In less then a week .......

Christmas will be here and I hope these cards get where they are supposed too ! LOL ! I wasn't going to send any and I sure wasn't going to make any cards this year with having pneumonia but I found last week that I felt well enough to sit for about an hour a day and play ! They are all pretty simple but I love these stamps by Black Penny " Christmas Critters " . The more I used them , the more I wanted to play ! I also tried a new product called " STICKLES " which is a glue /sparkle mix and perfect for added fun on some of the cards . All the rub-ons came from MM rub-on book " Christmas " .....work so well that I actually used the rub-ons in most of my cards interiors ! Thanks to Lisa's Scrap Shack for supplying most of my supplies ! I should just sign DH's cheque over to you every month for all the goodies I buy from you :-)







What Cat's look like after Christmas parties - or " When Cat's go bad ! "

Okay this isn't a card but my cat Tigger . The antlers were actually for the Yorkies but they hid every time they came out and there was noway we could get them to let us stick them on their heads ! As you can tell Tig is NOT impressed !



I have all my shopping completed ( until I hit a store and buy just one more thing ! ) but oh my , I am going to have to get cracking and finish wrapping those gifts ! I have a room downstairs that is loaded to the hilt .... the grandkids are getting spoiled by Grandpa and Grandma yet again !!! Boys are as much fun to buy for as the girls are ....or so we have found out ! The VISA has been smoking the past couple of weeks !!

I doubt that I will get any baking done this year .... just don't have the energy for it ! Besides , we don't need those extra calories . Off to DD's on Boxing Day after spending Christmas Day at home with the rest of our immediate family ! They will get just as spoiled as the younger kids . Every year we say the same thing ........ we are cutting back and every year we go way over board !!! Oh well , they can look at it as getting their inheritance early :-) .

Through all the craziness of being sick , new flooring and Christmas prep , our Kandi dog collapsed on the new flooring last week and we thought we were going to have to make the "call" this time . She couldn't stand on her front leg for 2 days and her back legs ...due to the hip and knee displacia ....wouldn't hold her up . On the third day , she limped gingerly to the door to be let out and went up and down the steps with no problem . Today she is walking on all four legs like nothing was ever wrong !!! DD told me not to write her off just yet as she has an amazing ability to heal herself ! Yes , this dog has many miles left in her !!!

" Christmas may be a day of feasting or of prayer , But always it will be a day of rememberance-a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved . " ~ Augusta E Rundel ~

New door , new floor and DANG it is cold !!!

This is the start of our renos .....a nice garden door to replace the sliding glass doors onto the deck . Already we notice a difference with them , first , they don't let in as much light but they don't have the coldness of the sliding door ! Even with the cold weather it is nice to be able to open the door to let the dogs out instead of having to fight the door open as it is stuck on the frozen track !
Ryder likes that he can still look in and out them .... and the nose prints on the glass attest to that ! The cat isn't sure about them though ... or maybe it is because there is now snow on the deck that makes him not want to go out ! Can't say I blame him ! Tonight the thermometer reads a balmy -28 C ............... thank heavens it is not snowing nor blowing like earlier in the week !
Kandi isn't impressed with this mess ! The floor layers discovered that they had to chip the old lino off the plywood as the contractor that built the house had glued the subfloor to the plywood .... made for a BIG mess and a lot of work ! The 2 day job of my flooring took 4 days and 2 days of the weekend that they didn't work ! I was not impressed to say the least and everything was covered in a fine dust .... I doubt I will ever get it out of my house and my ductwork !
All in all , it was well worth the mess and the expense as I love my flooring ! Oak laminate is now in the dining area , hall and front room while we went lino in the front entrance and kitchen area ! Easy maintenance with the animals too !
We cut the kitchen flooring back and did the laminate into the dining area which makes the living room & dining area all flow together much better .

This the mess in my front room while they were working removing the old lino ....Tucker doesn't look impressed ( he is hiding behind the vacuum ! )


And for some strange reason , I don't have a photo of the finished front room ! LOL ! Oh well , at this point , I don't think I was on my feet much as the pneumonia had just kicked in !

Thank heavens the house is almost back to normal and I am on the road to recovery ....now if I could just get my Christmas decorations up ! LOL !


"It never hurts your eyesight to look at the brightside of things "

And the snowball keeps getting bigger .......

Pretty flowers to make me feel better ! From DD and family and the dear Neighbor and her husband !

