Daybook: Monday, May 15, 2017

Outside my window.....it is sunny and breezy....perfect line drying weather. The front lawn needs cutting again.

I am thinking.....I am pretty proud of myself for having driven  to Bradford and back without getting lost or frazzled. This is a big accomplishment for me. I didn't get my license until I was almost 40 and  Rick was the one who drove everywhere.

I am thankful for.....the service department at Canadian Tire for looking after me so well.

From the kitchen.....I have pulled out some centre cut pork chops from the freezer for dinner tonight. I emptied the dishwasher and filled it again. I washed those dishes up before emptying it again, and I washed some items in the sink. I cleared off the counters and scrubbed them down. I swapped out the big kitchen wastebasket for a much smaller one, so that I can take the garbage outside to the bin at the end of each day.

I am wearing.....blue jeans, socks and a printed T-shirt. This is my basic uniform for working outside in the garden.

I am creating.....another finished dishcloth. That makes four.

I am going.....outside to pull more weeds and maybe mow some more grass.

I am hoping.....for some nice sunny weather this week.

I am hearing.....the elementary school kids playing outside during their lunchtime recess break. I have the back door open today to air out the house. I also hear the baby birds squawking from under the eaves of my house, as their parents bring them juicy worms. When the babies leave, I need to get up the ladder to replace the pieces of aluminum soffit that blew down after one of our winter storms. I will wait until I have someone else here with me (in case I fall off the ladder).

Around the house.....the dusting and vacuuming STILL need doing. Working outdoors tires me out too much. I can't come in afterwards and face that job. So it is still waiting for me. I wasn't here all weekend, so this morning I did three loads of laundry, including changing out the sheets in my room and the spare bedroom, and have hung them out on the line.

One of my favourite things.....is my new long handled rounded shovel for removing the really big clumps of weeds without having to bend over to pull them out. I have lots of really big ones unfortunately.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include returning phone calls today from the weekend, baking more dog biscuits because Satchel went through them too quickly last week, making another trip to the bank, and perhaps scheduling an eye appointment to see if I need a stronger eye glass prescription.

Here's the picture I am sharing.....a pot of mums given to me by my son and his girlfriend last night. I was invited to their apartment for dinner along with her dad and step-mom. It was a lovely dinner of lasagna, salad and crusty garlic bread with home baked cookies for dessert. Yum.

I will enjoy the flowers indoors right now. After they fade, I will cut them back and plant them outdoors so they will bloom again.

Thursday Update

I set  the alarm clock again for 6 AM. I needed to take the dog out, feed and water him, and then look after my coffee and breakfast. I took four plastic bins of recycling out to the side of the road. I left here at  7:40 to be at the garage for 8 AM. I left my keys with the manager and proceeded into the store to buy my gas can. I got about 3 rows of knitting done when the manager came into the waiting room to tell me that although they ordered the right part, "they" sent the wrong one. Can we try this again tomorrow morning?

On the way home, I stopped to put gas into my new gas can. I had a cup of tea, because I deserved one, and then went out to weed for 2 1/2 hours.  I did some more work in the driveway and around the third flower bed I worked on yesterday.  While pulling weeds around some campanula, a glint of silver caught my eye. It was the  ring that my Sweetie had lost in the autumn while trying to fix the snowblower out in the driveway. He had lost some weight and the ring had become too loose. At some point he realized the ring had come off. We looked everywhere in the gravel and in the rocks that lined the flower bed, but couldn't find it. I bought the ring for him on a trip I made to Mexico with my dad and "Dee". It was silver with lots of ornate engraving on it and he had decided to wear it on his ring finger as a wedding band. And there it was this morning sitting on top of the green plants as though he had just dropped it there moments ago. I am so happy to have it.

After lunch I pulled some couch grass from the small bed around the birch trees....the first weeding project in the BACK yard. And then I used the new gas can to fill the lawnmower to cut more of the lawn in the back. I'm still not finished, but I have given it a good start. If all goes well tomorrow morning, I will have the brakes fixed and then I am off to Bradford for the weekend. Have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day.

