Musings on a Small Life

Amazing how much cheerier one feels when its Friday and one does not work weekends. And one has Monday off as a vacation day.  :-P After that, it will be just four working days, then we'll be shut down till January 2nd. I still will be in my jammies at 6:30 AM over our break, not rushing out the door; yippee! I have only one quick snapshot of my own to share: this morning's sky as I was heading from a 24-hour grocery store to the bus stop. Lovely sky! We're due for rain today, which, I hope, will wash the bit of snow (from early this week) away. And in honour of a certain girl kitty in New Zealand, this is today's cat calendar photo: I couldn't help but think of Poppy immediately when I saw it, though I'm not sure how she'd fare in the snow! Finally, I saw this on TinyBuddha.com the other day and printed it out, tacked it up on the outside of my work cubicle.  :-D I mean this about my life in general. LOL! Everyone take care, r...

Derry only looks roly poly and cute and cuddly. (Well, yes, he's obese. It's the cute and cuddly part that's deceptive!) When it comes to his feathered stick, he's very possessive! He'll growl/snarl if you try to take it away from him. So I've learned that it's best just to let him have at it until he's had enough. Silly cat! Peace.

For a "short week" (I'd taken Monday as a vacation day, with another amazing Value Village shopping trip), Friday sure has taken its sweet time rolling around. I haven't snapped even one pic of the cats, mostly because it's pitch black when I'm leaving for work and almost pitch black now by the time I get home. However, this has the advantage of being able to see some of the Christmas lights that people are decking their halls with. Snapped this morning as I was walking part way to work. I don't care if some think it's overkill and tacky, I like to look at an abundance of lights. No, I'm not fond of the old plastic decorations (though one house in my greater neighbourhood has a plastic snowperson family that keeps growing every year and is fun to see). But let's face it, Christmas really is the only time you can go all "Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation" and get away with it. As for our office, a couple of weekend...

I thought I was just buying a little hand vac, but it appears that I was buying a kitty shark too.  :-)  "Pet Perfect?" He probably would say so. Now, if he'd actually use the hand vac to clean up after himself, then maybe I'd think he was "pet perfect" as well. I found this at Walmart early this morning, last one on the shelf. I love my full-sized (but very heavy) Shark vacuum, just wanted something easier to manage for quick pick-ups. I've already tried it out upstairs, on both carpet and bare floor, and it seems to work well. I've had a couple of different hand vacuums over the years, and not liked them (different brand and not cordless), so I hope this will do the job of picking up stray litter and cat hair in between regular vacuuming. Derry : C'mon, just let me sleep, lady. As for this past week, it seems to have passed in blur. I helped our boss decorate the office--last weekend I'd bought pretty garland and a ...

Friday's full moon I can't even remember most of the week just passed. Other than the freezing cold temps (minus 25C windchill Thursday morning), to plus 7C today. The boys got some mild outdoor time today, and some squirrel watching too. They didn't stray from the step too much, though. Happily the snow we had finally melted this weekend. I do remember that my boss and I were at Walmart at 7 AM on Black Friday. Not for large screen TVs; she needed a gift card for someone in the other unit in our suite, and I took the opportunity to pick up a few needed items, since I had a ride out there and a ride home too. (Best boss ever !) It was busy, but not crazy so early (everyone probably was at Best Buy), and I didn't have to wait for a check-out. The only Black Friday items I bought were from Naturalizer (shoes, accessories), as they were having 40% off everything. I bought a pair of casual Bzees shoes for my wide feet, and a tote bag, both already on ...

It's half price at Value Village today for super-saver members, in advance of the general public sale tomorrow. I spent what I consider to be a fortune (average of $4 per item, with tax) and came home with 15 sweaters, 4 pj/lounge bottoms, a brand new scarf that matches perfectly with my maroon winter coat, and a terrific tote bag (Denver Hayes). Everything is great except for three sweaters and three pj bottoms that will go back next weekend, for exchange. But I'm keeping the cat.  :-) Peace.

I'm skirting over how ridiculously early it is to have a snowstorm and am hoping it disappears within a few day. In the meantime, the first snowfall of the winter is always magical. I brought my point and shoot with me today, and went out early for a few pics, before the messy mix of rain later. I hope you have a magical (yet snow-free) day! Peace.

Apparently this is one of the skills a university education gives you.  :-P Comments are off; have a great Wednesday! Peace.

I had a 9:15 AM appointment today for a haircut (my stylist works out of her home, has her "salon" set up in her basement). But it seems someone else wanted a trim too! Willard, her cat, who was in the cutting chair when I came in.  He moved quickly to the shampoo chair before I could sit down! Silly cat. My stylist moved him back to the cutting chair so I could sit down, and he got up in a huff, went upstairs, presumably disgusted with us.  :-) I did manage to get my hair trimmed after that, though I'm sure my "fur" doesn't look nearly as nice as Willard's.  :-) Peace.

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...

Is Nicki revealing his true thoughts about being so close to Derry? :-) Peace.

Usually most of our trees are rather brown and drab in the fall, but this year, perhaps because of the heat all summer and then the rain earlier in the fall, the colours have been amazing. Most pics were snapped over the past couple of days, in or around campus, and I think all with just the cell phone. I can't get enough of the reds!         Everything is going out in a blaze of glory. 🍂 I'm wishing everyone an amazing weekend! Peace.