IT'S A DIFFERENT WORLD HERE

It truly does feel like a whole different world here.  Port Alberni is such a pretty little town, yet such a dysfunctional one, at least here in the part Monte lives in.   Across the street there is a row of about six connected little apartments, one storey high.  I don't know who all lives there but I do know that a couple of them are drug dealers.  On the end is a wonderful guy by the name of Mike.  He almost never comes out, a hermit you might say.  Monte spotted him just heading back into his place yesterday and hollered for him to come over.  He plays guitar so he came in and played for a while.  His pic is below. He is the most interesting person to talk to.  He is a full on theory conspirist (sp?), but one of the most intelligent well read people I have ever met.

 Next door is a very run down dilapidated house with a back yard full of garbage and toys.  A young native man lives there and he very frequently has his three nephews and nieces over. In fact he told us that he has mostly been the one to raise them as their parents are not in a position to.  They would be 4 and 6 and 8 by the looks of them.  They run around the back yard, hopping over a continuously tied up dog.

We were sitting on the front porch steps talking with Pat, Monte's friend from across the street (from one of the nicer houses) and cars kept pulling up next door at that kid's house.  They would go in, and come out and leave.  I asked Pat what the heck was up with that and he said that Jeremy was dealing weed.  Meanwhile the kids are answering the door and letting the buyers in.  Some of the people pulling up are about the scariest looking dudes you ever saw.

Every night here you hear fights outside, bad ones.  The police sometimes come and sometimes they don't.  Its crazy.  But as you meet these misfits and what appear to be down and outers, you can see they are a little band of brothers, taking care of each other, and they have welcomed Monte into their midst without a blink of an eye.  I am still not sure if thats good or bad.

Now it is midnight and Monte and I have just finished watching many episodes of The Xfiles.  He is totally loving the show and its fun to see them again.  We did get out and finish the grocery shopping.  So between episodes tonight I made dahl and subjit to take to Kevin's tomorrow for his birthday.  And tonight Ange, Pat's wife showed up with a big bucket of dirt with a beautiful cherry tomato plant in it for Monte.  They are the kindest most thoughtful people.

Off to bed now.  I am soooo tired.  TTYL

ED...AFTER A FEW DRINKS

I WAS TRYING TO GET THEM TO BE SERIOUS...THAT IS PAT AND ANGE

BRIRTHDAY BENNYS

BIRTHDAY DONUTS

MIKE

DOG POOP...TIRED OF IT

This will be a short one today.  Monte and I are heading up to Port today.  Bill is going to stay here.  He has lots of gardening to do but I suspect he will be spending a LOT of time in his chair, on facebook.  We will see.  Its Monte's birthday tomorrow so I think I shall cook him a "his choice" dinner in his place tomorrow.

I love his dog.  I am going to miss his dog.  But I gotta tell you, I am getting a little tired of dog crap.  With three of them needing to go out all the time, crap all over the yard (it is hard to keep up with when its raining, even if it is pick upable} and Kenai can't just be put out, you have to take him.  He runs away apparently.  And...he's a farty dog.  So all night long I keep waking up to awful smells.  Time for him to go home.

We have had some awesome news here in this house.  We have known for a while but we were waiting for actual confirmation before making an announcement.  It looks like Andrew has been hired by the government to work on the tug boats at the naval yard in Esquimalt, Victoria, BC.  And...he starts on Aug 6!!  This means they have to move, and soon.  And that means, we get to move.  We have been wanting to get out of this hellish city for a long time.  I can honestly say I intensely dislike Vancouver.  The traffic, noise and most of all, the snotty nasty people in this city have done me in.  I want out and so does Bill.  We were somewhat restricted before because we absolutely need the kids to be living with us.  If they don't we can't travel.  You can't kennel a dog for months on end and you can't leave a house for months.  So, we are going to buy a house over there in August and then fix up this one and get it sold.  I think that we will be looking for one that has two complete living levels and we will take the smaller one.  They can have the main part as they and the dogs are there full time.  We have often thought here that it was backwards.  We should be downstairs and they should be up here.  I am so excited.  I LOVE moving.  I really LOVE it.  And I only have one close friend in the whole world, whom I don't see nearly as often as I would like.  She lives in Surrey so it is difficult to see each other regularly.  But...now it will be sleepover visits...so much better.  She works but when she gets a day off I can go over there the night before and sleep over two nights so we can get a whole day together.  I am so excited.

