This is what I sent out for the personal newsletter for my column at BackWash. Just thought I'd stick it in here too. Now I'm going to nuke some pizza for dinner.

For awhile I saved these little newsletter chit chats. But, you can't keep everything. That's one of the little lessons life has taught me.

If I stayed in one place and had no one bugging me to put everything away I could become the pack rat old lady living in her house surrounded by cats, paper and assorted other things. There would just be a pathway through all the junk and it would pile up to the ceiling. You know what I mean. Every now and then you read about some old person who was found dead in their house. They are always the ones who liked to be alone, insisted on being left alone and seldom went anywhere for anything.

That, or I'd be a baglady hauling around a shopping cart with twisted wheel. It would squeak and squeal and I'd often give it a swift kick to get it moving again. The cart would be loaded up with mementos from my life. All the standard paper which is even now all around me. The odd coupon for groceries, forgotten and expired. That sort of stuff. Every now and then something would fall out of the cart and be lost. But, soon I'd find something else to put in it's place.

You may be wondering what made me think of shut ins, bag ladies and heaping garbage... I'd wonder if I was you. In our local newspaper there was a story about just such an old lady. She died alone, found in a house so full of garbage they think the only option is to knock it all down and haul it away in chunks. It was an old family farm. In the family for generations. Now the family is gone, the house will be destroyed, but the land is still there. It alone endures.

Hope you are all doing great. Spring is here. Today it was hot here. Hot for this time of year - 24 Celsius.

You get punished for the things you do wrong. But seldom are you rewarded for the good things. Instead, the things you do right are taken for granted. I think that's one problem in parenting. Kids who do well are over looked for the kids who do wrong. Thus kids are not rewarded for good behaviour, honesty and etc.

It's Friday and I have the day off. Plus I have money! What a great day this is shaping up to be. It's even sunny out and most of the ice storm is melted or melting. Even our driveway is showing through again. Too bad the path up to the front door is on the sheltered side, it's still snowbound. But they say Monday will be up to 20 degrees C. That will finish all the ice/ snow.

It was kind of neat though. How often is the snow so hard and icy that you can stand on it and not have your feet sink, not even one quarter of an inch. (Using imperial measurements for the Americans).

So, what are the plans for the day? No plans! Those are the best plans. I might go to Chapters, I might go out for lunch to the Swiss Chalet or I might just drive until I stop somewhere and see what I end up with. I might even get lost and find something new. Anyway, I know there is a Tim Hortons donut shop where I can get a coffee to start the day. Its along Woodbine but north of Newmarket. So once I shut down the computer and fill up the gas tank I'm off for adventure of the road touring kind. I could even stay over night somewhere, I have Saturday off too. But, it's a bit too much money for hotels. If only I could win the lottery!

There were some things I could have gone to but they are all in the downtown zone. Even if I could navigate the parking I'd still have to get all the way down there. People have started driving like speed idiots again now that the weather is warming up. So, I am happy to stick with north of the city. Besides, there is more to see and always a possible old house to explore. Not guaranteeing I'll be brave enough to go in but at least I'll see it. I can even take pictures from the road at the very least.

Well, enough typing. Time for action. Have a great day whatever you are doing.

I had a great day yesterday.

The Tim Hortons I remembered from the last time I was lost but it was a LOT farther than I thought. I drove almost up to the lake. It was actually in Keswick. I stopped in Canadian Tire cause that was right there too. I bought some practical rust inhibitor for my car and the pretty impractical sewing machine. It's pretty small but it was $40 compared to the $400 one that someone stole when I moved back here.

After all that driving I never did go to that Tim Hortons. They had it cut off in the parking lot so you had to go back on the highway and then spin around really fast to get into their driveway. Instead I had lunch at the Swiss Chalet across the street. Nice lunch at just the time before the lunch crowd started. Very peaceful and I enjoyed sitting in the sunny window.

On the way back I took a detour or two just to see where they went. I considered going home as I got back that way but instead I drove right past the house and went to Uxbridge for groceries and a Tim Hortons coffee there.

Other than the groceries which I needed anyway and the sewing machine the whole trip cost just over $20, including gas. Pretty nice day and I had the radio cranked up the whole ride. Windows down too cause it was beautiful outside after all our snow and ice.

I was wrong, it wasn't Gator it was worse. That invasive spam program called Bonzai Buddy, however it's spelt. That was the program that would install itself along with Snood. You couldn't even use Snood if you turned down Bonzai Buddy. I found my old post about the whole thing in Kids BackWash.

I wrote to the program's creator at the time and he insisted there was nothing wrong with Bonzai Buddy and it was not completely invasive. He was misled or misleading. Either way, we'll see if he changed his tune.