I wrote in my last blog that I would revisit a certain topic, specifically that of the birds in the local bird sanctuary. My friend and I went to see the birds, and to feed them big bags of bread crumbs. The sanctuary is a fairy large, fenced enclosure, with walkways, lots of trees, a nice big pond with fake waterfall, a very nice, supposedly peaceful place to go, see the birds who happen to have landed at that particular moment in the season.
The problem with this particular trip is that there were a lot of birds with very gruesome injuries that day. There were lots of Canada geese with broken wings, at least one with a broken ankle. The same was seen in some huge, gorgeous, white swans. The ducks seemed okay, as did the grumpy looking, sleepy pelican. But these poor geese and swans. The first one I saw, I thought maybe he was the runt or something, and the others had attacked him. But then there were more, and more, and MORE...and we noticed that the angles of these broken wings and ankle were all the same, all very...odd. Not the kind of breaks you would expect from birds attacking birds. And definitely not in that large a number.
My guess is that some stupid people, be they drunk, stoned, or just plain rotten, went into this supposedly safe place for the birds, and thought it would be funny to catch them and purposefully break their wings. It wasn't funny, whoever you are. It was horrible, it was mean, it was criminal, it was torture, and will continue to be torture for all those poor birds. Now they will never heal because of the angles of those breaks, now they will never be able to fly again, and therefore they will die when winter comes. What hard-hearted, selfish monsters do that to animals?
And what about the parents with young children who went in there to have a fun day with the kids, to show them the nice birds, and then have to try to explain the scene worthy of a horror movie to these little kids, who, as all kids do, start asking questions about why that bird is holding its arm out and up and pointing that way, and what about that one and that one and that one and so on?
I took my friend there to show her what a neat place it was, but we ended up leaving sad, angry, and horrified.
I really hope the city has some sort of resource to help these poor birds that have suffered this horrible fate....but unfortunately, I kind of doubt it.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
She Finally Made It
I forgot a very important event when I was trying to catch up. A friend of mine, one of those soul-mate friends you see across a room and know it is them, a lovely woman who I met in my last year of university, finally had the time and the means to come and visit. She bravely hopped on a Greyhound and spent approximately 24-25 hours therein to finally arrive at my place with stories of interesting busmates. Then had to spend that long on the bus home again when she left. That's usually how these things work.
She was able to stay nearly a full 4 days, if you count by a 24-hour clock (she was short by about 3 1/2 hours). It was an amazing time, full of talking and laughter (ESPECIALLY laughter), memories rehashed, and a bunch of exploring. We hunted buffalo (to look at), fed an elk, fed geese and ducks and seagulls and tried to feed a pelican. We saw atrocities in relation to the birds (more on that in a future post) I taught her about geocaching, she helped me deliver flyers. We went to Costco for a hot dog and pop, and, of course, poutine. We went to the cheap theatre to watch "Up". We stayed up as late as we could (and proved ourselves to be old fogies by not staying up nearly as late as planned), and ate chips and such, while watching "Miss Congeniality" and, of course, "UHF" (because that is the kind of humour we like, among other movies, know what I mean, wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
I am so happy she was able to come. She lives a very busy (and seemingly fulfilling) life, so having the opportunity to claim that much of her time was wonderful. I miss having her here already, and hope she makes it back sometime, or that I manage to scrimp and save enough to go visit HER someday.
It was so nice to connect with a piece of those days again, to connect the dots in between than and now, and just realign the friendship to fit the changes we both have gone through over the past 11 years since McGill. And it was nice to have the mix of the Mommy-me, and the Debbie-me going on at the same time while she was here.
Here's to you, sweet Moosh.
The kids already want to know when you are coming again. :-D
She was able to stay nearly a full 4 days, if you count by a 24-hour clock (she was short by about 3 1/2 hours). It was an amazing time, full of talking and laughter (ESPECIALLY laughter), memories rehashed, and a bunch of exploring. We hunted buffalo (to look at), fed an elk, fed geese and ducks and seagulls and tried to feed a pelican. We saw atrocities in relation to the birds (more on that in a future post) I taught her about geocaching, she helped me deliver flyers. We went to Costco for a hot dog and pop, and, of course, poutine. We went to the cheap theatre to watch "Up". We stayed up as late as we could (and proved ourselves to be old fogies by not staying up nearly as late as planned), and ate chips and such, while watching "Miss Congeniality" and, of course, "UHF" (because that is the kind of humour we like, among other movies, know what I mean, wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
I am so happy she was able to come. She lives a very busy (and seemingly fulfilling) life, so having the opportunity to claim that much of her time was wonderful. I miss having her here already, and hope she makes it back sometime, or that I manage to scrimp and save enough to go visit HER someday.
It was so nice to connect with a piece of those days again, to connect the dots in between than and now, and just realign the friendship to fit the changes we both have gone through over the past
Here's to you, sweet Moosh.
