Let's make this leap... again.

Ce soir j'écris en français ou plutôt bilingue... my brain feels like it.  Pouvez-vous croire que nous sommes déjà rendus à la fin d'une décennie, non seulement dans quelques jours nous allons changer le 9 pour un 0 mais aussi le 1 pour un 2, c'est fou!  Je me souviens encore de l'effervescence, du Bug de l'An 2000, pas juste parce qu'avec un geek, ou parce que j'avais décidé de le demander en mariage, mais bien parce qu'on craignait ce que l'an 2000 allait nous réserver.  Vingt ans plus tard, je dirais vraiment pas grand chose, mais bon... On est loin des autos volantes, mais pas tellement des villes sous les dômes.  Le monde a changé, et malheureusement pas (vraiment) pour le mieux.

Granted, côté technologie il y a eu de l'avancement.  Si on regarde nos simples cells, petits et plus puissants que les gros ordinateurs qui remplissaient une pièce complète à un certain moment donné.  Ne serait-ce que la caméra de notre cellullaire qui est souvent plus performante que bien des grosses caméras qui en plus pesaient une tonne avec tout plein d'équipement. Les temps changent.  Greta peut bien retourner chez elle, ce n'est pas le fait de marcher qui changera l'attitude des gens.

En ce temps-ci de l'année j'en profite toujours pour faire une introspection, je regarde l'année qui s'achève et repense aux moments passés: lost a dear friend last January, suddenly, which always makes it harder.  Ai repris un ancient client pour ses livres en mars. Looking back at my calendar there wasn't much going on, attended a few meetups, still doing Postcrossing, catching up with some friends and relatives, la petite routine quoi.  Le petit train-train quotidien, qui devient vite le train-train hebdomadaire, etc.  Petit train va loin comme on dit souvent, ou dumoins on l'espère.

I've also re-read last year's post (you can read it here, if you'd like), and despite some efforts on my parts, to remain low key (as in below the radar), to try to play nice and all that, I'm still hurt (yeah, hurt I guess is the right word for how it feels) when I hear about someone not being comfortable talking to me (for no apparent reason, since we've never really spoken) because "you know..."... I don't know, please do tell.  I haven't reach that venerable age (yet!) where I really don't give a fuck about what people think about me, I'm trying to let go and not care, and yet, there is that part of me which needs to know what the fuck did I do to this person for them to not like me...  I know (I fully understand it) I should not care, and yet, there is that part of me that is being tickled by it all.

Mon objectif pour la prochaine année: ne plus m'en faire avec l'opinion (positive ou négative) des gens.  J'essaie d'être une bonne personne, j'aide lorsque que je peux, je contribue à la société (en plus de payer mes taxes et impôts, oui! oui!).  I'm rough around the edges (actually I'm quite round, so there shouldn't be any hard edges, just sayin' ), I call a spade a spade, I'm honest, I try not to lie, and I'm very loyal.  Granted I have no patience for stupidity, so if people fear me because of that, then maybe, just maybe the problem is not me.  I don't want that type of people in my environment.

I MUST remember this:

Sur ce, je vous laisse et vous souhaite une nouvelle année remplie de santé, bonheur et amour!

Wishing you a healthy, happy and lots of love for this New Year ahead.

All the best!
xox

Week Ten: Moved, Cleaned, Deposed, Served, etc.

Part one of the move is done!  Yay!  On a really crappy weather day (freezing rain, ice, windy and cold), we moved out of our condo.  We have too much stuff, no joke!  They filled out the truck and had to go unload and come back to finish off the loading.  It took them seven hours, at 3 men.  After I've washed the floor, we meet up with the new owners for a last tour, handed them the keys and that closed a chapter of our lives.

Our temporary apartment is finally acceptable.  The place wasn't just dirty, it was fuckin' filthy!  The counter and cupboards were sticky to the touch that's how bad it was!  After my first visit, with the friend who suggested her friend's place, when she asked what I thought of the place, I had told her it was dirty.  I had no clue it was that dirty.  When I came back with Hubby, to have a tour of the place and get the instructions for the heating system, regarding her tenants, the garage, etc.  Hubby also noticed the place wasn't spick 'n span, but it would do.  The price was right.  We are paying fifty dollars/day instead of one hundred thirty/day for a furnished (electricity, heating, internet, etc. included) apartment, with a garage.  It is not new, and there are some irritants but overall it's not too bad.  The cleaning I did in Bodø was nothing compare to what I did here.  In Bodø, the worst of the place was its smell (leftover from previous tenants who were smokers).  Here, it just was dirty.  Let's just say that when we will leave, the owner will come back to a fresh cleaned place, an early Spring Cleaning!

