Wow - that was the longest break from blogging ever - for me at least! Its been a whirlwind couple of months, and the first thing I cut from my schedule was blogging....not sure why - I guess it could have been scrabulous or facebook....but no. Here we are, only 6 days from Christmas - its a beautiful day today - looking out the window it looks that way anyways! The trees are covered in hoarfrost causing a beautiful silvery Christmas scene everywhere you look - but if you step outside you will feel the chill of the damp -15 that is our high for the day and remember why you would like a remote car starter and why you like to park close to the door!
Over the last few months there have been a few highlights - a couple shopping trips - one with Trevor in mid November when we did most of our christmas shopping as well as applying for our passports (which we received a prompt 2 weeks later). We visited all the important places, like SIR/Cabelas, Value Village and the mall oh and of course a trip wouldn't be complete without going out to Cabrian Equipment (the Allis Chalmers wrecking yard on the far side of the city)...I stayed in the car as it was cold and windy and I think Trevor almost regretted going out there in that weather! It was a nice day together!
Later in November Julie, Velma, Jaime and I made a trip to Grand Forks, we took Liam along, and of course spent more time carrying him around then pushing him in the stroller - but it made a good shopping cart! I just looked at my credit card bill the other day though, I had forgotten that I used it for all my US shopping....no wonder I had s0me extra money sitting around - not any more! With the anticipation of Christmas in our new house and our first real holiday season together (last year we celebrated early and worked through Christmas and new years!) I wanted to do some decorating...$$$...I did fairly well considering, but it is just so easy to spend money! One of the first stores I saw in the mall was the music store/piano store....oooh, bad place for me to see, and when the rest of the group went into a clothing store across the way - I being not a clothing shopper thought this was the perfect oppourtunity to browse through some sheet music. I love new music- I got a few of my favorite contemporary country pieces- Whiskey Lullaby, Skin and one oldie but goody - Desperado. As I was looking I also found a reasonably priced book of classic country songs. The owner of the store invited me to try them out on one of the Grand Pianos....I can never pass up the opportunity to play on a piano like that! The store also had a variety of beautiful pictures and plaques with christian saying and verses on them - and I had been looking for something like that for the new house...$$$ by the time I left the store I had also picked up some guitar pics and my bill was alot higher then I had planned....oh, but it is MUSIC!
One of my planned stops was in the RCC western store to shop for Trevor - successful stop $$$...
Then, Bath and Body Works (or whatever its called), wow, 5 for $25 sale on now?? Sweet!!...$$$...
Cabelas...ohlala!! ...$$$...
Ah, Walmart super center....$$$... It was a good trip though - with some nice visiting along the way. The stop at the border to pay Duty was a bit saddening of course, and with the locals asleep in the back seat, Jaime and I managed to go a few miles out of our way by missing the main highway...oops! It was a beautiful day for travelling - sunny and clear and dry roads!
The next major highlight was the great moving extravaganza. The current tenants said they'd be out by the end of November, so we showed up at the house with a trailer load of stuff at about 11AM on December first. Let me first add a disclaimer saying it was a very bad time of the month....but yeah...
We arrived to find the house locked, appliances still in place and nobody around. I was ANGRY...they had already put us off for a month longer then they first said they would- and I wanted my house! Its a good thing I wasn't there alone or I might have broken something or...possibly somebody, once they finally showed up! I am slightly embarrassed by my behaviour as I was sullen, angry and sarcastic all morning. The offending party showed up a while later to get more stuff - they "just hadn't been able to get it all out in one day" well, ok whatever, but you're the ones that gave us the deadline... They didn't seem to care, and I was even more angered by that, add to it all that they weren't even moving their stuff all into their house - but some into a neighbours barn...which they could have done any time, but they still waited until November 30th to start....AGH.... it was not a good day!
