Wednesday, July 23, 2008

25th Anniversary of "The Gimli Glider"

It may have been 25 years ago and I may have only been 11 but I remember it like it was yesterday.....well I remember bits and pieces of it. There were many many of us there that day and each of us have different memories. Being 11 I didn't realize the history I was witnessing, didn't realize then what could have happened if it weren't for the crew of that flight.

I remember racing was over for the day and the loud sound of cars rounding corners and accelerating had faded away. Everyone was cleaning up from the day of racing - racers working on their cars or putting away tools used that day. BBQs were lit and meals made. Kids were free to roam now that the course was closed to racecars for the day.

I remember I was taking a friends dog for a walk and was behind the old concession stand (which is no longer there) and as I stepped out from behind it there was the plane - coming through the sky towards us almost silently except for the whoosh of the air as it sliced though it.

I don't know why but I remember how quiet it was and then how loud it was as the plane touched down and the front of the plane fell ontop of the guardrail and slid along it.

I remember people yelling and running - not away from the plane but towards it, many with fire extinguishers in their hands.

I remember smoke and I remember people using fire extinguishers where the nose of the plane met pavement.

and I remember the yellow emergency exit slides ..... I will always remember those yellow slides probably because a) for the remainder of the weekend the plane sat just south of the racetrack with those yellow slides sticking out it's sides and b) almost every photo I've ever seen has been one with the yellow slides. It's an image that is etched in my mind and I will never ever forget.

Something else I will never forget is that after everything was over the co-pilot Maurice Quintal sat in our camper trailer and had a cup of coffee. An odd memory considering I don't remember anything else that happened after the passengers and crew were safely off the plane. I have no memories of police, fire or ambulance crews in attendance. I can't tell you where the passengers went afterwards or how they got there but I absolutely remember the co-pilot having coffee in our camper.

So today was the 25th anniversary. I didn't know, at age 11, the history I'd witnessed but I sure understand it now and I'm so glad I was able to attend the celebration today. It was wonderful to see some old friends from the car club that I hadn't seen in years and to listen to the speeches and stories told by different people about that day but for me, the highlight was meeting Maurice Quintal out on the dock - and having my picture taken with him. I was with one of the fellows from the car club and we introduced ourselves as having been there that day and he proceeds to tell us a story of one of his own memories from that day. He said he thinks about one woman often. She came up to him after everything had settled down that day and asked him if he would like a cup of coffee. I was floored. "That was my mother" I told him. Even now I can't believe he remembers my mother inviting him back to the camper and making him a cup of coffee. It's funny how this man whom I've wanted to meet again for so many many years also remembers one of the few solid memories I have of that day.

Over the years I've read newspaper articles and watched news reports about that day and that plane. Awhile back I discovered that there are people that actually 'stalked' the plane with fin # 604 nicknamed the Gimli Glider and tracked its whereabouts posting messages that the plane was spotted at such and such a gate and whatever airport it happened to be at. She had quite a fan club. I watched with a tear in my eye the news footage of the Gimli Gliders final flight to the desert in California, wishing like so many people that she could have come back to Gimli as her final resting place. I've also at times reflected on how much larger this piece of history could have been had it not been for the sheer determination of the pilot to stop that plane when he did...... a few hundred feet from dozens of motorhomes & campers with propane tanks, and dozens of racecars full of fuel and numerous spectators enjoying a quiet Family Weekend of camping and racing. The what-ifs are too scarey to think about.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Look Look Look --- some CREATIVITY!

well actually you can't "look" since this post has been sitting in draft mode for the past 3.5 months and I never did get the pages scanned and stitched and uploaded but I'm publishing the post anyway to prove (if to no one but myself) that I actually scrap occasionally.

I hosted my monthly all day crop on Saturday and actually completed some projects --- a card and 3.5 layouts of my super cute Great Neice/Neice. The layouts are for my mom's album (because I really wanted to scrap cutie baby pics and forgot my envelope of pics at home so I grabbed my mom's envelope when I stopped by there to check on her that morning)


the pages turned out way to beautiful. One is framed and hanging on the wall of my mom's living room and the double page layout is in her album (well actually it's still sitting on her dining room table but whatever) and the .5 one....still not done. It wasn't 'working' for me and I set it aside. I'll post em when I get the chance....which probably means - never.

