App order

 I put in an order for some more Winter pants from Halara. The second Sunday of the month last year they gave you an extra free item. So everyone who put in their order that day had an extra reward. They have changed it this year so that everyone puts their name into a form for 10 days and then at the end 5000 people will receive the special product. An interesting change as they have to then send 5000 separate packages rather than combining with another package.

Back to the order, after I put my bag together I previously had ordered on the computer but on the APP I earn points which can't be used on the computer. I tried the order on the computer and there was a discount code of $12. When I tried on the app, there was a special coupon to use the app and there was a discount of $30 plus I could use $9 of points so it was a better deal!

In the evening I had a finance committee meeting. It went much later that I expected!

Lighter later

 When I left work at 5pm there was still some light out. That made me feel good, that more light was on the way.

Yesterday I made turkish eggs, that were really quite good. The meat that had arrived was frozen solid which is why I picked the eggs for the first meal. The other 2 meals seem to be almost identical with pork and chow mein noodles. Tonight was crispy ground pork with sweet and savory noodles.

Tomorrow up at 5:30am at James is coaching at 6am!

Exception

 With Canada Post back in business I ordered an Amazon order to the post office. Mainly because they aren't giving delivery notifications otherwise. It arrived in Kingston a day ago and was out for delivery (to the post office) and then I got a notification that there was a delay due to the strike and it wouldn't arrive for 4 more days. Then a few hours later it arrived at the post office. So I'm not sure what kind of delay it experienced but it apparently overcame it pretty easily. There are still many bills that I am waiting for to arrive so the post is clearly still backed up due to the strike.

In the holidays I wore my free Halara leggings quite a bit and they were very comfortable. I own a lot of leggings and these are one of my favorites. Not my very very favorite- that one is a Fabletics one. But it is in the top 3 for sure.

Today I'm wearing a new Halara outfit- red gray pants (the colour seems to border on green but they are called red grey and can pass for grey) and a dark blue sweater. James is off to Ajax in a few minutes for a game!

From Spiky balls of snow to full blizzard in 30 minutes

 Back at the office today at one point things were super sunny outside, then it clouded over, then when I was walking it started dropping spiky snow balls. By the time I arrived home it was a full blizzard. Conditions deteriorated quickly.

I didn't sleep well last night but was functional at work. A lot of balls in the air as Fall term wraps up and Winter term starts. 

Hello 2025!

 

Nothing was open today so I didn't go anywhere, but James went lots of places. He did some skating at Relm and went to the Fronts game.

I did lots of laundry and cleaning as well as working on grades. Tomorrow is back to the office to finish grades, prepare the Winter term courses, finish enrollment and try to tackle all my email!

Goodbye 2024

 In the last few days we finalized most of the marks and got them posted as an end of year gift. Hopefully the students appreciated it.

I got a jury duty summons by email. Which I thought was a scam at first but appears to be real.

We bought a dishwasher which hopefully will arrive on Thursday.

I didn't sleep well last night so I am just waiting for the washer to finish up and then will head to bed. No midnight seeing the year in for me!

Laundry rack

 I was running short of space to hang laundry in the basement and Canadian Tire had a boxing day sale on laundry racks. I had purchased my original laundry rack from Canadian Tire that I like and so I thought it would be good to purchase a second. Well, I found what I thought was my original rack. Priced originally at $80 and on sale for $40. However, when I got it home I realized while it looked like my original it is nowhere near as sturdy as the original. It wasn't even balanced. But luckily as it was so un-sturdy I was able to twist it and get it to balance and it is functional. But it is definitely not worth $80 or even $40 really.

Brian and I were working on finishing up the grades, they aren't quite done but getting close!

Going to the big boots

 Last night was the first real snowfall and I had to transition from the shoe boot to the real boot. Sidewalks were bad but my boots were hardy. They are fantastic Columbia boots with no structure so they are super soft and don't dig in but also very warm. I discovered them in a boot sale many years ago. I think they had not sold because they were purple but if you can get past the colour they were very good boots. Since then, I have only been able to find them in beige on Amazon, which functionally works. I am not sure why they don't have black but for me the style is more important than the colour.

Tomorrow is Christmas, heading to see the parents!