Outside Work

There was sunshine today. It was still kind of chilly, but I went out about 10:30 to take advantage of the weather. I pulled weeds in the driveway and the third garden bed out front, and I trimmed some more grass from around the front lawn. I took two of these laundry baskets full of weeds back to my compost pile.

The sun got warmer so that I had to remove my jacket. Then the black flies appeared and drove me nearly mad, but I stayed outside for about 2 hours. My jeans show how hard I worked.

After lunch I went outside again, this time to cut  some grass. I ran the lawn mower until it ran out of gas. Tomorrow, while I am waiting for my brakes to be fixed, I will go into the Canadian Tire store and buy another gas can. The only one I have found has a green cap and I don't remember my gas can having a green cap before. So I will buy a new one and label it "Lawn-mower" so I don't get it mixed up with the fuel for the snow blower, or the riding lawn mower, or the pressure washer, or the wood chipper, or any of the myriad outdoor tools that are here that I don't even know how to use. I have a picture to show you just how high the grass has grown. I need some more dry days to get the job finished. And I would dearly love to get started on weeding the back yard gardens. The dandelions are doing well.

Now that I have come inside, I am feeling exhausted. I might have a wee lie-down. I have some chicken thighs with Teriyaki sauce in the crock pot for dinner.

Be Careful What you Wish For

Everyone must remember me lamenting all the rain that we have had recently. I was sick of it and asked for "no more". Well, that is NOT rain you see on my windshield. When I took the dog outside last night around 11:30 PM, it had started to snow. It didn't stay on the ground very much, but it did accumulate on other surfaces. By the time I had to leave at 7:30 this morning, I only had to turn on my windshield wipers, but I heard at the garage that others had to scrape the ice off. That is my punishment for complaining. Others have it much worse. Ten Canadian cities, including Montreal, have declared states of emergency. They are losing everything they own due to flooding. Some people have died. And yet I had the audacity to complain about the lack of sunshine. Changing weather patterns are affecting everyone.

The reason I had to leave so early this morning was an appointment to have my "leaking brake fluid" problem looked at. Well, they found the cause. They need to replace a valve that costs more than all four brand new tires cost me today. They don't stock it, so it had to be ordered. I have another appointment for Thursday morning to have it installed. And because it is labour intensive, the cost of installation will also be higher. I am looking at another $800, on top of the $661.60 I was charged today. I'm not very happy.

On the way home, I stopped at No-Frills and paid $1 for 4 AA EverReady batteries on sale, and I stopped at Shopper's for 2 dozen eggs and 3 loaves of whole wheat bread (only $1 a loaf), and  two blocks of cheese at $4.99 each for a total of $17.83 off my gift card, so no more OOP. When I got home I pulled out the ingredients I had prepped for bread pudding and chocolate chip cookies and got those made up.

I will take some cookies with me for my grand kids this weekend and leave some for my son and his GF who will be looking after the dog. I will probably finish off the bread pudding all by myself with a little of the homemade yoghurt I made yesterday. Once again, it turned out really nicely. I am liking this new yoghurt maker.

Daybook: Monday, May 8/17

Outside my window.....It is cold and overcast. What else is new? My daffodil flowers are rotting because they have been pushed down into the ground with all the rain and have not been allowed to dry out. The grass is finally cut because I picked up my lawnmower this morning ($87) and decided to cut the front lawn right away.

I am thinking.....I will have to make time to get outdoors between the rains to get the back yard cut, or it will be too long for the lawnmower.

I am thankful for.....my son and his GF who have volunteered to stay here this coming weekend to look after the dog while I go to Bradford to stay with my daughter while celebrating my grandson's 6th birthday.

From the kitchen.....I have the other half of the turkey carcass in the crock pot making a soup broth. I baked a batch of dog biscuits on Saturday and I made a Shepherd's Pie  last night when my son and GF came for dinner. I started putting together ingredients to make chocolate cookies yesterday, but had to put the creamed butter and sugar in the fridge because I forgot I had run out of eggs. Right now I have yoghurt "cooking" in the yoghurt maker. I cut up 6 cups of stale bread and was going to add some of the whole milk that was left over from making the yoghurt to bake a bread pudding. Ha. I forgot AGAIN that I didn't have eggs, so those two ingredients are back in the fridge. I have a great memory but it is too short.

