karenjanee

It took almost a year to complete this - but I completed my first cross stitch project.

January

19. Do you like reality/competition TV shows? Why or why not? If so, which ones?

It depends on the show. When I think about it, reality TV shows have been a thing since I was 12 when MTV's "The Real World," became a success. I made it to season 8 before I got bored and stopped connecting with the people on the show. I watched a few dating type shows (Paradise Hotel, Joe Millionaire) and maybe a few episodes of the Bachelor, but the didn't have any staying power with me. I didn't have cable TV from 2003-2007, because I was living on my own or with Dan and we didn't have $80 a month to waste on cable on. I wouldn't have watched those shows if I had more variety. Speaking of the Bachelor, I don't get the appeal. I have no idea how that show is still on. Back when I worked at the office, my co workers would babble on about that show and give play by play accounts of what had happened. ITS THE SAME THING EVERY TIME, Isn't it?
I also liked the fashion reality TV for awhile (project runway, America's next top model) and more recently cooking shows (kitchen nightmares, bar rescue, hotel hell, master chef, Hell's kitchen). Even those are tedious. I didn't even finish the last season of Masterchef.

January

12. What's your favourite number? Why?

My favorite number is 2. I was born in February, second to last astrological sign. I like even numbers.
I dunno, it's a number that resonates with me.

Oh Boy, not ready to start another week of work tomorrow.

Things don't slow down for us - it gets worse - more people out and about rushing to get somewhere + lousy weather = more accidents and more injuries. December passes by in a flash and I don't have much time to appreciate it. Plus people are crankier than normal when dealing with claims because people are strapped for cash and are hustling more than usual and are stressed out. But it's one more week until Christmas and at least we get a 4 day weekend out of it.

Christmas Shopping is done. I had a flex day on Thursday. I had originally planned to go to the gym but Natasha's bus driver called in sick and they didn't have a bus so I drove her down to her school. It is a bit a ways away from us so I didn't have time to go back to the gym until my 10am appt at the float tank, so I stayed down there. I don't think i got as relaxed as I normally do, but that was ok, when I was done I thought it was Monday.
I continued on with my shopping - got most of Natasha's things.

Friday was a half day but I felt pretty checked out. Got some basic work done, had some lunch then finished the shopping I hadn't done on Thursday went to the gym before Natasha got home.

Saturday I went to the gym then yoga then had a massage, then Natasha and I went down to Inglewood, a trendy neighborhood adjacent to downtown. There is a large used books store there we went to and got some items. I wanted to get lunch there but everything was either a fancy coffee shoppe or a bar - young DINK stuff. So we got some jugo juice and went home. I need an adult friend who I can do that stuff with.

Sunday I wasn't expecting to be hectic but it was - I got out of the house for a short 2.2km walk, then I went to Lowes because I needed more paint, then I got a few more items for the kid, I was on my way back home when I got a text from Natasha - she wants to go to the mall to get me a gift. So after lunch we went out to the mall for another 45 min.
I got home and took a nap. I slept well enough that I had my first memorable dream in a while. But it wasn't a good dream - we were still in the process of moving out of my parents house - we were trying to figure out what to do with all of the things, I had invited a friend to stay with me because they didn't have anywhere to go and someone was bringing the guitars from our house to my house. The closing date on the house was January 27 - my mother's death anniversary. I woke feeling anxious....but then realized that has already passed.

Natasha's bed was delivered Wednesday. She has had 2 good nights of sleep and is in much better spirits. I was ready to run away with the circus earlier this week she was so insufferable. We can also finish up getting her room set up and hopefully figure out what to do with whatever she can't fit in her room.
Thursday was uneventful. I was mildly distracted at work for about an hour because I won some items in a raffle. It is for the Alberta Cancer Foundation. I bought tickets because it benefits the Cancer facilities in Alberta and the prizes are pretty sweet. The grand prize is a house worth about a $1,000,000. The one in Calgary is in a nice part of town. There are vacations, cars and the like. The draw was on the 19th and I had forgotten about it until I got an email confirming the prizes had been announced. I managed to win a tailgate BBQ package (i *think* it is one of those gas BBQ's that you can bring camping) and a UV Sanitizer for cellphones. I had 2 tickets and they both won something so I'm happy.

I'll get the house next year ;)

It's Friday, it's 4:00pm. I'm done with work for the week. Not sure what I will do this weekend - Yoga on Saturday Run on Sunday, or Parkrun on Saturday and Yoga on Sunday.... Decisions, Decisions...

