2007 is almost over

Wow it is really hard to believe that 2007 is almost over. Lots has happened this year; some good and some not so good. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. It was a great Christmas for us, but I missed my parents. They came back for Boxing Day dinner. My hubby loved his amp. I bought him and my kids were totally spoiled and I was really spoiled too. Now I'm back to work for 2 days and then have another 5 days off in Jan. We get an extra day off Jan. 2 is Wrestling Day here. Yippee for me because the kids will be home and we can spend some time together: probably playing Wii. I went Boxing Day Shopping yesterday and spent way too much money.( I noticed Zellers had Wii's in on Boxing Day;go figure, but they were full price!) We are getting a new bed; couldn't resist a 50% off offer and no payments for 3 months! I cannot wait for it to arrive because Sean has been getting a sore back from our bed and, well it is worn out. Hee hee hee! Worn out because it is old. What were you thinking? Enjoy the rest of the holidays and I wish you a safe and happy New Year!

13 Things I'm Thankful for

I was tagged by Robyn, so I thought I would share the 13 things I'm thankful for.
1)My wonderful hubby. He has been such a blessing in my life and treats me like a queen. He bought me my convertible this summer...just because. He's worked so hard on all the reno's around our place and has done a really good job.
2)My 2 children, Kelsey who is 13 and Mike who is 11. They are real treasures to me and are growing up so fast. They make our family complete.
3)My parents, who live in the same town. As quirky as they can be at times, I love them dearly and would be sad if we didn't live in the same town. They have been so wonderful with my kids and my mom gets to go to swimming and skating and goes to other school events that I can't go to because I have to work. I am thankful for her camera, so I can enjoy the pictures she takes.
4)My sister and her family. Growing up me and my sister were rivals, but now that we have both grown up (sort of) I would totally be lost with out her. Plus my 2 nephews are so great. It's nice to see them being so close to my kids. Mike and Brian are ichatting and playing rune scape together. It's like they can be together even when they are so far apart.
5) My friends. Robin, who has been my friend for 33 years. She's always been there for me and trust me; we've been through a lot. Also my friend Robyn, who moved away to the city of Regina. She's been a gift from God to me. At least we can keep in touch through emails and bloggings. I am thankful for my friend Brenda. When we get together, we always have a great time and we never get bored of each other. I like visiting her because we get to go to Starbucks and Chapters. We have similar interests in books and I always enjoy a walk through Chapters. I cannot wait for the day I can buy her novel at the book store. She is very talented and I enjoy having a fellow Mac lover for a friend. I am also thankful for all my other friends that I can keep in touch with on facebook.
6)I am thankful for my home and all the reno's that went on to make it feel more like a home and less like a trailer. I am hoping one day to be able to buy a real house. For now my I am happy with my house and the small mortgage payment that goes with it.
7) I am thankful for my health. I had some eye problems earlier this year, but now things seem to have settled down and I am eating healthy and excercising and feeling good about my self. Except when I eat too much sweets, but hey it's Christmas right?
8)It seems funny to be thankful for my job, but I really am. We could not survive if I didn't work. So, as bad as my job can be at times, I'm lucky to work full time days and have weekends off. Which makes sense when we get to reason #9
9)I am thankful for being out of debt other than mortgage and utility bills. This has enabled me to save up and we are going to Disney in 42 days.
10) I am thankful that I still have my grandma and grandpa. They are getting on in years, but they are still around and missed and loved every day. Lots of my friends don't have any living grandparents. It's just a sign that we are getting older.
11)I am thankful for Flavours Coffee shop. It's no Starbucks, but they make an awesome Maciatto. I love my coffee and I have 2 for 1 coupons, so I can treat my friends.
12)Oh yes I'm also thankful to have God in my life. I'm sad that we are churchless right now, but I am looking forward to changing that in the New Year. Maybe one day we can help with another church plant in another city, so we can finally move and get a house.(: All in his time, so I best be patient.(:
13) I am thankful for my Mac computer that is so awesome. Video chatting is awesome, so no more long distance phone calls to my friends with computers! Plus having the internet to email and keep in touch with everyone is awesome.

So, there you have it! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

This is from my friend Robyn

Thanks Robyn. Also thanks for the pictures and the card!

Bad roads and bad drivers

Paramedics, firefighters, and search and rescue volunteers work to remove the driver from a car struck on Highway 97 Monday morning. The driver was taken to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. Another driver was taken to Cariboo Memorial Hospital.

