Snow day

Well it certainly came down in the night didn't it? Greg is even staying home today. I don't think it's snowing right now but it's hard to tell. Maybe Holly will even wear her new cool hat outside; she certainly wore it all day on Christmas but seems a little reluctant to be seen in public.

Merry Christmas one and all!

We're having a great day...I know it's only 2:30 but Greg's into the wine & I'm into the Baileys. Claire is over and she and Holly are on the computer - doing what I'm not sure. Quake 4?? Lots of presents all round, and a big feed of french toast for breakfast (plus a little of the chocolate from the stockings).

So the SPCA called me on the 23rd wondering if we could foster a sick kitty over Christmas. Well of course and uh-oh for me, it was love at first sight. I don't think this kitty is going back...

I've never had a long-haired cat before, he's actually quite a tiny guy under there. His name is Smokey and he's the most affectionate bundle of love I've ever met. Vespers & Timmy know he's downstairs but they won't meet till he's not contagious anymore (5 days without sneezing).

Holly had her birthday party on Saturday, a very slow lunch at Red Robin and then to see Eragon. She had a good time. I had a good time sitting in the coffee place drinking my chai and reading People while they went to the movie. The restaurant staff had her stand on her chair, introduced her to all the diners and sang the birthday song. She tried to hide under her hoodie as you can see!

We're having the neighbours over tonight (Claire's family) for wine & snacks. They had their dinner yesterday; we have ours tomorrow so it works out well.

I hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas!

Holiday time

Today was my last day of work till January 8, 2007! Not that I'm gloating or anything...

For those who missed it

You can read the article in the Capital News about the letters found in the old house here and here's the rather odd photo which accompanied it. One of our staff members did tell me the other day that it was nice to see an article in the paper about the library that was something other than normal publicity. Yes folks, this is the kind of stuff that we actually do here.


By odd coincidence, this photo of my friend James was in a paper from the coast awhile ago. He is a house genealogist in Vancouver. Separated at birth? At any rate I feel a scrapbook page coming on...

Only 1 week to go...

and today I finally got Greg to call his mom so we know what we're doing for Christmas - having dinner on Boxing Day with her and Greg's nephew & family. Whew... I love having nothing to do on Christmas Day; it's so liberating!

Holly and I made our first gingerbread house yesterday. Fortunately it was from a kit 'cause that was as much as we could handle for our first time out. It's killing her that we're not letting her eat it all right now.

But I know it won't make it till Christmas!

So, here at last is the photo from our dinner at Chutney's on Wednesday...I was going to try to crop most of myself out of it but gave up. What the heck, there's only a few people going to see it! That was a fun evening, great food - maybe except for Heather who turned out to regret being so adventurous, right? And wonderful Christmas presents too. And we topped it all off with an action-packed trip to Wal-Mart where we saw somebody make off with a big screen TV. Who knew that WM employed tiny little old ladies as security guards? She must have been 80 if she was a day and she nearly caught the guy too.

And of course we can't forget the meeting of the boots! I even got to wear mine out again today, as Holly didn't leave the house. They really are wonderful...

In other news, we had our library Christmas lunch on Friday, tons & tons of food. I'm sure enough left over to feed both the Saturday & Sunday staff. My Secret Santa gift obviously came from someone who doesn't know me very well - it was kitchen stuff! Silicone mitts, trivet & mini-muffin pan. Very cool and I have used the mitts already. Thursday night's book club Christmas party was a fairly small group but we had fun anyway talking about the book (Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None) and a variety of other things. And last night was the Sons of Norway Christmas party which was a surprisingly good time, and there were more than 80 people there which was a shock. It was for adults & kids and the young kids were so funny, they just had a blast. We sang & danced around the tree (Norwegian tradition) and the Julenisse came with gifts for all of them. The Julenisse definitely needs a new beard, he was looking pretty ratty.

So, Holly's 13th birthday coming up on Saturday. A few kids are going to Red Robin for lunch and then to the matinee of Eragon. It sounds like fun and I guess I'll just try to stay unobtrusively in the background, coming out in time to pay the bill. Unfortunately they're too old for the children's menu now...