The kids already want to know when you are coming again. :-D
Monday, September 14, 2009
Catching Up
I see, with shock, that is has been nearly 3 MONTHS since I last posted. It isn't that there has been nothing to blog about, but rather that we have been having so much fun and so much stuff TO DO that I just haven't gotten around to it. This will likely be at least a 2 parter, as I am only writing as I wait for Hubby to be ready to go somewhere.
Off to Value Village for their 50% off sale.
Let me see....Daughter finished her softball season with a rained out tournament. All the same, she ended up with a cool t-shirt and a really nice medal. Next year, Son will start t-ball or whatever.
I had yet another birthday. No big, blowout celebration or anything, just dinner and cake. About a week later, I took myself for an evening out. That was nice. I ate at Red Lobster (crab legs, yum!), puttered around Toys R Us (Total Mom, I know), then Canadian Tire, nabbing a few plants for my garden at 25 cents each as they were trying to clear them out, then off to the movie theatre to see "Up". Since then, I have watched the movie a total of three times...the first time was in 3D, the other times, not. The second was with a friend, the third with my family. Can you tell I love this movie?
Daughter finished her school year, and we entered into the madness of summer....Son and Daughter both took swimming lessons for 2 weeks each, one passed, one did not. We did tons of daytrips and such...plus Daughter had 4 days of Art Camp, where she created masterpieces and aside from all parental pride and bias, displayed an aptitude in the artistic field.
There were hot dog sales to run, flyers to deliver, people to see, birthday parties to attend, Chorus rehearsals to go to, a trip to the Science Center, the museum, we went to the Edmonton Ex and while there visited family, we went camping in Assiniboia, and visited family while THERE, Son had a birthday, complete with party....we tried our had at fishing, but only managed to catch our dog (poor baby.....thankfully we were able to get the hook out with no real damage)...we picked saskatoon berries by the ice cream pail-full, we geocached until we dropped, Daughter had a sleepover with two other giggly girls, we celebrated our 10th anniversary with no pomp and circumstance at all....and took our little family out to dinner with the money we received, to Applebees. We will whoop it up at a later date, when time and money are easier to come by.
And then the kids went back to school. Daughter goes all day, Son goes afternoons. Life has settled down a little, and I have hopes of someday soon reaching a peaceful level of clean in my house, as opposed to the harried slap-and-dash attempts to do 3 days of cleaning in 3 hours.
Well, looks like I caught up after all! Hopefully I will keep up a bit better now, so I don't have to try to remember 3 months all at once. :-D
Off to Value Village for their 50% off sale.
Let me see....Daughter finished her softball season with a rained out tournament. All the same, she ended up with a cool t-shirt and a really nice medal. Next year, Son will start t-ball or whatever.
I had yet another birthday. No big, blowout celebration or anything, just dinner and cake. About a week later, I took myself for an evening out. That was nice. I ate at Red Lobster (crab legs, yum!), puttered around Toys R Us (Total Mom, I know), then Canadian Tire, nabbing a few plants for my garden at 25 cents each as they were trying to clear them out, then off to the movie theatre to see "Up". Since then, I have watched the movie a total of three times...the first time was in 3D, the other times, not. The second was with a friend, the third with my family. Can you tell I love this movie?
Daughter finished her school year, and we entered into the madness of summer....Son and Daughter both took swimming lessons for 2 weeks each, one passed, one did not. We did tons of daytrips and such...plus Daughter had 4 days of Art Camp, where she created masterpieces and aside from all parental pride and bias, displayed an aptitude in the artistic field.
There were hot dog sales to run, flyers to deliver, people to see, birthday parties to attend, Chorus rehearsals to go to, a trip to the Science Center, the museum, we went to the Edmonton Ex and while there visited family, we went camping in Assiniboia, and visited family while THERE, Son had a birthday, complete with party....we tried our had at fishing, but only managed to catch our dog (poor baby.....thankfully we were able to get the hook out with no real damage)...we picked saskatoon berries by the ice cream pail-full, we geocached until we dropped, Daughter had a sleepover with two other giggly girls, we celebrated our 10th anniversary with no pomp and circumstance at all....and took our little family out to dinner with the money we received, to Applebees. We will whoop it up at a later date, when time and money are easier to come by.
And then the kids went back to school. Daughter goes all day, Son goes afternoons. Life has settled down a little, and I have hopes of someday soon reaching a peaceful level of clean in my house, as opposed to the harried slap-and-dash attempts to do 3 days of cleaning in 3 hours.
Well, looks like I caught up after all! Hopefully I will keep up a bit better now, so I don't have to try to remember 3 months all at once. :-D
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Quirky critters
It has been a week full of stories I could tell about animals. Two in particular.
