PG

I'm sure most of you have heard by now that PG had a terrible bunch of fires last night. The plywood mill was burned to the ground followed by two more sites in the industrial park. On top of that a business in the downtown of PG went up this morning (unrelated). A friend of mine manages some properties in the region and got the following photos of the plywood mill fire. There are some regional photos on PGTV

aaahhhh - vented

I just needed to get that off my chest. It won't mean anything to my readers, but it meant a lot to me to just write it down and release it somewhere.

We've had a busy couple of weeks. Uncle Derek and Aunti Wendy were here for May long weekend and then Aunti Paula joined us after May long for the rest of the week. I'm not really feeling super hot tonight so I'm going to just load a few of my photos and call it a night.


Another beautiful day in the Cariboo under our apple tree


Shells


Our garden for 2008 - this is a new addition to our backyard and I can't say thank you enough to Paula and my parents and Andy for helping getting all going - we've now planted a bunch of flowers, sui choy, beans, broccaflower, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, beets, gai lan, lettuce, cilantro, parsley, chives and basil and we have carrots, sunflowers and swiss char left to put in.

Aunti Paula bought Kyle an Indiana Jones figure as Kyle is quite interested in him right now. (He watched five minutes of Raiders of the Lost Arc and about 30 minutes of the Last Crusade and fell in love.) He took Indy to show and tell today and as I was dropping him off one of his little girlfriends comes running up to him and says "come on Indy" - she proceeded to tell all of there friends that Kyle should now be called Indy. So Kyle has his first school nickname... not a bad one to get.

categorically

"an unqualified manner; he flatly denied the charges"

ARG and let me just say - ARG again!

may long

It is Monday night and we had an excellent weekend with exciting times for all. Uncle Derek and Aunti Wendy joined us for a couple of days and we are awaiting Paula, who will be joining us tomorrow. We went and met the new puppies today, who are super cute and make adorable sounds. I'm rejoicing that today is not my last day off - I have to do some work and have some meetings tomorrow but I'm really off work until next monday - hip hip hooray!


Here are the cute seven - pure breed golden retrievers


"Patience"


Here is a great photo of Kyle we took while doing some art a few weeks ago - as cute as ever - growing up fast.

too early

At 5:30 this morning Andy got his third call out on his second shift in Q-town.... so now I can see how paramedics might actually be able to live from this employment - three calls on one shift (over night) - that's more calls last night than he had for the whole month of April in Wells

I might go back to bed, but was thinking it was nice and cool and the house smells like spring - with the scents of fresh cut grass and new leaves emerging from their winter sleep - and that maybe I should just stay up this morning - we'll see - maybe I'll chuck some coffee on this morning - not sure - I'm kind of anti coffee for the past two weeks... alight - so tea it is... have a great Victoria Day long weekend - enjoy the beautiful weather

Ok - so I went with hot chocolate and am opting for getting my hummingbird feeder and taking myself outside for some cool macro photos.... I won a Canon t-90 (tank) and 5 lens at the Quesnel RCMP auction - the canon I don't really care for - it is too big for my girl hands (that's what she said) but it came with a super wicked macro lens and I've been shooting a lot with it

holy catfish batman - it's summer

alright get out your shorts and t-shirts, put on your sunblock 70 and fill your cup with your favorite beverage and say cheers to the return of summer (well at least for a few days)

it is plus 13 at 9:20 this morning and I here by declare that the next few days are going to be BEEEE U TA FULL!

me and my quatchi

Ok - so I won't say that I'm in love with the idea that Vancouver/Whistler is hosting the 2010 Olympics, but I will say that when I got to meet the mascots it made me feel good about the games. Love 'em or hate 'em the mascots are fun in person. The people wearing the costumes are well trained and made it fun for everyone attending.

Here I am with Quatchi and Miga. Quatchi was hiliarious and made the whole photo taking thing fun.



So let's hear it - what do you think of the mascots?

some pictures

I don't know if you've heard this before or not but there is some info online about orbs/circles in photographs. Now I didn't notice this until I was looking tonight at some photos to load on here and noticed that I'd captured two orbs in this photo. Do a quick search on orbs if you've never heard of it before. I met a native person who told me if you captured orbs in a photograph you were capturing photos of spirits. By searching you'll find that most people say that is for the birds, but the woman I spoke with insisted it was true. I don't know, but this image shows two and I thought I'd share it - this was taken off the tip of the SS Sicamous in Penticton on Okanagan Lake.

better late than never

Alright - so I said for my 300th post I was going to get some candy out there... so here I am at 312 and here it is... blog candy festival!



