A-M and I had fun while she was here - got her onto Facebook although she hasn't actually done anything with it yet (have you???). Tons of shopping, a little bit of scrapping, and only a couple of glasses of wine. Where did the time go? (By the way there was no wine involved in this photo!)

I've been trying lately to get in shape & lose some weight - going for walks in the morning (with my new MP3 player!) and watching what I eat (lots & lots of salads) and I am feeling better. My goal is to lose 10 pounds before I go on my trip at the end of August. It's a pretty meager goal & should be entirely do-able don't you think? And if I could lose 20 that would be even better.

Unfortunately I guess it's the cotton or whatever in the air, but now I've started to get headaches again - this seems to happen a couple of times a year but lasts for ages. Sinusy kinds of headaches. I've tried Reactine & Claritin but they just make me dopey. Sudafed doesn't make me dopey but doesn't work that well either. Bought some cool allergy mist at Saje the other day which is lovely though. So anyway I had a headache all day yesterday and it came back in the night so I'm still sitting here in bed, finished my chai & should really get up & moving. No walk today...

Book club tonight - I kind of feel like I'm going to be apologizing for this book tonight. I have a feeling a lot of people aren't going to be too impressed. But hey that's what book club's for right? Force you to read what you wouldn't normally look at. (No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. It's being made into a movie by the Coen brothers and McCarthy just won the Pulitzer for The Road. And was just on Oprah for only the 3rd interview of his very long career!)

Holly and I are off to Vancouver in 2 weeks, taking a long Canada Day weekend. Also going over to Victoria for the day at least and see the Titanic exhibit at the Museum. I'm not sure what else we'll be doing, I'm sure I'll have to suffer through Science World yet again.

where have all the bloggers gone

Well it seems everyone's deserting their blogs and spending all their time on Facebook instead. I blame my addiction on Vivian - when she invited me on there a couple of months ago I said, no no I'm not interested, let's just stick to email. But of course at the time I had to register to see what she had written to me. So then one of Greg's nephews found me, we chatted, and the next thing I know I'm addicted. (so addicted I didn't realize I'd already posted about this!)

In other digital news, Askaway wasn't half bad today. Still busy busy but not so bad that I had to send out calls for help. The kids were all polite and there were even a few interesting questions. One really funny one, there was a class I guess who were doing an air band, and this group was being Diana Ross & the Supremes. This one kids wanted info on them which I sent, then s/he suddenly said 'oh I remember they turned into the Temptations and 2 of them were shot'. Riiiiiggghhtt. Sorry kid I think you've gotten confused there.

Speaking of music, Holly has an English assignment where she has to find a song, bring a recording of it and the lyrics to class & discuss the poetic devices in it. She's doing Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire".

No picture-taking, no scrapping, but I did go for a walk this morning. Going to try to get back into that routine. Otherwise things are pretty boring. Think I'll go to bed early...

This 'n That

Found this odd article, must remember for my NY trip which is definitely going to include shoe-shopping.

So this Facebook business is just too weird, I notice most of us in a certain circle are spending all our time on Facebook and none at all on a certain message board. I REALLY didn't want to get into the whole Facebook thing but that's not exactly working out and I've been impressed to find all manner of people - relatives, co-workers etc. I'm not sure how long I'll stick with it but it is fun.

Holly and I collided with each other last night and I think I broke my toe, or close to it anyway. Good thing it's sandal season! We were walking her friend Sam home at the time and we ended up staying at their house for a couple of hours and it was quite a bizarre evening. First time I've met Sam's mom...

A-M's coming up in a couple of weeks so I'm looking forward to that, she hasn't been here for quite awhile. We'll try to cram in as much stuff as we can while she's here and hope that the weather is good.

Well time to try to wake up Holly again. Greg I'll leave alone, he didn't come to bed till nearly 5 a.m.

One word answers

One Word.

Thanks Heather for the tag.

One word answers only... no explanations.

Yourself: discombobulated
Your Partner: different
Your Hair: uncombed
Your Mother: dead
Your Father: dead
Your Favorite Item: laptop
Your Dream Last Night: Facebook (yes really - oops I cheated)
Your Favorite Drink: cosmo
Your Dream Car: hybrid
Dream Home: nice
The Room You Are In: scrap
Your Fear: sickness
Where You Want to be in Ten Years: happy
Who You Hung Out With Last Night: Monique
You're Not: thin
One of Your Wish List Items: flooring
The Last Thing You Did: peed
You Are Wearing: pjs
Your Favorite Weather: Fall
Your Favorite Book: interesting
Last Thing You Ate: banana
Your Life: ok
Your Mood: ennui
Your Best Friend: A-M
What Are You Thinking About Right Now: toe
Your Car: Accord
What Are You Doing At The Moment: computer
Relationship Status: married
What Is On Your TV: nothing
What Is The Weather Like: cloudy
When Is The Last Time You Laughed: yesterday
This is a new game of tag. Let me know your one word answers.

