In An Email

Cleaning Poem

I asked the Lord to tell me

Why my house is such a mess.

He asked if I'd been

'computering',

And I had to answer 'yes.'

He told me to get off my fanny,

And tidy up the house.

And so I started cleaning up...

The smudges off my mouse.

I wiped and shined the topside.

That really did the trick....

I was just admiring my good work.

I didn't mean to 'click.'

But click, I did, and oops - I

found

A real absorbing site

That I got SO way into it -

I was into it all night.

Nothing's changed except my

mouse.

It's very, very shiny.

I guess my house will stay a

mess.....

While I sit here on my hiney.

(Me... Have a problem? Oh no.... not ME>>>)

Light Mail

Daily Inspiration: That which is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil. ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Today’s Affirmation: I see beyond this physical world and give my love into the heart of every moment.

Today's Spiritual Contemplation: Good and evil are simply measures in a physical world of our sense of alignment with it. By their nature they cannot move beyond its dimensions being a human measure of those limitations. All love operates and springs forth from the realm of Spirit; love plays in this world, continually bringing forth healing where it is recognized while forever remaining free of earthly limitations.

Light Mail is put out by Rev. Dale Jukes of the Okanagan Centre For Spiritual Living.

A Most Beautiful & Long Day

Last night I got about 4 hours sleep, then got up this morning & went for a day trip with Dan in his little car. He wanted to go to his buddy Mike's home in OK Falls to check on it for Mike who lives in the lower mainland and has this as a summer place... as well as a place in Arizona, and a Motorhome. Poor guy. On the way down, we stopped at a butcher shop about half an hour south of here. They sell a mixture of different ground meats for dogs ($1.19/# under 100#, and $1.00/# for 100# and up). I bought 101# of it plus a couple packages of ground buffalo, just over 1#/ package.

We went to Mike's house and all looked good. We turned up the heat & hot water, then went out lunch at a local cafe. We walked a few blocks to the cafe, then back again. It was such a beautiful, warm, sunshiny day with blue sky all over the place. Couldn't ask for a nicer day for making such a trip. Back at Mike's Dan ran me a bath. He knows I used to love soaking in the tub but only get to shower now due to a too small bathtub, so today I got to have a nice soak in a big comfy tub. Then I made myself a cup of tea, refilling my travel mug, and we were off north again.

We stopped in Kelowna to fill my water jugs. Where I live there are a few places where you can fill your jugs with Reverse Osmosis filtered water for $2/5 gal. jug. There is a place where you can buy Spring Water for $8/5 gal. jug. However, in Kelowna, about an hour drive from here, there is Spring Water for $3/5 gal. jug. To make a trip down just for water does cost for the gas, so I prefer to not go too often, though usually so far I've been able to combine the trip with something else. For instance, when going to Omak Stampede I took my jugs, and another trip I made down there I did that too. I have made a trip just for water, though, I think. So today, to get all my jugs filled on the way through was great. I have 6 jugs now, so that adds up.... well, it should have been $18, but the owner of the place showed me how to get it a bit cheaper. Instead of paying for 5 gal. 6 times ($3 x 6), you can pay for $20 gal. ($10) and hit the pause button to change jugs. I thought that was very nice of him to show us that and save me $2. He also told Dan some stuff about Spring Water as he had no clue, and after telling us that the water is filtered 5 times before we get it, he got us a cup of non-filtered water and it was great. So clean & pure & tasty even before the filtration.

Once we got to my place, Dan carried in the 101# of dog meat (which Reba will share with Mewsic), the 6 jugs of water (approx. 50# each = 300# of water), then offered to bring in the bag of dog kibble I had in the truck 18kg, so about 40#, then he also brought me in a bag of pellets for the stove (40#) after which he said good night and went on his way. I sure appreciated all that help... that's a lot of carrying and, like he said, I'd be in terrible pain before I even got it all done.

I spent the evening playing with animals, watching TV, blogging, FaceBooking, looking at crochet patterns on the internet, etc. and now.... at nearly midnight, I am about to do the last 'critter chores' for the night (make sure chinchillas have food/water, put Reba out for a few minutes), turn the stove down, get me ready and off to bed.

