Countdown & Catch up...

Wow, where do I begin?

This themed wedding has taken over my life! I'm either sewing, or picking out seams, or ironing, or tracing patterns out onto curtains, or tying ribbons onto crystals, or working on music, or, or, or...

And right now, I can't sleep!! The brain just won't shut off!! Is it the full moon? Are my periods coming? Who knows!! It's 2:46 a.m., and I'm wide awake. Can't do much with Dave sleeping, so I'm finally here catching up here. It's quiet, but also productive. Heaven forbid I sit and do nothing!! LOL

So the sewing is almost done. I've made some extra pieces for guests. Okay, so I've made lots of extras for guests! Along with buying from ebay. I can't do fancy bodices I've discovered. Need a professional grommet setter.... but those I can and have bought from ebay. Then I've made skirts to go with them. And have made some chemises, and bought some.

I couldn't find a decent men's pattern for a poets shirt, BUT I had a decent shirt that I wanted to copy, took it apart, and created my own pattern. Damned if the shirts didn't turn out okay!! And I even had to learn how to do a collar on the things!! Man, my one semester and a half of Home Ec has certainly come in handy!! How many years ago was that?????????

I've even learned how to do the button hole stitch. Not well, but that is my sewing machine's fault. It doesn't like to go backwards to do the stitch properly. I've had that thing apart and cleaned more times than I can to think, and there is just something wrong with the feeder teeth on it. Oh well, don't do reverse often anyway. At least forward is still working! The machine is over 30 yrs old, and this is the most it has been used in years!! Poor thing! I just hope it holds out for a few more things...

Deb S came down the weekend of the 11th, and I was a bridzilla! Made her work, would have made her work more, but Street Wheelers weekend was on... LOL But we got some curtains finished. And here is how THAT went.... first I found a design that I liked. Then copied it onto a plastic sheet, then put that on an overhead projector that I borrowed from work, traced it out onto paper that was taped to the wall, then took the paper to the dining room table, traced the much larger design onto inexpensive 2nd hand store tab top curtains with tracing paper, then went over the design with black felt pens. Got all that? We managed to get done a celtic high cross, 2 matching curtains with medieval style horses, and a gothic unicorn done, with at least one more design to put onto material, but at least it's traced out in black felt pen, ready to go! These will all become "walls" to the sun shade tents that will be set up in the front yard.

Then we also tied ribbons thru crystals - these will be hung from trees - a girl's got to have sparkly things ya know!! I've been collecting crystals for years now. You know those really tacky chandeliers that are brass colored with crystals hanging from them? Ya, well, you can sometimes find them cheap at garage sales, for like $5. The crystals got taken off, the tacky brass got thrown out. Which left me with lots and lots of crystals... knew I was going to use them someday!!

I even made myself a really amazing dress!! Out of a $4, 2nd hand burgandy queen sized duvet cover, which was in really great shape. Took out the zipper, undid the stitching, and proceeded to cut out the pattern. A real one this time!! Altho I did change a few things on it!! Like, no zipper. I made it larger than I required, sewed in D-rings into the back seams, and viola, it has lacing in the back!! It has those really long sleeves and a back hem that drags. But I also wanted to show white inside sleeves, but not wear a chemise or tunic under it. So I created sleeves out of a white sheet, and once I stitched them up with the machine, I hand stitched them to the inside of the dress sleeve to the trim that goes around the bicep area of my arm. Hard to explain, but looks cool. Yes, yes, pictures will be coming!! And it only took me 4 weeks to do!

And the yard.... bought tons of dirt, tons of plants, and just as everything is blooming.... we get hail. Oh wait! Let's hail the next week too! Aaahhh, not done yet!! Let's hail one more week!! Just for good measure! Sheesh!! But I just checked the 2 week forcast from the weather channel, it looks like we'll be dying from the heat by time the wedding is on. Oh joy! NOT! Now I have to go out and trim my poor plants, clean off all the dead stuff, fertize the poor things, and hope they come back, all pretty! Thank goodness we have a covered deck - you should have seen me scrambling to get all my pots under cover!

