Random Thoughts

I am finding it hard to find my blogging rhythm lately. Even before the virus took ahold of the world, I wasn't in that blogging space. I am not sure why, either. I would plan to blog on the weekend, but it would never happen. I haven't really been journalling much, either. Now that I have two weeks (or more) off, I am supposed to be self-isolating, AND my library is closed (cue VERY somber music here!), I guess I have more time to blog (along with being on social media, watching tv/movies, reading books/magazines) :)

I posted this to/on FB on Sunday after church:
Something amazing happened today...no, I didn't get #alllthethings that I needed to keep the virus at bay...(thanks, #hoarders!), it was something better than that. I wasn't sure about going to church today, but since I was on worship slides, I decided to go (#responisbilities). The worship service was going along nicely, and worship was happening....the Lord was in the house...then, we got to the new song "The Blessing", and y'all, prayer happened. For our city, for our kids, for this virus, for our healthcare workers. I went and prayed for a few people in our church (which I NEVER do!), it was so phenomenal to be among friends and worshipping Jesus. The sermon today was from Numbers 14:1-10, where Moses and Aaron are leading the people out of slavery, and the people were upset, b/c they were wandering around aimlessly (I guess they didn't have their GPS'!!!). and he talked about how the Masses responded, and then how Moses responded. I won't go through the whole sermon (You can go to to Lighthouse Christian Fellowship for the sermon....we are high-tech now!!), but it was basically....how do we chose to respond to fears/obstacles? Like the people (fearing), or like Moses (showing others God was his strength)? We CAN choose to respond, in any situation, not just in this crazy virus scare....we can offer to help others, or we can be scared, and buy things out of fear....it really resonated with me today. I am not saying be stupid and lick surfaces, and hug and kiss everyone....be smart, savvy, and safe about it. Air out and clean your house, eat healthy, go for walks, stay out of places where there are a lot of people (for longer than necessary), don't travel out of country, don't get on a. plane. drink water, take your vitamins, and pray, for sure...but don't be fearful. Don't be rude; be kind. Don't be fearful; pray. Don't be selfish; ask your neighbour if you can get something for them (or even give them something that you may have a lot of!), off to go shopping for moms, the elderly, or people who don't have a way around town, who may not be able to get out. I am speaking to myself here as well.


Part two: I can be fearful (and yes, I am one of "those" who are vulnerable to this), but I need to learn to lean on God, and on my family/friends/work-church family. Let's remember to stay positive...throw something fun on your social media pages. PM someone to encourage them. Send someone coffee (heck...send ME coffee!), or some flowers....tell jokes, live as normal as life as you can...try something that you have never tried before....bake something fun....try making new foods...watch movies with your spouses, or kids....or play board/card games..or heck...here is something radical..TALK to your spouse and kids!!!...podcast (with or without kids), read the Bible (or book), read books/magazines, go for drives, bless others as you go through the drive through (the staff or people behind you), watch tv/movies, streaming services, read books/Bible with the kids, listen to music, have dance parties/worship parties.....start your garden..call your gramma, mom, aunt, or cousin..You can also Pinterest-it up, IG-it up, or start a blog (or resurrect your neglected one!!!).....you get the idea, the list is endless....." For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline (sound mind!!!)! Timothy 1:7

This was what I wrote on Tuesday morning on FB:
I am feeling called this morning to pray; i am calling for all believers to pray! We need to put on some worship music, get on your knees! Pray! Pray! Pray! It doesn't have to be long or fancy. Pray as you're going about your day; pray as u walk, run, or exercise. Pray as you work, pray as you're spending time with family and friends. Pray with your kids. Pray! Lord, we declare victory over this virus. This virus is not of or from you. We bind this virus in Jesus' name, and we throw it in the PIT, where it belongs!!!! We pray agains the fear, the anxiety, and the greediness of people. We pray against the evil that this disease may be causing. Whether it's political, man made, or whatever man wanted this to be. We pray agains ALL these FORCES! We declare VICTORY in YOUR name! You are our WAYMAKER, our HEALER, and you are THE BLESSING, and we NO LONGER SLAVES TO FEAR!!!! Amen!!! I just feel called to pray today!!!! I feel called to encourage everyone. By encouraging you, you will encourage others! God's got this. He's got you! He's got this virus. He's got this fear, anxiety, and greediness! And yes, I know "he's got" isn't good grammar! What SATAN and MAN have meant for EVIL, GOD has meant for GOOD!!! We declare HEALING and FAITH over this! Even when we don't "see" it, YOU'RE working!!!

