No, we're not all tucked up snug in our beds, but several of us have been sick. Bram was sick all week but is definitely better today. However, he shared whatever he had first. Rose came down sick Friday and had to come home early from work yesterday. She came into our room at 3 am last night to tell us she was feeling awful and then ran into our bathroom and puked in our sink. Lloyd also seems to have caught the bug. Thankfully, I'm not feeling sick yet. Maybe it's because I had a flu shot this fall. I hope that'll make the difference.
Some of our friends have gone away for the holidays and we're looking after their house and dogs. That means that we need to go over several times a day to let the dogs out. They only live about three blocks away but we're driving instead of walking. Lloyd's not feeling well enough to want to walk, and although it is warmer out, I just don't feel like walking three blocks at -20. (Besides, if Lloyd's driving, I'm catching a ride).
We have done some Christmas baking. Bram and I made Christmas pudding yesterday. I couldn't find the traditional family recipe in my recipe box, so looked on-line and kind of made up my own recipe. I just tried some and it tastes right. Rose made peppernuts. Again, we couldn't find our traditional recipe, but used one from a cookbook. Lloyd says it's not like mom used to make, but we've managed to choke down most of them anyway.
Rose distributed resumes on Monday of this past week, had an interview Tuesday and started work Wednesday at Reitman's. She had Friday off, but has been scheduled to work every other day this week. However, she came home early yesterday and phone in sick today. Hopefully this bug will be a short-lived one. Two years ago the family celebrated Christmas by being really sick. Rose was sick before Christmas at the movie theatre. Bram followed shortly thereafter and Lloyd and I spent Christmas sitting on our respective thrones. The kids heated up leftovers for Christmas dinner. I have no desire to repeat the experience.
Lloyd and I are off work for the next two weeks. We have some plans of what we'd like to do over the break, but part of the time we just want to have a break. Really looking forward to it.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Rose is home once more
But it wasn't an uneventful trip home. She was supposed to fly home Friday. However, I had it in my head that she was flying home Saturday - so she also had it in her head that she was flying home Saturday. She didn't check until it was too late on Friday to catch her flight. So... her flight was rescheduled for early Saturday morning.
Bright and early Saturday morning (think, before 6 am), Rose was at the airport to catch her flight. She boarded on time, and says, "I must have fallen asleep because an elderly lady woke me up as she was getting off the plane." However, they weren't getting off the plane in Edmonton, they were still in Regina. The plane had computer problems. Then fog rolled into Regina, and they had trouble getting a replacement plane so it was actually 2:15 before she flew on to Edmonton. They made several postponements... "the flight will leave at 10; the flight will leave at 12," etc. She says that the new plane was a prop plane and she was sitting right beside the props; it was noisy and it made the plane shake.
Anyway, she arrived in Edmonton at about the same time she left, thanks to the time change. However, the flight to Yellowknife didn't leave until after 8 pm. So, she has lots of time to kill in the Edmonton airport now. Finally, at five minutes before the flight was due to leave, they announced that the flight was cancelled. Rose phoned collect, in tears. "I have no money, I'm hungry, they've cancelled the flight until tomorrow morning, what do I do?" I told her not to wipe her tears, to go to the ticket agent looking as forlorn as she sounded on the phone and to ask for a meal voucher, a hotel room voucher and a breakfast voucher for the morning. Air Canada came through with all of those things, and she did catch the flight Sunday morning at 6 am. She was home by 8:30. It was really good to see her, and we put her right back to bed for another four hours. Somehow she felt like she had been shorted on her sleep the night before. (When she set her alarm Sunday morning in order not to miss her flight, she had forgotten to reset her clock to mountain time, and so was up an hour early).
It was the Christmas concert at church yesterday. Bram had a small part; it was of course, the little kids who stole the show. There were a few angels (one with a soother), that were really cute. Jenna was also an angel, but she's so tall for her age that she didn't look quite as adorable. Bram read part of the scripture from Luke, and organized props for the little kids, hanging them up at the right time.
This is Lloyd and my last week of work before Xmas break. All government employees have an unpaid break between Xmas and New Years. I'm really looking forward to the break.
The clock is still ticking down in preparation to Arctic Winter Games. We've got about half of the volunteers we're needing (1200 or so), which is doing fairly well; but we've only got 83 more days until the games. The deadline to register as a volunteer is Feb 1, so the time is really going quickly. We still don't have anyone planning to come see us during the games - would love to have you visit. March 9-15.
Bright and early Saturday morning (think, before 6 am), Rose was at the airport to catch her flight. She boarded on time, and says, "I must have fallen asleep because an elderly lady woke me up as she was getting off the plane." However, they weren't getting off the plane in Edmonton, they were still in Regina. The plane had computer problems. Then fog rolled into Regina, and they had trouble getting a replacement plane so it was actually 2:15 before she flew on to Edmonton. They made several postponements... "the flight will leave at 10; the flight will leave at 12," etc. She says that the new plane was a prop plane and she was sitting right beside the props; it was noisy and it made the plane shake.
