Musings on a Small Life

I was reading Corner of Cat's Mind this morning (one of the loveliest blogs I follow), and the word she's chosen for 2013 is change . I have two of my own for 2013: solace (the perfect word for what I need, and one actually mentioned by someone else via email the other day, not in relation to me) and serenity . I've had a serene week, with the mother and kids being away, though suspect everyone will be home either tonight or probably tomorrow. Actually, in terms of peace and quiet, I've had the best week, hands down, since they moved in last February. So my challenge will be to somehow find solace for my cares and woes, and to somehow, some way, find serenity within, especially in the face of the toxic energy that surrounds me, through the walls, here at home. I think it might involve drugs. LOL. Or, more seriously, something homeopathic for the awful pre-menopausal mood swings. More rowing, less chocolate. Not "no chocolate," just less c...

I dunno, I think you have to be a kid and/or have to enjoy winter sports to appreciate the 30+ cms (a foot) we got yesterday. I, for one, do not like it cold.  :-) On campus this AM. I popped in to the office to water my plants.  The old courthouse...as I was walking downtown. The sidewalks are hard going right now.  No one with a cane or walker or wheelchair could get around.  No one has shovelled out yet...away? I have a few more to post from the waterfront, just the usual snapshots. I was down there around 10AM and it was pretty quiet, people are still digging out. I hope everyone has been having a warmer day. LOL.

Mr. April. Trevor. Who happens to appeal to me very much.  :-) And yes, he had signed the page. Lucky Mom.   But...Keep back 50 feet? Not a chance! :-D Too bad it's not really April. This is what it looks like outside right now. The plow was out working at 3:30AM, but it was a futile effort. My driveway is directly below the window. As is usual with winter storms that come up from the States, the wind blows from the east and my space collects the most the snow on the entire street. I'll be out there later, shovelling, and likely up to my knees or even above, once it all settles down. I really, really, really despise winter. Hurry up, April!

It's about 4:15PM on Christmas Day as I type this, and I'm so thankful it's all coming to an end for another year. I had a small adventure, water heater related, Christmas Eve night. I had noticed, during the day, that I was getting only warm water, whereas normally it's scalding hot. But I didn't think anything of it until supper time, when I finally had the bright idea to actually take a look at my water heater. It was set to "vacation" (i.e. warm) and there were three yellow alerts on: A, B, and C. I hauled out the manual and took a look, found the applicable error code, followed instructions...and nothing. That necessitated a call to our utility company, and while it's more expensive in the long run to rent a water heater, as I do, I was thanking my stars for it last night. The on-duty guy had to come out, got here just after 7PM and left just before 8PM. He had to replace the temperature gauge, which had clogged up with calcium (due to the hard ...

Merry Christmas, everyone. May the holiday be joy-full, no matter what you believe or how you celebrate.  Recent Christmas card from a friend. An update on S's. mom, Judy: The diagnosis is multiple myeloma and she starts chemo tomorrow. I appreciate the prayers/healing energy on their behalf. Having coffee this AM with a friend, will do some poking around in Chapters (bookstore) after that, and then make a quick run to the grocery store for a couple of last minute things. So far, the neighbours next door remain at home, unfortunately. Well, what is, is. Oh, someone in the Greater Toronto area won the $50M lottery on Friday night. A single ticket. No one has come forward yet...what a Christmas gift. LOL. Take care...Purrs and peace from the boys, and Blessings and Light from me.  :-) Derry, out in the -12C windchill yesterday afternoon.   Nicki, wisely inside and snoozing yesterday afternoon.

My co-worker, S, the one who has been such tremendous support to me and who was with me on that terrible last trip to the vet with Annie, just found out her mom has cancer. By coincidence, her mother's name is Judy (as my mom's is), though she's younger.  Apparently S.'s father took his wife to emerg yesterday, where they ran some tests. A mass was found in the pelvic area and she was admitted, though is still waiting for a bed.  Further tests have been done this morning, and the best guess right now is that Judy has some form of blood cancer, which likely has metastasized. More tests are forthcoming. I have no idea what treatment options she will have, or if things have progressed too far. While I can't (yet) know what S. and her family are going through, I'm sitting here at my desk in tears. I would appreciate prayers, Light, good vibes, purrs...whatever it is that you do...for them all. Thank you.