Today: Lord, I REBUKE this virus in YOUR Name! I bind it in Jesus' Name!

This was shared on FB today from a friend of mine: In these scary and uncertain times...
Can we all do our bit to break up the constant noise about the virus.
Let's all make the effort to check in on each other and talk about anything else. The weather, what you had for dinner, movies, books or anything.
Share funny stories. Share photos of your life, pets or photos from old holidays.
Share photos of your artwork, share inspirational quotes.
Let's break up the doom and gloom!
Be a light in the darkness.
Shared from my friend Aly Flaherty
I am also adding: sharing awesome news stories, people/pets to follow (here or on IG), and photos, worship songs, or any song..funny memes, movies or books that you think are worthwhile...encouraging things happening around you....(local good deeds), something that you saw that made you smile or laugh, ANYTHING GOOD!

So, this was written out a few weeks ago, from some random thoughts I posted on FB, and IG about the virus, and where life is right now. I am going to post it, b/4 it becomes a moot point.

                                                     A sunset from a few weeks ago.

A Day in The Life (Quarantine/Spring Break Edition)

Happy Tuesday! I thought I would do a Day in the Life blog, but give it a a bit of a twist: Quarantine/Spring Break Edition. It will be EPIC, so hang on to your hats, kids!! I am in the second week of our regularly scheduled Spring Break, all while being quarantined (#stayhomecanada(....soooo...fun times!

9:24-Wake Up, check my phone/Insta/News reports/CoVid Reports (I don't actually see the amount of new cases in the morning)/FB/VOD from my Bible App. I forgot to take a picture, but you can trust me that I did wake up then :)

9:30-Wash face/brush teeth/hair. I try to locate a missing toothpaste tube; start new toothpaste tube.

9:45-Get breakfast and cold coffee (still leftover from yesterday). I make a muesli with yogurt and granola.

9:50-Take breakfast into our bedroom; I start watching my shows that I am behind on; Grey's to start. I start out by bringing up blog, and looking at the posts that I want to write/publish.

9:58-I dump out my books and magazines, settle in on our bed, I start on this blog post.

10:05-Eat breakfast while watching (and rewinding) Grey's. I have my laptop open; I peruse FB, etc.

11:20-I make our bed, start in on The Resident (an episode that I had missed a few weeks ago), begin looking for my lost phone.

11:25-Find my phone underneath the covers. Continue watching TV.

11:30-Grab a new (somewhat warm) coffee, start filling the sink with dish water to wash dishes.

12:15-Watch The Great Chocolate Showdown (we got Blue Curve a few weeks ago, so we get TLC, Food Network, etc again), while calling/texting friends, and hanging out on FB.

12:30-Anker and I get some packages that he had brought and ordered from Banggood, so I try on what he bought for us (a neck massager thing), and I do dishes, and I take out frozen leftover for dinner (how may times can you dress up spaghetti?). I make a drink from some tea and sparkling water.

1:00-I decide to organize and switch out my clothes. I never did this until a few years ago. I am thankful that I have gotten a lot of clothes (mostly shirts) in the last year, and I love some of them, but some of them would look better on someone else....sooooo, as well as switching them over, I am also going through them, and getting rid of stuff I don't like.

1:30-I decide to do a load of laundry. Not because we need clean clothes, but because I wanted to go through all of my clothes, and to see what ones I should keep, etc.

1:45-Back in our room, I relax and watch The Great Chocolate Showdown, and wait for the laundry to finish.

2:00-Chat with friends via text, switch laundry over, and start a new load (I forgot to take a picture). Chat with Emily (and a couple of other neighbours) on the way back (from a distance, of course!). I make up a snack for lunch.

