Musings on a Small Life

I have a few more grey hairs today, thanks to my brat cat, Nicki. You can read the whole story on my Fuzzy Tales blog, here , because I am not copying and pasting, or worse yet, rewriting for this blog.

*Groan* You know you're getting older when running a few errands leaves your body aching from head to foot. LOL. I think hauling three heavy bags of cat food (dry and tins) plus groceries two kilometers home after work yesterday did me in. It was a great arm and shoulder work-out, though. :-D Today was simple, so why am I done in? I walked to the Centre, then bused up to the Evil Empire, taxied home with all the stuff, headed out again (with camera) for a few more errands, including a stop for some more annuals, then finally made it home around 11:30. I did some gardening...Oh, it was cutting the grass! I have a little old-fashioned (and old) push mower, the kind with the rolling blades. No gas, no electricity. There's not much grass to cut, in fact the lawn care company is supposed to do it, but because of all the rain we had this week, they've not made it out. The grass is pretty high on everyone's lawn now, and along all the common green spaces. I did the patch in ...

I have massive headache today, probably due to yesterday's stresses, can't think of anything remotely interesting or witty to write. So I'll offer up one of the many snapshots I took of this morning's absolutely stunning and glorious sunrise. For more sunrise pics, and all the other snapshots I've taken this month, you can click on the link to my May Picasa album, in the right hand column.

...I have a temp crown. Go back in two weeks for the permanent one. LOTS of drilling involved. Two needles wasn't fun, but at least this time she did NOT hit the nerve. Thank you, goddess. Unfortunately, in the process of doing the impression, we pulled off my ortho wire, the one that holds my upper front teeth together (behind the teeth). Have to go back Wednesday AM to get the bonding at the back of the teeth cleaned up and get an impression made for another wire. That wire had been on for about 25 years, so likely was ready to go. We had talked about my having this done, way back in January, and the dental office had submitted an estimate to my insurance company. About $500, of which either 35% or 50% should be covered. The letter was VERY confusing, even the dentist couldn't sort it out. So I decided not to have it done, because of the money factor. Well...Now it HAS to be done. Thanks, Mr. Murphy of Murphy's Law. So much for getting out of debt, huh? And even before th...

I got ambitious early this morning, after doing laundry, and finally got two coats of white paint on the stair risers and sides. The cats were a great "help" while I was doing it, trying my best to keep the laminate floor paint-free. If only I had waited till it wasn't raining outside, the fur crew might have been content to stay outside. *Rolling my eyes* Well, they will have to be outside for the duration when I paint the treads. I have visions of dark brown kitty prints all over my house....and cats sick from licking paint from their paws. No thanks. After that, I took myself up to Starbucks for a short non-fat chai and an oatmeal raisin cookie. That's only the second Starbucks stop this month, if I recall correctly. I don't go often, for the sake of my wallet and the size of my butt. Then I rambled through the nearby cemetery for a while before walking home. So nothing exciting of note for the day, just a few more pics snapped along the way, the usual Sunday ...

I finally made it back out to the conservation area this morning. Hadn't been since the end of April, when I saw all the deer, frogs, and snakes. None of the above today, but plenty of chipmunks and squirrels (grey, black, and red), plus chickadees--even a male cardinal. I wanted to hike the full perimeter, but like last time, got bogged down in, well, the bog. LOL. Though I made it further along a particular trail than I did at the end of April, I still could go only so far and had to double-back, pick up a narrow path that crossed the area and come out on another drier, well-used trail. Perhaps the next time I go that particular route will be dry at long last. I did take plenty of pics -- 114 in fact -- saved 68 of them. Too many to upload to May's Picasa album via my slow dial up at home, so they'll have to wait till Monday and high speed access at the office. In the meantime, here's my favourite critter pic from the hike.

Today is my 14-week anniversary of being credit card debt-free. So what, you respond. Yeah, well, considering the huge ($$$$$.$$) debt burden I had been carrying, and considering that I had to remortgage my house for the second time in less than two years, keeping my Mastercard clear has been a feat worthy of heroic proportions. Oh, not because I bought anything exciting. But because on a single income and supporting three fur kids, I always was running out of money before running out of month. Need new socks and undies? Credit card. Need new-to-me clothes? Credit card. Footwear? Credit card. Need groceries? Credit card? Cat food? Credit card. And while I still don't have much disposable income and no savings for emergencies (therein lies the problem), at least I'm not in the hole. Not at the moment. Next week? Well, I need a crown on one of my molars and my dental plan will cover about 60% of the cost. So next week that card might be carrying a balance, depending on when the d...

