Long Live the Queen!

My Brother, Bob, sent this link to me and I just had to share.  It is an amazing video of her aging through the years. It is extremely well done! 

Slideshow of David and Jenn shown at the wedding

Here is a video that Breanne made for David and Jenn (their growing up years) and it was shown at the reception at the wedding.  It brings tears to my eyes to see how quickly our kids grow up and they are getting married before you know it. Breanne really did a nice job of putting this video together.  Enjoy!

July 29, 2012

Just thought I better do an update on our blog; I have been so busy, I just haven’t found the time.  David and Jenn’s wedding went off without a glitch and everyone had a great time.  David and Jenn are now on their honeymoon in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and David has phoned us several times saying they are having a great time.  Makes me feel good he actually calls us on his honeymoon…..he is still a mommie’s boy and I love it!  They will be back on Thursday and then back to normal again for them although they will be working on getting packed as they are moving to their new home in Cambridge by the end of August.  We are going to miss them not being so close but the house sounds very nice and we look forward to seeing it when they take possession. 

I’m still a little stressed work-wise as I am having to do a “request for proposal” for my SJHC Hospital account which is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.  Poor Brian has been listening to me complaining about whether I want to do this or not.  After 32 years of having the SJHC account for which I never was asked to sign a contract; now the government has mandated that all vendors must have signed contracts but instead of just getting me to sign a contract, it has to be “fair”, so an RFP is put out and any company is allowed to bid on it.  After I saw how complicated it was, I was just ready to pack the whole thing in and just retire but the wonderful girls I have working for me had convinced me to just do the best I can with the RFP and leave it in God’s hands……so that is what I am doing  Hopefully SJHC will not want to lose me as their vendor for transcription and I will be chosen as the favorite vendor but I’m so scared going up against all these big companies who know how to make them look good on an RFP  The worse part is that if you make it through the evaluation to stage 3, you have to go in and do a presentation and that part scares me to death. So we shall see what happens….I just want to get the RFP done and sent in so I don’t have to think about it.  I worked on it all weekend with Brian’s help and I kept telling him that he should just tell me he wants me to retire and that I should just not bid on it at all but he kept telling me I was doing a good job and that I had nothing to lose; so I’m finishing it off tomorrow and getting it sent in so I can be stress-free. 

Our friends, Dana and Eric, have invited us to their cottage for a couple of days in August, so I am really looking forward to that; it will be nice to have a couple of days of relaxation with great friends as the stress over the last few months has taken its toll on us and we need to recuperate. 

I will end here with a few pictures of the wedding.  Will update on the condo next time I write.  We finally have some trees and they are working on the landscaping so everything is shaping up nicely!

 

David getting ready in our messy basement!  Timmie was not very happy that he couldn’t come to the wedding!

This is the parkette out the back of our condos with the boys ready to go!

Brian and I waiting to walk with David down the isle

This was a really nice touch to the wedding, we walked David down the aisle!

Brreanne (sister of the groom) and Tom (brother of the bride) wakling down the aisle….Breanne was a little emotional!!

Annika coming down the aisle very excited to see her daddy in the pew!

 

Jenn and her parents….she was beautiful!

My son-in-law – James – and granddaughter – Selena.

David and Jenn……….Mr & Mrs. Sharratt……….sounds funny to hear that!\

Annika falling asleep in papa’s arms…..

…….and slept through the entire reception!  She awoke just in time to eat her icecream for dessert!

The “cousins” (children of Bob, Roy and Janet) – Breanne, Jason, Connie, David, Cathy and Troy.

David and Jenn

Partying the night away….

 

Breanne didn’t sit down once during the night!!

Janet (Jenn’s mom, me and Breanne near the end of the night. It was a wonderful day!

June 25, 2012 – Finally moved but not quite settled

The longest three weeks of our lives is over and we are finally moved in but definitely not yet settled.  It was sad to say good-bye to our old home and I am sure the new owners are going to love it there.  It truly was a great home and moving into a townhome has definitely made us feel somewhat melancholy.  It was a lot of hard work moving what we could on our own and it was a real eye-opener at the amount of stuff we have and don’t need.  So the purging is still ongoing as we sort through things.  Basically our finished basement is a mess with everything piled down there and we are slowly going to go through it and keep on taking stuff to the dump or to the Goodwill. Our townhome just doesn’t feel quite like home yet until we get more pictures up on the walls, my window coverings are on order and once they are installed, it will look better than having sheets up at the window!  I have had California Closets in to measure 4 closets so we can create more storage space and that will really help with putting things away. Unfortunately they cannot be installed until the end of July so we have another month of still living amongst boxes until I have the room to empty them. 

