It's Beginning To Look A lot Like......Christmas????

I guess that winter has finally arrived here in Alberta today! YUCK!!!! The road are horrific! The QE2 (formerly know as highway 2) was closed from Red Deer to Wetaskawin earlier today. I don't know if it is open yet! The temperature has dropped, not bitterly cold though, and the snow keeps falling. Of course, that make the drivers all CRAZY! I had one guy merging onto the Whitemud beside me give me 'the look' as if I was to slam on my brakes to let him get in front of me and then when I slowed down enough for him to pull in ahead of me he tried to cross over 2 lanes as another car was changing from the inside lane to the middle lane. Oh MY GOD!!! As I turned onto Calgary Trail, the traffic came to a complete stop westbound on the Whitemud. make me wonder if he didn't cause an accident. If not, then he didn't get too far with all the dangerous driving he was doing.

I am getting back to normal now, after the weekend. I was sure dragging yesterday. I can't remember the last time I was sooooooo tired. It wasn't just a case of being tired though, I think that I was totally exhausted. I went to bed relatively early both Friday and Saturday nights. But getting up at 5:30 am on Saturday and waking up at 4:00 am on Sunday and being afraid to go back to sleep (in case I didn't wake up in time) took everything out of me. I was asleep by 11:30 last night and didn't get up until 9:30. Feel much better today.

The compliments are coming in on a successful event though. The tournament was the biggest one yet. The one boy from Quebec, who came at the last minute, had a blast. His father was so grateful to us all. Makes all the work worthwhile.

I guess that's about it for today. Hope that everyone drives safely on the roads and bundles up against the cold. I would take a wild guess that March is coming in 'Like a Lion'.

What a Weekend!!!!!

Well, it's over except for the final reports the and awarding of Scholarships. It was a very long 3 days with very little sleep. It think that the tournament committee were all running on pure adrenaline by yesterday afternoon. The tournament was a rousing success, if I may say so myself. There were a record number of bowlers and entries. We had a total of 570 bowlers bowling in 8 shifts of 3 games each which equals a total of 1710 games bowled in 2 days. There were also 74 bowlers who participated in the Skills Competition which is a competition that gets the bowlers to try to make spare shots (in 2 different categories, bowlers with 160 average and lower and bowlers with 161 average and higher). I don't quite know exactly how many individual bowlers were there but there were between 130 and 140.

Bruce and his crew did an outstanding job with the lanes and machines. There were only a few minor problems and the scores were great. We even had a near perfect game. One of the boys from Quebec had a 298. There was also an 801 triple bowled by a boy from Calgary.

I am totally exhausted today. I've done a bit of work on the tournament stuff, but I'm really too tired to do much more today. I still have to go and try to bowl tonight!!!! I think that's about all for now. Just wanted to let you all know that I'm still alive after a VERY BUSY, but REWARDING weekend.

Little Ole Wine Drinkin'....Bree!!!

This may be the last post I will be able to make this week as it has come down to the crunch for the tournament that I've been working on the past 5 months.

What did you all think of D.H. on Sunday? Bree sitting in a restaurant, all alone, listening to poor renditions of Italian Arias and getting absolutely plastered on wine. At least she was sensible enough to take a cab home that night. Bree passing out on the front lawn and the 'ancient' neighbour finding her and then Andrew turning the sprinklers on her was priceless!!! She certainly was in denial, blaming her 'condition' on the antihistamines she was taking. Lynette arriving at the door with the twins and Penny in arms asking for her help to watch the children was great. We've never seen Bree look so.........NORMAL. Her hair was not perfectly coiffed and she was actually wearing slacks!!! Then in order to listen to the twins music required another bottle of wine. Passing out and waking up to find the twins and Penny GONE. It was great. Then Lynette goes through Bree's garbage and places all the wine bottles on her fron porch with a note saying "do you really think there's not a problem".

