Finally, A Finished Project...

I've always found crocheting to be an enjoyable pastime, and recently I've been sitting down after supper with a hook and ball of yarn, determined to make something worth keeping. I've been able to crochet for a number of years now, but have never actually succeeded, as following patterns is not my forte. Up until this week, everything I finished was crooked, and to say the very least...heinous. Finally, I'm proud to present my first finished project, a toque and scarf for my friend Dalyn, to keep her warm as she does her paper route each week. Taadaa!

Birthday Weekend...

Yesterday was December 18, and that officially made me 23 years old! I try not to make a big deal out of my own birthday as it comes along every year, but with all honesty, I believe my birthday is extra special. That's because I share it with my Grandpa Dick. Every year we get together and do something small, whether it be have supper at my mom's house, or lunch at Tim Horton's, and it means alot to me. When I was younger we always shared a cake. As I made the pass from 22 to 23, and he from 81 to 82, I came to realize that he won't be around forever, and with his health in the poor shape it's in, its important for me to try and spend time with him more now than ever. Shortly after my wedding, he had a serious accident in his apartment, and after being hospitalized for a couple months he has never been the same. He is still stubborn as ever, and maintains his sense of humor, but as I know his time is limited, I try and let him make his own decisions and finish out the rest of his life as he wants to.....even if that means letting him stuff unwrapped donuts in his winter parka to take home for later :)



Throughout the day I was unnecessarily spoiled as usual. Nick let me sleep in and I woke up to coffee and a breakfast sandwich, my mom took me and my grandpa to Tim Horton's for lunch (as per his request, he wanted Chili) and she gave me a gift card which I used to purchase two tank tops and a pair of jeans. My grandma dropped a gift card in the mailbox while I was out, and Ben and Brenda stopped by in the afternoon with a card and gift as well. Nick took me for a delicious supper at the Akropol, and after that we went to the casino where we both came out winners. We finished off the evening watching my second favorite movie, Despicable Me, and heading to bed early. Today, was a pretty lazy day, although I accomplished all my housecleaning, tried out a new recipe for cinnamon buns, and visited with Darlene as she stopped over after work with a card and gift as well. All in all, I had a wonderful birthday as usual, and am grateful for the people in my life I get to share it with!

Happy Holidays...

Christmas is less than a month away, and for the first time ever, I actually got a head start on shopping! I set the tree up last night, and had 10 presents wrapped already to go under the tree! Happy Holidays!

Happy Birthday Lily!

On November 18, my little friend Lily turned two! Her birthday party was last night, so we headed over to Vince and Shayla's to celebrate with their special little lady. We bought her a little desk and stool with an easel, and got her some construction paper and crayons so she draw lots of pictures. She was thrilled with all of her presents, her cake, and everyone that came to see her. She received lots of super cool presents and said 'tank you' to everyone, and gave out lots of hugs. Being cute as always, when hugging Brett goodbye, he said "Happy Birthday Lily!" and she replied "tank you...Happy Birthday Brett!" She's such an adorable little princess and we love her very much!

Boys With Babushkas...

Halloween...

Previously, we've never been overly concerned with buying candy or expecting kids because we've lived in an apartment. This year was our first Halloween in our house, so we really didn't know what to expect. I was pretty excited about the whole situation, so I camped out on the couch early Sunday afternoon with the front door open in hopes kids would see we were home and decide to stop by. Overall we had 34 trick-or-treaters (including the foreign kids from down the street who came once, went home and switched costumes, and came again).

Below is our neighbor Aiden (the lion) and Broden (the bum). There were lots of great costumes, and it was super fun!

First Anniversary...

Last weekend marked our one year anniversary, and we decided to celebrate by getting out of town for a night. On Friday, my mom came over with some beautiful flowers, and then came back over later in the evening with my dad and they treated us to Wong's for supper. It was not only delicious, but greatly appreciated!



Between my mom and Nick's dad the dogs were very well spoiled and taken care of so we packed our things and headed for Regina early Saturday morning. We hit up the new Wholesale Sports as soon as we got there and then headed for the Cornwall Centre where we pigged out on New York Fries and Orange Julius. We bummed around the mall for a while, checked out a few stores, and eventually got tired and checked into our hotel. For supper we went to Montana's where we both had delicious meals and after much debate, we left with an order of deep fried cheesecake as well. We were too full to eat it at the restaurant, but I convinced Nick it crazy delicious, and we ended up taking it back to the hotel without hesitation. Unfortunately, we weren't prepared and had to reheat it on the actual microwave plate and get forks from Subway. None the less, it was a tasty treat, even if Nick didn't think so.







