Long overdue

We're bad. Not the kind of bad that lands us in jail, but the neglectful, forgetful kind that leaves a blog without updates for 2 months. Christmas was great. It was fun to spend time with family again, and the gifts are always fun to give and receive. January saw the return to work, which is never anticipated, but wasn't too bad this year. We've moved out of our bedroom to allow us to tear down the closet and start working on getting the walls and ceiling ready for paint. I'd put some pictures up, but I'm at work and don't have any here.

We also went to see Jesus Christ Superstar, and it was awesome. I'm not a big musical fan, but this one was definitely worth going to. Aside from a few small projects around the house, we're taking it easy while we wait for more money to spend on the bedroom and bathroom renovation projects. I always have big plans and get Jo Dee hooked on them, so it takes us awhile to save up for them. In the end, I think they will all be worthwhile.

Summer is a long way off, but I'm already starting to think about what to pack, buy and invent before our next canoe trip. It's a contradiction, but I always plan on building new, neat stuff to make life easier and more comfortable at camp, while at the same time trying to bring less stuff along and make our packs lighter. More/Lighter/Cheaper don't always go hand in hand.

Tim

Back Home

I'm back home again after being gone for 5 days in Nebraska and 2 in Alberta. The weekend was more fun than 5 days in a state that didn't seem much different than home. I would have taken more pictures of the country side, but there really wasn't anything to take pictures of! I have lots of pictures of combine headers, but that probably isn't interesting to anybody. The coolest part of the whole trip was going through Elm Creek, NE. (I grew up in Elm Creek, MB) As far as I know, those are the only 2 Elm Creek's in North America. If this was the coolest part of my trip, you can probably imagine how bad it was!

Tim

Christmas time at our house!

Well, we decorated the tree (we have to get a topper on it yet)! It is so much fun having a house to decorate in! I love it!

Heidi this one's for you!

Well, I guess I should explain this monstrousity....As embarrassing as it is, if I can't laugh at myself....I was at the gym yesterday morning. Things were going as usual...just finished my cardio and my knee was bothering me (in physio for knee), so I was preoccupied with the slight discomfort in my knee and evaluating if I pushed it to hard, well speaking of hard, a weight lifting bar is hard. I was looking down and ran smack into it. It was on a tall rack for doing squats and stuff. So, just picture it. Down I went and right onto my back. I blacked out briefly and opened my eyes to two people asking me if I was ok....I felt my head and was horrified at the mountain on my head. I had to sit in the office with an ice pack on my head and fill out an incident report. I was so embarrased. Oh well, at least the swelling has kinda gone down and at least I have bangs to cover it. I thought you may appreciate this one Heidi!!

JoD

Why don't they fly direct?

OK. So I have to go to Imperial, NE next week instead of Indiana this week. Thanks to booked flights and limited service from small Saskatchewan cities to even smaller U.S. towns, I'm flying to Omaha via Winnipeg and Chicago. My return trip will be via Denver and Calgary. I'll likely stay there since the rest of Jo Dee's family is driving to Didsbury that night for Hildebrand Christmas. Does it seem rediculous to anyone else that I have to fly over 3 provinces and 9 states to get to Omaha and back? The direct route sure looks a lot shorter!

Tim

Christmas Decorating at Mom and Dad's!

As you can see mom and dad are really enjoying the tree;)

Christmas Village

We have started Christmas decorating. Jo Dee is so excited. This is her new Christmas village that she was so happy to get that her hands clasped in delight. The styrofoam base was free (left in the junkpile in our garage when we bought the house). No project can be completed without making a new tool for the job. In this case, a hot wire foam cutter made from a soldering gun and a piece of copper wire. It worked better than the tool I made to melt seams in vapour barrier poly. That one almost burnt the house down.
My favorite part of the diorama is the fact that the cords are hidden (and the word, "diorama"). Jo Dee's is the Church.

