Grey Matter is fighting back!!!

I have always has the theory that when you are learning new things, that something has got to give - space is limited. When you force new information in, other random information is pushed out. 

This week I find my mind is fighting back, and telling me they don't want to lose the information it already has, and saying I am not accepting this new stuff!

We have had online tests on work we have not covered, as a way to get us to familiarise ourselves with the website where we find all the answers we will need. This involves also trying to understand what we are reading, and from that working out the answers. We need to get 80%, but at least we can keep trying to get there.

The time in between these tests has been great, our trainer has a great way about her, and makes it fun. We also have activities within our teams, which means we get to know our colleagues better as we go along. 

We seem to have the tests in the last hour of the day, and by then your mind is saying enough already, so for me Friday ended on a stressful note.  We will be covering this work later once we have done the tests, with the logic that we will already be somewhat familiar with the information.  My Grey Matter is not seeing that logic right now.

I have found myself quite exhausted every evening, mostly mental, but the body is saying I have to switch off and sleep now. 

We have had a relaxing weekend for the most part, we did see some sunshine yesterday, so the grass got cut. We really did not get a summer this year, and here we are in August and it is not happening. 

I have calmed down from the stressful state of Friday evening, and hoping I can keep that up for next week, and get through the tests without panicking, so I can complete them.

I am now Employed!

As of yesterday, I am now ranked among the Employed. I had Orientation yesterday, and will be starting two weeks of training today.  Can't really say much about it, other than it is in a Call Center, and everything else is confidential. My understanding is that we will have two weeks training, and then a week doing the job, then back into training for another week, and then back into the job.

The location is the same one as I got laid off from over nine months ago, so it was wonderful to see all the familiar faces, and everyone was glad to be back together again.

My husband just had to listen to me last evening, about how my day had gone, so there was no crafting going on in sight.  My hope is that once we are through the training phase, and I am on some sort of routine, that I will be able to continue with making things, which I will show you.

Today could be described as another Saga!!

This is my last day of freedom basically, as tomorrow I start my new job.  First thing, I pondered how I would spend my day, and apart from my hen Margot not being well, and needing to be hand fed, I thought I would need to enjoy my last day at home.  Nine months is a long time, and it has been one saga after another, and one crisis after another, so Tough is the only description for it.  

So this morning I went out to attempt to get Margot to eat, and there was very little interest. I suddenly felt I was really crawling with crawling things, and took off the shirt I had on, and I had a sweater on under that, and turned back one sleeve, and I was crawling with some sort of mite. I put Margot back in the nest box, and I decided that I would make an effort to clean out the chicken palace, and give it a good scrub. I even found a bathroom cleaner that had added bleach, which my husband no longer allows, due to the septic tank: so that got used spraying walls and floors and roosts.. and water and lots of scrubbing, plenty of elbow grease went into that.   I had the lid of the nesting boxes open, and the front door.. for air to go through and dry everything up again.. there was sunshine and a breeze which was perfect.   

I had moved Margot to the mini run on a towel before the scrubbing started, so I tried to get her to eat, but no interest truly, then I realised I had things crawling on my hands again.. I checked her and she is truly infested with some sort of mite.. and for lack of any better ideas coming to me, I brought her into the house, and filled the washing up bowl with warm water and washing up liquid.. and washed her.. and the water was full of these mites. I just kept emptying it, and doing it again and again.. endlessly. Then when I thought I got them all, I took her through to the lounge, and tried to dry her with a hair drier, then moved her up to the bath tub, wrapped in a towel, and she seemed comfortable. 

The rest of my day, was checking on her, and seeing signs of mite life, and she got bathed again and again, and so it went on four times in all. I discovered that the mites moved to her head.. and I was protecting that.. but even that got soaped up.  She is now keener to eat, and even gave her water with honey, also water with electrolytes so she seems more settled. 

I did check the rooster and the four hens, and they were all clean, and also one of the four chicks is also free of mites. I conclude that Margot is the only hen that had an infestation.

During the day, emails went back and forth with my husband, and since it was a  civic holiday in Canada today, and yes he was working at his workplace: it was down to him to find something to dust in the chicken house when he got home, so that we could put down fresh  bedding for the chickens.

I still have Margot on a towel in our bath tub, and she has had some of the powder put on her too, as they suggest putting the powder in their dust baths, so I knew it was not dangerous to do that.

About to have our evening meal, and will see what the end of the day brings.  Suffice to say, tomorrow I am back to work, and am planning on being suited and booted and be on top form.

