Haysom's Earth Hour

You will be happy to know Keith and I participated in full with our Earth Hour night. We not only turned every thing off we unplugged everything other then the fridge and deep freeze.

We didn't go into the fridge at all during the evening nor did we use any electronic device even if it was not plugged in. That had been my choice. In case you are wondering what I am talking about..just google earth hour for all the information but the gist of the matter was every single person was to turn everything off by unplugging for one hour.

Keith and I got the emergency candles out throughout the house and then we got our Domino game out. We played in the candlelight and had a blast!! and even when it was past the hour we kept going. It was nice for a change, no TV, no computers, no cells or phones ringing 24/7.

But do you know what saddened me the most? Was the fact that we have treated this planet so badly that we now have to do this to try and put a band aid to over the owie. I think this Earth Hour needs to be advertise more and earlier so others can participate. But all I can do is do it myself, help my family do their part and go from there.

Blue Jeans

Ok I am so fed up with trying to find blue jeans it is maddening! I love wearing blue jeans I could wear them every time I went out if I could but I have one pair. ONE.. tons of shoes and purses but one pair of jeans. Why you may ask???? well cause designers can't get it through their thick heads that one size does NOT fit all.

Ever see those women's magazines where they have an article that states "Perfect fitting jeans for every size"? Well they lie. They never have any that fit me. Let me state the problems in getting jeans for me:

1. I have 36" inseam which is pretty impossible to get women's pants past 34" if you can even find them in the first place never mind with 36" legs.

2. My waist is actually on top of my hipbone. That's not possible you say. Yup it is. Ask those who I have to prove it to - ask any salesclerk that has argued with me that it isn't possible.

3. My waist line is a lot smaller then my actual hipbone measurements so to have them fit properly across my butt so I can actually sit down in them, they leave a big gap at the small of my back which annoys me

4. I REFUSE to wear low risers. That is just gross and I will not lower my standards by wearing pants that show the end all be all of my backside

Get the idea? When I was first starting to lose my weight I didn't want to keep buying brand new clothes as they would be too big in a month's time so I started shopping at Salvation Army (which has AMAZING clothes!!). Lo and behold if I don't come across a pair of jeans that I must have made in my previous life!! They still even had the tag on it so obviously someone had bought them then got rid of them without wearing them but they had obviously been made for JUST ME!

The inseam is exactly 36 inches, the back does not gap, the top of the inseam sits perfectly where it is supposed to be, they never ride up, I never have to hitch them up cause they are sliding down and they are the perfect shade of faded blue. Well after 4 years of wearing them almost non stop I have known for some time that I need to replace them. Not very easy. I thought fine they are made by the Gap so I can just go there and buy them. They are quick to tell me they no longer make that kind as not enough sales were made to warrant them continuing the line!

Are you kidding me???? What happened to all the ones that did not sell? Are they sitting in some warehouse somewhere? Can you check please? I don't know, I don't know and no I can't check for you. Good thing I am not a Gap customer cause service like that I can do without! I finally found a pair the other day that were almost long enough (almost being the operative word )and fit across my hips and today I wore them when out with my daughter shopping. And the afternoon was spent, tugging them up, pulling my shirt down to cover the gap at the back, pulling at them down my legs cause they kept riding up every time I sat down.

Sigh... back to the drawing board :(

temperatures

Ok I am so seriously tired of this weather and obviously so is everyone else according to all conversations with family and friends throughout Canada and US lately. You know how you always hear that no matter how bad things are things are always worse elsewhere? Well I decided to google temperatures and right now in Vostok, Antartica it is -61 degrees without windchill!!!!! Hmmmm not so bad here anymore!!

saga of the eyeball

All right so here is the scoop of my eyeball. For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about let me bring you up to speed. About 3 weeks ago in the middle of the day I started getting bright constant flashing in the outside of my left eye. I usually get 'Auras and ziggly lines" before a migraine so assumed I was going to get a whopper although I have never had flashing lights. Remember the parties from the 70's that had strobe lights? Now don't pretend you are too young to remember those!! But all of a sudden after about 5 hours or so of this constant flashing, it stops to be replaced with a black splotch in the middle of my eye. I thought I had some old mascara still on my eyelashes so washed my face but nothing. By the next morning it was still bugging me so I went to the walk in clinic to get it checked out. She felt there had been retinal detachment so suggested I went to the ER.

So off I go, they checked me out and sent me to see an opthamologist. He checked it very carefully and explained to me that there had been no tears in the retina and that I been very lucky. He said the black splotch was actual debris from the membrane and that my body would reabsorb it and it would be all fine.

Fast forward to this week and I had my doctor send me to see a 2nd opthamplogist for another opinion as my splotch was still there. I knew my eye strained was still there and added headaches. He did another through check and this was his explanation:

When you are young the back of your eyeball is the consistency of a tennis ball. When you get older the consistency turned to something like jello or jello pudding. Still solid but kind of "sloshey" that if you had it in a box and walked around with it the contents would be sloshing around in the box. Eventually what would happen is this pudding consistency would weaken and start pulling away from the back of the retinal wall at the back of your eye. When you really are getting older this what was once a tennis ball is a pool of liquid. He said it upsets him when other peers say debris will reabsorb leaving patients thinking in a couple of days you will be all and when it doesn't happen they get upset.

Basically he said there is nothing he can do. They will not go in to remove the debris. I said I have to wait for this "middle stage" to work and turn into liquefaction (no word of a lie that is what it is called). He did say that my left eye has perfect vision, better then perfect vision actually. My right eye has not so good and has astigmatism really bad what every that means.

So now I have an eyeball that used to be a tennis ball now is a bowl of jello pudding and am waiting for it to get a water ball.

How as your week?

Taking Chance

I don't normally post movie reviews as there usually isn't a whole lot of worthy movies out there these days but last week Keith and I watched one. It is a true story called "Taking Chance" by Keven Bacon. I am including a trailer but it is by far the MOST ABSOLUTELY MOST heartbreaking, tear jerker movie I have ever seen in my entire life.

It begins with a soldier's dying in combat in Afghanistan. Then it continues with the transport of the body home and the steps that goes from death to being returned to their parents continents away.

There is one scene that all of a sudden a trucker drove by the hearse with the Lt. Colonel in with the deceased soldier and all the other drivers knew that was a dead soldier in that hearse and he passed the hearse and went around the corner with his lights flashing at every car coming towards the hearse and one by one they turned all their headlights on and turned around to follow them back to the hometown to give me a soldier his welcome home. I don't want to give more of the movie but if you don't watch any more movies please see this one. You will regret not ever seeing it and it will touch your entire life if you do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehWAxdLSoQM&feature=related

best of face time with Facebook

Ok I know some people have a thing about Facebook..that they can't be bothered with finding people with their past etc etc. I was like that for a long time as well. But as most of you know my sleep is pretty much non-existant so I decided to try it out in the middle of the night one day. It was more difficult for me as all of my female friends would have been married and with not knowing their married names I was steimied.

But then I noticed one day that someone had their maiden name down along with their married name and I thought uh huh!! So over the next while every I started finding as well as being found from school mates as well as friends from Regina.

Some were just a one or two messages people and yet others were chatters every day, sharing pictures etc. Now you know I had decided last month that I was going to work harder at doing face to face time rather then online. Well this past week, I did some face to face time with 2 of my school mates. One I had seen at our 10th year reunion but the other I had not seen in 35 years since we left school. She had been at the same reunion but we had each been there different nights of the weekend.

We talked for hours but we finally seperated to go our different directions. It was a couple of hours of "Remember When" and who did we have secret crushes on in high school. Ironically all of us had just recently gone through medical nightmares and we had that bond in common although personally I would have loved to have bonded in some other way then with breast cancer but we had something to talk about.

