Ha, three days in a row!

I'm just trying to stick to my resolution, but really I don't have too much to say today. We looked at a house this morning (not gonna happen, it would take at least 50K before we even moved in!) but it was on a lovely double lot - and close to C and R's house which would be nice.

Looking at another on Sunday, but I think that we've decided to commit to renting for another year. However, check back with me in about 5 minutes to see if I've changed my mind again! So I'm a bit indecisive... it's so stressful with so much money at stake. I guess the bottom line is that Hallelujah house will come along and we'll know it's for us!. It's not like it's invested in anything other than the most safe of safe safe safe GIC's available. Collecting about 2% interest I think, but that's better than what a lot of other people's investments these days are doing.

We had a quiet day. Sydney and Cameron both had sleepovers last night. Cam went to bed at a good time, but, true to Sydney's form, she and Bethany stayed up super late so she was a bit dragging all day, but not near as cranky as I though she would be. (so if you're reading this, thanks Syd!)

Barry and Sarah had samples at Costco last night and both came home nauseous. Sarah actuallyLiterally screaming, poor thing. So I gave her some medication and tucked her in on the couch and suffered through watching some Hannah Montanna with her while she dozed. Barry took the other kids swimming and they had a good time.

Hey, we bbq'd our dinner tonight. Italian Sausages! Yummy, totally worth the 9 weight watchers points! It's so awesome to be approaching bbq season, however the weather tomorrow calls for snow! WTH? The house we looked at today had crocuses coming up in the yard, so I hope if it does snow it's short lived - we're ready for spring. So ready in fact, that we got insurance for our scooter today! Yay. Have I even blogged that we have a scooter that we bought last year? We love it so much. I better put in a picture. our at stake money will sit firmly in the bank until we have the threw up quite a bit before bed. This morning Barry was better but Sarah wasn't, and by noon she was screaming in pain from a migraine. How cute is it? This isn't exactly it, but it's called a Yamaha BIG WHEEL! Ours is also yellow, but it's pimped a bit more than this. We love it. I was a bit nervous at first, but now I go all over on it. I'm a regular biker chick.

I'm almost out of battery on the laptop so time for bed. Big ski day tomorrow! Did you know I can achieve 5 activity points on weight watchers just for skiing for 90 minutes? I love skiing so much, it almost seems too easy! I also love the Wii Trainer I bought. You jump around your own living room like an idiot and no one needs to see your muffin top bouncing all around!

Two more days of Spring Break!
Chuckles
T

Only 4 days of Spring Break left!

Ahhh, these two weeks are flying by! And the kicker is that we have not skiied once yet. 25 cm of new snow in the past 24 hours! Can you believe that??? We are going to ski all weekend!

Long day here - Barry took the 6:00 am flight to Vancouver for meetings, and then flew home on the 9:40 pm flight - hence, I was alone with the kids all day. We did some housework and some vegging and the kids went swimming for about 3 hours. I also made a breakfast made for a king - waffles with fresh blueberries and strawberries and whipped cream! And you know how sometimes people see images of the Virgin Mary in their grilled cheese sandwiches etc? Well we had a waffle that was exactly like the United States! Look! Isn't that amazing?


Have to make a trip to Kelowna tomorrow so I think I'll stop by Costco - cause it's not like I didn't already spend enough money in the US last week! Ha ha.

I need some advice! The stress of thinking about when we should buy another house is killing me! Will the market continue to drop? Will it level out? Will it begin to go up again? There are a couple currently for sale that I like, but what if the price goes down? Then what? We've been so lucky and smart with our house purchases in the past 10 years, we've bought low and sold high, so now the trick is to figure out when "low" is happening again...

Blah blah. I have some current pics of the kids from this spring so far...

I'm going to be the Master (Mistress?) of Ceremonies at Dad's wedding in July. He and Janice had us all over for dinner this week and asked me, as well as asking Barry and Jan's son James to do the food. The kids all have roles too (Sarah will be strewing flower petals! :-) She's thrilled) and my brothers will be standing up with my dad. It should be a really nice day. We're also going to have a rehearsal bbq the night before (although there's no rehearsal! ha ha) at our friend's Paul and Tammi's - they live on Okanagan Lake in a beautiful house so that will be nice too.

On Sunday we passed the one year anniversary of the death of Jim, Barry's dad. Hey, that's a whole year that NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON CLOSE TO US HAS DIED! Sounds ridiculous, but I'm thankful for it! And tomorrow another happy day - my nephew Even will be one! Time flies, and I've got to put up a picture of Evan here at Christmas time - he's so beautiful.

That's it for today - I have to hurry up and get to bed so I can hurry up and sleep in!

Later.

ooops, so much for resolution!

ok, so I see that January 8th was my big resolution to blog more. Ok, so 2.5 months have gone by since then. I blame Facebook entirely. That site is such a time whore. I mean, I really like to keep up with people, but do I really need to know if you took a personality test and the person you're most like is Hitler? Or that the color you're most like is chartreuse? Facebook is taking over the planet, and I really have to get off the bus.

Sooo, there's way to much to blog about since the last real entry is from last August! The biggest change has been that we have a foster child living with us. I won't post his name, but it starts with a J, and we affectionately call him J-Lo. He is a blessing to have in our house. He definitely makes me crazy a lot of the time, so it's like he's really my own child! ha ha. J-Lo has been here since last October, and it's unsure of how long he'll be here. Through the end of the school year, and hopefully even longer. J-Lo's home life with his biological family is unstable, and it's up in the air what the long term plan is. In any event, we love having him here, and will miss him terribly when he's not in our home anymore.

Other big news: Sydney and Cameron both returned to public school after the Christmas break and are doing absolutely amazing! Sydney has settled into grade 7 at Skaha Lake Middle School where she was enrolled for the first part of grade 6. Skaha is also where I am working this year, so I am able to keep a bit of an eye on how she's doing. She just got her first report card with straight A's, with the exception of one B in math. She also participated in the district science fair in February and won a bronze ribbon. She's super busy outside of school doing hip hop dance, being a junior leader at her Awana club, and continuing guitar lessons. She also took the babysitter course and does that as much as possible!

