Changes....

Things change quickly....

My friend's hubby died last week.....I have chatted with her on the phone and she is holding up...for now. I will talk to her again this week.

My aunt is settling in and has a regular visitor who keeps track of things and keeps me posted.

I have finished the November concerts, both school and regular series....all this past week.
I am tired....I am sore.....I am sad.....but I will recover in time.

I have projects to do....my nutfolkery ornaments are in the Art Gallery store for Christmas.....I have a myriad of new winter reading material to peruse that I bought from the symphony used booksale.....I have some musing of my own to do on things past and present....and then of course, there is Christmas to look forward to!!

So all in all, things are slowly on the upward track.....much improvement over my last post.....I think....:-)

Slainte!

Trials and tribulations......

There are times in one's life when bad things seem to happen all at once.....and it's happening to me. I know there are lots of people out there who have suffered worse, but I'm having a hard time keeping it together right now.
My dear friend in England is , at the moment, having to cope with the fact that her husband has terminal cancer in colon, liver and lungs. The fact that she is not well herself compounds the problem.....and he won't allow her to get help....at least at this point. As you might gather, I am feeling rather helpless and hopeless at finding the words to comfort her. I can only listen...and I know that's what she needs, but the thought that a very dear sweet man, whom I have only known for a relatively short time (half the time I've known her) is only with us for a short while longer is devastating to me....as is the thought that my friend has lost her soul mate.....they married late ...both 56 years old....and it doesn't seem fair that they shouldn't have more time together. I keep in touch...it's all I can do at this point.
The other thing that has happened is not necessarily bad (depending on how you look at it), but my dear 97 year old aunt is finally having to go into a care facility....by her own choice though....which is probably better than being forced to do so. Still.....I held out hope that she would be able to manage in her apartment for a while longer, but it seems she doesn't want to be alone at night any more.....too many times she has woken up and needed help and has called an ambulance to take her to hospital. She has heart problems, so it is not unexpected....but having been through this whole thing with my mother and watching other aging relatives, I can't help but worry that going into a care facility is the first step in the downward slide into dementia. However, my aunt is alert and quite "with it" and has many interests, so I can only hope that she will do well there. It just seems to me that once they are in the care home, the will to keep going subsides and all the "fight" goes out of them. My brother and I are making a flying trip down tomorrow to be with her during the move, so we will know more then on how she is doing. I may be making a mountain out of the proverbial mole hill. We shall see.
We were supposed to take our dog Chauncey to the groomers tomorrow, but had to change the date because of the trip to the coast. In doing so, I found out that our groomer (a lovely lady who adores the dogs) has been diagnosed with brain and lung cancer. My inital reaction...."What the h--- is going on." There is another lady who will do the job and she did mention the possiblity that our original groomer would be back.....I hope so....I hope that her cancer is treatable and goes into remission.....I expect we will find out more on Monday when we take Chauncey in.
Sigh.....
So there you have it....when I write it all down, it doesn't seem like much, but I find myself wandering around wondering what to do......so in the end...I sit and read to take myself away.
Probably not a bad thing in retrospect.....
Thanks for listening...
Slainte.

Informative twaddle......

So....I notice that this blog has been busy....well sort of.....well not much at all....BUT....
a lot of that lack of activity has been lack of me....it's one of those things that you think, in fact you KNOW you really should get down to it....but something else always comes along. I thank Elisabeth and Daphne for contributing.....keep it coming ladies!!

I have had two concert weekends in a period of a little over two weeks. These are not just playing a concert....they involve rehearsals as well. The rehearsals are each 2 1/2 hours with a 15 minute break and there is usually one in the afternoon and then another in the evening after an hour's supper break....starting at 4 and ending around 10. The concerts usually start at 8 and end around 10'ish....about 2 hours.
The first concert (the first of the season) involved 3 rehearsals and two concerts. The second weekend, 6 rehearsals and 2 concerts.... one in Kamloops on Saturday night and one in Salmon Arm this last Sunday afternoon. The September concert required less rehearsal as it was a pops concert and the orchestral music for that, as a rule, is somewhat less demanding. The second concert however, was the Brahm's Violin Concerto (with Andrew Wan, new co-concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony - 26 years old and amazing!!) and finished with Beethoven's 7th Symphony. Lots of work for all members of the orchestra in that program...thus the increase in rehearsals. They were both successful concerts and now we have the music to work on before the next concert weekend in November.

