Where did I go?

I have had so many people ask me this past week or so where I have been as it has been so long since I posted on here.. Gee didn't know I was so popular hehehe. For the most part I was getting ready for our 12th annual Tri-Stake Finding Your Roots Seminar. We had the greatest attendance this year since 2002 so was VERY excited about that. But basically for the 2 weeks prior to that I was literally eating breathing and sleeping family history.. no wait.. I never slept so cross that one off! When I wasn't working on getting ready for that I have just been spending time with my family. I have been trying to not think of my surgery coming up in 2 weeks today. I developed complications from the last one and a part of me is hesitant about going through it again or even have more surgery. I am really dreading it. But this pain in my chest has got to get resolved. Very few people see the "real" me outside of my family and very close friends that know me but it sure has been difficult putting on a smiling face lately.

We went to our annual Pumpkin Patch. I was very very disappointed. We went to the place we normally go to. They had a petting zoo, a haunted house, a corn maze, a smaller maze for children, a refreshments place, a picnic area with a play place for children, a store that sold produce and homemade items. But there was new owners and they got rid of EVERYTHING other then the pumpkin patch. Everything. When we inquired they said it was too expensive to keep the animals and the gas for the tractor that gave the hayrides. DUH!! Do you realize that you are now going to lose customers who are going to go elsewhere? As it was while we were there 4 car loads of people came in, asked what happened and when told they just got back in their cars and drove off. But we stayed as we didn't know where another place was. It was ok and the kids all got pumpkins and that was the main thing. But next year we won't be going there! Plus they charged by weight of the pumpkin!! WHAT?? It's always been you paid $2.50 for admission and you got what pumpkin you could carry. Rip off!

We had our annual Trunk or Treat on Halloween and that was a lot of fun. I always enjoy going out trick or treating with the grandchildren :)We went to this one house that really had their yard decorated as a haunted place! I wish I had taken a picture of it. Well all the kids would walk up to the door and the adults would wait on the sidewalk but at this house just as the kids got off the driveway onto the entrance to the house Ghosts and skeletons "fell" out of the upstairs windows on ropes and a guy jumped out from behind one of the cars. Well one of the little girls just screamed and started crying lol. She came running to Lareta to be picked up. We thought ok well she is done trick or treating now but she just told Mommy to go with her. I guess the need for the treat was greater then the fear of the unknown :) Lareta asked the guy to take his mask off which he did and he was apologetic :)Then after we did that we headed off to our church where the trunk or treat is held. Basically the children play games for an hour or so inside the gym while the adults decorate their cars. Then the children go car to car to get their treats. It is a safe place for the children. They know the treats they are getting, parents don't have to worry about strangers and adults can actually make homemade treats without thinking it's a waste of time as parents will just throw it in the garbage can. It was a great night.

I am doing a Christmas Baking Exchange on December 2nd so am working on the invitations for that to hand out this weekend. I also am making Christmas ornaments for the staff at the Family History Centre so have been working on that this past couple of weeks.

I have been trying to keep busy which has been hard to do with this rainy weather. I know it's my bad time with my FM and I try and get ready for the season. I increase my Vitamin D to 2000mg a day and make sure I stay warm wearing socks and slippers in the house. I have been working on getting our heat bill down so we have been keeping our thermostat down but being a ground floor apartment it's on a cement floor so it's always cold. We have used our fireplace as well. Keith has firewood from his work so that has been nice. Last week at our granddaughter's sleepover we had a fire going. They thought we were camping and they wanted a tent set up. We compromised by letting them have their beds in the living room but they wanted to roast marshmallows. The only ones I had were the minis and there was NO WAY I was going to let them roast those. So I guess I better remember to get some tomorrow for their sleepover.

I am doing a family reunion for my dad's family next summer and just found out that the parish hall just became available. Whoever had booked it before changed their minds so I was VERY happy to hear that. We were going to have it at the other hall but it technically holds only 100 and I am thinking we are going to be about 130 so we would have been squished. And you can not dance the butterfly in a squished room! I have been working on that, lining up things for the children to do, enough activities to keep the adults occupied and doing everything I can ahead of time. I am really looking forward to that:) I haven't seen most of my cousins since my dad died 19 years ago. I wasn't able to attend my grandmother's funeral which was after that so a lot of my cousins are now grandparents so will be a wonderful gathering.