So I'm trying to water the garden this evening. Go down into the basement to turn on the outside tap. Come back up, go outside...only there's no water running into the hose. Okay. I go back down to the basement, realize I don't hear the sound of any water running at all, turn off the tap. Contemplate the cost of a plumber, just to check a tap. Can't figure out how a tap can stop working between the fall and the spring. I shrug it off, use a pail to water the morning glory and sunflower seedlings that are sprouting. Then I think, oh, I'd better go check the tap on the outside of my townhouse, the one that connects to the hose. Even though I'm sure I turned it on a few weeks ago when I hooked up the hose. Well, duh. The outside tap is off, hence the reason for the lack of water flow. Back down to the basement I go, turn on the inside tap, and gee, presto! It's a miracle. I have water leaking out my garden hose. Actually, water is gushing out wildly because the...

In the dentist's chair. Just for a regular cleaning, though. The 90-minute initial appointment for my crown is Monday the 25th, at 1PM. I'm so not looking forward to that. Today wasn't so bad, except that even after only four months, there was a lot of tartar build-up and she really had to scrape to get it off. Ouch. I'm just prone to it, in spite of the extreme good dental hygiene I practice, and the hygienist thinks it might be time to see a periodontist. Yikes! I'm not too enamoured of that idea, naturally. My mom has had a lot of periodontal work done over the decades, and I know gum disease runs in the family, but....*Shudder* Having my gums peeled back and cleaned is NOT the way I want to spend a morning. Or afternoon. Of course, I'd like to keep my teeth.... No one tells you, at 20, what you could be in for at 45. Crowns, periodontal work, prescription glasses...None of these things ever crossed my mind when I was younger. Boy, I'd better not end up t...

[Morning sky snapped on Sunday the 17th.] Yeah, okay, I know you're thinking that being in daze is my usual state. Smart ass. But somehow, coming back to work after a long weekend, or in my case, an extra long weekend (four days off) means I'm even more out in la-la land than usual. I slept pretty well last night. No, I didn't have chocolate or cake or cookies or even ice cream yesterday. Not even Sunday. (Aren't you impressed? I am.) So I don't have a sugar hangover. I'm past the start of the female stuff that leaves me feeling out of it. (Sorry, TMI.) So I can only think that my brain just can't reconcile itself to being back in the cube. Oh, it's not bad! I have access to high speed internet again, always a big plus. I have plenty of real work to keep me occupied, another plus. I just can't make my head cooperate. Maybe if I had saved some of those mini-Toblerones they would have helped. Maybe if I have six cups of coffee, that will help. Maybe.

Okay. There is something fundamentally wrong with having to wear mittens in May, especially the latter part of May, to keep one's hands warm in the mornings. Mornings that are 2C, 3C, 4C. With days that are hitting 8C, 9C, maybe 12C, when the normal average day time high is about 20C. This is SOUTHERN Canada. We're not in the north. Our winter weather is, in fact, better than many places in the States. So there should be no need for mitts in May . Even here. Just saying.

Or maybe that should be "fab-u- less !" I got hi-lites and a cut today. Of all the pics I asked my stylist to take (a friend requested updated pics), this is my favourite and the most flattering. Though I must admit the "blur" tool in Photoshop Elements is like a little miracle device -- smooths out all the blotchy skin and middle-aged crows feet, sagging chin. Rather like foundation. Only waaaaay better. Just too bad I couldn't use a "blur" tool in reality, WITHOUT having facial surgery. And by the way, just to be fair, I emailed both the edited AND unedited snapshots.

Huh. An extra day off just means I work harder than I do sitting in the cube farm. Okay, but it is better than sitting in the cube farm. LOL. What, I can't get paid to stay home and putter around all day, take pics, run errands, garden, play with the cats, read and nap? Oh shoot, there goes my fantasy.... Monday is our Victoria Day holiday, the first holiday of the "summer" season, so yeah, I did take today off. I hemmed and hawed about it all day yesterday, but knew I'd have kicked myself if I didn't take a vacation day. And I must admit, it was so nice not to leave the house around 6AM! I actually didn't leave till just before 8AM, camera in hand, of course. I did a number of errands and gots pics besides, which was great. Made a stop at a couple of garden centres. Suggestion: Just pass on Canadian Tire's garden centre this year. I did buy six annuals there, but most of what they were selling looked terrible and they had crappy hanging baskets. Really...