I am wearing.....blue jeans, blue socks and my new ivory and gold coloured long-sleeved T-shirt.

I am creating.....no cards last week. I did however finish up a dishcloth while watching Netflix.

I am going.....nowhere else today. I have already been out to pick up the repaired lawn mower.

I am hoping.....we finally get some sunny days this week. Enough with the rain!!!

I am hearing.....lots of bird calls today, now that the rain has slowed down a bit.

Around the house......there remains the same housework that I mentioned last Monday. I didn't do any of the vacuuming or wet mopping. There is laundry to be folded. I want to hang the draperies and do some outdoor work.

One of my favourite things.....is an afternoon nap on cold, damp day such as this.

A few plans for the rest of this week.....include two appointments at Canadian Tire early tomorrow morning. The first one at 8 AM is a brake check. My brake light came on again the last couple of days, indicating low fluid. You will remember that Canadian Tire topped up the fluid for free 4 or 5 weeks ago. Since the light is back on again, I have a slow leak somewhere. It needs to be fixed. At 10 AM, I am scheduled to have 4 brand new summer tires put on my van. I will be spending a boatload of money this week. Ugh! I will pick up some eggs on my way back tomorrow so I can finish up those two baking projects sitting in my fridge. And since my van will be practically brand new again, I may drive to Bradford this Friday instead of taking the bus or train. It just seemed too complicated and time-consuming (and expensive) to go there with all the different transfers I would end up taking. I have already forwarded money to my daughter to buy my grandson his gift. She knows best what he needs/wants and can put the money where it is needed. I will be staying for two nights and return on Sunday.

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

Yellow tulips

 The rhubarb should have been ready to pick by now, but we haven't had too many warm sunny days yet. It is almost ready. 

First Week of May

The title of this post was going to be Goals for May, which I started a few days ago. I have since given up that post. I don't want to set any goals for this month, except maybe to end up at the end of the month with more good days than bad. I will be satisfied with that.
So I will just give you an update of my week.All the "to-do" items that I listed on Monday remain undone. After I wrote my Daybook I went down for a nap and slept all afternoon.

On Tuesday, I started my day by going to my bank to withdraw $100 and I went to Shopper's Drug Mart to buy a $50 gift card with half that money. I was entitled to a FREE 90 gm Brookside chocolate bar with the purchase of the gc. As well, I bought a case of 12 Diet Pepsi for $3.49 which made more sense than buying a bottle of pop. From there I drove to a friend's house to go on our drive. We drove to Westport to meet up with a third friend and then on to Perth. We visited some of the shops on the Main street downtown until the rain started back up again. We drove to a park and had a picnic lunch in the car. Afterward we drove to Kilborn's. We love to go there occasionally to have a look. They sell EVERYTHING....clothes, specialty foods, furniture and furnishings, kitchen appliances, giftware, etc. I was able to buy some Dutch rusks for a friend of mine. They are so difficult to find nowadays.

On Wednesday morning my friend arrived with her list of things she wanted to help me get accomplished. I gathered up the documents I needed to finalize Rick's estate.  I  discovered that I was missing the ownership paper for my own vehicle,so we needed to make another trip to Service Ontario to get that sorted ($32). But first, we took the gas-powered lawnmower over to the repairman in town. We checked out Value Village to see if they had a dresser to replace the one I gave up to my son. They didn't have anything suitable, so I didn't buy. We stopped at No-Frills on the way home to buy a turkey at $1/lb., 2 packages of Octoberfest sausage at $2 a pkg., and 2 packages of 4 hamburgers each at $2 a pkg. I also picked up 6 Oral B tooth brushes for only $1 a piece. (stocking stuffers) Total $19.65 When I got home I had time to clean out the Jeep Wagoneer that my husband was giving a friend for parts, and I phoned him to remind him it was available for him to pick up. When I was cleaning up under the seats and floor mats, I found a total of $14.11 in found money. Not bad for an hour's work. I also collected the waste baskets and took the garbage to the curb. I cleaned the downstairs sink and toilet. This was my MOST productive day of the week.

