Sunny days

What a gorgeous day today!!! I heard it is suppose to be a wonderful weekend as well. I hope all of you enjoy these days while they last.

I wanted to let you know that I had pizza and salad for lunch. Just in case Addie is reading this and doesn't think it is up-to-date. HAHA! I keep saying I miss......... Mike reminded me of this quote "Don't cry because it's over...Laugh because it happened." Addie I am laughing.

I am going to dad's tonight right after work. I am excited about spending time with him & Heather, my sister. I wish I had a stash of scrapbooking stuff up there as well. Then I could just haul it out when I go up. I love scrapbooking, as if all of you didn't already know. As I get older, it seems to just get more important to me.

Best get going!!! Have a super wonderful week-end. Love to all my family who are reading this.

You Did it Your Way

Well hello everyone. I know it has been weeks since I last posted. Thanks Addie for noticing. I am excited that you look in your favorites and see me.

I still am reminded about so much from my vacation. When I use my face cleaning "stuff", I think about all of the laughs that Addie and I had when we were out shopping. Bath & Body - oh heavens, it was so beautiful. I bought a lot of "PS I love you" to bring home with me. It is sooooooo beautiful.

I went scrapbooking on Tuesday. I did 2 pages of Sariah playing dress-up. They are cute.

Work is busy. I am still loving what I do. It is only some of the "other" stuff that I could do without. I went to a concert last evening at the Moncton Cassino. It was with Paul Anka. Now perhaps you don't know who he is, but to me his song writing and singing has made him an icon. It was such a wonderful concert. He is an all round awesome entertainer. He sang for 2 hours non-stop. I would go again tonight, if I had the money. I went with my friends Deb, Rachel and Laurie. I am going to see Randy Travis (aka - Uncle Randy) in a couple of weeks. The new cassino theatre is beautiful. A great place to hold a concert.

I am going to my dads (Grampy Pond) tomorrow. Sassy is not doing well and I worry about dad. I love seeing him and spending time with him. Time is so valuable, especially when you see someone who is running out of time. For anyone who is reading this - I hope you value every day. Even the cloudy, dark & dreary days - the depressing, angry & upsetting days. During those times it is more important for us to find things we are thankful for, things that make us happy, things that we value.

Paul Anka sang his song "I Did it My Way!" The last verse was sung to us, his audience. He sang for us to stand firm in what we believe, to be true to ourselves and not let anyone tear us apart. The last line was "You Did it Your Way!!!!". ? Well, for everyone who may read this, I am challenging you to do it your way. That is what I am going to strive to do - TO DO IT MY WAY.

I had better get back to work. It is dark & rainy here in Moncton but I can see the "happy" things through it.

Finishing my vacation

Hi all - Well the rest of my vacation went by very fast. Between BBQ'ing ballpark franks and eating at "George's" and Olive Garden we were able to go to the Winnipeg Mint - this is where they may the coin that we have in our pockets. We took a tour that explained every step and we found it soooo interesting. The day we were there they were making pennies & Ethiopian coin. The mint has done the coin for 74 other countries. They do them in bulk and charge the country by the weight. I think that is neat. Outside the mint they have flags for every country they have made money for. It looks really nice. I will try and put pictures on.

In the mint they had a gold bar, you know, like the ones in the movies. It was chained to this box and had a security guard, WITH A GUN, watching it. We could pick it up, but only as high as the chain would allow. It weighed 25 pounds and GET THIS, it was worth $470,000.00. My eyes almost fell out of my head. It was neat to see.

When we got home from the mint, Jay took Mike to return our rental car. I hate being without my own wheels. You have to rely on everyone. Mike and I walked over the the Garden of Memories by CFB Winnipeg. We got pictures of all of the planes and the plaques that were around the garden . What a difference from being on an army base. The garden itself is a memorial to countries that helped in WWW1, etc. and there were bricks with the names of people. When you walked around there you couldn't help but feel of the sacrifices people made and continue to make for peace.

We went to the Olive Garden and then we returned back to Addie's full and happee. This was our last night there and I was sad and I think Addie was as well. The boys, of course, didn't show much emotion. Sleep came thanks to those little white pills.