EDIT~ Here's the link to my 'other blog' - one specifically for my scrapbooking where I just posted one of these layouts. http://kirstensscraproom.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-blog-for-me.html



Wednesday, July 16, 2008

a love/hate relationship...heavy on the latter

Recently Sue at navel gazing at it's finest wrote a letter and it got me thinking......if I could write a letter like that who would I write it to. Instantly I knew who was getting a letter from me and while it will in no way be as side- splittingly funny as Sue's letter (did you go read it? you should - it's really funny) here is my letter:


Dear Old House

Don't get me wrong Old House, this isn't hate mail and I don't want you to feel threatened by it but I have some things to get off my chest. Maybe we will get along better after I've said my peace.

I know you have been stoiclly withstanding the ravages of time and weather and have provided shelter and a home for 4 generations of this family but honestly - you can't not know that you are making me crazy. I'm sure you've heard me rant on more than one occassion about your lack of closet space - or any closets for that matter and your floorplan is just plain crazy. Talk about wasted potential. And dont' think it's just me thinking this way. I've spoken with the former Lady of the House and she'll back me up on this. You should hear her opinions about your kitchen design. It would make your windows crack...or maybe you've heard the stories? Your original hardwood flooring and I have huge issues and we wont even go into that new(ish) laminate stuff they put in your kitchen a half dozen years ago that's just entirely sad. The sagging and sloping floors are just a plain joke. Really. They are a joke. Can't you hear us all laughing at you when someone spills a drink on the floor and it rolls out of the kitchen faster than anyone can get a cloth to soak it up with? Do you think the mop has a permanent spot in the doorway just for asthetic purposes? No, it's to trap the water when the stupid dog tries to carry his water bowl through the house. No matter where he spills it......the water eventually ends up in that one spot as if by magic. This just cannot be right.


Oh and speaking of water. Oh boy do we need to talk about water. What is with you and water. I'm fairly certain that when it rains outside your main purpose is to keep the rain out. Why oh why do you insist on letting it in? Do you not realize that it is not supposed to rain INSIDE and especially in areas where important things are kept like my computer and my scrapbooking stuff. I'm tired of relocating these things to accomodate you. Seriously what is up with the whole water leak thing?


Shingles you say?


Ya - as if anyone in their right mind will climb onto that ski-jump you call a roof. Many a man has been struck speechless when I suggest they climb up there and give you a much needed facelift - and these are professionals OldHouse. Not just any joe-shmoe I'm trying to buy off with a 24 of Bud and a couple pizzas - those guys just laugh hysterically and think I'm JOKING and then drink my beer anyway!


I know in my heart this isn't all your fault. You are in serious need of some TLC but I don't honestly think Ty and the crew from Extreme Home Makeover will be waking us with bullhorns in this lifetime so could you cut me some slack? OilOfOlay doesn't make vats of Age-Denying formula big enough to tackle some of the cracks and wrinkles you've got going on. That new one by the bathroom (which we will not even discuss because the subject makes me ill) door - where did that come from? I just spotted it last night and almost had heart failure. What are you doing to me? I'm going to need to colour the grey out of my hair next week if you keep this up.


I'm seriously trying so hard not to be jealous of those new condos we've been working at the past month but you are making it very very hard not to be. I mean you should see their closet space and the floorplan just melts my heart and Al - OMG he has fallen in love with the height of the basement in them and can you blame him? Remember that time he was working down in your basement and he broke not one but three lightbulbs in one afternoon by walking into them? Sure we got a good chuckle out of that but that time he hit his head coming up the stairs and he almost blacked out - that was so NOT funny.


You know what else isn't funny?

