Fall Favourites

Well, well...Yes, I am still alive :) It has been ANOTHER hot minute since I have posted...I have thought about getting rid of the old blog, but I do like writing, so I just carry on :)

I have been buying various things....but I also have had a fair bit of self control. Why, just today, I was at Walmart, and I put $30 of stuff back :) Today, I bought new PJ bottoms, a body pillow (more on pillows in a bit), a pack of underwear,  a set of PJs each for the boys, groceries, and a few other boring essentials :)

Pumpkin spice is back, and I am here for it :) I actually had a pumpkin spice hot chocolate half sweet, and it was really good.

I house sat for my brother and his wife while they went out East. I had a fun time :) A house and tv all to myself. Don't mind if I do.

Good Tv is back :) Because, clearly, I don't watch enough :) TIU is coming back in January. I actually binge-watched (two different times) the last few episodes of The Resident from last season before the current season started. Also..why are all my favourite actors/characters leaving their shows??? I was NOT happy that Nick died! Fun fact..Emily Van Camp is a Canadian girl!!!

Speaking of TV, I keep forgetting that CITYTV (on Demand) has a million Hallmark movies (Christmas, etc). I keep forgetting!! They even have more than the W Network on Demand section does. Of course, I watched some Rom Com (Hallmark and Hallmark-ish) movies on Netflix while I was house sitting :) Yes, we have NF at home, but I usually have a bunch of other shows to watch. Countdown to Christmas is starting on W Network starting this Friday, and I am here for it! I have been watching Christmas movies all year (off and on), so I really have had the Christmas feeling all year long!

I got a new phone a few weeks ago, and it had Spotify on it, so I finally decided to try it the other day, I am in LOVE! And, it seems that I have a free trial with NO ADS, so I am pumped!!! I have been listening to it at night instead of watching/listening to movies and shows on my laptop. It also has podcasts, and you can make up (or find) play lists. I love that you can have it playing on my phone while I am still doing other things on my phone :) Not sure if it will stay that way after my free trial w/ no ads is over. I also have signed onto YT Music, which to me, looks similar to Spotify. My phone also has Netflix on it, so I might try that as well. And, yes, I (mostly) love my new phone. Did you know that it costs over $100 to get extra stuff for said phone? Screen protector, phone protector (I got two b.c the first one is super heavy), Popsocket, and a decent length cord! Actually, that was how I got my new phone in the first place...I went to get a new cord, as the old one was bending...and I left with a new phone. I have a new Samsung A32. Other than the screen flickering every once in awhile, I don't mind it :)

I went walking on a new (to me) "trail" a couple of weeks ago. It is btwn the two parks downtown, and it was so pretty and fun :)

My brother and H came home early (before K and J) from their trip, and he wanted me to hang out with him (H) while he was working (my bro). I took him to the new playground at a local park. We went there, only to find 5000000 kids on it...soooo..He and some friends he met ended up playing in the soccer field for an hour while I read :) He then asked to go mini-golfing (the park used to have a paying mini golf a few years ago, but that closed 5 or so years back. Since then, people have just gone there for free. A year or so ago, someone left some golf clubs and balls there for people to use...). At first I didn't want to go, then I said yes, and we had a fun time. 

Back to buying things..I bought a wok a month or so ago..how did I manage without one before now? I love it! I bought one at Bianca Amore for cheap, and I don't know why I didn't buy one before. And, while we are on the subject of buying things....why do people feel the need to buy #allthethings? I feel like people buy things just to buy things. My blog feed and IG stories are full of "I bought this, and this, and use this code, blah, blah, blah". I am telling you...the world feels like they need to get the next cool thing, and I am not buying (see what I did there?) into it.

Thanksgiving was just Anker and I this year. We cooked a small dinner at my brother's house. We watched some Murdoch Mysteries and it was nice to spend time together (alone..not at our house).

