Life With Quinn

iPhone 4S!

2011-11-21T16:14:00.000-07:00

Finally, after almost 6 years of me NOT having a cell phone, I got one!

Lair has been wanting me to get one since we moved back to Calgary but I just didn't see the need (and I'm cheap).

So why the change of heart? Two things really.

1. In late October, at work, I won a Blue Tooth. I joked that it was the Universe telling me to get a phone....

2. In 2 weeks (last week of October, 1st week of November), we got over 20 calls on our home line - all phone solicitors. No 'real' calls for us. Grrrr! So what's the use of having a land line anymore???

SO, we're cancelling the land line, and I got a pretty new white iPhone 4S.... I love this thing! I love the easy contact with Lair and friends. It was well worth the wait and I will probably never live without one from here on in....

:)

October has come and gone!

2011-11-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog world... So sorry for not updating this! It was a fun and busy October.

We had a nice visit with Dee who was in town getting the Loft ready for a new renter. It was fabulous to see her and can't wait to see Scott during the Christmas holidays.

For Thanksgiving we headed up to Red Deer to see Marianne new house and enjoy some family time. Mom and Giuseppe came up too. We had a great visit and a fabulous dinner. On our way home, at Gasoline alley, Lairs mom called, Kerri's (who was 24 weeks pregnant) was being air lifted from Medicine Hat to Calgary with pregnancy complication..... That was a long quiet drive home, we were so worried. HOWEVER, am am SO happy to say, she is still happily preggers. In brief, she was at the foothills for 1 week, then moved to the Ronald McDonald House for 3 weeks, and they finally gave her the ok to go home on bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy. She is due Jan 22.... The whole family is so relieved to see her head home with a growing belly.

The annual Zombie was was mid month. We didn't do the walk, but we went to a Zombie Apocalypse party @ Vern's Tavern with 1 room House, 1 room PSY. Karen & Steve were kind enough to have Quinn sleepover so we were able to go shake it. originally I didn't intend to dress up, then a '50's housewife zombie' costume fell in my lap! Seriously!? How could I not. So to top it off, I bought a Bettie Paige wig and cats eye glasses. It was so much fun! We went as far as getting liquid latex and making some goarey pieces.

Lair had an opportunity to go on a 5 day business trip, having appointments with Produce Manager from all the stores he services in central/northern Alberta. In 5 days he put over 2400 kn on his truck. He was able to spend 2 nights at Uncle Dwayne in Grand Prairie and got to visit auntie Charlene too. It was weird not having him here. Both Quinn and I missed him very much.

We went to BARDO III (A full on psy Halloween party). Lisa, Dean & Ivy slept over and we had Claire come babysit sleepover. It was one hell of a party - I danced almost all night long. I had such blissful feeling dancing up front and center with Lawrence by my side. Where we were, dancing, at those moments, was exactly where we were meant to be. (If that makes sense). There were many old friends and acquaintances in attendance that night, it was just perfect! I also had Brittany by my side and it was wonderful to have her share this piece of my life. I danced so hard and was so sweaty, I actually sweated off my latex applications! LOL As well, Jason Melnyk and his wife came! I know, funny right? We've been in touch over the years through facebook. I haven't seen him since I was very pregnant with Quinn. It was a nice reunion, though we didn't get much chit chat in (I was to busy dancing). [for those who don't know, Jason was my first boyfriend and we dated for a few years as teens].

We didn't drag our sorry butts in the door until almost 6am.... and in doing so, woke up the kids! DOH! Poor Claire, I told her they'd be up early, but no one expected them up THAT early!).

We finally got up around 10:30 and Claires mom picked her up shortly after. With Lisa & Fam, we had a family day of cuddles and movies. It was very nice. We took Ivy for another night so Lisa & Dean could go to another Halloween party.

For actual Halloween day, I got up an hour early to get 'Bettie' ready for work. She was the best Zombie of the 3. I told my boss I wouldn't dress 'sexy', but no one said anything about Gorey! I was the bell of the ball at work that's for sure!

Lisa & Ivy came over after dinner to go trick or treating. We spent an hour out and they got tons of candy! It was a great Halloween.

Hoop class...

I signed up for the Intermediate Hoop class which began Oct 5. This spring I took the beginners class and I was super excited about the 2nd class.... It is 10 sessions long with about 15 ladies in the class there are a few at my level, a few intermediate, and a few I question why they are taking the class because they are so good.

At first I was really enjoying it, as it was at my 'level', but the lessons quickly surpassed my comfort level and abilities, leaving me feeling sad, defeated, and uncomfortable. Not to mention there were a few young gals in the class whose waist was the size of my thighs.... Not helping my confidence at all! : \

So I was coming home sad and frustrated, and unable to practice because it's cold and dark outside (most things I need to practice are off body stuff, and playing 'ring toss' in the house is a disaster waiting to happen).

While Lawrence was o his business trip - I missed 1 class. Then the next week, I had such anxiety about going, I bailed and drank wine and watched TV instead. Then the week after that... well, I e-mailed my instructor and quit.

I have lost my hoop mojo.... But my personal promise to myself is, in the spring, when the snow thaws, if there is a class, I will take it again. At least I will have a backyard to practice in in-between classes.

So that's October in a nut shell spilling a little into November.

Love and light to all you! xoxo

Sept. long: Friendtropy, music festival.

2011-09-09T14:36:00.000-06:00

Lawrence had an obligation he wouldn't cancel and work on monday - so he stayed home.

Quinn and I on the other hand; Friday afternoon we left Calgary ~ 2:30 Trailer in tow. We met the Allans in Rocky Mtn House at 5:30 and finished the long drive out to the mountains.

We finally found the site and found the Paranteaus and our weekend began.

Friendtropy is a very small music festival of mixed Genras. There may have been 150 people there? Max, Jasmine & Quinn and their new little buddy Calex hung out and had a great time playing in the forest. Friday night we were all in bed pretty early.

Saturday was spent hooping, workshops, and hanging out. The music was funky breaks and perfect for the afternoon. The evening we hung at main stage for awhile and when we put the kids to bed, spent the evening around the fire at camp.

Sunday, another beautiful day of relaxation. Sunday night the music was pumpin! Shawn built a mini Temple and they even turned the music off to have a quiet burn. Quinn and I sat there and talked about his Grandpa's and uncle Dave. It was very touching and very emotional.

When we put the kids to bed, Quinn asked me if I wanted to go out and Dance. I said yes, and we had a little talk about him sleeping in the trailer and Ursula & the kids were sleeping in their tent. I felt he was comfortable and safe enough, so I went dancing! (He more or less told me too - how sweet is that?).

So me, Justin & David shook it almost all night long and the music was great!

Monday morning, Karen was kind enough to tend to Quinn for me so I could get some sleep. I was so tired and rather hung over. The night before was a good idea, bad idea scenario - as we had to pack up and drive home later that day.

But I managed to do so. We left the site around 1:40, stopped in Rocky to Dump the RV potty, stopped in Red Deer for Dinner, and pulled in around 8:30.

This has been a TOUGH week. The sleep dep and party recovery is sure taking a long time to bounce back! In the good old days, I would have been fine for Tuesday. 4 days later, I am still pretty rough! Oh well. it was fun and totally worth it. Only thing missing: Lawrence. <-- next year he is obligated to his Chosen Family every long weekend in the summer.

So, on the agenda for next year is: Inshalla w/ Quinn, Motion Notion without Quinn and Friendtropy with Quinn. Not to mention a few Chosen family camping trips!!!

Burning Man may have to wait a few more years, right now family comes first.

August recap

2011-09-09T14:14:00.000-06:00

I can't believe how fast August blew by!

It started with the fabulous weekend at Kevin's Farm.

The following weekend, we went camping to Jarvis Bay at Sylvan Lake. It is a beautiful campground! We should have just gone up saturday morning, but went out friday after work - traffic and delays and not getting groceries before we left - Friday evening was a bust. We finally arrived at dusk, set up then went grocery shopping in Sylvan Lake. Know how hard it is to find a grocery store open at 10pm on a friday in a small town?

On saturday we headed of the the waterslides. Big mistake! They were so rediculusly busy. In 5 hours we did 5 slides. So not what I had intended. :( When we went to Atlantis in Vernon we had non stop sliding fun with no one in the park. Sylvan was the complete opposite (and twice the cost).

Lawrence originally did not want to go, he suggested we save the money and go to the lake. Well honey, You were RIGHT and I was totally WRONG (kind of the theme of summer 2011! LOL). Our day would have been so much better spent at the (free) lake. Lesson learned! I don't think I ever have the need to go back to the Sylvan Lake waterslide.

The rest of our trip was nice. Quinn stayed up late enough to see the stars come out.

The weekend of 19-21 we went up to Edmonton to celebrate Ursula's Birthday and their official house warming party. First off, their house is amazing and perfect for their family! The yard is HUGE! You could easily fit our whole lot (from garage to sidewalk) in their back yard TWICE.

The visit was awesome, the party was fun fun fun. They got a bouncy castle for the kids for 8 hours. It was fun for the adults too!). Both Ursula and Faye did their 'Virgin Burns' <-- meaning they Fire Hooped for the first time.

All in all a fantastic weekend.

The weekend of 26-28 we had family in town and spent the day at Sicome Lake. The water was good once you got in and we all had a pretty good time.

So that's August in a nut shell!

August long weekend

2011-08-05T15:05:00.000-06:00

We certainly had a fantastic August Long Weekend!

FRIDAY

Kevin invited a bunch of us to his family farm near Crossfield. His parents were kind to let us bring out our trailers and tents and have a Bonn fire.

It's a beautiful parcel of land. So nice to get out of the city and neat to see where Kevin grew up. You can sure see how being a 'country boy' is SO different than a City kid.

Kevin is constantly improving himself to be wise and more green/efficient. One thing he has learned about is a 'Composting potty'! Instead of all us drunkards coming and going in his parents house, out back in a shed he set up his composting potty. He has built a nice Toilet with seat and you do your business into a Huge Pail. Once done, you cover it with Sawdust. It has minimal (if any odor!). Once the bucket is full, he has a pit surrounded by hair bales where he dumps it and mixes in grass and straw. This in turn composts and by next spring he will have a great organic fertiliser, good for plants and flowers, but not suggested for edible organics. Pretty cool.

They are also a part of a large art project for Burning Man. Their group is creating a large 12 Petal Lotus Flower. You can sit in the centre, and the petals open and close. I believe there is also a mountain scape to represent the AB foothills. This lovely project will be hauled down in pieces to Burning Man and will be displayed with 21 other art pieces. Then they will all be burnt at once. Epic! One of the reasons for his little gathering was a 'Test Burn' to see how the material would act on fire.

Quinn and Ivy were the only kids there. They sure had fun! Kev's parents are Grandparents to 6 little ones under 10 so they have a trampoline, swing set, yard toys, sandbox, ect, not to mention just SPACE to run around!

So while they kept themselves entertained we hung out at the large fire pit. It was a fabulous evening.

SATURDAY

In the morning, those of us who stayed overnight hung out and chilled. Another beautiful day. We left for home in the early afternoon and just hung out and chilled for the rest of the day at home.

SUNDAY

I met Lisa & Ivy at Riley Park for Colleen K's son's b-day. We had a great time. The weather was 30 degrees, we had shade if needed the kids played played played, and Lisa and I spend all afternoon floating together using a pool noodles (one as a foot-stool, and one as a shoulder rest) LOL It was awesome! We just floated about as if we were the only ones in the pool.

It's so neat bringing Quinn there as I spent so many of my summer days as a child in the same place. We made it home by 6, Lawrence had dinner ready for us then we watched a family movie. Perfect Day!

MONDAY

Lair had to work :( Lisa & Ivy picked us up around noon and we went to Caloway Park! Another action packed fun day that's for sure! The sun was shining, the kids were well behaved, pure Awesome. Would you believe Quinn is big enough to go on the Big Roller coaster!? I couldn't believe it.... but I fibbed to him and said he wasn't quite tall enough and maybe next year would be his year. He still enjoys the 'baby coaster' so much - I don't want to take the simple things away from him just because he's tall.

A long fun day ended when Lisa dropped us off at 6:30pm for home made burgers by Lair. MMMmm! Nummy!

FANTASTIC FUN FILLED LONG WEEKEND!

Ashmeads July camping trip to BC!

2011-08-03T16:45:00.003-06:00

So as I mentioned, returning home from Motion Notion was just a pit stop before our Family Vacation!

Tuesday: We picked up Quinn (3 hour detour) and headed out to Golden (4.5 hrs) where we camped overnight just to sleep (Pit stop). Driving through the mountains was pretty easy with the trailer. We just kept a slow pace and didn't worry about anyone else but us.

Wednesday: morning we headed off to Vernon, to Swan Lake where we would set up camp for a few days. We found a RV/campground. It was slim pickings for a last minute reservation, so this is what we chose. It was 'ok'. I wouldn't go back. It didn't feel like camping as many huge ass units were 'perminant' RV's on site. It kind of felt like we were camping in a 'Trailer park!' (with the colorful characters too I might add).

But we made the best of it. We had full power/water/sewer. Now that was a treat! I really enjoyed the not-so-ruffing it aspect!

Thursday: We headed to Atlantis Water slides in Vernon and spent the whole day there. It was a lot of fun. We took Quinn to Cultas Lake when he was little (2-2.5yrs) and he didn't like it, in fact, we got our money back and left. This this time however, he had a blast! He was big enough to go on all the slides and better yet, big enough to go up by himself without a parent! So we were able to relax a bit while he ran around.

The park was so quiet! Maybe 100 people? So very peaceful, quiet, no lines, lots of space. There looked like there was going to be a storm, but it kept blowing around us - and we had a little pocket of sun beaming on us almost the whole time. Very lucky! We spent the entire day there, finishing off with a mini golf game.

Friday: On friday we went to a beach on Okanogan Lake. It was a warm day (not hot), but nice. The lake was a good temp. Took a bit to acclimatise, but was fun and cool. Spent the afternoon there.

Saturday: We decided to head back to Calgary giving us a day to get ourselves unpacked and ready for the work week. We stopped at the 'Sky trek adventure park' http://www.skytrekadventurepark.com/ (it shares the same parking lot as the 'enchanted forrest'. -- Note, the enchanted forrest is totally ghetto unless you are 3 or 4 years old.

Quinn did a kids Low ropes course. We were so proud of him! He did such a great job! He never fell or got frustrated and he problem solved very well. It was amazing to watch him. One day (perhaps when he is big enough) I'd like to do the High ropes course! Quinn & I also did the 'Sky Swing'. Where they harness you onto a Swing, hoist you up 15 meters, the drop you! You drop down, then Swing big. He loved it! When we got to the top he was getting a little scared, and the first swing scared him (I screamed lots!) but one the 1st swing back, he said he wanted to do it again. That's my boy!

This little stop took several hours, but was well worth it. Pulling through Golden there was a road block... There was a rock slide near Field the night before and the Trans Canada Highway was closed for at least 3 days! So there was only one way to go home, via Radium on the 93. This route took us about 2.5 hours out of way, but got us home.

We thought about stopping in Radium overnight, but there was 'no vacancy'! So we just pushed through.

It was a very beautiful drive. I don't recall ever going that way so it was nice to see different sites. I would like to go back to Radium to stay one weekend. Maybe in September when it's not so crowded?

We got home after midnight.

It was a lovely family vacation but way too short!

Motion Notion 2011

2011-08-03T16:15:00.002-06:00

It was touch and go there for awhile if we were going to be able to attend this years festival, but Finally, last minute, Lair's mom committed to watching Quinn for several days.

It would have been so much easier if she came to Calgary, but in the end, sending him to Medicine Hat turned out to be awesome for him.

Thursday afternoon, lair got off work early and drove Quinn to meet him mom 1/2 way to Medicine Hat. He was home by 7 so we went and had dinner, got the trailer and started getting ready.

______________________________________________________________________________

QUINN'S Weekend in Medicine Hat

We couldn't have timed it better! Kerri's step-son Nicholas was in town So Quinn got plenty of Gramma time, Auntie/Uncle time and best of all Nick time.   Next year at this time Kerri will be home on mat leave - maybe we can work this out again for MoNo 2012!?

I digress. He saw Cars II in the theatre, had a sleepover, went to the lake and played in the backyard pool.

We picked him up mid morning on the following Tuesday 1/2 way between Calgary & the Hat.
______________________________________________________________________________
OUR WEEKEND!
FRIDAY
Friday we finally got or shit together and headed off - SO EXCITED!

We stopped in Drayton to fill the trailer with water (so I could use the potty!) and we arrived late afternoon. A lovely spot had been saved for us and it was wicked fun to just be there with our friends.

Friday night was Darvin doing a solo Sons of Aurora set. First time in 9 years Norris (who is in Switzerland) wasn't by his side. It was an emotional set and I loved every beat. Didn't stay up too late, got a good sleep for the weekend.

SATURDAY
Had a lazy morning enjoying our camp. After lunch we had good intentions to head to the beach this year (last year we didn't even try). The music sounded good on our way down, however, upon reaching the bottom of the hill it changed to Dub Step (I hate dub step), so, a quick retreat! There were 10 of us at this point. We headed off to find Darvin's camp as they brought a renegade stage (against James wishes lol). and SO happy we did this as this guy named 'Houstin' was spinning Progressive Trance and it was exactly what we needed! It was a lot of fun. We spent the whole afternoon dancing and chilling in the private Oasis of 709. We're hoping to camp with them next year in that spot. I think their music set up with our 'camp' set up would make a beautiful experience.

I got into the Sailor Jerry Rum (along side a few other things).... unfortunately, I guess I was a big dumb jerk to Lawrence and didn't even notice :( I feel really bad as it really bothered him. I still don't know exactly what I said or did that caused him to (a week later) tell me I was an Asshole. I was oblivious to say the least. Which sucks. It's inexcusable, but in my defence, it was a party-hardy day in the hot sun and he never told me there was an issue so I couldn't correct my behaviour.... Again, I feel pretty bad, especially since I didn't even know about this until a week later.... Note to self, keep Jerry in check when drinking w/ him!

Anyways, onto better things, Saturday night was Infected Mushroom. They started with a live show and it rocked my world! It was very 'hard' very 'rock' and had an Industrious sound. Really brought me back to my electronic roots of Industrial music.   Unfortunately this wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but it sure was mine!

Afterwards they did an 'old school' set (from late 90's early Y2K) and it was absolutely Amazing! So much fun.

It was hard to leave the dance floor but my body was telling me to go rest and sleep so we did before the sun came up.

SUNDAY
Was another great lazy day. This time we chose to just chill at camp for the day. We did hit up the market and I got a great Space Tribe jacket!

This night was Simon Posford of Shpongle. We saw him a year ago in a club in town and it was so-so. This however, was pure Magic! I certainly lost myself in the music and on the dance floor; at one point I raised my arms to the sky and started to unravel to the Heavens..... Crazy amazing experience. Seriously transported off this earth.

Afterwards was a really shitty DJ so we wondered about the party and our camp, tried to get in more dancing and finally decided to turn in for the night.

MONDAY
We had to wait for awhile for people to pack up and move out of the way before we could go so we just relaxed and slowly packed up and hung with the Fam.

It was a slow go home. We had to find a dumping station to dispose of the 'potty' and unused water. Having the trailer at the party was so kick ass! I only used the port-o-potty once during the whole festival, other than that I managed to use my private powder room! And it's super easy to drain/clean/dump.

I think we got home around 6pm and were in bed early.

So Motion Notion 2011 - It was the best MoNo yet and for me would be my fav #3 in my 14 years of going to music festivals! My only real complaints as always reflect on the poor decisions by 'management' (James Hodges) and his poor Selection of DJ's and or DJ Lineup. <-- Meaning the flow and or talent. For the most part was top notch but he certainly had his fair share of Flail....

So with Motion Notion 2011 over, the fun wasn't ending yet! We still had a week off work! wOOt!    To be continued....

Stampede Parade and Midway

2011-08-03T14:42:00.000-06:00

PARADE DAY! We were up n' at em super early to take the express bus downtown.

We arrived to our pre-bought bleacher seats around 8am. We had a small breakfast and waited for it to begin. That was a long wait!

Prince William and Bride Kate ZOOMED past us doing about 40km an hour.... Whatever. That was lame sauce!  In my opinion, they should have been in a horse drawn carriage. But no - motorcycle brigade and a black sedan with the tinted black windows rolled down.

The parade was ok. We enjoyed all the marching bands and pipers. The floats were so-so. I found the whole thing to be lack luster and drawn out. Quinn enjoyed himself for the most part, but was getting pretty board after the first 2 hours (was a 3 hour parade).

I don't plan to ever go to the parade again, I don't see the need. A good experience for our family but the last experience!

STAMPEDE GROUNDS

Afterwards, us and 100,000 other people headed off the stampede grounds.

Lets see, what did we gorge ourselves on?  Corn dogs, deep fried oreos, cheesecake on a stick, cotton candy, root beer, shredded steak sandwich, lemonade! MMMmmmmm, I do love midway food!

We went through the Dream home and fell in love. We bought tickets but didn't win :( We kept talking like we won it, and when we didn't I think Quinn was a little disappointed as he didn't quite grasp the 'day dreaming' concept of the prise!

Quinn and I got ride-all-day wrist bands from Safeway. We let Quinn have at er in kiddy land and most definitely got our moneys worth and more on the wrist bands! Afterwards we took him to the midway. Man games are expensive now! I thought they were a rip off years ago at $1-2, now they are $4-5!
I took Quinn on the Giant slide a few times, the Crazy Mouse roller coaster, and the Rainbow Rider. He is big enough to go on other 'big' rides, but we decided to hold off on those till he is older.

