What A Change #%@&#

What a change in the weather today!!!! It is freaking freezing out and rained most of the day!!! I think that if you took the temperature from the early part of the week (+ 31 c) and reversed the numbers you would get the temperature today. BURRRRRRR!!! We really needed the rain, but the COLD temperatures we could do without!

My weekend was not exciting at all. I stayed in all weekend and really didn't do a heck of a lot. I got most of the laundry done and cleaned the bathroom. I decided not to head to the farmer's market yesterday as I will be gone on Thursday and hopefully if all goes well we are leaving the day after our return from VEGAS.

You may be wondering why I say if all goes well......Bruce's boss Ian was called to Ontario this past week as his mother is very, very close to death. From what I understand she was only given 2 weeks on Tuesday. There are also 2 other managers that are away on vacation the same week we are supposed to go, so if Ian is unable to be back for that week we are going to postpone our trip. We should know early this week, I hope. I'm not sure if that means we will go the next week or wait for September. Your guess is as good as mine.

I am really hoping that my glasses are ready tomorrow or Tuesday. It would be nice to get a couple of days to get used to them before I go to Las Vegas. I think that I will take my old glasses with me just in case I have any problems with the progressives!!!! I was all excited on Friday, because I got a call from the Eye Centre. Alas, they just called to tell me that there was a problem with one of my lens and they had to be re-done. :(

I suppose I've bored you all enough with my weekend happenings! Until later.........

For Jill :)

Just thought I would do another quick post tonight for anyone out there who may read this but hasn't heard.............

Congratulations Jill, she received her permanent contract from Edmonton Public School Board in the mail today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOORAY!!!!!

We are all very, very, very HAPPY :) for you.

The Benefits of Drinking More Water???

We have been trying to be good and drink MORE water here. I bought a case of 32 bottles of flavoured water a couple of weeks ago. During all this HOT, HOT weather
both Bruce and I have been enjoying this bottled water. I tend to drink a good amount of water each day anyway, but Bruce doesn't. So besides this flavoured water, I thought it would be a good idea to keep a jug of plain water in the fridge also.

I have known for a couple of years now that there was a 'Brita' water jug up in the cupboard. I've meant to buy some filters for it so we could have nice COLD FILTERED water in the fridge, but never got around to it. Well, yesterday I finally remembered to buy some.

Today, I climbed up on my step stool and dug out the 'Brita' jug and washed it (as it had been in the cupboard for more than 2 years!!). I read the package on the filters and put the filter in a glass of water to soak as per the instructions. While rinsing out the 'jug', you'll never guess what I discovered.......there was a crack all along the front of it and was NO GOOD for holding water!!!!! Since I'd already soaked the filter, it was off to WalMart for a new jug!!!! After stopping at 'Tim's' for a coffee, it was back home to wash the new jug, fill it with water and put it into the fridge!!!!!!!!

Such a schmoz, in the name of drinking more water!!!!!!!!!!

Dirty, Dark Family Secret...UNCOVERED

I wanted to post this last night, but Bruce was on the computer until after 12:30 am and I was too tired to start it then...........

I have uncovered a DIRTY, DARK Family secret that I feel compelled to tell, so here is the story.

Yesterday, I decided to go out and do a few errands in the afternoon. One of the major things that I needed to do was pick up cat food at the vet's. I usually go in there once every 2 weeks to pick up either wet or dry cat food. I figured that since I was heading to Vegas next week and then Bruce and I are supposed to be heading to Gibson's the day after I return from Vegas, it would be best to stock up on cat food. $100.00 later I was off to do the rest of the things I needed to do.

I came home at about 4:30 and brought in the cat food, my few groceries and my purse. I just put everything down on the kitchen floor and went to open up the doors and blinds and then had to answer the phone. When I went back to the kitchen to put away some of the the things this is what I found...........

Can you see what Oscar is playing with???? It's a little fun fur 'honeysuckle' mouse. Our little Oscie is a KLEPTOMANIAC!!!!!! While I was on the phone, he 'STOLE' it right out of my purse!!!!!!!!!!

It was probably a good thing that I was home alone because I couldn't stop laughing. It was sooooooo funny to me that he had gone into my purse to get it out. If anyone had been here they might have called the men in the white coats to take me away!!!!

I went to the eye doctor today.... I spent a small fortune on my new glasses!$!$!$! For all you youngsters out there, start saving for the day you need to get bifocals or at least make sure you have eye care coverage. My new glasses are setting me back $750. Thank goodness my prescription for distance has just a very slight change so I didn't need to change my sunglasses at all!!!!! I picked out a nice pair of frames and in case you're wondering about the change in colour of the print on this post, it's because the frame colour is a bit darker than this print. At first I thought it was black until I took them off and looked at them. I am getting the progressive bifocals so, NO LINES!!!! Since I have to wear them all the time, I guess it's worth the small fortune it costs for them.