So that's about it for me. Same old same old different day :) Here are some pictures of the last month's activities :)


taking a break over lunch hour

I treated the staff to a surprise lunch

some displays


right in the middle of the afternoon classes the wireless went down so Keith and one of the other IT guys were hooking up the modem to hang from the ceiling so that the waves would bounce to the back of the building. At least I think that was what they were doing
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men needed some help with putting on name tags

last minute instructions to staff

triple checking last minute things at 7am

grandkids and God

thought you might find this cute :)

Tonight's Dessert

This is dessert for tonight. Pretty cool huh?

Old fashioned v ersus new and improved

Yes I know I know!! Stop repeating conversations that I have with my grandchildren they are boring to everyone reading them hehehehe. Too bad.. my blog.. my stories lol..

Thursday's conversation between 4 year old Rosaleen and I as we are taking pictures of our little vegetable and herb garden that she has been helping me water and tend all summer. I took pictures and she wanted to see them on the little window on my camera. I have a Kodak Instamatic normal camera.

Click Click

R: Nana let me see
M: You can 't see, it's not that kind of camera
R: Yes just look in the window at the back

I show her the back... no window.. she ponders for a moment

R: then just hook it up to the computer
N: You can't hook this one up it doesn't have a spot to connect
R:Yes it does
N: no it doesn't
R: Yes it does
N: no it doesn't
R: Let me see

So I show her and she turns it around and around and I have to watch to make sure she doesn't open the door to ruin the film

R: SO how do we get the pictures out
N: We take them to the store
R:Why
N: Cause they can fix the pictures and then give us real ones
R: So the ones on your computer aren't real ones?
N (sigh) yes they are real just a different kind of real
R: So Nana just get Papa's camera he has a REAL real one that takes REAL real pictures (the emphasis on REAL is hers)
N: well Papa is at work right now and Nana wants to finish these pictures right now so we can take them to the store. I don't want to wait till he comes home
R: Nana you need a real camera
N:Yes I know I do but right now this is the one that Nana has and I like it and it works perfectly fine for me
R:well it only works if you are old fashioned

WHAT??? Where did she learn that word from and in that context???

Note to grown children of mine------

You will know that compared to your Memere's camera where you had to put in a NEW flashbulb for EVERY single picture you took my camera IS a new AND improved camera!!!

Tomato plants

Sage, Thyme, Oregano and Garlic Chives

Last of the Basil

Scoop of the Race

Well here I am .. the end of the race. It has been an emotional journey, a physically demanding grueling at times, physically painful most days but I persevered and was determined I was going to do it if it was the last thing I do. I was expecting to do it alone with Keith but then some of my children rallied around me. And that surprised me but will tell you why that was later. I picked up the run kits the day before and I noticed she put 2 t-shirts in mine and so I asked why I got 2, 1 of them pink. She said "Oh all survivors get a pink shirt". I looked her straight in the eye and said "In our family we are all survivors." She was stumped at that one.

We had to get up very early and be at the train station by 7:30am. Now you all know and have been reading how I have been training to do this 5K run in under an hour. I was so determined to do it. We had 2 little granddaughters who have been in training with me and they were determined to be doing this race. I thought that meant IN the strollers. Nah,... not so much. Anyway when we got there and although we were early somehow we were in the wrong spot at the beginning and when he headed off we were about 3/4 way into the group of over 13,000 people and it probably took 10 minutes just to get to the start line.