Cameron is also doing awesome. Straight A report card, settling in nicely to grade 4, and absolutely loves his teacher! He's still taking piano, doing hip hop lessons, and playing Wii Hockey whenever he's allowed. Cameron took a course at the health unit last fall called the "Friends" program, which is designed for kids with high anxiety issues. He really enjoyed it and gained some valuable skills on how to deal with situations that he finds stressful.

Sarah is Sarah. Growing like a weed, loving grade 2, eating like a horse and running around enough each day to burn off those calories and more. She started violin lessons in the fall and really enjoys it. She's doing well, though at times it does sound like she's killing cats when she practices. She's entered in the local music festival in April and she's looking forward to it. She's also in Awana and dance classes - for a mom who limits her kids extra curricular activities we do a whole lot of running around... hmmm.

This past week we had a mini family vacation in one of our favorite cities - Spokane! Not as good of a deal this year as the dollar is not so strong for us, but we still went and visited our usual Spokane haunts and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Me - I'm doing weight watchers again (I did it a few years ago and was having success but fell of the WW wagon and didn't get back on.) This year I'm doing well, and have lost 15 pounds since the end of January. I want to lose about 30 more, but we'll just see how it goes. I really want to be in a size 8 dress for dad's wedding in July (hmmm, was that line a shock to some of you... the wedding, not the dress size....)

Yes, it's true, Dad is getting remarried. It's time. Mom has been gone for almost 4 years now (wow) and he's met a really nice lady named Janice. She is a divorced lady, around dad's age with grown kids around the same ages as Jamie and David and I. She is also a grandma, and the kids really like her too. The date is July 5th of this year, I'm sure it will be great.

I'm going to put up a slide of some pictures from Spokane this past week, and hopefully this little burst of blogging will continue. Big plans tomorrow: J-Lo has a visit with his mom, the kids want me to move their bedrooms around, and we also want to go to the new park. Cameron wants to ride their on his new long board, his big purchase from Spokane.

Till soon (hopefully!)

T.

PS - I changed the background colour on the blog to make it more spring-ish.

Hiatus endus.... is endus a word?

Ok, so New Year Resolution: Get back to blogging. Facebook has really impacted my blogging life. I took a break, but it's time to get back into it. Truth is, it's kind of therapeutic, and I like to look back over the years I've been blogging and see what I've been up to! All that being said, however, it's late, I'm tired, and it's the first Thursday of back-to-school-after-the-holidays week. The alarm seems to be going off aproximately 8 seconds after I go to bed at night! So, I resolve to get back to it, but not tonight! This weekend for sure. Lots has changed in our lives since the last post, which, shamefully, I think was in August! (or was it July? even more shameful!)

Soon!
Terri

So, what'ca been up to?

People - this post is going to take bullets. Not the kind from a gun (though at times that may seem necessary) but more because so much has been going on!

Let's start with the bad, and work to the good, shall we?

• LICE. Yes, it's still here. Despite hours and hours and hours and hours (did I mention the hours?) of picking and tossing and pulling and treating and oiling and vacuuming and spraying and cursing and crying... I found a live one on Sydney's head tonight. Sob. Why? So back to square one. Tonight I combed and picked, etc, then sent her to bed with hair so full of ultra hold hairspray that even if there is any live suckers left on that head, they'll be fully immobilized and DEAD by morning!
  
• LICE: Part 2. My OWN head was so damn itchy I went ahead and used the Nix on myself too. Sydney and Barry looked through and through my hair and found nothing, but I was still so darn itchy I decided to chemical myself. I generally would not even worry about getting lice, as generally every single day I am putting some kind of product in my hair (like straightening balm) and then blow drying and flat ironing it so it's never even been a thought. However, since it's summer, and I'm not working I have been just leaving my hair (translation: air dried puffy curly hair) and not having any kind of styling product in it. (another translation: yeah, I look hot... just look at the house boating pictures for proof!) Hence, a nice fresh head for those little bastards to cling to! Did I mention I'm still itchy? I am going insane with this. I think I'll start sending Sarah to school with garlic coils around her neck!

• Ironman: Despite my really wanting to make this the first year of my Ironman Boycott, I just couldn't go through with it. Upon reflection, I realized I still want to be out there to support the athletes, even though I really despise the big guns who make gazillions of dollars every year off of the race (those who own the rights to it) off the backs of thousands of local Penticton volunteers. I realize people volunteer because they want to give back, but when things start happening such as the dismissal of Steve King (the official announcer) and the "loss of contract" that happened so that the Bike Barn was not the official race support crew really burns me up. If Ironman continues to contract such important aspects of the race out to companies that are not local I think that this town will show less and less support for the race.
• Ironman: Part 2. The Cobbins are in Alaska so they offered us the use of their boat to go and watch the swim portion of the race from their boat on the lake. Of course that's an offer that it too good to pass up, so we got up at 5:00 and were on the water heading to the race site by 6:00 am. The weather was not as good this year as the last time we watched from the boat, but beggars can't be choosers. We enjoyed it amongst the other boats, most of which were being driven by people whom we think have never driven any type of water craft before! Ever heard of an anchor people? We were out for a few hours and it was a good time. We brought the boat back, hit the hot tub, and then headed home and were back in bed for naps by 10:00 am!
• Apres Naps: We headed out to watch some live race action with Chad and Roberta and their boys. Chad was on call so he was in and out for the whole time, but we all still had a good time. Unfortunately we witnessed an accident where a biker went off course and ran into a young boy (about 12 who had stepped onto the road. Totally not the boys fault, but of course he was devastated!) The biker had a huge wipe out... picked herself up, hopped back on her bike and kept on going. It was awful to watch.
• Later on, back at Chad and Roberta's house (after it started to pour rain!) we were watching the live coverage on TV while we ate dinner. There was one man running into the finish line... when just about 10 meters away he fell down and started seizing on the pavement! It was so awful, and the stupid camera people didn't know quite what to do so they just kept on filming while the announcer called for medical attention at the finish line! I felt so bad for him. 2 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, and then a marathon run and he goes down right before the finish line. I was so happy when the doctors got him onto the stretcher and ran down through the finish line with him! I was yelling "oh, they're going to make sure he crosses the finish line! That's so awesome!" Unfortunately, as Chad pointed out, they probably were not concerned about whether he finished or not... that was the only way to get to the waiting ambulance! Urgh. I've been looking for updates on his condition on the Internet but have found nothing. I really hope he was OK.

