Niagara

Hey!

Seems like there has been no time to catch up since we've gotten back last Sunday! We had taken an extra long weekend, and gone up to the Falls for 4 days. It was so much fun. The guys started out great, they were undefeated in their first pool, so they got a by into the 2nd round of playoffs, then they lost their first game & were out early Sunday morning. They shouldn't have lost, they were better than the other team, but they just couldn't swing their bats.

So we did the whole tourist thing - the Maid of the Mist, Sky Wheel, and some other attractions. And as an added bonus: I got to see Jaime! ...and the kids, (Cory included) who I haven't seen in quite awhile now. They kept me laughing, that's for sure! Jaime and I "performed" (read: unleashed our inner diva's) at the Pizza Pizza outdoor karaoke bar... now that was the coolest place ever! And the outdoors was heated with space heaters... simply brilliant! It was a pretty awesome time. If I get the chance I will absolutely have to post pics! And there are tons! I also checked out Jaime & Cory's pad, which I have to say is pretty sweet - backing right onto the creek, it is so pretty. Great location, and just the right size. So jealous sitting here in my crummy apartment. Sigh.

Only real downer of the trip... the cleaning lady stole booze from us. Yup. Fer real. I had heard she'd done it the weekend before (Sam gave me the heads up... small freakin' world, she works with someone who knew someone (and that someone ended up coming up with us again that weekend!) who had stuff stole when their ball team was there previously. So we counted our booze before we left, knowing this ahead of time. Sheesh. Some people. Nate tore a strip off the management, and "Catherine the cleaning lady" got the rest of the weekend off while we were there. Good thinking. Even better - try giving her a permanent vacation! Argh.

C.

Random thoughts

1. I really don't have anything all that new to say. So I decided I could just jump around easier this way. I am just not in the mood to try to connect things together so that it flows...
2. Nate's last shift at the pool hall is coming up on Wednesday. He's ready for a change, and hopefully this will be a good one. He starts factory work thru a temp agency after we get back from the falls. The bar was a cushy job for awhile, but it's hard when you're the sober one and all your "friends" are annoying as heck, and you have to stay there and serve them.
3. Been thinking about kids lately. I don't know if it's just 'cuz we're all married up now and it seems like the thing to do, but I've had babies on the brain. And it doesn't scare me like it used to.
4. Going to the Falls! Can't wait for our little trip to Niagara... crossing my fingers that the guys do well (Slo-Pitch Provincials)... this is the 1st year I've been able to go. Last year was a no-go because of Randy's wedding, the year before that, I had Shawna's wedding in Alberta, and there were always reasons why I couldn't make it other years. I haven't been to the Falls since I was 5. So I'm pretty excited! I like watching Nate play ball, and it's usually a riot sitting in the stands with the other wives & gf's. And JAIME's there now, wooohooo!
5. I love instant potatoes. The Betty Crocker Herb & Butter one. LOVE it. Shameful I know. But it's sooo much easier than mashing real potatoes. I could eat them with every meal.
6. Still no word since the letter to mom. Pretty much as I suspected. That's ok though. It is. I saw Gma this weekend & talked a bit. She wanted to talk to mom for me, but I said no, don't get in the middle. Somewhere down the road maybe she'll figure out she was in the wrong. But I can't see it anytime soon. And I can't say I'll accept an apology either, if and when that day comes. I really don't know. At least I know now that the rest of the family understands my dissapointment & frustration.
7. Can't wait to post pics of our trip to the Falls - bought some extra batteries for the 'ol camera today! Don't wanna get caught with a dead camera like we did on our honeymoon!
8. I am so sad Big Brother & Rock Star are over! Now what do I watch, lol??? Glad Janelle got the 25K, at least. Happy Erika didn't win. Ha. And I guess Lukas is ok. I just wish he didn't remind me of a goat. Guess I'll just hold out for Grey's Anatomy now & Desperate Housewives!
9. Anyone got a really kick-a$$ crockpot recipe? I want to use mine more.
10. Nathan just got his wedding band sized down because it was too big. Now it's too small so we have to take it back again. How annoying is that?
11. Speaking of annoying, BELL reconnected us for free and is taking $ off our long distance plan to compensate us for their mistake. Ok. But it turns out the new number they re-issued us is from someone that seems to have every collection company after him, so we get all his calls now. Argh. AND for some reason they are now subscribing us to their answering service so none of our missed calls are going to our answering machine we already own. Grrrr. I tell ya, if we had any other company to go to.....

And... that's enough randomness for now, me thinks! Have a great week!

Ciao! xoxox

Baseball & Bellydancing

Another weekend.
Nate's team wrapped up their regular season, and this weekend was playoffs. They made it in, but lost their first game, so it was pretty shortlived. That's ok, because it was ridiculously cold outside Saturday! I was tempted to bring out my winter jacket!

