Be- That makes sense

The news item about the Wpg snow clearing budget failed to mention that the budget extended to year end only. Glad you cleared that up and remembered from Daddy.
I was unable to see any part of the Grey Cup yesterday - neither CBC nor CTV carry big sports events anymore - most are on cable or satellite such as TSN now. I tuned in the radio to see if I could pick it up on either AM or FM but still no luck. It has been a few years now since any CFL has been broadcast although CTV has NFL every Sunday! It seems inevitable that we shall have to look at getting Bell or cable installed. The rabbit ears are not going to work for us anymore within a years time when everything switches to digital.
I went to Mothers today on my own. Harry not well so stayed home. I find it is the most draining experience every time I go - I guess this is what they call "burn out" - I come home and need to revitalize myself somehow. I usually go for a walk. This afternoon I went to the bank and them cruised around the Home Hardware store not really looking at anything in particular! I cancelled my violin lesson for tomorrow but we'll still go up to North Bay. Mother wants chocolates for gifts and they (only Pot of Gold will do) are on sale at No Thrills.
Well, short note for tonight. Have a good week. Take Care

Snow Budget

I remember Daddy complaining about this issue. All of the neighbours used to sound off to him whenever Winnipeg ran out of snow clearing money in November or December. It seems that, while most of the world functions from September to August, Winnipeg budgets from January to December. Come January 1st, we'll have a whole new year of money to spend. But it was a rough stretch. David had to get the snow blower out 6 days out of 7. It just snowed and snowed. Not that I envy your isssue with snow melt running into the basement, Beth.

Finally I'm having some time at home. Cathy lent me some Kraft Canada magazines, and I've been working my way through them. I was desperate for some new ways of cooking chicken. I copied off those recipes I thought might work ( sorry Cathy, some of your page markers got lost in the process) When I got them all together in a looseleaf, I realized that I was looking at chicken, pasta, and tomatoes in just about everything, just changing the flavour of salad dressing used for the marinade. So, I've decided to use the recipes once or twice a week and stick with old stand-bys the rest of the time. I did try the broccoli salad recipe Cathy gave me, and seemed to end up with a lot of filler and not much broccoli--not that I minded. Next time, I htink I'll use fewer raisins and sunflower seeds. It doesn't taste right unless the bacon is really well cooked, either.

Otherwise, I spend time in the studio or on the computer. I much prefer doing work processing on the desk top, especially when that's where the printer is. But, ergonomically, it fits better. This means scheduling around poker tournaments, and football games. I got a big job off my mind yesterday. There is another on on the horizon, but I need approval from my partner on the first one before starting that.

So two more days that I don't have to go out. Glad I stocked up at the library. ( Procrastination??)

Saturday

It's a good thing I wasn't supposed to be at the craft sale at 8am... It was after 10 when I crawled out of bed. I really must need more sleep than I am getting during the week. I wasn't asleep, but I was "dozing". We won our usual at meat draw last night, but Kristy and Rodney dropped over afterwards. They have been fighting for custody of Rodneys daughter for a long time now. She left her moved in with them last March (ran away from her mom's) but a family judge ordered that at 12 she is too young to know what she really wants. She now has one week at each place. We read on facebook how unhappy she is at her moms and I really feel bad for her. Rodney and Kristy both want her so much. Her brother left his mom's when he was almost 15. He was going to stay until Jen was old enough to leave with him, but he couldn't stand it. Enough of the sad stuff. Let's talk about the lovely weather we are all having! The snow has stopped now and we just have "pea soup" fog outside. But that's okay. The snow is supposed to come back tomorrow. We did our "dickens reading" at the personal care home on Tuesday night. It was okay, but it is disconcerting to have your audience wheeled out because they are asleep! All in all, though. Whitemud is discussing having a number of 15 to 20 minute plays (comedies) to present there occasionally. Most of the residents enjoy a good comedy, but they can seldom get out to one. The Manitoba Association of Playwrights has a number of short plays (10-20 minutes) that they have submitted to ACT for possible production. Some of them would be great. Work is work... I go in and I come home. We had an office meeting last Tuesday and I found out (at the meeting) that we are having staggered hours. Patty starts at 8:45 (taking her coffee break before she arrives) and Deb leaves at 4:15. I am now working very hard to be out of there by 3:45. I knew Patty was starting late, but I had no idea that these staggered hours were in place. No more screaming, though, so that part is much better. I asked when were were going to switch jobs again (so the 3 clerks can fill in for one another) Deb said she would not learn my job... she didn't want to and Patty said she already knows how to do everything. So much for keeping on top of things. Patty complained about some of us (read Cathy) doing our own little projects so that we did not have to help with other things.... Little did she know that Elizabeth had asked me to work on the problem titles (score one for Cathy) Time for brunch! Have a good weekend

