Mostly Alicia

Just a blog by Me (Alicia) and once in awhile Robert where we share photos, family history, and just life in general with family and friends.

Friday, 28 August 2026

Weekly Musings of the 28th

 

Here we are coming up to the end of another month.  How about that, I have even noticed the leaves changing on some of the early trees.  Soon it will be time to pull the A/C out of the window.  I always do it kinda early because although I appreciate it in June, July and most of August I prefer the windows being open and air just coming from outside and if really hot days show up in September I can manage with a window fan for the day or two that it lasts.  It is like I am done with that unit in the window no matter what the weather is.

First onto Sparky as in comments people were wondering how it went.  It was a funny thing, the things that I brought the car in, of course, did not show up on their computer analyzes but they found that the bearings in one place needs replacing and the front brakes will need taking care of when we switch to winter tires.  Waiting on parts for the bearings which is probably because of the guys in power being a**holes on both sides of the border.  The silent horn and steering column stuff which was dead, the lady there and I checked it out and all the buttons worked again and so did the horn.  So, he fixed the stuff we wanted probably by accident but listed stuff that we were not bothered by yet.  Anyway, either way, Sparky is working fine.  

I did a bit of linen shopping at Giant Tiger because of the more expensive ones I cannot stand that slippery crap feeling on those sheets.  It is called Sateen, and trying to find sheets without any kind of Sateen crap is tough now.  Finally found that our good old Giant Tiger carries them.  Found both cotton and flannel plus some great towels.  Another lesson learned, don't bother with the more expensive stores basic linen is best found at Giant Tiger, which is kind of a Target store for those south of the border.  

When all the politicians were screaming at each other I figured that I better get my new phone before the prices go up to silly.  I also decided to get the same as hubby's that way when I figured something out on my phone I could show him on his. 


 I got different colours for us both so we wouldn't grab the wrong one.  Once I had dealt with switching his stuff over to the new one, taking care of my switch over was a piece of cake including the app. that handles my hearing aids.  That was the only one I was a bit concerned about because when I got the aids the tech handled it at their office, so just in case I needed to go in I managed to get my phone on Thursday thus knowing I could go in on Friday to fix it if necessary.  It wasn't necessary.  And I got my phone still for a couple hundred cheaper than hubby's through Amazon instead of our phone server.  I, also, wanted a google one instead of Samsung because I hated having to have a Samsung account with my google one, this way it is just the one thing that runs on all computer, phone and tablet no matter what one is doing.  

Fun thing on Thursday as well was that the internet through our server was down in our town.  I waiting until I had my coffee, got cleaned up and had my book on hand for waiting on hold and gave them a call to see why our internet was down.  That was when I found out it was all of Simcoe and they were frantically working on it to get it back up and running.  After we chatted a bit the guy thanked me for being so nice to him.  He said I was the first one.  I said that I knew these things can happen and it is not those that answer the calls fault nor the techs working on it either and wished him a more peaceful day as I hung up.  That sure is sad to figure that every time you answer the phone at work you are probably going to get yelled at.  No wonder people are angry, what a stress-filled way to work.

So, we settled in to watch some dvds, read some books and otherwise do stuff that didn't require being on the internet.  I also decided if my phone arrived during that time I would just wait until the next day if need be.  No trouble at all and the internet was back up and running by 12:30 p.m.  and my new phone did not arrive until late afternoon anyway.  All worked out just find and we enjoyed re-watching The Hobbit on dvd that afternoon anyway.  


I didn't see the eclipse of the moon last night but I did get a really lovely shot of the moon this morning on my walk.  Yup, this is not the sun coming up but the moon setting.  

Reading-wise while on hold and other waiting things plus my usual time of reading during the day I was onto another book in the series Ordinary Women of the Bible.  


 This one is set in the new testament and during the time of Paul.  Very much enjoying this one too.  Actually once I finish this series I am going back to re-read all these new bible series books.  They have been so good, I am looking forward to visiting them again.  

Well, that was the week that was with also a wonderful sit-down video chat with my sister.  I just love catching up with her.  We ended up catching for an hour and 40 minutes instead of our usual hour.  

Take care all and have a wonderful weekend!


       

Friday, 21 August 2026

Weekly Musings of the 21st

 

Another one bites the dust....  (bet you started hearing the song in your head - LOL.  I always do.  So the week was one of usual and interesting.  Hubby's new phone arrived and I was able to do most of the set up but there was one thing I couldn't see.  I opened one slot in the old phone for the sims card but it wasn't there.... crap... I know I was missing something and of course phone companies make it nearly impossible to reach anyone to actually speak to and the AI you do reach won't understand that you want a person.  

Finally after being frustrated enough I decided to go with hubby for groceries.  I also figured I would go into the Mobile shop and perhaps the guy there would take pity on an old lady and fix it.  I put everything in my small purse which made it heavy enough to want to drag it and away we went.  

