The Merrie Month of May: the Two-Four weekend that starts the Summer!

Hi again everyone!  Thanks for all your encouraging words, expressions of friendship and love.
 I've been outside in the back garden today and it's perfect weather for planting, weeding, and watering.  Just a sprinkling of rain to cool me down and enough sun to need a sunblock on my aging skin. 
Up here in Canada, aka The Great White North, on the weekend nearest the 24th of May. it's a tradition, in fact, a must, to first, gather at the nearest greenhouse or store that stocks plants, and spend  a tremendous amount of $$$$ buying them.  The second part of this is to dig, plant, curse one's overbuying of these 'damn things', down a few beers (hence the nickname for this holiday "Two-Four") and just get the buggers in the ground!  Admittedly, the end result can be enjoyed while putting a steak or hamburger on the Barbie, and by that time one is so tired and/or  tipsy that the song "Everything is Beautiful" plays in the windmills of our minds.  So, now my break is over, back to the garden and all that lovely stuff to muck about in.  I love being a Dirty Girl!!!! xoxo<3
P.S. Check out a new link on my sidebar...Rinkly Rimes.  She's sooo talented!
PS again:  I neglected to mentions that up here we are celebrating a long weekend that used to be in honour of  Queen Victoria's birthday.  It still is called Victoria Day by some and now we are honouring Queen Elizabeth on this weekend.even tho' it isn't really her Birth Day.  Lots of fireworks just like the US Memorial Day.

I'm Baaaaack!

Hello to all my friends in the blogasphere!

I have been on hiatus from posting due to much drama in my life.  Some situations needed my full attention and left me without the energy to post.  Or so it seemed.  Things are getting better, still some hard decisions to make;  any impossible situation(s) cannot be resolved, only dealt with using the information at hand and a fervent hope for an acceptable outcome.  I'm not going to detail all that has gone on, as I think it wouldn't make me feel any better and at worst would be boring.  Everyone out there has problems and I have a true belief that our Maker only gives us what we can bear and when we ask for help (givng up our sinful pride), we will receive it and all will be well.

I recently made some life enhanceing decisions and now I feel like I can go on forever.  It's only in looking back over the last year or two that I realize I have been taking the  easy road and not taking the best care of myself.  So dear friends you can look forward to:

(a) bad jokes

(b) good humour

(c) ramblings from a silly mind

(d) sermons from the Mount

Pick any or all of the above as your mood or heart directs.  Refer to the caption on the picture associated with this post and you will understand.  ;o)

Life Can Be Beautiful

Hi everyone.  I am having some time off due to Spring Break.  For those who don't know, or maybe I haven't mentioned it, I have been employed for almost 6 years as a Nanny/Personal /Assistant with a lovely family whom I've come to love like my own family. 
Update on my basement family room demolition--all the flooring has been taken off and disposed of.  The drywall up to about 4 feet has been taken off.  Next is the rebuild.  I have cans of paint, tools, and other items "decorating" my living and dining rooms.  They were stored in the workshop in the basement and the only good thing about having brought all the stuff upstairs is, that I've had to sort and get rid of various deitrius that has collected over 17 years.  Late last year I was contemplating selling my house and moving to a smaller, more manageable home, so I've been spurred on by the 'disaster' that was my basement to get on with other cleanups/touchups around here. 
We had some heavy rains last week, which was a perfect test of the repair to the outside basement wall. It stayed desert-dry, so the repair worked.  A new downspout was installed just before the rain and that has done a good job of diverting moisture away from the foundation.  Now the sun is shining and drying up the last of winter's snow.  Next is the lawn and garden care.  I should get out there this afternoon and inspect the winter damage. 

So, that's my boring life.  I'm actually happy it's boring.  There is a Chinese Curse (!) that goes "May you live an exciting life."  I'm thinking that was said like the southern "Bless your/her/his heart"-- this bon mot is to be uttered  in a drippingly sweet way when one is being ever so polite to another who is bugging the c..p out of you.  My southern friends will understand I think.
I wish you all a happy, healthy, fulfilling day of treasured moments. <3 Mar.

Spring!!!!

Lupins in New BrunswickEdelweiss flowers in GermanyJust a peaceful scene.

Nuts!!!!!

I feel a little like this little critter. Tripping up when I should be flying along.  The basement problem is being worked on.  It's all cleaned up as regards the water seepage and resulting mold.  I know more about mold and it's conseqences than I ever wanted to.  It will eventully be back to normal around here and in the meantime I'm getting the house packed up ready to put the ol' homestead up for sale.  I have felt for the last year that it was too much for me to handle all on my own, and the basement issue confirms it.   So, with the time off I have for the next 2-3 weeks I will be doing an inventory of what I want to keep and what's up for sale.  Have a good week everyone, keep smiling, and don't let life's glitches get you down for too long! ;o) <3 Mar.

Hello

Hello.  Is it me you're looking for? I love that song by Lionel Ritchie.  It's from an old (now) movie called Tootsie, which starred Dustin Hoffman.  It's about a man who thinks he's satisfied with the life he has and discovers that he wants more.  If you can find it, it's worth watching.

Anyhoo, I haven't posted for awhile because I've been totally preoccupied with the repairs that must be done to my basement, due to water coming in through the chimney stack.  Lining up people who do specific work and getting it done in the right order is time consuming. My life has been on hold for a month, but, I am hopeful that the repairs will get started on Monday. 

Everything in the basement must be brought upstairs.  You don't know how much 'stuff' you have until you try to move it to another place, either another house or to another part of your current home.  I was planning on moving to a smaller place this year (which is  on hold--can't put the house up for sale now), so some things have been given to family members, but it's the junk one accumulates that takes so much time to sort out.

On a lighter note, I do not have pics of the guys who will do the work, but I will try to get some and post them, so we can all salivate a little. ;)
.P.S. LOL  On reading this post on Tuesday I realized that I had typed "Dusting Hoffman".   A Freudian Slip? I guess cleaning up the mess that is my house was on my mind.

I'm Baaaaack!

I haven't posted for a little while...here's why.
Isn't this a cozy picture?  I wish I could do that in my comfy rocking chair in front of a cozy fire.  But for now, I can only hope to do that. Some of my friends know about my battle with the element of water.  We do need water, but NOT pooling on the basement floor! 
Short story is that  a week ago, last Monday, I started my day by discovering that water is leaking into my basement through a breech around the stainless steel chimney that connects to my fireplace.  All the rain we've been  having in great lots all at once over the last 2 years, especially in winter, has worked its way through the stack join in the wall.
So, goodbye to beautiful laminate floor, goodbye to pine panelling, goodbye to using the fireplace.  Hello to finding out that I can take charge of the problem in a calm, business like manner. I made a few calls, talked to some nice people and got the ball rolling.
In the process of getting the problem taken care of,  I have met some really great guys. At my age I do not have many chances to interact with handsome, virile men, so there is an upside to having a leak.(insert smirk here ) 
So, using a water related cliche.....Every cloud has a silver lining.  (he, he, I kept typing clown for cloud)