These boots were made for walking

Holly has had a bit of a growth spurt recently - in her feet! Poor dear now wears size 10.5 - and she's been hobbling to school this week in my late mother's size 9.5 boots. So a few days ago I let her wear my boots and she absolutely loved them - I wear size 11. Then the fight was on - who got to wear MY boots? So today we went boot shopping. We agreed that if I found boots that I liked, I'd get them and she could keep mine. Well we found these. Romika. They're like slippers! Incredibly comfortable. So much for the deal. She tried them on and decided she would have those, I could have my old black ones back. Hmmph. So I had to get a pair of dress boots for myself as well.

snowman

Holly made this cute little snowman out of plasticine. He's only an inch tall! And it has nothing to do with having small hands; hers are nearly as big as mine.

I'm going to drive to work today (which I haven't done since Monday - instead Greg & I have been going in together in his truck). But there's no way I want to be taking the bus home at 9:00 tonight!

false alarm

I found out today that not everything from the troops' box had been stolen. It had been put in another librarian's office for safekeeping when people were SPOTTED helping themselves. So yes people are jerks but we were prepared!

Hey somebody's coming from the Capital News tomorrow to take a photo and do a story that follows up on the one in the paper a couple of weeks ago - a fellow doing reno's on a house found some old (1897) letters & other stuff in this old house. Well a regular patron came in and had found the marriage registration for these people. Then between the two of us we found out who their children were, who they married, and from there she tracked down the descendents. So I guess there might be something in the paper in the next week or so. It was pretty cool...

it was red

Well I made it out to the retirement place this morning for my little talk. I'd been fretting all weekend about the driving but it was fine. And the meeting was fine too, very informal and quite fun. And yes the lunch was quite good too, including the jello...

I spent part of this afternoon counting up the statistics for the 'typical week survey'. The provincial government wants a public library survey done once a year and last week was the week. Good thing it wasn't this week or the numbers would have been even lower than they normally are. We don't understand how they pick the dates they pick - they couldn't pick a deader time if they tried.

However if I hadn't had stats to count this afternoon I don't know what I would have done; there wasn't exactly a huge crowd in the library today!

Oh I forgot - we've been collecting things for the troops for the last month or more, toiletries, food, books etc etc. Well on Sunday somebody helped themselves to all the food & toiletries and left only the books & frisbees in the box. And the food bank is only 2 blocks away - why they needed to steal this stuff is beyond me. Grrrr

Safe driving in the snow everybody...

the day wasn't a total loss

I did manage to use up the rest of my gold cardstock on some Christmas cards. The picture didn't come out that well, but you get the idea. SU cardstock, embossed with snowflake embossing powder, and I was very surprised to find some 'cardstock glitz' in my stash and some appropriate fibre too! See all that shopping comes in handy sometimes...

a little bit grumpy, this feeling inside

OK this is a really weird story. Very similar to the fellow here in Kelowna who was found in his apartment after being missing for such a long time.

It's snowing. Looks nice but I hate it. Specifically I hate driving in it but it's not usually as bad as I think it's going to be. And I have a headache (which has been with me for a few days now). Guess it's the change in weather. I wonder how many people will turn out for my talk tomorrow. I know I wouldn't go!!

And it's nearly noon, Holly & Greg aren't up yet. Maybe I should have stayed in bed too...

what is it about blogging

if you don't have anything to complain about, you don't say anything?! All quiet on the library front (well ok the police were called today but it didn't have anything to do with me!!). I'm preparing to give a talk on Monday to the local Seniors Outreach group about starting a book club (since I run the one at the library). And then I get to stay for lunch afterwards! Mmm Mmm haven't had good retirement residence food for a few years now.

