Top Ten 2005

Well, the year is almost complete. A time to reflect on what has happened in 2005. I came up with a list of a few of my favorite things of the past year, in random order.

#1 I tanned for the 1st time in a tanning bed and enjoyed it! In preparations for a trip to Hawaii, I bought some minutes to give myself a base as I am quite sensitive to sun rays, more specifically, developing a blotchy, itchy rash. So I wanted to prep my skin a little to enjoy the warm rays. A not so good memory was applying some of Daryl's tanning lotion (I think it's all about the smell) which resulted in a great rash a few weeks prior to leaving on our trip. The pre tanning did help and I really enjoyed the warmth of lying in the bed!

#2 Sledding with my sisters and girls in Moose Jaw. We went to visit my sister in Moose Jaw and decided to go sledding with my girls. Who knew 2 old ladies could fly that fast!

#3 Riding down Haleakela on a bike! That was a high light for me on our trip. Daryl and I got up at 2AM to ride down the mountain at dawn. Only about 10 seconds of pedaling was required. It was very cool.

#4 Playing in the waves. We learnt quickly how powerful the waves were and that sand can exfoliate everywhere!

#5 Snorkeling. Something I never thought I would do, I did and I enjoyed. Looked like a geek with a boogie board and waistbelt, but I did it!

#6 Painting Becky's room while she was gone at camp. She had no idea we were redoing her room and she was absolutely shocked when she got home.

#7 Daryl's 40th. Wow...it was fun to have a party for my old man.

#8 Matt and Cass's wedding. I can't believe my little ring bearer got married. He picked a great gal, what fun!

#9 Almost peeing my pants laughing at our girls weekend away in June. We went to the lake and some of the girls sunk on the rocks due to the moisture content underneath. Doesn't sound funny in print, one of those "ya had to be there" moments.

#10 "This is the best Christmas ever!" was what we heard Christmas morning from our kids.


These are only a few memories of the past year. There are plenty more. I know 2006 will bring many more memories.
Happy New Year!

Christmas 2005

Well, it's almost over. We have some gatherings on New Years but so far, Christmas has been pretty good. I would rather not be working to enjoy it even more but hey...someone has to do it.
So, I was spoiled on Christmas morning. Daryl bought me my own digital camera as well as a photo printer...I was shocked. It was on my list but I never really thought I would get it.

Jenny's injury is from a gift when she wasn't quite ready to catch.
Merry Christmas everyone!

Getting dressed is dangerous

I am supposed to be at work right now but I had a little incident this morning. I had a great sleep and I had showered getting ready for my 8 hour day shift. It all came crashing to a halt when I bent over to put my socks on. Ahhh! the old excruiating pain to my low back/hip area. I've had worse pain to the area where I couldn't move, but today it totally aches in any position I try. Standing isn't great, sitting has to done carefully and lying down is OK, it's the getting up that is scary. So, anti-inflammatories are my friend today. It's going to be a finish my book, have another cup of coffee and pass the Advil please day!

Funny for the day

Sent to me from my lovin niece Kristin. (This made me laugh)

My husband, not happy with my mood swings, bought me a mood ring
the other day so he would be able to monitor my moods. When I'm in a
good mood, it turns green. When I'm in a bad mood, it leaves a big red
mark on his forehead.

Nutcracker

My sister sent me this picture, a rare one of myself and Daryl together. As she pointed out...who's the nut? Daryl can't let go of the nutcracker!

Christmas & more is around the corner

Well, the snow has fallen and mostly stayed, although we are experiencing some pretty mild weather this weekend. So, I took advantage of a slightly larger paycheque to start the Christmas shopping! Wahoo! It was good. Fun to pick stuff out for the girls and get some other smaller gifts. Today I asked Jenny what scent she was wearing as she was fragrantly different after they picked me up for work. She said it was about 20 different scents together as they were at Fruits and Passion looking for a birthday gift. A birthday gift....hmmmm, "for who?" I asked...fully knowing she had let something slip. After that she was much less talkative and couldn't answer anymore questions! Reminds me of when I took Becky shopping for a Christmas gift for Daryl when she was about 4. Daryl asked her when they got home what we bought. She flat out told him.....

