Musings on a Small Life

Hours per week at an unfulfilling job, that is. I've been doing my usual Monday morning "I can't do this anymore" routine, work-wise and home-wise. Read yet another really awesome article on TinyBuddha.com, it's like the author is inside my head: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-to-discover-the-work-that-will-bring-you-joy-and-purpose/ (Here's the crucial bit for me: " So I rephrased the question from 'What would make me happy?' to something more achievable. What am I curious about? ")  Anyway, I sent the article to a co-worker who so gets it, and we exchanged emails for a bit. At one point she said she was glad she wasn't in a 60-hour per week un -fulfilling job and that gave me the little "swat upside the head" (perspective) that I needed for the day. Yep, it's far better to spend only 35 hours per week at an unfulfilling job, than 60 hours or even more. I might have more money if I worked 60 hours per w...

Charlotte and Dexter are my "old" boss's (and his wife's) dogs. Charlotte, a bichon frise   Dexter, obviously a chocolate lab I'm not normally fond of little ankle-biting dogs, but Charlotte is a sweetie. She and Dexter spent hours having us all throw a little ball around the back yard. Dexter wore down after about three hours, but oh, no, not Charlotte. She's like the Energizer Bunny. I kept thinking she was going to have a heart attack, but our boss says she can tear around like that all day. What a life!         She took a break from time to time, but not for long. I think we all tired of throwing the ball, but she just wouldn't quit. :-) Some of us had been out to their house before, at Christmas-time, but never during the summer. They've had landscaping done and it's really quite lovely. Plus they live in a quiet, park-like neighbourhood...very nice. A few floral close-ups     It was an enjoyable get-togeth...

When am I ever wordless or even succinct? Yes, the new "toy" is fun to have. I had to order a case for it, though (via Amazon.ca this time), so add on another $20 to the cost. The "fleas" did come home on Monday sometime; yay, me.   I bought slippery elm capsules yesterday for Nicki, as it's well known to soothe all sorts of tummy and intestinal upsets in cats. I thought I'd give it a try, as I believe it's he who still is throwing up blood/bile with the grass. I discovered, though, that you really can't make the syrup out of the powder in those capsules, so I'm just mixing a bit of it in with Nicki's canned food. Maybe after payday I'll pop downtown to the natural health foods store; they probably carry slippery elm bark in bulk, which is what I'd need to boil it up for the syrup.  I keep thinking Nicki looks thinner and thinner, and when I weighed him last week I had him as having lost 0.8 pounds within a two-week...

In this case, it's a purchase (read credit card charge) from Costco.ca that I don't need, but that I "reasoned" myself into. For someone who didn't have a smart phone until June, I'm certainly going all out now. Mind you, it's not like I spent a lot of money, as you can see. It's a low-end Android tablet that actually was delivered in less than two days, in spite of the 3- 7 business day delivery estimate. My "reasoning" was that since my laptop is 4 - 5 years old and often freezes on me, but since I use it only for photo editing, email and blogging, it would be cheaper in the long run to "invest" in a little tablet as a bridge between the small size of the phone and the larger size of a new laptop. To say nothing of the fact that a good new laptop will run me in the $900+ range (no point in paying for a crappy one). There's no logic to charging something I can't pay for, but I do have 90 days to return it to o...

I'd taken Friday off to run errands, get the house chores done, etc. What I didn't post before was the reason: Robin of A Bird's Life and her husband came up on Saturday morning for a visit. (They're about an hour away from me.) They had offered to help with a few things in the house (he's an electrician), which was so kind. I didn't start to stress until Wednesday/Thursday, because meeting people you know only via cyber-space can be dicey. They could have been psycho killers disguised as decent folks (hey, it's happened too many times). Or for all they knew, I could have been a psycho killer! Anyway, they are what they seem to be: lovely, decent, generous and kind people. I had a lengthy list of questions for Chuck and really appreciated his willingness to answer, make suggestions, etc. They brought a huge pot of mums for my garden, and Robin brought cookies and a muffin too, all home-made, because she does cook and bake. (Yeah, I gobbled eve...

...I can replace my aging furnace and get central air at the same time. Holy crap! Yep, it's pricey. About $4100 for the central air (a better, more efficient unit, not low end and not top end) and about $4500 for a new furnace, installation included. Sure, I could pay $100/month for the next 12 years (interest rate guaranteed for 5 years), if I had a free $100 per month. Or hey, I could put the cost of central air on my line of credit (or put both) and pay that off instead, or roll it all into my mortgage the next time I redo it. (Which will be several years down the road.) Or (and these were all his suggestions), put the entire thing on my credit card to get points or AirMiles or whatever I get, and then pay off the credit card using the line of credit. I'll tell you what option I'll be choosing right now: the option to pass. The furnace will have to be replaced sooner than later anyway (as a guess, within 3 - 5 years), but I'm not going to think abou...

