Daily Ponderings

When I got up (late again) this morning, I fired up the laptop and got Mittens' breakfast while I waited for it to load. I went to Facebook to see if Lisa had updated anything about coming home. I didn't see a particular message on her wall, but I did see that she had commented to a friend that she wouldn't be making it home. I was really crushed. I spent most of the day just really feeling bummed that she wouldn't be making it, and that this Christmas just didn't feel like Christmas at all this year since we couldn't celebrate it as an entire family. I lazed around for the longest time, but finally got to doing dishes and cleaning up some of the kitchen when my mom called me. She told me that Grandma and Aunt Joan were on their way, which I already knew from talking to my Grandma earlier in the morning. And then she said that Lisa and Brandon were making their way home, too. WHAT???? I swear I lit up right then and there with a huge smile on my face! They were ...

I got up late this morning, got dressed, fed Mittens, and put a load of laundry in the washer before I finally decided to try Lisa to see if they were able to leave on their trip up here. I called her house number, and she answered on the third ring. Boooooo. That told me the trip so far was a no go. It had occurred to me overnight that we haven't even seen Lisa and her little family since last Christmas. The thought that they may not make it at all if the weather isn't better tomorrow is a bit more bothersome than I'd like to admit. I'm praying and crossing everything I've got that they can make the trip tomorrow, or else they aren't making it at all. Today was a cold one, so I just stayed home and did 3 loads of laundry. In the afternoon, while using the laptop, I sorta had a hard time seeing and concentrating. Then my head started killing me. I had gotten a migraine that snuck up on me! Usually I see an aura first, but not this time. I had to take an Excedrin...

In several hours, it will officially be Christmas. I really can't believe the holidays are here. It didn't seem like it took all that long from Thanksgiving until now for the day to arrive, but bam! It's right on the doorstep! I'm looking forward to the upcoming gatherings with my family, especially after tomorrow since Lisa will be here with her little family by Monday night. We'll get together for an appetizer dinner tomorrow, but our Christmas celebration, complete with a dinner outing and opening gifts, won't be until Tuesday evening. So it's like we get to have Christmas twice. :) When Christmas passes, there's just one more week until a whole new year begins. I have been thinking back on this year a lot lately, and I while it's been a pretty good one, I do realize I'm still grieving Euan's loss. It's been over 9 months since he died during his surgery, and I still cry sometimes at night wishing he was here. I never expected to lose ...

I think I left off wondering whether or not I'd be stepping out of the house on Thursday. Well, I did! I just didn't make it to rehab Thursday morning. I had a slight headache, and I knew I had other places to go, so I didn't want to overdo it. When it's cold weather out, I don't have the energy to just push myself anyways to do the things I want to do. I tend to be able to do that a little bit more when it's warm out, but definitely not this time of year. So I went out with my mom. I had a package of jewelry to mail out (a rather large order, I was surprised when I saw the email for it!), and money to put into my credit union, and then we had a quick lunch at Wendy's, and headed to Mandy's house for a bit. We stayed there with my nephew while Mandy picked up my niece, and shortly after they got back, we went to Napa to get a gift for my dad. We had planned on going to Walmart, but it was getting late in the afternoon, and my mom needed to get home to st...

I've been in my house since Friday night's grocery trip. I didn't really care at first, because the beginning of the week was brutally frigid. But I really need to escape from this place! I have many places I need to go to finish holiday shopping and stuff. The temperature is supposed to be mid-20s tomorrow, which I suppose I can deal with as long as the wind chill isn't bitter. I'll just have to make sure I get my butt up early enough to check the conditions and decide whether to go to rehab and elsewhere. I know the weekend will be in the 30s, which is better, but I really hate being out and about on the weekend during the busy shopping season. It's hard for me to find close enough parking sometimes, and fighting the crowds can just be downright exhausting. Sooooo, crossing my fingers that it'll be somewhat tolerable for me to go out!!!

