Blog 18 of July

Only 3 days left in July.  Today started off as one of those days, that gives Mondays the bad rep that it gets.  Even after I re-read that statement, it makes sense to me - hopefully to everyone else too.
  I was hoping to get a little extra zzzz's this morning, so after I was up at 6:00 am and ate me breakfast, I climbed back into bed for some quiet time with Maya and maybe a little more beauty sleep.  The phone rang at 8:00 and it was Ashley - she had misplaced her work phone and thought maybe it was in her room downstairs - would I mind taking a look.  Couldn't see it, couldn't hear it. I left her to search else where from her weekend travels.   While I was awake now, I might as well get the day started.  I couldn't venture too far from the house in the morning, as I was meeting with a contractor to give us an estimate for parging or re-parging the house.  My plants were looking a little thirsty so I decided to start there.  Now I have one plant; it's a climbing plant and in the spring, I moved it from the bathroom to the living room.  Because it's a climbing plant, it's wound around poles, and pots, and stands, so not an easy thing to adjust.  (that has no bearing on the story, but explains why it's not one of my favorite plants)  In this plant I have a glass watering bulb. (I have a few of them)  They all needed refilling so I proceeded to take care of that job next.  As I was returning the full bulb back to my climbing plant, I pushed it a little to hard into the dirt and knocked over the plant.  Luckily I caught it before the entire pot spilled on the floor.  But during my rescue mission, I broke the glass bulb.... I think that is the third one I have broken so far.  So watering the plants turned into a lot longer job then I anticipated.
  I finished cleaning up my mess, and decided I would start cooking supper - quiche (or as my mom calls it "quicky" ) was on the menu.  I put the pie shells in the oven (that was the only thing not from scratch) and started preparing the new recipe, the phone rang again.  This time it was the contractor and he needed to change our appointment to tomorrow - he was running behind.  No problem.  I really couldn't change my plans though, because the quiche needed to be cooked so I decided to stick with my original plan - and work on laundry and vacuuming (really - that's a plan)  So I took the pie shells out of the oven, but not without burning my arm on the oven rack.  And yes, I did have on oven mitts....  All this before 10:00 a.m.
  Thankfully, the remainder of the day only got better - let me rephrase that, it didn't get worse...
  The quiche turned out wonderful - looked great and taste even better.  I can't believe I wouldn't eat these as a kid.

After supper, I ran out to do some errands.  One of those was to buy a new sleeping bag for my camping trek in September.  It has been a long time since I had to purchase a sleeping bag.  They almost look like mummy wraps now.  I found a great deal at Sport Check/Atmosphere.   Then I had a quick meeting with my quilt lady.  I am having a quilt made for Ashley for her birthday (or it might end up for Christmas) using all her ribbons from horse jumping.  I can't wait to see the finished product.
  I also wanted to add a couple of notes for people:
                   Darcy, I tried the recipe for the Almond milk shake/smoothie.  It turned out good.  It tastes great, but I don't think it tastes anything like the frosty's you get from Wendy's - the texture isn't the same.
                    De:  I love the App. for the cards that you told me about.  Unfortunately the stores I have been to so far, don't have the technology to actually scan the bar codes yet, so they just take the number from my phone.  I don't think people in line like me.  Also, my Air Miles number won't even work when Safeways tried to copy it.  I guess I'll have to go back to the bulky old cards until Calgary gets with the program.
  Will try and get an earlier start tomorrow.
Stacey

Blog 17 of July

Saturday was Training walk day.  The Kidney March People help with training walks before the big day.  Saturday was an 18 km walk day (To be honest I thought it was the 13 km day), but my girlfriend Jean and I headed out for our (or at least my) biggest walk yet. We met up with Vince (who works for the Kidney Foundation and two other ladies who are walking the walk!

