Blog 23 of June

It's Saturday and it's the long weekend, and there are only 2 days left in this month!!!!
Had a full family house last night.  Albeit Patrick didn't get home until close to 1:00 in the morning from his movie, but Ashley and Ethan also graced us with their presence.  But of course it didn't take long for the house to empty out first thing this morning.  Ashley was the first to leave on her motorcycle at 7:00 a.m. - horse shows going on you know.  Bill followed shortly after that, for his workout and recycle run.   Then Ethan sauntered upstairs and hour later and ate breakfast and he was heading off for some "workout" training.  I got a little weed pulling done in the garden for an hour.  There is still a water restriction going on in the city, so the gardens have only been getting little sips here and there (or when I remember).  Explain to me why my potted plants are almost dead while the weeds seem to be thriving. I swear I am going to start growing weeds...  At 10:00 I headed out to Costco (not my choice on a Saturday morning long weekend),as  my girlfriend needed some stuff up at her cabin.  And I guess shortly after I left, Patrick hitched a ride with Uncle Brian to Edmonton.  He and his cousin Susan are participating in some obstacle race tomorrow.  Thank you to Maya for holding down the fort.
   "Well I had a little chicken and it wouldn't lay an egg, so I poured hot water up and down his leg, so I poured hot water up and down his leg, and the darn old children laid a boiled egg."  That 's the song that has been stuck in my head all afternoon.  Why you might ask?  Because the "ice cream truck" has been driving up and down the neighborhood and this is what it plays.
  A couple of weeks back, Ashley finally downloaded to my computer the pictures she took from Christmas (I may or may not have already mentioned this)  Thought I would share a couple of those photos.

 That's Patrick and his Nana. (my mom)

 That's Maya and Sam (we named Mom's oxygen  tank when she got it over ten years ago.

  That's Mom and her daughters. You figure out the ages. Also I must have missed the memo about wearing a shade of purple!

 That's proof that I do have more than one sister.  There is also a brother, but he couldn't make it to the Christmas dinner.

Off to pay all my bills.

Stacey

Blog 22 of June

It's been a busy week, but Friday is finally here.
Here is a quick summary from the last 4 days.
Tuesday:  This was volunteer day at Spruce Meadows.  Once again I was working the timing in the Meadows on the Green.  It was one of the most amusing days at Spruce so far.  I met a great couple - they are both judges.  I will just call them Bert and Ernie.  They were so entertaining.  Hard to believe they are in their 70's and possibly 80's.   I thought it was a little rude to ask. The drive to and from the show took a long time, as was expected.  I was a little annoyed coming home, but not so much with the traffic (even though it took me 40 minutes to get from the grounds to the Rockyview Hospital.)  No I was annoyed with drivers who were in a hurry to get somewhere.  People, take a look around, assess the situation, and if you can handle to anticipated traffic delays, don't be out driving in them.  Thank goodness I still had a smile on my face from the days activities.  But I'm pretty sure the blond lady behind me was telling me off when I looked at her in my rear view mirror.  She probably didn't appreciate the smile.
Wednesday:  Started the morning with a nice walk with Rose.  I was wanting to revisit our path to see if the previously dug "grave" had been filled yet.  The shovel was no longer lingering in the tree, but the hole and pile of dirt was still there.  As I nervously took a peek in the large hole, I was glad (and a little disappointed) that it was empty.
Came home, showered and went to visit Mom in the morning.  I thought it would be a good time to spread some "love" in the seniors building.  Stopped at Tim Horton's and picked up 4 packs of Tim Bits.  When I arrived at Mom's suite, I told her to put on her air (mobile instead of stationary) and lets go show some appreciation.  Mom was enthusiastic at first, although not sure why we needed to do this. We stopped at the nurses station, stopped at the staff room; next the kitchen and finally the front desk. By the time we headed back to Mom's room, she was a little out of breath.  One of the nurses stopped us and thanked Mom for the donuts.  I know Mom likes the acknowledgment, but her response surprised me.  "Well it was my daughters Hair Brained Idea!"  With a grin on my face, I told Mom I would accept what I thought was a backhanded compliment.  The nurse was sympathetic, and said it was much appreciated by all.  We sat and chatted for another 1/2 hour and enjoyed our coffee/hot chocolate.
Headed home for lunch and got a chance to get some much needed cleaning done.  Dust bunnies had once again invaded the house (but this is nothing compared to the rats and mice De caught in her garage)  After supper I headed down to Inland fields to hang out with some friends and watch their boys play rugby.  Not even my kids, but still cringe every time someone got taken down!!!!
  Thursday started off to be a productive day.  But then I took the bullet, with the roof down and headed for a manicure/pedicure.  The place was busy, so my quick visit turned into 2 1/2 hours.  Thank goodness for Internet.
  And here we are Friday.  A little bit of card work, a little bit of paper work and most definitely a beer on the deck in the afternoon.  Welcome summer.
Stacey