And because of the hail and horendous winds ...... one of the main suppliers of our famous Taber Corn got totally wiped out. Which was going to be one of the foods for our meal. Hope Safeway has a ton of corn! Who knows! Maybe it will just be burgers we'll be serving!

The music... between what I had (which was lots, believe me!), and iTunes... I have cds burned to play Friday and Saturday, with a combo set for Sunday and Monday in the front yard. Going to put the speakers from the stereo downstairs up into the rumpus room windows, and play out the windows. How's that for ambiance? And this stereo is great... I can put like 20 cds in it, and let it run....

The deck will be playing my iPod... have it all timed out to play certain music at a certain time. The back kitchen door will have a cd player playing back there, with either really Renaissance music, or the Gregorian chant thing happening, or a mixture of both. It will only play 1 cd at a time.. haven't quiet got that figured out yet.

Dave hasn't got off easy either! All the windows of the house have been cleaned, inside and out. He gave the deck a new coat of paint. He's trying to get electricity onto the deck, with a plug in and lights. The plug in works, the lights... not so much. He's going to talk to his electrician buddy tomorrow to find out what the problem is. He's screwed in 6 flag poles (the smaller cheaper ones that you can get from Canadian Tire) onto the front of the house. And figured out a way to hang the flags I've bought from them, so that we will have medieval style flags hanging on the front of the house. I know, overboard, right? LOL But it's the party that I'm planning - the wedding itself is taken care of. Sorta. Still have to pin down the exact wording... Oh, and he's been doing the daily cooking and cleaning while I've been sewing, sewing, sewing!! Poor man. He must really love me!!

Oh, and then I bought this really cool bubble machine! You should see this thing! It freaking takes 8 AA batteries, but man, does it blow bubbles!! You can't help but giggle when this thing is going and you see bubbles just pouring out of it and floating skywards!!

I've ordered the cake from Wal-mart. Hey, it's just a slab cake, decorated up with the theme. Haven't quite got that down pat either... waiting for a plastic castle front to come in to be put onto the cake. Ya, pictures!!

I have the next 3 weeks off from work. 2 weeks before the wedding (well, not quite now), and 1 week after - to collapse or have a heart attack or something like that. Oh, wait, honeymoon. Ya, probably will take a few days, once everything is settled and put away, to go back to the place where Dave proposed. A much needed time of peace and quiet. And no sewing machine!!

So I think I have got you guys up to speed. I really must finish the sewing, and find my inside of the house once again. Right now it is covered, room to room, with all sorts of sewing "stuff' - material, trims, patterns, etc. I be thinking I really shouldn't leave it that way, not with guests arriving later next week!! Really should tidy up, put things away, pull out my medieval accessories... yep, it's on one my to-do lists!!

TTFN!

Gord Robson passed away...

Gord Robson was one of my favorite announcers on The River, our Lethbridge FM station. He did the morning show, and I won my trip to Denmark with/thru him in 2002. Then he suddenly wasn't there any longer.... either he quit or got fired... and I missed him.

I also listened to him on 630 CHED, when I was a teenager. 630 CHED was THE best radio station ever!! My parents were listening to country AM, with The Farm Report done by Hoss Hammer. So when you discover an AM station that played current music ... it was simply wonderful!! And they would have their listings of the Top 10, or whatever, posted at The Bay, beside the 45's. Man, talk about a walk down memory lane!!

News came thru this morning that he passed away this past Friday in Edmonton. I went digging and found this site, called BC Radio History that is very cut and dried, but with a very good picture of him.

GORD ROBSON (1951-2008)
Veteran broadcaster Gord Robson, whose career spanned five different decades, died last week at his home in Edmonton. He was 56. Robson worked at many Canadian radio stations, including a decade at the legendary CKLG Vancouver.

Guess I'll just keep on missing him.....

Signs of Spring!

Saw my first robin the other day. All puffy and perched on a tree branch, singing it's little heart out!

Just came back from my smoke break outside, walked thru a spider web strand.

Yep, spring has sprung.

Been remiss...

It started with Christmas, really... my sons gave me a new computer!! So I blame it on them!! But they didn't give me a chance to transfer my shortcuts or any of the info I had on my old pc, so if you are reading this, please contact me!! LOL I have email addresses, but no blog people!