We are gone all July and Sept.  so we will be intensely house hunting in August.  We already have Aryn on the financing end of it!  And I have been spending serious time on MLS looking at places.  We may have to get a place with suite potential and live here while its being finished or built, kind of like the kids did here.  It took us a month to build the suite downstairs.  Meanwhile they can move in as soon as we own it.  I foresee many many trips to the dump in our immediate future.  Love going to that dump!!!!!

Last night we took them to Milestones to celebrate and discuss plans.  April is so happy for Andrew but kind of feeling discombobulated and sad to be leaving her happy little world here...Keats, best friends etc...  So we ate and talked and planned.

Now I must go pack and get ready to go.  I shall not put any pics on today but I will take them as we go.  I will be blogging every day.  TTYL

PUBLIC BARE ASS, YES BARE

I fell, just now.  I took Kenai out for his morning ablution.  Its pouring rain out so I put my mismatched crocs on and a short rain coat over my not very long nightgown and pulled up the hat.  Not my finest look.  I only take him up on the path at the back of our own lot, so, there isn't much chance anyone will see much of me.  I have figured out with this dog if you just stand at this one particular spot he will finally do his business.  On the way back to the back door, stepping very carefully because the deck is as slippery as snot when its wet, my right leg slid right out in front of me, and I fell right smack on top of Kenai onto my left knee.  Parker, seeing this, came rushing over as well. So there I am on one knee, one leg straight out in front of me, squashing one dog and being licked and pawed by another, with my nightie up around my ears.  Really really not my finest moment.  Now my knee hurts like hell and my left hand is slowly seizing up.  I think I broke my little finger.   Wahhhhhh!!!!  Mommmmmy!!!!

Well yesterday was hair day.  Not just washing but a full head spiral at the salon.  It takes three hours.  The hairdresser I have had until the last few times had an aneurism and is still in rehab learning to walk and talk.  The new one I use is way faster and shaved a good hour off the time it takes.  She is such a sweetie too.  Normally its busy in there, but quiet and orderly.  Not yesterday.  I don't know if there is a full moon or not but it was crazy!!

There was a kid that came in with his dad.  Now, I am not for beating kids anymore, but this one needed a serious kick in the pants.  I couldn't see them.  They were just out of sight in my mirror.  My first hint there was a kid on the premises was his screaming "I don't want to sit straight!!!  I don't want to sit still!!!", proving my point that children are the most unhappy miserable group of people on the planet.  (all peoples' children of people reading this excepted!!!).  And he escalated, and got louder and hollered awful things at his dad.  Finally I asked Annie to move aside a little and turn my chair so I could see the little jerk.  Well I couldn't believe my eyes!!  He was big.  I mean he had to be around 10 years old!!  I thought he was five.  He was behaving about as badly as I have ever seen a kid behave, and it was immediately evident why.  His meek simpering cajoling father was standing there, letting this kid yell at him and hit him and even kick him.  Finally the hairdresser, an awesome east indian girl with the most beautiful accent, just let loose and freaked out all over him!!  Hahahaha!!! She pushed him down severely into the back of the chair, got right in his face, and told him that if he didn't sit still she would cut him and cut him bad.  She described the pain and blood that would ensue, graphically.  He finally shut up.  And then she got him talking about his video gaming (reason number two for the bad behaviour) and he stayed calm until the end.

Shortly after they left, there was a sudden howl and anger from a fully grown male.  I could see this one.  And this one was bleeding like a suck pig from his right ear lobe.  The poor little hairdresser was freaking out, apologizing and crying and trying to mop up blood.  But the man was obviously in pain, really really angry, and missing an earlobe.  You would not believe how much blood comes from one little earlobe.  And you wouldn't believe how much anger can come from one man.  Holy cow!! He even scared me!  He threw things around, said he was phoning his lawyer, got right down and into that poor little girl'

REALLY NARROW HOUSES IN VIETNAM, THEY PAY TAXES ACCORDING TO HOW WIDE THEIR PROPERTY IS

YAY!!!  SKINNY AT LAST

RICE PADDIES

Add caption

THE SILK THREAD THE VIETNAMESE USE IN THEIR EXQUISITE EMBROIDERY

BC IS BILINGUAL!

