Forecast: Windy and Gloomy

What a crazy day this has turned out to be. It started out warm and sunny and 'out of the blue' literally, it has turned windy and cool with occasional raindrops or hail. Alberta! What a province!

I had a coffee visit this morning with a lady I don't know very well. I know her a lot better now. Spent 3 hours with her talking about stuff. Though she has a sunny disposition on the outside, in the inside she is hurting. Makes you wonder about how many other people are in the same boat, eh?

The Kenmore man was supposed to be here to fix my dishwasher as well. Called at 8:30 and said he'd be here between 1 and 3. Well, it is 3:20 and no sign of him. I am guessing it will be later in the day and just when I am headed out the door for my other meeting.

I am looking forward to tomorrow as my brother and wife are here from Sask and we are planning on doing some Canada Day celebrating. Hopefully that crazy Alberta weather will cooperate for the day and the evening fireworks. Happy Birthday, Canada!

I am headed to my Stephen Ministry meeting tonite. I wonder how many other people will be thinking it is such a lousy day...maybe I will just stay home. You can't do that when you are the leader!!

Think I will just relax for an hour and read my book 'Good to a Fault" by Marina Endicott. Maybe it will take my mind off this crazy weather!

Oops, just got a call from the appliance man. He will be here in 15 minutes to check out my dishwasher. Hope that it will only take 15 minutes too.
...to be continued!

I picked up my friend Isla from her 'secured facility' yesterday and brought her home with me. She was happy to 'get out'. When I say that I usually mean that I have been keeping myself busy with something and have just not been able to leave the house as I have been preoccupied. When she says it, she means it 'literally'!

Anywyay, I had planned that she might help me with making an Amish Friendship Loaf. It was time as it was Day 10 on the recipe instructions. I have read and re-read this receipe a trillion times and it still seems fuzzy to me. Nevertheless, I worked through it once more. I asked Isla to mix while I got the ingredients, measured and then put things away etc. She was so cute. Her short term memory is 'not there' so I must have heard her say at least 10X 'If it doesn't turn out, you can always say that Isla did not have her glasses on and did not read the recipe right." At first I thought it was funny but then I realized she really thought she was saying it for the first time, EACH time she said it. It was kind of sad at the same time as funny. Anyway, we had a lot of laughs. The next thing she said was "This is sure getting thick" which always caused me to stop and check it out just in case there was something going wrong with the recipe - not that I could change anything by then!

So we popped it in the oven finally. Two loaves were made. I thought it was a cake but it turns out to be a bread loaf. Chocolate bread loaf. Very good too. Lots of cinnamon in it. So this morning I am taking one pan to work with me so others can enjoy it (and I don't eat the whole thing myself)!

I had bought a new 48 piece puzzle of Toy Story3 for the grandkids so I opened it up and we tried to do it on the table on the deck. We actually finished it after about an hour! 48 pieces...big pieces. I said I wanted to be able to do it before the grandkids tried it out. They seem to know how to do puzzles better than gramma. I can still remember trying to do a Spiderman puzzle with Josh when he was about 4 and he finally said to me "It's OK gramma, we can ask mommy to help us." How does a girl feel, eh? Well, she was very definite in every move. Things that were obvious she totally missed but once in awhile she would find a piece that fit where I didn't even see it - not that that is any accomplishment as puzzles definitely are not my thing. We had a few laughs and hopefully she enjoyed herself. Taking her back to her place she thanked me for 'getting her out' and for doing something different.

I feel good about her feeling good. I want to be more regular with her (not that she will notice) but I will.

Worth a Thousand Words

I picked up my pictures from Walmart yesterday. They are great. Having said that, grandkids have got to be the best thing since sliced bread. You have way more patience, you try more things that you have never done before, you are always available whenever they want to talk (no replies like 'wait a minute, can it wait? hold that thought) but "sure, honey, what do you want? or 'no problem sweetheart, let me help you". I say that even though I know I was available for our daughter but somehow it seemed a bit more difficult to always reply with a 'yes'. You always had other things to do too. Not that you don't now but somehow now you know, yes, I said it, KNOW where the priority lies! Anyway, 'I am just saying ..." that it is important to make every moment count. Since our grandkids are miles away, we want to 'be available' whenever they call. That's a given.

I can hardly wait till next month when we go camping with them. More memories to make. Ahhhhhhhh! I was trying to figure out how to put a picture of them on this blog but the little thingamajigger that used to be on here for me to click to add pics is no longer on my dashboard. Who knows where that went. Maybe I did something when I was trying to add music. Well, now that means I have to start looking through all my settings again. Yuk! Maybe it is sufficed to say the grandkids look great! We are so thankful and grateful for them.

