Time to Get back to Blogging

So much has happened since my last blog!  Both hubby and I had milestone birthdays...so now I'm really feeling old.  I had a really nice birthday EXCEPT....hubby got a "charlie horse" in his calf muscle the morning of my birthday and it just wouldn't go away, in fact it travelled up into the thigh muscle.  Then he had 3 days of fever and chills (which we thought was lack of sleep and dehydration...especially when I made him a couple cups of hot water and honey and the chills stopped).  Got him into our doctor...our doctor is so special...you can phone him and actually get in to see him that day!  The Dr. thought it was muscular BUT...it could be a blood clot so if the leg swells up...get him to emergency...in the meantime take these heavy duty muscle relaxants.  A few hours later a rash appears on his leg where he'd been rubbing A535 and/or Aspercreme...reaction???  sounds logical!  Leg definately not getting better so it's off to emergency where after 3 hours he was told he has shingles and he could get some anti-viral meds but they may not do any good since it's been over 3 days since the rash appeared.  The pain will probably last another month but could last a couple of years or longer...that's not good news!!!!  We got the meds anyway, he took them and now he's SLOWLY starting to get better...at least now he can stand, sit or lie down for more than 5 minutes at a time!!

Yesterday we went out for the day and stopped at the casino which has the $2 buffet.  It was so nice to get out of the house, but today he's really tired and sore.  I am so looking forward to the time when he will be well enough for us to hook up the trailer and take off...everyone else we know is off travelling and we're stuck at home!

Lots to Learn

So much has happened since my last blog.  Telus sent us a letter saying they're upgrading the lines and our cell phone is too old...don't know what they're talking about...it's ONLY 11 years old!!!  They sent us a new cell so I managed to get it activated and I've made a few calls, but still working on the rest of the features.

Mom wanted to treat B & I to a birthday dinner, so we went to the casino.  On the way in she fell on the escalator...fortunately she wasn't hurt...just embarrassed.  On Sunday after church we went and had a bar-b-que with our bible study group...beef and/or chicken kabobs with lots of trimmings...yum!  That evening we went to the Grad banquet at the church.  It's such a delight to see these kids ready to embark on their next phase of life.  They all look so young yet in a lot of ways seem much more knowledgable than I felt at that age.

Monday was my milestone birthday so we went to Fraser Downs and they gave me a free lunch, a little gift and a $5 slot play, so that was nice.  We sat looking out over the race track while we ate, unfortunately there was no racing on, but it was very pleasant anyway.  Tuesday our friends D & M from Everett came up to visit us.  Mom came over and we had lunch, visited and I cooked dinner and we toured the area a bit and chatted up a storm.  They stayed overnight so next morning it was more eating and more talking.  We had such a great time with them and she spoiled me by making me another set of earings and a pendant...this time a really pretty blue in the most delicate setting! (I was going to post a picture so took a picture with the cell phone...I learned that much, but then couldn't figure out how to download it onto the computer)

Wednesday night was the hockey game and the stupid riots. Our granddaughter's choir concert was postponed...guess they didn't want to compete with the Canucks.  That night B got sick... feverish and chills...that's not good.  Thursday granddaughter had her dance recital.  B had a shower, felt a bit better so we went...I knew he was sick when he asked me to drive!!!  Since he retired 12 years ago I hardly ever drive.  By the end of the evening he was really sick again so today I drove Mom up to the Dr.'s and the lab then tonight I had to go fill the car with gas.  I got thinking about it and realized that this was the first time I've ever filled gas on my own!

Go Canucks Go

Between watching the Canucks play hockey, getting the vegetable garden planted, trying to figure out my new cell phone and everything else I haven't had much time for blogging! This morning we went to the local casino for another one of their "free" pancake breakfasts.  Went back for the two draws they have for $250, but unfortunately we didn't win either draw!  Thought we'd stop at Wal-Mart but when we saw the number of cars and all the construction around there we decided to go another day.  I still find it really hard to believe that the little rural area we've lived in for so many years is facing such a building boom and all these new stores and eateries are now so close to us!

Carrots good for eyesight????

Monday I took Mom to get her eyes tested.  The Dr. told Mom she didn't need new glasses.  When I told my husband he said, "no wonder her sight is good, look at all the carrots she's having!!!"...so maybe the old wives tale is true and eating (or in Mom's case, drinking) carrots is good for your eyesight!

