Today was pretty chill in spite of it all. The Rotary lunch included a presentation by Steve Knowles on all things Fisher Peak Performing Artists Society and he did a good job considering it was last minute with Jamie down sick.
Back at the office I got the rest of payroll and filings done, enjoyed the Leap Year social in the building and played a little online before my VIMF coordinators zoom into the meeting at 8. It is challenging to hear but I get the minutes so that helps.
It rained for a lot of the day and then turned to huge fluffy snow. The family was all in two vehicles heading to Calgary so I was glad to hear when they arrived safely. When I left work at 9:30 my wipers were frozen down. I drove carefully home and am now curled up trying to get warm.
First stop of the day was the optometrist. I was so glad that my prescription has barely changed and only in the left eye. I don’t need new glasses and I came home with slightly bumped up contacts to try out. I find all the machines and tests fascinating and was happy she let me take a picture of my eyeball and explained how healthy looking it is. I definitely put these peepers through there paces with all the screen time so it is a relief to see no troubles in sight. (See what I did there)
I finished everything I could today as I am still waiting on a month’s worth of data from a client. Before I left the office I hopped on the BC Lottery site and made $150 so that was fun.
I picked up Tracey and we went to see the movie night at Key City put on by Sunrise Rotary. Tonight’s movie was Flora and Son. It was really lovely. I especially adored the main male character played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt whom I will watch in anything. I recommend the movie wholeheartedly.
We had a nice visit and then I tucked in to crochet another few days worth while I watched the first episode of Survivor 46. I can’t believe I have been watching it for 24 years! I miss taco night watching it with Jake back in the early days
Today was pink shirt day against bullying. I wore my concert T from Maroon 5 who I saw open for Sugar Ray who opened for Matchbox 20 back in 2003. I am glad it fits again!
Today was a lot to unpack! Oh sure, I worked my tail off, but that work was bookended by two amazing experiences. I’ll start with the last as it is fresh on my brain having just gotten home.
Back in the Fall, the whole family got tickets to take up the entire Row B Centre at Key City Theatre to see Alan Doyle. Finally the night arrived. Opener was Adam Baldwin from New Brunswick, and his singer songwriter skills killed! I loved his personality and his stories. Yes, I did buy his CD.
Alan Doyle and his beautiful beautiful band did not disappoint. The night went by so fast with all the great songs through the eras interspersed with new ones. At one point Sawyer called out in a pause that it was his first concert and he was called up on stage. Alan got the drummer to give him sticks, gave him one of his personalized picks and even signed a set list for him! I was so proud of the good manners Sawyer showed and excited for him. I totally missed filming it though!
What a great sold out kitchen party in Cranbrook. Everyone danced and clapped and left with big smiles on.
The day started with something completely different. I finally had my appointment with the medium, Jody Lutzke. I was there for nearly an hour and a half, she sent me home with notes and emailed a recording. I will have to listen to it to take it all in as I was very much in the moment at the time. She said a man who was very proud of me opened the door and ushered in a steady stream of my protectors. There was a strong woman, a mother like figure and she kept hearing sister. At first she thought they were symbolic but when she learned my mom and sister had passed she knew it was them and even said I have a blanket that is special folded away somewhere. I do, it was my sisters. Jody was very excited from the beginning as she said I can clearly see and feel spirits and energy, that I am an empath and more to the point, an Earth Angel. She said people are drawn to me to share their stories, to feel the love I give openly, and sometimes to draw that energy from me. This was perhaps the best part as she gave me some tools to protect myself from that. She said that I have let go of the negative energy that held me back, that I am at a time of setting boundaries, that I have a fairy energy and that my purpose that I have worried about is being that Earth Angel. April is supposed to be significant. I can’t wait to see why! There was so much more, but I just want to hit on and remember a few things to drift off to tonight. I will likely do a separate blog in the future just to unpack it all. I am still glad that she said my Kelly was there.
I woke up just after 6 so I got up, intending to make a pot of coffee and climb into the tub. I must have given away my drip… oh I know, I gave it to mom. I had to MacGiver it, and it turned out really good
I ran a tub full of Epsom salts and watched The Marvels. I liked it a lot and it was a great start to the day. I made a smoothie and was putting my jacket on to head to the office when my sleeve caught the cup and dropped it to the floor, sigh. I am glad I have Ruggables, so I mopped up the mess and threw the carpet in the washer. It is currently running.
