Lamp and Light.

We found new lamps for our Master Bedroom last week. Actually not NEW but new to us. A lovely lady on Marketplace was selling both for $30. The bottom is ornate and I love the little hanging beads. The color is perfect and we have better light now when we crawl in to bed to read. Very happy with this purchase and thankful for someone who took great care of an item and then passes it along.

Walked past the upper balcony last night and had to take this shot of the late day sun hitting the window and the wall. Yesterday was quite gloomy but then just before sunset, the sun appeared! We were told it would rain all day today but we've woken up to pure blue skies so we'll see if that changes. Painting the board and batten on our lower level this morning then this afternoon we're heading in to the Big City to pick up a miniature kit (potting bench) and a mini weathervane from a fellow dollhouse maker. Then back to our little hamlet to go car shopping for a bit. Dh's lease on his vehicle is up at the end of the year so we want to start figuring out his next move. He leases because his payment is a 100% write off on his taxes due to the nature of his job. Gas is 100% as well as maintenance so it's a win win for us. He's looking at a more sporty model instead of an SUV. Should be fun to look! We'll narrow down our list so we're ready in December when we have to make a deal. No test driving though until we're vaccinated. Not risking our lives over a car. Busy day but good stuff. No other plans yet. 

Wishing you a beautiful 

sun filled day! Namaste.

~ Chy

The Prince.

From the Royal.UK website this morning:

"It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty the

Queen announces the death of her beloved

husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip,

Duke of Edinburgh. His Royal Highness passed

away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.

The Royal Family join with people around the

world in mourning his loss. Friday, 9 April 2021."

Just 2 months shy of his 100th birthday. Today,

we hold the Queen and the Royal Family in our

hearts as they remember Prince Philip. Sad day

for all today. Wishing them well as they mourn.

~ Chy

Blustery and Cold.

We've woken up to a strong wind storm happening outside the cottage. The gusts are hitting our home with force and then die down for a bit. Dh said he spotted snowflakes at one point. It is supposed to rain, which would be lovely as everything is so brown right now. Buds are appearing on trees and we can see some green starting to pop up from the Earth. But rain would really help to get it all growing again. Today will be a Hygge kind of day ~ a hot shower, cozy threads on my body, a warm cup of tea and a sweet spot to make a nest on the couch where I'll observe life from my perch while writing case notes and answering emails. After 6 meetings in a row yesterday with no break in between (and most were on Zoom), I'm feeling lucky today to have just 3 phone calls (2 short, 1 for an hour) and the rest of my day can be catching up while keeping warm in front of the fireplace. No sun in sight for a few days so Hygge it is!

Loving the addition of the pink tulips to my flower jar. The whites are almost done but the pinks are just starting out. May keep this rotation of new and old going. I love Spring flowers and though it's dark outside, these are keeping my spirit light. This morning I watched a video on creating seed tapes and I think it's something we'll try this year for the veggie patch. Super easy and would make the spacing easier, especially for our carrots. My Solo cups arrived the other day ~ I had to order them because in the stores here, you can only get red ones and if you've read my blog for awhile, you know the color red will never be something you'll see in my house. Even our fire extinguisher is white! So my Solo cups are purple. The day after they arrived, a second package was delivered with the Grow Lights inside. So now we're set up to start our seeds inside. Once the nighttime temperatures are better, we can move the seed pots out to the greenhouse. We know it's warming up nicely in there as almost every day for the last few weeks, the upper window opens up for the afternoon and then closes later in the day. A great sign for our little greenhouse. Looking forward to seeing how well we can get our garden going this year. High hopes as last year wasn't the best but we've done lots of research over the Winter, so feel better going in to the season for this year. No other plans today other than a short board meeting tonight on Zoom. Trying to take it as easy as I can today while still ensuring my work is done. Tomorrow is a day off so getting everything done today will help me relax. 

