Time ticks on by

Yes, we got snow this week. I was so hoping that it would wait until mid-November, but the winter weather has arrived in earnest. After the snow fell, the cold followed, and we reached a low temp of -12C (10F) on Tuesday overnight. Thankfully, it has warmed up some, but both day and night time temperatures haven't been above freezing. More snow fell on Thursday but just enough to dust the sidewalks and driveway. No shovelling was required.

More packing was done over the week, and Wednesday was especially exciting as both C and I met with the lawyer to complete the final paperwork for the purchase (his) and sale (mine) of the properties. I can tell you, there is a whole lot less paperwork involved with the sale of a property, than there is for a purchase. I'm sure C felt as if he was signing his life away...and I suppose in some ways he was, at least for the next 25 years. :)

With this upcoming move, I've cut the ties with cable television - my son doesn't want it, and since I won't be here all the time, it made sense. I had called in to SaskTel to disconnect and decided to end the cable on the last day of the this billing, which was Tuesday Oct 24. In my conversation with the rep, I got the impression that it would be cut sometime in the morning...and I assumed that meant after 8 a.m. I was quite surprised when I turned on the television to watch the news, that it had actually ended at 4:30 in the morning (the screen of the channel I'd been watching when I turned off the television that night showed the time). I just received my bill from the company that provided the cable, as well as my internet and cutting the cable has saved me nearly $50 a month, but will be partially offset by a couple of streaming services. 

When I was out at my daughter's on the weekend, she had given me her fire-stick and had pre-loaded several apps on it for me. In anticipation of the change on the 24th, my son set the fire-stick up to recognize our WiFi, so it was easy enough to switch that first morning. However, finding the news was a little more difficult. When I talked to D, I got her to give me a list of programming for each of the apps. I'm not sure when or even if I'll be ever be able to remember what is found where. But, since most of what I watch is available for streaming, it won't matter as I can watch it when I want.

We're sharing the cost of the current apps, and I've signed up for Sportsnet (Now/plus?) for $20 per month. I'm sure most of you knew I couldn't possibly live without sports. I went with a monthly subscription, because I can foresee cancelling it for a period of each year, when the sports I enjoy most are in hiatus. I enjoy baseball and curling, and football occasionally though our local team has played so poorly over the last few years, I haven't watched very many games. 

On Thursday, I did some laundry and housecleaning before heading out to run some errands. I picked up cat litter at Pet Valu (senior's day), cat food and few groceries at Walmart, dropped off the equipment for return to the cable company at the drug store post office, and picked up my new glasses. The streets were still a bit icy, and I took care as I drove. 

Friday, was a packing and cleaning day. I'm cleaning the interior of cabinets and drawers as I pack, and keeping the bare minimum of items needed in the cupboards. There are a few boxes that remain open for those last minute items.  I'm pretty certain I have sufficient boxes to finish the packing process, and groceries from the fridge will go into shopping bags, while I brought back the cooler from D's for moving the frozen food.

I did get some sad news this week as my godmother passed away on Monday. She was a month shy of her 99th birthday.  While there is sadness, there is also gratitude that she lived such a long and, for the most part, a healthy life. Sadly, she had serious fall four or five years ago and her physical and mental health were impacted. Her daughter told me she hasn't recognized family members for a few years now, and she rarely spoke. Throughout her life, Gladys was a force to be reckoned with: for over 33 years she operated a florist shop in my home town, was very active in the Anglican church, and was constantly on the go. A number of years before she retired, she purchased a house in Victoria, B.C. and spent time there when she could. Her husband, Vern refused to go often, so she moved out there by herself for several months of the year when she sold the business. There too, she was active in her church and charitable activities, spent hours working in her gardens, and went walking in the neighbourhood. I visited her there in the fall of 2009 (I was there four days): we had dinner with a group of her friends one evening, spent a good portion of one day at Butchart gardens, drove to Chemainus to see a play, walked the sea wall, and ran errands. I often said I wished I had had half the energy she exhibited. More recently, we kept in touch via phone calls, but that ended when she moved to the nursing home. I am left with many happy memories and some funny stories. One, I'll share: As I've mentioned, Gladys was always on the go - she was an early to rise person as there were things to do and people to see each day. When she and Vern would come to the farm for dinner, they would stay for a visit after the meal was finished and dishes were done. As Dad and Vern talked farming, Gladys would settle into a chair and we kids would start watching to see how long she could stay awake. She would chat with Mom or voice an opinion about Vern's ideas, but soon her head would start nodding and her eyes would close. We'd start giggling and her head would come back up and she'd carry on as if nothing had happened at least for a few more minutes. She always insisted she wasn't sleeping and eventually Vern would get the hint and they'd head home. As my Dad would have said, she was a real character!

Today, I'm continue with cleaning and some packing. My goal is to have everything packed except what we'll need for the next 9 days before tomorrow evening. Next week, I'll focus on moving the boxes and tubs to the garage space where my car normally sits.  That way, the movers will only to enter the house to pick up the furniture, and can easily transfer the boxes to the truck. We'll have the movers put all the boxes in the garage there, and just move in the furniture into the house. I'll be organizing the boxes so that the first in will be the boxes most needed, since they will be the last out of the truck. It should save the movers time, and save me money. At least that's the idea.

Have wonderful weekend everyone, and stay warm and dry!