Saturday Night went well. After I finished my post, I planned to go get dinner, but decided to call my MIL first (she called right before I got home), talked to her for about 30 minutes, then went to dinner. Had a beer and butte chicken. Had a hard time getting a hold of my dad because his phone was shut off. We've been having connection problems lately - there have been 5 second delays so it's hard to talk because you start talking, then the other person starts talking because they don't think you are talking. Turns out he went to a movie and shut off his phone at 5:00 our normal talking time and forgot to give me a heads up. After dinner I took a short walk so I could get my 6000 steps in for the day.
I got home and tried out the piano bench I bought and played piano for the first time in many years. I played a few pieces from a book I bought for Natasha then played the Chopin prelude in E minor, which I learned in high school. Even though I haven't played this piece in nearly 20 years, it was gratifying knowing that my fingers instinctively knew where to go and how it was supposed to sound. Then I watched some TV and went to bed. I was too tired to do anything else.
Sunday I went grocery shopping, running, shopping for new bed sheets because Natasha is getting a new bed on Wednesday. I was considering updating my sheets as well because most of the are almost 20 years old but after I saw the prices... um no. I picked up Natasha, and put up the Halloween decorations.
Monday I worked and nothing too eventful happened. N was crabby Sunday night and Monday morning, but seems to be better now. Went to teh gym this morning again so here's to hoping I can start to go more regularly again.

Sunday I ran my first 10K since late 2019
1:22:14. Below average time, but better than what I have been doing on my own.
There were scattered showers the entire time. Overcast when we started but 3km in it began to rain hard for the remainder of the race. I was soaked but it was fun. Usually this race has a Pancake breakfast after, but due to Covid they weren't able to do this.

Before

After

Me and my Medal

Oooooweee it is hot this week. Currently 35c(95F), and it will be hotter tomorrow and it is unsure when things will cool down. Normally we get a few days like this in late July/August and it is tolerable, but rarely in late June. As someone who grew up around the great lakes, the hot weather out here is manageable, but if this keeps up i may need to buy a new A/C. The I brought from Michigan got destroyed in last year's hail storm.

I am 2 hours away from a 4 day weekend. Canada Day is tomorrow, I have a flex day on Friday, then the weekend. My goal is to get the upstairs bedroom painted.

Other than that nothing new to report. There was another showing at my dad's house, this time a second walk through, keeping fingers crossed!

Today has been wonky weather-wise - The sun is out, it's cloudy, it's raining, now it's sunny again, now it's raining... as we speak sun is out on one side of the sky and black clouds are off to the west. no hail... please no hail.

Have you ever accidentally added a facebook friend? What do you do when you suddenly get a "Bob has accepted your facebook friend request" and your like, I didn't add you as a friend.... Usually I just roll with it. I have no idea when i even added them, it must have happened when scrolling while half asleep. My friends list dropped by one last week and I was trying to figure out who unfriended me. It turns out it was one of my accidental adds. It saves me the awkwardness of unfriending someone I friended in error. Speaking of which I have several mystery friend requests that I have never approved. Should I approve them?
Just so you know I don't really care if I get unfriended. Usually when I figure out who it is, it's usually someone I haven't really commicated with in a long time, so I am ambivalent at best.

-I forgot to mention that yesterday was the 3 month anniversary of my mother's death
-I spoke to dad last night - he had a bad day - was feeling some aches and pains and he was feeling depressed. He misses her. I reminded him that it has been 3 months.
-Tomorrow is a flex day. A company is coming in to clean the ducts for the first time in 12 years. I have never done this and I am embarrassed that I didn't do this sooner. My house is usually a mess and I am afraid to let anyone in. It is still a mess since we are moving rooms around but better that it has been previously. I have a counseling session at 2:30, and hope to go to Home Depot in between those two things to look at fixtures.

-Woke up around 3am, had a snack and watched TV until I fell asleep again. Slept in until 6am
-I had a dream I was in Detroit - walking around downtown in bare feet. I was trying to find out what was going on that night.
-Made some phone calls today - need to get a plan to get my daughter back in school, made a bank appointment to discuss the accounts and cancel Dan's credit card, and tried to get signed upu for some counseling services.
-I crashed early today, was worn out by noon, and sent the afternoon being lazy.
-The smoke from the western US is now overhead. It looks like it is overcast. We should get rain tomorrow and hopefully push some of this smoke out of the air.
-My memory is horrible right now, I can't remember anything. There is something else I wanted to this entry.
-My dad is here until Friday. After that it is just the 2 of us.

-If anyone is reading this - are any of my posts from last week visible?

I am currently participating in a running challenge put on by one of our local running stores. They started it to combat the excuses we make during the holiday season to avoid exercise. They challenge you to run at least 1 mile a day. This is my 3rd year participating.

We are currently experiencing an unusually warm December in Alberta, like +15C. For most of this year I have been going to the gym and using the treadmill. with this challenge i have been running outside again, and I feel like I have so much more energy than I have had in a while. I have also participated in some of the group run meet us, which has been fun.

Is this working?

My daughter's ballet photo.

Yesterday my car hit 300,000km. It is a junker, a 1993 Ford Tempo that my grandmother owned. When she wasn't able to drive it any more, it didn't get much use, and after she passed, my father used it when he lived in Lethbridge. When his job in Lethbridge closed up, he passes the car along to me. When our minivan broke down a year and a half ago, I started driving it full time.
It doesn't have much life left in it, maybe a few months, and it is loud and ugly, but I can't get rid of a vehicle that technically still works.