Alright so there is just over 50 sheets of 12x12 (includes set of Disney World pages), 2 envelope making sets for christmas, some stickers, 2 ziploc bags of cardboard die cuts (I think they have a more formal name than that but... ) one bag is sayings and one bag is shapes.

So what do I want? Well first of all I'd like a small exchange for all this candy. I know I can't hold the winner to this, but I would really like the winner (once they've received all the candy) to send me a card they've made. I don't make cards, so the thought of getting a card that I can use sounds like a great idea. Now - how do you enter? Well I would like you to do two things - 1) share your favorite website for finding cool new ideas for making pages or cards and 2) I'd like you to share something about your current or best camera and how you take awesome photos.

If there are more than 20 entries for the candy I will split the loot in half and send out two packages. I will draw a number based on the order of entry after May 18. That means this will be open for 10 days and I'll send out a package after May long weekend. Good luck!

terrible

A week or two ago we trimmed our apple trees and while adjusting the ladder I let it slip and it landed on my chest. It didn't crush me, but it hurt. I've been sore on my collarbone and shoulder since. I decided that a massage might be just the thing to heal my wounds. Being the massage virgin that I am (was), I had very high expectations and anticipated a relaxing and fantastic 30 minutes. About 5 minutes in I realized I'd made a mistake. She pushed so hard on my skin that it hurt, she did the whole karate chopping hands multiple times followed by pokes of pain (my name - not the massage industries).

I actually didn't feel too terrible immediately after the beating, but about 4 hours later I put a strap over my shoulder and thought I was going to cry. It felt like I'd been sunburned all across the top of my back. And not just a simple burn, a terrible, terrible burn. That was yesterday and today I am still in pain. Still feeling burned... both literally and burned in the sense that I burned my flamin' money on something that hurt me... what the hell is the point of that - is this the same for everyone? Come on - are people paying to be beat up to Enya?

Ok - vented.

Now because I'm queen of the geeks I also created a map of garage sales happening in Quesnel this weekend. Click on this link if you want to join my lame club. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=52.977434,-122.474556&spn=0.0953,0.32135&z=12&msid=107827218300676941518.00044cb02a5fe62a8f365

smelly feet

I just felt like putting in that title because I need to change my socks.

What's new... well tonight we went bug hunting. I'm putting in a garden in our backyard and have started dragging the gravel in the area out... this is a long and terrible process because nothing moves the gravel well. I've a rack, a shovel and a pick axe. Tonight we moved two wheel barrels full and then started hunting down centipedes, beetles and ants. I moved one slab in the backyard and was a little shocked by the number of ants that came pouring out... the ground swirled with their reaction to the sudden light. We pulled up weeds. When I was 4 (ish) my grandpa used to pay me to take thistles out of the front lawn. It is one of my favorite memories because I'd pull terrible thistles and then we'd walk to Frank's and get an ice cream sandwich. It was all about joy and fun.

So I'm home from Penticton. It was beautiful, the weather was warm and a lot like summer. I'm happy to be home and happy I got some time with the guys yesterday. I was back in the office today and now looking forward to Paula's visit after May long weekend.

Today is Monday - which means it is 6 days until Mother's Day. I'm planning on going to Mom's to plant some hanging baskets for her - this will be fun for the boys and give us something to do while we visit. Sarah (mom and dad's dog) is due today and we'll have puppies to glance at too - I don't think their eyes will be open by the weekend - that's if they've arrived... I'll post pictures of the puppies once I have some photos to share.

ARRRRGGGG

Final information due on report

Internet not working properly unless I sit in the DAMNED lobby and work

ARG - plus I'm paying 4.99 for the usage - double ARG!

That's it - I'm turning into a pirate this morning!

Avast me buckos - it is time to start a revolution!
IT IS TIME! I'm not paying for "no-speed internet" let us pillage the flower displays and eat all the counter mints!

things that rhyme

So kindergarten is big on rhyming. Most mornings Kyle arrives to his table spot and there is a puzzle piece with a picture on it, along with a bowl of other puzzle pieces. He is asked to find something in the bowl that rhymes with his piece. He is quite into rhyming and has even started doing my name... "mom, April rhymes with Rapril"

This morning he is playing with Michael and I hear "kitty, shitty, kitty shitty" I look in and say 'um, are you rhyming kitty with city - no mom I said shitty. That rhymes right. Yes Kyle is rhymes, but that isn't a good word. Can you make it rhyme with city instead? Ok - kitty, city, kitty, city. Tomorrow he'll be rhyming with truck.