Blog 21 of June

Wow.  Despite the destruction and devastation that has hit the city, there are so many feel good stories in the aftermath.  If you are connected to radio stations on Facebook, no doubt you have seen and heard many of the same stories.
  The Mayor called for volunteers to group at McMahon Stadium at 10:00 a.m.  I was running a little late (driving the son for a haircut) and by 10:30 they had more volunteers than they could use.  I hope those people don't give up hope in helping and find other outlets.  I'll keep you posted on ways we can help.
  I also love that we haven't lost our sense of humor to help get through these trying times.  Here is one picture that I just couldn't resist posting.

They found poor Harvey the Hound's head floating in the Saddledome.   

  As I mentioned I was driving the son for his haircut.  He needed to get to the S.W. - Heritage Drive.  We had heard about slow traffic so he asked if I would drive him.  Well traffic was fine for most of the way.  Then we hit Sarcee and Richmond Road and traffic slowed down to a turtle's pace.  It was frustrating, but also understandable considering most people would be travelling the outskirts of the city.  After about 30 minutes (in what should have taken 5 minutes max) , we discovered the traffic jam was caused by a stalled car.  If we hadn't been already late for this appointment, I would have found a way to help this poor soul out of the lane.  

Bill worked from home today.  His office building was open, but the city has still requested people not enter the downtown region yet.  I'm not sure how much longer I can keep him home.  He did seem to get some work done from home.

Stacey

Blog 20 of June

"The Taylor Swift Experience" or
"Why We Ended up in Winnipeg"

Either of these titles would be appropriate for this blog.
  We left a flooded Calgary on Friday at 2:30.  Surprisingly there was no flight delay to Winnipeg.  There had been a flight cancellation to Toronto and the West Jet line up reflected this disruption.  Thankfully we came prepared and had already printed our boarding passes at home; so we used the handy dandy machines to print out our luggage tag (yes only one bag)  A West Jet representative took us up through the quick pass thus avoiding what could have been at least an hour or more wait time.
  The actual flight was short and sweet, at least for me.  I had a window seat (Patrick chose the middle) and was able to comfortably lay my head against my pillow on the window; that and the Gravol made the flight seem quick.
  The Winnipeg airport looked vaguely familiar (from our sleepover during our Florida trip in Dec/Jan. (see other blog for details)
  Like most airports there were plenty of taxi's waiting and we had no problem getting a ride to our hotel.  We stayed at Assiniboine Gordon Inn on the Park.  Let's say we got what we paid for, and there were no complaints otherwise.  By the time we got settled into the hotel, it was past supper time and both Patrick and I were getting a little hungry (we missed the on flight bit and bites because we were sleeping) so we walked down the street to a Subway (Patrick's choice, not mine), picked up some subs and came back to the room.
  A little food, a couple of games of cribbage, a movie and.......well that's all I remember.  Not sure what time Patrick climbed into his bed and turned out the lights.
  Saturday started out as a lazy morning.  Went to the hotel restaurant for our complementary breakfast.  We spent most of the morning, chillin', playing crib.  Left for the concert at 2:30.  VIP check in was at 3:30.  Once we arrived at the Investors Group Field Stadium, everything became a line-up, as was expected.   What a great way to people watch.  If you were walking around and stumbled upon this venue, you would have no problem figuring out what concert was going on.  The outfits, t-shirts, banners, and especially lipstick, reminded you that you were here to see Taylor Swift and her  "Red" concert.  I was starting to feel a little left out that I didn't have red-enough lipstick on.
  Our first line up was just outside Gate 2 for the VIP's.  Here I was naively thinking there were maybe 50 VIP's.  NOT.  There was a couple of girls behind us and they had driven from Weyburn Sask.  I asked them if they knew any of my relatives?  (pay attention) Turns out one of them went to school with my cousin's, son's wife!  Back to the line up---The VIP gates opened on time at 3:30; we received out tickets, and signed  copy of Taylor's new CD Red.  Then we were ushered in through the gate, only to be sent to another line-up for entrance into the VIP Pinnacle Club.  These doors didn't open until 4:30, so while we waited in line, Patrick bought his Ed Sheeran hoodie and I got my Taylor Swift football jersey. We did a little more people watching and could also see and hear the sound checks for a couple of the opening acts.  As we were ushered into the Pinnacle Club, there was a photographer taking Red Carpet photos.