And the snowball keeps getting bigger ....................That is how it feels around here lately ! Not only has winter hit with a vengence and forgot how to stop dropping that darn white stuff out of the sky , it has turned cold and blustery which makes it even worse ! So our -15 C feels more like -25 C !!! Just darned nasty ! Pretty and white on the ground but the sky has been grey for so many days - so unlike the north in winter as usually if it is cold , then the sun is shining ! Not that I have seen much of the outside for the past 10 days or so ..................

What started out as a mild cold quickly turned overnight to something much worse . I came down with pneumonia .... something I have never had in my life and hope never to have ever again ! Thank heavens I have such a caring husband when things aren't going well . He spent many a night and day checking me as I was so sick . Thank heavens for strong antibiotics so it didn't get worse then it originally was ! Our weekend plans got abruptly changed from a weekend away to a weekend of sleeping away the most part of it . DH did head to his meeting on Thursday and phoned a dozen times to check on me . Instead of staying for his company Christmas party on the Saturday , he came home Friday night as he didn't want to leave me any longer then necessary ..... and the fact that he didn't care to go to the party in the first place was a big excuse to come home ! LOL ! 10 days I have spent either in bed or on the couch and the only ones happy about that are my fur babies ! Even the cat thinks he needs to lay on me ...all 22 lbs of him !!! Add that to 10 lbs of puppies , it is no wonder I am having trouble breathing !!! Tonight is the first night that I have actually felt human enough to spend any time on the computer ........so hopefully this is a turning point !

I need to get better quickly as I haven't done my cards yet ( sorry people it will be store bought this year as I didn't get any made and haven't the energy to even think of homemade at this point ! ) .....hopefully this week and the list is getting shorter by the minute ! LOL ! As for Christmas shopping .....well I really need to get more done but worse comes to worse I can pass with what I already have bought ..................... now to get them wrapped ! Uggg !!! Parcels have to be parcelled up and shipped by the end of next week too so time is moving quickly ! And somewhere I have to find the energy to put my tree up ...........................

Well all in all , that isn't the most exciting things to happen since my last post ....we had our new flooring put in and our new garden door ! I am so stinkin' excited about all of it ( though now we really need to win a lottery ! ) and once I feel better , I am sure I will appreciate all of it ! Now if the magic fairy would just come and unpack those boxes into my china cabinet and curio cabinet ! Ahhhhhh ....... fortunately DD had a friend that was willing to come and give the house a once over to remove all the dust from the flooring ( another nightmare story but it is in now so I wouldn't talk about it ! LOL ) as there was just NO WAY I could ever have got it done ! Thanks Lisa P. for being such a help !

DH had another flare-up just before all this was going on and spent 5.5 hr in ER just waiting to see a DR .( No wonder I refused to go the ER ! ) Fortunately this time they gave him some meds that seemed to help and tomorrow he sees the specialist - again ! DD told us she was going to put our names on the list for extended care at the rate we are going ........................... LOL !!!

So ends my tale of woe ..............hope your life is running smoothly !

" Things I need to do today .... Breathe in , Breathe out !!! "

A few new cards

I love making cards and I love stamping ! The two just seem to go hand in hand ......

November is moving to darned fast !

The First Snowfall of 2007 .... November 1, 2 & 3rd

Where is the month going ? It seems like we just got through Halloween and now November is hurling ahead at a breathtaking speed . Christmas shopping is slowly getting done but with 4 birthdays between now and the middle of December some of that shopping will become birthday presents ! LOL !

I spent Halloween and a couple days with DD's family . Was so fun to see the kids all dressed up in their costumes ...even little Aiden was dressed up like Tigger ! The little grump ( he should have been Oscar the Grouch ) wasn't happy though and so out of character for him .... and popped his first tooth will I was there ! He has now popped his second !!! We had a good taste of winter November 1st and DH had to come get me on horrific roads and we pretty well hopped right in the truck and went home immediately before they got worse . We ended up with almost a foot of snow by the time it had stopped falling . It did actually melt before the next snowfall ....fortunately !

Well our house is undergoing some changes as of late . We had the sliding doors replaced in the dining area with Garden ( French ) doors so hopefully that will help warm that area up this winter . After much diliberation DH and I finally decided what to do about the flooring in this house as the carpets are shot . We have decided on laminate flooring in the living room ( after he has said no way for so long as he isn't a laminate fan ) but after pricing hardwood ...laminate was the way to go . We are replacing our lino in the kitchen and front entranceway with lino as well ....just easy maintainence and with those PEEPEE Puppies it is probably the smartest move ! I can hardly wait for it to all be done so I can at least start re-organising this house from the shambles it is in right now ! Not sure how much I can do myself though as the shoulder is still acting up ( physio helps but not at the progress I would like ! ) and now I have developed carpal tunnel syndrom in my wrists ....... just what I don't need nor want !