This is a view of Canada Olympic Park.  We started at the Crowfoot YMCA, down Nosehill drive and into Silver Springs.  We made it all the way to Sholdice Park before we headed back to the Y.  The weather was co-operating and the sun shone for most of the walk.  Coming back, we had to make a few detours when we came upon the Bowness area.  The flood had damaged a couple of bridges.  It was also heart warming to see all of the thank you signs that families had posted in their yard, to thank the volunteers who had come out to help them in the aftermath of the flood.
  Back to the walk - we made the entire trek in exactly 4 hours and 30 minutes.  That was with a couple of stretch breaks, and two pee breaks.  As jean pointed out to me, that was half of a day walk we would do during our walk in September.  I'm getting a little less nervous when I think of it that way.
  Jean drove me home after our walk, and after putting a few things away, getting family off to their own activities, I climbed into the soaker tub and enjoyed the warm water and jets on my overused, newly found muscles.
  On Sunday morning, I woke a little tired, but no major muscles aches.  I'm feeling a lot more confidant about this journey in September.  Hopefully I can finish up on the fundraising in the next few weeks, and focus on making that final goal!!!!!!
  Trying to get paper work caught up tonight so I can sit down and enjoy my book (it's a murder mystery) and a nice steamed vanilla milk, on a comfortable lounge chair, with my Taylor Swift blanket.  K, that was way too descriptive, because now I just want to quit the paper work and get right to the book.
Night.
Stacey

Blog 16 of July

Friday, and with it brings the end of the work week (for some)
Left at 9:30 for the Camp Kindle Kids Cancer Camp.  My partner in crime today was my friend Marie.  I picked her up at the C-Train station and we followed the Shepherd convoy out to camp.  It was a little busier this week as many of the corporate sponsors were out at camp.  The weather was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for a nicer day.

Afterwards, took Marie to meet a friend and  I headed home to get ready for dinner out.  It was the boyfriend's birthday and he wanted Chinese Food.  We met everyone down at the Regency Palace for dinner.  It was a nice get together, but the buffet wasn't as good as it used to be.  Patrick used the opportunity to confess his "oops" to his Dad.  This is the same "oops" that I had promised to keep a secret since last week (and it has been difficult).  This is what happened. Before Patrick left for Banff camp he was washing his Dad's car for him.  He put his IPhone on the roof of the car so he could listen to music.  He opened the trunk of the car to clean it out and his phone slid down the roof/back window.  Without thinking he closed the lid of the trunk, thus put a vice grip on his phone.  It still works, but there are cracks all over the phone.  I think the only reason that Patrick brought up the incident over dinner is because, Ethan's brother was also at dinner, and his phone was in such worse shape that Patrick's pretty much looked fine in comparison.  I actually took a video of Bill's reaction, and if you turn the sound down, all you can see is Bill shaking his head and then laughing.  Woo, for Patrick.
  So now dinner is over; Ashley and Ethan head to a movie; Patrick comes home with us but is heading out to meet his friends at 11:00 pm.  Bill heads to bed and I lay on the couch to read.  I know Ashley and Ethan will be home soon, so I wait for them.  I'm not sure what time they come home, but Maya and I are still on the couch. I must have dozed off shortly after that, because I don't wake up until I see Patrick come in the house.  He is looking at his phone and heads straight down stairs.  I guess he didn't see me on the couch, because he doesn't say good night.  So I grab Maya and we head to bed.  Bill is on my side of the bed, because it's closer to the open window and he must be overheating;  no problem.  I climb into bed and just get snuggled in, and my phone beeps.  It's a message from Patrick saying he's on his way home.  I can't believe how slow the server must be, because the message arrives after he's already home.  So I text back "It's ok, you're already home."  I get another quick response from him saying "What".  He must not remember that he sent me the text.  So I put my phone on the table and close my eyes.  I'm just starting to doze once again, and I hear the front door open.  Now I'm thinking someone didn't shut the door tight.  I get up, look at the clock, it's 3:00 am and here is Patrick walking in.  "Who the heck did I see earlier?"  All I can guess is maybe Ethan came back upstairs and I in my snoozy stupor I mistook him for Patrick.  Oh well, everyone is home safe and sound.  I head back to bed once again.  But now, the wind is blowing and Maya, has turned into this 5 pound fraidy cat of the wind.  I grab her and try cuddling her and petting her.  that last long enough before my arm gets tired and I stop.  She starts crying again.  So I take her out to the living room and put her in her bed and tell her to stay.  I go back to bed.  I hear her claws on the hardwood floor (remind me to cut them again tonight) and she is once again up on the bed, sitting up straight and whimpering like the bogey many is going to crawl out from under the bed.  I repeat the routine once again and take her out to the living room, put her in her bed with my stern command - STAY. She does and I return to bed once more.  I hear the click, click, click of her feet again, but then they stop and I hear Maya walk back to the living room. I'm smiling to myself, proud that I have just talk this 7 (or 8) year old chihuahua who is the boss.  That's when I hear the quiet whimpering once again, but this time coming from a farther distance.  I try to ignore it, but I know if I do, other people in the house will be woken up.  So I sneak out to the living room to see when she is hiding.  As soon as Maya sees me, she jumps up on the couch, as if to say "Thanks for rescuing mom, are we sleeping on the couch together."  I command Maya to go back to her bed so I can return to mine, which I do.  To make this long, long story (and even longer night) shorter, Maya and I ended up on the couch at 3:30 am. until 7:30 am when Bill woke me up, because my alarm had gone off.  Next time I am just shutting the stupid bedroom window and sleeping in the nude.  !!!!!!
Stacey

