only bought the frozen blueberries for the same price. I figure they are a sweeter berry and won't require much sweetening at all. The chicken broth and the Jello with aspartame is for my preparation next week when I am allowed only clear liquids.

Non-food items cost $21.15  The Pedigree was on sale for a dollar less than Walmart sells it. I needed more vinegar for my rinse water in the washer. I am looking forward to start hanging my laundry outside on the line this month.
My total grocery bill with tax came to $116.14   I saved $35.98, mostly meat prices.

Daybook: Mondary, April 2/18

Outside my window.....it is bright and sunny, but cold. There was frost on the car windshield this morning at 7 AM, and it is presently -6 degrees Celsius. I have purple and white crocuses blooming and the front lawn is beginning to green. 

I am thinking.....about my SIL coming again this Wednesday morning to help me purge and pack some more.

I am thankful for.....spending some time with family over the Easter weekend. My Dad and "Dee" traveled down from Elliot Lake to stay with my brother and SIL in Smith Falls since last Thursday and will be going back tomorrow. My son and his fiancee drove me there and we stayed for the afternoon. My two nieces were there as well, so it was a family affair.

From the kitchen.....I baked more dog biscuits on Sunday.

I am wearing.....blue denim jeans, fuzzy socks, red T-shirt and off-white cable cardigan.

I am creating.....2 new cards. I wasn't going to make any new cards while I was purging and packing up my craft room, but I made a special birthday card for my son-in-law's birthday in April, and I needed to make a "Get Well" card for my sister who is still suffering the flu in Elliot Lake. I don't have any "Get Well" cards in my stash. Otherwise, I am creating smaller neater collections of craft items in the Craft room.

I am going.....out to buy some dog food and a larger grocery shop this morning, I hope. I need to phone in and pick up another prescription and the Bi-Peglyte kit in preparation for my colonoscopy next week.

I am hoping.....to get a lot accomplished this month, as I plan to have my yard sale the first weekend in May.

I am hearing.....traffic noise and the blower on the furnace.

Around the house.....I want to get the whole house vacuumed before Wednesday morning.

One of my favourite things.....is watching the garden come to life once more.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include packing up as much as possible. My SIL will be cracking the whip, so I will just do what I'm told. *laugh* She has made all my plans for me.

Here's the picture I am sharing.....

 I went outside to take a photo of the white crocus I noticed yesterday, when I discovered I also had some yellow ones.

I noticed also that the sun had disappeared and we were having some light snow flurries. Have I mentioned how unpredictable our Springs can be?