Had a fun time at Kelli's last night making little CD calendars, going to another SU class tomorrow night. Then Gen's class at the library on Saturday afternoon where we're making a very cute little 6x6 album - why aren't all you guys (you know who you are) signed up? I know it's billed as a beginner's class, so what...it'll be fun!

joys of librarianship

I just have to talk about my crappy day at work...as you may or may not know (if you ever go to a library), there's a lot of 'odd' people who hang out, especially as the cold weather comes on. Among our newest crop is a boy of about 13 or 14. Last week I think it was, he and his friends built a 'fort' out of all the chairs that were not occupied. Yesterday he was driving/riding on one of the wheeled chairs (belonging at the computer stations) whizzing up and down the aisles, and generally having his own little racetrack on the 2nd floor. So yesterday I managed to corner him on the bridge upstairs (by standing right in front of him so he was FORCED to stop) and told him to cease & desist. Today he was back at it again. So once again I cornered him and lectured him (along the lines of 'how old are you - old enough to know better etc etc') and then woke up one of his buddies. Shortly afterwards Jean, the lab assistant, kicked him & his sleeping buddies out.

So, a little while later, he and a friend are back again. I go over...you're not allowed back in here today. Eventually he leaves - for about 2 minutes - and he's back again, in his original spot and eating a cookie. I go over - do you think you're invisible or something??? (my voice is getting progressively louder as the day goes on). You have to leave. No food allowed, etc etc. He tries to make himself more comfortable and I say, if you don't want to leave alone, I can call somebody. No he'll go... gets to the elevator and whines 'why are you kicking me out'. BECAUSE YOU'RE PISSING ME OFF AND BREAKING ALL THE RULES!! Yes I did say this out loud. So then he called me a c---t and the doors closed. Off he goes again. For at least an hour and he's back in the building. I call over - just turn around and leave! I'm looking for somebody he says and I thought oh screw it I'm going home in 15 minutes. Let the evening shift deal with him.

So then, because I'm in a crappy mood, I take it out on a hapless mother & daughter. They come up to the desk looking for info on a couple of native bands. Mom's doing all the talking but teenage daughter is hissing "i didn't have socials today". I ask which one of them is doing the project. "She is" says Mom. I try to ask daughter questions, mom answers them all. I try again, mom is still doing all the talking. So then I say to Mom "what school does she go to" (thinking surely to God the daughter can answer for herself) but Mom tells me. so I mutter to the daughter ' just seeing if you could speak'. oh shit I can't believe I said that!! But neither one of them seemed to get it. And the daughter never spoke.

I was really happy when 5:30 came along.

Career change anyone??

RIP raccoons

Greg just told me that shortly after the raccoons were dining chez nous, he and Holly found them on Gordon Drive, both hit by a car. God that is sad isn't it. I hope they enjoyed the cat food...

Since I never ever post pictures of anything I have scrapped, I thought I'd better give it a try. This is me as a baby. Daisy D's paper & rub ons, MM flowers & foam stamp.

I still have that dress (not that it fits LOL)

Laughter is the best medicine

Well I've been feeling a little under the weather the last few days, just tired & listless I guess you'd say. Today I feel some better, which is miraculous between getting stressed out during Askaway again this morning (damn those grade 9's in Surrey) and then being subjected to paint fumes mysteriously permeating the Reference area this afternoon. But now I've just been laughing uncontrollably while reading Rick Mercer's blog. If you're a fan of his, you have to check it out!

post-sugar fatigue

Well Hallowe'en has come & gone and I never even took a picture of Holly in her costume (blood spattered apron, chef's hat & butcher knife). In fact I didn't even see her that night. She was gone before I got home from work and then I had to go out to pick up my friend AM at the airport so I really missed the whole thing. Never mind, trust me the blood spatters turned out really well. I found a recipe for chocolate blood online and it lived up to the hype.

AM was in town for a conference at Manteo which went really well and the facilities were awesome. Good ole Kelowna, nice to hear everything went well. They also had a wine-tasting at the Wine Museum which was a success.

We were out shopping all day yesterday which was tiring and I'm still tired today! But back to the grind tomorrow. I had taken last Wednesday off work which was great, I think I might do that again a time or two before Christmas. Have been eating like a pig for the past week or 2, not going to Curves. So time to get my act together again.