The other thing Kyle asked me about today was S.O.B. He says, what does SOB mean? I ask 'where did you hear that from?' doesn't want to say - i ask if it was at school - yes - so I still him it is short for another group of words - what words? SOB spells sob and sob means being really sad and crying. His response - ok... Flash back to 1988 in the canning room of my basement. My brother says to me - april you are an SOB - then the retort went back and forth too many times - it was all just fun because neither of us knew what we were going on about when my dad walks in and has a mini explosion - and tells us what we are saying and why its bad. I learned my lesson and also learned that I didn't need to go into all the detail for his five year old ears.

lightning and thunder

Well after some rain throughout the day we are now experiencing thunder and lightning. It appears to be sheet lightning and just brightening up the sky. Michael is still sick and his temperature started to climb back up again tonight. Kyle is better but still coughing and Andy is sick, but surviving. Me... well I'm not feeling great, and wrongly decided to venture to wally world tonight - I was ready to barf after a couple of aisles of walking. We made it through and got all the stuff we needed.

Now it's Dora time (unless the power goes out) and then bedtime. Time to be comfortable - I need to be better for Wednesday as I'm off to another conference in Penticton - woo hoo! I'm hoping for a fun time - I just have to remind myself that deep fried foods are from the devil and all will be good... damned yummy egg rolls at the premiers event. (I'm still waiting on copies of the photos - now I'm wondering if they forgot to tell us that the photos actually cost something...)

woo hoo

It was plus (PLUS) 17 in the shade yesterday and tonight - right now - its plus (PLUS) 14... woooohhhhoooooo!!!!!

Michael is getting better - Kyle is pretty much through it. Michael was pretty bad last night - but today was eating and somewhat normal. Andy is sick - seems like something different - blah! me? well today wasn't a great day, but I'm feeling good.

For those following the use of the secret... last night I made it work! Well close... for two days I told myself I was going to win a big prize ($500 cash) at the Nazko Auction. Every year they give it away. So I told myself I was going to win it and then thought about how I'd spend it. Made it real!.... so we are sitting there... 041463.... last night - 6.... I had 7.... but then I knew - I knew that Kyle or my parents had the winning ticket... and they did - Dad had the winner. woo hoo! I've got the DVD now and I'm going to try and focus on some other things because I got lots of things I want to get done :) All that might sound crazy and maybe we would have won it anyway but it was something else... makes me think about all the good each of us could do with a little more focus on the things we want to succeed at. Here's to success - go out there tomorrow and reward yourself with positive thinking!

Night.

another day home

Kyle came down with a cold on Sunday and he had high fevers for two days after. Then he started coughing and this morning he seemed to be back to his normal happy self. I dropped him off to school and then took Michael to daycare. I hadn't even gotten my computer on in the office when the daycare called and said Michael was sick with a fever and needed to be picked up. Now we are home - I've lit a fire to keep the living room nice and toasty and now we are watching a movie. He was very hot until about 30 minutes ago and now he seems to be a little better. It seems this cold doesn't want to leave our house...

I hope everyone else is feeling good and not experiencing the cold or flu. Best wishes for a happy weekend!

ER

Ok - are you watching ER? I understand the show will come to an end next year - with September/October marking the start of ER's last season. At this point I'm wondering why I'm going to continue watching to the end. I'm tres disappointed that Luca is leaving the show - or only doing a few more - he is the only reason I watch. Are there other TV shows? What's the deal with Grey's Anatomy - is that better than ER? I've never even watched an episode.

Am I the only one disappointed in television? Should I just be walking away from the whole damned thing? I need friends to play cards with or more fun stuff to do.

I have a headache tonight and (last night) also started using tanning cream again only to get an orange ring around my wrist - BLAH! Boy, oh boy, whiny April - so sad - I know I'm having a poor me day. I guess I'll go to bed and sleep it off. - I know - beautiful, happy, beautiful, happy - so it will be.

home again

Home - hooray!

Last night I had a great night with Paula. She met me at the swanky hotel and had her car valet parked - us valet virgins had fun learning about how valet service works and how to tip. (Note to all other valet virgins - tipping occurs when you pick up your car - plus I think you can tip whenever anyone else from the hotel is remotely nice to you)

We then went to a press conference with the Premier. Me - the political junky - was very pleased to get to meet him and stand in a line of 50 people to get my picture taken with him. He is only an inch taller than me which was surprising - I anticipated him being 6 foot something. He made a very good speech to inspire our group and then took photos with all of us. Free booze and chocolate strawberries were available to all. We followed this excitement with a tour of Stanley Park and a 30 minute drive to figure out where to eat. We ended up at Shabusan - mmmmm - sushi, edamame, YUMMY - and sat at the sushi bar that included all forms of excitement in the way of a large group of pink haired friends hootin' it up, a couple that was a little overly friendly immediately beside us... and then it started to snow. I think it's the first time I've seen it snow in Vancouver - it was beautiful - but it also sent a message to all the stupid people to come out in full force to drive in the silly weather. We made it back to the hotel room and checked out the gym. We had a great - ok - not great - but a hell of a laugh - from the steam room. I had eucalyptus on my tongue - or it tasted that way - it did do wonders for my skin. It was a great night!

