this is my great nephew Easton - he's already a vw fan.........you gotta love it. since his grandpa was 'all things vw' it has to run in the family.

Off to Whistler for the weekend with Chris and family.

heading south this weekend...........2 nights! love Seattle!



Becky Boo and I are hanging out while the crazy ones go to see a football game. We aren't the football watching types. BB is great company. When her mom bought her this football jersey she turned around and glared at her. She's more the princess type.



She doesn't hold a grudge long and she does love her Moms (and her aunty j). She'll have her pram for riding around in which is great because then I can take her shopping.



We're going to see Jennifer Knapp on Sunday evening while we're in Seattle. Looking forward to it!

always a good time...........our annual girls weekend with BB. there were probably at least 23 weddings going on in the little town judging by the blur or white gowns going back and forth on the promenade.........through the lobby of the hotel.......around the gardens of the resort...so much fun to watch and dream...........









we bought bathing suits and BB bought a quilted jacket.... i don't know if that reflects where we are in our lives but there you go....



bright and sunny saturday with a clear night after a very big dinner at our fave restaurant for a star-lit walk on the promenade.....good times.



Chris and I enjoyed the hot mineral pools and watching people from around the world join together in a collective 'ahhhhhhhh' when they enter the warm healing springs.

one of our very favorite places to go............Harrison Hot Springs. love it there.




heading there this weekend with Bad Betty. always a good time. seeya next week.

S'mores

Last weekend we went to our little trailer in the woods, what a blessing that place is! It's looking more and more like us as we finish little projects in and out of the trailer and property.





Our friend D came down on Saturday and spent the night. She had been longing for s'mores the last time she visited and we had a camp fire. We talked about how much fun it would be to cook some up and left it at that.









In the meantime I was walking through a giant box store looking for something completely unrelated (canning jars) and guess what I found? A S'mores kit! How cool is that!





We told D we had a surprise for her next visit and wouldn't let her know any more details. Isn't it great how a little gift like that can bring so much laughter and good times?






It started to rain as we were getting ready to light the fire and being the girls that we are we didn't want to sit out in the rain. yuck. So we did the next best thing and brought the fire closer to the trailer. It helps when the fire pit is portable.






Can you see the palm trees? Aren't they the best? No idea who picked this thing out of the catalogue.......LOL.

It was a fun night and a great memory for good friends.

And that was all she wrote.

We had a really fun weekend and have just returned home in time for Chris to get to bed on time and for me to sort laundry and get caught up on FB updates. I've downloaded a bunch of pictures but I think I'll just say this for now...........this salad is the best.

It's in Seattle at a Mexican Cantina that I've discovered on one of our frequent trips to Seattle and I love it. I am the world's slowest salad eater so I can never order one when I'm out with friends (or partners) (or partner's friends) so I savour the time I go to Seattle and order this salad just for me. It takes me 45 minutes to eat it because there's so much to it. And I have a lime margarita to wash it all down. Oh ya, it's good. It's very, very good.

And that was all she wrote.

I Did it!!!!!!

lots of prayers, lots meditation and medication, bigger machine, nicer tech and the knowledge that Chris was just outside the door within screaming distance.......made it all worthwhile.

off to try this again............

My buddy WD had a friend call and invite me to his 63rd birthday party. WD can't talk so other people have to speak for him. He can't walk so someone has to push him around in his wheelchair. He can't see so others have to describe stuff for him and guide him in the right direction. WD has no teeth so his food has to be pureed for him. He shakes a lot because he has cerebral palsy. He grunts a lot because it's his only method of communication. WD is my friend. He holds my hand and kisses my fingers and I tell him I love him. He smiles when he hears my voice. WD fills my heart with joy when I see him.

When WD goes to church he leans on the shoulder next to him and relaxes as hears the Word of God preached and the songs of Jesus sang to him. He responds to the Holy Spirit and reaches for the hand of the one sitting close by.

WD, 63 years ago they gave you up to an institution that didn't care for you very well. 20 years ago a new group home opened and it began a whole new life for you. You began to have adventures. People grew to love you and all of your shenanigans. You grew to love people around you who cared for you.