And for something totally different, check out what my good friend Charlene and her family saw today...I'm totally jealous!

wielersafrica.blogspot.com

Halloween 2005

Well, the girls and Daryl dressed up and were eager to get their goodies. I handed out treats to just over 60 kids, one of my favorites was a tiny pink poodle, she must have been about 2. We have enough candy to last until the May long weekend, although Jenny will make a good dent in hers at every opportunity. Apparently Daryl made some small kids cry with his costume....Becky sang when asked to "one for the money, two for the show...." and Jenny's face is still a little orange this morning. I've had an O'Henry bar for bedtime snack as I head for bed this morning after working the night shift. Oh the sugar high!

The old peanut butter trick....

After going to church and having a nice quiet lunch with good friends, we came home and the adults in the house tried to have an nice afternoon nap. With all my sniffling and coughing, and even with an extra hour of sleep due to the time change, I was pleased to put on my comfy pants and lay my congested head down. When I was just dozing off, my 8 year old was tearfully waking me up. "I've got gum stuck in my hair!" I really wanted to roll over and deal with it later, but I could see she was quite distressed. So, off to the computer to google "how to remove gum from hair". Almost all of the sites came up with peanut butter. So, these were tried by other desperate families...let's give it a try. As the dog lay drooling at our feet (he loves peanut butter) we smeared it in and low and behold, it did work. Some hair was pulled out but it worked. I'm surprised this happened the day before Halloween!

Lesson learned

Well, my last post was about how I was feeling fine even though I had lost my voice. Well, the cold virus turned it's ugly head and attacked. I've been battling head congestion for the last 3 days, I don't know how many kleenex's I've gone through and I'm living in my comfy pants. My voice did come back yesterday.This morning the cough started, not just a gentle cough, the all out face turn red, eyes watering, I might puke kinda cough. So, being early morning, I thought I would nip this in the bud. I found some cough/cold syrup in our bathroom cupboard, not having any proper measuring device in the bathroom and seeing as the bottle was about 1/4 full, I decided I could guestimate the 2 teaspoons I needed by taking a dose straight from the bottle. This is where that slit second decision would come back to bite me. About 40 minutes later while lying in bed, I began to feel horrible, sweaty, cold, the room was spinning and no....not nausea...and yup...I threw up. With a cold facecloth on my face in bed, I informed the girls that they would probably need to make their own lunches for school today, I could barely get out of bed without extreme dizziness. So, I have spent the morning "sleeping it off" and half watching TV. I've learnt my lesson.

Peaceful

I have come down with my first head cold of the flu/cold season. It's not the worse cold I've ever had, in fact, i feel OK. Yesterday I was at work and did a double shift, triaging people all day. Suddenly in the evening, my voice became squeaky and progessively worse, getting through the shift on decongestants. Today, it's pretty much gone. I just squeak a little and when trying to sing along to the radio...nothing comes out. It's quite disappointing!

Wilderness

Well, it's been a strange week walking to the bus. I cross over into the subdivision next to us to catch a direct bus to work. This area is developing so there is a lot of construction going on. It used to be a field where you would frequently see deer. Since the construction started, the deer sightings have dropped dramatically, not to mention their field is now a maze of houses and streets. Well, I was on my way in the dark as at 6:30 in the morning to catch my bus. Half way down the little path to the street, I hear what sounds like a cat hissing. I stopped dead in my tracks and looked around to see if I had crossed the path of a cat, maybe skunk or racoon. I wasn't looking high enough, I had scared a deer! It looked at me and took off. I'm not sure who's heart was racing more. I was glad it ran in the opposite direction! So that was Monday. Tuesdays walk was uneventful. Wednesday rolls along and I take a slightly different route as it rained on Tuesday and the path is mud, I did that once and had 18lbs of clay on my shoes by the time I made it to pavement. I went across a grassy park and while standing at the bus stop, I saw a dog running by itself down the sidewalk, hmmm, no owner or leash, but wait...that is the bushiest tail on a dog...it's not a dog...it's a fox! I don' take the bus til next week. I'll keep you posted if there are other animal sightings!

