How's Corona Treating YOU????

Hi there everyone. Hope you are doing well during this terrible and confusing time. We are well. Staying in the house pretty much and only going out for gas, taxes, post office and store. Otherwise staying home and doing a lot of paper work and calling different places I owe $$$ to. 

The Mortgage company said they would defer our payments for 3 months. That will help. I have to call the city on Monday, won't have the money to pay the house taxes - $450 due on the 31st. Hopefully there will be an extension of some sort like the Government gave for the Federal taxes. The accountant has allowed me to make payments on the $200 I owe him.

When the Government gives us $1200 a piece in a couple of weeks....maybe then I will be able to pay my taxes for the house and taxes to the Federal Government and the accountant and then have $$$ to pay the other bills. God is SOOOOOOO goooood!!!

This Coronavirus sure is messing things up for a lot of people.

This video did not work. Sorry

In the mean time, I am making some new things to eat. A lot of roasted vegies in the oven. Today's menu is roasted bok choy and sliced apples, cheesy rice bake and a chicken thigh. The other day I made "Dirty soup" made with lentils and ham. I will have to take pictures and give you the recipes in another blog.

The video was done last September 2019, when life was much calmer. I always look forward to seeing those cute little white flowers start blooming in September. JP and I usually tear the plant down in the late fall, to get it on the curb for pick-up. The "star clematis" (that's what I call it) is always so full and lovely and such a beauty in the whole neighborhood.

It starts growing in the early spring, I shall have to check it out in the next few days. I know the crocus's are blooming and the tulips are coming up.....hope it does not snow on April 1st (fools day...lol)

Well time to close here, have to go make some cards. I have not been downstairs for a couple of weeks. My Hospice group cancelled the meeting for 6-7 weeks. The other group, cancelled till May 31st....and that is okay also. But I really need to get down there...my hobby should not sit idle for so long.

Talk to you all later and keep looking up, better days are coming soon. Cheers ~ Louise

How Ya Doing??

Hi there everyone, how ya all doing??? This Coronavirus has sure taken over our lives.....unbelieveable isn't it?? Hope you are all taking care of yourselves. 

JP has gone back to work, his back is much better, but now I think his company will be shutting down next week. Bills are getting very hard to pay....guess I can only pay what I can pay.

So glad to hear that the IRS will allow us to pay our taxes by July 15th. Just did not know how I was going to pay Uncle Sam by April 15th??? I have been told if I call the IRS, I might be able to get an extention for 120 days if I am still having a problem paying. Was hoping for a refund, but that did not happen this year. Did you know your Social Security checks are taxed. Hard to believe, aren't we taxed once already, then taxed a second time?.......my goodness, that makes no sense to me.

Following are some cards I made for Hospice last month. Pretty simple, but fun to make. The background is an embossed folder and the 'hello' is a die cut. Just added a few gems.

Here again, the background embossed with a cross with the different names of Jesus. Then I added some flowers and gems.....a good one for Easter which is coming up April 12th....gosh time flies.

Did you know....tomorrow is the first day of SPRING???? Surprise!!!!! My crocuses are popping up now. They sure are  pretty and there seems to be more popping up each year.

If the weather stays nice, maybe I will get outside and rake some leaves that I never got raked last fall. Will have to see how the weather goes, if not, I have plenty of things to do in the house. 

Can you believe.....I still have my Christmas village up, thought I would take it down on the 7th, but that did not happen, now it is starting to get old and I did not even turn the village lights on tonight. Oh well, see what happens time wise.

My Chicago Blackhawks have not played since March 11th (I know that is just last week....but it seems like a month ago) because of the virus. All the teams were shut down, that has to be hard on all the players. Especially if the teams were in the top 3 and in the  wild card position. But supposedly Hockey will start up again in July/August. Probably then the Ice will not cooperate....who knows what will happen, every day is a guessing game.

Well time to close here, hope in the next few weeks this coronavirus will be but a bad dream and life is back to normal. So far 2020 has been a TUFF year for many people. Going to have to go out to the store and see if I can find some toilet paper.....just using Kleenex right now (I have maybe 4 boxes, that should last for awhile)

Take care and keep looking up....better days are right around the corner. Cheers ~ Louise  

I Miss You

Hi there everyone. Hope you are doing well. It's been a rough month so far....just too many things to expound about....hey, hey how do you like that word. (definition: explain).