It also took us till about the 2K mark to get going. I really wanted to get moving but those little legs of the toddlers just would not meet my stride and they didn't want to go into the stroller. It was a RACE!! So the little girls actually did over 3K of the race on their own 2 feet.During the times that Keith and I could convince then to sit in the stroller with the promise we would run very fast, I would run ahead and then wait up ahead to wait for the others to catch up. At the 4K mark all I could focus was finishing under that 1 hour. I lost focus of why I was doing this. I lost focus of who I was with and what they had given up to be there with me. By the time these thoughts were coming up I was coming up over the Cambie Street bridge... as I crested over the bridge I saw paramedics doing CPR on someone. It brought me up very very short. They kept moving us along and when I got to the bottom of the bridge I told Keith I would wait there for the others and explained what had happened and how I was feelng. He said I would not be able to make my time and I said I already made my time. My children and grandchildren and my soulmate are here.. what's an hour in the grand scheme of things??

So he went off to the finish line so that he could film us coming across. I waited for about 20 minutes before I finally saw them coming down off the bridge. I felt sooo bad. Lareta was waddling like she was 9 months pregnant. When she reached me she told me how much pain she was in. I told her I had painkillers with me and said said she did too but it was in her purse in HER stroller that I had taken off with. I said why didn't you call me I would have come back but her cell was in the stroller was. In our stroller was our son's water bottles. I felt so incredibly bad. Here there 2 children had over come some HUGE obstacles to be there and I had not raced with them. But the race is over and I love them for being there. And next race I do and my family is there my goal is going to be walking arm and arm all in a row everyone finishing at the same time. So what was my time? 1 hour 24 minutes.



This was our team shot:
From far left: Senthia, daughter in law Linda with little Rosaleen in front of her.Son Jody with grandson Darien in front of him. Jody has special soles in his shoes and has incredibly bad knees and anjkes but he was there to do this race with his Mum. Then Linda said well if he was going to do it she would as well. Then it is me with Latitia and little Miranda in front of me. Keith beside me with our daughter Lareta holding baby Kloie with her and granddaughter Britnee on the far right. I had made shirts for some of the granddkids saying I support Nana and some with the same saying except saying of Nana and Gramma and their other grandmother died of breast cancer 2 years ago. Our children had I support Nana, Keith's said I support my Love and Soulmate.I made some for EVERY member of our family even for those that don't live here as I could not have done this without them. Ever.

Keith and I..if this ever happens agin hope you have a husband like Keith. There is NO GREATER love and supportive man then this one. None.

This is a picture of our son Jody, his wife Linda and daughter Rosaleeb


Pictures of our daughter Lareta and her children. I was so sad at the way I had left her behind :( She just had a newborn baby and had been on bed rest for about 4 months before the baby was born. She had dislocated pelvic joint which is still not healed and very painful and here she was to support me and I left her behind. I will remember that moment for a very long time.

tattoo that Rosaleen insisted i needed.. she called them Butterly Kisses :O








I racked my brain trying to figure out what kind of tshirt I could make for Kloie. She is so small nothing I wrote on the shirt would have worked then I thought UH HUH.. I transferred the pink ribbon on her little cheeky butt heheh



Time to go home and these kids were so tired. That was a long run for them!!





One of my mom's cousin who I had never met had written to me when she found out I was doing the race. She called me a Warrior Woman and so this picture was just for her :)







It's been months since they told her about it
The darkness her body possessed
And the scars are still there in the mirror
Everyday that she gets herself dressed
Though the pain is miles and miles behind her
And the fear is now a docile beast
If you ask her why she is still running
She'll tell you it makes her complete

I run for hope
I run to feel
I run for the truth
For all that is real
I run for your mother your sister your wife
I run for you and me my friend I run for life

It's a blur since they told me about it
How the darkness had taken its toll
And they cut into my skin and they cut into my body
But they will never get a piece of my soul
And now I'm still learning the lesson
To waken when I hear the call
And if you ask me why I am still running
I'll tell you I run for us all

And someday if they tell you about it
If the darkness knocks on your door
Remember her remember me
We will be running as we have before
Running for answers
Running for more

Next year I will be training for the 60K race 4 day marathon. As well as the 5K one which I will do with my children and grandchildren and I will walk side by side with them and enjoy the blessings that come with being alive. And being with them. Hopefully you will ALL come join me for either of them. We need to end this disease. I will do it.. Will you do it with me?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0myvLD0zpAM

Thank you so much for listening to me talk about this race for the last couple of months. It has made the whole world to me! Thanks you