August has come to an end

We have had a couple of really nice days, but today is chilly, damp and windy. It is suppose to be like this through the night and maybe clearing of tomorrow afternoon. I took advantage of the cooler weather to turn my oven on and made some bread sticks and pretzels. It was a new recipe and they turned out pretty good.

I have been watching CNN's coverage of the hurricane and I simply can not even begin to imagine what those poor people are going through. The total and complete devastation of so many areas! It really does make you wonder how on earth they ever do rebuild after something like this.

Since last night was Gary's golf night, Crystal and I had a girl's night which was nice. We both had some shopping to do, so as soon as daycare kids left we headed out. After we were done our shopping we went out and ate supper. It is nice to be able to spend time like that with her.

I haven't talked to Ryan this week, but he should be back in Abbotsford till Sunday I think he told me. He spent some of the time last week just getting his bearings, looking to see what was around, and just generally figuring out where he was.

Tomorrow is Gary's birthday. We won't really be doing anything special for it as we are going into Winnipeg for a weekend in early October to celebrate his birthday and our anniversary. I told him that I would take him to Red Lobster for supper. We don't have on of those restuarants here so it is a very nice treat when we go to the city.

The only knitting that I have been working on is the wrap I am doing. I did go and by the rest of the yarn for the WW's that I have left to do but haven't cast another one on yet.

Where has the summer gone?

How can it possibly be almost the end of August already? You can feel and smell fall in the air in the mornings and in the evenings. Gone are the weekends of sitting around the campfire till the wee hours in your shorts and t shirts. It is long pants, sweatshirts, shoes, socks, and a jacket!

Last weekend we got out to the trailer, unpacked and put some hamburgers on the BBQ. Gary ended up finishing cooking them in the rain, so we ate in the trailer and put a DVD in. We had just nicely finished eating when the trailer door openned and there stood my dad! It had stopped raining, so Gary built a fire and we sat around it and visited with him. Since it was chilly and damp we didn't even bother finding out where the fire was that night, we just went in the trailer and turned in early. Saturday we went into town in the afternoon to check out the sidewalk sales (very disappointing) and then we went to the rodeo. It was very good, Virden always gets such good bucking stock and because you are in a small arena it is almost like you are right in the ring with the cowboys. Sunday afternoon we went back in to watch the rodeo again, and it was equally as good.

The weather this last week has been iffy, cooler for the most part, but humid! They kept saying we would get rain and thundershowers but so far that hasn't happened except for a few spits here and there.

Tomorrow Crystal will be going to ACC to pay for her next semester, get he schedule and buy her books. I think she is looking forward to getting back to school. She doesn't always like the cut in her pay cheque but she does manage. It is very rewarding to watch the sense of pride she takes in paying her own way!

Things have changed a bit for Ryan and it is appearing that soon he will be on the move again, but it won't be any closer to home! I didn't really think he could get further away. LOL! The company has a theater in Victoria that is without a manager right now. They have a guy coming to take it over, but he manages another theater, so has to get someone up to speed to run his theater before he can move. So between Ryan and Kelly (who will end up being Ryan's new boss when he moves) they are running the theater in Victoria. Basically they are taking turns, week about, being in Victoria, and then the other week they go back to their respective theaters. This week Ryan has been in Victoria, he goes back to Abbotsford sometime on Monday. He says he is enjoying it, but it is very different. The theater in Victoria is a one screen, as opposed to the nine screens he is used to and there are no matinee's to run either. He said he has a fair bit of work to do while he is there, cleaning things up, doing some painting etc. The company is putting Ryan & Kelly up in a hotel while they are there, it is a suite with kitchenette so they are expected to get some of their own meals. This weekend Tammy is going over to the island when she gets off work on Friday to spend the weekend which will be nice for the both of them. Once the new manager is settled in Victoria that is when Ryan will be on the move. He is being transferred to Nanaimo. Tammy and Rawley will be moving there as well, she will move once she has gotten a job there. I don't think it will take her too long as she certainly isn't afraid of work that is for sure.

As far as knitting I have finished Jordyn and Dayne's matching WW's. I now have to go and buy some more yarn in order to do the next ones. I have cast on the "Catch a Wave Wrap" from an issue of Creative Knitting. I am doing it in one solid color rather than the stripes and am really liking the way it is working up.