We tried (Quinn was cranky) to buzz through the convention center to see what the latest Must haves are. We also caught a Super Dog show and we all really enjoyed that. It started getting cold so we headed home.

Stampede 2011.  Lots of fun and LOTS of money spent!

Canada Day Long weekend in Drumheller

2011-08-03T14:27:00.000-06:00

My did we ever have a fun Canada Day Long weekend!

WEDNESDAY
On wednesday, during the day, David & Justin drove out and claimed out camping sites (3 in a row) then headed back to town as they had a dinner to attend.

We got the trailer mostly ready. We still weren't 100% sure how to run everything, so we did a 'dry' run (not using the water or potty), but enjoying the fridge, lights, and heater!

We headed out wednesday night - funny, we wanted to leave right after dinner, but didn't leave until 10pm! lol I just wanted to get there! So we drove to Drum, getting there around midnight. Leveled the trailer and went to bed!

THURSDAY
When we woke up Karen & David, and Justin had arrived (in the wee hours) and pitched their tents. So it was nice to see them when they woke up.

Us & the Allans went to the Tyrell Museum. It had been 2 years since we last went. Quinn enjoyed it way better this time around, but was losing interest about 3/4 way through. I think I will wait until he is 9-10 to take him again.

When we came out of the Museum it was rainy, windy and cold and this went on into the evening. Not ideal, but the company was great! Later that evening arrived Brenna, Chris, his 12 yr old sister Claire, their awesome sauce dog Ruby.

FRIDAY
With the yucky weather behind us we welcomed the sunshine, and Lisa & Ivy came out :) Once dusk hit, Brenna did a Fire-hoop show for us! It was so neat to see! I've only seen videos of her doing it so was cool to see it live! She did a great job. Got the attention of most of the campground LOL

We stayed up pretty late enjoying our friends and the fire ;-)

SATURDAY
Quentin and his pups Dargo & Bear came for the day. We all went to the Hoo-Doos. It had been about 15 years since I saw them last. Interesting geological landmark that's for sure! I think Quinn was disappointed we went to look at 'rocks'. And that I didn't let him climb very high!

Afterwards we went for lunch and ice cream, bid farewell to Q & the dogs, then a few of us went swimming in the river. It was really high and really dirty but felt great in the sunny afternoon!

SUNDAY
All good things must come to an end :( With the weather once again being awesome, we took it easy getting ready to go home. We had an epic breakfast cooking the last of all our food.

Departing, Us & the Allans went to 'Reptile World' in Drumheller.... It was 'ok'. A little expensive for what it was. I think they could get away with charging $3-5 per person. I don't intend to go back there!

We bid farewell to the Allans then went to Boston Pizza for lunch before heading home. A massive wind/rain storm hit literally as we were leaving the city. Little did we know that was the tale end of a Tornado that actually touched down in Strathmore! So glad we weren't all set up and camping when that hit!

We were home by 5pm.

WHAT A GREAT LONG WEEKEND! THANK YOU FRIENDS!

Love the Skin I am in....

2011-07-14T21:26:00.000-06:00

This summer, and starting with this weekend at Motion Notion (a Music Festival), I am going to 'try' to Love the Skin I am in.

I am not (necessarily) going to suck in my belly. I am going to try to walk with the confidence I want to - Loving every square inch of me, no matter how flabby it may be.

I do love me. I am sad that I am a little heavy on the bottom, but really - who cares?

So fuck it. Why hide behind me sucking in my stomach, instead, take me all in and love me cause I am Awesome.

Yup. I say this now.... Let's see how I feel after the weekend!

xoxox

Camping! Want to join us?

2011-06-21T15:03:00.000-06:00

JUNE

Drumhellar, Blariot Ferry campground ~ really hoping to gets spots down in the trees beside the River!

Evening Wed June 29 - Sunday July 3

Wed: Arrive late evening (9-10?)
Thurs: Tyrell Museum
Fri-Sat :   I would really like to go for a hike in the badlands!
Sun: On the way out of Drum I'd like to take Quinn to 'Reptile World', as well, weather pending maybe we'll go up the huge dinosaur and maybe go to the splash park :)



JULY

Our July trip will be one of two plans. We have taken vacation July 15-24.

PLAN A:    MoNo. If Lair's mom can come watch Quinn from July 14 - 18, we will be going to MOTION NOTION.   Holy is the line up ever good this year!! We really need to get out and have some 'Birdy and Lair' time! So I have my fingers and toes crossed that this plans falls into place.

If it does, we will come home on Mon July 18 then probably on Wed July 20 head off to Kananaskis for camping with Quinn (July 20-23).

PLAN B:   NoMo. If plans fall through and we can not attend Motion Notion, we will take off on Friday July 15, either to Kananaskis, or maybe the Shuswap / Okonogan.

                                                                                                                                                               August long weekend is Fri evening July 29 - Mon, Aug 1. Lair has plans saturday July 30th, but I was thinking of reserving a spot at Natures Hideaway (http://www.naturesfamilycampground.com/) for the weekend, having Lawrence drop the trailer so Quinn & I could hang out {Possibly with LISA and fam??} and anyone else who wishes to join us.

August looks to be a quiet month as we are both pretty much tapped on our vacation days for the year. So we'll probably use August weekends to go to:

* Calloway Park
* Heritage Park
* Science Center
* West Edmonton Mall



September...

Might try to get out camping one last time for September Long. I wonder if we could arrange a Group trip to BENT RIVER RANCH? (The original site of Motion Notion / site Jeff & Joannes booked)



If any of this interests you - just let me know ~ our little family loves company!

AUGUST

No more tenting for this gal!

2011-06-21T14:05:00.000-06:00

This past friday we headed up to Red Deer after work to have a visit with Marianne and the boys. My how they are growing! (now 11 & 15). It was nice to see them. I hope we get a chance to hang a bit this summer to go to the parks (Zoo, Calloway, Science centre, etc).

Quinn was Ben's little Shadow, it was pretty cute.

On saturday after lunch we all headed up to leslieville for a quick visit with Jason & Dixie.

Leslieville is as small as it sounds! LOL
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=leslieville+alberta&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x5375c5c045f32e6b:0x4cee469b83c9b806,Leslieville,+AB,+Canada&ei=k-0ATuWGEY32tgPh9vC8DQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ8gEwAA

Jason & Dixie have a very old house from the 1920's that has been expanded on over the course of the years - it's interesting to say the least! They are doing a great job of remodelling it. Most people just paint and put down laminate flooring.... they knock down and rebuild outer walls - move exterior doors - and add Epic windows.

Their latest addition is their AMAZING bathroom. Jetted tub for 2 with a chandelier above, and an incredible shower for two. Terrific tile work, lighting and water works. GOOD JOB BROTHER!

I digress. Had a quick visit with Dixie as she had to go to work then Jason & Lawrence got to work hooking up the trailer.

We bid farewell to Marianne & the boys then took jason out for lunch in Rocky Mountain House (15 minutes away), then we pulled away with our new trailer. It was my dad's, so I feel like my family has a little piece of him. Many of my childhood memories are that of him taking us camping LOTS (we had a tent trailer then). So it's nice to have the fun happy memories that I can associate with his trailor and my family creating the same memories for Quinn.

So we are now the proud owners of a 16 foot Skyline 'Nomad' (1992).

Here is a similar one :

Our actual photos to follow after our maiden voyage to Drumhellar for the Canada Day/Brenn's B-day Long Weekend!

We found a storage place 5km from our house! 22X Storage.

Last night we brought it home and cleaned it. Wow, did dad ever take pride in his trailer! He obviously gave it a huge cleaning before he put it away for the winter. He had only insured it 10 days before his passing, so was still in winterized condition.

It was very clean - including the potty! It was not a big deal to spray down the whole thing and freshen it up. We went though the items in and decided what to keep and what to toss and 'moved in' our camping kitchen stuff.

We are pretty excited.

Jason did a once over and a mechanical inspection and said it's good to go for this season, but it would need some work next year. Just to be on the safe side, we made an appointment at the 'Hitch Experts' for an inspection / tune-up (to be done tomorrow). There were a few issues Jason couldn't fix that we would like tended to.

Hopefully repairs and maintenance won't cost too much and hopefully they will be able to show us how to actually operate everything!! I'm excited to not have to run to the potty (or bushes) for a cold pee in the middle of the night!

I can't wait to stock it with all the Camping essentials. All we will need when we head out is food and our clothes!

As mentioned above re: Canada Day; Fri July 1 is the stat, so we also took Thur June 30 off. We will head to Drumhellar after dinner on WED July 29 to Blariot Ferry Campground. We plan to go the the Tyrell Museum on Thursday, then kick back and relax fri & sat, and on the way home I was thinking of stopping in Drum to the Reptile world.

Quinn's teeth

2011-06-17T14:04:00.000-06:00

Quinn's molars are totally coming out :) He's never mentioned anything about pain or discomfort so I guess it's all good.

His front tooth that popped out in May is pretty much out, yet the tooth in front of it is still not wiggly! The dentist said it it doesn't make any head way by august to pop in to see him...

Inshalla Music Conference, June 10 - 12

2011-06-17T14:01:00.000-06:00

WOW, did we ever have an Amazing time at Inshala! A family friendly music festival near Fort McLeod (150km South of Calgary).

I was off at noon, Lair was off at 3, and we were on the road by 4:30. We met up with the ALLAN's enroute. I don't know what we were more excited about. The festival? Or spending the weekend with the Allans!

Tracy Marie was so kind to lend us her Boler. It was super cool just pulling in and being 85% ready.

Unfortunately, due to flooding of the nearby river, the campground itself flooded so we were up slope in a field. No biggy.

The site itself was nice. A few potties, a nice little park for the kids. 2 stages. The Art lab and the Geo Dome.

Friday night was an early night. I think we were back to the camp site by 11 and in bed by midnight.

Saturday morning I got up with Quinn and hit the playground by 9 am. At 9:30 was a craft session at the 'Kids Zone'. Then a Biologist to the kids (15 kids?) on a nature walk around the site for about an hour, then she played games with them. It was pretty awesome!

I attended a Workshop which was 100% me and my thoughts! It was about engaging your 'Telepiphone' (telepathic awareness). This workshop wasn't about reading peoples mind, but connecting with others with your energy and learning how your energy effects you and those around you. It was enlightening. And it was spectacular to be sharing this workshop with 40+ other people. It left me on a spiritual high!

I headed back to camp and unfortunately, the Rain decided to make an appearance. It came down pretty hard but with the 2 sun shelters we had set up we were fine. Sad part was, it rained during some scheduled kids activities so these didn't take place :(

I had a date with a 2-6 of Sailor Jerry Rum... Good idea - bad idea!? LOL I had a good time that's for sure, though it got a little sloppy at times.

Quinn was energetic enough to stay up late and come to the main stage with us. He mostly stayed on Lairs shoulders. He says he had a great time and he enjoyed the Fire Performers the most. I believe Lawrence & Quinn went to bed after 11. I continued to dance dance dance the night away.

Pure Awesomeness. Great people! Fabulous Music!

Blue Lunar Monkey kept me moving, it was heaven for my ears! After his set (ended at 4am?), I went to pour me and Sailor Jerry in BED.

I slept in till 10:30. We slowly packed up.

Quinn and I went for a walk and we ended up at a drumming seminar in the Art Lab! It was SO much fun! Quinn lost interest and went to play at the park but I stayed for the whole thing. It was pretty Tribal.

There was a 'kids parade' where the kids dressed in their costumes and went for a walk around site ending at the art lab where the closing ceremony was about to Begin.

I loved how they started the closing ceremony. Everyone gathered, then they asked the children to come in and they all marched in while everyone clapped and hooted and hollered. It was incredible. Typing this brings tears to my eyes, not sure why - just the celebration for our children was so heart felt and beautiful!

Quinn volunteered to help take down some signs, but we switched to help tear down the Kid Zone area. When we left the Art Lab, Quinn had a complete meltdown. The poor thing just couldn't stop crying. We finally got it out of him that he was just so sad that Inshala was over. He so didn't want it to end.... It took him till we were 1/2 way home to compose himself. poor little guy. At least we know he had a good time!

So off we headed to home where I welcomed my BED with open arms.

NAMASTE INSHALA ~ Till we meet again!

I hope next year Lisa, Dean & Ivy and the Paranteaus will join us!

Strep throat kicked my ass...

2011-06-17T13:30:00.001-06:00

This is my strep throat account from June 2 - 6th.

Holy crap. Went to bed with a sudden sore throat on Thursday.

Friday morning it was all I could do to get my ass out of bed for work. Thankfully it was a ridiculously quiet day at work. On my lunch break I laid outside on a bench for an hour and I just wasn't feeling any better.

Fever, chills, extra exhaustion, skin crawling, feeling gross, my neck was getting so stiff..... Finally around 3 I was done. Brittany covered for the rest of the afternoon (so thankful for her!). I thought I had the flu.

On my way home I stopped at Shoppers to pick up some Tylenol Cold & flu when I noticed a walk-in clinic next door. I stopped in and was seem right away.

I told him my symptoms and he took a look and he said You have Strep throat. He gave me a prescription and off I went.

I came in at 4pm. Lair said I was pretty pale. I laid down and went spiraling fast into a crazy fever hibernation. Waking briefly to eat ice cream and say good night to Quinn I went down again and didn't arise until noon.

I had some breakfast and thought I felt better, but was taken by sleep again until about 4:30! My gosh how many hours of sleep can one get?

I am feeling a tad better, but get exhausted just by moving from upstairs to downstairs. I hope the meds do there thing soon so I can get on with things I need to do!

Sunday I slep all day too. and monday Britt covered for me in the morning and I came back to work for 1pm feeling better, just tired. Meds did their job so I could do mine.

Lawrence came down with a fever sunday night and he slept all day monday. His throat never hurt, but I'm thinking he was healthy enough to fight it off on his own.

SO happy Quinn didn't get anything!

Summer is here!

2011-06-17T13:29:00.000-06:00

So in mind mind, despite the rain, Summer has begun!

Here are our summer plans....

June 10-12 Inshalla Music Conference

June 30 - July 3 Camping with friends in Drumhellar (anyone and everyone is invited!)
July 15-22 MoNo and/or NoMo (Kananaskis or the Okanogan?)

July 29 - Aug 1 Camping? Was thinking of going for a little camping trip. Lair may be busy that weekend, but he can meet up with us later!

Before August, all of my vacation days will have been exhausted for the year :( So August will be a stick close to home month.

My Dad.

2011-06-04T21:45:00.000-06:00

My dad passed a year ago on May 31

My family is just getting into the camping phase... I wish I could ask him about spots and have him meet us.

I am still feeling anger about his death as it was 100% preventable if he had just taken good care of himself.

I believe he was 50ish when he had his stroke. He had a remarkable recovery - after about 2 years, you wouldn't know there was any issues. He seemed like he was on the road to a healthier living and a long life, but no sooner was he getting better, he spiraled back down to heavy drinking and over eating... I told him my concerns many times, as a concerned daughter wanting him to be healthy and happy but he probably thought I was like my mom and just nagging.

Guess it's too late to say I say Told you so you son of a bitch.

Shitty deal is, it is MY loss, not his.

Stampede parade

2011-05-16T09:43:00.000-06:00

I can remember going to the parade and/or Stampede when I was little. I remember driving to Market Mall and taking the shuttle bus down to the grounds. This was of course in the olden days before the LRT ; ) I would either go with mom, or with Bharathi's family. I remember wearing the little straw cowboy hat with the whistle.

We have taken Quinn to the Stampede twice, just to the kiddie area, but this year maybe we'll venture farther in to the grounds.

Lair & I have booked Stampede Parade Day off and I have bought Bleacher Tickets for the parade! We will have a guaranteed seat with a view, pancake breakfast and private port-o-potties for our section. Well worth it I think! So we'll see the parade then head to the grounds. I'm excited!

First Loose Tooth!

2011-05-16T09:36:00.000-06:00

I was flossing Quinn's teeth last night and low and behold, I could see a bump and a TOOTH behind his front bottom tooth. It's not exactly wiggling yet - but I'm sure it will be soon!

A HUGE Milestone.... I just can not believe how fast time is going....
The first teeth to come in were his two front bottom teeth (he got them for Christmas when he was 6 months old!). They say the adult teeth come in as the baby teeth did. So for starters for Quinn will be bottom front, then top front.

I am quite excited to play tooth fairy! Now I need to figure out what our tradition will be!

I will be sure to post pics of his little toothless grin.

Good peepers!

2011-05-16T09:32:00.000-06:00

So a year ago, the eye doctor said: "we'll wait one more year, and if that time it gets any worse (which he predicted is a high possibility), little man will need little glasses..."

Well he Does NOT!

Quinn had a great eye exam. His eyes are healthy inside and out. And his near-sighteness and astigmatism have both improved greatly.

I was so pleased!

Spring Break 2011!

2011-04-18T21:00:00.001-06:00

Friday, March 25

We flew to Vancouver at 5pm on Friday March 25th. We were all so excited to see our BC Chosen Family. Our flight was delayed slightly because they had to de-ice the wings, so once we got up and towards the West we were ever so excited to see GREEN and flowers! Not Dusty dirty gravely snow covered roads..... landing safely the first face we saw was the beaming smile of Scott on the other end to pick us up.

The weather was beautiful, I could feel my skin instantly re-hydrating. My hands had been so dry from the endless Calgary winter that I had an awful crack on the bend on my finger :(

We got to Scott & Dee's and were so pleased to have our own room with COMFY bed and Quinn had his very own room to. Great use of space guys! Scott used to have a home office in their sun room, and now they have a Comfy queen size bed in this beautiful space.

Alex & Heather came over and we headed out for a late night Thai feast. Quinn was SUCH a good boy! It was 8pm our time when we headed out and he was so well behaved. He didn't want to eat and we didn't force him, so we let him have Mango ice cream for dinner :)

Saturday, March 26

Dee was about a week into a 40 day Yoga challenge. This was awesome because I was able to join her. My first session was free as I was a guest, then I got a super sweet deal - 8 classes for $25. Stellar! So I bought the pass. The studio Dee prefers is at Granville Island behind the Emily Carr studios. It has white walls, large wood beams, and two walls of windows over looking False Creek.

We had nummy wraps for dinner from a local eatery then Lawrence headed out to meet up with some old friends.

Alex & Heather came over. This night was 'earth hour' night. Where everyone is supposed to turn their electricity off for 1 hour.   We turned everything off except the music, and Dee lit a bunch of candles. Quinn absolutely loved this! It was a unique experience for him :)

Funny thing is, after Quinn was in bed, and Earth hour was over - we never did turn any lights and for the whole night visited in candle light.

Lair came home and we were all still up and hanging out. I decided to let Lair stay up and went to bed to catch some sleep before little man woke...

Sunday, March 27

Candles still burning, People still visiting, Quinn woke and crawled into bed with me and watched a movie. His getting up was the sign for the others to go to bed ;-)

Q & I had a lovely quiet morning, playing Mario Cart and Carcassone. By mid afternoon the sleepy heads arose and began epic preparations for a fantastic Potluck. Mike & Amber joined us - so nice to see them!! Amber is looking fabulous! And I can't begin to describe how comforting Mikes smile is.

The food was excellent, the company was terrific ~ the night was a true success.

Monday, March 28

We were going to head to the Aquarium, but got a late start to the day and decided to head to Granville Island instead. With wondered around, grabbed a snack, went to the Kids place, let Quinn run around in a play center for an hour.   Went back to DVS and Dee & I headed back to Granville Island for Yoga. We came home to a Taco feast.

Tuesday, march 29

Hooray, Aquarium day! We got there good an early, but man was it ever busy! It was Spring Break after all!   It was good. Had to slow Quinn down to stop and actually look! I always enjoy the aquarium :) The Seahorses are my favorite!

Afterward we drove through Stanley Park and went on the Train. It meant a lot to me because I told Quinn to Stanley Park lots when he was 1 - 2 yrs old and I always took him on the train. I had to ask Lair to get off Facebook and enjoy the scenery....

Dee & I went to Yoga, Quinn hung out with Uncle Scott, and Lair went over to Alex & Heather to play Arkham Horror with them and Amber & Mike. Dee made an awesome pasta dish with Sausage & Broccoli. She picked up the fresh ingredients and meat from Granville Island Market.

Wednesday, March 30

Ben made his way from Burnaby to visit us! We went for a nice long walk to a place called iSushi.   On the way we passed a large construction site and were able to stop and watch a big digger do some work. Quinn was thrilled!

After our glutenous meal (Lair & I WAY too much tempura), we wandered by a few school parks for Quinn to swing and blow off steam.

Again, this night we went to Yoga, and for dinner, we ended up going for Crapes! Myself, Dee and Quinn had Dessert crapes for dinner.   MMMmmmm MMMmm MMMmmmmm.

Thursday, March 31

It was another nice day and Dee took us to Lynn Canyon. The drive was quite nice. It's just a little past Capilano suspension bridge, only difference is it's FREE! The bridge itself is shorter but taller than Capilano bridge, regardless it was so very beautiful and we all really enjoyed our little walk through the rain forest. We took a path to see 'Twin Falls'. This was another breathtaking spectacle of nature. I enjoyed how on one side of the bridge, it was beautiful, misty, stunning, then 1 meter, the other side it was roaring loud! Incredible force of water rushing belong. Some of our pathways had washed away in mud and rain but we pushed through and had fun.

As we were walking through the gorgeous beautiful wonderful magical Forest, the canopy of tree high above kept the path shaded. Then we came to a little clearing with a bench... and a Sunbeam! It was a little pocket of awesome. So we stopped for a granola bar and drink of water.

