At Least we Had Sunshine Today

But my DH golf partner (brother while we still live here in the city) was unavailable today and I was in the office all day.  But I am grateful for the income.  He will be busy dear hunting this weekend to go, and I am going to cook for my dear friend who had surgery yesterday and see if I can help her in any other way.  I am also planning to run to IKEA for a few things, but might have to put off for a couple weeks.  So busy! 

Tomorrow supposed to be really cold.  My DH gave my work friend a super warm coat.  It is well made and fabric has camo - which is funny because this friend moved here from West Coast and literally laughs because he has never owned anything camo before, but also said it is the warmest coat he has ever had.  We laugh because DH always buys best quality.  I have spent my first 45 years buying discount or sale stuff, based mostly on price and availability.  Now, I buy quality - pay once and have one.  Don't spend time running around wishing I had bought something else, or buying duplicates/multiples of similar.  I buy what I want, but I research and find best buy.  Sometimes that means vintage or thrift, often ebay or Poshmark.  And my closet is not stuffed to the gills with stuff that I am not satisfied with.  I almost NEVER buy anything just becaue it is on sale now.  I buy something because I plan ahead.  My husband is trailing along with me on the reduction mentality, but he is coming along in his own time and without me saying anything.  I just love that about this man!

Anyway, so glad I got in a great yoga session last night.  it was dark going in, so that was not as weird as going in to class daylight, coming out dark.  Then I visited my friend in hospital.  Work is busy.  2 more weekends till it will be Thanksgiving.  Crazy.  My DH has day off tomorrow, I do not.  Again, I will take a paycheck.  Thank you God.  I am a temp.  We were in a hiring frenzy this summer.  Things are slowing down.  I have seen a few mass exodus in my 10 years in this gig.  I have met some people I like and see then leave and get other stuff willing and leave not willingly.  We are starting to see some worried people around us.  I will be one of those people looking for somethine else soon.  It is hard.  Change is hard.  Everyone hates rejection.  Uggggghhhh.  I just have to pray my next chapter is out there...waiting.  Have a great Thursday evening.  I like Thursday evenings, if I can ever just relax and live in the moment!

Wednesdays with GM

Well I made an error in my first blog post ever.  I guess everyone refers to family members by initials.  So, I should have typed DH instead of husband.  I don't even know what the D stands for, 'dear'?  Anyway, it's a learning curve.  Today I am not nearly as talkative as I felt yesterday.  Maybe that is part of the curve.  Like, where to start...what to say...Today in the Midwest it is pretty warm for this time of the year, highs in the high 80's.  So, I actually enjoyed wearing a dress and sandals to work today, but with a jacket because it is always freezing cold at my office. 

After work on Wed I usu go visit my 98 year old grandmother.  GM I guess.  How lucky I feel to have a GM who is 98 years old.  I turned 50 this year.  My folks are both deceased.  Cancer.  I lost my mom early, she was in her 40's and I was in my 20's when she died.  This GM is my paternal GM.  My dad passed away 3 years ago.  So, after my dad passed, we moved GM away from my dad's city to the city where I live now.  My paternal aunt (PA), her daughter also lives here.  One of the people I will be very sad to move away from is GM.  When she moved here 3 years ago she never expected to be alive at 98.  I am glad she is, but I try to pray for God's will.  I was mindful of this this past spring and tried to come to terms with what He might have in store.  I pray my GM will not go through a long, protracted decline.  She got sick after having a surgery in March, just before her 98th birthday and for a few weeks, we really thought we were going to lose her.  It was a long spring.  She lives alone in an independent living facility.  Her meals are fixed for her and her apartment is cleaned/linens washed.  She does her own personal laundry.  She likes books on tape and baseball.  She cannot hear or see well so her quality of life has diminished a lot.  She has a lot of friends who visit and call her.  This past year I have really seen this diminish too.  She gets anxious because she can't understand when people try to talk to her and when she asks people to speak up, often they just repeat what they said in the exact same tone.  I can imagine how frustrating that would be.  So, I go visit once a week and call at least once a week.  I wish I could do more, but she is about 50 miles from where I live on other side of the city.  My work is about 1/2 in between, so it is handy to go see her on Wed or Fri after work. On these days, I try to have DH dinner pre planned, because he does not cook and would resort to snacks and unhealthy stuff...or just eat nothing.  Ugggghhh.

Lately I am doing a stretch of OT at work and this has gone on since July.  I try to get an extra 5 to 10 hours a week on top of my usu 40.  It has helped me get a few things for retirement house (RH).  I bought a new window, a new stove and a new dishwasher.  More on RH later.  In my posts, I want to include something about what I am doing to prepare for that move.  Some days, it seems very little.  But, really just working and paying bills, saving and paying as we go for improvements/projects is as good as it gets, and for that I am grateful.  I also try to do at least one small project at city house (CH) a weekend while I am in town.  We go to RH about once or twice a month.  Lately, we have done less of that because of my OT.  So, this past weekend I regrouted between the sink and the counter the length of my center island where the sink is.  I know, ambitous, huh?.  I also put out 2 heavy dehumidifiers that we will no longer need/have room to store at RH.  RH does not have a basement either, while CH does.  They were marked free and both were taken.  It was our neighborhood fall garage sale this past weekend, so that felt good.  The week before that I sold my treadmill and elliptical that I stored (and used) in large basement storage room in CH.  I was a little surprised they sold so quick and both together.  This winter I will have to be a little creative in my workouts and I will also just up my yoga a bit.  Well, back to work...See you again soon.