We(s)t Coast Rainforest

It was nice this morning. It was not nice this afternoon. As we were driving to Kanaka Creek for a nature walk it started to rain. It hasn't let up since!

Not much else to say.....it was wet and soggy but refreshing. I always appreciate a change of scenery though.

It does appear that we never pass up an opportunity to ham it up for the camera!

My Latest Treasure

Okay...perhaps I should have made shopping at Home Sense my Lenten sacrifice instead of desserts and sweets!

One More Thing

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. This may mean nothing to you except that you have noticed it on your calendar. It may mean a lot to you if you practice the more traditional denominations of Christianity.

Are any of my readers observing Lent this year?

Getting Flack

This one's for you Dad! Apparently he is concerned about my lack of posts and needs an update. Well, shoot. There is nothing much exciting or blog worthy happening lately. I mean if you really want all the boring details I can share those. How about a little run down? Try not to yawn throughout!

Let's see.....my last post was Thursday. Friday I worked all day and in the evening we had my cousin Erin and her family over for some visiting and playing Settlers. It was nice to catch up and most lovely to hold their little princess. Their youngest is just about six months and a very sweet baby. The boys all played downstairs on the Play Station for most of the evening.

I also worked Saturday. Immediately after work, Kori and I headed to a wedding of a co-worker. She has some photos on her blog if you are interested. Then after getting home and saying a quick howdy to my family, we parted ways and I left for a girl's night out (photos on Kori's blog) and Keith headed to his mom's for a big family dinner. Another late night!

Sunday we woke up bright and early for church and then came back home so I could get to work in the kitchen. We had invited more cousins for dinner....two couples and one little baby boy! So as I cooked away the afternoon, Keith did all the tidying and cleaning up in the house. Truly a joint effort! The meal was a success and we had a grand time visiting with them and admiring baby Charlie. They all live in the city so it wasn't a late night.

Monday I worked a 12 hour day. The evening shift was purely voluntary but it's not often I get the chance to earn extra money so I took it. We have recently renovated our office and we have been working extra hard to get all the files moved from filing cabinets into our lovely new filing room. Kori and I have war wounds to prove our hard work...plenty of paper cuts and cuticle damage!

Today was my day off but that doesn't mean a day off work. It just means work of another kind! After I dropped the kids to school I went to a dentist appointment. Laying back in that chair for 1 hour was actually the most relaxing part of my day! Then it was off to do a few errands before I had to pick up Chad. Then we had lunch and noticed that the sun was trying very hard to make an appearance. So I thought that I should do some yard work. So I hauled out the pruning shears and rake and set to work. I cut back all the shrubs and rake out all the flower beds. To my surprise I found some pretty yellow crocuses under all that grub. Chad and I filled four large garbage bags of wet and rotting leaves. My compost bin is full otherwise I would have tried to stuff it all in there. It started to rain just as we were finishing....perfect timing! Then we went off to get Nathan from school. Back home to get a snack, do homework and start dinner. Yeehaw! Nathan was supposed to be at soccer tonight but the thought of standing in the cold wind and rain just wasn't cutting it for me. This is generally Keith's duty but he's at a union meeting tonight. Are you still awake out there? People? HELLO!

You are now updated. Completely.

Time to be amused by Colin and Justin on 'How Not to Decorate'. Those guys are hilarious!

Dropping Like Flies....

...except it's teeth. This week has got to be a record! Nathan has lost two molars and an eye tooth. He's amassing wealth at a phenomenal rate! He's my squeamish child so this is not something he tolerates too well. Most kids I know are eager to pull their teeth to get money but Nathan is not motivated by money. He lets that tooth dangle for as long as he can, chews around it and will talk funny. He definitely lets nature take its course! Today's loss happened at school during the first bite of his tuna sandwich. So he will get more money tonight!

He actually asked me to phone the tooth fairy to let her know that he's not losing teeth on purpose to make money.

I took a little gander at my backyard during a brief break from the rain today and noticed that my heather is starting to flower. The crocuses are peeking out and my daffodils and tulips are coming up too! I'm so excited to see my yard all pretty again.