I was told that things haven't changed much in 35 years that I still like doing all the talking... seriously... I do not talk THAT much! hehehe When we hugged hello and goodbye it wasn't this citified stuff that people do these days of hugging but no body contact. Our hugs were small town people hugs.. the kind that you squeeze on tight to never let go, smiles are genuine full face smiles not these little fake smiles that somehow never reach your eyes. It just reminded me of some of the benefits of small town raisings and I miss it. Leo and Carol.. this was a day I will not soon forget!! Although NEXT time I suggest you both stand on a stool instead of making ME scrunch down so we were all the same height.

Yeah for Facebook!

Up and Down like a yoyo

This week has been one filled with turmoil and one I do not care to repeat. I got a call from one of my brothers on Thursday to tell me my favorite aunt from my dad's line had died. Her cancer had come back and it was agressive. One of my brothers and I were distraught to say the least. Then the next morning my mom calls me again but this time she tells me one of my uncles on my mom's side that I was close to had also died. She asked me again about what I talked to her last year when she came to visit when I had my surgery. I explained the plan of salvation again to her and about eternal families. My words seemed to bring her comfort as she wasn't crying when we hung up. But it didn't help me at that moment as what was in my head was not in my heart.

That very night, one of our daughters in law was baptized in our church by our son Jody. She was in her long white dress and one point she was standing on her own, being very quiet and I could sense the Holy Spirit around her protecting her. I just wanted to cry and hold her.

At 3:30 that morning I got another phone call and by this time I am not wanting any more bad news but it wasn't. IT was telling us about our new granddaughter. After I got off the phone, there was no possible way of going to sleep so I laid in bed and thought about those 4 separate items in my life that had happened in a 3 day period and how ironically they all pertained to the Plan of Salvation that I so firmly believed in.

It reminded me that we all have steps to complete before our roles are done. We have to be born on earth, we have to be baptized, and we have to die. Not too many can say they honestly went through the same in the space of a 3 day period. As I still lay there I realized I am a fine example of "it's not always enough to have faith in Heavenly Father - you also need to have faith in His timing" Not always remotely on the same chapter let alone same page.

I spent the rest of today thinking about this Plan of Salvation and how it affects me personally and I will endeavour to work it out of my head so that I can be of better service while I am still here on earth.

Ad we now have 14!!

I would like to introduce you to my newest granddaughter Aoibheann (pronounced Ee-veen)Bree Holly Siever was born 03:38, 1 March 2009 in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. She weighed 3 kg (6 lbs 10 oz) and was 48 cm (19 inches) long.

Being Grateful

Today at church we had a lesson on being grateful. It was discussed that at times with all the negative news around us, all the busyness of our lives that we don't take the time to appreciate all the goodness in our lives. So right now I would like to say what I am grateful for right now in my life.

-to be alive
-to be married to Keith
-to have the children and grandchildren that Heavenly Father has blessed me with
-to live in such a beautiful place surrounded by mountains and water
-to be free to worship God the way I want
-to still have my mom alive
-to have brothers and sisters in laws that love me
-for my job
-for the staff that work with me
-for Keith's priesthood
-to have a husband who loves me as much as he does and who never goes a single day without telling me how beautiful I am
-for my almost sisters
-for the friendships that I have cultivated over the years
-for finding new cousins this past week that even though we are 5th cousins twice removed, it still is new family and I can never have too big of a family
-for my passion for genealogy
-to live at a time where modern technology has allowed me to keep connected with family and friends from all over the world. (and yes I know I complain about too much electronic static hehehe)

And finally yes I am even grateful for my cancer. Because it more then anything else has taught me how precious life is, how precious my family is, how I can never EVER stop being grateful for all that I have in my life. Today I am able to breathe, to love, to be loved, I can play house with my granddaughters and play video games with my grandsons; I am able to have them over for sleepovers, I am able to share family traditions that are such a part of who I am with my children; I am never too old to learn new things, I can still find joy at walking along the water at 6 in the morning with my children and grandchildren and forget that my joints hurt; I am able to grow old with my husband knowing that even when I am very old rocking in my chair in the back yard that he will still be there to help me up and give me a wet willie :)

Today I love my life and am very grateful.

Sally wants....

Ok this is HILARIOUS!!! I have been laughing so hard doing this that it actually has been helping the strain and dryness in my eyes from the drops cause I have been crying laughing hehehe. This is what you do... go to your google search.. and type in using quotation marks the following "your own name wants" such as "sally wants" and then copy the top 10 page links it gives you. You can also do "your name needs" . Then let me know what yours says :)

1. Sally wants a man she can call her own

2. Sally wants full track for free (not sure what track I want but ok)

3. Sally wants to go MP3 searching

4. Sally wants can't talk but her drawings kick butt :)

5. Sally wants to go

6. Sally wants to be taken for granted

7. Sally wants some of these photos

8. Sally wants me to give her what she wants (well DUH!!0

9. Sally wants bbc please

10. Sally wants to be a surgeon

grandsons vs granddaughters

HUH!! Bet you thought I was going to post a conversation that I had with one of our granddaughters huh? FOOLED YOU!! I am going to post about one with one of my grandsons hehehe

We are on on the first leg of our trip to Hawaii on the train to Seattle. Our 11 year old grandson was sitting beside me and we were just chit chatting. He kept saying I love you Nana and who's the bestest Nana etc. I would say thank you and then we would talk about stuff some more. We also would read our books and play card games. He kept snuggling against me and I would have my arm around him. At one point in the middle of reading this conversation starts:

Dallas: I love you Nana
Me: (smiling inside) I love you too Buddy
Dallas: (as he rubs my arm that is around him) you have soft skin Nana
Me: Well thank you Dallas

chit chat for a couple more minutes

Dallas: You really have REALLY nice skin Nana
Me: Well thank you you are really REALLY sweet for telling me that
Dallas: You smell soft too Nana
Me: "chuckling inside " Did Jen (his new to be step-mom) tell you to say that to me cause I let you come on the train with me?
Dallas: oh no I just said it cause it is true
Me: Well thank you again

chit chat for a couple more minutes then back to reading our books then all of a sudden this pops out of his mouth

Dallas: Remember when I said you had soft skin?
Me: Yes
Dallas: Well I was trying to remember what it was soft like and I just thought of it. Your skin is soft like rubber
me: (uhhhhhhhhh)
me: Well thank you Dallas... is that a good thing to have skin that feels like runner?
Dallas: Oh sure Nana, your skin doesn't feel like a bunch of bumps and rough like elbows, it's soft and smooth like rubber

then he curls back into my side and goes back to his book. I sit there stupefied thinking is that supposed to be a good thing? I mean a couple of months ago I had a granddaughter tell me that I was Barbie pretty but now a grandson tells me I have skin like rubber. Tonight I remembered to tell Keith aboht the conversation and we talked about how different boys were then girls and how they gave compliments. With a new grandchild coming in a couple of weeks we talked about what we thought it might be. We have 9 girls and 4 boys now and I am sure the males in our family would really like testerone to enter the gene pool. So when Keith asked me what I would rather have I just smiled and said well to be honest as long as the baby thinks I continue to look like a rubberized Barbie I am happy. I mean seriously what more can a Nana ask for????

Now you see it, now you don't

So this morning I went to print the agenda for my executive meeting and I get a window on my screen saying I have no printer. I looked at the printer to make sure it was on and it was so I turned it off then back on again checking all the connections thinking it never got connected when they rehooked my computer up while I was gone but everything was done so I tried again. Nothing. Great. So I got the cd for the printer driver pop it in the cdrom to install it and nothing. Oh yeah... my cdrom not working was what started this whole mess 2 months ago when my computer went on the fritz!!!