Because we missed our doggies so much we ate breakfast at the hotel Sunday morning and headed home early. They were as thrilled to us as we were them, and after a few hours of relaxing we followed tradition and ate some of our wedding cake I had saved in the freezer for a whole year. All in all it was a great weekend, and we've spent a great first year together.

Donation...

On August 10 - her 16th birthday, Jayci Wittmier was in a terrible car accident. She broke vertebrae in her neck and injured her spinal cord. After being hospitalized for months, she is now home, confined to her wheelchair requiring constant supervision, and is taking part in numerous rehabilitation programs in hopes to walk again.

Last week at work, I decided to take a poll around the office to see who was interested in making a donation towards Jayci's future. Through our social club fund and personal donations, we were able to contribute $150 to the Jayci Wittmier Trust Fund. I also handcrafted a bouquet of flowers from newsprint as a little gift to remember our donation by.

Jayci's parents, Shawn and Starla, are close friends of my parents, and I am always checking out her blog to see her progress. She is an amazing young gal with a bright future, and has an awesome family to continues make daily sacrifices to better her healing processes. From myself and everyone at the Booster, we wish Jayci a successful recovery.

For My Mom...

A couple weeks ago my mom and I went for an appreciation supper after volunteering for the Swift Current Ag & Ex. Everything was fine and dandy until she dropped me off afterwards and spoke the phrase I fear most..."oh wait, I bought something for you!"

Growing up, I hated yard work. Never once did I have to mow the lawn (for which I am grateful) but I did however, have to take on the hellish task of raking leaves a couple times a year. If I procrastinated, my mom would deal with it, but never give in, and I most often ended up raking rotten leaves after an early spring rainfall or an early winter frost. It might not have been so bad if we just had to rake the leaves and discard them, but no....my mom insisted on jamming every last leaf into those heinous orange Halloween bags, just so they could sit on the front lawn for display, most years for at least a whole month after Halloween had passed.

Lucky for me, that is exactly what my mom had splurged on when she told me she had bought me something as I exited her vehicle after our appreciation supper. Great. Just what I wanted. I tried to convince her to keep them, telling her all sorts of excuses including reasons like "No mom, really, its fine....Nick probably wont let me put them on the lawn anyway..." and "Oh, shoot...I already bought some, I guess you can just keep them". In the end she insisted I take them....and fill them...and put them on the lawn. Now, Lord knows my mother must have lost her marbles because she believes the only way in the world to have kids come to your door asking for candy is to have the ugly ass bags of rotting tree matter on your lawn to draw them in. Much to my dismay, Nick was delighted to fill the stupid bags, and they now reside on our front lawn for everyone to see.

For you, Mom...

Letter To Lac Pelletier...

Lac Pelletier has recently built a permanent stage and concert area directly above our campsite, and we aren't very impressed. After a very shitty weekend earlier in the month, I wrote this letter to the park to voice my opinion, and hopefully take our ideas into consideration. I love our campsite dearly, but refuse to pay as much as we do and deal with all the bullshit they throw our way.

To Whom It May Concern:

Please consider this our formal complaint regarding “Shake The Lake” held at the lake earlier this month. Admittedly, we were a little bit annoyed when we first heard it would be taking place so close to the campsites, and we contemplated staying home, but decided we weren’t going to let one evening of music and partying ruin the last long weekend of the summer for us. We made the decision not to attend the party based on the reasoning that we had no idea where the proceeds made would be going, and we didn’t feel that spending $30 per person plus drinks was worth it when we could hear the music at our campsite plain as day, and enjoy our pre-purchased beverages from the comfort of our own site.

