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Tag Archives: big girl pants

Missing George…

11 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by sulis303 in Uncategorized

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big girl pants, filled hot tub, long week, new car lease, proud of myself, Toyota

wow, last week seemed particularly long, and I have really been missing George…

not sure if it is all the Valentine Day stuff out there, the fact that we are coming up to the first anniversary of his death, the time of year, or what, but it has been very intense…

I did put my big girl pants on and figured out how to fill the hot tub, all by myself…  George always did this and then Jeff has done it for me, but it was really low and I didn’t think I could wait until Jeff was here again to do it…

cool snow formation on the hot tub...

cool snow formation on the hot tub…

so, I figured it out for myself…  then, of course, I couldn’t use it for a day because it takes a while to heat up again… but I must say, I was proud of myself…

on top of that, the people at Toyota are wanting to buy back the car, which means I have to think about whether it is time to turn it in and get a new lease…  this feels very much like a big girl pants type of thing, so I am going to have to think about what I want to do…  I have never chosen a car on my own…

a few days ago I was looking through pictures and found some of George examining the car when we picked it up… can’t for the life of me remember when we got this car… bet if I look in that pile on the desk I will be able to figure it out, lol…

life is very full and I continue to live in the moment… this past week or so many of those moments have been low, but I continue to feel them anyway…

 

Debit card woes…

10 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by sulis303 in Uncategorized

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account, beloved, big girl pants, debit card, struggling to manage, took money, what happened

got a call on Friday that my debit card had been compromised and the Credit Union had cancelled it…

didn’t seem like that big a deal because I basically use one credit card for everything, and I had been in my account just a week or so ago and everything looked fine… but when I went and checked my account I discovered that not only had the debit card been compromised, a good chunk of money had been taken out of my account…

I tried to contact the CU person, but didn’t hear back, so expect I will have to make some calls on Monday to see how we go about getting my money back…

and, it also means I have to go down to the CU and get a new debit card and sadly they have crumby hours…

the last time I used the debit card, I was in Mexico… I don’t know if that’s where the problem was so it will be interesting to hear from the CU folks about what they think happened…

it does feel kind of creepy that someone took money out of my account without my knowing…

it made me think how lucky I am because not that long ago, if someone had taken that kind of money out of our account we would have been struggling to manage while it was being replaced…

those darn big girl pants again, sigh…

holding hands...

holding hands…

I miss my beloved…

Birthday party…

03 Sunday Feb 2013

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big girl pants, cake, drove there and back, missing George, pulled muscle

today was Gray’s birthday party…

couldn’t catch a ride with anyone so drove myself there and back…  doesn’t seem like that big a deal, but I needed those big girl pants…  first time I have gone over there, in the car for a birthday party, without George…

amazing how I was missing him today…  I have pulled a muscle in my arm and some movements really make it hurt…  I haven’t been doing lots of driving so was a bit worried about my reaction time if there were any problems…

on the way there I watched a truck back up at a light and just about hit a woman who was walking behind it…  a little further on the car in front of me stopped quite suddenly and I skidded on a patch of ice when I put on my brakes…  need to remember to pump them…

so, I wasn’t looking forward to the drive home in the dark…

examining one of the many presents...

examining one of the many presents…

the birthday party was great…  there were lots of people, presents, food, cake and cupcakes…

lots of yummy food...

lots of yummy food…

when the cake was cut, I headed out…  the drive wasn’t too bad, although I was gripping the steering wheel rather nicely, lol…  both the car and I were happy to drive into the garage…

cake and cupcakes...

cake and cupcakes…

had something to eat, watched some TV and am now heading to bed early… been a long day…

My financial closet…

28 Monday Jan 2013

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big girl pants, closet, CPP, credit card insurance, debt, financial well being, government departments, life insurance, perseverance

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…

Missing George…

31 Monday Dec 2012

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barbecue, big girl pants, cancer, death of my beloved, fairly good day, family vacation, fireworks, healthy, love and laughter, new traditions, precious moments, rough year, sad, saying farewell, steak and lobster, surgery

today was fairly good… I had an early hot tub, even though it was minus thirty-four or some such thing, because I just had to have one last one in 2012… the boys came over, Jeff added water to the hot tub, and we went grocery shopping…

usually on New Year’s Eve, George would have barbecued steak and lobster for dinner… as the kids were having a party, I decided we should have the special dinner tomorrow night, so no one would have to do any rushing around… George would barbecue on a regular basis and I miss that… I am going to have to put on those big girl pants and do it myself one of these days…

while we were out I bought some nice stuffed scallops, fresh asparagus and mushrooms for my supper…  I anticipated that the evening would be a little sad, but didn’t really feel like being around partying people…

this year's New Year's Eve dinner...

this year’s New Year’s Eve dinner…

had my dinner and have just been watching the fireworks which our Community Club has on New Year’s Eve…  often we would be watching TV and one of us would hear the sound, and we would stand together in the dining room watching them out the window…  tonight I did that on my own…

fireworks through the window...

fireworks through the window…

I am saying farewell to a rough year, and trying hard to look toward the excitement and new things that will be 2013… I look forward to tomorrow and starting new traditions with my family… fancy dinner on New Year’s Day… family vacation… who knows what else…

I have come through the death of my beloved, a cancer diagnosis, big surgery and a long recovery…  now I am healthy and surrounded by people who care about me… I continue to be blessed…

if I awake at midnight I will toast my beloved, the past and coming year, and maybe speak with my girls… if not, I will start the new year in the morning with a smile…

may your New Year be filled with precious moments and much love and laughter…

Lovely Day…

29 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by sulis303 in Uncategorized

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alcohol, big girl pants, cheating, difficult, Fazes, guilt, Kobo, learning, missed, questions, reading, Saturday chores, Technology

had a lovely day… did a few Saturday chores around the house, and went to get my hair purpled… interesting how some things are fine for me to do and other require the big girl pants… I missed George today because he could always see the purple better than I could, and would let me know how it looked…

fresh for the New Year and Mexico...

fresh for the New Year and Mexico…

started reading a new book and played with the TV a bit…

I am learning to use the PVR, sort of… it was just installed a few weeks ago and when the person showed me how it worked, it all seemed very straightforward, but it seems a bit more difficult now, than it appeared then…

lots of buttons to choose from...

lots of buttons to choose from…

I do love technology, and have been learning a few tricks on how to work it all… I have finally got it so that only the channels I actually have come up in the menu, which is quite lovely…  I have also programmed all the HD channels I have…  we won’t talk about the number of questions that my 12 year old grandson and family have answered lately, lol…

I have PVRed two programs on purpose, and one completely by mistake, and I still haven’t figured out how to stop it from taping that series every time it is on, but I’ll figure it out, sooner or later…

this would have driven George crazy, because he would have left all the channels on the menu and scrolled for ages to get through everything… he would also have fiddled with it until it worked…

a little while ago I had a lovely glass of Harveys Bristol Cream, and poppycock (which my friend made me for Christmas) while reading the book I started at Fazes today… I am reading it using Kobo on my iPhone and it is going very well… for the last while before I changed to the iPhone, I wasn’t able to use Kobo on my Blackberry, so I am very happy about this…

for a few years we didn’t have any alcohol in the house as George wasn’t able to drink due to his heart condition, and sometimes I feel like I am cheating on him when I have a glass of something, but tonight I was able to enjoy the treat, without any guilt…

step in the right direction, I guess…

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