That evening Lair went out again, Scott had to work late, and we missed Yoga :(   Dee made a great stir fry and we just chilled for the evening. I wished Lair didn't go out as I would have like to go on a little date with him, just dinner and a walk. Oh well, guess we can do that here! Just need a sitter.

Friday, April 1

We woke up to a rainy day.... I woke up feeling a little house bound and grumpy.

We played Carcassone with Dee. Lair & I took Quinn Bowling! A very retro, lost in time bowling alley. We played two games and had a lot of fun. It was just what the doctor ordered!

Afterwards we drove down to false creek and went for a walk with Quinn along the water. We went out on a Boat launch and a dock. Quinn threw sticks and stones into the water and went into the water with his rubber boots. It was actually quite miserable, rainy and cold! But we made the best of it.

This evening, Lair & I planned to go on a date to the Boathouse on Kitsilano Beach. We had a sunset reservation. A few hours before, Alex called to ask what we were doing for dinner. They were totally up for joining us! Laine was in town too, so we ended up going for a feast. I didn't look at Prices, just ordered what I wanted. Including sharing 2 bottles of wine with Laine! ha ha! That was awesome. Saucy!!

Afterwards we went to Alex & Heathers for a quick drink, then Heather drove us to Organix.

It was really awesome to walk in there. I've always enjoyed the space. The artwork was fresh, the people were open and I danced danced danced danced non stop for about 3.5 hours. It was a FULL ON none stop assault of aggressive, near psy-core music, which is not my thing BTW, but I enjoyed the night regardless. One thing I found amusing, was my take on some of the clubbers. There was a big Spanish presence, which is cool; but a lot of these guys were dressed like 'yo-yo-mo-fo gansters'.... Yet they were all totally into the night, lost in the music, big smiles and sociable.... I dub them 'Spanish Psy Gansters' LOL

I finally came off the dance floor at 2:20am... We decided to leave and grab a cab before the whole club came out looking for a cab.     We very VERY lucky and it only took about 5 minutes.   A quick ride home and I melted into the super comfy bed.....

Saturday, April 2

Quinn woke up at 9.... I got up and hung with him for a big; he got settled into a game of Mario cart so I went back to bed!!!!

Alex & Heather picked up Quinn around noon for an afternoon adventure to the Science Centre.

This gave us a nice afternoon to be Quinnless with Scott & Dee. We went for brunch to a great little hole in the wall called 'Abbygails Party'. It was quite delicious. Afterwards we went for a walk to Kits beach, 4th, window shopped, checked out some shops ~ the weather was gorgeous! The sun was shining, a light breeze, it was PERFECT Spring weather.    We made our way up to Commercial Drive where Alex & Heather own a condo. I LOVE COMMERCIAL DRIVE! It was incredible! Reminded us of Toronto. Blocks and blocks and blocks of Diverse crazy little shops, eateries and coffee shops as far as the eye could see! Hippies and artsy peeps. The amount of ETHNIC eateries was insane. Nom Nom Nom I could spend a lot of time and eat alot of calories down there. AWESOME! Love it! We have nothing like this in Calgary at all. It's what 17th ave wants to be, or Inglewood or Kensington; But Calgary just doesn't have the infrastructure to ever house anything as awesome as Commercial Drive....

I tell you, If we had been introduced to this place 10 years ago, I bet we'd would have picked up and moved back then..... Oh well, can't dwell on the shoulda-coulda-woulda's!

So after our awesome long Commercial Drive wonder we made our way back to Alex & Heathers where they were preparing a Feast. The meal was marvelous, company stellar. After dinner we took Abby for a walk and made our way to a Gelato shop.   On our way back we stopped by a school field so both Abby and Quinn could literally RUN OFF some steam.   Man Quinn has a lot of energy. At one point Scott asked Q if he could run around the whole field.   And off he went! He was cutting corners but still did an impressive job of running and when he made his way back to us was not even panting! Then Alex got in on it - and I will admit, I was impressed with his ability to run the field on a full stomach! LOL He was panting upon return LOL

Back at the condo, Quinn found a violin. Don't quote me on this, but I believe Heather told Alex the man she would Love would play the Violin - so he went and bought one! Such a romantic. He doesn't have a pitch fork so I tried to tune it by ear.... I didn't do a very good job, but did manage to scratch out a bit of a tune! I haven't picked up a fiddle since 2003.... and in doing so, this has inspired me to find a cheap Fiddle to buy as mine is toast and beyond repair.   So my personal goal for this year is to acquire a cheap fiddle ($200? if possible), so I can practice again. It does bring me great enjoyment.

Quinn also found 2 of Alex's OLD typewriters. One I believe is a true Antique, but it is broken. The other, a very old, but nice typewriter does work., So Alex showed Quinn what the typewriter did, then typed Quinn's Spring Break Story. It turned into an hour long process and Quinn now has a legal sheet of paper with his Spring Break 2011 story typed. Once this was done, it was near 11pm, we all headed back to DVS to tuck in Quinn and have a final late night visit before we said our goodbyes...    :(

Sunday, April 3

We got up around 10, packed and left for our 2pm flight (which was not a direct flight); We had a quick touch down in Kelowna (30 minutes on the ground) then home sweet home.

We went to Karma for some fine Indian food, then came home and tucked Quinn in bed.

Final thoughts. Quinn's sleep schedule was way off, but was totally worth it as we all had so much fun. He is still trying his best a staying dry at night and he only had a few accidents.   I got to enjoy a few glasses of wine almost every day ~ Lawrence is not a wine drinker, so it was so nice to share a glass (or more) with the Vanderlee's.   We can't thank the Vanderlee's enough for letting us stay with them for 9 nights! Our family needed a family vacation and were so happy to spend it with our Chosen family in BC.

Look out Vancouver here we come!

2011-03-20T20:07:00.001-06:00

wOOt! March 25 we fly out!

We told Quinn today so he can start counting down the days with us!

Other than the EXTREME awesome friends we'll be seeing, we are hoping to make it to the Aquarium, the Science Centre and A night out at Organix :) (mommy & Daddy need to go DANCE!) .

With gas prices we are happy we got flights and didn't drive.

105.2 degrees

2011-03-20T20:04:00.001-06:00

What a weekend....

Quinn woke up with a low grade fever friday morning. He was Ok all day but started running hot friday night.

Saturday he was fine, up and playing and happy running 102 ish. Then around 5pm it went up to 103 and he became listless and just layed. He slept in our room beside our bed and I checked him about once every hour or so and he ran hot all night and I didn't get a good nights rest.

Today he was fine again, running 102-103 then he just stopped and it spiked! 105.2! WTF?

We're big believers of letting a fever run it's course but he's never had one over 104. We were trying to decide if we should find a medi center or stay home so I called the Health link. They said give him Tylenol and a warm bath. If it get up to 105.8 with Tylenol to call them back...

So I am glad we didn't head to a medi clinic it would have been a waste of time.

We got it lower and now is 102ish.

Poor little guy. It's been a rough weekend for him. I hope he's better for school tomorrow. As far as we can tell this is related to a nasty cough he has.

I would like to add that the $70 digital instant ear thermometer I bought last year was the Best investment! I wish I had bought one YEARS ago!

Face to face with a Laser!

2011-03-20T19:52:00.000-06:00

I keep forgetting to mention that in November I came face to face with a Lazer!

I have many moles, but a few on my face bothered me for years.

When I went to see the dermatologist about the crazy rash/infection on my wrist it came up that I had actually seen him back in 2004 about removing some moles from my face. The reason I didn't do it at the time was we didn't have the money....

We hook a sister up - money well spent. He did 4 for the price of 3 and I couldn't be happier.

The actual process Sucked, A LOT! All the freezing needles in my face were less than pleasant. But again, worth it! The week after was a bit 'messy'. Scabby and red and yucky, but all good a few weeks later.

I bet no one other than maybe Lair could tell me what ones I had removed.

This is something I did for myself. And was happy to do so.

:)

Wow - 2011! I welcome you with open arms!

2011-01-06T21:15:00.002-07:00

A new year.... I love the new year. A time to clean out old files. Sort and organize. Prepare and plan for the year.

This year there were no Psy parties so we decided it would be best to stay home so we didn't have to worry about Little Man. We still wanted to have a little fun, so we invited Lisa, Dean & Ivy over for a sleepover. January 1 is also Dean's birthday! The original idea was to go down to Olympic Plaza (Robin was spinning) for their family night, fireworks at 9, then come home, tuck the kids in, then get a little silly.

It was -20 on Dec 31. It was supposed to warm up, but not enough for us to pack up the kids to Downtown when we could stay snug at home. So that's what we did. It was a nice evening. Others were still up in the air with what they were going to do so we put out the 'Open Door' invite to anyone who cared to make the adventure to Copperfield.

Being Dean's birthday, I asked him what he wanted for dinner. He said the Mama Mia from Vern's Pizza, his treat. Ok, sounds good.... Momma Mia indeed - a TEN POUND MEAT PIZZA! LOL, can you believe it? That was one hearty pizza!

Jason Bekowski stopped in for a quick bit to see Dean and it was nice to see his face. Rocky & Jen joined us all for dinner (and the whole night), Brenna & Chris swung by for a quick New Years Hug, Dwayne came for the night and we had a surprise visit from Karen, David & Justin! That made my night!

So the music was pumping all night long in the basement. And I think everyone had a very good time.

(Photo borrowed from Karen's photo blog)

Being Dean's b-day, I offered to get up with the kids in the morning so Lisa could party by his side. I finally put myself to bed ~4:30a.... Man 7:15 came quick! The kids were so good. They watched a movie while I dozed. I got them breakfast, then they played together ALL morning and ALL afternoon! They were both so well behaved. In the late afternoon we watched Despicable Me then bid fair well to Lisa, Dean & Ivy.

We put Quinn to bed, then watched Lord of the Rings, Two Towers. SO GOOD!

Sunday was a jammy day of rest and relaxation... hmmm, I guess every day since New years has been the same!

I took monday as the Stat as the Dayhome was closed. So short work week for me. Unfortunately I think I flipped my schedule a tad as I have not had one good nights rest :( Tossing, turning, insomnia, .... Meh! Hopefully I can get back into my normal sleep patterns this weekend! I think I proved to myself that in 2011, I can not party like it's 1999 LOL

So Happy New Year! May it be healthy and happy and filled with love!

A Quinnless night

2010-12-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

Mom offered to take Quinn for a sleepover over the holidays. So we choose last night. I dropped him off at dinner time then met Lair at Chinook where we saw Tron in 3D IMAX. We quite enjoyed it visually. The storey was ok - overall I was impressed.

We met our friend Shawn & g/f Bri at the theatre and went for a beer after. It was a nice evening out.

Lawrence had to work today so I am on my own! I stayed up till 1 last night and laid in bed until 10:30.... why? Because I could! And here I sit at 2pm having accomplished nothing - and it feels great! I might take the tree down today.

We'll go to moms for dinner and pick up little man.

I wish this sleepover was happening Tomorrow night! New Years Eve would have been a million times better for us to be Quinnless, but beggars can't be choosers.

We're having a small house party for NYE. Weather pending will head down to Olympic Plaza with friends for a family night, then back here with Lisa, Dean & Ivy. Put the kids down and have a party. We have an open door for the night and expect a few people to stop in.

I will 'try' my best to get some sleep as I will get up with the kids. I hope they are up for watching movies all morning! It will be a no-impact day LOL

This & That

2010-12-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

We're still 'Potty Learning' Quinn at night time. He's been doing really well, averaging 25 out of 30 dry nights. So we are now trying the extra absorbent underwear instead of a pull up. Boxing Day was the first night and so far so good!!!

Once he has it under control - he will get a new bed, and with a new bed he will get a new ROOM. We'll most likely move to the downstairs bedroom and he will take the master room upstairs. He's pretty excited at this idea.

This is the bed I'm leaning towards, but we haven't really shopped around yet.

So the immediate plan, starting next week, is to get serious about the idea of moving rooms around. We need to decide if we go downstairs or if Quinn does. Then we need to paint the rooms and do the move. The spare room/office will be in Quinn little room. We will no longer have room for the desk so will be getting rid of it. All the spare room will have is the futon, file cabinet and printer.

So I predict we'll be in a livable chaos for a few months, but it will be worth it!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, Christmas 2010 will go down in the books as Magical.

The days leading up to Christmas was extremely busy going to Christmas Parties, shopping, preparation and work.

On Dec 23, Quinn wrote a letter to Santa.

He and Lair took it across the street and mailed it. About 3 minutes later, an e-mail came for Quinn from Santa!! ( http://www.portablenorthpole.ca/watch/QA4H1euIgw1-rYBHba06Mw ) He was blown away how quick Santa got his letter and replied. This is the second year Santa sent a video message. I don't think he remembered it from last year.

That evening we had a small gathering. We were in a Secret Santa pool (no more than $20, and must be home made). It was fun. We only had a week and the gifts were all so awesome! Alex & Heather are in town for the holidays, and we had Scott, Dee & Ben on the iChat. Unfortunately for them, I don't think they could see much or hear much and we had a hard time hearing them :( BUT, it was good to see their faces and smiles.

Lair took Dec 24 off to be with Quinn and I worked until noon. I could insert a long work rant here but don't want to waste my energy! We hung out for the afternoon and had dinner watched a Christmas special, and just before bed, we went out to the backyard for Quinn to sprinkle Reindeer Food (with Sparkles) on the lawn so the Reindeer's would see our house. While doing so an airplane was flying off in the distance with a red light..... Quinn pointed and said with the most innocents 'SANTA' and he was vibrating from the inside out with excitement! It was a Precious moment.

Dec 25 - Little Man was up and roaring around like a mad man at 8:15. So very excited, family cuddles, stockings, excitement, magic, wonder and awe; About 98% of the gifts under the tree were for him, what a great morning!

Lawrence made Egg Benedict for breakfast. Steve & Karen came for an afternoon visit, as did Heather and Alex. Lisa, Dean & Ivy joined us for Christmas dinner. It turned out very good! The turkey was good, and my attempt at Mom's stuffing turned out great! And Candied Yams is my new favorite holiday dish!

After dinner we watched Prep and landing, enjoyed dessert ala Lisa then bid farewell. By 9pm I was passed out on the coach (Turkey plus wine = zonk!!) lol. I put myself to bed at 10.

On Boxing Day, Heather and Alex stole Quinn for the day and took him to see 'Seussical The Musical' at the Alberta Theatre Projects. Quinn didn't know exactly what they were off to do, but he was super excited just to have them take him somewhere without us! So, kidless, Lair & I hung out, did a little shopping, and went for a beer together. It was a nice afternoon! The show sounds like it was awesome for all ages, and Quinn had a super time. They even got a backstage tour after and got to meet the Cat in the Hat! We were so touched that Alex & Heather took him; as was Quinn.

Dec 27 - we went sledding by Alex's dads place in Maple ridge. Went with Alex and Heather, and Brent joined us later in the afternoon. It's a wicked fun hill, except sledding was a lot easier 30 years ago! Man, I hurt 4 toes on 1 foot, my knee and my shoulder.... I've concluded that I do not particularly like sledding. I need to find me a different toboggan for myself that has a little more control.

I look forward to going to this particular hill(s) there are 4 as it is a dry pond/bowl. I can't wait to take Lisa & Ivy, and maybe before winter is over Ursula and the kids!!

Dec 28 - we had super awesome family cuddles, went and say Megga Mind. LOVED it! I think I will buy the DVD! Then that evening we went to the zoo lights. I think this will be the last year for awhile we do it. Pretty expensive for a lack luster presentation that has not changed in 5+ years. At least Quinn had fun!

Another Reason I love my Chosen Family.

2010-12-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

Have I told you guys lately how much you mean to me?

My Chosen Family, scattered through Alberta & BC, always touch my heart, always care.

One thing I truly appreciate is how much everyone loves Quinn.

I love that he is on the forefront of your mind when you think of our family.

I love that you want to spend quality time with him in one-on-one settings.

I love that you guys ask about him and show genuine care and concern for what's going on in his little life.

On his behalf, I say Thank you to all his Aunties & Uncles for loving him so. We look forward to sharing some Christmas Moments with most of you. Creating memories. Memories which will be his forever.

Great weekend.

2010-11-30T21:17:00.001-07:00

Things around here are finally starting to feel normal again. We have little stress in our lives which we are truly thankful for. It's been such a rough summer. We had a huge to-do list from the spring and we didn't accomplish any of it so we feel like we are 6 months behind, and here it is winter now.

Oh well, now we just press forward and do what we can do.

My good friend Kevin's birthday is monday, so for his celebration he wanted to go to the SAIT lounge to see Delhi 2 Dublin. http://www.delhi2dublin.com/ A crazy fusion band from Vancouver. An Irish Fiddler, Hindi Singer, DJ, Indian drummer and Korean guy on the Sitar. Fusing Hindi rock with Irish/Celtic bonded by electronica. WTF? SO AWESOME! We had a lot of fun!

The next morning something crazy happened. The night before I was the designated driver so I only had two pints of beer at the beginning of the night. I was fine when we left and got home at 1:30am. Saturday morning, Lair got up with Quinn. They kept trying to wake me up but I just couldn't wake up. Like seriously, I just couldn't open my eyes. I laid in bed till 1pm. I have no idea what that was all about. It sure wasn't a hang over. Maybe my body just shut down cuz it needed some good solid rest?

Last night was my company Christmas Party. It was at the Deerfoot Casino. The food was amazing. We had a good table, both won door prizes and had a good time. We bailed around 11pm to go home and change so we could catch the end of a party our friends were throwing. Glad we did as we had fun!

While we were at the parties, Ivy had her 6th birthday party, so Lisa/Ursula took Quinn to the party (to see the movie Tangled), then to have a sleepover. It was a nice night out for us and for Quinn.

This morning we dragged our buts out of bed to go for breakfast at Lisa's and have a visit with good friends. It was a super weekend!

"Does this River go to Heaven?"

2010-11-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

Danny passed away on Wed. Oct 20 with Goldie by his side. The news was expected, and such a feeling of calm came over me, so relieved that his suffering had finally ended... Lawrence headed to Medicine Hat after dinner to be with his mom & sister.

Quinn took it pretty hard... He and I had a quiet night of cuddles.

I took Thursday off work. I took Quinn to his school bus. He had his first school field trip and begged to go. Lair came home Thursday night.

Because I knew I needed days off for the funeral, I went to work on Friday... I should have stayed home. I was miserable, crying all day and stressed out trying to arrange coverage for the days off I needed.

We had a Chill weekend. Just stayed in and enjoyed our little family.

Mon-Thurs, is was hard at work mostly caused by the stress covering my leave. My boss wasn't managing the situation very well which caused me great anxiety and I was irrationally emotional.

I left work at noon Thursday and we headed to Edmonton... On the way, we stopped in Airdrie to see Dave Lymburner at the cemetery.... His ashes were put in a column thing - and we were quite surprised that it had no memorial plaque!?? I don't know what we wanted stopping there, but we left feeling like we never have to go there again, as he is not there, but with us always in our hearts...

Friday morning we headed up to Valleyview, 4.5 hours north of edmonton. This is where Lawrence grew up. Man is it ever a tint town! Was neat to see his old stomping grounds and hear his childhood stories. We met up with all his family at a new hotel. I took Quinn to bed at 8pm and Lair visited with family.

Saturday, a beautiful day, we all drove about an hour north to a spot along a river where Danny wanted his ashes scattered. It was a most beautiful spot. We played some music. All had red carnations and Kerri poured his ashes into the River.... It was tranquil....

That's when Quinn looked up at me and said "Mommy, is this River going to take Grampa to Heaven?" ... I couldn't answer him. We then threw the flowers into the river and Danny's favorite hat. Quinn asked me again "Mommy, does this river go to Heaven?".... and again, I just couldn't answer him... I just hugged him.

We all then had a glass of Red Wine in Danny's honour and all took a moment to say a few words.

It was truly the most beautiful and moving Memorial/Funeral I've ever been to.

That evening, some close friends of the family opened there home for a Celebration. Food, Friends, Family and drinks. It was a lot of fun!

Lawrence read the Eulogy. He worked long and hard on it. When he stood up to speak Quinn stood up with him and held onto his leg. It was a beautiful moment.

EVERYONE got pretty drunk! Especially me an Lair. But it was a good drunk. We had fun and got to talk with family and have a good old time.

That is of course, until Sunday morning. Oh my gosh we were both So hungover!! But we had to get our buts in gear as it was Halloween and we had a 4.5 hr drive to get to Edmonton in time to go trick or treating with Ursula. She bought Quinn an awesome costume - a Clone Trooper (new age star wars thing?).

The kids had a blast. The love and support from Albert & Ursula was exactly what we needed after our exhausting weekend.

Monday afternoon we packed up and headed back to Calgary.

Upon arrival, it was late so we put Quinn straight to bed. I was mortified to discover Quinn's fish & snail (Johnny & zippy) had passed away while we were gone.... :( What? How is it they totally survived for 10 days when we were on holidays, then the croak when we're away for 3.5 days? I was pretty upset (I was very attached to them)....

Lair flushed them and I tossed the tank. I didn't know how to tell Quinn.... So we didn't.... And he hasn't even noticed they are gone!? Crazy.

Epic family vacation 2010

2010-11-30T21:12:00.001-07:00

We finally made it to Disneyland! I will try to keep this somewhat short....

Oct 7 - was a travel day. Quinn figured out pretty quick it wasn't a normal day when we told him he wasn't going to school. Then he saw the suit cases in the back of the truck. He guessed Edmonton, Mexico and Vancouver. We decided to tell him while we were in line to check our luggage. Lawrence said 'Where does Mickey Mouse Live' Quinn answered DISNEYLAND! And he jumped up and down and hugged us and thanked us. Calgary to Vancouver, Vancouver to LAX was an uneventful trip. We then took the 'Disneyland express' from LAX to our hotel - the Howard Johnson.

