Happy New Year

Here it is, 10:10 pm on New Year's Eve and I find myself ready for bed...

Have I gotten so old that I can't even see the new year in? Have I gotten so lame that my idea of a good time is my pillow, my blanket and a nice cold cloth over my head?

In a manner of speaking, probably.

Last year our New Year's Eve was spent at friends' house; we ate too much, watched the clock until it reached midnight, wished our friends a happy new year and were pretty much home and in bed by 12:08.

In my prime (my heathen prime that is), I was just getting started at 12:08. The party was just getting good and I could keep the dancing up for a few more hours. Ah, to be young and foolish...nah, I think I am happy older and wiser.

Today was spent at church, went to Bill's work for a few minutes(cha ching) and ran off to BPs for a spinach dip that a friend said would make me feel immediately better(yes folks, 3 months later and I am STILL sick). It was decided at BPs that we would stop by the Walk-in Clinic to see which doctor was working as there is one there that I really wouldn't want to see if my life were held in the balance let alone if I were attempting to recover from brochitis and that "special" doctor was there. Off we went back home for a long awaited nap and plans to come back after shift change.
Once I finally awoke we dropped off the movie we watched last night (World Trade Center) and headed off to the clinic for what I hoped was good news and a magical cure.

The doctor, a sweet, young lady, who looked at me sympathetically when I told her of my struggle to kick this and of my lack of sleep and lack of emotional balance due to sleeplessness, gave me 3 different prescriptions (a pharmacuetically concocted cough medicine, a flovent inhaler and nasonex) bore me this tidbit of bad news...my prescription for nasonex is for 3 months and it could very well take me that long to recover from my illness. I now have an irritated and inflamed airway due to the length of my bronchial mess. So, I could very well be sick for half a year because of bronchitis and a certain nameless doctor who I will go to extreme measures to avoid having to see for anything more deadly than splinter removal (who told me I have not been sick for three months and that all I had was nothing more than post-nasal drip).

The point of this long rambling, complaining post is not to ramble nor to complain but to tell you all that we love you. We have loved sharing this year with you in whatever way we have been able to. We can't wait to share 2007 with you! For those of you who are far away...remember: we think of you often, miss you like crazy and love you to pieces!

Happy New Year!!!!!


and...

Goodnight. I'll see you in the new year.

Merry Christmas

Our French Eggs (french toast) are eaten, our stockings and presents ever so elegently opened up and we are in the process of cleaning up the wrap. Everyone had a good morning. Last night was one of the best Christmas Eves I've had in a long time. We went to the CandleLight Service at Church and then Dad and Jude came over and we had pizza, taco dip, cheese ball and all sorts of goodies and sat in front of a roaring fire (courtesy of our yuletide fireplace DVD) and just spent time together. I loved it!

May you have a wonderful Christmas with your family's. To our family, who aren't with us today...we love you and miss you and emotionally you are right here with us. Big hugs to Billy and Natalie, Mike and Joyce, Daniel and Kristina, Shawn and Renee, Tanya, Crystal and Jay and all the kids, if you can grab them from the whirling and twirling of their sugar highs.

WE LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!!

Traditions...

With the arrival of December comes a flurry of traditions in our house...tonnes of things for us to look forward to. A lot of them seem to revolve around food though. We have the traditional decorating of the gingerbread house. Dad's homemade pizza on Christmas Eve along with my Taco Dip while we watch movies. Lately the movie has been "Touched by an Angel's Christmas show" but, I think next year it will be "The Nativity", once it is on DVD. Christmas Eve also finds us opening one small gift and Big B and I getting to open our stockings from each other and stuffing the kids' stockings until the wee hours of the morning and playing board games with the older kids.

My most special tradition, just for me, is getting a box of Lowry's chocolate covered cherries, sitting somewhere quietly by myself and enjoying a sweet chocolate while I think of my dear GrandpaK. He always had these chocolates and it is a special moment I treasure in order to remember a special man in my life.

I want to make sure that we have special traditions in our household that will make our kids look back on them and smile or want to share them with their kids.

Growing up on the farm, we would go out as a family to find our Christmas tree and every year we were followed by the dog, the cats and the horses throughout the pasture while we searched for the perfect tree. We also went on horse drawn sleigh rides in my uncle's pasture and found new and inventive ways to push each other off the sleigh. In order to warm up we would have a weiner roast in the bushes; after Uncle married his wife, he move our warm up sessions to their house and had warm, toasty pizza buns.