UGHHHHHH going to be a great day I can just tell.............

Face Time

I recently saw a commercial from Dentyne that really struck a nerve in me. (see link for video below). It didn't rub me the wrong way as in offensive but what it did do was make me realize just how little time we actually spend doing face time in this day of so called modern technology. Any of you that have been around me long enough either in person or through the internet know that I have an issue with how much we depend on technology to communicate. It came to a head more apparent to me over the last couple of weeks in 3 seperate incidents.

First was a conversation on the phone with an old friend from back home. At the end of our talk I asked for her email address to keep in contact and she said she didn't even have the internet. Then I gave her both my phone numbers and she chuckled. I asked what was so funny and she said that I sounded so sophisticated with all my "tools to talk" with. I asked how she kept in contact with her kids that were in high school and she said with trust. None of her kids had internet at home, no cells, no anything. If they were going to a friends she got the friends phone number at home to check. She said she didn't need to be paying for cells for her kids to hike up charges talking to their friends they just spent all day with.

Secondly, when we were in Hawaii I used Keith's work digital camera. I wasn't sure how many pictures it held so every day I would download all of them. (Trust me, the ones I posted on Facebook weren't nearly the same number as I took.) My oldest son was also using my laptop to download his pictures onto to save his memory. Another son was downloading his pictures onto his laptop. While I was unloading all these pictures I would check my mail and talk to Keith etc. At one point I left a message for my DIL that was just across the hall from me jokingly telling her it was her turn to go set the table. Later that day I got a message from a friend saying she thought it was my daughter Lareta who had not gone with us. I said yes that was right so she asked who Mary was I told her my DIL and she said didn't she go with you and I said yes she is here with me and then my friend said I don't get it if she is right there then why are you messaging her instead of talking to her face.

Lastly, lately I have been noticing that when we go to family and friends home to supposedly visit, we are finding ourselves sitting there watching people juggling laptops on their knees, playing video games, playing computer games etc. And I think I could have stayed home curled up on the couch reading a good book.

So when I saw this commercial it hit home how little we do actual face time with other people. But I can not control what other people do but I can control what I do so my own challenge for the next couple of weeks is to do more instant face connection with my family and friends. Obviously actual face to face only with those that live here and phone connection with those that live away. I will keep my computer yakking time for middle of nights when I am wandering around the house like now or when I am alone. I will endeavor to cut some of these electronic apron strings down a tad.

I shall keep you all posted but please do check the link for the commercial. I would be very interested in hearing if you feel the same or whether I am completely off my rocker.


http://www.splendad.com/ads/show/2693-Dentyne-Face-Time-Rain-On-Me

Vows and stuff

Recently I found out that it now makes 4 couples from our old friends in Regina that have gotten divorced. To say I was surprised is to minimize it big time. I found out about the last couple just before we went to Hawaii and I had a lot of time to reflect on my own marriage, on my parent's marriage and watching 3 of our sons with their wives on vacation, their marriages and I wondered what happens to that magic that we all experienced on our wedding day? Do we really have rose colored blinders on? Do we really know who we are marrying? Does life get in the way of "for better for worse, for richer for poorer in sickness and in health for all time and eternity (or till death do you part for those that aren't members of my faith)"? We raised our children the exact same way and yet all 3 of our sons that were in Hawaii with us treated their wives completely different.

When does one decide where you get to the point of no return? After one chance, two, three, none? I remember way back when some political wife took her adulterous husband back and Hilary Clinton made a comment that put women all over the world up in arms by saying "I'm not a little woman that "Stands By Your Man (from Tammy Wynette song)".. but when the shoe fell by her bed she did stand by him.

Do you just go by sheer emotion, lack of being able to trust again, forgive and forget as Christ did many times over? When do you step up to the plate and say I don't think my name is spelt D-O-O-R-M-A-T? What makes one person leave after just one "offense" yet another stick by their spouse through it all?

By no means am I writing this to offend anyone that has ever left their spouse for any reason. I am just curious at to what other's line of no return is. I know the day I met Keith I told him flat out if he ever laid a hand on me or even looked like he was going to, he would never see me again. To me that was my line of do not cross. Am I too naive to think there isn't anything that can't be worked out other then abuse?

Life's lessons learnt

We just got back from a week's vacation in Hawaii and I realized I learnt a few of life's lessons while there so thought I would share them with you :)

~I did not die while not watching one or more of my regularly watched TV series while on vacation

~Some of my grandchildren are more mature then some of my children

~You can not please all of the people all of the time, in fact at times you can't even please some of the people any of the time

~The things that I thought would really thrill all of my children did not but the things I thought would just be so so thrilled MOST of my children.. go figure

~You cannot sleep in on vacation

~There is no life in the fast lane in Laie Hawaii. Nobody honks at you as they speed past your car, no one swears at you or gives you the one finger wave as you slow down to look at something, other drivers will actually slow down to let you in their lane when you turn your signals on and then will smile and wave at you rather then speed up to stop you from going in front of them

~grandchildren will not wither away without playing video/computer games all week and adult children will not collapse without their WOW or Everquest for one week

~people still have to go to the bathroom just as soon as dishes have to be done

~I never thought I would need a time out on vacation

~5 year olds make great sleeping buddies

~where else can you pop down to the beach at 6am in your jammies to watch the sunrise

~small wonderful things amuse small wonderful minds like "Nana watch... my footprints keep disappearing every time the wave comes in"

~family members' best behaviors in a couple hour visit at home becomes more difficult to maintain in a 24/7 situation with 12 people hanging around.

~family vacation is not a true vacation with half the family missing

~my mind and body could not enjoy themselves when my heart and soul was at home

~I love LOVE rain shower heads!!!

~I am too old to fly the red eye

~I have too many health issues to travel a 6 hour flight and a 4 1/2 hour train ride and a 1 hour car ride at the beginning and end of it all in a row.

~there are actual places that don't have stores open 24/7 so you actually have to plan your shopping instead of just popping to a store at 9pm to get milk

~there are actual towns that all the businesses are closed on Sundays YEAAAAA

~Never get in a car with a driver who does not have a proper map, does not have an address of a place they are going to AND that has back seat drivers!

~I would never drive 20 minutes one way to get Starbucks every day:) Sorry Jen hehehe

~As much as I loved Hawaii and sharing it with my family I now have more empathy for Dorothy as I clicked my heels together 3 times saying "There's no place like home there's no place like home there's no place like home" and voila I am home. Home is definitely where the heart is and my heart is here.

Monday Memory - Lareta

Yesterday I have to say in all honesty was a crappy day.. can I say that out loud without it being a swear word? As the day progressed it got worse and worse. Just when I thought it could not get worse I thought I had "lost" 6 out of our 13 airline tickets. I had gotten an email from the travel agent last week with the numbers but never really looked at it. Yesterday I get an email from one of my daughters in law asking for the itinerary so I opened up the file. That's when I realized I was short. Quite short. I started panicking checking our receipts to make sure we had actually paid for all those tickets but of course I can't put my hands on it as we had paid for them before I went in for all my surgeries and Christmas. I am really freaking out.

At one point I asked Keith to check the airline site on his laptop as his has a larger monitor and I thought maybe I couldn't see a "NEXT" button on mine but he couldn't see it either. After a couple of hours of sheer panic I realized that the rest of the family were under their own name and not our last name. DUH! I had assumed that I had booked the flights, paid for the tickets that all the reservations would be under one number under my name. What can I tell you. I use small town logic.