We went to bed early Friday night, knowing that on Saturday the music would be played until 2:00AM. We found this slightly unjust as we always strictly abide by the regular 11:00PM quite time rule, and it had just been thrown out the window for a weekend party. Putting that aside, we went on as we normally would Saturday, and at around 8:00PM, two people came walking down the hill behind us from the party and started barking at our dog, who was tied up as the park rules suggest he be. As you can imagine, the dog didn’t like this much, and started barking back. After we got him calmed down, the couple proceeded to walk right through our campsite, across the lawn right in front of us, down onto our dock. Knowing that once our dock is in the water it becomes available to the public, we left them alone, and continued on trying to enjoy our evening. About half an hour later, a boat pulled up, tied on to our dock, spoke with us for a few minutes, and proceeded to head to the party. The gentleman was very polite in asking to park his boat there, but did mention he was “going to be drinking for a couple hours and then boating back home.” I’m thinking security could have had a bit of control over the drunk drivers, but obviously no one thought about the drunken boaters. We packed everything away for the night, leaving nothing appealing out for anyone to wreck or steal, and decided to head to bed sometime near midnight. We lay in bed for close to two hours tossing and turning because the music was so bitterly loud, and our eardrums were throbbing inside our camper. After managing to finally doze off, we were awoken by the music being cranked up even louder, and at this point, as you can imagine, we were no longer happy campers. We tried our best to stick it out, but as 2:00AM passed, the band had quit playing and excruciatingly annoying opera music proceeded to rattle our windows for at least another forty five or fifty minutes. At 3:00AM, after we both had headaches, we decided it was no longer bearable, and packed everything up in the middle of the night and headed home. As we followed our one-way road out, and left the park through the south end, we had to completely stop in the middle of the road, because this of course, was the best possible location for people to congregate after leaving the party. Unfortunately, security was also taking part in the road party, therefore obviously not keeping people off the road, or paying any attention to where everyone from the party was going. After making our way through the crowd with the boat in tow, we were stuck following a vehicle to Darling’s Beach carrying at least 15 people in the bed of the truck. We suppose this was a way to prevent drunk driving, but security should have had their ducks in a row and told the driver to make two trips instead of allowing so many people to jam unsafely in the back of a truck so feet were dangling over the tailgate, and the people sitting near the edges needed to place their arms in front of others to prevent their falling right off the tailgate. Now we’re not sure what the park pays for security, but you might want to re-evaluate their compensation because after running into our lake neighbor in the grocery store on Monday and hearing what she had to say, we’ve come to the conclusion they obviously aren’t very competent. Apparently, she had to chase partiers out of her boat, which was parked on dry land right beside her camper shortly after everyone left the party location. They did leave upon her request, but managed to create a scene doing so, kicking every garbage and ash can down the row, hooting and hollering all the way. We’ll admit, if the music playing too loudly and later than advertised was the worst of our problems it would be much easier to get over, but we’ve also come to learn that we no longer have any fire wood, and our kind neighbor no longer has their hand built wooden step. As it seems, someone stole their steps, turned it upside down and carried away all our wood, which leads us to inquire where security was during this, as it obviously took some time to play out. Being “Lakeside” seasonal campers, we assumed that security within the campsites would have been high priority since we are so close to where the event actually took place. Hopefully, no one else experienced theft or damage like we did, but because we haven’t been back, we don’t know yet.

All we ask is that a little bit of extra thought goes into planning these events when it comes to how it will affect the seasonal campers. We understand you are doing all you can to raise money for the park and its surroundings, but the weekend partiers coming down one weekend of the year for a good time should not take priority over the people who continue to pay you year after year and respect your property all season long. It seems people tend to have a little bit more respect when they have to pay for things with their own money, and I don’t think that offering free camping at the ball diamonds had any positive result. You could have easily offered discounted camping, and maybe even provided a group fire pit with fire wood, and maybe, just maybe, the people in attendance would have had a little more respect towards our personal property, and you could have profited by pocketing a few extra dollars.

We know there is a multiple page waiting list for seasonal campsites, and that if we don’t like what is going on we have the option to pack up and not come back with out it affecting the park, but we do love the lake and we do love our location. We have our own close knit little community, and have become very good friends with all of our neighbors. It just doesn’t seem fair to have things like “Shake The Lake” ruin an entire weekend to give people who give nothing to the park a good place to party.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could pass on our concerns to anyone else this may affect, and we hope it affects your decision making on location and security details for any future events.

Sincerely,


Nick & Kim Giesbrecht
Seasonal Lakeside Campers

Nick's New Toy!

A Few More Firsts....

