Another Scenic Sunday

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

to all the mothers out there in the blogosphere.

May you have a wonderful day.

Click here for more scenes from around the world. 

Peek Out My Door

Click on the arrow to start the video.

I was trying to upload a second video blog but I don't seem to have enough room in Blogger for the upload.

Skywatch Friday ~ May 7, 2010

Delicate magnolia flowers withstand our cool spring. Most of these flowers have now gone.

Progress at Last on Goals for 2010

My decluttering project has been in the works now for a very long time. I have a lot of personal items and years of paperwork to sort through. It has been waiting for me to get at it since we moved back in after the fire in September 2009.  But I have so little time at home because I travel out of town every month to assist my ailing mother and I'm gone for a good two weeks each month.

For the first time in 16 months, I am home for the entire month. In the one week I've been alone, I'm making progress so I just have to journal about it here and have a marker of what has been accomplished on the road to where I'm headed. I've also been resting an awful lot.

What have I done this week?

Financial Goals

- Filed my taxes.
- Collected all bills and paid them.
- Added to my snowflake jar.
- Made some difficult financial decisions to live within means.

Health & Lifestyle

- Found a "home" for the exercise ball and weights in one corner of the living room.

- Lifted some weights to remind myself what it is like,lol. It has been so LONG since I've lifted a weight.

 - Bought a Pilates machine. It was just delivered last night. Now I need to figure out how to assemble it.  While it looks assembled I've learned there are many screws and pieces that need to be attached to this and that.

- Getting lots of rest. At the same time, I'm trying not to fritter away the time or work myself so hard that I detest the journey.  I've been setting my timer once in awhile when I really can't get motivated on the tasks at hand. It helps if you know you only have to work until the timer goes off.
- Eating more vegetables and started eating more fruits again. I even made a modest start on juicing.  Bought a good condition book on juicing. It only cost 25 cents.
- Made some bread and cooked all meals.
- Eating much lighter for dinner as my roomie is gone right now.
- Researched knitting classes and decided on private lessons. I start next week.
- Researched easy knitting patterns on line so I can make sure I have the right knitting needles and wool for the pattern. I've decided on a modest project of making a dishcloth as I really need to learn and practice the basics. I'm hoping I can use this new skill once learned for charitable projects and the odd personal project.

 Creating an Edible Garden

- Collected all the coffee grinds and fruit and vegetable scraps for the garden compost.
- Contacted a community garden and put my name on a waiting list for an allotment.
- Purchased some potting soil.
- Planted some kitchen herbs.

Decluttering & Organizing

- Located and untangled all my needed electronic plug items...and charged everything up.
- Investigated my web cam. It is no longer compatible with my software. Need a new one but this is not top priority.
- Machine shredded and hand shredded one box of confidential documents. This job has been staring at me everyday. I tried to pay my brother to shred all my documents but he hasn't gotten to it either so finally one box is gone. I still have two tubs and smaller bags to go as well as 4 drawers of my filing cabinet. Much of these materials isn't confidential but I will need to shred all the identifying information and personal numbers for banking, etc.
- Put up about 5 pictures on the walls, moved a lamp into my room and a small table into the corner of the living room.  My nephew gifted me with the picture below for Christmas. I had it in my bedroom but have moved it to the living room for now.
- Thoroughly cleaned the guest bathroom.
- Laundered the sofa and arm chair slip covers and removed the pills/nubby bits from the sofa fabric.
I now have to repair the sofa slip cover as it has ripped in the corner that is used most often.
- Cleared the dining room table (yet again). I use the dining room table to sort out the items which need paying and shredding or putting away. I need to clear it so I can repair the sofa slip cover.
- Cleared the top of my desk in the bedroom (again).
- Cleared the top of my dresser (again)
- Emptied my suitcase and put it away.
- Reorganized the clothing on my closet shelves and found a place for all the clothing, Identified a few items for giveaway and found a place to store the extra linen.
- I've done countless loads of laundry this week and am deciding whether to give away all my work out items that don't fit. I hesitate to do so because they are so costly if I need to buy a smaller size again soon. I know we're not supposed to keep things that are too small and for the most part, I don't. In this case, I might make an exception.
- Started one new fictional book and made small progress on another. The photo below is a cover shot of the new book.

- Re-organized a place in living room for my bible study area to make this a conducive study area for daily use.  I have a nice cosy chair next to the table and the window behind me will give good, natural lighting.