For some crazy reason, last week I impulsively bought the Pet Pioneer stainless steel raindrop pet fountain for the boys. Neither of whom typically go near running water. Anyhoooo.... It arrived yesterday, so I assembled it...and I don't want to admit how long it took me to get the pump into the plastic casing. I watched three YouTube videos, all of which showed the pump and casing already together, fresh out of the box. But not mine, oh no. And I'm rather inept when it comes to things like that. Finally, after a long time, much cursing and a bit of luck, it went together. So I filled it up and plugged it in while it was on the counter...and had to take it all apart again to adjust the pump down to its lowest level. And then struggle to get the pump back into the casing, aligned correctly yet again. Already it's a pain in the ass. Never mind that you have to change the filter every 2 - 4 weeks. I put it by the patio door, where I typically have a wat...

I didn't remember until I saw my personal calendar. Not because I don't still think of her every day (I always say goodnight to both Annie and Chumley when I go to bed), more because I didn't celebrate "gotcha days" until I started the Fuzzy Tales blog and discovered that so many do, at least via cyber space. Snapshot was taken August 23, 2008 I like looking at her older (i.e. younger) snapshots. After her hyper-thyroid diagnosis in September 2009, and the start of her meds, she never was the same. (Nicki's presence didn't help, either.) *** As for other things, I'm having someone from my furnace company come out Friday morning to give me two quotes: One will be for a humidifer that attaches to the furnace, because the house is desperately dry in the winter. The woman on the phone told me they're about $475 installed. (I've seen the units for about $230 or so online, but I'd have to pay for installation and I wonder if doing...

I saw the specialist today re: the numb skin on my upper left thigh. (Some of you might remember this happened about 5 - 6 weeks into my physio last winter, so over 5 months now.) I was expecting the "cattle prod" test, as the family doctor had put it, but there must have been some miscommunication between my clinic and his office, as he had been expecting my numbness to be on the outer thigh (which is isn't). He did his thing, with a female surgeon present to offer input, only to say he's never seen this pattern of numbness in his 23 years of specialization. A search of their medical database brought up "rare." It's not muscular, he tested that, as well as my reflexes. So I'm a medical mystery, apparently. They did their medical-speak, but the upshot is that he's 99% sure the root cause is benign, he suspects it IS from an acute injury (i.e. the physio), and wants me to see my family doctor in two weeks, as by that time he...

[Comments are off. This is me, just being aware of what I'm telling myself. Feel free to navigate away now.] I've been thinking a lot about that article I read yesterday on TinyBuddha.com . About all the ways denial creeps into my thoughts. I hear my mother's voice in most of them. This is the best I can do on my own. I'm lucky to have what I do, so be grateful (read "satisfied") with it (read "any little crumb you have"). Life can always be worse. It's too late for me. I'm too old. Suck it up. Get over it. No one ever said life was fair. Nothing is ever going to change until I magically transform myself into a "go-getter", someone who is extroverted, clever, and savvy, financially. (That's my OWN voice.) I can't get there from here. (That's mine too.) My mental health problems and emotional baggage preclude anything better for my Self. (Definitely mine.) All these thoughts are true to varying degrees, ...

I just read this article on TinyBuddha.com: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-taking-no-action-can-help-you-change-your-life/ I can relate to everything the author wrote, both in my past (thinking unhappy relationship with my ex) and in my current life (thinking home situation and work too). What hit me like a ton of bricks was this: "First, we must give ourselves permission to do absolutely nothing at all.  "The truth is, we can’t change what we don’t acknowledge. And we won’t acknowledge the problem if we think it means we have to take any kind of action before we feel ready to ." Ton. Of. Bricks. Because here I am, unhappy in my work and desperately unhappy with my living arrangements. Miserable and frustrated and so angry about being "stuck" in that stupid townhouse that needs so much cosmetic work, living on top of people, with all the noise and disturbance, unable to see better options given my circumstances. So miserable that most of the tim...

Friday I spent a good chunk of time reading up on hypercalcemia in cats, because you all know Nicki's borderline. (BTW, as an FYI, the lab--IDEXX--changed its reference values for calcium sometime after late 2013, from then 2.0 - 2.9 to now 2.2 - 2.7. I asked the vet about it and he explained that it could be better testing and/or better knowledge of calcium as relates to cat health, etc.) So yesterday and today I've spent a huge amount of time checking out 100+ pet food brands, only to come up with five that I can get here and that seem suitable. (None of which the boys probably will eat!) If anyone really is desperate to read up on their pet's food, you can check for recall and other info at Truth About Pet Food: http://truthaboutpetfood.com/ Or Google for pet food recalls. You'll get plenty to read. I found this independent pet food store in the U.S. helpful (though keep in mind they have their own agenda too): http://www.animalnature.net/unnap...

[Warning: Extremely high number of snapshots!] I went down to Portsmouth Olympic Harbour this morning, as the regatta that's on is part of CORK . I always forget that it starts early in August; I have it in mind that it's later. So that's what I was seeing on Thursday, when I was walking along the waterfront. I should have taken my Fuji, with its 30x zoom, but I consciously decided not to because of its size and weight, took the old Canon PowerShot S3 IS instead. I took 193 pics of the boats and ducks--let's not forget the ducks--but managed to whittle that down to 91 to edit and save. It's like a sickness, taking snapshots. LOL. I won't post all 91 here, I promise. BTW, before I do post them, my gosh, Nicki's neck, where he was shaved, is red ! I just noticed it a short time ago, it looks awful. What the heck did they do??? All the times my cats (Annie and Chumley too) have had patches shaved, I've never seen their skin look like this....