February 2013

Home sweet home!!  Can’t say enough about it; when I go away, I fully appreciated and love getting back home again!  We left Florida two days earlier than planned and we are glad we did as if we had left when we were suppose to, we would have hit very bad storms that came through Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky.  There was also a 100 car pile-up on Interstate 75 near Detroit due to white-out conditions, so we felt good that we left when we did.  Other than driving through rain on the last day, the rest of the trip was uneventful. 

Timmie got another flea bath when we arrived at the first hotel the first night and once we did get home, I gave him a dose of his Revolution; so we seem to be completely rid of any fleas that might have tagged along on the way home.  I washed and totally cleaned everything we brought in from the car as well.

During our Florida trip, we got to spend 10 days with Pat and Roy; a half a day with Bob and Gwen walking the beach and out to lunch and then another nice surprise was actually meeting up with Joan Meijer from Holland; who is one of the ladies that took care of Brian’s father gravesite and who met up with us in Amsterdam last year to show us the sights and to get us safely to Holten. Joan and her husband were also in Florida for a few weeks and on their way through Sarasota, we met them for lunch and had a good time catching up with them as well.  Joan had Brian sign a shell from the beach which she is going to take to the cemetery for Brian and place it on the gravesite the next time she is there. 

Overall, it was a good trip with fantastic weather and it was good to get away for a few weeks at least. 

I think my dad was happy to see us all home safe and sound.  He missed us while all his children have been in Florida and he was very happy to have us all home again. 

Mid-February Brian will undergo his maintenance round of chemo so he will be glad to get that over with and wished he didn’t have to go through it.  He has been feeling so good while in Florida that he just wants to stay that way; nevertheless, we have to do what is necessary and he now will have one more year of 3 monthly maintenance chemo and then he is done hopefully for a very long time! 

We have all our birthdays coming up this month, starting with Brian next Friday, then Mavie the next day, Breanne on the 20th, David on the 21st, Dad on the 24th, then Bob and I on March 3.  By the time they get to me, everyone is sick of birthdays!

I finally bought a new camera this weekend, so I have taken a few pictures to test it out. BJAMS had a super-bowl party yesterday, so I took some pictures there and will post a few below.

Timmie happy to be home too!

Annika very happy to be with her papa again and he with her!

Nana and her Selena.  We are great buddies too!!

January 24, 2013–Florida

Finally found some time to write on the blog!  Here we are soon to be packing up for the long drive home again! The whole month has just been a whirlwind it seems.  First of all, we were one week late getting here, then Roy and Pat were here for 10 days, and now this is the last week here; we plan to leave Monday morning although I wouldn’t be surprised to see us leave Sunday instead.

This year’s rental condo has been a disappointment.  We decided to find a place right on Siesta Key so we could be closer to the beach but we have both decided that we actually like it better on the mainland. It is too busy traffic-wise here.  Then, the condo is an older condo and although the common areas and pool, etc are very well kept; the condo we are renting is not ideal.  Everything in here is old and musty, the kitchen pots/pans and other utensils are well worn and need replacement.  I hate using non-stick pans that are totally scratched up and these are bad!  Then to top it off, we think the place has fleas.  The first few days I was here, I noticed I had gotten some bites on my lower legs and feet especially when sitting/lying on the couches.  Of course, I was paranoid about bed bugs too and I checked the bed with a fine tooth comb!  Then, this last week, I found a couple of fleas on Timmie, so either Timmie picked up fleas outside, or this condo has fleas already in it and I am thinking it is the latter.  I am now totally freaked out as I don’t want to be bringing fleas back home so I am disinfecting and spraying everything before we bring things into the house once we are home  I went and got some flea stuff for Timmie and I have been vacuuming here every day hoping to help get rid of the fleas.  Since I have bathed Timmie and treated him, I haven’t seen any since but it nonetheless is bothering me big time.  I would have left here 3 days ago if I could as it has totally ruined our time here. 