A RANDOM  CAKE BILL BOUGHT ME FOR MY BIRTHDAY

s face and just screamed at her.  What a giant nasty baby!!!  I was about to get out of my chair and lay one on him when another hairdresser there, a skookum loud white girl (all the others are little Vietnamese girls) went over and hauled him off and calmed him down.  He finally left and we all sat there in shock.  Not sure what will happen with that.

And then one more thing happened after that believe it or not!!  I was at the neutralize part of the process.  This means, at one point, I have to just lay back in the sink chair and wait for a timed five minutes while the neutralizer works.  So I had just finished having the stuff squirted on when two of the hairdressers started to fight.  One of them, a very very overweight really ugly older lady (she has been there forever) decided to let the new young flamboyantly gay beautiful vietnamese boy know he just wasn't pulling his weight.  She tore into him about his work habits, punctuality, cleanliness etc...  He took it for a while and then started to fight back, complete with hand waving and jumping up and down.  By the time they were separated they were nose to nose, just yelling!  God it was funny!!  Finally the lady marched off to her station, which is the messiest of them all and she spends most her time sitting on her ass not helping or doing laundry, and starts throwing her stuff around and "cleaning".  Well, she drops a really big mirror which simply shattered everywhere!!  And I mean everywhere!  And, she is too fat to be able to bend over and pick up the big pieces.  And guess what?  The boy she had been yelling at went over, patted her on the back, soothed her and picked it all up and swept and cleaned.  I thought that was awesome...a true class act.  I love that guy, he is such a fun and entertaining addition to the salon.  You should hear his stories!!!

Well this is getting too long and its time to dress and greet the day.  And I am hungry.  I will post a few more odd random pics.  TTYL

BILL! SERIOUSLY!! WTHELL

Bill reads this blog, so whatever I say I am aware he will be reading it.  So, with that in mind I am going to make a large complaint anyway.

We watch tv.  We watch shows like Justified, Magic City, Blue Bloods, CSI, Person of Interest...etc....
I can't just sit there and keep track of the story, the phone rings...I am the one to answer, the laundry needs moving, I am the one to move it, food needs cooking, I am the one cook it.  When I get back to the story and obviously have missed a tidbit, I will ask Bill...who is that? or what happened to him?.  And not once, not ever, does he know.  "I missed that part," "I'm not sure", "I don't know"  is his most common answer.  Really??  I would like to climb into his brain for just one show and see what it is he is actually getting out of it.  Just once it would be nice to get an accurate answer.  Lately I have taken to pausing the show and seeing if he is getting it and if not explaining it to him.  So ANNOYING!!!!!!  I hope he reads this!

His hearing is so bad and that may be part of it.  But....his ears, especially one of them, are blocked by ear wax.  Blocked.  He needs to go get them flushed.  A simple procedure that a lot of people have to go through about twice a year.  Do you think he will get his ass in there and do it?  NO!!  No reason.  He just won't.  So stupid.

It kind of sucks having to come to the realization that your age and stage is starting to limit what you can and cannot do, at least easily.  And I am not just talking about Bill.

At the end of the month we are going up Island to see both Monte and Kevin et al.  Originally the plan was to rent a giant uhaul and move all their stuff they are giving to Monte (originally all that stuff was ours from our last big house) over to Port Alberni.  Finally I looked at the calendar and realized that there is a long weekend in there, which totally restricts our ferry travel.  And just the thought of loading freezers, couches, shelving, dining room suite etc....shivers my timbers.  And I know that there is no way Bill can drive the truck anymore, which means I would be driving.  I could do it, have done it before on a much longer haul through the canyon years ago, but now?  No way.  I could to save a life but not to move crap.  There comes an age and stage where I fee quite comfortable drawing a line, and I am going to draw a line for Bill too.  We hired movers.  It won't cost much more.  And I can just see the gong show in Port Alberni.  Monte lives in the middle of hobo heaven.  Everyone of those dear old decrepit peeps would show up to help, with their hand out for recompense.  Its cheaper to hire movers!

