Saturday, December 29, 2007

swarming

We're off to the city for Al's house swarming. Will is going to stay in the city at Jesse's to spend New Year's Eve there; he has to leave Jan. 1. Grace works tomorrow so we will have to return in the morning. Sam is working. That's a bit weird. When he finished his job in the fall his boss told him that they would like him to work during the holidays if he wanted to. But in the meantime the A & W sold and the new owners brought in some foreign workers; when Sam contacted them about working they said they didn't need him. But when I got home from work yesterday he was at work and works again today.
Christmas was good. We had a great time watching the old videos that Tim got transferred to DVDs for Geoff's Christmas present. It is certainly different now with everyone grown up and much quieter. Opening presents was a lot of fun because everyone really bought good gifts for each other, you knew they put a lot of thought into them. You don't need a lot of money for a good gift, just some imagination. I was very happy; I got a lot of books.
Guitar Hero is fun! Even for those of us who can only use one hand at a time.
We talked to Anne for quite a long time, and to the bunch in Grande Praire and Lisa and Richard. And Betty Anne. Anne's Christmas Day wasn't all that great, sound like, but she had a good Boxing Day, went to someone's house and said that it was good to be with a family, even if it wasn't hers.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Hi from ontario, with no cabbage rolls

I am sitting here, drinking coffee and going to go over to Gerry and Dorothy's for a turkey sandwich. They took the carcass home.
Richard just asked suspiciously, "what things are you writing about my family?" "Nothing" I replied. Internally, I said "Just thinking them"
No, actually, dinner et al went well. Many compliments on my stuffing, thank you Mom! Except, our turkey sandwiches will be without stuffing as Henry (!) took it home with him!? We plan to stop by on our way to the parents and retrieve some.
I think some people are confused about my choice of nursing specialization. Though G&D were tres surprised to hear that 25% of the population has some form of mental health issue. i should have said "And about 80% of my family...notice the Effexor in the bathroom? and by the way, there may be a few issues in this side of the family too...notice any mood swings?" i plan to spread the word of accurate mental health information wherever I go.
Supper was fun, though I became very concerned that when I carved the turkey, the area next to the bone was a disconcerting pinkish colour. Eek, do I throw the thing back in the oven, partly carved? Would we really get ill? Didn't the thermometer read 180 degrees? Didn't I cook it for longer than was suggested? I took a chance and quietly continued carving. So far, no illness.
We are going skiing tomorrow, which will be fun, with Bill, Nathan, Joshua, and Matthew.
Tonight we are going for supper at The Keg with Henry, Jenny, Shelby, Laura, and Jeff.
It has been good, but i do miss all of you and wish we could be there too. we had no cabbage rolls for supper.
All our gifts were superlative and we thank all of you!!! It is good to live in such a thoughtful family.
We love you all and miss you.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Christmas Eve

The hordes arrived on Saturday - Jude, Allison and Will. We have been having a good time, I hope it's not too boring for the visitors. Most of us went to Lacombe yesterday for Grace's hockey game. The score was 12-1 for Lacombe, but we thought it was a good game, the girls kept working hard right till the end. When we got home Geoff had supper ready for us. He and Sam had spent the afternoon making nuts and bolts and toffee cookies.

I took toffee cookies to work last week and had many requests for the recipe. Quite a few people also said they were mad at me for bringing them because they couldn't stop eating them. Thanks, Auntie Betty.

Will and Tim went to Red Deer today. They're not home yet. Probably stuck in traffic there.

Church tonight, then some giggling and laughing, then to bed to wait for Santa.

How is everybody else doing? We miss you all and wish we could all be together.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Happy days at our house- the tree is up, untouched by my hands, as Th and Gr did it all, from selecting/cutting to erecting/decorating it. The tree looks good. For some reason putting the tree up has always been a sourch of stress fo me. May have something to do with the time the tree fell over on me, but more likely a throwback to my fathers' perfectionism that I think I have to live up to. Th was making cornflake cookies when we got home last night using Daphne toffee- very tasty.Werthers toffee also works well to as Jude has proven. I have a bit oif running around to do today, but it is good to be relaxed going into the holidays. The weather has been very good, with the temp hovering just below freezing, and no new snow to contend with. The roads/streets are pretty much bare so driving is easy (except in "idiot driver" Edmonton). Sam tells me that red light running in Edm is common, and pedestrians just learn to dodge. I find that Edmontom traffic is getting to be more and more like Calgary, where people have always been in a big rush.
Glad to be back safely

