Biking to work

Today was my test run to see how long it would take me to ride my bike to work. So, I got up extra early this morning and left the house at 6:50 am. 25 min. later I was at the back door to my work. So, I put my bike away and headed in to get cleaned up and ready for work. I had bad helmet head, but I was prepared with my brush and hair spray. I just put my hair into a pony tail and started my day. The good news is my coffee cup fit in my water bottle holder, so I was able to enjoy my mocca java when I arrived at work this morning, plus I feel really good. I have time to read the paper and blog before I start my shift for the day. The ride wasn't all that bad, but I found it was cold riding down the big hill (that was the first 10 min. of my bike ride). After that, it was much better, but I didn't like the big logging trucks so close to me, so when I made it to Rose St. (small hill to ride up) I went up and drove along 2nd Ave. I could feel the burn, but that's what I am looking for...need to get my excercise! My goal is to try and ride my bike to work for the entire month of August. As long as the weather co-operates, I should be fine, but, you won't catch me riding in the rain and at the end of the month. I usually need the car to run errands at month end. Well, I guess we will see how it goes! The good thing is I am getting my excercise!

My Summer Ride...surprise surprise

First I wanted to say how great this weekend was. We had a guest on Sunday come for a visit. It was Sean's friend from the Island. He's the younger brother to Dean, who was the best man at our wedding. We haven't seen Cory for 4 years. He was living up North for a while, but now he is working doing road sealing, which takes him all over the province. He'll be working in WL for a week. We went to the lake and drove around in the 62 Launrentian. Cory, like his brother, loves cars. While we were stoped at the store a fellow asked if he could take a picture of the Laurentian. Then he said that my hubby got his dream car and now it was my turn. So my hubby tells him that in a couple of years, I'm getting a convertable for my 40th birthday. Cory asked me what kind of convertable I would like and I jokingly said a VW bug...sun beatle. Sean says No way and they both agree that is not what I should get. Hello??? It's my car and my present, so who are they to decide. I told them I found a Fiat Spyder for sale in the paper for $4000. It's teal green and it reminds me of my friends' car. (but they don't have it anymore, boo who) Then they decide that it shoud be a different color. I guess teal is too chicky of a color. Again, "Hello??? It's MY car?" Well it was funny but probably you had to be there to find the humour in the situation. So, this morning I decide to take a blogthings.com quiz. What summer ride are you? Guess what it came up as??? It made me laugh!

Your Summer Ride is a Beetle Convertible

Fun, funky, and a little bit euro. You love your summers to be full of style and sun!

What's Your Summer Ride?

Yet another Quiz

Am I getting addicted to these quizes? At any rate I am having fun doing them and with some of them there is no way I will share the results. Actually last night I had a bad dream because of one of the quizes I took yesterday. Funny how it came back to me in my dreams...nightmare actually!

What Your Hands Say About You

You are artistic, intuitive, and inspired. You have good people skills. Flexible and broad minded, you can fit in to any situation. There's no telling where your life will take you. Consistent and reliable, you like to count on structure and routine in your life. Your emotions tend to be nervous and potent. Your energy - both positive and negative - deeply impacts your life.

What Do Your Hands Say About You?

The Super Hero Quiz Results

I am glad to see I came up just like my favorite super hero, Superman! I have loved Superman ever since I watched the very first movie when I was a kid. When I was in grade 7, I wrote an essay on what I wanted to be when I grow up and it was to work with Clarke Kent and Lois Lane in the newspaper business. Funny how things turn out eh?

You Are Superman

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. And pretty cute too. No wonder you're the most popular superhero ever!

What Superhero Are You?

Are you a MAC or a PC?

I am having lots of fun on blogthings.com taking quizes. Thanks Brenda.
Here's my latest quiz results below. Are you a Mac or a PC?? Notice it says nothing about being a NERD!

You Are a Mac

You are creative, stylish, and super trendy. You demand the best - even if it costs an arm and a leg.

Are You a Mac or a PC?

What's in a name?

What Sandi Means

S is for Smooth A is for Arty N is for Neat D is for Distinguished I is for Intense

What Does Your Name Mean?

The funny thing is when I did this on Monday the results were different.
S-Silly (I can be at times)
A-Altruistic (unselfish and devoted to others)
N-Nerdy (Deep down I guess I must be...my other MAC friend confirms this)
I-Impressive

Hope you take the quiz and let me know the results!

Feelin' Good

I am feeling really good today. The fact is I cleaned out my closet and found a skirt and top I haven't worn in years. Since I've lost a bit of weight, it looks not bad on me. People at work kept saying how much they liked my outfit. I still have a bunch of weight to lose. It's coming off slowly, but surely. Excercising and eating healthy sure helps. It's funny how it costs more money to eat healthy. Here's what I don't get...you go to the corner store and a bottle of water costs more than a bottle of pop. Go figure eh. Well it doesn't matter to me because eating healthy is totaly worth it. No more pop and chips on a regular basis. Now if I could just get my hubby to convert. Hmm. One day it will happen, you'll see.

