TOTAL LACK OF XMAS SPIRIT

I have decided not to put up a tree this year.  I am going to be down with the kids in Vancouver so I really don't see the point of going through all the angst of putting it up.  Its kind of sad but when I think about hauling that sucker upstairs from the shed, then trying to figure out which three parts go in what order, then getting the branches all even and settled, then getting the skirt at the bottom straight, then hanging the same old ornaments, then spend the rest of the season banging into it....no, too close to a shovel list item.  I don't mind when the family is going to be here but they aren't this year.  Anton feels the same way.

On the tenth of Dec. all the family, the Haights and Bootles and friends are going out to the same spot we were in a couple of years ago for a christmas tree cutting and hot dog roast and tobogganing.  Its so much fun and such a Canadian thing to do.  I am going to take Anton with me and show him a little Canadiana.

But alas, on the 16th its Sally Ann bell ringing time.  Sigh.  Not really my fave thing to do...especially for an association that doesn't support the LGBTQ community.  But, they do help a lot of people and my fellow Kiwanians need us to help.  At least I can spend a couple of hours with my sissy!

And tis the season of the pot luck.  Ach jeez.....pot lucks.   Why why why do people ALWAYS bring the same old crap.  It seems it would be so easy to just go to the damn store and pick a non mainstream item and work a dish around it.

  Ditch the potato salad (not like the one you are used to so you hate it).  Ditch the mac salad, or pasta of some sort (which has a tendency to go runny and never ever has enough salt in it).  And ditch those over sweet sticky meatballs in a crock pot.  And for christ's sake leave the green salads at home.  We are all sick of that predictable addition (except for my sisters green curly lettuce with the most delicious dressing ever).  And then there is always the token badly done currie.  I am guilty of that one.  Oh, and I almost forgot...chicken wings.  Not the delicious buffalo ones...people might not like spicey (too bad I say) but the boring sticky sweet ones that taste like meatballs.

Anton was just reading this over my shoulder and do you know what he just told me?  That when he goes to a potluck he goes to the store and buys tortilla chips and hummus!!!  Seriously?  That is the ultimate pot luck insult!

And of course there is always the inevitable vegetable tray and dip.  Now, I know I am biased on this one.  Its not that I don't like veggies, but I am missing enough teeth that chewing that sort of item is hard.  This is just my problem with those trays but its my blog so I get to put it on the bad pot luck list.

So I suggest that you should try to aim to be the hero of the next mandatory pot luck.  Go to the store, go to the meat aisle (don't be cheap) and pick some different awesome meat (that doesn't turn into the inevitable pulled pork), or go to the produce department and pick up a jicama or a squash or lemon grass and ginger or something that isn't green salad or potato salad.  I know!!!  Buy a giant prime rib roast, roast it to rare, make some yorkshire puddings and an amazing gravy.  Fill a pretty dish with real horseradish and bring that.  Wow!!  You will be the star of the pot luck!!!TTYL

PREACH

I have tried really hard not to get preachy on here. I know sometimes I have failed.  Like my stand on extreme dog people, or extreme bear do gooders.  My apologies.  But here comes another one:

As I watch todays parenting, educating and general public expectations with regard to children, I am eternally grateful that I was able to raise my kids before:

-limo extreme equipped strollers
-ergo dynamic padded thousand dollar baby back carriers
-baby clothes that wick
-zero spanking
-belonging to ten different sports and lessons or some sort or other, no unscheduled down time
-no playing outside without adult supervision
-monster over attended birthday parties
-having a boyfriend or girlfriend at ten is 'cute'
-car seats until you are twelve or thirteen
-safe, padded, low height, no slides, no teeter totters playgrounds
-no strangers in bus stations or ferries allowed to -help you out by holding your baby for you
-moms or dads unable to look after their kids for too long by themselves
-moms or dads that can't shop and take their kids with them at the same time
-must take the kid to the dr if he/she sneezes, coughs, pukes, scrapes their knee, bends a finger

Well you get the picture.  But I heard another one this morning that absolutely takes the cake.

I was watching the news and basically the girl scout association has recommended that we do not encourage our girls, not the boys, to not hug anyone they don't want to this holiday.  Even if its a grandma or auntie or friend.  Just because you haven't seen them for a long time or they have given you a gift, its not a reason to hug.  Apparently this sets them up for future confusion on if affection is owed or not.  This teaches them that to set physical boundaries and have them respected.

Are you kidding me?  One...this is teaching them super rudeness.  Two...this is teaching them to mistrust people outright.  Three...this is seriously underestimating women's intelligence.  This isn't forty years ago.    If women get taken advantage of now, I believe there is a whole lot of other things at play (like freaking alcohol) and self esteem possibly.  Obviously there are people out there that are out of bounds for casual hugging but the scouts are talking about everyone, including trusted loved family and friends. 

