Musings on a Small Life

I took a walk around Lake Ontario Park on Sunday morning. Nothing out of the ordinary, just an enjoyable stroll on a lovely day! No real updates at my end, other than I paid the 50% for the flooring, so I'm committed now. Oh, and the person who bought the adjoining unit doesn't seem to have moved in yet. They come for a few hours after work (longer last weekend) but aren't sleeping here. I think they must be painting, top to bottom. There's no hammering (yet?), but I can hear something being dragged across the floor from time time. I hope they're in favour of area rugs (the previous neighbours were not). Time will tell!

It's a gorgeous morning here, "mild" and sunny, so I thought I'd post a few "thankfuls" for the day. The pic below was snapped in late afternoon earlier this month. I loved the setting sun on the vapour trails. I'm thankful for my early morning walks and for the ability to move. (I'm also thankful for Voltaren gel and my extra-large heating pad, but that's another matter. Hahaha.) I'm thankful for good friends, two of whom visited last Sunday. We braved Costco, which actually wasn't too crazy at all, surprisingly. I'm thankful that the countdown till our holiday work break is on...at least I'm counting down! I'm thankful for the remaining family that I do have, thankful to have any at all. I will be spending Christmas with my aunt this year (Mom's younger sister). At first I thought no, given that my aunt is...uh...well, let's just say that she has a strong personality, but I reconsidered that. I don't want to sp...

Today I'm thanking Ann of Zoolatry for the beautiful memorial graphics she had made of my mom, at my request. (I had asked for one, but got three lovely images!) Mom's favourite colours were shades of blue, and Ann's graphics are perfect, complete with forget-me-nots. Thank you, Ann . I know Mom would love them. Unexpectedly, she also sent me new memorial graphics for angels Chumley, Annie, and Nicki, as well as a blog-sized version of Derry's recent one. You will find those, along with the first one of Mom, on my " In Memory " page (link on a tab next to the Home page). You will also see memorial images on my sidebar, though you might have to reduce your browser to about 80% to see them. (Maybe I need to update my blog template to something that will resize automatically, if Blogger has that option.) Thanks also to you , for stopping by. I hope you have something to be thankful for today, too. P.S. I'm out of town at the moment, so will visit blogs when I...

I'm thankful for this dear little one, my heart. ♥ I'm thankful the university is closed tomorrow, giving us an extra, extra long weekend. Monday is the Victoria Day holiday and since 2020 the administration has given us an extra day off. I presume all Ontario universities are doing the same; ours certainly wouldn't do it solo! I'm thankful for the blooms, now come and gone. Last week was quite warm, summer-like, and all the apple and cherry tree blossoms peaked. Most of their flowers are gone now, but they were glorious while they lasted. I'm thankful the dentist who replaced the filling in one of my lower molars this morning had a soft touch with the needle, because I needed three of them to completely freeze me. I'm still frozen, almost four hours later, but it's better than feeling any pain! I'm booked for a temporary crown on that tooth (it's cracked in several spots) on July 15, then for the permanent one on July 29. Ugh. However, I'm certa...

Today I'm very thankful that Derry ate a bit more late yesterday evening and overnight, and also this morning. He wouldn't touch his Hills z/d (wet or dry), though he ate the hydrolyzed protein dry that Royal Canin makes. (I've got their urinary hydrolyzed protein on order from the online vet store.) We're both thankful he did not have to return to the vet clinic! However, I popped out to the vet clinic a short time ago to pick up a dozen small cans of a different food, in case of future need, and also for more eye meds to have on hand...just in case. Then I swung by PetValu for some "gravy" type foods to keep on hand, again, in case of emergency. I also picked up various food toppers, including some beef liver, to entice Derry to eat his Hills z/d canned again. I'm thankful that worked! He just ate a decent amount of his prescription canned, and is comfortably ensconced in the back space with his lawn chair, freshly cleaned litter box (yes, I put one out...

I am thankful beyond any words for this sweetheart. He'll be 15 in June and I know our time together is growing shorter, but I feel so very blessed to have had him in my life for over 14 years. ♥

I've always loved this quote: “We are not put on this earth to see through one another. We are put on this earth to see one another through.” (supposedly by Gloria Vanderbilt) The older I get, the more I see that this is true, or at least is my truth. The past couple of weeks have been challenging. I'd had a regular mammogram on October 25th, as part of the bi-annual Ontario Breast Screening program. I was called for a follow-up a couple of business days later, and anyone who's been there, done that, knows how frightening it is. I had the follow-up compression views and an ultrasound on Tuesday morning, and found out today that all is well, the anomaly that the first mammogram showed turned out to be scattered, dense, fibrous tissue, perfectly benign. I am deeply, deeply thankful that everything is fine and I hope and pray that the same holds to be true for the women who were having recalls that same morning and with whom I chatted, all of us there in our gowns a...

 Morning sky on Tuesday It's another slog through the work week for me. I confess that my mood hasn't been the best since the spring. I've been consistently crabby and sometimes quite low, which isn't like me. (A few days now and then, yes, but every single day--no.) I've worked hard over the past several years to consciously alter my mindset, given my past history with depression, but I feel I've back-slid over the past few months. I suspect it's a combination of factors: All the work changes (change of direct boss and all that comes with it, change of top boss, a new assistant director for our sub-unit who starts on September 4th, etc.) The lack of walking since the spring, because of the plantar fasciitis (both feet)--walking is my mental therapy and I miss it greatly, never mind all the extra weight I've gained on top of my already overweight middle-aged body. The up and down middle-aged hormones--the hormonal impact on mood is tremendou...