It Only Took 14 Months

So, after only 14 months of being in the trunk of my car, we finally got the 2 window fans out and in tonight!!! I decided today that maybe we should prepare for this heatwave that is supposed to hit beginning tomorrow with temperatures over +30 c for the next week. We put one of the fans in the kitchen window and the other one here in the computer room. They do seem to help. Today the temperature was +28 c, so the house did get quite warm by this afternoon/evening. It is quite pleasant here right now as I sit at the computer composing this post.

The other thing that I did today was make an appointment to get my eyes tested!!! I guess that I've put it off long enough......and will most likely be getting bifocals (YUGH). It makes me feel OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess I really must come to terms with the fact that I am 51 years old. It's hard to remember that though. My brain doesn't feel that old even when my body feels like it's 61!!!!!

I spent some time in the front yard this evening. I decided that I had procrastinated long enough at getting some of the weeds pulled. I will try to finish it tomorrow. I also plan on doing some pruning out there. I have sprayed most of the weeds in the back garden, but so far haven't come up with an idea of what to do with that area. Has anyone got any ideas as to what I should do back there????????

Bruce came home from work tonight with a tale of how the machine on lane 28 blew up today!!! He has never had a machine BLOW UP before, so he is quite bugged as to what to do to repair it! He has a busy week coming up next week, as they are doing a SCRUB on the lanes. Instead of doing a complete sanding job (as they did last year), they just do a sand off of the finish and put down a new coat of lacquer. I think that they start on Tuesday and it will be finished by Friday. Hopefully he gets his problem with lane 28 fixed by then!!!!!!!!!!

Not much else going on here. I'm looking forward to Vegas in 2 weeks and then on to the coast right after that. It will be nice to have a bit of a vacation for 10 days. I guess that to most of you, all my days are kind of a vacation as I don't work outside the house!!!!! But it will be nice to get away, anyway.

Another One For Joanne

Just thought I would do a quick post tonight to let Joanne know that the HOT weather is supposed to be back here by the end of the week. Though, I would much rather have our HOT weather that hers!!!! I have seen on the Detroit station many warnings about the stifling heat there and ways to keep cool. They have even shown 'cooling stations' that have been set up in Chicago. Than goodness for DRY heat and not the HUMID heat that the east gets!!!!!

I went and got my hair cut VERY VERY short today. Thought that if I got it cut really short I would be okay until the end of August as far as the hair goes. I have been getting it cut every 4 to 5 weeks lately. I want it to be quite manageable for my trip to Vegas and also to B.C. By the way Joanne, Bruce noticed right away that I got my hair cut today. First time in the last 3 times I've gotten it cut!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow evening I promised Bruce that I would go to Gateway and help him out with the 'Buckshot' tournament. I did last week, only because I decided to stop in for a while and got it thrown at me. Funny that no one who works the front counter there at night knows how to run a tournament!!!!!!????????

Okay, Okay Joanne.....

Okay Joanne, I'll write something here tonight. Although, it may not be too exciting or long for that matter as it's somewhat boring around here!

I suppose the most exciting thing to happen this past week is that we finally decided as to when we are going to head out to Gibson's Landing, B.C. The plan is to leave the day after I get back from Vegas! We are planning to drive to Vancouver on Tuesday and catch the first ferry on Wednesday morning. We are taking the PT Cruiser so hopefully it will be good on gas!! We are going to visit friends of ours that live there. We'll stay until Sunday and then head back home and probably stop somewhere overnight on the drive home and get back on the Monday.

Jen, Trev and Daisy went to the Bennett family cabin for a few days this past week, so I was in charge of checking their house and watering the plants. I even raided the raspberry patch one day! YUM :) I didn't notice, but I guess someone backed into their new gate while they were away!!! No real damage though. It wasn't me though, as I parked out front when I went over.

Today was Bruce's Slo Pitch day. I didn't go though, as I had a terrible sinus headache. They lost the first game and (don't die of shock!!!!!!!) they won their 2nd game 34 to 18!!!!!!!!! I think that was their first 'REAL' win. When Bruce finally got home at 6:30 this evening, we went for Chinese. It was good.

I was really lucky this afternoon! Oscar came and sat with me on the couch (he was in need of some pats!) and then while Oscar was still beside me, Soonie came and sat on my lap. They seem to be much happier now that the weather has cooled off somewhat! The heat really seemed to bother the 2 of them when it was in the high 20's and low 30's.