I tell you all this because, although I love playing and the challenge it presents to me my musical self and I, they are exhausting weekends.....and as I get older (even if I get lighter) it takes me a few days to gather my resources to tackle the everyday life in my world as I know it. This is compounded by the fact that I suffer from fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis and sleep little.
So there's my excuse for not posting.....I'm such a whiner aren't I???? I don't really think I am, but sometimes things just need to be said to lay a foundation to go on with.....you think???
Now I know that everyone that reads this, for the most part, knows all this about me....but...if by any chance we do expand our authorship of this blog and they read the archives....it will inform....

The other aspect of this is that I seem to be in a state of constant "catch up". I have a small notebook that I list things that I have to do....and I'm constantly adding to it and going over it and thinking......"Ah!! I haven't done that yet!!" I will forget things if I don't write them down.....and it's not names or things that I forget....it's things that I HAVE to do.....letters that must be written, emails that have to be sent, wash that has to be done (although I have laundry basket that reminds me of that!!) appointments that have to be kept and made.....ARRRGGH!!!!
......and then I lie in bed at night and go over it all in my head.....no wonder I don't sleep.

Anyways, that's enough blithering for now.....I have often thought of blog topics and now I have an index card in my purse that I will write them down in when I think of them.....and hopefully I'll be able to keep things moving around here !!!

We're off to Victoria on Thanksgiving weekend for me to attend a tea for my cousin's 80th birthday and for DH to pay a trip to the museum ....I think.....and also we will be staying with T&D and having a wee visit with them. We're then going to take a day to roam up island and sightsee and take the ferry across from Duke Point to Tsawwassen on Tuesday to avoid the holiday weekend rush.....after which we will rush home to dash into the polling station to make our X just before the door slams shut .

Take care ladies..
Slainte!!

Leap Of Faith

Hello everyone,

I'm back with bells on after a perfectly inspiring day. I received formal training as an Herbalist eighteen years ago but didn't do much about it except treat a few friends & family for minor ailments every now & again. On the other hand, it was that very same herbal medicine that has kept my kids out of the Drs. office for the past eighteen years as well.

Then one day about five years ago I enrolled in a cold-process soap making class. I enjoyed it so much that I enrolled in the advanced soapmaking class where I learned to make super-fatted soaps, swirl soaps, and how to scent soaps for use in aromatherapy. I love making soaps and have also done that for friends & family as gifts for the past five years. Thinking it might be fun to start up my own home-based soap business, I made a batch of hypo-allergenic handsoap, and a batch of dog flea & tick soap. Both are curing for a few more weeks, then I'll be able to sell them. I came up with the business name 'Shamrock Herbal Solutions'.

Today I attended a class on liquid soaps, and learned how to make all natural, chemical free liquid hand soap, shampoo, body wash, bubble bath, dish soap, pet shampoo & household cleaners. Now I've decided the time has come to expand my line to include all of the above. I'm very excited about all this and can't wait to fly at it. I'll be printing up business cards this coming week with my phone number and plan to post flyers around town. I'm also thinking of getting a Post Office box for mail-order so I don't have people coming to my house. If business is brisk I'll be putting up a web page. Hopefully that will happen before I hit the craft fairs for the Christmas season.

Does this seem a little off the wall after being a stay-at-home mom for the past 20 + years? Maybe it is. But the way I see is, I have the skills, I have people in my town to sell to, I have sourced all my materials, and this will allow me to work from home and still teach DD who is in her 12th year of home-schooling. My other DD is going in for natural candle making & aromatherapy so will be joining me in marketing our products soon. It's either do this, which is something we're all really excited about, or a dead-end part-time job for $9. per hour. Gee, what a tough choice! On the other hand, if I don't succeed, I can always fall back on the dead-end job. lol I just feel that the time has come for me to take this leap of faith.