We're back in lockdown again so going in to hospice 1 or 2 days a week is off the table for now. Hopefully by Summer we can be back in place again. I'm so thankful we can work at home and our income has not been affected. It's crazy right now how much money we're saving ~ rarely have we had to buy gas, no eating out, no treats, no quick trips to pick something up. Just the basics. I just did a quick check in our bank account and there's been no transactions since Monday when we paid a bill. Interesting! Perhaps we'll continue this trend once the Pandemic is over. We've always been careful and we're incredibly good at saving money. But this has been awesome to have it come in and just the basics go out. I like this trend! Our saving is always planned out ~ right now, we're working on saving for a new vehicle for me in the next 2 to 3 years. Bought my 2012 in 2011 new so it will be 10 years old in the Fall. I plan to keep it until at least year 12 if not longer. Other than a scratch on the drivers' side (someone keyed me at Costco once), it's running just as well as the 1st year and still looks great. Our other savings account is for travel but it's pretty idle right now. I left what we had already put in before the Spring of 2020 for now. Once things are "normal" again, we'll take a trip out to our little island. I've moved what we would normally save in there to another account we have for landscaping, which more will be done again this Summer. Our final savings account is for our retirement, and outside of our RRSP's (Registered Retirement Savings Plans if you don't live in Canada and are wondering what this is) and our home, we both won't have company pensions as we've never worked for organizations that have this in place. So we've had to build our own retirement plans from scratch. We'll sell the home once we're older and those funds will carry us through, along with our savings, our RRSP's and the gov't funds of CPP (Canada Pension Plan) and OAS (Old Age Security). These last 2 items are provided to all Canadians who have contributed to them during their work like. You can apply as early as 60 or keep working and take the funds later in life. We don't have set times yet for how long we'll work. I was home for over 20 years with my kids so not in a big hurry now that I'm in my dream job. I could see dh retiring earlier and working on his projects. One day we'll figure it out!

I'm off to have my hot shower and get the day moving. Once my work is done, I hope to work on the project I've started from the art classes I took this week. Will post once I have those done.  I have lots of blogs to read today too. Hope your day goes well and you have sun  in your area. Namaste. 

~ Chy

A New Day.

Easter Dinner was fun but we so missed our other kids. We're grateful our daughters live with us so we've had family all year during Covid. But not seeing our boys and their families, my mom and other family members, and our friends has been hard. This celebration seemed the hardest as we're now in Year 2 of the virus and it's not getting better. A year ago I truly thought "okay, we lockdown for a month or so and kick this thing to the curb." But I don't have that same hope anymore. Will try to find it again. It's been a rough few days and I'll need to do some work today to get back to my smiley self. For now, pretty pictures of our Easter feast above. We're still enjoying a few more leftovers.

Today is going to be crazy busy. I'm heading down the hall in a few minutes to do my treadmill and my weights. Then a lovely shower. Meeting with my boss on video, then a phone counselling session, another video call with one of our hospice residents and his family, then a meeting (video) with my team, and the final video call for the day will be with my practicum student and her advisor ~ today is her final eval and her final day, though she has asked if she can stay on as a volunteer. So happy to have her continued support. She's going to be an amazing Social Worker. After all this, I'll take a bit of a break and then I have to catch up on the art class I'm signed up for. It's 3 nights ~ Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It was live but each night was saved, and for up to one year, I can play the videos over and over again. Very thankful for this as last night was a very difficult end to the day and I didn't attend class. Tried to do some self care and ended up crawling in to bed early instead. Didn't sleep much but at least today is a new day. I hope you have a great day too! We all deserve some great days when life is tough. I'm off to tread out my bad feelings, stomp on my mood and lift some weights after my run/walk. Namaste my friends!

~ Chy

Lets Do This ....

I recently took an online gardening class that was centred on starting seeds at home for our veggie patch. This week we will be mixing up our soilless soil (who knew such a thing exists?), drilling holes in our purple Solo cups, filling them with the mix, then setting up the grow lights. By the time the last frost hits our region in mid to late May, we should have some solid plants ready to go in to the ground. Really looking forward to trying out this method and hope we have great results. We've made our list and have plotted out where most of the seedlings will go once we're ready to transplant them over. This year, we're moving the pumpkins out of the veggie patch and over to their own little pumpkin patch. And adding tons of new dirt and compost to the raised beds. Hoping with better spacing and more depth, our carrots will be a decent size this year. One whole bed will be peas as well. Mmmm! These are my two favorite veggies.

In other news, I was supposed to head in to hospice today, but sadly, earlier than I thought, we've been hit with Covid. I'm thankful I've been off for Spring Break, so I wasn't exposed to the virus but now can't return until this passes. I was only going in 1 to 2 days a week and not even full days but was so looking forward to seeing everyone in person this week and catching up. Thankful for technology so I can at least keep up and continue this valuable work, even from home. I have a family that was supposed to come in for counselling this afternoon and hope they have read the email I sent last night that we'd have to postpone OR move to virtual for now. If I don't hear from them in the next hour or so, I'll give them a call. I know they will be disappointed as their boys are so young and mom is actively dying but we have to keep everyone safe now that the virus has hit our space. Maybe this will help us all get our vaccines earlier than originally planned. Fingers crossed! Hopeful for that.