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

free at last

All the wayward employees from work are back, so now I have a few minutes of free time. Things went well when we were short staffed, it's just that when you are responsible, you worry. You worry if you are a Sivak.
Busy at work and busy at Christmastime. Thank goodness for a little extra help. We went out and got the tree on Sunday but had to fit the trip between church and leaving for a hockey game in Warburg. But we found a nice one, Grace cut it down and dragged it to the truck while I supervised and Geoff waited. Grace and I will be putting it up tonight.
Geoff is in Edmonton to do some shopping. He was going to see if Al needed a hand with her new place but she said she is not doing anything until after the holiday. A wise decision. Today is her moving day. Can't wait to see it after Christmas.
Grace and Jovita went to Red Deer by themselves a couple of weeks ago! I told Will I thought you had to be 30 to do that. He laughed at me.
Grace's boss is going to be away for a couple of weeks so she and her co-workers are running the theatre in his absence. Sometimes I think our whole society is being run by 17-year-olds.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

O Tannenbaum

I am listening to A Charlie Brown Christmas.
My favourite Christmas music
Went to see the new Will Smith movie, I am Legend. Super excellent, I may go see again.
Went to staff Christmas brunch today. I made an excellent chocolate cake thing. It sure looked ugly though, I had to precut as It looked like a map of BC.
Only 1 week left until holidays, I don't go back until Jan 2. Can think of nothing else to write. Too much food this weekend, it has clogged my brain.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Deep concern

Judith, Geoff is concerned that since you are bringing a car full of people to Rocky, there won't be enough room for presents.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Seven Things To Do

Has anyone seen that Kids in the Hall sketch where the guy has a list of 7 things to do? That's how I feel -- I have a list in front of my face & am consumed by said list. Although instead of packing up my goods, I seem to go home, drink a beer, eat dinner, have a bath, and go to bed. That's not very efficient! I think I'll do better tonight. I feel a bit more rested.

Cats like the moving boxes a lot. Older cats use them to hide from the kitten. Kitten uses them as teething tools.

My movers are booked for Dec 19, and they'll be moving some of Todd's big furniture as well. I get to take the day off from work -- we get a moving day! Thanks, taxpayers!

I'm hoping to do first painting this week and early next, and maybe paint the living room walls. It's not hard stuff, but I just seem to have some motivation problems with it. Not to mention with xmas shopping. Would any of you like a gallon of paint for xmas?

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Monday, December 03, 2007

Life in K-Town

How's this for a font? Not very exciting, I think.
We (as in new grads in psychiatry) toured a bunch of community places this past week for work. It makes me appreciate my life when I see how others struggle. We went to the homeless shelter, mental health houses, women's shelter, CMHA, different counselling places such as Elizabeth Fry, A&D treatment places etc. The world is full of difficulty.
The positive thing about all of this is that I was struck by how caring others are and that there are a tremendous amount of people out there who want to do the right thing. Even if I don't always agree with somewhat different approaches etc., there is room for all of it.
It also made me feel good to know that Les would have been around people like the ones we met during our community tour. I don't know why the death of someone I never knew should affect me like that. Just because it seems sad, yet somehow good that someone who has struggled should have dignity in his life and death. I think it is true that quote that 'a measure of a society is determined by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens.'
I don't think it helps or matters to judge how people end up in the places they do. If I start focusing on that in psychiatry, all that happens is that I feel like banging my head against a wall, seeing people who don't, for whatever reason, get better. I find that I am much happier if I look at what people accomplish and how they are surviving,despite some rather incredible adversity, rather than what they do not achieve and how they could do better.
In that vein, I had a staff meeting today where I wanted to bang my head against a wall. If we are all professionals and working toward quality patient care, shouldn't people start acting like it? Just wondering. Sigh. I thought when I became a professional that strangely things would become professional. It is not to be.
In other news, Nick has developed a terrible habit of peeing in the office. This is disgusting and I have notified him. He is a Bad Animal.
We sold the Intrepid. Richard feels very pleased. Now he has a parking space for the car.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

it's cold out

We went to the Parade of Lights last night. It was very cool on a couple of different levels. We all had numb toes when we got home, but the parade was very good. I am always surprised at all the companies that put a lot of effort into floats. The Mountaineer put one in this year, so some of us spent a couple of evenings last week decorating it. It's harder than you would think.
We were supposed to go to a hockey game at Warburg today but it got rescheduled so we had an unexpected free Sunday. A little gift.
Grace applied for the U of A yesterday.
I'm feeling as if I should be panicking about Christmas shopping, but I am just kind of panicking about not being panicked. Must get going on the shopping. We sent Anne's parcel last week. Talked to her on the weekend and she sounds as if she is doing well. She feels she did the right thing in going to school.
It's cold out and we finally got snow.
The office manager at work has had surgery so we are busy scrambling to fill in the gaps during the busiest time of year at the paper. The advertising manager goes on holidays next week and the week after someone else in the office goes away for a week. It will certainly make the time fly.