Emmy's World

Been a while

2008-08-31T17:14:00.006-04:00

Looks like it's been a while since I updated my blog. Bad me. :P I was out on Friday with my sister helping her to pick out a digital camera. We got it all set up, took a few photos and figured out how to load the images on her computer. It was a lot of fun so I decided to go out today and buy the same camera for myself. So hopefully my blog will get more interesting now that I can add photos.

My first photo is of...my cat! He just passed his 14th birthday so it's about time I got some pics of him since that's pretty old for a cat and who knows what could happen and the last photos I have of him were when he was a kitten! In another lifetime I was actually a studio photographer, at a store that is now defunct, but along the line of a WalMart. This would have been my early 20s, over 20 years ago. I also had my own SLR camera (still do) and dabbled in my own photo developing (black and white). I set up a darkroom in my Mom's laundry room. This was years and years ago and after taking a lot of family photos I kind of burned out on picture-taking and haven't taken any photos in years. So it's been on my mind for a while to try out the digital scene and so far so good!

Now I just need a good photo-editing program, preferably free, as I can already tell my cat photo needs some work. :P

9 Years

2008-08-06T21:58:00.002-04:00

Well I knew it would happen someday and it happened today. After 9 years of using Emmy as my online name, I sent an email to my sister and signed it "Emmy" instead of my real name. I new the split second I hit the send button that I had goofed but it was too late. I had to send her another email explaining who the heck Emmy was, and hopefully she won't think I've developed a split personality. LOL

Very tired, worked late tonight (just got home) and go back early tomorrow morning for a full 8 hours, on which should normally be my day off. Picking up extra hours due to summer vacations, but it's really hard on my back which is still not back to normal. I can function well, but I pretty much feel my back all the time and it gets worse as the day goes on.

I'm also basically out of groceries and am going to try and squeak by as long as I can on what I have. It's slim pickings I tell ya. I will have to stop in for cat food but I think I make up some homemade stuff to get me through for four or five more days. I'm thinking of...

- homemade spaghetti
- homemade mac 'n cheese
- tuna salad
- cookies or granola bars
- shepherd's pie

Like I said, they'll all be from scratch as I'm out of everything "easy".

To Do List

2008-08-04T22:35:00.008-04:00

I'm usually very bad with To Do lists, and I usually don't even bother writing them up, but Saturday I wrote up a list and actually got most of it finished!

Here is my list in all it's unexciting glory:

cut and colour hair DONE! I now have a shorter do with no gray roots

fill out insurance forms for chiro and glasses NOT DONE you'd think I'd make this one a priority since I get money back, but it remains undone

take 800x600 resolution mention off of homepage DONE the site actually looks better at a higher resolution so I removed the recommendation for the lower resolution

pay bills (online) DONE I love paying my bills online, quick and easy and (almost) painless

move channel videos into main forum DONE I think it's better to have them in the main forum, and I like the video banner I added at the top

make video tutorials (only 5 days left of trial) PART DONE still have some more to do but I made ones for adding avatars, and posting youtube and photobucket videos

upload 2 new audio stories DONE

redo the library homepage DONE

clean house SORTA DONE I did a bit of picking up and kept on top of the dishes

laundry DID ONE LOAD

take out garbage DONE

revise library search - remove 50 limit etc. DONE

You have no idea how satisfying most of those DONES are to this habitual procrastinator.

ps. I'm thinking I would like to get an mp3 player and a digital camera. I think I've held out long enough, and I'd like to play with some new toys. :)

Friday p.m.

2008-08-01T19:15:00.003-04:00

I've been lax in updating my blog so here goes: my niece had her baby boy last Sunday. She'd been about 2 weeks overdue so it was a relief when it was finally all over. Baby was 8+ pounds. I saw the little muchkin yesterday and took over a gift card for groceries (that's my practical nature exerting itself! lol!).

Sis and I picked up our new glasses today and then I came home and napped! There was a spell there when I was napping a lot in the daytime, but I sort of got over it, but today I had a relapse I guess!

TCM is having some sort of 60s and 70s movie festival the past few days and it's just UGHHH! I dislike movies of that era and cannot wait for them to go back to the earlier classics.