Osoyoos!!

So I have found that I'm not quite a tolerant as I used to be.
We have had a wonderful few days in Osoyoos, relaxing and touring wineries and sightseeing with friends and they have now headed back home to Edmonton.
The tolerance thing comes in because we were not able to have our usual room this year so we had a room (same design and space) next to the "party" room. By party I mean, the room where the people are who sit on the balcony outside their door and smoke and drink beer or wine and talk endlessly...which is not a bad thing, except when they are located right outside your door so everytime you exit your room, you are assailed by raucous laughter, cigarette smoke and they are very "IN YOUR FACE" type people. They are nice people...just not what I needed after a busy and stressful (although ending beautifully) week. I was so looking forward to peace, quiet and relaxation....which we now have, to some extent...as they are leaving today (I think)
On the up side....it's been a blast having our friends with us, visiting the wineries, having awesome food, giggling, laughing enjoying each other's company...and there were a few early morning swims in there for the guys and they also got to "tube" behind a motor boat. Wow!!
Note...I say the guys....we women just sat on the patio and took pictures and marvelled at their endurance!! However, we did swim and had fun too.
Now I have some down time....quiet time.....relaxing time and time to get back to eating healthily....although I have to admit...the food has been great up until now!!!
I will blog more when I get home....now it's out to the patio to read for a bit!!

Birthday inspiration....

Yesterday was my birthday.....and I was sent an e- greeting from Spark People.....the site that I use to manage my weight. It was quite inspirational and I thought I would share it with you.....
Enjoy!!




Slainte!!!

Coping.....

Why is it, as one gets older, that good things and bad things all happen at the same time....
Case in point....
Our son is getting married in 2 weeks.....we have just had a wonderful weekend with family and friends......both very positive things....then....
My dear aunt was in hospital with heart problems which will be ongoing...... I talked on the phone with a friend in England this morning and her husband possibly has liver cancer....

How does one cope with this anomaly....how do you express joy,happiness and sorrow at the same time....

When my mother died, it was on my brother's 60th birthday.....he said it was bizarre, on the one hand people were saying happy birthday and then sympathizing with him for the loss of his parent.

Life has a way of coming at you from all sides, good, bad and indifferent....and it seems to be more prevalent as we get older. I can think back over the last couple of years and realize why we act as we do....it's a coping mechanism....we do what we have to do to deal with the multitude of feelings within us. For me....lately...prayer helps and I shall keep on that road I think in this latest onslaught..

Sigh....

Slainte!!

We're back!

The cruise was marvelous!!! I loved the whole trip and I wasn't queasy at all. Now I miss being rocked to sleep at night.

There were 4 other ladies at my dinner table, all about the same age, and on the last night we cut loose and really had fun at a sock hop that the ship sponsored. The music was from the 50s and 60s and these gals really got into it. My DH even danced a slow one with me.

I gained a few pounds on the food. My DH insisted I go up and down using the stairs and not the elevator, so I suppose my weight gain could have been worse. I did go into the hot tub and then a quick swim in the cold salt water pool, which was quite energizing. We hiked around the towns whenever we stopped somewhere and that helped a bit too.

We went out in a small boat with another couple, to an island where puffins nest. The ride was like being on a bucking bronco! The swells were quite big and the guide was in a hurry to get us out and back so he could pick up his next fare. But we did see the puffins and are they ever cute. It was worth it. We also saw whales quite close up, otters, dolphins, orcas, bears, a porcupine, spawning salmon and a dipper (a bird that walks under water). So, on the wildlife side of things, it was a very successful trip. I guess if I had had a list of things to do before I die, seeing a puffin in the wild would have been on it, so now I can cross it off my minds list - but what about the Atlantic puffin? Maybe next year.

