i'm all alone :(

well, as of today, i am working alone. the summer help is done, and the other RA only works one day a week. so four days per week, i shall sit in my little office all alone.

there will be students and volunteers coming and going, but that's different than having a coworker. And the next month will be a big adjustment at work too, with school starting up again, and many new projects starting in the lab. I will have to re-learn what my roles and responsibilities are, and what my place is among all these students.....who have been with this lab longer than I have. So just pray that it all goes smoothly, i'm a bit apprehensive (as i always am when there's change coming).

but at least I get to pick the music I want to listen to now....!

update....

my thumb is healing quite well, tho it has a bit of infection right now.

and it hurts way less than it used to....and the tissue has come back, so it probably won't even be that gimped. still waiting for the nail to grow.....

berries

so i went for a walk today, with a dear friend.

this dear friend is so dear, that when i decided i wanted to stop half way through to pick berries off the bushes on the side of the path, she not only agreed to stop, she helped me hold down branches and get at the berries, to put them in my little zip lock baggie that i had brought along for just that purpose. (i was planning ahead...i knew the berries were there, and i knew that we'd be walking right by)....

and she even explained to passer by's what we were doing so they wouldn't look at us so funny.

now that's a true friend. one who will go along with your slightly off-the wall, slightly strange schemes with no hesitation, and no embarrassment. After all, we were on a well-travelled path right by the river, not in an out-of-the-way, woodsy type area. And people had to go around us, because we had the branches pulled all the way down blocking the path. except when the guy came by with the three-wheeled cart thing carrying a child. we let the branch up then so that he would not have to hit the lumpy grass going down the hill and potentially harm someone.

what a friend. what a morning. i was blessed.

I will have to bless her back (and anyone else who's interested) with some chokecherry jelly.

ouch.

2 Timothy 1:9-10

It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began--to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus. And now he has made all of this plain to us by the coming of Christ Jesus, our Savior, who broke the power of death and showed us the way to everlasting life through the Good News.

I read this passage this morning, and it hit me....i do not have the right to say "Thanks but no thanks, i think i'll live the way I want to....". I do not have the right to take the easy way out and be lax because hey, I'm already saved! Why bother trying to live a holy life? He chose me. He saved me. It wasn't my doing. And i need to recognize that and live my life accordingly.

My discovery.....

if you click the Blog This! button at the top of a blog, it automatically gives you a window in which you can make a posting to your own blog! I think you may have to be signed in for it to work...

tee hee hee

i figured out something new on blogs!

mornings...

so, i am trying to learn to be more of a morning person. once i'm up, i actually enjoy being up, and having the extra time to do gardening, biking, a bit of cleaning, etc.

yes, me, the proverbial night owl, up before 7am of my own volition and enjoying myself.

but then comes THIS part of the day....and that's when i can really tell that i'm missing an hour or two of sleep. I still haven't gotten the knack of going to bed early. It may be easier to just learn to function on less sleep. because even more than i hate getting up early, i hate going to bed earlier than about 10 or 11.

so we'll just have to see how this goes, how it affects me long-term.

my weekend...

well, this past weekend, anthony and I went to the lake for a camping weekend with his family....camping in a tent, not cabining as we usually do. It was quite the interesting weekend, with many 'memorable' events...

we got to the lake quite late on fri nite, and set up the tent in the dark. That went ok, and we got tarps put up too, as the forecast was for rain. And rain it did. It started about 3:30am and went until well into the afternoon. And it was COLD. i barely slept all night....but was still having a fun time.

Saturday we ate breakfast in the rain, played some cards, etc. and fed the squirrel, Charley. It started to dry up mid-afternoon, so we spent a bit more time outside, had a lovely bbq supper and played more games, and went for ice cream.

Sunday morning, I awoke early to a bit of sunshine trying to peek through the clouds. Noone else was up, so I walked to the washroom, walked to the beach, sat on a bench for a while, tested the water, and went back to the campsite. I then decided to make the morning fire.

