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.