Things That Made Me Smile!

I think I will try to post things on Sunday that make me  smile –

Here’s one.  Go to Google and search for “Let it Snow” Sit back and enjoy the show!  Actually I’ve made it even easier!  Just click the link – although I’m not sure how long the show will last!

Another thing that makes me smile is the Tips for Keeping Warm but I’ve already blogged about that!

And of course messages from my daughter that refer to me as a “beautiful mother”

Singing carols at the Haysboro Community Centre!

People laughing at my jokes!

I didn’t really pay much attention to all the things that made me smile this week, but I hope that I’ll have more next Sunday!

In the meantime, here’s the next installment in the story.  I’m going to hunker down and do some planning – big shopping day tomorrow!

The Cinnamon Bear, episode #19: “Wooden Indian”
[Originally broadcast 17 December 1937 — 2.82mb, 12:19]
Judy and Jimmy are being chased by Chief Cook and Bottle Washer, a wooden Indian who wants Crazy Quilt’s pelt for his girlfriend Many Happy Returns. Judy trades her looking glass to him instead. After he leaves, they encounter the Wintergreen Witch again in the Golden Grove.

What makes you smile these days?

Marcia

 

25 Minutes to Gym Time!

I keep forgetting to ice!  Not only that, but I much prefer to be warm.  But the ice helps and that’s what matters!

I have a bit of pain – well more than that – on the back of my heel.  This morning was a 2 Advil morning and now the ice.

Fortunately I’m still able to do most of what I like to do with some adjustments.  I’m not running.  I’ve switched to the ellliptical machine most days.  And of course, instead of sitting comfortably, – but at least typing is still an option!

Today is weights day, so not much cardio on the planner anyways.

I did make the hot chocolate mix yesterday – I think I’ll make some without the pepper – not sure the kids will like it.  But I did!  From a “dollars and cents” perspective, I’m going to try my next batch with just milk chocolate chips.

Have a great day!  Oh and here’s the next installment in the story!

The Cinnamon Bear, episode #18: “Cocklebur Cowboys”
[Originally broadcast 16 December 1937 — 2.82mb, 12:18]
Slim Pickens and the Cocklebur Cowboys of the Purple Plain come to the rescue of Judy and Jimmy, Cinnamon Bear and Crazy Quilt, pulling them from the mud.

Have a wonderful day!

Marcia

 

Gift Cards and the Emergency Fund

(A Financial Friday kind of post)

‘Tis the season to give and recieve gift cards.  From a corporate perspective this makes a lot of sense. Rather than buying “stuff” that may not be necessary, your employees can use the card to get the things they need or want. 

My Gift Card Collection

And I don’t think these are it for the year.  But it doesn’t matter.  They are money that I can spend that I didn’t earn.

The SportChek card will go towards a new pair of running shoes, as I sign up for another year at the gym.  The extra $50 will help me buy a better quality shoe or take part in their 50% off deal (Check your flyers!)

The Calgary Co-op cards will, however,  be spent on food.  Originally I had intended to keep them at home but the “what if’s” started running through my head:

• What if they melted in a fire?
• What if they expired?
• What if I lost them?
• What if I forgot they were there?

You get the picture. Silly worries, but they led me to a different solution.  Yesterday I transferred the value of the Co-op cards to my ING account.  That’s where my emergency/cruise money is sitting.

On Monday morning I’m going to shop until I drop.  I’m thinking that my groceries will come to about $100 with the turkey.  We’ll check that out next week!  In addition to my gift cards I have some coupons which should save me about $20.

So here’s the main idea:  What if you took the cash value of your new gift cards and coupons and transferred it to your emergency fund, or your cruise fund, or whatever other project you have on tap?  If you’re having trouble building the fund, this may be a part of the solution.  People who are giving you these cards can be giving  you an emergency fund instead.  How nice of them!

I hope this  is as helpful to you as it is to me.  Except in my case, they’re giving me part of my cruise!