First Canada Post delivery

 I received my first Canada Post delivery and it was a Bell Bill due Nov 21. Luckily I got the e-version and had already paid it. We'll see what tomorrow brings. They say they will be accepting new mail starting on Thursday but the backlog sounds pretty overwhelming.

I spent today doing interviews and trying to manage the gradebook for the course that includes many complicated calculations!

Ice sheets to snow flurries

 A few days ago there were ice sheets over everything. Then that melted and I now see snow flurries outside the window.

James is back in Toronto again. He called me one night to say his drivers license had expired. The hotel person told him when he showed ID. I thought these sorts of things expired on one's birthday. Apparently not for James. Luckily, these sorts of things can be renewed online. Though who knows when he will receive the new one with the Canada Post issues! 

Since service ontario no longer mails reminders (even without the Canada Post issues) it is good to sign up for their email reminder service! Get ServiceOntario renewal reminders | ontario.ca

Road trip

 Julie and I took a road trip down to Elevation this weekend. Saturday we got to hang out at Kelly's new awesome place! It was nice to see the girls and hang out and have a nice dinner in person.

The weather was not too bad- a bit snowy but not much accumulation. Traffic was bad in Toronto but that was expected.

We stayed at Keith's - he is 94 and still a great host. He is thinking of selling the place and going to live with his son.

Then on Sunday we went to Elevation, both services. Jasmine found that they had taken a photo of me that was used in Kristin's Instagram!

This is Julie and I arriving:

After the services, Julie dropped me at my parents where we had a lovely Sunday dinner. James was returning from Niagara Falls so he stopped by as well and we drove home together. Got a good pic before we left:

The traffic was very heavy on the way home. Not sure why Sunday evening was such a popular travel time!

Today was freezing rain. I went to the grocery store before it started and it wasn't busy like it normally is when a storm is rolling in. James also had his activities cancelled so we all stayed home in the frozen expanse of the land.

Tiny snow balls

 Yesterday I walked to Loblaws looking at grey/black clouds approaching. When I left Loblaws those clouds were overhead and precipitating tiny snow balls. Like not flakes, little balls. They looked pretty cute so I counted them as my light in the darkness for yesterday.

I had hours of zoom meetings last night and then had to make tacos so I got to bed pretty late.

I bought some things over the Black Friday/Cyber Monday and am having an interesting time tracking them. I assume other carriers are more overburdened with the Canada Post strike.

The item that I bought for James from Best Buy when I purchased it said it would arrive Dec 3. It also said it was in Kingston. Then it said it had missed its connection and would arrive Dec 5. Then yesterday it said it was on the truck and would arrive Dec 3. Then it was back in the warehouse, which is apparently where it still is.

Himalayan Monal | Most unreal looking high altitude pheasant

Today's light in the darkness of winter is the Monal. Such a beautiful outfit for such a harsh environment.

Today I went to Food Basics, washed lots of dishes and tried to catch up on my email. Tomorrow we have our last Fall term training session and last Board meeting of the year!

Sunshine

 I had some interesting shopping experiences in the last week or so.

1. The Metro/Food Basics company came out with a new rewards program called Moi rewards. I downloaded it for when I went to Food Basics but then when I went to Metro they told me I had to download the Metro Moi rewards. So they are the same but different. Some unification may be helpful here.

2.Shopped at Best Buy Black Friday sale. Needed to wait in the online queue as I guess a lot of people were shopping. But they didn't tell me that I needed to complete the purchase within 10 minutes. I got looped into a circular error as I evidently took more than 10 minutes. I had to get back in the queue and try again.

3. I went to Mark's to get a very specific shoe boot Skechers Women's Easy Going Cozy Escape Zip Boot | Marks and there weren't any on display and I asked the staff member and he knew exactly where they were. Excellent experience with that staff.

I am trying to have a better attitude toward winter as I don't like cold or snow or really anything about winter.

Today I am thankful for the sunshine. When on a cold and dark walk I appreciate the sunshine that warms you. If you didn't have the cold and darkness, you wouldn't be so thankful for the sunshine.

A long day

 Today I start with a training session at 8:30am and end with a test from 7:30-8:30pm. A full day!

I did not realize when I posted about the Cinderhill fire that I knew one of the families displaced. They are now staying at a hotel, looking for a new place.

The early darkness and chill is restricting my bike abilities.