On Monday there was a terrible car accident involving 5 cars at Hwy 97 S of Williams Lake. A 19 year old girl was t-boned on both sides of her car and was rushed to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. It all happened because a car was in a rush and cut off a truck, who tried to avoid the car and ended up spinning out of control. It will be a miracle if the 19 year old girl survives. She's in really bad shape. I wish people would slow down and think of others on the roads besides themselves.
Today I had a close call walking down town. I saw a truck at the stop light and there were some pedestrians crossing in front of them. The light had changed, but the pedestrians weren't quite across the street yet. Then the driver of the truck revs it's engine and I'm thinking to myself how rude that was. By this time I am crossing the street when that truck decides he is turning left and missed me just barely by maybe 2 inches. The people all around could not believe how arrogant this driver was being. I took down his liscense plate number, but I haven't decided whether it's worth my time to write a raspberry in our newspaper! I wish that those bad drivers out there would think before they drive so dangerously. Life is precious and you could be just rolling or strolling along and it could be over just like that. It sure makes me be even more cautious when I'm driving, especially when the roads are so bad. So, if you are driving and are in a hurry remember it's better to arrive late than not to arrive at all.

Our first real Christmas Tree

This tree is freaking huge. It didn't look so big when it was all strung up at the store we bought it from.It shed a lot of needles on my living room carpet when we were putting it up, but now it seems ok. We had purchased new LED lights for the tree. Our artificial tree came with the lights already on it, so it was a challenge to get the lights looking just right. The smell of the pine is fabulous. I might just be converted to getting a real tree from now on. I bought a new Angel for the top of the tree because my daughter wanted the snowflake tree topper for the tree in her room. Last night Kels and I finished all the Christmas baking, but she told me she still wants gingerbread cookies. I guess you are never to old for gingerbread cookies. I'm sure we'll have time this weekend to fit that in.

Frustrating Christmas Shopping

I finished up my Christmas shopping over the weekend. I didn't get the one thing my kids really wanted because it is sold out. So, unless there is a miracle in the next 2 weeks, they are out of luck. Yesterday was a terrible day in our household. We had gotten up early to go shopping at Walmart and we got home at 1:30pm. I decided to treat the kids to McDonalds. We did drive through and were over charged, but we caught it before we left and they refunded me just over $4. We get home to find that my son didn't get any sauce for his chicken nuggets and no fries. My daughter dropped her pop. The food wasn't all that great. I guess that is why I don't usually eat there. I was mad, so I went back into town and complained and they gave me the missing fries...oh sorry about that! My kids keep talking about how much they wanted a wii. This went on all afternoon. My son even went on line looking, but I told him I had already tried that route! It's so frustrating! The dinner table was dead silent. After dinner my hubby put on a movie; Christmas with the Kranks and that brightened up the mood. Plus I had a couple glasses of wine. Now we have to wrap up all the gifts. I'll probably give me kids an IOU for the wii. I'm sure I'll be able to get one by spring time!

I can't believe it is December

I just looked at the calendar and realized that Christmas is only 3 weeks away. I cannot believe how fast time has flown by. This is the first year my kids didn't get a chocolate advent calendar. I thought about it yesterday when we were out shopping, but I was told by the cashier they were all sold out. Their Dad didn't even get them one. Oh, well I'm sure they will survive. This year I think we are getting a real Christmas tree. My hubby is going to take the kids down our property and find a perfect tree for us. He bought new LED lights for the Christmas Tree. I hope they find a really skinny one because we just don't have a lot of room in our living room. We found a channel on the TV that has a fire on it, so I guess that can be our fire place to hang the stockings. One day we will have a house and lots of room for Christmas decorations. For now we are happily squished in our mobile. (:
Shopping on the weekend was very frustrating for us. They are sold out of a lot of items we wanted to get. Grrr. We might just have to take a trip out of town this weekend even if only to Walmart. I bought Sean his gift and I can hardly wait for him to open it. He's going to love it. (A big thank you to Stacy & Brenda for helping me pick it out). I had a great time with Stacy & Brenda this weekend. It's too bad it was so cold. I hope they are warmed up now that they are back home in Kamloops. I quite enjoyed doing yoga with them and I am going to try to do yoga on a daily basis. It sure feels good to stretch like that.

One in a million photo

This photo was emailed to me from my Kids' former exchange teacher. They are from Australia, but I'm not sure where the photo was taken. It's a pretty neat shot. I hope it's not a fake):

Another Crazy Work Week

My week started off with not being able to go into my office until 10:30 am on Monday. The building had been broken into sometime after 6 pm on Sunday night. They took a crow bar and hammer and broke the lock of my office door. They didn't find anything of value to take from my office,so they broke into a couple more offices in the building and stole a some very valuable stuff. They also broke the vending machines and stole all the chocolate bars and cash. I had to get my door repaired and we re-keyed the entire building. Which meant that I got the job of dishing out the keys to the staff. So yesterday was pretty much a write off for getting anything done. I had some errands to run after work and ended not getting home until after 5:30 pm. There was a road block on my way home, but they just waved me through. I wonder what that was all about. So far today has been pretty good at work, other than being short staffed. I wonder what the rest of the week will bring? I am craving a chocolate bar...but the vending machine is empty. Hmmm. I guess that's good for my health and pocket book.