Thursday night

2008-07-24T22:56:00.004-04:00

It's been a crazy busy couple of days. Tonight I bid on a computer on ebay for my sister. It was the first time participating in an online auction for either of us...what an education! We didn't end up winning the item as there was a flurry of bidding at the end and we were pretty good about sticking to our maximum bid, although it was fun as I had her on the phone with me as I was bidding online. I'll look some more tomorrow as she's interested in getting a used laptop just to tinker on, nothing elaborate.

Lot of uploading of audio stories in the past couple of days, plus listening to lots of tests. We're having problems with static on some of the recordings but one-by-one we seem to be figuring out ways around it, whether getting a new microphone or trying another computer. But it's a lot of time spent sending files back and forth and listening to them. Plus I've tried manipulating some of the files, trying the noise reduction feature, audio boost, bass enhancement...stuff like that.

I uploaded a new video to the BW channel tonight...Saga of the Ponderosa by littlejoy and it is amazing. She is a very talented video maker and if you haven't seen it go visit the Channel forum and watch it.

We had a HUGE storm the other night. Like the worst thunderstorm in all my years of living in this house. The kind where I wondered if I ought to go down to the basement for protection. I remember looking out the window at one point and seeing a bag of garbage being blown down the middle of the road. A neighbour's tree snapped in half, and another neighbour had his telephone wires come down. My Mom said she was out with a friend shortly after the storm and they kept having to change routes as they'd come upon cars stuck in a couple of feet of water.

btw, I have a niece who is pregnant and a week overdue. Apparently she is 4cm dilated so it will be any day now, so we're all a bit on edge. Me, I just like to know when it's all over! lol!

Coding, coding and more coding

2008-07-21T13:34:00.004-04:00

Other than sleep I feel I've spent the last 24 hours coding and doing computer stuff. Let's see, I added two new videos to the channel and then posted them and indexed them on the forum, I redid the forum template for the upcoming cowboy day, I recorded and uploaded a new video tutorial on using the BW chatroom (had to do 3 takes), I created a new hangman puzzle for AML and today I spent several hours figuring out how to add audio stories to the story pages in the library. That one was difficult because I couldn't embed the player right on the page since it uses the object tag and if I allowed that tag it would open up the library to possible malicious code insertion using it. Anyway, I devised a way around it but it took a while to figure it all out.

I think I need to find something else to do for a while though. :P

Btw, the potluck on Friday night was lovely. I made sure I ate very lightly throughout the day so I really enjoyed the evening meal. It was a bit overcast but we were still able to sit outside, even with the occasional spitting of rain.

Glasses

2008-07-18T10:46:00.002-04:00

Well I've ordered my new glasses and should get them next week. My vision in my left eye is so bad it's considered legally blind at 20/200...only not really because the optometrist said that with corrective lenses she could actually get it up to 20/30. She said the eye was healthy and if something ever did happen to the my good right eye that the left eye could be brought back into service with strong lenses. She's not going to give me strong lenses now because my brain wouldn't understand the new signals after so long of not really using the eye, so the glasses I'm getting now will only improve the vision in that eye about 20%, enough to help with reading and stuff. She asked me if I had kids because this condition starts in the womb and is something I could pass onto my own children. All in all, it was an education in eyesight.

Going to an outdoor potluck tonight with a bunch of friends from work. I'm looking forward to getting out and hope we have nice weather for it. I'm bringing brownies, cuz then you know I'm guaranteed to find something I like to eat! LOL! I haven't made them yet so I'm taking a chance cutting it so close but really, can you ever make a bad batch of brownies? :P

Going to try and do up some more tutorials for the site on Sunday, I've got a list a mile long and less than 3 weeks left on my trial of the software.

Very tired

2008-07-16T07:58:00.003-04:00

It's been a very tiring week so far. There's a lot going on at work and I've been taking extra hours to cover the summer shortage. And a lot of changes on the forum too, which has been difficult but I think things are improving.

On my way to work on the bus yesterday we passed several parked cruisers and of course we all rubber-necked to see what was going on, not really expecting much as it's not a big deal to see a police car. But when we saw the reason there were a few audible gasps on the bus. A car had plowed into a HOUSE on the corner of an intersection. The car's whole front end was smashed in, bent like an accordion. And the angle of the car was really peculiar...like how in heavens did THAT happen?!? Anyway, who says nothing exciting happens on the bus? :P

I was jolted awake last night to the sounds of a cat fight. And if you've ever heard that sound you know how frightening it is. Thing is...one of the cats was my own! I had the windows open last night and my cat likes to sit on the ledge. Apparently another cat got up onto the roof outside the window and they went at it with only the window screen between them. Luckily the screen held out, as I was worried it would pop out and my cat would get outside, but it held and I was able to go to another window and scare off the other cat. Good thing too, because at 14 years old, no claws, and a slight 8 pounds my cat didn't stand a chance! lol!