I look back on those times with so much fondness and it makes me realize how special it was to grow up with the family I had. Traditions are more than just doing the same things every year; they are about building memories and a happy place for our children to look back on when they are older.

This post idea courtesy of Mama Says Ohm.

Out the Window...

Ever since I can remember I have had someone look out their window to wave goodbye to me even after we have bid farewell inside the house. By 'someone' I mean my dad. It is such a comforting vision to look at that window and know that he is there watching out for me as I get into my van and drive off. I can think back even farther to when I was a child and living 20 steps from my grandma's house and she did the same thing. She would watch us walk from her house to ours, waving as we walked.

The other day I was at my dad's and my uncle was there (actually my dad's best friend) and after saying our goodbyes and giving our hugs and Merry Christmas wishes I went to buckle Bug into the van. Much to my pleasant surprise, as I looked up from the van to wave to Dad again, I saw him and my uncle standing in the window making sure I left safely and offering one last farewell.

I want that feeling for my kids. I feel so loved and so protected and so special and I really want that for my children.

That means, I need to figure out how to rearrange my living room furniture so I can make it to the living room window to watch out for them and to leave them with one more goodbye as they leave.

Picture Update for LilB and Nat (and all my viewers)

It has been a while since I put some pictures up here and LilB pointed that out to me in a nice and subtle way the last time I spoke to him on the phone so, here is a flurry of photos for you.




Jellybean's missing teeth...

















Bug as Nuperman, aka Superman, as he begins his transformation from Clark Kent.



















This year's gingerbread house. We didn't even break anything this year. How about that skating rink?
















First time skating, ever...


















Falling... and, now, completely hooked on the idea of playing hockey. Don't want to tellhim he still has 2 years before he can start playing.

Not in these jeans...genes

Rush came home from school yesterday absolutely overjoyed. It turns out that she is one of 3 kids in her class who just started doing grade 9 algebra instead of grade 8 math. I don't know where she got that from but I know it certainly wasn't from me. I am thinking her Uncle S is the reason for this phenomenon because he is the only family member I know who is good at math.



On a great financial note...I just made the final payment on one of our credit cards. It is COMPLETELY paid off!!!! (happy dance...happy dance!) It has a zero balance! ZERO!!! I am so happy! I can now begin to focus on another debt until we, maybe, get them all paid off and have zero debt (until we can buy a house...) Slowly but surely I am plugging away at them chipping away slowly at the financial iceberg we have created for ourselves. It won't sink this ship though...not if I can help it!

Tis the Season

Christmas stresses...boy, how ridiculous it seems to get so stressed out this time of year considering what Christmas is and what it means. How far have we taken it that we stress over some pretty trivial matters, like baking, gift buying...heck, even buying groceries this time of year requires a lot of calm, serene mantras in order to not throttle some at times.

What happened to good will towards men?

Today, I saw a car wreck all because someone decided that they didn't have the time to wait for a car who had the right of way before they turned the corner.

I'm feeling bummed out right now. My oldest and dearest friend is moving away and even though we haven't been able to spend a lot of time together the last little while, we just always knew that we were there for each other and only an hour away. She will now be in a different province and even though I know we will always be there for each other...it just seems different.
I miss her all ready.

Sweet, Sweet Words I Live For

What greater words for a mom to hear than to have her son run into her room calling out for her just to tell her he loves her.

How powerful those 3 little words, 8 little letters are...

I Love You...


sigh....

Another Child Proposed to

Oh yes, that's right; that's what I said. I don't think I can handle this one at all. The thing is, this child said yes to said proposer.

Yesterday, at school, Jellybean was approached by her dear (and awfully cute) friend, Hunter. Hunter proceded to ask her if she would marry him when they grew up and as I said, she said 'yes'.

I think we have a while to wait for this one though.

In other Jellybean news, today she got the Character Award for her class for this month and the theme this month was Respect. She is so proud of this award, as are we.

She went to bed tonight looking very forward to tomorrow as she is going to the library for a Gingerbread Cookie Decorating Class for grades 1 through 3. Great fun.

Back to the way things were...

Things at the hospital have been very slow...so slow in fact that I will have worked 1 shift a week for the last three weeks. Not great for the budget if you ask me. So, I have been thinking and thinking and praying and praying and decided that it is time to get another part time job outside of the hospital but where...?

I thought about going back to Superstore and ruled that out very quickly. The other day BigB and I were having lunch at B.P.'s and we talked to Bonnie. She jumped at the idea of me going back there and was pretty sure it would be no problem since they don't have great staff there right now.