Winter Woes

Yesterday it started to snow quite heavily late in the afternoon. Not thinking much of it and because I have good winter tires, I headed home after work. When I started up my road, which is 1km hill up to my house, I wasn't even a bit concerned that my car wouldn't make it up the hill. That was until I got to the first corner and there was a car straddled sideways in the ditch. By this time I see several cars, but decide to continue going up. Then all of a sudden my tires are spinning and I am sliding backwards and fast back down the hill. Finally I was able to stop, just missing the ditch. Someone had spun out at the same place earlier and had put sand down to get their vehicle back on the road. That was what saved me from ditching and damaging my car. There was no way I was going to even try to get my car moved, so I put on the 4 way flashers and called Sean at work to let him know about the car. He left work a bit early to see what he could do. In the mean time, I decide I should try to walk up the hill. Within a few steps I slipped on the ice and fell down hit my head and slid down the hill until my car stopped me. I think I laid on the ground for a few min. in great pain before I was able to get up. I opened the passenger side door and sat down and waited for my hubby( knight in shining armour) to rescue me. After I waited in the car for about 5 min. one of the men in our neighbourhood came and talked to me about my situation. He was trying to see if he could pull me out and up the hill to our driveway. But my car is all plastic in the front and he couldn't hook on to it. Then Sean showed up and they chatted about the best strategy. Finally they were able to get the car out and Sean parked it at the bottom of the hill. By this time there were several more cars in the ditch. Yikes! We went home in Sean's truck and had dinner. My neck was in so much pain, I had to take some ibuprofen. The roads were not sanded until after 10pm, so my car had to stay at the bottom of the hill. At least I should be able to get home tonight!

Bullying can happen no matter what age you are

I came across some info on cyber bullying. It is happening way too much and not only is it effecting school children, but adults in the workplace etc. are victims as well.


Are you a victim of adult bullying?
Posted: Oct 14th 2007 8:34PM by Lauren Greschner


Pretty much everyone was bullied at some point in their childhood. Whether it was by the dominant kid in a social group who never let anyone else decide what games to play, or the traditional big kid on the playground who terrorized every other child, chances are you've had to deal with some form of bullying when you were little.

Many of us think that all gets left behind when we grow up into confident adults, but unfortunately that's not always the case. Have you ever been to one of your kids' sports matches and seen another parent blow up at a referee? Or perhaps you're a part of the PTA and one of the other parents consistently refuses to listen to your suggestions or ignores you altogether? Maybe you dread going to work every day because a gossipy co-worker tries to belittle you with the information he or she spreads to your fellow workers?

According to this, all of the above constitute adult bullying. Even as a grown-up there are people who will try to boost their own confidence by intimidating others and trying to cut them down. If you think you may be a victim of adult bullying, take a look at the piece for suggestions on how to deal with it. If you know someone at work or in your social circle who is being picked on, stand up for them. Much like when with kids, a bully will often back down if they know that no one else is willing to stand for it.

What is bullying?
Bullying is a big concern for many parents and, if your child is distressed by any sort of bullying, then it should be taken seriously. Bullying is defined as persistent unwelcome behaviour and can include anything from teasing, deliberately ostracising someone to assaults and abuse. For more information on how to spot if your child is a victim of bullying go to the Scottish Anti-Bullying Network www.antibullying.net
Bullies will use many ways to get at their victims and the Internet gives them yet another method. This form of bullying is sometimes called cyber bullying and describes the misuse of email systems or the Internet for harassing people, such as by sending unpleasant or aggressive messages. Although this is a recent phenomenon and may not yet be taken seriously by everyone, bullying of all kinds is wrong and should be challenged. The good news is that there are some direct practical steps that you can take to help your child if they are a victim.

Bullying by email
Experts on bullying believe that many bullies tend to lack good communication skills and therefore the impersonal nature of email makes an ideal tool for them to victimise others. Unfortunately it is not immediately possible to check where an email has come from – you have to trust that the named writer is genuine. But it is not always wise to make this assumption. The best advice is
if a name is not familiar, it may be safer not to open the email
if the sender is a known bully or if they have sent unpleasant or annoying messages before, then ignore it and delete it straight away
if the bullying happens through a personal email account, report it to the sender’s email account provider – you can find this address after the @ sign
if it is not obvious who the sender is and there is continual bullying using email, then there are tools to trace senders. To find out more about this email tracking, go to one of the search engines, (e.g. Google, Yahoo, etc) and type in “email tracking software” - this software can then be downloaded. Once you know the identity of the bully, get in touch with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) who can then block the sender from your email.
if the email bullying is occurring in school, then this should be dealt with through the school’s anti-bullying policy.

Bullying on the Internet
You may be aware of recent episodes where people have been victimised via websites – one incident involved pupils setting up an offensive website about their teachers. Of course, the victim may not always be aware that these sites exist. However, if your child realises that they have been bullied in this way, then the first course of action is to contact your ISP. They can find out who runs the site and can request that it is removed. If the person responsible is at school with your child, then let the headteacher know. Any false accusations or anything on the website which you feel is breaking the law should be reported to the police.

