Some non-medicinal uses of triangular bandages. . .

Last week-end Ron and I attended Brigade Officer Training for St. John Ambulance. As part of the course, we were to choose a topic from a listto make a short presentation on. The topic I chose was 3 non-medical uses for a triangular bandage, though "ways to eat an Oreo cookie" was a tempting one for me.

My presentation went something like. . .

There are many non medical uses for triangular bandages; I am here to share just a few with you today. Let's say you are going on a vacation somewhere, and being a good Boy Scout Girl Guide or First Aider, you like to be prepared. One way to insure preparedness is to make yourself a TB (Triangular Bandage) travel pillow for the flight. You simply make a packet with 6 bandages like such. . .

Once you reach your destination, Cuba, Hawaii, the Bahamas, etc. You will likely find your checked bags went to Ontario, Siberia or somewhere like that and you are left with only your carry on items. No worries, your TB Travel pillow can easily become beach attire, including a skirt, bra, head covering and a towel.

If you happened to forget your pillow in the plane seat, again, no worries. Your hotel or motel will have bed sheets or a shower curtain. Simply tear them into 40 inch (or 1 metre) squares. Then cut or fold on the diagonal and you have triangular bandages. So there you have it 3 non-medical uses for triangular bandages. . .a travel pillow, beach attire and a towel.

Thanks again, to my good sport husband who acted as my model.

Last week we got our new fireplace insert installed, Kaili has decided that it makes too much heat when we had a test fire in it during last week's rain storm. It is essentially an airtight wood stove. It will definitely keep us toasty this winter and should use a LOT less wood than the 40 year old Heatalator fireplace system did. We still need to get a piece of custom trim done for the top of it because I want to keep the nice arch element of the original brickwork.

Yesterday the piano got tuned for the first time in 10+ years and 300+ miles. I can't really tell the difference, but I am sure anyone else who hears it will. Adam and Elizabeth have both commented on how much better it sounds and I'm sure Elizabeth's piano teacher is relieved not to have her ears assaulted by the discordant sounds emminating from it anymore.

It was rainy at the end of last week, but the weather has been gorgeous the last couple of days and is expected to continue for the next week or so. Elizabeth and I have finally succumbed to the NASTY cough bug that Ron and Kaili had been dealing with, so I haven't been able to get out on the bicycle. Hopefully, I will soon.

We are all looking forward to visitors soon, hopefully the weather will still be nice for them. . .

There it is. . .

Sept 23, 2010

Sunday night's dinner went off without a hitch. The kids were of great help serving. We ended-up actually feeding around 140 instead of the 100 we had planned for. As a bonus, we also managed to spend about $80 less than our $300 budget and everyone really seemed to enjoy the food.

The weather and my schedule haven't been too conducive for bike riding lately, so I have started doing Wii fit work outs again. I did skip today, because I think I am finally coming down with the sickness that Ron and Kaili have been battling for several weeks now. I woke up at 4-something this am with a pounding headache. I took some T-1's, did the netty-pot thing, had a little juice and read for a bit, but I still couldn't get back to sleep.

This week has flown by. . .Monday I sent off the citizenship paperwork for Elizabeth and me. Our Permanent Resident cards expire in a few days and I found out that it will take almost 8 months to get new ones. We only need the PR cards to get back in to Canada, but the application is a pain; in part because we have to track how much time we spend outside of Canada and submit an accounting every 5 years as a part of the application process. The citizenship application process seems pretty straight-forward so far. I will have to write a test at some point before being granted citizenship. The Canadians don't seem to have a problem with dual-citizenship, but I have heard that some of the American border guards can get a bit testy if they find out you carry both citizenships.

We have spent a bit of time stacking firewood this week. Fortunately, the Kramer kids helped ours with a BUNCH of it on Saturday. Without their help, we would be piling wood 'till next Christmas. We should have about 6 cords all put away when we are finally done. About half of the wood is a load of mill-ends; really cheap, but they tend to be on the small-side (and LOTS of work to stack).