  Once inside we were treated to a finger food buffet (sliders, smokie sliders, french fries, etc) but again this was the start of another line up. There was also what I can only describe as a candy buffet.  This probably speaks to the demographics of the Taylor Swift fans.  There was popcorn of all types, M&M's, string licorice, chocolate fountain, marshmallows on sticks, jello shooters (non alcoholic) with gummy worms.  That line up became longer than the real food line up quite  quickly.  Kudos to the staff though, because at no time did it really seem too packed in there, and everyone seemed to find a table.  We hung out in this room until it closed - around 6:30 and then headed to our seats (with out a line up)  We were on the floor, third row, seats 9 and 10.  They were pretty good seats, had they been a little higher, they would have been fantastic seats.  Because we were so close and the stage was so high, it got difficult at times to see all the action going on.  We did have access to the large screen right in front of us.   As I mentioned we were in the third row, but moved up to the second row, when those seats became available.  This was a blessing, because on the other side of me (Patrick naturally was on one side of me) was a gentleman who despite he smaller stature, felt the need to take up 1 1/2 seats - his and 1/2 of mine.  

There were three opening acts.  The first was Joel Crouse - a country artist, then Austin Mahone - a Justin Bieber wanna be; then Ed Sheeran

  This is the gentleman that Patrick was looking forward to seeing.  And he wasn't disappointed.  If he hadn't been a fan before, he surely was now.  The guy is an amazing musician.  He came out with his little guitar and a looping pedal (you Google it)  Despite is bad choice of tattoos, and rooster tail hair (I'm just picking on him), he was really good.  He also came out during Taylor's show and did their duet.

And at 8:30, right on time, Taylor Swift started her show.

  She is a great entertainer.  I read the review in the Winnipeg newspaper and it was bang on.  She is talented, gorgeous, and humorous.  I'm pretty sure there were more than 10 costume changes.

  Just like the concert started on time, it ended on time.  The stadium is on the Winnipeg University campus, so we walked with the crowds out of the campus and onto the main thoroughfare, where there wasn't a cab in site.  We continued walking down the street, and after 90 minutes since the concert let out, we managed to flag down a taxi.  Actually I flagged down a taxi, Patrick had run off to find a washroom (make shift one)  i manged to flag down Patrick before he disappeared behind a building and the cab took us back to our hotel, via back roads (there were still traffic jams going on)

Needless to say there wasn't a lot of chit chat when we got back to the hotel.  We were both looking into a peaceful night and sleeping in.  That's when we rediscovered that our flight left at 11:00 am from Winnipeg, so sleeping in would have to wait until a week day (for me at least)

Sure enough, we were up by 7:30, and on our way to make our way back to Calgary.

The price of the hotel = cheap

The price of the flight to Winnipeg = great deal

The price of the ticket package to Taylor Swift = expensive

The weekend with my Son = PRICELESS!

That made it all worth it.