North to Alaska

We leave on Sunday for our Alaskan cruise, I'm so excited! But before we do that we have to attend my nieces wedding on Saturday night. I'm not packed or anything... h e l p ! I did buy the wedding present and some shoes for the trip. I think I know what I'm going to put into the bags, but there is so much to do first. D&T will arrive tomorrow night, so there will be visiting to do. Little Ethan has to be babysat and I have to find a sitter. I'm hyperventilating just thinking about it. I think I should not be blogging, I'd better get back to work. I just wanted you to know why you will not hear from me again until well after the 18th when I get back. Oh, yeah, my doctor wants to see me, something about high cholesterol. I'll tell you more when I get back. Have a wonderful two weeks and I'll catch up with you two when I get back.
Daphne.

First off, thank you for your comment Daphne. I don't know how to use this setup for sure yet, so I hope you're seeing this. :)

This was a good week as far as new things go. I opened my own chequing account at the bank, and even such a simple thing as that gave me such a feeling of satisfaction, that I went hog wild and opened a savings account as well. lol Then I went to Costco to take out a membership through my karate club, but the store was closed. I haven't been back there yet, but I'm looking forward to doing a big shopping when I return to it.

Yesterday was my first day at work. I'm working 5 days per week, 4 hours per day. This is perfect for me right now because it gives me time to do things with my family and work at other things that interest me as well. So yesterday what I had to do was take a four hour training session on hazardous materials and bio chemicals, then write a LONG test on it. If I scored 80% or better, I would have my 'safety license' which would allow me to handle & transport these chemicals. I must have passed, because I was given my ticket. :) Then I was given my name tag with the title of "Office Specialist, followed by my name, then "I'm In Charge Of Customer Service". But what I'd really like to know is.....how come somebody with all these fancy titles only gets slave wages? lolol

So today was my second day at work. This time I was trained (translation: sat and watched) my trainer do her day's work. It took the whole four hours for her to show me which papers go with which receipts, where to staple them, what to add to them, what to initial, what to sign in full, which envelope, bag, book, box or filebox each piece goes into, and at the end of the four hours we made the bank deposit. Upon returning to the office, she said "O.k, have you got it now? Tomorrow you'll do everything I did today while I sit here and watch you, then you're on your own because I have the weekend off.". All I could do was say "HUH?" I have no idea what all this woman did today! I have to admit, I'm feeling rather ill at the prospect of doing this by myself on Saturday & Sunday!What if I'm too old to start over again like this. If you hear I've been fired this coming weekend, so be it. I really like where I'm working, but I think half the fun is that I just like to be out working! NO! I'M GOING TO LEARN THIS JOB AND KEEP IT! I'm getting old. I'm not dead!

What kind of example would I be to my kids if I let this get the better of me?! I was going to return to college for my Herbal Consultant Certification in September, but I think I'll put my income toward the family's karate tests in December, then start the college course in January.

OH!! BEFORE I FORGET....The other night my mom's dog was barking like a loonatic upstairs at 3:00 a.m. I got up and looked outside just as my mom's lights all came on upstairs. So I turned mine on also so she'd know I was up in case something was wrong. After checking out the yard front and back (through the windows), without seeing anything amiss, we both shut our lights off and went back to bed. The next morning the neighbour behind us called us outside. He said somebody was trying to break into his house the night before via the sliding glass door. He got up and turned on the floodlights, but by the time he made it back to the glass door, whomever was there had run away. However, they kicked the fence down between his property and ours in their haste to escape. These are 6 foot tall cedar boards, and they were smashed right through the middle. After looking through the yard here, we discovered the front gate (chain link) was on the ground at one end because the hinges had been bent down at the other end. We figured whomever it was, they must have jumped over the gate when they ran away. It does have a U shaped piece of metal that slides down over a post to open & close the gate with, but if you didn't know it was there you'd never get the gate open. And it was black as pitch that night. The neighbour called the police, but they don't respond to B&Es anymore. There are just too many of them here. But THAT'S why the dog barked like that! Anyway, that was our excitement for the week. Time to get my things laid out for tomorrow. Another 6:00 a.m. start!

