Happy 9th Birthday Rayne!

A Poem for your Ninth Birthday

Three times thrice hath winter's rough white wing
Crossed and curdled wells and streams with ice
Since your birth whose praises love would sing
Three times thrice.

Glow more bright when summer leaves them glowing,
Laugh more light when suns and winds entice.

Child whose love makes life as paradise,
Three times thrice.

Adapted from Algernon Charles Swinburne

Happy 11th Birthday Jade!

We are so happy that we could spend some time with you today Jade. Love you so much. We hope and pray that this will be a great year for you.
Dare to dream
Dare to laugh
Dare to learn
Dare to live
Dare to love

More 2009 catch up - Sept

On the 1st of 3 September, I babysat for Pheonix as she and John went to his uncle's funeral on the reserve. Rochelle, Annika and Auden also stopped by.
Here's some pics from that day

The first week of work and ODSP and the restaurant and primary

So I started this new job at Kantar last week and it turned out to be a bust. The first 4 1/2 numb filled hours were spent listening to the 'trainer' read the material off the projection wall as he sat in a chair. I should have figured when I walked past the rows of tiny computer terminals that were supposed to have been work-placed banned eons ago. Imagine being inside an x-ray room all day?
The last 1/2 hour was watching someone 'practice' reading through the survey on the computer. My legs and feet kept going numb (like my brain) because of my chair which was tilted so I had the feeling I was falling forward all day.
After work, I scooted down to ODSP to discuss the issue of their mix-up which caused the refusal of my travel expenses to the doctor about my mammogram and ultra-sound. Which I won.
The next day at work, he announced we were going live. By the end of that day, my ears felt like they were going to bleed and my tinnitus was so loud that I had a hard time hearing. I stuck it out another day and then gave my resignation. (There's so much more I could say about the work and stuff but it's too negative)
Thursday I was very happy to wish Sage his happy b-day to him and Rochelle played the b-day song for him. (My other post)
So I have been busily applying for jobs as well as I attended a job fair on Friday. We will see how that goes. I had to do an online personality profile for that one called Clearfit. I was surprised on the accuracy of how it described me - overall. Better than Myers-Briggs. Anna Apau, the OW worker has been exceptionally compassionate to me. She had sent me the link that she heard about and offered to pay for my transportation.

The weekend was very busy too, especially with stuff around the house, primary and a lovely dinner at El Ranchitos. It was my be-lated B-day dinner from Shane. It's a great restaurant owned by members of my church. The food is central and south american - mainly Salvadorian. Everything made fresh. Yum Yum. I started off with a mug of hot water and lime slice to warm me as it was pretty cold out. I had the jalapeño cheddar soup and the home-nacho veggie plate which was topped with slices of avocado, fresh salsa on a bed of hand-made tortillas and a veggie papusa ended with a non-alcoholic bottled Sangria. Shane had a taco salad bowl with fresh mango slices and not your typical house dressing. He then had steak fajitas. Everything smelled and tasted wonderful.
Everything was clean and latino musica played in the background. I all of the sudden had an image of my dad dancing around the restaurant. Mom and dad loved that sort of thing years back.
Shane and I watched the new Final Destination movie at home Sat night but it was disappointing. Just gore, that's all.
Sunday was really busy with Primary. I stayed up until 4am working on stuff and then was up at 7am and out the door at 7:45am. I did up the new board, newsletters, door signs and a variety of tasks. It was a great day. Slept in the afternoon for a needed hours of sleep. Then a chat with Laura Ratdke, my primary pres about stuff for primary and did a few more primary things.
This afternoon, I'm picking up Austin, Jade, Rayne and Sage for a couple hours for Jade's B-day as they are visiting here at Rob's till Tuesday. Then I can give both Sage and Jade their b-day presents.

Sage's Birthday

Happy Birthday Sage!

Nana and Papa love you soooooooooooo much and we miss you sooooooooooo much! We hope that you have an awesome birthday. We will give you your present when we come to Guelph again soon. LOVE YOU!! Sage!

It's My Birthday

It's my birthday and I am happy and sad.

(abridged Jan 11)

But it turned out to be a good day. I went to church as I love to do and worked on a lot of primary stuff. I got calls from a number of well wishers too. 48 now. Time goes on too fast when your busy. I'm grateful for a busy mind. I love my family so much!

72 Hour Test Trip Aug 28 2009

So the next morning, we were feeling a little stiff. The dogs seemed to content just to be with us. We found a Tim Horton's to use the bathrooms and ate our granola bar breakfast. We travelled around trying to find this one dog park but to no avail. We found some more trails and did some hiking. But by late afternoon, Shane was feeling pretty sick. We went home so he could rest a bit. After awhile, he started to feel a little better. It was drizzling out but we headed downtown and walked around Thames Park. We went up to the raised Pavillion and sat for awhile. There were 3 old fellas that were chatting and then they started a conversation with us asking about our dogs as people often do. After we walked in the rain under the bridge. We then headed over to Victoria Park. It started to downpour like crazy but we just kept walking with the dogs who got a lovely bath. At around 11pm, we headed home and slept there. The next day, Shane was still feeling under the weather somewhat. We still ate and drank from our kits until our 72 hours were up.

Things we learned:
We had plenty of food and water.
Bring the folding screen kennel to put the dogs to sleep in outside the van.
And yes, we will try this again in the summer.