I went to the ranch for 28 hours last week. They have the cutest new puppy!! I ended up leaving my laptop at my parents'. They ended up bringing it back on their way back from Alberta. I was VERY happy to see it :) Also...my track pad seems to have started working after a year or so of it not working (my brother in law and I disabled it, and I have been using a mouse since). I am super pumped that it is working! We only found out about it b/c I was showing Anker something, and he said that he was able to scroll without my bringing him the mouse :)

A couple of weeks ago, I thought that it would be a great idea to wash some pillows in the bathtub. Yah, no...let me tell you, that that is not the best way to wash pillows :) His was so awful that I just ended up throwing it out. As for mine, well...it took over a week for it it to dry (outside), and Mom was saying that it is probably still not fully dry, nor it will it be...hence it will be growing mould and mildew. I LOVE my pillow....sigh...I really hate to throw it out....it is just the right fluffy-ness. I did get Anker a new pillow from Jysk, and I also bought another one for extra support, or to cuddle up against, and they seem ok :)

I tried out some Snapple Spiked Iced Tea (peach), and Mike's Hard Lemonade, and they were both good! I don't think I would get the spiked iced tea again, but the lemonade was yum!

I have to try and behave regarding my sugars...ya...so far, I am not doing so well in that department. Sigh....:) I also have a 24 hour BP monitoring appt the end of next month. I hate having these medical issues.

How did you survive the #greatfacebookoutage2021? Did you survive? I heard today that FB is going to rebrand itself....whatever that means!

We have been having some dinners out/in lately. It was Anker's bday on Friday, so on the way home, brought home Señor Froggy, and I got a key lime pie from M&M Food Market, and everything was so good. I love SF's fish tacos :) We got dinner tonight from Mary Brown's Chicken, and it was delicious!

I seem to be collecting an insane amount reusable bags, and dish clothes and towels...oh, and socks :)

I am definitely going through pre/peri menopause....my system is so out of whack, and I have not been sleeping well at night....sometimes, I won't fall asleep until 1 or 2, or even 3 in the morning...or, I will wake up (as I did last night), and be awake for an hour. I think I might need to have this figured out.

I did end up getting the VX...I still don't know if it was the right thing to do, but we did both end up getting it done. I wish I hadn't taken the one I had....sigh...I feel that you are darned if you do, and you are darned if you don't :) I just prayed the blood of Jesus over us, and we thankfully are still alive :) I might not get the second, and I might not even get the VPP, but we will see how long I hold off on doing that. I am hoping that in a few months, we won't have to show it for things like inside dining, movies, etc. I think people are starting to question things, which is great :)

Anker had cleaned up the spare bedroom and a couple of shelves for my side biz, but he has cluttered it up again...but, the shelves are still free :)

There have been a bunch of amazing songs that I have found and loved lately...."I Believe", "Jireh" "Battle Belongs", "Reason to Praise", "Robe and Ring", "House and a new one (to me), called "There was Jesus". "House of Miracles", among a few others :)

We had Canada's first ever "National Day for Truth and Reconciliation" on September 30th. And where was our lovely PM? On vacation in Tofino. Fine..go on vacation...then attend a ceremony while there....yes, he did something (apparently) the day before...I think it was in person, but still...not cool, IMHO...He FINALLY visited here..just two days ago....nearly a month later...and he really should have visited here back in the summer, when the bodies were found....he said all the right things....:) I hope that Chief and Elders will hold him accountable for his "promises". Please note that while I don't agree with most of the First Nation's spiritual beliefs, I DO believe that they should receive retribution, healing, and we should be able to live, work, play along side each other :) For more information...click on this link from Global News for the their report on what happened! Anyway...I watched some shows what happened (I have a few more to watch...also...a movie called "Indian Horse" aired on APTN (along with some other movies...I might even start checking more shows out on that channel), along with it being on NF (even though the movie is older, it got released as soon as #215 was discovered), and I want to watch it...but in all honesty, I am scared to. Mom said that it was good, though..and not too gross. She is pretty sensitive to those things, and she was able to watch it. I tried to watch a documentary (drama??) about a woman who was sent to a Residential "school", and could only get through 5 minutes of it, as the the little who played the lady that was narrating just gutted me. I will try and watch it in the daytime :) On a little side note.....over the years, Mom said that she thought that there were children buried on the "school's" grounds that either no one was to know about, or that were "unclaimed"(a lot of the parents were told that their kids had "run away"),  and I always said, "yah, Mom. Whatever". Turns out that her feeling was (sadly) correct. There were children that who died "legitimately" (if you can call it that), that were recorded and buried (or sent home to their families, I am assuming).