My old pc had 6 GB... this new one.. 138 GB!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woooeeeee!!! I began with putting my celtic/irish cds on it, to make special compliation cds for the wedding. That's another story...

But then, after all that work, I began to freak that if this pc crashes, I'll loose all my hard work. At the same time I was looking at maybe buying an iPod or something for backup (holy crap, those are expensive!!), I rc'd in my email my Air Miles update. Okay, I've had my Air Miles card since before Chris was born, and STILL didn't have enough to fly anywhere. Guess it would help if I bought more than groceries at Safeway, and once in awhile gas at Shell, eh? AHA, but on the front page of the newsletter... were iPods. Hey!! Well, hot diggity dog, with my points I got a 80 GB Classic iPod AND an iBoom box - after I checked with my wizard son, the computer whiz kid!!

So needless to say, I put ALL my cds (over 300 of them) onto the pc, which also transfers over to the iPod. Sweet!! That is where my early morning hours are going... busy with music for all of January and February!! Still have to sort the songs into 'playlists', and then create special cds...

Then, we've also been planning a wedding. Yep, ours. OMG!! Sorry, it is going to be only immediate family and close friends, which still takes us to 37 people, which I'm sure will be less because people won't be able to come, for one reason or another... There are soooo many more I would love to invite, but just don't have the room!!!! It's going to be held in our back/side yard.... and if it rains, guess we'll have to do it inside. ACK!

It will be the long weekend in August. Okay, now that we have a date, we need to get someone to marry us. Interviewed 2 ladies, and decided on one by the name of Louise Odland. For a number of reasons, she came in ahead. :-)

It will just be in our back yard, we are planning a Medieval Theme. But one of my GFs came up with an idea... if I'm going to do all the work for the theme, why not do it for the entire weekend?? Hey!! That's an idea!! How about a Wedieval Festival??? (get it?? Wed-ding and Med-ieval combined?)

So in my free time (?), I've been combing the 2nd hand stores for anything Medieval looking... wooden bowls, tapestries, material, etc. It's ALL in my head, difficult to put it all down on paper!! LOL Oh, and ebay... thank goodness for ebay!!!

This weekend it's putting the invites together, must get them out this week!! Most of the people already know about it, but this way, it will be more formal. Oh, and because I don't want us to stand out, or have neighbors bitch about the noise and mayhem, or people that say to themselves "gee, wish I had of known, I would have done it too!" (that would be me!), I've rolled up 50 Neighbor "Hear Ye, Hear Ye" proclamations... that go like this:

***************************
Once upon a time, in the midst of social chaos, there was born a moment of Pleasure. It sprang from the hearts of two folk - called Love. It Leapt, Danced & Sang all the songs of Summer that had lain dormant for hundreds of years.Knowe ye that thou hast entered the Realm of The Medieval Festival. Enjoy in the revelry & merriment! Come ye good people of the Greenview Close Realm & celebrate your own most pleasurable event!
That being said...
One of your faire neighbours will be holding a Medieval Style Festival – and would like to encourage you to hold your own Feasting & Festivities the same weekend. The festivities will begin on Friday, August 1st, & finish on the Monday, August 4th, in the year 2008.

Be prepared for loads of Merriment & Music somewhere (or maybe everywhere!) on Greenview Close (our apologies now), feel free to hold your own festival on those same dates! We would consider it an honour if you were to partake in such fun, the whole block could be one HUGE Medieval Festival!
We are aiming at a theme such as Shrek, or A Knight’s Tale. (Does anyone have a talking donkey?) Don’t be surprised if you see peasants, buxom wenches, maybe a knight or two, or even a wizard. With a lot of medieval/celtic type music throwne in for good measure. Medieval tent(s), dragon/wizard flags. (Swords & battle axes to be left at the guests’ own abodes.)

So Ladies, wear your gowns. Knights, wear your armour. (okay, maybe not armour, it will be August, after all!) Dress as Vikings, as Wizards & Sorcerers, as Ladies, as Wenches, as poor, lowly Peasants... and ENJOY!!
Yours in service to the ideals of all that is Medieval, we remain...
???????????
It’s a secret, we canna tell ye!!

