Come to the......

SAFETY ZONE

Have a great day!

A Blast from the Past!

Paul has always been very interested in money and....spending it.
When he was around six or seven, he and his friend Stevie wanted to make some money so they decided to go from door to door (in our Condo development) with a wagon to collect empty bottles, which in those days were worth two to five cents depending on the size.

Nobody gave them any, yet they saw these "scouts" walking around with loaded wagons.
"We have a problem here Paul must have thought." We have to belong to a club, which they didn't.
No problem, we make one up he decided.

"The P&S club", you guessed it Paul & Stevie, you guessed again, they collected lots!

Going, going, gone!!!!!!

Today I still have to go to the office, but...........tomorrow I'll be going to

Ottawa

I am looking forward especially to see the girls. I can't believe that is it nearly two months ago that they were here. That also means it is two months sooner before summer is here.

Did you know that I still have problems walking after I sprained my ankle/foot. I still wear tension straps.

As much as I enjoy going away, I also do not like the fact that Ted will have to be by himself. The medication (for Parkinson's) he is taking helps him a lot. But nevertheless, I do not like leaving him. Therefore, I am only going for a few days. Sunday I will return.

In April the both of us are going to North Carolina, to visit Paul, Jennifer and the girls. Even though it really is not that much farther than Ottawa, the traveling part is a lot more complicated and far more expensive. There is a layover in Minneapolis. So it seems you are traveling all day. It would be so nice if they came up with a direct flight from Winnipeg to Raleigh.

The money I earn pays for all that traveling else there is no way we could afford it. Yes and the problem is that I would like very much to retire. Hey, I am not a "spring chicken" anymore!

Accounting is and can become very complicated at times. Right now I am doing the year end and I just finished the T4 and T5's. I am just about ready for a break.

I will probably will not write until I get back.

Beautiful picture isn't it?

But I am definitely looking forward to this!

In case you have nothing to do!!

Dress up boring window shades

Those vanilla-coloured roller shades are about as blah as it gets.
But they’re inexpensive, and they do the job, right? For a few dollars more, you can transform the shades—and an entire room in the process—by gluing a bold wallpaper print to the insides of the shades.

This works best with shades 27 inches (68 cm) wide or less—the width of a standard wallpaper roll. Measure the length of the fully extended shade, and cut the wallpaper to fit, leaving an extra two inches. Roll out the shade and cover it with wallpaper adhesive using a sponge roller.

Lay the wallpaper on the glue, letting the extra two inches wrap under the bottom of the shade. Use a rolling pin to smooth out air bubbles. Trim away any excess wallpaper. Because the wallpaper makes the shade a little harder to roll up and down, this trick works best on windows where you don’t mind leaving the shade partially down.

Our Strange Lingo

When the English tongue we speak.
Why is break not rhymed with freak?
Will you tell me why it's true.
We say sew but likewise few?
And the maker of the verse,
Cannot rhyme his horse with worse?
Beard is not the same as heard
Cord is different from word.
Cow is cow but low is low.
Shoe is never rhymed with foe.
Think of hose, dose, and lose


And think of goose and yet with choose,
Think of comb, tomb and bomb.
Doll and roll or home and some.
Since pay is rhymed with say
Why not paid with said I pray?
Think of blood, food and good.
Mould is not pronounced like could.
Wherefore done, but gone and lone
Is there any reason known?
To sum up all, it seems to me
sound and letters don't agree

Pfffff, as a second language for me,
no wonder kids think I talk funny.

Valintino

Yesterday when we came home after having dinner at Boston Piza, Ted said: "Thank you sweetheart this was a real treat" for me.

Because after work I prefer to go home and rest, while he has been home all day. I replied: "You're welcome, Happy Valintines!" Tomorrow it will be too busy anyways.

Than he said: "Is Valintine day when the guy has to do something?" I aswered: "Yes schat (means dear) Valintino is a guy!"

After being married for almost 48 years, you can tell that I have never made a big deal out of this because it is a "money making" business for the retailers. I have never been one to dictate when or how a person should show their love to me.

I was brought up to believe it is the thought that counts. An unexpected phone call, or flowers for NO other reason than, hey you are special.

Ted and I love each other for whom we are, it would be a lot easier if he did not think "that he is always right", or if I did not think that "I know everything better"! But we make the most of that, hahaha!

As I was at the end of translating my diary, I found a poem that he had written to me after we had been married for a year or so. I actually read it to him and he asked me: "That is very nice who wrote that?" Imagine his surprise! It is in Dutch so it would not mean much to put it in my blog, besides, it was meant for me.

But the sentiment of that poem has been valid all these years.

So..... I would like to say to my dear husband:

"HAPPY TRUDINA DAY"!!!!!!!!!

You've got to love this one!

Memory!