We have kind of reached this conclusion in our house too.  Thus the lovely relationship we have with our fellas that reno our house.  They have been life savers.  Back in the day Bill and I did everything, from decorating to adding a bathroom.  Not anymore.  It would involve getting down on the floor and there is no way we would be able to get up again!!..

We have a very complicated stove fan.  When Aryn told me how much they paid for it I almost croaked.  And it seems the more you pay for something, the more complicated it is to maintain it.

Well, the lights burnt out in it.  They have been burnt out for some time.  But to change them you have to unscrew four teeny tiny minuscule screws, and don't drop them..they would be gone forever.  Then you pull down, carefully the whole fan/light unit and pop out two of those awful triangular type lights.  Bill went and bought a couple of replacements but it took Aryn and the manual to figure out how to pop them out and put in the new ones.  During all this all the wires had to be untoggled and unhooked. So now Bill reconnected and toggled the wires and put it back up in the fan unit.  But he couldn't bend over and look up enough to screw the screws back in.  Its different than taking them out, you have to watch and hold them and he just couldn't do it.  So when I try, I can't even SEE it.  I am almost blind in one eye and the other one isn't seeing at 100%.  So here we are, dependent on someone younger, more agile and can see.  Which came in the form of one of Monte's tiny friends.  He is very  electrical minded and popped that unit back together lickety split.  BUT...

Earlier Bill had noticed that the recommended wattage was way way less than the two bulbs he bought.  And when I suggested we change them he had fit and hollered No Way!!  I paid 20 bucks for those.  So...guess what?  They stay on for maybe five minutes if we're lucky, and then they overhear and go out.  JEEZ!!!  So now we have to do it all over again.  Really smart BILL!!

Well enough slagging on the old man.  He is watching episodes of Justified.  I was watching them too, I like the show, but all these new tv shows on Telus on Demand, are sooooo dark.  Half the time the screen is just black.  I actually googled it and it appears I am not the only one that has noticed this and is not happy.  There seems to be a debate about why, all I know is if the good people that make these shows want us to watch them, they should make them light enough to be seen.  About halfway through I told Bill that I won't watch.  Its stupid to watch a black screen and try to figure it out.  So now every few minutes he asks Who was that? or What did he have in his hand? or some such..and I keep telling him I won't watch it and that I quit and so I don't know.  He told me I was being difficult.  Hmmm.....

I just re read this post.  I think I need to get out of the house for  a while!  I have been wearing the same pj's since....I'm not sure.  Shower, wash hair and get out time!!!  TTYL

Random pics from the archives.

I HAD TWO SETS OF KIDS, 14 YRS APART.,,,THIS IS A PIC OF THE TWO YOUNGEST   HE IS TALL, SHE IS NOT SHORT

THIS GIANT ROCK MATCHED THE WATER

WHAT THE INSIDE OF MY HOUSE LOOKS LIKE!

KITCHEN CHAINSAW....THE MOST USEFUL UTENSIL EVER

DINNERS AND DOGS AND A GIANT BEEF (THE COMPLAINT TYPE)

I feel inundated with dogs.  Monte is staying until the weekend so there are three dogs in the house.  You should see the floor.  Bill has been sweeping and sweeping but there is still so much dog hair everywhere.  Yesterday April was at our table doing a day of painting and she mentioned that the dog hair was in her paint and on her painting.  The lint trap in the dryer is full of dog hair.  The drain screen in the bottom of the dishwasher is full of dog hair.  The couch is beyond cleaning now.  And I am pretty sure if we fired up the fireplace, which we never ever do (an amazing waste of space in this space challenged house), there would be an instant combustion explosion.  And....to top this off, one of them, I think Parker, has managed to chew threw a couple of his stuffy dog toys.  There is fluff EVERYWHERE and one million tiny white balls all down the stairs, all over the deck, all over EVERYWHERE!!!!   I love Monte's dog, but he chews up things, poops on the deck and gets me up really early in the morning.  Fortunately, Monte is really good at cleaning up after him.  Its funny how we all argue about which one pooped.  Whenever there is another large dog (thus large poop, which immediately rules out Molly) and we come across one of their "gifts", we owners get into discussion about who's dog did it.  One time I am going to record the discussion...you wouldn't believe what we say!!!