Your smells. Funky yes but I'm not seeing the humor. Do you have a pet hampster around here that I'm not aware of? OH and if you do - don't tell Em or she will be ticked that you got one before she did. I'm seriously considering letting her get one just so it's cage can mask the odour you have going on these days. And again we will not discuss the bathroom and it's variety-show of smells when anyone has a shower or at various other random times for that matter.


I hate to bring up the front room - aka 'the addition' ,which I know is not technically your responsibility since it isn't really part of YOU but a little help in getting along with that room and not adding to the tension between us would be much appreciated. I'd like to be rid of the offending room myself but that decision seems to be in limbo so we will just have to live with it - at least for a little while longer.

So here's the thing. We know you need some help. A 12-step program of recovery maybe...the lottery would be helpful too but that's likely to bring about bulldozers faster than you would care to think about. The menfolk are absolutely against such action as they have a soft spot for you but in case your math isn't up to snuff the womenfolk outnumber the men and you don't want to know which way we would vote if it came right down to it.


We are willing to help you in any way we can but could you please OldHouse, please give us a break and give the whole aging gracefully thing a try for a bit. We really do appreciate you and you hold so many memories within your poorly insulated and slightly leaning walls. You've seen one man grow from a boy to a grandfather over the past 60+ years and helped him raise his 5 children and I'd love for you to be around to watch our 4 children and their cousins (his grandchildren) grow up too. Just think about it OldHouse.




Sincerely

Your Family

Anyone have a sharp pencil I could borrow?

Shopping with children is always quite the experience as Dawn over at Because I Said So can definitely attest to (that blog post of hers is what first led me to her blog....it's way too funny and I think it sort of changed her life in ways she could never have imagined...or was that a baseball? I don't remember but she's ever so funny). Thankfully I only have four children and rarely do I subject myself to such torture as to take all four of them with me. Of course shopping here in this small town where you know everyone (translation...my kids know everyone and I'm just along for the ride) has it's own challeges since you can't shop without bumping into someone you know. It never fails that you stop and catch up with at least one person if not more so a quick trip to pick up a few things can easily take a lot longer than necessary. The children also tend to disappear to visit with friends (or store staff) so I feel like I'm forever looking for one of the children rather than for the groceries on my list. Also being a small town, the store is usually not too busy so the kids are used to empty aisles that you can run and slide down or basically act like a bucket full of SuperBouncyBalls dropped on the floor. Generally they are well behaved - manically busy but well behaved and in small numbers they can be even helpful - if you count blowing my grocery budget all to he**, helpful.

One recent rainy Saturday morning (which narrows it down precious little because there have been many many rainy days lately) I had the youngest two lil darlings with me running errands and we ended up at the grocery store. Let's reflect a little on this. Grocery shopping......... with the two youngest....on a Saturday.....in the summer.....in a resort town that triples in population in the summer....especially on the weekend (rainy or not) .....WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING???? So many people....so little space....so little space to bounce around in. It was FUNNER than FUN baby!!!

Anyway, my kids were trying to be their bouncy ol selves in the lack of space and I was well....I was slowly loosing my mind. I was looking for the items on my mom's shopping list and while I personally know better than to need to shop for myself on weekends in the summer, since I was there anyway I picked up a few (ahem a cart full) things for myself too. I was also trying keeping up with the endless stream of chatter coming from my kids which was making me wish I had a sharp pencil in my purse that I could use to stab in my ears to stop the endless noise.

I've noticed that when shopping you tend to pass by the same people aisle after aisle and one of the people we kept meeting up with was a friend of mine and we would chat as we shopped in the same aisle then move on and then chat as we met in the next. She of course thinks my kids are darn cute and funny (which they are) and the more times we met up with her the goofier they got - an audience will do that to them. We also attracted the attention of a small group of shoppers (did you know - Tourists seem to shop in small groups) with our endless banter back and forth, particularly three young 20-something guys (gasp....I consider 20-something YOUNG!) who I'd heard chuckling more than once over something the kids & I were talking about.