Trevor and I went for a walk in the cold blowing snow, to check out the pasture fence, and when we came back we helped them load their stuff out of the garage so we could unload our stuff into the garage (the appliance and furniture we had bought). Then we went home. Angered by the frustration of never getting anything done, I decided to go on a baking frenzy - and by the end of the day I had made 10-12 dozen goodies, cookies, turtles, maple truffles, etc....finally - an accomplishment! it was somewhat of a relief.... Anyways, my lunch hour is over and I've already been writing this for two days....so I'll post this now....and the happy side later... Ciao
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Closer to Normal
Its been about 2 weeks since I blogged and things are sort of getting back to a more normal routine...sort of. I'm afraid I wasn't very positive on the last post - but my mental picture is getting better thankfully! We are slowly settling into our temporary home, although I'm not certain I'll feel at home until I have my own kitchen again! The latest word on our house is that it should be available by the end of November, but I'm not getting any hopes up just yet - I'll believe it when we're moved in! I just hope that happens before Christmas, as I was REALLY looking forward to entertaining in my own house over the Christmas holidays!
Its beginning to feel a lot like winter around here now, with every night reaching below zero and daytime highs staying closer to freezing every day! There has been a bit of snow fall, although not enough to really make the ground white yet! The winds continue to puff frigid air from the northwest at 30-60km/hr almost every day, but we must enjoy this while it lasts and remember how nice the fall was when we're stuck in the middle of -30 January!
Over the weekend I drove up to Saskatoon for the annual vet tech conference to get some continuing education hours. It was great trip - but it wore me out - I guess it all started on Thursday when I was up at 3:30 AM, worked 12 hours and didn't go to be until 11 pm. It was a cold day of exporting and a lot of driving that day, but thanks to my winter clothes(which made me look like a beast from a fairytale I'm sure!), and a thermos full of strawberry vanilla tea, I was warm all day! That evening I meant to finish packing for my trip, but Andrew came over with little Liam and I spent a couple of hours visiting and fussing over him instead!
I slept in on Friday morning and didn't get off on my journey until 11:30am. I stopped in Brandon for lunch at Tim Hortons and got very sick within an hour of eating...needless to say it was a bit of an uncomfortable trip from then on as my entire digestive system rebelled! I reached Saskatoon around 7pm but spent a further half hour getting lost and driving around the city before arriving at my hotel. After checking in and a quick shower to try and refresh myself, I headed down to the conference area to register and browse the trade show. Upon receiving my registration package, I was informed that all of the hands on sessions for the next day had been cancelled, thanks to a strike by the university employees. I was rather disappointed as this was one of the reasons I had travelled so far for the conference, but I decided to make the most of it! My room mate from college was to share a room with me at the conference as well and she arrived a little later in the evening and joined me in browsing the trade show. We picked up lots of information and free goodies from the different reps and got some good sales talks from them as well! Over the course of the evening I ran into a total of 6 of my college class mates, which was nice - its neat to see where different people have ended up. Lynz and I were joined by Janelle and Mark as we browsed the trade show and after the trade show had shut down and Mark had left, the three of us went up to our hotel room to visit. Lynz and I stayed up until 3:30am....just like being back in college!! Saturday we enjoyed many informative speakers, and a day sprinkled liberally with snacks, more browsing and more visiting. The culmination of the event was a nice banquet on Saturday evening with an awards ceremony which was to be followed by some entertainment - the entertainer however, did not arrive, so we were forced to seek our own entertainment - more visiting upstairs until after midnight! We said our good-byes to all of our other classmates and called it a night. Sunday morning dawned with snow...apparently - as there was still snow in the shadows by the time we were up and at-em around 10 or so. Lynz and I made our way to Montana's for brunch and said our goodbyes from there. The drive home was long - as I was tired, and somewhat bored with driving by this point!! Thankfully, I made it home by 9pm even after a few stops for refreshment and to break up the monotony of the road ahead of me! The Lord graciously kept all the deer in the ditches and me between them!
My lack of sleep caught up to me yesterday as I somewhat dragged through the afternoon at work. I was in bed by 10 last night and feel a lot better today!! I am glad to be home safe and sound, and was much encouraged by the good visits I had with my fellow classmates - I miss some of the friends I made at school, and wish I wasn't so far away from them all, but such is my life it seems - I'm far away from a good many of the people I care about - sometimes I wish we were back in the old days when people didn't move very far apart very often....but I guess this is life!