Kneel mail

This morning I was watching 100 Huntley Street. I don't usually watch it, but honestly there was nothing else on that was worth watching. The preacher was yelling his sermon out, which kinda makes me laugh because the audience isn't deaf. Why do some preachers do that? But, because he was yelling it out I could hear what he was talking about while I was eating my breakfast in the kitchen. Here's what got me. He said we all need to turn off those ipods, stop wasting our time on Facebook and emails and get on our knees and get into kneel mail. Yikes, because I have an ipod, I belong to Facebook and who doesn't have email these days? It did get me thinking though. I spend a lot of time doing those things and not a lot of time praying and reading the bible. Plus we quit going to church over 5 months ago. Yikes again. But if you look into my life, I am living out God's word by my character and personality as well as trying to show others a godly life.(I am not perfect, but I 'm human) We don't go to church right now, but one day we are looking forward to being involved with a church that that makes a difference. Not just a church of programs, but a church that has a core group of people and a heart to bring change to this lost world we live in. So, perhaps I need to send God more kneel mails to find out what he is calling us to do this season.
P.S.
Did I tell you that the power was off this morning shortly after breakfast for 6.5 hours. Coincidence? I had 7 hours of no TV, Music, Facebook, Internet or emails...hmmm.....interesting eh?

A friendship rose to raise our spirits

One of the ladies I work with thought that yesterday was such a terrible day for most of us in the office. So, this morning she brought us each a yellow friendship rose. She is so thoughtful and sweet.

On a good note the President of our division called me into her office and assured me that things will be fine in the office. Which means I get to keep my full time job. She even thanked me for doing such a good job over the last few years. It made me feel a heck of a lot better. This just proves the power of my prayers yesterday.

When words hurt

Have you ever said anything to someone that you really never meant to say and wanted to take it back? The thing is about words is they leave a mark on you even if you say you take it back or apologize. I said some not so nice words to my daughter and I felt terrible about it all day. That was about a month ago when I was over stressed at work. Today I had some harsh words said to me and no reason for it other than the person saying it wants to make our lives miserable. When she left my office, I thought how rude and yet what can I do about it? So, when words hurt I just pray more and trust that God will take care of it.

First Snowfall of the season

3 Months til Disney...the count is on!

It is officially now 3 months until we take our trip to Disneyland. The hotel and flight have been booked and paid for, so now we just wait. I am really looking forward to this trip. I"ve wanted to go for well over 30 years and my kids have been bugging me to go for at least 5 years. What I am looking forward to is seeing my mom getting her dream trip with her oldest grandchildren. She has wanted to go to Disneyland as long as I have and probably even longer than that. It would have been nicer to go when my kids were a bit younger, but I'm sure it will be better now that they are older. They will be able to go on pretty much any ride and I won't have to hold their hand the entire time we are there. I am looking forward to Pirates of the Caribean. We will be there for an entire week, so that gives us time to do other things besides Disneyland. Our passes are Park Hopper Passes, so we also get to take in California Adventure. My hubby is not looking forward to the plane ride. We are taking a a Boeing 737-700 and it only takes 2 hrs and 56 min. to fly from Vancouver to Los Angeles. From there we take a transfer to Anaheim to our hotel. We are staying at The Howard Johnson Hotel which is a 5 min, walk to the front gates at Disneyland. We are going to have a blast! I am getting really excited, can you tell???

Another Whirl-wind weekend

I left the house at 7:30 am on Saturday and arrived at my friend's house in Maple Ridge at 1:30 pm. I had a nice visit with her family and then headed over to my sister's house which is only a few blocks away from Robin's house. We worked on a craft my mom had sent with me for the Halloween Party. Then I went shopping for a hat for my son. I looked at several places and finally had to give up because it was getting late and I wanted to help my sister get ready for her Halloween Party. My sister dressed up as a Vampire and I was a witch, but I refused to wear any make up. Take note that none of the other adults dressed up. Hmmm. My brother-in-law kept telling us he was the invisable man and couldn't understand why we could still see him. He's funny sometimes. There were 16 kids at the party ranging in age from 5-13. They played Halloween Hangman, ate warm brains with blood and monster mouths. To drink they had witches brew or bloody eyeballs. (Hot dogs, apple slices with peanut butter and candy corn teeth and lime koolaid and the bloody eyeballs were a cherry frozen in an ice cube put into their drink) I think my sister is very creative. I don't have the time or energy to pull a party like that off. The kids watched a movie. The younger kids were upstairs and the older kids watched a scary movie downstairs. By the time all the kids went home, I was exhausted and we went to bed.

The next morning I actually slept in until 8am. Then we had to get ready because we were going to Kate's Baptism at the Catholic Church in Maple Ridge. After the service we all went to Boston Pizza for lunch. It was a really nice lunch and after that I had my dreaded 6 hour drive home. I left Maple Ridge at 3:15pm. I stopped at Silverdale for Gas since it was only 92.9/ liter. The next stop was 100 Mile for a potty break (Tim Hortins) and I bought the kids hot chocolate and some bagels for breakfast this week. There were a lot of deer on the road and I did not like driving in the dark. I probably won't do that again. When I got home at 9:30 pm I was exhausted. I was only in Maple Ridge just over 24 hours. Crazy eh? Just another whirl-wind weekend Sandi style!