72 Test Trip Aug 27-09 continued

After our meal, we headed to London South and went to the Pond Mills conservation area. Here, we were able to get some nice pics. Stretch our legs and let the dogs run once we were deeper in the forest. Pond Mills entrance is right with the Tourist Information Bldg and also beside the Fire Training buildings. We also made use of gas stations and the tourist information centre to wash up and use the bathrooms. We took turns staying outside with the dogs.


I also forgot to mention after research, we found that there weren't any rest areas close by to sleep at except the gas station types like at the Flying J on London's outskirts off the 401 and the other pull in rest areas that you see along the other non free-way hwys do not allow over nights. But we did find that you can park as long as you need to at the carpool spots along the 401. So we decided to utilize that option. We decided that for our first night, we would stay at the carpool area at the Longwoods exit at the 402. This picture is from Google Earth. You can see that their image is from 2006 so now there is a little more greenery but basically it is still the same. We parked int the farthest corner.

We had these mini-battery operated lanterns that we hung from the van travelling hooks. They gave more than enough light. We soon discovered that Shane was scared to death that we might be ambushed and that it was also very, very squishy with both dogs. Heidi kept sprawling out full length on top of Shane. So I slept so, so but Shane was feeling it in the morning.

August 27 2009 72 Hour Test Trip

Okay, here is the beginning of recapping the end of Aug-Dec 2009. I'll be using my calendar, pictures and videos to help jog my memory to get as accurate as I can. Here is the list that we made for our trip from my calendar: SLEEPING Air Mattress/pump Sleeping Bag Sheets and pillows Extra Sheet CLOTHING AND PERSONALS 2 Sets of underclothes socks, t-shirts, pants or shorts, jacket/sweater cloth bags, 2 towels, 2 facecloths Wipes, hairbrush,toothpaste, toothbrush Glasses, sunglasses, magnifier,keys, purse, wallet, hand creme, tampons Running shoes and Sandals - Shane Crocs and Runners - Shelley FOOD AND WATER H2O - 8 litres for drinking, 8 for cleaning Dried apples, peanuts, sunflower seeds and almonds, raisins, canned beans, 18 granola bars, tiny chocolates UTENSILS AND OTHER Can opener, spoons, sharp knife, scissors blanket to wrap ice buckets, duct tape, large and small garbage bags, dish soap, dish towels & sponge, bucket for washing, T/P camera & batteries, cell & charger, windup flashlight, bbq lighter, candles Scriptures, notebook, pen, paper, $20-$10 each Map, Rope, Umbrellas, Rainjackets FIRST AID Bandaids, disinfectant, ibuprofen, tensor band, antihistamine, fucidin antibiotic creme, throat lozanges DOGS Dog leashes, collars 2 small steel bowls for water and food Dog food 18c(3c per dog per day) Box of poop bags 2 dog towels 2 dog bones, 2 dog firehose toys We followed this list more or less. Here is Heidi with our kits. After we packed our kits, we started on the van which was going to house us. We took out all the seats except for the two front ones for us to sit in. We swept it out and cleaned it up good so that at least we weren't going to start with any extra visible creatures ;) Then we laid down a plastic sheet to protect our air mattress. Over top of that, we put our air mattress with a fitted sheet and sleeping bag. Over that, a plastic shower curtain and then another old sheet. At the end, some pillows covered with a sheet and most of our gear. At night, we were able to shake off the top sheet and plastic shower curtain and load our gear in the front seats and climb into a comfy bed. (such was the plan) We headed out at supper time to the Stronach Community Centre for our first meal which was a free find that Shane found. They were hosting a free picnic/bbq and neighbourhood amateur talent event. They had hotdogs/burgers/pop/juice/bottled water/fresh fruit.

Happy New Year's Day

Here it is. January 1 2010. Is it two thousand and ten or twenty-ten? I wonder whether it will follow same as for the last century.

Last night though sad in one respect, I felt peaceful. And I did have a great time. Shane and I had an unexpected visit from my friend Jane Eshkibok and 3 of her beautiful little grand-children - Madison, Trinity and Aiden who enjoyed playing with Heidi and Angel. It was really nice re-capping our past together and stuff in between. Though we have kept in touch, it's been at least 11 years since we have seen each other as she had moved to Florida.

After she left, we hastened with our dinner preparations which for the past 5 years or so has included Fondue or as we like to say, "Fundo Fondue". I'm mad that I forgot to take pics. Poo! Anyhoo, we had the missionaries over as we traditionally do if they are available and it was fun!

The menu:
Hot oil fondue for beef and shrimp
Cheddar Cheese and Garlic fondue for bread and raw veggies
Semi-Sweet Chocolate fondue for fresh fruit
Sangria to drink. mmmmm (I think I am going to start a recipes page)

After, we dropped them off at the Stake Centre and we drove through town looking at all the lights. We came home and emailed and/or called our New Year's wishes and settled down for some one on one time. We discovered an awesome new show called Flashforward that we streamed from the CTV website. It was soooo good. However, not having cable, we weren't use to the intermittent commericals LOL

Today, we hope to just chill and maybe take a walk in this lovely beautiful falling snow with our woggies. Pray for ourselves and our loved ones. Study the gospel. Put away the Christmas decor. Do some laundry... Hey! Didn't I say that I was just going to chill?? LOL