Once at the office, I slayed the day’s list and plowed through until 7. Jake came and picked up the stools and said he recognized me right away which surprised me as I haven’t seen him since I became his mom’s bookkeeper years ago. I am glad he got them as they match a table he has. I am going to bring a matching chair to give him tomorrow.
I am tucked in my chair, letting myself get tired as tomorrow has a long list!
The best part of the day was when my package arrived from my friend who makes jewellery out of vintage silverware. I commissioned the earrings and fell in love with the pendant.
I slept until slightly after noon which felt very good. I started watching Masters of The Sky on Apple TV. It is a great series, and just a little horrifying that those horrible things are still going on in this world, all these years later.
Late afternoon, I went to the office and got some work done while I waited for Roger to come with some help to pick up the bookcase and 4 new chairs for around my dining room table. Once back home, I cleaned them and set them, They will work well enough so I listed my two stools for enough to cover the cost of the things I bought plus $10 just for fun. They sold within minutes and two others are waiting in case they don’t get picked up tomorrow. A client’s son reached out to buy them so he gets first option.
It has been rainy and windy all day and there is fresh snow down low in the hills. Herring weather
I probably should have worked on my Power Point presentation for Rotary. They asked me to take 20 minutes to give a bio the second week of March. I have to mull over what it will look like first. Weird to be kind of doing a Eulogy, lol.
I woke up earlier than my alarm usually goes off and was tempted to just fall asleep again but decided I can do that tomorrow, so I got up. I then grabbed a coffee and sat down again. I was thinking about how I received an email yesterday from a local accountant saying a little birdie had told her that I was retiring! I replied that that would be a miracle and asked who the birdie was. It seems the clients that I gave notice to were telling prospective bookkeepers that.
I watched the next available on my Best Picture nominee list, The Holdovers. I really enjoyed it. It had a good storyline and I was invested in the characters. I followed it up with a Prime suggestion, The Upgrade. It was an enjoyable RomCom which was better than your average Hallmark Movie. I caught up to yesterday on my Temperature blanket while I watched.
I did laundry and found I was having allergy eyes so I figured it was time to dust. Of course the only way I dust is by taking everything off an area and then rearranging. I had also felt that Missy was getting to sit in my big comfy chair so I moved it to my spot, pulled my desk forward and now have room for chairs around my dining room table. I also replaced the bulbs in my dress form and Triumph light and it is nice to have them working again. It wasn’t a lot to get done in a day, but to be fair, I spent a good deal of the time letting Missy in and out. I think the wind was making her think someone was outside and she had to go check, get cold and ask to come back in. Dinner was good, I just left out the Red Pepper, dang allergy.
Today was very productive again. I bought a shelving unit for only $20 from a client who was clearing out repossessed items. I intend to make a spot for it to hold my future Lego projects. I think the glass shelves will show them well. And, well, $20! I just have to arrange for a truck to pick it up as I don’t want to take it apart to put in my car.
I left the office, stopped at Safeway for my prescriptions, mailed a birthday card off to Jackie and then headed to the arena. Tonight was the Rotary on The Rocks night. Apparently it is a monthly thing, socials. I met a group of 30 or so at the restaurant in the upper section and we had a burger buffet before taking our seats in section Y. It is kitty corner to where I had my season tickets and it made me realize how good those seats were in section K. It was tough to see some of the action as the players standing at the benches blocked a lot. The game wasn’t great and we seriously lost to Trail, but it was nice to hang out and get to know people better. I sat next to Dave M and I feel bad for him. He had a job that took him on many adventures, was married for 49 years, no kids, and his wife passed some time ago. He was born in 1941, the same year as my Mom. I now realize why I see him out and about by himself so often. It must be lonely at home. It was pink the rink night and there were several elementary school groups out in blazing colour. There was a puck toss for prizes, but I barely made mine clear the glass, lol.
