08/10/08
Feb 26 (Tues): Man! Here it is 9:30 already again and I finally get to start typing. But we have been productive. After work we went to Home Depot and ordered our washer and dryer. We were pleased to find Jackie working. She is the woman who was so fantastic with us when we went in just to look, even though she knew we were probably buying through Mom's work (and today we did order the fridge, stove and dishwasher through them). After that, as one of my duties as a member of the Social Committee at work, we had to stop at a couple places for me to pick up gift cards for prizes for our Bowling Night coming up Friday.
Last Thursday at work, we had an "Iron Chef" competition first thing in the morning. The required ingredient was honey. I arrived at 7:55 to find the meeting room next to my office jammed with food, equipment, and chefs.
There were four teams and they made some darn good concoctions. My favourite was a plain, old, toaster waffle with a honey sauce, whipped cream, strawberries, blueberries and a chocolate filled waffle stick. But the winner was pancakes with honey-butter.
Saturday, I went to work for a bit in the morning then Andy & I made our rounds to Costco, M&M's,& Denninger's, then got back to nature in the afternoon. Andy wanted to go check out Webster's and Tew's Falls to see how frozen they were.
Sunday was the Cooper family gathering for Monica's birthday, which was Saturday. We offered to do something big like our birthdays, but Monica chose to keep it more tame. We arrived to the news that Hammy had crossed into the after-life just hours ago. This was Ben's but fortunately we were all distracting enough that he wasn't too sad.
Andy & I had picked up some finger foods (we can get gluten-free stuff they can't in their smaller town) so took that for an afternoon of nibbling, air hockey, and Carcassonne. We had lots of good stuff....shrimp, meatballs, 4 flavours of chicken skewers, artichoke-spinach-cheese dip with pita & nacho chips, they had a big fruit tray plus Mom made a Blueberry Cheese Cake. We also tried a new Carcassonne expansion, "Traders & Builders", where you got a builder and a pig to add to a city or farm, respectively, to earn more points. There were also tiles with symbols for wine, cloth and wheat which could earn you extra points. For the first time, Monica actually lost. Mom and Grace beat me by one point to win. Scot came last again, but he can blame that on back pain diminishing his focus.
In what I believe was a tactical move, Grace seemed intent on distracting me.
Of course Ben couldn't resist either and next thing I knew I was battling against big, tummy zerburts.
We'd been to Limeridge Mall one night last week getting Monica gift cards for the mall as she would like to get a new watch.
Last night we booked camping for the Canada Day long weekend. We haven't camped since Labour Day weekend in 2006. We've picked a park called Sibbald Point on Lake Simcoe, so hope it's nice. The one big draw was that they have "radio-free" zones, which I was very happy about. This coming weekend we are hoping to go see the sap running and get some fresh maple syrup - Bronte Creek Maple Syrup Festival.
Feb 25 (Mon): Ok, I'm behind and it's too late to make much progress tonight. I do have a contribution from Andy though. She had some fun last week using the super-zoom on the camera during the eclipse. Who needs a telescope?!
The reappearance, however, happened far too late to stay up for.
Feb 17 (Sun): Andy went hiking this morning at a new place picked from our new book I got through work.
I didn't go with her as I am still fighting my virus (although some improvement with my ears, the dregs of bronchitis continues along with fatigue). She enjoyed her self-guided tour of Grindstone Creek and Falls in "Smokey Hollow", part of the Bruce Trail in Waterdown.
The meteorologists have been predicting freezing rain today all week, but Andy managed to get out and back before it really hit, but I still don't think it was as bad as predicted, however it will make life difficult as the temperature drops below zero again overnight. We had some more snow during the week and very low temperatures, like -16oC with a windchill of -32o again at midday.
Yesterday, we were out fairly early checking out appliances for the house. Had a very helpful woman in Home Depot, who pointed out key differences - like convection oven vs regular, enamel racks vs chrome, bottom freezers vs tops, and that you need to use special, low-sudsing soap with front-loading washers.
Personally, I love how many settings you can customize.
From there, we went to Fitness Depot to check out their offerings, for comparison purposes, ahead of going to Sears to check-out an item in their sale flyer. It was such a good deal that we've now purchased another addition already for the house.
I've wanted one of these for years. It's what I used to use all the time at the gym. And I couldn't believe it when I saw it has its own little fan on top of the console, just for me!!!
In the evening, we finally got around to trying out the fajita side of the Quesadilla/Fajita Maker we got for Christmas.
Well, talk about a mouth-watering delight, we've got the restaurants beat! I can't believe what a difference it makes having the tortilla heated like this (rather than the microwave). Then we watched quite a good movie:
At times it seemed slow and I started to get bored, but it drew me back quickly with it's very interesting story.
Yesterday also brought some sadness to the family when we lost Sunshine.
Ironically, he'd been the less plagued of the hamsters, but theory is that he choked on a treat. Apparently, Grace didn't really understand initially, but tears were flowing non-stop by evening. Today, Sunshine was replaced by Flickr (as opposed to Flicka).