So with the shoulder and the wrist , I am sad to say , I have been limiting what I have been doing in my craft room . Many projects I wanted to have done for Christmas wouldn't get done and I will be lucky to get them done for next year at this rate ! It doesn't make me a happy camper being I have have bought and planned some of these projects for a long time !!! Dh & the boys were just away on their week hunt ( they were very successful ) and my week of scrapping and playing turned into a week of sitting and reading !!! At least I put a dent in my stack of pocketbooks !

"Life is what happens when you make other plans "

A trip of all trips

I am not sure how many years it has been since i went on a trip with my parents and my brother but I could probably say it has been a good 38 years ! This past week found me jetting down to the coast again to my brother's and then driving up the Fraser Valley to pick up my parents so we could could head onto Vancouver Island early Friday morning . The storm of the century didn't happen - thankfully - and we had a smooth ferry sailing across Georgia Bay . As I haven't been on the Island for 26 yrs years it was amazing to see all the growth in population there and yet there seemed to be a lot of open , unused land . The natural beauty is something to see and I love the oceanside communities . As we went from Nanaimo to Comox we took the scenic route through all the small towns of Fanny Bay , Oyster Bay , Qualicum Beach and a cute little town with a great ocean side cafe called Bowser ! Was fun to get out an smell the sea air and to stretch every hour or so . As Dad had hip surgery in January it was very necessary to do that .... and besides the fact 4 adults in a mini van need to get out !!! LOL ! We headed into Comox and found that my Uncle's was right on the main drag and easy to find which was a bonus ... not that you could actually get lost there I don't think !
My parents stayed with my Uncle ( Mom's brother ) while my brother & I stayed up the street in a motel . That gave us a breather from the family and a chance to explore the town .

These photos are of the ocean and if you look hard enough you can see where my #4 granddaughter lives ...so near and yet so far ........ the temptation to hope the ferry and go there was a great pull but I just didn't have the time to go on a wild goose chase . I love the ocean and it is so peaceful to walk along it even though the wind was cold and blowing ! We had an awesome visit for 2 days with my Uncle and I even got to see my cousin ( another Uncle's daughter ) whom I haven't seen in over 30 yrs ! It was a great trip to the Island but Sunday found us heading back to the mainland where my sister and her husband came to collect my parents from my brother's .


This is heading south down the Island highway into Nanaimo on Sunday morning ...in a rainstorm !






I spent another 2 days with my brother and got to see a good friend that recently moved within a few blocks from my brother . Unfortunately she had to work the 2 days I was there so we only had a short visit but a good one ......

Well I am now home and trying to catch up on things around here .... I feel like I have lost a week somewhere and we are heading into Friday again ! Sheesh !!! This has to be a sign of getting older ! LOL !

On another note , BIL is back in the hospital after a series of seisures . The specailists think it is from the combination of radiation and chemotheraphy he has had this year but they are running further tests to see if they can find the cause . I am sure he and his wife are just wishing they would get some GOOD news for a change ! I know we are rooting for some too !

" Nothing is worth more then this day . Make the best of it . "

And life goes on .....

Early morning fog on Lac la Hache , BC
Our little maple tree is growing !










The motorhome is winterized and put away for the winter so it must mean we are done camping after 45 days of actually getting out and using it ! The men folk are talking about their Fall hunt up North and rehashing last years ........

