Sunny Sunday

A sunny sunday...would have been a good day to take the dogs out for a walk except that Darcy's crippling gout has flared up so that translated into a 2 hour wait at the walk-in clinic to get his prescription refilled and then who-knows-why but another hour at the drug store right next door getting it filled. So why does it take 3 hours for such a simple medical visit? Anyway, he has now taken the medication and of course it knocks him out, makes his stomach go crazy.
While I was waiting I meandered over to the Value Village and came out with 5 brand new books...now I know where those $20+ books can be found for $3.99 each. I got a couple of Oprah's book club selections, and a couple of my favourite historical books and one that seems interesting entitled "Angry housewives eat bon-bons"....sounds a deperate housewives sort of a novel...I like reading brand new authors and their first books...inspires me for when I write my debut piece of fiction.
Anyway, I had planned to try and tidy up my front little patch of garden but its Sunday and I am no longer motivated to do anything but read my latest book. The Junos will tape at 5pm on the PVR and then will watch it later by winging through all the ads.

Back to the eyes

Another EDO day off and another visit to the eye specialist in my never-ending saga of glaucoma or not. This time I had to have the thickness of my cornea measured and the ocular pressure taken again and the second specialist looking over the results from my last visual field test that flagged a deeper look into the issue. I am back again on my next EDO day for some photos to be taken of the insides of my eyes.
What a week it has been and I never get a chance to blog during the week.
Monday brought a shocker...over the weekend after an Elvis Pub Night, thank goodness after the event and no one was hurt, our very expensive piano which is never to be moved in or out the Great Room at Glen Pine was moved and it fell backwards, crashed and broke. It made two holes in the wall on the right of the stage. Well, piano is busted and it need to be fixed or replaced..all I am thinking..thank goodness not when we were a host venue for the water's edge festival! So that was that...
It has continued to be very stressful with the environment at work...Helga looks so beaten-down with the issues we have on hand. Not much that we can do but stay out of the line of fire and try not to be a civilian casualty because that is what it seems to be until the siutation has a resolution.
Darcy has had a few opportunities but nothing solid as yet. Chrissy is happy that her full-time schedule is now day shifts so she does not work late evening closings which means she can head to her gym after work and be home for dinner.
So...its a very chilly afternoon and I feel like making a cup of tea, settle in with a mindless book and maybe have a snooze even though I have household chores to do.

Spring is here?

My brother Terry some photos of Henry on his facebook. This is the one I love of Henry with my Mum and Dad from our last visit home when my Jot got married. I called home on Friday night and spoke to Mum, Terry and Jot very briefly. Mum was busy cooking before Jot's trip to Adelaide. I really wish I could go home but this has been postponed again until we are back on track. It's mum's 70th birthday on May 1, and I had planned a trip to surprise her but it's not likely to happen unless something miraculous happens for us in the next while soon. Caiti is planning to go upon her graduation, and Chrissy wants to go with her.
This is the first weekend of Spring, and of course, the kids go back to school and it became sunny just in time for that. Darcy and I took the dogs to the park yesterday and then we treated ourselves to sushitown for lunch since we have not done that for a long time. When we get back on track, we will be so much more careful and less wasterful and extravagant, not that we were that way before; however, tough times makes you make more conscious choices about money and spending.
Today...catch up on laundry day. Chrissy has a full day recertification for First Aid, so Sheldon is covering her shift at work.

Our dog Henry

We are saddened by the news of our family dog Henry who has gone to a happier place. Henry is a golden lab and he lived for 16 years. He was a good boy. I remember the first visit when he was a young dog and the girls were very little and they adored Henry. He didn't seem to mind that Chrissy tried to ride him like a pony...and Caiti would kiss him.
I only started liking dogs because Henry was such a wonderful friend. He has been a companion for Poh-poh and kung-kung, and they will sorely miss him.
With 3 dogs...we definitely will love Sheba, Speedo and Benjamin even though Ben-Ben is the naughtiest puppy in the world.

Bye Henry...probably prancing around in Doggie Heaven somewhere...without a doubt he is in no pain now!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

To be Irish for one day...well. I look like Kermit the frog all in green. I will post a photo (maybe) after I download it. I wore this headband with two giant shamrocks sticking out of my head and it squeezed my brains all day!
Well..,it was a crazy busy day...got to work, tried to fit in programming a few more bus trips. Then at 10:30 a.m. we had a Hats Day intergenerational activity where gramma's brought their grandkids in to decorate hats. Well, it reminded of the time when Kari worked for me at Pinetree running a craft program. Jennie was my senior volunteer running the activity. It went very well. We have 12 kids, and we had juice and cookies after. I truly believe in these intergenerational interactions.
Right at 11:30 I had to spring into action...kick out the line dancers and help Darrell set up for our St. Pat's luncheon. We are such an awesome team...tables, chairs, tablecloths all whipped on in no time. So it was Irish stew, a green biscuit, a green chocolate cheesecake or potato and leek soup and sandwich. We had an entertainer come in at 12:30 and for the next 1.5 hours he sang all the songs the seniors loved. It was a good afternoon...
However, work is very tense and stressful now ... not for me in terms of my job but some interpersonal conflicts with others in our team is starting to spill over and affecting us bystanders. I dislike drama and its very uncomfortable to be in the midst and know its best to neutral as best as possible. I still love my job but with this economic downturn we have to be very wary of taxpayers money and so we are now having to try and underspend our budgets by at least 5%. Working with the Bus trip committee is one of my key liaisons...well, I pay all the bills and bus trips are the focus of registrations days and probably one of the most popular offerings...and we have to cut back.
Spring Break...with no kids in school its just another week but it means No Wings tonight...I realized that late this afternoon..that this week I will work only tomorrow night instead of 3 nights in a row.
So...Happy St. Patrick's Day to all...I have never had green beer or Irish food...someday I would like to go to a real Irish celebration. So the blog will be green for the rest of this week!!

