Inspiring Words

Happy Pi Day to all the mathematicians as I understand it is today, at 9:26:53, we celebrate the first 10 digits of Pi – March 14, 2015, 9:26:53 = 3.141592653

I saw this pretty floral arrangement in the store recently, I was tempted to buy it.  I'm sure even the birds wouldn't know the flowers were artificial.

This is an inspiring story I read in the paper about a quadriplegic mom raising 3 year old twin girls.

Quoting the most inspiring words I found from the article:

Burton overcame her anxieties by drawing on the same strength she used while learning to live with a devastating spinal cord injury.

“I learned how to adapt,” she says. “I also learned I had to accept that there were certain things I couldn’t ever do.

“I’m paralyzed. I can’t change that. But I can change my attitude about how I feel about my paralysis.”

High-Tech

I saw these pretty flowers at the mall the other day, couldn't resist taking a quick photo.  I really don't need any more artificial flowers at home.

I enjoyed watching some of the Oscars last night, did you?  I'm not familiar with a lot of the latest movies, but it's nice to see the movie stars out.  Daughter L saw '50 shades of Grey' and thought it was an awful movie.

McDonald's has free coffee all day this week, starting today!  The promo goes until March 1.  Well, in Toronto anyway.

I got an email about the new Canadian passport with all its new high-tech security features.  It's good to know.  Under black light, it reveals stunning images on seemingly blank pages.

Test your news IQ

If you feel you are up on current events you may want to try this quiz. I passed (7/13) but likely by guessing a lot, also I don't live in America.  It asks if you recognize a bunch of prominent people in America news. I would recognize Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, he has been in the news a lot lately.

I was in church yesterday.  It was cold and windy although sunny.  The priests were full of prayers for our new Pope Francis.  It was also coffee Sunday, put on by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic charity group, so after mass I had a nice cup of coffee and some Timbit donuts.  At this time of year, they are pushing for Sharelife donations, similar to the United Way drive.

Here are some pretty flowers to brighten your day:

The Penny

McDonald's here has posted notices that the Canadian Government is phasing out the penny (since February 4th actually).  It says from now on, they will be rounding your bill up or down to reflect that fact as they will no longer be dispensing pennies.  They will however accept the customer's pennies.  In fact, when I was in McDonald's recently, my bill was like $7.14 and I gave them say $7.15 and I didn't get any change back.  The US will not phase out the penny.

I was in church this past weekend.  Their tax receipts will be ready next weekend for pickup.  It's First Communion time, so they had an enrollment ceremony for the little kids that day.  They were so cute holding their baptismal candles.  A lady sitting next to me was wearing such a pretty knitted sweater I had to compliment her.  She said she made it from bits and pieces she had lying around.  I was most impressed as I don't knit.  It was a  pretty flame orange colour with splashes of purple, navy blue, etc.  Yet another lady was wearing the prettiest earrings with a shiny hairslide to match.

Here are some pretty flowers I took a photo of at the mall:

Pretty Flowers

Here are some pretty flowers I saw at the supermarket recently. I love those spider chrysanthemums (the green ones):

I received a free copy of a new magazine called 'Good Times' which is a retirement magazine. I enjoyed reading it and am thinking about subscribing. There was at least one interesting article saying that people in their fifties should start planning their retirement. It said retirement is not something passive, it should be thought of in almost the same way as planning a future career based on your hopes and dreams and what you love doing. At least that is what I got out of the article. I never thought about it like that. It profiled a couple ages 59 and 61 living happily.

Then I thought, those savvy marketers must have targeted me to receive this free magazine! Yes, it's a very unsettling feeling.

Included with this magazine was a flyer recommending us to ask our doctors for our shingles vaccine. This seems to make a lot of sense. It says one in three people will develop shingles especially if you've had chicken pox (which most people have had). So have you had your shingles vaccine and/or do you think you'll get one?