Scattergories

I saw this on somebody else's blog and thought it looked like fun:

SCATTEGORIES:
The rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up!

Your Name: Fern

Famous Singer: Frank Sinatra
4-letter word: gee hard one... f^&*
Street: French St (where my grandparents used to live in Vancouver)
Color: fuchsia
Gifts/Presents: flowers
Vehicle: Fiat
Things In Souvenir Shop: flags
Boy Name: Fred
Girl Name: Fiona
Movie Title: Free Willy
Drink: Frappucino
Occupation: Flamenco dancer
Flower: forget-me-not
Celebrity: Fergie
Magazine: Flair
US City: Ft Lauderdale
Pro Sports Team: Flames
Fruit: fig
Reason For Being Late For Work: feeling forgetful
Something You Throw Away: flattened flies
Things You Shout: See #2
Cartoon Character: Fred Flintstone

Holy cow that was hard!

when the going gets tough...

Thanks everybody for the kind words about Ruby. She has woken me up 2 nights barking since she's been gone but I'm starting to feel better. Not better enough to stop at the SPCA to donate our leftover dog food though. My poor MIL was very sad when I had to tell her about Ruby; the two of us were standing in the back garden crying away. As she said, sometimes they adopt you before you've decided to adopt them.

Anyway as the saying goes...

the tough go shopping. This week I bought myself the All My Memories cropping tote in green & black and then today I was thrilled to find new crocs!



Mine are black although I was thrilled to find that Sport Check actually had them in my size in pale pink & off-white as well. hmmm decisions decisions! Practicality won out.

Saying Goodbye to Ruby

Ruby took a turn for the worse over the weekend (well partly because she got into the garbage) so I ended up taking her to the hospital yesterday. That did her no good whatsoever, she was in so much pain after that she could hardly walk at all and just lay right inside the front door the rest of the day till Greg carried her upstairs. Today she went back for x-rays and it turns out she's got massive deterioration of her right hip. Looking at the x-ray it seemed to me that her leg wasn't even connected to the rest of her body. Not fixable, amputation at her age not recommended, and the pain medication just doesn't do the trick. So she'll be having steak and whatever else she wants for supper tonight and then Diane is coming over to do the deed. Oddly though she is much better today and made her way up the back steps by herself.

Diane came over after 8:00 (our vet). I think she felt just as bad as we did, if not worse. She said it was bone cancer; the other vet hadn't actually given a reason for it but Diane knew it had spread like crazy in a very short time.

She's been a great dog. We would have had her 3 months on Thursday.

spring has sprung

Well, warm and sunny skies - it's about time! I hope it isn't just a temporary thing. I'm off work next week, not being in New York, but instead just staying home and thanking God on Tuesday that I'm not on Askaway!! It's really starting to look like it's not just our imagination and self-pity that makes us think our Tuesday morning shift is busier than anyone else's. This past week there were 3 of us on and we had about 12 people waiting and each had at least 2 questions. Same time next day I spy in and find only 2 people on duty and only 1 question, nobody waiting! What's with that??

I went to the NSD retreat last Saturday and ended up having a good time although I wasn't sure I was up to it. And I even got 4 pages done! I'm hoping that while I'm off I'll do some more as well as clean up the house somewhat. There's always that elusive garage sale on the horizon.

Greg wiped his computer clean and started fresh, however he didn't reinstall the drivers for either the printer or the scanner so I'm powerless till I find the discs (so far no luck with that). You can tell who's the one who actually uses them - it ain't him, or they'd be installed!

Well guess it's time to get ready for work. Have a wonderful weekend, and Happy Mother's Day!

Aha - we did 6 weird things in February. I knew it all seemed familiar.

So, a few things going on with me lately. I've been grumpy as hell for one, no scrapping or wanting to think about it or talk to anybody or anything. Hormones...sigh the joys of perimenopause. Don't worry kids you'll be there soon enough. I was happy to be able to read 2 books last weekend though, haven't done that in ages.

I just changed my travel plans for the summer. After having booked a trip to New York for next week (months ago) I learned more recently that my cousins are planning a family reunion in Norway on September 1st. The last one was in '98 so of course I do want to go. But I was overwhelmed with all the decision making... that's a long way to go for a one-day party! And I just wasn't in the mood to spend any time in Scandinavia - been there done that. So yesterday I got the bright idea to postpone NYC till August, fly through there on my way to Oslo and spend a few days on my way back. So that's my new plan. I feel immensely relieved plus it's going to be so much less expensive. Although Aeroplan does charge $55 a pop for each change I make :(

We have security cameras up in the library now, it's great fun to pose in front of them while everyone else is gathered around the monitor - we figure we might put on some skits during closed hours. But things have been much calmer there lately which is a great relief. Askaway is as insane as ever, but it's some consolation to know that every participating librarian in the province has to deal with those damn Surrey kids, no matter when their shift is.