Happy  birthday, Mom, a.k.a. Judy! (Click the image to enlarge, to read the text , Mom!) Eat, drink and be merry--and have a fabulous celebration! Hugs and Light from me and purrs and head butts from the boys!

Monday morning, almost the holiday break. I'm both looking forward to and dreading the break between Christmas and New Year's. Going back to bed at 6AM, instead of leaving for work, will be nice, at least.  I took a half-day on Friday, did some errands, will take my final half-day's vacation this Friday, as the University will close after that until January 2nd. W. and I went to our boss's holiday open house on Saturday evening. I'm glad we went, as we were the only staff from our little office to go--two were away and one was sick. Besides, we got to see the home that he and his partner had purchased and had renovated back in May. Always fun to check out other people's houses. :-) We have a work potluck today, for a surprise baby shower. Gag on both counts. I made a cheese ball that probably will taste like crap. I looked and looked for one on Friday,  but couldn't find one ready-made. Pffft. I know they're easy to make, but it ended up cos...

Okay, Tuesday's lunch turned out to be quite bearable. Probably because I somehow managed to sit at the "fun" end of the table. It turns out that the woman I privately thought of as a little Hitler, for reasons I won't go into here, is actually funny, engaging, outgoing and a world-traveler (on a budget). She has so many terrific stories and is hilarious . She also has two rescue Persians. The other, older woman in the same unit has a dog and two rescued cats, one cat a stray that showed up about a week ago. (Her senior cat passed early this summer.) She, too, is a world-traveler, though prefers to do the 5-star hotel kind of travelling.  :-) So it was okay , and I managed two hours before I called it a day. At least I wasn't the first person to leave--I was the second. LOL. My boss and his partner have an open house Saturday evening-- groan --but I'll suck it up and go, unless we have a snowstorm. (Snow's in the long term forecast, and quite a bi...

My stylist told me about a easy, natural hair "product" that works well for styling and to keep one's roots from becoming greasy between washings. She had gotten it from her mom, who got it some time ago from a Dr. Oz episode, apparently. I Googled when I got home and found this "recipe": 8 ounces of water 1 tsp of sea salt 1/2 tsp conditioner Some recipes I found added a dollop of hair gel too, others didn't. I didn't bother. Mix it all up in a small spray bottle and spritz into your hair, especially the roots, before styling. So I thought I'd try it, and I have to say that while normally I wash my hair every other day, with this stuff I can extend it to every third day instead of every second. I don't think I want to stretch it to four, but that's because I have very oily skin. My stylist washes her hair once a week now, using this homemade recipe. I'm going to keep using it for at least another week or so and see h...

No, not because of the neighbours. LOL. Because I had a leak under the kitchen sink this morning--whereupon my heart sank. However, it turned out to be an easy fix, even for me. Though it did take two trips up to Rona, because the first length of hose I got was a bit too long. And no, I hadn't thought to measure, even though I did think to snap pics with the Elph to show to the guy in the plumbing section. The old and very short bit of hose, below. I had snapped this before heading up the second time. The guy who helped me in both instances said that the pin hole leak (which he'd never seen happen before) might have been caused by stress on the hose/pipe, from being too short. That those hoses are supposed to be longer to loop, to alleviate said stress. The only "hard" part of replacing the hose was loosening the top nut thingie--and figuring out which way to turn them both to remove them. LOL. The old hose is gone. And the new is on, below, and pretty...