I'm not sure I am that fond of the Susan/Carl/Edie storyline. To marry ones ex in order to get health insurance is one of the dumbest things. When Edie finds out, the sh!t will hit the fan. Their daughter telling them that if she sees so much as a lingering gaze between them she will go straight to the insurance company because she doesn't want to be involved in another messy divorce.

Poor Gabrielle...she's not likely able to have children now. Although, she seems to have changed her mind on motherhood. Her mom is a piece of work (literally). After her most recent break-up she gives herself a gift of new boobs! Now she has no money and nowhere to live, so she offers to become a surrogate mother for Carlos and Gaby (Carlos seems to have a problem with adoption). We also get a glimpse into the reason Gabrielle is the way she is. she was molested by her step-father at age 15. Her mom believes Gaby is to blame and tells this to Carlos after Gaby drops her off at a hotel. When Carlos comes home his attitude towards adopting has done a 360!

Finally, my favorite of the night was the end when the nosy 'ancient' neighbour is asked to watch the Skavo children she says to Tom, "don't my gutter look full?".

A Rather Interesting Day.......

After my posting this morning, I decided to go back and lay down for a bit. I got up again at 10:00am and decided I had better get busy with the things I needed to get done before heading out around 2:30 this afternoon. As usual, my first stop is to check my e-mail. There were the usual SPAM messages and a couple of things from friends etc. Then there was one with the subject title 'Junior bowler/Montreal'. I opened it up to find a message from a father asking about the Youth Scholarship Tournament. He said his son Raymond was turning 17 in March 3 and is a very enthusiastic 10 pin bowler. He had come to Edmonton last spring for the YBC nationals and they had just heard about our tournament and needed some help with accommodations and transportation to the tournament and to and from the airport. I immediately got on the phone to Aicha and she ended up calling the dad and I e-mailed him a couple of times also. After that, his main concern was getting his son a flight to Edmonton and back on such short notice. By the time I arrived home this evening (from bowling) he had a flight and we now have 5 bowlers from Quebec coming for our tournament this year. Kind of exciting!!!!

Our team was 'skunked' tonight at bowling. I had my best night of the year, but we couldn't manage to get a point. Oh well!!! Ce la vie!!! We were done bowling early as our opposition all pre-bowled. That was nice because it is bloody freezing out. The expected low tonight is -31 C, then it is supposed to warm up to -11 C tomorrow and be on the + side by Sunday.

Well that's about all for tonight. How lucky you are to get 2 posts in one day from me!! tehehehehehehe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Blast of Winter!!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

We all got a bit of a wake up call this morning. The temperature is a wonderful -27 C. I believe that is the coldest it has gotten this winter. Quite a change from Monday and Tuesday, when it was quite summer like at +11 C. I think that this blast of Arctic air is only supposed to last until tomorrow though. I heard Bruce leaving for work this morning (probably because he was telling Clara that she couldn't go outside!). That didn't stop her though. A few minutes later, Bruce was back inside. He decided to wait in the house for his car to warm up. By the time he left, a few minutes later, Clara came back inside...........she's no dummy!!!!! She's so funny. She wanted to go out a couple of times yesterday. When I opened the door for her she wouldn't go out. Needless to say she was inside all day and night. Clara can only manage to stay inside for so long though and then she just has to get out (even if it's just for 10 minutes!).

This has been a somewhat busy week for me with all the last minute preparations for the tournament next weekend. I spent quite a bit of time preparing a list of the bowlers and shift times yesterday. I have managed to figure out how to make tables on WORD and have also figured out how to sort things on my WORKS spreadsheet! Pretty exciting stuff for a self-taught computer illiterate!!!! Maybe I will get a chance to figure out how to add columns one of these days too!

I guess that's about it for right now. Grab a hot cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate and try and stay warm today. The forecast is for a balmy -11 C tomorrow. Stay warm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I certainly hope that everyone out there in 'blogdom' had a wonderful Valentine's Day and that you at least got to spend part of it with the one who shares your heart.

