Beginning of Christmas Season

Yesterday our daughter and I went out and got some supplies to make a Christmas wreath. We both have had ours for years and we thought we could easily do one as nice as what was in the stores for qa fraction of course. And technically had we just gotten exactly what we needed for just 2 wreaths we would have been fine. But of course never having made one before we bought WAY TOO MUCH stuff ending up with enough to do half a dozen wreaths. Plus add in the gas driving around looking for one store, lunch out, all the extras we bought in the store that was second only to literally heaven to scrapbookers we would have been fine. As it was we spent enough have gone away overnight at a hotel hehehe. But it was all worth it!

Physio

So yesterday was my first visit with the physiotherapist. Did not go actually as she had planned. She had me stand straight up against a wall with my back and feet touching the wall as well. She checked my spine and said that normal people will actually have their back curving inwards to their belly button but mine curved towards the back. She could not even get a hand there. so she did some exercises to try and get me to do that. nOpe not going to work. So she had been stand in front of her to watch me walk back and forth. She said I had terrible posture. No ya think?? I am in constant pain because I can't walk properly or lay down yadda yadda yadda yes my postures is going to be bad, DUH!

then she tried to press her fingertips along the spine to feel the vertebrates and I told her to NOT touch the lumbar and sacral ones please. She was going along and then made the mistake of touching the ware. Down I went right on my face, I thought I was going to pass out. They had to come in and lay me down as I wasn't sure if I was going to throw up or pass out I got so sick from the pain.

She finally was able with some help, come to a conclusion that are my muscles around my spine and leg/pelvic joints are not applicable in this case. They are just sitting there looking pretty. So she gaveme some ultrasound for abit to try adn elliviate the pain as she did not want me to leabve while I was like that but I said that's ok trust me i live like this every day.

I used to beg for one day just one day of ppain free day but now months later I just pray for one hour pain free. Life would be so simpler,So here it is 1am and have been out of bed for my morning routine of pacing the floor around around around my house so I don;t have to sit down. And my mission tomorrow is to locate Clippers Street Store if it kills me. I Have driven in that supposedly area for a year now so really am hoping to find it.

That of course along with Montanas Waffle dessert!! No kidlets tomorrow. Dearest Uncle Curt will be watching the girls so it will be kid free day and jus ta mother daughter day to do soome Christmas shopping. I have my purse packled with all my drugs and I am going to SHOP till I drop. We both want to maek our very own front door wreaths tomorrow and make some "Carm Balls" :)

Now I just have to figure out how to do thi swhen I can't even figure howe to go to bed LOL

But I have yet to lose my sense of humour lol

Short and Sweet

Life would be so good if we could freeze moments in time.. a time when we were the happiest but we can't. So we find ourselves retracing our footsteps. We strive to remember our connections even as time wipes our slates clean. And we strive to make new connections that we hoe time will indulge. When communications fail, words remain behind, proof that we were here.. that someone cared. In the end our past may be all that we have and all that we leave behind.

I have been working on some projects here for gifts and for some classes I have been teaching. I don't have a "crafty" bone in my body, that was my sister Adele's talent, but I like doing it even if they do tend to come out a tad lop-sided at times. But what the heck...at least I can say they are one of a kind and unique hehehe. So here are a couple of pictures of my new front door wreath that I made a couple of weeks ago as well as photo albums that you make with card stock and scrapbooking papers. This class I taught on Saturday as well as one on one plus making them for presents. Now if only I could learn how to take pictures!!

OOOPS I just noticed the closeuup of the wreath picture.. I guess I know what I will be doing with my front door in the spring!!

The album folds into a 6 1'2" square then you open it into an accordion type album.

The Shopping Network Channel

I want to officially go on record to say that a person should never EVER watch the Shopping Channel in the middle of the night when they can't sleep. Ever. I was up earlier this morning or is still considered night if it is 3 am, and was flipping channels when I accidentally hit #17. I rarely watch that channel as I don't get hooked into buying things online or from the TV. That's Keith's job. He gets sucked in by telemarketers all the time. But not me. Till a little while ago. I don't know if it was just because I had just taught a class of about 30 women how to do scrapbooked photo albums on the weekend or the presenter was very animated but I was mesmerized!!!

