What’s Going On Here

Well I am being extrememly negligent of this space.  I am not sure why.  I do have things to say but it seems I don’t really want to take the time to sit down and type it.

I have been asked for an update on what happened when rent-a-kid got home and how we let him know we had seen the videos (there is 3 of them.) Well Myk greeted him with a reinactment of the beginning sketch of one of the videos. He made a funny sound and asked where she saw that. I told him that we had our ways and we has shared with our family and friends.  He didn’t seem to care too much. 

That was until….. Taylor started helping his friend Josh with the stick boy duties.  The next game the boys were “casually” watching the videos in the trainers room. The entire team saw it.  The team has serenaded him with “Are you feeling this?” during a pregame skate.  The coaches and the manager requested that he show them the videos. This last game, he was the starting goalie and when he stepped on the ice for the warm up, “You Make My Dreams Come True” blared through the speakers and apparently they are trying to figure out a way to play them through the jumbotron at the arena. Oh and there is a Raider Fan Group on Facebook that somehow the videos managed to land up there.  All of this is going a little far in my opinion, I guess these PAers need something to do since the Team hasn’t won a game in 6 or 7 games.

So that is the rent-a-kid.  He has sought retribution by switching Taylors alarm clock so he wakes up at 2 am or 5 am. And has threatened to hijack mine but all of it is taken in good sport. He has settled in just fine. He hasn’t starved and only occasionally bugs the kids that he gets a lack of sleep because they make noise in the morning or noise afterschool when he occasionally likes to nap. Unfortunately he doesn’t get much sympathy.

Did I mention that we got a ping pong table a while back? I picked one up in brand new condition at a garage sale in September and it has been used everyday since we put it together. Rent-a-kid uses it to wipe the floor with everyone else. Taylor and his friends enjoy coming over here and battling each other and even Trevor tries to pretend he can beat Rent-a-kid and his friends. Not.  They have even created a ping pong league and Steve keeps track on his computer.

Other news here. Hockey evaluations are in full swing. We should know this next week what teams the boys are on. Slight dissapointment that Tay didn’t make the Double A team but he is looking forward to getting back on the ice anyway and is just very excited about the opportunity to go to Europe next summer with his team from YK.  Mykayla has added one more activity to her list. She is figure skating 3 times a week and still in piano and today she begins Voice Lessons right after her piano lessons.

Oh yea and perhaps the biggest thing to happen this past week was that Trevor is seeing clearly now. Last week, he went into Saskatoon and had a Laser slice open his eye ball and do its magic. He finally emerged from the office wearing clear eye patches and dark glasses and within 12 hours he was able to see clearly without glasses.

Praying for our Northern Home….

On this Thanksgiving, the communities of Hay River and most likely Yellowknife are grieving.  Small close-knit communities seem to feel tragedy like this just a little more. Most people either know the Officer or know someone close to him. I’m praying for you all.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071006/rcmp_dead071006/20071006?hub=Canada

BTW:

Sgt. Larry O’Brien who is mentioned in this article was Taylor’s hockey coach, my best friend in YK is the Communications Person/PR for the RCMP and we have had countless friends who are with the service up there in the North, particularly Mike and Eric. Thinking of you guys.

Too Good Not to Post

For those of you who know our rent-a-kid you may recognize him in here. For those of you who don’t, he is the one in the green shirt, with a paintbrush, mowing the lawn, etc….

Disclaimer: I take no credit or responsibility, he isn’t really mine.

The Things I Do For This Kid.

So today the new kid on the block had a birthday. It is his first time away from home. He seems to be settling in okay. The other day we talked about birthday cakes andMykayla stated she was making him his birthday cake. Well that was until he stated that his favorite cake was Angel Food Cake. That would be easy enough. Until he went on to say that his absolute favorite was this Chocolate Angel Food Cake with Skor bars crunched up and sprinkled on top. Then to put the final nail in the coffin, he said that his auntie always makes him that cake on his birthday.

So of course at that point I feel obligated to call his mom and ask for the recipe. She tells me her sister is insane and cooks like Martha Stewart and that I don’t want to make that cake. She emails the recipe anyway. The first ingredient. 1.5 cups of egg whites. Roughly 11 or 12 eggs. Now I know why the boy’s mother has mentioned the separating of eggs. Okay so here is where the cheat comes in. You go to the grocery store and buy the egg whites in the carton. Voila. One problem solved.

