BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

BUT despite it being frickin' freezing out I had to go and drop off Avon brochures this afternoon after all they are dated Friday and the order goes in Sunday. I waited until afternoon as this morning it was -38C and with the windchill-49C which would be about -56F NOT that I was up that early as to go out then or stupid enough to. It has warmed up slightly.
It is now ONLY -27C (-16.6F) and with the windchill -37C
(-34.6F). I was wearing cotton velour pants, long johns, leggings and wind pants on the top of it all. I had my snow goose jacket, hoodie, heavy red scarf which turned white after being out only a short while, gloves (three pair), boots and I could still feel the cold. B/C I was walking it wasn't as bad as if I was standing still. The little bit of my face showing was frozen. It was done within an hour and I came back into the warm house to a whining "Princess" who should only know how cold it out there. My snow goose jacket which is meant for temperatures of -40C is very heavy due to all the down. I would have never believed a jacket could be that heavy. It has a hood with fur (ruined by the cleaners) that when is zipped covers most of my face. I didn't wear my like Sorrel boots as I find it very difficult to walk with them and my jacket on together.

Ah yes Avon. When it is delivered every other Thursday it is like Christmas and I love it. Avon gets me out and I meet people and I love most of the products yet at the same time I sometimes think it is the bane of my existence ("....something that may profoundly annoy us but is certainly bearable" and yet fun?????... "Bane of my existence" is now almost always used in a semi-jocular, "what are you gonna do?" sense. This explanation is from google of what is the origin of "Bane of my existence"). Avon comes way to late when I have a lot of orders to pack, there are too many shortages and repeated shortages, items NO LONGER AVAILABLE, to little time to get the orders delivered, money in the bank to get the next order and new brochures out. BUT give it up I really doubt it. It has become part of my life.

Now what am I going to do since one of the local knitting groups is having a weekend retreat in March. Can I go? Do I want to go? Will I be able to go? I want to go but not sure if I can swing it at about $250. I still need to purchase my washing machine which I am saving for. I am leery with my medical situation and my poor sleeping habits. Then YUP Avon arrives on the Thursday of the retreat. I try to get my deliveries out on Friday and the Monday and Tuesday following. The money has to be in the bank by the Thursday after it arrives unless a Monday is a holiday than all that is changed and the times are shortened and that is because I do it online. If I was dropping off my order and money it would ALL have to be done by the Tuesday after the order arrives). I guess if I could round up the money, not worry about my medical issues and sleeping problems I might be able to get my Avon delivered elsewhere and pick it up after I get home on Sunday. HMMMMMMM!!!!!!

I guess this makes a good segway into those Avon brochures and deliveries. It isn't that I don't have help. I have a supervisor to watch what I do and make sure I do it all correctly. She doesn't actually lift a paw to help just watches checks and supervises.

First the brochures have to be labeled. I print up labels on the computer and then take them to the table downstairs to stick them on all the brochures which by the way I pay for. There are very few freebies from Avon.

Check out the photos to see my supervisor.

Here she is saying, "Come on mom, I am ready to help get these brochures labeled".
"What is it you want me to do now", says Solara, my helper.
I can hear her thinking, "Don't forget you have to do some of the work also, I am not going to do it all".
Once the brochures are labeled it is time to unpack the boxes and sort them. Things in the boxes are all mixed up.



I take out all the cosmetic, toiletries and fragrances and separate them from the "other" items.
I will sort them and put like items together for ease of packing orders but first Solara has to check out the boxes to make sure they are acceptable.

AND once I start sorting the items Solara will come and inspect to make sure I am doing it correctly and everything meets her satisfaction.

When it comes to the packing the smaller make-up and jewelry items Solara assists me by letting me know which I need to get from the assortment on the table to put in the customer's bag.

Yes Solara is a mighty helpful supervisor AND I don't know what I would do with her help.
Now that this blog is ready to post the temperature has warmed up quite a bit. It is -6C which converts to +21.2F. Despite it being warmer and our blood being "thick" due all our cold weather, I don't think it is warm enough to wear shorts while walking the dog. I can't believe my girlfriend Genie said she saw a guy in the complex walking his dog in just a pair of short!!!!

The next blog post will feature what I am knitting now that I am able to show. AND for those who want to get a head start on next Christmas, some photos of ornaments I have made over the past few years.

SPRING IN WINTERPEG

So they say it is spring here. Judge for yourself.

Of course, what you can't see is all the snow coming down. These were taken yesterday. This morning the streets were iced over and very slippery. By afternoon a bit of the ice had melted leaving not only ice to slip on but puddles of cold water to wade through. There is still a lot of snow. AND it feels like November or December out there.

Today was my last day Hilltop. I had two visits. Before I left I checked my mail and found a notice that there was a package for me at the postal outlet???????? I had been home since just about 9:30AM and there was nothing in my mailbox when I came home from Hilltop. Why the postal workers don't actually ring my buzzer to let me know I have a package is beyond me. So on the way home from Hilltop after my second visit I stopped at the postal outlet to see what was there. It was a book from the book club I didn't order so I taped it back up and sent it on its way back where it came from. When I got in the apt building I noticed there was something in my mailbox again. Guess what another notice that something else was attempted to be delivered while I was out and YES I did notice on call display someone rang my buzzer but didn't leave a message. I think it was the postman with whatever it was he was trying to deliver. I didn't go and get it as I was tired and it was cold out so I will go for it tomorrow. Instead I ended up having a nap until an Avon customer phoned to place an order.