At one point, while multi-tasking and trying to find some unknown product on my mom's list and at the same time yanking a bouncing child for the 5th time out of the middle of an aisle so they wouldn't get run over by a passing cart I used my MOMMY voice (complete with bulging eyes for visual effect) and spewed forth request to " Stop bouncing around and touching stuff and stay by the darn cart before you get run over.....and for the love of God stop talking for 2 minutes so I can think! " ....just as the three young TouristGuys turned the corner. One of them stops and asks me I could tell his two buddies the same thing and his buddies both crack up laughing and start pushing and shoving each other.

An aisle later we meet up with my friend again as well as a friend of hers and also the kids' school principal (who apparently has no effect on children outside of school lol) and as the children are hamming it up the three TouristGuys pass by and stop to watch - thereby increasing the size of their audience. After a few minutes of watching the circus sideshow in the dairy section of the grocery store one of the TouristGuy's says "We don't need to go rent a movie - We can just stay here and watch the entertainment" OYE!!!!

Shortly after that I herded the sideshow off to quickly finish up the last remaining aisles of the store and as we are heading to the checkouts we pass by a sample cart ---- frozen yogert or icecream. What? You want to give my children SUGAR? What do I look like - an idiot? But wait.....food. Keeps their mouths busy. DingDingDing! We have a winner of an idea here!!! Two samples of icecream = an amazingly silent trip through checkout (where they did not ask for a chocolate bar/gum/candy) and the groceries loaded in the van and them buckled in and out of the parkinglot before they spoke again. Whew. I didn't have to dig around in the glovebox for a sharp pencil afterall.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

lost and found

The kids were watching the movie Madeline the other day and there is a line from it where the school teacher/nun has a feeling and she says "Something is not right".

I had that feeling today. It was weird. It was almost 3:00 and I was sorting mail when suddenly I got all anxious...... and it wasn't from the stack of bills before me. I felt like something was missing. That I'd lost something or forgot I was supposed to be somewhere. What? What could I have lost or forgotten about?

My Son! I suddenly realized he wasn't here and for a split second I felt a wave of panic.

Kind of silly really. He's not lost. He's not missing. He's away at camp. He left yesterday and it's not like this was the first time I'd thought about him. Believe me - when your built-in-babysitter is suddenly gone for a week you notice. I thought about him a lot yesterday. Wondering if he was having fun, what he was doing, if he was homesick and missed us, but suddenly today I felt like a part of me was missing and I missed him, missed his presence around here. He's only been gone a day and a half but I miss him. Not missing the extra noise he creates. It's amazing how much quieter the house is with only 3 kids in it - any 3. It's not just him...when any one of them isn't here the noise level goes down a notch or 6 or 8. His particular noise isn't missed cuz he tends to stir up the little ones and make them whine but the house is definately lacking his presence and his personality today. Hope he's having fun and I can't wait to hear all about camp when he gets home.



Monday, July 14, 2008

and the conversation went like this........

The following conversation occured immediately following Al teasing Em that no boys would ever date her cuz her butt is big and hairy like a gorilla or something like that (to be honest...I wasn't paying much attention since I try darn hard to block out the endless chatter and noise in the house lately) They banter back and forth constantly.....it's like.....oh.....I don't know.....having FIVE kids in the house. The two of them are so funny though - she totally (at age 8) gets his sense of humor and is one sarcastic little thing and even from the time she could talk....a way way way long time ago.....she's always had perfect (and i do mean perfect) comedic timing and the sharpest comebacks ever!

Me: Al, It's comments like that, that will turn her into a teenager with an eating disorder and a severe self-confidence problem

Al: She knows I'm only kidding around with her. Emily....right? You know we are only joking around right?

Emily: Ya Ya. Say your prayers mister cuz I'll get you one day.

Where does she come up with this stuff? Does she have a writer on staff that I don't know about?

Friday, July 11, 2008

The one where I wimper slightly and then sigh heavily

Ya know that job.

