Quick and Dirty

I have no idea what the heck we have been doing but I have been busier than a one armed man...well you know the rest. I have no idea what eats up my time.

The kids are keeping me busy school stuff, 3 field trips in the past week, pumpkin carving, work school pictures, homework, photography class and run here and there and my days are gone.

I don't have to much for you except for some pretty pictures.



Here is the moon set. This was taken about 7 in the morning just a few days ago.



We start out nice and cold in the morning, but it warms up enough for the frost to think about melting. The little light we get is sure pretty in the Fall.

Winter's Coming

I came home from my photography class and found someone asleep on my computer. I had left it on and it was warm enough to attract Shmoo.



Here is our sunrise this morning.



And out the back door this morning: Yup that is snow on that hill. The first snow of the season. I don't think it really counts if I did not have to shovel any off the driveway. We were not to far below the snow line last night.



I cast on for these yesterday and knit a little way before I decided they are not the right gauntlets for the yarn I want to use. When I read the pattern I thought they would be bigger than I wanted them to be, but I cast on anyway and they are to big. I am going to check online for a free pattern similar to the idea I have in my head and then I am going to make it up as I go along. Wish me luck.

Hockey

It took me 45 minutes but I got the pictures to post. I often think of moving to another blog service and then I figure better the devil you know. Who knows what I could be getting into with a different one.

Here are those hockey pictures I told you I would post. You can really see how much the kids enjoy playing by their faces. Here is Bass:



Here he is on the ice:



PJ, it really cracks me up how much she loves putting on all gear. She does insist on pick hockey tape. You can put the princess in the hockey gear if she has pink tape.



Here she is doing a puck handling drill.



And the lean mean hockey machine: Q.



He is a tripod on skates. The hockey stick seems to be mostly for balance at this point. He is really working on his skating at this point and having tons of fun. The fun is the important part.



Paul missed his flight out of S.F. this afternoon. I am not sure how it happened, he just did not allow himself enough time to return the rental car and check in I guess. He is in Vancouver on standby now. Flights are delayed due to weather and he is not sure if he will be able to get one tonight.

I can get the kids off to school and it is my day to work so as long as he is here in time to pick the kids up at school in the morning and afternoon it will work work out alright.

Hockey and Stuff

Whoops. I came on tonight to try and play catch up and post some hockey pictures of the kids for you. I am getting an error report when I try to post my pictures, I wonder if I am having the same problem Shannon did with her photos.

It has been a crazy week. The photo class was more fun than I thought it would be. I was kind of sketchy about the teacher after talking to him on the phone a few times, but it turns out he seems to really know his stuff and is a very interactive teacher. I think my photos have improved with the little bit I learned on Monday. I will try to post them Sunday and see what happens.

Paul has been out of town since Thursday night. I took the kids to hockey and have been busy playing with them. I decided to take them to Kewlona for a visit with family there. We left on Friday and got back this evening. It was a lot of fun. I have some pictures of that for you too.

The kids and I seem to be feeling over tired. I ran out of patience about 2 hours ago and the kids have been whining for quite sometime. I think a good sleep tonight will take care of all of us. I feel like I could go to sleep right now and it is only 8:30. I am going to read and relax for a little bit, maybe have myself a beer.

Photography

Bleh, I just deleted my post with the wrong keystroke. I don't even know how I did it.

I am starting a photography class in about an hour. It is Monday nights for the next 4 weeks for 2 hours. I am looking forward to learning more about my camera and how to take better pictures. I will let you know how it goes.

I have some finished knitting to show you, ironically I have not taken pictures of it yet. I take them Tuesday when I have learned some new and exciting camera techniques.

I have had a cold for the past few days so things have been kind of boring around here. I have been playing with kids and hanging around the house. Paul has been super busy with the SpineMED. Check out THIS.

Click on the link. Paul built the website with his own ten thumbs. I am so proud of him. He has been staying up until the wee hours of the morning working on it. He is looking for feed back so feel free to let me know what you think and will pass it on.

