my morning schedule is to put on the kettle for my tea, choose my Advent treat for the day, feed the fish, and prepare my breakfast…
when I get to the calendar, which is on top of the fish tank, the fish are running back and forth to make sure I know they are there… and starving...
I can practically hear them, lol… later in the day, they will rush over as I enter their space to see if they can convince me that they haven’t been fed…
with everyone learning how to connect with family and friends over the last six months or so, my daughter reminded me that we have been doing this for years…
just today, a Facebook memory was of a gathering we had eight years ago… my daughter was in BC, my son-in-law was in northern Alberta, and the rest of us were here…
technology has come a long way since then and there are many ways to connect… the main ones I currently use are Skype, Google Duo and FaceTime… I’ve been using Skype Organize a Conference Call without going through my Skype account, but over the last few weeks going through my account is working much better… I think I need to learn a bit about Zoom…
it would have been my beloved’s 72nd birthday tomorrow… we’ve commemorated it a number of ways over the years and this year I plan on dinner from Modern Plate Catering, with my Ottawa kids on Google Duo…
we’ve had some wonderful birthday celebrations over the years…
one of my favourites was his 61st birthday… he was recovering from quadruple bypass on his 60th, so we couldn’t do anything special, lol… on his 61st we had dinner out at Fusion Grill with his boy friends and their partners…
during his illness he had three particular friends who went for walks, coffee, talks and visits with him on a regular basis… it was such fun to spend time with them all together… it was a great surprise for him and everyone had a lovely time…
last night I spent ages searching for this picture and did not find it… this morning it came up in my Facebook memories, lol…
fun to remember some of those special times… makes the days happier;-)…
yesterday marked eight years as a blogger and WordPress reminded me in the evening…
kind of amazing to think I have been writing nearly every day for all that time… it started with information about all the challenges and things I learned after my beloved died… from needing numerous death certificates, to knowing the right answers for insurance forms, to how to get the car transferred to my name, to setting up an estate account at the bank… there were so many things that I didn’t know I didn’t know and had to figure out…
I wanted to help others who might be going through similar circumstances…
it has moved from that to sharing a view of my journey as I move through life without my other half…
those big girl pants continue to be difficult to get into some days…
I consulted with my son-in-law about my printer, which says it wants to talk to a technician, lol… sadly, it is dead and I need to replace it… that exact one isn’t available and there are so many options which I have to decide on, and most importantly, will I be able to connect a new one… on to the homework…
recently I’ve been using my landline number on purchases as I am basically always in the house…
a few days ago I received a call and none of my portable phones worked… they all say “out of range”… I tried unplugging and replugging them in, but to no avail…
luckily, I have two phones upstairs that actually connect with a phone plug and so I brought one down to the main floor while I try to figure this out…
technology is such a gift when it is working, but a pain when it isn’t, particularly when no one can come into the house…
I added more silver and white ornaments to the tree and a bit of garland to give it depth, although I don’t like garland on the whole… many of the ornaments marked special Christmas times…
I also hung up some wreaths and brought up a teddy bear from the basement that I have always loved…
I was reminded of many previous Christmas trees and decorations… when my daughter moved away she promised to come home for Christmas and she did for many years… the first year she wasn’t able to come home she sent all of us a dragonfly glittery ornament to put on our trees… since then it has gone on the tree each year… for the rest of the year it is clipped onto a chocolate hanging in the hall… she loves chocolate;-)…
I also hung three wreaths… one I made the year my mom was in palliative care and at the same time my sister-in-law was losing her unborn baby… I spent hours at two different hospitals hand sewing the teddy bears and wreath they went on… amazingly stress filled weeks…
now I think back to those times and find great comfort in the memories;-)…
a friend dropped off an item she had picked up for me and we had a short chat… she by her car, and I on the steps with my mask on…
time online on the laptop searching and ordering various things… maybe even some Christmas presents…
had a lovely conversation with my Winnipeg son-in-law who then FaceTimed me and maybe got the timer working, lol… fingers crossed…
and it worked… I had read the directions and tried it a few times before talking with him… he is the timer-whisperer, lol…
also spoke with my Ottawa son-in-law who helped me out with a different issue…
I was on a call and the bell rang… my neighbour brought me a cute little tin filled with fresh baking;-)… woo hoo… and I gave her some books which were needing a new home;-)…
I am now answering the door with a mask on all the time, not that the doorbell rings very often, lol…
final event was a delivery from Save-On-Foods with needed groceries… early in the pandemic, it was taking 2 weeks to get groceries once ordered… then it was down to the next day, but now that we are going back into a more serious lockdown, it is taking 4 or 5 days… so blessed to have this option… now I just need to plan a little further ahead…
last night, as I was putting on my water shoes to go out to the hot tub, I spent a few moments thinking of when I wore them in Hawaii…
I have two pair… the others are in perfect shape, but don’t fit as well or feel as comfortable on my feet… even though these ones have holes in the toes, they were the ones that flew to Hawaii…
when I put them on here, it is to protect my feet from the cold and snow… it was my son-in-law who suggested I wear them rather than slippers which could get filled with snow, or might not be in the right spot when I get out of the tub… they work perfectly and I wear them right into the tub and back to the house…
on Maui I wore them to keep sand off my feet and to keep from being burned on the boiling hot sand…
herbiggirlpants 