2:30-Eat snack, watching Chocolate Showdown (which I realize that I had seen before).

2:38-Mom calls while I am getting my snack, so I call her back. I eat while talking with her. I nearly choke on a broccoli floret. Mom and I chat about what she wants to put in her new blog post (we banter back and forth about the virus crisis, and I ask her opinion on something).

3:00-Call Dad and ask some political/CoVid question. We talk about this virus is different than the flu, as more people die from the flu each year than how many are dying of this.

3:30-I do a bit more organizing of clothes, I take the one load from the dryer and bring it in.

3:45-I decide that I NEED to get out! I grab some magazines, a book, and my journal, and I go off for a drive. Anker is knee-deep in a project. I go for a drive, and had hopes of sitting and reading/journalling, but I end up missing where I was going to stop, so I change plans a few times, before I decide to get a French Vanilla and drive to my friend's house.

4:00-Friend isn't home, so I decide to go "up the hill" to "my" teacher's house. My boss calls while I am at said friend's house (on my side of town), so I stay parked for a few minutes while I talk with her. When that is over, I text "my" teacher to tell her that I bought a French Vanilla, and I assume that she thinks /knows that means that I am coming over.

4:15- I gave the car a good run, and since I missed her turn off, so I was turning around in an empty Casino parking lot when she called me, asking if I were home, and then I explained that I was nearly at her house! She was quite surprised when I told her that I was down the street :) Yes, we get a long just fine!!!

4:45-Drop off her FV on her front door, chat with her for a few minutes at her house, and head home. On the way, I pick up a FV for Anker (free!), and I run into the grocery store to grab milk, and some frozen fruit. They have tape on the floor to show you were to stand #socialdistancing.

6:00-Come home, heat dinner up for us, bring the laundry in from the dryer, take a picture of the sun, chat with one of our neighbours, dump the clothes on to our bed, and grab dinner to eat on our bed.

6:20-Eat dinner, while sitting in my chair, and catching up on Instastories. I would have turned on the TV, but I know that I am going back out later, and I know that I am going to try out a Google Meet thing with my teacher, so no point in turning it on for a few minutes.

6:50-Get my dessert, and try out Google Meet with my teacher. We chat for a few minutes. Since being on Spring Break, and since we are both in town (she cancelled her trip), and we can't really walk or go for coffee in the usual way, we have been chatting at least once a day (or every other day). I am thankful that I have someone who I work with so closely is someone that I get along with really well. We are able to figure out the Google Meet thing with a fair amount of ease, chat for a few minutes, and then we say goodbye.

7:00-I eat my dessert while watching more Instastories. I also do some Instatories of my own; check out some IG accounts, and I think some more FB cruising, and I check out my mom's website and blog (I will post the link later), to see if she had published her new post yet (it hadn't showed up yet), and then I decide to go out for another drive

7:30-I catch up on my COViD-19 Bible Plans (yes, that is a thing!!!)

7:45-I play on my phone a bit in the car before leaving the house. I go and stop by my friends house for a few minutes to check out her display of hearts on her window. We visit (from a distance!) for a few minutes, and then I take a drive around a park, while saying a prayer for our city, and our front line workers (YOU ROCK, btw!!!), and stop at the school for a few minutes. The WiFi is spotty, but I check out some videos on FB, and then I come back home.

9:00-I come home and hang out in the car for a few minutes. K calls me, and we chat, and then I come inside, and then I call her back, while I start organizing and folding the rest of my clothes.

 9:45-I realize that I will have to finish the clothing organizing fun tomorrow, so I put the winter clothes in one basket, and the clean clothes that I will fold (eventually) in another basket, and I put them on the floor. I clean off our bed of my stuff; and and I run a bath. Still keep looking for lost toothpaste (yes, it bugs me that I can't find it!!)!

10:00-Have a bath, and do some reading from my Guidepost magazine.