It is already past our Thanksgiving and that is so hard to believe ! What ever happened to September ? It came and went so fast ! The colors of our trees this year were beautiful but so sad to see everything turn so fast . The cool weather also hit fast and furious but AFTER DH & I managed a week of holidays . We just camped within 3 hrs of home and managed to stay in 4 different places and 4 different lakes . The one photo of the fog coming off the lake is at Lac la Hache , BC ..... I think this was a definate start to the fall !
Our little grandkid maple tree ( the 2 middle grandgirls gave it to us out of their yard ) has grown a lot this summer and sprouted a few more branches and leaves . It managed to survive the summer and the pups . lets hope it survives another winter as I love the tree and hope it grows quickly so it will shade our deck .... if we ever see a hot summer again that is !
Our fall has been very busy as DH has been away on 2 business trips and our week's holiday . I leave again next week for a trip with my brother and parents to Vancouver Island to see my Mother's last surviving brother and whom I was named after . His wife of 40 yrs passed away in September after years of fighting brain cancer ...she was 80 and survived for over 25 yrs after her first tumor ! Amazing !!! DH's brother is still fighting and has been getting some very good news from his specialists so lets hope after such bad news at the beginning of the year that he can beat the cancer completely ! Miracles do happen ! Dh seems to be feeling a lot better too which is wonderful ... makes the stress of the past few months a bit of a blurr !
It is nice that some of the stress has left and that I had a lot of time to myself so I could get the creative juices flowing and play with my " toys " ! I did manage a couple layouts and a few cards even though my rotator cuff has been giving me major problems for the past 6 weeks . Physio has helped but I wish it would just go away as I hate beeing in pain as much as the next person ! But like most injuries , it takes time to heal ....... I did receive some very nice stamps in the mail today as I was one of the 1001 people to be drawn for a promo set of " family " stamps from Inque Boutique :-) I can hardly wait to play with them !

Happy Fall everybody , get out and enjoy the crisp air and the beautiful colors as winter isn't to far off !

" Autumn is a second Spring when every leaf is a flower " ~ Albert Camus ~

WHAT ?

How can it be the end of August already ? We never even had summer for all of August and it has done nothing but rain and be gloomy ! But life goes on regardless and we are going to go camping this weekend regardless to the weather . It is a LONG weekend after all !!! LOL !
So first off , Happy Anniversary to my parents for tomorrow ... 56 yrs ! Wow , that is a LONG time ......... Congratulations and know I love you both so very much . Distance doesn't make a difference as I am there with you in my thoughts .... and will see you in October !

A HUGE Happy Birthday to my older sister for the 1st !!! Thank you for all you do ...and I don't have to tell you what that is ....just wait for the doorbell to ring for a surprize ... and no it isn't me ( tried that once and just about gave everybody a heart attack and don't do that with the age everybody is getting to now ! LOL ) ..... all I will say , is the surprize will smell pretty !

August has brought some very good news too ...and we could use it with all that has happened this year ! BIL has had his brain cancer go into remission ! That is a miracle but after radical radiation it is everything we all hoped for . Now if they could just get the cancer in his stomach to go away ........... BUT miracles do happen ! Who knows , he may outlive us all ...we can only hope ! MIL had a brain tumor many years ago , went to Sweden and had the gamma knife ( ray ) done and her's has never completely gone away but it hasn't grown either .... and she is 86 yrs old ( think ) ....her sister is 99+ this year though longevity runs in the female side !

Dh is struggling daily with health issues but is back to work full time . We are hoping to take another week off soon to go camping for one relaxing holiday before it is time to pack the MH away for the season . I am having rotator cuff problems so have been going to physio trying to get some strength back into it ....which limits what I can do or for how long . I did manage a couple scrapbook pages and a couple cards this week though ............ it has been a challenge just to sit for any length of time at my desk . So many supplies and no mojo .............. does not make me or DH a happy camper ! More supplies coming in then I will use in a life time ! LOL !!! Oh well , those 100 pocketbooks sitting here are getting read at least !!! I am working on #4 already this week ! Crappy weather certainly helps too !

Happy Labour Day everybody and I hope the sun shines for you ! I figure we had September weather in August so we should get August weather in September ....RIGHT ? Play safe and enjoy your families and the end of summer !

Where is the sun ?

It seems the past 4 weeks have forgot it is supposed to be summer and we have had nothing but rain , gloom and cool weather . Occasionally Mr Sun does come out but it seems that the dreary days out number them . We have been camping but it is so hard to admit that the season is coming to an end within the next 6 weeks . I sure hope we get a good Indian Summer here though as we really deserve it ! Last night we had an amazing light show of lightening here ... it lasted for over 4 hrs and it was all kinds from the jagged to the sheet ... and the the rain that came with it was really something . No pictures though as Mr Rebel is in the camera hospital ..........We are loaded and ready to go camping regardless .
It has been a busy summer regardless . Dd & family have been up a number of times and it is great to see our Little Man growing so quickly and now getting active ! Wouldn't be long before the dogs will all be running from him as he will be crawling ! The girls are becoming such little ladies now and one evening we had the 3 granddaughters have a sleepover her ( well DD was here too ! ) . That was a good time but next time Grandpa needs to go away so we can really party ! LOL ! We really have been blessed with great kids and and a full load of grandchildren . We even received more photos of the " lost " granddaughter . She has turned 5 and will be starting kindergarten in September ... hard to believe as she was only 8 months old the last time we got to hold her ....maybe some day she will come looking for us . We do know where she is though and by all indications she is a happy , well adjusted child ............ We still miss the physical contact and it is sad that she will never " know " her cousins as they grow up or her Father ...though he may never grow up ! LOL !!!!! Just kidding but it is a hard situation all around .
Dh is slowly starting to feel better and isn't so tired . He is working long days though and that isn't good but it is his decision and he will have to live with the result of such ! I can't do it for him !!! He plans on sleeping all weeknd in his lawnchair and I am more then happy to let him as I have a book I am reading !!! I have managed to injure my rotator cuff of my right shoulder so have not been doing much except for the necessities ...no scrapping , no stamping and little computer time as it just hurts too much . Physio seems to be helping but it also seems to irritate it ! Gosh , I hate this getting older as everything feels like it is creaking or hurting ...... LOL !

