03/08/09
Dec 28 (Sun): Back to work tomorrow after a few very busy, wonderful days. While I got cooking on the morning of the 24th, Andy went outside and started cleaning up more slow. As you can see, it was really piling up!
We were a bit concerned about the weight of the snow on the roof over the deck, but Andy had a brainwave, so we initially thought.
She opened the window in the back bedroom and used the squeegee to try to push the snow off. It went totally wrong. The snow was so wet and sticky, it just clumped. I asked Andy, "You realize what we've done now?" She replied, "Yes, made one spot particularly heavy.", at which time we realized we should have just left it alone. In the meantime, Andy went on to sort it out.
The rest of the day was spent cooking and carving the turkey, cooking potatoes, vegetables, pumpkin pies, birthday cake, and gravy, plus getting the house ship-shape for company. In the early afternoon, we had enough of a Christmas meal cooked that we were able to make a "care package" and take it over to my Aunt Debbie's for her and Gabe. After that we did manage a much needed nap, but were otherwise prepping and delivering from 6:30 am till 9 pm. It was well worth it.
Christmas morning came with great anticipation. In fact, I slept just like I used to when I was a kid anxious to see what Santa had brought. We were up at 7:30 as I expected my father, the super-early-bird, to come banging on the door about 8. It turns out he and Mom didn't arrive until 10, just 10 minutes before Scot, Monica, Ben and Grace. In the meantime, Andy and I cooked the bacon, sausages, & hash browns, cracked open the fruit tray, and got the cider mulling. When the gang arrived, we greeted them in our special, new outfits.
We introduced the kids to Orange Juice and Sprite at breakfast and it was a big hit. (Note how empty Grace's glass already is in this picture.) We also let them use the "grown-up" flute glasses. The toast was made, the eggs were scrambled and we had feast #1.
Then we got down to the business of present opening.....and it took so long that we even had to have an intermission.
Andy and I gave ourselves a Wii. We had bought it back in November and wrapped it up till Christmas. It was then a big hit with everyone through the day. We bowled, played Baseball, and golfed. When I'd finally had enough later in the afternoon, it was still Ben, Grammy and Grampy left behind trying to stay out of the rough.
Grace was the only one not totally enraptured. She was too busy with her new easel.
We drew names this year for the adults, so didn't get presents for everyone. Andy got her favourite kind of new work gloves from Mom (to replace her beat up ones) and two chocolate oranges, I got the Mamma Mia DVD, new Nickelback CD, stapler and chocolate from Scot, Andy gave dad a Multi-Meter and bath towels, and I gave Monica a gift certificate for a spa. We gave the kids snorkeling kits and travel games for their upcoming trip to the Dominican. From the kids we got a gift card for the cinema, one of those home-made reindeer heads full of Lindor truffles, and two kinds of home-made ornaments. From Mumsy and Dad, we had already got the bedroom blinds while they visited us. What we got them still hasn't arrived yet thanks to the post office.
I kicked the stragglers off the Wii late in the afternoon in order to watch some of Mamma Mia before getting to work reheating and cooking turkey, etc. for feast #2. We watched the rest of it after everyone left.
The day after Christmas was Mom's 65th birthday. I arranged a time for her and her sisters to be at the nursing home together so we could have a little party with Grama. I took in a light lunch, cake and a balloon. We had a decent time, but Grama was quite uncomfortable after the nurse had debrided her bed sore and put on cream that stings for a while. We weren't allowed to light the candles on the cake but stuck in a couple anyway and made Mom pretend to blow them out.
Yesterday, we had a further celebration. We took Mom to brunch at Cora's, to see the "Superdogs" perform at Copps Coliseum, and then went back to Scot and Monica's for dinner, presents and cake.
Hungry Cooper men, but Ben may possibly have out-eaten them (with his two hollow legs). I couldn't quite clean my plate, but at least we had Dad proclaim he was full.
The show's MC and producer did a very nice tribute to "Ace", the dog that found the lady that had been missing for 72 hours under the snow. They also had the city's other rescue dogs there too.