- Made mental notes of clothing and other items that need repair (e.g. reading lamp in bedroom).
- Cancelled mailing address and got a new one. Following up with all businesses for mail redirection instructions.

Family & Friends

- Mom was in hospital for a few days due to heart issues. I called her each day and prayed with her.
She is home now and I keep in touch and pray daily.
- I organized a surprise for my niece and she loved it.
- Reconnected with several friends. Had tea with one and made some plans with two others.
- Lost one friend in the Kenyan village due to sickness. Praying for her teenage daughters left behind with no adult to care for them. Would you join me in prayer for these dear girls?

Spiritual

I'm failing in this area. My time alone with God is hampered by my stress level right now. I know I can't use this as an excuse but God knows what I mean. I am seeking His rest and also the prayers of friends and loved ones. Thank God they hold me in prayer.

Therefore confess your sins 
to each other and pray for each other 
so that you may be healed. 

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

James 5:16

The End of an Era, The Beginning of a New One

Tuesday, May 4th at approximately 11: a.m. the BC Place Stadium dome was purposely collapsed. Over the next 3 weeks it will be methodically removed from the roof top and sent to recycling.

Just over a week ago I showed you a photo of the dome on  my walk to Granville Island. (Click the underlined words if you want to read about the walk). Here it is again. It is the white roofed building nestled between the high rises.   BC Place recently had prominence as being the venue for the Winter Olympics 2010 Opening and Closing Ceremonies and over the years it has hosted many spectacular events in the City.

This is what the dome looked like after collapse.

Photo Credit: Nick Procaylo, PNG

I hadn't even realized that the roof was going down today. It was a bittersweet moment. The original dome was built in 1983 at a cost of $126 Million.

The dome will be replaced with an expensive retractable roof. While I am all in favour of making upgrades, it is a rather expensive proposition coming directly on the heels of huge expenditures for the Winter Olympics. The retractable roof alone is expected to cost in the neighbourhood of $475 Million, though I've also read estimates of $458 Million. The new retractable roof is expected to be the world's largest retractable roof for a domed stadium and it's anticipated completion is sometime next year.

After spending $5000. on my portion of my condominium building's roof replacement, I am not feeling up to spending my portion of $475 Million that will need to be paid from taxes.

Is there any large tax funded project where you live that you had to pay for whether you supported it or not?

My World Tuesday

This is my world this past week or so. I caught a photo of the sky when it wasn't raining. The rest of the week is supposed to be sunny. I'm hoping the forecast doesn't change.

 

http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Beautiful Blue

It is amazing how many people I've found on the who love the colour blue. I happened across these people as I was browsing blogs not as a result of searching for them. It warms my heart because I too love blue and I love that I can look at what other people find in the colour blue.

This weekend was initially supposed to be a lovely, dry weekend, then Friday night I learned that it was expected to rain. It has been doing a lot of that this spring so I still don't have my garden in.  When I woke up this morning it was quite gray but progressively the sun came out and the sky turned blue and it became quite lovely.

My tentative plans to go to knitting class didn't pan out so instead I enjoyed the day lounging, grazing (eating food here and there rather than eating a meal), telephoning family and friends and answering telephone calls. Normally I do not enjoy talking on the phone. Long calls often interfere with plans to run errands or watch a favourite program. (I am a bit of a quiet freak though some of my friends likely won't believe it, lol). Don't you know it but phone calls always seem to be timed for the worst possible time when you're right in the middle of something. So thank goodness for the voice messaging service because I usually end up having to return phone calls.

Earlier in the week I had gone out to purchase potting soil for the 7 or so pots I have. This year I will plant some herbs in the containers. If I have containers left over I will plant some geraniums and pansies as well. I've always loved both types of flowers and these are usually what I plant in the containers.

I got a small start on the container gardening by putting new soil in the pots. I also potted one container of rosemary and one container of lemon balm. Here is my lemon balm in a blue ceramic pot.

I still  have much more to do in planting the containers and in putting in the garden. I hope to get a start this week if the weather will cooperate.

And guess what? Though I missed out on the knitting class, I have made arrangements for private lessons which is actually turning out to be better since it is on my own schedule, close by and also no more expensive. Even better I will have individualized attention. I learn best this way. I can't wait to get started!

To cap off my day, I'm having some wonderful Kenyan tea with fresh mint in a beautiful blue Chinese tea cup. Won't you join me in a cup?

And how did you spend your weekend?

(Click on the blue bird at the top of this entry to see other Blue Monday participants.)