Oh, before I close, there's one other exciting piece of news, I saddled Riata for the first time on the Sunday before last. She did very well, didn't even seem to mind the saddle being there, although she sniffed it and the blanket curiously before I put them on. I even let the saddle almost fall off her a few times before I got the cinch tightened, and she didn't spook. I expected her to at least kick or buck once or twice when I started working her with the saddle on, but not even one little flip of the hoof! I just hope she is this well behaved when I go to ride her for the first time next summer!!
I'm posting this with the joys of high speed Internet as I wait for Julie at work - its kind of nice to have a chance to just sit down and type on a computer that actually responds properly!!
Its beginning to feel a lot like winter around here now, with every night reaching below zero and daytime highs staying closer to freezing every day! There has been a bit of snow fall, although not enough to really make the ground white yet! The winds continue to puff frigid air from the northwest at 30-60km/hr almost every day, but we must enjoy this while it lasts and remember how nice the fall was when we're stuck in the middle of -30 January!
Over the weekend I drove up to Saskatoon for the annual vet tech conference to get some continuing education hours. It was great trip - but it wore me out - I guess it all started on Thursday when I was up at 3:30 AM, worked 12 hours and didn't go to be until 11 pm. It was a cold day of exporting and a lot of driving that day, but thanks to my winter clothes(which made me look like a beast from a fairytale I'm sure!), and a thermos full of strawberry vanilla tea, I was warm all day! That evening I meant to finish packing for my trip, but Andrew came over with little Liam and I spent a couple of hours visiting and fussing over him instead!
I slept in on Friday morning and didn't get off on my journey until 11:30am. I stopped in Brandon for lunch at Tim Hortons and got very sick within an hour of eating...needless to say it was a bit of an uncomfortable trip from then on as my entire digestive system rebelled! I reached Saskatoon around 7pm but spent a further half hour getting lost and driving around the city before arriving at my hotel. After checking in and a quick shower to try and refresh myself, I headed down to the conference area to register and browse the trade show. Upon receiving my registration package, I was informed that all of the hands on sessions for the next day had been cancelled, thanks to a strike by the university employees. I was rather disappointed as this was one of the reasons I had travelled so far for the conference, but I decided to make the most of it! My room mate from college was to share a room with me at the conference as well and she arrived a little later in the evening and joined me in browsing the trade show. We picked up lots of information and free goodies from the different reps and got some good sales talks from them as well! Over the course of the evening I ran into a total of 6 of my college class mates, which was nice - its neat to see where different people have ended up. Lynz and I were joined by Janelle and Mark as we browsed the trade show and after the trade show had shut down and Mark had left, the three of us went up to our hotel room to visit. Lynz and I stayed up until 3:30am....just like being back in college!! Saturday we enjoyed many informative speakers, and a day sprinkled liberally with snacks, more browsing and more visiting. The culmination of the event was a nice banquet on Saturday evening with an awards ceremony which was to be followed by some entertainment - the entertainer however, did not arrive, so we were forced to seek our own entertainment - more visiting upstairs until after midnight! We said our good-byes to all of our other classmates and called it a night. Sunday morning dawned with snow...apparently - as there was still snow in the shadows by the time we were up and at-em around 10 or so. Lynz and I made our way to Montana's for brunch and said our goodbyes from there. The drive home was long - as I was tired, and somewhat bored with driving by this point!! Thankfully, I made it home by 9pm even after a few stops for refreshment and to break up the monotony of the road ahead of me! The Lord graciously kept all the deer in the ditches and me between them!
My lack of sleep caught up to me yesterday as I somewhat dragged through the afternoon at work. I was in bed by 10 last night and feel a lot better today!! I am glad to be home safe and sound, and was much encouraged by the good visits I had with my fellow classmates - I miss some of the friends I made at school, and wish I wasn't so far away from them all, but such is my life it seems - I'm far away from a good many of the people I care about - sometimes I wish we were back in the old days when people didn't move very far apart very often....but I guess this is life!