Sydney on the way in.

Self portrait on our way into Penticton to watch Ironman. I'm always behind the camera, so I have to make sure I turn it on myself once in awhile!

The kids in the bow of the boat on the way into the Ironman.

A zillion swimmers going by the SS Sicamous. Pretty picture.

All in all, I guess this wasn't too much of a spaz post. Just my usual grumbling I guess. I have more complaints about Ironman, but their just my same old usual ones (like, um, don't let VOLUNTEERS direct the traffic at major intersections, isn't that a no brainier? One intersection had an actual RCMP officer, as well as two volunteers directing traffic, and all three were barking out different commands at people. hmmm).

On some other notes: Congrats to Richard and Amber on the birth of their third baby! I'm so happy for them, and so proud to have a friend as confident as Amber, who has her babies at home! She was supposed to come over for a coffee tomorrow, but we made that plan while she was still pregnant, so I think that's off! I made them dinner tonight but when I took it over all was quiet so alas, no peeks at the newborn. Soon...

Today I signed the kids up for their dancing for the year. Cameron is in Hip Hop, of which I'm still not 100% sold on, but we'll see how he likes it. Sydney and Sarah, in honor of our late Grandma Joy, are signed up for Highland! We're Scottish McKenzies you know. Also, did you know that COSTUMES can cost more than the entire dance tuition for the whole year. Hello second hand! Seriously, shoes, ok, we'll get em. Costumes? Ebay!

Tomorrow I have to get the music lessons paid for, and then we're pretty good to go for fall. Cameron back in piano, Sydney in guitar, and Sarah on violin! Eeeek! Something tells me those may make for some interesting blog posts for the upcoming year!

There's some awesome news: We finally bought a new vehicle and we LOVE it, but of course, knowing me, it's a whole story in itself, so that will be tomorrows post.

Hi'ya! (said like a karate chop)

Terri

Hey! Guess what we got???

Ohh, bet you thought it was going to be something exciting, didn't you? Well think again people, we got LICE! Yes, lice. What the heck? We've practically been housebound with laziness for the past 3 weeks, so where in all get out did we get lice?

I should elaborate. After watching Sarah scratch her head all through dinner (and after hearing a friend has lice) I pounced on her and starting checking it out. Needless to say, had I just looked a bit harder from where I was sitting I would have been able to see them clearly. They were practically coming out for a bite of chicken on the table. Looking across to Sydney, it was also clear that she had a whole separate entity of life living among her locks. Honestly, I've never seen lice so bad as Syd had it. Cameron came up clean, as did Barry and I. Needless to say, dinner was over right about then. Sesame seeds anyone?

So, being the geeky Wood family that we are, Barry ran to get the microscope so we could all look at one of the lice before we began the endless job of getting rid of them. BIG mistake. Do you have any idea how creepy and freaky a lice is when magnified 600 times. Very gross.

Here is Cameron taking his initial look at the little critter.

Here he is starting to get a bit freaked out.

And here he is after he stripped off all of his clothes and ran around the house yelling about it. Apparently he thinks wearing a Micheal Jackson mask will keep you immune to lice. Note the vacuum cleaner on the floor in the background. Can lice stay alive in the canister of your central vac?

So the extermination began. I went to Walmart and got pretty much their last box of treatment. Apparently we're not the first this week to obtain this vermin in our house. (does vermin only apply to mice and rats?) Then I came home and we doused the girls and soaked them and then spent about 2 hours combing through their hair. Sarah was pretty easy to get under control, Sydney was a whole other story. I cannot believe we didn't discover them on her sooner. There was an entire population living on her head. I don't know how anyone else in Penticton can possibly have lice when Sydney has them all on her head. In any event, I think she's under control now too, and I'm going to soak her head in cooking oil tomorrow and give it another super comb to make sure I have all the dead nits out. (the oil makes it so the nits slide off the hair easier. Plus she'll smell like Kentucky Fried Chicken all day...)

Next came the laundry, which is still not all done. The washer and dryer are on overtime.

Here's a pile of some finished pillows and blankets on the couch.

Here's a pile in the hallway that has yet to run through the laundry cycle. I think I'm out of hot water.

Here is my generally very tidy laundry area in a state of serious disarray. Guess what I'm doing tomorrow? More laundry!

My head is itchy. I know I don't have it, but it's Itchy-By-Proxy!

Good news for all those who like to call me on the phone. I finally dumped Vonage and I am getting Shaw phone installed tomorrow. I really despise giving Shaw more of my money, but I despise them a touch less than Telus, and it will be nice for my friends to not have to say "WHAT?" every second word during a conversation on the phone. Don't go getting all excited though, I'm still not a phone person, so don't be calling me up for any long winded conversations!

Cheerio!
Terri

Sarah is 7!

Well, it was a celebration to make Hannah Montana proud! Yay, we stocked up the pockets of Disney just a little bit more, because Sarah turned 7, and NO ONE loves good old HM more than Sarah. Honestly, right down to the Wii HM game, it was all there.

In any event, she had a great, relaxing day. We had a great dinner followed by cake she helped to ice herself, and had some family games. She kind of gets ripped off on the birthday party department because her birthday is in the summer, so we're going to have a party where we invite her friends in September (after school starts, but before we go to Vegas!)

Speaking of school - for those who don't know it yet, we are homeschooling Sydney and Cameron again this year, and Sarah will be attending grade 2 at her usual school. Go ahead, say what you want, we've heard it all before. As for right now, the public education system is not a good fit for our kids, and this is what is working for us. Hmmm, do I sound a wee bit defensive?