Today, after much thought and deliberation from BigB & I, I called and talked to Larry and I am going back to B.P.'s part-time. I will be working there a couple/three shifts a week Mon-Thurs from about 5-11. I will still be able to work all the shifts at the hospital other than the 4 hour evening shift in health records and will have most weekends off unless switchboard needs me for some shifts.

So, next week's schedule is all ready up but it looks like the week after that I will be, again, employed at B.P.'s. A few perks to look at...discount on food and I will get tips again...

Whines, Cries and other sounds that drive parents to drink

Ok, so lately Mr. Bug has decided to begin whining, not in the barely audible but extremely annoying way but, in the "You gave me heck!" followed by the most dramatic soap opera worthy cry I've seen in a long time. There is also the shoulder droop followed by the heart-wrenching run and cry to the bedroom which ends in the devestating throwing of ones own body onto ones own bed.

Today I had to have my eyes dilated at the opthamologists and my pupils were about 10 times bigger than my iris' were to begin with. There was a lot of light being forced into my face and I had...have a headache!!! Top this with the "Fabio" of daytime television and you have one cranky mama.

The great part of this equation is I get to go again on Thursday!!! I will deal with this whole headache thing again and then we have a sleep-over party for Jellybean and 5 of her closest girlfriends...why oh why do we willingly torture ourselves like this? I can all ready hear the ear splitting squeals and shrieks...I wanted to take them bowling...BigB decided to ask her if she wanted a sleepover!


P.S. As I was reading this to BigB, I said "Insert name here" instead of using Bug's name and he knew who I was talking about!!!!!!!! He knew!!!! Darn kid! He is, however, totally cute (and playing with his bellybutton as he drinks his milk beside me)!

Bedtime Stories, Bedtime Snacks and Weird Bedtime Rituals

When Jellybean and Bug were nursing they both twirled their foot around and around and got a grip on my lip that would intimidate Hulk Hogan. Jellybean out grew any weird bedtime ritual obsessions but Bug, on the other hand, has developed a particularily weird comfort ritual...He plays with his bellybutton while drinking his cup of milk at bed. I mean, he prepares for this. He will lift up his shirt, raise his hand in anticipation for that cup and commence playing with his bellybutton.

Is it just my kid or does any other child have weird little rituals or habits you would like to share?

Camping Crackers

Last night Jellybean and Bug decided they needed a snack before they went to bed. I asked them what they would like for this snack and Jellybean responded with "Camping crackers, Mom; camping crackers!"

Camping crackers? It took me a second to figure out that camping crackers referred to Graham Crackers.

So, I sent them off to bed with a couple of camping crackers and thoughts of next summer when we can add the chocolate and marshmallows.

Yummy...

Taking a trip...down memory lane

Rush had to interview someone for school about a childhood memory that impacted their lives. Apparently her dad decided to tell her that she should ask me since I apparently have lots of memories that have impacted my life.

I wasn't really sure which memory to tell her I mean there are lots of memories that flood to mind when I think about it. I thought of telling her about the day I found out I was pregnant with her, about the time my brother almost drowned behind the barn, of being rescued numerous times by my grandpa when I got stuck in the muck in the barnyard, of tipping and tailing beans with my granny on her front porch, of being tricked to go to the barn by my parents so they could show me my new horse but, I think the memory that impacted me most, from my childhood, was the day our trailer burnt down so, I sat her down and began to tell my story.

It was February 1988 on a Saturday morning. My brother had woken up and was watching Saturday morning cartoons and everyone else was sleeping or in the process of just waking up. Apparently Shawn got thirsty and went to the kitchen to get a drink when he saw the flames shooting out of the electric outlet in our dining room at the head of the cot where my Grandpa E had slept just days earlier.

He yelled fire but I think it was my mom who ended up waking up my sister and I with her yells. We jumped up. I grabbed the quilt from off my bed and wrapped it around me and we ran up to my grandma's house in our bare feet. We didn't even feel the cold from the snow until we were safe and in Grandma's watching as our life's memories burnt before our eyes.

That's what I miss...the pictures/memories that were destroyed that day. Everything else is just STUFF; it comes and goes.

Our community really pulled together for us. The searched their stuff for things we would need and held a benefit dance for us at the local Elks Hall. What meant the most to me though was my good friend, Kerrie, who I had an on again off again relationship with (but who was also my best friend) gave me her most prized possession the next school day, a cross necklace.

My husband kind of laughs at me (in an innocent way) but I think this is why I take so many pictures of my family and friends...I am terrified of losing them all again. Possessions mean nothing in the grand scheme of things and we all (me included) give them too much power in our lives. What matters is the relationships, your family, your friends...

