pumpkin patch squishiness

Last weekend we hit up the local pumpkin patch in Ladner. It had been a pretty rainy day before this beautiful sunny Sunday, so we expected it to me quite marshy out there in the fields. We had warned our little friend that she should wear some rubber boots too. Nothing could have prepared us for how muddy it really was. Families were coming and attempting in just runners and normal footwear. There was no way they could go into the fields to find their pumpkins. So they opted out of "pick your own pumpkin".

 We spent about an hour and a half in the field looking for the perfect pumpkin. All along the way getting stuck in ankle deep mud if we stood for in one spot too long. I even found the perfect pumpkin! I wasn't going to get one for myself, but I couldn't resist when I saw it. I gave the camera to my older daughter to take a picture of me and my awesome pumpkin... but she was taking forever to get the shot. Meanwhile I was sinking! I was like Dre Parker in the garden scene of Karate Kid (new one). But, I was stuck! "Forget the shot! Come and help meeeeee out!!!", I yelled to my daughter. She tried to pull me out and over towards her, and I just fell forward feet still stuck in the mud, knees now covered in muddiness. I was kind of starting to panic, I was sinking more and more by the second. I put my pumpkin down and tried to pullllllll my boots out with all my might. My feet were sinking more. Nothing was working.  I was about mid-calf deep in mud now. I almost gave up. Just leave me out in the field to rot. But, I couldn't let the field win & beat the city girl! I pulled my barefoot out of the boot that was really stuck. I then balanced that foot on a near by pumpkin and then got low and yanked with all my power on the boot that was getting sucked into the field. It was so in there, like concrete. Finally I just growled with all my strength and got it out!!!! YAY!!! I put my boot on, got the other foot out and high tailed it out there. So relieved. Screw you mother eating field! How many other mothers had that field eaten, I wonder???? all in the name of fun?

Then we headed to the section where you pay, the girls saw all the perfect pumpkins neatly all set out in sections. They ditch their pumpkins that we worked so hard for to pick the pre-picked ones! I kept mine though. I almost died in a field for that pumpkin!!! 

an adventure+bikes= FUN

Our truck became ill on our way to school a week ago, so unable to get to school on time we decided to play hookie!!! Instead of having the girls sit at home on facebook or watching tv all day,  I told them we had to be outta the house the whole day. We went and got my bike fixed and then headed out to Stevenston for our first super duper long bike ride!!!

 We had tons of fun, we did a little thrift shopping (found some fun masks)... saw cows, turtles and bascially just took our time all along the way. Stopping to rest ALOT. We left the house at 9:15am and didn't get back till 5:30pm. Our butts were a little sore - maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but I think I have the worst bike seat in history. I need a pillow on my seat for next time!

 It was an all out awesome day. We had always wanted to ride to Steveston from our house & thankfully the weather was beautiful and we got to do it. Not sure I would do it again... I'll need to invest in something for my bike seat. But, with the weather hanging in there we might just have to squeeze in one more crazy bike day adventure before our weather turns into cold, soggy days of darkenss.

call me tv head

During the week my daughters and I catch a daily contest on the radio called, TV HEAD. I love this contest and my kids actually think I am super smart because I always get the answers before the contestants. God, knows I would never make it on to Jeopardy! Oh, if Hollywood Squares was still on - I think I could kick some a$$ on that one. Hollywood Squares + TV Head= all meeeeeee. Because, I know I can bring it! I have all this wonderful useless television trivia in my head from like, what???? 30 years of television watching. Theme songs, catch phrases, I got it all up here, in my big noggin. You know what? Someone needs to bring a new game show back on TV that tests all this wonderful knowledge us TV heads have. Because I know there is an abundance of us out there. Forget reality tv shows, awesome game shows please???!!! You know what else I got in my noggin'? Songs from the 80's... 

Anyway!

 I need to one day not be in the middle of driving somewhere when this contest comes on the radio. Why'd they make cell phones if you can't use them when you are mobile? Kidding! Don't worry, I'm not one of "those drivers" that talk on their cell phone while driving - so dangerous & actually totally annoying to catch other drivers in the act (it is illegal here to talk on a cell phone while driving). What about when people are texting and driving??? ACK! So completely dangerous.