By that time I had such a nasty migraine I told Keith I was going to bed even though it wasn't even 10 at night. I lasted in bed tossing and turning for 2 1/2 hours then thought this is insane, I needed to shut my brain off somehow that I needed to relax. Then I thought of my daughter Lareta. Which is where today's memory is coming from. When we lived in Regina, Keith worked out of town a lot. Lareta started sleeping with me from the time she was a very little girl. It was our special bonding time. Living in a house with 5 males and raised toilet seats didn't give us much alone time just for girls.

After we moved here, Keith still ended up working out of town, not nearly the amount of time that he used to but still did enough. In Lareta's last year of high school, she started going through periods of really bad dizzy spells and ended up having to do some home schooling with a tutor. But on days where it was just us, we would lay in bed till very late at night propped up on a bazillion pillows reading books. We are both avid readers of everything and anything and would just lay there reading. Of course which meant we HAD to sleep in till noon :) If it was the weekend we would stay in our jammies all day, push the couch up closer to the tv (this was before we got our 50"), curl up under a blanket each and watch movies!

She made this wicked cooked butterscotch pudding and I make the best homemade hot fudge sauce and we would alternate these eating them ;) YUM! After she got pregnant the first time, we would go for a walk every day, well ok I walked she waddled hehehe, but we would walk to the mall and go for lunch then walk back. I remember telling her that this would all change once her baby was born and she would say no way Mum, we will always be able to do this. I would tell her yes we would but it wouldn't be the same.. there would be babies and diaper bags, car seats, strollers etc.

Mum was right of course. Now at times, by the time we load toddlers and babies in car seats, throw 2 strollers in the trunk and get our bags in, we are ready for a nap and we haven't even gotten out of the yard yet! I wouldn't trade any of my grandchildren for that one on one time with her from the old days but I have to say I miss those days. As I thought of our times together, I got sleepier and more relaxed. One of my last thoughts was to thank my Father in Heaven for giving her to me. I have told her a thousand times over the years that He knew I would only have one daughter so he sent me the very best. I smiled as I kept her face in my mind as I drifted off to sleep. I can honestly say that my best girl friend that lives here is my daughter Lareta. And that memory will remain with me till the end of my days.

Parking near water's edge can be tricky :)

Thought some of you in a deep freeze on the prairies might find this funny :)

Debit/Cash user inequality

This week I had to go downtown Vancouver for a doctor's appointment. By the time I had walked 8 blocks towards the skytrain station I was freezing walking so decided to cut through Pacific Centre Mall to warm up. I stopped at the food court to get some lunch. I handed over my debit card to pay for it and get told that there was a charge for using my debit card. As I am waiting for my food I see a sign on the cash register that says "To keep costs fair for all our customers there will be a small charge to our debit customers". WHAT??? How is charging ME being fair to ME? I am part of "all our customers". How is charging me being fair to say cash users? Well ok I can see how cash users would think it would be fair to them if I get charged rather then them being charged. Why are cash users not penalized for say the staff having to count all the cash at the end of the night? I should get a reward for not paying with cash in that respect.

This is discrimination. Yup yup yup it is and I am going to take this to the higher court then the food court.

Life in the fast lane

Well I just want to go on record to say that way back when computers first came out I said they would be the root of all evil. I said it over and over again as my husband and 5 teenagers tried convincing me otherwise. In our family the rule had always been majority wins when things came to a family vote (unless it was something I wanted then I overruled everyone..hey I'm the mom it's in the mom rule book I can do that)and I was outvoted. So we got a computer. It was used for mostly word documents and for the kids to use for typing papers. Then our typewriter (remember those?) broke down and I had to do some typing so one of the boys taught me how to turn the computer on. Don't laugh!! This was serious business. Now this was back in the days before you even used a mouse and had to use the F keys to do things with.

But over time I got the hang of it and actually got to the point where I could whip my way around it. At one point I became a property manager and managed an apartment building among other things and wanted to use the computer to do spreadsheets etc to make my life easier. So I took a correspondence course and part of the course was putting a computer together from scratch. I passed the course with flying colours.

Then the Internet came around and now the roles were reversed. Keith kept saying no no no we are not getting it, it's not going to be good etc etc.. but one of our sons and daughter in law had moved to Alberta and all our family were across country and I needed to be able to contact them without waiting for snail mail to get around to me. So I overrode him and got it. Then slowly he got the hang of it and away we went.

Part of my job as a hotel controller was keeping track of everything financial and my days of learning spreadsheets came in handy and I whizzed my way around everyone. I loved it. (Yes Kim, I actually knew how to do them before you hehehe). My life revolved around my computer. Not very often did I need to have someone come and fix something and most of the time people came to me to help them with their computers.

I learned how to scan pictures which now made my life as a grandmother so much easier and fun. I could make videos and my scrapbooking took off. I have always been a fan of family history and my file holds probably close to 5000 names and tons of information. I backed things up with regularity knowing I never wanted to lose any of this precious cargo.

Then Fibromyalgia kicked in and remembering how to do things became a chore. Things that had been once so easy for me became a struggle. I mean how do you go from being able to make up formulas for millions of dollars to not being able to remember how to use the calculator on the computer? Hardly a week can go by without a message to our son Kim that begins with "Kim are you busy? I ned help."

Another nice thing about the Internet. You never see your kids roll their eyes at you and your requests hehehe. A couple of years ago I decided to write a history book for my dad's side of the family including pictures etc. I sent out numerous emails to my aunts and uncles asking for updates of pertinent information and current pictures of their families. This all got stored on my hard drive.

Then I got the job as Director of a family history centre and started to work on new programs etc. I finally got new flash drives and started sorting through my massive amounts of information that was on my computer. My plan was to have one flash drive for my work, one for just pictures, one for my personal things, one for my family history and one for my book I was writing.

Then the cancer came and the multiple surgeries with recuperation. It took all my energies just to keep up with the basics. At the back of my mind I kept thinking I have to start transferring all this onto my new flash drives but I was always ending those thoughts with "as soon as I am done this". The FM took care of the short term memory losses and when I did have the time to do it I just never remembered to do it.

The last couple of months my main computer started getting slower and slower. I tried doing everything I knew to do to try and locate the problem but nothing ever showed up as the cause. I asked Keith to take a look at it but he would get so frustrated every time he went near it as I would sit beside him asking "why are you doing that, why is that necessary, what does that mean, how is it coming along" etc etc:. He would ask me what I had done and why did I have so many programs and I didn't need this or that and I let the kids on the computer too much instead of making them use their computer (which was an old one and too slow for them they liked mine way better). It just became a bone of contention between us. I kept explaining to him that he needed to explain to me why he did what he did and how he did what he did so if it went down again I could fix it on my own as he was always at work etc. But he kept taking it as I didn't trust him to fix it.

I hated asking him to check on it as he was always so tired by the end of the day with his own work to do. But eventually it just got slower and slower. And then the big day came last week when I decided ok this is it, I am NOT doing another thing till I transfer all this information onto my new drives. I went to pop a cd in the drive to listen to some music while I worked and noticed it never came on. I pulled the cd out and put it back in thinking I hadn't inserted it properly. But same result. So I checked the properties and it didn't even show that drive at all... groannnnn now what.

I called Keith and asked him what to do and he said just turn it off it might just need to be rebooted. So I did. Except that when it went to turn back on it now said it would not reboot and I needed the start up cd to boot it. GREAT. When Keith came home he took a look at it and said he had no idea what had happened and that he didn't have a start up cd for it as it had come already installed when he bought it for me 3 years go. He could tell from the look on my face this was not what I wanted to hear. To say I was feeling stressed was to say the least.