Happy 63rd Birthday WD! You are the best. I love you.

Years ago my parents bought a RV in Washington a couple of hours from the border. They loved their place and owned it for 24 years. About 4 miles away from the Campground was a small town that had several churches. Population was about 700 but it had a Presbyterian, Community, Lutheran, and a Catholic church. None of the churches had a big attendance but they all managed to keep their church doors open and my parents enjoyed worshipping at the different churches.

Then along came an Assemblies of God minister full of vision and big dreams for the small town. Meetings started up in the elementary school and my parents started attending church there. My dad passed away a few years after the church began but my mom kept going there while she was south at her trailer.

The church grew in numbers as well as the Pastor's family. The population of the town stayed about the same. It's still a very small town but with a very big heart.






Every year my mom would arrive in the spring and leave in the fall and was a regular part of the Assembly of God and the Pastor would announce "it must be Spring, Betty's back."






It's now almost 25 years since the Pentecostals came to town. They have the biggest church and the largest church population. They moved into their own facility, remodelled it and did all of the renovations themselves and paid it off!





Pastor Bruce and Charlotte now have 5 children and yesterday celebrated the first wedding in their family. We were invited to join in the celebration so we did. It was a simple, old-fashioned kind of wedding but a real spirit of love and joy in the air.

Sending happy thoughts out to our little Becky Boo this week as she goes for surgery on her right leg. Becky is our sweet little girl and it's hard to watch her walk in pain. She is loved by many people and she returns that love back over and over.

She's getting used to riding in her new Princess Pram. After the surgery she won't be able to walk for awhile so she'll be cruising around town in the pram. Her Mommy C would like to 'pimp her ride' but I'm not sure how that's going to happen. It's a pretty cool ride as it is.

We wheeled her around Fort langley on Saturday and guess what? She wasn't the only one in a pram! But she did have the coolest one.

Here's to you Becky Boo! We love you!

Sometimes the thoughts in my head get bored and go for a stroll through my mouth. This is not always good.

"Lay still"

Because I have a work related injury it's important that I get treated as soon as possible. No one has any doubt that I really did what they say I did - tore my rotator cuff. That's the bad news. The good news is that surgery is very effective and probably the best source of recovery....sooo they scheduled me for an MRI.

And they asked a couple of million questions.........any sheet metal in my past, any heavy duty welding, any foreign parts inserted in my body anywhere.......and oh by the way are you claustrophobic?

I'm wanting to have the exam done so I put on my big girl voice and say, 'well maybe just a little bit but I should be ok'.

so.........we get nice and comfy and strapped down on this machine.....



yea, that's when the problem started.........

I couldn't do it. Every time the technician got it all ready to go.......she told me to lay still and quit breathing so heavy.........noise, noise, noise, I'm holding it as long as I can...but you know? being 2" away from the ceiling just didn't bring me any comfort. Strapped down on every side? Same thing.

Every test was a fail. Finally after just about an hour she gave up, pulled me out and told me to get my Dr. to prescribe some ativan next time......get so doped up you won't be able to drive yourself and we'll try again.

Here's what I found on the internet:

MRI Disadvantages

Although MRI scans are ideal for diagnosing and evaluating a number of conditions, they do have drawbacks. For example:

* There are many people who cannot safely be scanned with MRI (for example, because they have pacemakers), and also people who are too big to be scanned.

* There are many claustrophobic people in the world, and being in an MRI machine can be a very disconcerting experience for them.

* The machine makes a tremendous amount of noise during a scan. The noise sounds like a continual, rapid hammering. Patients are given earplugs or stereo headphones to muffle the noise (in most MRI centers you can even bring your own cassette or CD to listen to). The noise is due to the rising electrical current in the wires of the gradient magnets being opposed by the main magnetic field. The stronger the main field, the louder the gradient noise.

* MRI scans require patients to hold very still for extended periods of time. MRI exams can range in length from 20 minutes to 90 minutes or more. Even very slight movement of the part being scanned can cause very distorted images that will have to be repeated.

* Orthopedic hardware (screws, plates, artificial joints) in the area of a scan can cause severe artifacts (distortions) on the images. The hardware causes a significant alteration in the main magnetic field. Remember, a uniform field is critical to good imaging.