Wow Weekend

As usual when you get 2 friends together who haven't seen each other in a very long time you get a Wow Weekend. Simply put; we had a blast! We had a wonderful dinner at a Greek Restaurant in Kamloops callled The Dorion. They have such wonderful food and plenty of it. Brenda and I enjoyed calamari and the Greek Treat. I enjoyed a glass of chardonnay with my dinner. We had no room for dessert, but tht was okay because we went to the Commodore Lounge and had a Mango Mojito. It was really good too. We talked non stop and it was an awesome girls night out. On Sunday after church, we went to a Mexican Restaurant for lunch. Wow again. I absolutely loved my meal and the Spanish guy working there was very nice. Then I got to enjoy going to the Gym with Brenda and her daughter Heather. I ran and power walked on the treadmill for half an hour and rode the bike for 10 min. It was great excercise and a lot different than doing the same thing at home. We went to the movies on Sunday night. We saw 30 Days of Night. All I can say is it was creepy. I had to hide in my coat quite a bit during the show. I have never been in a theater where it was so quiet. Poor Heather was so scared at one pont she was having troubles breathing. After the movie, we went back to my friends' house and I watched a calming movie with Laura (Brenda's oldest daughter) and Heather. They are such wonderful teens. I really enjoy visiting the entire Oig family, including little dog Prince. Even though we are far apart, we are still close like we were when we all went to Crossroad in Williams Lake. Actually I think Brenda and I are more closer and have developed a really unique friendship. I think Brenda and I talked for 6 hours straight on Saturday. I guess that is why we have sore throats. It was an awesome weekend and we made it to Starbucks twice. The drive home was nice. The sun was shining and it was super hot out. I could have brought the convertible after all because it didn't snow and the weather was fabulous! I did miss my hubby while I was away especially after the creepy movie. Maybe next month we'll do a couples weekend in Kamloops and also get some early Christmas shopping done. Sounds good to me!

The countdown to the weekend is on

Another week is almost past and I am very happy about it. I am counting down to the weekend. This weekend I am going to visit my friend in Kamloops and have a girls night out. I can hardly wait. Plus I'll be able to do some shopping at Costco and Wal-mart. Oh and I'l be enjoying some Starbucks while I'm there. It seems every time I planned to vist my friend, something got in the way. I haven't been to Kamloops for 6 months. Last time I was there I had an eye specialst appointment. This time I'm going to have fun and enjoy hanging with my friend. Well, I must say I deserve it after the harsh month so far at work. This will be a great pick me up. My kids are away for the weekend and Sean will be working on the siding. So, I might just as well go and enjoy myself. The forcast is calling for snow on Sunday, so I won't be taking the convertible to Kamloops. Let's face it; Fall has arrived. The weather is much cooler, so my top down cruising days are done until the late spring. Now, I just have to survive tomorrow at work. It's going to be busy with the Hockey Pool deadline. We are expecting 300+ people to come in tomorrow. I'm sure most of them will come just before closing at 5pm. I was going to leave after work on Friday, but I wouldn't make it to my friend's house before dark. I don't like to drive in the dark by myself anymore. I'm am getting excited for my trip.

Haloween Costumes

Another Haloween is sneaking up on us again. This year I am totally not organized. I have no idea what my kids will dress up as. Mike is usually pretty easy to get a costume for, so I'll probably only have to buy him a new mask. Kels is a different story...there is nothing out there that she likes. It seems such a waste of money for the amount of time they'll wear them. My kids don't go trick or treating because Kels is too old and Mike has braces (so he wouldn't get to eat most the candy). Which, I am totally thankfull about. However they still have school parties and Pathfinders parties they have to dress up for. I hope we can get a pumpkin before they are all sold out.

I Survived, now I'm back

I must admit the last 2 weeks at work were very challenging, but I survived. There was one day I went home and thought I'd love to call in sick the next day, but darn it...That's just not me. It wasn't that the work was hard, it was just a lot of extra work that had to be done. I went home every night dead tired.My wrist was sore from typing on the keyboard all day and my vision at the end of the day seemed fuzzy from looking at the computer screen all day. I was having a conversation one evening and was asked to add up 2 numbers and I just couldn't do it. My brain was fried. The good new is I made deadline for my job on the A/R's so hopefully there is a bonus for me next month if the numbers come in right. Well enough about my work...









We had a very nice Thanksgiving Weekend. My Uncle and cousin came up from Vernon, but they didn't bring Grandpa. Apparently Grandpa was feeling sick with a cold and decided it was better if he didn't come. My sister and her family came that weekend too. We took a walk with on the River Valley Trail. We went down to the river. It was a beautiful walk, but takes much longer when you have younger children and a dog with you. At the river we found someones inukshuk (I have no idea how to spell that word). It looked like a frog, so Gary (my youngest nephew, who's 7) and I put another rock on top for the frogs eyes. Then the boys and Dads made their own inukshuk. The walk back up was grueling and it started to rain, but we made it.

