What a busy week!

I volunteered to take care of my friend Sue's house while she and her family were down south for her daughters wedding. On Tuesday morning, there was a big snow storm so I figured I should take some pictures to show the family when they returned. I know how much they are missing the snow right now:) So this is what their front yard looked like at 7am on Tuesday morning:

There was a huge accident at the turn off to highway 15 on the 401 just after I got to work that morning. They closed down the freeway and routed the traffic onto highway 15. Quite a few of my co-workers got stuck in this traffic jam for almost an hr:

Although it was a bit late, one of the guys at work gave our friend Deb a new boyfriend who doesn't talk back. Isn't he a doll?

Then I got a call at 4pm that they were taking my brother for his long-awaited surgery at around 6-7pm. So I rushed home and picked up Billy then rushed back into the city, only to find out that the operation was cancelled.
On Wednesday I got another call at around 4pm saying that they were taking Steven in for surgery right away. So off I go to the hospital again. When I got to the sun room, my aunt and cousin were both there waiting with my brothers fiancee Stephanie. The sun was getting ready to drop, so I had to take advantage of the photo opportunity from the 9th floor:

With God watching over him, Steven made it through the surgery with flying colours! He is on his way to recovery and I want to thank everyone for their prayers...they certainly worked!
Friday was such a beautiful morning...I couldn't resist taking a few pictures while Molly the doggie chased her stick:

That evening, as the sun was about to go down, I couldnt resist the beautiful blue colour of the sky:

As I fed the cats, I thought I better take a picture to prove that I was feeding all 4 of them:

Here is a nice shot of the sunset reflected on the ice:

What a difference a day makes. Here is a shot of the same place, 14 hrs later:

Despite the storm, we headed into town around 9am to visit my brother. He needed some reading glasses but put in a request for the ugliest ones that we could find. His financee Stephanie had to model them first:

Then it was Billys turn:

Then Steven's turn. Do you think he was trying to look like Drew Carey?

When we got home, Billy thought he better get his 4 wheeler out and plow out the neighbourhood:

After the driveways were cleared, we ate dinner and then took off for Jimmy's 50th birthday party. What a loooong day it was:)

We tried to relax this weekend...

Thursday night we went to an NHL Oldtimers game at the Memorial Center. We hadn't been in that old building in 12 years but it still looked the same. We had taken our son Bryce to see the Barenaked Ladies for his 13th birthday and I would swear that time stood still. Even the picture of the Queen looked the same:) But we had fun, and that's all that mattered. Here is a picture of Kirk Muller with his NHL replacement players. Like I said, it was fun night and totally worth the price of the tickets!

Remember the guy who sings the national anthem for the Toronto Leafs games? His name is Michael Burgess and he was doing double-time by playing the game and singing before the games and during the half-time show. Believe it or not, he is an awesome hockey player.

On Friday night, we went to the Legion for dinner, then over to Sue and John's for a birthday party for Sue:

I felt obliged to help with the dishes and someone decided to cover me with bubbles:

Here is a picture of the birthday girl and our friend Deb Gibbs:

Then the poker game started:

And by the end of the night, all of the poker chips were in front of Diana Lynn:

On Saturday, we spent the day in the hospital with my brother. I couldn't resist taking pictures from the sunroom as it was such a beautiful, clear day:

After spending three hours cleaning, we went for a drive on Sunday. I found this house that had some pretty cool gargoyles growing out of it:

I took a pile of pictures of barns, but I will only bore you with this one. I love the way the heritage window was preserved in this old building:

This week I will be doing a short stint as a cat & dog sitter for some friends who have gone on a vacation, so I wont be swimming in the morning for the rest of the week.
Due to the fact that this is the last week of February, there is only 2.5 months till May 24 weekend!!!!!!!!!!

The kitchen floor is done...The trim is 3/4 done!!!

