Catch Up Fridays

(Cathy) Remember last week when I told you Hubby was going to South Africa for work? He's there and he seems to be having a great time! He flew into Johannesburg, 17 hour flight, two movies and good food and no sleep. He and his travel buddies were picked up and given the tour. He said it's hot and humid, 27C. It's summer there now. E-mailing has been touch and go, however, we can text without a problem or delay! Hubby says the food is great. All meat and no veggies. He and his fellow travellers joke that chicken is considered a vegetable! Our younger son would love it! I hope that he is having a good time. How are you and the kids doing Cathy?
We are surviving. It's just like when he was working away this past summer. I get the impression that travel afar will become a permanent part of his job!
Hubby told me, via text, that they are going to a pub in a gold mine. I don't have much info but from what I can figure out a pub was built in the cavern of an old gold mine, deep underground. They are trying to go to a few museums and maybe a game reserve. Work, eh??? Hey, Sunshine...doesn't it sound like Mr. Sunshine when he goes to play golf!!! (Sunshine) I feel for you Cathy. Being at home and taking care of everything while they are away can really suck sometimes.
This week is flying by and the "mom" taxi is in full swing.... who needs to go where, when????
I hope Hubby has a chance to take some photos and if he does I will try to post some next week.

On another note, I spoke with Louise this week. She is doing better and things are starting to find their way into a schedule. Her older daughter has chicken pox, poor thing! She is in high school and Louise had to get her a doctor's note so there would be no trouble as she is missing end of semester exams. Our boys had the chicken pox twice, each! Has anyone heard of anyone getting the mumps lately or is that all gone now because of the immunization program? (Carolin)I have not heard of anyone getting the mumps. But poor girl with the chicken pox, the little one has not had them and I would like her to get them while she is still young. I have not heard much about the mumps but I had a really bad case of the chicken pox when I was younger and it was so not fun. I hope that Louise's daughter feels better really soon.

Another busy week is just about over, I do look forward to my weekends. You would be very proud of me as I made dinner everyday this week! I was getting tired of the husband's efforts or bringing home leftovers. But now we have so many leftover dinners in the fridge that tomorrow night will be a smorgasbord dinner! I saw in the local paper an add for the open house. Will you be providing the "hot lunch" with the RSVP???????

I am not one to make New Years resolutions but I have set some goals and one is to make dinner at least three nights a week. And the big one is to use up the huge amount of food we have in this house. So no more buying and stocking up cause the price is good cause we need to use up what we have. Every once in a while I too go through all of the cupboards and freezer and use it up. It's interesting all of the food items that get pushed to the back of the shelves.

I am going to a Pampered Chef party this Sunday. Not that I need anymore stuff but because the person hosting it is a friend from when I was a kid. Her family lived across the street from us. We haven't seen each other in 25 plus years; however, we have been chatting on FB for the past two years. Two of her sisters live in the same city as me. So the oldest (who happens to be named Carolyn ) will pick me up and then we will head an hour away to have some fun. I am really looking forward to it!

It seems as though everyone has hit the January blues this week. Everyone seems to have had enough of all of this cold weather and is starting to go stir crazy. It has been a pretty boring week. Nothing new to report. The kids are busier then ever, Mr Sunshine (did you all hear about the new show starting soon called, "Mr Sunshine with Mathew Perry"?He was away for most of the week and I had a few days off this week. So I caught up on some cleaning and did a little bit of shopping and my time off has now come to an end. That is cool, and Matthew Perry to play Mr. Sunshine. Not bad, not bad. Can you arrange to have George Clooney play the friend Carolin's husband? Please! What are the two of you talking about??? What's Mr. Sunshine into now?????

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope all is well and everyone had a good week!

Catch Up Fridays

(Cathy) Another week gone. Christmas is only 49 weeks away, I think!!! (ha, ha, ha). O.K. So what kept me busy this week. Well. Hubby is going away on another business trip. This one to South Africa! I kinda wish I was going with him. It's summer there now. He has to take a laptop as he will be working, (natch!) (What is a Natch) so upon investigation we discovered that South Africa in on 220V. No problem, we have a travel adapter/converter kit. Only it turns out that South Africa is still using a plug originating from England from way back. It's a type L and is not included with most travel adapter kits. I was thinking that with the world cup just having happened that it would not be hard to find the plug. Well, I guess they are all still sold out and have yet to be replenished! After a week of calling around and researching on the Internet I finally found out that the CAA sells them. I would never have thought of them and I was lucky to have read about it on a travel forum. Before leaving work yesterday I asked the manager of the airport travel store and where before I was told they did not have them, lo and behold he had one! Yeah! South Africa sounds very cool. Where exactly is he going. Cathy, I know that it is going to be a tough week for you and your family but you will be extra busy and hopefully it will fly by. Tell hubby to have a safe trip.