All I could think of was that I was in the middle of writing a book and everything was on that computer. Everything. Many many hours worth of writing and drafting. Hundreds of hours of putting pictures in proper order never mind having scanned so many of them. All my contact information was on there. The only thing that wasn't on there was all my files for my work. That was on one of my flash drives but only cause I had to be able to take it to work without hauling the computer with me so thank goodness I had the sense of transferring my files for that. But that was not what was on my mind at that moment. All my files for Hawaii was on the laptop so that was fine too. But what I needed the most was my book.

So on Monday I happen to go visit a friend from church and happen to mention what was going on. She said oh by the way her husband is a very skilled computer specialist. That is his job and he does everything from building computers to writing programs to everything in between and would I like him to come take a look at it? What? Are you kidding me? Would I want to? YESSS!!! DUH!!

So last night he showed up with his tools and some other kind of program the he could use to test things without having to use a boot up cd. It didn't take more then a few minutes before he said that my hard drive was just old. OLD? it is like 3 years old. Well apparently in computer lingo that is old. He said it is just like any other commodity. At times you can buy a new thing even a new car and drive it for years with no problems. Other times you buy a new car and you have nothing but problems almost since day one.

He did a little of this and a little of that and every now and then would come out into the living room to ask me a question. I was a very good girl and stayed out of my office the whole time to give him some room. It was very difficult though. This was my baby he was working on.. and Keith was talking up a storm with him all the while I am thinking they are talking about me, they are comparing notes on women and how they know nothing.. which of course they weren't.. only in my overly imaginative brain they were.

After 3 hours he finally delivered the news. My drive was deader then a doorknob. I needed a new one. He said he was going to take it home with him and see if he could get a program that would work at being able to transfer everything over to a new drive. At that point I started to hyperventilate internally. You mean as in take it out of the house? As in my computer now has a hole in it? As in I have no files? What other options do I have? Well.. back to the drawing board for the men.. Keith uses an external hard drive for his work as he stores blueprints and a lot of very large files from his work computer at his office and is able to bring it home to work on his laptop. So they decided that he would try and transfer my files from my computer to this new drive so that if my hard drive was just too dead I at least did not lose my files. Then when we get back from Hawaii I wll have to get a new drive.

Ok that worked for me. So the tech worked on doing that. After he was done he did one more thing before he left and then asked me what my admin code was so that he could reboot it from his place...uh... I have no idea.. I gave him the code I always use when I start my computer up but it wouldn't work. He said I needed the admin code that I had set when I first got the computer.. uhhhh that was 3 years ago... you know I have literally very little short term memory right? You want me to remember what I entered that long ago? So my homework is to try and figure out what I would have used while he works on it.

So to make a very long story short, remember way at the beginning of the post when I said computers were an evil thing? Well see? I was right!!!! This living in the fast lane really sucks. This would never had happened with my albums of pictures and my notebooks of writings for my book. It wouldn't have happened either with my old typewriter.

Monday Memory - Flying old vs new

Again I am one day late with my Monday Memory but I have had so many problems with both my computers lately that I can barely get my emails read and some of them answered before it shuts down on me. Good excuse huh?

So my memory today has to do with flying. On airplanes flying not on drugs flying :) I remember in my good old days that when I would want to go somewhere I would just call the airline, tell them what I wanted and then show up on flight day with payment in hand even if it was cash.

Times have changed a lot. After just booking flights for 5 from Alberta to here and then 13 flights from here to Hawaii I have come to believe that things are not made to help with customers. The bottom line is how much money can we make off these people that want to get from point a to point b at the same time do it with the least amount of amenities.

We used to always get a snack AND a meal if your flight was more then just a short jaunt. You could also bring these on board with you to eat/drink. Blankets and pillows were free for the asking. Headphones were free. There was room for your legs to move. Staff worked at getting your business and keeping it.

Now.. this is what I get. There's no longer free checked luggage. You have to pay for each bag you check in. If it is one pound over the limit you pay dearly. You no longer get a free meal. Your snack where once was a muffin or cookies or fruit with cheese and crackers etc is now a small pack of overly salted pieces of cardboard. You no longer can even bring a bottle of water through security with you. Oh but you most certainly can buy bottled water at the airport kiosks and food to take on the plane with you. Yup at 4 dollars per small bottle of water, you really want to jump at those prices.

I worked my butt off to get gold status with my airmiles over the last couple of years as I knew I would be booking a lot of flights. When I went to use them to book I was told I could not use my status for this flight from Alberta to Vancouver. Why not? I am supposed to get 40% off the airmiles needed with gold status. Well yes I am told... but only on pre-selected flights. Well so then why did I work that hard for to get the status in the first place????

Not only that but I am limited to one flight each way. One is at 5am. Ever try getting a family of 5 ready to get out the door to be at the airport that early in the morning?? Why do you only have 1 flight? Well cause there are only so many seats per flight used for airmiles the rest are for regular fares. Ok well let me use a different airline. Sorry nope can't do that for you either. There is only 1 airline and that is Air Canada. But I can use West Jet with my airmiles. Yes you can but West Jet doesn't fly to Lethbridge. Groan.

Ok fine... do I have a choice? So let me see if I have this right. I can't fly on the days I want cause you have no seats available even though I just checked with Air Canada online while you had me on hold and saw that they had plenty of seats available, I have to get my family at the airport at 5am plus have to transfer in Calgary, they can't bring their own water on the plane, I can't get 40% off because that is only available on flights YOU tell me I can use it on, they can't go home on the day they need to be back for the same reason that you already told me do I have it correct? Yes I am told.

well obviously I need them here and have no choice so fine book it.. ok that will be $691.97. Uhhh no I am using my airmiles.. yes we know but these are for taxes. WHAT?? What taxes.. GST and PST do not add to that. Well no but there is airport improvement fees, other airport fees as well as fuel surcharges. WHAT? Are you kidding me? Do you realize that gas is down 50% in the last year? Why have the fuel surcharges not gone down? I don't know ma'am.

I get the information about Sea-Tac airport to find out what is admissible or not and it has taken 3 of us to translate their terminology into plain English so that we could understand it. But I can almost guarantee that we still are going to have to throw something out that we brought with us cause we understood it to be fine.

So to bring it all to a head:
Free flights with airmiles: free but pay taxes the cost of 2 full flights with West Jet
Free headphones for movie: no
Free blanket: no
Free pillow: no
Free meal: no
Free snack: no (salted Styrofoam does not count as a snack)
Free checked luggage: no
Free smiles on flight day: I'll get back to you with that one
Being able to go on a family vacation with our children and grandchildren: Priceless and still worth the hassle. But man I miss the good old days

Lipstick and You

O while sitting at yet another Doctor's office yesterday I came across a magazine article on how the color of your lipstick will show others things about you. OK so I am bored and thought crap.. they were pretty accurate.. I will post all of the colors, their meanings and I will treat anyone to lunch who can:
1. Guess which lipstick color says the most about me

2. What color did I say I thought I was most like

If you love RED or BURGUNDY:
You're a clear thinker; Red is elemental - the color that literally makes your heart beat faster. So while wearing a red blouse means you want to stand out, wearing a red lip color means you are always willing to stand by your word: highly verbal and forthright, you think fast, churning out ideas with lightning speed. And if you're sometimes impatient with those who can't keep up: just remember not everyone can wear red lipstick

If you pick BRIGHT PINK or MAGENTA:
You're Curious!
Pink conveys a youthful, inquisitive nature. And wearing this shade as an adult indicates your enthusiastic, selfless outlook. "Friends find you so endearing because of your intense, genuine interest in them and their lives." And your passions urge you to try everything life has to offer so that whenever you return from ad adventure, you will always find friends and loved ones dying to hear your exciting stories.

