It's bloody cold today, -36C with the wind chill.  Hopefully this will be the last cold snap before spring starts to slowly arrive.  I did wonder how Gracie managed to get Jack to daycare today with the cold.  I hope she took a cab instead of a bus.  I pick him up this afternoon from daycare and he'll stay with us until Sunday.

We're trying, actually Gracie's family is trying, to get Jack and Gracie back to living together.  I have my doubts but I guess time will tell.  I'm not getting fussed about it this time.  Everything seems to just follow the same old patterns, a stretch of no drinking or drugs, followed by a gradual decline which is then followed by a precipitous fall off a cliff. My son is no different, he's back in jail.  

I don't know how much help Gracie is getting from her sister this time.  The sister and her boyfriend had a very close friend murdered earlier this month.  Gun violence is not that common in Canada and when it does, it usually revolves around drugs or mental illness.  Their friend was gunned down on the street at 5:30 in the afternoon.  Not sure what their friend was involved in, or if it was a case of mistaken identity.  

I'm making progress on getting the condo ready for sale.  The ceiling will be painted for $1000.  The painter can do the walls for an additional $2000 but I'm far too thrifty to pay that much money for someone else to do what I can do.  It will take me a week to paint but I enjoy it.  The cleaners have been booked and the screen door will be replaced (the renter's cat tore a hole through it).  I'll be glad to have it sold and the money will go toward our mortage.

Yesterday was a down day, no car, nothing that needed to be done.  I cleaned the house, washed the floors, made shortbread and watched a movie that wasn't as bad as I had expected (Shotgun Wedding).  But I felt down all day.  Today is a better day, I have errands to run and things to do.  I do like to feel productive which is something I will have to deal with when I retire.  I will still work part-time I think, or volunteer, because I need a purpose.  Or maybe Jack will be living with us, I don't know.

Speaking of Jack, my hubby ordered glow in the dark stars for his bedroom.  So far I have put up stars in the shape of the big dipper (the only constellation I can recognize) and Orion.  I'll put up another one today.  I'm guessing Jack will love them.  Maybe this summer we can get him out to Elk Island National Park which isn't far from us, and is a dark sky preserve.

My ode to nursing, which I miss so much.