Time to get in that motorhome and bump our way down the road .... hopefully to some sunshine ..............

Have a great weekend and I hope the sun shines where you all are !!!

Holiday photos

Finger Lake
Tatuk Lake at the resort there . Nice grassy resort and a BIG lake ...

Lavoie Lake . Years ago Dh and the boys fished this lake before there was a public access to the lake and a forestry campsite . The fishing was also good and the fish a fair size ( some rainbows trophy size ) . We heard that the fish are fewer then years previous and the large ones are a thing of the past !

Gr#1 with her trophy fish ! Once she got in the boat then she wanted to fish and these are the two she caugh - and ate ! LOL !

Rattle , rattle , rattle ........

That was the sound of the motorhome coming back from Finger Lake on the gravel road ...for miles ! LOL ! We had 2 warm days and 2 rainy days at the lake and the fishing wasn't the greatest ...very small rainbow trout was what we did catch . Dh & I got caught out on the lake the second night in a rainstorm and got just soaked to the skin ...took days to dry everything out we were wearing . I had on my floater jacket so at least part of me stayed dry ! The one thing we did leave behind was a gallon of blood each and fattened up the mosquitoes and the black flies ! They were horrible !!! Grd #1 hates bugs of any kind so it was not fun for her at all ...... but she will handle fish ! Go figure ! Was nice to spend time with DS and GrD#1 though .....



Going fishing at Finger Lake on Day 1. Grd #1 was a little tenative of the boat and ended up coming back to shore . Took until Day 3 to get her comfortable enough in it to actually go fishing ...then she didn't want to stop !
This is the cabin DS and Grd #1 stayed in called the Grizzly Den ...very rustic , no running water , only outhouses and limited powers supply
This is my favorite photo of DS & Grd#1 walking into a lake that we stopped to look at called Tatuk Lake . This is also a forestry campsite which means what you bring into it you have to bring out ( as in all garbage ) . The spots aren't big enough for the MH even though it is only 27' ...great for a camper or tent though . Pretty lake but we found out it is a big lake and it does have a very nice resort on it . One afternoon we went for a drive and visited a few of the area lakes .

A little smoother ride....

DH went back to work on Monday and it has been a slow and steady ride so far . His mornings are rough but he feels better as the day progresses ...funny thing is , he keeps forgetting to tell his boss that he is on holidays next week and that he wouldn't be there for a week ...he cancelled the second week out of guilt !!! Tonight we even went to visit friends and it has been a long time since we have done that - camping doen't count ! LOL !

DD & her family were here overnight on Tuesday and Granddaughter #3 saw the pediatrician for a year check-up after her illness last year . She has developed a lump on her eyelid that one Dr says is scar tissue and another says it is a sty ....but she will be referred to another specialist over that . Who knows how long it will be until she gets into that Dr as this appontment took 7 months to get in ! Crazy ! For the most part , she was given a clean bill of health ! Was so much fun having the kids here even though it was a short visit . They are all growing up far to quickly - including our smiley little guy ( who went for his second haircut already and he is 4 months old ! ). Such a happy content baby and the girls doat over him ......as does everybody else too ! Such a wonderful miracle that was 7 years in the making !

The MH is to be loaded over the next few days as we will be heading out fishing for 4 days .....and I hope the rain lets up soon or we may get mud bogged down on the road into the lake ...but at least it wouldn't be dusty ....bumpy regardless ...but that will be a mild bump in the road !!!!

STOP THE WORLD......... AGAIN !