The Old Grey Mare Ain't What She Used to Be

Today was finally the much anticipated ski trip to Blackcomb! Wow...what a wonderful day we had. We started out bright and early. I call this the middle of the night actually. My alarm went off at 4:05 am! Yes....very rude. We had to be boarding the bus at the school at 5:15 am! The ride up was not pleasant for me at all. I got motion sick for the final hour and a half of the ride up. I don't usually get car-sick so this was a bit of a surprise...an unpleasant surprise I might add. I sat there and prayed very hard that I would not throw up on the bus. I brought along some Gravol (just in case) and was so thankful that I had. I took one but it only took the edge off the nausea. Once we got there and I was able to get into the fresh air I felt like a million bucks! So then commenced the gong show of getting the kids sorted into their lesson group and fitting them with equipment. Yeah....by the time that was over I was sweating! Yuck. Once the kids were off and away with their instructor, my girlfriend Delayne and I got our equipment and set off to the slopes. Neither of us had skiied the mountain before so it was a little overwhelming.....the trail map is huge and they have around 10 chairs! I am used to puny mountains with 3-4 chairs at best. We just randomly chose a lift and did our first run. It was bliss! Skiing is like riding a bicycle and we both found it be as great as we remembered. On our next run we chose a combination of two seperate chairs to get even higher up the mountain. Once we got up we were approached by a 'mountain host' who wanted to know if we would be interested in a free mountain tour. Why not?! You could chose a slow, medium or fast tour and we jumped onto the medium tour along with another couple from Texas. It's such an international experience up there....so many people from all over the world. I'm a sucker for accents and I heard my share today. Our wonderful guide took us all over the mountain...places we would have never ventured to on our own I'm sure. We skiied a glacier, tons of fresh powder and saw the most amazing views. The guide was very informative with little bits of trivia and history of Whistler. It was a very enjoyable two hours. We skiied almost the entire time....only going on two lifts during the tour...that's just how big that mountain is. But it did exhaust us and we bailed out of the tour on the last run to grab some lunch and rest our burning legs. Burning legs....burning....still burning......I fear what tomorow will bring in the pain department. Throughout the day we checked up on our boys and found them to be progressing very well. This was the first time for both of them and by the end of the day they were ready for a 'real' run and ride up the chairlift. We were very very proud mums!The ride home was much tamer for me. I kicked a small child out of the front seat of the bus and took a Gravol before we left. The combination brought me a nausea-free ride home which was such a relief!It was a great day and now I am so very tired and must go to bed. I'm sure Nathan and I will sleep very soundly tonight! Nathan and his buddies all ready for their first ski experience!

The view from the very top of Blackcomb....lots of fog mid-mountain but at the top it was gloriously sunny!

Delayne and I just before we tackled this double diamond run :) I am very happy with my decision to rent. The equipment was great! I only saw one person ALL day wearing 'old fashioned skis.

Okay...they didn't have this cool 'magic carpet' on the bunny hill back in my day. We had that horrid tow rope that ripped up one's gloves!

Q&A

Shall we play a little Q&A? Since my life is pretty much an open book maybe none of this is very enlightening.

1. Are Your Parents Married or Divorced?

They have been married 36 years. They seem happy :)

2. Are You a Vegetarian?

I do enjoy meat. I can do without and am not the type to need it every day but I don't believe that I would want to give it up completely.

3. Do You Believe in Heaven?

God says there is a heaven so yes I believe it. And while we're on that topic I find the idea of eternity to be very fascinating!

4. Have You Ever Come Close to Dying?

I don't think so...if I have there is a mental block...no recollection.

5. What Jewellery Do You Wear 24/7?

My diamond earrings. My wedding rings must come off for night. I only sleep with them on if we are away from home.

6. Favorite Time of Day?

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

7. Do You Eat the Stems of Broccoli?

Yes, I do like broccoli a lot.

8. Do You Wear Make-Up?

Of course! Do you know how much make up it takes to have that 'natural' look?! I feel like I wear more and more as I get older. More is needed to disguise the aging process I suppose.

9. Ever Have Plastic Surgery?

Do I look rich?

10. If You Had Plastic Surgery, what would you do?

I would only have plastic surgery with a guarantee of no complications. Since that is not possible I would not have it. BUT in my dreams a nose job and tummy tuck would be lovely.

11. What Do You Wear to Bed?

Whatever is clean and in my 'go to bed clothes' drawer.