Friday night after work, Andy & I made a stop at Canadian Tire to acquire a carbon monoxide detector thanks to a scare in our building Thursday night. We even had two very large firefighters, in full gear, knock and come in with a meter, checking our levels. After that, I took Andy to tour:
We eyed lots of good stuff and came home with the best hummus I have ever found since the little schwarma restaurant in Burnaby where the guy made it fresh. We ate the whole tub in one day so this afternoon Andy went back for more, plus came home with this!!!
Apparently, it's some kind of British ambrosia covered in marzipan.
Thursday, Valentine's Day, we opened cards and a present from Mom in the morning. We'd planned to have our Valentine's Dinner out the previous Sunday at one of Vickie's gigs, but I was too sick. Speaking of Vic, we heard from her today that her Valentines was terrible. I attempted to paraphrase this story, but think it's just easiest to let her tell it herself. From her email:
"I spent Valentine's Day in surgery.
The night before I was exiting a restaurant in high-heeled boots,
took one step down, went down on the snow/ice and broke my left
ankle in three places. My foot was actually attached (barely) to my
leg -- backwards. After some quick attention from the firefighters,
a thrilling ambulance ride and then some relatively disinterested
nurses in triage, I sat in the waiting room for over 3 hours ...
waiting (thus the name). When the emerg doctor finally saw me
(after they cut off my boot, which had thankfully been holding
everything together) he said three words -- Yikes. X-rays.
Surgery.
They (finally) gave me morphine, put me (almost) to sleep, did some
manual work on my backwards foot (I think I have quite a healthy
yell, even drugged), did all the pre-op tests and got me into
surgery at 11 the following morning. I now have lots of pins and a
plate; foot, ankle and calf wrapped in a splint and tenser bandages,
crutches for at least 6 weeks, narcotics for the pain and my life is
in complete upheaval. Can't drive, can't cook, can't host the
Smooth Jazz Awards March 7, have cancelled gigs, not sure about work
at the station and have a Cuba trip planned with Sam (her son) and a friend
for March 14 and if we still go (of course I didn't get travel
insurance) I'll be on crutches."
Vic, we hope you heal fast! (or should that be heel?) Andy & I did manage a Valentine's dinner at IKEA on the way to groceries. It's too bad the red is so washed out in this picture from my phone. They had red drapings hung, and the tables decorated nicely, and it actually made it feel quite festive.
Wednesday night, I took the kids their Valentine's present from us. We had got them each a card and a book containing a Valentine story. Grace tore off the wrapping paper and said, "A BOOK!!! A book's not a present!" Oooooo - cheeky monkey! But she said it not in a snotty way, but as if I were being silly. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud. Scot too. I told her, as if she were being silly, that anything someone gives you that you didn't pay for is a present! On the other hand, Ben was quietly comsuming his pages. I could see his eyes moving from sector to sector taking in the graphics. He'll work on the words later.
Feb 11 (Mon): Andy says the blog will be short.....sick, sick, sick, sick, sick. Yep, that's me. But I also can talk about her!
Last Monday, while Andy was off in Montreal for the day for work (she left at 6 am and got home at 10pm), I had Vertigo strike at 12:30 and had to be driven home from work. Luckily, someone could drive me home in our car and someone else followed to drive them back. Also luckily, I had a Gravol within quick reach when it hit and managed to avoid the violent vomiting this time. Tuesday, I stayed home as my helper was in the office so it was a good day to be off. In the evening, Andy & I borrowed dad's van and went and bought a desk that we'd had our eye on for months (Andy'd been drooling over it!). It had come on sale for $100 off.
My god it was heavy and it was all the energy I could summon to help. After we returned the van, I asked Andy to take me to the walk-in clinic. I was seen pretty quickly and given a drug called "Serc" for my dizziness, plus told to keep taking Gravol. Wednesday, I stayed home again, Thursday, I tried to go in but only lasted 30 minutes, and Friday I felt my right ear had started to drain when I got up, so was hopeful I could go in for the afternoon, but my bosses told me to stay home. Just as well. (Note that although I was home, I have full remote access, so was monitoring things and answering email and voicemail between naps). I also stayed home Saturday and Sunday doing nothing but sleeping and watching movies.
Andy, on the other hand, took Casper back to the vet early Saturday morning. The antibiotic hadn't helped at all and Casper's lesion was at least twice as big. They saw a different vet this time. This one guessed that Casper is pulling her own fur out due to stress and gave her a steroid shot. Casper is now doing much better and it makes sense. Firstly, Crystal & Caitlin had a cat years ago that we remember pulled his own fur out due to stress, plus, as I learned being home sick, it's been VERY noisy here lately in the daytime due to jack-hammering in the underground parking. Sometimes it even seems louder up here than down there. Add to that the fire alarm testing and I was wearing ear plugs for a few days.