On Thursday morning I wrote a letter and enclosed documentation to close out one of my husband's accounts. I phoned in two prescription refills. I cleaned out one of my desk drawers and collected papers that needed to be shredded. It was overcast, but not raining, so I did a load of laundry and hung outside on the line. I phoned my bank to set up an appointment to discuss my finances the next morning. I had an appointment scheduled on the other side of Kingston for a breast examination at 2 PM. My hydro bill arrived today. It was only $124.23 which was way down from the month before. Yay! I was able to shred all of the purged documents I had gathered.

Since my appointment with the bank was for 10 AM, I went into Amerstview  a little bit earlier so I could pick up my prescriptions and a few things (milk and oatmeal) from Shopper's with my gift card. I deposited my found money into my savings account. After my appointment I came back home to do more number crunching.  I am considering cancelling my supplementary health insurance with my past employer, since I was able to opt into my husband's health insurance. It is far more expensive than mine but it  also looks after eye glasses and dental coverage and 100% drug coverage.  Mine cost $14.95. His costs $135. I'm not sure what to do. I am paying for both right now.

Today I have baked another batch of dog biscuits. I have washed one load of laundry, read more blogs and commented. I am getting ready to go to my son's apartment for dinner. It is another wet and soggy day outside. Enjoy your weekend, everyone.

Daybook: Monday, May 1st, 2017

Outside my window.....it is overcast. It is wet, though not raining at the present time. It is chilly.

I am thinking.....I need to get back to writing out  weekly and monthly goals by starting up my to-do lists again. I started the beginning of the year by writing daily in my yellow composition book. I stopped mid way through the month of January. Then I started up again briefly in February as I wrote down things I needed to do after Rick passed away, then nothing... I started a page today on May 1st.

I am thankful for.....a friend of mine who is coming this week with a list of things that I need to do in order to tie up loose ends.

From the kitchen.....on the weekend, I made a batch of soup that will make most lunches this week. On Saturday for my son and his GF, I cooked chicken thighs with Teriyaki sauce in the crock pot with a side of rice, carrots and corn. I cooked a chocolate pudding and made yoghurt for the first time in my yoghurt maker. Last night's dinner was cabbage roll casserole from which I froze two dinner servings for later in the month. There is a batch of dried red kidney beans cooking in the crock pot right now.

I am wearing.....blue jeans, gray tube socks, a gardening t-shirt and a red with white polka dots zippered cardigan.

I am creating.....more cards for birthdays, sympathy, get well, and thinking of you. I have a buyer for a boxed  assortment. I will make a bunch and let her pick the ones she would like to purchase.

I am going.....nowhere today. At least, I haven't made plans for today. Last Monday I didn't have plans either, but my son and his GF were off work and picked me up to go for a drive. It was a sunny day.

I am hoping.....that this veil of anxiety and depression lifts soon.

I am hearing.....the blower on the furnace. I had to turn the heat back on yesterday morning. I put some peanut butter inside one of my dog's bones, so he is busy trying to get that licked out.

Around the house.....there is housework that needs doing. Hopefully this week I can get the upstairs rooms vacuumed and the downstairs floors wet mopped. I would like to get my new-to-me drapery panels hung. When the weather allows, I want to spend an hour or two outside pulling weeds/ cutting grass/ planting.

One of my favourite things.....is my yoghurt maker, because it is a new experience for me. It is still work because I have to heat the milk to 180*, so very careful monitoring with a thermometer. And then I have to cool it down to 110* (not any cooler than that), before pouring into the clear containers in the yoghurt maker. Unfortunately, it is not simply a matter of pouring in the milk and pushing a button. It is time consuming, but I hope it will become second nature because the yoghurt is absolutely scrumptious. I probably only need to prepare it once a week, or less.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include a drive and picnic lunch with two of my friends tomorrow. A friend coming over later this week to help me tie up loose ends. I have a breast examination appointment on Thursday afternoon. My son's GF's mom has arrived for a visit from California and so I am invited for dinner this Saturday at their apartment.

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

 Grape Hyacinth growing among some Globe Thistle plants that seeded themselves. I want to dig them up and move them to one of the back gardens. Though beautiful flowers, the Globe Thistles are very invasive.

Bleeding Hearts are just starting to come out against the back drop of my daffodils.