Frustrations in a small community...............

I am still feeling ill :( sick and tired literally :( but I'm kind of getting used to it and keeping going :( didn't have much chance to stop today.......

So tonight we HAD to go to the local community hall and renew our league membership and then register the girls for dance.................so while I was there I saw they had Girl Guides...Susie would LOVE to go to Girl Guides/ Brownies or whatever......so I go and ask them when it is.......its EXACTLY the same day and time as the dance classes!!! This is such a small community you would think they would have more sense than to run both the girls activities on the same day at the same TIME!!!!! Duh!!!! So I said we have dance and they sigh and say what a shame and that lots of families say the same thing............... DUH!!!!!! So I ask if they have this problem every year or if this is just this year and they say EVERY YEAR!!!!!! ...................DUH!!!!!! so I ask them why they do that and they look at me and say 'Its the day that works for us' But it doesn't %*&%#%$# work for the girls who want to go to Brownies you DORKS!!!!!!!

And you know what....ALL the girls and families were over at the dance class registration signing up for dance classes and NONE were signing up for Girl Guides..... I felt like yelling over at them 'Hows that workin' for ya????????'

DORKS!!!!!

So then I wanted to sign up for Yoga......an hour each Wednesday in the local community hall....Susie and I were going to go together..........................well they want $10 a WEEK for a little local community league yoga class......I think thats INSANE!!! Its not friggin' Yoga For Today' Studios. So no Yoga and no Girl Guides....but the girls start dance again in two weeks which they will love!

I was glad to get home.

Oh but I did ask about volunteering to do the community league newsletter for the year.........so maybe I will do that.

Slime................................

After I had shown everyone how to make the slime, and had made some for a few of the little ones, the children then took turns to come to the table and make their own slime..................

As well as slime making at the homeschool group, there was also a ball game going on, gopher watching, toad catching, tree climbing, kiss-chasing, cookie eating, coffee drinking, chatting, flower picking (and decorating hair with said flowers) and generally playing and doing.....................

It was nice to see so many people there....we had fun!

Susannah poses for the camera............

Susannah asked if I would take pictures of her in her glittery dress with her new hair do............so I did......I should set up my Nikon though as these were with the panasonic.............

A letter to Kotex..............

My friend Christie sent this to me this afternoon and I thought it was hilarious! I swear this letter could have been written by me ;)




Dear Kotex:

I recently noticed that the peel-off strip of my pantiliner had a bunch of
"Kotex Tips for Life" on it. Annoying advice such as:

* Staying active during your period can relieve cramps.
* Avoiding caffeine may help reduce cramps and headaches.
* Drink 6-8 glasses of water a day to keep you hydrated and feeling fresh.
* Try Kotex blah blah blah other products...

Obviously the individual behind this was someone who has never possessed a
functioning set of ovaries. Go ahead and tell a menstruating woman that
drinking 6-8 glasses of water will help keep her feeling fresh. Like we need
more fluid inside our bloated bodies from hell... but go ahead... I
triple-dog-friggin-dare-ya... See what happens and report back. I'll wait.

While you're at it, dump out the coffee at work and remove the chocolate
from the vending machine. I garan-friggin-tee that the first responders will
be females who just ovulated.

Staying active will relieve headaches & cramps...well guess what, the only
activities that interest me are eating..sleeping..bitching.. or crying for
no apparent reason... and oh... does ripping someone's head off count as a
friggin' activity?????

Look, females don't need or want tips for living on their feminine hygiene
products. Younger girls are already hearing "helpful" crap like that from
elderly relatives. Veteran females have concocted their own recipes for
survival, many containing alcohol & barbituates.

Printing out crappy advice while sneaking in ads for the brand that was
already purchased is just plain annoying, not to mention rude, and is enough
to send a consumers running to the Always brand.

It's not a fun time, but DO NOT try to cheer us up by adding smiley faces or
bunnies or flowery cutesy crap to your products or packaging. Put the crap
in a plain brown wrapper so we can throw it in our carts discreetly and have
it blend in among the wine and beer.

There is nothing more annoying than having a blinding pink package
announcing your uterine state to everyone in the store. Why don't ya just
add an in-store microphone to the dang package to announce that... Helloooo,
another female in the store is on the rag!!!!!


P.S.

How about adding a free sample of Pamprin & maybe a shot of Bourbon to your
packages instead!!!

New haircuts..........................

Today has been a busy day and it didn't help that I am still feeling sick and have an upset stomach............we were up early and drove Chris to work at the museum.....then we headed to the homeschool group.......I had no choice but to go today.....as much as I wanted to be home in bed because I felt ill, it was my day to do the activity....so I couldn't very well not show up...........
I had to get into town to take Chris anyway and Susie had a hair appt so I figured I'd just get through it.........

Normally it would have been easy but today soooo many people came to the group....which is wonderful but was overpowering when you don't feel 100%.

So I set up the tables for the activity and once everyone was rounded up we started making slime......I put the instructions on the table for anyone who wanted to take it home and try it there or learn in more detail about polymers/ gels..................I thought it would make a lot more mess than it did actually.........