I took an art class last night that continues tonight and concludes tomorrow night. I got the note about Covid right in the middle of my class and became quite upset, so I clicked off the class and will resume it later this afternoon. Quite a neat setup in that the sessions are available to me for one year so I can go back to them as often as needed. Enjoyed the bit I did participate in so looking forward to the next ones. Our contractor is coming over at 4 today as we have a plan that either needs to be put to sleep because it will cost too much OR put in to action if it fits in our budget. And we have to start considering what to do with our other house as the market has become an amazing seller's market. So many things to work through right now. Lots of little stressors. And some big ones too! Thankful that we are warm and safe, healthy and able to continue to work from home. The stressors will be solved in time and the virus will be eradicated so we can move freely again. Hope is always free. Hope is what the one thing we can count on. 

I'm off to work out, then shower, then meetings, then art class, then contractor, then dinner, then board meeting. A very busy Tuesday. Wishing you a wonderful day. Stay well.

~ Chy

Egg Gathering.

 

Dgs had fun trying to gather all the eggs

and other Easter treats that had been left

for him to find. He had a great time and

kept us laughing. I also set out our treats

on our dining room table for our family

dinner later in the day. Fun was had by all.

~ Chy

Happy Easter!

This week's version of "Right Here. Right Now." I'm using an Easter theme, hence the sweet image above. On to the task.

What I'm wearing .... light grey super soft leggings, a green tank and a soft pink hoodie. Grey and pink socks with my teal blue slippers. I love to be cozy, even on special days.

What I'm reading .... gardening books, gardening blogs and all my favorite blogs on all topics.

What happening in my kitchen .... dgs and I made cupcakes for our Easter Dinner tonight. Still to be iced but he had to zip off to hockey practice, so we'll complete them once he's back home. On the menu tonight for our holiday dinner: honey glazed spiral ham, sweet corn, baked white cheddar scalloped potatoes (two versions ~ one with sweet potatoes and the other with regular potatoes), homemade buns and coleslaw. Sweet cupcakes for dessert.

What's outside my window .... blustery wind and dark grey skies. Tomorrow is supposed to be nicer. 

What I'm thankful for .... our health and safety, my mom is completely vaccinated, as is our younger son and our older daughter. The rest of us have to wait but we'll get there. 

What I'm smelling .... the sweet tulips and baby's breath blooming on the kitchen island.

What I'm hearing .... dh is building our garden on his computer and I'm writing, so lots of "clack, clack, clack."

What I'm crafting .... working on miniatures this week. And chalk painting furniture. Lots and lots of chalk painting.

What's on my mind .... too many things to write about. A big jumble in my head. I'll need to do some writing to sort it all out. Nothing life threatening. Just simple worries that crowd my mind at times. I always get thru though.

Words to live by .... "You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it." ~ Margaret Thatcher.

Wishing you and your family a

beautiful Easter Sunday ....

~ Chy

Easter at Home.

Like all holidays in the last year, for Easter 2021, we'll once again gather together and alone. We'll set our dining room table for just the five of us in the cottage but truly wish we were putting the leaves in the middle and gathering chairs to ensure all have a comfy spot to eat. We'll engage with other family members by text, by email and by video link. It will be fun but some of it will feel lonely too. And then there will be people out there who don't think this is as serious as it is, those who will travel, though we are told to stay home, those who will continue to not wear masks, though it shows to helps stop the spread. For those who do not think of others but only themselves, I wish they could, for a moment, step in to an ICU and see how real it all is. If everyone did their part, maybe we'd be back to normal all ready. For now, we all do our part and keep safe, at home, until we've been vaccinated and we can be out freely again. I can't wait ....

A few photos from around the cottage for Easter at Home. The sweet bunny pillow we found last year for 1/2 price and love the pretty colors. The photo under that one is the tiny oval frame we found at the Antique Mall one day. I loved the picture and the opening in the back for dried flowers. I've placed some Hydrangea buds from last Summer. The third photo is the Easter bauble someone gifted to us. It hangs on our writing secretary, for now, then is tucked away until next Spring. The fourth photo is the pillow we found at the AM again, on another visit one rainy day a few years ago. As a gramma, it makes me smile. The fifth photo is a lamp from that same visit to the AM. Small with a china lamp shade, provides just enough light when I write at night. And finally, the sixth photo is a china lamb that we found at a charity shop in our region. With pink eyes and a lovely garland around its neck, the perfect symbol for this season. 

All for now. Wishing you and your

beautiful family a memorable Easter.

~ Chy