I need a breather ! This past 6 weeks has been just a little to hairy for my mind so I glad to say that DH has returned to work as of this morning .... for how long is anybody's guess as he will NOT cut back on his hours . This morning he left the house at 3 am and never returned until almost 5 pm . Call it devotion to his work or call it NUTS but I am NOT pleased with him ! He still isn't well as he has now picked up a cold and is hacking all night long ...he isn't sleeping and I am not sleeping ! Then that darned HR department he works for dared to ask him for some forms to be filled out by his DR ( at $35 a pop ) as they don't want to pay him his full benefits for the last 4 days he was away ! Yeah like they are paying him to work 14 hrs a day and then never mind the calls at home or anything else ! He has 60 days of holidays coming to him so they had best not make any waves or they may find him taking them !!! BUT it was nice to have a day to myself at home ... just playing with my stamps , ink and adhesive !!! i do love the house to MYSELF on occasion .......now if the HOUSEWORK FAIRY would just come do her job it would be VERY nice of her !!! LOL !

We are slowly packing up the MH as we are heading off for a few days of fishing with the oldest son and Granddaughter . We are so looking forward to it ...just not the temperature that is to be in the 30's again ! The fishing will be lousy and it is a ' new ' lake we are going to ! Bah humbug ! I was hoping to outfish all the men again with my new fly rod and reel that I got for Christmas !!! If it is that hot we wouldn't be on the lake much either ...maybe the weatherman will be wrong - AGAIN !!!! LOL !

But a few days of no cell phone coverage will be good ..... DIL and DD will both have a contact number and I sure hope they don't have to use it ! I can not imagine a rush trip home on a dirt road !!! Never mind what the MH would look like !.................................

More pretty flowers

Dh was the recipient of another beautiful bouquet of flowers from one of his clients . They are beautiful and will be going camping with us this weekend ! Another rough night for DH and still he hasn't made it back to work . He is getting frustrated with feeling lousy . He says he is going in to work Monday morning if he has to crawl there ( funny he said the same thing last night about today ... and didn't go ! ) . This is the first time he has ever missed work for longer then 2 weeks and that was for holidays when we went on our cruise to the Panema ! He tried to gt into his Dr today and the Dr is on holidays until August 2nd ! Hopefully DH will be feeling better by then as this has been a long drawn out bout this time .......


but at least he has some pretty flowers to look at !

Life such as it is .....

With more bumps then smooth sailing lately it will be nice to just relax and be able to complain that life is boring ! Not sure when that will happen though . DH is still home with his UC and has been trying to get back to work all week which in turn makes him anxious and then he feels worse ! It seems to be a viciuos cycle . His trip to see his brother last week settled his mind as to how Br was doing but with brain cancer being diagnosed and radiation treatments just finished , it is again a waiting game . No family drama happened either while visiting as MIL and SIL behaved themselves .... for the most part ! LOL ! At least DH had one day to visit before M arrived ! The trip alone was hard on DH as sitting for long periods of time just aren't a good thing ...the flight was over 5 hrs with a layover in Vancouver .

DD & family were here for a swim meet on the weekend and it was good to have them here . It was good for DH to have them here when he got home ! The girls swim like fish and they are beautiful swimmers already . I hope they stay with the swimming . Granddaughter #3 lost another tooth while she was here and that one cost Grandma $15 ... I had made a deal with her that if she lost the tooth while they were here that I would give her $5 ....well being the older 2 granddaughters " helped " her loose the tooth I had to give them $5 each as well ! Guess Grandma needs to stop making these deals !!! LOL ! Our little man is growing and such a cutie ! He was weighed yesterday and is weighing in at 13.5 lbs and 23" long at 3 months old . Just a small little guy ! But so happy and he likes to sleep !!! I did manage to throw together a dinner ( thanks to Costco ) for our whole tribe on Sunday night . It is nice to do that in good weather so we can throw open the patio doors and us the patio as well as the kitchen . It is cramped otherwise ! LOL !

The weather has turned HOT here ( 30 C ) and is to stay like that for a few days and then just cool down slightly ! Who was complaining of it being too cold ? We are heading out camping ( if all is well with DH ) on Friday for the weekend .......... so we can use the AC in the MH !!!

More projects

More projects done ! These are the altered letters for the granddaughters

A GOOD bump........

I FINALLY got some projects completed !!! Life has been so crazy here lately that is good to just sit at my desk and just let my mind relax and wander .

Visit http://lisasscrapshack.blogspot.com/ for more of my completed projects . Lisa doesn't have a Design Team but does post projects that have been completed with product that she sells on her online store . So submit to her as you never know what will show up on her BLOG !