Tim

Lights

Although we seem to be the only people on the street with Christmas lights, I thought that today's warmth was a sign to put ours up. There seems to be a big difference in price for Christmas lights in Saskatoon. While LED's seem like the thing to have, we didn't have the money so we went for traditional lights. The colour? With green trim and shingles, there wasn't much choice. Our first lights were purchased at Canadian Tire for $11/strand. We then returned them for $8/strand lights at Peavey Mart. Much to my disgust, I found the same lights for $5/strand at Co-op just after putting ours up. Oh well. It's done, and it wasn't 40 below when I did them and we've got a little more Christmas spirit than we did yesterday.

Ahhh Friends!

I love to blog and I love to blog almost anything. Why not about our little dinner party of 4 the other night! All I can say is that friends are important and a blessing....and so is food, so why not put them together!

Halloween Fun!!

We decided to carve a pumpkin today! We had lots of fun doing it! I get a chance to carve one each year at work with the kids, but Tim said he hasn't since about grade 5, so away we went! So, since we do this at work each year I brought home a template of a cat home from work. It was actually kinda tough to cut all the details, we often do not give that one to some of the kids because of the low success rate and high temper tantrum rate....that is the kids at work and not Tim. Turned out not too shabby!

Trip to D.C.

Greetings from the capital. We spent today going to the Smithsonian museums (Museum of Natural History and the Air and Space Museum) and most of the major monuments and landmarks around capital hill. Our morning started with a subway ride to downtown. From there, we went past a protest at the Capital building and wandered through the Air and Space museum. There was so much to see there, but we just didn't have time to take it all in. After an expensive meal at McDonalds, we headed for the Smithsonian Castle (visitor's center) and then went to the Museum of Natural History. It was amazing, but we just didn't have time to see it all. After the museums, we looked at many of the historical landmarks we've seen on TV and the movies. The White House, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, WWII monument, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, the Reflecting Pool, the Treasury Building... I could go on and on. After a long day of walking, we headed for Union Station and had some supper at a 50's style diner. Eager to sit for awhile, we took the opportunity to go "The Departed" which was playing in the theatre in Union Station. Alas, our day was over, but we saw so many interesting things and did pretty good for 12 hours in D.C.

Surf City Rapids - This is Tim and I

Fish Fry

Canoe Trip September 2006

What a blast, as always. Here are a few highlights. It was also my birthday while we were gone and Tim brought up all sorts of fun things to make me feel special (notice the straws) on my birthday!

Just sayin hey

I like this blog thing. It is really great to hear what everyone is up too. Tim is right we had a great time up north. Tim is also becoming a really skilled canoeist. I would trust him in any rapid any day. It is almost time for Thanksgiving and I am looking forward to flying down on Thursday. I am having girls nights while Tim is gone, which is great, but I still miss him. Anyway, glad to hear from everyone!

JoD

Biking Fun!!

It was good that we took our bikes because the trails were great. This is at the end of the trail and our weekend;(

Cribage

We always have to have a game when we camp...

Breakfast Time

Well, this Meadow Lake Provincial Park. Kinda outa order, but I am getting the hang of this blog thing. WE had a great time!

Trip to the mountains...

Tim and I went to the Alberta on the September long weekend to visit family and had a great time! It was beautiful out and we did some hiking. This is Moraine Lake.

Securing the fort

OK. So after getting my car broken into, I decided that it was time to put a little effort into increasing our security. I had some security cameras that I hadn't yet installed, so the old birdhouse on the garage was taken down, and given a new home on a pole by the alley. Sorry birdies, no room in the inn now that there's a camera hidden in there. I also put up motion sensor lights and bars on the garage window and basement windows. I'm still working on getting the cameras to record when there's motion, but hopefully the next time someone tries something around our house, they won't get away.

Tim

One Year Anniversary

It is September 16th, 2006, the day before our first anniversary! Tim surprised me with these flowers today. He's so sweet, I just love him! He also bought me a dress that I already owned, but that's another story. I'll tell you about it sometime if you ask.

I'm getting coached through this blog thing...soon I will have some tech savy! (just like Tim) I hope I do not turn into as much of a nerd as he is. I say this with love! Ooops he is looking over my shoulder;)