I am grateful to Dan for taking me along for the ride today
I am grateful to Dan for buying me lunch and running me the bath
I am grateful to for the awesome sunshiny day
I am grateful I was out enjoying the weather today (forecast is for totally different tomorrow)
I am grateful to have all the meat for Reba & Mewsic
I am grateful to have a fresh bag of kibble each for Reba & Mewsic
I am grateful to know that I have enough food to last these two for at least 3 months
I am grateful to have enough water to last for at least 3 months
I am grateful that I can co-ordinate the trip to get water & meat in future
I am grateful to have some buffalo meat for me to eat
I am grateful I have enough rabbit food to last the rabbit & chinchillas minimum 6 months
I am grateful I have enough Spring Water to last 3 months or more if I use it for drinking, tea & some cooking... or longer if I use tap water to boil for tea.
I am grateful to live in a country where there is so much beauty as I saw today. I am usually driving that road so enjoyed being a passenger for once and being able to look around. I just wish I could have stopped to take pictures every time I saw something I wanted to share with you.
I am grateful for the peace & quiet of my home as I sit here in comfort
I am grateful for all the great free crochet pattern (snowflakes) that I found on the net.
I am grateful that it is now just after midnight and I am off to my bed. I am tired and looking forward to a good sleep tonight. I am not even going to dream about short circuiting in circuit city. In fact, I'm sure I will dream and not remember any of what I dreamed. I rarely remember even dreaming, never mind what I dreamed about.

Reading Material

Do you prefer reading books, or ebooks on your netbooks? (Or whatever kind of computer you have). Or do you like to read at all? Maybe you prefer reading magazines or ________? I love curling up with a good book, and I have a stack of great books sitting waiting for me to read them. I keep buying more great books to add to the stack. Some people do drugs, some drink alcohol, some smoke cigarettes, I used to drink copious amounts of Coca Cola. Now, I buy books that will help me to learn & to grow as a person as well as spiritually.

I also read information off the internet. For example, I am currently researching raw foods for cats & dogs. I've done this kind of research before and know there is still much to learn. The other day I was talking to a gal at the dog park who said that dogs can't digest raw vegetables. I've never heard that before so am searching for information to either confirm on blow that theory out of the water. I occasionally give Reba a raw carrot and she loves to chew it up and eat it. I have given Reba raw meat whenever possible in the past and have decided to feed her raw on a more regular basis, while still feeding some kibble, so I want to 'do the research' so I can do the best for her. I also plan to feed partial raw diet to Mewsic. I figure if Reba & I do any traveling together, especially if we go to the US, it will be best to have her still eating at least partial kibble diet because it's easier to carry along than raw meet that has to stay frozen until time to serve it... and can't take meat across the border.

I also want to find patterns I can print out to make crochet Christmas ornaments &/or snow flakes.

I started nodding off earlier, sitting here in my chair reading about raw dog/cat diets, so had to get up and move around, feed Reba her dinner, get a hot tea. Now, as I watch TV programs I taped Tuesday evening while I was out, I am blogging and reading these web pages... and working at staying awake until it is a suitable time to go to bed.

Three Word Thursday

Over at Quilly's, I enjoyed her fabulous & funny posts about US Thanksgiving. It sounds like they had a great day. Then I noticed another, must smaller post. This one told us that Three Word Thursday will next be held on December 3rd (it was postponed this week due to those Americans stuffing their faces with Turkey and all the trimmings.... even pies!!!). The three obscure words that we will be using then are: aquabib; ficulnean; brochity. I had thought maybe I would tell the story behind my bathroom tile flooring job, though have decided that none of these words will work with that story, so guess it's "back to the old drawing board". Not to worry, a great idea will find it's way to me in time.

My Bed

Before I head off to bed, thought I'd just tell you about that bed. I used to have a queen size water bed and I loved it! Then, Mom & Dad asked if I'd like to have their bedroom set as they were getting a new one. This was an antique set that they'd gotten second hand and had used for many years, so yes, I did want it. At first I set the bed up out in the addition, back when there was only the small addition on this home, so I could sleep in it for awhile to be sure, before I took the water bed down, that I could be comfortable in it. I had slept in the water bed for so many years and it was so comfortable that I had to be sure. I found it to be okay, so took down the water bed & moved this double bed into my bedroom. It gave me a lot more space in the room, being a smaller bed, and I needed that extra space as it came with the matching highboy & vanity with stool (minus the mirror which had been broken during a move years earlier). To take the place of the heat of the water bed, a friend gave me an electric blanket, though eventually it wore out. I love lots of blankets on my bed so was okay with heaping a few extras on in cold of winter.

The master bedroom is at the south end of my home and while I heated the home with the natural gas furnace it was warm at that end while being cool to cold at the north end where the kitchen & living room are. A few years ago I got my pellet stove & put it into the addition I had built on here in 1997, so it is at the north end and it keeps the house nice & toasty warm, though in cold weather it doesn't quite keep the bedroom warm unless I cook the rest of the house by turning the stove up really high, and use fans to move the heat down there. This fall I decided to move to the '2nd bedroom' which is in the 'new' addition, in the next room to the stove. Now my bedroom is warm & I close the door to the master bedroom. My walk-in closet is still back there in the master bedroom, but that's okay, I can walk that far when I need to. So far I've only needed 1 comforter & a bedspread and I find this plenty warm, even with the window open a crack to let in fresh air.