Mine, of course, was spent at the bowling centre with the love of my life.....Bruce! Not too romantic, but at least we spent some time together. We even shared a pizza bread!!!!!!!!!! I did, however, receive a nice card and a heart-shaped box of chocolates. They were sitting on the table when I woke up this morning. I sent Bruce a Valentine's e-card and he also got a card and 2 heart-shaped boxes of his favourite chocolates, Ferrero Rochet (sp??? I suppose I could go and look at the box for the correct spelling, but that requires me to leave this and go into the living room. Too much effort!!! tehehehehehehehe!!!!!)

Not much else going on at the moment, except for planning the youth all-events tournament. I spend time each day going over things and either entering names on the computer or verifying averages. It is getting down to the crunch, with only 10 days to go. We bowled last night (Monday) and I won 3 of my 4 games! Not bad, eh? Our team is in 2nd place in this section. Hopefully it will end before I hit the rough part of the schedule. I think in the last rotation, I went 0 for 21. Bowing has been getting better for me lately, I even had a 209 game on Thursday. I am having a lot of trouble with one of my fingers though. I have arthritis in the first joint and it can be quite painful bowling. The joys of getting OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poor Bruce.......twice in the past week, the lane dressing machine has screwed-up and put down way too much oil. Tomorrow he has to call the manufacturers and see if they can't figure out how to correct the problem. It really makes his life miserable when things like this happen as the bowlers all bitch and complain. It doesn't seem to matter that it was the same for everyone and they complainers think that the problem was directed at only them!!!! Tonight all the scores were low. It also is a bit of a concern as we are hosting the city All-Events (adult) tournament this weekend and then, of course, the following weekend is the Youth Scholarship All-Events tournament. Then in a month it is the Edmonton Open. Busy times for us all.

Time for sleep......................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

It's Been A While........

It's been a while since I posted a 'Desperate Housewives' synopsis s, so I figured that tonight I should.

1. This Tom and Lynette working together thingy is just ridiculous. Can anyone understand how Ed can keep his advertising company going when he is so inept at his own job. Can you imagine any boss making an employee do tricks and utterly disgusting things (like eating a donut that was dipped in the toilet)? I think that Tom should just forget this job and go back to being a stay-at-home dad. He was much more interesting and funnier staying at home and coping with the day-to-day stuff of raising 4 kids. By the way where are the kids?????

2. What do you think of Carlos and Gabrielle's new maid? Gabrielle certainly knows how to get her own way all the time. It was rather amusing when she was talking to the little Chinese girl and telling her how wonderful America is and how if she decided to stay she could be around all her pretty things all the time! I wonder how soon she will get tired of having her around. I wouldn't get tired of having her around if she were to brush my hair everyday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. Susan, she is so ditzy. Edie and her plan to marry Susie off to the 'gay' guy was really quite funny. And his 'life partner' making a wedding cake and when he found out that Susie didn't have cancer how quickly his whole attitude changed. Then poor Susan was left at the altar holding the bouquet and NO HEALTH INSURANCE, to boot!!!! Do you think that Susan and Carl will re-marry? Will Edie find out and what will she do to the 2 of them?

4. Bree..................Is there anyone else who is so trusted by all the neighbours that they have keys to everyone's house? Even after she was suspected of killing Rex, no one took back their keys (although Betty didn't know she had a key to her house!!!!). It's funny how Bree and Betty now have something in common. Each is protecting their son from possible murder raps. Maybe Betty will continue living on Wisteria Lane and not sell her house!!!!!

I guess that's about it for tonight. I have to go and fold up some towels from the dryer and put my last load in. I managed to get caught up on the laundry this weekend. The next 2 weekends are really busy for me. The Edmonton Tenpin association is having their All Events tournament next Saturday and Sunday and because I'm not bowling in it, I work it. Then the following weekend is the BIG TOURNAMENT that I've been working on for the past several months.

'The Boys'....as they are known as

I know that you have all read about the dogs in the house from Joanne, so I thought I would post a few photos of the cute little creatures. They are 2 really SPOILED PUPPIES!!! I have never seen dogs with so many toys!!!! There are 2 of everything, yet these 2 guys will still fight over a single toy! Just like children do!!!!!! Gephetto loves to play fetch and will play for hours if you let him. Pinnochio loves to carry the toys around in his mouth and tries to get whatever Phetto is playing fetch with. Gephetto is more aggressive and usually gets back what he had. If they don't want the other to get the toy that they have they take it into their crate. It is rather amusing.