Blog 19 of June

  So this is how Noah felt.........almost time to build that Ark.   Thinking of those who are being so closely affected by this over abundance of rain.  I've lived in Calgary most of my 51 years and I have never seen so many evacuations of communities.
  Woke this morning to the heavy rain, which gave Rose and I a reason to take the day off from our walk.  I was going to climb back into bed, but decided I better get some stuff done around the house before I headed to work.
   Bill came home for work disappointed that golfing was also going to be a no show in the evening.  So instead we did some minor repairs/changes around the house.  Bought a new light fixture last week, for the family room, so we installed that, moved the old one to a fixture upstairs, moved that one to the furnace room, and will take that furnace room light fixture to the dump/fire station for disposal.  In between of those changes I managed to get some laundry done, vacuum the family room and get one bathroom cleaned.
   By the way, Bill found out from the golf course that there was a Flames staff golf tournament yesterday, and that our old neighbour Pat was golfing.  So the mystery golf ball has been solved.  Bill sent Pat an email to confirm, but haven't heard back yet.
  Tomorrow the son and I fly to Winnipeg to see Taylor Swift............can't wait.
Everyone else is in bed right now, so I'm going to follow them.
Night - and stay dry.
Stacey

Blog 18 of June

The weather-people are all saying the same thing. "June is known to be the wettest month - and Mother Nature is making sure these broadcasters look good.  It's been raining off and on all day again today.
  Rose and I hit the pavement at 7:00 a.m. again this morning.  At first, when glancing out the window, it appeared to be wet and dreary, but once we actually got outside, it was just fogging, thus giving the false look of drizzle.  We had a nice walk this morning.  We actually got in a little bit of arm work as well.  Mostly from hitting mosquitoes off of each other.  I'm sure if people were following us, they might have thought we were engaging in a small battle.  During the walk we came across an interesting site.  Rose noticed a "shovel" hanging from a tree - and not too far from this tree laden shovel was a pile of dirt and a fair size hole.  I being the more curious of the two, ran up to take a closer look at the hole.  I can only describe it as follows:  Big enough for a small body, and small enough for a large dog.  I hope there is not snow tomorrow morning, because I'm anxious to go by this  site again and see if the hole is still there, or if it has been replaced by a mound of dirt.  Then what........ (This looks like it could turn into a CSI episode)
   I'm not sure if mentioned this in my blog or not, but Sunday I lent my car to the daughter - yes the bullet named Mercedes.  Trust me, the request was met with much trepidation from me, but as my good friend Rose put it, Ashley has great people skills.  (for the record she came home late and complaining that my car didn't drive as well as Dad's- and that certainly solved any future dilemma I have about lending it to her once again).  Back to the story.  Ashley's "story" was she was meeting with her photographer friend from Spruce Meadows and they wanted to take some shots of my car.  Well I visited Dirks website and I came across some great photo's of Ashley, but only one of my car.

  Granted it is a great picture.  

After the walk this morning, a quick shower and I was out of the house and working on three stores to remove the Father's Day cards.  I'm happy to report to all shoppers that there should be no more "seasonal" card change overs until Thanksgiving and Halloween come along.  So enjoy the stores.........

Thankfully I finished up just after lunch time and had plenty of time to make my visit with Mom.  She was in much better spirits than the previous week.  And her mood only got better when I suggested that next week we visit Target!!!!!!  Yeah shopping - my favorite NOT.  I also tried to convince Mom to get her wheelchair to have at her place.  I told her I wanted to take her to Spruce Meadows for an afternoon.  That didn't meet with great enthusiasm, but hopefully Mom will follow up on that.  I can only make the suggestions..

  Bill arrived home from work on time and for a quick bite.  He was going to go golfing despite the "dreary" weather outside.  Just before he left, he noticed another golf ball on our lawn.  I slipped on the flip flops near the door and ran out to retrieve the lonely ball.  What a surprise we received.

Now ordinarily this wouldn't be such a big deal. We've all seen Flames balls (the golf type, not the players) being used by the average Joe.  The what was written on the other side of the ball was unexpected.

I love a mystery.  I'm thinking it might be from an old neighbor at our other place in the Hamptons.  Pat worked and still works for the Flames organization.  I'll keep you posted if I discover the mystery golfer. (or in this case, someone who is missing a ball!!!!!)

Have another great quote to share: (hopefully I haven't shared it before, but I was too lazy to go back and check.)

"Don't be afraid to go out on a limb, that's where all the fruit is."

Enjoy your Wednesday evening.