Back to work

Monday morning that alarm seemed to go off a bit too early for me, but I managed to drag myself out of bed and get ready. Truthfully I was looking forward to seeing the kids again, I was starting to miss them. For the first part of the week I just have 4, Joleen, Johnathon, Jordyn, and Dayne. Today Kenzie's mom phoned to see if Kenzie could come for the day as she was going to the school to get some things organized and ready for the start of school. The kids feel right back into the routine of things here which was nice.

This week our weather hasn't been all that great, cloudy and much cooler. Today we had misting and some rain off and on all day long. The weekend isn't suppose to be that great either but we will head to the trailer. Saturday night we are going into the rodeo in Virden and if the weather isn't the best on Sunday we will go in again then.

Last night Ryan phoned to tell us that Sunday night he will be heading to Victoria to run the theater there. The manager they had has left and they need someone there till the new person can get there. Ryan will spend one week in Victoria and then one week in Abbotsford and continue that way till the new person is there and trained. The manager from Nanaimo will be there the week that Ryan isn't. He has also been told that there is a chance that he might be heading to Nanaimo, possibly in the new year. This would be a permanent placing for now anyways. The manager there is wanting to move up within the company so Ryan would go there for more training and then possibly running that theater.

He says that Tammy is liking her new job. (assembling cranes for yacht's) and Rawley is doing well in daycare.

As for knitting, I finished Jordyn's WW and have Dayne's done up to where I have joined the sleeves. The rest won't take long as his is only a size 4. Once Dayne's is done I will have 3 more to go, but have to go yarn shopping first.

Just some hats & mittens 

Alexis's purple verigated WW sweater 

Johnathon's Denim Blue WW sweater 

Kenzie's Purple WW sweater 

Just a little hat for the Christmas Cheer. 

A pair of anklets from that stretchy Cascade. I finished them up while travelling. 

I finished this pair up just before holiday. 

This is a pair of socks that I did while in BC. I really liked the way the colors worked up. 

Since being home

Once home from B.C. we spent the remainder of that week at the trailer, resting and relaxing, and visiting with our friends out there. It was a nice time.

Tuesday I had booked a hair appointment. My goodness did I need my hair cut. It just wouldn't do a thing! After my appointment I went and found a new little lys that I had heard had openned. It is a cute little shop, not that big of an inventory but she had only been open for 2 weeks. I will take her a label from confetti to see if she might be interested in carrying it. Right now the only sock yarn she has is Kroy. I noticed a sign saying that she was going to offer knitting, crochet and needlework classes. I asked her if she was considering have a sort of knitting evening where people who already know how to knit could come, bring their projects, and visit and knit and she said YES! How neat and I can't wait. The shop is a combined little cafe and lys and I sure do hope she does well. Then I was off for my massage. I usually only go for 30 mins but I booked the full hour this time. My poor ole muscles were just really rebelling all that sitting in the car, sleeping in different beds etc and oh man did that feel so good. I came out of there feeling so good. The girl who does my massages and I have gotten to know each other fairly well now and we just yak and yak the whole time.

Last night Gary and I went and checked out our new Walmart store. We have had a walmart, but it was attached to a mall and they have built a free standing super walmart now. It is pretty nice, very bright and open. I love their grocery section as well, and their prices were very good. I even started my Christmas shopping while there. They had these very nice acrylic throws on sale and I picked one up to put in Tammy's parcel.

Today I went for my annual checkup *ick*, not the most pleasant thing but a necessity I suppose. I finally talked to my doctor about my levels of anxiety that I have been having. I think I have always experienced it to a certain level, but through self talk etc could manage it but it has just progressingly gotten worse over the years. I have found that it is now affecting my sleep, will wake up in the middle of the night and be worrying about something and for the life of me I can't turn my head off and get back to sleep. He asked me some questions about it and we had a real good talk. He said that he was going to perscribe paxil for me and we would see how that worked out. So he has me on 1/2 a paxil every day and we will go from there. He did say that sometimes it is a bit of a trial and error to get the right medication and the right dosage, but this is the starting point.

Tomorrow I will go to the lab and get all the bloodwork taken care of and then just wait for results I guess. Once Gary is off work we will head to the trailer for the weekend. It doesn't sound like a great weekend, weather wise, but will be nice to be there just the same. We just might have to turn the furnace on though, they are saying it might get down to 5C...bbbbrrrr *S*

Recap of our time away

It was so nice to be away, but also is nice to be home again too. We did have a good time in Abbotsford. It was so good to finally meet Tammy and Rawley and get to know them a wee bit. Now when I call Ryan I have to have a little talk with Rawley if he is around. It is cute, and I love it! I just put up a few pictures that we took while we were there.