Barbie turns 50!

Barbie dolls..don't know why I am blogging about this...guess its because I watched a CBC Sunday story on Barbie's 50th birthday! Did you love paying with Barbies as a child? How many did you own?
The next time I go home, I am going to buy myself a Malaysian Barbie. I think they have her in the traditional costume. I also wouldn't mind the Chinese Princess Barbie.
Thoughts? You had to play with Barbie with friends...she was not as much fun to play with on your own except for dressing and undressing. Certainly she was great for the imagination. More than anything else she allowed girls to dream...over the decades Barbie has also grown and changed the role of women. So with International Women's Day today...March 8...why not also celebrate Barbie.

Water's Edge Festival

Today I had to work because Glen Pine was a venue for the Water's Edge Festival - 25 hours non stop 'round the clock festival of contemporary music performed indoors and out, a part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad.
I stayed until 5:30 p.m. waiting for the choral risers to arrive yesterday and was back at work before 8:00 a.m. I was a little horrified to see a work crew installing speed bumps in our parking lot but thank goodness they promised me they would be be done by 9:00 a.m.
I helped Brad set out all the chairs, got the wireless microphone working and then the piano tuner arrived, and poor guy had to work under such last minute pressure. We also had Food Services come in to set up our bistro for baked goodies, refreshments and we even did sandwiches and a hot dog special. The first concert was at 10:00 a.m with the adult choir and they were outstanding...especially enjoyed their last set - Mamma Mia movie songs. It was so good. The second show at 11:00 a.m was Saxe Noir, a quartet of saxophonists, and they were superbly excellent. I have come to the realization that the acoustics in the Great Room is wonderful. The last show at Noon were the youngest choir singers from Coastal Music...and they were so cute and sang like angels. They sang the Hymn to Freedom that was also performed by a children's choir at Obama's inauguration. All our performances at Glen Pine were absolutely free to the community. I was very pleased to have been asked to be part of the festival, and they were so kind with their thank yous at the end of the shows for me. These special events are exhausting...as I sit here my feet ache. You almost run on adrenaline....up and down the stairs, talking to people, showing people around...lifting and moving, fixing...but its all part of my role.
I enjoyed seeing the members come out to enjoy the free music...I am a total supporter of arts and culture.
Yesterday too, I coordinated a Purim special luncheon with the Jewish ladies volunteering to make the mish-mash soup. I tried gefilte fish and hamantaschen cookies and matzo crackers etc. We had some musicians, a pianist, a violinist, an opera singers and a soloist perform music for this celebration. They even sang some beautiful Hebrew songs. I believe its important in a multicultural community to support and respect all other holidays...food and music is the easiest way to share...hence we have received a New Horizons grant for Glen Pine whereby we are implementing a new project entitled TEACH (Teaching, Eating, Activities, Culture, Health) and I am very excited about the programs and ideas that I can help put together to achieve our goals and objectives.
Very weird weather again...woke up to snow...and its chilly...just a little.
This week...strange and stressful at the same time. Still nothing for Darcy as yet...its a little depressing because we need to really be more frugal more than ever and we have been very tight. I need to go and lie down for now...it was a very busy but a satisfying day knowing everything went well with the event.

March - a good start?

February was a terible month for blogging. Anyway, its March so here's to the coming of Spring.
Yesterday we did a small road trip across the border. Darcy had to pick up a battery for the cellphone that he had shipped to the mailbox. Sheldon came with us. Chrissy wanted to come along since she was off and the fact that until this point, Sheldon had never been across the border because he was never allowed to due to his parents' divorce but now he can on his own accord. We stopped for the best ice-cream at Edaleen Dairy as always. With no extra money we only came to get a few groceries that we knew were good buys. Chrissy and Sheldon did a little shopping...Chrissy thrilled to use her own VISA card that she has acquired. It has given her a good sense of responsibility to start working on her own credit rating as someday she will plan to move out. We were home by early evening.
Today...worked on the Wings March invoices and deposit...Darcy is out with the dogs. We found a turkey in the freezer that we are going to cook since we are doing our best to eat up what we have. Doing laundry and all the usual chores to be done on the weekend. Time is so limited working two jobs, working 3 nights a week and having to contend with a great deal of stress and insomnia again. Shannon sent me a message envying me the time to read...its not so much free time but time that I am faced with because I am not able to unwind and have been looking for something that can bring me down to a state of calm. I am fortunate to be a very quick reader and the hope is that reading will bring on sleep and rest. So far, not working too great so the more books I read is just an indication of how much time I don't sleep. Luckily, I have access to some great free books so no costs involved plus I love reading so hopefully it will all work out. Such a dilemma...when things were going well, I barely picked up a book.
As always its another new month and hopefully a better month with some good news. This global recession is really going to impact us in a hard way...Darcy is back to school so he needs to hit the assignments in between his search. Caiti is still tired from the effects of mono but is back to work. The commute to Vernon twice a week is tiring. She did get her personal line of credit approved so that stress of school tuition and rent etc will be alleviated but she has been good at taking care of all her needs herself thus far. Chrissy is also saving quite nicely, and feels that she may have enough to go back to school in the near future being determined to also cover all her costs herself. She is not too fond of the club or the bar scene having gone out legally a few times over the last month and not really enjoying it very much.
Well...laundry needs to go into the dryer...