That was my week, exciting, eh!
(Carolin)I am on the new laptop I got for Christmas and am finding very, very frustrating. The keyboard is a little different so I press the wrong keys all the time. And then for what ever reason the keyboard does random things. I can't use the question mark cause when I try I get the French E. I thought I had turned off the keyboard shortcuts as they are a pain in the *&% but obviously not.

Carolin, how are things at your home? Duster was a great cat. I always liked him and thought he was very smart. He always looked like he had something important to say. Home is fine, because as it was a family agreed upon decision it is good here. A few times throughout the week I thought I heard him meow. I think about him in the mornings. I guess that is when I would notice him the most. (Sunshine) I heard phantom noises when our dog died too and I would feel him brush against my leg like he always did. I takes a while for that to go away but your pet will always be in your heart.

Kids have exams next week. Already through the first semester, time is flying by much to fast. Let's try to find a Friday night to go out. Just us adults. Let me know what works. Sounds good Cathy, I know that Mr Sunshine is away a lot until the end of March but I will get a date for you. That's all for me. Hope everyone had a good week. We are half way through the school year! The husband and I meet with the little one's teachers and went over her IEP (individual education plan). I also spent some time on the phone with the psychologist that performed her assessment and we discussed what everything meant and what the expectations are for the future. I read a book he recommended about parenting the anxious child. There were a few chapters where you would have thought they had written the chapters while watching our home life. It is the little one to a tee! Anyway, I photocopied a few chapters that were relevant to us for the teachers to read. Hopefully it will help them when understanding and working with the little one. Best of luck with everything that's going on, I know that it will all be fine in the end.

Work was brutal this week. The manager and one of the other girls were both off sick all week. I worked 9 to 10 hours every day this week. It was just me and one other girls and some extra help for a few hours depending on the day. The girls had to bus it on some days and I had help from Mr Sunshine on other days in terms of getting them where they needed to go. Mr Sunshine has a nasty stomach flu virus so it wasn't a great week for him either. I am beat and I was looking forward to relaxing this weekend but I had forgotten that we had already planned my father in law's birthday this Saturday and my sister's birthday this Sunday. I have to go now and get ready for the first round of guests, they will be arriving shortly. I am so happy that next week is exams because I actually have a few days off.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Catch up Fridays

(Sunshine) Sorry for missing last week ladies but time just slipped away. The "Manager" was away all week because she was off sick so that meant starting work at 8:00am and finished at 3:00pm. It was busy and tiring as we were short staffed all week but we made it. I was so happy to have Friday finally arrive. My sister's mother-in-law unfortunately passed away on the Thursday so we had the funeral to attend on the Friday and Saturday. I spoke to my dad on Thursday evening and he was a little bit under the weather but still insistent on going to the funeral the next two days. When I spoke to him on Friday evening he was so much worse. He was very disoriented and didn't know what time of day it was. It was 8:00 in the evening and he thought that it was 8:00am. After some probing, I learned that he had not been out of bed for over two days. He had not even had anything to eat or drink in that time period. My sister was on her way to visit with him and I asked her to bring him over to my house. He looked horrible. He could barely stand and he was clearly wheezing when he breathed and his cough sounded awful. Well, off to the walk in clinic on Saturday and the doctor said that we got him there just in time. He said that he had a very severe bronchitis and if one more day would have passed then he would surely have pneumonia. He is on strong antibiotics and two puffers. He didn't argue when I told him that he had to stay with us for the week or so because he was really sick. So its been a very busy week. Everyone took shifts to stay with him during the day while I was at work and then I was on shift for the rest of the day. I am happy to report that 6 days later he is doing much better. We will take him back to the doctor on Saturday, as per doctors orders and see how he is doing. (Carolin) Wow what a week. I am glad to hear your Dad is getting better and I am sorry to hear about your sister's mother in law. (Cathy) I'm glad your dad is feeling better. Please pass on our condolences to your sister. You had such a busy week. I was just home sick with the flu. The real flu! I haven't had the flu in years and I forgot just how sick you can get with it. Did anyone get the flu shot this year and have you in years past. I'm inclined not to get it just yet as I am still not convinced about having stuff injected into me every year.