First of all, there is Geo-Dog...not er real name, but that is the title she has earned because she comes along as we geocache, sometimes. She is a smart critter. We went geocaching this past week, along a walking trail in the middle of nowhere, pretty much. Searching for one particular cache, we went tromping through long grass and short shrubs, scratching up our legs pretty well. Son was not a happy camper when we got ground zero, and we never did find this cache. We were dreading the traipse back, and as we started out, I noticed that Geo-Dog seemed to know where she was going. I figured things couldn't get much worse, so I let her have her head and followed along at the end of her leash. Wouldn't you know my silly, soppy, half-crazed Black lab/shepherd/greyhound cross picked up the scent of other cachers? She led us along a nearly invisible trail....MUCH easier on the legs than our entry trail...and got us back to the path, goiung in a different direction from where we had come from? Pretty impressive. Now if only she could have left the ticks behind. We are STILL finding them!
The second story is about a little frog named Hopper. We had a lot of puddles in the ditches near our house, and could hear the frogs SCREAMING out their ribbits....so I thought it might be kind of cool to go frog hunting with Son and Daughter. So we went, annd we looked, and listened, and looked....and couldn't find anything because we were looking for frogs to match the loudness of the ribbits. I will never know how a sound that loud could come from a frog that small, but we finally found one, about an inch long. The kids were thrilled and set him up in a huge jar with a rock and water and such....and declared we would keep it forever. How to feed a frog? So I was out in the backyard daily, after some internet research, catching ants and beetles and anything I could find that moved. No luck. Hopper would not eat. One day, just out of desperation, I caught a housefly and got it into the jar. The fly was about 3/4 the size of the frog. Well....Hopper ate the fly....and died. My suspicion, based on the size of the fly was that Hopper either choked to death, or his tummy exploded.
I now have a tiny grave in my flower bed, with a rock saying "Hopper" on it, loving;y dug and created by my children. Silly frog.
First of all, there is Geo-Dog...not er real name, but that is the title she has earned because she comes along as we geocache, sometimes. She is a smart critter. We went geocaching this past week, along a walking trail in the middle of nowhere, pretty much. Searching for one particular cache, we went tromping through long grass and short shrubs, scratching up our legs pretty well. Son was not a happy camper when we got ground zero, and we never did find this cache. We were dreading the traipse back, and as we started out, I noticed that Geo-Dog seemed to know where she was going. I figured things couldn't get much worse, so I let her have her head and followed along at the end of her leash. Wouldn't you know my silly, soppy, half-crazed Black lab/shepherd/greyhound cross picked up the scent of other cachers? She led us along a nearly invisible trail....MUCH easier on the legs than our entry trail...and got us back to the path, goiung in a different direction from where we had come from? Pretty impressive. Now if only she could have left the ticks behind. We are STILL finding them!
The second story is about a little frog named Hopper. We had a lot of puddles in the ditches near our house, and could hear the frogs SCREAMING out their ribbits....so I thought it might be kind of cool to go frog hunting with Son and Daughter. So we went, annd we looked, and listened, and looked....and couldn't find anything because we were looking for frogs to match the loudness of the ribbits. I will never know how a sound that loud could come from a frog that small, but we finally found one, about an inch long. The kids were thrilled and set him up in a huge jar with a rock and water and such....and declared we would keep it forever. How to feed a frog? So I was out in the backyard daily, after some internet research, catching ants and beetles and anything I could find that moved. No luck. Hopper would not eat. One day, just out of desperation, I caught a housefly and got it into the jar. The fly was about 3/4 the size of the frog. Well....Hopper ate the fly....and died. My suspicion, based on the size of the fly was that Hopper either choked to death, or his tummy exploded.
I now have a tiny grave in my flower bed, with a rock saying "Hopper" on it, loving;y dug and created by my children. Silly frog.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Oh, yes, THAT makes it all better!
Ever had somebody say something to you that had the absolute opposite of the desired effect? That would be today. That would be me.
I went to one of our local hospitals, to visit a friend. She was signed in on Monday to have a baby. She had asked me to come visit sometime this week, if I could, in an e-mail she sent a few days before she was admitted. So I finally had a spare moment or three today. I dropped Son off at preschool (kids other than relatives are not allowed on the baby ward), and high tailed it to the hospital. Arrived shortly after one, to find that Baby/Mom quiet time was from 1-2PM daily. So I sat in the hospital hallway and read for an hour. I went in, and asked for my friend. The nurse checked her chart, then checked again. "Are you sure she isn't under another last name?" Nope. They asked when she had been signed in, I said Monday. She thought maybe my friend had been discharged, checked, STILL no sign of my friend. Another nurse walks in, so she asks HER. The nurse's response is "Oh,yes, we have her here...family is room 9, remember?" Oh, yes, says the other nurse. Are you family? No...just a friend. I get a strange look from the nurse who had known where my friend was, and she says "I'm sorry, you'll have to talk to her family...I DON'T WANT TO ALARM YOU, but I can't give out information....I'm sorry, but you'll have to call her husband to get information..."
And that was it. I was supposed to leave.