Right now I am waiting for some Modge Podge to dry on my last set of altered letters for Granddaugther #1 and then i will be completed my altered letters ....now if only I could get some scrapbooking d0ne ........

Canada Day 2007

While camping we had Canada Day so it was time to bring out the flag ....which went in the flower pot I had taken with me ! LOL ! Was a beautiful sunny day for a change and DD and family came to join us for a few hours . Grandpa did the weinie roast for the girls and it was fun ...more fun watching Delaney lose her marshmellows into the fire though or burn them to a crisp !!! LOL ! And spoiling our little Man is always a priority ! Hard to believe he is already 3 1/2 months old ! What a good baby and a sweetie ! DD left in the afternoon ( dogs at home that had to be let out ) so we visited with our neighbors - who are also camping down there - for awhile before relaxing back at our campsite . Just as we finished supper friends pulled in with their trailer and got one of the last spots available - which was right behind us ! We had a nice visit then the owner of the campground put on a wonderful display of fireworks for all to enjoy . It definately was a better July 1st then we usually have - which means we got NO rain !!! LOL !

Be loud , be proud as we are Canadian !!! Happy Birthday !

Bump , bump , bump .....

It has been a stress month but we have managed to move into July with hopefully less stress then June . DH is actually taking a short medical leave in order to get his UC under control . That alone tells you how sick he is as he NEVER takes a day off just because .... and now he is paying for it ! These beautiful flowers with the huge flowers in oranges and yellows were sent by the company he works for ! They are just beautiful ! And the beautiful arrangement with the butterfly was sent by my good friend Lisa as she was trying to cheer us up ! She is a good friend ! Thank you !!! These beautiful flowers have actually lasted over two weeks and the two roses just died yesterday and had to thrown out - sad ! They are my travelling flowers though as they have put on a few miles .as they came camping with us and definately brightened up the motorhome .. LOL ! When DH finally decided that he needed a few days of rest we headed out camping not far from town ( 45 minutes ) for 6 days . Was a wonderful relaxing week for the most part . The black flies and mosquitos almost ate us alive but we survived with a camper's perfume -OFF SPORTSMAN !!! I did manage to read 3 large paperbacks too and DH slept on his chair ... I threatened to duct tape him to it and duct tape his Blackberry if I caught him looking at it !!! Was a strange camping trip as well as DH & I both had our cell phones turned on the whole time ( usually we " lose " them immediately ) .....

The reason for the cell phones is that DH's brother was diagnosed with brain cancer and was not doing well . More stress ! Right now he is finishing up a round of radiation ( 12 treatments ) and then it will be on to chemo . The cancer is aggressive so lets pray that he gets some positive results today when he sees his DR . DH actually flew out to see him when we got home and will be gone a few more days . MIL and SIL & her husband are there as well ......... but we leave that right where it is ! NO COMMENT !!!

I am hoping DH will stay off work at least all of next week ( his Dr signed a 4 week leave ) but he is a stubborn man and feels so guilty about not being at work and having others cover for him . I am not sure what he will do about our holidays either as we have 2 weeks booked at the end of July with the oldest son and granddaughter to go to a lake for some camping and fishing ...................

So the road is bumpy again .................

Father's Day

I didn't " forget " about Father's Day , it just wasn't a pleasant one here with DH being sick . He actually went to bed after a quiet weekend camping . He wasn't into visiting and just didn't encourage our friends to visit for long ...... and I totally understood that ! They might not have but they aren't the ones suffering either ......

However , Father's day does mean something to me . I have a Father that means so much to me . He is a quiet person who shows little emotion but is an old softy when you get to know him . We were terrified of him growing up but that was because Mom always threatened us with " WAIT UNTIL YOUR FATHER GETS HOME ! " ...Years later we found out he was a teddy bear and a pushover ... only it took the grandkids to figure that out . Go figure !!! LOL ! I Love you Dad !

And then there is my DH , my rock , my partner , my life ........ he is a silent strength that pushes me through life in an unseen way , he has stood by our children through thick and thin and he is their supporter in all things . He has shown them about confidence in ones self even when he is so unsure of himself most of the time ( and he should be so proud of what he has done with his life and the wonderful person he is ) , he has shown them about work ethics and how to be the best in their field and to strive just a litle farther ...... even though one offspring keeps slipping on this but some day he will find his footing and then look out - he is his Father's son . He has shown them that a life altering disease should stop life but to make it mean more and make the best of each day and to enjoy those little things . His shining light is his grandchildren and he gets very emotional when one gets a good mark in school or wins a swimming race or even if it is just their first smile . He loves me , he loves his kids and their spouses and he loves his grandchildren - all 5 of them ! He is the Best and he is so dearly loved ...so Happy Father's Day................... and I hope next year you can enjoy it !

