Our Trip to Florida

It's definitely a state I have never been. Honestly it wasn't high on my list of states to go to...probably not in my top 10.  I am not a beach girl. I am not a hot weather girl. I am not a big crowd girl.

But Florida is the home of DS1 currently and we planned our trip down to coincide with a weekend where he plays 3 games at home. This is rare for his team.

It's definitely a long way from the prairies of SK but he seems to have adapted well. He drove down, weaving his way through Minnesota, to visit his college roommate and his new wife. He didn't get a chance to visit his US mama and she was definitely disappointed. Then we drove through Wisconsin, Illinois, and made his way down to Nashville. The Minnesota Wild was there playing, and one of his friends plays for that team. They had a quick reunion.

Then onwards down to the panhandle of Florida, where he met the team owner, manager and was shown to his new place, just a stone's throw from the Gulf of Mexico.

There are definitely some covid concerns as we headed down. We flew through Minneapolis where there were no masks to be seen. Then onwards to Atlanta. Lordy that's a big airport. It was surprisingly easy to find our way to the shuttle and figure out what terminal we were in. You could definitely feel the humidity and heat in the air It was a long layover.

We arrived in Florida just after 7 PM. DS was waiting in long term parking. It was so good to see him after 5 months. He always looks so comfortably at home no matter where in the world he is living.

After a quick supper, we started to our hotel. We had been up and travelling for 18 hours. It was a pretty drive through the city and then we headed towards our hotel. He lived on the beach so we travelled across a really long bridge, and then a shorter toll bridge to his island, where our hotel also was.

I am so glad we booked a Gulf Facing room. There is nothing quite like opening up your balcony and seeing the Gulf (though it was getting dark) and hearing those waves. It was a beautiful feeling. We sat there and visited for about an hour then he left to go home.

We had lots of long walk on the beach. It was super windy and during one of them it started to rain. Most of the time there were very few people on the beach. Just those silly Canadians. For the rest it was probably too cold.

His beach community is mostly hotels, condos, beach houses and restaurants. Definitely a tourist area. But since it was off season, things were fairly cheap, especially for accommodations.

He left us his vehicle so we could drive about and see more of the area.

His arena was nice, but it is definitely weird being in a rink where so few people really understood hockey. Most have never been on ice themselves. There was a lot of spectacle - smoke show and laser beams and all that jazz. A few other parents were down as well - from New York, from Michigan, from New Jersey and another family from Saskatchewan so we got to visit a bit. It's amazing that we knew people in common from the hockey world.

We did a lot of beach restaurants, which was ironic since I am NOT a fan of seafood. DS took us to one of the sponsor restaurants, which was definitely most costly. Thankfully he got things at half price. Definitely a place you tip well. Interestingly, there are no restaurants open after 10 PM, which is  a pain if we wanted to go somewhere after his games. Not even fast food restaurants. The only one open was called Whataburger, which reminded me of a Mc Ds.

We visited his condo and he took us for a drive on the Scenic Route, which is so very narrow and sand dunes everywhere.

The trip home was definitely more hurried. A quick flight to Atlanta and a rush to get to the proper terminal and gate. Starting to see masks. Getting off in Toronto - masks and gloves everywhere. This is probably one of the poorest labelled airports and stressful for someone who doesn't know where they are going. A short layover didn't help. It was a lot of run run look look swear run and we got to the gate 5 minutes before boarding was done.

The flight back to Saskatoon felt like forever.

For me, this was the best Florida trip possible. Low temps. Low crowds. Our own pace. Lots of sit and relax and read and walk time.

confessions

Since I started this blog in 2008, one of my most proud accomplishments was my organization of the household paperwork. I proudly set up my blue filing tub with labels and things were filed dutifully.

I was on top of it.

Need my last Credit rating? no problem

Need that MC statement for those tires I bought? here ya go

The last year everything in my world fell apart, including my filing.

Now bills still got paid, but there was more than one occasion where I was paying off my MC and I accidentally sent the money to my VISA, without realizing until it was too late.

Then I wasn't able to find papers - bills, the house transfer papers - the receipt for the new water heater to prove it was still under warrantee.

