Lair is being schooled....

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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!

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.

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 ! ! ! !

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

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 =(

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

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.

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

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!

Sorry - it's been a busy 3 weeks! Will update this weekend!!!!!!


xoxoxox