Going with sis for an eye appointment this week as we both need glasses. It will be my first pair in years and I know the styles have changed immensely. I really should have been wearing glasses all along but have been lax about it. Wish me luck as I rejoin the ranks of the 4-eyed. :P

Youtube Channel

2008-07-07T10:03:00.005-04:00

I realized due to my blog being down, I never got to post my Pernell Roberts youtube video tribute here, so I'll do it now. I've been tinkering with the channel and the display on the forum, inviting others to submit videos to the channel. It's kind of like the fanfic library, where instead of stories members submit videos. The only thing I haven't figured out is a good way to keep filmmakers apprised of their video comments, the ones made over on the youtube site. Strangely, the channel page, while listing the videos and ratings, doesn't list the number of comments. sigh. Will have to think on it and figure something out.

Anyway, my Pernell Roberts 80th birthday tribute:

From the BW Channel

ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

Occupation

2008-07-06T18:01:00.002-04:00

So over on the BW forum there's a thread where everyone is posting their occupation. Funnily enough, we have a disproportionately large number of archaeologists! And there's at least one more that I know of, but she hasn't posted in the thread. I keep starting to reply with my job, but something keeps stopping me. I guess I've just always been careful about "personal information" on the internet and I can't seem to get past my caution to post what my job is (it would be mildly identifying as opposed to completely anonymous).

Anyway, I guess I'll just have to remain a mystery. Or I could lie and invent some really exotic occupation. Let's see....translator for the United Nations? Ooooh, my life's getting more interesting by the second! LOL!

Wednesday

2008-07-02T12:31:00.003-04:00

The picnic was lovely, thanks AD. I told the parents I'd have little K home in 3 hours so we went to a park after the picnic because it wasn't quite 3 hours yet and we didn't want to take her home early (we know parents enjoy their break from the kids too!). But everything was lovely, the weather was beautiful sunny and we painted outside which was fun and a surprise for little K. She was so cute...she kept scheming to come to my house. I'd say "but you can't come I have to do dishes" and she'd say "I can help you do the dishes!" and then "well M. can come get me and drive me over AFTER you do the dishes". Just really cute how her little brain kept scheming to get what she wanted.

Today is very busy with lots going on. Dentist and shopping this morning, work tonight, plus I'm working on the email campaign for the convention and probably should mow the lawn too.

Picnic

2008-06-30T23:10:00.004-04:00

I came home from work and made homemade granola bars, pudding and mixed up the juice for tomorrow's picnic. I'll make the sandwiches and popcorn in the morning. My sister and I are going to take my little niece (and possibly my other little niece) on a picnic for Canada Day. Admission is free at a lot of different places throughout the city but we're going to go to the heritage village and get to pretend it's 100 years ago. I told my sister I'd pack the picnic since she's providing the transportation, and I wanted to show her how nice I can make it with just homemade stuff. Although I did buy some macaroni salad because I didn't have time to make it. And you just can't have a picnic without macaroni (or potato) salad.

Since I won't be able to run around and play with the kids like I usually do (still careful with my back) I'm going to bring a craft package, paper and paint, and we'll do some painting outside instead. I think little K. will like that and she always wanted to paint when she came to my house and she hasn't been here in a while.

I added a youtube tool to the sidebar on the forum, but it's malfunctioning! Currently it's only displaying 2 videos and it's supposed to display 4. Problem is, it's coded in a script that I'm not proficient enough in to be able to adjust it. I mean I can do little things, like change dimesions and stuff, but nothing that would change how it works. sigh.

Horoscope

2008-06-27T08:37:00.005-04:00

Okay, so I like to read my horoscope, even though I know it's dalderdash. Anyway, yesterday I did something and then I thought "hey maybe I should have checked my horoscope first". So I checked it after the fact and here's what it said:

``Pause before you plow ahead with an incomplete plan based on an outdated strategy. The waning moon is guiding you to a new possibility.``

Oh crap! I guess that meant don't do it! So I was on pins and needles because I'd already done it and just like the horoscope said it was something I'd tried before, an "outdated strategy", but good news arrived later that night after all. Today I check my horoscope and it says this:

``So what if you fail 99 times, if the next attempt brings success. All you need is confidence, a thick skin and staminato get what you need.``

Dang right it worked! I'm moving closer to a goal I've been working on coming up 8 months, and hopefully soon the dream will move to reality.