1. We made homemade pizza! We tried once a few years back from a box kit, and it was terrible, so I made dough from scratch, and we went for round two. This wasn't the best pizza I've ever eaten, but they turned out surprisingly well. Nick's is the first, mine is second. (There is a piece of my crust missing, because that was the only way for me to tell if it was done)





2. Our property was vandalized! After coming home from the lake a couple weeks ago, we noticed everyone down our back alley had their garage doors spray painted, and for the only time in existence, we were happy we didn't have a garage....until we saw our shed door had been in on the action too. As well as spraying our door, they lit our tow rope on fire, which was surrounded by flammable objects. Last time I checked, if I was going to light a fire in someones shed, I probably wouldn't pick the one with three full gas cans, the lawn mower, the weed whipper, the ice auger, and the bag of fertilizer, in a confined space. But they did, and thankfully, the fire just melted the tow rope away, made a mess, and barely burned the shelf housing the explosives before going out. We called the cops, they came and investigated, and took the spray cap lid that the vandals were smart enough to leave on our lawn. We haven't heard back yet, but I hope the little pecker heads are caught and charged with a whole whack of vandalism and arson charges.









3. I made my first purchase on E-bay! For a whopping two dollars I bought Super Mario World for my Super Nintendo, and was I excited about it....until Dalyn told me she had three of those games and I could have just had one of hers. Regardless, I was the only bidder, and wound up with one heck of a deal. As my first ebay purchase I was a little worried, but overall, it was a good experience. I ended up paying more for shipping than was advertised, but since I got the game for two bucks, I didn't mind.



4. We gave Whiskey a bath! He wasn't overly keen on the idea, but after he was in the water, he relaxed and accepted it for what it was.





5. We pulled up our very first garden! We heard frost was on its way, and not wanting to risk losing everything we decided to pull all our vegetables up. One word - Fail. Our carrots weren't any longer than two inches, our onions didn't grow any bigger than the bulbs we planted, and our beets were the size of golf balls. We picked our peas earlier in the year because our plants died, and we managed to get half of a snack sized zip lock bag in return - which wasn't even enough to include in a meal for one person. We also pulled our potatoes earlier because they were all growing some type of spongy fungus, and ended up throwing them all away. Our tomatoes were the only thing actually progressing, but the frost killed those plants too. We pulled all the tomatoes, and have them in a cardboard box, and we're hoping they'll ripen up. This is our finished harvest. :(



6. We cooked whole chickens! In the entire time Nick and I have been together, this was the first time we'd ever cooked whole chickens. I bought two, so we each did our own thing and invited Nick's mom over for supper. I cooked mine in the rotisserie, and Nick did his with a beer can on the BBQ. Both were delicious.

For Real?

This news article has been copied and pasted directly from www.swiftcurrentonline.com as their most recent news story...

"RCMP are looking for the public's help with some recent mischief and littering involving McDonald's food and drinks. Sometime in the early hours of August 7th, several youth were seen defacing the southside co-op carwash with McDonald's hamburgers. They left the scene in a white ford F150. On August 10th, a home on Laurier drive had McDonald's pop and cups thrown at the picture window. On August 21st, a truck parked on highland drive had McDonald's hamburgers rubbed on the windshield, and then on August 28th that same truck had pop thrown on the drivers side. Anyone with information about this is asked to contact city RCMP or Crimestoppers."

WTF?!?

Punishment...

This is what happens when Whiskey wrecks his friend Rosco's ball...He must wear it on his head for at least 30 seconds, and is later forced to cuddle with Nick and Trigger on the hammock.

So Proud!!!

This past weekend at the family reunion, I got to spend some quality time with my cousin Jason, who happens to be autistic. After Nick took him on a boat ride (which he absolutely loved) we relaxed inside for a bit, and hung out during part of the auction sale (at which my hand crafted cards sold for $20 and the stepping stone sold for $85). It was at this point I got to see some of his artwork. To give you a quick view on him, he is currently 14 years old, has a hard time making eye contact, and is very high energy. When speaking to him, there is very little verbal communication, except a few repetitive phrases he uses, and words he repeats when you say them. No one was ever really sure when he would be potty trained, how he would do in school, whether or not he would catch on or not, because everything in his world is completely different than in ours. Yet, this kid is a genius.



He has this large sketch pad that he takes with him when he leaves home, and I got to see some of his drawings. He draws these particular ones over and over, but also does words like barn, tractor, donkey, and many more. I honestly dont think i'd be able to draw up any word to match its meaning, let alone something as simple as "DOG". He continues to master them day after day, and come up with new ones.

I love this little man with all my heart, and this past weekend, he made me so proud!

A Spark Of Creativity....