In 2008 speak – We would love it if Greenview Close became a HUGE block party, Medieval Themed, on the long weekend in August! Looking forward to seeing how many folk will take on this challenge!
http://www.kids-birthday-party-guide.com/knight-birthday-party.html

**************************
Only, it's done in 3 columns widthwise on parchment type paper, with brown ink, in olde script. Rolled up and tied with ribbon. Now all I have to do it deliver them!! Oh, and there are 2 pages of pics of people in period attire, for those that don't have access to computers! LOL But for those that do have a pc, I've also included a list of websites for them to check out.

Did you notice that nowhere in the proclamation is mention of a wedding? hehe And I KNOW for sure the fella across the street will get into it, you should see him dress up his yard for Halloween. And another neighbor goes all out for Christmas... so we'll see.

Then weekends... I looked after my GFs two doggies for one week, they needed to be walked every day!! Then it was my 50th birthday, friends came down for that. This weekend Dave's sis Barb and her daughter were down on Friday and Saturday, and the invites MUST be finished!! Next weekend, Chris and a few of his friends - looks like they are coming down... then it's Easter weekend. At the moment, it's open... LOL

I have a CRAP LOAD of sewing to do.... Oh, and don't forget, tax season is now upon us! ~groan~ And I'm trying to strengthen my legs for my MS SuperCities Walk on April 26th...

At least in May, the walk will be done, and tax season is over. The invites will be out, the theme established. The yard and garden will need constant care to be made bee u ti ful, and sewing and searching will still be on my agenda.

Okay, that's my "catch-up" on behalf of my cousin! Here's to you Vicky!! LOL

Ta for now...

Darcy the Dragon

When the kids were small, they had me play, over and over again, the song Darcy the Dragon by Roger Whittaker. I had a small pewter dragon that would 'skip' to the song. I couldn't find it for the longest time on YouTube, but it's there!! It's there!! And then, just by chance, I just did a search on it... and came up with this site.

I am soooooooo happy!!!! :-))

solvitur ambulando

Been awhile, I know!! Can I say I've been busy?? LOL

We had our xmas party last night, and jeez, it was freakin cold!! Dave, the dear man, went next door to Denny's and got me hot chocolates, which were then 'refreshed' with a wee dram of irish cream. That did the trick!!

But why I am writing... They were doing "Terms of Service" presentations. Knew I was getting something, because I've done 10 years so far. Harvey did my speech, and actually brought tears to my eyes. In other words, he did well...
:-)

What blew me away was altho they had done other awards, when it came to be my turn... the whole freaking room with everybody from every office started cheering and clapping loudly. I mean EVERYBODY!! (altho, to be truthful, there may have been a few NOT making noise!) And seriously, I'm not saying that to blow my own horn, I saying it because I was totally blown away by the overwhelming 'loudness' of it all!!! LOL Those poor new students that haven't started yet, were probably looking around to see what all the hoopla was all about!! And it was just little ole me!! WOW!! What a feeling I'm still carrying with me this morning!! Kinda like Sally Fields, when she said "they like me, they really like me!"

Okay, back to the "solvitur ambulando"...
The girls that were buying the terms of service awards had been asking me about amber, where the best place to buy it was, etc. When I received my 'present', and opened it at the table, here was this small, not even 3/4 of an inch pendant on a chain. The front of it had a design... and the back of it had 'solvitur ambulando'. The design has 4 corners blocks and a center block with lines running from each one. Kinda hard to describe it. Looked like, pushing it, a medicine wheel? Okay, so I was disappointed... no amber. :-( And what the hell is inscribed on the back? What is that, the designer's name???

We left right away, as soon as the VERY loud entertainment began, came home, turned up the heat, got my warm fuzzies on, then it was sleepy time.

This morning (I know, make a short story long!), went on the pc, and plugged in the words 'solvitur ambulando'.... translates into "solved by walking". Okay, things are looking up, now it sorta/kinda fits...