I do paper crafts, not very professional looking yet, but the things you can do with paper fascinates me. I would love to start a home based business too, that's always been my dream. I have a room to myself, now that all the kids have flown the coop, all my paper things are in there and when I'm off my real job, I can sit and snip. My sister made an altered book for me of me and my family. That is a big project, but I have cut up a book into a triangular shape and have started gluing pages together and cutting some out to get it ready for my first effort at that.

Christmas is coming and the last blog has given me some motivation to start preparing for that. I won't be going to any craft fairs, at least I don't think I will at this point, but there's lots to do just for family. Thanks for the inspiration.

The Power Of Positive Thinking!

Here's to positive thinking! I went to one of my favourite stores the other day and applied for a job in the knitting department. I was phoned for an interview that would take place at 9:00 this morning. I went into the store with the idea that the job I wanted was mine. The boss looked over my resume and said he was impressed. As we talked, he said he was no longer impressed, he was wowed. I WOWED THE BOSS!!! He then asked me if I would consider a position in the office doing the books!!

Does everyone here know that little dance where the hands & arms look like they're stirring something in a huge vat, and the body is moving as if operating a hula hoop, in the opposite direction as the hands? Well that's the happy dance I've been doing all day!!!!

I hadn't been home for ten minutes, and was just e-mailing Coramie with the good news, when the phone rang. It was Coramie! We had a wonderfully long conversation on the phone and I must thank you again for making that call Coramie. It really made my day to hear from you!

So onward and upward as you always say. I have plans for a home-based business as well, but will keep that one close to my chest until I have worked out which direction I'm going to go with it. This of course will be secondary to my 'real' job in accounting. Then as an encore, I'd like to enter the Christmas Craft Fairs when the time comes, just because I enjoy craft fairs. I don't quite know what to do as my entry however....I knit, but so does everyone else at these fairs. I make soap & candles, but so does everyone else. Hmmmm....this will take some thought. Good thing it's only July! lol Time to start looking in crafting magazines me thinks. Ooooo, but before I go, if anybody here does cross stitch or petit point and is looking for a drop-dead-gorgeous Christmas project, check out Mar-Bek's Nativity firescreen here: http://www.serendipitydesigns.com/MarBek_Designs_for_Cross_Stitc/the_nativity.html
The pattern for this is coming out of my first paycheque!

It's the little things.......

So ...when I swim I tend to come up with ideas that I could discuss in this blog.....
However, somehow they don't always seem to retain in my brain. But.....this one related to the whole swimming thing so I kind of remembered what I wanted to say ....or ask.

As I've gotten older, I find myself getting stressed out about the smallest things. Case in point.... swimming in a crowded and busy pool. I used to ....and still do sometimes....swim around 9 am. However, that is the time that the aquafit starts....and the music...rock music....LOUD rock music. .....and 9:30 am is when the lessons start....the group lessons....with kids....some of which take place in one of the lap lanes. So I swam and swam and then wondered why I used to not really enjoy the thought of going for my swim.....and that was it!! Too friggin' busy and loud. So I go now either around 8:15 am and then finish just after the aquafit starts....or around 11:45 which is just before everything finishes for the morning and one can have a peaceful swim for 45-50 minutes. I also worry about whether the change rooms will be full ( I use the family individual rooms)...so whilst I'm swimming I'm thinking about how long to swim and whether many people will be getting out of the pool at the same time as me and using the change rooms.....how bizarre is that. I never used to be like that.....I'm turning into a frightened stressed out old lady!! The upside is though, that I am actually going by myself when DH is working which is a huge deal for me....doing anything on my own is a big improvement over two years ago or even last year. Sometimes I even make a detour going home to visit a store....depending on how my legs are feeling after the workout!!

Does anyone else ever stress out about the little stuff? DH gets so frustrated with me when I blow up over something that's really quite meaningless in the grand scheme of things. I think it's all about taking life as it comes and dealing with it.....I just have to keep reminding myself of that.....sigh.....another thing to remember to do :-()

Slainte!!!

How Hard Can it Be?