The kids had a great morning there although Abigail was totally unsociable to poor Axel..............he is just the sweetest thing but I think my Daughter likes to play hard to get! She talks about him constantly at home but for some reason refuses to play with him nicely when she sees him....................

After HS group we headed to the mall .......I ran into a lady I used to go to a Moms group with...but I was in a rush so couldn't stop and talk......Susie had an appt at 12:30 to have her hair cut. So we went into Regis to see Erin (fab hairdresser...have I mentioned her before????? Lol yes of course I have!!!! Go see her...she's a total blast and a great stylist!) and because they were quiet in there they were able to fit in Laurie too....so Laurie and Susie both have new hair cuts.......they cut a LOT off of Susies hair but its done so nicely and I think she looks beautiful.....Erin and I were teasing her about shaving her head but Susie wasn't keen (lol)

So after the haircuts we went to the food court and bought lunch.....Susie went off and ordered chinese....she always orders chopsticks and a fortune cookie too..............and the rest of us had taco's....................some homeschool friends of ours were also eating lunch there and I chatted with their boys for a while.....they are great boys.....such great sense of humours!!!! The boy had been telling me about eraning money a while back and spending it on Yu Gi Oh cards and I had told him that was a waste of money...he remembered!!! He was telling me he HAD bought the cards and was enjoying them and I tld him that was a great thing but that next time maybe he should buy me a present with the money instead (lol) to which he just laughed!!! They were telling us about Calgary Zoo and we were comparing it to Edmonton Zoo...............

What next? After lunch we headed to the stores to buy some birthdays gifts for a party the boys are going to on Saturday.....bowling! They're looking forward to that................then we ran into Safeway for some salad.......then back to the car and home...via the mail box.....yay it was a good mail day....Chris recieved a big package from the Japanese Consulate...that was FAST!!! He will be thrilled when he gets home from work......

I got the confirmation letters for the workshops at the Telus World of Science...............and the new issue of Homeschooling Horizons magazine (yay!!!)

Now we are home........I still feel so ill and just not right :( but we HAVE to head out to register for dance tonight because its the last registration night.................apart from that though I plan to soak in the bath and read my magazine......but for now I have to head out and walk the dogs...my poor girls have been alone all day.........sick or not they still need to be walked....................

Flower girls.....................

Visiting with the horses.......

We strolled across the field to see the horses and feed them some hay........the children loved this...........

The Sam effect..............................

Our plans changed and because I was feeling sick and so were Laurie and Lloyd we decided to register for dance tomorrow night instead of tonight (thankfully they are having two nights) and we went for a stroll instead.......on our way I found the most perfect dandelion head........so I went to take a picture but Lloyd thought this was hilarious and shouted...'get it Sam!' because Sam just loves to destroy them lol...not just blow them but attack them lol! So anyway...here are the before and after pictures of what happens when Sam gets a dandelion clock ;)

Tell me why I don't like Mondays...........not today anyway lol!

Its been a blah day really.....our Mondays won't kick off properly until the 25th when classes start up...from then our Mondays will be all planned out each week which is a good start to each week.........although next Monday will be fun fun FUN!!!!.................

I have felt a bit sick all day.......can't eat and my stomach wants to refuse any food I try to eat........................Laurence has just come in complaining of the same.........YUCK!!!!

So what can I say about today so far? I woke up with Abigail and Samuel in bed curled up with me...............but Lloyd gone :( my coffee was on my bedside table so I knew he had left already....and then I heard his car start so I managed to get to the window in time to wave him off to work......but too late for a hug :(

I got some errands done around here, laundry, vacuumed the entire house......and my homeschool board info arrived so I spent a while going through all my receipts and sorting out my funding.........I have $800 to claim for so far......not bad for one week into the school year lol!

Both Chris and Laurie did some Math U See.............oh actually they all did some math...even Abigail but the girls didn't use the dvd's.............Susie and Laurie did some writing........from their write now books and then we did a project on adjectives...I did it on me the other night and showed them what I had done...so then they wanted to have a go and we will finish the project on Wednesday................they are doing adjective acrostics using their names and we will make posters for the wall...with photographs of themselves......then they have to make acrostics about each other......

Abigail and I worked on her Alphabook which we found on a great literacy site.........Chris wrote to his penpal in England..........he also designed a computer program for Susannah so she can practice her typing skills..............

They all played outside for a while...on the trampoline etc.......

This afternoon......Chris is watching some shows about the Anniversary of Sept 11th.........Susannah is reading her books on Moose as she wants to study them.........

Tonight we go to register for dance and yoga........and may go for a walk by the lake...we were going this afternoon but Laurie and I feel sick so we're not up to it........tonight if we feel better we will go........it seems such a shame to waste what may be the last 20c+ day of the year.........

Lloyd has sent me a few links of properties for sale in PEI and NB.......................some of them are lovely.............

Oh I feel so ill this is horrible........all I have eaten all day is a small bowl of Special K........Lloyd will be home very soon thankfully.........

I'm feeling good about getting the invoices for the homeschool funding sorted.......its much simpler than the other school board I was with last year.....you don't have to separate the tax or child or date or anything..................

