Musings on a Small Life

I snapped these on Tuesday morning, heading downtown for an appointment. As I commented on someone else's blog, winter always looks pretty when it's in someone else's photos.  :-D       However, the reality of winter in this city is poorly cleared sidewalks that are covered in ice, making walking conditions treacherous. Ice-grippers for one's boots are a must! [BTW, yes, the replacement base TV cabinet from Ikea was delivered on Tuesday...intact. Woohoo!] Peace .

My girlfriend sent these to me yesterday, with the last one of both Amber and Kailey. No need to say which one of the two has taken over the house.  :-D         I wish my boys would pose as nicely as Amber does! Peace . Comments are off.

Nah, not food, leftover pics and leftover random thoughts. I managed to catch the setting sun on December 8th as I was walking home. It's rare that I do because that bus usually is running late. The waxing moon, also on the 8th, snapped with the little Nikon. My little tree, a bit of cheer in the otherwise dark and gloomy evenings. There might be some presents for the boys, involving catnip, tucked away elsewhere, waiting for Christmas morning. Nicki curled up on Sunday afternoon. I'm already fretting (a bit) about the challenge of having to fast him for his dental this coming winter (probably February). This morning's full moon, snapped with the Fuji. It's slightly out of focus, I think, as I always snap these just hand-held and at 4:30 AM I wasn't too steady. :-D I was supposed to have had the replacement Ikea order delivered yesterday, but due to the terrible weather and road conditions, FedEx sent me a "delivery exception" email n...

I know that post title is a groaner, but I couldn't resist!  :-D I popped out to Bed, Bath and Beyond this morning, 20% coupon in hand, to check out the vacuums and a couple of other things. Came home with this baby; yes, a real Shark. Ha. Regular price $449, on sale for $379, plus 20% off the sale price. Got it for $303 plus tax. Most expensive/highest end vacuum I've ever owned; all mine tend to be in the $100 - $150 range (regular and/or sale price). Huge thanks to my mom, who gave me Christmas money, most of which went toward debt. It was nice to be able to use a bit of it for something I've wanted and that's also practical. So, some thoughts after the first use: 1. There are a LOT of attachments! I had to sit down with the manual and figure it all out, then refer back to the manual as I was vacuuming. It's a three-in-one: a regular upright, a canister vacuum, and a lift-away hand-held one. It comes with a separate floor pad cleaner ("har...

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.

[ Note : The boys have a holiday e-card on the "Happy Holidays" page in the tabs. Feel free to take it.] So far, knock on wood, Tuesday is starting better than Monday.  :-) Anyway, just a few pics for the day: Early yesterday morning while waiting for the bus.   The snow comes...the snow goes. I'd like it to go and not come back. It's still patchy white outside, more so in neighbourhoods like mine that have crappy snow clearing. The streets are fine, the sidewalks, per usual, are not. And better than snow pics, a few pics of Amber Gold from my girlfriend. She sent them yesterday.       Have a great day, everyone. Peace . Comments are off.

Monday, Monday Can't trust that day Monday, Monday Sometimes it just turns out that way Yeah, the day's getting off to a marvellous start (that's sarcasm). Nothing "bad", just typical Monday work stuff. On the plus side (sort of), I get to leave early for a dental appointment this afternoon, just regular cleaning, nothing root-canal related (thank goodness). I won't be back to the office! So, to get the day on a better track, here's a pic of Claire, from our former summer student. (Some of you might remember that he and his girlfriend had adopted her locally, and that they have a ferret too, Darby.) He had emailed me on Friday for something and of course I asked how Claire was. He took the pic and sent it to me. (They're in Toronto, doing their respective Masters programs.) It looks like she's claimed the tree for her own, of course! And this is cute, I saw it on Facebook within the past few days, and some of you probably have ...

So I'm on the bus this morning, heading out to my stylist's house in the west end, appointment for 9:15 AM. I "know" the bus driver by nickname (not by real name), am on one of his buses occasionally, usually on weekends. He tells a lot of groaners (bad puns, jokes), and stories he should keep to himself or save for others (not me).  Anyway. We're chatting away about various things and he tells me fares are going up in the new year, $3 for everyone (no discount for kids or seniors anymore, though if you can prove you're on a fixed income a reduced rate will be available, and high school kids already get free transit).  All of a sudden he pulls the bus over at the side of the street, gets out of his seat and tries to pull out the paper sign listing the new fares (it's in a plexiglass protective sleeve). Okay, I can see the fares are going up, you don't need to stop the bus to try to pull out the only sign to give to me. And the next...

Recent pics of Amber Gold, from my girlfriend yesterday, posted with permission.  She has a long, lean body type like Nicki.    Amber played hard and then zonked out, as all young ones do!  :-)       Have a "feel good" Friday and weekend. Comments are off. Peace .

1. Our work insurance company is covering $925 out of the $977 I just paid for the second root canal appointment. Woohoo! Still leaves me $500+ out of pocket on the entire thing, but I welcome the reimbursement. My line of credit welcomes the reimbursement.  :-) BTW, my mouth feels fine! Knock on wood, no problems whatsoever. 2. Ikea is sending me an entire new base cabinet (the larger of the two boxes). I opened the damaged box when I got home yesterday, took pics and emailed them off, then called to follow up. I guess they can't send a replacement for the one piece, I presume because everything is pre-packaged. The down side is that I will have to dispose of the box I have now, with all its MDF pieces, at my own cost. (It'll be added to the growing mess in the garage that needs a junk removal call. I really should cosy up to someone with a pick-up truck.) 3. The Salvation Army is coming tomorrow to pick up my old dining table, chairs, bar stools and various bags of...

Everyone already knows the dining table arrived last week with some slight damage, not enough for me to call and kick up a fit about. (Yes, we Canadians can be polite that way. LOL.) Just for the record, if it had been an expensive table, or if the damage had been significant, I would have called and made a fuss. So. The chairs. The infamous chairs. The Wayfair.ca site had a glitch the afternoon I was trying to order them (1 set of 2 chairs), so I called and spoke with Gary at Wayfair, and he placed the order. (Remember Gary of the barking dog in the background? Gary in his basement in his underwear?) Because of the glitch with the product-ordering at their end, my receipt showed 2 sets of 2 chairs @ $173+ tax each, with a credit for $173+ tax. Bottom line: I paid for 1 set (2 chairs). What arrived on Monday was 2 sets of 2 chairs -- 4 chairs in total! I opened one box to make sure they were undamaged (yes) and then spent about 2 hours trying to get one of them...

I had part 2 of the root canal this morning. I'm unfrozen now (mid-afternoon) and waiting for the pain to start. I found out I'm among the 18% of people who have an extra root! Aren't I lucky?  There still was a bit of infection in various canal pockets, but nothing like before, so everything is cleaned out and sealed up and I have a permanent filling in my crown. Fingers crossed I have no more problems. He did give me a prescription for another round of antibiotics if necessary, though I hope I don't have to fill it. Today's cost? $977.00, on top of the $700+ the last time (of which I was reimbursed less than $300). I'll find out in the near future how much Great West will cover. It won't be even close to all of it, not by a long shot.  So I'd better not need further treatment! BTW, I received my dining chairs yesterday, a double order actually (their mistake), but that's for another post. Just let me state once again: never ord...