BTW the picture is in our back yard a couple of weeks ago before the weather turned cloudy. (Since I have nothing more relevant to post!)

we had company tonight

I got home from work and while I was in the kitchen getting ready to open Kelli's card (thanks Kelli!) I glanced out the deck door to see these guys helping themselves to Vesper's food. Timmy was inside hissing at them, I waved my arms around but they just looked up at the dinner theatre and kept eating. Greg chased them away when he got home a few minutes later.

bye-bye Cookie

He went back to the SPCA today. We've known all along that we couldn't keep both our foster kitties; it would just be too much for Vespers. But we have had them since the beginning of August! Anyway Cookie is a nice cat but the more aggressive of the two so he was the one to go. And who gets to do the dirty deed? Me of course. I was fine, got him in the carrier no problem, he was kind of unhappy in the car but seemed fine once we got to the SPCA. But then when I had to fill out the papers to adopt Timmy I started to cry. Geez I'm too sentimental for this stuff... I'd decided I would donate extra money so that Cookie could be neutered, then he can be in the communal cat room and I heard they were more easily adopted from there. But when I go to tell the SPCA lady this I burst into tears. Nearly had her going too...

If we ever do this again, Greg can return the kitty!!

Frustration

OK I've tried to post a photo to my profile. But can I make it work? It was there last night and today it's been transformed into a little red x. What does this mean?? ...later I've pasted in a new URL and the picture shows up in my profile but not on my blog. WTH??

Anyway I'm trying to get inspired to make Christmas cards so thought I'd post some pictures of previous years'. Maybe it'll get me going...




OK here I'm going to post the picture of me after I had my makeover at Saks in New York in the summertime. That was so cool...

how could I forget?

How could I have neglected to post this????



And I really like this picture

It's unfortunate that all the pictures of me (at least those I've seen) are UG-LEE!

back in work mode

How can a weekend which was so much fun become a distant memory so quickly?? I even unpacked my bags (well most of them) right away, showed off my stuff. In fact I took Andrea's little flower card in to work & put it on my bulletin board to cheer me up.

Askaway is now official, the government announcement was yesterday morning right before my shift...it was brutal! The questions were flying in fast & furious. Usually there's just 2 of us on for that shift, yesterday there were 6 and many were juggling 3 & 4 questions at once. I quite hated it. And my heart was just pounding! Real 'in person' reference is so much easier. You can tell if the person is serious or joking for one; if it's a bar bet they tell you; they can see you're working on it & haven't vanished into the ether. No need for 'hello hello are u still there' and most don't have the nerve to ask rude questions in person! But it is nice to get the occasional thank you - I was even told I was 'aswome' by one grade 8 - I took it as a compliment...;)

Anyway Lost is on in an hour so I'll be off.

Oh and Audrey, I'm not having any contests so you won't be winning anything here! LOL

Retreat

Here's Min's make & take
Gen & Dawn
The vogue girls: Tara, Min & Audrey
More of Min's make & take

Just wanted to post some photos of this weekend. Look what you're missing...;) I tried to post these to the store's forum but the files are too big.

a little bit more on technology

I just got monthly parking at the library parkade this week and I am totally enthralled with the device mounted behind my rear-view mirror which opens the entrance & exit gates for me. That is sooo cool! Also today a patron showed us his flash card which folds open and you can plug it directly into a USB port. Also very cool.

...not only that, the internet is back up & running at the library. The regulars are all relieved!

Oddly both DH and DD are sound asleep this evening. I'm the one with the splitting headache - why am I awake?? Because Lost is on in 40 minutes, that's why!

technology

Well first of all I love technology. My darling husband brought me home a card readers from work today (so handy to have connections in the computer business!) so I can now upload photos straight from my camera to my laptop! Love it love it love it... That's why the 2 pics I took at the cemetery yesterday are here already. BTW I'm not a religious person but I chose Mom's plot to be close to the statue of Jesus so it would always be easy to find again! And the flowers were still there...

But, back to technology. I hate it. This new automated system we've migrated to at work is a pain in the you know where. Some things are easy enough and others are just not working. Plus there's been some unexpected side effects - which are apparently coincidental - so we can't get into our online databases and the authentication software doesn't work so the public internet computers are down. Oh boy, how the word on the street gets around! The place is deserted. The folks who are usually running up the stairs when we open at 10:00 are nowhere to be found. It's been down since Saturday and I don't know when it'll be up again, I hope later this week.