I had a good laugh with the ladies sitting next to me as I reminisced about crushing on some of the Kimberley Dynamiters when I first moved there in the early 80s. I told them I was going to stalk them online and see where they were now. I am looking for number 4 after all. (not really) It gave us a good giggle anyway. I also found a new nonalcoholic Corona that I like
It is windy out, my cat is unsettled. I had a good day. That is all.
Today had all the Thursday things including Rotary lunch where the speaker was from a Cree Nation in Northern Ontario. She told the story of her life and how she came to be working for the College of The Rockies here in Cranbrook. She was highly interesting and very nice to speak with afterward as well. I did my recycling, filled the car with fuel and worked a great deal. And then, I came home to my new best friend.
This is the item that brings me simple pleasure in a timely manner with few calories. Oh, and before you think I am drinking Scotch during my dry February, that canister holds my kernels. Life is in the simple pleasures, that is all.
It was a very melty day today. Next week is supposed to bring cold again, I guess I should appreciate it.
I ran errands for Rotary, got a bunch of work done, and suddenly it was after 1 pm and I had just finished my breakfast smoothie and not had a coffee yet. This led to me being completely off schedule and I finally made my dinner at 9 which was spicy, a choice I may regret but it was soooo delicious. My headache is starting to clear now. I have my work-time off schedule as well but it works for me to just be awake and productive when I am at my best.
The best part of the day was my hour and a half session on camera with Lance and Omar from Genex, the company that built our new Society web page. They stepped me through all the changes I wanted, and how to maintain it going forward. It was so great to realtime make the changes and fine-tune it. I forgot how much I used to love building websites back in the day. My business was called Surf This and although rudimentary by today’s standards, the pages I built were something to be proud of. I even had my own which was like an early google. I would find and post links under categories that people could easily find what they were looking for and go to. This got me thinking and I went to the waybackmachine site. My personal stuff is still there on the web. It doesn’t look good, but I clicked the apparently broken links and found this very special memory that I thought was long lost:
No, really… I have been rattling off my to do/done lists for a while now. Just over 2 weeks home from the happiest place on earth and it seems forever ago already. I am still mad at myself for letting work get in the way.
I have a game for you…
Write a list of all the things you would rather do than the job you are doing. Go for it, all the things….
It is to be like a bucket list of things. Things that you can do, that you put aside regularly.
Is it going for a walk… reading a book or magazine… painting, puzzling or doodling?
I woke up still thinking about Past Lives. I really enjoyed it and had strong feels for the idea of it. I really like the lead actress as well, having enjoyed her in Russian Doll and The Morning Show. Each of these three characters were very different. Impressive.
Today, I made some good salad and then I went to the office and filed the last of my mandatory T-4s and them met with Steve to work out some website and financial issues for the society. Once home, I made soup and am glad to have a couple meals to get through tomorrow as I will be busy with a few other peoples file assists.
Tonight I am watching Anatomy of a Fall. It is fascinating, I can see why it was nominated for the Oscars. Complicated relationships are always interesting.
Today I woke early and then fell asleep again until nearly 1130. It felt so good to be rested. I continued setting up my new laptop and watched Maestro, the movie about Leonard Bernstein and his wife. It was very well done and Bradley Cooper should get an Oscar for his roll. After that I headed to pick up some shower steamers that I purchased from a grandma looking to earn some money as she is raising her grandkids. They are lavender mint and I look forward to using them. Next stop was Moms to pick up Sawyers birthday card and while I was there, try to update her phone and get her email working again. No luck there, I think her phone is just too old and we need to look at getting her a new one. I finally made it to the birthday party which was well attended and Sawyer seemed to have a lovely time. Roger and Rae-Anne made delicious lasagna and garlic bread. Jeff and Dee-Anne made a very tall layered Black Forest Cake. All of it was perfectly delicious. It was a nice visit. Warning, s’mores made with Peeps are extremely hot.
I came home and watched Killers of the Flower Moon. What a story! Well worth watching. It is a good telling of further horrors enacted on the First Nations of North America.
And now I have started Past Lives. I like to watch the Oscar nominated shows in advance.
