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Author Archives: sulis303

hanging things…

17 Monday Feb 2014

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big girl pants, chunks on driveway, George, hanging mirror, hanging things, Olympics, simple chore

lots of Olympics today…

and I hung up some beautiful glass hearts in the bedroom window… took me quite a while to get that done… searched all over for some tiny cup hooks but couldn’t find them… saw them recently but they were hiding today… ended up using screws that were too long but I wanted to get them up so that’s what got used…

hearts in window...

hearts in window…

made me think of how long it would take George to get a simple chore done… now I know what it was that took so long… finding the appropriate tools, measuring and putting in the screws/nails, measuring the string to be used and making sure that things were hanging at the right height…

mirror on door...

mirror on door…

then, I hung a mirror on the inside of the hall closet door… another ten minute job, which took me over an hour to accomplish… and I’m not sure it is done exactly the way it should have been…

mirror detail...

mirror detail…

need to get a small battery powered drill as using my little screwdriver certainly added to the amount of time it took to get both these jobs done…

and finally, I went outside and moved chunks of snow from the end of the driveway… the city plows came by yesterday and cleared the street… they did a good job of clearing the end of the driveway but I wanted to be sure there was nothing blocking the car when I head out to work tomorrow morning… the sidewalk has about two feet of snow chunks at the street end, and I didn’t even try to move them… I did shovel the rest of the sidewalk and up to the driveway…

busy day wearing those big girl pants, no wonder I am ready for bed, lol…

 

letting go…

16 Sunday Feb 2014

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big girl pants, good memories, letting go, nature books, obsession, Olympics, school yearbooks, shell collection, shelves organized, snow

can’t believe that it started to snow again not long ago…

besides watching Olympics and doing some laundry, I spent the majority of the day working on the bookshelves in the hall… two shelves are not painted and I am trying to decide whether I will paint them… I don’t like to paint, so will see…

one portion of the shelves organized...

one portion of the shelves organized…

today I was able to divest myself of another 3 boxes of books… gave up school books that had belonged to both George and I… lots of gardening magazines, cookbooks and kids books…

couldn’t give up our school yearbooks.. even found a couple from the 30’s when my parents went to my high school…

treasures...

treasures…

had great fun going through all my nature books – birds, wild life, plants… kept nearly all of them… lots of books about sea shells and I couldn’t give any of those up… reminded me that I had started collecting when I was about eleven or twelve and a woman who worked with my dad brought me my first shell from Florida… it was an abalone shell and that was the beginning of my collecting obsession… just recently Crystal brought me home some lovely shells that she got in Mexico… of the two I have so far, both have purple on them, lol…

was able to let go of some trinkets from my days of angel collecting… and I found a dear little silver apple bowl that a friend had given me… now I just have to figure out what to put into it…

took one box downstairs, but will need to have the kids carry down the others as they are too heavy for me… was again very careful as I worked to be sure that I didn’t hurt my back further…

been trying to drink more water because I’ve got a new app which reminds me to drink throughout the day… so yesterday, I made some grape Kool-Aid as there wasn’t anything else to drink… it used to be my drink of choice and as I was making it, was giggling as I remembered how George knew that I only liked it once it was aged…

 

organized…

15 Saturday Feb 2014

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closet now organized, enjoyed the day, organized, shelves decorated, sunshine, waterfall

the sun shone all day… always perks me up… took a picture of the snow in the back yard which has almost completely covered the waterfall slab… haven’t had this much snow for many years…

snow covering waterfall...

snow covering waterfall…

watched Olympics and put the closet back together… worked very carefully and slowly so that I wouldn’t re-injure my back… eventually it was complete… even went through a few drawers and gathered up some items for the hand-me-over box…

closet organized...

closet – organized, even colour coded…

brought up the step stool and searched out a few things to put on the shelf over the new door… pleased with how it turned out…

shelf above the sliding door...

shelf above the sliding door…

tonight, I spent some time working on the top shelves in the stairwell area and filled another box with give-aways…

really enjoyed the day…

my Valentine…

14 Friday Feb 2014

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Canada Day shirt, full moon, my beloved, my valentine, Olympics, romantic, roses

hard day today… Valentine’s Day and a full moon, lol…

woke up early thinking of my beloved… he was quite the romantic… one of the things he always did was make sure both of the girls got a rose… sometimes they would be delivered but most often he would deliver them himself…

for the last two years I have sent them a rose in remembrance of their dad, who loved them so much… this year I sent them the day before so they would have them for the whole of Valentine’s Day…

Crystal's rose...

Crystal’s rose…

did well at work except for the email that a friend sent which brought a tear to my eye… sometimes I forget that I am still loved…

Cyndi's rose...