The one that's come up two or three times in as many years. The one I've been wanting for ages. The one I finally got up the nerve to apply for (actually...the secretary called me the day applications closed and said - are you NOT applying for this job??? and then she insisted that I get my application emailed in before 9am two days later - since it was a holiday the following day nobody would be looking at them till Wednesday morning....so get busy and get it in because I have a good chance of getting it!) It's the job I got a call about last Thursday and interviewed for last Friday. The interview went pretty well and I got to play with the coolest software package and create a poster with. I was told I'd hear about the position early this week. Everytime the phone rang I jumped....AND answered it - throwing caution to the wind and taking my chances that it would be a stupid telemarketer just calling to annoy me. By Thursday I'd all but forgot about incoming calls and who might be on the line since the phone rang off the dang hook all day - customer after customer booking jobs etc and then the voice on the line said the words I'd been waiting for. It was a call about the job. The job I did not get. *wimper*

I've been so nervous about this whole job thing. Do I seriously have time for it? Don't I have enough on my plate as it is? I wasn't sure of the answers to either of those quiestions but I so wanted this job. Not just because the job itself is so "me" but also because I wanted so much to have something for me - that has nothing to do with my home/family/businesses and just work for someone else for a change and this part-time job fit that perfectly. I was scared that I wouldn't get it but also terrified that I would. I'm disapointed....but not too disapointed - if that makes any sense. *sigh* a sigh of disapointment. *sigh* a sigh of relief.

I was told, both on the phone as well as in a very nice letter that the decision was very very difficult and that my application would be kept on file for a few months and that the job comes available quite frequently (being a term position and all) and they hope I apply again since they were very impressed with me. So while I didn't get the job, I don't feel like a total loser and maybe one day I'll get this job afterall and maybe that will be when the timing is better and my plate isn't quite so full (a girl can dream).

Thursday, July 10, 2008

A bottle of tiny little red "magic beans"

Jack's magic beans grew a beanstock up into the sky. Our magic beans might just grow a beanstock between our daughter and the rest of the world. Let the magic begin....and please let it work!!!!!

I couldnt' take it anymore. None of us could. This living with a tornado of emotions, whirling, twisting, building up steam and then slamming us to the ground - metaphorically speaking.

Last week was amazingly hard. The tension was incredible. The frusteration levels high.

Then I got a call from Gerry - my knight in funny, sarcastic, phychologist armour on Monday. How are things going he asks? They suck! Sucksucksucksuck. Things suck! We talked about what's been going on. The volitility, the scattered-ness, the mood swings and lashing out. Why is it so different than last summer? She's working with us again but this year it's harder. Why? Is she different and why? Could it be that puberty has hit full on and that's what's making things harder for her...and us? Could it be that because school was a less structured invironment that she's simply become less in control of her emotions as a result? Could it be we are just burnt out and have less patience and a more jaded view of what's going on and she's really just the same as she's always been but we aren't? Who really knows but I think it's a combination of all three. No matter what - I can't take it anymore. I'm done.

The conversation continued:
Have we started the meds? NO
What happened with doctor situation? Nothing - everyone's on holidays or leaving and I feel like we are in limbo. Do we wait till the new doc has taken over and we start from square one with him and get pre-med baselines done or wait till this other doc is back from holidays and hope he will take her as a patient? Limbo.

After talking with Gerry we decided that maybe, since things are so frusteratinly chaotic right now, that waiting might not be a good option. We both want to get her on these meds asap so we have a good idea of it's effects before school starts back up - plus it would be nice to have an enjoyable summer vacation instead of a tense one. So it was decided - that if her doctor wasn't concerned about getting a baseline before hand, we would just trust that he felt it wasn't necessary (i personally vote for the he doesn't have a clue theory but i didn't tell Gerry that) and on Tuesday I did my own baseline testing. I borrowed a blood-sugar testing kit and did two tests to get an average norm for her and had her bloodpressue tested using the machine at the pharmacy, and bought a scale (i've NEVER owned one - ever) and got a starting weight and I filled the prescription. Tuesday night at 9:30pm she started her meds.