And then I came across this site, which in short form says:
Many people picture a hedge maze when they hear the word "labyrinth" but labyrinths used for contemplation are two-dimensional designs that were found on the floors of medieval cathedrals.
“Labyrinths are not mazes and are not intended to trick you,” said Matthew Gabriele, assistant professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and coordinator of Medieval & Renaissance Studies. “Most follow a simple path in which you don't have to make any choices at all.”
“Labyrinths provide the opportunity to walk in meditation or contemplation and they can help to discern life decisions or aid in physical and psychological healing,” said Gabriele.
A quotation ascribed to Saint Augustine, “solvitur ambulando,” portends to the strength of this exercise. The translation: “It is solved by walking.”

Okay, the design on the front of the pendant could conceivably be a labyrinth... "solved by walking". Now I'm not disappointed, actually am thinking the girls did a pretty good job of picking out my term of service gift!! Now I'm thinking it's pretty cool.... once I figured it out!!! LOL Think I'll keep it.... and be grateful that they found something that fits with me!! They must have tripped over it, quite by accident. Can hardly wait to hear the story behind how they found it!!

Cool, eh?

May 30, 2009
Don't ask me how, but I tripped over this site about labyrinths.. and THIS is the design on my necklace. For the life of me I couldn't find it back then, but suddenly (?), here it is!! Just staring off the page at me!!
"Our Reims™ Cathedral Replica™ labyrinth faithfully replicates the original medieval design built in the French cathedral Notre Dame de Reims, Northeast of Paris. ... Built sometime between 1287 and 1311 of white and black marble, the Reims™ labyrinth was created during the height of the medieval labyrinth building period in the thirteenth century. "
How cool is that????!!!

Blue Man Group

Wow! It's been sooooo long since I've been here, time to rectify that!!

Summer went by sooooo very quickly. Had a wonderful vacation to Manitoba, of all places! Visited family in Brandon, had a quick lunch with an aunt of mine in Portage, visited friends just north of Winnipeg (had to drive into Winnipeg so that I could take pictures of Portage & Main!), then east to Riding Mountain (Clear Lake), where I actually got back into a kayak (been about 12 or 13 years since I did that!), visted with family again there, then home again. I documented it all on Facebook. Which has been taking alot of my time lately! LOL But what a great place to put ALL my photos, so much easier there than here!

Anyway, went to see Blue Man Group. OMG!! Worth the $57 ticket, would highly recommend people to pay more and get closer. I know we will if they come back this way again! I've seen them on tv, but nothing like being there in person! See if you can check out these couple of vids from Youtube:
Blue Man Group #2 we saw them perform this!
I Feel Love And this one too, but our singer was better! LOL

They went for a solid almost 2 hours. Man, did I have to pee!! But you didn't want to leave and miss something, that's how good they are!!

Anyway, just wanted to rave about these guys, so...
TTFN

1st day of trip East

Here's the family Motorhome. It's a '79 Dodge, but it's been thoroughly gone thru, and we should be on the road to MB.

Dave & his girls - Gracie and me!

Oops! We haven't even gotten as far as Taber, and the MH was making strange noises. Suddenly Dave has no power steering nor BRAKES!! He coasted us to the shoulder of the hwy, and opened this compartment. Not a pretty sight or smell!! The belt (or what's left of the belt!) was actually the a/c belt. And what caused the problems was the power steering belt being off it's pulley. Which was caused by the a/c belt flopping around. Which, it turns out, the actual pulley was broken. (see pics below!)

So Dave called one of the guys he works with, and Trevor came out to help put the damned belt back on so that we could drive the MH back to town. Nice view of Trev, eh? Sorry, couldn't resist!

This is our hero, right side up!

And here's the belt and pulley and the broken pulley!

So we got back home, about an hour and a 1/2 from when we left. Dave is now out running around to see if he can find another pulley for the a/c.

But get this - This is actually the 2nd thing that happened. On Saturday morning, just after 9 a.m., I was leaning sideways on the couch. I coughed. And *SNAP* went my back. Jeez!! Sunday it was better, and today is a wee bit better.

Crap! Hope there isn't a No. 3 ahead for us!!

Been too long!

Egads! Been waaaaay too long! It's just that it's been so VERY busy, and so VERY hot, and really, it's just "life" happening, so not much to write about.