About half way through the sifting process of which you have to do three times, I begin to think I would have been better to hire Lauralee Cooks to make this baby for me, or perhaps Tammy of Shenanigans could have helped. Not the absent minded baker ( namely me)

But I did it. I struggled through and just to be safe I did it twice. I baked a cake yesterday and I tried another one more meticulously today. In the end they both looked roughly the same and so we used yesterday’s cake and have a plan for the other cake made today.

We shared it with Steven tonight. It went well. He said it tasted like Auntie’s and I hope he wasn’t just being polite. My kids weren’t fond of it. Mykayla loved the icing, Taylor loved the cake, Noah didn’t prefer either. The icing is made with instant coffee dissolved in water, marshmallow creme and whipped cream plus a little vanilla. Our family not really being coffee people struggled with that taste but I think if I were to do it again I would just half the amount of coffee I added and we would be fine.

What was important was I hope Steven felt welcomed here and that his birthday wasn’t a total bust for being his first one away from home.

Left To Her Own Devices….

Babysitting my great (or is it grand) neice today. It is a busy day for me and obviously for Kaya too. I left her alone while the birthday cake for Steven was in the oven and I quickly went to check the computer. I came back down and because she knew she had to be quiet and not jump around I guess she found underneath the table the best place to take a nap. I guess all the kindergarten over the past week has started to catch up with her

Becoming a Family of 6 Well Sort of…..

So we took the plunge. We decided we ready for a change. We are up for a new challenge.

Did we adopt?

No.

Did we decide to take on a foster kid?

No.

Did we decide we had all this extra food around so we might as well feed it to some deprived athlete?

Sure!!

Trev and I had tossed around the idea of taking in a billet for the Prince Albert Raiders almost since we moved here. Then Trev coincidentally does business with the Billeting Coordinator and they discussed it. We met, we discussed at length some of the responsibilities we might have. We decided to give it a try if they had a need. At the time they didn’t but the next day they actually had three people back out so we were next at bat.

Enter Steven. He is the rookie goalie for the team and he showed up with his mom almost two weeks ago to try out for the team. He was up against 7 other goalies including the veteran of one year. By Sunday the had cut the rest of the goalies leaving Steven and David Amie.

It was at this point we began to wonder if he was actually going to stay with us or move on to another home.  I think Steven and his mom had originally wanted him elsewhere. We had heard indications of it. We told him that whatever he and his parents and coaches thought was best was fine by us. Yesterday he told Trev that he had decided he would like to stay here with us. When we talked to the Billeting Coordinator he had not heard the same news. In fact he had gave us the indication it was the complete opposite. Then last night Steven’s mom called from Calgary. She too told us that she thought it was working out and that if Steven wanted to stay then they thought it would be good. NOW we are all completely confused but accepting that we now have one more mouth to feed. (And it isn’t in the conventional sense where I would be pregnant for nine months and then the mouth could exist on breast milk for the better part of a year) No we have decided to take on a 6ft something close to 200 pound mouth that eats breakfast, snacks of apples and granola bars, lunches on clam chowder and pasta, snacks again on pizza pops, eats a meat and potato dinner and then about two hours later eats another meat and potato dinner and as a bedtime snack has a bowl of cereal. And don’t even get me started on the showers and the ice baths everynight after a game, not to mention the laundry.

But seriously we are looking forward to it. He seems like a really good kid. He has studied hard and is only 3 classes short of graduating in the Spring, a full year and a half ahead of time. He is quiet and polite, likes to tease and be teased. Well and the gold star is of course the fact that he is a goalie. So we have Taylor following and mimicing everything he does and eats. Mykayla promises to hook Steven up with a figure skater which he thinks might be alright. And the funniest thing had to have come from Noah when we were unsure if he was staying or going. As we were riding in the car one day Noah said from the back seat, “Well uh like why did they give him to us if they weren’t gonna let us keep him?” To which my silent response was “He is not a puppy.”