After Andy dropped Casper home, she headed off to Caledonia. We were supposed to help out while Scot and Monica are in Mexico, but Andy had to go without me and Mom had to stay. They took the kids to skating lessons then, in the afternoon, played in the snow. Taken from Andy's phone:
Then Ben got a headache and a fever, so Mom was up with him most of the night, while Andy slept like a log on the couch.....until Grace arrived at her side at 7:30 and joined her in her sleeping bag. The only help I was came when they were freezing and wanted to know how to turn the furnace up. Scot and Monica have it programmed for 17, so you have to override it if you're home. I watched several movies and continued sleeping lots and feeling sorry for myself. Andy stayed till noon on Sunday when she and Mom were relieved by Monica's parents. Then she came home and vacuumed around the sick, sometimes snoring blob on the floor in front of the TV. We even had to cancel our planned Sunday night early Valentine's dinner at one of Vickie's gigs.
Today, I felt I had to go to work, so dragged myself in. Got a doctor appointment for 5:30 with my own doctor who is back from vacation. She says I have a virus and could see the fluid bubbles in my inner ear. She told me to stay on the meds from the clinic doctor and gave me a steroid nasal spray (to try to dry me out from the inside). Other than these, I have to tough it out. On the way home, we stopped at Huguette's for Andy to assist in the assembly of a rather intricate shelf. Huguette showed her true colours as being anti-mechanical I'm afraid, so was happy to have Andy's help (while I supervised from the couch). Taken on my phone:
And finally, we've had a heckuva cold snap! Today was down to -18oC at one point with a windchill of -32!
Feb 3 (Sun): So, what I left out of last week's update is that before we went out for lunch with Wilf and Doreen on Saturday, we viewed a house for the second time. When we finished lunch, we drew up an offer to buy it.
A week before we hadn't even officially been looking, but we spontaneously went to an open house on the Sunday afternoon. The next day I called Wilf. He, as our realtor, took us to look at a couple houses and showed us many more listings, but none came close to this house. Not only was it a good price, but it had so many of the features we were looking for. On Tuesday, we accepted the seller's counter-offer and now we take possession on March 20th.
It's a 4-level side-split, here in Burlington, and about 35 years old. It's close to where we are already living, so still easy for Andy to walk to and from the Go Station if I can't drop her off or pick her up, and it's 5 minutes from my work. It's got 3 bedrooms, den, 1.5 bathrooms, a finished basement, and hardwood floor throughout. The sellers had spent the last couple years doing upgrades, but then were transferred for work. So there are new windows and doors, eaves and fascia, only 2-year old high-efficiency furnace and central air, a new kitchen, and there's brickwork in the basement where a wood stove used to be, which we hope to replace. There are several things we'd like to do with it, like replace the ugly garage door as soon as possible, but really it's totally in move-in shape already. In fact, it's nice that it's empty as we've been able to examine it in detail. Yesterday we had a home inspector in and the only issue he found was a couple outlets that aren't grounded and one breaker that is 10 amps too big, so we will get these fixed.
The previous owners also took their appliances with them, which is fine with us. This way we get all brand new with our own preferences and mom can get them for us through work for cost. I will have to give Andy a chair for the laundry room as she will be in there excitedly watching the wash in the front-loader washer and dryer!
Friday, we had to drive to our mortgage broker's office in the blizzard. Fortunately, we went fairly early. He called about 10:30. I called Andy and she rushed to catch the next train, then I left work at 11, picked her up in Oakville and we went to the broker's office. At that point the highway was wet but in decent shape. When we were coming back, there was quite an accumulation. I brought Andy home (she'd brought her laptop to work at home), then I went back to work to hear we were going to close at 3:30. I talked to one of the other manager's and then went to the head partner to explain what I'd just experienced, but he was already writing an email to change it to 2:30.
Yesterday, we were up early to take Casper to the vet. She's got an odd sore by a back leg. The vet says it looks like a scratch that got infected, so now she is on antibiotics.
At 11, we met the home inspector at the house. He'd been there since 10 and was ready to show us what he found. He was really informative and detail-oriented. He gave us lots of tips and left us with the 400 page bible for home-owners, with a custom report completed in each section.
Today, Andy had a long chat with her dad discussing house details, then in the afternoon, we picked up the kids and took them to Mom and Dad's for a couple hours. We were going to try out the rink dad made from a kit....
...but all the water had been pushed to the left in the windstorm. The right side was just plastic - no water inside. It's basically a big, flat plastic bag you fill, then leave to freeze and peel the top plastic off, but it didn't get really cold till last week's windstorms (Wednesday - even had gusts up to 120 kph in the area - traffic was such a mess from a truck blown over on the Skyway Bridge, closing it both ways, that it took me an hour and 17 minutes to get to the chiro after work - usually takes 30 minutes at most).
Instead of skating, Andy, Ben and Grace built snowmen and had a snow ball fight while I took some pictures, then fixed the VCR and computer.