And what was Wednesday like? Well.... I personally barely saw her at all Wednesday since she'd gone to work with Al first thing in the morning but from what he reported - she's still A....but the old A - happy and bubbly and goofy and giddy and full of energy but in a much less scattered way. He could talk to her, give her instruction and she followed through with what he said. No snarking and snarling and snipping and complaining about every little inconsequential thing...which had been becoming her 'norm' lately. The true test came late in the afternoon once everyone was all at home. While she's still irritated that the siblings dare to be in her presence and she has to share a house with them, any time she spoke to them it was with much less drama and meanness. It's really hard to explain. It's like she's still irritated by them but is able to control the lashing out to some extent and when I spoke to her about one particular incident she actually listened and calmed down. There was no over-reaction. Wow! How cool.

I'm thinking this med might just be the hope we needed. It's not a big cure but if it helps her think more clearly maybe then things like behaviour mod. techniques and consequences and rewards systems might actually have some effect now...up until this point they never seemed to be very effective and quite a waste of energy. So - this might be the calm after the storm and the next step will be to do a bit of clean up, trying some techniques and such to set things back on track. I'm just afraid that I've been battling the storm for so long now that I don't have the patience, that I'm too jaded and cynical to really put the needed energy into the next stage. What if I'm too angry and too easily irritated after all this time that I can't focus and get organized and do my part in making things better.

I'm also trying to ignore comments like 'oh she's high - just look into her eyes' like it's a bad thing. I'm not medicating her to keep her high and fuzzy and out of touch with reality. The way I understand things is that she her brain is overprocessing absolutely every single detail of every single thing going on around her and can't filter out what's inconsequential and what's important. She over reacts to every slight thing because it's overwhelming. The purpose of this med is to give her brain "sunglasses" so that it can filter out all the information around her and so she can properly experience reality. At least that's my view on it and if other people want to say....oh we are just making her high so she's easier to control - whatever.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

okay okay....i'll update my blog.

Recent conversation with my bestest friend:


K: "So, what's new? Haven't talked to you all day"

C: "Not much...but I'll tell you what's NOT new. Your blog! It's been a while since you posted - anything!"

She's subtle like a brick she is. Been mentioning my lack of new blog posts in casual conversation for the past week or so and really...it's not like I didn't know I hadn't written in awhile. Oh baby I know it. It's been driving me crazy - this not having a moment to myself to think and write, to vent and gush and gloat and talk to myself about the highs and lows of the past month. I honestly haven't even opened up my " journal" and quickly put down in print some of my thoughts and feelings, observations and records of milestones and events of the past month. How ironic that the journal i've been trying to use to keep track of all those things gets ignored when it's needed most - when tons of that stuff is happening all at once and the journal would help me keep track of these things. How 'catch-22' and really quite annoying.


So lets see if I can't recap what's been going on in as few words as possible. This could be tough. I like words - lots of rambling, random words.


The top 10 events of the past 4 weeks:


********************************************************************
The Medical Adventure Continues - a study in incompetence.
Had an appointment with our family doc and it was quite a WTF moment. He reviewed the letter from the phychologist re: starting A on Respiradol and what did he do you ask? He hemed and hawed and then wrote the scrip and handed it to me with instructions to "watch for side-effects and follow-up in 30 days". Huh? What? Pardon? I was speechless! No pre-prescription physical, no base-line bloodwork/bloodpressure/weight. He didn't even request to see A at all
regarding this. Just wrote the prescription and handed it to me. I promptly walked across the hall to the phychologists office and he was stunned. Almost speechless. We discussed what to
do next.....the main one being not filling the prescription. I didn't bother returning to our family doc to discuss my concerns - i mean really, why bother? He's leaving in a couple weeks so what's the point. The search is on for a new doc - one that has a clue. Unfortunately...it's the start of summer so there's been some delay due to holidays etc. Sigh. Patience Grasshopper.

Another School Year Bites the Dust

I offically have a piece of paper that says Ty completed all things necessary to go onto grade nine. How it happened - I'm not sure because I've since seen his report card and apparently he didn't need to pass Social Studies inorder to go onto grade 9. Again - I'm speechless. Sure I've got the certificate but I question it's worth - not that I wanted him to fail grade 8 but seriously
WTF crossed my mind.