12. Have You Ever Done Anything Illegal?

Oh boy...this is incriminating. I guess trying to outrun the cops when they are chasing you is probably illegal. Yes....guilty of that.

13. Can You Roll Your Tongue?

This is probably my only talent.

14. Do You Tweeze Your Eyebrows?

Yes, to keep small children from being frightened of me.

15. What Kind of Sneakers?

Well, I've tried many many brands and have decided that it's mostly about comfort and price.

16. Do You Believe in Abortions?

Yes, they exist if that is the question and I do believe that they are a very tragic choice.

17. What is Your Hair Color?

Truly mousy brown.

18. Future Child's Name?

Why tempt fate? There are to be no more babies from this womb.

19. Do You Snore?

Not at all. I sleep very quietly.....sssshhhhhh.....

20. If You Could Go Anywhere In the World, Where Would It Be?

Europe

21. Do You Sleep With Stuffed Animals?

No, unless Keith counts?

22. If You Won The Lottery, What Would You Do First?

Hand in my notice at work.

23. Gold or Silver?

Either....but I'm not really a jewellery person.

24. Hamburger or Hot Dog?

Hamburger with all the fixings please!

25. Only Eat One Food for the Rest of Your Life...What would It Be?

Popcorn of course!

Putting Temptation in My Way

Well, this is my 'other' birthday present. The present technically from Keith but which I went out and bought for myself. I'm sure most of you know that I have an absolute weakness for popcorn. I love it and have always loved it. Growing up we ate it for snacks several times a week....I think it was a very economical thing to feed ever-hungry kids! Now over the years I have eaten hot-air popcorn, microwave popcorn and popcorn popped on the stove. They are okay but nothing every really compares to the popcorn you get at the theatre. That is the very best in my opinion. So a few years ago I was introduced to Schneider's popcorn through a co-worker and found it to be as close to theatre popcorn as you can get. It's awesome. I didn't want to buy the special pot, oil and popcorn though because I was afraid that I would not be able to control myself basically eat popcorn 24/7. This may still happen but I decided that darn it, if I was going to eat popcorn I should eat GOOD popcorn! So I took myself down to the only place I know that sells Schneider's products around here and scooped the very last one off the shelf. I am happy. I will be eating popcorn tonight. Oh......how many more hours must I wait? I must practice some self-control.

Other than the popcorn saga things are going well around here. It's been a busy week with both boys slowly recovering from the flu. Keith was also away all Tuesday night at a fire investigation so he is recuping from being up for 2 days straight. I am bummed about the rainy weather that came back. Last week was so sunny and beautiful. I had fit in a brisk walk several times and was feeling very energized. I suppose I must be patient for spring. I noticed in my garden that some of my bulbs are coming up....very exciting! I planted a whole bunch last fall and can't wait to see them bloom.

It's almost TGIF!!!

More Presents

My mom had us over for a birthday supper tonight. We had peach chicken which is one of my favorites. I had a special request for dessert which was homemade butter tarts with whipped cream. So good! No one makes them as good as my mom!



I got this funky teapot from my parents and the diner straw dispenser from my brother. I love it when birthdays are drawn out over a few days.

Our Weekend

Saturday night we managed to go out for dinner with Kori & Roger despite having a very sick child at home. Thank goodness for grandparents! It was a delicious Greek dinner and we certainly ate enough food to fill our bellies and then some!

Tonight I made a big Mexican feast for my mother-in-law's birthday which is also in February. It tasted quite wonderful if I do say so myself. Chicken enchiladas, with rice (thanks Tracy for bringing it...very tasty!) and salad. We also made some delicious margaritas...so good that I had three!

I was definitely spoiled with some really lovely gifts. Keith got me the new Michael W Smith CD. He is also buying me something else that I will post when I actually get it. Kori & Keri gave me a very pretty bowl set (see her blog for a photo) and a gift card to HomeSense. My sis-in-law and in-laws both got me gift cards to home decor stores. Yippee! More shopping! Also thanks to Sinead and family who sent over some Euros for me to spend as I like. Tomorrow my mom is making me a birthday dinner so the partying isn't quite over yet. The not so good part of the weekend is that now Chad caught the flu from Nathan so now he's really ill. Nathan seems to be on the mend now but Chad is in the thick of it. It's the same flu Blake and Roger had a short while ago. It's a wicked fever that saps your strength and takes away the appetite. Nathan is so skinny already and now he's downright gaunt. Hopefully it won't hit Keith or I because we don't have time to be sick!