Enjoy these pictures of Sarah! I'll rant more about the homeschooling later. And yes, I've been avoiding friends this week. So sue me - I'll get over it soon.

Kiddies Day? I thought you said Titties Day!

Wow - Peachfest! It deserves its own post! Seriously, the good, the bad, and the ugly, we've seen it all today. I have split my side laughing over the inappropriateness of it all, and now I need to write about it.

Sooo, we head down to the park this morning, just before lunch time. For the first time in years we skipped the Kiddies Day parade - we have won a prize (either First Place or Second Place) every single year for the past 9 years, so we have decided to make like Seinfeld, and go out while we're on top. Hence, no Kiddies Day Parade Entry for us this year. That's ok.

We get to the Park after Charlotte Diamond has performed (she's a bit young for our kids now) and with plenty of time to spare before the HANNAH MONTANA TRIBUTE ARTIST that was listed in the brochure! Imagine the excitement! Hannah Montana, live, at our Peach Festival! Ok, so not the actual real one, but when a program lists someone as a tribute artist, you think you're in for something really special! Boy oh boy, we arrived with plenty of time to score some good seats! Top billing, so you can imagine that we thought we were going to be wowed!

Imagine our disappointment then, when the act comes on. Two little girls, maybe about 8 or 9 years old, doing nothing more than bad karaoke while their stage mothers BEAMED and took pictures from the sidelines! Honestly, it was embarrassing. The crowd was up and leaving in droves. I mean, they didn't even sing a Hannah Montana song to get things rolling. I think they did some covers from Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Both good Disney movies, but they were made in the early 90's, approximately 15 years before most of the crowd was even born. It was horrid. They actually sang "The Good Ship Lollipop" while their moms threw candy into the crowd. I think that was all that saved them from being mobbed by the mosh pit of 8 year olds who were still waiting for the real Hannah Montana impersonator to show up.

So ends Hannah Montana. Guess I'll have to shell out the $200 bucks and take the girls to the real thing the next time she's in the area.

Anyway, onward. Next up were some filler acts. All good, just what you'd expect from the 60-some annual Peach Festival! Next up, what the crowd has been waiting for: William James: Hypnotist!!!

Now, keep in mind, I'm not William James' biggest fan, so I may be a bit skewed here. Its just that I've been taking the kids to Peach Fest for a lot of years, and every single year, without fail, we see one of William James' shows. And, without fail, every single year his show does not change one iota. Same old bad jokes. Same acts. Same pain. But hey, it's Kiddies Day, so I'm thinking it will be a good, age appropriate act. Oh, so painfully wrong Terri. Sigh, so painfully wrong.

Start with the volunteers he takes from the crowd. All pretty, all boobs. Like I said above, "Oh, I thought it was Kiddies Day, not Titties Day." Honestly, he all but bribed a few ladies from the Gabby's Girls (well endowed line dancers) acts to take a seat on his stage. Unfortunately for him, the hypnosis did not take on either of the girls who volunteered, and he was unable to put any spells on them. The most tasteless joke he made, while putting one of the ladies under his spell, was "Ha ha ha, that's how I got a cheap divorce!" And then he laughs his asthmatic laugh.

But I digress, I guess the part of the hypnosis show that bothered me the most on KIDDIES DAY, while the audience is jammed packed full of young children, is when he made four of the males on stage pretend they were pregnant, and then made them pretend their water had just broken, and then made them pretend they were giving birth!!!!! I mean up on chairs, legs in the air, spread, and pretending to push! Then the hypnotist pretends to pull babies out of them, and thrusts them into their arms, and tells them the baby is hungry, and they should start breastfeeding! At this point, with all the children in the crowd, I was ready to crawl under my collapsible lawn chair. It was kind of horrifying.

So, William James ends, and I try to pretend for the kids that it was the best show ever, and watching a teenage boy pretend to have a baby is maybe one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life. Did I mention I was watching this all with my dad beside me. Oh, that just made it sooo much funnier.

Next up was Gabby's Girls, who were really good line dancers. Complete with Daisy Duke cutoffs and chaps with fringe. Sex sells.

Next: The Blues Brothers, who I have seen before and LOVE! They are a great act. Really funny and they actually sound like the Blues Brothers. It was great, we were really enjoying their performance, and we were also enjoying the possibly intoxicated lady who was dancing solo on the dancing area in front of them. She was giving it all she had. Imagine Elaine Benice from Seinfeld. Doing the Flick, the Sprinkler, the Typewriter, the Cow Milk. Just awesome entertainment. Also, its August 10th in Penticton, and granted, the temperature is lower than normal, but she was wearing a wool toque and a scarf. Hmm.

Enter Kid Rock/Axl Rose and his girlfriend Mel B (from the Spice Girls) Now, of course it wasn't really them, but you need to have a visual. Here's some pictures for those of you who don't have it yet.

So Axl/Kid and Mel B come in and get comfy just in front of us, lying on the grass together, and enjoying the music of the Blues Brothers, while they enjoy each other, if you know what I'm saying. Also, they brought their dog with them. While you may be imagining that it was a pit bull, it was in actuality a Jack Russel Terrier, who yipped and barked and snapped at anyone who dared to look at it sideways or simply walk by it. And each time it behaved in this way, Axl/Kid took a minute to lift his mouth from Mel B's cleavage to yank it by it's chain and then smack it really hard across its head. This happened often. Often.

I did my best to ignore it all, I really did. Even though it was inappropriate, even though people were actually getting up and leaving the spots around them, and forcefully turning their kids heads away, I tried to ignore it. Even though little old men appeared to be suffering from cardiac arrests, I tried to not let it bother me. After all, it was KIDDIES DAY! Why should two people having dry sex in the park dead center in front of the stage bug me? However, it bugged me. So I gave them some dirty looks.

