Catching Up

Have you ever noticed how life sometimes just creeps up on you? My brother pointed out that I hadn't updated my blog in over a year, and so I posted a "hang on, I'll update" note....and promptly fell into life again.

So here I am to try to update everyone on life in general....I continued as a school bus driver, and really liked it, and was switched in April of 2013 to a route that was going to be my permanent, forever one, but had to quit on Valentine's Day this year because my husband got a job that looked to be exactly what he wanted, with the one downside being that we were going to have to move. More on that later.

In April of 2013, my little brother had an aeortic aneurism. He ended up being flown from Fort McMurray to the Edmonton Heart Institute (or some name like that) for 10 hours of open heart surgery. It was apparently due to a birth defect, involving a bicuspid aortic valve (it is supposed to be tricuspid, you see). That was a scary time for us all, as he was only 31 years old.
The good news is that he got through that, and after a few months of rehab and healing, was able to go back to his job up north, and he seems to be doing just fine. He comes down for his one year follow up in a few days.

My daughter's ankles seem to have repaired themselves, and other than the occasional flare-up, she seems to be back to her normal self, which is good now that she has to walk to and from school. Physiotherapy seems to have done the trick, though they never did come up with an answer to what the problem was without turning around and changing their minds.

On my birthday this year, our pastor and his wife were in a terrible motorcycle accident when a deer ran out in front of them. Our pastor needed surgery and a lot of healing, and unfortunately his wife did not survive. It was really hard time for everyone at our church, as she was a real spark of life. She was the kind of person that just radiated happiness and love and she is very much missed.

In the summer, I signed up to drive my school bus as a shuttle between the city and a major country music festival, at night. Never again. Never. The people on my bus were, for the most part, well behaved, thank goodness, but some of them were too drunk to fish, if you know what I mean. It was hard to communicate with some of them, and I had one instance where I had to argue with someone who insisted I let them out at a spot I was not allowed to stop, and they even told me they could just "tuck and roll if I'd just open the doors"!!! We are talking about highway here. NOT that it would have made any difference where it was.

We took the kids across the border to the North Dakota State Fair. It was a lot of fun, a combination of Regina's Queen City Ex, Agribition, and Farm Show all rolled into one, but I don't think I would do it again...the cost of the travel plus the cost to be there really does add up. I think in the future we will just stay local.
We took our giant 13 man tent and camped at a place called Black Butte while there. It was awesome. We used air beds, so we were comfy enough, and the tent separates into 4 rooms, basically, so we had three bedrooms and a porch for the 4 of us. The campground was out in the open, very primitive, according to the owners, but to our view it was not primitive, it was perfect...there was a sandy area for the kids to play, a well, a fire pit, a barbecue, picnic table, a light in the middle of the field, and a permanent outhouse. We could hear coyotes howling in the distance, and see lots of stars at night.
I think you could fit maybe 4 families in the campground, but we had it all to ourselves. It was heavenly.

I got to be the cool mom as I went with my daughter to see Simple Plan at the local fair. We came away happy, half deaf, and disgusted by the cigarette smoke and hint of weed that was floating all around for the whole concert.

My son went to Cub Camp for the first time...9 days away from home. He had an amazing time, though the people running the program must have hated us...somehow we got the times wrong, so he got TO camp about 5 hours late...and so I had hubby ask someone about when to pick him up, and that person gave us wrong info, so we picked him up 3 hours LATE. I felt AWFUL. But he survived and got to go to a bee farm and get honey, he built his own tool box and step stool, made leather stuff, and just generally had a blast.

I took a Greyhound across the country to attend one of my two high school reunions (I moved in high school, so get to claim two high schools). Twenty year reunion. How did that happen? In any case, it was a good trip, though I didn't enjoy the ride as much as I used to when I was younger. I got to get the foods that are not available at home...Quebec poutine, spruce beer and nectar (both types of pop)...stuff like that. It was good to see people I had not seen in over 20 years (I could not make it to my 10 year reunion), and to connect with some of them on Facebook afterwards.
Along the trip, there was a stop at A&W going both ways. They were selling a jalapeno teen burger, and sweet potato fries with chipotle dip. I was in heaven. :) I am so happy they still have the sweet potato fries and dip, and the current special of Spicy Blue Cheese Teen Burger is really good, too.

Starting in September, my husband started to be away...A LOT! A company he was working for had a huge number of clients that needed the work done, and my husband was the main guy, so they asked him first. It got a little rough, having him gone more than he was home over a period of about 5 months. That started the whole new job thing, too. He wanted something a bit more 9-5, a bit more solid home/work separation.