Anyway, thats my preachy rant for the day.  TTYL  

DAY IN AND DAY OUT

You know its hard to do a post when basically nothing happens or you hardly ever leave your house.

Lets see, I went to Costco two days in a row.  The first one was for groceries.  Paper towels, pita bread, staples...you know.  Anton came with me so he could start the process of getting new glasses.  I brought home fries and gravy and a hot dog.  Sigh.  And half the groceries ended up on the floor behind my chair in the kitchen.  I literally have no where to put them right now.

Then I went again the next day with Anton.  He had an eye appointment and new glasses to buy and he of course does not have a Costco card.  So whilst he did all that I sat in the food court, read my book and had a latte.  Exciting eh?

Somewhere in here I obtained Emma.  Due to newly painted doors in the Bootle house, she is stuck in their laundry room all day while Elayna is on twelve hour shifts.  Thats a long long day.  So she can be here.

But we have a  problem.  She simply will not pee or poo while she is on a leash.   Anton has been letting her out the basement door after dark but during the day she has to be on a leash.  I don't know what the heck her problem is.  We go out there, and her leash is long, and she goes over there and lays down.  That would be fine but then yesterday she went downstairs and pissed all over the basement.

So now she is confined to her dog bed.  I won't let her out until I have seen her pee.  I keep taking her outside and I think eventually she will do her business and then she will be free. 

See how exciting my life is right now?

Next week I am actually doing a couple of things. On Tuesday I am babysitting Stirling for a morning and Amy is coming for coffee on Wed.  Big woop!!!

Yesterday I got calls from three of my kids, every one of them in distress.  April lost over half her london pics when Iphoto crashed.  I can relate.  I lost all my pics I took up to 2011 when I got a new computer and transferred them all over.  Such an awful loss.  Monte phoned in a complete total panic attack.  He couldn't see or breath.  I felt so helpless listening to him going totally crazy with fear.  I finally hung up and phoned Pat.  He tore upstairs with a couple of Ativan and that did the trick.  Kevin called.  He is sick and fatigued.  He has been this way, plus other symptoms, since he was in Maui three years ago.  The Dr. has done a million tests with no answers.  So now he is on that hamster wheel searching for a diagnosis.  My poor kids.

Now I am on the hunt for boots packed away downstairs in one of the unpacked boxes that are too heavy for me to move and a recipe for pineapple ginger chutney.  Such is my Sunday.

TTYL

HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN JIGGITY JIG

Wow!!  Its good to have decent wifi again!  Although it was good at Aryn's but it was also very busy with no time to do much on my lappy (except play solitaire).

I had a great time at Aryn's.  Its so homey and easy and full of furry companions.  Molly is still pretty much the same.  She sleeps a lot but gets pretty saucy when she is up.

One thing that happened had to do with Sadie (Granddog).  Its a well known fact that besides being a very interesting attitudinal dog, she is a pig.  You can't leave anything down that she can reach and eat.

So before heading out one evening I made sure my suitcase, which contained apples, was tightly closed.  I didn't have any other food.  But.....

When we got home that stinker had got my tied medicine bag off the coffee table, got it open, took out a plastic container (not a large one) got the lid off of it and ATE MY PILLS!!!!  Holy cow!!!  There was stomach acid pump inhibitors, metformin for blood sugars, little round ones that slow your heart down, and octagonal ones that .... hmmm not sure about that one.  Also one for blood pressure which is also a diaretic (sp?).  Ahhh fer jeez!!  

I didn't think any thing would really happen but you never know.  Well two nights later Aryn and I fell asleep on the couches as we watched  a Murdock.  I woke up and stumbled into the very dark bathroom and stepped smack into the biggest gushiest pile of the stinkiest possible doodoo!  OMG!!!

I hopped out and hollered for Aryn.  It took several hollers as the poor kid was sound sound asleep.  She came running and immediately started loudly and most unladylikely gagging.  And nothing makes me laugh faster than someone gagging.  She started running around looking for cleaning things (it was on hard raw concrete...hard to clean and there was soooo much!!!)  All the while gagging and gagging.  And I was laughing and laughing.  I told her I would clean it.  After washing my foot off in the tub, I scooped the poop, and scooped and scooped and scrubbed and scrubbed and listened to Aryn gag and gag and the whole time Sadie stood there watching the gong show with the most baleful expression on her face.  It was really funny.

Then the next day as we were heading towards the door with both dogs to walk them, Sadie stops, opens her mouth and promptly spews yellow bile into a big puddle.  And then Molly immediately goes over and starts...well you don't need to know that part.  I'll gag.  Poor Sadie.  I think the pills did a number on her after all.