Scot and Monica got Mom an authentic sketch from her favourite movie, The Lion King. We had taken her to see Dirty Dancing last month for her present and made her annual calendar with family pictures.
Today, Andy and I did some research on Wii accessories then went and got a charging station for the two remotes, tennis racquets, and Andy got boxing gloves which she found didn't allow the nunchuk to send the signal properly, so will return them.
We also got...
Yes, we surprised even ourselves, but we had a blast playing it this afternoon, even though IT'S HARD!!! And no, neither of us dared to try out the mic since we get the cats all concerned when we "sing".
After two days of higher temperatures (+11o yesterday) most of the snow is now gone. But did we ever have high winds today - so high that they had the Skyway Bridge closed most of the day. Winds were around 60 kph gusting to 100 kph.
Dec 21 (Sun): I had a rough start to the week. Remember how my stomach was off all last weekend? Well it turned into full blown stomach flu and I was off work Monday and Tuesday, then also had to come home at noon Thursday just to sleep. Friday I was raring to go, but so was the weather and we were sent home before lunch time. That being said, I did work remotely most of the afternoon.
We got about 8 inches of snow in less than 8 hours - and it was super windy too. While my Office Manager told us to finish what we had to and head out as soon as we could, Andy's declared they were closing at noon. Since it's not far for me to come home, I kept working (trying to catch up)......until I heard the spinning of tires combined with the roar of a car engine outside of my window. I looked down and realized that cars were having trouble getting up the slight rise from the back parking lot to the front. And then I saw the drifts. After that I was at the car in less than 3 minutes scraping vehemently. Luckily, I'd thought to back into the parking spot, so I pulled straight out. It took me about 25 minutes to get home (as opposed to the normal 7).
When I got home, I found it wasn't possibly the best choice to go in the front door.
Once I got in through the back door, this is what I found....I couldn't see out the front window.
Andy had been offered a ride to the Go Train station and, even though she thought it better to walk, she gave in to the woman who thought she was helping out by driving her. It turned out that she, the driver, needed help. It took Andy and another work colleague so long to push this woman's car out of the parking lot that they missed the train by 60 seconds and had to kill another hour till the next train came. Luckily, there was a Tim Horton's near by. Once Andy got to this end, we agreed it was better for her to walk home rather than me taking the car out again. She texted me when the train arrived in Burlington, but then it was taking her so long to arrive home, I was just about to get my boots on and go looking for her when I spotted her. It turns out she'd stopped 3 times to push cars along the way. Now that we were both home, we sat back and enjoyed the show. We couldn't believe how the wind had plastered the snow against the house. This is the top of the front door!
And the bottom.
Once it eased, Andy headed out for her favourite new sport.
Saturday, we were at Costco when they opened at 9 and then hit 5 other stores and were home again, with all errands complete, by 20 after 10. After that I went to the nursing home for an hour and then out to Mom and Dad's to drop off some stuff. Mom and Ben and Grace were making sugar cookies.
I've lost count of how many times this weekend Andy has been out shoveling . And she didn't just clear the driveway, walkway and sidewalk, but she also "rearranged" the snow, because more was predicted and she would need somewhere to pile it when it comes.
In the evening, we went to Kathy and Denise's Christmas Open House and had quite a nice time. It was a very relaxed affair with lots of nice hors d'oeuvres. We spent most of the night chatting with Brian and Fred. Such nice guys.
Beryl left early as she'd fallen earlier and her wrist was swollen and aching. Huguette missed out as she's gone off to her sister's in Montreal. We did meet and spend a fair time talking with a very nice woman named Mary, who we could hardly believe suffers badly from MS. Apparently, she was having a particularly good day. But Carol, who also has MS, wasn't, so she also missed out. We also got to chat with Kathy and Denise a while, which often doesn't happen because they are so busy being hostesses. We got to hear the whole story of Denise's fall just over a week ago when she needed 3 stitches in her nose and 5 in her forehead.