Cyndi’s rose…

had a little meltdown at the end of the day when there was conversation about partners and their level of romanticism… had to leave, and as I drove home tears were streaming down my face as I remembered my beloved and how special he would make me feel…

in 2012, our last Valentine’s Day together, he gave me a jacket I had been eyeing for quite a while, along with a beautiful red rose, heart chocolates and candies… I considered wearing that jacket this morning but decided I should wear red, rather than purple…

the only red thing in my closet that wasn’t too warm was a red Canada Day shirt which also seemed like a good plan today as the Olympics continue…

card from George, 2012...

card from George, 2012…

how lucky I have been to have such a romantic in my life…

 

snow…

13 Thursday Feb 2014

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big girl pants, bribe, Chinese food, Olympics, snow, snow covered, Valentine's eve

on the way out the back door this morning I stepped into six inches of freshly fallen snow…

as I struggled to get the car out of the garage and down the driveway I made up my mind that if it got stuck I would just call a cab… thankfully I made it out onto the street, and safely to work…

I texted my son-in-law, who had just been here yesterday shovelling, to see if he could come and snowblow… offered dinner as a bribe, and it worked… everyone arrived about 5:30, which gave me time for half an hour of Olympics…

when I arrived home and walked up the front I took a picture of how deep the snow was… those were the footprints of my construction fella who had been by earlier in the day…

sidewalk and front steps...

sidewalk and front steps…

Crystal got here first and shovelled the front steps and sidewalk in about three minutes flat…  oh to be young… I didn’t lift a shovel because of my back, which is feeling much better – and which I want to keep that way, lol…

Crystal shovelling...

Crystal shovelling…

all the boys arrived and the two biggest ones got to work cleaning up all the snow… while they were busy, we ordered Chinese food for dinner…

had a lovely visit with everyone and heard all about each person’s day… Gray spoke about Grandpa a bit, which is fairly unusual, as I don’t think he really remembers that much as he was so little when George died…

it was good to spend the time with them this Valentine’s eve…

car fun…

12 Wednesday Feb 2014

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big girl pants, boosted, car fun, check the manual, Co-op, cruise control, extreme cold weather, strange light on

been a few interesting events concerning the car the last few days…

a couple of days ago, on our way to work, my driving buddy was flagged down as she drove up my street by someone wanting a boost… not sure if you’ve noticed, but we have been having an extremely cold winter…

the young woman’s car had a problem with the car door and trunk which meant that her car light stayed on and drained the battery… apparently she was getting very efficient at boosting the car…

boosting...

boosting, well attempting to…

my friend’s car had a cover on the battery and we had to call her husband to figure out how to connect the leads… in the end it didn’t work, and the young woman said she had tried with a similar car and it had been unsuccessful…

today I had to drive to work and I haven’t had the car out for quite a while… it was very slippery and was slow going on the way downtown, but eventually I got there safe and sound… I had arranged to park in one of my colleague’s spots which was very helpful…

once I left work just after 5 I had to sweep the recently fallen snow off the car and put in the parking pass which another colleague had lent me as they are away for a few weeks and I am able to use their spot… my driving buddy is leaving for Hawaii in a few days so I was planning to drive during that time…

got into the car and there was a light on the dashboard which I had never seen before… yikes, what if it was the emergency brake, or some oil light, or that I needed windshield washer fluid… as I drove toward home I fretted about what it might be… my phone was nearly out of juice so I couldn’t even stop and take a picture and send it to my daughter or son-in-law who would likely know what it meant…

I decided that I would stop at Co-op and have them take a look at it… it is just a street over from home and right on the way… there wasn’t a car at any of the pumps when I drove up so I pulled into a spot by a pump but on the wrong side, because I didn’t need any gas… by the time I was out of the car, at least four other cars had driven up to get gas and so the attendant asked me to move ahead… when he had a minute he came over and looked into the car at my problem light and said…

cruise control sign...

cruise control sign…

“that’s the cruise control, you just need to turn it off”… easy for him to say.. I get back into the car, drive around all the other vehicles getting gas, stop and try to find the cruise control button he’s talking about… can’t find it, so I drive home and when I get into the driveway eventually, or maybe by accident, finally find the button and off goes the light…

phew, there were those big girl pants again…

think I might bring the manual in and look through all the pictures of what might show up on the dashboard, lol…

 

drywall dust…

11 Tuesday Feb 2014

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a new nest, barefoot, construction, drywall dust, hardwood, hurt back, no closet, pictures

there is a thin film of drywall dust just about everywhere in the house… my guy is very good about cleaning up after himself, but there is still lots and lots of dust…

the main floor is hardwood as are the bedrooms and I go barefoot in the house… I can feel the grit in each room I walk in…

the work is going very well… you can see from this picture that the closet looks amazing, even though it hasn’t been painted yet… all those huge holes have been filled in and it looks so much better…

closet with holes filled in...

closet with holes filled in…

it is amazing how difficult it is to manage without a closet… all of my clothes are in the computer room laying over bins and chairs, lol… hope it is done soon so they can get back where they belong…

the stairwell is looking good too… this is the first time it has been painted in twenty years, I am guessing… all the picture hooks have been removed and the holes filled in… I had a number of large pictures up, but am going to do something different…

stairwell from second floor...

