Friday, January 28, 2011

Darned Picasa

I'm trying to figure out how to add pictures to it. I know I've managed a few but I can never remember what I did.

I want to create new albums so I can sort my pictures. I tried the Help and followed the instructions. Something about holding the Ctrl key while selecting the photos I want and then the pictures are supposed to show up in the Photo Tray. Not working. They sure don't make this intuitive, at all.

I need a 12 year old.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

We're Headed Back to Progreso!

Señor B came home from work the other day and asked if I wanted to go back to México. Gee, honey, let me think about that. As if he had to ask. Sheesh!  lol

We rent out our condo so we had to check to make sure it was available.We had planned on going down from Feb 13 to Feb 28 but flights were a bit cheaper if we stayed until March 3rd. Alas, our condo is rented for the month of March, so we have no choice but to fly back the 28th. To stay longer would mean renting a hotel for a couple nights, negating the savings on airfare.

Oh man. Ever since we booked the flight, I've been doing the Happy Dance. You know that one where Snoopy dances with his nose up in the air, arms outstretched? That's me.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

A Money Funny and a Warning

One day, when the girls and I were out and about, we went to the bank so they could get some money for shopping. YD does her thing and says, "What the heck?" She had planned on taking out 100 dollars and had keyed in 100. I'm not sure if she simply forgot, or if had I failed to tell her, that the machine was in pesos, not dollars. So she ended up with 100 pesos instead. Can't do much shopping on that when you're a 20-something...lol. We all had a good giggle over that.

That story leads me to this one...

When we were still in Cancún, I had told the girls they could get Méxican money from the ATMs. 'Cause I thought they could. We were all out shopping and the girls decided to get some money from one of those free-standing ATMs that was outside of a restaurant. HA! The darned thing spit out American money. Not a problem for shopping in Cancún, but it wasn't our first choice of currency for Progreso.

It wasn't until they were almost ready to fly home that they said they had been charged what they thought was an exorbitant service fee on that withdrawal. BF had taken out $200 and YD $100. They said they had been charged $40 and $30 respectively. Now, I didn't see their receipts to verify it and they didn't double check it with their bank statements at home. It's quite possible that the fee was in pesos and they read it as dollars. Still, it's good to know that the Cancún machines give out American dollars (although I recall reading somewhere that the American dollar isn't as readily accepted there, so that might change) and one would be wise to check the fees.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Amusing Stats

I like to check my stats to see who comes to visit me, how they arrived here and where they're from. Recently, someone found me by googling "I'm an idiot blog". Guess who's blog was top of the list? lol

Can't help but wonder, though, why anyone would be looking for a blog about idiots. It struck me as knee-slappin' funny. lol

Saturday, January 1, 2011

I'm an Idiot

In my first blog post I said I wasn't very tech savvy. Ergo...in trying to change the title of Steve's blog, I somehow managed to delete my list of blogs I read. So those of you who notice you're no longer listed, it was completely unintentional. Many of the blogs I had listed, I also have saved in My Favourites. Some were added along the way after seeing links on someone else's blog, but not saved to My Favourites. Hand, meet Forehead.  It might take me a while to get everyone back.

If you read me and your blog was listed but you don't see it come back in the next couple days, please let me know. If you read me and your blog was never listed, you can let me know that, too, and I'll add you. Share the love and all that....

Jeepers, I hate when I do stuff like this.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, everybody.

Yesterday, we got an email from our condo neighbours, L & M. They live 2 doors down from us. Our neighbours directly to the other side, Owen and Bindi, live about 1.5 hours from where we live, here in Canada. Isn't that wild? Anyways, the email said they were having a party under the palapa, down by the pool, and wished we were there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rub it in that we're dealing with this...lol.


That's our backyard this afternoon. It's been snowing all day. It was so quiet when I popped outside to snap this. The only sound I heard was a vehicle in the distance. No birds chirping, no dogs barking, no kids screaming in the way that only kids can when they're having fun, no skidoos zooming up and down the back alley. Nothing. It was like being on another planet.

Last night we went to our friends who live in the country, for our annual NYE get together. Fireworks at midnight are always on the agenda. As our friend was setting them off, I was thinking about the fireworks in México. Of course, we didn't have nearly as many so ours didn't last into all hours of the night. And I'll bet that nobody in México had to wear a winter jacket, Sorrell boots, alpaca toque and hold their mitted hands over their nose to keep it from freezing.

Today is a day of introspection for many people. I'm no exception. I've given much thought to some changes I'd like to make this year both personally and professionally. The biggie, for me, is to hold my family closer. Life is far too short as I learned, many times over, since this past Sept. I know it's a cliché, but all the deaths we've had in our little town this fall have really driven that point home.

Family has always been important to me but as the kids have grown and gone their own ways, I've also gone in a new direction, and it seems as though family hasn't played as big a role in my life. I've realized that my grandkids will also be grown and gone soon enough and I want to get to know them better. So I'm going to work to that end.

I hope that 2011 is kind to everyone and that what matters most to you is bigger and better than last year. Happy New Year.