My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you-- I, whom, you have redeemed. Psalm 71:23

Ok, I got to the dining room windows, bathroom and second bedroom. Window washing basically took the full day - well until 4 pm anyway. I still have the master bedroom to do. I thought I would do that in the morning so I could do the drapes at the same time. Another full day project. There is something to be said about a 'complete' day of work. Very satisfying.

Well, the morning came and went and I did not get to the bedroom windows or drapes. I started working on downloading some photos for London Drugs to develop and had to open an account and then download the photos. I usually go to Walmart. I thought I would give it a try at a new place. Well, that took about one hour and then it didn't work right. I can't even remember now what went wrong with it but I quit and went back to Walmart. I don't like their process much better, although this time I actually figured out what I have been doing wrong . I think it will work this time. It is not a 'wham, bam kind of thing'. You do have to spend some time cropping each photo unless you want them to do it for you which is an automatic thing and not the human eye. Ok, anyway, got it done and now I am headed out to pick them up. I have a few errands to run at the same time so hopefully they will be ready by the time I get to Walmart and the Saturday crowds. I remember specifically telling myself NOT to do Saturdays anymore. Once you are used to the relaxed atmosphere of weekday morning shopping, you will never go back. Ooops, except for today! I need to pick up the photos for a gift for a friend. I am hoping people are home enjoying the weather instead of shopping. hahaha

I also am returning a black hoodie that I picked up for our youngest grandson. He wanted black. Well, this was basically black and then turned grey with some waves at the bottom. A really need hoodie but he wouldn't even try it on - he said "gramma, I can tell it is too big". Besides that it was not totally black. Kids...go figure!! Anyway, I am now on a search for a black hoodie for the little guy. Not an easy task in the middle of summer. This might become a fall gift!

Enjoy your day...my little perpetual calendar states "Friends are life's little "pick-me-uppers" so we are going to be 'picked up' tonite by some friends we have not been able to be with for awhile. Hope we will accomplish this for each other!

Coffee Break

So far, so good. I have finished washing the kitchen and back door windows. It is a lot more work than what was just said. For short ME, it means I need a stool to take out all the windows which are of course over the kitchen sink. These are not small windows either. They are BIG. So that took me an hour and a half. To take out... wash... wipe... and then ... put them all back in again (in order). How many times have I tried to put them back in backwards. Too many to mention. The back door is another story. We have the bar across it for easy exits - just push and it opens. However, that bar is right across where I need to get my little fingers to clip it out of its pocket. Yes, I end up always with cuts and gouges to my fingers. It's such fun being a housekeeper! Next come the dining room windows. At least there is not a kitchen counter obstacle in front of me. These are just tall and narrow windows. Still heavy. The bedroom ones with the bunkbeds half covering them are the challenge for the day! I might not get to them just yet.

It is very nice though to sit at my kitchen counter and look out the window ... the CLEAN window. Almost seems like there is NO window in there now. Just how long they will stay that clean is another story. As nice as it seems out there, and having a covering over our deck, the wind still blows up the dust (from who knows where) and gently lays it on my windows. Oh well, not to worry about that right now. I will just enjoy the clear view while I have it! One last sip of my morning coffee and back to work.

What was I thinking?

After finishing supper last night, I was casually sitting and enjoying the news on tv (well, not actually enjoying the news as it was about the tornado down East) but sitting and enjoying being able to relax and watch the news for a change. As the dinner dishes were beckoning me to 'wash me, wash me' I casually turned on my computer to see if I could multi-task and accomplish all three at the same time.

As my computer took time to download, I put dishes in the sink and kept my ear tuned to the next show on tv which was Law & Order, Special Victims Unit - one of my favs. Anyway, as I was doing all three, my Outlook Calendar popped up to remind me of a meeting at 7 pm. TONITE!
It was now 7:05.

My heart stopped. It is amazing how much can go through your head in a short space of time. I remembered this happening before. De ja vous! Actually 2X for the same meeting. The first time was in January of this year. I was hosting the meeting and I was NOT THERE. The others were! They went into the church, found a room and carried on without me. I did not realize it until a few days later when I received the Minutes from that meeting by one of the attendees! Yikes! I was so embarrassed! No problem, they said. They just carried on. No big deal! (except to me!) The next meeting was setup and we all agreed on a date - including me. However, I did not think about it clearly or I would have realized that I was going to be in Phoenix that week. Ooops. Last minute change!

On the day of the meeting, I was on the computer in Phoenix and checked my calendar for updates and sure enough... I was doing it again! At least I had a day to make the change. I suggested they could go ahead without me or wait until I got back in a week's time. They agreed to wait! Of course, you know where I am going with this. Yes, you are right!