I am already feeling quite comfortable in our new home as I can envision what it will look like when all is said and done but Brian is really struggling with it and says he doesn’t like it. I’m hopeful that he will feel much better once we are more settled but it definitely is a different way of life living so close to other people.  Having said that though, all the people we have met in our complex are very much like us, most are empty-nesters living out their retirement years in a smaller place and having less responsibility and it is going to be a quiet complex which is just perfect from my point of view. 

The best thing about the move though is how close we now are to Breanne and family and for a short while David and Jenn.  It is so nice that they are able to pop around to see us by just walking up the street.  Brian does loving having his best buddy “Annika” over who is helping papa put things away and putting up shelves and pictures. She goes with papa when he takes his weekly trip to the dump or to Value Village to donate things we don’t need anymore.  This is what is going to make Brian love being here and once our house is looking nice inside; I’m sure he will be fine. 

On another happy note, David and Jenn have just sold their condo and are moving to a new home in Cambridge.  They are having a hugely busy year, what with getting married on July 21 and moving into their new home August 23.  Cambridge will make it a bit closer for David to drive to work in New Hamburg but Jenn will have to drive to Guelph to work but it is not that far for her really as she can take all the back roads.  Another piece of good news from Jenn’s point of view is that she got a teaching contract position from September to December in one of her favorite schools here in Guelph.  It is only until December but hopefully something else will come up after that.  Jenn is a supply teacher for the Separate School Board and one day is hoping to get a full-time position but it seems to take forever with very few jobs becoming available.  It is hard for these young teachers and I feel so bad for them as they are keen to work and are young at heart and would make great teachers. 

Well, that is our update for now.  Otherwise, Brian is doing well health-wise other than a chest cold he has been suffering with but that now seems to be on the mend.  The grandkids had the same cold, so I think Brian picked it up from one of them.  I will update with some pictures once I find my camera!!!!!!

Finally the big move is here!

I can’t believe we are finally moving!  We get the keys Thursday morning after our last walk-through with the builder.  We had a walk through last week and everything looked great.  There were just a few things they have to fix up which should be done by Thursday and the cleaning crew will have gone through by then too. I am so happy with all my decor choices and absolutely love my new kitchen.  The appliances are delivered Friday but not installed until Monday.  We have Rogers and Bell coming in Friday to install our services; so our first priority is to get my office moved.  Brian and I spent today dismantling our desks and packing up our office stuff.  We also have to get all the TVs disconnected and over to the condo before Friday morning too.  James is going to help us move things we have packed Thursday morning and David and Karsten (with his truck) will also be helping us later in the afternoon.  My concern is just getting my office back in order for Friday once the services are in.  We then have a full week for Brian and I just to move things we can move on our own before the movers come on June 12th for the big move. Hopefully within two weeks we will be somewhat settled and hopefully most things put away.  Then I can start looking for and buying new furniture.  That will be the fun part!  I will post pictures later of the condo. 

I will end here with a little video of our Timmie and how he has become a big part of our lives now!  I definitely will be glad when he gets a bit older and out of the puppy stages as he can be quite a challenge with his energy and chewing at times!  He still is not fully trained and has had a couple of accidents but for the most part he is pretty good. 