Well folks, that's when it all went bad. Mel B happened to lift her face up from Axl/Kid's chest for a minute (did I mention he was wearing some lovely cutoffs and a button down tank top that was undone?) and saw one of my looks. That's when she lost it. She screamed at me:

"You better fucking stop shooting me those daggers!"

To which I could not help but reply:

"Get a room."

Well, that's when it went bad.

Axl/Kid jumped up and stalked over to us, and proceeded to start freaking out on Barry. I'm not sure of the actual words, but the F word was used a lot, as well as some other choice curses. He was waving his hands in Barry's face and demanding Barry get up and fight with him. Barry was telling him to sit down and be respectful of those around him. (Bear has more patience than I, but we're both firm pacifists, and it would be a pretty cold day in hell before either one of us got physical)

In any event, it got to the point where this guy knocked Barry's hat off of his head, at which point I turned to the person next to me and asked for their cell phone so I could call 9-1-1. I was kind of worried that Mr. Psychopath was going to punch Barry in his perfect teeth.

When Mel B realized I was calling the cops, she stopped wagging her finger in my face (picture this: Barry and I are still sitting on our lawn chairs amidst about a thousand people while these two freaks are all over us and the poor dog is going crazy at this point too) and she starts pulling on her boyfriend's arm and saying

"Let's go Baby! F this guy! F it!" (but she didn't say F!!)

At which point, the guy, Axl/Kid says to her:

"I don't F'ing care! I'm going back to prison Baby!"

Seriously, at the time it was kind of scary, but in hindsight Barry and I laughed our asses off. For the rest of our days "I'm going back to prison Baby" will be a favorite saying in our family!

Anyway, at this point some other men in the crowd got up and started to physically remove this crazy man from the area while I called 9-1-1. His devoted girlfriend followed him, but the whole time she was making that sign to me, like when you put your fingers into a "V" and then you point to your eyes and then someone else's eyes.... know what I mean? That part really did make me laugh. Kind of like this guy - remember him?

The whole irony of this thing, is that this took place over a few minutes, and the entire time the Blues Brothers continued to play! Would that not have been hilarious for a brawl to start while the Blues Brothers were playing?

Ahh, my story for the summer. And the best part of it was that the kids were off at the Bouncy Castle while this whole thing happened so they didn't see any of it, though we did relive the highlights for them later at home over a snack (I'm going back to prison Baby!)

We watched a bit of the next act, The Beatles, and then we went home. A number of people thanked us for speaking up.... which made me kind of think why the hell didn't someone else say something? Getting threatened by maniacs isn't exactly my Sunday cup of tea, but oh well. Hey, there hasn't been a Peach Festival Riot since 1991... and we almost started another.

Tomorrow the kids start Art Camp at the Art Gallery, and I think I found us a new car to buy so I have to call them.

I'm also pretty sure I made a mistake on our passport applications (damn!) so I have to call them too! Not a huge one, but with my luck they'll send back the applications, and I need those stupid passports so we can get to the states to buy our car.

And oh, oh, oh! Bear and I are going with Paul and Tammi to Vegas in September! The first time we've ever been away without the kids. We'll be celebrating our 13th wedding anniversary. Time flies when you're having fun.

I'm going back to prison Baby!!!

Terri

House Boat Pictures....

So far so Good

Sigh - summer is almost 1/2 over, but I can't complain! We have just arrived home from a week long house boating trip in the Shuswap with our friends Paul and Tammi and their son Andrew. We had an absolute BLAST! The weather was perfect; the whole thing was so relaxing.

The trip did start out on a bit of a rough note, as about 20 minutes outside of Kelowna we blew a tire on the trailer of Paul's boat. The whole thing needed to be replaced, rim and tire. We decided that the men (and little boys) would continue on up north to Sicamous while Tammi and I stayed with the smaller girls (and the broken down vehicles!) by the side of the road and wait for the repair man. This decision was made as the men had to go through a two hour orientation on how to drive the boat, etc before we would be able to leave the harbour, so they went off to do that while we waited. And waited. And waited. At long last, the BCAA man arrived from Vernon with a new tire and rim and got down to business.... only to discover he'd brought the wrong tire and would have to return to Vernon to get the new one. Sigh. Again we waited.... by the side of the hot, sticky, gross 4 lane highway. Finally, he was back, and with the right tire, and things were looking up! He changed it and we bid him farewell and we were off! Oh, except not exactly,because THE BATTERY IN PAUL AND TAMMI'S EXPLORER WAS NOW DEAD! What are the chances, I ask you?

The good news was that there was (somewhere) packed a portable battery jumper, which Paul keeps in his boat for "just in case." The bad news was that it was in the boat, which was loaded to the top with other gear, coolers, windsurfers, kayaks, etc, and then tarped down tight. So, imagine if you will: me, by the side of a crazy busy highway on a Saturday afternoon in July with my legs and ass hanging out of the boat on the side of the road while I literally fished around all of the gear in the boat to find the battery charger. Amen, I had called Barry (who had done a lot of the packing of the boat) to ask if he had any ball park idea of where exactly it was, and it was right where he said it would be!

More bad news: Neither Tammi nor I have EVER jump started a car with cables before. Hmmm, all we really knew for sure was that if you connect the cables to the wrong side you will die a horrible fiery death because the battery will most certainly blow up (at least that was the impression we were under) Alas, due to the fact that this year I was in a Grade 9 Science Class at Pen High and I learned (painfully) all about batteries, we managed to hook the darn thing up, and the car started!!! And yay, we were on our way again.

So we arrived in Sicamous. Tired, sunburned, but ready to start our vacation! Let me tell you, Twin Anchors in Sicamous is one class act. In the time it had taken Tammi and I to deal with the broken car, Barry and Paul had arrived in Sicamous, signed all the necessary documents, given blood samples (hee hee, not really) done the orientation, had a few glasses of wine, and were ready for us to arrive.