In the meantime, here’s the next adventure in the continuing saga of the silver star!  “Muddlers”
[Originally broadcast 15 December 1937 — 2.83mb, 12:22]
Judy and Jimmy use their one wish, given by the Wishing Well, to get rescue Cinnamon Bear, and now they can’t fix their Silver Star with the Wishing Well’s magic. While trying to get out of the Wishing Woods, they encounter the Muddlers and the River of Mud.

Have a great day!

Marcia

PS: TOPS weigh-in and I was down a pound.  Now I’m focusing on the next one! Had a good work-out at the gym!

PPS:  This post was inspired by Get Rich Slowly’s posting earlier this week.

Collecting Recipes!

It’s been a day!  Trouble sleeping, and a sudden sadness in the middle of the night that made me weep.  Doesn’t happen often, but it sure makes you think – and pray.  And after all that, warm up some milk and eggnog!

I let myself sleep in, and went to they gym late, but I had a great work-out.  I switched to the elliptical for half an hour (my heel is giving me pain – no running!), did my weight circuit and some biking and stretching.  Then home to do laundry and recipe collecting!

I’ve been wanting to make hot chocolate mix, but all the recipes I found had coffee whitener in them – and I don’t like that stuff!  So you can imagine my delight to find a recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate Mix.

It really does look like the picture because I “borrowed” it from the blog!  And there’s also a recipe for marshmallows!  I do have to make some in advance but I’ve invited my nieces over to make candied popcorn and also to help me with the mixing (20 minutes) that’s required!

Another recipe I want to try is for coffee scrubs.  I’ve been saving the grounds from my morning coffee and it’s time to try this on for size.  I checked a few out and this is the one I liked

But, now it’s time to eat my veggies and get on with the tasks of today – sending cards, writing a Christmas letter, and making some ornaments.

Here’s the next episode in the continuing saga of Cinnamon Bear: “Oliver Ostrich”

Have a wonderful day, preparing for the Light of the World!

Marcia

I Worked Today!

This morning I managed to sort of adhere to my morning plan:  15 minutes of waking up my mind with a kakuro puzzle. This isn’t my book, but… Actually I don’t need another Kakuro book.  Mine has 1000 puzzles in it, and after 4 summers I am on puzzle number 749, which has me stumped!  If you need a challenge and a change from Sudukos, I’d go this route!

I digress.  Again.  Once my mind is up and the alarm on my phone starts beeping, I have tried to start diligently writing down my prayers.  (A result of reading The Help in October).  I am not as diligent as Abilene, but I do enjoy thinking on paper and conversing with God that way.  This morning I thought much about love, but I also thought about WORK.  I go to the gym almost every weekday morning (sometimes it ends up being afternoon or evening) but I don’t always work.  I go through the motions.

Next year my focus is going to be Yellow but I’ve started thinking a little about it now.  Yellow is the “Life Work” portion of my parachute.  Work is not going through the motions.  Work is effort.  Work is sweat – mental, emotional, physical.  It’s not just the paycheck that results from work.   There’s growth and change.  But it only happens when I work.  I can stroll on the treadmill or I can work on the treadmill.  The time will be the same.  The results vastly different.

While I never really stroll on the treadmill, unless like Monday when I showed up at 7:30 pm. with a ton of stuff and no gym bag, I haven’t really pushed it.  Today I started pushing.  I increased the incline on my 4 minute walks and am slowly increasing the time on my runs.  But the incline is more important than the running.  I’m not really ready to amp that up at the moment.

Now it’s time to get some breakfast and move on with my day.  It’s going to be a good one!

“Snapper Snick”
[Originally broadcast 13 December 1937 — 2.78mb, 12:08]
Judy and Jimmy learn that they can only read Queen Melissa’s magic instructions in total darkness, which only occurs in the Wishing Woods. On the way there, the kids meet Snapper Snick the Crooning Crocodile, who swallows the magic instructions.

God bless!

Marcia

Another busy kind of post!

It’s a good thing I posted two links yesterday, because I barely made it to the gym!  Between meeting, volunteering, working, grabbing extras for the shoe-boxes, (I’d forgotten soap, candies and washcloths)  I was even thinking of

skipping the gym!

Can you believe it?  Although I missed out the two weeks of my vacation, I’ve been there every weekday and never on Sundays, all year long!  So I went and worked out for 5 minutes on the treadmill in my stocking feet.