Be - "long time ... no hear"

rest assured though that I am indeed "here" Finally got to see the Doctor on Wed about my GI issues - yes, I still have my GI issues. She tells me that she had a bout of diarrhea in the summer that lasted two weeks! So is this supposed to make me feel better? Anyway, several specimens were collected and taken off to the Lab on Thursday morning. I should hear back from Dr Monday or Tuesday. The directions on the bottles suggested putting saran wrap over the toilet hole in order to ensure the specimen was not in contact with urine or water. Now, can you imagine someone with water diarrhea even attempting to defecate onto a piece of saran wrap? Or even having time to drape the hole properly prior to performing the act.....? And Patty you thought you had problems cleaning your bathroom! Well, I guess thats enough about my little issue.
I heard on the news tonight that Winnipeg has already spent its winters budget on snow removal just in November - I wonder about who, and how the financial people could not be on top of this - its not as if Wpg never gets a good share of snow each year - no wonder they had roque front end loaders filling in Findlays driveway! They didn't know what else to do with it (haha)
We had to go to North Bay yesterday afternoon to deliver something and got stuck in a freak freezing rain - we came back home on the highway about 60 kph all the way - all transit buses and even salt trucks were pulled off at one point. I was very happy to reach Sundridge in one piece. Highways all around the city were closed, and according to news, many fender benders. Now we are in the middle of snow squalls expecting up to 40 cm by tomorrow. Must be the storm you folks in Manitoba sent East to us.
We are continuing to experience computer problems - one reason I haven't been too active on the blog . Harry bought a fancy new keyboard thinking that was the problem but as I write this note I see that it has not improved - still needs "one key at a time prompting" in order to get a complete word written. Then the printer wouldn't print in colour so the "computer man" told Harry to clean the cartridge head by going into settings and printer. So you know who got that job - apparently I have a Masters in Computer Application from MIT. Long story short ( and you wouldn't want to hear the details anyway) we now have two new cartridges in the printer -one colour and one black and white and Harry has his colour printing back.
Well, it is time to quit for tonight as tomorrow will come soon enough. Hope all is well with you two. Take care.

Housework can be hazardous to your health

With all that has been going on, combined with my natural tendnecy to procrastinate, the house has turned into a pigsty. So yesterday I made a list of things to do, and one was scrub out the upstairs bathroom, even to the point of cleaning out the cupboards and washing the floor. We even decided to replace the shower curtain--the one we mended with shipping tape when you were hear last summer, Beth. In hind sight, we maybe should have just mended it again--the tear wasn't any worse than it had been then. Everything went well until I tried to re-hang the shower curtain. It took about 5 tries to get it up. Next was to scrub the tub. This has become a major problem ever since my fall last summer--I can't kneel down and put any weight through my right knee. So there I was on 1 1/2 knees scrubbing the tub and down comes the shower curtain. David --playing on the computer--heard the noise and came to see what was going on. He found me scrubbing away with both the shower curtain and tension rod on my shoulders. Once I was down there, there was no way I was going to even TRY to get up, until the job was finished. Needless to say, neither the cupboards nor the floor were touched yesterday.

I'm sitting here with my morning coffee, while David is out blowing snow. The newspaper says that we have exceeded normnal snowfall for the month by 75%--all in the last week. We've had heavy snowfall every day and the streets are just awful--plows are barely keeping up with the bus routes. Getting into our street and then into our driveway has been "iffy" at best. I've been glad that we live so close to the corner, neighbours further down have been having a terrible time with it. So I heard the roar of the machine and thought it was loud. Took a look, just in time to see a frontend loader drop a huge winrow across our driveway, while David stood with his blower and watched. We have to go out, but it looks like it might be awhile.