Now I have more supplies, paper and cardstock then Micheal's I am sure but I didn't have what was on my TV. And when you have a 50" TV that's a whole LOT Of cool looking stuff that was dangled in front of my eyes. I actually was pretty good about not getting it till they said "And now for ONE minute only if you order now you can make TWO payments of..." groannnnn.. I was a goner!

SO I guess today I have to do some work in here while I am still on the search of my birth certificate to make room for my new stuff. I think I need to lock that channel up.

Countdown to Christmas

Is it time yet???

13 more big sleeps till we take the grandchildren to go chop down our Christmas tree

34 more big sleeps till we get to Alberta to be with our son and his family

38 more big sleeps before the BIG DAY

Back to Nature

I really hate these waking up at 4:30 days. I don't know what gives or why this happens so much but it sure makes for extremely long days. I was watching a news story yesterday and sorry but I forgot already what show it was but they had a health section on it where they were discussing the chemicals we use to clean our house. Then they went on to say the illnesses we suffer and our children suffer can originate from these chemicals.

Now I have a sensitivity to smells. If I walk past a place that is tarring a roof it means a migraine in literally seconds. Mold does the same thing. Because of the rain in our neck of the woods and window frames that aren't the best, we get a lot of moisture buildup on the windows and sills. If I don't wipe these down every day mold forms. Our bedroom is the worst as I have to keep the blinds shut as it is near the main entrance to the building and having people looking into our window does not thrill me. So at times I forget to wipe that window down. Then what happens is I go to wake up in the morning and my face feels like it met with a brick wall. It reminds me of the window. Keith then has to spray Tilex on there but I can't even be in the house for hours after he uses it as it makes me so sick.

Ok I am rambling.. sorry... so when I was watching this show it made me think of the mold and the Tilex and the bleach I use etc etc and it also made me think of my grandchildren that are always here. So I decided to make a conscious effort to go back to using natural products to clean. So I will be off to the library when it opens to see what I can find for books of switching over.

I remember growing up our cleaning products consisted of comet and pine sol. Period. Vinegar and water were used to wash windows, baking soda for sinks and counters. The Comet was for the toilets. One father 4 brothers enough said! I don't know how successful it will be but I shall keep you all posted. Although in my defense I don't know how I will live without my Mr. Clean wipes and Vim spray!!!

Middle of the night rantings

My brain just will not stop talking tonight so finally got up and decided to answer a bunch of emails that were sitting in my inbox. Then I decided in honour of the fall season I would change the look of my blog to reflect the fall colors. I hate fall.. at least out here. The colors are a rainbow of oranges, vivid reds, many shades of green, yellows and browns. It is absolutely gorgeous as we watch the trees change color. But with fall comes the rain and with that comes pain. Hey that rhymes!!

So I changed the colors on my blog. I can't change Mother Nature although I do try but I can at least show my respect by doing the colors. What do you all think? Yes you I am talking to you lurkers that tell me you always read it hehehe. Thought I couldn't see through my magic screen huh?

Me and Celine

I am soooo excited!!! I just found out tonight that Celine Dion is coming to Vancouver in Oct next year!! I am absolutely thrilled like you can not even imagine. Celine and I are best buds and have been forever! Well..........ok this best buds is only for real in my imagination but I have a very vivid imagination and for me if my mind can percieve then I can achieve. Right?

Tickets go on sale this coming Friday and when I was yelling at Keith through the house she was coming he asked how much the tickets were I said I have no idea but that I was going. He reminded me that we had agreed we would not do any large purchases as we are saving madly for our big trip taking our children and grandchildren to Hawaii and I said..oh sure rain on my parade why don't you! He said well Sally you have to decide where your priority is. So I smiled and said with you!! And supporting you while you work an extra couple of shifts of OT heheheh Then I ran!