Old and Chubby

I found a good way to feel old and chubby. Go to a pool with 4 of your nieces who are in their early 20's. Man...I hope I looked like that when I was their age! First of all, all of their bathing suits material put together probably made up my one one piece bathing suit. And then the comment, 'But Aunt Janet, you've had 2 kids"...I don't remember carrying my kids on my thighs! And my supportive husband.."look around, there's a lot worse than you", translated, move aside honey, you're blockin my view.
Well, at least I could be proud of them, lookin good at the pool! If you need me, I'll be over here in the hot tub kids!

Good Friend

I've had one too many...
Originally uploaded by Jalosa.

The lady in green is Charlene. She's a good friend, in fact she's a great friend. She and her family are taking the opportunity of a lifetime and moving to South Africa for 3 years. They leave in just over 2 weeks and they have been madly getting their house in order for renters and "purging" many a valued thing from their house. Today I literally brought her garbage home to put on my curb...that was a first, but for Charlene, I'd do almost anything. She's a great lady and you should all have a Charlene in your life, you'd be much richer for it.
So Charlene, I wish & pray for health, safety and many great experiences as you & your family travel the world. Know that you will be greatly missed as you are always available to go out and I feel that my "girls night outs" are going to diminish in number while you are gone. Love ya!

Auntie

I have a great little nephew named Josh who for some unknown reason, doesn't like me. I haven't done anything to scare him, I don't pinch him, in fact, I try everytime I see him I try to make him like me but it doesn't work. Yesterday I had a small breakthrough. He sat with me for about 5 minutes before realising he was sitting with the horendous Auntie. It was great timing actually, he went to Grandma shortly after this picture and promptly threw up some nasties on her and not me. He does have that pre vomit look on his face!

Birthday boy

Birthday boy
Originally uploaded by Jalosa.

Yesterday was my husband's 40th birthday party. We had a lot of fun at his expense. Being a good sport and sensible at his age, he was able to laugh with us. Today he is walking around the house with one of his birthday gifts, an i-pod shuffle, stuffed in his ears. I've been instructed that if I'd like to speak with him, I should raise my hand. I think he likes it....thanks M & K! He'll be the cool old guy on the bus.

Dancing with the bride

Dancing with the bride
Originally uploaded by Jalosa.

Jenny and my niece Jessica and a new little friend got to have a dance with their new cousin Cass. She was a beautiful bride and we had a lot of fun at their wedding.

Baby's Birthday

Today is my baby's 8th birthday. It's hard to believe it's been eight years since I gave birth after a short (but still painful...the mind remembers that...and I didn't cough her out as my girlfriends like to rub in) labor. Last night after coming home from a movie, I couldn't find my girls. They weren't in their beds and they weren't watching TV downstairs with their Dad. My husband informed me they had gone camping...what? I had only been gone 3 hours, who had picked them up and gone camping? I had forgotten that my husband had come home with a little tent for them the same day so they had pitched in the backyard and were sleeping out there for the night. How fun! A couple of drawbacks for mom. #1. Our backyard is large and we don't have a fence so our everyone driving past sees our entire backyard. So, I had worries some loonatic would want to see who was in the tent etc. Our street is very quiet and there is little traffic so there aren't a whole lot of loonatics in the area, but in a mother's tired mind there are hundreds! So, I was sleeping with our window open and listening for the sound of a tent zipper being opened. Well, that only happened once when they needed to go to the bathroom at 2AM. No loonatics. #2 We live beside a railroad. and unfortunately a crossing. Normally, there is one train durning the night. I think there were 2 or 3 last night, so a train blowing it's horn about 200 yards from a tent is REALLY loud. It's also loud in the house with the window open.
Well, the good news is the girls are still happy they slept outside and I had a call from the walkie talkie I made them take with them at 7AM that my baby was hungry. She had asked for breakfast in bed for her birthday and she wanted bacon and eggs. I couldn't drag myself out of bed, so at 8AM, a new eight year old was eating bacon and eggs in bed, in a tent.