Well, can't think of much else to say right now............

Glamour shots..............a blog post

http://shiveredsky.blogspot.com/2006/09/open-letter-to-all-women-who-have-ever.html

This post on another blog is just so so true!!!! Thankfully I have NEVER had a glamour shot taken ....although my sister has and numerous friends.......and I was given a coupn for a free shoot after I had Susannah..................and I so agree that these pictures are HORRID!!! lol

A piece of art...........................

I love nice pens........I really love them.......they don't need to be expensive...in fact my favourite pens used to be the tiny free ones you could pick up in the Argos stores in the UK....like a catalogue store where you had to fill in an order form instore...........they had these mini pens for you to use....they were so nice to write with, with pale blue ink........

Lloyd knows how I love nice pens....I love to write but only with a nice pen......so he brings me home all kinds of pens that he picks up at work or gets given........

Last week he brought me home this STUNNING pen.........he works with various companies, among them Fujitsu and IBM.......when he goes to IBM meetings he twirls around his Fujitsu pen as if to tease the IBM team ;) so last week the IBM team gave him an IBM pen...........yay :) these pens are little works of art!!! They are made from GLASS!!!!!! and when you click the end they light up BLUE!!!! And they write in the softest silvery grey ink!!!!

So I am keeping this precious pen safe, put away out of the reach of little hands and it is only for special writing :) Carla...my next letter to you will be in silvery ink and NOT in about 20 different colours lol!

Isn't this pen just so pretty????

Ok ok little things please little minds ;) but I'm happy with my freeby IBM pen :)

Where were you?

Today is my Ex Brother in laws birthday............Happy Birthday Miguel! Miguel lives in New York.

Today is also the Anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York.........I was fortunate enough to have seen the towers before they fell.........beautiful buildings...........they 'made' the New York skyline................it just isn't the same without them......

So as with Elvis's death and the assassination of President Kennedy....they say everyone remembers where they were when they heard about the WTC bombings...........

So where were you?

I was pregnant with Abigail, it was just after lunch in Scotland and I was havinga rest on my bed watching an afternoon chat show called 'The Gloria Hunniford Show'. I was fed up when they interupted the show for a news report.......until I realised what the news report was! I got straight on the phone to Lloyd who was at work in his office at 'Intelligent Finance' in Edinburgh...........he yelled out to everyone around what I was telling him............and I kept reporting things over the phone as I was watching them.....I remember saying 'Oh My God the towers collapsing....its falling' and he shouted that out to everyone...........and then ;oh my god the other towers going....' and again he repeated what I said.......they then got a tv set up at work for everyone to see what was happening..............................

With family and friends in New York it was a worrying time and the news reports and stories that followed were tragic..................Luckily all friends and family weren't harmed.....although my ex Father in law lost his job when the building he worked in was destroyed........

2973 people died in the Sept 11th attacks and 2051 children lost their parents......

Where we met...................

http://west.coker.net/

This is the village where Lloyd and I grew up.....West Coker in the Southwest of England. It was a tiny little village when we lived there...we played tennis in the road because there were so few cars.......we walked the few miles to school and back each daywith no sidewalks for most of the way.......the picture in the top left corner of the home page shows the telephone box outside of th post office (run by my friends Grandma) and the butchers.......we would buy tubs of bubbles in the post office and penny candies (sweets) from the butchers.........opposite this 'square' was Corbetts....a little grocery store run by another friends Grandparents....we would buy bags of chips (crisps) for school and cream cakes as a treat! Across the traffic lights there was a tiny doorway in the row of terraced cottages and in there was a little room with a counter and a bell.....you would ring the bell and this little old lady named Iris would come out to the counter and sell sweets (candies) from jars.....pineapple chunks, cola cubes, gobstoppers, sherbert lemons, rainbow sugar, coconut mushrooms...............

The shops were half way between home and school......

The Twine works in the village were famous for making rope...they even made the ropes and sails for HMS Victory...........Nelsons flagship...............

The 'Old Schoolroom' that is mentioned in the history page was where we would have 'Jumble sales' a kind of fundraising yard sale.......and we also had 'youth club' there every week where we played fooseball and danced to Duran Duran lol! I remember my best fried Tasha had her birthday party there and we all had to dress up like Madonna......

West Coker dates back from 1309!!!!

I grew up in Font Lane....Lloyd grew up in the road behind mine....Halves Lane....next door to my best friend Tasha.

It was a great place to grow up :) I was really sad when my parents moved to the next village. I wanted to stay in West Coker....not move to East Coker! It seemed like we were moving so far!

Natures colours.................

We pass these trees on our way into town and they always catch my eye....the colours are just beautiful in the sunlight...........I do love trees! Trees with hoar frost, branches weighed down with snow, trees in the rain, the sounds of trees in the wind, blossoms.....and of course the gorgeous Fall colours..............

Lake view...............

We ran out to get some gas in the tanks for the mower, chainsaw and quadbikes etc just now and took the opportunity to drive home via the range roads....the colours of the trees are stunning already.................