Lessons Learned:

1. I need my I-pod.
2. I need my water bottle.
3. I need my running shoes.
4. It’s way too loud for my liking at 7:30 pm.

This morning I had it all together and got to the gym at a reasonable time, had a reasonable workout – and discovered that the eggnog, pie and yummies of the past few days (Since Thursday) are trying to gain a foothold again.

The battle still rages, but I will, I will,  I WILL, I WILL, WILL, WILL,

STAY  THE  COURSE

No egg nog lattes at Starbucks tonight!

The Cinnamon Bear, episode #14: “Queen Melissa”
[Originally broadcast 12 December 1937 — 2.81mb, 12:16]
Crazy Quilt suggests that they all visit Melissa, the Queen of Maybeland, who can tell them how to fix the Silver Star. (Continued thanks to Get Rich Slowly

Now, I’ve got to put some stew together, eat breakfast and go to work, all in the next 15 minutes or so.

Have a great day!

Marcia

‘Tis the Season to be…

Shovelling snow, sending Christmas cards, attending parties, cleaning house, decorating trees….In short it’s the season to be

busy!!

And busy I’ve been.  Just today we’ve needed to clear the snow three times, and it’s still coming down!  Fortunately I’ve only had to do it once, but my turn will come again tomorrow.

Then there was church – which at Advent is a great place to reflect on the long term effects of Christmas.  Alas, I caught myself making a to-do list for next year and planning just how I was going to organize my yarn stash.

Next on the agenda was a ladies lunch.   It was delightful to meet some of the women that attend the church I attend in the neighbourhood.  I was blessed by the generosity and the opportunity to connect.  It’s not always easy to connect with  people when you kind of “pop” in every third week or so!

I got home just in time to make coffee for my friend Danielle, who needed advice on slippers.  And other things too.  It was so good to re-connect and to re-affirm our friendship again.  (And in case you need another knitting pattern, here’s the one we’re working on – Grammy Slippers

I’ve been looking for a pattern for these for a long time, and thanks to Danielle, I have a good one!  But the actual knitting of them is a little bit of a learning curve – not much if you use a single colour cast on, though.

Anyways, after knitting and talking and eating we were off again – she to an important phone call and me to the annual Christmas Choir service at St. Gerard’s Church near my home.  Every year the choirs of the neighbourhood churches gather to sing and share.  It is wonderful.  Especially when we’re all singing and the choirs are behind you singing descants.  It’s wonderful and I’m so glad it is part of my Christmas.

Now it’s time to rest.  Because tomorrow has its own busyness – starting with an appointment at 7 am.!

So…because I just might be too busy tomorrow I’m going to break the “rule” and post two episodes.

Have a good week, and try not to get too busy!

Marcia

“Rhyming Rabbit”

“The Wintergreen Witch”

Tips for Keeping Warm – explained!

First the musical version of  Tips for Keeping warm!  This has been keeping me amused for the past few days, even though the weather here in Calgary hasn’t really been that cold lately.  We sure did have a few cold days in November though!  Take a few minutes and have a listen!

Now that you’ve listened to it, here are some definitions that I had to go look up!

“Rocking a Scarf” is all about wearing one – in this case the chair is “rocking” because I haven’t finished it yet – new deadline is the cruise in 2013!  There are even You-tube videos on how to rock a scarf if you’re interested!

“Raw Bar” – being out of the loop, I had to google this one as well:  It’s a restaurant in downtown Calgary.  Never been there, so I can’t say what it’s like. “Hi-fi” clubbing also happens at a bar/danceclub/art gallery.  Can’t say I’ll use this tip, but at least now I know what it is!

Nose hats don’t get you much on Google, or Ravelry (My go-to place for all things yarn!) but here’s a link for knitted nose warmers!    And here’s another one!

All these links, but now I know what these things mean.  And given that it can get very, very, very, cold in Calgary, it pays to be informed!

Thank you Calgary Philharmonic for making me smile and teaching me something new!

I’ve got to get back to work – and to the gym, but this was a fun post to write!