Tuesday I went knitting at Mona's. It was Mona's birthday and there was cake and snacks. Well most times there are snacks but these were a bit more special since it was a birthday party. YES if you look close you can see Mona's birthday cake on the table along with wine. There was also soda. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONA!! I wasn't too happy with my Monkey socks for my Monkey swap partner. Part is I guess I am not crazy over the colorway and I am not sure it would fit my partner. I tried it on one of the gals at Mona's on Tuesday. So despite having one leg completed and one leg half completed I put the stitches of each sock on a piece of yarn and have started to re-knit it with an different yarn. Here is the new yarn being wound into a center pull skein at Mona's on Tuesday evening. This time knitting the sock feels good.

I read on ravelry about the talk of knitted men's thongs etc last week at Mona's which I missed b/c I was supposed to attend my Manitoba knitting group at McNally's which I wasn't able to go to either due to not feeling so great so I decided to bring in my knitted thong for the gals to see. It is on my projects page in ravelry but seeing it in person is much more fun. Two of the gals tried it on despite it being so small. Here is the "white sock with red ribbon".
The new challenge is to knit this "sock" in hot pink and one of the gals will try it on. I don't think there will be photos on the blog of this but it should be fun. I won't be able to start this until after my move since I will have to see if I can adjust the pattern to actually fit.

I have received some new stash from a friend who was destashing. A concept I really don't understand. I will put photos of my stash acquisition in another blog post later.

Oh I woke my baby up from her nap.

IT'S COLD BUT I STILL WENT FOR X-RAYS

I don't know who wrote this and how long it has been traveling around the Internet but thank-you Lorna for sending it to me. Oh how true it is.

My Manitoba

It's winter in Manitoba
And the gentle breezes blow,
70 miles per hour at 52 below!
Oh, how I love Manitoba
When the snow's up to your butt.
You take a breath of winter air
And your nose is frozen shut.
Yes, the weather here is wonderful,
I guess I'll hang around.
I could never leave Manitoba ,
'Cause I'm frozen to the ground!'

So Friday past in the absolute bitter cold I finally went for some x-rays. X-rays of my lumbar spine, hips and knees. I made sure I got to the x-ray dept late enough so not to wait and maybe get right in and out. YUP no one was there and they would be closing in half an hour. The receptionist asks me to sit in a chair in the empty waiting room. Maybe four or five minutes later (I was able to read several pages in my book while I waited). I was called in to the changing room and given a paper gown and told to undress leaving on only my socks and panties. So I do as told and when called for my x-ray I am asked if I have any jewellery on. I say just earrings. I am told I need to remove them. I look at the x-ray tech perplexed and ask why I need to remove my earring to have my lower spine, hips and knees x-rayed. She tells me I am having my C Spine x-rayed. I tell no I am not. I was at the doctor's complaining about hip and knee pain. BUT she says this is a C not an L. I say I don't need an x-ray of my neck at this time and it is an L not a C. She tells me to wait while she discusses it with the girl out front. She comes back and says okay you now need to go back to the changing room and take off this paper gown and put on a cloth gown but I don't have to remove my earrings. I am the last person in the dept for x-rays yet I still needed to change gowns. Go figure.
I must have had 10 or 12 x-rays taken. Of course, she ushered me out before I could even ask if I could see them. I am just curious. Apparently, I have arthritis of my lumbar spine and according to the last doctor a few years ago when x-rays were taken my hips were "pristine". The same phrase my current doctor told me of my knees about six months ago. I should have "pristine" joints at my age. I have seen x-rays of my spine when I had those free chiropractic x-rays taken and I saw the arthritis in my spine. They look like the hooks on the wall you hang your clothes on but are facing the other way round and are attached to a part of my spine not a wall to hang clothes on. That is what is causing my hip pain and spasms. I just want to know if it is still my spine or if there is now a reason my hips hurt even more. AND my knees are really starting to bug me. So I need a base x-ray in case these "pristine" knees get worse. AND the cold in Winnipeg certainly isn't helping.

AGAIN I won a prize for guessing the correct pattern of the cloth on the home page at love2knit dishcloth group on Yahoo that I belong to. BUT Solara and I didn't win a prize in the Bunny Thumper Contest.

Speaking of Solara look at where I found her.
I will take you on a tour to get to her.

I keep the door shut so she doesn't get into this room. This is what you see when you enter the room. Don't laugh too loud. There is excess Avon, empty boxes, fabrics, quilting and beading stuff, sewing machines, ironing board, threads, and STUFF. Yes there is empty floor space in front of the ironing board. Enough to actually do a small dance. Since I was ironing the turquoise piece of fabric on the ironing board which is a queen or possibly a king size sheet and I needed space, I moved my large bags of yarn and other items kept under and on both sides of the ironing board about the room to have room for the fabric.

Off to the right side are the shelves of fabric, fabric I am not able to use presently. Now a close up view of the shelves.AND even closer. Can you see her? No not yet. So lets get even closer. There she is.
The only reason you see her is due to the flash of the camera. She stayed in there all afternoon and evening. When she finally left her sacred space I quickly shut the door to the room. She definitely wasn't happy with me.

COLD WEATHER

Boy is ever cold out. In fact it is frigid!!! BRRRRR! I notice recently whenever I go out when I come home I am just exhausted and all I want to do is sleep. I have not had these experiences before. I wonder if it is age related. Yesterday I went out for just about 4o minutes to deliver an Avon brochure and didn't wear any long johns. WOW did I notice the cold. I have two pair and guess I will have to get another couple of pairs. I never used to wear them as I didn't really notice the cold on my legs but these last couple of years is another story. So today when I went out I made sure to wear them.
PS It is now Saturday and so far there is no order from the people I went and brought ANOTHER brochure to in the frigid cold.!!!!!