Um...I don't want to alarm you? Excuse me? That, right there, has me alarmed. Very. Because, you see, I still have no idea what that was all about. I don't know if my friend is in danger. I don't know if her baby is in danger. And because they live on a farm about 2 1/2 hours from me, and so her husband is fairly likely to stay in town until she is discharged, I have no clue how I would contact him short of stalking the hospital corridors until I catch a glimpse of him!!!!! And even if it WAS a simple task to contact him, just the looks, the demeanour, and the words "I don't want to alarm you" are enough to have me really, really afraid for my friend and nearly frantic in wanting to know what is going on.
Maybe if Hubby can watch Son, I can go back tomorrow and leave a message for him at the desk or something. Either way, it's going to be a long, worrisome night.
I went to one of our local hospitals, to visit a friend. She was signed in on Monday to have a baby. She had asked me to come visit sometime this week, if I could, in an e-mail she sent a few days before she was admitted. So I finally had a spare moment or three today. I dropped Son off at preschool (kids other than relatives are not allowed on the baby ward), and high tailed it to the hospital. Arrived shortly after one, to find that Baby/Mom quiet time was from 1-2PM daily. So I sat in the hospital hallway and read for an hour. I went in, and asked for my friend. The nurse checked her chart, then checked again. "Are you sure she isn't under another last name?" Nope. They asked when she had been signed in, I said Monday. She thought maybe my friend had been discharged, checked, STILL no sign of my friend. Another nurse walks in, so she asks HER. The nurse's response is "Oh,yes, we have her here...family is room 9, remember?" Oh, yes, says the other nurse. Are you family? No...just a friend. I get a strange look from the nurse who had known where my friend was, and she says "I'm sorry, you'll have to talk to her family...I DON'T WANT TO ALARM YOU, but I can't give out information....I'm sorry, but you'll have to call her husband to get information..."
And that was it. I was supposed to leave.
Um...I don't want to alarm you? Excuse me? That, right there, has me alarmed. Very. Because, you see, I still have no idea what that was all about. I don't know if my friend is in danger. I don't know if her baby is in danger. And because they live on a farm about 2 1/2 hours from me, and so her husband is fairly likely to stay in town until she is discharged, I have no clue how I would contact him short of stalking the hospital corridors until I catch a glimpse of him!!!!! And even if it WAS a simple task to contact him, just the looks, the demeanour, and the words "I don't want to alarm you" are enough to have me really, really afraid for my friend and nearly frantic in wanting to know what is going on.
Maybe if Hubby can watch Son, I can go back tomorrow and leave a message for him at the desk or something. Either way, it's going to be a long, worrisome night.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
The Stove, The Run, and The Rest
I seem to have this annoying habit of only writing once a month while consistently reminding myself at least a few times a week that I really want to write about this, that, or the other thing, so those of you who have decided to bear with me....thanks. :) I always seem to have a lot to write about when I actually sit down and DO it, and i invariably forget at least a dozen really good anecdotes along the way.
So...the last I wrote would have been what? May 11. There you go. Nearly a month ago.
Since then, as you see in the title, there has been a development on the stove. Namely, the thing decided to explode again. Same element. So we unplugged it and hucked it into the front yard, where some nice guys hauled it off to the dump for $35. And for $250 plus the $60 (?) delivery fee, I now have myself a nice, shiny, white, 9 year old ceramic top stove. YESSSSSSSSS! I love it! The thing MUST have been absolute top of the line when the people bought it new, they took amazingly good care of it, so it looks nearly new, and it is SO much easier to keep clean! No more having to take the burners out and scrub the metal plate thingies underneath because you spilled something, no more residue causing clouds of smoke if you forgot there was something under the burner.
On May 24, Daughter and I ran a 5km fun run. She did amazingly, running most of the way, and we finished in 46 minutes on the nose. Son was near the finish line and so grabbed my hand and ran through with us. I even have pictures! Next year we hope to improve on that time, but for her first run, that was AMAZING!
It was a lot of fun....and probably one of the only times when I have been fed a hamburger at 9:50AM (that's what all the runners got....a burger or hot dog, and a glass of juice, when they were done)
Other than that, not a whole lot has happened...had a farewell party for a beloved preschool teacher who just happens to be leaving the job after our youngest "graduates" from preschool in a few weeks. I have created sock monkeys for her and the other teacher there, to remind them of my little monkey (son). :)
I just came back this evening from a 24 hour retreat at an amazing place about an hour from here...it's called a "House of Prayer", and is run by a priest and some nuns....basically a place to go for peace and quiet, reflection, stuff like that. They feed you, give you a place to sleep, and basically stay out of your way. It was beautiful. Last year,there were deer just outside the window. This year was birds....bright yellow finches, blue jays, stuff like that. We went to plan our next steps for Chorus, but it was a nice restful place, too....if you discount having to share a double bed with one of my team when I am used to a king sized with Hubby.