We arrived and got settled, grabbed some dinner and were in bed by 10 :)

Oct 8 - Disney! First 3 rides we did were Peter pan, snow white and Pinocchio, and all 3 scared him lots! Admittedly, I agree, the stories do have some dark under tones and in the dark with loud noises I can see how he was afraid.... Unfortunately he then became afraid of every ride! So we had a motto - Try everything once, and if you don't like it you don't have to do it again... Highlights: Toon Town, pirates of Caribbean, Nemo submarine, home of the future, buzz lightyear, and our favorite, Indiana Jones!

Oct 9 - Disney & California Adventure Land.

Highlights Disney = haunted house, space mountain

Highlights California Adventure Land: Muppets 4D, Monster Inc., a Bug's Land, Pixar parade,

ElecTRONica (Electronic Dance party!! What?!) (Movie to be posted on Facebook)

(Mom - you can click in the pics to see a bigger one)

Oct 10 - We took a 1 hour coach ride to LEGOLAND. We left our hotel at 8:30am and returned at 6. It was an ok day. A cute and interesting park, geared toward little guys (ages 4-8?). Quinn had a blast, but we were a little disappointed with the $$$ we paid for the day trip. On our way home the bus passed Bubba Gumps! Oh my Gosh I was so excited! We went back there for dinner and had a blast! The restaurant is all about Forrest Gump filled with pictures and items and quirks from the movie - just awesome! We had a few drinks and got giggly and pigged out on shrimp shrimp and more shrimp.

Oct 11 - we did both Disney; California Adventure Land. Did the Indiana Jones ride again, ate at the Rainforest cafe, saw The World of Color (good show but couldn't see much from where we were :( ).

Oct 12 - we did both Disney; California Adventure Land. Ate in Downtown Disney.

Oct 13 - we did both Disney; California Adventure Land. Ate at Bubba Gumps again!!

Every night we were home and in the hot tub by 8pm. Quinn would either join us or play in the splash park beside the hot tub. We could see the Fireworks well from the hot tub! I think almost every night we were in bed by 10.

Oct 14 - all good things must come to an end. We took the Disneyland Express to LAX - had a good flight to YVR, but had rough ride to YYC, we had to circle a few times, Lair was green, and Quinn was starting to feel green. Once the plane stopped - Quinn grabbed a barf bag and filled it half way :( Poor little guy. We waited till everyone was off the place then got off ourselves. On the way out I passed the Pilot the barf bag and said "... every ride in Disney and the plane does him in... ".

It was so nice to be home and sleep in our own bed!

Oct 15 - We unpacked, did laundry, repacked, then headed off to Medicine Hat for Kerri & Jay's wedding. We got settled in out hotel then went to the rehearsal dinner at Jay's folks place.

Oct 16 - The wedding was awesome, beautiful, emotional and fun. There was an underlying sadness not having Danny there; he was 2 blocks away in the hospital :( .... We went for eats and beers in the afternoon and the reception was great. Lawrence did a very nice Welcome to the family speech on behalf of his father.

Oct 17- All the family members converged on the hospital to visit Danny. Quinn had a cough so couldn't go up and I had a crazy festering/oozing rash on my wrist so opted to not go past the lobby in the hospital. Then we headed home... It was hard on everyone as we knew this was indeed our final goodbyes to Danny.

Oct 18 - work... Ug.

Surprise vacation for Quinn

2010-10-03T12:09:00.000-06:00

T-Minus 4 sleeps....

Thursday morning we take off to California for 8 days!

Quinn does not even know we are going on vacation, let alone to DISNEYLAND and LEGOLAND!

Lawrence & I both desperately need a real vacation! Haven`t had a true holiday since Mexico in 2007.

I have been planning this trip since FEBRUARY, so to be in the final stretch is awesome.

We come back on the 14th, then head to Medicine hat for Kerri`s wedding.

As for Danny, all we can do is pray that he makes it to the wedding....

It`s hard keeping this trip a secret! Each of us has let it slip once, but managed to sparkle sparkle away from the slip.

Weepy, excited, knots in my tummy....

2010-09-23T14:58:00.000-06:00

WEEPY:

I am weepy today... Hormones + everything? I'm hyper sensitive to everyone which puts me in a dark place. It's hard to pull out of this funk sometimes...

I ate my lunch outside with no jacket in the sunshine. That felt great!

EXCITED:

I am excited for this weekend. A SLUMBER PARTY at Tracy's house, possibly with Ursula! A visit from them is anticipated and welcomed as our last visit got cut short when Lair ended up in the ER :(

KNOTS in my tummy.

Depending on the cancellation/postponement policy of Air miles, I am going to book our trip tomorrow....

We are choosing to not go to Medicine Hat this weekend...

We are trying to focus on our little family right now, not an easy thing to do with Danny's health rapidly failing.

It is my belief that, if he is still here, he won't be able to attend the wedding...

Gut wrenching to think he's in his last days. Poor Lawrence.... Poor Quinn...

Meh :'(

More on Quinn...

2010-09-22T15:36:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, the day home said Quinn had a sluggish sad day. As soon as I arrived he jumped in my lap and clung to me like a baby monkey. So we went home and had a great big family snuggle with Lair and a really good chat. Quinn says he wants to stay home, with me, all the time…. Did I mention a few times over the past few weeks he’s given me a handful of change and told me it was so I didn’t have to go to work?

I don't think this is fully related to Aiden. I think Lair & I have been so stressed and pre-occupied since Dad died, the Chaotic summer, Danny, starting Kindergarten.... just everything. I know how overwhelmed both Lawrence & I are, I guess we were hoping Quinn would just float along oblivious....

We told him how much we love him and he’s been such a good patient boy, and how proud we are of him for going to Kindergarten, etc.

This morning he was good. He did ask me if we could stay home but I told him we had to go. He then ran and grabbed a blankie from his room. He called it his huggie-blankie. I asked “When did you name it?” He said “Last night”. I told him he could bring it to Tracys but could not bring it to school. He has never been attached to a blanket, I think I am more attached to it than he, so I was a bit surprised. And I must admit, my heart sank a bit with Sadness…. He must be hurting so much right now. I feel so bad for him.

I can’t wait to wrap my arms around him…

Quinn's sad morning....

2010-09-21T09:39:00.001-06:00

We had a rough morning. I would not let him bring his glow necklace to Tracy’s (I don’t think he should bring anything wrapped around his beck to her place). I told him he could bring one bracelet. He turned the necklace into 3 bracelets and tried to bring them all. I said only one. He threw them all and started to cry.

He cried all the way to Tracy’s; It opened Pandora’s box …. I asked him if something else was wrong and he said yes. I asked if everything at school was ok and he said yes. I asked if everything at Tracy’s was ok and he said no and started crying more. He said Aiden is always mean to him and won’t share. I asked him to tell that to Tracy, so she came over and he told her that. So we talked a little bit about it, then he said ‘I don’t want to leave Copperfield’?? But he wouldn’t elaborate on it. Then Aiden arrived with his dad so we tried to have a little feelings session with Aiden & Quinn, plus me and his dad present.

Once the dad was gone and Quinn collected himself and went downstairs, Tracy said one major thing is, Quinn says Aiden isn’t sharing, but Quinn doesn’t always give Aiden time to play before asking if he can have a turn. As well, Aiden really likes to rough house, where as Quinn does not.

My final words to Tracy was, I think this meltdown has a bit to do with everything going on in our life as well as months of holding in his emotions about Aiden.

=( I can’t handle this right now….

Another Trip to Medicine Hat

2010-09-20T21:29:00.002-06:00

Since Lawrence worked on saturday, he had today off so made another Trip to Medicine Hat.

By the sounds of it (he's not actually home yet, but phoned), he had an ok visit with both his folks. Talking about stuff that needs to be talked about.

We have no idea how much longer it will be. His mind is mostly there, but his body is just imploading. :( So sad.

He wants to go home; the home care nurses and such are so under staffed, and it would be a great burden on Goldie. So it looks like his final days will be either in the Hospital, or a Hospice.

I was weepy today at work. Just over whelmed with the pre-grieving... When the end does comes, it will be a bit of a relief if that makes sense.

Not sure how Quinn is doing. First Dave, then Grandpa P.... Quinn has an issue saying 'goodbye' even just to house guests and such... I think this stems to his last goodbye to Dave. Poor kid.

This morning he didn't want to get out of bed. Me neither. We've just been so go go go and focused on the craziness... I hope we manage to go to Disney, we could all use a little break in a fantasy world.

Finally have my Mazda back!

2010-09-20T21:23:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I had an Epic 12 hour drive round trip to Revelstoke and back in the POURING rain... The clouds were low making many passes poor visibility and I can't believe how much construction there was!

Coffee and pounding PsyTrance was the only thing that got me through! Coming home, just the stint between revelstoke and Golden was aweful. It feels like forever driving that and I was getting sleepy! More coffee!

It was nice to have it back. It's still packed with Camping gear - haven't unloaded yet. Meh - will do later this week, what's a few more days!?

In the end, Warranty covered $3,400 and us $500. Plus $300 for the 'courtesy' car which I am very thankful for.

One more thing off my list...

Day trip to Red Deer

2010-09-20T21:16:00.003-06:00

Lair had to work on saturday and I was due in Red Deer to meet with Marianne and Jason to sort through a pile of dads personal stuff we removed from his house.

Quinn wasn't happy at all. He did not want to go on another long car ride, even with a movie. This through him off all day (all weekend actually)... and he was so not acting like himself. =( This made me sad.

It was just a quick visit. Arrived at 12:30, left at 6.

The 3 of of sorted through the personal items we removed from dad place. Keep, Toss, Donate kind of deal. The final thing to go through are tapes and CD's but will wait till can have a sleepover and have drinks and go through it all (dad was a real music lover!)...

I go tto tell Marianne and Jason exactly what my thoughts were regarding his estate and I just pray that we have it all finalized before November.

His estate is Bankrupt and this is NOT my fricken problem. It's the banks problem now. >:-\

Fun Flex - our saviour!

2010-09-18T09:54:00.002-06:00

A new business opened up on 130th. A drop-in Playcare center for kids 1yr – 12yr! And we indirectly know the owners, they are our dayhomes neighbours (a stay-at-home-dad, and grade school teacher), so Quinn actually knows them and their kids well.

We took Quinn to the open house and he just Loved it! There is a fun slide and the tubing for climbing etc., lots of toys and games, dress up clothes, a fun dance floor that is bottom lit and the kids can play programmed games on it (Like dodge ball), a movie theatre, Wii and X-box, 3 computer stations for homework, a food bar (we pre-order food, drink, snack at $1 a piece)… They have a calendar of pre-planned activities and movie night listings...

And all this for $7.95/hour! We can’t even find a sitter for that price!

Why am I so excited about this? Because of their hours!

Mon-Thurs: 7am – 9pm
Fri: 7am – Midnight
Sat: 9am – Midnight
Sun: Closed

For my birthday, Lair took Quinn to the fun flex at 9am, and we were able to sleep in peace for the morning (after a late night b-day celebration).

Last Friday, Scott & Dee were in town, so we dropped him at the fun flex and went for a late dinner and picked him up at 11pm. However, this will probably be the last time we pick him up so late. The place is so new that there are not that many customers, so he was the last kid to be picked up (11pm). We were hoping he would fall asleep in the movie theatre, but he was still up, very sleepy and bored. So note to self – maybe an early movie or early drinks, we will still try to pick him up and have him in bed by 10pm.

He wanted to go there last week on a weeknight, so we dropped him off for an hour and went grocery shopping.

Lawrence & I are excited at the idea of Date Night, something we have opted not to do as finding a sitter can be problematic (I should mention, we have had a few of our fantastic friends come hang out with him so we could go out, just haven’t found n actual babysitter).

Lucid dream

2010-09-13T16:39:00.004-06:00

I had a lucid dream last night.

I was running up a spiral staircase, it was like I was in a tower of a castle. It was me now, I was kinda afraid, but really confused.

So I stopeed and I thought 'THIS IS A DREAM". There was a gold hand railing and it was a long way down, but since it was a dream.... I hoped the rail.....

I was falling downwards, but was not afraid, then BAM, I landed on my feet, standing on 9th Ave outside the Continental Towers downtown. What the heck!? LOL

Even then as I stood there looking around, a little confused, I knew I was dreaming.... then it faded away.

Another trip to the Hat

2010-09-13T16:13:00.004-06:00

Sunday morning, Lair let me sleep in a bit (Thanks Baby!!). He woke me up at 10 saying we had to get going, we were heading to Medicine Hat.

Danny had a big scare this weekend. His body is making too much Potassium. Did you know that when they do Lethal-Injections at prisons, they inject Potassium? It makes the heart stop.

Well, a normal person, like you and I, would have a 2.

Lethal Injection is 7.5.

Danny's was 7.2...

Close call!

So we booked it out there. and in doing so I got my first ever speeding ticket. Thankfully I had a very nice officer who took my birthday and Danny into consideration when writting up my ticker for doing 166 in a 110 zone...

He let me go easy. He could have done 6 demerrits, $500, suspended lisence and mandatory court date... instead, he did 3 demmerits & $177. Thank Goodness! Whoops! Guess I'll slow down a bit.

So that has been paid via mastercard.

Any how. We got to the hospital and had a nice 2 hour visit. His spirits are really high. He's seems to be taking every day in stride.

Then we turned around and came back home. Another long day, especially for Quinn, but well worth it.

We still haven't booked our trip to Disneyland. We want to go Oct 7-14, followed by Kerri's wedding Oct 16.

We're not confident in Dan's health so will hold off till the last minute (8-9 days before is when we have to book our airmiles flight).

My Birthday!

2010-09-13T16:10:00.004-06:00

So it was my birthday weekend. I turned 30 Again.... I'm ok with it, mostly. Once I get this body of mine back into shape I will proudly wear my age on my sleeve, so give me another year!

I didn't want an over whelming large party so just had a few people over. It was a lovely evening filled with friends, drinks, music and love. Both Lawrence and I have been uber stressed and really needed some good down time to just not think about the real world.

So recharged we are!

We went to bed when the sun came up. Lisa offered to get up with Quinn for us (thanks!!), but we were still awake when he got up so let her sleep and had a family cuddle and snooze, and Lair to him to the new Fun Flex (Drop-in day care) up the road, and came back to sleep.

We got up at 2, picked up Quinn and dropped him off at Lisa's then Lair whisked me away to an unknown destination. Swizzle stix spa! Yeay me! I had a 90 minute pamper session and it was awesome.

At first once I started to relax, i broke down and cried, just over whelmed with emotion about our dads and such. My Massuse was very attentive to my emotions. I enjoyed a 10 minutes whirlpool and got it all out of my system and was ready to relax and let her take the stress away. Man that was good.

Afterwards we went to Julios Bario (?) in Kensington for some Mexican (One of my favorite cuiseans). Then we picked up Quinn and came home for a family snuggle and went to bed!

So yes - all in all, my birthday was super awesome!

I love my family. I love my friends. My friends are my Family...

Another Good Cry....

2010-09-09T10:55:00.003-06:00

An aquaintance at work was by the side of a dying friend and her family (hubby & 4 kids) for months. Her friend just passed (Breast cancer).

We had a good cry in her office and a wonderful talk about caring for those who are terminal. It was light hearted and emotional.

I'm so sad for Danny & Goldie. There 30 year anniversary is next month. I hope Kerri & Lawrence will be ok after. I hope they can give the care an attention their mom will need.

:(

Wise words from my sister about Quin and social influence.

2010-09-09T10:52:00.000-06:00

Wise words from Marianne....

"Ya, I remember the bus thing... that part is hard when they are so little! Is he still enjoying school? So exciting!!! I know how much you worry about outside influences. You have to let go and trust that he is being protected and that all you have worked so hard to teach him about love and respect will always guide him. No worries!!! Being part of the real world is part of his journey and he is a bright little man with a good head on his shoulders with loving, amazing parents!!! Try to think of it as Quinn being a light to the kids who are surrounded with negativity rather than the other way around!"

Very well put sister!

KINDERGARTEN!

2010-09-08T22:11:00.005-06:00

Quinn had his first 2 days of school on thursday and friday, with no bus service. So parents were to drop off and pick up. I took time off to do this.

The first day was great because we got to go in the classroom and stay for 15 minutes then leave.

The second day we just brought them to their outdoor line up and met them there after.

He was totally fine with the situation and I did really good on both these days. No real tears, a few moments but nothing too much.

... Then there was yesterday. Quinn's first BUS RIDE to school. I took him to his bus stop and picked him up. From here on in, our dayhome will normally do this.

That was hard. Like, really hard. I held it together until he was out of sight. He was so excited and happy. but when that bus drove away, I absolutely lost it. I went to my car and bawled... then proceeded to weep all morning!

What tipped me off was, while we were waiting at the bus stop with many kids ages 5-10 and some parents, some older boys (7-8?) we using their hands to shoot at cars…. I could hear what they were saying and see what they were doing and it was brutally disgusting. I wanted so bad to say something, but what? I was stunned and didn't know what to do so did nothing... There were being somewhat discreet (Quinn didn’t even notice), but it made me sick to my stomach.

The idea of having him in an uncontrolled social environment makes me worry. I guess we have to trust that we’ve instilled enough common sense and rationality that he will be ok. I feel like I'm throwing him to the wolves!

I've done my best to raise a smart happy nice boy and seeing those two ripped me up inside. Yes, I know boys will be boys, but little boys should not know of such violence >:|

His bus to school will be filled with kids of all ages. The bus home will be only Kindergarten. I’m guessing the ride home will solidify some friendships for him.

I picked him up afterwards and he said he liked the bus.

Today was 100% better as it was normal, I just took him to the Dayhome and She took him to/from the bus. She e-mailed me afterwards to let me know day 2 was a success. And it was for me because there were no tears LOL

Doctors, Truck, family

2010-09-08T21:56:00.003-06:00

Lair went to our family doctor and he basically said he couldn't do anything without a physical.... The first appointment available was Oct 5! Bull-shit.

He started to have symptoms associated with this megga pain, so went back to our doctors office and saw the other one. He at least listened a bit and sent him off for Lab work. Wouldn't all this information be on file from the blood & Urine they took at the Edmonton ER? Grrrr....

I was hoping to pick up my truck on the long weekend, except I guess it is still in pieces as they try to find a pump (?) for the transmission. I can not believe how long this is taking - as every day goes by, I see dollars signs for this courtesy car and still don't know how much of this is covered by warranty. >: \

We made it to medicine hat for the day on sunday. I can't believe how frail Danny is - he has almost disappeared, just skin and bones :( Makes me so sad; reminds me so much of what Dave went through... My heart aches. I haven't gotten over him yet so it really hurts to now see Danny fighting.

I must say, his spirits are very very high and positive. He is living every minute that he can. Lots of his family and friends from all over have been coming to see him. He knows the end is near. He has accepted his fate. I just hope everyone around him will get through this ok. He talked to us, asking if Quinn was ok with everything after seeing 'Uncle Dave' go through this, Danny was worried this would be hard on Quinn, as well that he just lost one grandpa and is going to lose another. I don't know how Quinn will react when the time comes.

It ~30 days till we want to go to Disney and ~40 days till Kerri's wedding.

We honestly don't know if he will make it. He says he will, but his physical presents tells me otherwise. If the human soul can endure and overcome the physical, then yes, he will make it to his daughter wedding and I will pray every day that he will.

We haven't booked our trip yet, we have the time off work but will book last minute, just in case... :( We honestly don't know what to think.

Edmonton, ER, worries

2010-08-30T20:33:00.006-06:00

So still recovering from the less than spectacular weekend in BC, we were excited to go To Edmonton for 3 days to help celebrate Ursula's birthday. We took Monday off and were planning to take Quinn to West Edmonton Mall / Fantasy Land.

On Thursday, Danny called Lair, asking if we would bring Quinn to come see him. He explained that he worked saturday then we were going to Edmonton and asked if it needed to be R.F.N., or if it could wait a few days.... it could wait, so since we had monday off would cut Edmonton short and go to Medicine Hat on monday.

SATURDAY: So off we go to Edmonton - YEAY! Lair had to work so we were late leaving - arrived around 8:30? We had a blast! Great food, fun friends and jello shots.... many many jello shots! The kids enjoyed there sleepover and we had a ton of fun.

Ursula suprised me with a new hula hoop! She even got the colors of my old one matched! I was surprised for sure! I thought it was my 'secret doner' hope then realized it was not when Karen Allan told me she was the Anon doner for my Jen Gray Hoop - So I will have 2 hoops! WEEEEE!!! We all went to be around 12:30am.

SUNDAY: Around 8am, Lair woke me up, concerned and in a lot of pain... He never did go to sleep. He finally got up and went to the other room around 2am. He was in a lot of discomfort and couldn't get comfortable or to sleep. As the morning approached the pain got worse and worse. He knew whatever this was, was the same thing that happened in Dec 2008 [ http://the-ashmeads.blogspot.com/2008/12/day-in-er.html ] and May Long weekend 2010 (didn't go to the hospital in May).

Faye had some Perckecet - he took 2 and it didn't do a thing. We went to a Medic enter, just to wait for a 1/2 hr to be sent to the hospital. We were both pretty scared, he was in So much pain. I felt so helpless, there was nothing i could do :(

We were fast tracked in the ER. I'd say he was in a bed 15 minutes after arriving, and shot up with Morphine & something else within 15 minutes of getting the bed! That helped with the pain a lot! They sent him off for a CT Scan and sure enough... Nothing.

4 hours later, No explanation. They don't think it's Kidney Stones or Gull Stones. They have no idea what would cause so much pain.

They suggested he see his family doctor for a referral to a Urologist and sent him on his way.