We pulled up, and we were quite literally swarmed with helpful employees. The drive these ATV's with little wagons behind them up to your vehicle, and load all of your things into them. Then they drive the ATV's onto the dock, over to your boat, and unload everything onto your boat for you! Not a nail need be broken! (they do this when you leave too!) I even had one of the nice young gentlemen park my cars for us in the overflow! (now, the truth is, Paul thought that I was parking his Explorer and boat trailer myself, but what he doesn't know is that there is NO WAY I was going to drive that thing to the overflow, and try and back it in myself!) Ha ha, some cute young porter did it for me, and I tipped him handsomely for his trouble! Paul was none the wiser, until we arrived after our vacation and he said "Let's go get my car so we can get the (speed) boat out of the water! Where did you park it?" Heh heh, um.... over there?? somewhere?? Busted! :0) Good thing he's so easy going. He was hardly alarmed at all that I didn't actually have any idea where his car was!

And so we were off! Setting sail onto the beautiful lakes that make up the Shuswap. The week is really a blur (perhaps a bit due to the Vino) but each day was kind of like this:

• Get up (whenever... 8, 9, 10 am..)
• Have coffee and Baileys. Or in Barry's case, Bailey's with a splash of coffee!
• Eat breakfast whenever.
• Swim.
• Light fires on the beach with the kids.
• Play games with the kids.
• Do some Sudoku.
• Read a novel.
• Wet whistle.
• Blow up water balloons.
• Go tubing or skiing.
• Go down the boat slide. (ok, everyone did but me!)
• Sit in hot tub.
• Read some more novel.
• Have some lunch, whenever.
• Have a nap if the mood hits you.
• Listen to some music.
  
• Have a dance party with the kids under the stars.
• Refill the Vino.
• Read some more novel.
• Drift around the lake.
• Go for a hike (oh, and see some beautiful waterfalls and a BEAR!)
• Jump off the boat.
• Swim.
• Attempt to windsurf.
• Shower occasionally (and really only to shave)
• Brush teeth on a whim.
• Eat dinner when the mood struck.
• Nightcaps.
• Listen to Sydney and Bethany giggle in the bedroom above mine.
• Think it's cute that they were giggling.
• Get fed up and yell at them to go to sleep!!!
• Visit the floating store for gas (OUCH) and things we forgot to bring (marshmallows, $3.99 a bag. Can you say gouge?)
  
• Sleep, sleep, sleep.

It was such a good time. We were blessed to have Bethany along with us, as well as another little 9 year old boy named Nicholas.

After the initial car fiasco, all was well until the last morning, when, after he had docked the boat, Barry appeared to have a hypoglycemic episode which made him dizzy, confused, and weak. It was very scary, but he was better after some sugar, water, and rest. We think he also had a touch of sun stroke as he got a burn the day before. Ha, it came in rather handy to be travelling with a doctor! He (Paul) dosed out some Benadryl over the week, (Cameron and Sarah's bug bites) as well as steroid cream for bug bites, (Cameron and Sarah!) Gravol for nausea, (Sydney) antibiotics for Andrew (bad bad bad ear infection) and kept us on the even keel because Barry and I are stressing slightly that we now need to carry an epi pen for Cameron when there is a chance he'll be bitten by mosquitoes. His reactions to the bites are extremely bad. (though this time we just had major swelling issues, no breathing issues or the like) Oh, and he also had to go in the speedboat to the floating store to buy me some ***FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCTS*** because apparently I'm a 35 year old woman who cannot count to 28! Uh, yeah, that was embarrassing!!! Nothing like specifying in front of everyone which brand and absorbency you prefer!!! Jeez, I'll never live that down.

So we're home, and all's well that ends well. Poor Andrew ended up in the ER last night as his ears got much worse, but he was seen by the ENT doctor and seems to be on the mend today. I'll put up a slide show of our vacation pics on top of this post for all to enjoy, and of course, they're always available on Facebook too!

I have many summer rants to go on and on about (my general crankiness and distaste of living in Penticton during the summer months) but I'll save that for the next post.

Cheers!
Terri

Hello Summer!

Ahh, summer is here, and we already have one vacation under our belt! :-) The kids and I took a week and went to see David and Kerry and Aiden and new baby Evan in Lethbridge, with a stop on the way to see Grandma and Grandpa in Cranbrook. Here's some of our vacation highlights....

1st Day - We left Penticton after school on Wednesday and drove out to Castlegar for the night. For a treat I had booked a poolside room for us. The hotel in Castlegar has a new waterslide in their pool area, so I envisioned us having a nice evening playing. Sooooo, we arrive in Castlegarsnippily informed me she was also the and check into the hotel. I go to room 104, and it's not poolside. Paying what I did, I was not about to settle for anything but poolside, so I returned to the front desk to let them know there had been a mistake, and I needed to switch to the poolside room I had booked. The front desk clerk (who later General Manager said that I was in a poolside room. I said "Noooo. A poolside room would be one beside the pool, as in opening onto the pool deck. The room we are in is in the hall across from the pool. What I booked and paid for is a poolside room." The GM went on to inform me that what they consider poolside is also the rooms "close" to the pool. Uh, yeah, I don't think so! I told her I had paid for a poolside room and that is what I wanted! She said that if I was confused as to what poolside was I should have called the hotel and talked to them about it, as opposed to making a reservation online. Well, you can imagine I almost SPAZZED at that point. What the HELL good is it to have an online reservation system if you are not going to honor those reservations???? After much more arguing with this lady (and believe me, I use the term loosely) I demanded a discount on the overpriced-non-poolside-room I was given. She offered (grudgingly) to give me the corporate rate, a whopping 10% discount. I was so angry at this point I wanted to leave, but the kids had been looking forward to swimming at the hotel with the waterslide, so I gave in and we stayed. However, should anyone be considering staying at the Super 8 in Castlegar, be aware of the other problems we had:

• Semi-clean room. Um, not loving someone else's hair on the pillowcase.
• A thoroughly disgusting "free" continental breakfast where I had to ask them to refill the coffee pots, the water, the napkins, the orange juice and the muffin basket. Also could not eat the only fruit that was offered which were bananas that were so far past their ripe due date that I probably would not have even used them for banana bread.
• Dirty stairs leading up to the water slide.
• No toilet paper in the hotel room bathroom.
• Crud around the bathtub.
• A broken remote control.
• Someone else's leftover food in the mini fridge.
• A bag of garbage left by a chamber maid in the hallway outside our room.