 On the topic of scary things while driving. You know what I saw the other day? And not the first time... a lady with her baby in her lap in the back seat of the car while it was in MOTION! They were heading out onto the freeway!!! JEEZ!!! Can you believe that? So scary. I wanted to roll down my window and yell at them to put their baby in friggin' a car seat! Like, what are they thinkin'??? Get a brain! If they get in an accident that baby is so gone. Terribleness. Also about a month ago, I saw a woman sitting in the front seat of her brand spanking Mini Cooper with a small baby in her lap! Honestly? What planet are these new parents from? Hello, Britney Spears!? You think it's wrong to wanna yell at these people? Where are the traffic police when you need them? The only thing I am left thinking, as that cute baby drives off with their little lives left in the hands of their crazy parent, is that hopefully they will get caught sooner then later and that small child will be safe in their car seat. Am I missing something here? I am pretty sure that it's illegal to drive with your infant outta that car seat. It's so crazy to witness in real life.

FYI: 2 of our 5 postcards made it to their new homes! The one to the States & the other was off to Germany! That was pretty fast. We are now officially on the list for receiving 2, now!!! YAY!!! i wonder where they will come from. So exciting to know something is coming in the mail for us! I love snail mail!!!

summer is over

I was hoping to keep more on top of daily blogging, but I'm having a problem getting back into the swing of it. Part of it is, that I have so much I want to say but don't know where to start. Last week I spent a lot of my free time uploading vacation photos to my kids facebook accounts. I know! I'm a total enabler. I, myself loathe facebook. I am proud to say I am close to 4 months clean of facebook!!! YAY!!! I was an addict. I was constantly checking it... as I would sit down at the computer my fingers would automatically try and log into facebook! ACK! It was out of control. I am glad to have severed that connection. There is much better things I can be doing with my time than reading peoples status updates. Sorry facebook lovers... I do think it has it's good points, re-connecting with old classmates and looking up businesses and such. But honestly, I like being anonymous some what in this world. So no chance of me getting back on there.

I can't believe summer is over tonight. Why must my favourite season end??! Our tans are already fading from our trip to Hawaii, which saddens me and makes me want to run straight to my neighbourhood tanning salon. Okay not "this" neighbourhood - someone else's nicer neighbourhood! My neighbourhood consists mostly of massage parlours fronting as other businesses and car lots. I would be so scared that there was a camera in the room uploading on to some porn site, if I went to one in my area of town. LOL!! Back to my love of tanning. I do love being tanned. I love the warmth the sun gives, wrapping it's loving rays around me. Even the fake rays from the tanning salon make me happy. I know I am not meant for this rainy cold weather, but it's coming, I know it is. It's sunny today, but this morning was so chilly. You could see your breathe in the air. Time to pull out the fall jackets and more sensible shoes, no more sandals. Waaaah! I love summer time... please don't go!!! I actually was totally not ready for the weather the other day. I dropped the girls off at school and it started raining so hard... I was just wearing a little sweatshirt and sandals, oh yeah and pants. Needless to say when making my trek from North Van to Richmond I was soaked to the bone. No umbrella. No nothing. I promised myself last year when I got caught in the rain like that, I would always wear more sensible clothing and footwear from now on. Forget fashion & just go for function! I am all for that train of thought again. "Hello, full piece rain gear and hip-waders!!!". It's not pleasant feeling and looking like you just crawled out of a storm drain.

Ahhhh, the postcards! I am terrible. I just sent them off today. I was having a heck of a time finding cool local postcards. It was slim pickings and I had to bite the bullet otherwise I would have never gotten them in the post. I hope they all make it safe & sound and that people can read my writing! I am normally a pretty large bubbly type of printer, but on those small postcards I have to contain my bubbliness. It ended up looking like someone elses printing altogether. I was channeling a grade 4 boy, I think. I hope they like them. I sent 5 postcards out. 4 over seas, only one went to the States. I babbled, unsure of what these people care to hear from me! Once I get some in return, then I will more of an idea of what people expect. I can't wait to see where our postcards will come from.

I bid you aidieu summer!!! 

And

Hello, tanning salon! (maybe)

I'm here

Oh wow! It's been a long time!
Hello world!!!

I am excited to be back in the blogshpere, YAY!!!

Just a quick note today, I have to be running to go get my kids from school soon.

I just came across Postcrossing. I was on the prowl for a penpal in Kauai. (We just came back from vacation there - I want someone who can supply me with an endless supply of coconut syrup & candied coconut balls! Not to mention Li hing mui! YUM!!) Anyway, when all I could come up with was weird listings for men from Hawaii looking for Japanese women to email. Feeling like I wish things were a little more old school and not so creepy, I stumbled upon Postcrossing. YAY!!!