We got some rest then headed home... finally arriving at 9pm. The birthday party was awesome fun, but sunday was sure the shits. We are thankful to Ursula and Faye for watching Quinn while this all happened.

MONDAY: So, as I said, we took monday as a Vacation day wanting to do something fun as a family (West Edmonton Mall?), then decided we should go to Medicine Hat, but Lair had a Morphine Hangover and felt like shit so we didn't go.

Instead we went to the Wavepool. Fun for us all and Lair could soak his sore body in the hot tub). We came home and ordered pizza.

Not too sure how Danny is doing - depends if you talk to Lairs mom or sister.

We're hoping to get the truck from Revelstoke next week.

Chaotic stress, ashes and transmissions....

2010-08-23T13:14:00.008-06:00

I've been procrastinating on this post, but best get it out.

So I was not exactly looking forward to the Memorial camping trip with my family to scatter my dads ashes. It was a stressful emotional week leading up to the weekend. We took the friday off as we had planned to leave super early for the long long drive...

THURSDAY(the day before we were to leave), Lawrence got a frantic call from his mom about his dad. She was crying and worried and talking crazy talk.... She told him he had to come to Medicine Hat Now.... So, he left work and came to my work... We were both panicking. Was this the end? Holy crap. Well we have to go then! We both left work and got Quinn.... Who was running a Fever! What?! No, not now! In the 45 minutes it took me & Lair to hash out some scenarios for the weekend Quinn's fever totally spiked and felt awful...

So, we obviously shouldn't bring a sick boy to the hospital to see Grandpa, and we probably shouldn't do a long drive with him feeling so bad. So Lair took off and we stayed behind.

Lair made it to Med. Hat in record time and managed to spend about 3 hours with his dad to realize his mom was just; well, worried and concerned, but the situation was not that as she made it seem.... After the visit with his dad, he went and had a good long visit with his mom. Then turned around and drove home arriving around 3am.

In the mean time, I didn't know if I should be packing for BC or Medicine Hat and Quinn was so sick and miserable, I just did nothing and went to bed.

FRIDAY: Well, due to the absolute craziness of thursday afternoon, by the time we got up, Quinn's Fever broke, we packed the truck we were running 5 hours late for our 10 hour drive... Not exactly the greatest way to start the dreaded weekend, however, our spirits were high since Danny was doing better.

So off we go..... just to stop in Canmore. Quinn thought he was going to barf. Of course we didn't have any gravol, so we went to Canmore and got Gravel and peppermints. This set us back some more.... we get going and STOP waiting for construction.... I was really beginning to feel that I was not supposed to be going to BC that day....

Finally get going again and we pushed through with only Pee/Gas stops. Marianne called us at 10:30pm to see where we were. We were passing Kamloops, about an hour away . She was just leaving the camp ground and suggested we stay at the Lodge nearby as we would never find the campground in the dark and would have to set up in the dark. We agreed. We repositioned the GPS map thing, to realize we had been driving the long way to the destination so we had to double back to get to the main highway to get to the lodge.

Finally arriving shortly after midnight we poured ourselves into bed.

SATURDAY": We headed to the camp site at 9 and set up and had a nice breakfast. There was Uncle Rob (Dad's brother), Auntie Darlene, my cousins and their spouses, Jason & Dixie, Marianne, Scott & the boys.

It was a nice spot on Tunkwa Lake. A spot where my dad loved to camp and go fishing. Leighton Lake is attached through a small brook/fall(Lair caught his first fish as a kid at Leighton Lake).

At the funeral, we had 66 yellow roses and 1 red one. My auntie dried these out and gave each of us a little bag of petals. We walked around the campsite and scattered the petals in dads honor. It was quite touching.

Then we went for a walk to the secluded area where my dad & Uncle Rob had scattered my Grandma and Grandpas ashes. I'd never been there before. It was nice to be a part of that, but it was so hard without my dad....

We parted out the box of dads ashes (there were a lot!) and everyone got there own red beer cup to do with however they wanted.

That brook between Tunkwa & Leighton Lakes was the Perfect spot. So green and lush, only the sound of natural water running. Peaceful. Serene... Perfect.

Me, Lair & Quinn went and said a few words and scattered the ashes (Quinn didn't know exactly what was in the cup!), then afterwards I went to the same place with Marianne and Jason and we had a good cry, said some words and spread more ashes.

It was hard. It was so.... final.

That evening we had 'Howie's Pow Wow' a feast fit for a Pinchbeck - Fantastic T-bones from a butcher, salad, baked potatoes and corn. Father would have approved! We chowed down and the sun started to set and it started to rain. I was spent. So me, Lair and Quinn went to bed.

SUNDAY: We set our alarm so we could get up early to get up and go.... it was raining. It rained ALL night... We waited for about 1.5 hours before it stopped (of course, setting us back for time for the long road home).

We finally got packed up and hit the road.... 25 km East of Revelstoke, the Truck lost power.... So I pulled over.... It's 3pm and we are broke down on the side of the highway in the middle of F-ing No where... our only saving Grace was we happened to be in a pocket with Cell service and we have AMA...

So we waited for about 1.5 hours when a flat bed tow truck came to our rescue and drove us back to Revelstoke. There are 5 transmissions shops there, he asked where we would like to go - we said where ever he wanted to recommend. So Silverline Transmission Shop it is.

Would you believe the Owner happened to be there? He was tinkering on his own vehicle sunday afternoon! What luck!

He told us there was absolutely no way things would be taken care of in a day or 2, in fact it could be a week or two. So he sent us off in a courtesy car (Sebring) only charging $0.20 / KM. (Hell of a deal compared to a rental!).

We grabbed some dinner and were finally on our way home at 7pm...

It was a long slow miserable drive home in the pouring rain.

Quinn was such a GOOD BOY! We had the laptop loading up with movies so he was content.

We pulled up to home sweet home after midnight... :( What a long fricken Day / weekend....

MONDAY: I went in to work late. I wanted to have a nice long shower in the morning and needed to call our car warranty peeps. As luck would have it, they only deal with 1 shop in Revelstoke and it was the one we went to! It's not confirmed if it's 100% covered, but I know something is covered.... I pray it's 100% cuz it's going to be THOUSANDS of dollars!!!

Now I need to refocus. Have Patience. And try to move on. I will not completely move on until the Estate is settled. I still don't understand how we (the children) are responsible for dad bankrupt mobile home. I am angry and frustrated. We'll hopefully have some answers next week (the lawyer is on holidays).

I broke down at work....

2010-08-18T20:45:00.003-06:00

So this afternoon, around 3:15 I just couldn't get the knot out of my tummy; then opened a flood gate of tears... non stop tears! Red nose, blood shot eyes, tears streaming down my face.... I tried so hard to gain my composure. Thankfully the phone never rang and not too many people walked by - and when they did, I looked busy and hid behind my computer screens.

After a 1/2 hr I decided to go to the bathroom to try to shake it off as I couldn't answer the phone. There were two co-workers in there so I was able to talk abit and get some hugs. I was determined to get my self together and stay until 5.

Thankfully, one of the ladies I spoke with in the bathroom took charge and found my relief girl and asked her to cover reception so I could leave. My relief was happy yo do so and I booked out of there as fast as I could.

I had an epic cry in the parking lot and at each stop light. I debated on stopping before I hit the Deerfoot but just wanted to get home.

Lawrence was home when I arrived so I had warm loving arms to fall into.

My eyes hurt. I am tired. So much to do to get ready but I just don't care right now. Tomorrow night will be long and busy.

Heavy Heart....

2010-08-18T14:25:00.002-06:00

=(

My heart is heavy. Lump in my throat. Knot in my tummy.

I thought I said goodbye... was just starting to feel fine, but now feel as if it's back to the beginning days before saying goodbye.

We leave for Tunkwa Lake early friday morning... I hope it's an uneventful drive. I hope Quinn can handle it. We borrowed a power inverter so we can bring the laptop and plug it in so he can watch a movie. Quinn has always traveled extreamly well (to Edmonton and Medicine Hat 3ish hours) but the last trip to the Hat he was quite board and chatty and our nerves didn't handle the drive home very well, which was unfortunate for Quinn.

We're missing a Chosen Family camping trip to Blarriot Ferry which makes me very sad, however we'll head to Edmonton Sat-mon the following weekend.

Freaking out, and not in the fun Party way.

2010-08-11T09:09:00.003-06:00

My sister is slowly getting through Estate stuff with the Lawyers and Banks; this is not an easy or quick process. It is looking like dad is Bankrupt. As well he owes money on his truck. We didn't see any paperwork on it, so we assumed it was paid off.

I am freaking out because I just want all the Estate stuff to be resolved and done with NOW. My brother is freaking out because he doesn't want to give up Dads truck.... I can only assume my sister is freaking out, just in general with this stuff and her person life is in great transition.

As well I feel great anxiety with the upcoming camping trip to Scatter Ashes. I don't have much vacation time time so we're only taking the friday off. But, with Quinn, the 9 hour drive will be more 11-13 hr drive. So drive all day friday, do the deed saturday, and up and gone sunday for the drive home. Seriously not looking forward to this. It's a great burden timewise and financially.... >:( But these are dad's wishes written in his Will...

A visit from Marianne, Jordan and Ben

2010-08-09T16:00:00.004-06:00

Last week, we had A visit from Marianne, Jordan and Ben for the week. They arrived on Sunday and left on saturday.

It was nice to have them, but rather hectic as both lair & I worked all week (T-f).

Jordan was at Hockey Camp 9am - 7pm every day.

Monday was the August long Stat which Lair had to work, but he was home by noon. We decided to take Quinn & Ben to Calloway Park. It was a fun afternoon.

Tuesday night marianne stayed in with the boys and Lair and I went to see a movie. We saw 'Salt'. It was a great Russian Spy film. We both enjoyed it. The movie let out at 9:30. We decided to stay at the theatre and go see the 10:10 showing of 'Inception'. This was a bold move as 10pm is our bedtime! LOL... But hey, when you have a free sitter at home you get the most of your free time! We LOVED it. Phenomenal movie. I really look forward to seeing it again in a few months once I digest it all!

So this movie night brought us home at 1:15am! Yikes, late night!

Wednesday night Lair was out for coffee with friends. Jordan watched Quinn. I put him to bed, then Marianne and I went for drinks at Brewsters. We had a great gab. Lair met us around 11 and we had some appetizers, and then he drove us home after midnight...

Whoa, TWO late nights in a row! Animals!

Thursday night we did nothing. Hung out. Got a good sleep.

Friday night Marianne went out with a friend. Me, Lair & Quinn went to a friends for dinner. We played 'Rockband' for the first time. It was a lot of fun. I only tried the bass guitar and drums. Next time I will try the guitar and.... singing! (Might need some drinks first).

We headed off to Medicine hat saturday morning, bidding farewell to Marianne, Jordan and Ben.

That was a busy week. This week I am looking forward to hanging out, relaxing, biking and some quiet family time.

Dad Ashmead

2010-08-09T15:43:00.002-06:00

We went to Medicine Hat this weekend. The trip was ok. Danny got home from the hospital around noon on saturday and is in very high spirits. However, physically, in my opinion, is an empty shell of what he was. SO Thin and pale; quite aged. It was unsettling as we watched this happen to Dave...

We had a great visit with them and Lairs sister. Once it was just us. Kerri & Jay, she filled us in on everything she knows. Goldie is reluctant to go to counselling, taking the suggestion as an insult of her being 'crazy'; I guess it's still Hope and or Denial? Poor thing. I can not imagine! I think it would be good for both her and Danny to get some counselling. I wonder if the pallitive care teams have talked to them about it?

I talked to Dan about seeing a naturopath for possible pain relief/comfort and he is a brick wall. He said if the morphine won't make him feel better nothing will. I suggested that perhaps a naturopath would have a tea blend of herbs that may help with the nausia and he was not open to the suggestion, so I stopped. Hopefully subconsciously he will think about the things I said...

We had a wonderful Sunday afternoon with them at a small Spray Park, enjoying the nice weather and watching Quinn & children be so care free and playing.

The drive home was somber. We got home, ate, cleaned the house then just vegged.

Today my heart hurts and I have a lump in my throat thinking about this situation. But in the words of Lawrence, "It sucks; but it is what it is".

So I will try to refocus my emotions to the joy and love I have for Danny & Goldie.

When modern medicine doesn't work...

2010-08-06T10:58:00.002-06:00

Danny went in for surgery yesterday to help alleviate some medical issues. There were some complications, so the procedure did not work and he needs to stay in the hospital for now =(

Lairs mom called yesterday and asked us to come visit this weekend. We've been wanting to visit for months but they just haven't been up for the company as Dan has been so sick...

The visit is long overdue. Lair wants to talk to his dad about alternative medicine. When modern medicine doesn't work perhaps looking into a Naturopath/homeopath, maybe some Reiki sessions... We know this won't cure him, but might make him more comfortable...

So we'll be heading to Medicine Hat this evening and will be back on sunday.

Prayers and energy.

Money Stress

2010-07-23T09:38:00.004-06:00

I am super stressed over money.

We had a good hold on our finances this year. In fact, we could even could see the light at the end of the tunnel!!! Seriously! ... then when dad died... the Chaos and traveling put us behind. I only got 3 bereavement days and had to take a week unpaid, plus gas and travel and food for two vehicles, it all just started sliding downhill.

On top of that we have had our fantastic mini vacations, which, if the above didn't happen, would not have been a problem, but under the circumstances, has kicked our asses even farther down that dark hole.

I am super stressed. I am always saying 'no' to Lair about spending money, which causes (uncalled for) marital strife.

As well during all this we ended up dropped $1600 on the truck (we pulled that money out of our asses).... Curses! I shake my fist and money woes. Seriously, we could see the end! We were So close! And now it Doubled, which brings us what feels like forever away from that light.

It will be harder to take this trip to Disney, but 'F' it, we will go and we will spend magical non-existent money....

And on top of that, as I've mentioned, the 'Estate expenses' are on my Line of Credit. Even though that's not technically 'my' debt, it sure feels like it; and it makes me feel sick to my stomach.

On the positive side, my stress if technically unwarranted as the debt is 0.07% of what we had many years ago. But being so close to being debt free has brought back all the stress and anxiety as I watch the #'s slide deeper into the red.... stupid Red!

/rant

Dad Ashmead

2010-07-23T09:37:00.004-06:00

So we got a phone call the other day. As you may know, Lair's dad has been battling cancer in one way or another for 20+ (?) years.

I guess the doctors have reached a point where they have more or less told him that Quality of life over Quantity should be his focus.

We really don't know what this means in terms of 'time' as they never gave him a time line (Which I think is a good thing?).

So it has us rather concerned and worried. =(

Flesh Eating Disease....

2010-07-14T16:25:00.004-06:00

Craziest thing happened to my buddy/co-workers...

One weekend earlier this month, my friends wife's foot was 'sore'. Then by thursday it was quite painful and encompassing the whole foot and some leg. They went to a clinic, where they were directed to go to the hospital, where after several hours and watching her get rather ill very fast and the pain going up her leg....

She was diagnosed with Flesh Eating Disease... They tried to save the foot, but in the time doing so, it got so bad she lost her leg from the knee down!! Just like that. She almost died! Like touch and go for 4 days ( 40% survival rate.)!!!!

How crazy is that? Went from a sore foot, to amputation just like that. Between thursday - Sunday she's had 5 surgeries. :(

I feel so bad for there family. So traumatic. They have a 10 year old girl.

Although still in complete Shock, they are looking at this like a wake up call to live life. She will be in the hospital for another 4-8 weeks, and I would imagine it will take 1-2 years of rehabilitation and adjustment.

I told him to be ever so grateful that all she lost was 1/2 a leg and still has her functioning body and mind.... Easier said than done, but wow, what a close call!

Crazy Shit.

July

2010-07-11T09:52:00.006-06:00

July could not come fast enough after such a chaotic and emotional June.

July 1 (Canada day) fell on a Thursday, so we took Friday off and went to the Astral Harvest Festival in Driftpile, Alberta (Near Lesser Slave Lake) 7+ hours North from our doorstep.

We were panicking and scrambling trying to find childcare for both the Astral Harvest weekend and the Motion Notion weekend... then Ursula offered to watch Quinn for us for A.H.!!! (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!), with her wonderful offer, we were able to secure my mom for Motion notion weekend..

We drove up to Edmonton after work on wed, and took off early Thursday morning to the site. We went with Lisa, Dean, Tracy Marie, Tracy Hamm, and Shawn Gravel.

It was a fantastic festival! We were very impressed. Huge site (North County Fair Grounds), 3 stages, cool people with a very 'earthy' feel. It was nice to run around and relax and party and Dance dance dance! It was the first time in a month I didn't think about anything but Me.

(eventually, I will try to upload some pics; I will put up a quick note with links to the posts w/ pics).

We ended up hanging out A LOT with Ben Friesen. That was pretty cool, as we've never had a one on one with him, it's always been at a large gathering. He is pretty awesome!

I bought a new hat. It's pretty awesome. Big, pointy, fluffy, orange with bear (?) ears. I will post a pic! I love it. It's really warm, great for late night outdoor adventures - BUT, it's fun fur, so not good in the rain or snow.

The drive home was tiring. It's about a 7.5(?) hour drive plus we took a 2 hour pit stop in Edmonton. Ursula fed us the most amazing meal - her home made Vietnamese!!! It's restaurant quality, and exactly what my body needed after a crazy weekend of fun!

We had two weeks to recover and I mean two weeks! Man Sleep deprivation and me are no longer friends! Hard to believe I used to do that EVERY weekend! So finally adjusting back to normal and we take off for .... MOTION NOTION! We booked Friday & monday off as vacation days.

Whoa, I thought I had fun at Astral; That was just the warm up! Motion Notion was near Perfect. It was a lovely Family reunion / Gathering of the Tribe. My only complaint is that it rained and rained and rained. However, we were prepared (thanks for a run to Drayton to pick up some rain gear for those in need) and we managed to party/dance through it! And luckily the sun came out for most of the day (noon - 6pm).

Our camp set up was spectacular this year. We had two 14' x 14' sun shelters set up which gave us a nice large 'living room' for the 2 blow up couches (thanks Karen & David), and the air mattress (thanks Kevin & Katie!), and with room enough for many many chairs.

We hung up our psychedelic art work on the outsides and on the inside roofs, and Tracy's boyfriend was ever so kind to bring us his portable stereo system (with a sub!) and a battery. So we had tunes and extreme comfort available.

My cousin Amanda and her boyfriend Andrew moved to Drayton valley (From Kamloops), so they too joined the festival, by commuted from home (30 min drive). It was cool to hang with them, especially since in my mind Miss Amanda is a child, but in reality is a 20+ something young woman!

My days were true bliss and relaxation. Normally, we would have headed to the beach, however, we had such a good set up and guaranteed GOOD MUSIC, most of us opted to just stay at camp. Ursula and I went out saturday night and came back around 8/9am. I loved hanging with her for the night; So Much FUN! Since the tent was hot, I decided not to go to sleep, instead drifting off and on through out the day while relaxing on the air mattress in the cool breeze. I was so relaxed and at Peace. The feeling of having _NO_ responsibility was incredible (no offense to Quinn). The mattress shenanigans I encountered with Kelly were beyond silly and will forever be ingrained in my mind.

At times I wondered how it was possible to be having so much fun!

The only CRAPPY thing that happen the whole weekend was, Mine and Ursula's beautiful Hula Hoops were STOLEN! Can you believe it? We sure didn't. I am quite sad. And Ursula had just bought hers there at MoNo, never even got to break it in... grrrrr. They were both UV Reactive / Glow in the dark. My guess is, the sun went down and someone walked by, saw them glowing.... and took them. Asshole. So help me, if I ever spot my hoop, I will take it back.

I digress. At the market place Lair found me a kick ass skirt/tutu thingy to wear over my jeans. Its fluorescent orange and yellow - like a mini version of my floral dresses! Fun Fun!

Monday morning was rainy and miserable, so we woke up, packed and fled.

We are at a good stage in life as a family. Now that Quinn is FIVE, I think we all appreciate the time away (Me & Lair away, Quinn with family or friends). It's nice that we can leave for 1 - 5 days knowing he will be 100% fine (compared to being a baby/toddler where there's more to worry about!).

Quinn says he had a lot of fun with my mom, they even managed to get out and about lots which makes us really happy.

So here we are again, recovering from another ridiculously crazy fun weekend. The thoughts of Shambhala have been in the back of my mind. Maybe one more round before I lay it to rest... Lair even told me I should go this year, but I can not afford the time off work since we're going to Disneyland in October. If we weren't planning this trip, I would have gone!

Last weekend (July 24) was gorgeous. On saturday, Lair had to work. Quinn played outside from 10am - 4pm in his sandbox and pool. I tidied the house and played outside. When Lair got home, he built a new BBQ we bought. We've been BBQ-less all summer! Which is really hard as we probably cook on it 5 nights a week in the nice weather. It was great to sear meat!

On sunday, we went for a 3 hour bike ride. Did I mention our friends bought Quinn a Tag-a-long bike for his birthday? I posted a few months ago that we were thinking of getting one. It is so awesome! Makes for an easy family trip for Quinn - if he gets tired, he can just relax. We bought a bike hitch for our truck, except it's the wrong size :( We look forward to getting a bike hitch so we can drive to the river paths or elsewhere for biking fun.

After our bike trip, Karri, Jay & Nicholas stopped in for a BBQ. We had a fantastic visit. I'm very excited for their wedding!

So here we are ending another month. A month of happiness and joy, chaos and unsettled emotions. Let's see what August brings.