This is what I wrote on Facebook for Kanata's first ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: 

Today was Kanata's First Truth and Reconciliation Day/National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. I wore my Orange Shirt, I spent a bit of time on National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation's FB and YT page..I watched (they had over an hour show) Phyllis Webstad - Beyond the Orange Shirt Story, and her Aunty Agnes on their experiences in/of the Indian Residential Schools....I have that book on hold at the library....I also watched APTN and CBC had a really good Educational Program of many different facets of First Nation Peoples telling their stories (songs, stories, short movie clips). I didn't finish it (I recorded it), and I will watch it tomorrow...I have a few more shows on both Networks that I recorded, and I can't wait to watch them. I think I will be watching more shows and movies from these two networks more often. I think we need to watch/read/listen to these stories ALL.THE.TIME; not just on certain days of the year. I think I learned that we need to watch/learn/listen/read/ much more than I do now. We still have much to learn. I still have much to learn. This needs to be ingrained in us; these stories need to be passed down to the next generations.....EVERYONE from every race needs to learn and grow from these stories. As a Christian (and please, I am not being trite or blase about this...I have thought about this a lot...I don't have the answer, which is why I bring this up), I wonder how we can incorporate their cultures/practices and Jesus together?? It needs to be said that from a Christian, we need to acknowledge that this happened; take responsibility for it (No, it wasn't "our church" that did this, but it was the {Catholic/Anglican} Church that did this); apologize and tell them that this was in in NO WAY OKAY for this happen "in the name if the Church". God was horrified by what He saw. He was weeping. The God they talked about is not the God I serve today. I am actually embarrassed to "be any part of" what happened. We PRAY for our First Nations Brothers and Sisters; they have been through trauma that NO ONE will ever know, and yes, it has been passed down. Intergenerational Trauma is REAL (no matter what the trauma is). This "stuff" did not happen years ago. This happened up until 1997!!!! Systemic racism is still happening today. We need to also find ways to not only learn about their culture, and acknowledge what happened; from them being driven away by Settlers, to the horrors that were the "schools", but we also need to work TOGETHER to live, learn, play, sing, pray, dance, work in UNITY!!!! God is into restoring lives and trauma. As Christians, we need to come along side of our First Nations Brothers and Sisters, and learn with and love them. Let them heal in their own way(s). Let them talk, We need to listen and learn. And, ever so gently, especially if they are seeking (asking); point them to the One who loves them most. The Creator that made the birds, air, sky, see, animals? He loves your more than you will ever know. He is more than the Creator; so much more! I am a 4th generation European Settler, I am humbled and thankful to be living in T'kemlups, which lies in the unceeded Territory of the Secwépemc First Nation

I am going to Calgary with my mom and dad next week to pick up my sister, and I cannot wait! Three years is way too long!!!

I went to my (almost!) first in house gathering (other than with family, and my "old ladies' group") since C started. We had a Friendsgiving, and it was very nice, but man, was I ready to leave at 2. Socializing is exhausting! I was more than happy to get back to my own company :) But, it WAS nice to be with people (inside a house) again.

Well, I think that pretty much covers most of the interesting things that have been happening since I last posted :) Hehe :) I know that there have been less interesting things, but A) I don't remember, and B), I don't think anyone would care if I posted about them here :)