I spent last night with Emily.  I hadn't seen her apartment before and its a beauty!  What a lovely place she has.  Its so homey and roomy.  We had a great visit.

I hit the road this morning at 8:30 and drove into the driveway at eleven.  The roads were great, the sun was shining and there was zero traffic.  I kept track, no car, not one, passed me all the way from Hope to Merritt!  (that might have had something to do with the fact that I was averaging 140 klicks the whole way)  TTYL

LONG TIME NO POSTI DI

Well, I would have posted but the wifi in this frigging hotel is pretty much non existent.  Our hotel is beside a Denny's and we can get pretty good wifi there.  We are going there later for dinner so I shall post there.

Its been a pretty awesome trip so far.  I left Kamloops about 11 oclock Nov. 1st.  I saw that there was going to be snow on the 2nd so I left a day early.  Plus I needed to get down here for an appointment.  Its a good thing I left when I did.  The next day the Coqihalla was closed in two places.

I took five hours to get here.  Normally it would be three and a half but I stopped in Merritt for coffee.  Then I stopped at the old toll station and had a half hour snooze.  Then I stopped at the flying J just past Hope for coffee.  Mozie...thats what I did.  I got here around four.

This is one beat up motel room.  My bed is totally broken, the iron cross bar under the bed is lying freely on the floor.  The bed is sagging badly and the top is on a different bar and the bottom is lying on the floor.  But its really comfortable so I don't 
care.

One of the reasons for the trip down was a rugby game.  The New Zealand Blacks vs. The Canadians.  The Blacks put on a pretty good show at the start of the game and also at half time.  There were 30 thousand people there and we had absolutely the best time.  My niece Jeni from Calgary arranged it all and twelve of us, all family, bought tickets from her and met at Gate E!! So as we munched hot dogs, pop corn, guzzled beer and wine, we hollered for Canada and the Blacks.  After the game we all congregated at Boston Pizza.  What a hoot the whole night was!!!

Right near the motel here is a Vietnamese Pho place.  OMG!!!  The food is unbelievable.  I wish  we had a place like this in Kamloops.  We have gone there several times now and its been amazing each time...and full in there.

The funniest, awful thing happened just before I came down here.  It was the end of the Kiwanis meeting.  We were all kind of tying things up and moving around.  I checked my phone and I saw April sent a couple of messages.  So I opened the first one.  It was a picture of her in her halloween makeup.  People gathered around to see  a pic of my daughter.  It was so good!

Then I scrolled down to the next post.  I was expecting another shot of her but.... it was a pic of a naked man, laying down with a 'ahem' fully blown up appendage, covered with a white hankie.  It was wiggling and the heading was "Halloweenie"  I will post a pic at the bottom.

Well Jeez!!  At first there was a collective gasp from the gathered crowd, then, thank goodness, collective laughter.  I was pretty embarrassed.  This is an older pretty staid crowd.  The gal next to me insisted I send it to her!  She really thought it was funny.  So I did.  She looked at her phone and it didn't come through.  Odd, I thought.  So I sent it again...and again.  Nope!  Nothing.  Finally I emailed it to her instead of texting it.

Then...horror of horrors I realized that Michelle, her name, is under a phone number in my contacts...not a name.  The Michelle I was texting it to is a very prudish, kind, church going lady I barely know.  She was to have been only a temporary contact and I had never deleted her.  OMG!!  I had to send numerous apologies.  I am not sure if she got them or not!

This week passed pretty quickly.  Monte had a couple of pretty awful days but seemed to bounce back at the end.  His new psychologist is a miracle! He understands Monte so well and is helping him come to terms with his illness and possible prognosis.   I think things will end well eventually.  One thing he has been pretty clear about...Monte has been totally screwed over at every level by the medical community.  Hes pretty sure there is a lawsuit there.  I don't know...we will wait and see.

So now I am at Aryn's for a few days, a few busy days.  Lots of plans.  One of them is I am going to go to a medical clinic right near hear to see a doctor.  I need to renew my pills and I want to check my blood pressure.  Its so

I DECIDED NOT TO BLOW THIS UP

INDIGEMOUS PEOPLE AT HALF TIME

AN ENORMOUS HUGE NOT DOG...THE WIDTH OF THE SEAT IN FRONT OF ME

THE ALL BLACKS PUTTING ON THEIR PRE GAME PERFORMANCE

SELFIE TIME

MY BED MATE...WRANGLER

much easier to see doctors here than in Kamloops.  So every three months I think I will come down and stay here with Bradley and Aryn and walk over two blocks and see a doctor and get my pills renewed.

Sorry a