I just went on-line to pay a bill and noticed I had more in my chequing account than I ought to have. Had a look at it and saw that Revenue Canada has refunded my income tax payment. Plus an additional $15. Huh??? I OWED money! I did my taxes twice, just to be sure. I ALWAYS owe money, because every year I've had to take out the $1000 in RRSP funds that I managed to accumulate. (Which, of course, means I haven't any savings.) Anyway, I sent my tax return in, along with a cheque, back in mid-April. Now they have given that tax money back to me. It MUST be a mistake. Can't be anything else. I guess I'll have to wait till I get the assessment in the mail to have clarification. But if, for some bizarre reason it's not a mistake and I don't actually owe more money on top of what I had given them, I'll be making a run to a garden centre. I've wanted a few annuals, a couple of hanging baskets for the front, plus some soil, but haven't had the extra cash for...

[Pic courtesy of the MS Clipart/Photo gallery] I heard a pack of coyotes this morning, around 4:15AM. The boys were out in the back space and I had the patio door open to keep an eye on them. Heard a sound I didn't recognize and stepped out, thought it was an odd dog noise. Then I heard the whole pack join in the chorus--gave me goose bumps. They must have brought down prey, maybe a young deer or a rabbit. Something. They sounded so close, close enough to be in the empty land kitty corner to our complex. But they also could have been up past the highway in another conservation area. My bet would be for the vacant land (it's a vast tract of land, will be developed soon). Definitely an eerie sound and only the second time I've heard coyotes since I've been in the townhouse. All the cats were at attention. Annie actually went out and sat on the step, the boys joined her, and they stayed there, very still, for some time. Yeah, guys...predator, prey. And you're the prey,...

I'm sitting here eating mini-Toblerone chocolates right now. Thirty calories each. I've had three, my day's supposed quota. Don't hassle me, it's Monday and it's PMS week. Besides, the cats had a hell of an adventure this morning, one none of us needs. You can read about it here . Everything else is calm. Sort of. I'm already getting a headache. Must. Have. More. Chocolate.

I'll bet you think I'm going to rant about something now, some store or organization that was giving me the run-around today. Nah, it's just my usual Saturday run-around on the bus for errands. :-) Out of the house at 7Am (pretty much usual for me, it' s not like I sleep in past 4:30Am, even on weekends), up to the Evil Empire for two more sheers for my bedroom. (I should have bought four panels last week--was it just last week?--when I was there.) Then down to my vet clinic for some Advantage anti-flea stuff. The cats will get a couple of doses this summer; I don't do it every month anymore. Mostly because it's pretty dangerous, toxic stuff that goes on them. And it's pricey, too. Then it was over to a Starbucks for a short non-fat chai and an oatmeal raisin cookie to go, into Shoppers Drug Mart, up to Dollarama, then the pet food/supplies store, the grocery store, and finally home. Got back at 11AM, which is pretty good, really, considering it's all o...

No, not my thighs. God's teeth, no. There's no part of my body that's like a rock, trust me on that one. It's my recent sleep! Me, who is known for fitful sleeping, for waking every couple of hours all night long. Me, who normally is awake between 3:30 AM and 4:30AM every day, 365 days a year, regardless of what time I go to bed. Well, for the better part of two weeks now, I've been sleeping like a rock every night. Not getting up in the middle of the night (let alone two or three times). Not being overly bothered by the cats who prefer to run around like crazies at 2AM. Not staying awake when I do surface to partial consciousness. In fact, I've been sleeping so soundly, so rock-heavily, that it takes me some time to rouse in the morning. To manage to swing my legs over the bed and haul myself up into a semi-vertical position. And from there, to trudge downstairs to start my day. It takes about an hour, and a mug of my favourite blend of coffee, to actually begi...

Some of the many Spring flowers I've snapped pics of during my walks to and from work.

So, I get up at 4:30-ish, as usual. It's not like the cats will let me sleep any longer, even with the bedroom door closed. I putter around, feed them, let them out, etc., then go back to bed at 6:30AM because I have a sugar hangover from the day before, from having eating all those dark chocolate covered cranberries. Feel like shit. Serves me right. Doze, but can't really sleep. And all of a sudden, while lying there snuggled under the covers, the idea to clear out the kitchen cupboards and wash everything down, rearrange things, pops into my brain. And won't go away. Well, hell. So I get up--it's now about 8AM--throw on my sweats, come downstairs, and start to tackle things. Four and a half hours later.... ....it's time for a beer. Oh yeah, I'm done. More like done in. Kitchen cupboards are cleaned, dishes and canned goods, etc., are rearranged. Even I'm impressed with my efforts. It all looks so good, better than it did before, that much is certain. Some ...