Y'know what they say: A happy customer will tell a friend or two about their experience. An unhappy customer will tell 10 or 20 people about their experience. Feel free to pass on this blog, would ya?

Onward. We drove out to Cranbrook the next day and stayed overnight at my grandma and grandpa's house (mom's mom and dad) Had a good visit and got up the next day and headed East to Lethbridge. On the way there we stopped for lunch in Sparwood.... home of the world's largest truck! I love touristy stuff!

We arrived in Lethbridge on Friday afternoon. We met up with Kerry and brand new gorgeous baby boy Evan at David and Kerry's house. What a doll that baby is!

Sydney holding Evan

Me smooching Evan

Evan having a good look at Cameron. What a bunch of gorgeous boys!

One of the big reasons we went to Lethbridge was because David and Kerry's oldest child (Aiden, my 19 month old nephew) was sick and in the hospital. Aiden had a minor surgery back in January for an undecended testicle which never really healed as it should. As a result, Aiden has been unwell for awhile, and this past few weeks it ended in an infection, which caused high fevers, which caused him to have a seizure. Thankfully, when Aiden did have his seizure it was in the ER, and they took his situation very seriously and admitted him to pediatrics for immediate IV treatment. The first time they did that he was treated in the hospital for a few days and then sent home. He ended up with a terrible fever again and was readmitted. As a result, he was still hospitalized when we arrived in Lethbridge. Poor button - he looked so vulnerable in his little hospital jammies all hooked up to an IV when we arrived.

Big Event While in the Lethbridge Hospital!!! A contestant of this year's Canadian Idol is from Lethbrige, and in the past has been a patient at the local hospital. As a segment to be aired on the show, he came back to the hospital to film him singing, etc. How exciting! We went to the atrium part of the hospital and watched him sing a few songs, and then he signed autographs, etc. He is phenomenal, and I'm sure he'll go far on Idol this summer. His name is Theo Tams, so if you're a fan of idol, please watch and vote for him (and watch for us in our segment!)

Good news! Aiden was sprung from the hospital on June 30th! He is on strong oral antibiotics and is scheduled for surgery in Calgary on July 16th, barring him getting another fever and infection before then, so please keep him in your prayers. We were so happy to have him at home, so we planned a big day out on Canada Day!

Canada Day dawned a little grey, but we were ready to get out there and celebrate. We had a bit of a lazy morning, and both the boys went for naps, and we planned to go out when they woke up. Well, before they woke up it started to rain... and it rained, and rained and rained! Within a short time the local government had declared a local state of emergency - and there went our Canada Day plans! In no time David's gutters on the house had overflown and then broken, his backyard was a pool, and his sump pump was working overtime in the basement!

All in all, it was a great visit in Lethbridge. We did lots of touristy stuff (Lethbridge has an awesome outdoor pool!) On the 2nd of July it was time to head back home. Off we went back to Cranbrook to have another visit with Grandma and Grandpa in Cranbrook.

On Thursday we went to Fort Steele in Cranbrook for the day. It was a great time, and since it's the high season it was in full force, with all the employees in period costumes, etc. I got the kids picture taken in the spirit of the "old days" and was so thrilled with how it turned out. I have the same picture of myself and my brothers from when I was about 4 and my parents took me to Fort Steele. (we used to go there everytime we went to see Grandma and Grandpa in Fort Steele) I'll put the pictures in the slideshow with this post.

We returned home on Friday - back home to Barry the work-aholic! He's been working his butt off doing finishing work on two basements in the condo we live in, and one down the way. He's done everything from framing, to drywalling, mudding, taping, installing bathrooms, etc. Crazy guy has been working so hard on it! It will pay off financially for us, but he's been under the gun to get it done as the carpet and linoleum layers come on Thursday.

So now we're home, and summer resumes. We're looking forward to lazy days ahead. We have plans to go house boating on the Shuswap at the end of July, and then down to the states in August (we're buying a new vehicle there.)

I'll stay on top of the blogging, I prrrromise!!!

xo
Summer Terri

As Kelsey would say... Blog Much?

Wow - The last time I wrote on my blog was May 10th! Hmmm, guess quite a bit has happened since then. This is going to require some bullets I think.

Sooo...