Oh No a mouse in the house

One of my greatest fears is of mice. Every time when I see one I feel the need to jump on a chair or couch or something near by and scream. The fact is growing up we encountered a lot of mice and then my parents drilled into us about the hanta virus from the deer mice. Ever since then, I have been freaked out about mice. I don't know how to tell the difference if it's a deer mouse and frankly I'm not getting that close to find out. I pay my son to get rid of them once they are dead and we never re-use mouse traps. I figure with all the tearing down of the walkway yesterday, it must have stirred up their happy outdoor homes. Plus we had the door wide open all day. So, I found a mouse in the kitchen area yesterday and true to myself I screamed and jumped up on the chair. It ran to the laundry room, so there was no way I was going to finish the laundry til I knew it was gone. Then I decided to stay outside for the rest of the afternoon. You know, just to make sure I didn't see any more of these pesky creatures. I went to town and picked up KFC for dinner so that I didn't need to cook (we ate outside). After dinner I decided it was probably safe to go back in. I went into the laundry room and there was no mouse stirring, so I put the clothes in the dryer. Then, I look over and see that the mouse had fallen into my mop bucket and for some reason Sean didn't empty the mop water the last time he washed the floor, so the mouse drowned. My son disposed of it and I thought that was great...no more mouse in the house. That was until my son phoned me at work today to tell me he spotted another one. So I guess we will have to set up some traps. I'll make sure we don't leave the door open (no matter how hot it gets in the house...we do have windows). The only mouse I like is Mickey Mouse and he lives in Disneyland and not in my home!

Wreckin' good time

Why is it that boys love to destroy things? Mike and Sean spent the afternoon taking down the covered walkway on our place. Mike was having a lot of fun smashing. It was a lot of work, but it needed to be done. The covered walkway leaked and the wood was starting to rot in places. While they were hard at work, I went to town and picked up some KFC for dinner. Mike is out there wacking the vines now. He's having way too much fun.

Rusty Rain

I cannot believe how bad the natural rain water is around here. Look at the pictures to see the difference in the color of the water. Yuck! It's been raining so much and the kids will be leaving in 10 days. We are refilling the pool, so hopefully it gets used before the kids take off in August.

Here comes the rain again...

Well, I must have some insight into the weather in our area or so some people have told me. The entire time we were camping, which was almost 2 weeks, it only rained 2 times and at night only. It was so hot and it was nice to be at the lake cooling off. When we came home from camping the next day it rained and it's been rainy ever since. I am glad we had good weather while we were away, but we need the rain very badly. We don't want any forest fires like the summer of 2003. I remember leaving town to visit my friends that summer and you could see all the smoke from the fires just over the horizon. When I came back, everything was under control. Plus when it's hot like that for long perods of time, there is a ban on campfires and that's no fun camping with out a fire. I am glad it's cooling off, but I am hoping for some nice weather for my daughter who is going to an international Guide Camp this weekend in Parksville. She will be gone for an entire week at S.O.A.R. (Spirit of adventure rendevous) and I hope she has a good time. They get to do really cool stuff like...caving, snorkling, dragonboating, fencing, archery, and much more. She'll have a blast!

Back to work

Well my first day back to work was today and it wasn't all that bad. I could actually see my desk (usually it's totally covered in paper work when I'm away). I was able to catch up on my payables before lunch and it was nice to be in an airconditioned office all day. Sean came to my office for lunch.
Yesterday,we set up the swimming pool for the kids to enjoy. They took a dip in it this evening after dinner. We bought the pool last year during a heat wave, but our water is rusty and full of iron when you fill up a pool it looks like a mucky orange color, so we only filled it up once last year. I found some rust and iron remover that doesn't smell yucky, so we used a bit of that and it worked really well. The pump for the pool also removed the sediment that we have in the water, so it was perfect to swim in. Here's my family enjoying the pool.

Life size Jenga

As you can see in the pictures, the kids had a blast. They get very creative when they are together. Kels and Gary worked on the daily Newspaer called JBJB, which stands for all our last names and the real name of the newspaper was Java Break Java Break. They kept it top secret while they were in production. It was very cute and my sister took the first 2 issues home with her as a keepsake. When my sister's family left, we were all sad, but we have a lot of memories of the fun we had. The giggles from the kids were priceless and I am glad they get along so well. We miss them for sure and are not sure when we will see them again!

Camping pictures

Camping was awesome. We had 5 days with just my kids and hubby and then my parents came out with their boat and stayed for the weekend. My Uncle and cousin from Vernon showed up as well. My sister and her family came on the 2nd week of our camping trip. They showed up a day early and it was awesome. They stayed 4 days with us and we had a lot of fun. The kids and hubbies fished and had a great time. My hubby caught a huge fish right off the dock. This morning was sad when we said goodbye to my sister and her family. They are headed back home to the Lower Mainland. It was so hot today at the lake and everyone was gone, so we came home. Right now it is 38 celcius outside and 33 celcius in the house. I am glad to be home. 2 weeks is a bit too long for camping (at least for us). We have lots to do around the house before we have to go back to work on Monday. I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Happy Canada Day and Stampede Weekend!

Kelsey made this plate and presented it to her teacher at the awards ceremony. It has a picture of the entire grade 7 class. Mrs. Gartrell is retiring from teaching. She was quite pleased with her gift.

Here's a funny picture of my dad. My mom took it while they were waiting for the parade.

Stampede parade pictures. My Mom was on the Guide float. My son's friends were on the WL Minor Fastball float.






It's hard to belive that it is already July. Time sure went fast these past few months, but I am not complaining. I am glad summer is here and we are looking forward to our camping trip.