I have been making dinners for everyone in the house the last few days.  I never get to cook anymore, Bill and I are just too fat and eat too much so its better if we just take care of our own meals on our own stomach's time.  But, with Monte here always accompanied by one or two of his buddies, and the kids downstairs, I cook.  It has been fun but I am getting that familiar itchy feeling on my stomach, which means its growing again.  Ah jeez!!!  Keeping my weight in control is way way way harder than quitting smoking was.  Way harder.  Tonite its salad and vegetable.  No gravy.  We have had curried chicken and all the accoutrement, rib dinner and all that goes with it including johnny cake with chilies and corn in it, and last night a massive shepherd's pie.  HUGE!!!  It weighed a ton.  And its almost gone!  Tonight its salad, and left over johnny cake.

Now and then, on a slow blog day like today, I will air one of my several beefs with something.  This time it is about the critical people out there that make not nice observations about people that watch reality shows and follow entertainment news.

I LOVE them!  And I make no bones about it, no apologies.  I love reality shows, all of them.  I love Survivor, Amazing Race, Top Chef, Chopped, Master Chef, 72 Hours, The Hero etc.....I admit I don't watch the shows that are about certain people's lives, like the Kardashians etc..I just watch the competition/race ones.  And I love documentaries about people.  It appeals to the snoop in me.

But...it amazes me how people out there are so scathing about those of us that like those shows.  What difference does it make?  I love hearing the latest news about famous people and I love watching people getting booted off shows.  I hear that Survivor music and my heart quickens!!!!  LOL!!  I like to see how many places Bill and I have been on Amazing Race.  I love watching that mean cow Judge Judy ream people out.  I have learned so much about cooking from the cooking reality shows, not that I use the info.  I love criticizing the singers on the singing reality shows.  I try to guess which house the new house buyers are going to pick out of the three.  I like to try to spot the camera peeps filming Mantracker whilst he is hunting down his prey.  Harmless pass time.  I am secure enough in the knowledge that I am reasonably smart (not whiz bang brilliant but somewhat smart), I have a very busy productive life...and I watch reality/daytime tv.  Yet, people are so freaking judgemental about those of us that do.

Recently I got into a back and forth on facebook message with one of these superior intelligent beings, who was being very arrogant in his judgements of all things to do with reality tv.  I took the conversation private and proceeded to really listen to what his reasons were.  What it boiled down to, as it always boils down to, they just don't enjoy that type of tv.  Which is totally fine.  But to take it to the insult level is not okay.  I finally asked him if he watched sports.  Yes, he did.  Football, hockey and baseball.  Really?  And how is a bunch of men chasing a little ball/puck any different on an intelligence level?  I hate watching sports, boring and pointless to me but I understand that people are as enamoured with sports as some of us are about reality tv.  "Reality shows are so contrived!"  Yes, but so are movies and dramas etc...and we enjoy them.  Entertainment is entertainment.  No intelligence needed.  Just pick your poison, sit back and relax and chill.  And DON"T JUDGE!  If you don't have a pointless relaxation involving the tv in your life to some degree then you won't understand.  And thats my beef today and if you need some updating on any pointless tv show, not including sports, just give me a call!!!!

Now on to my day.  Bill is meeting his little friends for a play date!!  Hahaha...one of them just had a pipe cleaning operation, poor guy.  Bill keeps inviting me along but there is no way!  I wouldn't be able to stand sitting through a lunch with 3 old dudes cracking jokes I have heard a million times.  I feel really sorry for the waitress.  Its the same girl every time and I can only imagine what she goes through every Thursday.  After, Bill is picking me up and we are making a trip to the dump.  The truck is full, I cleaned out purple room.  Then we are going to RBC and cancelling our Westjet Mastercard.  150 bucks we just paid in annual fees for those two cards.  Granted we did get an almost free return ticket to Maui this year but those fees are just too high.  And...20% interest rate.  I always have it paid off, but I don't want to take a chance.