Blog 15 of July

I can't believe there are only seven days left in this month.  Happy Birthday wishes to my niece Jane.  She is 20 today - same age as her cousin Patrick.
  Even more scary, there are only 44 days left until the Kidney March.   It's creepy up very slowly.  I have two big training walks this weekend - 13 km on Saturday and 18k on Sunday.  Hopefully there will be bathroom breaks somewhere in that time!
  Exciting news with the Royals.  They have finally picked a name for the new Prince - George.  Now I have always thought of myself as a person who sees the glass half full, but I'm not going to lie, my first image when I heard George was.

  

I let the thought linger for a few moments and then I tried, successfully to conjure up another George image.

 

Much better.  

I didn't particularly care for the name at first, but then I realized he would be named after his great-grandfather, King George, so my sentimental side gave in.  But really, I'm not a good role model when it comes to naming children.  I'm not sure how Bill and I decided on Ashley's name, but it never dawned on me that her initials would be ANW.  Doesn't look back, but say it out loud!  Yeah, and I'm not even a big root beer fan.  Then Patrick's name came out of no where either.  I remember Bill and I did a list and he had Simon on his list - all I could think of was Simon and the Chipmunks...  Ashley wanted to name him Michelangelo, after one of the Ninja Turtles.  Again, I never thought through the initials.  P Wee - that has followed him through to his 20's, or maybe it's just me who calls him that!   And really, we end up calling them by their nicknames anyway - Goob and Bubba.  You can figure out who is who.  

Today is Wednesday, or Mom Day.  I stopped and picked a couple of items up for mom and then went for an early visit.  I helped her get her August and September birthday cards in order.  I left her with a couple of extra cards and told her, she would have to pick out my card this year!!!!  August and September are busy months for her - Dean, Doug, Amanda, Steven, Henry, Trevor, Nathan, Alisa, Stacey, Muriel.   After we finished the cards, I talked Mom into going for a walk around her building.  That is the first time I have done that walk, and it was beautiful.  Nice green grass, paved pathway, and beautiful gardens.  I think Mom was a little tired, but the weather couldn't have been nicer.  

Tomorrow is another walk day with my PREP girls.  

Congrats Kate and William!!!

Stacey

Blog 14 of July

The weekend went by way too fast and my accomplishments (other than relaxing) were few and far between.
I had great plans today, as I thought I was going to have the house to myself and I could get down to business.  Bill left early this morning to hit the gym, work at the office and then meet Bruce and Ashley and Ethan down at Salsa Fest.  I opted out of Salsa Fest this year as I found it too busy last year and the line ups were too long for salsa tasting. So that is Bill and Ashley out of the house.  That left Patrick.  I thought he was leaving at 11:30 for Banff - turns out he wasn't leaving until 1:30.  He was using the laundry room - so I couldn't start on that.  He was washing Bill's car, so I couldn't do that.  He was cooking breakfast - so I couldn't do that - oh wait I didn't want to do that, but I ended up watching stuff on the stove so he wouldn't burn the house down.  (plus ended up cleaning up his mess).
  Then there was Patrick's crisis - now I'm not allowed to blog about the actual event - just yet.  Because first he has to break the news to his Dad and that won't happen until he gets back from Banff on Friday.  So remind me Friday to tell you the woes of Patrick and .........  There was one funny story I can share.  After Patrick's incident... I asked him to move my car back into the garage.  He kindly did so, and then he threw me my car key.  I was standing at the garage door and I missed his catch.  Well my hand was just over top of the garbage can - you can probably picture the rest.  So here is Patrick, with his phone on (acting as a flashlight), fishing through the garbage (which includes the recent grass clippings from yesterday's mow) trying to find my car key.  If I could work my phone better, I would have put it on video.
  So Patrick's ride for Banff arrives at 1:45 (he's off to Banff to coach soccer for the week) and of course 15 minutes later Bill arrives home.  I'm actually looking forward to Monday to get something done.
  It's almost 8:00 pm and the house is once again empty so I am cleaning out my office and de-cluttering.  I have a card file where I keep cards from Bill and the kids.  I came across my Anniversary card from Bill for this year.  This was the one with the car surprise.   Here it is.