Shopping

2008-06-26T14:32:00.006-04:00

It was so nice to get back into my shopping routine with Mom today. I had no problem getting in and out of the car which has been hampering me the past couple of months. We went to the bread store and a surplus store next to it, and just had a good time bargain hunting. Natch, can't go next Thursday as I've got a dentist appointment and my chiro appointment BOTH on the same day. Funny thing today though, we came out of one store and was loading our purchases into Mom's trunk and I go, "hey where are my eggs?!" lol! we had left them in the store!

I now get a lot more TV than I ever did but I have to say there's a couple of shows that seem to be just EVERYWHERE, and it's to the point where I can't stand to even see the title when I flip by. A couple that come to mind are: Arrested Development, Two and a Half Men, and The Cosby Show. Blech to all three! More from over-saturation than anything.

Lots of turnover at work lately. Seems like everyone is retiring, getting new jobs, or otherwise leaving (one girl left to look after her Mom full-time). It's funny how you can go YEARS without much change and then whammo the whole face of the department is achangin'.

Weekend blahs

2008-06-21T21:30:00.005-04:00

I know I haven't updated this week, but honestly not much interesting is going on. I did finally go out and get a portable air conditioner...which was MUCHO expensive but I was just worried I wouldn't make it through the summer without one, since I can no longer sleep on a mattress in the basement if it gets hot due to my back. This model in the pic is the one I bought.

I had to wrangle at the checkout about delivery because I need it carried upstairs (since it's for my bedroom). They're trying to tell me they only deliver inside the front door. And I'm like, what good is that to me? I may as well load it into the car in that case and skip delivery, since carrying it is what is the problem. Finally they conceded and I got them to write it on the delivery order that it's to be carried upstairs. So the delivery guy arrives and he's ALONE and he says it's too heavy to carry upstairs, so I point it out to him on the delivery slip where it clearly states UPSTAIRS and I say I'll wait for him to go get someone to help him carry it up. He asks if *I* can help him and I say "no I have a back injury!" that's why I need it delivered upstairs! He then tries to get me to sign the delivery slip and I say "I'm not signing anything until it's upstairs!" He finally tries it alone (sort of dragging it up) and well anyway, the job gets done. But man, can I anticipate problems or what? I just knew getting it upstairs was going to be a hassle and I just really had to exert some assertiveness to get the job done.

Anyway, right now it's sitting on my upstairs landing as I haven't even opened the box yet. Will have to do that soon.

Good Monday Afternoon

2008-06-16T12:29:00.002-04:00

Almost typed "morning" before I realized we're well into the afternoon.

Not much going on in my neck of the woods. My horoscope continues to spout prophecies of wonder and delight, but nothing in my life matches the horoscope! Take today's entry:

"These are exciting times. The outlook has rarely been brighter. Despite all the tension of recent weeks and all that remains unresolved, you have cause to feel hopeful."

What tension of recent weeks? Hmm, something fantastic better happen soon or I'm going to start to doubt the accuracy of these astrological predications. :P

My satelitte was on and off all night last night because of thunderstorms. Usually my satellite is pretty good even during storms but last night was an experience. I guess that's one of the downfalls over cable, that you're a little at the whim of the wheather.

Sister was over on Saturday to do my yardwork again. Man, I could really get used to this. It's so nice having it look so nice and neat and not having to do it myself! I figure this is probably the last time she does it as my back is about 80% better and I guess I can take it over myself now.

Too hot

2008-06-09T18:05:00.003-04:00

It's only the beginning of June and already I'm too hot. I think I'm going to have to break down and get an air conditioner. Because of my back problems I couldn't possibly lift one in and out of a window so I'm thinking of a portable model. What I'd really like is a ductless system (aka split a/c) but that runs in the thousands. I've been here 14 years without a/c so either the summers are getting a lot hotter or I'm just getting older and don't tolerate the heat as well (or both).

Had my chiro session today. He says things are improving and I wasn't out very much from a week ago. So we've made the next appointment 10 days away, but I can call if it's hurting before then. He also said I can resume my walking regime but to start really slow.