This weekend we'll be attending the Funk Family Renion that takes place every third year. Luckily, it's at the lake, so it's close to home, and we already have a place to sleep! This year, it's my very own Granny planning the event, and she is really excited about it, so we're gonna try and make the best of hanging out with seniors by visiting with relatives and eating home cooked german food. (Personally, I'm vouching for rollkuchen and watermelon...yum!)

So, obviously these things cost money, and this year we have to pay $30 dollars per person. It's not bad really, as it covers our meals for 3 days, and lodging for anyone who needs it. This year, someone came up with the idea of having an auction of donated handcrafted items for people at the reunion to buy. The idea is for everyone to bring something crafty they have made, whether it be baking or quilting, or whatever else. In the long run, they hope to raise enough money to down the reunion fee for next time. The problem is....I am in no way shape or form crafty.

This is what I came up with....



Homemade greeting cards! Now, for someone who isn't very crafty, I think they turned out pretty darn nice! I made 10 in all, and placed them in a nice little box and wrapped it perfectly. I only took pictures of the four best ones. An avid scrapbooker will probably look at these and laugh....which is why I didnt post pictures of the other six I made, because trust me, they are much worse!

My mom also asked me for help making her "craft". It wasn't that she needed physical assistance, but it was something fun to do together. We made a really neat stepping stone with "Funk Reunion 2010" stamped into it. The small kit came with the concrete dust, some crushed glass for decoration, and some very simple instructions. My mom and I had it down to a science, but unfortunatly, both Nick and my dad were present and they were both offering their "assistance". For something the size of a small pizza box, my dad offered to fetch the wheelbarrow, and Nick suggested "Funk You" or "Funk Off" instead of "Funk Reunion 2010". So after a painful evening with the men in our family, we accomplished what we set out to do, and I think it's pretty neat. The butterfly was all me!

Plaque Buster Biscuits

I make these cookies for my furry monsters and they love them! This is a very hard biscuit with a crunchy texture that helps scrape plaque and build-up off their teeth. It is made with very healthy ingredients and is good for any dog. It's really quite a simple recipe, although depending on where you buy your ingredients, it can be expensive. (I recommend Nutters or any other natural bulk food store) Because it was so easy and fun to do, I thought I'd share my recipe!

3/4 cup powdered skim milk
1/2 cup stone ground cornmeal
1/4 cup bulgar wheat
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1 egg, beaten
Optional Additions: Shredded cheese & Bacon bits

1. In a mixing bowl, combine powdered skim milk, cornmeal, bulgar wheat and flour. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve bouillon cube in boiling water. Add rolled oats and let stand about five minutes. Stir in beaten egg.

3. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients from your first bowl, half a cup at a time, until well blended. The last few cupfuls, blend with your hands. (I wear gloves, because its pretty sticky)

4. Divide dough into two or three balls so it is easy to work with.

5. Knead each dough ball on a floured surface, about three or four minutes.

6. Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough down between 1/4" to 1/2" thickness.

7. Slice into squares (or use cute cookie cutters like me) and place on a baking sheet lined with foil.

8 Bake 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the thickness of your biscuit. Let cool several hours on the cookie sheet in the oven, or on a baking rack overnight.

9. Store at room temperature in a container with a loose-fitting lid.


PS: I usually refrain from adding too much cheese as it gives my dogs wicked gas. The bacon bits seem to be fine though, and they add the "treat" element to the cookie. I also make two sizes, one for our pup Whiksey (the heart shaped ones) and one for our older dog, Trigger. (The bone shaped ones). Although I'm not sure it matters as Whiskey just swallows his whole anyway...

Have a look!

I'm So Excited....And I Just Can't Hide It......

No really....I'm sssssooooo excited, and I just can't hhhhhiiiiidddeee it! We bought an Ahhh-qua Bar!!! (or - floating party island, as I like to call it) I've pretty much told everyone who would listen how excited I was to go buy the darn thing after seeing it in the Canadian Tire flyer on Thursday. Not only was I sold on the fact that it was 40% off, but that it comes with 4 inflatable free floating chairs, a built in drink cooler, and 12 cup holders! So I gathered all my well saved Canadian Tire money (which only totalled $13.00), put it in my purse and waited for 5:00 friday to hit. When it did, I hopped in the truck to find my party island in the backseat!!!!!!!!! We took it to the lake, and I blew up a chair just to check it out. Aaannnndd, it is definitley just as awesome as I expected it to be. I can't wait to try it out next weekend!