Oh yes! And I gave Son a mohawk hairdo. No pics yet, but I'm sure I will get some eventually for you all to see. It actually looks really good on him, which even Hubby had to admit when we surprised him with it on his return from a 2-day trip to Kingston.
So...the last I wrote would have been what? May 11. There you go. Nearly a month ago.
Since then, as you see in the title, there has been a development on the stove. Namely, the thing decided to explode again. Same element. So we unplugged it and hucked it into the front yard, where some nice guys hauled it off to the dump for $35. And for $250 plus the $60 (?) delivery fee, I now have myself a nice, shiny, white, 9 year old ceramic top stove. YESSSSSSSSS! I love it! The thing MUST have been absolute top of the line when the people bought it new, they took amazingly good care of it, so it looks nearly new, and it is SO much easier to keep clean! No more having to take the burners out and scrub the metal plate thingies underneath because you spilled something, no more residue causing clouds of smoke if you forgot there was something under the burner.
On May 24, Daughter and I ran a 5km fun run. She did amazingly, running most of the way, and we finished in 46 minutes on the nose. Son was near the finish line and so grabbed my hand and ran through with us. I even have pictures! Next year we hope to improve on that time, but for her first run, that was AMAZING!
It was a lot of fun....and probably one of the only times when I have been fed a hamburger at 9:50AM (that's what all the runners got....a burger or hot dog, and a glass of juice, when they were done)
Other than that, not a whole lot has happened...had a farewell party for a beloved preschool teacher who just happens to be leaving the job after our youngest "graduates" from preschool in a few weeks. I have created sock monkeys for her and the other teacher there, to remind them of my little monkey (son). :)
I just came back this evening from a 24 hour retreat at an amazing place about an hour from here...it's called a "House of Prayer", and is run by a priest and some nuns....basically a place to go for peace and quiet, reflection, stuff like that. They feed you, give you a place to sleep, and basically stay out of your way. It was beautiful. Last year,there were deer just outside the window. This year was birds....bright yellow finches, blue jays, stuff like that. We went to plan our next steps for Chorus, but it was a nice restful place, too....if you discount having to share a double bed with one of my team when I am used to a king sized with Hubby.
Oh yes! And I gave Son a mohawk hairdo. No pics yet, but I'm sure I will get some eventually for you all to see. It actually looks really good on him, which even Hubby had to admit when we surprised him with it on his return from a 2-day trip to Kingston.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Modern Conveniences?
If you have been following my life the last little while, you will know that we have had some mechanical issues...car trouble, furnace trouble, etc. And the beat goes on.
I have to tell you a little bit more and some discoveries we have made over the past few months.
Our fridge was having issues at about the same time as our furnace. We got the furnace fixed, and our gas usage dropped like a rock, our power usage dropping a bit as well. So...with the fridge having issues, it reached a point where it probably would have been more effective to bury our food in the snow, as milk and fruit and veggies were turning into creatures of another kind. So we got out tax refund and went out to purchase a new fridge...new to us, not necessarily new altogether, but a much newer model anyway, reduced a fair bit because it was a scratch and dent. At the same time, spring started to arrive, so we went out and bought the gear for a clothesline and have started hanging our clothes out to dry instead of just hucking them in the dryer. I looked at our power bill for the past few months and discovered that JUST BY REPLACING THE FRIDGE AND NOT USING THE DRYER, we reduced our monthly bill by 25%!!!!!!!! What a shock!
Our stove has started going on the fritz, too...at least the element part....I was cooking something a few weeks back, and spilled something on the burner...water boiled over while I was cooking crabs, I think it was...and there was an EXPLOSION, complete with a green and orange flash of fire. It blew a fuse, which we replaced, but now it is super finicky...when you turn on the element, you need to have something to kind of push the element a bit further into the socket, and if you happen to be making hash browns, it will constantly turn itself off so that they take forever to cook...so for the most part, unless it's having a good day, we are down to three elements. It's one of the big elements, too. Bah. Give it another year, and that will be replaced, too. That will likely drop the power bill farther, too, as the fridge and stove were a set, so it's as old as the old fridge was, and so not very energy efficient.
We also had been having issues with our dishwasher over the last few months...it hadn't always been doing a good job. But it was "convenient", so we kept using it....until it started leaking. Last night we finally decided that this was it. We would just have to revert to hand washing the dishes. So I washed the supper dishes, and Hubby dried. I opened the drawer to get spoons for breakfast this morning, and was absolutely DAZZLED by the shininess of the cutlery! We got so used to the way the dishwasher did it that we didn't even notice how dull the dishes had become from build-up, we had just noticed the ones that had food cooked on. So we probably are using less water now, I can water my plants with the water from the dishes this summer, thereby reducing water consumption, the dishes will always be done right away, as we will need them for the next meal, so that should make the kitchen a bit tidier, with there being no dishes stacked up, waiting for the dishwasher, it will reduce our power usage even further....all in all, the dishwasher has become more of an INconvenience....by washing them ourselves, they are actually getting CLEAN! What a concept!