Here are 'The Boys', as they are known around the Goluszka house. They are in their pen, where they spend the days when everyone is gone to work or school. Most of the time it is in the basement, but because the 'Lady with the Black Hair' and 'That Man' were going to South America, the pen was brought up to the kitchen/family room for convenience to the caregivers while they are away. Pinnochio is quite miffed at Gephetto in this photo as he is laying on the fleece blanket and Pinn cannot get underneath it and wrap himself up!!!




Here is me with Gephetto. He is quite sucky and loves to have his tummy rubbed and to be held like a baby. The two dogs get quite jealous of any attention from the humans in the house, so when one of them is being held, the other one is usually somewhere close by waiting for his turn at getting some attention!







Now it's Pinnochio's turn for some attention from the "Bad Lady with the Blonde Hair, who won't let us out of our pen". Pinn is the really sucky one. He likes to give kisses. He doesn't like to get his tummy rubbed though and doesn't cuddle at all like Gephetto.




The 2 of them are really cute but can be sooooo annoying. They bark at everything, both real and imaginary. Their bark can grate on ones nerves quite quickly, especially when they don't stop.

I suppose I should try and sleep now. I was really lazy today. I wasn't feeling that great and just lazed around most of the day, so I'm not really all that tired right now.

My Exciting (?????) Day....

Today was just one of those days....I have been battling a sinus headache off and on for the last couple of days. This morning when I woke up it was gone and I felt good and pretty well rested. I've been neglecting my Thursday League's book as of late, so I thought I would try and get caught up somewhat. So after making sure that the collection sheets were added correctly (3 weeks worth) I came into use the computer and get the prize money lists up to date. I was 10 weeks behind!!!!!!!! Bad Me!! Of course it wasn't just a case of inputting the information, I had to prepare a new spreadsheet for the 2nd half of the season. It took about 3 1/2 hours to do everything and input the info. At least it is done now and hopefully I will be better at keeping it caught up. I was doing so well until December came.

I was bowling tonight. It was pretty good. Our team won the first 2 games, but lost the 3rd and total. We got 4 points to the oppositions 3 points. In the 2nd game I got my first 200 game since I started back bowling last year. The other 2 games were not so good though!!! Bruce stayed and watched most of my league tonight. Usually he comes home. I don't blame him as he has already spent 2 nights there with his own bowling and then on Wednesdays he has a meeting to attend. So by Thursday he needs to go home and relax a bit. He has spared a few times in the league though (including for me when I went to Chicago).

After bowling I had to stop at IGA to pick up a couple of things. I pulled into the parking lot and a car that was behind me pulled into a space a couple down and the driver got out and headed into the store. As I got out of my car I looked at this person and lo and behold it was Johnny (Joanne's bestest friend). He is here working at the UofA until the end of February (doing a stress leave job). Apparently, jobs are quite scarce in Calgary (unless you are a tradesperson). We had a bit of a visit while picking up what we both needed. It was great to see him and I told him to drop by sometime while he's here.

Well that's what my exciting day consisted of. Tomorrow I just may stay in ALL day for the first time since I arrived home on January 31st.

My Silly Mistake....

Okay, everyone who reads this knows that I am working on the Edmonton Youth Scholarship tournament. It is quickly approaching, just 2 1/2 weeks away. So today I had a list of things that I wanted to do (including sending out a couple of e-mails to the Board and Youth Directors that I have e-mail addresses for). So I sit down at the computer and do up a staffing chart for the tournament for the Board members. After writing my e-mail message and attaching the file to it I sent it out to the Youth Directors rather than the EYTBA Board. Of course I put a read receipt on it (which as it turns out was a good thing because it is why I discovered my error). I then had to apologize for my error and re-send my original e-mail to the right people!!!!! These group contacts are a great thing as long as you send your messages to the proper group!!!!!