I Feel the Love!

I want to thank each and everyone of you who left a comment on my blog to wish me a Happy Birthday. All my blogger friends, 'real life' friends and family are the best!!! There aren't quite 34 comments yet but the day is not over! Only eight more to go....where are you Mom & Dad?! It's been a great day and I'd have to say being 34 is pretty good so far. I know that Keith loves it that I pave the way in the age department and enjoys being with his 'older woman' :) My little family is the best part of being on this planet!
We had plans for a fun family day out but Nathan came down with a fever yesterday and is still not himself. We will still go out for dinner tonight with Kori and Roger though to stuff ourselves silly. I can't wait!

Yeah, It's my Birthday!

Well....almost my birthday! Saturday is the official day and I think it would be really fun if all my blogger buddies left me a comment! Doesn't have to be fancy...just a 'howdy' will do. It would be great to see 34 comments in honor of this most momentous occasion!

3500 Steps

Today was another gorgeous day so I told myself that I really ought to go for a walk. I hate walking alone but I really would have felt guilty if I hadn't taken advantage of the sunshine today. I am better at getting some exercise if I can some how track it or have some sort of result to see at the end of things. A pedometer is perfect for me. The one I have tracks the number of steps, distanced walked and calories burned. Everything I could possibly keep tabs on after a walk! So off I went....feeling a little strange walking on my own but I just keep my head up and went as fast as I liked with no little voices telling me that they were tired. That part was very enjoyable. I did our usual loop in our neighborhood which took me about 40 minutes. I was all excited to see my results when I got home but they were less than stellar. Really! Just under 3500 steps taken, 237 calories burned and 3.16 kms walked. Not quite the workout I thought I was doing! I bet that didn't even take care of the Corn Flakes I had for breakfast.

I Love this Place!

Our corner of the province has been basking in wonderful sunshine the past few days and there is a lot more in the forecast. After a very stormy winter so far this is a much needed reprieve. Everyone seems a lot cheerier on a sunny day too. There hasn't really been much to post lately. The past week was just the usual work, soccer, etc etc...life! We had a nice weekend enjoying the outdoors as much as we could fit in. Two really long walks went a long way in giving our lazy selves a bit of a work out. My parents returned from a two week holiday in Mexico early Sunday morning. They look tanned and well-rested and by all accounts had a great time. I hope we can return in a few years! Yep...heaps of excitement going on here. Let's see...what else? Chad has a nasty cold. That isn't really anything new for him. He came home from kindergarten today and proudly announced he had almost used up a whole box of Kleenex. Super. Nathan is sitting here watching 'The Sound of Music' which is the second time in one month. It was a favorite of mine when I was a kid too! I had planned to make some blueberry muffins and oatmeal cookies tonight but am out of eggs. Okay, now I am rambling....I hope my next post will be a tad more exciting!

Wonders Never Cease!

My bachelor brother had us over for supper tonight.....I think a first! He made us an amazing Thai stir-fry that was so delicious. I seriously pigged-out! It had cabbage, chicken, peppers, carrots, bean sprouts, and all kinds of delightful spices and flavours. For dessert there was chocolate cake with ice cream...yummy. Thanks Andrew! Some lucky lady needs to snatch him up :)

Enough about food...onto my current dilemma. I am going skiing in a few weeks with Nathan as part of a school trip. I need advice about my equipment. It is OLD. Tres old. Old as in I bought it in the late eighties. I foolishly thought it would be good enough for the slopes still but when I took my stuff in to get tuned and adjusted the guys at the shop practically laughed in my face! Due to the age of the bindings and insurance liability they won't adjust them but they did wax and sharpen my skis. Now what do I do? Ski on these relics and hope I don't kill myself with bindings that may or may not let me go if I fall? Or do I rent some skis? I am an intermediate skier and don't do crazy stuff but all the skis now are the new 'S' shape skis and maybe they would be easier on my old body that my 'straight' skis. I don't know what to do and would love to hear any advice from any of you skiers out there!

Triumph!