Stacey

Blog 17 of June

I apologize for my picture less blog last night.  It was late, I climbed into bed, remembered I had stuff to say, so used my I-pad to write my blog.  Obviously I haven't finished reading all my instruction manuals for the I-Pad because I couldn't figure out how to get pictures.
  Today is today and today is Tuesday.  Rose and I hit the pavement and paths again today for our walk.  Out by 7:00 home before 8:30.  We hit some rain at the beginning of our walk, and debated cutting the walk short.  Thankfully we didn't as the sky cleared up and more than half of the walk was done with clear glasses and hood-less heads (apologizes for the bad morning hair).
  I did have great plans to go into my stores, but yesterday I received a notice on my door from UPS that they had a delivery for me.  I tried phoning the 1 800 number to arrange other delivery methods, but after 20 minutes of pushing this button and that button, I finally pressed the "0" and was connected to a real voice (not a helpful one, but nevertheless, a real one)  I was informed that the options for delivery were limited because the parcel was coming from the U.S.  To make my life simpler, I decided to stay home to receive the package, with the hope that the parcel would be delivered at the beginning of the time frame of 10:00 - 2:30.   It didn't happen. That's ok, I've adjusted my remaining week days accordingly.
  What was in this unexpected package you ask!  Well turns out, when I ordered our Taylor Swift concert tickets (V I P), it comes with some lovely stuff (or as Bill might call it, junk).  There were a few things in this medium size box; a lovely throw blanket (a really nice one), some guitar picks (to put in my frame with the tickets) load of concert books (if I were a teenager, I'd cut out the pictures and make a collage for my wall), a plastic bag (my groceries are going to travel in class), a couple of plastic bracelets (hopefully they glow in the dark); a glow stick (which I will be taking to the concert), a rubber speaker (would help if I had a I-phone to attach it to), greeting cards (you pay money for these in Safeways) and a phone cover (again, will have to get a new phone in order to use it)  Now multiple all this by 2, because I have two tickets, so Patrick also got the same stuff (I'm assuming, because I haven't opened the other parcel yet)  So this Saturday night, Patrick and I will be rocking in Winnipeg to Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.
  As I was laying in bed last night, documenting my blog, I was also checking out Facebook.  I came across an entry that Patrick has posted.  It read "Happy Fathers Day; So lucky to be the son of Bruce Lee!"  and with that quote came the following picture:

Yes that is Bill.  I commented to Patrick that  he was brave putting it on Facebook.  But now that it is up there, I guess I'm ok to post it here.  Probably less people will see it.  This picture is hanging on our picture wall in the family room. A very long time ago, one of Patrick's school friends was over, and seen this picture.  He asked Patrick "  Why is your dad's head on somebody else's body?"  I love Colin!!!!! I can't remember Bill's age in this picture, but it was before Ashley, so it is pre - 1989.

  Also to celebrate Father's Day, Bill asked for a white cake.  I thought I would be creative and go a step further.  I'm not sure if I already mentioned this, but I decided to make cake pops.  I got the idea from my friend Linda Wong.  She told me how she made them.  So I checked with my other friend "Google" and confirmed how to make them.  Google suggested dipping them in chocolate, and so I did

They were pretty easy to make, but I didn't actually try one.  Everyone else did and it is my understanding they might be a little too sweet with all the chocolate.  That would explain why there are less than 1/2 of this tray left!!!!!!!!!  I think icing would be just as sweet, so maybe I'll just stick with a plain old cake.  At least the icing is distributed a little more.

I tried another recipe today. I had come across this recipe somewhere on the Internet and printed and saved it.  Last weekend when I went to Costco I bought the ingredients (except for the kiwi fruit) So today, while I had to wait for my delivery, I thought it would be a good time to get these made, before the fruit got old.  Here is the website and the picture.

http://pilatesplatinum.blogspot.ca/2013/03/mouthwatering-treats-from-mama-earth.html

 Unfortunately I don't have any Popsicle holders/makers/stick, so  I just used my trusty Tupperware dessert holders.  They are in the freezer now, so I will let you know tomorrow how they turned out and if they were a hit.  They are definitely healthy.  Hmmm,  make a little taste of tequila will make them tastier on a hot day in the summer!!!!!!

k..I better go; afternoon writing can take up a lot of time, and people are going to be wanting supper when they get home (if they come home)

Stacey