June

2010-07-11T09:51:00.001-06:00

So the month of June really felt like a write off. I was in BC for week dealing with 'dad', who I might add, is currently in my garage. We missed Inshala, a small gathering in Fort McLeod that we were really looking forward to. We were going to take Quinn!

Oh well. Life (and Death) happens.

I struggled most of the month trying to settle my feelings, but have decided it won't settle until absolutely everything is dealt with, which I fear could be several more months.

Money is needed for everything, in life and in death. But none of us kids (me, Marianne and Jason) have any money... I do however, have an empty Line of Credit... so I offered it up to put the Estate expenses on. So far it's over $7000, not included the upcoming lawyers fees.

It's looking like the mobile home he owns has no equity and the market value is less than what is owed. I just want to foreclose and have it done with, but Marianne & Jason want to try to sell it... I just want it done and over with! =(

I have spikes of emotions where I feel as if I am in complete Chaos and other days of normalcy.

Thankfully Lawrence is done school for the summer. Amazing how a few nights a week can feel so long with him gone.

Quinn had his Copperfield Preschool Graduation. Both Lair & I took the afternoon off work to attend. Quinn was so proud of himself! It was adorable. They sang a song and walked across the floor to get their diplomas. Afterwards we went and saw Toy Story 3 (awesome movie!). It was certainly a great day!

And last but not least for June was Quinn's BIRTHDAY! He wanted his party at Calloway Park and he invited Caleb & Noah (who were unable to attend), Max & Jasmine, Ivy, and 'auntie Tracy'. We had a lovely day at the park. It was all about the kids (4 kids and 6 adults - at least we had the numbers!). We were there from 10am - 6pm! Phew! Non-stop fun!

Afterwards we came home for Soft tacos and cake and presents. A birthday I'm sure he will never forget!

I want to add photos, I may try to do so this weekend, I need to find my USB cord for my camera.. Our home computer died in June and is waiting in line to be seem by my IT department at work. It really sucks not having the PC available at home, but thankfully we have the laptop!

My dad is gone

2010-07-11T09:49:00.003-06:00

On May 31, my dad died of a massive heart attack...

I can't say I'm not surprised, but didn't expect it quite yet.

He's been Obese for 30+ years. He was a smoker & alcoholic up until he was 53, when he had a stroke. He quit smoking on that day and it took about 2 years to have a full recovery. He slowly began drinking again.

He retired young in 2002 to Salmon Arm. He became diabetic. Was a functional alcoholic, no exercise and was eating and drinking himself to death.

I've lectured him nicely for the past 10 years about diet and exercise, especially since Quinn came about about. But it always fell on deaf ears. :(

He's been sending cryptic e-mails since last fall suggesting his health and heart weren't up to snuff. I don't think he was totally honest about the situation. According to my Uncle, he was becoming progressively immobile due to 'diabetic legs'. My uncle said they were almost black below the knee.

In the end, at age 66, he had a massive heart attack.

It is my belief that he ate and drank himself to an early grave. My exact first response was to be angry and pissed off. I certainly went through the various stages of grief through out the last month...

I found out on a thursday. I took friday off, sent Quinn to the dayhome and spent the afternoon with my mom. On saturday I left Lair & Quinn to go to Red Deer to meet with Marianne and Jason to discuss what to do next. Auntie Dorothy happened to be in town so that was convenient for us, but probably stressful on her.

I e-mailed work telling them I would be gone for a week.

Went home sunday.

Left for Chase on Monday with Marianne.

It was a long week going through his trailer, planning him memorial and jumping through all the paperwork hoops.

Lair came out thursday night leaving Quinn with mom.

In the end, we had a memorial party for him in Kamloops and probably had 85+ people attend between 1pm - 9pm. I think he would be pleased with what we did.

It was a miserable stressful week....

May - a busy month!

2010-07-11T09:22:00.003-06:00

In mid May Shpongle was in town! On a tuesday night.... So we booked off wednesday morning, lined up a sleepover at Nan's for Quinn and went on a date.

We met at Tracy's for pre-part drinks then headed to the venue.

It was Ok. In the end I really had a great time, it was awesome to be in the presents of such an amazing producer, however, 'Shpongle' to me means Simon Posford AND Raja Ram + a live vocalist and possible live percussion.... It was just Simon. So I was miffed, but got over it quickly.

So we had a fantastic night, were home around 3am and slept in wednesday morning, getting to work for 1pm.

Right when the show started, I sneezed. And it was one of those sneezes where you totally know you just got a head cold. So on wednesday I woke up with a wicked head cold and was very tired.

Jen Milka had an Engagement Brunch. I can't tell you how happy I am for her and her fiance. They seem absolutely perfect together!

We also spent the afternoon at Bowness Park celebrating Janine's birthday. It was a great day. Owen is growing and happy.

For May long weekend Tracy invited a bunch of us up to her Cabin at Alberta Beach (45 min from Edmonton). The cabin is awesome. It's actually a little house with a 'bunk house' in the back. It has a beautiful treed yard and fire pit. It was a nice get-a-way and as always, terrific to just be with our Chosen Family).

Sunday night Quinn woke up with an Ear ache. It made for a LONG night. He was up and in pain past 4am then up at 8. Poor guy. He's never had an ear ache that I know of. I felt so helpless.

The drive home on monday he was still in pain so we stopped at a Shoppers Drug Mart and got some ear stuff and Tylenol. He slept almost the whole way home.

I took him & I to a medic enter (2.5 hr wait). Him for his ear and a cough and me for a bad cough (The one from Shpongle). His ear was ok, but we both had a chest infection so we both got antibiotics. Not bad, Quinn went almost 5 years without any antibiotics, and thankfully he wasn't allergic to it.

One week after May long, Quinn woke up with a Fever! It's been a long time since that happened. Later that morning he seemed fine, just low grade, so we went to see Shrek 4 with friends. During the movie his fever went higher. After the movie on the way home, he puked in the truck! And slowly all night his fever got higher and higher.

I put him on the floor next to our bed and checked him every hour. By 1am he was at 102. I called the Health Link and they said not to worry until it was at 104. I didn't sleep well at all. I called in sick to sleep and my 9am, his fever broke and he was fine. That was scary.

On with our busy month of May....

Quinn had his 'Kindergarten Orientation', where we went to his school and got a tour, met the teachers and admin staff. Saw the rooms and met soon to be classmates. We loved being there. Both Lair & I had memories flood in from when WE were Five!! We both has such fond memories of Kindergarten and are both so excited for Quinn in this next Big step of his life.

A few days later, Quinn & I attended 'My 1st Bus Ride'. A school bus orientation as he will be bussed to a school about 10km away. It was a good afternoon. And in the end, we both rode a bus, then the little ones rode it without the parents. He'll be just fine. I just don't like the idea of him on the Deerfoot every morning!

April - Winning by Losing

2010-05-18T11:43:00.005-06:00

Make it all slow down!

Sorry I haven't posted forever.... I had intentions to do so but Life threw some curve balls at us. Some good, one bad.... I started this post in mid May and meant to complete it.... Here it is July. So I'd best play catch up.

So let me catch up the end of APRIL.

Our lovely friend Amber invited Lawrence & I to join a 'Biggest Loser' Competition called Winning by Losing. It began on April 26. 18 people (some we know, others we don't) pitched in $50 each toward the top 3 prizes. And the Goal is the highest percentage weight loss wins, but in the end, we are all winners as we're taking another step towards a healthier us!

We were both very excited for this motivation. We really got down to business and started counting calories and getting in good excersise 3-5 times a week.... (More on this later)....

Good peepers.... for now!

2010-04-09T10:42:00.002-06:00

Quinn had his annual eye doctors apt on Wednesday.

He did such a good job! Such a big boy! Memories flooded back of when I was his age, seeing Dr. Gimble in a building near the sketchy Mac's on 7th Ave. I can remember feeling so grown up in that big chair! As well I remember looking at a picture of a barn... Funny the things you remember.

In the end, Quinn's eyes are healthy, but, they have changed a bit from last year. It seems that he may be developing an astigmatism (I have severe astigmatism so I am not surprised). However the Doctor said we'll wait one more year, and if that time it gets any worse (which he predict is a high possibility), little man will need little glasses...

So we talked about how he might where glasses like daddy, and he seems to like the idea.

I just pray that he does not inherit my bad eyes! Oh how I hated wearing glasses! =(

How to Train your Dragon

2010-03-30T16:50:00.004-06:00

Yesterday Lair suggested we take Quinn to see 'How to Train your Dragon' in 3D. Normally I would hem and haw about the money, but sometime you have to splurge. So when I got home I changed from work and we headed out again. Got our tickets and grabbed a slice of pizza, then got popcorn and went in.

The theatre was probably half full and mostly families/boys Ages 4-10.

It was pretty high action in my opinion, maybe a little over the top for what I would like Quinn to see, but we knew what it was about and a PG movie. It was rated a 3 violence on the www.kidsinmind.com website I use as a gage for movies.... I felt this was more than 3, but maybe I am too sensitive.

Quinn totally love love loved it. He now wants a 2 headed dragon. He said it can stay in the attic but we'll need a ladder so he can get in and out.

We all had fun and it was a nice family outing.

Small world.

2010-03-29T14:15:00.004-06:00

This morning a guy came into the office on business. While waiting for someone to come down, he says:

Is your name is Melanie? (I have a name plaque and say my name when answering the phone)...

Me. Yes.

Guy. I thought I recognized you....

Me. Confused, don't recognize him

Guy. I was married to your cousin Cheryl... Brandon is out in the truck!

It was Craig. My cousin Cheryl Ex, and Brandon is my 2nd cousin from the farm. I still remember when Brandon was born. I remember Great Grandpa Bamber came to the farm to meet him.

Craig finished up what he was doing here and called Brandon to come inside. It was nice to see him; haven't seen him since my Uncles Funeral 3 years ago. We had a quick chit chat and they went along their way.

That was a nice way to start my monday =)

Dave

2010-03-22T15:31:00.002-06:00

Last week, out of the blue, Quinn says "I miss Dave" .... So we talked about him for a bit. I told him his birthday was coming up (March 21). Quinn said "Is his birthday canceled now that he's dead?". (out of the mouths of babes)... I told him no, it wasn't canceled, it was still a day for celebration of his life.

So his birthday was this past weekend. It was a bit emotional for me. I know we're supposed to celebrate and remember with Joy those who've passed, but I am still grieving and missing him horribly. I haven't been able to come to terms with it all quite yet. I still have pains in my tummy and get a lump in my throat and still have tears to shed.

Meh :'(

Medical Records

2010-03-19T15:38:00.004-06:00

In October, I contacted both the Abbotsford Hospital and the BC Children's Hospital and requested Quinn's files be released for our own personal records.

The Abbotsford hospital sent theirs before Christmas and I've been patiently waiting for the one from BC Children's.

It finally arrived last week and I now know why it took so long; the file is seriously an inch thick! I took some time to read through everything. The memories flooded back of that stressful time... The longest, scariest week of my life! Even more so than our Cancer scare!

I will never forget the feeling in my stomach when I realized something was seriously wrong.... And even worse, when I linked it to his leg issue a few days prior... I remember telling the triage nurse I thought he was having a stroke and that he may have had one a few days prior. That night was just crazy... the Abbotsford Dr being shocked to actually see a case like this, the transfer ambulance ride felt like forever.... but as soon as he re-gained his mobility (6 hours later) we were still stressed, but feeling a little calmer! Then the next 7 days were very long, sad, and lonely.

We are ever so thankful for Scott and Dee, they were our 100% life line. Scott came to the hospital first thing in the morning to be with us. He kept us calm and grounded. Thanks Brother!!!!

I digress... I read through his files. They are indeed inconclusive as we were told. So I hang on to the belief that it was a Stroke of Genius and am ever so grateful that he is Happy and healthy!

Spring is in the air

2010-03-16T13:01:00.003-06:00

My typical friday night is super mundane. I pay bills and take care of all household financials. Woo. Good times. Our pay days alternate so the household gets a paycheck every friday. It's pretty awesome and makes it easy to shuffle money around, but in order to know how much money we have for the weekend and following week, I have to do the financials on friday night.

Thanks to the weather, we had such a fantastic weekend. Saturday was turning out to be such a nice day that Quinn and I headed out around 10:30am on an adventure. We drove near the McKenzie Lake golf course to a Fish Creek Park Path (Across the River from Sicome Lake). Quinn brought a big bucket, we wore our boots and off we went on a nature walk. I was hoping to walk along the path and dawdle in the trees, but Quinn headed straight for the River and we spent several hours just throwing rocks and sticks in the river.

We then left and drove through McKenzie Lake then went to a school playground in McKenzie Town. It's awesome! We had lots of fun. We'll definatly go back there. Once Quinn's better on his bike we can ride there (it would be a pretty long walk). After an hour at the park we headed home for lunch.

Lair was home from work. We have a 6 foot tiger kite I bought at Costco a few years ago, never open the package, so Lair built the kite and we headed off to a nearby field... The kite lasted all but 6 seconds. It went up and came down, when it hit the ground the structural integrity was compromised... and then there were tears... So we hurried off to find a new kite. Canadian Tire didn't have any. Superstore didn't have any.... thankfully, Wal-Mart did! A $4 Plastic Optimus Prime kite. Back to the field and the day was saved. So nice to be out an about!

Saturday night Lair went out so Quinn and I got pizza and watched a movie.

Family Sunday! Hooray! Lair's sister and Fiancée were in town so we met them at Cora's for brunch then bid them farewell. We decided to check out the Science Centre.... Including parking, this cost $48 and I tell you, it was pretty hurtin. My guess is, a guided tour for 8-12 year olds might be cool, but the chaos of young kids & no sensicle order of viewing made it less than appealing. I will not waste my money again... However, that being said, they are building a new Science Centre near the zoo. Once that opens and the hype quiets down, I will give them a second chance.

Sunday evening I went to Owens baby shower. It was very nice; Great food, wine and conversation. I got to see Nicole, Deanna, Laine, and Candice. It was nice to the Grandmas with Owen.

I know it's no guarantee that winter is over, but this fresh air has sure put a bounce in my step.

Quinn has out grown his bike. We were able to raise the seat, but the handle bars don't go any higher! So we'll check Craigslist for a replacement. As well I'm wanting to get a Bike Buddy ASAP so we can go on longer (carefree) rides.

Can you believe I've been with AMEC for almost SIX months!? Time sure goes by so fast! And Quinn is growing so much! He amazes everyday with his size and knowledge! He is an incredible being! I am so proud of who he is. I am so proud of Lawrence & myself as I know we have a big part in who he is. So kind. So genuine.

I know the summer will fly by so fast. I want to make the best of it ... We will have to do as much as we can in and around town... We have seasons passes to Callaway Park so I predict several trips there. I really don't know if Motion Notion is in the cards this year which makes me sad, but time and money are precious this year as we need to save it for our October trip.

Speaking of which, Lair has a co-worker who said he may be able get us into a Disney resort for cheap through his time share. That would be an awesome money saver. I have butterflies in my stomach just thinking about this trip! I hope it all falls together as perfect as it is in my head!

Eyes are good.

2010-03-10T16:06:00.003-07:00

I saw the optometrist last night. I was anxious and left happy and sad.

The good news is, my eyes are very healthy. My eye sight is still way better than 20/20 and inside and out are good and healthy... They even have a new machine that scans your eye and they can get a very intimate look at what's going on inside.

The bad news is... yes, indeed I do have quite a few floaters, especially in my right eye. He told me since it is not affecting my quality of life, i.e. it's not debilitating and I can still function well, that with any corrective measures, the cons would out weigh the pros... There is no treatment for floaters other than removing the vitreous (vitrectomy), a major operation with many risks... Eventually the option of having them blasted by a laser may be available, but is not suggested at this point.

Here is great vid I found . See the crap swirling around? That's what I have to look past ALL the time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcHK9X0jZFY&feature=related

I have always had floaters. I've always been night blind. Before my laser eye surgery I was quite visually impaired. It's just frustrating. I am very happy to know my eyes are healthy, but I am quite upset that there is nothing we can do. I am frustrated and upset and sick and tired of trying to look past these fricken blobs in my eyes...

OK, enough of my wallowing. As the doc said, they are healthy, sorry about your luck, it is what it is... so all I can do is move forward.

And now for some humour:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfzVOx2uNQk&feature=related ;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QRCrZP5BS4&feature=related

Lair's birthday!

2010-02-22T16:31:00.005-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART!

Yesterday Lawrence turned 34.

YEAY FOR BEING BORN!

Speaking of being born, two friends had babies last week. Kyiel and Brandy welcomed Aurora here on Feb 16, and Janine and Mike welcomed Owen here on the 18. We are so happy for all of them! I can't wait to meet the babies! We also have some newly pregnant friends, due in October and a few others, both due in May. That's a lot of 2010 babies!

For Lairs birthday we had a bunch of friends over last night to watch the Canada v.s. USA Olympic hockey game. It was a TON of fun!!!! Too bad we didn't win though! I drank many a beer and I think every one had fun.

Family Day long weekend

2010-02-20T21:11:00.004-07:00

We had lots of fun for Family Day Long weekend. Jeff, Jo-Ann and Anushka came down from Edmonton on saturday and left on monday.

Vik stopped in for a visit saturday evening.

On Sunday, Lair worked and the rest of us headed off for a quick trip to the zoo to see the animatronic Dinosaurs ('Dinosaur's Alive' display) on from now until october. It was pretty cool. 22 new dinos that move and roar. Quinn was quick to point out the Speakers in the bushes. Sigh. So no real 'magic' from the Dinos but he was impressed none the less. Poor Anna was not pleased with the load roaring. Jo-Ann told her they were 'just saying Hello', then Anna kept saying 'No Hello' every time we approached a dino. So cute! We saw a few of the animals then made our way home.

Karen & David and Dwayne & Marcie came over for a visit.

On Family day monday, it was so nice to wake up and hang out with Lawrence in the morning/ all day, quite novel since we don't have any days off together. We thought we would go to Cora's Restaurant for brunch. When we got there, there was a huge line up. Sowe opted to go home and make brunch, so I made French Toast and Lair made Egg's Benedict. It was delicious, cheaper and easier with the kids =)

After brunch we bid farewell to the Marvins and watched the Olympics!

A great long weekend!

Floaters

2010-02-19T16:26:00.008-07:00

Floaters in the eye are random bits of protein (?) and other various organic matter (?) from your eyeball walls that detach and subsequently 'float' in the eye goo. I guess it is considered somewhat normal (but more so with old age).

I've been plagued with floaters in my eyes since I was a child. It's like having a gnat fly through your vision, except there isn't anything there, or like looking through lace or a veil, or a psychedelic haze (lol)... small shadows drift in and out of my field of vision constantly... of all shapes and sizes; spots, squiggles, lines, cobwebs.

My new Optometrist is aware of them (saw him almost a year ago) and he didn't express any concerns. However, as of late, it seems like there are more than usual. Especially when I'm reading, using the computer, or tired. They are so abundant these days I need to stop and wait for my vision to clear so I can read/type... I guess I should make another appointment to make sure everything is ok.

As far as I can tell my daytime eye sight is still very good (probably still better than 20/20, however my night vision, well, let's just say, I had a hard time seeing as I was folding (dark) laundry last night in dim light ... Sigh.

Note to self. Make apt. to see eye doc.

2010 vacation?

2010-01-28T19:55:00.003-07:00

I get 3 weeks vacation (as does Lair). However, my vacation is 'accrued', so I can't just take 3 weeks in July. In fact I would be unable to take a full 3 weeks until Dec 31.... So this changes my ideas for summer vacation...

Originally I was hoping to do Motion Notion (Quinn-less) followed by a week of camping (with Quinn and hopefully friends)...

Guess that's out the window! :( I can not commit to MoNo. If I do make it up it won't be for the whole event :(

As for Camping, if it happens, it will be close to home and on the weekend. (Is it really worth the hassle for 30ish hours?).

2010 is the year of Financial freedom; well at least from Consumer debt, the truck and school is an acceptable debt.

So, if this is the year of financial Independence; trying to use only cash, no credit, no overdraft. The last year before we are starving students....

So then I had one more thought. We NEED to go to Disneyland/world THIS YEAR... If we don't do it before Lair is in University it may not be a hope until Quinn is much older.

So, I do believe we will go on one last major trip. I've ran the idea past Lair and he agrees. We have 9,000 airmiles, so hopefully this will alleviate some of the cost. I am thinking of going in October over Thanksgiving. Waiting this long will give me 11+ vacation days plus a stat holiday.

Kerri (Lair's sister) is getting married october 16, so I want to see if we can tie this in with the vacation time (i.e. go to Disney, come home for a day, then head to the wedding).

It all looks good on paper. But cost will be a factor to how long we are actually gone. In a perfect world, we will have 2 travel days and 10 days to relax and have fun. This trip will be all about Quinn. It won' be 10 solid days of craziness, hopefully every other day around the pool. If this is too expensive, we may have to do a short trip with go-go-go every day... guess beggars can't be choosers.

Lair is NOT a 'rides' guy (where as I LOVE em)... I will ask him to wear motion bands and eat graval and go on most 'little' rides. As long as they are not spinney or crazy roller coasters I think he can handle them. An experience he won't regret (this I promise him!). I do hope I can steal away for some fantastic big rides, but not a big deal if I can't.

We do not need to go to all the parks and attractions, just the ones most appealing for Quinn.

I am super excited for this trip. Even if it means giving up MoNo and camping. I can always escape to Edmonton for a weekend!!

I am not going to re-read or edit this so I hope it makes sense!

Math

2010-01-27T09:31:00.004-07:00

Lair has made an important decision regarding his math upgrading.

Since September, on his own and with the help of Dwayne , Lawrence has been tying get himself up to speed learning Math 10 so he could take Math 20 in February.