Today I'm especially thankful for good friends with sane and sage advice. :-) And since I'm fresh out of my own sane and sage advice, I'll simply post today's quote over at TinyBuddha.com : That is sane and sage advice! Peace . Comments are off.

Most of you probably remember that I give Derry a pinch of UTI-Free (from PetAlive.com ) in his canned food, twice a day, to prevent another flare-up of cystitis. One small bottle lasts a couple of months, and since I'm nearing the end of my supply, it's been in my mind to order more. However, I've been hesitating because of the currency exchange rate, not thrilled with the idea of spending over $100 in CDN funds for another few bottles. Anyway, in this morning's email "in box" was another promotion, to save 30% off a single order. So I logged in, added three bottles to my cart and wow! I got their "buy two, get one free" promo plus 30% off the entire order, and shipping to Canada was only $5! Total order: $42.73 USD! Now that's a great deal for the product, all things considered. Pic from last August...when we weren't in a drought and my "grass" was green. Thanks to all for the comments regarding the a/c. ...

There was an unexpected package for me in yesterday's mail, and when I opened it up, it was two tie-dye totes from Trish over at Katnip Lounge . Her husband makes and sells them on his Etsy shop and I had purchased a small one a few years ago (longer?). Trish actually remembered (!) that I'd said at the time I'd love a larger one to use as a shopping bag. So now I have one! It's super-heavy weight and durable and will be perfect for cases of cat food, groceries, etc. Note that she included a bonus small tote too! So a huge thank you to Trish and Scott, it was a lovely surprise. I asked that she let me know when he starts selling the larger ones, as I'd like to buy one or two.  *** Update on Mom's hubby, Harry: He's still in hospital, still only eating a few teaspoons of pureed food a day, has lost a lot of weight (and he was frail to begin with). The big concern is the fluid in his pleural cavity; they're going to try draining that,...

Thanks so much to all of you who commented yesterday, for being the voices of reason. In my head I know much of it is dependent on the cat's personality, and how much you can push them, even with time, patience and treats. Nicki, for instance, totally freaks--and I do mean freaks --at the first whiff of Advantage, so it's not something I'm able to apply to his neck, even if he's "confined" in a carrier or a room. Poor boy goes berserk. Literally. So it might be that even after a few weeks or a month he just will have none of the Aerokat. I'll do my best, because the potential/probable side effects from long-term Prednisolone use are very much in my mind, and if he won't accept the Aerokat, I'll be out of options. On a more upbeat note, his blood work came back great! His liver values were way down--the range is 27 to 158 U/L. Last year he was at 152 and this year he is at 79. I can't figure out why the significant decline, other than t...

I don't mean posting. I've just had my second "thank you" here at work today. The first from a prof re: something he and my boss were discussing. My boss is off for a couple of weeks and this prof is on a tight deadline, so I simply emailed him (i.e. my boss) to ask about the matter and then left a voice mail for the prof indicating that I'd contact him ASAP. My director subsequently got in touch with the man directly, and then the prof actually called me to thank me for my voice mail to him, for keeping him apprised. He said how much he appreciated it, and he also said that there are a lot of faculty members around campus who appreciate what what my boss does for them. Huh. After I hung up the phone with the prof I thought, oh, I'd like to work for him! Whenever do I hear a "thank you" from my own boss for anything, let alone something simple? Sometimes. But never have I had an "I really appreciate...." Then I just got an e...

“Be thankful for your allotment in an imperfect world. Though better circumstances can be imagined, far worse are nearer misses than you probably care to realize.” -Richelle E. Goodrich I'm thankful that I didn't have any more than 3 glasses of this last night: I'm not a wine drinker, as most of you know. I'd much rather have a shot of good rye, on the rare occasion I have anything. I think I had one glass of wine while Dad was here last September, but none since. Yesterday, for some bizarre reason, I felt like picking up a bottle of wine, stopped in at an LCBO on the way home, and found this truly lovely Australian wine, 10 bonus Air Miles. Which is the reason I bought it, since I know zilch about wines. It turned out to be so good that I had 3 glasses, which was 2 glasses too many. Oops. So I'm also thankful, today, for Ibuprofen.  :-p

Maybe I ought to adopt this Thursday theme on my own blog, particularly since I'm not in the mood to blog much on the Fuzzy Tales site. Just my usual winter "blahs," coupled with the anniversary of Chum's death, and of course the first anniversary of Annie's passing looming on February 16th. So, for today, here's what I'm thankful for, in no particular order: A decent full-time job with a great boss An excess of food A home of my own Reasonably good health, I think. Hope. LOL. The boys, who by times drive me nuts, but always give me a focus beyond my petty self. Annie and Chum--they blessed me with their presence, even though I still keenly feel their loss. Dark chocolate with caramel chunks. Parents who still are alive and who love me. That we have "only" 54 days till the Spring equinox on March 20th. God's teeth, I can't wait for GREEN again! A coupon for a very small amount off the admission fee to the Canadian Cat Assoc...