A BIG BUMP IN THE ROAD......

If life hands you lemons then go drink taquilla !


It seems that just when you think life is going to start running smoothly and the road is straightening a big pothole sucks you in and you have to crawl out of that hole . That has been the last month since we were on holidays . First our Kandi , cocker dog , took so sick and we thought we would lose her to the big puppy playground in the sky . Well she has fooled all of us and is off her meds and seems to be holding her own . Actually she is quite spry for a lazy 11 year old !
But that was just a pebble on the road as to what we are facing right now . My DH has had a major flare-up of ulcerative colitis http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/colitis/ which has left him weak and very unwell . As of this weekend he will be on medical leave from work and on strong meds to try get this horrible disease under control . The next step will be hospitalization and possible surgery . If I can get him to stay at home for a week then I will consider myself lucky as he is a workaholic and HATES being " lazy " and resting ...as he calls it ! He feels guilty about leaving his staff in the lurch ( but that is what head office has people making big money to look after not the peons in the company ! ) which in turn will give him more stress and that is a LOT of the instigator in this disease .
To top off and to compound the problem , we just had word that his brother has been diagnosed with brain cancer . We aren't sure of the severity of it but the word is not good . I am a fatalist to a point though and I feel that he will fight this with all he has in him . My aunt that just passed away at age 80 had brain cancer 25 yrs ago and was a survivor and lived through 3 bouts of it ! DH is so very upset about this news though and once we hear the news from down east later in the week , we will make plans as to what we will do . We had hoped to just head out camping and sit and relax for the most part of next week with the motor home ( yes , I know that is not REALLY camping ! LOL ) but it will be away and we will relax ...... providing we aren't doing a trip that DH shouldn't be taking right now !
So if somebody has some ashphalt laying around or some gravel , could you fill this pothole so we can get back out of it ..................

We made it through another weekend !

Well after the week we had here , the sun came out and it turned HOT ! Of course this is the weekend we didn't go camping with DH not feeling well , one sick cocker ( but she seems to be getting better and holding her own ! ) and 2 puppies that not only got tattoed ( for ID ) , teeth pulled ( and I think we just paid for a world cruise for the vet on that one ! ) but they got neutered ! How is that for adding insult to injury ! Seems Ryder had low blood sugar in the morning so they pumped him with gloucose before doing the surgury ( at $64 for the bag of gloucose ! ) .... all was well when we picked them up and by today , they were pretty much back to normal . Ryder seems to be walking a little gingerly but I think he is more embarrassed about the shave job they gave him on one leg , one ear and underneath ! Of course , he is the one that has the long thick hair so it really shows !!! I can see a short haircut coming up before to long for him - providing he isn't tramatized by all this !

Seems the bad news just keeps getting worse instead of better . BIL was waiting the results from the chemo he has had for the past while and he got the news on Friday ... not good ! The tumors stopped shrinking and has now started to move agressively . He will find out this week what the next step is to be ... and they say this round of chemo or radiation will NOT be easy and he will be sick with it .... We are thinking of you BIL !

Dh is pretty upset with the news about his Br but as usual , he is trying to be tough and not have it show ... that could be why DH is having a major flare-up ! He can't get into to his specialist though until June 19th- CRAZY !!! Lets hope that will be good news as he remembers nothing of the procedure or what the specialist told him last week .........

Well there are clouds in the sky now and the weatherman is predicting more rain this week , more flooding for the south and DH said we may go camping next weekend .... GO figure ... IT is going to cool down to the mid teens and it is going to rain right through the next weekend .............I hope the weatherman is going to be wrong about the rain .....................

Am I crazy ?

This is beautiful Lac la Hache ( not the greatest photo ) but the only one I could get to upload on here ! Go figure ! LOL ! This lake has the most amazing sunsets on it ( and no I did not get a photo ! ) . The name means Lake of the Hatchet and there is a story that goes with it but I think you can figure it out ... it involves a man and a hatchet and the man loses the hatchet in the lake ..... HOW TYPICAL !!! LOL !!!
And this is the female eagle that I walked up on to take it's photo ... to about 3' of it actually ! Too bad the eagle blended into the building as it was a magnificient site !

Call me crazy ...................