Anyway, she arrived in Edmonton at about the same time she left, thanks to the time change. However, the flight to Yellowknife didn't leave until after 8 pm. So, she has lots of time to kill in the Edmonton airport now. Finally, at five minutes before the flight was due to leave, they announced that the flight was cancelled. Rose phoned collect, in tears. "I have no money, I'm hungry, they've cancelled the flight until tomorrow morning, what do I do?" I told her not to wipe her tears, to go to the ticket agent looking as forlorn as she sounded on the phone and to ask for a meal voucher, a hotel room voucher and a breakfast voucher for the morning. Air Canada came through with all of those things, and she did catch the flight Sunday morning at 6 am. She was home by 8:30. It was really good to see her, and we put her right back to bed for another four hours. Somehow she felt like she had been shorted on her sleep the night before. (When she set her alarm Sunday morning in order not to miss her flight, she had forgotten to reset her clock to mountain time, and so was up an hour early).
It was the Christmas concert at church yesterday. Bram had a small part; it was of course, the little kids who stole the show. There were a few angels (one with a soother), that were really cute. Jenna was also an angel, but she's so tall for her age that she didn't look quite as adorable. Bram read part of the scripture from Luke, and organized props for the little kids, hanging them up at the right time.
This is Lloyd and my last week of work before Xmas break. All government employees have an unpaid break between Xmas and New Years. I'm really looking forward to the break.
The clock is still ticking down in preparation to Arctic Winter Games. We've got about half of the volunteers we're needing (1200 or so), which is doing fairly well; but we've only got 83 more days until the games. The deadline to register as a volunteer is Feb 1, so the time is really going quickly. We still don't have anyone planning to come see us during the games - would love to have you visit. March 9-15.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Thankfulness
It's Sunday afternoon - I've just gotten up from my traditional Sunday afternoon nap. I need to think about making supper right away. I think we're going to have grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.
While I was warm and cozy napping, Lloyd and Bram were wrestling with our little utility trailer outside. It has one very flat tire. I purchased a new tire for it, and seeing as it had warmed up to -20 today, it needed to get put on. I'm so thankful I have menfolk who can do that kind of thing and don't end up freezing the way I do. Once the tire's on, they're loading the fourwheeler in it and taking it back to the dealership so that it can be looked at. Lloyd was using it on Wednesday to clean the snow off our driveway when it slipped into reverse and now he can only get reverse and neutral. It should be covered under warranty because it's new.
I'm feeling particularly thankful right now. It's a little bit warmer out, after -35, -20 is positively balmy. In addition, Rose comes home next weekend for Xmas holidays. I'll be really glad to have her home. The family seems incomplete without her. Bram has completed his math in entirety. That means that in the new year we'll start him on Grade 9 math. It has been a good decision to homeschool Bram, and I'm very thankful that I was cut back in hours so much that I had the option to do that. I enjoy my job, and new options are possibly opening up for next semester. I'll write more on that if they come though.
I did the sound this morning at both services. I always feel sort of incompetent when I do that. Kind of like, what happens if something goes wrong? There's so many dials and buttons that surely I can't know what to do with them. In addition, not only am I manipulating all the dials and buttons on the sound board, I'm also doing the media shout on the laptop alongside it. There was a video clip to play this morning, and to do that I had to manipulate two remote controls. When I was shown what to do with them, my response was, "Don't you know that because remote controls are strictly the province of the males in the house - I don't know how to use these things?" However, everything went well.
My tomato soup just boiled over on the stove and I can't find either bread or cheese for grilled cheese, so it must be time to stop and finish getting supper ready.
While I was warm and cozy napping, Lloyd and Bram were wrestling with our little utility trailer outside. It has one very flat tire. I purchased a new tire for it, and seeing as it had warmed up to -20 today, it needed to get put on. I'm so thankful I have menfolk who can do that kind of thing and don't end up freezing the way I do. Once the tire's on, they're loading the fourwheeler in it and taking it back to the dealership so that it can be looked at. Lloyd was using it on Wednesday to clean the snow off our driveway when it slipped into reverse and now he can only get reverse and neutral. It should be covered under warranty because it's new.
I'm feeling particularly thankful right now. It's a little bit warmer out, after -35, -20 is positively balmy. In addition, Rose comes home next weekend for Xmas holidays. I'll be really glad to have her home. The family seems incomplete without her. Bram has completed his math in entirety. That means that in the new year we'll start him on Grade 9 math. It has been a good decision to homeschool Bram, and I'm very thankful that I was cut back in hours so much that I had the option to do that. I enjoy my job, and new options are possibly opening up for next semester. I'll write more on that if they come though.
I did the sound this morning at both services. I always feel sort of incompetent when I do that. Kind of like, what happens if something goes wrong? There's so many dials and buttons that surely I can't know what to do with them. In addition, not only am I manipulating all the dials and buttons on the sound board, I'm also doing the media shout on the laptop alongside it. There was a video clip to play this morning, and to do that I had to manipulate two remote controls. When I was shown what to do with them, my response was, "Don't you know that because remote controls are strictly the province of the males in the house - I don't know how to use these things?" However, everything went well.
My tomato soup just boiled over on the stove and I can't find either bread or cheese for grilled cheese, so it must be time to stop and finish getting supper ready.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)