Good news!

Been a week of good news and bad news to tell you guys about...

Good news first...
Our truck got found on Monday nite. Basically, it was stolen so they could drive 10 blocks away into another subdivision, and steal our heavy silver tool box out of the truck box (that my Dad gave us!) JERKS! I'm not kidding!! The gas tank still was full. Dave's new, leather, warm gloves were still sitting on the seat. But now the door lock has to be fixed; the steering column and ignition needs to be worked on; a wheel alignment needs to be done. And there is a good sized kinda L shaped scratch in the back bumper. But hey, at least we have our good truck back!!! Yippeee... camping is still on!! LOL

Bad news...
We've been discussing the last few months that it was getting time to put our old dog Shannon to sleep. But neither one of us were quite ready to make that appointment. Earlier this week, she just wasn't eating anymore. So I called and made an appointment for Saturday to do the dirty. I came home from work on Wednesday, I get to the top of the stairs, and there was Shannon, laying on the carpet, twitching, eyes open, no response. Long story short, took her to the vet and had to put her down then. But both of us were with her, talking to her, and she was laying on her blanket, when she passed. And she was 13. Lived a very 9-lives kinda life, so it was okay. It was time.

Bad news....
Ssshhh, don't tell Dave, but I probably got the WORST haircut of my life a few weeks ago. Don't tell Dave, 'cause it was he that bought me a gift certificate to get my hair "professionally" done by an experienced hairdresser, instead of at the beauty school, by students. God, it was horrible!

Good news...
I went Wednesday, on my lunch hour, back to the school. And I tell you, my last 2 cuts there has been great! This one is perfect. Cut shorter in the back, and my curls really pop out. Just long enough to tuck behind my ears or wear a skinny hair band. I REALLY like this cut. Maybe THE style I'll settle with for the rest of my life. Ya, right!! LOL

So, it's been a topsy turvey week.

God, it's weird only have ONE cat, and ONE dog now in our lives. Hard to believe that 4 months ago, we had 4. Two of each. The "zoo" feels kinda empty. Is this what they call the "empty nest" syndromn?

On the 31st, it will be Dave's 50th birthday. I'm doing a "surprise" birthday celebration. And that's been kinda/sorta coming along. Still not EXACTLY sure who will be coming. But hey, I've done most of what I can. Except CLEAN HOUSE - that's this weekend!! And all of next week too. LOL Okay, so I'm not the most "tidy" person out there. Clean freak I'm not! LOL So, let's see how this all turns out!
TTFN

Thieves target northside trucks

This is from our Sunday newspaper:

Thieves target northside trucks
Police are investigating the theft of a blue GMC truck stolen between 11 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday from Greenview Close North. The truck has Alberta licence plate TSR 181.
Also on Greenview Close North, a briefcase and flashlight were stolen between 10 p.m. Friday and 9:30 a.m. Saturday from a GMC truck.

Well. Hmmm.... looks like we weren't the only ones hit that night! The bad guys must have had a "thing" for GMC trucks. Couldn't get the first one started, so found ours on the same street? How convenient for them, glad we could oblige. We aim to please, ya know. Being Canadian, and all that...

Hey, just called Dave - looks like if the truck hasn't showed up by the end of the month (next Friday), they will pay him out. But then they get to haggle over the value of it. Thank goodness I found some decent pictures of the truck, a side view pic from our Girls Camping Weekend, and then a direct front one from when I went to Waterton. Would still rather have the truck, 'cause we still have to replace it, and it was a damn good truck!! GGRRRRR!!! Oh well... such is life.

bbfn

The TRUCK!!

Remember when I said that I had seen what must have been a Great Horned Owl on February 14? Remember when I said, that within a 6 week period, a "big change" would probably occur? Ready for this?

Friday night / Saturday morning (March 17th / 18th)...

OUR TRUCK GOT STOLEN!! From right in front of our house! With the streetlight shining on it.

At 8 Saturday (yesterday) morning, I stuck my head out the front door to get the newspaper... and I'm sure I had that shocked look on my face when you can't believe what you AREN'T seeing - the truck wasn't there!! You look. And look again. And then I woke up poor Dave. SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!! Someone "walked" off with our truck!! What the hell? It's just a basic truck. No fancy dancy stuff. Just a '92 GMC blue truck with a Chevy front end (courtesy of Dave working in a body shop). With the bench seat in the back - what do they call those? A crew cab? A club cab? Anyway. Just am/fm radio. No power windows. Just a good truck. CRAP!! With a really good freakin tool box in the box. With my wood splitter in it. And tarps. DAMN!

Now what are we going to use for going to the mountains?? My itty bitty Grand Prix? Which, by the way, was parked right in front of the truck. Damn, they could have taken it!! My God, that car is cursed - hit last year 3 times in 3 months. At speeds less than 5 km. Lots of cosmetic work got done. Oh, and by the way - all THREE hits were by MEN!! LOL

Anyway, the truck! It was great for getting my sons, those big kids of mine. And ALL their gear! For camping - I'm a Tenter, so lots of space in the box for the tent, the tarps, the rubbermaid containers w/food, etc. Getting my BIG shale type rocks from the mountains. Even to go visit anyone, room for BIG Gracie and little Shannon. Not the truck!!!