I refuse to shop on weekends this close to Christmas. It has been said that the intersection of Regent and Lagimodiere is the busiest and most dangerous in the city, and much more so during November and December. So I either have to do my once-a-month shoppng today or Monday. Amber and I are sharing the cost of a gift for Darren this year, and she has made arrangements to get it today. So we need to hit the bank and then meet her in St. Boniface around noon. ( We're meeting a guy at a certain street corner at 12:30. Hm-m-m??) I imagine it will live at my house until Christmas. After supper, we are supposed to go to her house for an informal family birthday party for Samantha. She already has her gift, so we just have to get a card.

Tomorrow I have another class--this one on silk painting. You'll be glad to know that there are no others scheduled in the New Year--although I've seen a couple that look interesting.

Run, run, run..

Got most of the Christmas shopping done yesterday. We had a good idea of what we wanted to get, and then the problem was getting to the right store to buy it. Nasty slippery roads, and behind every steering wheel--an idiot! Shopping for clothes for teddy bears is a challenge, especially when one of those bears is a frog. The frog got a pair of black trousers, and a white pin striped shirt with a built in black vest. The bear--who is multi-coloured but mostly pink-- got a very nice off-white party dress. They offer "frequent flyer" points at this store, so Amber got those, as well as a $10 gift card, purchased for $5-- they sure know how to keep you coming back. Loren's children live for Chapters gift cards, but they're getting older and their books cost more, so we had to bump up the price this year. Jessica will also be getting pink "Princess" pyjamas, and Smantha a little outfit in lavender--she rarely gets "new" clothes.

Then out for supper. So nothing got done around here yesterday, which means working our butts off today. I'm having coffee with my friend Carolyn this afternoon. She's in town to teach and to visit her oldest daughter, Katrina, who has been fighting cancer for about a year now. As far as I know, things are going well, but I guess I'll find out this afternoon. And this evening I have a one-off beginners acrylic class with a different teacher. We're doing a small landscape, and will be mixing our colours--something we don't do in the series of classes I'm taking. So this will be a chance to learn another style. But the series of classes was advertised as being for advanced students, so this may be a good chance to get back to some of the basic techniques.

I envy you somewhat Cathy, being able to hear live music, and enjoy the social atmosphere you experience at the same time. You and Jim have active social lives, even if it's just people dropping in to finish a mickey. We never experience that, and I'm seeing our social skills getting rusty. I have to believe this socialization is part of small town living. You have to make your own culture etc. , and I know you do this actively. Keep it up, as you will need it when you retire.

Country Life

is mostly dealing with snow. From nothing to soooo much in such a short time. I had my meeting last Sunday. My instructions were to buy Subway for lunch. Well, guess what has closed in Neepawa! We had meat and buns, but nobody minded and most of it went. Another meeting on Wednesday that lasted until 9:30 pm We usually meet at 4:30 or 5:00 for this one, but it was the AGM so it was at 7:00. I should have been in bed. The Evening Grosbeaks fought over the food for about 10 minutes after Pati & Dave left and then they all suddenly took off and never came back. We still have sunflower seeds left. I wasn't sure after reading how much they can eat. I worked meat draw on Friday. We won our usual. Whitemud Blues was playing so we stayed for a while. I found myself dozing off, but Jim didn't want to leave yet, so I went next door and started on the office. I got it all cleaned on Friday night so we don't have to face it this weekend. We will have to shovel snow again on Monday. I find I look forward to weekends so that I can catch up on my sleep. It is not unusual now for me to sleep to 9 or 9:30 on the weekend. I guees I just don't get enough sleep during the week. Next Saturday is the Christmas Wish sale in town. I though I would be there all morning, but somehow they missed me on the schedule. They only asked about coming at 4:30 but I can't make it then. It's been a long time since I didn't work a shift. Usually I am there from 8am to noon. The Parade of Lights is on Saturday night. I always enjoy watching that. Sunday is the Dickens Reading at VCC and a Grey Cup Party at the legion. We'll see how much I do. I didn't win the lottery so it is back to work on Monday