Since week one things have been moving fast.  We've done things to adapt to the speed of it all.  Despite being in boxes, and running around we managed to do our duties as administrators of our condo association, meet with the new administrators, get the banking in order, and deal with troublesome co-owners.  Thursday night we had a meeting with said administrators.  Like every time we've met this far, it always takes about +two hours.  This time, we weren't hosting it and drove to Laval.  At the end of it, the administrators showed us a document they had received - some of the co-owners of our condo association want us off, not just us (Hubby and I) but all three of us.  I was a bit surprised at first, and then laughed it out.  The other admin took it personal.  She's been on for over two years, and to be deposed like this, hurt her.  I've tried contacting one of the person who did sign the document (upon suggestion of the administrators) to find out the reasons why (which I'm sure is related to the upcoming changes in the condo fees), but I haven't heard anything back.  I will say this, if they do want me out, I will gladly leave, and be done with that.  I wanted to finish my mandate, until September, but thinking about it, I think I want out and really close that chapter.

Friday afternoon I was surprised by a knock at the front door.  There stood a man who handed me a subpoena!  I now have to go, as a witness, to a local court for a case between the tenants and the owner of the condo above our "old" place!  Just when I thought I was about to be done with that place, I'm being dragged right back in!

This afternoon we had lunch with the FIL.  It was a combo of late birthday lunch for Hubby, catching up about the sale of our condo and move to the apartment and some news he wanted to inform us about.

Turns out he will be going for surgery within two weeks, for colon cancer. Just like his wife... wonder if it has something to do with how they fed themselves?  I find it reassuring that Hubby has gone for colonoscopy already and will keep doing so giving his genetics history.

Damn cancer, it's everywhere!

And how about you, is life treating you good?  It is is, enjoy it!  Fully!  'Cause we never know what it has in store for us, that is for darn sure! As I've been telling Hubby, can't wait for the month of May!  Maybe by then, things will calm down some, and we will be able to relax and not constantly run to, for or from something!

Feeling wonky that's what I need!

Here I am sitting in the main area of our temporary apartment for the next three weeks, minimum.  We moved ourselves this past weekend.  Besides preparing our condo for the work to start on Monday, we packed stuff to move here.  It's a cute little apartment, in a big building, right in the heart of town.

It has the basics and it was cleaner than our Bodø apartment.  The worst thing about this place is the sofa.  It is used and so low... maybe it's because we're tall but still it's ridiculously low.  Not good for old bodies like ours.  We brought a lot of our stuff over, beside our computers, our laser printer, we completed the kitchen with our pots and spices, etc.  Overall, the place isn't bad.  This morning they shampooed the hallway carpet, which is a good thing.  I haven't really heard noise, unlike our condo, but for the past twenty minutes I've been smelling some wonky tobacco... I might be high by the time the husband gets home.

The past few days, not to say weeks, have been challenging to say the least.  Not only is our patience being tested, our backs and mental health in general as well.  Besides having to deal with every day life, Hubby is super busy at his client, and we have to deal with our new roles as condo administrators.  At times, I can't help but feel it would be hell if we had kids to add to this mess.

Making it ours

I've never thought of myself as a cleaning freak, but being here and having lots of free time, I've realized that I like things clean and clean according to my standards, not someone else.  So, yesterday was the first run of the washer with all towels, and today it was the floor, which really needed it, and I've decided to get the mini sofa undressed and threw everything in the washer.  It had a little smell that reminded me of a smoker type smell, so hopefully between the fresh clean floor and the washing of the cover it will take care of that unpleasant smell.  Plus I'm thinking tomorrow I might throw in the curtains, really get rid of all "previous" smells!

Yep, I'm making it our own!  I've moved the furniture around, and I will need some more cleaning products, and it might only be covering the surface, but still, it will now be dirtied by us and not left over from whomever before...

Today it's 3 degree.  Not really sunny either.  It's rather grey, but at least it's not snowing.  I trust there will be sun.  Somewhere.  Some day.  Until then, it will be time for me to meet my husband who wants to bring me to the "big" shopping center right by the airport.

So,  snakkes!

*Norwegian, meaning: Talk to you later!

Being Green

Received this today, and just had to share.  It made me think and remembered how we used to do certain things.  I guess it's not true that things change for the best.

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

 She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. (I remember when my folks had the grocery store, how many bottles the stock room had)

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books. (I still use brown paper bags whenever I ship something - quite sturdy and often the perfect size) 

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. (Ones of the thing I enjoy about living downtown - walking distance from many places.  Hated that in the suburbs to have to take the car to go anywhere.)

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. (My mother used cloth diaper for me. That is one of the few things I do miss about our house - my clothesline. I love to hang my clothes.)

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. (I do remember the small, black and white, TV.  Last night I made muffins that I blended by hand, I still enjoy doing that even if I do love my Cuisinart.  For packaging I often will use the shredded paper from our shredder.  We never had a lawn when I was growing up - city child what can I say!)

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. (I use a water bottle daily, and will buy refills for my pen, and even ordered some blades refills from Hong Kong for my razor.  To be honest, it wasn't because of an environmental concern but because I liked my razor!)

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint. (The "turning their moms" thing isn't about being green, that's about mothers making a choice to be a taxi.  In the house where I grew up, I had one outlet in my bedroom, but you should have seen the extension cord and all the things connected to it, ah!) But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Generations before us did mess up the environment, and we are only now realizing the impact of it all.  For lots of things the younger folks are also committing serious fouls.  Time will tell.  To any younger folks who feel the need to give older folks lessons about conservation, please do remember they don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to tick them off.