If anyone shops at PetSmart, this weekend is a great time to stop in and check things out. I had a 15% off coupon, via email, so stopped in after my hi-lites and cut. I didn't realize they had all sorts of great deals on for Pet Perks members--duh, Kim, it's December, pre-Christmas. Anyway, I snagged the boys a new ESS for Christmas, 3 cases of ProPlan chicken & liver (the stuff I had such a hard time getting back in October, on sale now for 90 cents per can, regularly $1.19), and 2 cases of Fancy Feast (on for 55 cents per can, regularly 73 cents). I would have taken more cases of food, but five (plus the scratcher) was all I could reasonably carry home on the bus. Both brands are on sale till December 30th, so I'll probably go back next weekend and pick up more, if they're still in stock. Between the Pet Perks deals and the 15% off coupon, I saved $53.76 on the ESS and the 120 cans of food. BTW, don't waste your money on the ESS scratchers at WalM...

I can't believe I did this...But I sat out on my front step this morning at 4:30, giving Toby his breakfast. Nothing unusual there. He ate a few bites of canned then wanted up on my lap--also normal. So he sat in my lap (he's a leaner, and a heavy one at that) and I held the plate of canned food up for him so he could eat while in my lap. I'm just shaking my head, because I don't even do that for Nicki and Derry! * Barely a peep from the neighbours last night. The mother must have been working, because she wasn't home when I got back from work, mercifully. The father came home with the kids, and if the mother was at home at all while I was still up, I didn't hear her. * Office lunch next Tuesday at a nearby restaurant--all fourteen of us in our integrated, happy work family. Pffftt. At least this one's during office hours. * Hi-lites and a hair cut tomorrow. I debated canceling the hi-lite part of the appointment, but really need a perk righ...

[This is long, and the same stupid nonsense, so I won't hold it against anyone for not reading. LOL.] I appreciate yesterday's comments, though, really, how does anyone out in cyber space know I'm one of the "good" ones? :-) Well, the husband came home last night, after having been away--or at least not there--since Tuesday at 4:20AM. He left while I was out with Toby, giving him his breakfast. First time that I've seen him leave so early. I figured maybe he was on call. (Not sure he's at the same job...whatever.) But he didn't return Tuesday evening or Wednesday. Yesterday when I got home, at my regular time, I put my packages on my doorstep and went to my mailbox (lock boxes at the end of the street). I had my ear buds in, was listening to Christmas choral music, which I love . When I was heading back from the mailbox, the neighbour mother came out with envelopes to mail. I avoided eye contact and didn't engage her in any way, becaus...

Dear Santa, I've been a good girl this year. More's the pity. Actually, I've been a ridiculously good (and boring) girl for 48 years, going on 49, and for some reason, it doesn't seem to be working for me. You know I haven't asked you for a lot of things over my lifetime, and the non-material things I've asked for I've not received. Not that I'm criticizing or anything. But I thought I'd ask for a few things this year, if you could see your way to bringing at least #1 or #3. 1. Please take away my immediate neighbours permanently, and bring only quiet, problem-free, abuse-free ones, with no problem companion Beings of any species. The gods and goddesses aren't working quickly enough on this one, so I thought I'd ask you. You know, in case the deities are too busy eating Ferrero Rocher chocolates to pay attention to requests. [Referencing a dumb TV ad.] 2. In correlation with item #1, please provide me the means to have sound-reducing...

We just lost one blogger to pancreatic cancer this week, and now we have word of another passing. I have no confirmation as to cause of death (sudden, not expected), but I'm hearing via the grapevine that it was suicide. I can't even tell you how sad, how ill , this makes me. I've struggled with depression for so much of my life, needed help for several of those years, and it absolutely breaks my heart to think that mental illness might have claimed another life. There is help, but sometimes the stigma is so great that we don't seek it out. Or we don't have an understanding of what's happening to us. I know I didn't, I thought it was just something I could talk myself out of, and it took a long time before I truly understood that depression (and other mental illnesses) are just that--illnesses, like any other. My thoughts and "prayers" are with this person's family and friends. My heart is so heavy, I just haven't words. Pe...