Week 9 of 52

                           Today is the last day of February...the 29th...leap day...mother nature has played a joke on us in Minnesota...we have had very little snow all winter and now that spring is just around the corner here we are with I don't know how many inches of snow on the ground again...our local schools are delayed a couple of hours which from experience doesn't happen very often...

                My Februarys Focus has been FITNESS...FLOWERS...FUN

                          Just to re-cap...I started a yoga class...which I love and I am hopeing to continue with even after this class has ended...that was the FITNESS...Joe and I went to a Minnesota Swarm lacrosse game which we have never done before...that was the FUN...

                ......and for this weeks project I went to a seed starting workshop at one of our local garden centers...I took my Mom along with me...it was very informative...the best part of it was when they gave us a tour of the production greenhouses...I was once very interested in going to the local community college for greenhouse production...I went but did photography instead...now I have to decide...do I want to set up a little area in the basement to start seeds...I will need to buy lights and a heat pad and seed starting trays...the cost of starting this project might outweigh actual production...we have so many good garden centers in the area where we can buy vegetable plants at low cost...is this going to be one of my March weekly projects...I don't know...why not stop back and see...

Week 8 of 52

                     Last weekend Joe and I went to the Minnesota Swarm Lacrosse game...we have seen lots of lacrosse games...Aaron has played lacrosse since middle school and has been involved at college level and is going to be coaching high school lacrosse in Grand Forks this spring...but we had never seen professional lacrosse until this game...Swarm v Colorado...

                                       There was a good crowd there...just over 9000...

                              I was trying to taking photos through the penalty box...

                                           Half time silly games with the mascot BUZZ...

                  After the lacrosse game in which the Swarm lost 7-12 there was a Roller Derby competition...this was another new experience for Joe and I...they rolled up the artifical turf and set up for the girls...here are a couple of photos taken through the double glass of the penalty box...

                                                                     Pink team...

                                                                   Red team...

                  We didn't stay and watch the whole competition...actually we didn't quite understand what was going on...it was a fun evening nevertheless...I did say my February focus was 'fitness flowers and fun'...

week 7 of 52

                   This week I really haven't had too much time to work on any big projects...Valentines Day is a big event at Hallmark so I have had a heavy week of work...I did go to my second yoga class on Monday evening...it was a little more challenging then the first class...the only other thing that I have done this week besides my normal everyday cleaning is that I have started to think about spring and working in my garden...last year I started to expand my flower gardens and I am going  to be continuing with this for some of my weekly projects for the spring and summer...my gardens are going to be a work in progress for quite a long time...this week I ordered a few plants from Michigan Bulb Company...I will not get them until planting time so hopefully I will have got at least one more flower bed ready to go when the plants arrive...

Here are a few photos of my garden from last summer...

                                                                       Asiatic  Lily....
                                                 

Purple Cone Flowers...

My kind of guy...

One last word...my dear sweet Aunt Agnes has been gone one year today...she loved playing in the dirt in her flower gardens...RIP Aunt Agnes...

week 6 of 52

I decided that for the month of 'F'ebruary I would 'F'ocus on 'F'itness...'F'lowers and 'F'un...

              For about two years I have struggled with back pain...I have talked to my doctor about it for three consecutive visits...the first time he said that it was something I would have to learn to live with...the second time I had a x-ray...he said there was a little inflammation and he sent me to physical therapy...the third time just last month I had another x-ray...nothing wrong...sending me to physical therapy again...if there is nothing wrong why is he sending me to physical therapy again and why am I in so much pain at times...

           That's the thing though...sometimes the pain is worse then other times...between Thanksgiving and Christmas it was so bad I could hardly get out of bed...during that period the retail season is at it's most stressful...we have more shipment coming in...that's my job to check in the shipment...I am lifting and leaning over boxes for hours on end...I asked my doctor if he thought that yoga would help...I figure it would strengthen my core and maybe I would have less back pain...he said it might but we will just send you to physical therapy...

          There comes a time when you have to be accountable for your own health...so I am not going to physical therapy...

              I took a couple of yoga classes a few years ago when Joe and I belonged to a health club...I really liked yoga...so this week I started a yoga class...it is through community ed...just once a week...wish it was two or three times a week...for seven weeks...it will give me a little taste of what yoga is all about...

          Quite a few of the students are returning students so they know the poses etc...but our instructor said she would soon get us new students up to par...I did get lost a couple of times and had to look around to see what I was supposed to be doing...but that's okay...after just one class I am looking forward to more classes and learning how to take care of my body...plus it was 'F'un... 

                                        

The 'Iron Lady' and a few hours of radical behaviour...

                        My Mom and I went to see the movie 'Iron Lady' this weekend...it brought back quite a few memories of the time I went on a protest march through the streets of London. I worked at Samuel Heap & Son...a dyeing and finishing of fabric company...I was a fabric inspector...looking for both manufacturing faults and dyeing faults...we belonged to a union...the unions in England at that time had a lot of power and control...every time they didn't like anything they called their people out on strike...I remember being on strike one time...I have no idea why we were on strike...the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wanted to disband the unions so of course the unions had a protest march against her.   

                        There was going to be a bus leaving from my place of work heading to London on 9th March 1980...my sister and a fellow co-worker had never been to London before so we decided to join the march...looking back on that time I had no idea what was going on with the unions all we wanted to do was go to London...

                           
                Here are a few photos of my first trip to London....my so called radical days...

                             My sister...this would be totally against her principles now...

                                              Me in Hyde Park before the march started...

The group from our bus...my sister...me...and a co worker on the front row...and a bunch of random guys...


              The movie 'Iron Lady' was very good if you are interested in British history or politics...

week 5 of 52

          This week has been a boring week of cleaning...I have finished cleaning out all of my kitchen cabinets...with working so much during the Christmas season it seems like my life has been out of control...no time for anything around the house or any time for me...so it feels good to be getting my life or at least my kitchen organised again...one of the things I came across in a cabinet was the first-aid kit...it looked pretty sad...two or three band aids...an empty first aid cream tube...an arm sling left over from when Aaron broke his collar bone and had surgery...a wrist brace from when I broke my wrist and had surgery...that was almost 11 years ago...like I said it was looking a little sad...I defiantly need to shop for first aid supplies before somebody needs something...

          I renewed my drivers license this week...I did something that I have not done before...I became an organ donor...I have thought about this for the longest time...my Dad died almost 11 years ago...when he died my Mom was asked if she would give permission for my Dad to donate his corneas...in all the stress and upset of my Dad passing away my Mom could not make that decision...she only had a few hours to decide...the time passed and the window of opportunity was lost...so this week I made that decision for my family...nobody needs to wonder what to do when I pass...but please just make sure I am dead first....

     JANUARY'S JOBS are done...now we go on to FEBRUARY'S FOCUS which I think is going to be FITNESS and FLOWERS and FUN....check back and see what I come up with....