Have you seen my tape measure?

On the weekend I bought a bunch of new curtains for the back door and windows in the house but, alas, my 3 tape measures have all gone missing! THREE OF THEM!!!! And these are no small tape measures. I placed the tape measure on the counter and when I went back for it, it was missing. I am sure there is the ghost of some building contractor living in my house that has an obsession for the things! Since painting the kitchen, how many moons ago, we have had no coverings on the back door. The problem with that, and more for my neighbors than myself, is that I am not one to always wear a full clothing ensemble while venturing around the house. I have noticed that the neighbours houses are under full blinds and lights off by 9pm before I venture into the kitchen for a drink at 10pm! LOL Not only would my neighbors appreciate coverings on my back door, I'm sure Ann Marie would appreciate it also. It tickles me to be standing there in my gich watching Ann Marie wearing a bra and panties doing the best combat crawl I've ever seen to avoid being seen by the backyard neighbors. I don't think she needs to, because as long as I am in view I am sure the neighbors are hundled in the front of their homes with their eyes squeezed shut hoping not to get a glance of the white skinned Canadian wonder...LOL!!!

Busy Weekend...

This weekend was pretty busy and was a mix between relaxation and stressing. Friday night Ann Marie and I stayed up way too late watching TV but it was relaxing. On Saturday morning we had a nurse come to the house to do a mini medical on Ann Marie and I for some life insurance that we applied for. Two things we had to do was give blood and pee into one of those little cups. I was able to give the blood to the nurse vampire, but I couldn't convince myself to pee into the damn cup! LOL I woke up late (10:30am) and did the morning bathroom routine forgetting that I had an appointent with the nurse. Dammit. I drank four glasses of water and stood there....**ahem**... staring into the cold, empty, plastic cup. 5 seconds...30 seconds...1 minute...5 minutes...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! How embarrasing. I gave up and told the nurse she'll have to come back when the tank was full. She wasn't impressed. I was glad I was tucked in and zipped up or else I would have thought she unimpressed about something else which would have given me a complex!

After lunch, Ann Marie and I took the kids to see Open Season at the cinema. It was really funny and I ended up laughing a bit too loud at a few scenes. If you have youg kids, I would recommend it. Jonathan and Genevieve loved it, as did Ann Marie. After the movies we went shopping for curtains. OH...MY...GOD what an adventure that turned out to be. The kids were going nuts. I think it was the twizzlers from the theatre. It turned them into wild and crazy beasts! We eventually had to abondon all hopes of buying curtains that day and headed for home.

I made dinner and got the kids ready for a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house (my parents) since Ann Marie and I were going out to a party for my friend Kim...yeah...the Kanuck leaving for the U.K. for a year and a half! It was a fun time! I ended up chatting up a bunch of people and then played poker. I was doing pretty good until Ann Marie stepped in for a buddy of mine, Ninad, who had to leave a bit early. Then things started falling apart for me. I made it all the way to 3rd place until ANN MARIE took me out of the game with a flush against two pair! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! I was proud of the way she played. In the end, it was almost 3:30am so Ann Marie and Chris (the other player) decided to stop the game and divy up the pot! Well done Ann Marie...well done. I ain't going to blame having too much to drink on loosing. She got me fair and square. By the time we got to bed it was 4am and we had to be at my parents place for 10:30am. Let's say it was a REALLY slow start in the morning...

We ended up going to an all day breakfast with my parents and the kids which was enjoyable. I paid the tab as a thank you to my parents for watching the kids and then set off for my brother-in-laws place so Ann Marie could get some documents signed for her friend. That was an hour adventure. We headed for home and kicked around for a couple hours and then I took Jonathan out shopping for blinds again, and some parts to fix my car. Our mission was a success but resulted in me generating more work for myself today! When I get home I have blinds to put up! Well, at least that will get one more item crossed off the honey-do list...which is more self imposed than demanded by Ann Marie.

Well, that's the weekend in a nutshell! Wonder what next weekend will hold in store...before and after the Halloween party on Saturday night...PARTY TIME!!!...again...LOL

The Maze of Life

Poor little mouse. Placed in a maze full of twist bends and turns, walls with many colours, and a plethora of other tricks, obstacles, and treasures to attack the five senses and embattle the mind. Left alone to decide where next to travel in this never ending maze. DECISIONS! A million a second pound through the poor creature’s brain as it ventures through the maze. What will the next decision bring? Pleasure? Pain? Happiness? Sadness? Death? Vindication? Devastation? The list of possibilities is an endless deep ocean. From time to time the little mouse may get help. An obstacle kindly removed, a push in the right direction, an undeserved reward. The poor mouse may also be hindered. Deceived. Confused. Misguided. From above, its creator, who shaped the right conditions for the mouse’s birth, who brought the mouse this far in its life, watches. Wonders. Records. To the mouse, its creator, is God. Able to move “mountains”, able to punish, able to provide, able to take away. From time to time the poor mouse comes to a place in the maze where it can not decide the next action, the next direction, the next step. It glances around, it glances up. Will God help? What to do? Carry on, hoping the decision is the right one. Night and day the need to make decisions, comprehend, decipher, and endure bombard the poor creature. Does the maze have an ending? Of course! The maze ends with the end of life. But the mouse does not need to fear this, for God will reach into the maze and remove its lifeless body. Take it away from the chaos, from the endless mental wars internally raging since birth, and place it where there is no maze, into a place of openness and endless peace. Dear reader, you are the mouse.

What's in a Dream continued...

OK, this is a weird one. I remember walking through a neighbourhood trying to get to another town. Between this town and the next town there was a river that had to be crossed. I remember being with another person and both of us not knowing exactly how to get through this one town to a point along the river where we could cross. At one point in my travels I was leading the way along a snow covered walkway that was badly overgrown with bushes and branches and I recall the snow falling from them onto me as I walk through the tangles. A weird snowplow went by. More like a farm combine than a snow plow, churning up the snow instead of piling it to one side. Two taxis pulled up and the other person I was with decided to take the easy way and get into the taxi. There was not enough room for me so I continued on foot. I started crossing through backyards in a line that lead directly towards the river. When I finally got to the river I could not cross and was on a very rocky hill. The river was raging over large boulders. A truck pulled up to the base of a hill and a man got out and started waling towards me. I was talking to him but he was not responding, his eyes remained fixed on me. I was backing up the rocky hill, feeling overwhelmed with fear that this man wanted to do me harm. I was thinking about jumping into the river to escape him but knowing I probably wouldn’t survive anyway. As he began reaching for me I looked towards the river and woke up.

FISH FRY! YUMMM!!!!

Last night we had our friends Barb and Craig over for a fish fry to eat the fish Craig and I had caught during our fishing trip. They also brought along their sons Xavier (7) and Ryan (3 months). Dinner was beer battered Pike and Pickeral, cheesy broccoli, French fries, and Greek salad. I also stayed up the night before until midnight making a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. Barb also brought a very tasty dessert to ass to the feast! It was a very fun night with lots of laughs as we talked about this and that and recapped the guys fishing trip. Ryan was super well behaved and Genevieve was all over him, singing, touching, trying to make him laugh. It took 4 pairs of adult eyes to keep little Ryan safe!

Jonathan and Xavier get along really well and spent the whole evening playing together. They always have a great time in each others company.

After the meal, we were all STUFFED, which I am sure none of needed after stuffing ourselves with Thanksgiving feasts the weekend before! I even sent Craig and Barb home with an entire bag of leftovers against Barb’s will of course!

I must say, hanging out with friends and having a good laugh sure helps the spirits…