The day we went into Vancouver we saw a Carnival Cruise ship that was loading up. WOW!!! I never imagined them to be SO BIG! Makes you wonder how the heck they float. I have always wanted to go on a cruise and just seeing that huge boat there made my desire even stronger. There was a smaller ship parked there as well and it really magnified how big the Carnival one was.

Last time we were in Abbotsford we went home via Highway #3 and I vowed that I would never go in a vehicle that was going that way again! The scenery was beautiful, but all we did was go around curves and climb, climb, climb only to come down, down, down! This time because we went into Westbank to have brunch with Sandra and Al we took a different road home and saw more of the Okanogan. Beautiful, beautiful country for sure, as we did see The Lake of Many Colors and it was HUGE and spectacular to see!

When we checked in at Golden Gary asked the girl about places to eat and she told us about this nice little family restuarant that was within walking distance. It was such a nice little place, very clean and tasty food. They had a varied menu so Crytal was able to find things she liked too. It was nice to just sit and relax, enjoy a drink and then a good meal. Gary did the same thing and was directed to The Hopkins Parlour and it was equally as good. They also had the cutest little gift shop with some of the neatest things in it.

Finally, we saw some wildlife on our trip. Last year all we saw was a few deer. These Mountain sheep were right at a turn out where you could pull over and take pics of them. Almost as if they were posing. Numerous people we out taking pics, semi's were going by but they never moved. 

What our travelling weather was like for the most part. This is as we are approaching Hope 

The clams that he dug up 

My beachcomber son digging for clams 

Rawley at the beach digging 

At Birch Beach WA 

Home from BC

Friday morning we had to say goodbye to Ryan and Tammy. We said goodbye to Rawley the night before as it was too early for him to get up. I think it was too early for Ryan too as I am not sure he really openned his eyes to say goodbye LOL!

We got away very close to 7 a.m. and headed off to meet up with Sandra and Al! It was so great to see Sandra again and to meet Al. We ate at the White Spot and it was all very good (even if they didn't know what a denver sandwich was LOL) We had a really nice visit before it was time to head out again. We got to Golden that night and stayed at an alright motel, no frills but it was clean so that was good.

Saturday we drove and drove and drove. Our butts were all tired from the hours spent in the car. We got to Moose Jaw, and thank goodness we had booked rooms before we left home as there wasn't a room to be had. Gary asked the girl that checked him in where a good place to eat was and she recommended this restuarant. She said, when you get there it won't look like much from the outside but it is very nice inside and the food is wonderful. She was so right. I don't think we would of chanced it if it hadn't come with a recommendation. It is an old house that has been made over as a resturant. We got escorted to our table up, up and up, probably what used to be the attic. The menu was done up like an old newspaper with articles about the house etc. We were surprised to see that the house is suppose to be haunted by Minnie, but she didn't make an appearance while we were there *S* The food was so good there too! When we got back to the hotel we sat in the hot tub for a bit and then turned it.

Sunday morning we slept in a wee bit but were on the road in pretty good time. We knew we were going to make it to Virden about 1 p.m. so phoned Dad and asked if he would like to join us for a late lunch. He did that, so we visited at the restuarant and then went to his house, picked up the dog and off we were. Got home and did up laundry and headed to the trailer. It was so HOT in the trailer, but turned the ac on and by bedtime it was comfortable in there.

Monday we just relaxed around the campsite, spent a fair bit of time at the pool as it was HOT out! Today Gary had to come in to golf so I came in with him. They are calling for some nasty weather so decided that I would rather be here than at the trailer if it does happen. As soon as Gary is done golf he will pick me up and we will head back to the trailer for the rest of the week. Gary doesn't go back to work till Tuesday so we will come in Monday night. I am off that week as well, so have it booked up with a hair cut appt, doctor appt, lab work appt and hopefully will be able to get in for a massage. Think it will be a busy week for me *S*

Today on the way in Gary phoned work to see if there was any news on Darrell. We really hoped that they would say that he had had a turn for the better, but not so. He has been having surgeries, one was to put a permanent shunt in his head. They have determined that he has significant brain damage so it really just doesn't sound good at all. The guy that Gary talked to said that Darrell's sister had been in to see the boss to pick up papers to get the insurance going etc, and she had a very hard time telling Kent how things were. Just such a sad situation all in all!