Brian has been doing amazing with his training here; I thought with him having that illness that delayed us getting down here would make him a little weak but he has made up for lost time; going biking and running every day and swimming in the pool here as well.  The weather has been really great for January too, so that has really been nice for us.  It is a bit cooler here now but still 100% better than the freezing temperatures at home!  We actually only have been out on the bike once together and as you read below when Brian wrote on the blog, he complained at how slow I was. But, I haven’t biked that far in a couple of years, so I was pretty sore after that trek.  Timmie loved it in his bike carrier though and it was fun bringing him along and not having to leave him in the condo.  When Roy was here, he took my bike out to drive along the keys and he ended up falling off the bike and injuring his hand!  He also was a bit stiff after that and had to take a day to recover!  Hopefully he is on the mend now. 

Roy, Pat and I had a good day exploring Sarasota for the homes and schools we went to when we lived here as children.  At one of our homes, we were taking a picture of the house and the owners of the house came out to ask us if they could help us and we felt a bit awkward that we hadn’t asked permission but when we told them that we were the original owners of the house, they asked us if we would like to see inside, so that was great that they allowed us to do that.  Brought back some long ago memories! I did not know the school I attended so we couldn’t find my school but we were able to find the schools that Roy went to and that Bob went to – Bob was in High School here and when we returned back to Canada, Bob actually had stayed in Sarasota to finish up his final year of High School and stayed with some friends of my parents during that time.  Afterwards I talked to dad on Skype and he enlightened me a lot about our living here that I didn’t know as I was only in Grade 1 and 2 while here and didn’t remember a whole lot about it.  Roy was in Middle School so he remembered more of it than I did.

Now tomorrow we are meeting up with Bob (my other brother) and his wife, Gwen, to go out for lunch together.  It just so happened that Bob and Gwen had a chance to come and stay in Clearwater for a couple of weeks this year, so they are driving down to Sarasota to meet up with us for half a day.

It seems funny that we are 2400 miles away from home to come down here for a month and we spent some time with both my siblings and their wives!!

Unfortunately my camera is broken and I never bought another one to bring with us but I did use my Iphone, I have to figure out how to save pictures from my Iphone to my computer so unfortunately I won’t have any pictures to post. 

We are looking forward to coming home now despite the cold weather but it will be nice to give our 2 little ones a huge hug; we miss them when we are away and then we can settle down and hibernate the rest of the winter away and then I will look forward to the spring.  I am really looking forward to planting some flowers/plants and making our patio area out the back a cute comfortable place to relax in! Life is good!

FLORIDA 2013

Here we are in Siesta Key Florida, arrived here on January 5th after two and half days of driving.  We took our time and would stop around 4pm in each day, we stayed in LaQuinta Suites and can’t say enough of them – very clean and friendly and the best part they are pet friendly and so Little Timmie was welcomed and they do not charge any extra for pets which is rare in hotels.  Our condo is very nice and about a 10 minute walk to the Best Beach in the US.  The weather has been great so far – during the day it has been in the high 70’s to mid 80’s F and the nights down to the low 60’s.  Have been out for runs and biking every day and been in the pool here which is heated to the mid 80’s.  Janet had some trouble with the internet when we first arrived which caused her great stress but everything is fine now.  They don’t allow dogs on the beach but of course Janet thought this out and got this dog carrier which we can push or attach to the bike – so of course Timmie has been down to the Best Beach in the US.

We went for a bike ride today on the Legacy Trail in Sarasota down to Venice and back and of course we had Timmie in his carriage which he thoroughly loved.  It is attached to Janet’s bike but is very light and so only slightly slowed her down – “at times I’m sure I could have walked faster” (please don’t tell Janet I said that).  Once in Venice we stopped for a coffee and some sweets at the Upper Crust Cafe which we had visited two years ago when we were down.  Janet sat outside on a bench with Timmie while I went in – by the time I got out Janet was being hit on by an elderly gentleman who pretended he was interested in Timmie!!!!!  Timmie certainly attracts people – we must have had a dozen people stop to see him and staff in a store also came out to see him or was it me they stopped to see????  Anyway, after 34 kms of riding we got back and I think Janet was in a little bit of pain but that will pass as she gets out more.

Tomorrow we go to pick up Roy and Pat from Tampa Airport and they will be staying with us for 10 days – the weather is supposed to stay really nice so they should have a great time.