He is working hard to get this stuff together and get going on the SpineMED. He is grumpy in the process. I am trying to give him lots of room and be respectful of everything he has on his plate, but I must say I am tired of being growled out by the grumpy bear. It is so hard, I admire how hard he is willing to work, but I don't appreciate what a grump his focus makes him
sometimes.

It is impossible to help him out. He knows so clearly what he wants and how he wants it done that when I help I just seem to screw things up and make more work for him. Again, I am glad he has such vision, but it is very hard to help someone that is so exacting. I am hoping he will relax soon.

When You Put the Book Down

You get shit done.

You pick up your camera and snap a few pictures of Fall.



You capture a missing tooth:



You finish a Christmas gift. It did not take long. I am a little proud, cast on at the hockey game Friday night and blocking this evening. I am amazed at what happens when I can put down the books.



Funny boy in a funny hat. I love the way is squished his eyes all up.



Truth be told I did read a couple a chapters. At night, in bed after all the fun was done. I also took a few minutes to look out the front window.



I met Princess Leah.



I finished a pair of socks.



I captured more Fall colours:



I had a lot of fun. If you will excuse me, I am all pooped out, I think I need to go read.

Book Worm

I am going to try something this week. I am going to put the books down. I blame it all on Mom and Shannon. They sent a bag of books with Dad when he came up for a visit. I seem to feel compelled to read the entire bag of books as quickly as I can.

They are the J.D. Robb books. I have been sucked in, last week I read 4 maybe 5 of them. Yesterday I read an entire book. Last night I had a dream that I was cop in the year 2058. This is not good I need to pick up some knitting needles and knit until I stop dreaming that I am a character in the books I have reading.

My knitting is suffering. I am going to see what happens with my knitting if I put the books down. Even if I were to limit myself to one book a week I bet I would get more done. We might eat something other than pizza, the entire family might have clean clothes to wear, imagine the posibilties.

I might even be able to blog and answer my e-mail or is that crazy talk. I have gone about 15 hours without a book in my hand, I think I have the shakes. Is there some sort of program I could join, you know work your way down to 2 chapters a day or is cold turkey best?

Teetering

We are at a bit of a turning point in our lives. By "a bit" I think I mean huge. I have waiting for a shift, begging for a shift in energy and I think it has finally occurred.

Here is my metaphor. We went out to look at a house yesterday. We have been thinking about owning a chunk of land. We would like to build our home in a few years and we have been half heartedly looking for some acreage to build it on.

A few days ago we received a phone call from someone, who knows someone, who heard we might be looking for a bit a land. It turns out this couple with a four bedroom house on 20 acres is breaking up and they want to get rid of the house quickly. It is a great deal, 15 minuets from town, great well right on the property, a dirt bike track on the bus route for the kids to go school and in our price range.

While we were checking out the property we had a bit of fun with the truck. Paul tried to back it into a ditch to turn around and we got high centered.



You can't really see it in the above photo but the back wheel on the passenger side is not touching the ground.



You can tell if you look carefully, the front tire on the drivers side is not touching the ground. Paul tried sitting on the hood of the truck while I drove it out of the ditch. He needs to eat a bit more, he did not quite weigh enough to get the front tire on the ground.

We were stuck good (welcome to the past month or so of our lives)



Enter the shift: We went back to the owners of the one we had just looked at and the guy pulled us out with his truck. He was good natured and happy to do it. He was thrilled to pull a Ford out of the ditch with his Chevy. We may never hear the end of it, but we are no longer teetering.



I know you are aching to know about the house. Did we buy it?

In addition to all this house stuff, we have had a ton of stuff on our plates with the office. We have been in the process of purchasing our own Spine-Med machine. You may remember me mentioning the Spinal Decompression machine we had at the office? You know the one where a doctor in town put the machine in our office and we ran it while he paid for the machine did all the advertising and we kept our cut?