Last evening Mom, #2 daughter, daughter-in-law and myself went to our churches' Spring Tea.  The colour scheme was lime green, white and black...sounds odd but it looked really good and the ladies in charge did a great job of putting together a fantastic evening...lovely little sandwiches, huge strawberries, lime green lemonade type drinks, coffee, tea and for dessert angel food cake with berry sauce and whipped cream...yummmmm  The other neat thing was the men were dressed in dark pants, white shirts and black bow ties and they waited on us...it was such great fun!!!

Recitals

Two weeks ago we were at one of our granddaughter's dance recital, today we were at the oldest granddaughter's violin recital and two weeks from now we have #3 granddaughter's choir AND dance recital to go to!  The kids work so hard all year and they really do a good job so we're really blessed to be able to go see them...even if it does mean running all over the place!

Victoria Day

We were at one of our parks for a few days and on Saturday they had a "tea party" in honour of Queen Victoria, complete with games, tea, goodies, candy and of course a birthday cake.  Afterwards we played bowling on the Wii game...I even won...in real life bowling I usually end up throwing a lot of gutter balls, but not this time...I could get hooked on this Wii!!!!  Our friends R&F were also there and we had such a great time we decided to meet at Silver Reef Casino on Monday for their seniors buffet.

Yesterday morning I went to my last Ladie's bible study for the year then after supper I went back to the church to watch our youngest granddaughter practice for her choir performance then stayed for our "Women 2 Women" ministry.  One of the ladies was showing us how she makes bread, buns and even coffee cake from a yeast dough.  She also had an assortment of jams there that she had made so she told us how she does them....she cooks them in her crock pot, uses no pectin and very little suger...wow...my kind of jam.  When I got home last night I scouted out some fruit from my canning room and set up my little slow cooker and let the stuff brew all night.  Today I made the jam...turned out good...now what else can I make jam from????

Mother's Day

Hope all you Mothers out there had a great Mother's Day...I certainly did!  Last year Mother's Day was bittersweet because we thought it would be the last Mother's Day with my Mom.  Mom's doing well.  Don't know if it's all the carrot juice and supplements she's been taking or what, but whatever it is, it's great that we still have her with us...everyday is a blessing!

After church we stopped to see Mom and #1 daughter also stopped by.  Came home for lunch and #2 daughter called and so did our son.  Our friends called and invited us up for pizza and coffee, so we went up there and had a lovely visit.  They're upset because they were supposed to go away but someone tried to break into their motorhome by putting a crowbar to the door.  They sure wrecked up the door, didn't manage to get in but in the process broke the door handle as well.  Now no one can get in or out of the motorhome and ICBC has to send someone out to make the claim and arrange for it to be fixed, because you can't get in to drive it to the center.  Apparently it'll take 8 weeks to order a new door, so it doesn't look like they'll get out anytime soon!  It's when I hear things like this that I'm so grateful that our trailer is in the shop, out of sight and unaccessable to those who think only of them selves and destroy property...for what?...a few dollars, if that???

Date Night

B and I went on a "date night" tonight.  Today I noticed an ad in the local paper that the casino is having "date nights" every Thursday evening in May.  You get a 2 for 1 meal and a $10 slot play, so we decided to check it out.  It's held in the lounge and there's a special menu which gives you a choice of one of two salads, one of four entrees and one of two desserts.  We both had Ceaser Salad, B had the steak and I had the wild salmon fillet with dill sauce and we both had the black forest cake...all this for $25...and we got to watch the Canucks on the BIG BIG screen TV!  It was fun and the food was done to perfection!  A couple of times we got so excited about the Canucks, I was afraid we would choke...but we didn't...just really enjoyed ourselves.  Then we went and cashed in the coupon for 2-$5.00 slot tickets...only problem was the slot tickets went through the machines really fast!!!

Soul Surfer

A couple weeks ago we had a 2 for 1 movie pass so went to see "Paul".  It was a funny movie and could have been very good, but why does Hollywood think that movies are better when there's lots of swearing and leud sexual comments in it???? 

We still had another 2 for 1 pass which will expire tomorrow and since the Canucks are playing; and we can't miss the game, so we decided to go to the movies tonight.  We opted to see "Soul Surfer".  What a great movie!!!  Based on a true story of a teenager who loses her arm to a shark while surfing and how she deals with it and makes a comeback to the surfing that she loves so much.  Guess what???...no swearing, no great sex scenes...just a very heartfelt story!  We were at the early show so there was only one other family of four in the theater...when we were camping on the weekend there 8 of us in our daughter and son-in-law's trailer watching a movie, and again the next day watching the hockey game...quite a difference!