However, I had to write about this one!! Took my Gracie girl to the vet yesterday. She's 3 now. And with the heat we've been having, neither she nor I have really been doing any exercising. So everything is all good with her. Shots are now updated. Even had her checked for Heartworm (why is it the blood test comes back in 5 minutes at the vet, but for humans it takes 3 days? Things that make you go "Hmmmm....")

Anyway, she was SOOOOOO well behaved!!! She embarrassed me last year, acting like a spoiled child. But this year, she acted like a lady. Sat on the scale thingy they have when I told her to, AND stayed sitting there! Hot damn!

But get this, and this was why I HAD to write.... she weighs in at 48 kg. When you translate that into poundage... she weighs in at 105.6 POUNDS!!! 105.6 POUNDS!! Good Lord! And not overweight either. And once the weather smartens up, and we get walking again, she may get even heavier - 'cause muscle weighs more than fat. So I figure, if I lose my extra 10 pounds, there won't be much difference in our weight!! LOL

Egads! Been waaaaay too long!

Colin update

Well, since I dropped off Colin on the side of the road last Saturday, I hadn't heard a thing all week from him!! I even emailed his friend in Vancouver to see if she had heard from him - nadda. AHA! But when I got home from work/plant shopping last night, the answering machine was flashing. Whew, when I checked it, it was Colin leaving a message...
"Hey Cynthia, it's Colin. Just calling to say I'm okay and all that kind of jazz. And I'll talk to you later, okay? Bye, bye."

Well, he's alive, that's a good thing! And he sounded "okay", and that's a good thing! And he hasn't written me out of his life, that's a really good thing! So maybe, if I can keep the lines of communication open... crossing my fingers!
TTFN

My WIsh - Rascal Flats

I hope that the days come easy and the moments pass slow,

And each road leads you where you want to go,

And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,

I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.

And if one door opens to another door closed,

I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window,

If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,

But more than anything, more than anything,

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,

Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,

You never need to carry more than you can hold,

And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,

I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,

Yeah, this, is my wish.

I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,

All the ones who love you, in the place you left,

I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,

And you help somebody every chance you get,

Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,

And you always give more than you take.

But more than anything, yeah, and more than anything,

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,

Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,

You never need to carry more than you can hold,

And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,

I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,

Yeah, this, is my wish.

This is my wish

I hope you know somebody loves you

May all your dreams stay big

Again, wish you could hear the song, but suffice it to say, the lyrics are great - I think I may have to go buy this CD!!

My "new" van!!

Dave & I have been looking at getting me a van. Well, Dave more than I. He called me on Tuesday night, before he left work, like he always does. (Do I need or want anything on his way home?) Anyway, he phones me 5 minutes later, telling me to get ready, he's picking me up to see 3 vans!! One was a Chev, another a Dodge, and a Ford. All around the same price. But dollar for dollar, the Ford came out ahead. Less kilometers, and pretty much fully loaded. The only drawback? It's freaking CANDY APPLE RED!!! OMG!! RED!!!!



It's FREAKIN RED!!! (oh ya, I said that already!) But at least it has a gray interior. And it handles very nicely on the highway, and in town. So I've gone from a white 1992 Grand Prix, to a very bright red 2001 Ford Windstar. But at least I can load my camping gear in the back, or even sleep in it if I have to. (Which I did numerous times in my Ford Areostar) Great for the kids, the dog, for grocery shopping, for road trips. And I'm sure it will grow on me.... LOL
TTFN
ps - the stupid wide exhaust is now gone, that was kinda dumb looking!!

Paddy's Grad!!

This is Paddy & me when we first got into town. At his Dad's GF's house, which we aren't allowed to go into. Go figure. So we had to do our greetings and give him his gifts outside. I'm sure the neighbors thought that a bit strange!! LOL (Oh, and it SNOWED the day before - they even had a snow day from school! So there may be pics of snow on the ground - 5 months after Christmas!)