And I had my shift on Askaway this morning. There's something wrong with the computer we use, so we have the problem of no databases compounding by an inability to get into any library catalogue using Horizon. Everytime we click on a link in a catalogue we get a page of gobbledy gook(sp?). It makes the old card catalogue look pretty good!

Thanksgiving weekend

Happy Thanksgiving everybody. We had our dinner yesterday at my MIL's place; just the 4 of us so it was kind of quiet, but on the other hand, we didn't have to share the leftovers with anyone else! A quick trip to Costco after that (we had our meal at 12:30) and then home.

Got this cool scrapbooking cart, 12x12 size that I'd heard about on bcscrappers. So I came home and cleaned off my desk (again) but then I got distracted by stuff as I always do, so the cart is still sitting unassembled in the hallway. However I did do a bit more work on my "life as a librarian" album so it was a fairly productive evening.

Today I absolutely have to get prepared for the retreat next weekend. The only other time I have is tomorrow night. Wednesday is parent teacher interviews, and Lost, Thursday I work till 9:00 (and it's book club) and then I go straight to the hotel after work on Friday.

Thursday would also have been my mom's 86th birthday - she was supposed to live till she was 86, that's what she believed as both her parents died at that age. But it's been nearly 21/2 years since she passed away. I've been missing her a lot these past few days. She would have LOVED the reunion last week. And then I always associate Thanksgiving with her birthday 'cause they always fall so close together. I might go up to the cemetery today and see if my flowers are still there. The last batch went missing this spring. And if they are there, I'm taking them home for the winter!

family

Well we're back from our whirlwind trip to my aunt & uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. It was somewhat of a family reunion as well and I met a bunch of relatives for the first time. It was great to be able to put faces to names (and finally figure out where they all fit in) and see people I hadn't seen for a long time. The family dynamics on this side are a bit 'odd'. As one of my 'cousins' (OK 2nd cousin strictly speaking) said, when she realized that her 2 grandmothers were sisters: gee that's ... weird! Yeah it is. But it makes the family genealogy a lot easier to discuss; everybody knows everybody!

The kids of this family, my cousins, are a bit younger than I am. They always used to come to our place for Christmas and the oldest one, who is my age, used to come at Easter break & summer holidays. We had so much fun together when we were kids! I don't see her very often now, but her brothers & sisters - well I think it's been since high school for one and later in the 70s for another! And they're so damn tall now!! When did that happen?!

So much for frequent posting

I've been feeling quite lousy this week, probably due to poor sleep and stress at work. But it's the weekend and I seem to have miraculously recovered! We're off tomorrow for an overnight trip - yes all 3 of us! - to my aunt & uncle's 50th wedding anniversary party/family reunion. They're not exactly my aunt & uncle, he's my mom's cousin & she was my mom's foster sister. Close enough... The picture shows them with my Mom and uncle in the 50's.

There could be 200 people there I hear, and I expect I'll know about 12 of them! I was volunteered to put together some kind of family tree which really turned out to be impossible. Instead I've made a poster with photos and run off a whole whack of family tree forms. We'll make it up as we go along!

I don't go back to work till Tuesday which is great (especially since Thanksgiving is NOT a long weekend for me). Next week is going to be a nightmare at work with the switchover to Horizon. We're all stressed out & anxious. At least on Tuesday (we're closed Monday & Tuesday) we are having a potluck and can all have lunch at the same time for a change. That part will be fun!

Oink!

I cannot believe how much I've eaten in the last two days! Starting last night with my birthday crop: pizza, artichoke & asiago dip, cookies, cake... And then today I went out for breakfast and then out for lunch! And leftover pizza for dinner. No wonder I feel like a blimp.

The crop last night was fun although not very many people. I didn't get a heck of a lot done. I had decided to do a mini-album for my friend who's turning 50 at the end of the month so I did get some of that started. And I brought along a couple of other LO's to work on but by that time I was too tired. I was very touched as well to get a birthday present from the store which was really kind of them. Thanks guys!

Book Club Thursday night was fun as usual, although it ended earlier than normal for some reason. 3 new people came which was great; we were 9 altogether. And I did get the book finished in time (during my dinner break that night!)