We did very well with that machine. But the doctor we were working with got greedy. He broke our contract and pulled the machine out of our office. We lawyered up and what not, lots of to do about it. In the long run we let him out of our contract with us (he broke it illegally and was still bound to it) and he let us out the covenant that stated we could not own our own machine within a year of him removing it from our office. Long and short: everyone is happy in the end. Paul is picking up our machine this weekend and we get started with it on Tuesday.

There is more...are you bored to tears yet?

We have another dream, you know in addition to the whole house thing. Our retirement plan has always been commercial property. We want to buy a building. Last night we were presented with an incredible opportunity to buy the bottom floor of new building, going up next to the hospital. We would own the bottom floor along with a local neurosurgeon and an MRI machine, and a doctor that specializes in facet blocks (more back stuff).

Last night we were teetering, for only a moment about what we should do and then it came. The shift. I swear to you I felt the energy in the room change, the energy in the house, the energy within me and within Paul. I remembered something I have always known, the glass IS half full. I knew it all along. I just needed to be slapped upside the head with it.

You are still wondering what we did? I bet you know....

Late to a Funeral

I feel awful.

I had plans to meet mom and her sisters at Uncle Bill's memorial service. Paul and I had it all planned out. Today I pulled out our suitcases to get everyone packed by Friday.

Then I went online and read mom's blog. The memorial service was last weekend. I was under the impression that it was this weekend. I have hotel reservations for this weekend. I booked Tuesday off work for the drive home. I wrote notes to the kids teachers letting them know the kids would miss a day of school. I went to the yarn store today and bought some locally spun yarn to take to mom. I got a skein for Darryl too. I am ready to go.

I am late. I feel terrible. It was important to me to be there to support mom and to celebrate Uncle Bill's life.

I can't buy a break.

What a Week

It has been a doosey of a week, but you guys already know this. I am going to just skip over the crappy stuff and share some of the events that made me smile.

Q had his 4th birthday. What a wonderful sweet boy he is! We are lucky to have such a sweet family. This boy is the icing on the cake:



He really wanted a boat for his birthday. Or a race car he could "really drive." one he could "fit in myself" as he put it. The race car was out of the question (shouldn't Mommy have one first? Or I am being selfish?) So the kid got a boat.

The thing is pretty neat, it comes apart and clicks back together in 100 different ways. It has a submarine, scuba divers and even a shark with shark cage. I saw it a Costco and knew it was destined to belong to Q. It even has a water proof motor that you can attach to any piece you want.



Lets just say that bath time is more fun than ever. I always thought the octopus in the hot tub was Paul, but it turns it came with the boat.



PJ has a sense of fashion that I can not even begin to understand. What I do know is that every day she comes out of her room dressed and ready for the day. I don't need to nag her to get dressed, I just need to be accepting of what she chooses to wear.

I have the other girls in her class talk about PJ's sense of fashion with reverence. I have heard them whispering to their moms, "Mommy look, PJ is wearing a princess dress to school, she always wears dresses." The self confidence that PJ has to wear exactly what she wants is admirable. I hope this does not bite in the but when turns 14.

Here is what she wore to school on Friday:




Work it, work it:

She was totally happy with herself. Who am I to judge? I love that girl.

Sebass apparently flew under the radar this week as I did not have any good pictures of him. He is still adapting to the long school day and is tired and a bit touchy when he gets home from school. This will go away. Won't it?

Change

Fall has come to the Loops and brought that special feel in the air that only Fall brings. It is one of my favorite seasons. I must confess that I feel a bit robbed of summer, it feels to me like we only had about two weeks of warm weather and already it is 40F. Brrrrrr.

Picture below is more cause for celebration: I have worn a hole in my own knitted socks. They are favorite pair of mine. Cherry Tree Hill yarn, washed and dried about a million times, they have served me well. I am so glad I get to knit up a new pair! (Not yet, a few things to get off the needles first)



I took this picture today from the deck in our back yard. We get quite a bit of fog in the Fall. I like the contrast of the yellow trees in the foreground.