So now that I'm not {as} grumpy anymore, I signed up at the last minute for the retreat this Saturday. I hope to have a good - and possibly productive - time!

tagged

Well thanks Kelli for the tag. I'm supposed to post 7 random things about myself...

1. I woke up one morning in my teens and had a sudden (& permanent) aversion to the smell of bacon - I'm only now getting so I can stand the smell of it again.

2. I have an awesomely tidy & organized scraproom!

3. When I was about 39 I learned I had a half-brother in Norway...so much for being an only child!

4. My great-grandmother was really choked when she couldn't get on the same ship to Canada as her friend did: Titanic.

5. I went to elementary school with another girl named Fern. We were in the same grade, looked similar (fat, short blonde hair, glasses) and the little kids thought we were twins.

6. I am, like many others, an avid reader, excellent speller and love to add up numbers.

7. I do not know 7 people to challenge with this! All my blogging buddies are taken and nobody else reads my blog! or if they do, they don't leave any comments...

And haven't we done this before?? I have a real deja vu feeling about this whole thing.

Well it's been awhile hasn't it? Many things to talk about.

1. I have been Life Simplified! It's amazing what a difference Cheryl & Dawn made to my scraproom. We got rid of a lot of junk and then it was just rearranging what I had. No 'before' pictures here but a few 'after' ones that I just took now.










I have such organized closets & cupboards now! Isn't it lovely?

2. BCLA. I was away the end of last week at the annual BC Library Association Conference in Burnaby, got to stay 2 nights at the Hilton Metrotown. The conference was quite good, especially the Askaway session (picture dozens & dozens of librarians sitting around complaining about schoolkids in Surrey!). I met up with my old friend Marjory and talked with a couple of other old friends from library school. Then I spent Friday & Saturday nights with A-M in Vancouver. On Saturday we had a great day - wandered up Main Street, went to Ruby Dog's Art House and bought some stuff from Lazarworks which has opened up some space at the front of Ruby Dog's. Then we had a fabulous dinner at Vij's. What a fantastic place, incredible food & ambience. I'll definitely go again. Crazy - A-M lives just a couple of blocks away and she'd never been either.

3. Speak of Ruby Dog - my Ruby dog is not really any better although she's been on anti-inflammatories for a couple of weeks. She hobbles up & down the stairs, no walks, and now she's started pooping etc in the house. I just feel terrible about it! Guess I'm glad we never did replace the carpet after Layla died. I guess I'll need to call the vet again, maybe we should get a second opinion.

That's it for now folks!

What does Your Name Mean? (thanks to Tara)

What Fern Means

F is for Fancy E is for Extreme R is for Rich N is for Natural

http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoesyournamemeanquiz/">What Does Your Name Mean?

OK I'm waiting for the rich thing to kick in. And would that be Extremely Rich? I am waiting...

How do you spell relief?

I've been fretting all week about Ruby. A week ago Saturday I took her over to Westbank with me and she met Cheryl, who noticed that when Ruby got out of the car she was holding her back leg up. Well it's gotten progressively worse in the 10 days or so since and so today the vet came and took Ruby in for x-rays.

The good news is - no signs of anything broken, torn ligaments, cancer, etc. And although Ruby was whining & yelping considerably when Diane was here and examining her, she was much better at the hospital. So - pulled muscle perhaps? She'll be coming home later this afternoon with some doggie pain-killers and we'll see what happens. I guess a party at the dog park is not happening in her near future after all.

Other than that we had a good and busy Easter weekend. On Thursday night I got home to find Greg, Holly & Ruby in the backyard at our little homemade fire pit. They were roasting corn dogs and generally having a bacchanalian good time.

On Friday my cousin Nita came over - she lives in Robson - and we had a great visit and lunch out at Manteo. Saturday we had our annual Easter Egg hunt, which was low-key and impromptu this year. Very little in the way of eggs - it was so warm out that the chocolate was melting right away and we hadn't coloured any real eggs. (Read it and weep you Haligonians!) The neighbours were over for awhile in the afternoon and then we went to their place for dinner. Sunday was at Greg's mom's and we still have leftovers! Holly and I went out and did a bit of shopping on Monday and that's the end of the weekend.

Holly was asking me the wedding questions in this month's Simple Scrapbooks. After nearly 14 years I had a hard time remembering the answers, that's for sure. But since I haven't finished the album yet, they'll still come in handy. Seeing how these pictures turned out, it does remind me that some people used to think that Greg and I were brother and sister...