Doors... Windows... Families

I think we all have heard that saying "when one door closes a window opens"? Or something to that effect anyway.. well that is what has happened in my life in the last 3 days. Doors closing, windows opening, no one telling me the screens were still in the windows and through this all I have smiled I have cried but mostly have just been shaking my head all weekend.

First the good news... I was checking my mail and there was one by someone I did not recognize the name and almost deleted it till I noticed a familiar name in the subject box. Here was a cousin of my mom's who had found me through a family web site that someone in that line had done. I had gotten the website admins' name from another cousin of my mom's that I had been speaking to since early summer. We had been exchanging family information on that line.

So that was 2 new cousins I had never spoken to before this summer.. add the new one on the weekend and now we have 3.. count them ONE TWO THREE!! I was squealing so loud that Keith came running in the room to see what was wrong and then just snorts when I told him and he just left the room as if to say ok when will I learn not to come running when Sally squeals while on the computer!

I sat here and read and reread the email I don't know how many times. She had even sent pictures so I had to check all my cousins out (Nice to know good looks runs in the same family hehehe). I had tears coming down my cheeks I was so thrilled. Whoever said the internet was an evil thing obviously was not here on Saturday. It was a great thing.. the window part of the closed door part of my weekend. I had already posted that I had missed out on my trip to Seattle because I had misplaced my birth certificate which I still have not found by the way.

But as great as that has been for me, there was still one more window that opened after a door closed this weekend. I got a call last week to come in for a meeting. I volunteer part time at the family history centre helping others with their genealogy. Funny how I can so easily help others plow through their brick walls but that one of mine, Marie Louise Cloure, sure refuses to budge. Anyway, I was asked to become the new Director of the Family History Centre. Are you kidding me? The first thing out of my mouth was "I don't think my feet are big enough to fill her shoes" which is funny ironic as I wear a size 11 shoe but he just looked at me and said we are not expecting you to fill her shoes we expect you to wear your own shoes.

Today in a meeting of hundreds of people the other Director stood as she was released from her calling and I was asked to stand as I was introduced as the new Director. She was about 15 or so rows ahead of me but she turned around when my name was called and I blew her a big kiss which she returned. People must have thought we were weird. Well we are what can I say? At times in life as women (at least in my little mind) we have what I call "almost sisters". These are women that for some reason are instantly bonded to you in life even from the very first moment that you meet. Something just clicks right. She clicked right with me right from the first day we met.

After the meeting I went and found her and we hugged. All weekend I have been shaking my head thinking how the heck am I going to do this. There are others that work there that have been there for years.. why not call them to do this work? I talk too much, I ask too many questions, I am too much of a perfectionist, I step on toes at times.. why me? I guess God has His reasons. I got an email from another of my almost sister Carmen and she put things into perspective which she always does.

So I didn't get to go to Seattle, I lost the folder that held not only my birth certificate but also the baby pictures of my 12 grandchildren (get it? birth certificate... birth pictures? I know I know I am weird), but I found a new cousin, a new job and an almost sister. What more could a woman ask for these days?

Consequences and Actions

Our children were raised on the premise that there are always consequences to your actions. Sometimes they are good other times not so good. My last entry showed some pictures of my incredibly disorganized office. I am not like that. I like knowing where everything is and where I can put my fingers on something at any given moment. It was driving me crazy working in here but I had too many things on the go to stop and put things away as I was working. Wrong.

I literally spent the last 24 hours searching the entire house for my birth certificate. I did not go to bed or sleep at all last night as I tore through the rooms. Even had Keith lift the washer and dryer up at 5:30 this morning in case by some strange coincidence it had fallen behind either of them although why that would have happened I do not know. But nothing.

I had planned on going to Seattle with 2 other women this weekend to attend a large family history seminar this weekend. We had agreed to go on the Friday night and share the cost of a hotel room and then did not have to worry about the border line up Saturday morning. Now I feel like I let them down.

I have cleaned my office to where it should have been but never found the card. I tried calling that office asking how I go about getting a replacement one this morning and they laughed and said to try again. I have to apply in writing and it will take a minimum 2 weeks for it to come from Victoria.

