EARTH HOUR

Earth Hour took place here too, and while my television and computer, as well as all unnecessary lights were off, I went out and watched the sky for awhile and then sat and read by one lamp. It was sure quiet! LOL

EARTH HOUR 2008









Bohemian Waxwing Visitor

Remember a couple of months ago when we had hoards of them in the neighbourhood for a visit? I spotted only ONE the other day, and it was just sitting on our sidewalk for the longest time. I thought maybe it was injured. But as soon as sister Pammie opened the front door to snap a picture, off it flew.

This one looked so plump and healthy. Strange. Maybe a bunch of them were flying overhead and this one needed to stop for a rest? However it got here, it sure is a pretty bird.







Curly Frizzy Hair

I've hated my hair all of my life, period. It's really curly, almost kinky. And frizzy as hell! As a young teenager I was teased relentlessly and called "fuzz head" and "frizz head" so the day that I discovered large rollers would smooth it out I was hooked. And when "ironing" one's hair to straighten it in the 60's became fashionable, my older sis Linda and I both did each other's. In all the 40 years since, I've been straightening it with blow driers, and in the last couple of years, with a flat iron for hair. It's frizz-less, smooth and shiny.

Because of a couple of ladies at work who wanted to see it, last week I left it curly but pulled back. What is it about people with straight hair who adore curls? I suppose none of us are really happy with what we were blessed with on our heads. When mine is left natural to me it just looks "messy" and once dried it stays in it's gazillion little ringlets. But the minute the wind gets at it; or you put a pick, comb or brush through it ~~ viola! AFRO! (argh)

At any rate I've been trying to "get used to it" curly again, to see if after being tired of 40 years of straightening I can stand it curly sometimes. So far I've had to clip it back at the nape to keep it off my face but today I'm going to try going to work with it all down. I'm AM bringing a clip with me though, just in case!

We shall see....

***EDIT*** Okay, I made it the entire morning at work, but at lunch I'd finally had it and put it back in a clip. It just drives me crazy all that friz flying around my face, bleh! LOL

Here's a shot taken awhile ago, my hair is straightened and it looks tidier. Following are 2 shots from this morning before I left for work. This is the way it dries.

I KNOW most of you are going to say "I love the curls!" but YOU try wearing it! LOL






See what I mean by frizz??? Look at the back! (it's curliest back there)

I'm trying, but I don't think I'll get used to this unless I'm tying it back.

Anyway that's my excitement for the week!


Hope you all have a fabulous week, take good care of each other!

PEACE!
Love Jude

"IN BETWEEN"

It's that time of year when everything is "in between". In between winter and spring. In between melting snow and green grass. In between sparse, mucky flower beds and a profusion of colourful flowers.

Most people I talk to here are "really tired", or "just damned tired". I know a lot of that has to do with being cooped up indoors with no fresh air and nothing but heated dry (dry!) air all winter. In your home, in your car, in your office.

We're just now at the point where the weather is warm enough to be enjoying time outdoors, but not warm enough to turn off furnaces and open windows. (at least not at night) Bodies need sunshine and fresh air, so as spring continues into summer we'll all start feeling the effects of breathing dry air slip away into refreshing breathfuls of fresh air.

Along with the change of seasons, we're also going through some changes at work. Our company is opening a new center just outside city limits to our northwest in St.Albert. It's opening date is slated for sometime in May.

Whenever we open new centers we always lose some staff from existing offices, and ours is no different. My department (Member Services) is losing 2 ladies. And we haven't done any hiring and training yet to replace both of them.

My department has been doing the initial training for all the new St. Albert hires, whether they are going to Travel or to Registries they need some training in Membership to start with. It's always our center and our department as..... well we're just so damn good! Also, our newer "Financial Services" department (mortgages, GIC's etc.) has been sending their new hires through our department for initial Membership training as well.

So for the last month or so and continuing on to May, we'll have had newbies stuck to our hips constantly. No big deal, except for one thing.