Oh, before I close, there's one other exciting piece of news, I saddled Riata for the first time on the Sunday before last. She did very well, didn't even seem to mind the saddle being there, although she sniffed it and the blanket curiously before I put them on. I even let the saddle almost fall off her a few times before I got the cinch tightened, and she didn't spook. I expected her to at least kick or buck once or twice when I started working her with the saddle on, but not even one little flip of the hoof! I just hope she is this well behaved when I go to ride her for the first time next summer!!
I'm posting this with the joys of high speed Internet as I wait for Julie at work - its kind of nice to have a chance to just sit down and type on a computer that actually responds properly!!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
SLOOOOOW
Well, I guess this will be a short update, since it has taken me over half an hour just to get to this page from the time I sat down at the computer....I miss my high speed already!!!
As you may have assumed, we have moved out of our house, we are currently living with my in-laws for an undetermined amount of the future.... It has been a stressful couple of weeks since I last posted, finding out that the current tenants of our future house would not be out by the end of October like the said they would be was the first in a string of events that has caused me a lot of frustration and uneeded anger. I have had a needlessly short temper and just have not been myself the last couple of weeks. All this turmoil has played havoc on my emotions - I haven't struggled like this for over 5 years! I know that God has all things under control but I haven't been trusting him as much as I should have been. I'm working on this now - like usual, after I'm already down in the dumps I realize what I need to do different rather then just doing the right things all the time.
I was busy at work and with other commitments and didn't get any packing done until late last week. It started with a 17 hour day at work two saturday's ago, coupled with a dog to train 2-3 nights a week for 3 weeks and weekly bible study, etc... So, we ended up doing most of the packing on Saturday and we had help to move the piano, furniture and all the boxes we had packed up to that point on Sunday afternoon. I was thankful for Trevor's help in the packing as he was probably much more efficient then I was - we both felt like we were getting a cold, and I being short tempered and exhausted was not doing much to help the situation. We both had Monday and Tuesday off so by getting the bulk of the move over with on Sunday, we were able to concentrate on finishing up the packing on monday and cleaning on tuesday - last night trevor went for the last load of misc stuff and we called it DONE. I've never been more glad to be done with something....except we're not really done - since we can't get into the house, all of our belongings with exception of the piano (which is in the living room of our future house) and the things we need every day; are in the garage of the future house... We packed up our necessities and our animals (Cootie the kitten and Sneef the dog) and moved out to my in-laws for the time being. This hasn't been the end of my stress as we're all fighting off a bad cold bug. I have had some trouble sleeping since we got here, but last night I was able to sleep well for once. I hope that continues since I am very tired and I need to get some sleep to help me get back into a proper frame of mind. Also on that note, I'm trying to get back onto my healthy eating thing that I was on during the summer (although you couldn't tell by looking at me that I had changed anything :( and I'm trying to get up the courage to get a gym membership to get more exercise, as that always helps me sleep and clears my head a bit - not to mention my figure needs it.
All in all, I guess its all working together for good - as God promised it would. Why can I not believe that better? It would save me and the people around me a lot of frustration if I could!
I guess I could sum this up by saying there's been too much goin on in my life lately to bother sitting down to blog - and I'm not sure how often I'll be blogging from now on thanks to slow speed internet!
As you may have assumed, we have moved out of our house, we are currently living with my in-laws for an undetermined amount of the future.... It has been a stressful couple of weeks since I last posted, finding out that the current tenants of our future house would not be out by the end of October like the said they would be was the first in a string of events that has caused me a lot of frustration and uneeded anger. I have had a needlessly short temper and just have not been myself the last couple of weeks. All this turmoil has played havoc on my emotions - I haven't struggled like this for over 5 years! I know that God has all things under control but I haven't been trusting him as much as I should have been. I'm working on this now - like usual, after I'm already down in the dumps I realize what I need to do different rather then just doing the right things all the time.