Happy Easter Everyone

Hope everyone is having a great Easter Sunday.  We're at Cultus Lake.  Our daughter, son-in-law and grandkids are parked a couple sites away from us so we've been spending some quality time with them...it's been great!  Weather has been great the until this afternoon when it started to rain...but it's not raining that hard.  We will get together tonight and have Easter dinner together.

Nature's Remedy...Chicken Soup

There's been so many colds going around and we've both been feeling sluggish and not up to par lately so the other day I took a stewing chicken out of the freezer and made a big pot of chicken broth, then used the meat to make chicken chow mein, then put some meat in the broth along with some veggies and maccaroni...soup and chow mein was supper last night.  Tonight I took the rest of the chicken, some onions and celery and cooked that up in alfredo sauce and served it on noodles...yummy!  The only problem with all this cooking is the MESS IT MAKES!!!  I've washed more pots and pans in the last couple of days!!!  But at least I've got enough so I don't have to do much cooking for a couple more days!

One of the motion sensors on our alarm system has been giving off false signals.  This invariably happens when we're away and our daughter has to come down and check things out.  I finally got around to contacting the alarm company and today the technician came down and replaced all three motion sensors...hopefully they'll work properly now!

It was sure nice to see the sun today.  B even cut the grass yesterday and today for the first time this year.

Where are you???

No, I didn't drop off the face of the earth!  After the episode with the alarm system and the hot water tank we took the trailer and left town.  We were away for a couple of days when Japan was hit with the earthquake and there were tsumani warnings for the coast here.  We were on our way to Seaside, Oregon so I ended up phoning the park to see if they were still operational...they were, so we went and met our friends R&F there.  For a week we got to do all sorts of touristy things.  There was no damage there from the tsumaini.  We had a great time.  From there we went to La Conner and met up with our daughter, son-in-law and 4 grandkids...the kids were on Spring break.  Came home on the Monday and our youngest granddaughter's Spring break was for 2 weeks so we ended up daycaring her Tues, Wed & Thurs.  That was so much fun!  Her and I played card games and read stories and looked up things in the dictionary, encyclopedia and on the globe.  Today our son was coming over and we were going to work on income tax but my aunt and uncle are in town so I decided to make lunch for all of us and Mom.  Had a lovely visit then tackled the income tax...almost got it finished!

Quiet, relaxing weekend???

Yesterday when I was cooking supper the smoke detector went off...and I wasn't even burning anything!!!  We opened doors and windows and were busy fanning it, but it still wouldn't stop.  So... it's squawking away, the microwave is beeping and the alarm system (our smoke detectors are monitored) goes off, so I punch the code in for that.  Finally got everything quiet when the phone rings...it's the monitoring station letting us know they'd called the fire department.  I got them to cancel that, which they did in a matter of 30 seconds.  Next thing we know the fire truck is in front of the house so we go out to talk to them...apparently they have to respond once they get the call...even if they get a call cancelling...I think they were bored...then the fireman very smuggly asked me if supper was ruined!!!  On my "to do" list for Monday is phone tech support and see why that fire detector is so sensitive.

This morning B had his shower, then I had mine.  I sat down for a bit and heard a funny whooshing sound.  Is that water running?...no sounds funny...looked around and discovered it was our hot water tank...it had sprung a leak.  Quickly called B and we shut of the water and pilot light.  Thankfully the last time our water tank went we had a 5" deep pan built for under the tank and it drains outside.  It wouldn't hold all the water in the tank, but it caught enough that we didn't have a mop up job to do!  Thank you for that!!!!  "Call a plumber" is now added to Monday's "to do" list.

After we got home from church, we drained the hot water tank then decided to see if we could do something with the smoke detectors...how do you get those covers off???  B also looked at the one downstairs and couldn't figure it out.  Ringggg...it's the phone....the montering company phoned to tell me that they're noticing some "irregularities" with our smoke detectors.  She couldn't give me much info so I asked if Tech Support was working today.  She transferred me, so now someone is coming down on Wednesday to check out the smoke detectors.

Ken Follett's Fall of Giants

I've read "Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End" and really enjoyed them so when #1 daughter gave her Dad "Fall of Giants" for Chritmas, I was looking forward to reading it. I started it when we were down at Mt. Vernon (I do most of my reading when we're away and not too much when I'm at home). I finished it tonight. It was good. I'm not a very "political" type of person but Ken Follett has a way of intertwining historical and political events with fiction to make the book more readable. Now I can't wait till his next one comes out. I have a hard time putting a good book down so I must say I'm glad to have finished reading it...now maybe I can get some work done!!!