To begin, I must show you one of the many pictures I took of the sun coming up over a partially frozen lake on Wednesday morning:

I took Thursday off to go to a good friends fathers funeral in Brighton. This town had no Timmies so we settled for a beautiful little spot named Lolas:

We really needed a bright and cheery place to try and lift our spirits. It didn't work for me, as I knew the pain my friend was experiencing that day. Having to be brave in front of family and friends, when all you want to do is crawl away and hide. When I got home that afternoon and rushed downstairs to start the laundry, it hit me. And I sat and bawled like a baby...Feeling the pain for my friend, and reliving those haunting memories of those close to me that I have lost. An hour later, I came to. Peace be with you and your family Snuff:(
I never thought that this reno job would be so easy and quick. Usually we leave things half-done and then complain that we never got it completed. Well this time was different. Due to the fact that the larger pieces, that had to go up against the wall, needed to be cut outside, this is how the floor looked all week:

That was fine but this is how my living room looked:

So after having a few beer at the Legion on Friday, (this round was our friend Lawerence's...hehehe he didn't know they had quarts)we decided to buckle down and get this floor completed.

So Saturday morning, Bill started back to work on the flooring, and Jethro thought he might like to help:

I said goodbye to the fridge in the living room:

and went for a drive to take a few pictures:


The black and white one is the park bench named in honour of my mother and the sign is in the park named for my mother. I guess I was still feeling emotional from Thursday.
So Sunday, the fridge went back in the kitchen and the trim is almost completed:

I had to go visit my friend Sue, so I took advantage of the perfect sunlight and snapped a few pictures while I was there:




I really felt out of place when I got there and was the only one without a computer...I should have brought my laptop for a visit:)
I took this one on the way home. The ice just looks so perfect, like a virtual sheet of glass:

Tomorrow I will be swimming at 6:30, into Walmart by 7:45 to get a Valentines Day card for Billy as well as one for my brother to give to his beloved. Then work, then off to the hospital to visit my bro. He might be having his surgery on Tuesday so please say a prayer for him.

One man renovates; all women suffer!

Rona sales suck! They put the flooring we wanted, ON SALE this week, so Billy decided the time was right to replace the kitchen floor. Please note, this house was built in the mid 70s and the floor in the kitchen was the last of the original flooring. The reason it was never attempted was that the kitchen had been modified about 10 years ago, and the doorway was now too small to allow the fridge to make an easy exit. All the trim around the doorway had to be removed before the behemoth unit could be moved.
Then we managed to wedge it sideways out the kitchen door to the front foyer where the rollers quit working. So we found a set that Bill had acquired and attempted to get them under the fridge. They kept sliding out as there were big round metal things underneath the backside. Talk about a stressful situation. The fridge had been unplugged for 3 hours by then. I kept suggesting that we could borrow our neighbor's dolly but he kept insisting it wouldn'’t help. Not my idea of a pleasant Saturday afternoon. Long story short: The fridge finally got moved to the living room, and all the tiles peeled off the floor very easily. Then the boards had to be screwed down as they never had been when the floor had first been laid!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You must note that these houseÂ’s were built by a company who hired a bunch of my teenaged friends to spend a few summer pretending to be contractors. I guess I canÂ’t blame them as they were young and usually drunk or high the majority of the time.
So this is what the floor looks like now:

I cant wait to post the after pictures! Now our place looks like a hillbilly house...fridge in the living room:

The highlight of my day was watching the sun come up this morning, reflecting off a very calm and still lake:

Hope tomorrow is a better day than today!

The last weekend of January

The week whizzed by, as usual. We received news that my brother had been admitted to the hospital...So that kind of threw me off a bit. Billy's 50th birthday was yesterday and we managed to make one trip into town due. We hit Walmart first, so I could get some anti-bacterial wipes for Steve's room as well as hard candy and a few magazines. Then spent a few hrs visiting...little bro was lucky enough to get a room with a beautiful view of the lake. We watched the sun go down then took off for Kelsey's for dinner. The game was on when we got home and I promptly fell asleep as soon as it was done.
Today (Sunday) was spent cleaning, ironing, cleaning the oven, doing laundry and other weekend duties. I also made a few music cd's for my brother as he has a walkman in his room. I will purposely leave all the names of the songs off the cover so he will be scratchin his head trying to figure out who the artists are. Mean eh?
Here is one of my favorite pictures of my brother and I! He was 12 and I was 20.

And here is a picture of him and my friend Shayne taken a yr and a half ago at the Toucan.

