Well, for the very first time in my life, we bought a new car.  A 2009 Matrix with Touring Package, to be specific.  In a lovely colour called Sundance, which is a warm gold. 
Can't believe we did it, but enjoying it.  It has manual transmission and better gas mileage than the Focus.  The main reasons were the gas mileage and the fact we trust the Matrix to last 10 years or so, whereas I doubt the Focus could last that long, or that many miles..  We just picked it up last Friday after work.
So we're selling the Focus, ASAP, and still keeping the Corolla - a '96 automatic,  355,000 km and counting.  Hoping it lasts another few years, until Brion is out and on his own and we can get by with one car again.

Current Mood: happy

Had my appointment last Friday, all excited and looking forward to better vision and new frames.  Alas, it was not to be.  The letters wouldn't come clear no matter what the optometrist did.  So off I went back to the opthalmologist, picture in hand (got to love the digital stuff they can do now), who actually saw me only a few hours later (!), but couldn't find anything wrong (a good news/bad news all in one) and suggested I wait another six weeks and try again.  Feh.  Since this is the eye with the anomaly in it (described many different ways, on the picture it looks a bit like a comet, and all have agreed that I see much better with that eye than I ought to), I'm afraid it may never come clear, but will wait till the beginning of August and go back.  On the upside, Robyn Elisabeth wants to be here to help me pick frames, and that's when she'll be home.

This week through next Monday night are a very full schedule.  Rehearsals, performances (church concert, school concert, student project performance, voice recital) a board meeting - in a different city no less, extra church services, etc. etc.  It's like the whole year is  building to a climax.  I probably won't know what to do with myself afterwards.
Oh, wait.  We have a list of projects for the house that will more than fill any available time.  But it will be different, and won't involve being in town night after night.  I'm looking forward to the change.

I miss all my friends that don't live in Fredericton.  All my travel money goes to seeing family, and while I LIKE visiting family, I really miss my friends. Merlyn, this means you especially.  I watched a strange, lovely video and burst into tears at all the parts of my life that seem to be all in the past, have no present or future (filk, cons, RenFaires, Dickens Fair, etc).
I like my life, really I do,  and I'm busy and doing lots of music, but really, I want the rest back.
***
Had cataract surgery three weeks ago.  Amazing procedure, went really well, but I have to wait three more weeks until I can get new glasses.  Driving me nuts, because the astigmatism is completely different, so if I look through just the operated-on eye (& glasses), every straight line is wavy.  So I'm counting down the days.
***
Here's one of those personal questions: how many of you (women, that is) still get periods at over 50??  I'll be 57 in less than 4 months, and while they've changed, and sometimes are long, most are still every 30 days +/-.  Isn't enough enough?  Can I stop now? Please?

Current Mood: sad

Courtesy of trektone

Privilege meme
The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.

To participate in this blog game, copy and paste the list below into your blog/journal, and bold the items that are true for you.

Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor (father -- but he died when I was six))
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home (not sure, but there were books in every room, so I think it's possible)
Were read children's books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like you were portrayed positively
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
There was original art in your house when you were a child
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
You and your family lived in a single family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home (If this means a mortgage ...)
You had your own room as a child (until I was four when my sister was born, then for a year when I was 7 - 8, then never again until I was 23 and got my first apartment on my own)
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

It's the last 45 minutes before the end of the year in Atlantic Canada. "New Year's" has been and gone in Newfoundland. I always loved being in St. John's, being the first to bring in the new year in Canada.
This year is ending very quietly, snow fall all day and I didn't even step out the door once. Tomorrow will be my last day of calm before re-entering the whirlwind on Wednesday. I've really enjoyed this peaceful time, I got caught up on sleep for the first time in I don't know how long, and got a couple of long standing projects finished. Didn't get Christmas cards out, but, oh well, I'll do better next year, right?
I'm not making any specific resolutions this year, partly because it's so cliche, and partly because I have great difficulty keeping them. So I'm just planning to live better and more in tune with the world around me (suitable vague!) and see how it goes.
Best wishes to everyone who reads this, have a great year.

Current Mood: calm

We got a new kitty today! Well, we picked her out (SPCA) Saturday, and she had yet to be spayed, so they did that yesterday and we brought her home today. She's 2 years old (though how they know that I'm not sure), smallish, delicate, very mellow, longhair, grey+white+hints of yellow. Partly we got her to be a companion for Kahvi, although I realize it may take them awhile to get comfortable together. She seems to have an affinity with computers --her first hiding place was between the computer desk and the wall, nestled in a tangle of wires.
I haven't mentioned a name because the one they gave her ("China") doesn't set right for me, so I'm waiting to see if something pops into mind as suitable. Paul's teasing me about that and Brion doesn't have any ideas, so it may be a bit. We'll see.

Current Mood: cheerful

We got a call today -- the windows will get installed Monday and Tuesday this week! Yay! Very exciting.

Current Mood: excited

Yesterday we got a new side-by-side refrigerator/freezer. It uses less energy than the old fridge/freezer AND we're getting rid of the chest freezer that's never been really full. I'm expecting this will make enough of a reduction in energy use to be noticeable in our bills -- unless it's swallowed up by the price increase, of course. Still, they put the usage on as well as the $$, so we should be able to see it there.
We got an estimate today for improving/reinsulating the main attic and the one over the mudroom and kitchen. This person recommended putting in a new vapor barrier (well, the mudroom attic doesn't even have one, the air flow through that space is extreme) and blown in insulation instead of batts, because, he says, mice are happy burrowing in fibreglass, but hate cellulose. Never heard that before.
So by the end of September we should have improved insulation in all attics and the new windows should be in. Yay!

The school year has started, and with it all the various rehearsals for music groups. This year my schedule is pretty full: Tuesday night Choral Society. Wednesday night ReJOYce, Thursday night Church music (both worship band, where I'm playing acoustic guitar and bass guitar, and traditional choir). Then once every four weeks I have a Monday evening full of accompanying voice lessons, and shortly the middle school choir will start up on Thursday afternoons.

It's a good thing I enjoy all of it! Actually, if I could do more music and forget about the bookkeeping job I would be very happy.