I am moving pics over from the old laptop.  On days that I don't have new pics I will choose a couple from the latest import.  You will probably have seen them before.  TTYL

WE TOTALLY BY ACCIDENT DISCOVERED THIS SWINGING BRIDGE IN MT. CURRIE

FORT TIME

BLOWING A FEATHER INTO A CONTAINER...SHE WAS GOOD!!!

CUP GAMES

ARYN HUNTING FOR BEER PONG BALLS

MUFF DIVING?

I SHARED WITH BILL

I THOUGHT MY BROTHER WAS GOING TO HAVE A HEART ATTACK HE WAS LAUGHING SO HARD

OH GOD!! I AM SOOOO FULL

What the hell!!!!  You would think I would know better by now.  A third helping of anything is just too much and that is why I do not make dinners at night on a regular basis.  No self control whatsoever.

This morning, reeeeeeealy early, Kinai started to pace and whine.  So I got up and took him out for a pee.  By the time we were all done I was too awake to go back to bed.  Monte got up about 7, he was thirsty, so he stayed up too.  We sat in the living room and chatted.  And then.....I forced him to look at all my pictures from the Paris trip!  Hahaha!!!  He was so nice about it but I can honestly say he is the only one that would sit right through all 2000 of them!  I told him if he read my blog I would let him off the hook cuz he would see most of the good relevant ones there.   But noooo, he hasn't read it so too bad for him!

I spent the morning and first part of the afternoon at the telus store with Monte.  He was due for a new phone and a new contract.  All our phones are under my account so I had to be there.  Honestly!!! We got there at five to ten and we finally finished at five after twelve.  Jeez!!  Although the guy (and we know him really well now after dealing with him for years), David, was really shocked when I told him that I simply do not read my statement...I just pay it.  I know basically what it should be, within fifty bucks anyway, so I just pay it and collect what the kid's basic plans cost is from their bank accounts.  Their bills are so complicated and impossible to read.  Everytime I tried I would get sick stomach and be all freaked out.  So I just quit.  I like Telus.  I don't mind supporting them.  But David was horrified.     He had a fit and went into all the plans and rearranged it all into a better arrangement.  AND.  It turns out Monte's number had been charged 30 bucks a month for something his phone doesn't even do, for the last six months.  So he called and got that back for him.  All in all a very profitable Telus morning I would say!

I got home and kicked Bill off his laptop.  When we left he was in his chair on the laptop and he was still there when we got home.  He did unload and load the dishwasher though.  The place here was like a bomb had hit it so I swung into hyper mode and cleaned it up, kicked Bill outside to do some outside work and made a massive pot of curried chicken, brown rice and two broccoli/cauliflower impossible pies.  Monte, two friends, April and Andrew all ate with us tonite.  'twas delicious!!  But I ate way too much and now I hurt.  Karma!

just random shots I stole off the internet

after the party

a friend of Monte's

monte's size 16 shoe

karaoke at its finest....a friend of April's

I have no pics this post.  I will look and see but I don't think so.  Now its bedtime, the mosquitos are attacking and its time for bed.  TTYL

FINALLY I CAN WRITE ABOUT IT

It has been so difficult the last few weeks NOT writing about this, because Bill reads my blog so I could not say anything!

Way back whilst we were still in Maui, I started to make plans for a surprise party for Bill's 80th birthday, which actually is on Tues, June 18.  First I called the chinese food restaurant that we always go to before going to the movies.  They have a nice sized place with a really fresh and expansive buffet.  Yes, they told me, they could hold 40 people.

I then messaged/emailed all the key people in Bill's sphere, and asking them to spread the word and for people to get back to me by June 1st, Stella, the super nice restaurant lady wanted an update on the numbers.  So by June 1st it was kind of up to 50.  So the minute we got back from our trip (can't remember from where) oh yeah Paris, I called her and let her know.  Then some more emails came in and then a few more and pretty soon the number was close to 70.  So I called her again a couple of days ago and they said that was fine!