Wooden Shoes

I have lunch with a good co-worker about every other month. I've known her for 12 years and we chat about work and what is going on in our lives. She told me a great story this week. She and her mother were out at garage sales and my friend found a great pair of wooden shoes for $5. My friend was born in Holland and moved here as a child so wooden shoes are close to her heart. As she went to pay the owner for them, she turned over the shoes and to her surprise, her maiden name was written on the bottom. She was shocked as they are the only family in the city with that last name. She asked the owner where she had gotten these shoes. They had belonged to the owners father who had received them from a friend, but that was a long time ago as the owners father had died in 1982. My friend was amazed as these shoes had belonged to her father who died in 1987. My friend didn't know the owners but her dad had lot's of "friends" as he was known to frequent the pub a bit. She was so amazed at how these shoes could come back to her and is sure that someone in heaven had a lot to do with it!

Adoption

We have added to our family again. Out of the goodness of our hearts, we have taken in 11 fish. 10 Tetra's and 1 Algae eater named Ian (named after the neighbors lawyer....scum sucking bottom feeder...his words, not mine). They are moving to BC and he wanted his fish to go to a good home. I have even allowed the tank to be upstairs! I'm sure we have enough time and attention to give them...if not, they'll be in fishy heaven.

Fred

Fred
Originally uploaded by Jalosa.

Daddy found this fellow on our lawn last week and the girls spent a long time playing with him. I am not fond of frogs so I kept my distance. Notice Jenny's glove, she wouldn't touch him with bare hands!

Going for a "walk"

Going for a "walk"
Originally uploaded by Jalosa.

I am very fortunate to have a great bunch of girlfriends who get away almost every spring for a girls weekend away. One of our favorite things to do is rent a cabin, watch movies, snack, laugh, have a drink or two and lounge around all weekend without any kids or husbands. Well, this year we ventured out for a walk Saturday afternoon. The owner of the cabin was driving by and when we asked how to get to the lake, they offered us a ride in their truck. Of course we took it! Who wouldn't want to ride in the back of a truck!

Treasure hunting

Treasure hunting
Originally uploaded by Jalosa.

Hey! Thanks to my sister in law's easy instructions, I'm able to post some photos on my blog! So, this is a photo of the girls finding some beach treasures on our vacation in April.

Bathroom

Yesterday I went to Costco to get a few items. As usual, I browsed through the clothing area where I have found some great clothes in the past and am usually pretty lucky in picking the right size. Yesteday, I noticed they were selling bras...2 in a package for $25. Now, if you are a woman, you know that A) That's a good price for 2 bras B) It is difficult to buy a bra without trying it on. So, I chose what I thought would fit and seeing as I needed to go to the bathroom anyway, would try one on after I paid for it and if I needed to change the size could do so without driving the 20 minutes back to exchange it. As they were packing up my things, I asked if they could leave that item on top as I was going to take it to the bathroom with me. "Oh, you can't. You can't take any merchandise into the bathroom" What?...now, correct me if I'm wrong. I have purchased this, paid cash for it and I can't take it into the bathroom with me. I was very peeved. I'm irritated that they were basically telling me what I could and could not do in the bathroom. I actually told them that then I could go to my van, take the bra with my receipt, put it in my purse, come back in and go to the bathroom..."you can't do that" Oh really....watch me!
Feeling a little guilty about raising a stink,I took my cart to the van and I shimmied the bra on in the backseat of my van that has tinted windows....it fit perfectly. I drove home still having to go to the bathroom and still irritated that I didn't prove my point.