I also have a cold! How odd to be sniffling and sneezing and boiling hot at the same time.

I'm Back!

2008-06-04T21:43:00.005-04:00

Well it only took a month of my hounding blogger/google but I finally have my blog back. I don't even know if I have the energy to describe what I went through, but I have to say it was one of the most disappointing customer service experiences of my life. I own stock in google and it's really upsetting to me to be part of a company that handled the situation so poorly and took so long to get me back online. Just sad, sad, sad. I had made the decision in my mind to let my blog die if they didn't bring it back (in other words I wasn't going to start a new one) so unless they screw it up again (and I'm not holding my breath) then I guess I'm back.

For weeks my horoscope has been promising great things in my life. I don't get it, because NOTHING exciting has been happening at all. Take today's prediction:

*** Your struggles are bringing you close to a long sought after harmonious conclusion to a tricky scenario. And as you will soon see, you are actually doing far better than you know. Something big is going to pay lovely dividends. ***

See what I mean? It's been like that for WEEKS. Now I know I got my blog back and that could be considered good news, but "lovely dividends"? I want something FABULOUS to happen! LOL!

To catch up on the month I missed: I had x-rays on my back and I have a disc that's bulging to the side and pinching a nerve. That's why I was walking crooked and had so much pain. I've been going to the chiropractor several times a week and things are improving. I still can't do a lot of things, but I feel a lot straighter and the pinching has lessened. I'm taking the next two weeks off (officially vacation) but I'm just going to rest my back. There's a new term for the kind of vacation I'm taking...it's called a Staycation, when you just stay home. The new term was coined I think because of the tougher economic times and people just aren't travelling as much.

My niece's rabbit had bunnies, but sad news is only that one survived out of 6. It's about 4 days old now. I've been getting information off the internet for her on how to raise it, since she had to separate it from the mother (do you want to know? the mother was eating her young). She's still getting the mother to nurse the baby (by holding the mother and bringing the baby to her) because bottle feeding baby rabbits isn't very successful. I'm kind of involved since she had me babysit the baby the first day because she had to work and was afraid to leave it, so she calls me every day with an update. I'm bracing myself though, because she's got another 2 months of this to get through before the baby eats rabbit food and I'm not sure she'll make it, or the mother will permit the 'force feeding' that long. We'll see what happens.

Domestic minutae

2008-05-04T13:07:00.004-04:00

A bit of a filling came out on one of my teeth and I remember the last time this happened I complained to the dentist about the rough spot and how my tongue couldn't stay away and it gave me a real sore spot until I could get in and get the tooth fixed. Now I don't know if he was joking or just making conversation but he said something about putting gum or wax on the spot as a temporary fix.

So that's what I did this time...I melted a bit of wax and stuffed it in the spot and dang if I don't feel like I just got my tooth filled! It's all smooth and doesn't bother my tongue now. I did this last night so it's lasted 12 or more hours and I even ATE and it didn't fall out. Do you think I missed my calling as a dentist? Speaking of dentists, seems every filling this guy does for me falls out. Or maybe it's just the new friendly filler material. Cuz you know those old mercury things lasted a lifetime.

And now on to my Burnt Krispies (I told you the heading for this post was "domestic minutae", am I lying?). A couple of days ago I burnt bacon in the microwave. I didn't know it was possible to burn bacon in the microwave. Or at least, not as bad as I did. I'm talking COMPLETELY BLACK and smoke filling the kitchen (yeah, yeah, I left it unattended, bad me). Well, the microwave is right next to the frig so I figure it inhaled some of the smoke fumes and the fumes invaded the milk, which I poured on my rice krispies which now taste like, you guessed it, burnt krispies.

I'm about 70% done the Pernell Roberts video tribute. While I've learned a LOT, going from complete novice, not even registered at youtube, nor used movie maker before and all that, I have a feeling this will be my last video. Maybe I was just too ambitious but I found out right quick it's a lot of work. Inspiring subject matter not withstanding. :P