I walked in the shop and said, I know I didn't buy this phone here and our server is not one that is used here but could you see what I am missing to get this new phone working with hubby's phone number?  He said sure and looked over the old phone and found the second slot that I didn't see opened it up, took the card out and put it in the new phone.  Less that 15 seconds the new phone was all good.  I missed the second slot in looking for the card.  

His new phone is google so it is easy for hubby to get to all the things that he uses a phone for.  The old phone I tried to set back to factory settings in order to donate but I had no idea it was still using a 12 year old email address as the account that neither of us have used in that length of time and have no clue what the password is nor any way to change the password.  They send a log in to that email which we do not have access to, so that is a waste of time.  We might just have to drown that phone before recycling it... lots of time to think on that.  

Oh yeah, in all of this I found that I could actually get the phone I want from Amazon for cheaper than our server company, delivered faster and with no shipping charge and since it is just a switching of cards, I don't have to use our phone company.

Lessons learned every day.  


Beautiful skies and cooler mornings for my walk this week too which was just lovely.  We also had to make an appointment for Sparky this week and I have to take him in for 9 today.  The poor thing seems to be having a little trouble with power to the buttons and horn on the steering wheel.  Also the dash goes wonky occasionally with resetting itself during it's time of just sitting.  I really hope it is something simple for the car and not a big cost.  Sparky is 13 years old and has been having a few hiccups but I really have no desire to shell out a lot of money on it nor have the expense of another car.  My desire is that Sparky lasts until I am finished with driving.  

Well, we shall cross the bridges when we need to cross those bridges and not borrow troubles from days not here yet.

In between it all on days we were not going out to deal with whatever, we pulled out the carpet cleaner and started washing down the old carpets of our apartment.  These poor old things are hanging in pretty well and as we were cleaning them hubby and I both decided that we should do them more on a regular basis as they need a lot of TLC.    

As to books,  this week was another really interesting read from an interesting point of view, the mother of Samson.

I always had trouble with Samson as I couldn't figure out with all that he had and was doing, how could he be such a jerk.  This author is a great one who really showed the ideas of how we all mess up like this and how Samson might have been thinking as he made those awful decisions that he did. It got me thinking deeper of this story and very much enjoyed this book too.  

Anyway, I am off to get presentable and get the car in for them to see if it is a simple fix to fix Sparky and keep him going for a few years more.  

Have a lovely weekend. 

 
 

Friday, 14 August 2026

Weekly Musings of the 14th

 

Look at that, another week flew by.  This week on Tuesday I had a lovely chat with DD the 1st and this afternoon I will be having a chat with DD the 2nd and probably with the 3 GS saying hi as they move about being busy like all young boys do.  I do love being able to video chat with them, what a wonderful thing that came about with the internet and computers.  Sure, there are a lot of things that came about that were just evil but as in all things we humans bring about, there are some pretty nifty things too.

I, also after a chat with hubby went online to our phone provider and purchased another phone for hubby.  The leap of faith was that I will be able to transfer things when it gets here including the phone number he uses.  His phone is over 10 years old and unable to receive anything beyond just a basic text.  I figure best to get him with a new model and since mine is a bit newer get one for me a bit later.  

The week went along as most weeks do with me being the full time driver.  Which I don't mind but hubby is getting use to being a passenger.  I think it is more difficult for him to relax while someone else drives than it is for me to drive with a nervous passenger.  

Oh, and with the half done apartments a new thing was half done.


As you can see we still don't have any numbers on the doors but they decided to put up new lights above them.  These ones are so bright you could put your sunglasses on to just walk in the hallway.  

Some tenants shut those new lights off above their doors.  We don't bother with that kind of thing as what is beyond our home is the business of the building not ours.  I know electricity-wise the lighting is cheaper, which runs from the individual apartments, therefore it is part of the tenants electric bill. 

Fun thing about the new lights is that it really shows up how much the hall carpets need cleaning or replacing.  I wonder if that will come before or after the numbers. - LOL  


The book finished this week was this one.  You remember the part of the widow that put just two pennies in the collection and Jesus said she gave the greater because the others gave of their abundance and she gave all she had?  

This author imagined a story around just that moment and gave her a name and a full rich story that made you truly think about this moment in time.  Really well done.  

Lastly this week was Tigger's birthday (at least the one we guessed it might be considering she was barely 3 weeks old when we found her) 

She is 13 now and still working so hard to keep her humans trained properly.  


I think she is not only pondering her world but wondering why it takes us so long to do what she expects us to do - LOL.  

So that is it for me this week.  Time to get a move on to take a trip to the reserve and then back for a chat with DD the 2nd.  I love those weeks I get to chat to both girls.  Have a lovely weekend!



Weekly Musings of the 28th

  Here we are coming up to the end of another month.  How about that, I have even noticed the leaves changing on some of the early trees.  S...