I am so looking forward to Friday and the weekend.....since I have been home I have had to go out everyday at least once. Wednesday was errand day, including getting groceries. Thursday was bowling, Friday I had to pick up the plates for the EYTBA tournament trophy, Saturday was a Youth meeting. Sunday I needed to get some things at WalMart and then went out to dinner with Jen and Trev, Jill and Ryan and Jen's in-laws for Jen's 32nd birthday. Monday was bowling and Tuesday is Bruce's bowling and I have to go and run their pot game (I was missed the 2 weeks I was gone as no-one ran the pot). Tomorrow I have an Edmonton 10pin meeting at Red's and then it's back to Thursday and bowling night again. I think that Friday, I just may vegetate for the day, and not bother to even get dressed!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Saturday I will have to do the laundry and possibly a few other things around the house and then who knows what will happen on Sunday. I'm sure Bruce will be wondering what to do Sunday now that the football season is over.

Well I guess that's about all that I have to report tonight. I'm tired and have a headache. Time to turn on the t.v. and relax for a bit!!

Finally My Posting.....at least I hope so!!!!

Last night I tried for a couple of hours to get onto my blog and was 'forbidden' permission to access/on this server. It's crazy as I do not have any 'parental controls' etc. on the computer as there are not children allowed to use it (rather no children here to use it). Besides that I couldn't read the other blogs for the longest time and even after I was able to open Joanne's, Julia's and Ryan's blogs, I was still forbidden access to my own. I was unable to read a couple of other links through Joanne's blog at first because of language content (tehehehehehehe) but I changed some security settings and allowed them and since then everything has been okay, until last night. Maybe there were just too many people on the system or something. It sure did seem crazy that when I could finally get to some of the blogs mine was still denied. Now today, everything seems to be back to normal.

I've been somewhat busy since returning from Inverness/Chicago. Caught up on the laundry, did some grocery shopping, got prepared for my Saturday meeting and had some other running around to do. Today I have been lazy so far. Bruce is at Gateway bowling in a tournament. I decided not to go as I did not sleep well last night (more on that later). I have to go to WalMart later on and then I/we are going out for dinner for Jen's birthday. Can you believe that I am the mom of a 32 year old????? Sometimes it seems like yesterday when she was born. I can remember so much about that whole experience (almost all of the 40 hours of labour!! and 10 days in the hospital afterwards). To my surprise I did it 2 more times. Each time was easier though and now all 3 girls are grown up, married and all have university degrees.

On to the reason I did not sleep well last night.....I had one of my very bizarre dreams. I have them every so often mostly if I go back to sleep in the morning or have an afternoon nap though. They are always about the things that are going on in my life with people from many different areas getting all jumbled together and are always weird. I'm not sure if this one bothered me because it occurred in the middle of the night or if all the happening just kind of got to me. I think I know why I had it though, Bruce always accuses me (jokingly) of being mean to him when I correct something he says and that happened last night and we were laughing about it and I said to him you don't know what mean is from me!!!! Anyway, we were living in this big house (this house occurs in my dreams frequently) and crazy as this sounds we had a baby girl named 'Molly'. Anyway, Bruce and I got into a fight and he left me (packed his belongings and walked out) and this baby girl. I was so angry that I went to his work and started screaming to everyone awful, terrible, mean things about him. In the end it was something about him seeing another woman and I was making him tell my girls what he had done. I think that was when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep for about 3 hours. It was very disturbing to me at the time, now it just seems stupid and really silly. I remember trying to figure out how I was going to manage getting everything done for the tournament with this baby to look after all by myself!!!! So silly, me having a baby at my age ( it's impossible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Well I guess that's it for now. Have a good laugh over my stupid dream!! Maybe they could use some of it for a storyline on 'Desperate Housewives'. Hahaha!!!!

AAKKKKKKKCH!

What is going on with my blog!!!! I can't open it as I get a Forbidden website message.

