This Week

Happy Friday to all my blogging friends! How is everyone? And what have you been up to? Share your news in the comments because I really enjoy hearing from you.

So yesterday we picked up our new car. Here we are right before we headed home.

We traded in our CR-V and when we left it behind at the dealership, I felt my heart being squeezed and my eyes filling with tears. It wasn’t the car that got to me (after all, it’s just a material object), but the years it represents. We picked it up in the spring of 2003 and drove it for 15 years. And in those 15 years, there were so many changes. The most amazing man in the world and I only knew each other for a year in 2003, my beautiful girls were only 6 and 11, and my brother and my father were still alive.

During those 15 years, we got engaged and married and moved to two different cities. The girls grew up and went to high school and university and moved out. I grieved two of the most important people in my life and thought my broken heart would never heal. I turned 40 then 50 and went through menopause. My husband turned 50 and then 60 (this past July) and retired from his 30-year job. We took vacations as a family and vacations as a couple. There were road trips and birthdays and celebrations and family visits and big and small adventures. We started as a family of four and are now empty nesters.

15 years of laughing and crying and living and loving have come and gone, and all this crossed my mind as we drove away and said goodbye to our old vehicle. I thanked it for its amazing service. In all the time we had it we never had a problem, it never let us down and we never made one single major repair on it. It was the perfect car.

*sniff*

Onwards and upwards...

Monday I started my first day volunteering at the food bank. Holy moly...what an amazing experience! I met some wonderful people and may have handed out more food than I should have. Blame it on me being the newbie! And on empathy. Anyway, I left convinced that I’d made the right decision in donating my time at this place. I’d like to volunteer at one more organization but I’m not sure yet about whether I’ll be seeking employment or not. I’m considering a part time job but will wait to attend the job fair next month before I decide where I’m headed. I’ll either work part time and volunteer or else I’ll volunteer more hours per week at one or two or three places. We shall see.

Nothing else to say for now, so I’ll sign off here and wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Question Of The Day

My reaction if I have to do any public speaking:

Why you make kitty scared?

How about you?

Chuckles and Chortles

Happy Monday, everyone! How was your weekend? Ours was quiet for the most part. The only really unusual thing we did was buy a car. Finally! After a lengthy period of research and dealing with pushy and frustrating and annoying dealers, we finally found something we like and were able to get it at the price we wanted. The car has been ordered and we should be receiving it within a week to ten days, maybe even sooner depending on how quickly it's shipped. Anyhow, I'm just glad that's over and done with. If you're in the market for a car and have to visit dealerships, you have my sympathy.

This afternoon I begin volunteering at the local food bank. I have been thinking about doing this for a long time but felt a little too burnt out until recently. When you're out of sorts, you have nothing to give. Now that I'm feeling more or less like my old self, I'm eager to start getting involved. I'm excited about this new addition to my schedule and will share more about it later this week. Although vaguely. Because there is confidentiality to consider. And the respect factor, especially towards the clients.

And that's my news. What's up with you? While you think about that, here's some stuff to make you laugh. Enjoy and have a great day ahead!

This Week

Happy Friday, blogging pals! It’s been forever since I put together a post like this and it feels a little strange. But also great. I always enjoyed sharing tidbits of life in this small city.

Where to start... Well, let’s start with how the long break began.

As many of my longtime blogging friends know, we moved to this area last February after we sold our house in Kingston, a city that we loved and lived in for 8 beautiful years. The house selling took forever, totally stressed us out and left us exhausted. As for the new house, it was a mess. Every inch of it needed some work, which left us exhausted since we did everything ourselves. When we finally caught up and felt like we could relax a little, our cat Nacho left us suddenly in January, and that really knocked the wind out of us.

Because we’d been on the ‘go go go’ for so long, I didn’t realize what a toll it had taken on my physical, mental and emotional health. Sometime in the spring, I began to lose motivation and really slow down. Trying to keep up with things became difficult and I didn’t really care to. And this blog felt more like a chore than a place to connect and have fun. I began to resent its very presence. That’s when I knew that a break was necessary, so I took it and it did me wonders. My only concern was whether I’d ever feel like returning here again. Thankfully I did ‘cause here I am!

And that’s the blog break...

What else? We had the summer from hell. It was horribly hot and humid from the beginning of June through to the end of August, and much of the start of September. To top it all off, our car’s air conditioning quit sometime in May. It couldn’t have chosen a worst summer to do so! The most amazing man in the world who is also the handiest tried to fix it but couldn’t. And since we are planning on buying a new car this fall, we didn’t want to spend a crap load of money repairing it at a garage, so we just had to live with the problem. What was the result of summer from hell and no auto air conditioning? Being prisoners in our home more often than not. Rumour has it that one of us – and I won’t name names or point fingers – almost went stark raving mad.

Speaking of cars, we really are in the market for a new one and we’ve been visiting dealerships for the past few weeks. We plan to purchase by the end of October, at the latest. And let me tell you, we’ll be so happy when it’s all over. I cannot stand shopping for a car any more than I can stand shopping for a house. The whole process is stressful.


And finally, here’s the most exciting thing of the year. My younger daughter is fulfilling a lifelong dream. When she was about 7 or 8, she announced that one day she’d go live in New Zealand. And you know what? She made it happen, at least for a short period. As I write this, she is an exchange student in that enchanting country. She got there at the beginning of July and she’ll be returning to Ottawa at the beginning of November. This is the most exciting adventure of her young life! This eternal optimist who lives life passionately and determinedly doesn’t just dream about what she wants, she makes those dreams come true. Here is one of the adventures she experienced recently as a temporary ‘Kiwi’.

Taking the plunge with an equally crazy adventurous friend.

Yup, bungee jumping! Talk about living life boldly. I could never in a million years do this. Okay, maybe if someone offered me a million dollars. But that’s it.

Anyhow, I could keep going on but I’ll stop right here. I thank you all for the warm welcomes earlier this week and wish you a wonderful weekend!

Question Of The Day

If you ever feel the need to share with someone where you've hidden the body, I am your person. My lips are sealed and I will take your secret to the grave. *snort*

How about you? Can you keep a secret.