My financial closet…

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

had a late meeting, so got a few extra hours at home this morning…

clothes to take to Mexico...

clothes to take to Mexico…

saw a little piece on TV by the Golden Girl Finance women about comparing your finances to your closet…  it was very cute and reminded me of some of the things George and I had done to ensure our financial well-being…

George had life insurance from the time he was about 15 and both of us understood the important of insurance… when my parents were newly married their home burned to the ground and they got out with the clothes on their backs and the blanket they had wrapped my brother in…

at one point in our life we had to cancel one of the policies because we were in a very poor financial situation but he maintained his remaining policies…  we also carried insurance on our credit cards and line of credit and thanks to that I was able to wipe out any debt we had, which has made going forward much easier for me now that there is only one income…

I learned that I should have started claiming CPP as soon as I turned 60, even though I was still working… luckily I was able to rectify that…

dealing with government departments, like CPP, can be very stressful…  what I learned over time is that if you aren’t getting the right answers from the person you are speaking with, it might be a good idea to call again and see what another person’s response might be… if you can get someone interested in you, it feels as though they try harder to sort out your issues…

perseverance was something I also learned about… to me it felt as though the forms, roadblocks, and lack of interest were an attempt to have me give up and not collect what was rightfully mine…

thankfully I have sufficient income to remain in my home as I move forward but I have had to wear those big girl pants quite a bit over these last ten months…

Be prepared…

Tags

, , , , , ,

was busy today putting away Christmas decorations and cleaning the house…

I also talked with a friend about some of my experiences since George died, and how that was the reason I began to blog – so that I could share some of the things that happened to me… and hopefully save someone else from going through unnecessary problems…

I was reminded of my preparations for my cancer and hernia surgery… making sure that the insurance money that came to me was in an easy-to-get-at place in case I didn’t survive the operation… having a new will, power of attorney, and health directive prepared, and getting all my papers in order in case my kids needed to sort out my stuff…

we had thought that all of our information was in one place and that we were prepared should something happen to one of us, but I realized quickly that we weren’t… it took me ages to find George’s handwritten will, and then the Credit Union made noises about how they might not accept it… of course they did, once it went to their legal department… I think the young people in the office hadn’t ever seen a handwritten will before…

remember...

remember…

I remember how, for many weeks following my diagnosis, I wasn’t able to get my head past the surgery, and expected to die on the table…  it was really only a week or so before the actual hospitalization that I began to imagine that I would survive the surgery and move on with my life…

I was reminded how quickly the actual insurance companies responded, once I completed their documentation, but how long some of the other organizations took, including CPP to accept the claim and send the appropriate funds…

some days it feels like that was years ago, and other days, like it was just yesterday…

I have suggested to all my friends that they have the conversations with their loved ones about where all the necessary information is, what each person would like regarding organ, skin, eye donations, funeral wishes, etc. sooner, rather than later…

knowing that information makes walking through the necessary steps when someone dies much easier…

give someone you love a big hug today… you never know when you will be able to give them another one…

 

 

Watching over me…

Tags

,

as I was writing my blog post this morning, still feeling a bit down, George’s face came up twice on the Kodak Pulse electronic frame… it was a picture of him lying beside me, smiling, on the bed, that I had taken just a short time before his death…

the frame has some system of shuffling pictures and sometimes I won’t see a particular picture for a very long time, and another time it will come up two or three times in a short period…

I know its silly, but when his face comes up in the same photo close together I always feel better because I think he is letting me know that he’s still with me…

smiling as I was taking his picture...

smiling as I was taking his picture…

tonight, as I was finishing the post, he popped up again…

Beauty wherever you are…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

last week on Saturday I was up early enjoying the beauty of the tropical setting… beautiful palm trees, lush vegetation with lots of blooming flowers, tropical breezes… it was amazing…

outside my room a week ago...

outside my room a week ago…

this morning as I sit here I am looking out on a winter wonderland… the ground is a pure white, the trees are outlined in snow and the sun is rising behind me… truly a gorgeous morning…

trees outlined with snow...

trees outlined with snow…

what a blessing to have the opportunity to enjoy such diverse sights…

it always amazes me how beauty is usually out there, but we don’t always take the time to see it…

last night it was an effort to get ready for a hot tub and when I got out there it was beautiful… there was a fresh skiff of snow over everything so as I walked to the hot tub in my slippers I had to be careful not to step too fast and get snow in them and I left a lovely trail of prints in the snow… the top of the tub was covered in snow as well and looked pristine…

then I tried to open the cover… and it wouldn’t cooperate…  it was too cold to run in and get some water to melt the frozen strap, so I came back in and went to bed, lol…

to and from the hot tub, but not in it...

to and from the hot tub, but not in it…

the funny thing is that I had been feeling a bit sorry for myself before I went out, missing George… I was particularly missing the end-of-the-day chats where we would share how the day had gone… I had wanted to tell him about my experience at work trying to show my colleagues a slide show of the vacation highlights… he would have laughed about the fact that I couldn’t get one of the computers to show the pictures without distorting them and how we ended up huddled around my desktop checking them out… and he would have enjoyed the story about the special treat that a colleague brought in for me…  I thought I was over missing that particular piece of our life, but apparently it will continue to come and go…

cedars in their snow outfits...