Our last morning, we packed and then we went shopping for the last of my make-up and my Bath & Body Works - PS I LOVE YOU. Then finished packing. Saying good-bye to Jay was hard-he was not coming to the airport. I told him he had better take care of our girl. I hated to say good-bye to Joker (the dog) who I grew very attached to. I think he loves me too. Dad really loved Batman the cat but "hated" the dog hair. Right Addie!!!!!!!!LOL.

We went to the airport and the lump in my throat just grew larger and larger. I was leaving my Addie behind. We hugged, I cried, and she waited until we went through security. I kept waving to her and blowing kisses. The people there must have either thought we were freaks or a mother and daughter who loved each other very much. I had to make the had signal for her to go because I couldn't just walk away from her sight. Finally, I turned and then cried harder. We didn't have to wait very long for the flight. Addie had a horrid time getting out of the parking lot (she will have to tell her story on that). Taking my happee pills, without water, then we boarded. Take off was massively yucky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But the flight to Toronto went well as my pills were great. Landing - again was massively yucky!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We grabbed a sandwich in Toronto, then had to board another plane knowing the take-off was going to be, you know, massively yucky!!!!!!!! Rest of the flight was uneventful. My sadness grew the farther we got from Addie. I just wanted her to come home with us. My prayers are that she is posted this year - somewhere east of Ontario. Landing in Moncton was only yucky. I should have congratulated the pilot.

Loved seeing Jackie and Brent there to greet us and help with out luggage. Jackie had our car there so we got in and drove home. Nice to be here but sad at what we left behind. Jay and Addie were such good hosts. We had a great relaxing time, just what the doctor ordered.

THANKS ADDIE AND JAY --- WE MISS YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vacation - North Dakota & Saskatchewan

On Thursday we went to Bismarck, North Dakota. The trip over the border was very nice. It is so very flat up here. You take one picture it says it all. It is flat but beautiful. They raise a lot of corn, wheat & soy beans in North Dakota. The first view of Bismarck was sooo beautiful. It was like an oasis in a desert. We booked into the Comfort Inn and then found our way to the temple. The temple is a small one exactly like we have in Halifax. It has windows where our temple doesn't. The people there were so friendly. It was refreshing after being in Winnipeg. We went to the restaurant Perkins. Our servers name was Mike. He was absolutely the nicest server we have ever had. I could have brought him home. The meal was excellent as well. We went back to the hotel and had an early night. Dad was tired after driving the whole way. We were leaving early in the morning to go back to Canada. The hotel was awesome. The bed was so comfortable and the people wonderful.

We left early to go to Regina, Saskatchewan. The drive very long. The scenery was much the same as the day before. I did see actual oil rigs and wind fields full and I mean full of windmills. They were a sight to see. We went straight to the temple in Regina and once we got the timings backtracted to find the closest hotel. Because we had such a wonderful experience at the Comfort Inn in Bismarck, we booked in at the Comfort Inn in Regina. What a mistake. There was nothing the same except the name. The people were not friendly. You even had to pay $5.00 everytime you went on the internet. The room smelled damp and musty. It was soooo hot and the air conditioner didn't work very well. I was sick and we got lost. I was not very happee and my poor sweetie was not wonderfully happee either.

We went to the temple. The people were not very sociable like they are usually in the temple. Perhaps that is not totally true as I really was not feeling well. We left after taking pictures and then we went to Applebees. One of my favorite places to eat BUT because I was not feeling well I couldn't eat my meal. I did, however, have a strawberry limeade. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Made me miss my Utah cherry limeades even more.

We went back to the hotel. I was up until after 3:00 am. I thought I was going to puke. Sorry for the graphic word. Finally I took my sleeping pills and went to sleep. Mike let me sleep in a little. Thank heavens. I did feel better.

The trip back to Winnipeg was long and much the same. I am so grateful for the opportunity to visit the places we did. I am grateful to live in such a beautiful country where there are so many opposites. Mountains, that I have not seen, to the flat lands and then to the awesome Maritime provinces. From sea to sea - how I love Canada.

I was excited to see Addie & Jay and Joker & Batman. We just vegged and then went to bed early. Sleep came fast and I love it.

Talk more tomorrow.