So you know pray for us. Pray for me because really I need one more thing to schedule into my evenings like a need another hole in my head. Pray for Steven that this wild and crazy Herd doesn’t send him right off the deep end. And while you are at it you might as well pray for our neighbours. Their oldest daughter is currently dating the other goalie on the team and they have another daughter who just started high school and with Steven right next door at our house who knows what might happen. Trev and Jim are already bugging each other about who is going to have to host the Raider parties.

That’s all…

Graduations!

If I haven’t mentioned it here before (which I am pretty sure I have) one of the biggest blessings we have received in moving to PA has been the opportunity to get to know my cousin and his family better. Tim and I are the same age and in the few pictures that are around of us when we still had contact with that family, Tim and I are almost inseparable. And in my few memories I have of those times that is how I remember it too.

Tim’s wife Tobi and I have spent the last year getting to know each other and have become close as well as the kids all adore each other.  We have alot of the same interests in spending time with family, hockey, boating, snowmobiling and quadding. In fact, I don’t know how we would have made through this last year without them as they took Taylor more times than I can remember to his hockey games and tournaments.

Last night I was honoured to have been invited to attend her graduation dinner and ceremonies as Tobi completed her LPN course with DTI (Dumont Technical Institute) Her mom, sister, grandparents and aunt were there along with Tim and the two boys and ME. It was a great night and I am proud of her and happy for her that she is finally done the 15 month program.

 

Last night was another graduation of sorts in our house. Taylor being 11 now has been in “training” to become a babysitter. He hasn’t taken the babysitting course but we have been doing our own home training. It started about a year and a half ago when he would be allowed to stay at home for 15 to 20 minutes on his own. Gradually working up to an hour or more during the day. Eventually when he and I both felt comfortable he would stay in the evening on his own. Then this summer we began leaving him at home with the other two kids for short amounts of time. Each time explaining to him what babysitting meant. Which isn’t sitting on the couch watching sports and making a disaster of the house with pop and chips. On Wednesday I went out with some friends for 2 hours which is likely the longest he has ever been left alone with Noah. Myk had decided to go play with a friend that evening.  Last night, was the first official night that Taylor was left at home, responsible for both kids, to feed them (pizza) and make sure the house didn’t burn down.

He did well. I phoned and checked in on them a couple times which makes him feel better. He did have to call and chat with his dad for a bit, and it helped for them to know Grandpa was just down the street. But I got to go out for supper and relax, I got to stay and enjoy adult company, I even got to stay out past 9 o’clock and have a drink. It was a good night. I was happy, the kids were happy and Taylor was especially happy because he got paid.

It was a very good night. The kids even put themselves to bed after I got home.  I tucked myself in bed just before midnight and fell asleep soundly. Until about 1:15. Then the phone woke me up. I ran to get it from the other room. Of course just in time to miss whoever it was. So given that I have Caller ID I called back. Of course it was a wrong number. GREAT.

By this time I am awake and stumbling back to bed. I lay in bed for about 20 minutes trying to sleep and my stomach starts churning. About this time I realize that I likely had nothing to drink  all day excpet for some milk in the morning, the Tang they served with dinner and the 1+  bottle of Mike’s Hard Lemonade I had after. Needless to say the rest of my night was not nearly as enjoyable. I found myself cursing the person who decided to start calling wrong numbers at 1 in the morning as I hung my head over my toilet. I am pretty sure if I had not be woken up with such a start from a dead sleep and sent running full speed ahead down the hallway I would have continued in my peaceful slumber until morning.

Has This Happened To You Update:

After the second time this happened to me I found an email to send to Facebook – info@facebook.com.

Anyway the first response said the problem should be corrected. Then it happened again.

So I sent another email in response to the first email response to me. Here is what came back.

Dori from Facebook

to me

show details

Aug 7 (23 hours ago)

Hi Peggy,

This is probably a ‘cache’ or cookies problem. To fix it, please follow
our directions carefully.  Please note that we only support the
browsers listed below and strongly recommend that you update your
browser to the newest version available.

Internet Explorer 6.0
1. On the Internet Explorer Tools menu, click Internet Options.
2. The Internet Options box should open to the General tab.
3. On the General tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, click
the Delete Files button.
4. From the same tab, select ‘Delete Cookies.’
5. Click “Close” and restart the browser.