stairwell from second floor…

am considering putting up a bunch of my flower pictures… or else family photos… still thinking about that…

stairwell from main floor...

stairwell from main floor…

I am going to have the kids come and help me put the closet back in order and finish the work I started on the book shelves in the hallway… I definitely hurt my back moving everything out of the closet and it is just starting to feel better… although apparently I walk like I just got off a horse, lol…

building a new nest I think…

 

loss…

10 Monday Feb 2014

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40 years of marriage, beloved, big girl pants, death, devastated, loss, one step at a time, stay positive

a friend lost her mom… it was shocking and awful… didn’t matter that she was in her nineties…

when you lose a loved one, you aren’t prepared, even if you think you are…

we talked for quite a while and she mentioned the most difficult part was sharing the information with her children, and then supporting them as they processed it…

me and my girls...

my girls and I this summer… they are such amazing young women…

brought to mind the very difficult phone calls I had to make when George died… one of my daughters lives here and the other lived at the coast…

I had to pull myself together and call them… I remember calling the one here in the city and praying that her husband was home because I knew she was going to dissolve into a million pieces… and thank goodness, he was home and answered the phone… I was able to know that he was beside her to hold her when she heard the news… I don’t even remember how she told our grandsons…

then I had to call my daughter at the coast… I knew that her husband was across the country and she had no one at home for support… I didn’t even have a friend’s number who I could call to go and be with her… we had to make decisions about whether she would come home right away or wait for the storm that was pounding the coast to abate… would she contact her husband who was writing an exam the following morning or wait until he was finished… would he come back to their home and travel with her here, or would he travel directly here from where he was…

the kids here came immediately to the hospital, although while I waited it seemed like it took forever… the daughter from away had to wait until the next day to come, and her husband did come directly here… finally we were all together…

and then we took one step at a time to get everything done that was needed…

speaking with my friend, I realized that I had blocked out making those phone calls…

in less than a month it will be two years since my beloved died… I am working very hard to stay positive and not fall into a funk… when I start to feel sorry for myself I put on those big girl pants and think about all the special times we had over 40 years… I am amazed that after this amount of time I can still feel devastated…

a young friend recently asked me how I was doing and I burst into tears… not that great I guess, lol… some days it feels as though everyone has moved on with their life… and I have too, until the gaping hole opens…

truly I have been blessed, and that helps me take the next step…

450 posts…

09 Sunday Feb 2014

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450 posts, bookshelves, Cynthia Sanchez, emptying closet, MBlog, Olympics, Pinterest

yesterday was my 450th blog post… quite amazing really…

I wrote about divesting books and got a few likes and a couple of new followers…

following the MBlog 2014 conference we went out for dinner and I got to spend some quality time with Cynthia Sanchez (Oh So Pinteresting) who gave me some great tips on how to grow my blog using Pinterest… things have been busy since then and I haven’t been able to look into her suggestions further, but hope to make some time in the next few weeks to test out her suggestions…

 

empty closet...

empty closet…

 

today I spent quite a bit of time emptying my closet so that my contractor can work in it tomorrow… in the process I have injured my back…

sadly I haven’t finished getting all the books off the shelves, and have had to let go of the plan that they would come off the wall and it would be freshly painted, sigh…

 

not yet empty bookshelves...

not yet empty bookshelves…

 

 

books…

08 Saturday Feb 2014

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big girl pants, books, bookshelves, cookbooks, divesting, give away books, hallway, packed up boxes, poetry

between watching the Olympics and doing laundry, I spent some time cleaning off the bookshelves in the hallway…

it is always difficult to give away books… I had to look at each one and make a decision…  most of them had an inscription because I always write in a book when I give it to someone… a few had been given to George and it was a bit hard to give them up… but, I have decided to only keep ones that the little boys will want to read, or ones that I will read again…

hall book shelves...

hall bookshelves with lots of empty space…

today was a good day and I was able to let go of many… can see the shelves with some books on them and some of my treasures and this is helping with the divesting process…

nearly all my cookbooks went… really, these days you can find just about anything on the internet, if it isn’t already in my green binder (which holds all my family favourites )…  I also gave up some of the books I have had since I was a teenager… including some great poetry books…

was able to fill 3 boxes and started a box of other give-away knick-knacks… managed to get them downstairs even though they were a bit heavy…

still lots to sort through, but I am rather proud of how much I got done… hopefully tomorrow will also be a good day for divesting…

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beloved big girl pants birds blessed chocolate Christmas cold delicious dinner family fish flowers food friends fun garden George grandson happy health hibiscus hot tub light lunch memories moments morning glories nature orchid photos pictures plants pond purple rain remembering shopping sky snow sun sunshine supper Technology time treat trees walk water weather widow

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