Only one of these people we're training will be staying with us in our department, and she (as well as the next hire for ourselves) will be new and inexperienced. And we still have to replace the other lady who is also leaving for the new center. Both of them are veterans who have been with us for years. That often seems to be the way of things, and I can see it coming now. We're going to be working extra days. *sigh*

Have I mentioned to you before how much I wish I could retire? LOL


All this "in between" seasons and having trained staff for ourselves is making me tired. Too bad I already had a nap today, I could sure use another!

I hope that wherever you are, you're getting fresh air and lots of rest. Take good care of each other!

PEACE!
Love Jude

"ALMOST" SPRING MOON

After all the snow we had, most of it is now gone thanks to warm weather and lots of sunshine. Today however it's gray and cloudy but you can still sense the start of spring in the air! Now all we need is some more sunshine to start greening things up, and hubby to get his rake out and clear the lawns of last autumn's leaves and winter debris.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how all the new perennials we planted last year will fill in the gardens this year. In particular I can't wait to see how the 3 dwarf lilac bushes do this year. Will they flower? One white, one pink, and one mauve. They were in flower when we planted them last year, and they smelled SO GOOD!

Since hubby first dug out and created these flower beds 2 years ago we spent quite a bit of money on new trees, shrubs and flowering plants (including those gorgeous rose bushes) so this year I think all we'll have to do is buy a few little annuals to fill in some spaces and that's it.


Today's cloud cover is left over from last night. It was almost complete cloud cover and it was moving quickly overhead. But every now and then the almost full moon would peek through for a few seconds. And I managed to get a couple of shots as the clouds changed the light patterns around the moon.














It was so warm out that I had only my short nightgown with a light coat over it, and sandals. And I was nice and warm standing out there. I love this time of year, not hot yet and not freezing.

I think we should have about 4 months of spring, 6 months of autumn, 1 month of winter for Christmas, and one month of summer just so nobody will bitch at me. LOL!


I would guess that in about another 2 months we should have flowering trees, shrubs and plants all over the place around our house. Until then, I'll just enjoy the temperatures BEFORE it gets too hot for comfort. *wink*

Hope you all have a great Easter! Take good care of each other!

PEACE!
Love Jude

WHERE DID SPRING GO

Sorry my posts have been a little scarce folks, it's been a hellishly busy last few weeks. Some of it has been fun though, like sister Pammie's birthday party I hosted last night. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAMMIE!!


We WERE enjoying an early spring here while unfortunate easterners were being slammed with moocho amounts of snow. Remember all the snow we had this winter??




Well over the last while we've been enjoying warm weather and most of the snow (or a lot of it) had melted away. We were left with lawns and garden areas peeking out and I was just waiting for the back alley to finally melt down to slush so I could start walking to work again.

Then we got hit Friday night, and we're supposed to get some more yet. Not bad like out east though, just enough to put Spring to a grinding halt.

Some "Before And Afters":








I know it's only a matter of time now and it will all be gone, and I KNOW I'll be bitchin' like crazy when the hot weather gets here, I hate summer for that. I guess by this time of year I just get sick of having to have a ride to work. In the dead of winter because it's just too cold; in early spring because the back alley is a mess of dangerous icey ruts. (that's the only way I can go to get to work)


I STILL and always will say that winter does have it's beauty though, and with the recent wet snowfall you can't tell me that this isn't pretty. *wink*




Wherever you are, I hope that you aren't still shovelling your way out of tons of the white stuff, or that you aren't already waiting for winter due to already hot weather! A friend of mine was saying last night how they were sitting in the airconditioned house complaining about how hot it is (Florida). I'm SO glad I live where I do! LOL


Have a good week everyone, and until next time, feel the love! Take good care of each other.

PEACE!
Love Jude

CRAZY EIGHTS

Another tag, this time from my poor lost Canadian (in the U.S.) friend, LOWA

8 Things I'm Passionate About:

1. God
2. My Faith
3. My family
4. My friends
5. My spiritual "life", including the work I do in mediumship.
6. Human rights including gay rights, equality and the hopeful end of prejudice and hatred. (I can HOPE!)
7. My photography hobby
8. Home made perogies!


