A Catch-up of sorts!!

My oh my...
Well, I survived (barely) another tax season. I really, seriously, don't have any idea how on earth I am going to survive another 16 or so, until I retire!! Seriously!!!

So some catch up is in order....

* Let's see, I missed my aunt & uncle's 60th wedding anniversay (on the Island) on the Easter weekend. Just the wrong time of year for me to take off!! :-( Turns out, Colin ended up having acute pancreatitis hit him, hard, on the Thursday before Good Friday. I took him to the ER, we had no idea at the time what was causing him to double up with the pain. So that's where I spent a good amount of time that weekend. But by Tuesday, he was home, took the rest of the week off from work, and has been fine ever since!! Not a nice thing to suffer thru!!! They really don't know the "why" of why it happened, but the doctor said it wasn't my cooking!! Whew!!

But one thing about it, he certainly got his complete physical (more or less). And yes, his past drinking probably played a part in it, but the good news is that his tox screen came back CLEAN!!! Our mom had her first attack last year (hers was to do with her gall bladder), I sure as hell hope it ISN'T hereditary!!

* Also missed Dave's aunt & uncle's 50th wedding anniversay, in Manitoba. Tax Time again, there is NO way I can take any time off at that time of year! Go figure, eh? But... we have been promising for YEARS to go out & visit them, this will be the summer that it is finally going to happen!! Dave may even get his wish and we'll take the motorhome!! I know, I know!! Me? not camping???? Sheesh, I must be getting old!!

* Been working on collecting "things" for the Medieval Feast next August. I've found some cool funky things for it. I'll post pics another time. But I'm learning how to make chemise's and tunics. Actually, I copied the outline of a simple chemise that I had bought from a new friend of mine, who is in the SCA in the States. She and I hit it off, but that's another story!! I even managed to sew the sleeves to the chemise in WRONG side in (or is that "out"?) Boy, was that a DUH moment on my part!! My Home Ec. teacher would have been sooooo ashamed of me!! But gee, guess that's what happens when you only take a semester & a half of Home Ec! Then it was off to INDUSTRIAL ARTS!! Now THAT was fun!!!

* The wildlife is baaaaaaaack!! I have pictures of snakes, and flowers, and birds. Gracie kind of lost out as I was attempting to survive our tax season. But we're getting back on track with our walks once again! Another thing to be posted... later!!

* Oh, and get this!! Most years I do the MS Super Cities Walk. Didn't last year, and tons of people were asking me where my pledge sheets were. So this year, I put out my pledge sheet at my desk at work, and by time the walk happened on April 28th, I had managed to raise $1,950. I went in to the office on the Tuesday after the walk (May 1st), found out how close I was to the $2,000 mark, phoned Dave at work, and the darling man donated that last $50 so that I can honestly say: "I RAISED $2,000 TO HELP CURE MS!!!" How about them apples!! LOL

* It's Patrick's Grad coming up on the 25th. I was racking my brain trying really hard to come up with something to give him as a Grad present!! I had given Chris a really nice dress watch, engraved, 3 years ago when it was his grad. Patrick informed me at the time "Ewww, I don't want one of those when I graduate". Turns out when I spoke to Chris this week - he's not even sure where the watch is!! ~big sigh~ Well, there went $300, down the drain! They use their cell phones to tell what time it is!!

As I was speaking to Chris, he "hinted" that he would like a digital camera for his grad, cause he had broke his last one. To tell you the truth, I really hadn't thought about his grad. But yep, he is done his 3 years of college, and even tho he won't be attending his "convocation" ceremonies, he is technically a graduate. Jeez, what kind of mom am I??????

Okay, I had already been playing with the idea of getting Paddy a camera. Had been keeping flyer ads on the table, doing research. Not exactly something they can keep for a lifetime, but it will be used. Went shopping finally on Saturday morning, after Gracie & I did our river walk. I started with finding a jewelry store in town that had advertised "steel" jewelry. I figured Patrick couldn't wreck STEEL!! I ended up getting him a dog tag, then took it over to the engraver's to be made pretty. Okay, one part is done.

It's camera time.... checked out one store. Okay, not there, even tho that is where Dave got me my Kodak Easy Share. Over to Future Shop - I can say that here, because I've had really good service with these guys!! (the tv I had bought for Dave on xmas eve died on us, and we had no problem having the store replace it!!) And they had a ton of cameras to choose from. Altho, I can honestly say it was a good thing I had some experience with digital cameras, otherwise the guy would have sold me more stuff!! LOL

I ended up buying these two Sony cameras - one in black, and one in silver. Sony 7.2MP Digital Camera (DSCW55). They both have internal memory, Paddy will just have to get his own memory card. Or I may give him my old one that you can put about 80 pics on (128 MB) 'cause I had bought a 2 GB one for $42 - holds like 1265 photos - for grad & vacation time. Chris has his own memory card, from when he had a camera. Which he dropped when the zoom lens was out, and it broke, hence the "request" for a digital camera. LOL What's nice about this gift - IF they also get one from their father, this IS Future Shop, there is LOTS of other goodies that can get in place of.

Okay, think that is it for now!! Whew!