Last night, my computer calendar reminder popped up to do just that. Remind me of the meeting I was missing. Why is it that when you need a phone number or address, you can never find it? I am so good at the details and yet this detail was not visible to me. It was like a hand covering my eyes. Every page I read in my Minutes did not display a phone number or address.

So, I head to the phone book. Did you know that the white pages are now divided into businesses at the front and the residential pages are all together? I didn't. When did they start doing that? Anyway, I looked and looked and could not find the business address nowhere, nohow! Of course, I was under pressure too. Finally, I switched to the Yellow Pages, under Churches and found what I needed. That process took precious minutes. Tick, tick, tick. I found the home of one of the leaders hoping to have her husband answer and hoping to hear that she had a cell phone so he could give me the number so I could phone her to tell her I was on my way! No such luck! Answering machine came on. I left a frantic message and hung up! Ok, I thought. I can still do this. It is not that far away. Perhaps they will think I was thinking it was at 7:30 and not 7 pm so they will wait.

YES! I grabbed my books and hollered at my husband that I was late for a meeting and would see him at 9 pm!!! "What?" he hollers back. "Where are you going?" I was gone. I do admit to speeding - thankfully, no ticket. I was careful but I was speeding! It took me 15 minutes to get there and I parked at the west end of the building assuming we would meet where we met before. No, that was not to be. I had to go all the way around to the south east door. One good thing was I saw one of the leader's car in the parking lot. YES!! She is still there. Oh no. The doors are locked. Now what? Of course, just bang on them. Harder! How about on the glass? Yes! I see a face. She answers the door and unlocks it for me. Sorry about that, she said. Guess I forgot to unlock it. I had made it. It was 7:35 and they had just started. They had done their 'preliminaries' of hello and how have you been, etc. That took awhile and they assumed I might have gotten the time wrong so were not in a hurry.

We carried on with the meeting and set up our next one. This time, I am hosting again. This time, I plan to be there. I am marking it down on all the calendars and adding a 'day before' reminder to my computer calendar. Of course, I thought I had done that the last time but perhaps sharing this embarrassing news will make me more cognizant of my lapse in memory and will help me to remember.

There is no moral to this story. My fellow meeting members were gracious in saying I was a busy lady and not to worry about it. Personally, I think I have allowed too many 'little' things into my life that have sidetracked me. But, that is what retirement does to you. A little bit here, another thing there and before you know it...the day is gone. Time gets away on you. I have always been a 'structure' kind of person and with retirement I felt like I wanted to just 'relax' and 'go with the flow'. Well, seems like the flow is more like a river and I definitely was 'up the creek without a paddle' so I'm headed back to the 'organized' way of life. I will be sticking to my hand-written day-to-day calendar/daytimer and hope this will eliminate any of these kinds of problems in the future.

I realize that I will have to actually 'write it down' now but I think I can handle that. Oh yes, thanks to my husband who 'in my absence' was doing the dishes and kitchen cleanup when I returned home at 9 pm. "All I do is work" was his comment to me. I know he was joking but that's another story for another time.

Can't Think

Well, that was interesting! It was an experience trying to make my playlist and get it on my blog but I find it too distracting. I heard someone else say the same thing. But... I had to do it just to see for myself. I enjoyed it on someone else's blog but somehow it was different. I will just enjoy my playlist on my own. Hope that goes well with everyone. Then again, it is MY blog, so ...

Finally got my exercise ball out of the box and blown up. It says to fill it 80% and then let it sit overnite. Fill it 100% and then wait another nite. By Sat I should be able to exercise. I was at the chiro today and had a half hour massage (nice) and my Dr. said it would be good for me to work out on a ball so I do take instruction well (from a professional)! Sorry hon.

I think if we all did a little more bending and stretching (perhaps gardening?) and maybe even a little more walking (oh my sore feet) I could lose some of this belly fat! Yuk! It is not as easy as I thought. I wish I had taken myself more serious when I was in my 30's but somehow the years go by too fast! When you are 30 you don't have to exercise - well I didn't - but no work (out) and you gain weight. It is as simple as that. I get it, I get it (now)!!

Ok, today is the day I start drinking more water (to fill me up). They say it also helps with digestion, your skin, circulation... why didn't I do THIS before? Oh yeah, same reason. Who had time or even needed to?

The more you drink, the more you pee (for awhile). Eventually, my system will get in sync with all this liquid. The thing about drinking more water is I now get thirsty. Guess I need it though.

So that is my newest 'thing'. Hope it can last till at least the end of the week anyway.