I hope he gets out of there soon as I need him to go see the Trews with me in March:)
Yes, its ALL about me:)

We went to the ROCK on Sunday!

Yes, we made our annual 'winter' trip to Amherst Island. We spent the majority of the spring, summer and early fall over there, so even the guys working on the ferry were telling us it wasn't summer yet:) This little piece of heaven has a lot of charm, and as much as I would love to live there, I cant leave the things that have spoiled me over the years. High Speed internet, sewers, municipal water, bank machines & grocery stores are just a few of them.
One of my first pictures has to be of the new CBC affiliate radio station that is designed to hit the air waves sometime this year. This barn is part of the property where one of my childhood friends grew up. Her name was Lisa Nielson and the one thing I do remember about this barn is that her dad was out milking one night and she took me in to meet him. The first thing he said was 'if your in my barn...You have to have a 'chaw'. And with that he handed me a tin of chewing tobacco. YUCK!
That was 1974...Fast forward to 2006 and the little milk house at the front of the building is being retrofitted with radio equipment. Maybe I could apply for a part-time job there with my whole 3 years of radio broadcasting experience!

Its hard to believe we have almost made it through to the end of January and the big lake is still wide open. This may be the first year that this old cat can remember there being no ice in the north channel!

There is a story about the 'round' buildings on the island. I do not know what it is, perhaps I should research it. These structures can be found on both the north and south shore and even in the center of the rock. I find them interesting and definitely worthy of a few clicks of the old nikon.

I couldn't believe the green grass we saw there on Sunday. Maybe it was because the sun was partially out, but man it looked like Spring:

Now, 2 days later, we have a pile of snow which actually took out our satellite dish. This is the first time in 6 years that this has happened for this length of time.
Tomorrow is Wednesday and I hope that the rest of the week goes as fast as these last two days have.
Billy is taking me out for dinner on Friday night...Maybe I can convince him to stick around for a few hours to see Emily Fennell play at the Merchant.

I spent the day in the closet...

Yep, I have this closet full of stuff screaming to be organized. Instead of cleaning it I simply added to it for years. Three years at least. I found newspaper articles about my Mothers passing and the lovely articles that were written about her and her life. I had a little bawl, and then carried on. No doubt I will write my own obituary as there is no way that job should be left to someone in grief.
Topic change:
Ever suck up one of your computer keys with the vacuum? DUH! I did that very thing today. Billy went to get groceries so I had to get the vacuuming done while the living room was vacant. The laptop was open and looking kind of dusty, so I ran the end of the vac across the keyboard and 'click' away goes the Insert-print screen key. Yep, had to take the bag out and cut it open to retrieve the key. Man they are small, and narrow.
My big trip outside today involved shaking mats and pillows and blankets. Then I took a long trip to the store to buy the toronto star. Whoopeee :)
Bryce sent me a few pictures of Dorrie...just thought I would share them:

These were taken in Stratford. This one has Dorrie sporting one if her christmas gifts around her neck. I called it her holiday bling:)

And here she is in her chair in Bryces room. I guess she owns this chair.
Ok, time to watch Hockey Night in Canada!
Lets hope I get to do a bit of travelling tomorrow. Im getting cabin fever.

The case of the missing post

This is very odd...I lost a post. I created a new post last night and once i edited it and saved, the previous post went POOF! Anyone ever have that happen before?

Well not a lot to report here. Mister Christmas and I plan on spending a quiet weekend doing nothing as he has worked his butt off this past week and I just want to spend two days in a row relaxing. That means no cleaning. Lets see how long that plan lasts!

We had 5 hours of training today at work. It is a course we are taking for 5 weeks in order to be certified. Imagine that, certified to do a job that you have been doing for almost 5 years:) After the training I had to create a report for my client then made arrangements to leave work early as I had to make it to the license bureau before it closed as well as the pool to buy my membership. Yes, I did it! I bought the membership and will start swimming at 6:30am Monday morning. Its been almost a year since I swam there, so no doubt I will be sore afterwards. But I need to do this. I need to get active so I wont be feeling so lethargic.

So...the disappearing post. I cant remember what was said in it...only that I wanted to name my tree for my friend Shayne. Maybe U2 could name their next Cd the Snoshi-wah Tree!