Our little boy – Timmie

I just couldn’t resist, I knew going to the breeder to “look” was going to be very hard to do.  It didn’t help that Breanne was encouraging me to bring Timmie home now but I had promised Brian I would not come home with one and I ended up breaking that promise.  Brian rightfully so was quite upset with me as I had broken a promise and he had trusted me and I do hate the fact that I did that as I am usually good at my word.  Breanne and I kept coming up with excuses of why we had to bring him home now and not later.  One big one was that Timmie (the breeder had named him Sydney) was so forlorn.  Of all the puppies (different ages) that she had there, he was staying away from the crowd of dogs and just laying in the corner.  Breanne went over to encourage him out and she pulled him on her lap and just said “mom this is the one, you have to bring him home”.  I then took him and cuddled him and he seemed so afraid and timid..  His name alone was a sign to us that he was the one – his name was Sydney – my dad’s name.  I knew the timing was bad and that I should not be bonding with a dog right now what with moving and the upheaval of that but my heartstrings were tugging and I just couldn’t come home without him.  And now a week later, Timmie has made us all fall in love with him – even Brian.  Timmie is 5 months old and has been living with his litter mates all this time so having more human contact has just brought his little personality right out.  He is definitely coming out of being some timid; we are now able to go for a walk without him taking a few steps and plopping himself down; now he looks forward to all his walks and is really doing well with his training.  He has had a couple of accidents in the house but for the most part he is doing all his business outside and is really getting the hang of it.  He has had Mavie to help him as we visit with BJAMS a lot and Mavie is showing Timmie the ropes.  Timmie had a sleepover on Thursday night with BJAMS as Brian had his follow-up oncologist visit Friday morning.  I have pictures of Timmie below.

Brian had blood work and saw Dr. McCarron on Friday and she is very pleased with Brian’s progress.  All his blood work is totally normal except for a high bilirubin and she is not sure why his bilirubin is remaining high.  She did the CAT scan and it showed his liver was normal, so she says it could be something totally unrelated to his lymphoma and really of no consequence but she is going to keep following it.  She mentioned that it could be Gilbert’s syndrome but I haven’t had a chance to look that up to see what that means.  So, Brian is all set to go for his first maintenance immunotherapy on Tuesday of the Rituximab. 

Our little granddaughter, Selena, has been very very sick this week.  She started with vomiting and diarrhea  on Tuesday and has been very unwell the whole week.  Breanne had to take her to the emergency department on Friday as she was so listless and Breanne was afraid she was dehydrated after waking up with a dry diaper and crying with no tears.  They gave her an antinauseant and after she had a little sleep they gave her a popsicle which she ate so they felt she could go home as long as Breanne and James kept a close eye on her symptoms.  She is only now starting to eat a little more but she is still very quiet and fatigues easily.  Hopefully over the next couple of days she will start to get back to normal.  I don’t like to see our little ones so sick. 

Now here are some pictures of Timmie:

This is when Breanne pulled Timmie out from the corner.

Then I held him.  Isn’t he just so adorable!

He needs a haircut badly!

This is Timmie a week later….nicely groomed!!  He has visited with the vet and he is in perfect health as well.  We all love him to pieces…..including Brian!  Thank-you Brian for letting me keep my little boy; I love you for putting up with me!

Friday, May 11, 2012

I’m so excited…..we are going to see Warhorse tomorrow!  A few months back when Brian was undergoing chemo, I thought it would be nice to have a celebration for the two of us once he was finished his chemo treatments; and I organized a weekend away just for the two of us. We are going to Toronto, staying in a very nice hotel, going out for supper to a nice restaurant (haven’t decided which one yet) and have tickets for the Saturday night performance of Warhorse at the Theatre.  We will have a nice leisurely breakfast and head home on Sunday for Mother’s day. 

I am also doubly excited for Sunday as Breanne, the grandkids, Mavie and I are going to visit a Bichon Breeder to look at her puppies.  I promised Brian I won’t come home with one but I’m sure I am going to see one I want to get.  Annika is very excited to finally get to see some puppies and Selena will totally love it when she sees them too.  Then we are coming back and having a little get-together at BJAMS with David and Jenn as well to celebrate Mother’s Day.  I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family! 

We are now only 3 weeks away from the BIG move!  The neighbourhood is having a giant garage sale on Saturday morning; so we have compiled some stuff together to put out in the garage sale and it would be great if we got rid of a few things that way.  I have attached some pictures of our new condo which I took on my Blackberry last weekend. 

Front view of the condo.

This is our back porch.  We have a terraced lot, so that is why there are stairs going down to the patio. 

This is a little parkette that the builder has put in on the corner (you can see our condo complex in the background).  One thing I love about Reid’s (our builder) is how he cosmetically has really nice landscaped areas scattered throughout the entire neighbourhood.  It really adds the finishing touch to make things look nice.