 10:20-Get settled on our bed; turn on the tv, and I start in on finishing this blog post :) I start watching Chopped: Sweets, and I upload the rest of the photos to FB of the day (I have been doing this all throughout the day). Does anyone else know another way to get their photos from their phone (I don't use a camera anymore), other than through posting them on FB? Watch various cooking shows.

11:00-Anker comes to bed, and we chat for a bit, and we talk with and pet Calico for a few minutes. Anker says goodnight, and turns over to fall asleep.


11:45-Still hammering out this post, perusing FB, and chatting with people.

12:05-Turn off TV; In hopes of starting on bedtime routine.

12:31-FINALLY stops updating and going through this post for the umpteenth time! Closes this post (I will probably edit a bit more of the wording tomorrow)! Bedtime routine!....figure out a movie to watch, take meds, throw water in my sleep machine, take final walk around place, make sure doors are locked (Anker told me that he locked them, but I sometimes check), put in my night guard, throw in movie (or show) in my laptop DVD, turn on any night or twinkle lights that I/we want on for the night, put on sleeping mask lights out. Everything until putting on my sleeping mask isn't necessarily done in that order!

FYI: That journal, the mags, and the book that I took with me? Yah, I never got to those at all today, let alone during my time out (twice!).

1:00-...Lights out! I will probably play on my phone for a while (I know it is bad for me...but in some odd way, it helps me to fall asleep...and it also helps me to wake up...go figure!)!

Well, it is now March 31st, a week after I did my Day in the Life :) I had gotten all the text down, but I have uploaded the pictures just today (and edited a bit), so, here ya go! I hope you enjoyed my VERY EPIC day in the life post :) I did take a few more pictures of the day, but I won't include them, as they are pretty much just the same ones as the ones that I have posted here. So, how's your quarantine/self-isolating going?

PS..I FINALLY put my winter clothes away in their shelf on Sunday!

Randoms

I spent some time today after my appointment wandering around downtown and looking through stores. I hadn't been to in years (The Golden Buddha [which I don't necessarily endorse], and Castles and Cottages and the other two (Jardine's Domaine & Desert Rain Giftware) I hadn't been to before! It was so fun to not really have a schedule. Yes, I spend a lot of my time wandering around stores, but I usually just got the dollar store, grocery store, and sometimes, our local thrift store. Of course, the stores I went to to today were much too much expensive, but it was fun to wander around. #shoplocal

 JD was opened in 1944 as a hardware store, then it morphed into a sports store. Then, a couple of local people went in together to buy in 2008, and the sports section is up at SunPeaks, and Anthony  (I follow him on IG, so clearly, we are friends!!), and his business partner turned it into a more upscale fashion boutique.

This store is owned by a family in our school, and I have been wanting to go there for years, and I finally went! I love it! I wanted to by #allthethings!

This sign I am sure has been around for 50-plus years. I love it!!!! The store I went to is in the background. Fun fact: I got my weddings shoes at Kennells' Shoes! Our family has pretty much kept them in business, I am sure!! They have amazing service, and if I wasn't so poor/cheap all the time, I would frequent them more! I haven't gone to Golden Buddha in years, and I probably won't again, as there are a lot of witchcraft/spiritual stuff in there. I just remember my friend and I going when we were young, and we got some fun stuff there.

I, of course, have been spending time at Starbucks (though I am "behaving" and not going as much), and at the library. I love my time relaxing and "doing my thing". My mom asked me why I love to spend time at Starbucks, and I told her that it was the atmposphere.

                                 The first time (I think) ordering a London Fog. It's different!

                                   A strawberry frap with some mocha drizzle? Yes, Please!

Our school had its annual Pajamarama Night Thursday. I always say I am not going, but I somehow always end up going. It is fun, and I get to eat cookies and drink milk, so that's cool. The kids from K-3 go to the school in their PJs, along with their stuffies and blankets, and they get read a story in one of 4 classrooms. They rotate (12 minutes each time), and then they get cookies and milk at the end. It is really cute! The kids, parents, and staff love it.