So Nate, his bro and I went to an end of the season ball party. But not with our own team, lol. We crashed another team's party! The guys played some red-neck newfy almost horseshoe type game with a can in a box and some washers ALL NIGHT, couldn't tear them away from it! Me, I preferred the cozy bonfire! Then it was back in town to Pheonix to end off the night.

Jaime - remind me to give you Jerry R's number, bumped into him and he wanted me to pass it to Cory... guess *R* has been giving him problems. Jerry sure was feeling pretty good,lol

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I am not always open to trying new things.
Today Sam roped me into an new adventure.
It was free. So I went.

This centre in town was offering a variety of mini-lessons and free massage & energy flow demonstrations today.
It was ok. Didn't love it, didn't hate it, but likely won't go back.
I did learn some basic belly-dancing moves. Not sure when I will ever use them again, since I still have not mastered the Carmen Electra "Exercise" videos. The skirts were fun, I loved shaking my booty to hear the skirt's coins clink together. Kinda sounded like shaking a piggy bank. I would much rather just have the money, lol!
Why is everything always so much harder than it looks?

I tried a "Reiki" treatment - kinda like a massage, but not a massage at all, it's supposed to spread out your energy flow around your body or something. I was curious so I thought I would see what it was all about. You know how sometimes you shut your eyes, but they are not 100% shut, so if you are in a room that's not pitch black, you can still kinda see movements... that's pretty much how I stayed the whole time, thinking what the heck are these ladies doing to me - there were 2 of them working on me. Putting some kinda hex on me? I could see their arm movements over top of me, so I was feeling it was a little silly. They did ask me if I tend to hold my stress in my stomache and shoulders (which I do), they said they could tell that, so that was kinda neat. Said it wasn't a good energy or a bad energy she sensed there, just that it was sort of there and not moving. Interesting. She prescribed some bellydancing or yoga to help.

It was interesting to go to, it's more spiritual based than I expected, at least that's the vibe I got out of it. Not so much my thing.

I was not complaining during my free chair massage,though, lol. I could have stayed there all day, but I think next time I will just go to the spa.

And last but not least - I am estatic to say that we are back in business, our home phone is up again. What a silly waste of time.
Hope everyone has a good week!

House cleaning...

This long weekend, I had nothing in the cards other than some serious cleaning around the house. Not just tidying, but purging crud we don't need.

I am happy to say that I've already accomplished one of my Sept goals... after stopping in at the bead store with Sam on Saturday, I've made 3 (yup 3!!!) new necklaces. Yay me! Ok, so I only really know one pattern, so they all look the same but with different colours, but that's totally cool with me!

I also updated my blog with some wedding pics... I stole the slide show idea from Raina's site... I thought it was cool.

And that brought me to cleaning of a different kind. I've been holding on to the letter I wrote for my mother after the wedding for over a month now. That new song by the Dixie Chicks pretty much sums things up about time not healing everything. In fact, I saw her in the mall, and I could literally feel my blood boiling... I had to veer off another way and keep moving. I've written and re-written it, debating whether I needed to send it, or merely just write it.
Well, I've put the final touches on it, and am on my way out the door to mail it.

For those who don't know the whole deal, she left our wedding right after speeches without even saying goodbye. Apparently they (she, her husband, and my grandma) all left because they thought a speech was disrespectful. It was entirely about our younger partying days, and it wasn't so distasteful, but it was a bit long, lol. Who does that though? Who just walks out on their child's wedding? And the part that really kills me... one of our special dances was mom/Nate and me and Nate's step-dad. I really had to decide to put my feelings in a box to deal with for another day, or let her ruin our day. Thankfully, I was able to move past it then. But now? Nope. Basically I ended the letter off wishing her all the best in her new life, the one I will not be a part of. Harsh, maybe. Necessary, yes. Feels good to let it go.

But don't let this post fool you into thinking our day wasn't perfect. It was. I just cut her out of the equation. We had gorgeous weather, I was on cloud nine the entire day. I loved our ceremony, I loved how Nate was looking at me. It was fun doing pictures - especially just the 2 of us, it was nice to get a little time of calm and just enjoy the moment. I hardly ate dinner, I don't remember if it was good or not (!) - and most of the speeches were good, lol! And my girls kept me grounded! We were surrounded by so many amazing people, and the reception was a blast. We would have kept going if we didn't have to get up at 5 the next day to leave for the airport to catch our flight to Punta Cana (Dominican). And the honeymoon? FANTASTIC! I am so happy we got away for the week so we could just get lost in each other and forget the rest of the world. It was breath-taking out there, the pictures don't do it justice, it felt like we were in a postcard. The sand on the beach was so soft. And the people were so nice at the resort. Worth every penny.

Ok... I'm heading out now before I make this a novel.
;0)