The next night we decided to have a campfire at my place. We roasted marshmallows and drank hot chocolate. My hubby gave the kids sparklers to light up and they sparkled brightly in the dark night sky. We all had a good time. The kids decided to jump on the trampoline in the dark (there was a porch light on so it wasn't completely dark) and they had a great time. Brian, my other nephew who is the same age as Mike enjoyed riding down the hill on the old plastic toy Jeep. He rolled it a few times, so my hubby had to duct tape it back together. They had such a good time with their cousins. You could tell by the perma-smiles they had on all weekend. It was great. They haven't been to my house in over 4 years, but we get to see them in MR quite a bit. When they left on Monday, we worked on the siding some more. I stained the facia boards hunter green and it was a hard job because I had to use the ladder the whole time. I really don't like ladders since I was a kid and fell off one while picking cherries on a tree in the Okanagan (that was the late 70's and I still remember it as if it was only yesterday). There is still a lot of work to do on the siding and we are hoping to get the majority of it done before more snow flies. Yes it snowed on October 4th, but it didn't stay. Now it seems that the afternoons are almost hot like summer, but in the mornings you are scraping frost off the car windows. I guess that's fall for us.

Yesterday, I rewarded myself for surviving work. I left the house at noon, had lunch with my friend, went to get my nails done and finished the day off with a new hair cut and style. I feel great!

No new posts for a while

For those of you who check my blog on a regular basis, I will not be posting for the next 2 weeks. It will be amazing if I survive the next 2 weeks at work. I am covering for a girl that is on holidays for the next 2 weeks and we have 11 extra suppliments in that time frame. Plus I'll be doing my own 40 hr/week job. So as you can well imagine, I am going to be bagged over the next 2 weeks. Which means, I probably won't have time or feel like posting.
See you Oct, 15th.

What have I done all week?

I can hardly believe that it is Friday! This week seems to have flown by and trust me, I am very thankful of that. Now I'm counting the days until Thanksgiving when all the family will get together. My kids are excited that their cousins are coming for a visit.

I went to a candle party with Kelsey and her Pathfinders group on Wednessday. It was nice to get out for an evening. Mike started band this week and it's going well. He had to hold a note for 20 seconds. He did it no problem, but some of the kids were struggling. Kels joined the book club at her school and I am sure that will be good for her since she loves books so much. Maybe she'll make new friends with other book lovers. I've just been working, working, working and excercising. My friend gave me her manual treadmill, so I try to use that on a daily basis as well as my mini trampoline.

There is a toonie matinee at the theatres this weekend, so I'm going to take the kids to see Transformers. On Sunday we are counting inventory at Windsor Plywood.

The leaves are changing colors and it is so beautiful outside. I just love the begining of fall.

Protecting your Vehicle from Theft

My convertible is only insured until Nov. 9th because we won't be driving it during the winter. We were discussing whether it's worth it to get parking insurance for it because it's so old and not worth a lot book value. Then we were thinking that we have put more into in than it's worth and it's an awesome car (very valuable to me). To put parking insurance on it til spring would only be $40. So why not buy the parking insurance and have peace of mind?

My friend's hubby had is truck stolen while it was being parked at his friend's place. I've found out that they have found the truck and it is burnt beyond recognition. I'm sure they will be sad about the loss of the truck for a very long time. The truck had sentimental value to both of them. These people that just steal vehicle for joy rides are big jerks! (I'd say more about what I think of them, but I have to keep my blog PG)



Last month in WL there were over 100 vehicles stolen (over 3 cars/ day stolen). As we approach the cooler fall weather, unfortunately the auto thefts will increase. They are at the worst during the cold winter months. In the winter I don't leave my car running to warm up unless I am in the car or watching it carefully. I need to get back in the habbit of using my car club for my Neon. I always remember to use it for the convertible. The fellow we bought the car from told us that his daughter never locked the car, but put the club on. I guess that makes sense because they can easily cut the soft top if they really wanted in.
Last week a car just like my Neon was stolen from the movie theater during the matinee. Is auto theft a big problem where you live? What do you do to protect your vehicle?

Today's Message

Today's Message of the Day is:  

 Life is short,  
Break the rules,  
Forgive quickly,   
Love Truly,  
Laugh uncontrollably,  
And never regret anything that made you Smile. 

Cool Fall Weather

I woke up this morning to a freezing cold home. The temperature in my house this morning was only 13 celcius. So, there was no way I could stick to my rule to not turn the furnace on until October. Every year my goal is to keep the furnace off from May to October. Luckily, the cost of natural gas is decreasing in October. They have already lowered my equal payment monthly by $15. The temperature was -2 outside and I had to warm up my vehicle and scrape the windows. The frost on the car windows was so thick, it was hard to scrape off. What a difference in the weather since the weekend! The leaves on the trees are already turning yellow, orange and red. I really enjoy the colors in the fall and the crisp fall air. It is one of my favorite times of the year.
Thanksgiving is just over 2 weeks away and my Grandpa is coming for a visit with my Uncle. I haven't seen my grandpa since last summer. He turned 93 in August. He recently bought a brand new car. It's amazing that he is still driving at that age. I miss him so much and I am looking forward to his visit. He hasn't been to Williams Lake in over 5 years. I can't wait to show him all the reno's we've done. I'm sure he'll love it too.