If you are attracted to NUDE or COCOA
You're Elegant!
A subtle shade on your lips draws more attention to your eyes which makes perfect sense, given how much you can communicate with the single gesture. A woman of mystique, you have an unshakable but never off-putting confidence in yourself, preferring to make a quiet statement on your lips so that your talent does all the talking, whether you're saving the day at work with an original idea or serving dinner from an original recipe

If you go for PEACH or ORANGE TONES
You're charming!
A combination of sunny yellow and bold red, orange represents both optimism and strenght. Not as traditional a lip color as crimson or pink, peachy hues represent a unique woman who radiates innocence as well as strenght. No wonder people are drawn to your kindness and spunky sense of humour. Such a well rounded personality allows you to get along with almost anyone; and on the rare occasion when you can't, you're always able to say a joke, melting tension, and a few hearts along the way.

If you prefer PALE ROSE
You're Empathetic!
Soft pink is psychologically associated with the spring, and much like being attracted to a garden in bloom, you're drawn to people when they are "opening up". A great listener, you take pride in your emotional intelligence and know the right time to either give your two cents or quietly respect a person's boundaries. That understanding, non-judgemental side of encourages others to come to you with anything

So let me know which colour you think I am AND What color I said I really was.. Be the first one to be correct and lunch is on me :)

Monday Memory - Cypress Hills

OK I know this is one day late.. shoot me :) It has been a miserable last couple months with record breaking rain and snowfall out here on the west coast and going for my walk today I was thinking of summer and camping. Which brought me up to the memory of our week long annual camp that our family did when we were growing up to Cypress Hills Provincial Park ever summer. Now to those of us from a tiny town of about 500 people if you count numbers on a long weekend with visitors, going to a national park for such a long time and to drive such a long distance with 6 kids was a feat in itself!!

But it was the first of many vacations our family did together and it was the one thing my mother insisted that we go ALL TOGETHER including my father. The second thing that she insisted on was that he was not allowed to go to the bar while we were there. It was always an amazing trip filled with many many memories. One especially, my only sister Adele and my 2 older brothers, Dan and Claude and our parents gave us permission to take paddle boats out on the lake. We had never done this before or at least not to my recollection. We ran around ourselves in circles trying to get them to go straight so we could go from one end to the other but we couldn't coordinate it no how. But we laughed and laughed and splashed one another. It was a Kodak Memory Moment for sure...one that has shaped my idea and beliefs of family vacation to my life now.

Our parents were almost like real parents, letting us be kids, no fighting, no bickering, I mean they even went swimming in the pool with us!!! And now as I think of my siblings and our families I see the next 3 generations doing the same thing, as in camping together, forming new roots, forging new memories and that pleases me tremendously!!I'm glad they have kept it up. When we have our family reunion this summer I think we should have this HUGEOUS campfire that we can legally make without letting Keith or Claude anywhere near it with a gas can or anything that looks like a gas can!

Good Memory to be able to share with you even if it is one day late.

Out of the mouths of Babes.. AGAIN

All right here is the latest conversation between our almost 5 year old granddaughter Rosaleen and myself this week.

Me: Hey Rosaleen, guess how many more sleeps before we leave for Hawaii?
R: how many?
M: 19 and guess what else?
R: what?
M: In 18 more sleeps Uncle Kim, Auntie Mary, Sinead, Regan and Aisling are coming in on a big airplane!!
R: They are?
M: Yes and we will have a big family dinner with all your uncles and aunties and cousins then they will have a sleepover then in the morning we will go to the train station and get on a big train but not the skytrain (which we take all the time) to the hotel in Seattle
R: what's a hotel?
M: hmmmm well remember when Papa and Nana took you to Whistler?
R: Yes
M: well that was a hotel
R: YEAAAA
M: Then after the hotel we will wake up have breakfast then go on a humongous airplane over the ocean to Hawaii
R: YEAAA

several minutes are spent nitternattering about the trip and swimming in the ocean as opposed to pools etc and having to explain again the difference between the skytrain which she knows by heart and this new one that has a restaurant in it. Then all of a sudden little lightbulbs start going off in my head.

M: oh sorry Rosaleen but Nana just remembered you will be going to the hotel with Mommy and Daddy in your car and we'll see you at the hotel
R: No I'm not going with them in the car, you said we were going on the train.
M: I know but I made a mistake. Papa and Nana and Uncle Kim and his family are taking the train and you and your family are taking your car.And Uncle Doug and Auntie Jen are also taking their car to the hotel
R: And Dallas?
M: Uh well no not Dallas, Dallas is coming with Nana and Papa because they don't have room in Uncle Doug's truck to go all the way to Seattle with him squished in the truck
R: Well I will be squished in my car seat
M: No you won't be you will be just fine
R: (thinks a few moments)so then all the children will be in the train with you and Papa except me?
M: (Inwardly groaning and knowing what is coming) yes Rosaleen but that is because Mommy loves you very much and really wants her family to be together to go to the hotel. We will see you there I promise. But your family is going by car
R: No we're not
(several more minutes are spent doing this yes you are no I'm not routine.I thought she was thinking she wasn't going to Hawaii so reassured her that she was still going just not by train)

R: We can't take the car it's impossible
M:Why?
R: Cause you said we have to fly over the ocean and cars can't go on the ocean just airplanes
M: Yes I know but you aren't driving to Hawaii just to the hotel. It won't take long and you will be there before bedtime.

Bottom lip starts quivering

R: Well it doesn't matter cause I won't go with you then I will go with Baby Aisling she loves me
M: Yes she does love you and so do we and that has nothing to do with it. Aisling is a child and children can not be responsible for each other on a trip. Only an adult can oh Uncle Kim and Auntie Mary can't take you either as they already have 3 children they will be responsible for (I knew she was about to say she would go with them)
R: (after thinking quietly for a few moments, the Harford chin juts out)Well then fine.. then I will go with Papa as he never says no to me!

man didn't see that one coming and boy does she have him pegged!!!

2008 and 2009

Normally I do a write up of what I did the past year and what I am looking forward to or planning on doing the next year but I decided to do it a little different this year. I think everyone has heard ad nauseum what has been going on in my life this past year and I really would rather just put it all behind me and move on. Not counting the year I moved my family to BC this last one has to have been the hardest I have ever had to deal with. Not one I care to repeat. Ever.

So last night I had a thought when I couldn't sleep so got out of bed and turned my creative juices (ok so not so creative lol) to something a little more productive. I wanted to put more things but my scanner only does 8X10 sheets and not the 12X12 sheets of scrapbooking I normally use so I had to make do with some things.

Enjoy.. Wishing you all a WONDERFUL Happy New Year!! Or as we say in my mother tongue Bonne et Heureuse Annee!

French Memories of home

Sorry.. I have missed a couple of Monday memory days this month. I had no idea I would have to have not one but two major surgeries in the last 3 weeks. As I have been very slowly getting some things done for Christmas I pulled out my maternal grandmother's recipe book that my mom passed on to me and it made me smile. I have to admit I have been extremely stressed this past month has been almost more then I could handle most days.. what do you mean I have to not move... are you kidding me????

Anyway as I was reading her book late last night, this poor book that is paper thin, so yellowed out it's brown and the writings very faded in a lot of spots, I had a lot of smiles. A lot of memories. But 2 more then the others. One of the recipes is called "Tire De La Neige" where you take pure maple syrup (our family from Quebec always sent gallons down to us) and boil the heck out of it Then you take it by the spoonfuls and drizzle it over snow. Now that is just a recipe.