I am Having a Crisis

I am having a crisis tonight. My computer has forbidden me to open my own blog. I can't seem to figure out what is going on with it!!!!!!!!!

As Promised......

Here are a few photos of my trip to Inverness IL aka Chicago.......

When I arrived at O'Hare on the afternoon of Friday January 20th, 2006 it was pouring rain and there was no snow in sight. By the time we arrived at the Glouszka's house the snow was horrid and visibility was near zero. This is what it looked like on Saturday morning ( Eric and his dad were clearing off the driveway and here is Eric finishing cleaning off Joanne's car)........

Here is a view from the end of the driveway later in the afternoon of Saturday, January 21st.

This is what it looked like on Thursday January 26th. Look at how much snow has melted.

This was Saturday January 28th afternoon after the rain had fallen for about 3 to 4 hours!!! Joanne, Aimee and I had gone to WalMart and when we left there was still a bunch of snow on the ground and I said if it continued to rain like this all the snow will disappear.....sure enough it was almost all gone when we got home again!!


On Sunday January 29th, we took a trip into the city by train. Here are Joanne and Eric in the train station in Palantine as we waited for the trains arrival.

Downtown Chicago..... Joanne and Eric in front of the Sears Tower. We had to enter the building around the corner behind where Joanne and Eric are. When we turned the corner the wind was so strong you could hardly stay in control of your walking!!!

Looking up from street level to the top of 'Sears Tower'. It made me dizzy taking this photo!!!

Just one of the many views from the 103rd storey of the Sears tower, looking out toward the John Hancock building (the tallest building in the centre of the photo with the 2 spirals).

Another view looking out onto Lake Michigan ( the white buildings jutting out on the lake is Navy Pier). We went there the night before.

And lastly, looking out there other direction on lake Michigan and at Soldier Field, where the Chicago Bears play football (in case you didn't know that the Bears were the football team!!!!).

I have many, many more photos, but I sure wouldn't want to bore you to death with them all!!!!

I'm Baaaaack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I arrived home safe and sound last night at around 10:30 pm. There were no unusual happenings on my trip home except that I almost forgot to get my duty free cigarettes. I know that you will all be saying that I should have just forgotten them, but after what I had to do to get them, when I realized I had forgotten to pick them up at the gate, I was pi$$ed at myself! Thank-you to the kind baggage handler at O'Hare that ran back in and picked them up for me.

The trip to Chicago was rather eventful. First off as I went into the holding room a security guard asked me if I had any cigarette lighters? I had made sure not to have one in my purse, but had put a brand new mini bic in the suitcase. NOTE TO ALL TRAVELERS IN THE FUTURE*****NO LIGHTERS ARE ALLOWED AND THEY CAN FIND THEM WITH THE X-RAY MACHINES!!! Then when I went through the immigration desk the officer asked where and why I was going. After telling him that I was going to Chicago to visit my daughter, he asked me to bring my bags and follow him. He then lead me to a separate section and told me to leave my bags outside and sit in this room and someone would call me. I thought I was going to be strip searched, or interrogated or even told that I could not go!! All that happened was my bags were put through a x-ray machine with me present and then the officer looked through by carry-on. On arrival at O'Hare it took an hour for the baggage to be unloaded and put on the carousel. By the time we left the airport the rain that was falling had turned into a fine snowstorm. Thank God, Joanne knew the roads near the house because I couldn't see past the front of her car.

I had a wonderful visit with Joanne and Eric. It was great to see them as I miss them both terribly here. I don't know how much to say here, other than it was rather interesting and I know first hand why my baby girl is so unhappy with her living situation. Joanne does seem to love her job and talks quite a lot about 'her babies'. Eric is working at the music store and teaching loads of lessons. He goes to Bowling Green for an audition on the 25th of this month. Everyone keep you fingers and toes crossed that he is accepted there. It will be so much better for them to get a place and get planning for the rest of their lives!!!

That's about all for right now. I will post a few pictures later. I have some errands to run and must get a few groceries this afternoon.

Until later....................................