Okay, I'm almost 60, 259 days to go and I intend to totally revamp my life before then. How hard can it be? I've bought almost every self-help book available and am avidly reading them all. The trouble is, the more determined I get to revamp, the more obstacles seem to be thrown in my path. Why revamp, you ask. Well, I've finished with the first two-thirds of my life, the single phase, the motherhood phase and now it just seems that my life needs a big readjustment as I start the third phase. I don't know what to call it, any ideas? Maybe it's the 'free to be creative' phase, or the 'finally picking a plum' phase, or...?

Okay, now, I have a history of starting books and not finishing them. I am going to commit to posting to this blog every time I finish a book and give a brief report on the book. That may keep me on track. Currently the book I am working on is called "Do It!: Let's get off our buts". I'm in the middle of it and it's giving me exercises to do which are hard but I will overcome!

I am working on a celebration plan for my birthday and have lots of ideas. Some of my friends have had surprise birthday parties and one had a full blown Ball. Whatever I do, I think I'd like to plan it myself. I'll keep you posted.

Hats off to Coramie for reading "Opening Skinner's Box". You will definitely stay young if you exercise your brain like that!

I look forward to reading more blogs at this place. Hopefully more will join.

my second post....

So..I've been reading a fair bit lately and the latest one I've been wading (and I mean wading) through is Opening Skinner's Box - Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century by Lauren Slater . The title itself would normally have put me off, but I saw it listed in the booklist on Rosie.com and as Skinner figures in Applied Behavioural Analysis, I thought I would give it look. It's a tough go, but I'm finding it interesting....I'm just not sure I will retain a lot of the information contained therein. It relates the pros and cons and the author's take on the experiments and the people who conducted them. Some are pretty horrendous....all in the name of science and the brain!!

I'm finding that my interests in book reading are gradually expanding....which in turn broadens the mind...at least I hope so. Another author that has taken my fancy is Annie Lamott. A couple of her books are Travelling Mercies and Grace(Eventually), she also has a column in Salon magazine and if you google her name you can find them to read. Humourous, down to earth, and to the point with a slightly Christian and spiritual aspect, though not enough to deter the non-vocal Christians among us.

I was at a garage sale this morning...alone.... (first one a loooong time) and it was nice. As much as I love my husband, having him with me at garage sales, causes me no end of distress. If he doesn't see anything that appeals to him, he huffs and puffs until I finally throw up my hands and leave, even if I've seen something that I like. He's just not a "second hand" sort of guy I guess.

In any case, I came away with a hat that reminded me of my grandmother (crocheted "cloche" style) for a dollar. some almost new Christmas place mats for 5$, three large hardcover books in pristine condition for 6 dollars and a small plastic bag of assorted "glitter glue" for collage work for a dollar. There were quite a few children's toys there, but I think I will wait until my grandson starts visiting before I decide what toys to get to have on hand. All in all, it was a good time....and it was after I had been to the market where I wandered through and picked up some bison meat, beets, yellow zucchini, apricots and peaches, and dog biscuits. A good start to Saturday. DH was at work.....so I was able to wander at my leisure with no one to account to....except Chauncey (our bichon) when I got home!!

I remember when DH retired I said that it would be a learning experience to start doing things separately.....there are things we do better apart and things we do well together. It's all about finding out which is which.... a task that is becoming a tad easier these days. When you have always done pretty much everything together, it is stressful but definitely worth it to achieve your own identity. It gets easier....but there are still times (and always will be, I'm sure) when I need him nearby even though I'm quite capable of being by myself. Now he has a temporary part-time job, the transition is easier....not quite so "in your face"...so to speak.

Well, I have blithered on long enough....I hope that someone eventually reads this....

Slainte!!

Coramie

Here we are.....

I have the honour of being the first to post to this new and hopefully awesome blog. Awesome because it will not be just me posting...it will be other women my age....at least that's the plan.
On the side bar of this blog is a blurb about staying young...I believe it was originated by the late George Carlin....who was not a woman....but he definitely had the right idea!!

No particular topic for the first post other than to welcome anyone who decides to join us. Feel free to to post pictures, videos, anything you like and that you think we might find interesting.

That's all for now!!

Slainte!!

Coramie