My parents were both from England and after WW2, they immigrated to Canada where my dad joined the Canadian Armed Forces. Dad was a pilot and he requested postings in Europe so we lived in France, Belgium and Germany where we learned metric measurements. In the Canadian schools we were taught non-metric measurements until 1970 when Canada joined most of the rest of the world and became “metricated”. For my sister and me, it was an easy transition and to this day, I still think in both ways.When I write on our website, I usually write temperatures in centigrade and distances and weights in miles and pounds. But since realizing that we have readers globally, I have started to show measurements in both “languages”. It would sure make my life easier if everyone went metric though!
In Canada, we have to have our taxes in by the end of this month, hence, yours truly, the great procrastinator, spent much of yesterday ripping my hair out. I hate working with numbers, never has been my thing, though I have spent much of my adult life being the "bookkeeper". In my cleaning service I was the administrator/bookkeeper and at the resort, because I liked working with computers, the "books" became my responsibility again. In this nomadic lifestyle, my sweet husband actually records our expenses and maintains a spreadsheet, but at tax time I get to do the number crunching. Yikes!!The good news is that I should have the information completely compiled by the end of today enough to send it off to our trusty accountant back home. Thank Gawd for email! I hate working with numbers enough and have such little faith in my abilities that I think it is well worth the cash to have an expert put it all together for Rev Canada.Did I mention I hate working with numbers?
Yesterday, my day was consumed with the three C's. What are my three "C"s you ask? They are Cooking, Cleaning and Computing, something I actually enjoy doing. I have been cooking since I was of the ripe old age of 8, pulling together my first full meal when I was 9. To this day I remember it well; Oven-Baked chicken, scalloped potatoes and green beans. I was very proud of my production.
Cleaning is something I learned to do once I moved out of the house (as a teenager I was best at contributing to the mess) and it too brings me a sense of accomplishment, seeing the finished product... the fruits of my labour. For 14 years I owned a cleaning service and along with my 20-odd employees, we transformed some often really dirty houses into clean, sparkling homes. It felt good knowing that the owners would come home to their shiny abode.
The computing comes in many forms; I started using my first computer in 1984 when I owned my cleaning company... it was a way to make my administrative duties easier. Then computers became a necessity when we owned our mid-size family resort and now they are a source of education (the Internet) and entertainment. Here, I help other folks with their computer issues, teaching a class and resolving their problems. It was a good day yesterday, the 3 C's gave me a sense of satisfaction and a balance to my day.
My poor little cat is being driven mad! It is springtime and all the birds in our neighbourhood are frantically looking for a mate. In their frenzy, they care little about who is watching and therefore they parade their techniques on branches in the shrubs surrounding our motorhome. My window ledges and counters are in a constant state of disarray from my tormented cat tearing from one vantage point to another trying to get as close to the action as she can. Of course, because she is an indoor kitty, she can never reach them which makes her even more insane. The worst thing is that the birds start their thing at 5:00 AM but the good news is that the windows in the bedroom are covered with shades. She has to go into the livingroom to begin her fruitless adventure but does she ever sleep soundly at night! And that is especially good because she shares our bed with us!
Yesterday, in an adventurous moment, my sweet husband and I decided to go for a motorcycle ride....to Las Vegas and back, roughly 900 km. What on earth were we thinking? The problem with aging is you forget that you are until you do something dumb...like ride on a motorcycle for 10+ hours. We left for Vegas from here, Desert Hot Springs, at 8:30 AM and after stopping twice for fuel and once for a battery boost because we stalled it, we arrived there at almost 2:00 PM. After getting the bike fixed and walking around Vegas for 4 miles (yup we ARE insane) we returned home arriving at midnight.
I'll tell you, the pool and hot tub were much appreciated this morning and we both soaked in them forever. (The other problem with aging is your recovery rate is a whole lot longer than it used to be.) As I write this, we both feel like Ragdolls.
Overnight, we lost an hour. Where did it go? I went to bed and everything seemed normal but when I woke up nothing was the same. It was still dark at 5:55AM and just yesterday, the sun was already shining by then. Oh, right...we just switched back from Daylight Savings Time so now we can enjoy longer afternoons and darker mornings. My body knew about the time change because I was awake at the same time as I always wake up (just around 6:00 AM) and surprisingly, my brain caught on pretty quickly, too. The sky is clear here so I will make the most of the extra light at the end of my day which will be a great one. Hope yours is too!!
In my previous entry, I mentioned how we moved from 7000+ sq. feet into 300 sq. ft, from a solid, bricks and mortar (B&M) house into a moving,vehicular home on wheels. I learned the differences between need and want very quickly and what was important and what wasn't. My priorities changed drastically and I learned just how unimportant "stuff" really was. Granted, because I was used to the luxuries of a beautiful, well equipped home, I knew what sacrifices I was willing to make and what ones I refused to budge on.
My rolling home has a dishwasher (yes, an electric one by Fisher-Paykel), a one piece washer/dryer (it goes from being a washing machine to being a dryer) and in-motion satellite television. We have a Hydro-hot water heating system which gives us endless hot water in our full sized shower, a king sized bed and another satellite dish for Internet access. We ARE NOT roughing it whatsoever. We don't have yard work, we move when we are sick of our neighbours/scenery/weather and we visit family and friends all over the continent, sleeping in our own bed every night. Our lifestyle isn't for everyone (it would get crowded if it was) but for us, it is perfect and the thought of B&M home ownership isn't about to happen anytime soon.
Hey, baby this ain't camping!