The King's Speech

I really like Fiber 1 cereal so when it came on sale last month I bought 3 boxes. Inside the box was printed a free admission colupon to the Cineplex Theater. Last night, armed with two of our coupons we went to the Cineplex and said we wanted to see "The King's Speech". No problem, they took our coupons and gave us 2 tickets!! A free show...WOW!!!

I found the film rather interesting. The whole time I was watching I kept reminding myself who was who and how they are related to the present Royal family. I had never heard before that King George VI had a stuttering problem so when I came home I looked it up in the encyclopedia (I know, I'm old fashioned, but that's how I was taught!). I was specifically looking for reference to the stuttering and to how he died...I do remember he died quite young and that Princess Elizabeth became Queen, but there wasn't much info in the encyclopedia...so now I'm going to look it up on the internet and see what I find.

AWANA

Yesterday we went to watch two of our grandsons compete in the AWANA Bible Quiz. Our granddaughter hadn't wanted to compete but when one of the coaches told her that one girl couldn't make it and they needed one more girl her age to compete, she reluctantly agreed to compete. She ended up having such a great time that she already told them she's going to compete next year!

The competition is made up of several age groups. Each age group has two sections to compete in. One is a multiple choice and the other is a speed quiz...much like Jeopardy, complete with buzzers. I was so proud of the grand kids, I'm not sure I'd be willing to go up in front of a church full of people like they did! When the points were tallied our granddaughter's team won 3rd place in their division and the older grandson's team won 1st place. The other grandson's team didn't place, but I was still very proud of how he handled himself. Way to go kids!!!!

A Different Get Away For Us

Last week we were fortunate to be able to go to one of our parks and get a free cabin rental. It sure is different packing to stay in the cabin rather than taking our trailer, which is always 80% packed. I always manage to forget something, but we "make do" and have a good time.

On the weekend our friends (whom we met camping) came to visit us. D & M are such faithful friends and whenever we're anywhere even close to them they come to visit us. We always have such a good time laughing and visiting with them!

One of D's hobbies is making jewellery and I am quite often the reciepient of some of her creations...she spoils me!!! This time she gave me a pendant and a pair of earings which I've gotten many compliments on.

Here's a couple pictures.

Too Busy to Blog

It's bad when you don't have time to blog...but that's been my life the past couple of weeks. We've done the RV show, got Mom more carrots and other supplements, went to three "free breakfasts" at the local casino (two were "typical Chinese breakfasts" to celebrate the lunar New Year) my friend and I set up the tables, made centerpeices, and stuff for the Secret Pal draw for this month's Women's Ministry meeting, made cakes for the meeting and my Wednesday ladies' bible study group, started a new couple's bible study, went to a funeral and in between all that I made a bunch of cards and packed to get away for a week. No wonder I'm enjoying the peace and quiet now! But we're still busy going to the casinos down here to get our "free" money and checking out where the best exchange rates are. Tonight we came down to the clubhouse so I could check e-mails...haven't been on the computer for about 5 days. Whoever said that retired life would be dull and boring, sure didn't know us!!!!

Woman of Excellence???

Thursday was the last of the three classes on "Becoming a Woman of Excellence" I'd signed up for. I've really enjoyed that class but this afternoon when the mail came I realized I'd forgotten to pay our house insurance (thankfully it's not overdue yet), then I realized I hadn't taken anything out for dinner...by this time I'm definately NOT feeling like a "woman of excellence", at least not according to Proverbs 31. I did manage to get everything straightened out and actually made a very nice dinner, so things do have a way of working out! Not leaving anything to chance today...dinner is already in the crockpot!

Last night we decided to go to the local casino. The casino is very nicely decorated to celebrate Chinese New Year...it'll be the year of the rabbit. Both of us managed to win...what a bonus!! Also found out they're having another free pancake breakfast on the 31st then in February for 4 mornings they're going to have a free traditional Chinese breakfast consisting of congee with shredded pork & dry oysters plus Chinese Donut and stir fried noodles with green onion & bean sprouts...not sure if we'll like it or not, but hey...you never know...gotta try new stuff, you might like it!!