I did a "mini-makeover"to our bedroom. It was basically cleaning it up a bit, putting some extra pillows and stuffed animals on the bed, and cleaning up my chair (which, shockingly, I haven't used since said clean up), and throwing lights on the headboard, but you would be surprised at how good it looks!!! It was cheap and cheerful (and hello..reusing lights from the tree!), so I call it a win.

I spend 4 hours the other Saturday, taking down the fire hazard that was our tree, and I ended up cleaning a bunch of other stuff, too. Parts of the kitchen, and under our bed. Wow..you cannot unsee under the bed!!! That is a whole other level of cleaning!

If you have been following me for any length of time, you know that I love my holiday-themed socks! Halloween, Christmas, Valetine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, you name it! And yes, I wear them no matter what season it is (except from April-October, where I generally don't wear socks!). I do love my fun/holiday socks!

Our local Swiss Chalet just closed down. I did go there a few times, and I liked it, and it was always quite busy, so I was surprised and a bit sad when my friend told me it had shut its doors.

One thing that I have been doing is going to some FB travel pages and taking a screen shot of a beautiful place, and then I save it to my phone to use as a screen saver :)

I went through my friends' list on FB the other night, and probably about 5 or so of my friends' on my list were dead, so there's that. I have had a lot of friends over the years, b/c of the FB games that I used to play. I am SLOWLY paring them down.

I had a forced 72 hr break from IG last weekend. It wasn't my fault, I swear! They blocked me from posting/liking/and commenting! Weirdly enough, I was still allowed to do IG stories! I really have no clue what I did, but I have a guess (again, not my fault!). They never did get back to me to tell me what I "did". I have to admit, though, although it was maddening (mainly b/c I had no idea what happened), it was kind of nice to have that forced break. It was nice not to be constantly (or feeling like I have be to constantly) "on". I did do a few stories, though. You know..for my fans!

I have been doing a QOTD on FB. I am happy to say that I haven't forgot a day yet! Head on over to check them out. I might even post a few here in a post or two (or 5!).

We had a goodbye taco-luck (see what I did there??) for our new temporary teacher who was covering for another new (from last school year) teacher's mat leave (mat leaves are 1 year here in Canada). It was delicious! Everyone brought something, and there was more than enough to go around.

I have been going to my friend's place to hang out with her and her cat every week, as I am going to be house sitting in March while they are away.

I did errands a couple of days this week (after work). I always love getting things done, and off my list (and mind). It makes me feel more accomplished.

We have to get a throttle body thing fixed on our car, and it is one of the few things that is not covered by warranty, soooo, we are dragging our feet on that. Thankfully, the car still runs fine.

I got a free 2 week trial of a skin care regimen the other day, and yes, I still need to try it out. Riversol is giving away a free two wk trial to anyone who emails them to ask! I think it is open to only Canadian residents, though. I should really try it to see how my skin does with it.

The nephews are simply adorable! J is a riot...talking LOTS, and can point to items in books if you ask him to. He loves the book "Good Night Moon", and he loves saying "hush".  He can say my name, so that is super cool! H is doing well. He is constantly talking, and asking questions. Sigh..sometimes, I say that Aunty needs quiet time now :) But, he is really a delight to hang out with. He got me into a new shot on NF called Zumbo's Just Desserts. He loves his cooking shows!

It snowed HARD twice last week! And yes, I had to shovel. Twice. At least it is good exercise. I even shovelled a few other parking spaces one night. Our neighbour was really sweet and shovelled for us last Friday, though, which is nice. Then the snowplow came and did the rest this week. And now, it has all melted! Did I mention that last week, one of the kids said that it was almost summer? Yah, not yet, buddy!! I wish!!

Speaking of Spring, I got a new reusable bag from Walmart that says "Hello Spring" on it. One can hope!

Last Sunday, I had me a big old bowl of popcorn, and I watched a couple of Hallmark movies (I think?). Y'all, I love me some popcorn!!

I have made not one, but two good dinners in a fiscal week. Then, I realize why I don't make dinner very often, and it is because it takes all.freaking.evening. The first dinner was a sheet dinner (with three sheets); veggies, potatoes, and breaded chicken (kind of like chicken nuggets, I guess), and it was really good! I also made my own version of Chicken Parmesan. It was really good, and even Anker liked it! He went back for seconds!