As we approach the Christmas season let's all try to remember that objects are temporary it is the legacy we leave, the love we give and the lives we lead that really mean anything in this world.

A Smidge of an Update

Training in ICU is going great! I really fit in there and am enjoying learning more about the health care system. It is, at times, as somber place to work but I think I will enjoy the experiences that this position offers to me.

Parents night was last night for Ballet class for Jellybean and it was absolutley adorable. Rush started piano lessons yesterday, as well, for this year. She started off with a review and hadn't forgotten nearly as much as I thought she would. She must have a good teacher (huh? huh? huh?).

I had hurt my back last Monday and have been on Work Restriction since (no bending or lifting) and my back it slowly starting to get better. My chiropractor is my best friend right now.

BigB is extremely busy as they are implementing a new system at work and it hasn't gone as smoothly as some would have hoped and still others believe it has gone (that is mainly the guy who could get all the credit for it). So, he is tired and a smidge cranky with some of the users at work. Fortunately he is not coming home cranky at us.

Big Let Down

Well, it has been quite the day for news. Unfortunately it has been a fair bit of bad news, not great news and things "that wouldn't be bad but they just all seem to add up" news. The lady from Health Records who took the full time position which resulted in my Temporary Full Time at the Cash Desk decided today that she will be returning to Health Records which eliminates the need for my full time job. I am now back down to casual however, I do have 3 casual positions.

Yesterday, I hurt my back pretty badly. Bad enough, in fact, that I couldn't stay at work today and was told to fill our Compensation forms etc ect. I went to the chiropractor and the family doctor and I have soft tissue damage to the small of my back from filing 8 hours straight yesterday. I am also officially off work until Friday and am limited to what I can do for the next 8-14 days. By then, I know that I will be 100% due to prayer, chiro treatments, rest, exercises and anti-inflammatories.

BigB had a stressful day at work. Their bringing in a new computer system and this is requiring a few new computers which nobody seemed to be ready for them to install.

Bug wanted to help us because the fish looked hungry so he took it upon himself to feed the dear creatures. Unfortunately, he gave them about 5 oz of fish food which required immediate fish doctoral care and by that I mean BigB had to clean the tank out when he just wanted to de-stress.

Bug also has started thinking he needs 3/4 of a roll of toilet paper each and every time he goes to the bathroom. This results in me having to unplug the toilet every time and it is getting tedious and tiresome.

So, that is the frustrations of today but I know tomorrow will be better. I have faith. I have to have faith. There is something better waiting for me right around the corner; I just don't know which corner...

Oy, my math brain...

Ok, so training has been going...all right. It is certainly a lot to take in considering I get 4 days to learn what they normally teach you in 2 weeks. It is definitely hard on the math brain.

Tomorrow is my last day of training and then I am by myslef but, the lady who is training me will still be in the building so I will be able to make emergency calls to her so she can bail me out of a bind.

More later...bed is calling me....so tired...brain malfunctioning...

Slight Change in Plans

I will not be training in ICU for about a year...I just got a temporary full time cash clerk position that is supposed to end the end of August 2007. I will do my training for the relief position after that.

It is going to be so nice...working Mon to Fri, every third Friday off and days only. The job is, I have heard, stressful, however, I am thinking it will be nice to have a stressful job with a regular paycheck as opposed to being stressed out because I don't know when I will be called in.

Sweet.

Can't believe I forgot to tell you...

I am the newest employee in the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital. Oh yeah! That's right!

I accepted a relief ICU ward clerk position. So...we'll see how that goes and see if that is something I can do. I have 3 days training Oct 17-19.

Booya!!!!

Oh yeah!!! What a feeling!!!

You all know what a sucker I am for deals and how there are times when I am so fortunate to stumble over a really good one. Well, today, Bug and I were at Wal Mart (shocking!) and we were just strolling around when I found some clearance garden stuff. It peaked my curiosity especially when I saw a trellis for $2.00. $2.00?!? That price simply couldn't be right considering the tag on it said $19.99.

We threw a couple in the cart and went to find one of those price checkers but none of them worked so it was off to the till to pay for our items and I asked the girl what the trellis came up as. They were definitly $2.00!!! I have been wanting some but have always been too cheap to pay the $20. By the time Bug and I got home I had 4 of them and had only spent $8.00!!!

Oh yeah! Oh yeah! I am stealthy! I am just like a...ninja...a shopping ninja!!!