Makes you wish for the old days with a true ICE box, wood stove, wash the clothes in a bucket and hang them up to dry, and hand wash the dishes. Well....almost.
I have to tell you a little bit more and some discoveries we have made over the past few months.
Our fridge was having issues at about the same time as our furnace. We got the furnace fixed, and our gas usage dropped like a rock, our power usage dropping a bit as well. So...with the fridge having issues, it reached a point where it probably would have been more effective to bury our food in the snow, as milk and fruit and veggies were turning into creatures of another kind. So we got out tax refund and went out to purchase a new fridge...new to us, not necessarily new altogether, but a much newer model anyway, reduced a fair bit because it was a scratch and dent. At the same time, spring started to arrive, so we went out and bought the gear for a clothesline and have started hanging our clothes out to dry instead of just hucking them in the dryer. I looked at our power bill for the past few months and discovered that JUST BY REPLACING THE FRIDGE AND NOT USING THE DRYER, we reduced our monthly bill by 25%!!!!!!!! What a shock!
Our stove has started going on the fritz, too...at least the element part....I was cooking something a few weeks back, and spilled something on the burner...water boiled over while I was cooking crabs, I think it was...and there was an EXPLOSION, complete with a green and orange flash of fire. It blew a fuse, which we replaced, but now it is super finicky...when you turn on the element, you need to have something to kind of push the element a bit further into the socket, and if you happen to be making hash browns, it will constantly turn itself off so that they take forever to cook...so for the most part, unless it's having a good day, we are down to three elements. It's one of the big elements, too. Bah. Give it another year, and that will be replaced, too. That will likely drop the power bill farther, too, as the fridge and stove were a set, so it's as old as the old fridge was, and so not very energy efficient.
We also had been having issues with our dishwasher over the last few months...it hadn't always been doing a good job. But it was "convenient", so we kept using it....until it started leaking. Last night we finally decided that this was it. We would just have to revert to hand washing the dishes. So I washed the supper dishes, and Hubby dried. I opened the drawer to get spoons for breakfast this morning, and was absolutely DAZZLED by the shininess of the cutlery! We got so used to the way the dishwasher did it that we didn't even notice how dull the dishes had become from build-up, we had just noticed the ones that had food cooked on. So we probably are using less water now, I can water my plants with the water from the dishes this summer, thereby reducing water consumption, the dishes will always be done right away, as we will need them for the next meal, so that should make the kitchen a bit tidier, with there being no dishes stacked up, waiting for the dishwasher, it will reduce our power usage even further....all in all, the dishwasher has become more of an INconvenience....by washing them ourselves, they are actually getting CLEAN! What a concept!
Makes you wish for the old days with a true ICE box, wood stove, wash the clothes in a bucket and hang them up to dry, and hand wash the dishes. Well....almost.
Competitions, fires, and Clinics
It has been nearly a month since I last posted. I can't believe how much time has gone by. I have often thought about how I could post about this thing or that, and then have become busy and forgotten. So I will attempt a mish-mash effort, and hopefully will capture the majority.
My son got to visit French Immersion Kindergarten last month. It was a lot of fun for him in the one hour glimpse he got of the class. The other day he came up to me, and we have this conversation...
SON: Mommy, how do you say "can I"
ME: "Est-ce que je peux"
SON: Essejepa...how do you say "some"
ME: "de"
SON: duh..how do you say "milk"
ME: "lait"
SON: "lay"...can I have some milk?
ME: Est-ce que je peux avoir du lait?
SON: That's what I SAID!
LOL. He's a cutie.
The same week as his visit to kindergarten, I took off to Calgary for Regionals with my chorus. I drove down with three of my riser mates, and it was quite an experience. We had a lot of fun, but it took a lot longer to arrive than I had hoped, with two of them taking medications that, well, required us to stop...a lot. After the first half of the trip, I simply stopped asking if we needed to stop, and kept driving until someone begged to stop. Coming home, we added a car mate, which greatly increased the luggage, as she had just flown directly to competition from a two week visit to Scotland, so with much laughter and creativity, we managed to cram 5 people's luggage plus 5 people into my minivan without having to tie anything to the roof.
The hotel was very nice, and very big, involving escalators and elevators, the elevators being quite annoying, because if you got on the wrong one, it would not let you go any lower than the 3rd floor. There was one that went from the parking garage only to the lobby. And then there were the ones that went from the lobby to whatever floor you needed, but you had to make sure you swiped your room card to make it go...I was up on another floor, helping a riser mate put on her eyelashes, while my roomies returned to our room...I didn't have my key, so had to phone them so one could come up and get me! How embarrassing!