• I'm 35 now, though you wouldn't know it to look at me! Ha ha, don't look a day over 34! I had a great birthday with Barry and the kids, but I decidedly felt ripped off as my birthday fell on Mother's day this year. That's a lot of "All About Mom" to fit into one day. In any event, we had such a great day, and my present was my new dining room table, which arrived on the absolute possible day that the store said it might. Kind of annoying when they say 7 to 21 days and it comes at the 11th hour on the 21st day. This was made even more annoying as we can see the furniture store from our house, and I saw the Ashley furniture house there with the deliver on TUESDAY and I didn't get the table delivered until FRIDAY! Hmm, have trouble finding my house? ha ha ha. It's a beautiful table - we're real grown ups now.
• Still on the topic of new stuff and all about me... I am typing on my blog on my brand new laptop. It was past due. I had wanted to hold off until the fall, but my last one was on the verge of absolutely dying - to the point where if I had something plugged into the USB port I could not move the computer at all or else the USB would no longer read. You know things are bad when your laptop has to remain stationary! I was also inundated with freeze ups and error messages and having to restart (which usually took about 10 minutes) Anyhoo, I love love love my new one, it's all I wanted (good for movie and photo editing) and was in the price range I wanted to spend.
• OUR HOUSE IS DONE! Signed, sealed, and delivered as of Friday the 13th. What some consider to be an unlucky time, I am thrilled to say was a great day for us. The frigging monkey is off of our backs, and good riddance to our old house. We're settled where we are now, our equity money is invested in the bank for when we're ready to buy again, and life is good. I'm proud to say we're debt free! (oh, until next month when we're buying a new car... but that in itself is a whole other story. just keep your fingers crossed that our current one actually lasts until next month when we plan to get another one!) The car thing is a whole other bullet of its own.
• The car the car the stupid car! It's official, we are going to become a one car family. At least we're going to try. We live within walking distance of pretty much everything we need... and the price of gas for two vehicles, not to mention insurance and maintenance of two vehicles, is killing us. So we're selling two and buying one, and we're going to the US to buy the new one. (well not new, probably a 2006) Lots of work with papers, borders, etc, but for the savings we're going to reap financially it will be worth it.
• Two more days of school! Sing it with me people! Two MORE! Well, two more with students full time, then 5 days of adjudicating exams, and then I am free for the summer. The year has been fast and slow all at the same time.
• The kids finished up their school year (well, home school year) happily. As it stands right now, we will be homeschooling again next year; neither Sydney nor Cameron want to return to public school. If Cameron does choose to return it has been recommended to us that he enroll in grade 5 instead of grade 4. Big decision... hmm, we'll see. I haven't told him about that suggestion yet, I'm not sure what he'll think of it. Sydney is fairly adamant that she does not want to return, unless she is accepted into the late enrollment of french immersion, but the chances of that are fairly slim. Also a wait and see situation. As for me next year, if the kids are home schooled there is no way I can work full time, so we'll see if I end up at the High School again. It's not really my desire to spend another year there, but I'm not too high on the seniority list, so that's also wait and see. Gee, there's a lot of wait and see in my future.
• Our business: still looking for a vacant 3000+ square foot space in Penticton. Still waiting.
• The kids have been in Vancouver since last Thursday with my dad. They went down to see Lauren (my niece, Jamie's daughter) in her year end dance recital. While they were there they have also been to Science World and Playland! They'll be home tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to seeing them. 5 days without the kids is a long time.
• Adventure me! Last week I went on a school field trip to a place called Rock Ridge Canyon and I went on a zip line!!! Very scary, very exciting! I could not believe I went through with it, but it was so awesome. I would really like to go back and take my own family.
• We got a Wii Fit! It rocks!

That's a lot of updates eh? That's it for now though, I think I have to ease back into blogging slowly. Feel free to email me with your complaints about my lack of communication. btscs@shaw.ca

xo

Terri Terri Bo Berry!

To Myself before I am 35....

Dear Me;

You are going to be 35 years old tomorrow. That is hard to believe, since you feel quite young and you still kind of believe that you should never trust anyone over 30. You're feeling some anxiety and uncertainty so I think you need a little reminder about a few things. Here are some things you've been blessed with thus far in life:

• Your family. Both your growing up one and the one you created yourself. Boy you had great parents. You didn't always think they were fair, you were pretty sure you absolutely hated them at times, but they did a good job with you. You gave them some real crap at times, but they stuck it out and in the end they raised a good kid. Now, you have a family of your own that you can be really proud of. Three healthy, happy and talented kids that love you and respect you. (most of the time!)
• Your health. Though you tend to worry about it, you've never really had any problems. Keep being proactive about it, even though you find it stressful. Doctors don't care which end they are looking at, so why should you?
• You live in Canada! That alone is enough to thank God for. Do you know how many people in this world can't vote? Don't have enough food? No clean water? Can't even declare their faith?
• You've got great friends! You have friends who stick by you through thick and thin. People who overlook your faults, or love you despite them. Hang on to those friends, and don't lose sleep over people who don't like you. Remember what your mom used to say? If you don't like me, don't look at me!
• You have a job you love, and that you are pretty good at. You make a difference in people's lives - however big or small - and you find it rewarding. You're also taking a leap of faith in (hopefully) opening your own business. Don't be afraid to pursue things... there's nothing worse than standing still, wishing you were doing something.
• Barry - Need I say more?
• Roof over head, food on table, clothes on back, shoes on feet, and wireless Internet on your computer.

There's a million more, but you get the idea. Me, don't stress. Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:25-34)

See you when you're 35! I think it's going to be a great year.

Love, Terri

You tell me...

it's 12:06 am, so now it's May 9th, 2008. I am having trouble sleeping, so I am on the couch with my laptop, listening to the Christian music station on XM Radio. The last three songs have been three that were played at my Mom's funeral.... :-) Thanks Mom, I think I can sleep now.

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

Well. Well What?

Look we're growing up! We bought this beautiful table this weekend. It's a pub style, so it's higher, and we bought 8 chairs with it so our whole family will be able to sit up to the table at once and no one will be sitting on a stool! ha ha ha. We're pleased with it. It should be here in 10 to 21 days. I'll be waiting by the phone on day 11! ha ha.

Sooo, I've been working my butt off on promotional stuff for the business while we jump hoops waiting for permits from the city etc. If you want to see the website you can find it here - www.kaleidoscopepenticton.com I would appreciate some feedback, but go easy on me. I've spent hours and hours on it, and there are hours to go, but I think it's coming together.

I also have a promotional brochure we've been working on, but I don't have a copy for the blog yet. Wow wow wow, it feels go to finally (hopefully) make this a reality.

We had a great weekend. Chad and Roberta came over for coffee on Saturday night with the boys, and we had Bethany and Hannah for a sleepover, hence, Lorna was here for a bit too! We had a great time - it was awesome to sit back and veg and laugh with old friends! It's so great to see Roberta out and animated. Baby steps, but I think that God is answering prayers for the restoration of her health. God is Good!

Having Hanna over for a sleepover was Sarah's first ever sleepover, and she was so thrilled. Actually, she was an anxious mess, she was so excited about it. They got to bed about 9:45 and crashed! ha ha.

Saturday we spent a long time at the park with Kelly and the girls, and then today we went to Kelly's house for a bit while Kelly and I did some inventory on things we already have for the business... and what's left to get! (lots!)

A good weekend, with my mind occupied, but May 9th rushes towards me, and I am reminded of the impossible wish that time would stand still. That I could have just one more day, just one more hug, just one more touch, just one more I Love You. Impossible wishes.

Busy week ahead. Time for bed.

xo
T