 I am not entirely sure how it all works, but you register and create an account. When you request to send a postcard to someone, you get the address emailed to you & a postcard i.d number. You put the i.d number on your postcard so then when the person receives it, your card can be traced. The site keeps track of all your incoming & outgoing postcards.

Seems neat.

People have more details on their profile about the type of postcards they would like and so on.
I can't wait to tell the girls about it.

I also can't wait to get one!!!

I've got our first postcard recipient and our first postcard is going to Mendon, MA!

YAY Mendon, MA!

Where is that?

I better go look it up.

2009 Kicked my ass....

I'm glad it's over.

I'm hoping that 2010 will be kind to me.

Wishing you all a safe & a fanstastic New Years Eve!!!

I will be back.

We are still alive & well!!!

Sorry to disappear on you guys! Last week was just one of those first week of the month freak outs. Because May was such a crazy month with Luke getting sick & myself & the shop not being open because we spent a lot of time at the vet office, well... I fell behind on so many things, so I have been trying to catch up on everything around here.

Luke. Oh my baby Luke. He is enjoying his time at home I think. But, our home is very small compared to the shop. We live on a floating home that is only 800 sq.ft. on the Fraser river. Luke just hangs out in the upper part of the house (400 sq. ft.). Because we have a small dog that would be way too much in Luke's face & the dog would probably loose an eye! Because Luke likes things mellow (I don't blame him!). But, thankfully we have a huge upper deck & Luke has been going out to eat grass and enjoy fresh air ans catching some cool breezes in the night. I do get very nervous about him up there though, because he is very nervous outside (he stays low LOL). If he hears something, he is always on guard. But, he does get to a point where he can relax, but he is very aware of what's going on around him.

Luke spends most of his day sleeping in hiding. He had been finding his way under the bed, even though I had filled all the spaces under it with blankets and such. So we gave up & just took the blankets away from under the bed. And since we did that, he stopped going under there!!! I swear I had to take apart the bed 6 times, at least to get him out from under there. It was such a pain. Silly boy.

His evenings are spent jumping over my face many times as I try to sleep. I don't know why he ends up doing this every night. But I always seem to wake up to his belly dragging across my face at some point through the night. LOL!!!

All in all, he seems to be doing better. His weight is holding steady. But, he is not the same weight he use to be. And he is not as small as he had been when he was taken from the 1st vet's office. He's in the middle somewhere. And no more pink ears with a fever! YAY!!!

Administering his medicine has been a whole other issue. The drops are no problem. But, the powder that is suppose to go into the wet food!!!?? This has not been going well. He ate it for a couple of days. But, then became turned off of the wet food again. So, I have just been watering the powder down and putting it in the syringe and giving it to him orally. He is gaining his strength back this is for sure, because he is fighting me on this one. It's terrible. We have had quite the battles together just trying to get him to be still. I really, really hope these two medicines are helping his gall bladder stones. It's so hard to tell. But he isn't getting worse, so something must be going right. I kept giving him the high calorie paste until it was gone, which was just a few days ago. He didn't mind taking the paste. But, the watered down powder... whole other story! Actually, maybe I should mix it with chicken broth! Why didn't I think of that before?!!! I'm going to try that tonight for him.

Luke has had quite a few visitors at the shop looking for him. It's sad to tell them he is not here, but I am glad that he is just at home relaxing on his own terms & not feeling like he is obligated to say, hello to people when them come in looking for him. Not that he doesn't love people... But, it's better that he just rest. I don't know when I will bring him back to the shop.
I guess after we do the x-ray 3 weeks.
I pray, pray, pray those gall bladder stones have disappeared!

Part of me can't wait to have this blog be about visitors with Luke & maybe pictures of Luke WITH the visitors! It will be nice to have him back here at the shop. I am very lonely, business has been very quiet. I think Luke must be good luck! BEcause things have been dreadful with out him here.

Once gain, sorry for being away last week! Don't worry, we're still here and doing fine.
Also we are working on your little packages for the people who did donate to help Mister. Luke out.

I know some of you said, "Don't worry about it!".
BUT
It's just a small token of our appreciation!
AND
We really just want to do it!!!

Thanks so much for being there.

*Hugs*