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.