Not much else to report on the homefront this week. I haven't a clue as to what this coming week will be like. I have to get some laundry done in the next couple of days and arrange for the puddy tats care when we are away. I also should see about getting that birch tree cut down before it causes any damage. It is dying off and I'm sure that a big wind could cause some problems. I have to start pulling out some of the DEAD weeds in the garden area. I sprayed them with Round Up and they have finally begun to die off.

My Weekend!?!?!?!?

I finally got my dinner out on Friday night! Bruce and I went to 'Montana's'. My dinner was excellent!!!! I had the double breast rotissere chicken dinner, with a baked potato (I haven't had one in a verrrrry lonnnnng time!!!) and steamed vegies. Bruce had chicken and shrimp and it was not too good ( chicken breast was overcooked and the skewer of shrimp had only 2 on it!!!). He was very jealous of my dinner. I did share some of my chicken with him though!

On Saturday, I just did some shopping (groceries and bought a couple of new light fixtures for the 2 smaller bedrooms). I picked up some steaks at the butchers and Bruce barbequed them.....yummmmmmmmm! We also had some beautiful potatoes from the farmer's market. There is something about those potatoes that makes them so much better than the ones you get at the grocery store. I can't wait for the carrots to come in!

Sunday.....Bruce went to play ball and I decided to go and watch the second game. I should have just stayed home. By the time I got over to the field, they were about ready to leave as the opposition didn't show up. In their first game the other team was late and had to give up a bunch of runs and they only played 4 innings, so out of their last 4 games they are 3 wins and 1 loss!!!!! For dinner we had leftover steak and potatoes and vegies. It was almost as good as the night before!

Today I decided to cook a Ukrainian dinner (sort of). At the meat market the other day, I picked up some cabbage rolls and perogies and then I heated up some Ukrainian sausage in the oven. It was very good and a nice change. Tomorrow we are going to Jill and Ryan's for dinner as it is Ryan's birthday.

The weather has been somewhat unsettled the last couple of days. We had rain yesterday afternoon and a huge storm this afternoon. We need the rain though! Thank goodness we haven't gotten any more water in the basement! It must have been the way the wind was blowing that day we got water in the basement. I think that tomorrow it is supposed to be cooler and then back to above normal temperatures again for the next week or so (25 to 30 degrees c).

Time to go and get some sleep (maybe)............

I just finished reading some of Joanne's blog from when she was here, so I guess you can all figure out that I got back onto my Blog after she had been using my computer for the past week and a half!!!!! ( Oh ye of little faith :) ).

Today is much COOLER, at noon it was 18 c. We had some rain too!! The grass really needs some water as it is no longer GREEN but Brown :( We also have an air quality warning as there is a haze of smoke over the city from the MANY, MANY forest fires in the province :( They did say that the temperature could reach the mid 20's this afternoon though :)

I went over to Gateway last night for a couple of hours to get out of the HEAT of the house. According to my fan in the living room the room temperature was 90 F. I opened all the windows and doors overnight and it cooled down to 81 F and has stayed that all day, so far!!

Not much else to say today. The cats are happier as the house is cooler, though! They aren't sprawled out in the front entrance today. Oscar is sleeping on a chair and Soonie is sleeping in the bedroom on a chair on top of my pants and shirt :) Hey Joanne, did you take much of Soonie back with you??????? You should have seen her suitcase the other day, it was covered in ORANGE cat hair!!!! Suitcases are Bassoon's most favourite thing to sleep on in the whole world!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm Back!!!

Well I'm back writing here. Joanne has been here for the past 12 days, so I haven't bothered writing in my 'Blog' while she was here, in fact I've only checked the e-mails once until today!!!! Besides it's toooooooo HOT to sit here for too long. I'm not complaining about the heat, but sitting here at the computer is hot as there is not a fan in this room.

It was wonderful having Joanne here for the last while and awful leaving her at the airport! I just dropped her off as you check in and have to go through to the gate right away, so no point in parking and waiting. I came right home in case she had a problem and needed to get in touch with me or something!!!

I certainly hope that she got to do everything she wanted while here. We did the Boston Pizza thing and she had 2 and a bit Smartie Blizzards, tehehe:) She went out with friends to some of the places she wanted to eat at, like Sushi and Thai food. We got together as a family a few times and we went to see Jill at school one day. Yesterday we did a bit of shopping and she found her 'little bags' of chips she wanted! I think she took back 20 chocolate bars and 5 or 6 bags of chips!!!!!!!! Hopefully she doesn't eat them all at once or she will gain back all the weight she lost.

I'm getting warm, so that's it for now! Until later................