What the memory was when our cousins would come in from out of town for Christmas and we would be at our grandparents farm, or we would be over visiting on Sundays in December and their neighbors which happened to be my Dad's first cousins (small town what can I say) and we would have fresh snow, my Pepere would ask who wanted some Tire Du Neige? Of course my grandmother would sternly say "Bert (short for Albert) stop making them scream!".. but he would just grin and do it again... hmmm wonder where the males in my family now got that from????? We would get all dressed up and head out the door with my grandmother's steel wash tub. Our job was to fill it as high as we could with dire warnings not go get any yellow snow.

My grandmother would be boiling the syrup while we were doing that and usually the men would then come and get the tub from us to bring in. As we would be getting undressed, my grandmother would ladle this syrup right on the snow. It had to cool on the snow for a few minutes then we would be perched on chairs, benches, on the table for the youngest ones with our spoons in hand and when Memere would say ok it has cooled enough we would twirl our spoons around and around till it lifted off the snow kind of like you roll spagetti with your spoon. Then we would eat it.. oh mannnn you can not ever explain that taste.. ever.. sheer heaven... Then the mothers would start in telling us not to eat too much.. but the boys always did and always would throw up from all that sugar.. sigh .. life was so much simpler in those days.

Anyway here is the recipe as written by my grandmother

Tire d'érable sur la neige
Pour faire une tire d'érable sur la neige, rien de plus simple: prendre une boîte de sirop d'érable et la faire bouillir jusqu'à ce que votre thermomètre à bonbons soit à 230F. Ne pas brasser et surtout, prendre un grand chaudron car le liquide à tendance à prendre de l'expansion. Verser ensuite sur la neige.

Next memory of Christmas has to be the homemade tourtiere!! Now nothing says French Canadien like Tourtieres.. Even if you are too young to read a calendar to count days you know Christmas is getting close because of the smells of the pies baking.. We always had these Christmas Even supper while my mom would be running around getting things done at the last minute. She knew we would be having a huge turkey dinner at 2 am so it was no big deal to have just this for dinner but oh man.. again.. this dish just to me means Christmas. You can't have Christmas without it ever.. I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out how I am going to make them without rolling out dough which is a no no with non existing chest muscles at the moment but figured it out last night. Going to use our son Kim's version that he made last year when we were there for Christmas.. he used tart shells.. perfect.. then I just have to get a couple out at a time instead of one whole pie.. This is going to be this weekend's project when Keith is home so he can bend to get the pans in and out of the oven.. I am so happy !!

And the bonus part??? It's snowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOOOHOOOOOO

Here is the recipe for the pie... I will put the translation following for those of you readers who aren't bilingual.

Tourtieres de Porc

1 c.à soupe (15 g) de beurre
1 oignon, haché finement
1 gousse d'ail, hachée finement
1 lbs (450 g) de Porc haché maigre
1/2 c.à thé (2 g) de sarriette
1/4 c.à thé (1 g) de clou de girofle moulu
1/4 c.à thé (1 g) de cannelle moulue
1/2 tasse (125 ml) de bouillon ou eau
Sel et poivre frais moulu, au goût
2 abaisses de pâte brisée
1 jaune d'oeuf, battu, pour badigeonner

Préchauffer le four à 350°F (180°C).

Dans une casserole, faire fondre le beurre et faire sauter l'oignon et l'ail pendant 3 minutes.

Ajouter le porc et faire sauter 5 minutes.

Incorporer la sarriette, le clou de girofle, la cannelle et le bouillon (ou l'eau); couvrir et laisser mijoter à feu doux pendant environ 30 minutes. Assaisonner de sel et de poivre au goût et réserver.

Foncer une assiette à tarte de 23 cm (9 po) d'une abaisse, puis garnir de la préparation de viande. Recouvrir de la deuxième abaisse et faire des petites incisions sur le dessus pour permettre à la vapeur de s'échapper.

Badigeonner de jaune d'œuf. Faire cuire au four pendant 30 minutes ou jusqu'à ce que la croûte soit dorée.


English version

1 TBSP(15 g) of butter
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 lbs (450g) of lean minced Pork
1/2 tsp(2 g) of savory
1/4 tsp(1 g) of ground clove
1/4 tsp (1 g) of ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (125 ml) of boiling broth or water
Salt and fresh ground pepper, to the taste
pie dough to form a 2 shell pie crust
1 egg yolk for whitewash

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
In a saucepan, let the butter melt and cook the onion and the garlic for 3 minutes.
Add the pork and let cook 5 minutes
Add the savory, the clove, the cinnamon and the broth (or water); cover and leave to simmer to medium low about 30 minutes. Season salt and of pepper to the taste and let completely cool (Years of experience lets me know that if you put the meat in the crust when it is hot the ough will remain soggy in the middle.)
Prepare your crusts. Cover with the second one Make sure you put vents in the top crust for steam to escape
Whitewash of beaten egg yolk only Bake for 30-40 minutes till crust is golden brown and your mouth is salivating hehehe

Christmas Memory

I was getting the house started to decorate although I don't know why everything has to be stored so high up.. this year I can barely lift anything let alone lift things off of cupboards and shelves. But I came across our Santa pictures. A few years ago when I was sorting through pictures I noticed that when Keith and I were both single with our kids we had gone to the same Santa within minutes of each other, How ironic that of all the malls in the city we pick the same one. Fate and chemistry was hard at work :) Enjoy the pictures down our memory walk to Christmas Past :)



2 separate pictures of Santa with the kids



Darien, Latitia, Regan, Senthia Britnee Sinead



Senthia, Darien, Latitia, Santa, Brtinee, Dallas Uncle Doug



Me:) Telling Santa I wanted to have a whole lot less bumm that year and he came through WHOOHOO!!



Nana and Papa with Senthia Britnee Latitia and Terry



Nana and Papa with Senthia Terry and Britnee


our Stockings



1st Christmas together after being sealed as a family in the temple for all time and eternity!!!

Monday Memories

So I decided because Mondays start with M and Memories start with M I would start a new tradition/habit on here on writing a memory of my past on Mondays. Today I am going to do one on Montreal.. also starting with M although that is a pure coincidence hehehe. I knew that Montreal was playing in the Grey Cup yesterday and it brought up memories of my dad and me growing up. Although it had nothing to do with football it did have to do with Montreal.

We didn't have a TV early in our childhood like most other families and when we finally got one it was obviously in black and white and was this small size. Probably 12 or so inches. It sat on top of a cabinet before we got the big floor one that had its own cabinet. (Came from Dad having been on a binge and needed to apologize to my mom). Anyway I digress. At first we only had 2 channels, one French and one English. But the one thing I remember watching was Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights. It was in French and we always watched the Montreal Canadiens play. I can't even remember if my other brothers watched with Dad and I. I just remember watching it with him. I used to think at the time I wished he was always like that.. like a real family.

I developed a love for Montreal anything. I watched all their games regardless of what sport. My dad had a cousin whose name was also Solange who was from there and at times they would come down for Christmas and we would all be at my grandparents and she would walk in with these big fur coats always asking where her namesake was. I used to think of her as this glamorous movie star.

When I was working at the hotels we had annual conferences at our head office in Montreal and the last year I was there, they had gotten us tickets to go watch the Canadiens play hockey. Now you have to know Montreal fans. They are true fans.. no matter how good or bad their teams are they are there for them. Kind of like Saskatchewan Roughrider fans. So to get tickets to their hockey games are pretty scarce and as this was their last game to play in that stadium, I have no idea how they managed to get them but they did. I sat there just thinking of my past and how I had sat in my living room so many decades ago watching from the outside in and now I was literally sitting in those same seats.