Mike and his Clarinet

Mike was very excited to get his clarinet today. He played it til his lips hurt. Then he practiced putting it together and taking it apart several time. It was very cool to watch him make such an effort with his new instrument. I've picked up his books, so now we are just waiting for band to start. I forget how noisey those instruments can be, but we are looking past that and supporting Mike in his desire to be in the school band. I was amazed how well he could blow into it with out squaking. I'm sure he'll do well in band because he is so keen. I wondered how he would do with his playing because of the braces, but his teacher doesn't think it will be a problem. He might just need to use wax for his braces when it is band time. We are buying the clarinet because it was such a good deal and it's in perfect condition. How can you go wrong, plus I don't have to pay the lady until payday this Friday, but she let me take it home to try for the week. I think that is pretty cool, since we are strangers to each other. She was at my work last week and was thinking of placing an ad for a musical instrument and I thought for sure it wouldn't be a clarinet and I was wrong. She must have been God sent or something. At any rate, she decided not to place the ad and was waiting on me to see if I wanted the clarinet. It was cheaper for me to buy it from her than to rent it locally for the school year, so I am very happy about that too. All in all, it was a pretty good day!

Boating adventure, or not!

My parents are at Felker Lake again this weekend camping. The weather is so hot, Mike and I headed out there today in my convertible for a visit and a boat ride. My 2nd cousin on my Mom's side, lives just a few houses away from the campsite they are at and when I arrived this afternoon, he was visiting them. He didn't stay long because he had a birthday party to go to. I enjoyed a cup of coffee and then we went out on the boat with the tube. Mike calls the tube Air Head. Mike was thinking that his grandpa wasn't driving the boat fast enough for him, so grandpa decided to take a big turn and make a huge wave with the boat. A huge wave he made, so huge that Mike got air and went flying off the tube and skipped like a rock on the top of the water 3 or 4 times. I'm freaking out because I think Mike will panic since he landed in the lake. Grandpa is thinking the same and turns the boat around super fast, my mom falls up against the side of the boat; ouch, she hurt her ribs. And there is Mike swimming his way back to the boat in his life jacket. He wasn't at all freaked out. By this time I have calmed down, my dad is checking on my mom and I'm pulling Mike back into the boat. The poor boy was shivering because the water was very cold. After that he decided that he had enough tubing. So, we went back to shore. My mom decided that she was Ok and didn't want to go into town to get checked. I'm sure she'll have a nasty looking bruise by morning. Mike made the fire and roasted marshmallows and drank hot chocolate. We came home for supper. So, that was our boating adventure, or not.

On another note, I am looking at buying a used clarinet for Mike as he is joining the band this year. I now have 2 to look at on Monday and then I'll decide which one is the better instrument. I am hoping the one that is less expensive will work out, but either way they are both a really good deal. Sure beats renting one. Renting one in WL is very expensive. I checked into renting one from a different company and their price was much more reasonable, but I'd have to pick it up or pay shipping costs. I am so excited that Mike wants to join band. He's very keen and I'm sure he'll do well.

5 months til Disney

I have been checking my credit card online to see if my passport has been charged and this morning I noticed a charge from Passport Canada. The charge was for my passport, so I'm still waitng for my kids' to be charged. It should be soon because they were all mailed together. I have been assured that if there were problems with my kids' passport applications, they would have sent them back by now. Now we are just waiting for Sean and my mom to get their passports and we are good to go. I am getting really excited about our trip. It's less than 5 months away until we leave!

Carnival rides say so much about your personality

You Are a Log Ride

You prefer to live a fairly calm, relaxed life... with a few surprises thrown in. You don't tend to get yourself worked up easily. You can roll with what life throws at you. In relationships, you are steady and solid. You maintain a pretty broad perspective on what's going on. That's not to say you can't get swept away. You're emotions run as deep as anyone else's. Your life seems like it has been remarkably easy so far. But that's due to how you manage it. You never stretch yourself too thinly, and you think out your decisions carefully. Taking the time to enjoy each day is important to you, and you don't let your emotions rule you. You stay the course and do what's right... knowing it will all work out in the end. At your best, you are tolerant and understanding of other people's quirks. You take "go with the flow" to the extreme. Even if you don't like where you're going. At your worst, you repress your feelings and end up being a little tightly wound. You definitely have some explosive emotions that occasionally come to the surface!

What Carnival Ride Are You?

