Election, Book Sale and Family Visit

A busy week at the island pad.  Monday I survived working the election.  Yes, survived.  Nothing like being on your feet for 14.5 hours straight with 2 10 minute breaks.  It took 2 days afterward to recover.  And I was one of the younger ones working it!  Oh well, it's done.  Only a couple of ill-prepared cranky people.  Funny enough they were all around 25-30-year-old men versus cranky old people like I expected.  In Canada you can't vote on election day if you don't have the proper ID or paperwork and you can only vote at a specific place.  In advance polls there are a lot more options but because our system is still entirely manual with hand counts (mainly a preventative measure for security as they wait until other countries master electronic voting without outside interference) things have to be done the way they are done.  Oh, and one lady who said her 10-month-old was in the car with her husband and she simply could not wait in a 20-minute line....ok then.  Go home.  Really I think she expected to let her go to the front.  Um, no.  People are just thoughtless some times.

We are experiencing the prettiest fall for many years, primarily because we didn't have a drought this summer like others and the trees didn't lose their leaves from lack of water.  This week we've had a lot of wind though so many of the leaves are now on the ground.

I took in a bag of stuff to the thrift store.  This included items from both my house and Mom's.  Buddy is so snoopy, he was sniffing the bag just a moment before this shot.  He is doing really well, with short walks every day to continue his physiotherapy after his hip dislocation.  We are at 6 weeks now.

A few freebies came in the mail this week.

Other than that we went to a used book sale for charity.  I only bought 4 books as they raised the prices from last year and even though it is for charity it is difficult for me to spend $2.50 on a used book when I see them all the time at the thrift stores for 50 cents to a dollar.  I only bought hard-to-find authors and one book for resale.

We had a nice but short visit from Stepson #1 and his GF.   She is such a nice girl.  There was actually some discussions around where a wedding would take place (Ottawa) even though they aren't engaged yet.  It will happen likely in the next three years, there is school to finish and maybe a house to be purchased first.  Even better it came out that she wants to start thrift store shopping to help save the environment.  I was able to brag about my wardrobe being 90 percent thrift store purchases, exceptions being undergarments.  I still have a couple of items that are 10 plus years old that were purchased new before I became a thrift store addict.

Work seems to be getting busier which is good.  A couple of inquiries last week which will hopefully turn into signed contracts.  In the meantime, we are finishing up our second online course which takes a ton of work upfront but when it sells is basically residual income.

That's what is shaking this week.  I still have dental pain so likely will have to go back and get that fixed (think $$$).  It's been a month, you think modern dentistry would be better than that. 

We are prepared for the hordes of trick or treaters but this year one of us will have to stay with Buddy leashed in the house so he doesn't go bananas.  Halloween is his most hated time of year.  I am not sure we are going to decorate this year for it (have the decorations) as I hate to do so only for just one day.  I enjoy decorating for Christmas as the decorations are up from Nov 25 to Jan 1. We shall see.  Happy Week everyone!