The changing colours of the neighbors tree. I am glad to see the change. I am ready to shed the past few months and change a few things myself. I feel like I have been a glass in half empty kind of person the past few months. This is out of character for me, I usually a happy optimist. I am going to make a conscious effort to change my attitude as I watch the world change and brighten around me.



This rainbow graced our neighborhood just a few days ago. It was big I could not get the whole thing in my viewfinder. You see it from end to end. It was double rainbow, but you can not see that here.



The End.

Bye Bye Skype

I uninstalled Skype and I my computer is back to its normal self just like that. I think Skype is a great idea, I need to learn how to set up my Firewall and my IP settings (or something like that) to make it work with Blogger and Bloglines.

I am going to share a few more pictures from Dad and Corinne's visit and show you some knitting and spinning in my next post. I am hoping to post again this afternoon. Shocking, I know.



Funny picture of the kids stuffing their faces with banana muffins. Yum.



As the kids have gotten older they remember everyone better. When they were really little they would make strange when family came to visit. Now they climb right up on laps and are more comfortable visiting with family they don't get to see very often. (The crappy side of living so far away.) It is nice to see them enjoying all of their grandparents more and more as they get older and more confident.

(Whoops I should have trimmed Corinne's feet out of the picture. I was so happy to be able to post more than one photo that I forgot too.)

Give it a Go

I have been trying to post a second picture for a half hour now. That is enough time in my book to call it a day.

I am not sure what is going on, but my computer shuts me out as soon as a photo is posted. I really think it is related to the Skype download. It is not just Blogger that Skype is messing with. I am having trouble with Bloglines and with Hotmail. Anytime I want to move from window to window I get an error and all my windows close.

I looked on the Skype website to see if anyone had complained about the same problem and I could not find anything. Could it be a computer setting? Or do I need to delete Skype off my computer and hope the problem goes away?

Ack!

I have been trying to post a few pictures but blogger keeps booting me off when I try to post more than one.

I am not sure, but I may have been having this problem since I downloaded Skype? Is anyone else having trouble?

Here is a cute a picture of Dad reading a book to Q. I will try to post more Monday.

Company

We have been enjoying out visit with Dad and Corinne. The kids have had lots of fun with them. Here is Corinne reading a book to them at bedtime.



We have been shopping and even went out to dinner last night. I can't tell you what has made us feel so busy but I am feeling a bit pooped out today.

I think mostly we are still getting used to the school schedule, I clock watch all day worrying about which kid I pick up at what time. I know we will slip into a routine, I just hoping it happens soon.

Sebass had a great day at school today, it is the first day he was not in tears when I dropped him and off and also the first day his stomach was settled enough to eat his sandwich all up. He was asking me at dinner how many sleeps he has has until he gets a day off school. I hope Friday ends the week with a good day for him.

There has been little knitting happening but I have been working at the spinning wheel a bit. I have some plying to do but I am not sure if it will happen tonight. I am kind of ready to veg. out with a book or a sock.

Happy Post

I think it is more than time for a happy post. As the kids back into the routine of school and things settle down a bit I am trying to settle in a routine of my own. I am working blogging back in as part of my regular routine so I am going to catch up on some camping trips and try to keep up all up to speed once I get there.

These pictures are from our camping (really it's not camping if you are staying in a cabin is it?) at Okanagan Lake three weeks ago (maybe a month, I could be that far behind myself). Doug and his 2 kids came with us, this pictorial should give you a good idea of how we spent the weekend.

Here is the beautiful cabin we stayed in. I think it is one of those you buy already built from Home Depot and then plunk on the prettiest little spot you can find. The cabin had a loft that all the kids slept in, Paul and I took the bedroom and Doug slept on the fold out couch. It was cozy and everything a cabin on the Lake should be.