With more bad weather and bitter temperatures coming starting tomorrow, I knew last Thursday that I really needed to take advantage of the 30 degree temps that would be sticking around for the weekend. I seriously needed to make a grocery trip, and since I really don't like to be in the stores on the weekend this time of year, Friday was going to have to be the day to go out. I had asked my mom if she could go, and she said yes, but she just wasn't sure when. My parents had taken their dog, Shelby, to the vet's on Thursday for an operation on her foot, and Shelby ended up needing her toe removed. She also had a tooth extracted, and a couple of spots removed from her ears. The poor thing! Shelby is 14 now, although she still has some days where you'd think she was way younger. And of course, she still looks like a puppy because of her small size. Well anyway, my mom didn't want to leave Shelby alone at home, so we ended up waiting until the evening to go out for food...

My friend, Erin, called me on Sunday evening to let me know that her niece, A., had passed away the night before. A. was 10 years old, and had died from complications of pneumonia. She was a special needs child, with many health issues over her short 10 years, including almost always being in a wheelchair. I didn't always get to see A., but when I did, she always had a beautiful smile on her face. She was so innocent to life, she saw joy in so much around her when any other person may have let that joy escape unnoticed. I was really surprised when Erin told me A. had died, it was just nothing I was expecting to hear. Today was the wake for A., and despite the cold temps, I bundled myself up to get myself to the funeral home. I wanted to be there for Erin, who has no words to describe how she's feeling, and for A.'s family. I didn't realize exactly how difficult it would be to go to a wake for a child. I wrote a short memory of A. for the parents, and then went to view t...

I say early winter in the title, but winter doesn't officially start for another 2 weeks. Tell that to snow and the bitter wind temps outside. Niagara finally got some snow yesterday and today, and the weather was in the 20s today, with a wind chill in the lower teens. I didn't bother going to rehab today. My rehab ended up being laundry, and going up and down the stairs several times to get four loads done. I also changed the bedding, and cleaned off the kitchen table. Quite a busy day, but I took almost six hours doing everything, and I still got a nap in afterward! Anyway, back to the dismal weather. It's funny how a handful of degrees can make a difference in whether I venture outside or not. All last week, the temperature was in the 30s, with a couple of days in the beginning of the week feeling almost like spring. I didn't mind going out, and I'm glad I got so much done last week. There are still more stores I need to go to, but now the weather plays a huge fa...

Last Sunday was the start of a very busy week I ended up having, where I spent every day except Monday out of the house for at least a few hours. Sometimes that isn't a problem, especially in the warmer weather when it's not so bad. But since we're now in December (which I find hard to believe), the weather plays a huge role in my adventures outdoors, and if I have to go out, I am usually really tired by the time I get home. I have to bundle up, including long underwear, double socks, turtlenecks, sweatshirts or sweaters, and then add on the coat, hat, gloves, scarf, boots. It's a pain in the butt. Factor in a wind chill, and depending on how low the temperature feels because of that, I won't leave the house at all. This is why I really don't like winter! I find myself staying inside more than being out. So, last week involved going to rehab twice (I really do hate missing it, especially this time of year, so I try to make it as much as I can!), hanging out at M...

I had a dream last night that I was participating in a couple of races. One was 700m (meters or miles, wasn't really sure!), and the other was 830m, which seems like a very odd number. But that wasn't the only thing weird about these races. They weren't along the path of a typical running race, they were up staircases. I had to run up stairs. STAIRS. Stairs are not a favorite of mine. Sure, I can do a couple of sets of stairs if I take my time, but this race was in a huge building with tons and tons of stairs. Stairs are daunting to me if I have to go up alot of them and there is no elevator to help me avoid them. So the 700m race starts and all during the race I kept going up the stairs, and I felt so tired, but somehow at the end I had managed to win. Then came the 830m race, which was a bit trickier. Some of the staircases were being worked on and some of them were almost completely gone, making us have to figure out how to keep going up. When the race began, I bolted. I...