In November, my husband surprised me. Do you remember that ad where the husband is being driven to the airport by his wife, and she is kind of depressed, and as she stands beside the car at the airport, ready to say goodbye AGAIN, she says "Where are you off to THIS time?", and he pops the trunk, there are two suitcases, and he says "Paris. Wanna come?"....well, he TRIED to do something like that, except it was Niagara Falls, and he ended up having to tell me a few days ahead of time because he had troubles figuring out a few of the details, such as getting the kids packed to go to the grandparents, getting the dog to the kennel without me freaking out over the fact the dog was missing...stuff like that. But he had it planned out in deep detail. Kids to my parents', dog to the kennel, he went and talked to my boss and got her in on it so I could miss some days of work, told my friends in Ontario that I was coming so they could plan to come see me...it was awesome and romantic.

While we were there, we found this amazing sushi place. They give you a page of all their sushi and you check off with a little pencil what you would like. Then they bring it, and another page, and if you want more, you check off the new page, and so on. We ate SO MUCH sushi!!!!! :)
There was also a place called Smoke Poutine. I highly recommend it if you ever see one. The poutine is huge, and they have about 20 different options, from your basic poutine to one with smoked meat on top, to steak, to chicken, and so on. Yum.

We took off down to the States for one night, just over the border into New York. Can't remember the city, though. Started with "M". Anyway, we went to a movie theatre there. I WANT a theatre like that here!!! Reclining armchairs with cup holders, pretzel bites with hot cheese dip, a serve-yourself pop bar where you can create your own pop (if you wanted, you could have weird and wonderful combinations like raspberry coke). Very cool.

Our furnace died at the end of November. Not cool. Or I guess REALLY cool...COLD that is!!! The motor had burned out and it needed a new belt too. While the guy was here, a coyote ran down the street, right in front of our house! THAT was pretty cool...and freaky.

We spent a week over Christmas in Edmonton. Treated the kids to TWO days at West Edmonton Mall...one day at the Waterpark, and one day at Galaxyland. It was a lot of fun...and very tiring. They had fun seeing their grandparents and their aunt, all of whom spoiled them. :)

Both kids were on a bowling league this year, and both did quite well, though much to our son's frustration, his sister beat the pants off him, score wise, despite it being her first year and his third. They have a year end banquet coming up, and with her having won a gold medal in Junior Doubles, I think she has a shot at winning a trophy this year, too.

At the end of January, my husband had an interview for a new job. It was a province away, but it was a Monday to Friday job (with a rare Saturday, about 8:30-5:30, doing what he is good at, in an area of expertise where he wanted to be, with a better salary. Part of me was excited, part of me was not sure I wanted this. I had lived in the same city for 12 years and wasn't sure I was ready to move on. It took three interviews, in fairly quick succession (about 2 weeks?), but he did get the job. And it started in 2 weeks. So he left before we did, and I was left to pack up the house, arrange for painters, deal with the real estate agent, notify everyone and everything that we were leaving/quitting, and get myself, two kids, a dog, a cat, a hamster, and way too many items jammed into the minivan for a 10 hour one-way road trip to a place I had never been, to a house I had never seen, except for pictures and a mini video my husband took while house hunting. It was rough. But here we are, and I really do like it here. It's nice, it's friendly, it's quiet. The kids each have their own school, and both have to walk to and from school. It is good because this way they can't bug each other at school, they have their own identity (and not as X's brother or sister), and they are getting a bit of exercise each day as they walk.

Getting things switched over in terms of our cars has been an absolute nightmare. They had to go through an Out of Province Inspection before I could get new plates. I put the newest one through first, figuring it would pass, no problem, but no...they required about $2000 of work and fees to be paid before it was passed and plated, and it was down to the wire, time wise, to get the parts fixed because there was one part that was supposedly back ordered for weeks (and you get TEN DAYS from the inspection to get it all done)...I found a place with the part, an hour away, and it was done on day 9, and the reinspection was done on day 10. Then we took the older car in. It failed, of course. So I had to make an appointment for THAT...a week later. Two full days of repairs and about $3000 later, that one is finally done on day 8. That was just ridiculous. I never want to do that ever again.

I have been back to being a stay-at-home mom for the last little bit, just while we get everything unpacked and settled. I hope to find another school bus driver position in May, or at the very least for the fall.