L'il O had his Kindergarden Grad and is now a Grade 1'er and he's super excited plus he is done with daycare - and unlike last year when I thought he wouldn't be returning to daycare in the
fall and wasn't ready for, this time around I am quite thankful it's over. Love Love Love our daycare but the time had come to say good-bye (not that we did....just kinda picked him up that last day and that was that) We will go in one day in the next week or two, take them some goodies and say our formal goodbye's which means mostly I will because I have a million thankyou's to say for all their years of support (oh and i have to pay my final bill...won't miss that one tiny bit thankyouverymuch!)

Em's off to Grade 3 and oye - last weekend the phone rang off the hook with kids calling
back and forth to ask who's class everyone was in. It was sooooo funny and a little sad. She's growing up and has friends that she freely calls on the telephone. Isn't she just my tiny little baby? NOpe? When the heck did that happen?

And A - whos' been done school for a couple weeks already since she doesn't write exams has transitioned amazingly well into the whole schools-out-it's-summer thing which normally is
quite an ordeal. Not so this year. She couldn't wait to get out of there. Kind of a little bit of insight into just how school went this past year.

Mourning the Loss of a Dear 'Friend'

So Sad. I shed a tear or two - just briefly, then got mad at myself for being so damn stupid. Now I just feel plain lost. Lost I tell you! I cannot function like this! Can't do it I tell you. Won't be able to handle this loss for much longer before I loose my mind. I broke my camera!!!!! Wahhhhhhh I know, not the most traumatic loss one can experience but it's MY CAMERA PEOPLE! Did I mention I'm absolutely LOST without it? This camera was an early Mother's Day gift, bought last
year right before we went to the kids dance competion. A much needed replacement for that horrible hand-me-down digital (which honestly i thank heather for because it was my first digi and it opened up a whole new world of film-less photo taking for me) but really i was positively giddy with excitement to get my new FujiFilm FinePix A610 -not top of the line but an
affordable camera that took amazingly clear pics (especially compared to it's predecessor). I'm totally sold on Fuji digital cameras and will eventually replace my baby with another - i might even go a little higher on the foodchain and get a higher quality if finances allow. If not, I'm just as happy with the basic models - my experience with my first fuji was that good!

The Wedding - Backyard Bash 2008: A carnival spectacular

What can I say - it was spectacular. it was a backyard bash. it was a wedding. i have the t-shirt to prove it. The rains let up just in time and the whole event was a blast! I enjoyed spending quality time with Yol and catching up. Liz looked BEAUTIFUL. We all laughed (a lot) and cried (a bit) and danced and ate and danced some more.....until the WPS showed up at 11:00 and shut us down. Somebody had their panties in a bunch about the "noise" from the bands and must have been sitting by their phone just waiting for Mickey's big hand to tick past 11pm because not 10 minutes later there was a cruiser car in the driveway and at 11:15 the band was 'allowed' to play one last song. Party Poopers!!!! Here's a pic of Yol, Liz and I - we clean up good don't we....for hillbillys.

Matters of the Heart

Relationships are hard work. Even harder when they aren't your own. Two people I love dearly - one I've known for what seems like forever and one who is a new-found friend have been having some problems only nobody knew (okay...we all knew but didn't know what to say or do or even if we should do anything). Somehow I eneded up 'sticking my nose in' .... as some people think (for the record, i didn't stick my nose in....i was invited in and gladly accepted the position). I don't know if I've helped or not but I do know they both needed to talk to someone and I listen well. Time will tell what happens with this matter of the heart. At one point my friend said.....I know you have your own problems and don't need to be dealing with all mine too. Funny thing is, the more I try and help them work out their differences, the more I seem to be able to work on my own. It seems to have opened up a little bit of dialogue between Al and I and we are on more solid ground the past week or so than we've been in awhile......and my sweet friend says she won't charge me much for the therapy she's providing ME. HaHaHa Funny girl!


