Pete’s Musings

Ya so … we had a bit of snow in the St-Jean/Montreal Area last week. A good 3+ feet of dense snow in the fields. Pile that up on the sides of the roads and you have this:

That’s a lot of snow. We would have been stuck inside for days, but luckily we had a guy to come clean the yard, and this young chap to finish the rest.

As you can see, the snow bank is just over my nephew’s head and he’s as tall as I am (almost). That’s our house, it’s a bungalo … but you can’t see any signs of the lower level! Nick, my niece (Sarah) and the rest of the kids in the neighbourhood had a ball playing in it all; making forts, snow fights… the whole deal. Reminded my of when we were kids and getting this much snow was the norm. Turns out though that we haven’t had this much in such a short period since 1973! We have pictures of my sister and cousin Suzy playing on the snow pile at the old homestead (at age 4?) … and that was one huge pile!

Anyway, it was a warm day today and a lot of it is melting. Enough to clear the roads, which is good (neither I or my sister has snow tires!). I guess there is a new law coming into force soon in Quebec requiring snow tires for 6 months of the year. I like the idea, though it’s a bit too long to require it by law. Nov15 to Apr15 … could safely shave off a month or at least 2 weeks on either end of that. Sucks ’cause no money for tires here! Will be lucky to pay car registration in March - that’s like 240$ I think. Will try to save up for it, but it’s going to be really hard! but what else can you do eh?

Anyway, I’ve got to log off here and go spend a few more hours with the kids. They are leaving tomorrow for almost 2 weeks to stay at their dad’s. No Christmas here. I don’t miss the presents (I don’t get much or any anyway!) nor do I miss the rush to cook a huge meal or the dishes! Oh how i hate dishes … I waste my life washing dishes. 2-3 times a day, plus loading and unloading dishwasher. grrrrrrrrr. Plastic plates and cups … ya, that’s what i need! Along with some free delivery coupons! lol.

I’ve been out of work due to serious health problems for over 2 years now … it’s tough for sure. But one thing that I’ve learnt from the financial hardships is that it is good to be FRUGAL! … buying items that I never would have bought before, just to save a buck here or there. I thought I would share some of my favourites below. And hey, if you have some, please leave a comment! (Edit: this post is really long! even after I moved half of it to the two following posts! so beware. lol) Read More »

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while … publish some of the food recipes I’ve grown to enjoy over the past two years during my ‘rehabilitation’. hehe. I used to eat a lot of take out food and convenience foods. Living alone, working, and not being concerned enough about my health led me down that path. But since becoming ill with diabetes and liver problems … I have changed my eating habits drastically. I’ve also re-discovered how much I like to cook and try out new things in the kitchen. I’m a really slow-paced chef … would never survive in a restaurant, but I think I make some pretty great dishes. Read More »

My mom sent me this the other day, I’m not sure what it is … but it’s supposed to change (grow) over the next 35 days. Something for you people to look at because I’m too lazy to post. Read More »

I’ve been in the hospital (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu) now for a little over a month. That’s a really long time. Back in Nov 2005 when my liver was on the verge of failing, I was in the hospital for less than a month. I guess that puts things in perspective a bit, this is a serious injury. It’s hard to accept being in the hospital … just waiting for a place to open up in the rehab centre. But there’s not much I can do about it, I’m still lacking the ability to do a few vital things … climbing stairs and bending down low being the most significant. I have to be able to get in and out of the house/car in order to be home. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do those things soon. I’ve already tackled my first flight of stairs here with my physiotherapist. Read More »

Been in the hospital (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu) for a week now after 2 months of pain and worsening condition at home. I could no longer get out of my bed and to the bathroom on my own … so had no choice but to call the ambulance and have them bring me in to hospital. i’m looking at at least 2 more weeks here while i wait for a spot in a rehabilitation centre. I’ll have to go to one of those for at least 3-4 weeks from sound of it from the ortho doc. not only do i have one lumbar vertebrae fractured and compacted 50% .. but i also have about 4 others that are weakened and fracturing. gotta do everything possible to prevent hurting myself more or i could become completely immobile. Fell 3 times at home in the last week i was there. really bad situation.

things are gonna get really rough next couple months. as if I needed more hardship eh? emotions are pretty bad ATM. then i got the back pain. worries for what future will bring. and trying to figure out how i’m gonna pay for rehab and modifications to home so I can return there. going to need rails installed, purchase a height and head adjustable bed, etc. all on welfare! grrr. life sucks

My domain name expires today and I don’t yet have the money to renew it. So as of tomorrow, peacekeeper.biz will likely become unreachable to everyone. Hopefully, I’ll be able to scrounge up the 9-20$ needed for this and be able to get the domain back before someone else grabs it. Going to take some time though, because I don’t have a CC to pay with, and need to rely on paypal transfer or regular mail, each of which take weeks to go through.

I feel kinda bad about this, but gotta eat and at least pay my car and bankruptcy every month. If I miss any of those, my future is pretty much in the shitter. I’ll never be able to finance another car if I loose this one and Read More »

Well, I’ve been sitting on this for almost a week now, guess I had better let it out. Had an incredibly discouraging visit with my Dr last thursday. After 4-5 months of my Liver function tests not budging at all, they finally moved. Unfortunately, they moved in the wrong direction. We saw a jump of 25-35% across the board. I am now back to the point where I am just a few steps away from the danger zone (which is about 2-3 times normal LFTs) where it wouldn’t take much to push me into liver failure. Really bad news. What’s worse is that my Dr doesn’t really seem to know what to do about it. The meds obviously aren’t doing the trick. Read More »