Sunny September Weekend

The weather sure was nice this weekend. I took the kids for a drive with the top down on the VW and we met my parents at the lake. They brought their boat, so the kids finally got to go tubing. (the tube is called Sea Buscuit). We were out on the lake boating for about 2 hrs. Mike tubed until his arms were so tired that he couldn't take it any more. Kels went after Mike, but didn't stay out tubing as long. They both had a great time. Mike fell a sleep in the boat while Kels was tubing. I guess all that holding on made him pooped. Kels tried to get me to go on the tube, but I wasn't into that. Perhaps next year I might get the courage. Here are some pictures of the kids on the Sea Biscuit. The first 3 pictures are of Kels and the last 3 are of Mike.They were kinda far away and I didn't get a chance to zoom them closer with my camera.






After tubing, we went to my place and had a BBQ. My mom made her wonderful potato salad and I had made a bean salad. It was still warm out so we were able to use the patio set outside on the deck. All in all, it was a pretty awesome weekend!

What a week

This week has just been super crazy. The kids started school, which always takes time to adjust to after such a long summer break. On the second day of school, I kept on driving by the bus stop and forgot to drop Kels off. Good thing she reminded me that I missed her bus stop just after I drove by it, so I was able to still drop her off. Kels got lost for one of her classes on the first day of block rotation. She went to the office and they helped her find her class, but she had missed most of that class. So, 1st day of classes I come home from work and Kels has a pile of homework scattered all over the kitchen table. I'm thinking that this isn't going to work out because we need the table for dinner. So, I bought her a desk for her room. It just barely fits right now, so we need to move some furniture around in her room. Now she has a proper homework place.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Etelka,at work. She is moving to Merritt and will be the publisher of the Merritt Herald. We are happy for her promotion, but sad to see her go. She was like family to us at work.


Last night my friend and I went to see Stardust. I enjoyed the movie and my kids are going to see it this afternoon at the matinee. It was nice to just get out with my friend. I haven't done that in ages. We both laughed at the same parts in the movie and we had a great time. I'm going to try and do that more often. I get so busy with my life and family that I rarely take time our for me. It was a nice treat to go out last night. My hubby is sick with a really bad cold. I felt bad for him, but he really wanted me go go out and have fun with my friend, so I did. I am so glad the weekend is here because it was such a stressful week at work. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to win the lottery and won't have to go to work. I'll probably feel better about it by Monday and since I don't even have a lotto ticket, chances of me winning is zero. So, it's off to work I go on Monday. What a week!

Back to school

Today was the 1st day back to school for my kids (it was only a half day). This is the first year that they are attending 2 different schools, which also means that they take the bus at 2 different times. Kels was a bit nervous about going to high school today, but it turned out just fine. I think I was more nervous than her. I waited for her bus to come this morning. It works out pretty good for her because I can drive her to the bottom of the hill to catch the bus on my way to work and the bus usually comes about 5 min. after I've droped her off. I told her to pay attention to the buses after school because there would be more than a couple of buses leaving Columneetza, probably 25+buses. Mike catches the bus 30 min. later and he gets a ride with my hubby to his bus stop. Poor Kels, she gets to school almost an hour early and has to stay an hour past school to catch the bus home. I don't know why they cannot send a different bus for the high school kids. It sure makes for a long day, but on the other hand, she can get her homework done while she is waiting. I bought Kels a new watch, so she's be able to keep better track of the time. In Columneetza, there is no recess, but 7 min. breaks between classes. Kels shouldn't have a problem making it to her classes on time. Mike is very excited to have Mr. Smith as his teacher this year. We thought for sure he would have Mrs. Sandberg, who taught both Kels and I grade 6. It's nice to have life going semi back to normal. That's what I like most about back to school time.

Happy 40th Anniversary to my parents

My parents are truly an amazing couple. I hope they have a wonderful anniversary.


Today my parents celebrate their 40th anniversary. They are out at Felker Lake camping this weekend and we are going out to see them in just a while. I got up early this morning to bake them a cake, lunar rhubarb cake (my dad's favorite, my mom likes it too). The kids are going to go tubing on the lake and I'll enjoy the nice boat ride. We are having a nice dinner at the lake and after campfire tonight, we are coming home. We had enough camping earlier in the summer and it is supposed to rain tonight. I don't do camping in the rain. I'm sure it will be an awesome day. I might take a jump in the car and head over to Chimney Lake to visit a friend who lives up north, we used to work together when I was 18 yrs old and we worked at Mr. Mikes.

Gift Giving Quiz Results

You Are a Practical Gift Giver

Your gifts are useful, appropriate, and custom tailored to each person. In your opinion, the best gifts are gifts that someone will actually use. Your gifts may not be the most glamourous, but they are always appreciated.

What Kind of Gift Giver Are You?

Car Pictures

Here's some pictures of my VW minites before it broke down on Dewdney Trunk & 216th. Luckily I have BCAA and they towed me to an approved shop and we had the car fixed. The repair bill wasn't all that bad and we are hoping to get re-imbursed since it was an error by the mechanic in WL that put the part on a couple of weeks ago. The ride home was great. We left the top down from Maple Ridge to Cache Creek.

I've added a few pictures to my web album of baby Kate. She is super cute! Click on the link on my blog (on the left)