It was the first hotel I've stayed in since joining the Chorus that did not have a mini fridge. I brought all my food with me, knowing how much it would cost to eat out the whole weekend. Thankfully, I had brought a little cooler with me, so I visited the ice machine frequently...but by doing so, I spent about $60 on groceries to eat for 4 days...and I had leftovers!!!! Not bad, when you consider that eating out in the area we were in was costing my roomies about $20-$50 a MEAL.
I had quite an experience with my earrings...when lining up for our competition performance, we sang a song for the other chorus waiting in the lineup (it's a tradition), and right after we sang the last note, my earring fell off, into my hand. The backing was GONE...and there was no time to go looking for it. Thankfully, the costume chair had a clip on, so I traded her my one with no back for a clip on, and wore that. Right after our competition, I found the backing...let's just say close to my heart, but on the other side, all snug in my all-in-one. So I traded back for my earring, and had it on for the Show of Champions. Came down the elevator to line up for the Show of Champions...and discovered I had the backing on the back of my ear, but NO EARRING!!! I nearly had a heart attack! Happily, one of the other Choruses had found it on the elevator and given it to one of my riser mates. So I got it back just before we went off to perform. I was so paranoid, though, afraid it would fall off again....and when performing, you CANNOT be reaching up to check.
Prairie Gold (my chorus) placed 2nd Place Small Chorus, by one point (story of our lives...2003 International Harmony Classic, we came in 2nd by 1 point), and 8th Place Overall out of 16 choruses. Our lowest score ever, I think, but based on the kind of year we'd had, I think we did very well.
The drive home was a fair bit faster, as I drove until they begged, and it was a lot of fun. I arrived home around 9PM, and then standing in my kitchen, talking to Hubby, we heard something like thunder....twice...and THIS happened
http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Fire+damages+northwest+Regina+home/1537066/story.html
This is not OUR house, but rather a few houses down...close enough that there were sparks and embers landing in our back yard. I had two very frightened children, plus the little girl who lived next door to this. She was so scared, poor thing..."What's going to happen to my room? What about my flip flops?"...having that sort of thing happening to the house next to you when you are 5 is a big deal. Not that it isn't a big deal even if you are grown up, but I think it turns little kids' worlds upside down a lot more violently.
Last weekend, we went to a Flash Mob/ Geocaching event. It was a lot of fun. The flash mob part involved a peanut scramble. Son found a white peanut, and as a prize received a travel bug. We are very excited. We have an idea for what to do with it, so now we just need to carry it out and figure out where to hide it.
While we were there, we walked around the lake a little bit, and I had to laugh at how frustrated some poor beaver must have been. You see, there were these saplings near the water, along the walkway. They were supported with wires and sticks and such. A beaver had found one of these saplings, and decided it would make a good addition to its dam, so it had chewed the trunk and managed to fell the tree. One problem. The tree is attached to the ground by the wires! So you see this tree stump that has obviously been chewed by the beaver. Just above that, lying sideways and suspended in the air, is the top part of the tree, the bottom of which obviously matches with the trunk with beaver teeth marks, going NOWHERE. Poor beaver....all that work for nothing.
This past Friday, Son went to the cleft palate clinic, just to have everything given the once over, 4 months after his surgery. He is officially discharged from the clinic, as everything looks wonderful. They said we could get him back in the program anytime we needed, for example, they said when he hits the teen years, as his mouth grows, it may not grow properly and may reopen the muscles or make his adult teeth grow in wrong and his speech may deteriorate again....or it may not....but if anything happens, we can bring him back. Based on the fact his father had no such problem in his teen years, we are optimistic that this will not be necessary.
A the clinic, we met Peanut. This was a very cute, very friendly cocker spaniel, with one very special feature...Peanut has a cleft palate and hare lip. Let me tell you, this makes for an interesting face on a dog. He looked like he was constantly smiling out of the front, left side of his mouth. I wish I had a picture. What a great thing to bring to show to the kids with cleft palates...a doggy just like them!
Oh yes, I am a redhead again, though a darker redhead than usual...closer to my natural brown, but when in the sun, it shows the red very well. Not something that matters to most people, but I know some of you wanted to know if I had done it or not.
My son got to visit French Immersion Kindergarten last month. It was a lot of fun for him in the one hour glimpse he got of the class. The other day he came up to me, and we have this conversation...
SON: Mommy, how do you say "can I"
ME: "Est-ce que je peux"
SON: Essejepa...how do you say "some"
ME: "de"
SON: duh..how do you say "milk"
ME: "lait"
SON: "lay"...can I have some milk?
ME: Est-ce que je peux avoir du lait?
SON: That's what I SAID!
LOL. He's a cutie.
The same week as his visit to kindergarten, I took off to Calgary for Regionals with my chorus. I drove down with three of my riser mates, and it was quite an experience. We had a lot of fun, but it took a lot longer to arrive than I had hoped, with two of them taking medications that, well, required us to stop...a lot. After the first half of the trip, I simply stopped asking if we needed to stop, and kept driving until someone begged to stop. Coming home, we added a car mate, which greatly increased the luggage, as she had just flown directly to competition from a two week visit to Scotland, so with much laughter and creativity, we managed to cram 5 people's luggage plus 5 people into my minivan without having to tie anything to the roof.