I arrived home just in time for a phone call from my cousin who is planning her parents' 50th wedding anniversary celebration in 2 weeks. She asked if I could give her a hand with a couple of things - it will also be a family reunion of sorts, with a side of the family that we don't really know. So she had the idea to have some kind of book where people could write in their memories or stories about the 7 siblings who we're descended from. I said I'd look after that. Then we started talking about creating a family tree while we're there too. Nothing too fancy, but something so that people could fill in where they fit in which line. So I was pretty pumped about that as well and said I'd look after it. But this is happening in two weeks! Aaaacckk...

So that doesn't even include the pressure at work. We're switching to a new automated system in just over 2 weeks; we've just started virtual reference; and in October the new provincial 'one card' system starts. It's going to be a stressful fall.

Oops

I did intend to update this nearly every day. What happened? Yesterday's excuse was a migraine and before that - well let's face it my life is not that interesting!

Tomorrow it's book club at the library (I'm the one who runs it) and I have to go shopping for supplies (snacks, coffee, tea, etc.) and I also have to finish the book! The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which I'm amazed to say I've never read before and I'm not sure that I'll be done by tomorrow (especially since I'm frittering away my time by doing this...)

Also I have to get organized tonight for a crop I'm going to on Friday night - think I'll work on some birthday cards (my fellow 50's) and maybe a layout although I don't expect to get much done. I'm also getting my Stampin' Up order that night so I can always just play with that!

OK enough, too much work keeping the kitties off the keyboard!

lazy saturday

I haven't really done a thing today. Holly and I went to Blockbuster to pick up a couple of movies and then to the A&W for some junk food on the way home. Greg and I have been watching Carnivale on DVD. It was on HBO although we never saw it on TV. A very good albeit weird show set during the Depression about a travelling circus and the age-old battle between good and evil.

But the film I'm really waiting for is this one http://www.scrappedmovie.com/index.html
I've ordered a copy (I hope). Wes was having some trouble with Canadian orders but I think that's been fixed. I'll be anxiously waiting for the mailman for the next couple of weeks. Check out the promos on the site - I particularly like the last one where all the scrappers are reacting to the presence of this big burly biker in their midst.

TGIF

So nice that the work week is over (and I only worked 3 days this week!). And I even dragged myself to work out afterwards.

I was relieved to find that my work colleagues had not ignored my birthday after all; yesterday I got in at 1:00 to find the staff room and reference desk decorated. Lots of hard work and it looked great. Weird though how the patrons just didn't seem to 'get' it. Signs all over saying Ferns 50, two book trucks by the Ref Desk - one with fern books and one with books on being 50. Absolutely no comments. Well one (thanks for noticing Merv!). But the tiara did attract a few odd looks. They did a great collage on the staff room wall - I took this photo and will have to scrap it!

Another Day

How can it be time to get ready for work already?? Working 1-9 is great but the mornings are certainly not productive for me. Never mind, I'm still recuperating from several days of company. My good friend AM came to visit me for my birthday and we wore each other out. Thank God at least I don't have to get up at 6:00 to go to work - EVER!

Had a nice compliment at work yesterday, a fellow told me I was a very good researcher when I found a picture of his great-grandfather's ship online. It wasn't exactly rocket science but then I am an information professional after all (he he).

First real day of school yesterday for DD and she was so hyper last night. So far, she seems to like high school better than the elementary schools she's gone to. I'll keep my fingers crossed for her.

Well I guess I should comment on the fact that I turned 50 yesterday. At least I can console myself with the knowledge that (according to others) I don't look anywhere near my age. But you know, it isn't really any big deal. And I did get into the Aquarium for free this summer (it also turned 50). I have all those seniors discounts to look forward to in just 5 short years!

We are fostering 2 kitties from the SPCA right now. I think there's a way to post their photos. Let's try it out:

On the left is Timmy - he's very calm & laid back.
Cookie is on the right; he's a wild cat!

but they're both very nice.

What Have I Done??!!

Say it isn't so - I now seem to have a blog that I'm not at all sure I want. On the other hand, it may prove addictive. Time will tell!