... Well, it's down to the wire and he has decided, although he is understanding most chapters, he's still lost on some... He feels his Math 10 platform is not strong enough to stand on for Math 20. With Math being a constant in his future education he wants to ensure he has a solid base now instead of flailing or faking it like he did in high school.

It was a hard decision because it throws him back a semester to starting at Mount Royal... BUT, in the grand scheme of things, really, what is one semester?

I fully support him and am proud that he has the foresight to see his limitations.

Fun Filled Weekend.

2010-01-25T22:26:00.004-07:00

I had a very nice weekend. It all started when Quinn woke crawled into bed with me and slept for an hour. Then he put my sleep mask on me so he could turn on my lamp and read in bed while I slept. So Sweet!

Saturday afternoon, we bundled up, picked up Brenna, Chris and his 12 year old sister and went to the zoo! We were there for a few hours and had a great time. The bay Giraffe is so cute! Her name is Sophie. We watched the video of her birth. Holy Crap what a sucky way to come into this world! Not only did she have a 6 foot drop on her head, but kept doing a header right into the ground while trying to stand up. However, persistence prevails and she was up and feeding within minutes! And now she's gallivanting all about!

Another interesting this was the gigantic python in the same building as the giraffes; normally this fellow is curled up and not moving, but this time he was all over! He slithered for a drink of water then just kinda moseyed around. Both Quinn and I were intrigued. I told Quinn this snake could eat him; He didn't believe me. Then I told him this snake could possibly eat me! Should have seen the look in his eyes! lol

Afterwards, we headed over to the Calgary Tower. I have free passes for the tower (good for up to 8 people). I sign them out to employees at work, so signed them out for me. I haven't been to the Tower since I was a teenager. I am glad I had free passes because that is not a $14/adult, $6/kids view. However, being free, was pretty cool. =)

On sunday, Quinn did the sleep mask thing again. Then he went and quietly played. Every now and then he would come in to see me or snuggle, or I would call to see what he was up to; it was 10:40am when he finally came in and asked for breakfast! That's the latest I've ever gotten to sleep without Lair being home! It felt so good to not spring out of bed at 8am!

We headed over for lunch and a visit with Katie and Kevin. They ordered pizza! MMMMmmm Delicious! We had a great visit. They have 4 fire bellied frogs. It was cool to see them and Kevin fed them live crickets. Pretty cool!

They got a new sectional and it fits perfect in that space! As if it were made for it! And so comfortable! Their couch is exactly what we desire in Both our living and rumpus rooms! ... One day, no time soon, that what we hope to see :)

Last night we started watching Transformers II. I downloaded it. About 15 minutes into it, it switched to Spanish! LOL Ya... so, we got it on Shaw-on-demand... Crap, what a waste of money! We felt it was horribly done. Very juvenile, many unnecessary scenes and some of the characters... The JarJar Binks of the Autobots, so sad.

I will leave you with this. BEST Giraffe pic ever:

This is Dee, In Thailand I believe, on a bus. And yes, this is a real giraffe!

Flames Game!

2010-01-25T22:14:00.002-07:00

So a perk at work is, I get to wear my Flames jersey when we have a home game.

Now, I must admit, I am a bit of a poser, as I don't actually watch the games. Wearing the jersey is comfortable, almost like wearing pajamas to work! So heck ya, I will take full advantage of this perk.

The VP of Water Resources came down 2 Friday's ago and gave ,e tickets to that nights game; well on such short notice we were unable to go so I gave them back. So he asked when would be better for me and gave me tickets to last Thursdays game. Calgary Flames vs. Chicago Blackhawks.

It was a fun game for me! I've only been to one game and that was in grade 10, Flames vs the NY Rangers. A boy named Rob took me.

Vanessa and Mike baby sat for us; Quinn was uber excited to hang out with them. We had dinner first with them, then left.

I had 3 beers, shared nachos and a pretzel. Man oh man is everything there expensive! $7.50 for a beer! A Crappy Canadian non-the less LOL Oh well, it added to the fun (and my headache the next morning).

The first period was slow, the 2nd period they started warming up and the third period I was almost drunk;... I mean, they played a decent game - but lost.

I will happily accept free tickets again but don't foresee me ever paying for them. Oh ya, and the seats where pretty good; Just off the left shoulder of the Goalie, 8 rows off the ice!

Avatar

2010-01-25T22:07:00.003-07:00

Last monday, I went to the gym after work, had a great work out, came home to dinner on the table, then Lair told me to hop in the shower because He got a sitter (Thanks Kelly Red!) and he was taking me to Avatar!

It was such a nice surprise and so nice to go out :)

The movie was spectacular (mom I promise I will see it with you in the IMAX!!!), I do want to see it again!

It had great messages with deep meanings and I hope others appreciate it as much I did; perhaps even get other to start thinking a bit different.

=) Anyone who knows me well and has seen this, seriously, the beauty and wonder of the land in Pandora is like the little world in my mind! As well the principles and ideologies rang so true with me!

Registration for Kindergarten

2010-01-14T16:53:00.002-07:00

Monday was Registration day for kindergarten ... We do not have a school in Copperfield, we knew this when we bought, so I can't really complain. There is a new school that just opened in Sept 2009 in McKenzie Towne, but we are a fraction of a hair out of bounds.... :( DOH! This does upset me quite a bit. We could try to get him into that school, but it would be a year to year registration and there would be no transportation provided... So just not worth it. His zoned school (Maple Ridge) is a 15 minutes (pending traffic) bus ride away.... down the Deerfoot just off Southland. I'm not to happy with the idea of him going down the deerfoot....

Lair was the one who took him to the school to do this, which is a good thing because I was quite emotional over it... Geez, if this is how I feel over registration, how will the first day be!? LOL

Lair is being schooled....

2010-01-13T13:55:00.002-07:00

Lawrence does not have his English 30 and it is a pre-requisite for the courses he wants to take at M.R.U. As an 'mature' student (adult), he is able to Challenge the exam - write the final without taking the full course.

To prepare, this past weekend he enrolled in an 'English 30 Power Course'.

Fri 5-9, Sat 10-4, Sun 10-4

This course is designed to help students properly prepare for the English 30 departmental exam. The class was filled with 17 and 18 year olds. Most who stared off into space, slept, or were texting... Lair was the only 'adult' and apparently, the only one who cared about what the instructor had to say.

Mon & Tue is his weekend, so he prepared and studied, today he took the day off work to continue his studies and tomorrow (Jan 14) he'll endure the writing portion, and next Tuesday (Jan 19) he writes the exam.

His confidence level is high. I have faith in him that he will successfully pass this exam (with flying colors even!). When he does pass, this will be one less road block towards MRU.

This 10 day period of English is minute in time and energy compared to his main focus of MATH. Starting in September he bought the Math 10 text book, and with the help of our good friend Dwayne who is tutoring him, he is teaching himself Math 10.

He has registered in night school in February (Tue/Thurs) to take Math 20. Hopefully all his hours of nightly homework and dedication to learning the dreaded math will allow him to easily slide into that level.

If Math 20 comes easy, we have some Big decisions to make. He has the opportunity to take Math30 over the summer; this solidify his pre-requisites and he could enroll at MRU for September classes. The Math 30 class offered is Full time days in July & Aug... He would have to quit his full time job and possibly get a part time job evening/weekends.

In a perfect world, come September, he will attend class 5 days a week full time days and not work. We'll see if we can float the household expenses on my income. Not sure how much student loans he can get. I honestly believe we will be able to live as 'students' on an extremely reduced income ~ we've done it for years by being in extreme debt!! Now we are currently almost debt free, only bearing a itty bit from the new vehicle. So if we can survive and only incur student loan debt, we just might make it.

Zoom Zoom!

2010-01-07T07:22:00.004-07:00

Did you hear the news? We finally found a vehicle!! We've been shopping for weeks and were starting to get frustrated. We test drove quite a few SUV/crossovers but weren't falling in love with anything.

Tue Jan 5: Lair spotted one at a car lot on autotrader.ca. We called to see if it was available and headed straight over. It's a 2002 Mazda Tribute. Leather interior, power everything, moon roof, V6 AWD plus push button 4X4! We both fell in love with it as soon as we sat in it. We both test drove it, came back and made an offer. We spent $700 over our budget, but the extra money was a 1 year unlimited KM warranty (which I am so thankful we got... to explain in a bit).

Wed Jan 6: We arranged the insurance and registration and picked it up!

Thur Jan 7: I drove it to work. It felt like complete freedom as I've been car-pooling with a girl at work, and she was on vacation all week so Lair was driving me to work. I loved it! As soon as I dropped Quinn off I cranked the stereo - WAY better than the one in the van! I was a happy girl. I took 52nd Street as Deerfoot was backed up.

I forgot my lunch so went home on my lunch break. I took the Deerfoot. Let's see what this baby can do...... um... come on baby..... long skinny peddle on the right? Yikes! I could not get it to go over 80km!! Holy crap! I was pissed. Thinking maybe it just needed to warm up longer, went home, had lunch, came back. it got up to 100km, but not any faster. Something is wrong =(

I called the car lot and he told me to bring it in after dinner. He gave me a loaner (a crappy explorer which made me fall in love even more with my Mazda).

Fri Jan 8: Got the call to come pick up my truck. He said the Catalytic Converter was clogged and it's fixed now. I picked it up and yup, it goes really fast! LOL

Sat Jan 9: Quinn and I did a whole bunch of running around (Costco, superstore, Wal-Mart) and everything fit in there back of the truck. It's so awesome!!! Washed it, had the moon roof open. Loving it!

Saturday night, heading out to Brenna and Chris's housewarming, Lair was going to drive. We get in and there is a 'trouble light' on. =( Grrrrr..... Still trying to figure out what the issue is. I think it has something to do with the omissions sensor. The manual gives a few steps to do to clear the light. I won't know until tomorrow if it's a success. If the light is still on tomorrow - I will be calling the car lot. I really love this vehicle and hope this is the last of the problems :(

I poked around on the internet about Catalytic Converters. It said if one is clogged the correct thing to do is to replace it. But you can 'clean' it. My guess is they 'cleaned' it and now my omissions sensor is sensing something wrong. So I'm thinking I will have to ask them to replace it. (I sure hope this is covered in the warranty and that they give me a loaner and they just deal with the problem instead of putting a band aid on it.

I'm know wondering if we should have got the 3 year warranty!? I am also wondering if we should take it in for an inspection to Certigaurd or Canadian Tire to see if there are any issues we should attend to while under warranty.

So there you have it, we now own a Mazda : Zoom Zoom! I just pray it's not a Lemon!!

New Years Eve

2010-01-07T07:21:00.001-07:00

Our New years ended up being a lot more fun than we had anticipated. There were no parties that we wanted to attend, and if even if we did we didn't want the hassle and expense of a New Years babysitter. So we decided we would just stay home for new years eve and celebrate quietly.

We were talking to Dwayne and Marcie about NYE and they thought a quiet night at the Ashmeads sounded like a great idea.

Eventually, after Christmas and before NYE, it seemed many people had their plans up in the air or staying home, so we opened our door for people to come and go through the night.

All in all from 7pm until 5am we had about 22 people come for a visit. It worked out quite well as they came in groups and at different times. Some on their way to a party, some for the countdown and a few who stayed most of the night.

Lair was kind enough to take one for the team and went to bed fairly early so he could get up with Quinn and I could chill with our friends.

New Years day was a total right off, however, a fun one none the less. I got up a 1pm and we spent the afternoon watching movies. We ordered Pizza and went to be early!

Turkducken, Sledding and Tortierre's Oh My!

2009-12-30T13:48:00.002-07:00

On Sunday, after Lair was done work we went spent the afternoon with Brent and had a great visit.

The Parenteaus were in town and we were hoping to meet up with them, Ursula invited over to Lisa's for dinner.... TURDUCKEN! Holy crap was that ever good! Lisa did a phenomenal job. It was so delicious words can't describe.

On monday we met up with Lisa, Ivy and the Parenteaus to go sledding. We found a great hill near Lisa's and had a great time. We then invaded the Allan's to sample Ursula's Tortierre... MMMMmmmm. Again, so delicious!

Lair's folks called to say they were coming to town on Tuesday and spending the night for a belated Christmas celebration... They called when they arrived to Calgary... They were Side Swiped by a SEMI on the Deerfoot!!! Thank God they were ok, but the side of Danny's car (New Jetta) is sure wrecked. They were lucky the door stay in tact and didn't get ran over by the semi! So other than being shaken up and upset, they are ok! It's still drivable.

When they arrived, we were outside assessing the damage when my Boss called and left a message for me to call her. I didn't realize anyone had called for a bit then just before we started to open presents I noticed the message.

Ug. So I called her and she needed me to run to the office to tweak the security system. Lucky me, what little knowledge I have, I am the only one who knows how to run it! I was really quite pissed off as Lair's parents just arrived. She was mentioning I may have to go back later which made me in a tizzy as I was cooking a Prime Rib; I didn't want to be in the middle of dinner and maybe some wine and have to 'run to the office'... So I was gone for an hour, I (hopefully) figured out what needed to be done and raced home and haven't been told to go back.

Lairs folks just wanted to go home. It had been a disappointing draining day... Once they left, both Lair and I were in a bit of a funk.

I made the Prime Rib - It was delicious! Way too much for Me, Lair and Quinn, so we'll have leftovers tonight! MMMMmmmm.

Looking forward to New Years Eve. We're having some friends over, some will stop in on their way to other parties, some for the count down, and a few for the long haul. I just have to remember that Quinn will be up at 8am!! Looking forward to yet another fabulous visit with our fabulous friends.

Merry Christmas! 2009

2009-12-27T11:18:00.004-07:00

Well the big day came and went. Lair & Quinn went sledding on Christmas Eve in the later afternoon. In doing so, Quinn also got a Christmas Shiner as he landed on his face!! But he was a good sport.

Quinn was so excited Christmas Eve, yet he put himself to bed because the faster he got to sleep the faster Christmas Morning would come.

Lair & Quinn made cookies for Santa, we watched a special, hung the stockings, put out cookies, milk a tart and a carrot for Rudolf.

As well, Santa sent Quinn a video via e-mail! (It may take a few moments to load up)

http://santa.sympatico.ca/watch/dfb1989be265968b812f34fb5d1a08c8 That was pretty cool! (Thanks Ursula).

And lastly we checked where Santa was on NORAD and he was in South America!

He was super excited because of these presents under the tree...

So imagine how he felt when he saw THESE under the tree!:

Christmas Morning Quinn was up at 8am and burst into our room. He open his present from Santa, Hungry Hungry Hippos, we opened our Stockings, then slowly sifted through the pile of gifts. We took our time and relaxed.

Lair then made us Eggs Benedict with a few new additions - asiago cheese dip!? OMG so good!

We hung out and relaxed and played with Quinn's new toys, then headed over to Janine and Mikes for Christmas dinner. Her cousin Christina (who both Lair & I know) was there with her b/f. It was a casual and fun evening.

So all in all, this Christmas turned out to be A-ok with no stress!

Yesterday, Boxing Day, we went car shopping and decided we just don't have the finances for what we want/need right now. We are Debt free and do not want to take on much more, so we'll wait and see how January goes, how much money we can save and go from there. We will get a second vehicle, just not sure when... Maybe when the Money Fairy stops by!?... Come on Lady - we just want $10,000!!! Is that too much to ask for??

Zoo Lights!

2009-12-22T22:34:00.004-07:00

We decided tonight we would bundle up and head off to the Zoo lights. Our thermometer showed -20 so we figured not too many people would be there... and we were right! We bundled up well and had a great time.

Quinn's sleeves are a little short so his wrists were cold. We'll buy extra long gloves to get him through the rest of winter.

Lair's neck/head was chilled, so next time we're out in the super cold he'll also wear a hoodie with his toque and scarf, and for me, the fronts of my thighs got cold quick* so I will invest in some Long johns.

We got some hot chocolate, ate a cookie, walked around. It was nice. We got to go inside the new conservatory... I was pretty disappointed; but I will give it some time to grow into itself...

* In Jr. High I trudged to school on a cold cold day, I really didn't think I would be able to make it to school. By the time I made it to the bottom of the hill my legs were frozen (Litterally). When I arrived I went straight to the nurse and she thawed me out slowly. I had severe frost bite in the upper legs. The Principal drove me home and I had to stay home for the week as my legs needed to heal and couldn't be exposed to the extreme cold... Well, I do believe this incident 22 years ago still has some effect on my legs in the cold. I think I may have been frost bitten tonight as they were really starting to sting at one point before we went for our second inside warm up. Crazy!

Re/Max sponsored a really cool thing - Talk to Santa via web cam! To see our visit with Santa, Go to www.santavision.ca Click Santa Visits, Click Dec 22, s22_46 :)

Quinn was in awe that santa was on the TV. He was standing there wide eyed and shy LOL So cute.

Christmas is almost here!

2009-12-21T21:05:00.003-07:00

So we are super happy we sold the van, except a cold snap hit for 2 weeks (-30). Lucky for me, a girl at work lives IN my crescent! So she has been giving me rides for the past 3 weeks. She can not give me rides home as she often works late and has things she does after work.

The same we selling the van, Lairs work has asked him to work part time in the sales office - his hours have slid a bit, so he goes to work for 7:30am and is off at 3:30, so he is able to pick up both Quinn and I!

Nice how it all seems to fall in place at times :)

We've been looking on line at vehicles. This weekend we test drove a Hyundai Tuscan and compared it with the Santa Fe. We like the Santa Fe better, except it's just out of our price range. We looked at the CR-V and didn't like the inside one bit so crossed it off out list. Test drove a Mitsubishi Outlander. It was pretty good. Hopefully we will find the right vehicle between Christmas and New Years. I would like to head down to the automall to see what all they are 'blowing out' since it's year end. Undecided whether we'll go via dealer or private sale...

If we don't purchase something before New Years, we will have to figure out a way to car pool as the girl currently driving me will be away on vacation a few weeks.

We put up our tree early this year. With time so limited during the holiday season, I wanted to be ahead of schedule with at least the tree. Quinn wanted to decorate it, so I put on the lights, then let him go to it. And you know what? He did a Fabulous job! I am so proud of him. It took him about 2 hours. Most relaxed tree decorating I've ever had!

Quinn saw Santa at Chinook Center. Only waited for about 20 minutes. He asked for Hungry Hungry Hippos and a watch :) I can't wait to see his face when he gets it! He knows he's been a good boy, so thankfully his request was easy to fill.

We went to celebrate with the Lymburners. Noah turned 2 and Caleb turned 4. It was a nice visit with Darcy and her fiance Mike. They are getting married in Victoria (where he's from) next October. This visit was pretty good. My heart has settled with the situation.

Though thinking about everything with Dave last year at this time does bring me much sadness... I sure miss the guy :(

This year things are a little sticky with both Grandpa P, and Grampa A. My dad's ticker is only running at half capacity, not the greatest situation. He's never really taken good care of himself and is now really feeling the consequences.

Lawrence's dad has been battling cancer in one way or another for 10 years, plus a good 20 years ago when it all started. He's lost an eye. Now it's in his belly and body; inoperable; no point in Chemo, just trying to live life and manage pain. I guess the last 2 weeks have been a nightmare for pain and sickness and meds then to top it off he is having issues with his good eye. They were supposed to come here for Christmas but Danny was to stick around home without company till they figure things out. Our hearts go out to him and Goldie... We may go last minute to Medicine Hat for a day, but if that doesn't work we'll go have dinner with good friends.

Work and home life suck all my time and energy :( I can see the allure of a maid! Wouldn't it be nice to have everything done and dinner on the table... hmm, maybe I need a house wife! LOL Life with a family and working is sure different than being a stay at home mom. Oh well, the money is nice and before I know it, Quinn, and Lair for that matter, will be in school!...

I didn't make it once to the gym in November. A major cold hit me, and I am still having sinus issues.... Hopefully in January, when we have 2 cars I can get back on schedule with the gym.

Work has been good. Quite quiet. Makes it easy to car shop on-line LOL I have between christmas and new years off. I am really looking forward to some quality Quinn time. I sure hope we can get a second vehicle in that time so I am not stuck at home, or having to drive Lair to work for the car.

Calloway Park Responce.

2009-12-09T07:29:00.004-07:00

To remind you what happened in July, at Callaway, at the Ball Pit, the teen gal who works it accidentally dropped the Big Heavy Metal bar they use for measuring height. This bar hit Quinn in the head as he was sitting on a step putting his shoes on. He cried lots but after a few minutes was fine. There was no goose egg, or blood. We all 'shook it off' and had a great day. On our way out I wanted to complain that they shouldn't use a big heavy metal bar. They insisted Quinn see the Medic (although it was 5 hours after the incident). I checked off that I wanted someone to contact me regarding this incident.

That was in July.

I sent a reminder e-mail in October that I was still waiting for my answer.

In November, I got three 2010 Season's Passes through the social club at work ($18 each! killer deal! Regular $69!), and on my application, I made a note I was still waiting for someone to contact me.

Well finally, I got a phone call yesterday in response to the complaint I lodged in July.

The over all issue for me was concern that this wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last issue with the height bars. The guy explained that these are actually new as of the 2009 season. In the past they used wood, but found that the wood would shrink or expand and the size measurements were not consistent from week to week, month to month, as well the wood would shrink from the bottoms slowly grinding off, or break when the ride attendants would joust with them ect. So they decided to try the in-house made metal bars.

He said so far the metal is the most consistent for measuring height and maintaining it's accuracy. So they do intend to continue using them, HOWEVER, because of the incident this summer with Quinn (the first injury reported due to height bar), they will be stressing the importance of handling the bar when people are near. He said they are updating the training manual and will stress the importance of this new info to the trainers and employees. And they will see how the next season, Season two with the metal bars, works out.