I recently bought myself a comfy new pillow... it's so nice. Yup, I think I'll go lay my head on it now... well, not now exactly. First I have to put DW 'to bed' (I think she's sleeping on the back of my chair), feed chinchillas, put Reba outside for one last potty break before bed... then I'll lay my head on my pillow.

Sweet dreams all!!

PS. I sometime think of the water bed & wish I had it now... I do miss it. Though I wouldn't want to part with my antique bedroom set, and don't have room for both.

An "Up & Down & Up" Day

I had an interesting day, to say the least. It started with getting up early and heading off to TOPS, got there on time so this was good. The weekly weigh in showed I dropped another 1/2 pound, bringing my total to 18 pounds gone since my first weigh in on January 15/09. Nearly a year and I hope to get another 2 pounds off by Christmas... or my birthday just 2 weeks later, in plenty of time to claim a 20# weight drop in my first year. I say 'drop' or 'shed' or whatever I can think of rather than 'lost' or 'loss' because when we loose things we often find them again eventually, and I do not want to find any of this again... ever.

After our meeting I stopped at one of the thrift stores to donate a big bag of clothes. Last week I donated an even bigger bag. I'm hoping to do a donation every week for awhile as I really do need to declutter this place. I then went to the restaurant that the other ladies from TOPS had gone to, joining them for lunch. Next, Pat, Paulene & I went to the Bargain Bin, our weekly thrift store shopping trip. While there I discovered a very unsettling health problem, just a wee bit too personal to state here though I am tempted, haha. I called my Dr.'s office & found they had no openings today, not that I thought there was much chance anyway, but had to try. Before making the 20-25 minute drive to the nearest walk-in clinic, I went for tea & an ice cream cone with Pat. I had planned to go to my Aqua Therapy class today, then when I found this problem I decided that it was best to skip that for today and see a Dr. instead.

The clinic I went to is upstairs at the Canadian Superstore, a huge grocery & loads of other stuff store with a gym & this clinic upstairs. The Dr. I saw has no clue at all why what is happening is happening, though agrees with me that it should not be happening!! So, he took a scraping to send to the lab and see if they come up with anything. I just pray it's nothing serious.

When I was getting ready to go in I must have taken the keys out of the ignition & had them on my lap as I dug out some reading material to take in with me (I have so many things I want to read that I prefer to read them rather than thumbing through magazines while waiting), then got out of the truck, locking the door without thinking about the keys. They were laying on the driver's seat, my spare keys were in the bag I carry with 'extras' that I don't want to carry in my purse but want in the truck... sitting on the floor on passenger's side. My coat was on the passenger seat. After a few phone calls & some text messaging, trying to find some help, my cell phone battery died. I got a wire coat hanger & tried to open it to no avail, just got dirty hands & broken nails as well as cold & frustrated. I went back into the store & used their phone, called a tow truck company... it would cost me $70 to get them to open the door. NOT!!! I eventually found a friend who could drive me out here to get a spare key I was more than 90% sure I had (good thing I had a spare house key hidden outside). When I looked & found the key hanging where I thought it was I was totally elated!! YES!!! The joy did not last long.... I realized that it was for the ignition and I needed a door key. Back to the old drawing board. I came back into the house and got some tools, then we headed back into town.

A few minutes inside the canopy on my truck with the wrench and I was able to slide the canopy back a few feet, then Bill helped me up into the box in front of the canopy. You see, I have a sliding back window in the truck... and a solid front window in the canopy, so to get to the slider .... Using a small screw driver Bill had, I was able to open the sliding window and I didn't even break the catch!!! YES!!! I then took the wire coat hanger that was now just a long wire, and tried to hook the keys several times (I couldn't see them from where I was, but I could hear when the connection was made), then I tried hooking the inside handle on the passenger door & that worked after a few tries. FINALLY the door was open!!!! Put the canopy back in place in no time, once I had the keys in my filthy dirty hands.

I gave Bill $10 for gas, & big Hug & a Thank You, then drove home.

When I got into the house I saw the fire had gone out, so brought in a bag of pellets & restarted the fire. The house is now warm and I am happy!!!

I am grateful to be a member of my TOPS group
I am grateful to have such wonderful 'fellow members' that have become friends
I am grateful that I've shed 18# and am on my way to even higher numbers (which is actually lower numbers on the scale) :o)
I am grateful to Bill for coming & helping me get into my truck
I am grateful to have gotten into my truck!! (Yes, I plan to hide at least a door key somewhere on the outside of my truck)
I am grateful to be warm again (too warm now, actually)
I am grateful I didn't end up having to pay $70 to get in
I am grateful I don't have to pay any rv insurance
I am grateful DW (female parrot) is cuddled up to the back of my head (though she should be in her cage sound asleep at this hour)
I am grateful to have such wonderful critters sharing my life & my home
I am grateful I have a comfortable bed waiting for me, and I choose to go to it now.