cedars in their snow outfits…

I continue to see the beauty around me, even when in some moments it is tinged with a little sadness…

Music, music, music…

Tags

, , , ,

attended a lovely band concert tonight…

first band performance...

first band performance…

I took a number of pictures and in the process, a wave of sadness came over me as I thought of how much George loved attending the kids concerts…  some of the pictures are quite fuzzy as I was trying to get my equilibrium back…

once I got home I spent a few hours getting the 3000 plus pictures we took in Mexico down to a reasonable couple of hundred for a slide show of our wonderful adventure…

life is full and I continue to be blessed…

sunset on the plane ride home...

sunset on the plane ride home…

Back to work…

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

happy to get back to work today…

was sharing with one of my colleagues about our trip home…

it started out with our being at the main lobby of the resort waiting for our bus at 6:40 instead of 7:20 am…  so we got to sit around a visit a bit…  once we got to the airport, we had a problem with the airline person not understanding what we were checking for the flight and what was carry-on… then we breezed through security and had breakfast at Johnny Rockets… it was about this point that we discovered that there was no water in any of the washrooms in the airport… our flight wasn’t for another couple of hours…

waiting, for a place to sit, washrooms and the correct gate...

waiting, for a place to sit, washrooms and the correct gate…

we had been directed to one gate, but after waiting there for quite a while discovered it wasn’t the correct one, so after speaking with SunWing staff at another gate, moved to a third gate and eventually that was the one we left from… we were really glad to get on that plane, which was late…

when we arrived in Winnipeg we were very happy, and again went through Customs with no problem, found our limo and headed home…

all pretty humorous now, lol…

A Revelation…

Tags

, ,

had a lovely day… lunch with a friend, napped and went swimming with two other friends…

before I left for swimming, George’s smiling face came up on my electronic picture frame – I had taken the picture just a few days before he died… I have been missing him quite a bit these last few days…  this has been a season of firsts, first Christmas, New Year, vacation, all without him…

at swimming it occurred to me that I am no longer having any problems with my insides as I don’t feel the mesh and I can twist without feeling any sensations during or after the exercise…

in Mexico I occasionally got tired, but I was able to do everything I wanted without suffering any side effects…

amazingly, the dolphins were able to push me up...

I can do anything!

life is very good…

Recuperating…

Tags

, , , , , ,

enjoyed a quiet day at home… finished unpacking, did laundry, napped and watched the US Presidential Inauguration off and on throughout the day… having a lazy day reminded me of this picture of the girls with our menagerie…

every day we received a new creation on the bed...

every day we received a new creation on the bed…

had a good visit with my BS friends and am getting ready for bed…

missing my beloved today… it would have been nice to have him to chat with about all the activities of the week…

last night when the kids were here they made sure that my garbage and recycling were taken out, as well as snow blowing the driveway so that I will be able to get the car out…  a large amount of snow came down while we were gone…

lots of snow... but a beautiful sunny day...

lots of snow… but a beautiful sunny day…

very happy that I’ve taken these few extra days off so that I can recover and be full of energy for work on Wednesday…

Highlights…

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

although I don’t go back to work until Wednesday, this morning I woke up at 6, which is pretty good, as yesterday it was 5 am…

yesterday when I got up, I went out and had a lovely hot tub…  we had missed the hot tub a lot because where we were the temperature of the hot tubs was 92 degrees, which is not hot…

I also spent some time with the 3000 pictures we took… the kids came by and we went out to stock the empty cupboards and find something to make for our supper…

Tavin and I, with help from Kyler, worked on a PowerPoint for his class and Crystal and I finished transferring pictures so that we each have all of them…  after they left I watched a bit of TV and went to bed…

don’t think I’ll go out for a hot tub this morning as it is currently -42 with the wind chill…

following everyone else...

following everyone through the caves…

Kyler was asking what was the most fun for me on the trip… I’ve been thinking about that quite a bit since the question and still can’t put my finger on just one thing… I did a few things that I wasn’t sure I would be able to… swimming in the underground caves, walking on the bottom of the ocean – both of which make me think I am not as claustrophobic as I previously thought…

walking on the bottom of the ocean...

walking on the bottom of the ocean…

while we were walking on the bottom, I was thinking of George and wondering if he would have done this… it would have been fun to do it together…

watching the kids on the rope walk...

watching the kids on the rope walk…

I also love spending time with my family in the outdoors, and particularly in and around water – snorkeling, swimming, playing in the pool, jet skiing, fishing…  what a fun time we had…

catching pretty little fish with gorgeous blue stripes...

catching pretty little fish with gorgeous blue stripes…

what a special seven days we had together…  everyone made wonderful memories… my kids truly are amazing beings…

Heading home…

Tags

, , , , , ,

enjoying the last few quiet moments on the balcony as the stars fade and the light begins to welcome the new day… I can hear the waves crashing on the beach as the resort begins to wake up…

Mexico has been a wonderful experience for everyone and we all have many memories of our time together…

sunset on the beach...

sunset on the beach…

last night when we adults were having dinner, I was thinking what a great job George and I have done with our girls, and how proud of them he was…  we were also very happy with the young men they decided to share their lives with…

to my beloved who made this wonderful time possible and the blessing that abound in my life…

adios…