So I'm home in the minus weather now and I just wanted to wish Paula good luck in the sunrun (snow run) tomorrow. Enjoy running with all those 50,000 other people and have a great day!

today

So I'm in the big city - vancouver - here for a quick conference - I'm on the 20th floor downtown and I can see the Lions Gate Bridge from my room. It is surprisingly cold here today - I just went for a quick walk and only wore a t-shirt and vest and holy brrrrr.... I slept like a rock last night - my general anxiety disorder started to gear up last night and as I was falling asleep I kept thinking about the building falling sideways... I finally managed to shut that part up... phew :)

I went to starbucks this morning and joined a line 10 people deep and thought why am I doing this - why am I here - there has to be another coffee shop. I go to the next coffee shop - equally long line - then I see a coffee shop - restaurant and decide to go in - well I'm glad I did - I not only got a nice morning drink, I also got a great in-house muffin - apple muffin - they made at least 20 different kinds of muffins and all of them looked yummy. It was a place called moonpennies - and it was definitely better than starbucks - I was on my way back to here to continue working before I'd likely gotten my overpriced coffee and dry muffin-ish thing.

what's going on

Ok - the blog candy is going to have to wait. It isn't priority this week and it won't be priority for a while so post 301 is this and I'll post some candy soon.

So what's been going on? Well I went to a conference in 100 Mile House and had a great time. I met some new people who were passionate about tourism and got a little re-inspired about the work I do. I stayed at the Hills Health Ranch.



Here I am enjoying my spare time at the Hills. This looks more spectacular than it was - the tub was a regular hotel one nothing fancy - the difference was that the Hills had very nice smelling soaps.

On Sunday our family dog passed away. Fozzy Bear got sick about a week ago - we were out for dinner and everyone kind of all looked at each other at the same time and said where is he. He begged at every meal and yet at this dinner he could've cared less. Mom and I thought he'd gotten into the fish we'd caught (went ice fishing earlier that day) but that proved to be overly optimistic. Fast forward a week and he was still sick. They took him to the vet on the Saturday I came home from the conference. He sat in our yard and laid in the shade. Michael and Kyle sat with him and we talked about how he was doing. They had done a lot of tests and the vet had suggested he had diabetes and needed insulin 2 times a day from now on... but they did additional tests because they didn't think that was all that was going on. He was a big dog for his size - a little pomerian, but a big one really - lots of fur, - but the truth is that he ate from the table a lot. When I went and sat with him I realized how bad things were - he was all fur, you could actually feel his bones and that was very unheard of. Of course I didn't think that this was going to be our last visit with him.

Mom and Dad showed up on Sunday and I knew as soon as they pulled in that the news was bad. Mom was wearing sunglasses and my mom never wears sun glasses and my Dad just looked upset. I simply asked, are you in town for the reason I think you're in town - yes - they'd taken him to Williams Lake and test results had come back worse than expected. I must be getting old because I never thought I'd be so upset about his passing. What really beat me down is that Kyle asked how he was and my parents said he was fine. Six hours later I was trying to tell him that he wasn't and it was one of the hardest things I've had to do - I could hardly get a word out to tell him. Kyle took it in and asked if he'd see him again. I said no. He asked if he was buried in the ground and I was just dumbfounded by his question. I said I didn't know. That upset him. But it turns out that he was more upset with me being upset. I'm still a wreck over it. I think it brings up a lot of other issues for me. Having to explain death to Kyle tore a hole in me and now we have to talk about it every day because every day he has a new question. I'm happy to answer, but it is gut wrenching. He keeps asking if he is going to see Fozzy Bear - I think he thinks if he asks enough he will. So every time I explain it and remind him that he knows. He keeps asking my mom how he is and the first time made my mom burst into tears on the phone. Kyle told her it was ok and that he knew she was sad about it.

So as a tribute to our family dog, Mr. Bear aka Barky-bar-taka-moose as I sometimes fondly called him I've pasted a couple photos.