Dave says it's nothing to take a hammer and smash out the ignition, and then use a screwdriver to start it. Like I would know how to do that! Obviously someone who's done it before. But how nervy of them. Right on the street. Right across the street from a street light shining on it! They didn't break the window (no glass on street), so Dave's not sure how they opened the door. Altho there are those metal sliders that the tow truck drivers use to unlock the door when you lock your keys in your vehicle...

So YES, this is a BIG CHANGE for me!! For us!! The owl warned... Man, if it wasn't for bad luck, we wouldn't have ANY luck at all!! Happy St. Paddy's Day, eh?

"quote" re: Bridge

I love those smart people who have wordds at their disposal, and make everything flow smoothly. And I love quotes from those smart people!!

The hardest thing to
learn in life is which
bridge to cross and
which to burn.

COLIN ! ! ! ! !

I just had a lady call me, out of the blue, looking for my brother. Actually, she was calling everyone by our last name, looking for him, which is a very nice thing for her to do! There's that "Love being a Canadian" thang again!

I guess a year and a half ago, 2 years - he was working at the HUME HOTEL in NELSON, BC. The employer he had before that had forwarded his T4's to them, and now they need to find him to send his T4's on.

Well, I guess he isn't down east anymore. Or wasn't a year and a half ago. He's still in the resturant/hotel business. And he's probably still an active alcoholic. What a crying shame. I miss him....

Is this my "big change"? That's partly the reason why our phone is under my name in the phone book... with the hope that maybe one day he will call. I haven't gotten "lost", and maybe someday, he will be "found".

Kodak Easy Share zoom camera

See the subject line? Dave gave me one for my birthday!! Now all I have to do is figure the darn thing out!! But this will be SWEET once I do! WOW! No more zoom camera breaking down, batteries dying, etc, etc. WOWEE!! Or going back to my Canon Sure Shot, which has been a wonderful camera for me, for these 25 years plus! LOL Guess how I'm spending MY weekend!
TTFN

Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder? This is how it manifests:

Damn, this is pretty much my typical day at home!!

You decide to water your garden.

As you turn on the hose in the driveway, you look over at your car and decide your car needs washing.

As you start toward the garage, you notice that there is mail on the porch table that you brought up from the mail box earlier.

You decide to go through the mail before you wash the car.

You lay your car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.

So, you decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then you think, since you are going to be near the mailbox when you take out the garbage anyway, you may as well pay the bills first.

You take your check book off the table, and see that there is only one check left.

Your extra checks are in your desk in the study, so you go inside the house to your desk where you find the can of Coke that you had been drinking.

You are going to look for your checks, but first you need to push the Coke aside so that you don't accidentally knock it over. You realize the Coke is getting warm, and you decide you should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As you head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches your eye--they need to be watered.

You set the Coke down on the counter, and you discover your reading glasses that you've been searching for all morning.

You decide you better put them back on your desk, but first you are going to water the flowers.

You set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly you spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.

You realize that tonight when you go to watch TV, you will be looking for the remote, but you won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so you decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first you'll water the flowers.

You pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, you set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then you head down the hall trying to remember what you were planning to do.

At the end of the day:
the driveway is flooded
the car isn't washed,
the bills aren't paid,
there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter,
there is still only one check in your check book,
You can't find the remote,
You can't find your glasses,
and you don't remember what you did with the car keys.

Then when you try to figure out why nothing got done today, You're really baffled because you know you were busy all day long, and you are really tired.

You realize this is a serious problem, and you'll try to get some help for it, but first you'll check your e-mail.

Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming.

Mine has already arrived!!!!

ROB THOMAS!!!

In the last few weeks, I qualified with our WONDERFUL radio station, THE RIVER, to win tickets to go see Rob Thomas and Anna Nalick in Calgary on Tuesday, April 4th. At the same time, I won Anna's cd (I already had Rob's!)

Today was the first day of three that they would be calling people who qualified to give away a set of tickets per day. THEY CALLED ME!! I WON!! I'M GOING TO SEE ROB THOMAS IN CALGARY ON APRIL 4TH!!! That's the good news!!

Bad news... Crap, it's just after Dave's surprise birthday weekend, so I should be totally exhausted by that point! It's April 4th - right in the middle of tax season! Which, somedays during this wonderful season, I go to bed at 8:30 p.m.!!! It's a FREAKIN' TUESDAY night!! Won't get home until 1 or 1:30 a.m. from Calgary. And there is NO WAY on God's green earth that I will be able to take Wednesday off!!

But HEY, I DON'T CARE!! My body will just have to suck it up, 'cause I'm going to see Rob Thomas at the Jubilee. ~doing a little happy dance here!~ I'm gonna go see Rob Thomas in Calgary. ~still doing that happy dance!~ Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me... ~singing a happy tune AND doing the happy dance!~

BONUS!: And the tickets were FREE!!!! Free is good. Free is my friend! :-)

~fading off into the sun... doing that happy dance still~