Internet Explorer 7.0
1. On the Internet Explorer Tools menu, click “Delete Browsing
History.”
2. In the Temporary Internet Files section click on “Delete Files” and
select “Yes.”
3. In the Cookies section click on “Delete Cookies” and select “Yes.”
4. Click “Close” and restart the browser.

Safari
1. Open Safari.
2. Select Empty Cache.
3. Click Empty on the ‘Are you sure’ message box.
4. Exit and relaunch the browser.
5. To delete your cookies, select preferences, then click on: security
tab->show cookies->remove all

Firefox 1.5 for PCs
1. Click Tools and select Options on the Firefox menu bar.
2. Click the Privacy Icon on the Option menu bar to open the Privacy
Properties.
3. Click Clear across from the Cache option.
4. Click Clear across from the Cookies option.
5. Click Ok to return to the browser main page.
6. Exit and relaunch the browser.

Firefox 1.5 for Macs
1.  On the Firefox menu bar, click Firefox and select Preferences in the
dropdown menu.
2.  On the Preferences menu bar, click the Privacy Icon to open the
Privacy properties.
3.  Click the Cookies tab.  Select ‘Clear Cookies Now’ to clear cookies.
4.  Click the Cache tab.  Select ‘Clear Cache Now’ to clear cache.
5.  On the Firefox menu bar, click Firefox and select Quit Firefox.
6.  Relaunch the browser.

Firefox 2.0 for PCs
1. Click Tools and select Options on the Firefox menu bar.
2. Click the Privacy Icon on the Option menu bar to open the Privacy
Properties.
3. In the Cookies section, click “Show Cookies” and then “Remove All
Cookies.”
4. In the Private Data section, click on “Settings” and make sure the
box next to “Cache” is checked before selecting “OK.”
5. Click on the “Clear Now” link.
6. Exit and relaunch the browser.

Firefox 2.0 for Macs
1. On the Firefox toolbar, click Tools and select “Clear Private Data”
2. Make sure that Cache and Cookies are selected
3. Click on “Clear Private Data Now”
4. Exit and relaunch browser

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Thanks for contacting Facebook,

Dori
Customer Support Representative
Facebook

So for all of you who have been experiencing the same problem you could give this a try. I don’t know if I buy it completely as I tried to access my profile from 3 different computers and it still didn’t work. But who knows. Computer savvy I am not.

Here Is What Living in Prince Albert Has Done For Us….

among other things.

Trevor’s two weeks off this turn around has meant that we were able to do goalie camp, hockey camp and figure skating school at 3 different arenas in Saskatoon and stay at a wonderfully air conditioned with our even more wonderful friends. 4 days at Emma Lake with family and/or friends. Golfing almost everyday for Trev and/or Taylor.

This weekend has meant: Saturday – driving to Saskatoon to take Taylor to a goalie lesson and doing some school shopping. Sunday –  realizing that Transformers is no longer playing in PA, Trev and Noah made a special trip to Saskatoon to see the afternoon matinee. Our friends who live in Saskatoon have been staying at their cabin at Emma Lake all week. They stopped by the house on their way through for a visit. Their kids didn’t want to leave. So now Monday will be – travelling back to Saskatoon with the 2 extra munchkins, going to the museum with Tammy and the kids, and Trev and Taylor going golfing with Jeremy. Having dinner with Lynne & Ryan & Danielle & Brandon before heading back to PA.

Now granted we could have likely condensed these 3 trips to Saskatoon to maybe 2 trips but it has been great to have the access to make the trips as needed or as desired and not to be stressed about the distance. I am looking forward to meeting Lynne’s family too as I haven’t had the chance yet. And well Mykayla and I want to squeeze those chubby baby cheeks of Brandon’s.

PA is good and life is good.

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First they get you addicted then they cut you off like a dealer with cheap drugs. This is the second time in a week I have been locked out of my Facebook Profile but I can still access Trev’s. So I know it is not a whole site maintenance. I think they just have something against me. Actually it makes me a bit nervous, like maybe they are accessing any confidential information from my profile, leaving me unable to access it myself. Perhaps this is Facebook World Domination Plot and you may be next.

And of course there is no contact us link so that I may email my complaint to someone. That would just be too easy.