* MRI systems are very, very expensive to purchase, and therefore the exams are also very expensive.

The almost limitless benefits of MRI for most patients far outweigh the few drawbacks.

My advice? Don't try this at home.

you gotta love it. my friend uncle barb and i FINALLY got together to exchange Christmas/birthday prezzies..............here we are enjoying a summer day. but first to the story.....




How bad can a server be? It's a sunny day, great place to hang out, good food, good drinks and all he has to say when we order is ' it's not that good here'. later on when we ordered another drink he said "it's not that big" so can i have it in a bigger glass? good grief, who hired this guy?



You know, when it takes as long as it did for barbarino and i to get together i would appreciate a little bit more enthusiasm. no really, i would.




so we totally would have asked mr. no personality to take a pic but i'm afraid of what his answer would have been....'no, i don't take ugly pictures' or 'the other people i take pics of are way better looking' so off with his head! who cares! we'll take our own pictures damn it!

oops, i did it again!

and it hurts.............a lot

so there I was minding my own business on Tuesday morning. I pulled up in front of a client's brand spankin' new apartment building, lowered the step, put my foot on the ground and BAM! i went down...............nothing to brace my fall so I fell with all my weight (ahem) on my left shoulder and crumpled up in a ball afterwards.

I had the very best of clients, someone who spoke English as a first language (Not always the case in my job) and someone who was able to call for help immediately (had their wits about them).

I got a ride in an ambulance! And i got gas! The kind you suck in and it makes you happy and makes you forget about the excruciating pain you're in! And it makes you talk funny! Like you've been sucking helium balloons!

Chris met me at the Trauma unit and was able to be with me in and out of the x-ray dept, the trauma unit, the waiting, the more waiting, the, 'i can't believe i did this' waiting, she ate my lunch while waiting................

Finally the diagnosis:

I have a torn rotator cuff.

And it hurts.

A lot.

Lots of ice. Morphine. tylenol 3.

More ice. More drugs. it's all good in the hood.

But it hurts.

Did i say a lot?

cuz i meant it.

There's nothing sweeter than a little home away from home. We are enjoying our little trailer in the woods. Quiet, peaceful, happy times. This past weekend we took BB along and she loved it.

For 24 years my parents owned their own little place in the woods, my mom sold it when she married Paul in '98. I know she's missed having it. Going to our little place brings back a lot of happy memories for her and I'm glad we're able to share it.

Yesterday I needed to fuel up the bus before starting my shift. We fuel up at the card lock at the end of the road. It isn't a regular gas station but there is a regular gas pump for cars if you use your credit card. Otherwise it's just buses and trucks and a lot of semi's.

I was the only person there fueling up, it's quiet there in the morning. Along came a SUV and the driver pulls in behind me and tries to go sideways so he can get as close as he can to the pump behind me. Duh. He gets out of his vehicle and says "You can move up?" I say, "no, I'm in the middle of getting fuel".

Once again, "you can move a little? I can't reach the pump"

I say, "No, I'm in the middle of fueling, go the other side". I point to the whole empty side. He says, "My gas tank is on my side" Me? "Turn your car around".

So he harumphs and gets in his car, backs it up and then pulls in facing the same direction on the other side of the pump. Rocket Scientist he's not.

He jumps out, point to his gas tank on his side of the car and points to the gas pump like I'm stupid and says "See? it's on the wrong side!"

I'm still pumping by the way, it's a bus, it takes awhile.

He gets in his car and drives off. He couldn't figure out how to pull his car around so that his tank was on the right side.

Made me laugh all day.

I think it's important that we share as a couple, don't you agree? So I shared. And guess what? Chris got my cold! Yeah! No, not really but it is an exact duplicate so far. Here's hoping she doesn't get the eye infection with the nasty goop oozing from the eyeballs.

sick and tired

sick, i haven't felt this sick in years. all stuffed up, coughin, spittin, you name it, i have it. slept this morning for 2 hours. not hungry. so not like me this sick business. and the worst of it? no voice, and i have so much to say! and it's really important! no, really it is!

ok, back to bed.