I crocheted and watched Love Is Blind until I felt it was time to go and get some work done. I went to the office for 4 hours of time spent filing some really complicated T4s. It was good to get them off my plate and I listened to Audible biographies while I was at it. It was a perfect type of day in my mind. I look forward to spending time with family and friends tomorrow for Sawyer’s 9th birthday.
Hit the ground running, got 9 billable hours out of my day and a bunch of volunteer work done as well. Left the office around 8 and was home making dinner when I realized it was a music night at Encore. I would have liked to check it out but only if I had gone there from the office. Once I was home I made some delicious Cheeseburger Soup. It was very much a comfort food. I settled in to watch some shows and am just realizing that the rest of the month doesn’t look as scary, work wise as it did even a few days ago. I plan to go in still tomorrow so that I can get my big union T4s calculated and done. They are the only ones that I have to calculate the pension adjustment for and it will be good to be uninterrupted and at my own pace.
A nice moment occurred when a board member stopped by to drop some things off and gave me a great compliment about my role in the organization. He shares the same concerns as I about another. I just have to find opportunity to address those concerns appropriately. Timing and tact will be necessary. I would hate to see the organization fail if we all end up walking away. I hope some new blood comes along to join the Board and help us to be our best.
I filed so many T4s today that it was satisfying. It was a good chunk out of the day to go to the Rotary lunch. We learned about using the 50/50 machines. I took a break from the workday to go to an Ed Fest meeting which went an hour longer than expected but we got things done. After I was back at the office I got a couple more hours in and came home. It is late but I feel better about the rest of the month. I did get a nice email from an accountant for one of my clients saying I am too good, that they over-quoted on the file. That is a compliment but it speaks to the fact that I don’t charge enough. I find myself being easily frustrated right now so I have to keep my cards close to my chest. I can be nice, I can be nice, I can be nice… this too shall pass.
Today started with picking up Moms pills, buying a new single serve blender at Superstore and grabbing Mom some carnations for valentines while I was there. I couldn’t believe the vast changes at Superstore and when I mentioned it was told it occurred last summer! Seems I don’t go there very often anymore. Had a quick visit with Mom and headed to the office. There was opportunity to get a few big things off the list but only had 3 billable hours when all was said and done. I headed to Key City for 4 pm to welcome Gemstone Alley, a duo from Kimberley and Northern Ireland, and Slocan Ramblers, a bluegrass band from Toronto.
I hosted and emceed for the evening and it was a lot of fun, especially as it was Valentine’s Day. Dave and Deb were there and I was happy to introduce them to Jordan and Heidi, owners of the Heidout. It was sitting there that Dave knew this was the place they wanted to live and today they signed all the papers to make it so.
Both performances were amazing! I was completely enamored of Slocan Ramblers. They are award winning, Grand Ole Opry playing, great and talented humans.
After work Dave & Deb picked me up and brought me to their new home. It’s a beautiful spot and I am so happy for them. We drove around the Shadow Mtn ‘Residences’ which are quite lovely and then headed for Encore. Dinner, skeeball, hoops and an hour of bowling was so much fun! I look forward to being able to see them more often.
They dropped me back at the office where my new MacBook Air was waiting for me. I came home,and swept the few inches of snow before settling in to set up and try to learn the working of a Mac
Today was fluffy outside and busy inside. I barely got my payroll done before it was time to go to the Board meeting down the hall. It was a contentious one as we verbally battled out the real purpose and expectations of what we do. We all left as adults on the same page, or at least in the same book. It just made for an 11.5 hour day for me. And now I am homemaking a quick dinner of air fryer potatoes. At least I had something to grab so I didn’t go through a drivethru.
I tried to sleep late as I didn’t get to sleep until wee hours, but was up at a fairly early time. I stripped the bed, got laundry done and crocheted all day to get up to current on my temperature blanket. Each row is the high and low corresponding colour together. This year to date ranges from minus 36 to plus 27 as I am counting where I am at any given time and using a particular website to get the high and lows. I chose to use actual temp but the feels like was even more extreme.
It has been softly snowing most of the day. I will shovel in the morning.
At the moment I am fast forwarding through the Super Bowl just to watch the commercials and half time show as I already know it was a nail biter in OT that the Chiefs won
triumphgal 