Jeanie, can I join your geezer group? I think I may qualify. A while ago I bought one of those reaching tools at the dollar store (not as nice as in this pic, but close). My companion was mildly amused that I wanted it, but I just thought it was cool. Little did I know what a lifesaver it would become when I put my back out. You are never so clumsy as AFTER you hurt your back and can't bend down and pick things up. You know, things you NEVER dropped before in your life will suddenly slip from your fingers. It's a law of physics or something. Anyway, I've used that tool to the feed the cat (putting the plate down for him so I don't have to bend or squat) and I can't say how many other uses, including all the oops-I-dropped-it moments. I'm thinking of getting one for each floor of the house. Heck, it was only a buck! But, sigh, I think using it qualifies me for geezerdom. :P

Good ole aspirin

2008-05-02T14:14:00.002-04:00

Thank God for good old aspirin. It was the only pain med in the house so I brought some with me to work and dang if it isn’t working better than my usual Advil on my back pain. Even the muscle relaxant pills from the doctor don’t seem to do much, just make me feel really loopy. Sometimes the old remedies are the best.

I’m thinking of going to a chiropractor, as it’s been seven weeks now and my back is still bothering me. I used to go years ago, but that was when I had a car and the chiro was way across to the other end of town. I did find one in the phonebook that is within walking distance of my house but I hate going to new people for health stuff, especially when I’m hurting. Some of those chiros put a little too much effort into it and I’m looking for someone with a soft touch.

I’ve been thinking about retirement lately. I’ve been at my workplace for 20 years so I actually qualify for early retirement in 10 years. I’m almost 45 now so I’d be 55. I think I’m gonna go for it, even though I only work part-time. I mean, there’s nothing to stop me from getting another job to supplement my retirement income if it’s not enough. But my needs and wants are so few I’m certain I’ll be fine. It sure is nice to dream about it though.

And in the tradition of bring you amusing cat videos, allow me to present “An Engineer’s Guide to Cats”. It’s not funny the whole way through but the parts that are had me rolling on the floor. :)

Some ideas are just better left alone

2008-04-30T18:26:00.001-04:00

I’m spending way too much time on this video tribute thing. Like 5 hours a day too much kind of thing. But my perfectionist gene is rearing its ugly head and I’m getting caught up in the nit-picky. Example: if I use ‘fade in, fade out’ on the title cards they come out blurry. But if I use ‘zoom, fade out’ they are clear but the colour goes shimery (hard to describe). So I keep playing with things trying to get them exactly as I want them, and that just ain’t gonna happen. Also, I opened a youtube account so I could try uploading the video so far (just I see it), and the screen there is larger than the movie maker screen I’m using to the make the video (which is causing some of the blurriness problem I think).

And it’s really hard to know what will fly and what won’t. I’d like to insert a bit of humour in the piece but it’s really hard to know if it’ll come across as humourous, and wouldn’that be, uh, deadly. And timing…how to know if I’m giving people enough time to follow along. I mean, *I* know the script so it races by quickly in my mind, but I have to give someone seeing it for the first time enough time to process it. And since the video is along the lines of a mini-biography I also have to address certain issues in Pernell’s personal life that can’t be ignored. That’ll take a good deal of delicacy and I hope I can do it.

And DAAAAAANGGG!! I’m gonna have the song I’m using in my head for YEARS to come!!

Walk gingerly and don't clean the litter box

2008-04-28T16:58:00.001-04:00

I had to put the walking on hold, since my back is worse. I don’t think the walking did it, I think it was bending down to clean out the cat littler box. Some postures are just killer on your spine. Anyway, it’s been hurting a lot worse for about 4 days now and I had to leave work early on Saturday. When you can’t sit or stand comfortably there’s not much option but to go home and lie down.

Anyway, thank goodness I’m pain free when I lie down, and thank goodness I have my laptop. I’ve been working on a project for Pernell Robert’s birthday celebrations on the forum. I guess there’s no harm in telling the handful of people who read my blog about it, it’ll still be a surprise on the forum. It’s crazy…I’ve never used Movie Maker or edited mp3 audio files, but that is what I’m doing. I’m making a video birthday tribute. So here I am, a complete greenhorn and with a three-week deadline!! Am I crazy or what?!? But I’ve got the first 1/5 of it done and one minute I think it’s brilliant and one minute I think it’s crap. Well, it’s the thought that counts, right? Er, you bet it is! lol!

Saw my new little great-niece on Sunday. I took over a few groceries to help out but they look like they have everything under control. She a cute’n but then again, all babies are. I couldn’t hold her for long because, natch, my back was aching since holding a baby is also a bad thing posture-wise.

