January 2004: Brutally cold temperatures made for a long, hard month. Ben turned 17. Ben was accepted into NAIT for the fall. Nick kept me busy and entertained.

February 2004: Got Ben’s tux for Grad ordered. My brother won $6000 in the lottery. I was put on restrictive duty at work with my shoulder and elbow troubles. Sarah’s soldier returned from Ontario just long enough to break her hear again…..BASTARD!

March 2004: Enjoying our Oilers season tickets, but playoff hopes are getting slim! Doctor put me on meds, set up physio therapy, and took me off work for 4-6 weeks. My Oilers’ poem was published in the Edmonton Journal.
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These are my 3 Christmas bears that I’ve been talking about. Hubby bought me the “Papa Bear” at the beginning of December, and I love him! His face matches the hardwood floors! Then just a couple of days ago, the “Momma Bear” was selling for 50% off, so he bought her home! The two big bears stand nearly 3 feet tall! The baby bear and sled he gave me about 3 years ago. I put up more pictures of my Christmas decorations (some of them) here.

This morning I woke up to a lovely blizzard, and frigid temps. Blech! I went in and bought groceries, and a couple of big storage bins for Christmas decorations when I take those down. After the groceries were all dealt with, I wallpapered the wall in the downstairs TV room. It went pretty well, and looks really nice. After that I made supper, and then Sarah and I have just been watching TV. Ben should get home from work soon, and I’m always glad once everyone is in their places when the weather is bad!

Hubby is just picking up Chinese food for us tomorrow night on his way home from work, and then we are just going to have “happy hour” and chill out maybe with a movie. I actually HATE New Years Eve!! Always have! Somehow I manage to find it depressing! Hmmmm only I could manage that!

1. What did you do in 2004 that you’d never done before?
Told my mother off.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t make them…. cause I don’t KEEP them!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No! Thank Gawd!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No! Thank Gawd!

5. What countries did you visit?
None. We didn’t leave Canada this year. Wouldn’t want to with the way our dollar was most of the year!

6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004?
Good physical health - knees, joints, etc.
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After making a 8:00 am run to Walmart for dress pants for Jay and Ben who had none, we got all ready, went, picked up Kevin, and grandma and grandpa and headed off to the dinner theatre. This was a a repeat performance for hubby and I, but we liked it so much we wanted to take the kids. Sarah and Jay loved it, and I think Ben and Kevin liked most of it, but it got a bit long for them (3 hours). Anyways, a good time was had by all. I had taken a picture of the 4 kids, but as usual, Ben and Kevin made DORK faces and ruined it. MEH!

I spent most of the morning working on this computer, as it was all futzed up, and driving me crazy. It seems like I’ve got it working for the most part. Still have a lot of tweaking to do, which annoys the shit out of me!

Then I spent all afternoon cleaning, and changing beds, etc. Again, not a favored activity. Sarah and Jay arrived just a while ago, and they have now gone out for dinner and to a movie.

Tomorrow morning we go see “Only in Can*ada Eh?” again, this time taking Sarah, Jay, Ben and the in-laws. This time it is a brunch.

I got my arse moving pretty early this morning and had showered, and gotten ready and was in at Old Navy by 9:00 am. I rushed for no good reason really, as they didn’t have any jeans in Ben’s size. I found myself a pair of my favorite style of jeans for $22.50, so that was a good deal, and found 2 shirts for Ben. Then I hit the mall, and returned all the things that hadn’t fit. I found probably 8 shirts for Ben, and 3 pairs of jeans at Bluenotes, so he’s all set again. I can’t believe how much he’s finally grown!

I’ve called Sarah a couple of times and left messages, but her cell phone is off. I wish she’d call me and let me know how things are going down there! Cause I’m nosey that way!

This smiley reminds me that Laura, Christie, and Moxygen are all expecting, and godwilling, there are a couple more bloggers I hope to add to this list before next Christmas!!

-18°C (-1F)
Overcast. Light snow

The weather was awesome for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day fortunately for us, as those were the days we had to travel. Today the weather is taking a huge plunge and it’s been snowing like crazy since last night. Fortunately I don’t have anywhere to go, unless we end up going back in to the in-laws for leftovers for supper tonight. Hubby had to get up at 4:00 am, and go and open his store. He came home for an hour or so, and then he had to go back in to his folks to pick up Sarah, who had just gotten off working a night shift, and drive her down to the bus depot. She’s now on the bus going down to Jay’s family’s for a couple of days. I’m so glad Jay talked her into taking the bus instead of DRIVING!

Ben plans to go shopping later today, as this is our “Black Friday”. Boxing Day Sales are always NUTS, and I don’t “participate”, even though this year I really should because Ben needs so many new clothes. Hopefully he’ll just shop for some jeans for himself today, and then we can go back in another day to exchange his shirts.

Otherwise, I don’t have anything much planned. I may wallpaper that wall in the basement, but I’ll see if I get a surge of energy!!

Christmas is finished for another year. I can’t say I’m sorry. I can’t say it was the greatest Christmas ever, but it’s been and is gone. I went down to my Mom’s on the 23rd, a day before the rest of my family came down after work. My Mom made a couple of comments that night when we went out for dinner that both pissed me off, and hurt my feelings. Not unusual for “us”. She’s very judgemental when it comes to me. She has NO idea how much some of her comments hurt me, and I finally said something. The rest of my family joined us on Christmas Eve once they got off work. We had steak and lobster for dinner, and then opened presents. Ben has grown so much in the past month or so, that none of the shirts I bought him fit, so they have to be returned. I got a Shark steam cleaner (like an indoor pressure washer), a new purse, hockey bear, Oiler shirt, new PJ’s, perfume, earrings, and some other things. Quite the haul considering hubby and I don’t exchange gifts.

Today we phoned in to the in-laws when we got home, and found out that they had been in hospital all night with my sister-in-law. She gets these attacks with seriously bad stomach pains. This time it landed her in emergency. We did end up having dinner, which was awesome. Sis-in-law managed to convince them to let her go home, and was doing pretty well considering. The morphine was helping!! Right now she is waiting for a phone call to go back to the hospital for more tests.

Sarah is working a night shift tonight, and then she’s off the Jay’s for a couple of days. He will bring her back on the 29th.