I ended up taking back Paddy's camera, the Sony, because they don't use a generic memory card, it HAS to be Sony's. Got this one instead (I also took Chris' back, because the darling bought himself a camera before he went to Kelowna on the May long weekend!) The new one is a Canon - you can't go wrong with that brand!!
So here is Patrick opening his Grad gift - he opened it from the back side, and he was thinking maybe it was something to do with computers... had him confused until he turned it over, and MAN, HE LOVES IT!!! Oooeeeee!!! I did good, yup, yup, yup!! :-)
So good that I even got a BIG squishy hug out of the deal!!
This is Patrick & one of his buddies - David.
And his friends, David, Adam, Patrick, Jeff.

This was Patrick at the dinner, doing the Prominade. I'm not even sure if he knew these girls!! LOL Of course, being a mom, I had to stop them as they were winding their way among the tables and take a picture of my baby with a girl on either arm!!

Then I got the girls to each kiss him on the cheek. Poor kid! I think I may have embarrassed him. But that's MY job!! (and I do it well, if I do say so myself!) But the girls were up for it, as you can see by the photo. Good on them!!

And Chris came to the dinner too! I'm really glad he did!! (it did take some talking him into, but he came!)

And the last shot - a picture of my two sons. All growed up. Where did the time go??

TTFN

Almost Grad time!

I know you can't see it clearly, but on the back of Paddy's dog tag it says:
I'm proud
of you
Love, Mom
Grad
2007
and the front says:
P
A
T
R
I
C
K
in a special font. And it lines up better than what I have done! All nicely in an angle across the front.

As for the cameras - spoke to Chris last Thursday before he headed off to Kelowna for the long weekend with his buds. Damned child! He bought himself a camera for the trip!! Well, there goes his grad gift!! I told him what I had bought for him and his brother, turns out if you buy a Sony camera, you have to buy Sony memory cards. Sheesh. He told me I could take his back, and I could consider it a gift for Mother's Day (which, by the way, my kids DIDN'T forget about!)

So last Saturday, back to Future Shop I went. Returned Chris's camera, and exchanged Patricks for a Canon. It was a bit more money, but turned out to be exactly what I had paid for Chris's watch 3 yrs ago. Altho, I had also bought Patrick the dog tag - he needed something engraved to mark the occasion!! LOL
So today I have taken off from work, getting ready for the big trip. Going to head up to Calgary tonight when Dave gets off work, and stay at D&D's place. Did you hear that Calgary (and north) is getting LOTS of snow today?????!!!! Then Friday, we only have the last hour and a half to travel to get to RD. Which should give us time to see Paddy before his ceremony! Chris has to work until 5, so once we've done the daytime grad stuff, guess we'll go settle into a hotel. Somewhere. Cheap. Which is something else I have to do today - BOOK A CHEAP ROOM!!

Chris did offer us to stay at his place, there is another single bed there, and he said that I could sleep on the floor, since I don't mind doing that! LOL I thanked him nicely, and politely declined. Okay, so I laughed out loud, and told him thanks, but no thanks!!

Then the dinner. If it is anything like it was 3 years ago, it will be soooooo much fun. NOT!! Their father sat on one side of the round table with his other family, and me and the kids and Dave sat on the other side. Not much conversation between sides. ~shudder~ Oh well, this will be the last time we will be forced to sit together, so I'll grit my teeth and suck it up.

After that, Patrick will be hanging with his buds, I'm sure. So we can beat a hasty retreat, maybe do something with Chris, or not. After all, it will be a Friday nite, so I'm sure he'll have plans with his buds too.

Hopefully we'll be able to hook up with the boys on Saturday morning, hang out for awhile, then back to Calgary for supper to have 'real' visit with D&D. That way they won't feel that we just used them for the bed only on Thursday nite!
LOL

And I may have to bring Gracie with us too, but only as far as Calgary. Deb is willing to look after her until we get back. But that's another story, for another time.

Until later....

gazebos

http://terraefinis.org/gw16/index.html

This is one of many pics of medieval "tents" from this Gulf Wars website that my friend Shari shared with me. Not so crazy about the "picture" on the side of it, but..... I found the one below, new, at a store, which looks pretty much the same thing to me - I know, it's hard to tell, but it DOES have the striped arms also, so I'm thinking the one above was like the one below. Make sense?