I am sad right now.. really sad. Keith at one point when I called him for the hundredth time this morning, said maybe there was a reason why I was not to go. I hate it when he uses that logic on me :( The way I looked at it, if I wanted something bad enough I must have needed it. One of the classes I had registered for was on the new program Legacy!! I absolutely have fallen in love with the graphics on it. We have the deluxe version of it at our family history centre so I wanted to take a class on how to maneuver through it. And with the exchange rate of course was planning on SHOPPING!

Oh well I guess those are the consequences of my actions. I also guess you are never too old to practice what you preach to your children!

End of Projects

I finally completed 3 projects I had on the go for the last month and a bit and I am so happy. Even though they were projects I REALLY enjoyed doing, it still took a lot of time in preparation (yeah I know that OCD perfectionism thing again). Because I had different ones on the go I never seemed to get one completely done before I started another one as they were all running concurrent. This morning I came into my office to clean up, took one look at all the stuff NOT in their proper place, took some pictures to post on here and I am going to back out of the room very quietly, close the door and go find something chocolate to eat!

Family Families and more Familiest stuff

This is my paternal grandparents Benoit and Amanda Cloutier. This was taken at their 25th anniversary
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These are my maternal grandparents Albert and Clara Provencal. My mother is at the back row 2nd from the right.

This was taken July 1989 the weekend we moved to BC. It was a reunion for my dad's side of the family. The next year he died.

This is my maternal grandmother's family reunion in the summer of 1987. I had missed this one as Keith had just gotten off a 9 month strike and we could barely put food on the table even with 2 jobs each.


THis was the beginning of our new family. A culmination of all the hard work in the pictures above. THAT is what I am going to pass down to my descendants. Now I know had my dear freind Carm would see what is passing off as scrapbppked pages she would be screaming into the sunset!!!! lol

This has to be by far the MOST hectic and emotional, mental and spiritual roller coaster I have ever been on in regards to anything with my family. It started on the wrong foot a couple of weeks ago when I went to set the VCR to tape something I wasn't going to be home to watch and so I pop the tape in. As I am setting the VCR, my brain catches up with my eyeballs at what I saw on the tape and ejected it. When I have blank tapes I mark them blank and use them for day to day taping of things. Anything that needs to be saved gets a locked tab and is clearly marked. Well this was clearly marked "Christmas 1997" and "Summer 2000". Now anyone that knows me knows how much my videos of my family get together means to me. Especially the summer of 2000 as the was the summer after my sister died and ALL of us siblings AND all of our children went home to mom's to recuperate. I was so hoping that I had just grabbed it by error and there was nothing on it but family but no such luck. It was all gone :(

I have been working on going through this large box of pictures I got from my mom and that has hit me so hard. Pictures of family get together at my grandparents farm with all my family, all the memories made it hard to keep emotions in check knowing there would be no more going back to either of my grandparents farms as all of them have died.

Every picture had a memory and I could only work on a few at a time scanning them as it was too much sensory overload. She also had given me another box of negatives so took those in to be developed. One batch was from a family reunion in 1989 of my Dad's family and to celebrate his mom's 80th birthday! We weren't there as it was the same weekend we were moving to BC. So that was hard to deal with.

I have been working on personal history last couple of weeks working on our family story for the book I want to write. Writing down every memory I have ever had of my ancestors, every story I was ever told. I remember sitting at my grandmothers table having tea as they told stories of the "good old days"

I have been using the month of October as Family History Month which it has been and I have been using a different theme each week and doing a big display for it. My camera isn't very good but I will post some pictures of the display. This week is the final week and I am going to show how writing your history isn't just about writing in your journal "Tuesday 8:15 I swept and washed the kitchen floor again". It's about bridging the history from your ancestors to your descendants.

I have to teach in Relief Society as well as my regular family history class on Sunday and I have been struggling with my projects. Not that the projects are difficult to do. The opposite. When I'm busy doing that it takes my mind off my pain lemels and what I CAN'T do. But it brought up huge amounts of emotions.. things I had forgotten about, things I did not want to every remember and things I will never again be a part of. For someone whose whole life is family oriented it has been a rough last 2 weeks.