The more exhausted and stressful my world became, the worse the paper work organizing was. Things got shoved. On top of the fridge. In drawers.

And then moving when I was so sick did not help matters. Things were shoved in boxes and bags and laundry baskets.

Nor did having two power bills, two water bills, two phone bills for two different houses.

and yes I still get paper bills, and I will until I feel I have things under control.

All this online with different account numbers and different passwords because they have different requirements is overwhelming.

and I didn't have the brain energy to focus long enough to begin, without also feeling overwhelmed. I would say this is a product of the grief and depression.

Slowly, as I start to find me again, I am finding paperwork.

I started by emptying everything out of my filing tub and sorting into piles. Then I shredded the things I no longer need.  The night before last I made new labels for the tubs.

Power bills for each house, water bills, tax, etc

And then I began getting paper sorted and into the correct piles.

With each pile done, I felt more and more in control and could literally feel the stress leave my body bit by bit.

I called DH downstairs to the office to proudly show off the clean desk ( mom's desk) and went through where everything is kept so he knows too.

With each box I slowly unpack I find bits here and there and I stop and get those filed right away so I know where everything is.

Taxes forms are coming in for all of us and for dad's estate and I don't want to misplace a thing.

I may be taking a long time to unpack but it's a fine line juggling what was left here from mom and dad and putting my stuff in where it feels right so that the blend they wanted, eventually happens.

It felt really good to see that sorted and organized bill tub.

The Sugar Bowl

It was just a Corelle sugar bowl. From probably the early 90s. Not those old blue ones I see in news articles that are worth thousands of dollars ( I have those too).

Just a little sugar bowl like the picture below.

When we moved to mom and dad's house, or rather, AS we were doing the move, bit by bit last fall, one of the first things I did was bring my dishes over and move mom's over to the other house where DS2 is living now. It was part of my psychology of moving in.

But I didn't touch the sugar bowl.

That bowl sat in the middle of the table for years. It was there when we came to supper with mom and dad. It was there for morning coffee or afternoon tea.  It was what I played in, slowly picking the sugar up with the spoon and letting it fall back into bowl. My own kind of zen garden I guess.

My mom would bug me and tell me to quit playing in the sugar.

My dad spilled it accidentally one day and 'blamed' me. We all had a good laugh over that.

When DS1's girlfriend did one of her first visits over here, she too mindlessly dipped up sugar and let it slide off the spoon. That's when mom knew she was the right one for my son :-)

After mom passed it stayed on the table and was there as my sister and I tried to maintain 'normal' with dad... morning coffee and afternoon tea.

And when he passed it was one of the things in the kitchen I purposely didn't touch.

I've had a tough go mentally. I still have to 'not think' about why I am living here in this house. It's just too hard. I remember what I lost, and I remember finding him here, in the house.

I just appreciate the moments. And though I don't put sugar in my coffee, I do put a little in my tea and it's there, and so are mom and dad.

So today when DH was pulling the plastic cap off the top of the water jug before taking it back to the store to get refilled, the jug bounced.....and  the sugar bowl went flying. Off the table and a big smash.

I heard the 'shit!!' and came running.

I think DH was prepared for a strong emotional moment. I have done that far too many times in the past. A few tears came down my cheeks and I said 'it's ok. It doesn't change the memories'.

I think he was a bit in shock. I restated that it was ok and started to clean it up.

The bowl broke perfectly in half. I mean......perfectly.

I rummaged in the drawer for the little tube of crazy glue dad left behind. I don't touch it. I do not have a good track record for using crazy glue and not getting it on my fingers.

DH glued it back together.  A tiny crack if you look hard enough.

The bowl is back in the middle of the table, ready for tea tomorrow.

I am grateful I handled it as well as I did and that tells me that I am starting to come back to me.

Hello me! It's been a long time.

Where the money stands

as of February 3rd

Debt

Mortgage - $2 032.00

College LOC - $5100.00

Total Debt - $7 132

Planned Savings

TFSA - $9900

RRSP - $14 262

TFSA 2020 - $500

Back to School - $300

Summer 2020 - $0

Christmas 2020 - $500