For those of you who are following the quest for the silver star, here’s the next episode:   “Fee Foe the Gentle Giant”
[Originally broadcast 09 December 1937 — 2.91mb, 12:41]
Fee Foe the Gentle Giant shows Judy and Jimmy the Goody-Goody Grove and invites them for lunch. They start to follow Crazy Quilt when it suddenly gets very, very dark!

I wonder how many nose-warmers I can make during one episode.

Have a great Saturday!

Marcia

Eat, Drink and Go Broke?

Is that the tune we are singing this Christmas?  It certainly feels like that to me all of a sudden.  This month I am blessed with three paychecks and it is so easy to just start spending.

Yesterday I began my “eating challenge”.  We had our annual TOPS dinner out and I enjoyed my Philli-cheese steak sandwich in honour of my friend Ponnie.  Tonight is our staff party at the Blackfoot Inn and they put on a spread!  Tomorrow Emma has her first annual Christmas do – it should be fun.  I’m making my Tightwad Gazette Caramel Corn.  Sunday has lunch with some ladies from church (more new friends!).

Fortunately the drinking part isn’t a big issue – although I’m thinking a bottle of sherry will be nice under my tree!  But going out usually involves a glass of wine or an Irish Coffee and those aren’t cheap either.

It’s the little things that add up – like the dinner out, a cab to the party unless I can get a ride, snackie thingies from the deli… And then there’s the $13 shipping charge on a pattern I had to buy because the puppies chewed up a bit of what was about 25 years from becoming a family heirloom!

At the end of it all, Christmas isn’t about any of the above.  God must weep over the mess we’ve made of Christmas and celebrating His Great and Wonderful Gift to us.  We’ve traded comfort and joy, peace and good will, for stress, envy and frustration.

I’ve been blessed with the “extra” paycheck in December.  I’m going to enjoy supporting my local businesses in the next few days – especially the coal store – naughty puppies!  But…I’m going to remember that Christmas is bigger and better than all that – and that is what really matters!

Enjoy the next episode, and enjoy your day.

Marcia

The Cinnamon Bear, episode #10: “Professor Whiz”
[Originally broadcast 08 December 1937 — 2.79mb, 12:10]
Paddy O’Cinnamon, the Cinnamon Bear has disappeared. Judy and Jimmy are chasing Crazy Quilt Dragon to get their Silver Star. Professor Whiz tells them about the Wintergreen Witch. They follow Crazy Quilt into the Picture Forest, where they meet Fraidy Cat.

Eggnog Time!

I just took a swallow of my eggnog – uncut – and I remember why it is that I don’t drink the stuff at my house.  But once the tree is up at my house it’s eggnog time.  We buy a large container to drink while tree trimming (this year 3 people were enjoying that!) and thereafter a 1 litre size for my morning coffee.

My favourite brand is Dairyland, which I can buy at the Co-op! Here’s an informative link that will give you someone else’s opinion – but I’m a “Light” drinker and it is sweet!

There was a time in my life when I didn’t drink eggnog, but that changed many years ago when I came very close to spending an arm and a leg on eggnog flavoured coffee beans. I’ve come to learn that even diluted with coffee, it’s too much flavour.  Now I a 1:1 ratio of the nog and my skim milk, nicely frothed.

Chapter 50 of my Year of Growing Rich (Napoleon Hill) talks about “Not too Little, Not Too Much” and that about sums up my enjoyment of eggnog in December!

Here’s the next installment in the Adventures of Cinnamon Bear.

The Cinnamon Bear, episode #9: “Roly-Poly Policeman”
[Originally broadcast 07 December 1937 — 2.83mb, 12:21]
Judy and Jimmy are on the Magic Island, where the Roly-Poly Policeman has taken their Silver Star for his uniform. But before the kids can get to him, Crazy Quilt Dragon runs off with the Silver Star again! This entire blurb was “control C and V’d” from Get Rich Slowly.

By the by – my goal is still to have my second number be a 1.  I’m 3.5 pounds away from that on the gym scale. I’ll be eating out tonight and tomorrow night, with another Christmas party on Saturday.  It will be hard work.  Keeping you posted keeps me on task!

Have a great day!

Marcia