 The top is actually the last yummy dinner that I made, which was my version of chicken parm.

This was the first about two weeks ago....my version of chicken nuggets and I added some shrimp. I made a sheet dinner (which actually took three sheets), and it was pretty good!!!

Anker gave me a portable mini blender for Christmas, and although I had used it before, I have started using it more, and I love it!

Our neighbour next door to us moved out (not the annoying one, he is long gone!), and our new neighbour is moving in this weekend. She works at our local grocery store, so we kind of know her.

Why did Blogger change? The new interface is annoying. I find it confusing, and when I click on a blog to view it, it redirects me. Grrrr...:)

My laptop has been giving me issues (when I am online). It has been happening since the Election Day, so I just blame t hat. It will be fine for awhile, then I will have a few days where I can only be on it a few minutes, and then I have to restart it.Then, it will be fine for a few days or weeks, without any problems. It's weird. Speaking of weird things in the computer land...a few months ago, the cord to my laptop stopped working. So, we asked Anker's sister and husband if they could send us one (they are our computer go-to people), so they did. It was fine for awhile, then Calico threw up, and it just so happened that she was in our room when she did that....and it threw up all over the cord and laptop. It hit at just the right spot on the cord for it to short out, and thus, it stopped working! So, being as I just asked them to send me one, I didn't want to ask again so soon, so we decided to try the old (new current one) again (it is being held together by duct tape, and it was having issues making contact), and lo and behold...it worked!! Maybe the other one will work now? Hmmm.....

I have stopped reading books again. Or rather, I am in the middle of two books (DS, and another one that I started months ago), and I just haven't gone back to them. There are a few people that I follow on IG/FB, and they read 3 books a month (or more), and they have kids! And I think, "how do they do that? Why can't/don't I read that much?" Surely, if they can read while they have kids, then I should be able to read more than I do?

Did anyone feel that January was a million years??? It seemed to draaaag on this year.

Our electric hand mixer died a noble death this week. I need to get a new one, or we might splurge and get a stand mixer. We did get one for our wedding, but we never used it. I think we might have to invest in one, though. We have so little counter space, I am not sure where we would put it....I guess it could live in the cupboard.

So, our Valentine's Day was pretty low-key, which was to totally fine. We hung out (I had the day off..Yay!), and we relaxed. I watched a movie called "Mary Magdalene", which I am still trying to figure out (if it was Biblically sound or not), I cleaned up a bit, I did two loads of laundry, and I ran a few errands, and then Anker made a souffle, and I added a salad to my plate, and it was a meal. It was pretty good! We watched something on YT (Anker has been watching things that I usually find boring on YT for months), and we had Champagne and chocolate. Nothing too fancy. Oh, and he did get my coffee ready for me in the morning, and he cleaned up a bit yesterday, as well as this morning. I got him a card.

Speaking of watching boring things...I love my husband, I do...but does anyone else understand the reason why people would watch things like electronic videos (how to).....and people opening up packages, and people playing arcade games? I cannot think of anything more boring that that. I know that there are a ton of other people who like doing this, but I don't see the appeal in it. But then, I watch Hallmark movies, and not everyone likes those, either.

I am trying a Cold Brew at Starbucks right now, and it is really good! They have a special Valentine's Day drink that they made up that I didn't see yesterday. It definitely has a bit of a kick to it. I might be up for hours!

I am doing the worship slides at my church tomorrow, and my friend might come with me. Maybe Anker..we will see.

I also got some new samples from Shoppers Drug Mart, and some new skin moisturizer primer from Nivea that I have been eyeing for a few months, but never felt that I could afford it (I still can't, but I need some primer under my foundation...when I wear it...as I find that any foundation I use feels heavy on my skin),  and two eye liners from Annabelle, and I am looking forward to trying them. I actually had run a few of my eyeliners down, so it was fun to buy some! It is also a Canadian company, so that is cool! I love supporting local whenever possible!

I think those are my randoms for the last few weeks. I know...my life is so scintillating!