Given the factors in play, i should have known that wasn't the best idea. My genetic clutziness (from my mom), my tired, groggy mind, and a sharp metal object were not the best combination. Actually, they spelled DISASTER very clearly, but my mind was too fuzzy to discern the danger.

So i set out with a hatchet and a log to cut some kindling.....and then there was a mighty swing, with a thumb too close to the blade......and....well i'll let your mind fill in the rest. Pain. Blood. lots of blood. more blood. putting pressure on it, trying to stop the blood.....trying to be brave. Anthony bandaged me.....more pain.

Ok. so i recovered enough from that to get up and have some food, etc. and the morning was quite enjoyable....had scrambled egg, cheese, n salsa bush pies made on the campfire (which someone else had lit). Spent the afternoon with my parents and the epp's, played games, went boating, etc. Had a lovely supper and hit the road to come home.

THEN, a near disaster which would have been much worse than chopping off a piece of my thumb. We were just outside warman, where the highway splits into divided, 2 lanes each way. And i saw a car coming on an approach, and they didn't stop to look, but just came out onto the highway RIGHT in front of us, RIGHT in our lane. We swerved and sat on the horn.....and missed them, but barely. And i don't think they even noticed. It was one of those incidents that just happens, and then a few minutes later, you realize how serious it could have been. If there had been a car beside us and we hadn't been able to swerve, i fully believe that the old couple in that car would have been dead, and we would have been seriously injured.

it just makes ya think, life isn't in our control. At any moment, we could be gone.......it's only God's grace and protection that keeps us alive.

So we did make it back to the city safely.....went to the drugstore to buy bandages, etc. for my finger. My mom discovered this product called second skin which is like a bandage, but preserves the pristine climate that skin needs to regenerate...so I bought some of them. I sure hope they work, at $2 per bandage! But you seal them on and leave them for about 5 days....so it's not like you have to change it every day or anything. And given that I have to keep the finger dry, i looked around, and ended up finding these little latex gloves just for individual fingers. Kinda like a finger condom. But they didn't come in plaid or anything exciting like that (*Angie*Jay*!).....

We then finally got home, unpacked, showered, and got settled into bed. Just after midnight, when I was winding down enough to sleep, the phone rang. I didn't get up, but i heard someone leave a message, so I went down after to listen to it. Turns out, it was the couple from downstairs trying to wake us up, because the sewer had backed up and the basement was flooding. So we were up for a bit helping with that.....and finally got to bed.

So that was the weekend.....and now i'm in need of another. Hopefully one with just as much adventure, but less chaos and carnage and disaster.

hair, hair, beautiful hair

or maybe not so beautiful.

i got a haircut yesterday. and i'm not too sure about it. it's WAAAAYYYY shorter than I wanted it to be. She even had to shave the bits at the back of the neck, it's so short.

I have never once cried over losing my long hair, until this morning....but i think maybe it's not so bad, just very different than I'm used to. At least that's what I hope. And i really hope it grows FAST.

Now I know how you feel, Robyn, when you hate your haircuts.....i just want it to GROW. I told her i wanted to be able to put it in a ponytail still, and i most definitely can't. I wish there was some way to reverse what hairstylists do. Oh well. It will grow. I will try to live with it and manage it until then.....

whatever works...

So, I just walked into the ladies' washroom at the U, and I noticed that one of the taps was running full tilt. Noone was in the "handwashing" area, and I think that all three stalls were full at the time. Thinking "Hmmm....that's funny" I went and shut off the tap.

Then I heard a voice from the stall saying "Oh, sorry about that, I left it on because it helps me to go!"

To which I responded "Oh sorry, did you need me to turn it back on?"

She said "No, I'm almost done...."

after which I just left without going myself, because I didn't wanna know who it was. Prolly someone I know from the department, but that's just a bit too much info. about a person :)


odd.