I am satisfied that they are making new policy and procedures with care and attention to the ride attendance.

S O L D ! ! ! !

2009-11-30T10:40:00.002-07:00

We S O L D the mini van!

Woo-hoo! Sold it to the first person who looked at it.

She is picking it up wednesday night.... unfortunatly this means I have to freeze my ass off waiting for the bus until we find a new vehicle!?

I guess it's worth it. I am so happy. Getting rid of the van is like the final page of a chapter we're closeing. I will miss you next summer when we go camping, but other than that - good riddins!

Not sure what we will get in it's place. Hopeing for a small SUV or crossover. Something under $10,000 and with no more than 150K km.

WISH US LUCK!

2003 Chevrolet Venture For Sale or Trade/Swap

2009-11-26T16:30:00.004-07:00

IF YOU HAPPEN TO HEAR OF ANYONE LOOKING FOR A MINIVAN!!!!!

__________________________________________________________

We have this listed on Craigslist, kijiji, usedcalgary, autotrader and Buysell. If you know of any other sites we should advertise it on please let me know!

__________________________________________________________

2003 Chev Venture: Our little family of three does not require a 7 passenger van.

Will consider trade for a smaller SUV or crossover.

*** Pre-sale inspection report done November 21, 2009 ***

Lady driven 140,000 KM (Mostly Highway). Non-smoking.

New front Brakes (Nov. 21/09). Maintained on a regular basis. (Blue/Green/Teal w/ Gray Interior) Extended Body, dual sliding doors, deep-tinted/privacy rear windows.

Seats 7: 4 Captains seats + rear 3 seat Bench (50/50 split modular folding seat design easily makes extra space when needed). Both 2nd & 3rd row seats are fully removable.

6 Cylinder Engine, Automatic Transmission with Cruise Control. Power Steering, Tilt Steering Power Brakes, ABS Power Windows Power Locks Power Mirrors Air Conditioning Am/Fm Radio With Cd Player Block Heater Air Bags (front and side) Aluminum Wheels Keyless Entry (Two Key Fobs) Auto-theft system Rear WiperRoof Rack

$5,700

Fall Cold... Meh =(

2009-11-26T16:15:00.005-07:00

So about 2 weeks I could feel a cold coming on. It was slow. I wanted to go to a 709 party (Shpongle Album release listening party), but knew I would be out late so opted to stay in and get my rest. Am I ever glad I did. When I woke up on monday (10 days ago) my chest was so tight and I wasn't feeling good at all.

I fought it off pretty good with Kiwi's and oranges, but This monday (a few days ago), it moved from my chest into my head.

Man oh man. I haven't had a cold since January - I know it could be a whole lot worse, but it sucks none the less. Getting out of bed in the morning is a real chore, but thankfully, once at work with a cup of coffee, I've been getting through the day - oh and this week I've been taking Tylenol cold.

I have opted out from yet another 709 gathering tomorrow night - they've brought Trevor up from Moontribe - it's going to be a KILLER night on the dancefloor - but he will be on too late and I need to fight this cold.

Hopefully I can kick this this this weekend and have a healthy happy December!

Meh =(

Laundry Basket

2009-11-20T20:56:00.013-07:00

Who would think a laundry basket would make a 4 year old so happy?

Quinn has had his own laundry basket in his room since he was born. However, when we moved into our copperfield home, his room is so small, we decided to take the basket out. He was quite upset about this. This also meant every night he had to put dirty laundry into our baskets in our room in our closet.

2 weeks ago, while he & Lair were in Edmonton I did a major clean/purge of his toys. This made a lot more room in his bedroom, so I bought him a laundry basket (Ikea pop up net basket), it has a turtle on top, and he was SO HAPPY! He even did a little dance.

LOL... yup, a laundry basket... He's a little confused with only one basket as he is used to one for lights & one for darks so I think I will buy him another one, it's a fishy =)

We also bought him a Treasure Chest for his dress up clothes

So all in all his room is pretty empty! We're thinking we can bring in his bucket shelf in from the basement, then all toys are confined to his bedroom. We'll get the house organised yet!

November just started... now we're half way thrugh.

2009-11-15T20:53:00.002-07:00

Just a quick update... Work is still going extremely well. There are almost 350 people in my building and so far have only ran into one whom I have no desire to exchange energy with. I am unable to avoid her as she comes to my desk, however, many years ago I mastered the looking extremely busy and ignoring others if it's not work related (i.e. chit chatting)...

Lair & Quinn headed up to Edmonton for Max's 8th birthday... Eight! Hard to believe!! They left monday morning and came home wednesday afternoon. So, monday after work I went shopping for work clothes and managed to find a skirt, pants and 4 shirts! Tuesday after work I ended up going to a birthday party with Tracy. She drove so I got to enjoy a few beers. =) It was a nice night out. Wednesday was Nov. 11. I managed to sleep in until 10, relaxed till noon then went thru Quinn's toys and cleaned the house. :) I missed them like crazy, but really did enjoy not having to look after anyone except myself.

We had a super awesome visit with Janine & Mike last weekend. Her belly is popping! So Cute! They are due in mid February. Very excited for them.

Not much else. The weather had been great. Today Quinn and I spent the morning at the zoo, then headed to Ikea & best buy. It was a nice day.

Back to the grind! A thankful one at that - we need to pay down as much debt as fast as we can before Lair goes to Mount Royal! THAT will be crazy times, but Good ones!

October update

2009-11-02T20:39:00.006-07:00

Wow - what a jam packed month of non stop stuff!

Thanksgiving weekend (Saturday) we managed to get together with Steve & Karen, Jen and the guest of honor BRENT! We hadn't seen Steve & Karen since their return from a European adventure so it was awesome to get some hugs, see pics and hear stories. They had a wicked journey abroad. THey brough back an awesome hat/touque for Quinn from Norway - A cloth viking hat with horns! So cool! He refused to wear it while they were over, but the next day he wore it all day long. He said that the viking hat made him Brave - brave enough to pee in the dark LOL

Brent was in town for a family thanksgiving, and we were ever so thankful that he was able to slip away from the fam for a nice long visit. We hadn't seen him in over a year and boy was it good to hug and hold him! Man I love that guy!

Sunday 4pm(?) we packed up the car and headed to Medicine Hat to Lairs sister Kerri's place. Mom & dad came too. We arrived around 8 and had a great visit. Me, Kerri & Lair sat up till the wee hours talking at the kitchen table.

Thanksgiving day was spent visiting; Kerri - I don't know if you read this blog or not, but I have to vent a bit... Kerri's boyfriend is; well he is a nice fellow, but socially inept with us. He can't hold a conversation, Constantly insists on watching TV or playing video games (even if all the visiting is going on in the living room!).... I can't stand the TV being on when people are visiting, it grates on my nerves! Or just randomly disappeared... ? It kind of reminded us like being over at someones place for a famiy gathering but their room mate is being a dick... unfortunately it's Kerri's B/F.... Ok, End Rant. So besides that, dinner was most excellent and the family company was terrific. We decided not to overstay our welcome and slept at mom & dads which meant we had a good visit that night and at breakfast. We came home on tuesday.

My first official day at AMEC without the girl who I replaced was Wed oct 14 and Day 1 went very well.. in fact every single day has been pretty darn awesome! It has been very low stress! Not sure if I mentioned I have replaced two immature non-professional airheads, so anything I do or say is gold. The feedback I've received so far is nothing but wonderful; After 2 full weeks on my own I am quite satisfied and really have nothing to complain about. So YEAY ME! YEAY AMEC!

Oct 14 was my brothers 40th birthday so his wife threw a surprise party for him the following saturday. I went up to red deer with my mom & her BF, we dropped Quinn off for my 13 yr old nephew to babysit and picked up Marianne and drove to Leslieville (the hamlet(?) my bro lives in. I was the last person he would ever expect to walk through his door. He was absolutely flabbergasted that me & my mom came. And we actually had a good time!

So Halloween goodness. Oct 30 709 threw a party! WOO! Since Lair worked early on sat he stayed in. Quinn went to Steve and Karens for a sleepover, and I headed to Tracy's for a night of debauchery and fun! Karen & David picked us up. My costume is an inflatable "Death & his victim" and it was a hit! So many people came to talk to me and had a hard time figuring out what exactly my costume was and how it worked. Let's just say it was pretty trippy for this particular gathering LOL...

The music was so awesome! Psy & progressive breaks. Such a good night. I danced danced danced - dance therapy was exactly what I needed.

At the end of the night, Me, Tracy and Brenna went back to Tracy's at 4am. We had a drink, watched some Southpark and were in bed by 5, I was asleep by 6 and we got up at 11.

Oct 31: I picked up Quinn at noon and we headed to Copperfield Community Centre for a children's Halloween party. It was a beautiful day so we hung out outside and he played in the park for a few hours. After dinner Lair handed out candy. First kid came at 6:15 and we had a stream of 40 kids come through in 1 hour. Quinn and I headed out and went around the block. We both wore our costumes. He had a blast.

As an adult, I have always thought Halloween was a rather bazaar tradition - the whole getting candy from strangers by technically bribing them (trick or treat)... so odd.

Well - there's my October update. It sure ended with a bang! Man I had fun friday night!

(I will try to find a better photo of my costume or put it on and take a new pic)...

Update coming soon!

2009-10-21T21:27:00.002-06:00

Sorry - it's been a busy 3 weeks! Will update this weekend!!!!!!

xoxoxox

AMEC: Earth & Environmental

2009-09-30T20:34:00.003-06:00

Ok. So my first day was wednesday. I entered with Confidence and a smile... The morning went really well. Then I did 11:30-12:30 by myself and the shit hit the fan.

Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I think I handled it pretty good though. I tried my best to be light hearted and smile. But it sure elevated my blood pressure... the afternoon was L o n g, and due to a moronic courier, I was 20 minutes late leaving: so the end of my day was overwhelming and frustrating. I had to call Lair and have him pick up Quinn from the dayhome because I was running so late.

When I got home, 15 minutes before we were supposed to leave for swimming lessons, Quinn said a few times "Why didn't you pick me up, you said you would pick me up" (repeat...) this broke my heart.

Lawrence was being awesome and making a nice dinner - but he forgot about Swimming lessons.... so he was up to his elbows in Fajitas and we had to go.... But we have to eat first. So we rushed the meal, tried to eat it and by 6pm I told Quinn he would miss lessons tonight because we were running so far behind. He started to cry....

I went to the bathroom and just l o s t it. Ugly cry/sobbing... My brain just snapped. When I finally got myself under control and back to the table, Lair decided to try to get some pool time in and whisked Quinn off; they managed to catch the last 15 minutes of his lesson.

When they got home, Lair headed off to the gym. Quinn had his bath and then he and I went to bed at 8:30...

Day One Over......

DAY TWO - Due-over day. Again, I entered with Confidence and a smile... Day two was much much better! Learned and absorbed more.

DAY THREE (Friday) - Another great day... I think I will be just fine and will quite enjoy this position.

I do look forward to after Thanksgiving as that is when I will be on my own. (The young gal training me is starting to drive me crazy!)....

So what have we learned? Wednesdays will be a crazy rushed day after work so we need to plan/prepare a super quick meal to eat and run.

This company has a great RRSP contribution matching plan, there is a small gym on the second floor, a massage therapist comes in every thursday - it's not free, but probably discounted? Seems like pretty cool place to work.

Oh and in my last post I said it was a 10 story building..... um... I was wrong! LOL, it's only 3 (Big) stories... funny how your perception can be so wrong!

I can't wait for payday...

Life is changing at the speed of light!

2009-09-23T09:23:00.006-06:00

Wow. Where do we begin.

Well, in early September, I made a decision to relax and not stress about life/work/school until October.

Well, last week, I got a phone call from a company called AMEC. Their HR gal saw my resume on monster.ca - it's a little outdated, and the funny thing is, my 'current title' shows as "Super-mom Extraordinaire" LOL...

We arranged for my interview on monday (earlier this week). I had printed a map and it showed the office being in Riverbend. There are lots of businesses that way so I didn't question it; until I was deep in the residential area wondering where the heck Google-map wanted me to go.

I was Lost.... so very lost! I needed to find a phone to call Lair... I don't have a cell phone! Panic was setting in. Then I spotted a guy smoking on his back deck. I pulled up and asked if I could use his phone. He brought a cordless out to me... Lair wasn't home. My map was wrong. No clue where to go.... The number on my printout was a fax #.... ug! Then the guy said his wife could pull a map for me off the computer. I gave him the info and he went inside. He came out and said I could come in. I felt weird doing so, but didn't have a bad feeling.

I enter the house to find Grandma, 2 boys and his wife. They just moved here from the East Coast. She hoped on the computer. They have Dial up.... o.m.g., it was so painfully slow. And she was painfully slow on the computer. I asked her if she would mind if I hoped on to get the info I needed.

So I went to the AMEC website, got their # and called for directions. I wasn't too far off, about 3 minutes away.

This was a very nice Random act of kindness for this family to let me use their phone and computer. I was there for about 10 minutes because the cpt was so slow!

When I arrived there, the receptionist laughed and said 'you used google map didn't you' - apparently this business complex is so new it doesn't appear yet and for some reason maps to Riverbend. Man, I wish Someone told me that when they arranged the interview!

So, Big (10 stories?) building, all AMEC: Earth & Environmental (Engineering firm). It's for Office Administrator/Reception. They currently have two 20 year old girls running the show (a daughter of an employee and the daughters friend). It's a shit-show filled with drama and absenteeism. So they are looking for a professional, mature replacement. INSERT MELANIE.

I had a great, relaxed interview, it lasted a little over an hour. Other than the learning curve of industry, operations/procedures, VOIP phone system, departments, divisions, 300+ people ect, This position sounds pretty easy. Though she stressed how important it is that the person in this roll always be on time and at the desk... I dislike very much being 'chained' to the desk. I haven't been committed to a desk since the year 2000! Oh well - they didn't pay me THIS much when I was chained to a desk LOL Speaking of which, she asked me what my salary expectations were. She said it was significantly hirer than they were thinking. I told her she wouldn't be disappointed with my performance and that I was well worth my salary quote. She said they are all about bettering their staff to benefit the company and in time, if there are courses I want to take they will help with them. She said they are totally about hiring from within and for me to consider this position getting my foot in the door! HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! They also have an allowance for Health & Fitness - I believe my GYM membership will be mostly, if not all, paid for!

This office is about 10 km from home (10-15 minutes in rush hour!) wOOt! And if needed (if we are have car troubles), the new 'BRT' bus rapid transit system goes from Copperfield to the doorstep of the business complex (I was sure to mention this) as well, lair & I might be able to car pool (again, I mentioned this).

So after my interview she told me 'we have interviews all week, if you don't hear from us by friday give us a call because we are really busy'.

Interviews all week... sigh. I believe I was Interviewee #2 or #3... I was a bit worried after a week of interviews she would forget who I was....

She called me at 5pm friday night to ask me to join the AMEC team. WOO-HOO!!!! She said all week she was comparing the interviewee's to me - so I guess I put the bar up pretty high!

For salary, she asked if my bottom line would be acceptable, suggesting of course there will be raises in the near future. So Yes!!! H/R will call me early next week to make arrangements. I can start as early as Wednesday for training 3 times a week for the next 2 weeks, and will begin my official full time job after thanksgiving.

I will hand in my resignation on monday (I've been working 15 hr/ week as a personal assistant for a financial advisor). Unfortunately, he is out of town until tuesday... He is going to be pissed. I know he really likes me and he is always super impressed with everything I do for him. I will be hard to replace.

I can not begin to tell you how thankful I am for this opportunity. I've been praying that I find a great job that will be good for me personally and for the family financially. We've really been feeling the financial crunch - starting to do the back slide; just not good, and when we're not good in the money department, the stress is agonizing for both Lawrence and I. I am happy and excited, but of course, I am sad too as I will miss Quinn SO MUCH. He will only need childcare 3 times a week as Lair is home Mon-Tue, so that alleviates some stress.

It's funny how things come to you when you least expect it. I job hunted ALL summer, but was looking for part-time hours, and there was nothing out there worth my while. So at the end of August I decided to enjoy my september before going hard at a full-time job search, which would be very stressful.

So here I sit. No stress. THANK YOU UNIVERSE! I will not disappoint.

So that's what's up with me. Now, Lawrence. I think I mentioned he has been officially accepted to DeVry as a Mature student to their business program. However, after much foot work and many phone calls, he has decided to officially upgrade without taking any short cuts. So no DeVry (which makes me happy as I was very uncomfortable with them! My gut said NO).

Lawrence went to Chinook college to see what he needs to get his G.E.D. Not too much! He is missing 24 credits to graduate. With 'Life Experience', they automatically give him 15. She asked if he's travelled. Yes. He needs to write a 500 word essay on how traveling has improved his life. 5 Credits! She asked, Do you read? Yes! He needs to write a 500 word essay on how traveling has improved his life. 5 Credits! DONE, High School Graduate! Simple!

Lair has chosen to apply for the Bachelor of Applied International Business & Supply Chain Management at Mount Royal (now a University), however, it does have mandatory pre-requisites (Math 30 and English 30), both of which he does not have.

So, again talking to Chinook college, they can help him get his Math 10/20/30 and English 10.

He plans to take an English 'refresher' course in Nov/Dec, then Challenge the English 30 Final in January.

For Math, our dear friend Dr. Dwayne Dickie (PhD.) has offered to tutor Lair with Math gr.9/10/20/30. After a few months of intense learning, he will either Challenge the Math 30 exam, or take the math 30 class.

The ultimate goal here is to have all this upgrading done in time to apply for Sept. 2010 classes.

Now that I have landed myself a great job, hopefully I can be his sugar momma while he focuses on school. Our ultimate goal is once he starts at Mount Royal that he attend as a full time student. He will probably still need a part-time job to get us by, but at least he can seriously get down and study.

So there you have it. The Ashmeads are going at Warp speed - not sure where we will end up, but we know we are going in the right direction!

Wow, I just typed a lot.... I haven't re-read it, so I hope it all makes sense.

Swimming Lessons!

2009-09-18T21:54:00.002-06:00

Ever since Mexico, Quinn (then 2 years old), took like a fish to water.

He has no fear and Loves to swim in water wings.

One issue he has is swallowing/choking/sputtering on water at the pool. So we decided it was time for (un-parented) swimming lessons!

He goes on Mon & Wed and so far just loves it. He has 3 class mates (so 4 in total) and 1 teacher. They wear life vests and have nothing but fun.

The first session was a little hard to take in, I was weepy a bit (Lawrence just laughed at me).... but my baby... my dear, not so wee baby..... How he has grown!!!

Thank you Monster.ca!

2009-09-18T11:23:00.004-06:00

I got a random call yesterday from someone who saw my resume on Monster.

It's for full time senior receptionist/Office Administrator at an engineering firm, Earth & Environmental division. The office is located in the foothills industrial park - maybe a 15-20 minutes drive in rush hour.

Interview is scheduled for Monday at 2:30!

I don't know that I am ready to go back to work full time, but the financial pinch is starting to take our breath away. I know once I get back into the swing of things, it will be a breath of fresh air so I will embrace this opportunity. Especially since THEY called me!

With Lairs schedule, Quinn will only need childcare 3 times a week. So I will be home with Quinn on Sat/Sun, he'll be with Lair Mon/Tue, and the dayhome W-Th-F. Plus he has preschool M-W-F afternoons.

So thank you Universe - I am grateful for this opportunity. Now that you've made it present, I will nurture the situation and hopefully mold it to my needs!

I turned 30 again!

2009-09-18T11:14:00.002-06:00

So my birthday was last friday. I turned 35. Which is fine, but I think of it as turning 30 'again', though realistically, I still feel 26!

It was a great day. When leaving the liquor store, Lairs cell phone kept ringing but no one was there. Then low and behold... SCOTT-DEE_KAREN-STEVE_JAMES-CHRISTY were on the line - calling from Spain! WOO-HOO! That Really made my day!!!!!!

Marianne and Ben came to town in the afternoon.

Lair & I went to Bolero for the Brazilian fire grill all you can eat meat served on a sword. FRICKEN AWESOME!

Saturday I hung out with Marianne, then she took Quinn to moms for a sleepover. We had a fun house party that night. A great visit with a great bunch of Chosen family. A surprise visit from Alex & Heather topped off the night like a cherry. And it was an all-nighter LOL Good times.

We slept the day away on sunday, enjoying the silence of Quinn not waking us up at 7:30am.

Mom & Giuseppe dropped Quinn off around 6:30pm. We had a nice visit then they left and we had a family snuggle and watched a movie. A great way to end my birthday weekend.

School

2009-09-18T11:09:00.002-06:00

Lair has done lots of footwork with Devry - in fact, he's officially been accepted as a mature student, though during this process he's second guessing the choice of school and looking at his options with Mount Royal and not short cutting his upgrading. I am very proud of him.

Looks like he will get his G.E.D. via 'life experience' so that's an easy win for him. However, he needs to upgrade his English and Math.

He is going to cram and take an English refresher course and Challenge the English 30 Exam. We are confident he will easily attain the 60% minimum required for post secondary studies.

Math on the other hand. He more or less needs to take Math 10/20/30. Yikes, this may take some time! Thank heavens for Dwayne! He has offered to tutor Lawrence. He believes with some major dedication, he can bring Lair up to speed to challenge the Math 30 exam as well.

So we are very excited to see how the next year pans out.

In a perfect world, Lair will starts some classes at Mount Royal in Sept 2010. But it may be as late as 2011.

I don't think I will be going back to school quite yet. I have no real desire. So, if I can land a well paying job that I am happy at, I will keep on going and maybe revisit the idea of school in another 5 years?