Last night Ron and I went to Elizabeth's school for an open house and corn roast. Her teachers commented on how focused she is and that she continues to be complete her assignments way ahead of her classmates. She is now helping one of the slower students with some of the classwork. Later, we went to the open house at Dax and Kaili's Secondary School. Ron met Dax's teachers and I met Kaili's. The kids are both doing very well so far. We were both very impressed with the programs available to the kids there. The school seems to be placing a special emphasis on attendance. Tonight I was teasing Kaili about how cute her English teacher was. I asked her how she could concentrate on her lessons with such a hottie teaching her Kaili's response was "EEWWW!!! He's married and he's like FORTY or something. . .EEEWWW!!!!"

This morning the two cats got to go to the vet for check-ups and vaccinations. They both got a clean bill of health and we were told they probably won't need to go back unless something drastic happens since they are indoor kitties. Missy had three of us on the run this morning trying to box her for the trip. Ron nearly had her in the crate, when she turned into hissing fangs and claws. We finally cornered her in Kaili's room, then we nabbed Patchy when she came to find out what all the ruckus was.

Tomorrow we will be getting our 40 year-old Heatilator replaced with a high efficiency fireplace insert. Ron will be out for the day, so I will probably get to be the one to Christen it with the first fire. It has gotten gray and rainy here, but it has still only gotten into the 40's at night so far. The tomato plants are loaded and I will probably bring in a bunch to ripen on the window sill.

Not much else to report from here for now. . .your turn, Mom.

Still scrambling. . .though the dust is settling. . .sort of. . .

The thought of going to school made Kaili sick. I think the cats just figured she was there to cuddle with them.

The kids are beginning to adjust to school life and busy routines now. They are really beginning to like some of their classes and teachers. Dax has joined the robotics club and is enjoying his dance class (I wonder if the 1 guy: 27 girl ratio has anything to do with it. . .). Kaili has finally gotten over her sick-making fear and has joined the science club and the improve team, she also attended her first Highland dance class on Tuesday. Her favorite teacher so far, is her Spanish teacher. Elizabeth has made lots of new friends and seems to be thriving in her new environment. She is taking piano lessons at home and has chosen to study clarinet at school. The three younger kids will be participating in the St. John Ambulance cadet program. Adam is still really liking his job, and plodding ever-so-slowly along with his schooling. He is also joining the St. John Adult brigade with Ron and I. All four of the kids are also choir members at church. We have such an unbelievable pool of musical talent in this ward. There are several very accomplished, talented and well educated members leading the way.

Ron and I will be attending officer training next week for St. John Ambulance. They seem to have plans for us. . . The brigade here has gone through a MAJOR shake up recently and is in the process of rebuilding, hopefully, Ron and I can help with that process.

Last night Dax and Kaili had a youth dance to attend in Duncan (Almost 2 hrs South of here). Kaili had Improv after school, so we got a late start. The kids had a great time and it was actually a pleasant trip, with nice conversation. We didn't get home until 1 am. Elizabeth spent the night at the Kramer's place. We have LOTS of wood to stack today. It is raining and everyone had a late night, so we'll have to see how that goes.

Robin and I are also preparing dinner for about 100 men and boys for tomorrow night; we drove to Nanaimo and back yesterday as part of the supply gathering mission. We will enlist the aid of various youngsters for this task too. Since tomorrow is Sunday, we will do almost all of it today, and just combine and heat things tomorrow. Pulled pork sandwiches, baked potatoes, green salad and pumpkin cake is on the menu.

Tonight there are 2 baptisms happening at church. Adam has been assisting the sister missionaries in teaching one of them, so that is pretty cool too.

Other than that, not much happening here. . .

Oh, so THAT explains it!!!