Will keep you posted

Brian

January 1, 2013

Happy New Year to all!!  Well, I must say that I’m not too sad to say goodbye to 2012. It was one stressful year right up to the end!  We were suppose to leave for Florida  last Saturday but unfortunately Brian developed a viral stomach illness and was quite sick for at least a week but since January 1, he seems to be coming back to normal and today (Jan 2) he is feeling pretty good so we feel we are safe to leave for Florida tomorrow.

We had a wonderful Christmas with the family, spending Christmas Eve with David/Jenn, BJAMS and my dad and then we had a fairly quiet Christmas Day at BJAMS.  

I’m praying for a safe trip down to Florida and then i  will blog some more then!  Happy New Year!

November 2012

What another hugely busy month we have had and I have had little chance to catch up!  Brian was suppose to have his maintenance chemo on November 6th but that ended up being cancelled as Brian had hurt his hand by accidentally jabbing it with a pick when putting our new patio set together.  A few days after hurting himself his hand started to swell and he ended up going to the doctor’s for antibiotics and to make a long story short, he ended up having to go on oral antibiotics twice as the hand swelled up as soon as he finished them, to ultimately going to the Emergency Dept for IV antibiotics which he had to keep returning to the ambulatory care clinic for a week and finally after about a month, it seems to be okay although his hand is still a bit swollen around his knuckles.  Finally, Dr. McKeown (Oncologist) agreed for him to have his chemo last week.  Unfortunately though because he was delayed in getting it, he had to go through the “slow infusion method” again to make sure he did not develop a reaction to the retuximab, so it was another 6 hour session at the Cancer Clinic.  But after that, he has done well once again with his chemo.  He felt a little out of sorts for a couple of days and then started to feel much better.  His next chemo maintenance will now be February. 

I seemed to have a hugely busy month with “girl’s weekends”.  The first girl’s weekend was a “family one” with Gwen, Connie Cathy, Christine and I meeting up in Corning New York for a fun weekend together of shopping, going to museums, and out to enjoy some fabulous dinners.  Unfortunately Pat was not able to attend this year as she had to work that weekend.  We are hoping that next year we can get Breanne and the girls and Jenn out to the family girls’ weekend.

The next weekend after that I got together with my two longest friends (my two bridesmaids!) for a girl’s weekend here in Guelph.  Barb and Kim came to see our new condo and we did a full day of shopping in St. Jacob’s, had a very nice lunch there and then in the evening watched a great movie.  They stayed overnight and after breakfast headed home.  Poor Barb, she took the train from London to Guelph and on Sunday morning I dropped her off at the train station and unfortunately her train was first delayed and then cancelled; so she had a 3 hour wait at the train station for them to organize a bus to take the passengers to their destinations.  It was a long day for Barb to say the least!

This past weekend, Breanne and James headed off to Las Vegas to participate in the Rock N Roll half marathon and to have a nice 4 days mini-vacation while Brian and I looked after the girls.  We had great fun with the girls, that were really quite good; the biggest issue was the 2 dogs as they are the ones that kept us awake at night as Mavie on the first night wouldn’t settle down and wanted to sleep at the front door and Timmie wanted to keep him company but then someone would pass the house or they would hear a noise and the barking would start.  I eventually had to put Timmie on his chain to keep him in the bedroom with us.  Thankfully the next few nights were not too bad with the dogs as Mavie came to the conclusion that Breanne was going to be away a long time.  The girls though slept through the night, ate well and seemed to totally enjoy being with us although I must say by Tuesday night, we were glad to see James and Breanne home again!

So now we head into December and I’m hoping for a little bit calmer month until Christmas arrives. Then we will be leaving for Florida for the month of January and be back in February in time for Brian’s next chemo round.

We have Roy and Pat coming down to stay with us for a week in Florida; so I will probably do more blogging during that time when we will be doing more things, so stay tuned!

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a very safe and prosperous New Year!!

Cheers!!!

Remembrance Day – November 11, 2012

Dad, once again, I honor you for the sacrifices you made to give us the freedom we have today.  I feel so blessed to have you with us all these years later, still going strong at 90 years of age and still suffering from all those old war injuries with never a complaint.  