The hotel was very nice, and very big, involving escalators and elevators, the elevators being quite annoying, because if you got on the wrong one, it would not let you go any lower than the 3rd floor. There was one that went from the parking garage only to the lobby. And then there were the ones that went from the lobby to whatever floor you needed, but you had to make sure you swiped your room card to make it go...I was up on another floor, helping a riser mate put on her eyelashes, while my roomies returned to our room...I didn't have my key, so had to phone them so one could come up and get me! How embarrassing!
It was the first hotel I've stayed in since joining the Chorus that did not have a mini fridge. I brought all my food with me, knowing how much it would cost to eat out the whole weekend. Thankfully, I had brought a little cooler with me, so I visited the ice machine frequently...but by doing so, I spent about $60 on groceries to eat for 4 days...and I had leftovers!!!! Not bad, when you consider that eating out in the area we were in was costing my roomies about $20-$50 a MEAL.
I had quite an experience with my earrings...when lining up for our competition performance, we sang a song for the other chorus waiting in the lineup (it's a tradition), and right after we sang the last note, my earring fell off, into my hand. The backing was GONE...and there was no time to go looking for it. Thankfully, the costume chair had a clip on, so I traded her my one with no back for a clip on, and wore that. Right after our competition, I found the backing...let's just say close to my heart, but on the other side, all snug in my all-in-one. So I traded back for my earring, and had it on for the Show of Champions. Came down the elevator to line up for the Show of Champions...and discovered I had the backing on the back of my ear, but NO EARRING!!! I nearly had a heart attack! Happily, one of the other Choruses had found it on the elevator and given it to one of my riser mates. So I got it back just before we went off to perform. I was so paranoid, though, afraid it would fall off again....and when performing, you CANNOT be reaching up to check.
Prairie Gold (my chorus) placed 2nd Place Small Chorus, by one point (story of our lives...2003 International Harmony Classic, we came in 2nd by 1 point), and 8th Place Overall out of 16 choruses. Our lowest score ever, I think, but based on the kind of year we'd had, I think we did very well.
The drive home was a fair bit faster, as I drove until they begged, and it was a lot of fun. I arrived home around 9PM, and then standing in my kitchen, talking to Hubby, we heard something like thunder....twice...and THIS happened
http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Fire+damages+northwest+Regina+home/1537066/story.html
This is not OUR house, but rather a few houses down...close enough that there were sparks and embers landing in our back yard. I had two very frightened children, plus the little girl who lived next door to this. She was so scared, poor thing..."What's going to happen to my room? What about my flip flops?"...having that sort of thing happening to the house next to you when you are 5 is a big deal. Not that it isn't a big deal even if you are grown up, but I think it turns little kids' worlds upside down a lot more violently.
Last weekend, we went to a Flash Mob/ Geocaching event. It was a lot of fun. The flash mob part involved a peanut scramble. Son found a white peanut, and as a prize received a travel bug. We are very excited. We have an idea for what to do with it, so now we just need to carry it out and figure out where to hide it.
While we were there, we walked around the lake a little bit, and I had to laugh at how frustrated some poor beaver must have been. You see, there were these saplings near the water, along the walkway. They were supported with wires and sticks and such. A beaver had found one of these saplings, and decided it would make a good addition to its dam, so it had chewed the trunk and managed to fell the tree. One problem. The tree is attached to the ground by the wires! So you see this tree stump that has obviously been chewed by the beaver. Just above that, lying sideways and suspended in the air, is the top part of the tree, the bottom of which obviously matches with the trunk with beaver teeth marks, going NOWHERE. Poor beaver....all that work for nothing.
This past Friday, Son went to the cleft palate clinic, just to have everything given the once over, 4 months after his surgery. He is officially discharged from the clinic, as everything looks wonderful. They said we could get him back in the program anytime we needed, for example, they said when he hits the teen years, as his mouth grows, it may not grow properly and may reopen the muscles or make his adult teeth grow in wrong and his speech may deteriorate again....or it may not....but if anything happens, we can bring him back. Based on the fact his father had no such problem in his teen years, we are optimistic that this will not be necessary.
A the clinic, we met Peanut. This was a very cute, very friendly cocker spaniel, with one very special feature...Peanut has a cleft palate and hare lip. Let me tell you, this makes for an interesting face on a dog. He looked like he was constantly smiling out of the front, left side of his mouth. I wish I had a picture. What a great thing to bring to show to the kids with cleft palates...a doggy just like them!
Oh yes, I am a redhead again, though a darker redhead than usual...closer to my natural brown, but when in the sun, it shows the red very well. Not something that matters to most people, but I know some of you wanted to know if I had done it or not.
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