Well a decision was made in our family. The whole family has agreed that Duster (the cat) will be going to the human society to be put down this Saturday morning. At this time nobody will be coming with me. It is going to be a hard weekend for all of us. I found I was choking up when I called to make the appointment. The little one has been taking photos and videos of Duster all week long. Oh Carolin, this is just so sad. I remember how it was when we had our dog Tiffany put down. I think about it often. Duster was lucky to have you all for family. I really liked Duster, too and I will miss him.

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and New Year and I look forward to seeing everyone soon. I thing that I need to catch up on all of my phone calls and e-mails and text messages this weekend.

God Bless.

Catch Up Fridays

(Cathy) I almost forgot it was Friday. Still trying to get back into routine, I guess. It's been a busy week being mom taxi. Mom taxi is my new role for 2011. The older one works as a swim instructor/lifeguard 3 days a week after school. This is a good thing and Hubby and I get a kick out of seeing him in the pool teaching. Yes, we went to watch the first day! It's neat to see a goal realized as we started him in swimming lessons when he was three years old. Our younger one is a volunteer swim instructor once a week and has honour band practice once a week. With that and piano lessons it will be a busy winter.

Yeah!!!! It finally snowed!!! Skiing here we come! It feels so good to be outside with two narrow lengths of whatever skis are made of strapped to my feet and point myself downhill and go. I am not a great skier, however, it's still exhilarating even on the green hills! (Carolin) To each their own, Cathy. But you are right about the snow, finally we have snow!! It is beautiful outside, not too cold and everything covered in a blanket of white.

It has been a crazy first week back to routine. We celebrated the teenagers 19th birthday last Sunday. We went to a dinner theater and saw Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat. Unfortunately, no Donny Osmond but it was still pretty good. The teenager spent a lot of the time watching the conductor and leaned over to tell me she misses her music! This from the girl who said 6 months ago how she hated playing and never wanted to do it again!

Last night we got all dressed up (make-up and everything!) and witnessed the wedding of the husband's baby sister. The wedding and cocktail reception were all at one location, which I must say was very nice. She has married into a large family whom seem to love her and her kids. It was very beautiful and touching. But it did make for a late night and the husband had to be at work for 6:30 this morning.

So this is the situation at our house. The cat, 'Duster', has been a part of the family since the teenager was 5. He is now 14 year old and has been sick with an immune disease for at least 5 years now. He takes meds for it, really not a big deal but for the last 6 - 9 months he has not been using the litter box for his bowel movements. Yes, I know gross, I have mentioned many times that he needs to be put down as this is not acceptable. The rest of the family has argued with me. For the last month or so he has been getting worse, we find his mess daily. We are now keeping all the rooms that have doors on them closed to stop the unwelcome surprises. The husband is now on my side and agrees Duster has to go.

Christmas morning as the teenager is passing out the gifts from under the tree. She puts her hand in something wet. Yep, you guessed it, he is now peeing on whatever he wants. Needless to say she is now on the side of the cat has to go. We now just have the little one who cries when ever the issue of the cat is raised. Duster now pees regularly on my living room floor. I am having a fit as it will seep into the hardwood and we will never get the smell out. So as of yesterday I told the little one she is now responsible for cleaning up the cat's mess. She had to do it yesterday and then again today when we got home from church. She was not happy but has now agreed that I can call the vet.

I feel bad about the whole thing but I don't know what else to do. Oh yes, we have taken him to the vet and tried numerous different things but nothing has worked. As well as having this immune disease the vet also says Duster has irritable bowel syndrome and that is why he won't use the litter box.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas...!

(Cathy) Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Wow, here we are on the twelfth day of Christmas, or Epiphany:
noun, plural -nies.
1. ( initial capital letter ) a Christian festival, observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi; Twelfth-day. (dictionary.com)

It's after the last day of Christmas that I start to take down all of the Christmas decorations... by myself. Have you noticed that it's a family activity to decorate the home for Christmas, however, it's mom's job to take it all down and somehow get it all to fit again in all of the small boxes. How did that tradition evolve? I know,... it's counted as a physical exercise which will remove all of the excess weight gained over the holiday! After today....no more cookies!!!!!!