Nine Months at home, and no baby to show for it !

Have you noticed the big use of apostrophe's in my post titles, do you think that says something about me?

So the big news is that I am going back to work next week. I was laid off last October, and didn't get unemployment for the first five months.  So it has been the winter of discontent here big time.  Here I am nine months later, and no baby to show for it :-)

For all that I was going to be making things to sell, I have made things, and yes a shed load of things to sell, but that is as far as I have got.  I think now I have to plan on having a table at a craft market, and see if there is any interest. I want to be in a situation to keep on making things, and do that once in a while. If there is a real interest, I like to think that it could be more my job than the day job.

Having said all that, more recently, with time getting a bit critical for immigration, I have been Sudoku crazy, yes I got Sudoku crazy while living in France in the early 2000's, and it is very good for the grey matter did you know? And on top of all that, it is very calming, so it has additional benefits.

This past week I discovered the Grandfather Patience card game, so you see, yet another hobby that is good for the grey matter. My mother you see has Alzheimers / Dementia - call it what you will, and my memory has always been very poor, all my life truly, so it brings you up short when you have this hanging over you. Hence the need to use the grey matter in whatever way I can, so that I can remind myself that my mind is still sharp.

I have no idea if anyone is reading this, but I will now try to post more regularly with being over this latest crisis.   Talking of crises, a friend in England said to me, 'Blimey Gemma, if you didn't have crises, I bet you would get bored'. And right now I would be happy not to have another crises ever again in my life.

I finally have some Good News!

I have sadly neglected this Blog for too long, I wanted it to be a positive thing in my life, and didn't want any doom and gloom to enter it, and so to avoid that, I avoided the Blog.


The past weeks have been a roller coaster here in Nova Scotia. However, I did spend 10 days in Toronto with my sister, our mother was there visiting for her 87th birthday. Our mother has dementia now of some form, so we treasure any time we can with her.

We had a wonderful time together, even went to a spa for a facial, and I had my hair chopped, do you see Dianne Keaton before you?

And to the Good News! Regarding my health saga, I did have my follow-up Ultrasound and I just got the call that there is no change, and that I am good for another six months.



After tears of relief, I am back on track here, getting refocused on my Job Hunt.  Gemma Shoebridge means business.

Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!

That all sounds terribly grand, most people will still refer to them as Will and Kate.  

The dress was amazing, very much Princess Grace, the style suited her perfectly, and the train being a part of the dress worked very well.
The viewing coverage on the CBC was excellent, but unfortunately the main commentator, along with others at various locations were not a well informed. There were many annoying errors, which stood out with being British and all.  I am in the process of downloading the BBC UK coverage which has a Welsh presenter of good standing,  having had years as a news reader, and hoping that will make the reviewing more pleasurable. It was frustrating to have the presenter fluff badly over quite important royals titles, and while watching famous people entering Westminster Abbey, some were totally missed, obviously not famous in Canada, and not worth a mention. For such a big event, I think more effort could have been put into researching the guests so that they could be mentioned.

While all this went on, I made a piece of french knitting for the commission I have had for the Celtic Knotwork necklace, and a very nice bracelet with a nice cable.  I have a busy weekend ahead, which may mean no pictures will be added until next week.

Happy Monday!

Well here we are at the beginning of another week. I feel more positive this week, set off by a beautiful day yesterday,  we had sunshine and it was warm enough to sit outside. This was instead of the promised snow and freezing rain.  And this week includes the wedding anniversary of our civil ceremony, 16 years since in Croydon, United Kingdom. 

But the week start with a baby shower / luncheon for my ex boss, who has just become a grandmother, and this is to thank her truly for working tirelessly, so that the company gets a new contract, in order for us all to get back to work again. I have a baby blanket which was waiting for a baby, so I am planning to give that to her.

And then this evening, we have been invited to dinner with good friends, who have been there for us when we have been in such dire straits this winter. 

Thursday is our anniversary, and I have been instructed to be ready to go when my husband gets home from work.  We are going to our favourite restaurant in town, and the last time we were there in early March for my husband's birthday, was the first time we had been there in almost a year. My sister had given us a gift certificate so that we could treat ourselves, and the people thought maybe we had gone home to England. On the contrary, we are here and still fighting to stay on our island. 

Here and Here are links to Cape Breton Island, a small piece of heaven, that reminds me of my home in Wales, and and here is a photograph of the Cabot Trail.

Click Here for the Wikipedia information on the island.