The one directly above this writing is the latest one I bought. The first ones I bought, 9x9, has a TON of poles, haven't had a chance to set them up yet, but I'm thinking its gonna be ALOT of work!! But the 10x10 Pop-up Gazebo that I bought yesterday is soooooo simple to take down - which we had to do at the store, 'cause it was the only one left!!! So I'm thinking it will be even easier to put up!!

My plan is to decorate these gazebos up - first I will have to take them out of the box and set up at least one - to see how possible it will be to add "walls", maybe scalloped edges around the top edges. Summertime project, out in the back yard! I can just see them on my front yard, hiding "modern" tents my sons or other guests could use. And I'm thinking that they would be great to take camping too!! Either for a kitchen area, or to put my own tent under!! When I bought the first ones in the middle of April, I meant to get two green ones. As I'm putting them in my car, I see that I have one green striped one, and one blue striped one. Crap!! Thought about taking the one back in, but it was cold and blustery. And the darn things aren't that lightweight either! So I made a snap decision to keep them both, just decorate them individually, instead of the same.

http://terraefinis.org/gw16/gw16-Pages/Image213.html

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!

The Pelicans are back!! Here's a kinda funny ditty about them:

"A wonderful bird is the pelican. His bill will hold more than his belican. He can take in his beak, Food enough for a week, But I'm damned if I can see how the helican." was written by Dixon Lanier Merritt in 1910.

deb's weekend here

Deb came down this weekend, and us girls played dress up. We were just fooling, so nothing is fitting EXACTLY. Just having fun, and getting ideas!!

My poor kid again!

I spoke to P yesterday, trying to find out if he is going to come down here for Easter weekend. It sounds like he may! (has to take the bus tho)

But in the course of the conversation, it comes out that he is royally PISSED at his dad! See, for the last year, he's been promising the boys that he was going to buy this condo for just the two boys to live in. They actually should have been in it by now, except that in the beginning stages it had burned down. Anyway, I got to see the cement basement last Sept. when I was there, and the finished ones from the outside. The kids were so excited about getting into this place. It was to be a 2 bedroom 2 storey end unit. They had picked out which bedroom would be theirs. They were pretty thrilled about living together once again, and yet being on their own.

As for myself...
I had a feeling there was something up with this whole set up. Wouldn't it make more sense to build something that was close to the College for when P goes, not closer to their Dad's work? Little alarm bells were going off for me, and hindsight being what it is, I'm wishing now that I had given the kids some kind of a mini heads up of the possibility of their dad leaving his GF, and living there also.

Well, I was correct. Now I guess they are going to finish the basement, so that will be Chris's space. Then Patrick gets the "other" bedroom, NOT the one that he had his heart set on, 'cause gee, guess who is going to be moving in with them. He was RIPPED about this new turn of events!! Man, is their father ever hanging himself with all of this!!

I like to pride myself with not cutting their father down in front of them. If anything, I try to show them things from his point of view. I try to be the mediator, even tho he has no idea I do that for him. Guess secretly, I'm hugging the knowledge to myself that I'm a better person than he is. LOL So old habits are still there - and I'm trying to explain to Patrick that his father has always done things that way. That that is just the way his dad is.

Called Deb R and told her what had occured. Which I had mentioned to her eons ago. Not really a surprise to either of us. Go figure, eh? And to quote her - "Things like this just reaffirms WHY we are WHERE we are." Good on Deb for always finding the right way to put things! :-)

TTFN

Bad singing!

I chuckled so much when I read this, I just had to put it here to share!

From Annie's Mailbox:
Dear Annie: I smiled when I read the letter from "Pittsburgher with a Dilemma", who asked what could be done about their caring and inspiring rabbi who happens to have an awful singing voice. You made some good suggestions.
Our wonderful parish priest also sings enthusiastically and terribly (into a lapel microphone) at every Mass he officiates. Someone must have mentioned how off-key his singing was, because one Sunday he apologized for any ears he was hurting. He then declared he certainly wasn't going to quit singing at Mass. He said, "God gave me this voice, and I am paying him back!" -- Montanan with No Dilemma

Cracked me up to no end!! Isn't that hilarious??? I'm going to have to remember that line the next time someone complains about MY singing voice!! :-))))