Here is the view from the beach, it was overcast with a little drizzle, but still warm enough to swim and sit outside.



Our kids get along really well with Doug's girls, here they are playing by the water, Doug's youngest is hiding behind the PJ and Riley.



There were a lot of Canadian Geese on the water. I don't know if I have ever seen so many in one pace before. They were quite noisy when they all started honking and took flight. It was pretty neat to see.



Here are a few them in flight.

You can't really tell here, but this flower is the size of a dinner plate. It is the blossom of some sort of squash, I thought it was so pretty with a bit of sunlight reflecting off of it.

One more for you. This is my "sucker hole" picture. One of Dad's favorite sayings. When you see a bright a blue in an otherwise cloudy sky, Dad calls it a "Sucker Hole", because you think it is going to clear up to be a beautiful bright sunny day and it never does.

A Lady

I know I have told some of you a little about Lisa. I am going to share a little more of Lisa's life with you today.

Lisa is a friend and a patient of mine. About a year and half ago Lisa was diagnosed with Uterine Cancer. Lisa has been fighting an incredible fight this past for year and half. With surgery and chemotherapy she was doing very well and her tumor markers were going down.

She was doing so well in fact, that her oncologist took her off the chemotherapy after six months of treatment. She had about six really good months after that. Her hair was growing back, she was getting stronger and was full of hope and life.

After doing well for six months or so Lisa's tumor markers started to creep back up. Lisa was very brave and she decided to be part of a new cancer treatment study in Vancouver. A study that worked with treating cancer on a DNA level. She stayed with the study for a about two months and her tumor markers continued to climb.

5 to 6 weeks ago Lisa called me from our local hospital. She was not doing well. I went up and visited her a few times a week. Lisa was always full of hope. I would see her in severe pain and she would smile at me and tell me about her horses and her plans when she got home.

Lisa passed away last night. She did make one trip home to see her horses before she passed away. She was 46 years old, she was a cowgirl, she was a runner, a dancer, a wife, a sister, a friend, she was so full of life I am finding it hard to believe that she is gone. I am glad that Lisa was able to go with so much dignity and grace, Lisa was a Lady to the very end.

I am so sad for the people she left behind, her husband, her sister, her brother...myself and many more. Goodbye Lisa.

Taxi

Summer has wrapped up with a last camp out for the long weekend. I will post some pictures of that later.

The kids started school on Tuesday and it was a bit of a mess. PJ and Q do a gradual start for the first 3 days, they go from 10 until 11. What's the point you ask??? I don't know. Friday they will go the normal time 8:30-11:00.

Sebass started his first day of first grade at 10:30 and went until 12:00. They use the first day to place students who did not register prior to June '07. The Montessori students going from kindergarten into first grade are considered new students even though they have gone to this school already. I don't know why. It made things a bit confusing and Sebass hung in there but he was a bit nervous.

He did really good on day two (today) where he attended his regular hours 8:30-2:30. When I got there to pick him up he was in tears. The teacher said he did great until 2:20 and then he fell apart. She said this is normal and this usually happens to about 1/2 the class every year. They are not used to the long day and are asking to go home around 2:00 she said.

Sebass told me he liked school and he wanted to go again tomorrow, but he missed PJ and Q and that is why he was crying. He said he wanted to have lunch with them and when he found out he couldn't his stomach hurt so he did not eat at all. I thought it was sweet that he misses his bother and sister instead of his mom, but I feel for the kid. I wish I could make it easier for him. I know that he will be fine in a few a days when he makes some more friends in the classroom and gets comfortable, but I still wish I could make it easier for him.

I did not realize that first grade would be so emotional for Sebass and I! I don't think his experience with the long days of Soccer camp and heat stroke helped him out much here. I keep explaining to him that soccer camp was 2 hours longer than his school day is. It will take a few weeks to get into a routine and then things will be fine.