Let's Sing

Because Al loves a good kareoke party. That's right. We did it again. At the last minute it was decided the party would be here at our house (even though John was booked 3months ago) and I spent 2 days de-cluttering the house and front addition (thank you Carrie for ALL YOUR HELP!!!) and we packed 20 or so of our closest family & friends in here for a night of laughter, singing and fun....till 3am! I now cannot walk through the upstairs spare room without sidestepping boxes of stuff that prevously was spread throughout the house and it will take me a month to sort and clean it up but it was so worth it. Everyone had a great time! We might even do it again.....who am I kidding. Al's hooked. I'm sure this won't be the last time.

Summer Fun with Family & Friends

It's now officially summer and what does that mean? Why getting together with family & friends and enjoying the great outdoors of course. We've already had our share of BBQ's this summer including the 'breaking-in' of Shelley's new HUGE BBQ that makes my kitchen stove jealous at it's shiney new-ness, hanging out at Shorepoint with Rayna and swimming in the pool was a pure treat last weekend, getting together with extended family to celebrate Granny's 100th birthday was nice (unfortunately Al and I had to work that day and things didn't run smoothly so we were quite late getting there and did not go to the cemetary to lay flowers on her grave - Happy Birthday Granny!!! We all Miss You and Love You! ) We'd watched fireworks - sort of - the kids decided wandering through the crowds and looking for John's stolen bike was way more fun, and have seen the July1st Parade. The younger kids have been to the new spray park already (i missed it - darn work!) and Ty, Em & I took Sue's dog Freya to a 'dog party'. I'm on the hunt for a low priced, small pool to set up in our yard in hopes we can beat the heat this summer - and oh boy have there already been some scorcher days with a bit of crispy skin and heat stroke. We've stocked up on sun screen and bug spray and I think we will need plenty of both in the next few weeks. We've had plenty of fun already and summer has just begun!

This Old House - a real-life drama that's giving me grey hair faster than my kids

Oh where to being. That's the big question. Where to being. Oh wait. We can't. Have been told we are NOT to tear down the front addition of our house - which is not our house. Rumor has it that it will be ours in the near future to do with as we please but until then...... Limbo. I hate limbo. It's so...... unproductive. In the mean time there has been discussion of who, when, how the shingles on the east side of the house will be replace - when I say shingles...think old....really old....as in original wood shakes. They so need to be replaced. Have needed to be replaced for many years - many more than we've lived here. Our other discussions have surrounded how much it would cost to build a new house or get an RTM. But....since the house/property technically isn't ours it's all just discussion. Good thing talk is cheap cuz houses ain't baby.

My dear sweet mom

Love her dearly. Worry. Worry. Worry. about her constantly. I took her to the ER almost 2weeks ago when she was having trouble breathing and spent 4 hours with her there. She's slowly on the mend and getting stronger but she's still not tip-top. I had a few moments of panic and dispair when she started saying things like 'her quality of life is terrible and that she didn't want to fight to stay healthy anymore, wanting to know how much longer 'she had to stay alive' according to her home renovation grant contract and things like that. It wears on my mind when she talks like that. Makes my heart hurt. *** edited to add that i just got a call from her - she's having trouble breathing again and wants to go back to the hospital for a breathing treatment. How nice ofher doctor to bugger off every damn summer for 2 months and leave his patients with less than significate care. Ass!


Cuz I'm not busy enough

I went and applied for a part-time job. Call me crazy! Oh wait...you already have and you can stop laughing now. I seriously WANT this job so bad and am so excited and nervous that I have an interview for it tomorrow. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I went on a
job interview (shut up with the old jokes already) It's been a really long time.....really long. This job is so 'me' and it's only part-time. Just 9 days a month doing stuff I love to do - newsletters and posters and flyers and general office stuff. How cool would that be? Way cool I tell you. Way way way cool!

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And that my friends is what's new with me. Whew. Long and rambling stuff.....and that's just the readers digest short version. There are tons of other thoughts and things running through my head. I guess they will be stuck there for a little longer and I'll try and post more regular - and about things other than just what's new with us.