So JP went to work today. He was supposed to get a Doctor's release first. He called the Doctor and it was sent to his place of work. He came home after a couple of hours and is to go to the office tomorrow. They have to ask some questions before he goes back to work. Hopefully he will be able to work for a couple of hours a day. We'll see what happens. His back is not bothering him anymore.

Today is Kylie's death date. It has been 8 months since she has been gone. Gosh, I still miss her. It's hard to believe she is still gone...still so fresh in my mind. Miss her barks and walks. I honestly think I have gained weight, at least walking with her kept me trim. Guess when winter is over, I shall have to take walks by myself.

Pinterest has so many pictures of dogs and the rainbow bridges with lots of poems. Sometimes I have to leave Pinterest because tears come to my eyes and I start crying for Kylie. She was so much a part of this home.

Well, my Chicago Blackhawks won their game tonight, 6-2 against the Sharks. The NHL maybe either cancelling the rest of the games played by the teams for the rest of this month or let them play BUT there will be no fans at the stadiums. I don't know, this coronavirus has gone a bit too far. 

Symtoms of the virus sounds like the colds we get during winter. Fever, cough and shortness of breath. The Hockey players have been told to drink plenty of water, wash their hands and don't touch their faces (they are VERY sweaty after games). I guess tomorrow the NHL will decide what will happen to the rest of this season. The Stanley Cup finals are supposed to start the second week of April and then last till June.
We got some really bad news today. We got our taxes done and we owe the Government $383....plus $200 to the accountant. First time we have had to pay in years, nothing has really changed...just don't know why we owe so much. I have to go to IRS.com and try to get a 120 day extension because we won't have that money by the 15th. I can do payments to the accountant. NEXT YEAR I am going to get our taxes done free, should have done that this year...live and learn I guess.  

Well, here is a picture of my Kylie....she was smiling at me while I took this picture. I only wish that rose was still blooming at the time and had not died.

Well time to close here, it's going on 2am, time to go to bed. Keep looking up better days are coming. I still believe!!!
Cheers ~ Louise

PS.....I never took my village down, it's still UP!!!! Maybe this weekend.

Taking My Christmas Village Down

Hi there everyone....How's your March going??? Mine has been busy so far. Many things to do and accomplish these last couple of days and weeks.

Tomorrow 3/7 I will be taking this lovely Christmas village down....I have really enjoyed it this year. Last year I was too lazy to put it up. So this year I wanted to leave it up as long as I could. Takes a long time to put it up....but a short time to take it down. 

Don't you just love all the lights? I shall miss my village. It's always different each year, but I have found certain pieces seem to find their way back to the same place each year. Probably I just remember where they were the previous year. They just seem to fit right.

This space will look bare when the village is gone and very boring. Some of the buildings included, a light house, the church, a restaurant, general store, mechanic's garage, a bridge, water tower, sweet Jesus, Mary and Joseph in a manger, a house, people and lots of trees.

I always try to get a new piece each year....not this year though. Thinking I have plenty of buildings and people and space is limited.

There is a couple if ice skating ponds, benches to sit on. A post office, a school and gazebo.

See the boy shoveling the snow off the wooden play house. I think this is one of my favorite pieces. Always enjoy taking it out each Christmas.

I hope you liked visiting my village....sometimes I wish I could live there, away from the rat race and maddening crowd and world!!!

Since I last posted here. JP has been off work 18 days and this past Wednesday he was put on Leave of Absence. When his back is better he can return to his job. Not sure when that will happen. He tried for disability but was denied. In the mean time we sit with no income except SS (thank God for that) I called the mortgage company to tell them the situation. They said I can pay what I have and the rest, in a week when JP's SS comes. When JP worked, I always used his check to pay mortgage....now it is not there and I have to find another way to pay it. 

Hopefully I will be able to get other help. I have signed up to get help to pay JP's doctor bill. Can get food at the Salvation Army and Food Share. We might be able to get SSI and Medicaid. Guess we are about to learn how to "depend on God" for the next couple of months. I will keep you posted about JP. He does have a check-up the end of this month for his prostrate, hopefully that is still clear.

I have to tell you...my printer has come in very handy, what with all the papers I have had to copy and print for these different forms and such. GOD knows what we need when we need it....Awesome God!!!

Well time to close here...keep looking up I know better days are coming.....I am sure of it. Cheers ~ Louise