Two weeks ago I made an online application for a quote on 70 cupcakes from Pink Ribbon bakery.  http://www.pinkribbonbakery.ca.  I made arrangements for the kind of cupcakes, the time and place (home) for delivery.  We dreamed up a crazy story about a birthday present being delivered (he knew that the kids and he and I were going there for dinner and we told him a movie right after) and when it came he was to go into the bedroom and not look until delivery downstairs was complete.  It never came, it was supposed to be delivered between 3 and 4.  At a few minutes past 4 I phoned and they told me that they lost the order somewhere along the line and it was never filled.  I won't repeat what I said on the phone, but let me tell you, it wasn't nice.  I was so pissed off.  I mean...one hour and half to go and no cake.  Jeez!  So I did the only thing I tend to do in these emergencies...I phoned Aryn and whimpered.  And of course her immediate response was..."don't worry, I have it covered."  And she did!!  She picked up a couple of awesome delicious cakes at the local supermarket on her way to the venue!  My little problem solver.  When I got home last night I received a very apologetic email from the bakery, with an explanation I accepted and an offer of a 200 order on our next party!  pretty decent so I can let this go and due to her reason, I won't make them spend 200 hundred bucks on this.

When we walked into the restaurant, I had asked them all to stand up and sing happy birthday.  And they did!  And I can honestly say, Bill was SHOCKED!!  To the point of tears!  He had thought maybe a couple of people would surprise him, but not 65!  And it was so wonderful to see everyone.  Some of these people we hadn't seen in many years.  It was basically a Heyman reunion with a few extra very very special people we consider family.  What a wonderful successful evening.

One little phenomenon I must mention.  Quite a few people had not actually met each other before.  There were a few people from my side of the family, and the kid's friends etc....but they all knew who each other was......from facebook!  So it was way more comfortable and familiar than if we didn't have facebook!  I thought that was so cool!  Even though they had never met...they knew who each other was.

Then, April, Monte, Jen (Yes Jen from Alberta!!!!  ) Andrew and some friends all ended up back here and did some serious drinking, singing, dancing and general crazy fun debauchery!!  Now its mornnig, I am hearing some stirring downstairs, I think I will make a McD run and bring home some breakfast.  TTYL

BILL'S SON DAVE'S DAUGHTER....VALERIE

BILL'S NEPHEW RUSS AND HIS WIFE LORRAINE

BILL'S BROTHER FRANK AND FAMILY

COOKIE!!!  AND HER FAMILY

THE OTHER SIDE OF COOKIE'S TABLE..HER KIDS AND THEIR SPOUSES

A BUNCH OF HANDSOME DONALDSON BOYS...AND ARYN PHOTO BOMBING IN THE BACKGROUND

MORE DONALDSONS (BILL'S SISTER'S FAMILY)

BILL'S SON BRAD AND HIS FAMILY

MORE DONALDSONS...JEFF ON THE LEFT USED TO WORK WITH US

APRIL AND ANDREW

BILL JAN AND FRANK

BILL AND GREAT NIECE RACHEL

BILL AND SOME OF HIS KIDS

ARYN FEEDING THE OLD GUY CAKE

BILL WITH ALL HIS KIDS THAT WERE PRESENT

BEAUTIFUL MANDY  ...   OLDEST GRANDCHILD

COOKIE AND BLACK VELVET

CHRISTINE....OUR 'SPECIAL' DAUGHTER

BUDDIES!!!

BILL WITH BRAD'S KIDS...ONE HAS A BOTTLE ON HIS HEAD!!

BILL WITH BRAD AND HIS FAMILY

BILL WITH HIS GREAT NIECE  JESSIE AND GREAT NEPHEW MICHAEL

THE AWESOME OTHER BILL HEYMAN FAMILY!!!

NIECE DENISE AND NEPHEW RUSSELL

BILL AND BILL AND FAMILY

BILL AND THE DONALDSONS

BILL AND THE FRANK HEYMANS

BILL AND HIS YOUNGER FAMILY

US WITH COLLATERAL DAMAGE!!

BILL AND THE COOKIE FAMILY

BILL WITH COUSIN HEATHER AND SPECIAL DAUGHTER CHRISTINE

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LOOK TO THE TABLE LEFT...SELFIE TIME

THE COLOURFUL GIRLS

WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THIS LADY, SHE WAS ENJOYING US HAVING FUN AND WANTED TO GET IN ON THE ACTION!

SELFIE SUCCESSFUL

MY NIECE DOROTHY AND HER FELLA DENIS....YA I SAID FELLA