A long morning

Some days are harder to get out of bed than others. Today is one of those hard days. I have a scheduled 2 hour appointment to sit in my dentist's chair while he freezes and drills away to create a new cap for a cracked tooth that has been bothering me for some time now. He will finish just before lunch so I can kiss a nice lunch away as half my face and mouth will be frozen til sometime this afternoon. Anyone want to join me for some soup?

Jetlag

Our family returned recently from a great time in Hawaii. Warm winds, beautiful ocean, biking down a mountain with my husband (no enery needed except squeezing the brakes) and our kids enjoyed the pool and sandy beaches. It was great until I got home. Jetlag proved to be a thorn in my side for almost a week. It didn't help that I had to jump into working nights the day after we got home so my time clock was even more messed up, my body really didn't know when it was night so it wanted to sleep all the time. I think I am back to our time zone now, but I don't resist the urge to nap while at home!

Out of the mouths of babes

Yesterday our family was on our way to the mall in the van. Our 9 year old daughter is currently completely revolted by any talk, sight or discussion of boys, kissing, marriage etc. Well, somehow the girls were talking in the back about who they would marry someday. Of course, my ears perked up as a caring mother I want to see which boys would be at all contenders as a future son-in-law. Our 9 year old of couse said she wouldn't get married, then said maybe she'd marry a dummy. My husband and I cracked up...."We all do!"

Cleaning

In an attempt to clean the "inside" of our coffeemaker, we ruined it. Water came pouring out the bottom where all the electrical wires are. I can't remember the last time I threw an appliance into the garbage. So, now I am forced to use the French press at the moment until a new coffeemaker can be agreed on. I hate the "grunge" at the bottom of the cup with the french press, I like every last drop of my coffee! Would there be anyone out there willing to bring me a large with cream from Tim Hortons every morning around 8:30?

Carpooling

My girls and I learn so much from the two boys we carpool with. The boys are nine and six, my girls are nine and seven. A few weeks ago my girls got a lesson in hydralics for cars as well as many other accessories you can add to your car (not so cool if you drive a mini van like we do). Todays topic was moustaches. Actually it started out with sideburns and the nine year old boy wants them. I told him he needs some facial hair before the sideburns would happen. My nine year old daughter stated she wanted a moustache...that's funny in itself but the carpool boy said his Sunday school teacher has a moustache and she's a girl. It's about as noticable as his dad's. I immediately got a visual which cracked me up. These kids are gonna remember nothing but the facial hair their teacher has!

Helpful

My father in law came over today with his snowblower to "help" clear the snow off our driveway. We are folks who aren't obcessed with getting all the snow off before we drive out of our garage on our happy little way. I'm sure the neighbors think we are lazy, but they may think what they may of our snow packed driveway. So, my father in law did his best to clear the loose snow left on the edges and middle. Unfortunately, he found some recyling that blew out of someone's box last week and now we have a front lawn that looks like a garbage dump. Aren't families helpful? (By the way...we didn't ask, he offered!)

Baby it's Cold Outside!

Well, I live in Winterpeg and it is living up to it's name. We've been in what the weathermen call a "cold snap". Now, I thought my husband was just being selfish insulating our attached garage this past summer so he could spend his "man time" in the comfort of a non freezing garage. Well, I now appreciate his hard work when I get into our van that has been sitting in the heated garage and I don't freeze any fingers or other body parts off waiting for it to warm up. Last night I drove to work and this morning I got into a -33 celcius van. The seats are hard and not to mention rather chilly with only thin cotton uniform pants on. The trick is to get through the parkade where it takes your ticket when your auto windows won't work...drive just far enough so you can open your door and pray you don't drop the ticket. Well, I got home and the van was almost warm by the time I got home. Nothing like the warmth of my cozy bed!