Today we were told the following story:

When God created dogs, they were given 20 years to spend their time napping on the porch and barking at passing cars. Dogs decided that was far too much time for this task, so they decided to ask God if they could just do it for 10 instead; He agreed and the dogs gave God back 10 years. Next God created monkeys. They were given 20 years to be spent goofing around acting silly and entertaining people. The monkeys also decided this was twice as much time as they needed for this task. The monkeys struck up an agreement with God and returned 10 years. Cows were created next and God gave them the task of being a beast of burden and serving people. The cows were to toil in the baking sun, battering winds and endure the freezing storms for 50 years. Of course, the cows felt this was far too much time to be engaged in such activity and offered to give God back 40 years, choosing a 10 year lifespan instead. When God created man, he was to grow in health and vigor, exploring God's creations for 20 years. Man felt that 20 years seemed hardly adequate for this task and asked God if perhaps, man could be granted the years the the others had given up. God assented, and that is why man is healthy, vital and inquisitive for 20 years, spends the next 40 years in toil and labor for others, then spends10 years playing and acting silly for grand kids, and finally does 10 years of napping on the porch and barking at passers by. . .

The picture was taken on our bike ride last week. The maple trees are just beginning to change in a few places.

Kaili is still lethargic and will be headed back out into the thick of it tomorrow. She and Dax have their first seminary class in the morning. I think she is really overwhelmed by the 1500 person student body of strangers and I wish there was a way to make it less scary for her. She will need everyone's prayers this week as she makes another attempt at it. . .

I know it's tough, but some-body's gotta do it. . .

Today was another horrible day in Paradise. Several of us got together and went to the beach to pick more berries. This is the view we had to put up with while there. After we gathered berries (along with the requisite scratches, thorns etc.), we just relaxed on the sand with a bunch of other friends who had showed up to enjoy the great weather. Ron and I had to leave a bit early to pick up Ellie, then we got a call that Kaili was in the Nurse's office at school. The kids were really tired after school yesterday, but they stayed up late last night watching movies anyway. Kaili was beyond exhausted, really stressed, and now she seems to have the flu. I hope she feels better soon.

I was at a baby shower last night and borrowed an idea from one of my friends in Kamloops. This fruit skewer "bouquet" went over really well.

Labour Day (Canada) aka Labor Day (USA) 2010

Yesterday we had our first "family-type" visitors to our house. Sean, Desiree, Alexis, Vienna, Debbie (Des' mom) and Mike (Des' step-dad) came over for the evening. We had a really nice visit. I think they liked our place, and Debbie commented on how comfortable and homey it felt to her. (Watch my head swell now!!!)

Alexis had a great time digging through Aunt Elizabeth's Barbies, and Vienna really enjoyed the blackberry pie we had for dessert.

I had plans to hit the blackberry bushes one last time today, but it is raining. We ran a few little errands with the kids then rented movies and we are doing the movie/veg thing for the afternoon today. Kaili has been getting upset every time anyone mentions school starting tomorrow. . .so, of course it is being mentioned plenty just for her benefit.

I bet Martha has never done this!

Tonight we had a bunch of friends here for dinner. Afterwards we did smores in the living-room. We used Teddy Grahams and Vanilla Flavored Shreddies (a cereal similar to Chex) mini marshmallows and chocolate chips. We toasted the marshmallows with fondue forks over candles. Everyone really seemed to have a good time with this and it was fun watching the kids puzzle over what we were going to do with the various item I had assembled.

I would love to take credit for coming up with this idea, but I actually borrowed it from friends who were talking about making "mini-smores" over candles a couple of weeks ago. Robin tells me they used to do this on dates.

Sept. 2, 2010

Tuesday night we went out for cheap movie night with Don and Carolin. We saw "The Expendables" and to quote a friend. . ."That's 2 hours I'll never get back." I was not impressed, it was over-the-top gore and violence. I don't mind a weak story if there is snappy dialogue, some suspense or lots of action, but this one was pretty thin on all of those. It seemed like the "good old boys" just got together for old time's sake and happened to film it.

The sun's out and the temps are in the 70's again. Ron and I have been working on exams for St. John Ambulance, now we may be attending a course later this month to learn even more about the organization. We finally got the exams completed and turned in today.

After I made dipped candied ginger in chocolate for Ron, the kids and I (with Milena in tow) went for another short round of berry picking. I made some syrup and jelly with Splenda (Milena has DM) and a couple of pints of syrup for us. Tomorrow I will bake the BB pie I promised my picking crew.