She's healed remarkably well. We got to see the pictures of her taken the night it happened, with the stitches and two black eyes. Kathy had been in court when it happened (she's a lawyer) and got a message that Denise was hurt and at the hospital with a broken nose and possible skull fracture. Apparently, as she went to hunt down someone who could cover for her, the colleague commented that she was pure white. This is the culprit that caused the fall, Taz, in her outfit from the Santa Claus 5k Run last weekend. The mailman gets the rest of the blame as he feeds Taz "cookies". Taz saw him coming and bolted to get a cookie, catching Denise off-guard.
Today we were happy that we had absolutely nowhere to go for the first time in ages. Not only was it nice to have a rest, but we woke up to several more centimetres of snow.
The wind kicked up again too so there is a lot of drifting. Andy went out and shoveled again to "tidy up" and our driveway looks far better than any of the neighbour's where they used snow blowers. By the way, it's also quite cold. Currently it's -16o with a windchill of -29o. And we are not the only ones getting blasted - even Vancouver is covered in white and is shivering thanks to the same weather system.
Dec 14 (Sun): Earlier in the week, we had another gorgeous snowfall and Andy couldn't wait to get outside at 6:30 in the morning to play!
Saturday night, we hosted a birthday party for Huguette, but, since Fred had missed his own birthday party a couple weekends ago, it ended up being a combined party. From left to right: Phil, Brian, Fred, Craig, Beryl, me, David, and the side of Carol's head.
They both cleaned up with presents. As Huguette has often commented on our women art, we decided that was it was time we got her some. She was very pleased, however, to see that the one we gave her is clothed.
It was a pot luck with lots of good food. Unfortunately, my tummy has been off all weekend, so even though I loaded up my plate, I soon realized I had wasted a lot. We had a cheese, crackers and fruit plate, lovely salad with cranberries and blueberries, sweet potatoes, David's famous meatballs, and I made perogies and pulled pork, which everyone seemed to like, but I couldn't stomach. Oh yes - and of course, cake!
Once everyone had gone and all the ribbon confetti from the Party Poppers was cleaned up, we brought in the tree and de-twined it so that it could "fall" (aka: "poof") overnight. (No, Andy's not possessed by the devil, that I know of, but I couldn't get the red-eye to clear - must be due to that headache she had.)
Today, the decorating was done - almost single-handedly by Andy. I did some wrapping and other housework, and cringed with my stomach cramps (we even skipped going to a hockey game this afternoon that wasn't even a freebee!). I should also mention that things were going somewhat awry until....I realized we didn't have "The Muppet Christmas Carol" on. Once we heard..."Oooooh! There goes Mr. Humbug, there goes Mister Grim, if they gave a prize for bein' mean, The winner would be him"...we were good. Decorating could proceed.
As you can see, Andy had a bit of fun with the plants!
So, tonight will be the real test - how much damage can Comet do while we are sleeping? Will it still be upright in the morning?
Dec 7 (Sun): Hi Georgina - thanks for the email and the pictures!
Busy weekend again. Friday night we did the final proof-reading of the Year-End Newsletter, so you now see that it is posted.
Saturday morning, we were up fairly early and off to Toronto for a visit with Steven and Victor. Met them at Cora's, of course, and had a nice time and delicious breakfast.
When we got back, we got to work sorting through the Christmas boxes, hanging lights and putting out some decorations.
I love the way the lights reflect in the windows.
Good thing we got the lights up yesterday, because the weather has turned a bit nasty. This morning, we were a bit late getting to the Christmas Tree Farm thanks to high winds and drifting.
Met Scot, Monica, Ben, Grace, & Dad. Everyone felt it was best that Mom stay home as her knee is just not up to trekking around a field, let alone in the snow. Physio still seems to torture, causing lots of pain and swelling for up to 24 hours afterward.
The three goof-balls.
Following a tree being dragged can be exhausting!
Gotta love that "Shaker"!