I have a post down below about gratitude, and I’m certainly trying to practice it now. Yes my back hurts but at least I can walk around, I’m not confined in bed and I’m certainly not paralysed. I’m lucky, really.

I'm a new Great Aunt

2008-04-26T21:55:00.004-04:00

My nephew and his partner had a baby girl last night, around 10pm. She's named Summer Jade and I'm going over tomorrow to see her. They say she has a full head of curly hair. Her mom's hair is completely straight so she got it from her dad, my nephew and godson. Curly hair runs in our family, me included.

I'm glad the birth is over and I didn't have to be there. I just like hearing the good news after everything is done, a lot less stressful that way. She's home already, they certainly don't keep you long in the hospital anymore.

Plus I've got my first great-nephew expected this summer, courtesy of my niece. Our family is busting out all over. :P

Gratitude

2008-04-25T08:32:00.004-04:00

I'm making a real effort to practise gratitude lately. In truth, it's the only thing that's been shown to increase happiness. Winning the lottery won't do it. Studies show that after about 6 months of a very happy life event (like winning the lottery) or conversely, a very UNhappy event (like becoming paralyzed) our happiness level returns to its set point. Scientifically, and spiritually, the only thing that can raise happiness long-term is practising gratitude, so that's what I'm aiming to do. It's like when you go camping or to the cottage and you're roughing it for a while. When you get home and take that first hot shower, man does it feel good! But after a couple of days we forget to be grateful for hot water, modern luxuries and the like. We once again take it all for granted. I don't mean to sound trite but I'm making a conscious effort to be grateful for what I have and not become complacent about it. I even looked it up at the library and yes there is a subject heading "gratitude" with books about it. I will be reading up on it some more.

In other news, my cat's been waking me up earlier and earlier every morning, walking all over me until I finally resort to getting up to avoid the painful foot--er, paw?--steps. In fact, I feel a lot like this video clip:

Junecat For A Day

2008-04-24T09:02:00.003-04:00

Man am I tired. I set my alarm for 5am so I could change the board template early for junecat's You For A Day. Either the alarm didn't go off or I hit the snooze a few times in my grogginess. Anyway, I managed to get it switched around 6am. The funny thing is I've had a few people mention that at first they thought the site had been hacked! Note to self: when your forum decorations look like a hack attempt maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board. :P Oh well, it's great fun already, and I'm sure it'll liven up as the day goes on.

I'm sore today, especially my right lower back, but that seems to be my normal state lately. I don't know if it's from the walking or not, aggravating it. I'm just so appreciative to even be where I am right now, compared to 30 or 40 muscle spasms a day this is a piece of cake. I'll take today off (from walking) and the only thing planned is some shopping with Mom.

Cool Site

2008-04-23T10:51:00.006-04:00

Since I'm trying to get into this walking thing I've been looking at a lot of maps online. I found this new really cool tool. It let's me map my route and tells me the distance I'm walking.

The site is: Map My Walk

I use the box on the left to enter my address and it pulls up a map of my area. Then I click on the right arrow button and then click the map, and that sets my starting point. From there just click where you want to walk. You can tell it follow the roads, or not, if you're walking through a park or somewhere without roads. It uses a mapping feature, like google maps or mapquest, and adds a twist to it. You can view it as a regular map, as a satellite image, or a combination of both.

Here's a sample map of a 2.83 mile walk to give you an idea of how it works (this is not my city, btw):

Sample
Find more Walks in Toronto, Ontario

Walking

2008-04-22T11:09:00.000-04:00

Well, I did my walking yesterday. 45 minutes uninterrupted and then another 15 minutes or so later on. Right now, with my back problems, I walk really slowly...I estimate only about 2 miles an hour, whereas normal moderate walking is 3 mph and walking at a clip is 4 mph. My stride isn't very long either. I have to take shorter steps as I haven't regained full mobility yet. And I know I'm not wearing the right shoes. Unfortunately I can only handle slip-ons right now. It's a real effort to get my shoe-laced running shoes on as I can't quite reach my feet comfortably.

My boss asked me to work longer today. I was only supposed to work the morning, but a few people called in sick so she asked me to stay on for the afternoon. I was glad for the extra hours, but my back was really hurting by the end of the day, plus I hadn't brought a lunch with me.

Thursday is junecat's day on the forum. She won the "You For A Day" prize from the roll call, so I have decorated the board customized to her life. We'll see how this goes. I may do some more board templates if it gets a good response.