Brian’s dad gave the ultimate sacrifice for his country, his life, at such a young age and never got to see his children grow up. We know you live on in our hearts. 

In honor of my dad and Brian’s dad; I am posting the video we took last year on our trip to Holland in search of Brian’s dad final resting place. 

We love you both from the bottom of our hearts!

October 2, 2012

Wow, time passes quickly, here we are now into October and the last time I wrote was in August!  Brian and I were out for a long walk with Timmie exploring the trails in our new neighborhood yesterday. The trail system in Westminster Woods subdivision is really something to experience. It is very extensive and has trails branching off going different directions and depending on which trail you take, will take you out to a different street and you have to orient yourself as to where you are in order to get home again.  Brian and I were reflecting on that walk that just a year ago at this time, he was diagnosed with his NHL cancer and how he looks today compared to what he looked last year is like night and day. Even though he is still having his chemo every three months, he looks and feels well and we are so grateful for where modern medicine and the power of prayer has taken us in this journey. We try not to take anything for granted now and we both feel we can tackle any obstacle that comes our way and still enjoy life to the fullest. We have accomplished much in the last year and I can say now we both feel a lot more settled and joyful in all that we do.  Life is very good at the moment!

We have been working on getting the condo in order and that is now coming together too.  We have totally organized the long hallway in our garage and Brian bought and put together a nice Mastercraft bench and tall storage with doors on it, and everything that we need to store is now stored away in that hallway and our garage is free and clear for our cars.  I’m still waiting for the rest of our furniture for the living room and hopefully within the next month it is ready to be delivered.  Now we are working on the basement which is actually looking pretty clear now and so I told Brian I can go out and spend yet more money on getting furniture and we are setting that room up as a theatre room with theater-type seats and Brian is now looking for his 60” TV he wants down there. He is “waiting” for sales he says!  I wish he would just find a good one and get the TV. 

A lot of our neighbors are now getting landscaping/interlocking brick patios done in our private inclusive back yards and with one person starting it now as everyone sees how nice it looks, we are all now getting quotes from this same company – Meadowvale Landscaping.  What a goldmine this is going to turn out for Meadowvale!  We now have the patio done and I am including some pictures below of the before and after.

Otherwise, our family is doing well.  David and Jenn are now happily in their new home in Cambridge; Jenn got a full-time LTO, teaching grade 2 for the entire school year, Breanne and James are busy with their businesses and the kids, Annika started JK and is loving it, and Selena is a real going concern now, she certainly has a mind of her own and is already starting to speak – copying every word you say.  Annika and Selena’s birthdays are coming up, Annika’s birthday is this Sunday and Selena on November 19; they will be 4 and 2 respectively.  As I said at the beginning of this blog – time just flies by way too quickly!   My dad is doing well and even helped Brian put together his garage storage cabinet and then because he hasn’t used those muscles in a while, suffered with shoulder pain for the next few days from using a screwdriver!  He seems to be on the mend now though. 

We all have a lot to be thankful for and I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Our private inclusive backyard before.

After the work was done

This Blue Haven Junipers will grow to give us privacy when we are sitting out the back

This leads into our garage hallway at the back.

We left the existing patio there, that is why it is white and the other is grey. The bush at the end is our Hibiscus tree that we plant every spring and bring inside every fall.  This was a small potted plant that my Aunt Joan gave my mom many years ago and since mom was not the best at keeping plants going, she gave it to Brian to take care of and every year it gets bigger and bigger and has beautiful red Hibiscus flowers when it is in full bloom.  This year the only time the blooms came out was on David & Jenn’s wedding day which I take as a sign from my mom that she was with us that day and after those blooms fell off, it did not bloom again this year which was really unusual BUT is it is definitely healthy with lush green leaves.  When we bring it in this year, it will have to stay in our garage so we are hoping that it survives the winter as in our other house we brought it into the basement which was obviously much warmer.

Timmie just loves to lay in the grass and roll which drive me crazy as he gets smelly and dirty!

Timmie’s new haircut!  Now he smells lovely and I will have to keep him away from the grass!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!