Hearts in the Snow

Woke up early this morning because I'm taking a three week course at our church on becoming "A Woman of Excellence". It's an interesting study and a real mix of ladies...young and older (like me). When I looked out the window...it was snowing!!!! Looked out the front window, and at the beginning of the driveway was tire tracks that had formed two perfectly shaped, intertwined hearts. It looked like someone had probably backed into the driveway to turn around, resulting in the two hearts. It was so neat! I was going to take a picture but by the time I got my camera another car had driven over the hearts and wrecked them! Sorry I can't show them to you, but they'll be etched into my memory for quite some time!!

Good-bye Christmas 2010

Finally, we got all the Christmas stuff, taken down, boxed up and stowed away till next year. I cleaned out a bunch of the boxes and threw away the stuff that is too old or that we don't use anymore...in doing so we eliminated two boxes...still have lots though. Every year I try to double check that I haven't missed anything before the boxes get stored away. Thought I was doing good this year, but no sooner were the boxes put away and I found a trivet grandson C made us a couple years ago...guess I'll have to put it in a drawer till next Christmas!

We got a several inches of wet snow last night, but it was melting by this morning. Our neighbours have a tent-like cover over their 5th wheel...guess the weight of the snow proved too much for it...today it had several bends and twists in it that aren't supposed to be there. It's times like this when I'm so thankful our trailer is snug and dry in the shop!

What Am I Going to Do???

On Saturday, Michael's had a big blowout sale on Cricut cartridges...the price worked out to something like "buy 1 get 5 free". Now tell me, how was I ever supposed to resist a sale like that??? I now have 6 new cartridges and NO TIME to try them all out...I have barely used the cartridge I got with the machine or the one #1 daughter got me for Christmas. I was thinking I should put them in a cupboard, then take one out for Valentine's Day, one at Easter and so on, but knowing me I probably wouldn't have the will power to leave them in the cupboard for that long! Ahhh, the problems we create for ourselves!

Saturday evening we got together with 6 friends to see a movie about a missionary who was kidnapped and how he escaped. Good movie and we had a great time visiting.

Last night B and I watched the movie "Grey Owl" starring Pirece Bronson. We'd bought the DVD a while back and hadn't watched it yet. It's based on a true story which takes place in the 1930's and 40's in the Canadian wilderness. What was really neat was the old movie clips you could opt to watch about the "real" Grey Owl. One of the clips showed the King and Queen with their young daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret Rose.

Dr.'s Visit

Took Mom to the family Dr. today. He's surprised that she's doing so well and commented on the orange glow of her skin...from so much carrot juice. She got some perscriptions renewed and he wants her to go for some blood tests.

It was nice and sunny, so off we went to the lab. What a wait there!!! I guess no one went to the lab between Christmas and New Years, because the girls were saying it's been crazy busy there all day. Went and got Mom another 50 pounds of carrots and stopped for some fresh veggies at the farm market. Can't believe we got all that done today! Mom was pretty tired by the time we got home though!

Relaxing (more or less) Day

Yesterday we were up early and met our friends R&C and M&S down at the local casino. They had another of their "free" pancake breakfasts...what a great way to get together with friends for breakfast...and NO DISHES to wash!!!! We had a great time then decided to play the slots for awhile. Three of us were up and three of us were down, but we had a good time, and the ups were greater than the downs! There was also a 1pm drawing for $500. The others couldn't come back but B & I did go back down. Didn't win the $500 but I was up another $30 and even though B lost, together we were still up! We even got to wish the Manager a "Happy New Year". Our son once told us that if he didn't know us better, he'd be pretty worried that we're on first name basis with the casino manager!!!

Got to sleep in this morning...heavenly!!! Did some laundry, cleaning, and froze the turkey broth I made the other day. B did some chores then went over and did some stuff for Mom, but overall, it was pretty relaxing! Tonight we're going to watch the new mini-series "Pillars of the Earth". Sure hope it's as good as the book. We've read both Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. They were excellent...could hardly put them down! Our daughter gave B the newest book for Christmas...can't wait to read it!

Happy New Year 2011

Hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year's Eve. We had a lovely pork roast dinner with my Mom and sister last night. It was nice to be together. This whole Christmas season has had many bittersweet moments...we hadn't expected Mom to still be with us, so every day is a blessing, but we're constantly reminded that this will more than likely be the last Christmas/New Years with Mom here.

This morning we went to our friends' to partake in their annual New Year's Day champagne breakfast. This is the second year that we've gone and they certainly do it up nicely. Several of the people that were there are also Thousand Trails members so it was great to discuss upcoming trips, trips we've done in the past, our favorite parks and all that sort of stuff.

We've got two more days of scheduled outings, then maybe we can get back to eating normally!!!

Hope that 2011 brings health, joy and peace to you all!