8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die:

1. Get my ass to England
2. Become financially comfortable.
3. See New York city
4. Meet a few close online friends in person.
5. Lose this !@#*! menopause weight!
6. Retire!! Quit work!!
7. Take my camera to some really beautiful new places.
8. Make a difference.


8 Things I Say Often:

1. Shit!
2. F***!
3. OMG!
4. Oh Crap!
4. I wish I didn't have to work!
5. I'm so frickin' tired.
6. I love you.
7. I love you.
8. I love you.


8 Books I've Read Recently:

1. Princess Grace autobiography.
2. The Memory Keeper's Daughter.
3. Stranger In Paradise.
4. The Thirteenth Tale.
5. The DaVinci Code.
6. Daughter of Troy.
7. The Time of the Hunter's Moon.
8. Herbs and Apples



8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over:

1. to 4. Most things Def Leppard.
5. to 8. Classical music.


8 Things That Attract Me to my Best Friends:

1. Sense of humour.
2. Honesty.
3. Spirituality.
4. Loving nature.
5. Kindness.
6. Compassion.
7. Hugs.
8. Affectionate nature.


Okay I'm not tagging anyone for this one, but if you feel the desire to do this please let me know!

No earth-shattering news here, it seems out east is getting pounded with tons of snow but thankfully out west we're getting mostly melting in pleasant temperatures. *SO FAR*. We can actually see some of the dirt in one of our flower beds out front.

There is some horrible kind of cold/flu bug spreading itself around North America, I know several people in the U.S. complaining of it too. So many people at work and both my hubby and sister Pammie are just getting over it. So far I've managed to keep it at bay for myself, I think I've gone through more of those alcohol hand sanitizers both here at home and at work than I've ever used before. But it seems to be helping. Thank God, as we're SO short staffed at work I can't afford to be away sick. It's a wicked, evil, nasty bug so I hope none of you got it.

Did you all remember to set your clocks ahead? Daylight pain in the ass savings time!

I hope you all have a good week, take good care of each other and feel the love!

PEACE!
Love Jude

WHY I BLOG

I've been tagged again! This time by my "Ozzy" friend Danni and I am supposed to share three reasons why I blog.

Interestingly enough, when I first started blogging back in September 2004, Danni was one quarter of 4 Leppy fan friends who started when I did; or rather they started (Danni, Janna, Lors and Debs) and that got ME started. We go back a ways, Danni girl!

Reason #1:
Friendships friendships friendships!

This blog is my vehicle to reach out and share stuff (life, ups, downs, pictures, nonesense, humour and did I say life?) with a broad group of people with whom I've made great online friendships with. When I started this 3 and a half years ago it was sharing with 4 friends. I began reading and linking to some of the blog linked friends on each of THEIR blogs, and those people started coming and linking to mine. The friendships grew. I love that!

Reason #2:
It's fun!

It's a hoot to make someone laugh or to share something that makes me laugh. It's always interesting to learn about the lives and foibles and interesting facts about other bloggers through their blogs too. And it's definitely fun to share hobbies, in my case posting photographs I have shot as I've been slowly learning more about that hobby.

Reason #3:
Quality computer time.

When I first started this blog I barely had my computer for long and I had ZERO computer skills. With the help of my 4 Leppy fan blogging friends I had to learn some new skills like HTML coding. What fun! I took to it like a duck to water and still enjoy that sort of thing. Even just simple things like posting a photo and learning how to use something like Photobucket were all enjoyable to learn. Quite frankly, I knew nothing and most things I have learned about computers happened on my blog. (the other exceptions were non-blog related that sister Pammie taught me!) In turn, it's been so much fun for me to help other friends new to "computering" on blogs and forums to learn some of these things.



All in all it's been quite the ride for me and I can't see myself ever wanting to stop blogging at this point. Of all the above reasons the most important one is the first one and that's why it got #1 top billing. Friendships! I've been blessed with some great friends........


........and all because of blogging. What more can I say?


For this one I simply have to tag some people: (sorry!) *insert evil grin*

Tracey
Orion
Kate
Sandy
Jeremy
sister Pammie



Take good care of each other, PEACE!

Love Jude