Then I continue through the card pile and I come across my Anniversary card from Bill from last year.  Here it is.

Hmm.  I asked Bill if he would just like me to save it so he didn't have to buy the same card next year.  The really sad part, I didn't realize it had been the same card either. Does this mean we are both getting old...

So busy week ahead - lots of appointments to make, etc.  Better get my list started.
Stacey

Blog 13 of July

Behind a couple of days.
Thursday I went for a training walk with some friends I used to work with at PREP.  It was a great outing, great walk, and great visit.  I sure do miss those ladies.  We did the Edworthy Park path.  It was weather perfect.
  Friday was The Kids Cancer Camp out at Camp Kindle.  Again, another weather perfect day.  It was a lot of fun, but then anything you do with Keith S. is fun.  Patrick had a car load of friends and Janice and I followed the convoy out.  This place is amazing and kudos for the people who put this on.  I'm looking into possibly volunteering next summer as an actual counselor.
  Got back home around 3:00 ish and Janice and I split a fruit beer and just visited.  It wasn't long after that I put my head down and I finally came too around 7:45ish. p.m. Not sure if I am finally caught up on my sleep or not.  Called Mom when I woke up and I must have awoken her as well.  She was a little more disorientated than I.  She thought it was 7:45 in the morning and was a little annoyed :1) that Bev hadn't woken her up 2) that she was still in her PJ's and 3)  that she had missed breakfast.  I explained that it was still Friday evening, and that seemed to calm her down.
  So now it's Saturday morning and the sun is shining, and the birds are singing and I'm heading outside to visit those friendly weeds. (they won't be expecting me)
  Enjoy your Saturday!!!
Stacey

Blog 12 of July

Yesterday was Wednesday, or what I call "Mom Day!"  Showed up for a visit, but Mom wanted a few groceries (thought we did that Friday)  Headed to Safeway, in the bullet (I did warn her) and picked up a couple of items.  I guess the outing was good for me too, because I picked up cake mixes, oil and eggs.  Got in one card store and headed home to see how far Bill had got with the yard work.  I don't think the yard gods want him doing anymore, because it rained in the afternoon and interrupted Bill once again.
   I am all baked out.  (If cake mixes count as baking)  Started and finished 150 cupcakes last night.  Thankfully none of them will remain in my house after tomorrow.  Heading out to volunteer at the Kids Cancer Camp on Friday and the theme is Dinosaurs.  I offered to bake some cupcakes (yes even though I knew there would be alot of people)  Kudos to Patrick for suggesting sour Dino candies for the topping because I was looking for the little plastic pre-historic creatures to decorate the top of the sweets!  There is no room in our fridge for anything right now and I must remember to put a note on the door - DO NOT TOUCH THE CUPCAKES!  
  As I was baking last night, a noisy and wet thunderstorm rolled through.  It was loud and eerie.  So much so, that even Maya needed to be held.  That put my baking duty on hold for about 15 minutes (couldn't scoop and hold the dog at the same time)  Out side the golf green was covered in white from the hail, and the funniest site was when the golfers were speeding by in their covered carts to get back to the club house; except one guy.  He actually stopped, got out of his cart (with the hail pelting down), walk to the edge of the green, looking for, what I assume would be his golf ball.  Really, are "balls" that expensive that you'd risk limb and life to look for it?  Or maybe, he just wanted to see how close he was to the pin.  Wouldn't that have been just his luck to have made a hole in one, and didn't know it!!!!!
  If any of you follow Patrick on Facebook, you'll see he has been posting some old photo's (mostly of himself) I had put a couple up, and it must have struck a sentimental nerve with him, because he went looking through the photo albums (that's usually my favorite activity)  I came across one that is one of my favorite.

This was taken at one of the cousins weddings.  It melts my heart every time.  Grandpa and his grandson and Grandma and her girls!
  Well I'm getting a late start, but am heading out shortly for my training walk.!!!  A little sun, and a little wind (just to keep the mosquito's away.)
 Stacey