As I sat there I remember thinking how much my dad would have loved being there, how much he would have cheered the team and how much he would have just sat there taking it all in. For him that would have been a dream come true. Now anyone that has ever been to any sports game with me knows I am the least quiet fan in the bleachers but as I thought of my dad I was quiet and just thought of him. I realized at that moment he had been a human being and that no matter if I liked or hated what he did at times he was still and would always be my dad. And for that I truly am grateful.

Although the team no longer plays in that particular stadium, I took a piece of history home with me that night, a memory that will never be forgotten.

Spitting Nails

I am alternating between spitting nails and immense sadness right now so need to blow off steam. I just realized last night talking to our youngest son about our annual Christmas Tree trek that the first Saturday in December this year was on the 6th. I mean I KNEW that it was on the 6th but my brain has been so somewhere else lately that for some reason it did not register till last night. So I do the math and realize if we wait till that day to get the tree we will only have it up for about 2 1/2 weeks before Christmas plus it is one of our granddaughter's birthday that day and our tree decorating literally takes all day so they would not be able to finish before heading back home.

So when Keith got home this evening I talked to him and he said no problem we can go get it on the Saturday before.. COOL!! SO I go online to make sure they are open.. now this place is the best.. we have been going there since before the grandchildren were even born.. they are open.. open that day actually BUT this year they are not doing u-cuts.. what??? are you serious?? I read more and I guess they need to let their trees mature as word of mouth has made them pretty busy. They will have lots of pre-cuts but you can't go traipsing around the farm looking for one to cut. Well I can go to Superstore and get one already cut.. where is the fun in that????

So I went to Keith and told him and he said well just get one already cut.. duh!! I guess by my face he realized wrong question.. so he said well let's just go to another place.. not right thing either.. this year more then any other year I really needed tradition... I really need stability and things the same.. I need roots and family and everything the same. I really need that this year. Keith asked if I wanted him to call them and ask them if they would allow us just this once to go cut a tree and I said yes and he just cocked his head like he was talking to one of the little kids and quietly said Sally do you really think out of all the people that live out here that go there that they will let just one family through? And what happens when we walk out with a tree we just cut and all these other people are there just getting one pre-cut? I don't really care. That is beside the point. He just hugged me.. there was nothing he could do at that point.

First the pumpkin patch gets changed and now the Christmas tree farm. Not a good time to have changes for me. This was not the year. I am very very sad.

Christmas getting to know you

Well this one is very different then the usual ones I get in my mail and as Christmas is my ultimate favorite holiday I couldn't resist:

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you......Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper is more enjoyable, but gift bags easier...
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real duh!
3. When do you put up the tree? December 6th this year. Always the first Saturday in December. We gather up as many grandchildren that want to go with us and we go chop down a tree. Very sad though this year that a whole week goes by before the 1st Saturday! Might have to convince Keith to move it up a week but that means doing it the same week I have surgery... he might never go for it UNLESS he doesn't put the two of them together hehehe
4. When do you take the tree down? 1st weekend of January.
5. Do you like eggnog? Love it, but don't drink too much as it gives me (the cream part) gives me really bad cramps
6. Favorite gift received as a child? a walking doll I called Susie.. where I got the name I have no idea as it is an English name
7. Hardest person to buy for? Keith by far..
8. Easiest person to buy for? Lareta!!!!! she always tells me ALL year long what she would like for presents :)
9. Do you have a nativity scene? yup
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? sheets.. cause they were something for the house that Keith NEVER got me as gifts.. but I had made the mistake of telling him that year that he was predictable and I never made that mistake again
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? the new Miracle on 49th Street
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? usually summer early fall.. this year.. have not even started
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't think so.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? caramel slices that my mom used to make
16. Lights on the tree? Yes! Lights everywhere! I love Christmas lights
17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night..sung by Celine Dion wish it was in the Hymn book so we could sing it in Dec.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay Home unless going to one of the children's home but never travel away just the 2 of us on vacation.. are you kidding me??
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen...oh and Rudolph!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? angel.. this year will make 31st year with same angel.. Keith gave it to me our 1st Christmas together
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve at midnight
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? no snow. hard to remember and get excited about Christmas when it is raining outside
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I have a memory tree.. nothing matches (except for 2 decorations I got from Carm :) hehe)all my ornaments mean something.. someone gave/made it for me or we got from a certain place.. I still have some from when our children were little. each of our children and grandchildren have their very own ornament that goes on the tree... oh shoot I need to get one for Kloie!
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? all my children and grandchildren with me
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? a clean bill of health

Fit to be Tied

So the news station did a report from new findings from the health government. The higher echelons of power have now decided to tell women that they no longer should be doing monthly breast self exams as it causes them too much worry and unnecessary visits to doctors, for mammograms and ultrasounds let alone the costs of biopsies etc. I was so struck by what they were saying I was actually speechless!! Which says a lot for me!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

Who the heck are you to tell me that or any other woman? Do you know what a slap in the face that is for every single female out there that has/had breast cancer?I went for my mammogram last April and it was "clear". 5 months later I found a lump. A lump that the mammogram should have picked up. When I went to my doctor she sent me for a biopsy and the technician told me that I didn't need the biopsy that my mammogram was clear that it was just hormonal and women could not expect the staff to do a biopsy for every single little lump. She went on to say that because of my age, it was probably due to hormones and beginning of menopause and not to worry about it.

ARE YOU SERIOUS?

I went back to my doctor who called the Radiologist on staff. A few weeks later I was sent back for the biopsy. From the first time I went for the mammogram in September when I found the lump to the biopsy was now 3 months. They did the biopsy and 2 days later was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer. If I had listened to the government and listened to that technician I would not be sitting here right now. 3 months later I had a double mastectomy. When they did the pathology after the surgery they found the cells to be very abnormal and reproducing too fast.

I would like whoever in the higher ups of the government who decided to tell that to women AND that technician to come into my home with my 5 children, my 4 in law children, my 13 grandchildren and my husband and tell them to their face of why I should have stopped doing monthly breast checks. I want them to explain to them why my doctor should not have insisted on that biopsy. Go ahead.I dare you.

The TV station should have done a follow up or at least do equal time to why women should continue with monthly self checks instead of a one sentence deal at the end of the story. I am so fuming right now I am likely to just copy and paste this and send it to the new station.

Newest find

I found this coolest thing.. well actually Lareta did and I copied off of her. It is called Listerine Cool Blue. It is a mouth rinse that you use just like mouthwash but when you spit it out, any plaque or bacteria left in your mouth will shine bright blue.. really gross let me tell you.. but it shows where you missed.

Now I brush my teeth for the full 2 minutes that my brush goes off before it shuts off and many times I still am brushing afterward so thought I did a very good job of brushing but man the first time I used it there were these blue patches.. especially at the back of my tongue!!

I "forced" Keith to use it one day because I am convinced he doesn't brush nearly long enough and the first time he used it his whole mouth was blue lol. Needless to say he spends a long longer brushing now. Anyway check out the site.. it gives you a $1.00 coupon that you can print off plus enter to win a trip to Nickelodeon :)I have only found it at Zellers so far but Lareta would know more if she has seen it elsewhere.

http://www.listerinekids.com/

Kitchen makeovers

OK seriously, I do go to bed sometime during each night even if these pictures were taken at 2:30 this morning. I could not stand this one cupboard. Every time I would get something out of it I either could not find it, making me buy another one, or else things fell on top of me. So going in to get some Sleepytime Tea to calm my nerves down was the last straw when a bottle of oil fell on top of the toaster waking Keith up scaring him half to death. Poor man his nerves are so frayed looking after me! So what's a girl to do but take everything out, wash all the shelves off and put everything back :P Isn't that what you all do?