We Heart Camping!

Welcome Home Whiskey!

Trigger officially has a little brother, and they LOVE eachother. Whiskey is a purebred Australian Sheppard and will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. They have spent the whole five days we've had the pup chasing eachother around, having tug-of-war matches, and sharing eachothers waterbowls. If only such things kept my tail wagging!

R.I.P. Kitty Kitty

Growing up, I wasnt allowed to have pets, so when I moved in with Nick it frequently came up in conversation as to whether or not we should get one. We never did agree that the timing was right, and put the idea temporarily to rest. Then (about three years ago) my Grandpa passed away the day before my birthday. We were very close, and I was an emotional wreck. Nick and his brother Brad worked together to keep me occupied for the afternoon of my birthday, and when I was allowed to return home, there was a baby kitty waiting for me. She really kept my mind off of things, and as time went by, she became a constant happy reminder of my Grandpa. She was grumpy cat alright, but I loved her with all my heart. Anyone who knew me knew my Emma was my baby. A few weeks ago she became ill and we decided it was best to put her down. As hard as it was for me to say goodbye, I know she is free of pain and in a better place. She may be gone, but i'll love her and miss her forever....

Hard At Work...

The last couple weeks Nick and I (ok...mainly Nick) have been hard at work in the yard trying to jazz it up a bit and make it our own. The biggest project was fixing the front sidewalk leading up to our house, but Nick and his dad did a great job capping it, and it is now very appealing and far more safe than the old one was. He also dug a trench on either side of the sidewalk, framed it, and we filled it with river rock. Nick built me a garden, and we set up the archway we used at our wedding in front of it. Nick dug out and planted some new trees in the backyard,and transplanted some bushes into the front yard, and I planted some flowers as well. Have a look!

My Husband, The Artist...

This is what happens when a man gets ahold of a chainsaw, and uses his imagination. And yes, it currently resides in my backyard on display.

25 Years of Love...

My parents were married 25 years ago as of yesterday, and last night we had a surprise party for them. The night of my wedding, my dad made me swear I wouldn’t plan anything, and he wouldn’t drop it until I swore up and down I didn’t have the time or energy to plan another big event anyway. Unbeknown to them, I was lying. I knew they didn’t want a big to-do, but I wanted to do a little something to celebrate their 25 years of love. I thought about having a few of their friends over for a BBQ, but when the guest list got to be nearing 30 people, I quickly changed my mind and booked a reservation at Casey’s Chinese Restaurant. As far as my parents knew, Nick and I were going to pick them up and bring them to the restaurant to have supper with just us and my brother. In reality, we had told everyone to meet at the restaurant at 7:30, and the plan was to bring my parent shortly after. Our reservation was for 7:30, and we arrived at their house around 7:00 to give them a card, and send out our congratulations. Little did we know, they’d be waiting in the porch with their shoes and jackets on. So, after a few excuses, and a bit of stalling, we convinced my dad to sit down for a drink, and made small talk before heading off to the restaurant. My brother Ryan drove my mom and dad, and Nick and I took my car. We sped like banshees all the way downtown, and raced into the restaurant to beat them there. (Which was completely unnecessary because my dad had to stop at the atm anyway, as he thought he should pay for his anniversary dinner??) We settled in, and shortly after they arrived, very surprised. We had about 25 of their nearest and dearest friends, three of which weren’t expected as we thought they were out of the country, in attendance. I think my mom was actually nearing tears, but she’s one tough gal, so she held it together. Waiting for them was a dozen green roses, a $250 gift card to the spa in Moose Jaw with some spa salts, a whole pile of cards, and a beautiful framed collage made by my mom’s dear friend Linda, from the day of their wedding. After getting over the initial surprise and embarrassment, we had a great meal, shared some great laughs, and had a few drinks. All in all it was a good night, and I’m glad I was able to organize something to show them that I’m very proud of them for staying strong through sickness and health, for better or worse this last quarter century and hopefully the rest of their lives.

Happy Mother's Day...

God made a wonderful mother,
A mother who never grows old;
He made her smile of the sunshine,
And He moulded her heart of pure gold;
In her eyes He placed bright shining stars,
In her cheeks fair roses you see;
God made a wonderful mother,
And He gave that dear mother to me.
-----Pat O'Reilly