I beat Keith in a round of Scrabble this afternoon....he usually wins so this was a great change. I love word games and crossword puzzles and all things to do with letters. I definitely have inherited this from my dad's side of the family. My grandma was a great Scrabble champ!

These tulips were given to me last week by my dinner guests and now they are drooping. I really enjoy having fresh flowers on the mantle...they make the house look so pretty. Too bad they don't last longer!

News Alert

Attention Winners/Homesense shoppers! If you frequent these stores as much as I do, you'd better go over your credit card statement with a fine-tooth comb. Apparently some hackers have gotten into the database at their head office and has gotten all debit/credit card numbers for 2006 and 2003!

How interesting that yesterday I discovered that someone had taken a trip with AirCanada courtesy of Keith and I.

Very vexing!

Comfort Food

I was feeling domestic today. Homemade italian herb bread and a hearty beef stew. The men of the house were most pleased!

Snow for us....round five?

Now, we are very used to grey wet winters in our corner of the planet, not white ones! Once again we woke up to a lovely blanket of snow this morning. The schools were open though so we made the trek to the far corners of the city to our school in the country.

This is about half a block from the school

Most of the route to school is through main roads and highways but the last stretch is a long country road with a HUGE hill and very deep ditches on each side. It's this part that makes a parent white knuckle the steering wheel! We made it! I always say a little prayer of thanks for that. Anyhow...once we got there the principal told us to please turn around and go home. The forecast said it would snow most of the day so picking up the kids later on would probably asking for trouble. She didn't need to tell me twice so we turned around our trusty car and made it back. The boys and I decided to take their new sled out for the morning. This neighborhood has two wonderful parks with steep hills that are perfect for sledding....we tried them both! I am very out of shape and was huffing and puffing up and down those darn slopes! We came home and shovelled the driveway and by this time we were quite wet. That means only one thing.....hot chocolate! It's been a great day so far and I hope this snow doesn't melt too quickly but the forecast does call for some warmer temps in the coming days. We'll just enjoy it while we can.

A Lovely Sort of Friday

I rarely get Fridays off. Somehow I seem to always be scheduled to work. It works out well since it's Keith's day off and that's one day we don't have to deal with daycare for the kids. But I was off today and what a treat! After dropping off the kids at school, K and I had a quick breakfast at Timmy's and then ran to the lab so K could give up some blood. He's had some vaccinations for work and they need to see if they 'took'. After that we hit our favorite store...'Home Sense'. Perfect for a house with bare walls and owners on a budget! I love it when K comes with me as he has a great eye for ideas and patience to dig thru their often very full shelves. This was our 'find' today!

And then to hang it up! Thank you Keith! Now, just to do something with that hideous drapery. Any economical suggestions????

It's a chilly night and I've been settling down in front of the fireplace with a cup of herbal tea and a book. Not an exciting Friday night to many but I could not be more content!

Snow Surprise!

My kids were very excited to see this out the front window this morning and then when I told them school was cancelled things got a little crazy! Yeah for kids....boo for grown-ups still having to go to work!

Pleasantly Plump

Anyone else NOT on a post-Christmas diet?

 

She's not 'all that' in the kitchen

Here I was making a cake. I had just added the flour to my batter and I guess I was day dreaming about my lovely morning/afternoon shopping with Kori sans children...pure bliss! Anyhow...I had meant to switch over the lever to lock the machine in the down position but instead cranked the mixer onto HIGH speed. POOF! Flour....magical flour every which where. This is a photo after I had cleaned up the splattered batter. I thought it was a blog-worthy moment.

 

New Years Eve

It's practically written in stone that we shall spend Dec 31st with Keri & Dave and Kori & Roger or a combination there of! It's been so long that we've been doing this that it's hard to imagine doing anything else :) We had a low key yet completely enjoyable evening. One of the wonderful aspects was that we had all managed to make other arrangements for our kids. Our kids are all old enough to need minimal supervision but it's still a different atmosphere when they aren't there. We took advantage of this by taking a nice brisk stroll after our Chinese food feast. It was cold and refreshing and a great idea. We played plenty of Cities and Knights and for once didn't over indulge on the food. Are we getting smarter or what?!
I think we got home around 2:30....time flies when you're having fun! Thanks guys for a great evening!