I was busy at work and with other commitments and didn't get any packing done until late last week. It started with a 17 hour day at work two saturday's ago, coupled with a dog to train 2-3 nights a week for 3 weeks and weekly bible study, etc... So, we ended up doing most of the packing on Saturday and we had help to move the piano, furniture and all the boxes we had packed up to that point on Sunday afternoon. I was thankful for Trevor's help in the packing as he was probably much more efficient then I was - we both felt like we were getting a cold, and I being short tempered and exhausted was not doing much to help the situation. We both had Monday and Tuesday off so by getting the bulk of the move over with on Sunday, we were able to concentrate on finishing up the packing on monday and cleaning on tuesday - last night trevor went for the last load of misc stuff and we called it DONE. I've never been more glad to be done with something....except we're not really done - since we can't get into the house, all of our belongings with exception of the piano (which is in the living room of our future house) and the things we need every day; are in the garage of the future house... We packed up our necessities and our animals (Cootie the kitten and Sneef the dog) and moved out to my in-laws for the time being. This hasn't been the end of my stress as we're all fighting off a bad cold bug. I have had some trouble sleeping since we got here, but last night I was able to sleep well for once. I hope that continues since I am very tired and I need to get some sleep to help me get back into a proper frame of mind. Also on that note, I'm trying to get back onto my healthy eating thing that I was on during the summer (although you couldn't tell by looking at me that I had changed anything :( and I'm trying to get up the courage to get a gym membership to get more exercise, as that always helps me sleep and clears my head a bit - not to mention my figure needs it.
All in all, I guess its all working together for good - as God promised it would. Why can I not believe that better? It would save me and the people around me a lot of frustration if I could!
I guess I could sum this up by saying there's been too much goin on in my life lately to bother sitting down to blog - and I'm not sure how often I'll be blogging from now on thanks to slow speed internet!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Pinky Runs!! and other news
Yes, as the title says, the object of our most frequent disagreement (not major - mostly just joking disagreements now) is now running! After numerous -- read expensive -- set backs and four onths of work, it finally drove out of the shop this weekend for the first time! Here are a couple pics! 
In other news this weekend, Julie and I both worked yesterday - exporting cattle up north, so it was about a 17 hour day! I'm really tired, but I'm not sure if I'll take tomorrow off or not. Our moving plans - or lack thereof have been foiled - as the current tenants - despite telling us a month ago that they'd be out by the end of October have now told us they won't be and don't know when they'll be out. We have to be out by the 27th, and already have appliances coming for the 20th...so we will have to pack everything up and store it in the garage and live at my in-laws for an undetermined amount of time - it makes me somewhat frusterated and upset because its hard enough to move when you both work full time, but now I'm going to have to move twice, which means twice the time off work... argggh - I wish we could just make some plans and stick to them for once!!
We had our thanksgiving dinner today - since Julie just came home on Tuesday and we wanted to include her in it! It was nice - and we really do have alot to be thankful for - family, friends, food, shelter, the list is endless really! I know I shouldn't be grouchy about such a simple setback, since its not like we'll be out on the street - I must be thankful for the things we DO have! I have a picture of Carson and Conner when they were over for dinner today- cuddling with Wyatt!
On Tuesday, Trevor and I took the day off and with Evan and Andrew's help we collected and sorted the cows, had them preg checked and put RFID tags in all of the animals in preparation for shipping them on the 20th. We only had one open cow out of 21 so that was a blessing!
On Friday night we went to a concert - Comhaltas was in town on a North America tour - they were great musicians! I could have enjoyed the concert with out the male singer's songs, and it would have been better if I could have been able to hear the MC's jokes and introductions!! It was a nice concert though!
On holiday monday - thanksgiving day, Velma and I finished processing apples into fruit leather and applesauce and did some other work in the kitchen all day! On saturday of the long weekend I worked in the morning and then Trevor and I went to Winkler and ended up buying all new appliances from Sears. We went with all Kenmore appliances, and we got a really good sale price on almost every appliance. We kind of splurged on the stove - its a smooth top/self clean with two expandable burners and a warming plate. We got a front load washer and dryer - the smaller model - 3.1 CFt but I am looking forward to the high efficiency side of it! We got a basic 18CuFt fridge and a middle of the line dishwasher - that is the appliance I am most looking forward to I think!!
Last weekend we moved the cows - here are some pictures --
Other then that, life keeps plugging away :)
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