You have experienced it yourself:
"Now, where did I put that?"
Or, "what was that person's name?"
Well this article is for you!




Maximizing Your Memory

Can’t recall the name of someone you just met? Learn the tricks the experts use and keep your memory sharp at any age.

What Is Memory Anyway, And How Does It Work?

The process by which the brain first acquires information, then stores it and retrieves it when needed, is an amazing yet mysterious phenomenon. But thanks to advanced technology, including positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), researchers have begun to map brain function—our brain wiring—giving us a much better idea of how memories are created


Thought In Action
Memories are laid down as sequences of electrical activity that connect brain cells, or neurons, in various parts of the brain. These electrical pathways link all your senses and connect your sensory input to your physical and emotional responses, storing it all into memory.


When you recall something, you don’t retrieve a single piece of data from a neatly organized file located in one specific area of your brain—it’s much more complex than that. Think of the word "hammer" and your mind instantly recalls the name of this tool, its appearance, its weight and texture, its function, the sound it makes when hitting a nail—each piece of data drawn from a different region of your brain. In recalling your third-grade teacher, you assemble, in just a split second, the various aspects of her appearance, her personality, and perhaps the sound of her voice, and project that multilayered image on the screen we refer to as our "mind’s eye."


The Short And Long Of It
A memory begins the moment you take in information through your eyes, ears, nose, skin, or taste buds. Sensory impressions are fleeting, however, lasting only a few seconds, unless you consciously decide to remember the information and "encode" it either visually or verbally. Encoded information is first held in short-term memory, but only for about 30 seconds to a few minutes, because capacity there is limited. As new information enters your short-term memory, it bumps out the oldest information that was there.
There are no set rules governing what the mind moves to long-term memory and what it "cleans out."
Something that garners special interest or attention is a good candidate for long-term storage, especially if two are more senses are involved and the information is somehow associated with an existing memory.


There is virtually no limit to how much we can store in long-term memory, and the information there is never lost (although it may not always be easily accessed).



From Looking After Your Body: An Owner’s Guide to Successful Aging , Reader's Digest Canada

Hats off to Birthdays!

The following reading was my devotion for this morning.
You may or you may not want to read it.


But it reminded me of my last Birthday. Apparently I made a mistake on a comment on my own blog. I mentioned that I would be 70 soon, me being a drama queen wanted to over state my age, actually I turned 68 on January 31st. So since I have straighten that out, this is what I really want to talk about. being a retired person who gets discounts all over the place. Yes life is really grant when you are a senior citizen.

I so remember Ted becoming a "senior" and us heading into the discount age. At that time we went for a trip by car to North Carolina where our son Paul had moved to. He had fallen in love with Jennifer, his future wife.
As we were calculating how much it would cost us, I kept on reminding Ted about his "senior discounts". He was definitely not impressed with me bringing that up every chance I had.

Well. being an accountant it did not take me long to figure out that we could save at least $200.00 on the whole trip. But, I let it rest......... for a while!!!

Yvonne, who was about 16 at the time, came with us. At one time we were ordering our food at a McDonald somewhere in Virginia. With Yvonne staring at the menu to decide what she wanted to have, I said to her LOUD and clear: "Tell your GRANDPA what you want!" Well, the look on Ted's face was simply priceless, hmmmmm, we got a ten percent discount.

But after a while Ted really got the hang of it and began to ask for the "Senior" menu in restaurants where we usually got the,"You cannot qualify for that" look. But needless to say we have become past that and nobody will argue with us anymore.

Memory lane

(Left click to enlarge)

The Flower Parade in Holland

Good news

Yesterday we went to the cancer clinic to see our Oncologist Dr. Harris to get the result of my tests.
We sat in examining room waiting for her to come in with the big file in her hands. What is she going to say? I have mentioned before, that with her there is no small talk!!
Of course the first thing she said: "The tests are just perfect!" Then she added: "You have your hair coloured darker and I love it!"
She has hundreds of patients and the last time she saw me was July, that was very observant of her, hahaha!
I have a Mammogram coming up and a Colonoscopy, how much fun is that!! Now why do they call it a "Mammogram"?

I have now been cancer free for three years and Ted five and a halve since his second bout with cancer, which was in his liver (for you who did not know that).
The doctors who know us, use his recovery as a testimony to other patient who have liver cancer. Not many people survive that. I just heard a family friend in Holland was fine three months ago and he passed away.

I say this with great humility. But we had so many people praying for us and we are so thankful for every single one who mentioned our name in prayer.
Even yesterday Marlene ( whom I have known for 45 years) told me, Trudy I prayed that you would have peace when going to the clinic, guess what, I had peace totally. Afterall, we never know what Dr. Harris will say when she comes through that door!

News about my sprain, I have been able to walk inside without a crutch, I take one with me to go down the steps of the house and walk over to our car.