And the twine-wrapper thingy.
Ours is now in the garage, smelling awesome, and will be put up and decorated next Sunday. Home for a bit to defrost, then back out in minus 10o, with a windchill of minus 20o, to the Burlington Santa Claus Parade. We didn't have far to go...just walked down to the corner. Luckily, the parade was only 50 minutes long because I was just starting to hit the wall - and that with 3 layers top and bottom, my new -40o rated boots that Andy made me get yesterday (thank you hun!), neck warmer up to my nose, and ear warmer under toque under hood, plus I was wrapped in a blanket. Andy was equally attired except she had one more layer than me on her top half and her funky Russian-style hat with the ear flaps. When we got home, we cranked up the heat on the electric fireplace up as high as it would go and parked ourselves in front. Still, we really enjoyed the parade and, after this weekend, are finally getting in the Christmas spirit.
Almost more popular than Santa himself is the world famous Burlington Teen Tour Band.
Dec 1 (Mon): Lousy weather today but at least we didn't get the big storm predicted all weekend. It just never got quite cold enough. Good thing as we had quite a bit of rain, a hint of ice pellets and a of bit freezing rain.
Saturday, we headed over to Aunt Debbie's to change a couple outdoor spotlights for her, then did some errands and chores before getting ready for the SB Partners Christmas Party. We went to the office to board the bus at 4:30. They'd got a nice coach for us with a washroom and DVD player. We watched most of Mission Impossible 3 between the rides to Toronto and back.
For dinner we went to Wayne Gretzky's Sports Bar and Restaurant.
It was a big treat to meet Wayne's dad, Walter, who is almost as famous as his son.
See my sparkly blouse? I left a trail of sparkles everywhere I went. I'm surprised there's any left on the blouse!
We had a section of the restaurant for our dinner, with 87 in our group.
The food was ok, but not extraordinary. We ended up sitting in a booth for 4 with Peter (and his wife, Maureen), who is my IT consultant that trained me when I first started and now is my phone support and comes in to help me out 2 days a month. After dinner, we went next door to The Second City Theatre to see the comedy called Barack to the Future. From the title we expected more political humour, but there was quite a variety of skits. Some were quite good, but many were too crude for our taste.
The gang on the way home, looking a little tired, except for Nicole who is glued to the movie:
Sunday, we had a bit of a sleep in, then ran around doing chores and decorating and were just barely ready when Mom and Dad arrived a half hour early. No big deal and it actually gave us a chance to get more organized before Scot, Monica and the kids arrived. Ben and Grace turned 6 last week, so we were having our family party. When they arrived, we all headed off to "Putting Edge" for Glow in the Dark Mini-Golf.
Scot had been taunting us ahead of playing, even asking if I was ready to come second. It turned out that Dad (who hadn't even wanted to play) kicked all our butts (and enjoyed himself after all), but, more importantly, I beat Scot! Andy did better than usual and she and Monica tied for second, and then I was after them. One problem we all had by the end was feeling a bit dizzy or cross-eyed from the glow in the dark setting. For Mom, the putter made a good substitute cane. She's been tortured lately by her physiotherapist, so has been in a lot of pain again. Ice is definitely her best friend.
After golf, a round of Air Hockey for Andy & I, and the Grappler Hook game for the kids where they grabbed a stuffed toy, we came back to our place. Monica had brought Butter Chicken, rice and salad. While the chicken heated, the kids and I watched some of Madagascar, then Mom hobbled downstairs and Ben let her tickle him while he giggled his cutest giggle. I was shocked at how gentle he was with her - certainly much more so than with me. Then we had our delicious dinner (I can say delicious because I didn't have to eat the Butter Chicken - had my own sauce on my chicken) and then opened presents and had cakes made by Mom.
From Grama, they got $5 and from us they got Fisher Price Digital Cameras. Now we just have to figure out what the heck to get them for Christmas. From Mom and Dad, they got Meccano sets. Looks so cool that I think Andy wants one for herself!