That's what I call customer service

When we were in Bellingham last week we went to a most wonderful scrapbook store - Treasury of Memories. We spent a fortune. One of the things I was going to buy was some of the cute little journaling cards put out by Fontwerks. But somehow (perhaps in the excitement of seeing all the transparencies at the checkout) I didn't get them. When I was going through my stash I couldn't find them and thought maybe I'd lost them, or left them behind or something. And then I couldn't find my bill. So I emailed them and asked if they could check if I had purchased them. They said they'd look into it. In the meantime I found my bill, and lo & behold, no FW cards. boo hoo. I let them know they weren't on the bill.

Anyway today in the mail I got a card from Treasury of Memories with 4 FW journaling cards and a little note saying they were sorry I hadn't gotten them and they hoped this would tide me over till the next time I could get to the store.

Am I ever impressed!!!

Spring has sprung!

And this picture is just to show that we did have one beautiful spring day at the coast too. If you squint you will also make out my new brown Mary Jane Crocs. Oh and my new purse too!

So it has been a lovely day today, was gorgeous yesterday too but I was at work so it doesn't count! Our power was out this morning - somebody hit a power pole on Lakeshore apparently - so they took the power down for 90 minutes to fix it.

One day last week at work we had no telecommunications at all, well the phone came back up but no computer access. That was a VERY quiet morning! You don't realize how much you rely on all that till it's gone.

I've been lurking on Ali and Donna's blog for months and have actually posted comments now (on Cathy Z's too) which feels weird but what the heck. It would be so cool if they would come up here to teach some classes. Holly was just asking me what I meant by them being 'famous' - i.e. in the scrapbooking world but outside of BC. I assured her that scrappers worldwide would know them so she was then suitably impressed.

I still haven't unpacked from the trip - not even my clothes! So instead of doing anything productive, I'm just sitting here wasting time on the computer and thinking about a nap. This is the story of my life...

Home again

Well what a whirlwind of a weekend! So glad I'm not working today. We had a hectic and fun time shopping till we dropped and scrapping with the celebs. I did my fair share of shopping but nothing compared to those 2 pro's Audrey & Tara. We shopped on our way into Vancouver on Thursday, shopped our way across the border to Bellingham on Friday, and then scrapped like crazy on the weekend. Add in a few meals out, a frantic dash to the airport Saturday night to pick up Justin, (Tara's husband, on leave from Iraq), an alarm clock that persisted in going off at 3:00 a.m. every night and it's no wonder I'm tired.

This is Donna and I doing the 'skinny pose' (one I'll definitely have to remember - my God it works like a charm)

And Ali hung around at our table a fair bit, but then she was doing a wonderful job at stopping at each table and visiting with everybody.

They are both super-nice women. It would be incredible if they could come to Kelowna to do classes some day (and we did invite them!)

Sad News before the Weekend...

I can't find my Van Dyke Brown!!!!

I must have left it at a crop or class in the last couple of months. So, all you VDB lovers, check your stash. Gen kindly checked the store for me already.

oh well maybe I can pick up a new one this weekend (gee do you think?)

Still not finished packing my scrap stuff and haven't even thought about laundry or clothes. But hey, I've got my Cold F/X and an 'interesting' assortment of CDs so I guess I'm good to go.

Until next week...

ok why is everyone so surprised

that I watch The Simpsons? I also watch Futurama, Family Guy & Robot Chicken. Which reminds me if you go to http://quicksilverscreen.com you can see episodes of a whole bunch of TV shows. I think some of them are dubbed or subtitled in Japanese, but whatever...

So all this puppy talk - our neighbours are puppy-sitting right now and they brought the puppy over the other day to visit. Nobody knows its name, so they call him 'Pipsqueak'. He is adorable!

In other news, I have a sore throat so chugged back a whole whack of vitamins this evening. I guess I'll be buying Cold F/X tomorrow! Nothing can get in the way of our road trip on Thursday. I'm looking forward to driving down in Audrey's new Highlander. Oh that's what we need to arrange - music!! If my throat hurts I won't be able to sing.

Hopefully we won't be permanently saturated with all the rain that'll fall in Vancouver this weekend. I'm wishing I still had rubber boots!

So I'm taking tomorrow afternoon off as I am not ready yet and I'm supposed to be going out tomorrow night. And on that note, I'd better get to bed.

OK I only posted those pictures so I could copy them to another site. I'm sure there's an easier way but I don't know what it is.

Ruby and I went on a long walk this afternoon; I don't know about her but I was exhausted. But what a beautiful day! And for the 2nd day in a row Holly and her friends played outside all day long which beats sitting on the computer all day.

I stayed up till 1:00 last night reading a really good book (which I spent the first half of today finishing): The Terror by Dan Simmons, about the Franklin Expedition - with a twist. I haven't been so engrossed in a book for quite awhile, and it was nearly 700 pages too. Would be a good book club choice I think.

Well I hear the TV (specifically Homer Simpson) calling my name, better go!

Timmy & Vespers