I have no doubt that one day I will be this lady.  The neighbourhood old bag.  My lights are shut off and I am not handing out candy.  Why? Because I hate Halloween.  I do.  When I was little my brother and his friends saw it to scare me so bad that I was terrified to go out.  Add that to a very active imagination and being highly sensitive with an over active startle response I learned to hate Halloween.

My BIL is awaiting test results. I will keep you posted.

Today I started my courses to work towards palliative  accreditation.  The first course is "Loss, Grief and Dying with Dementia".  There are 14 courses in all and it will take me 2 years to complete them all. I am so excited!  

Ok, I need to go hide in the bushes and scare small children so bad that they pee. 

Scattered

I am normally a scattered woman but today more so than other days. I have about 25 projects on the go right now, all of them partially done.  The only thing I have completed is getting three cards completed to send out to people.  (I love sending cards.)  I have laundry on the go, the bed stripped, the bathroom half done, the hot tub half cleaned, my cheque (check) book sitting out, stuff to be put away...ag!  The dryer just beeped and suppose I should go fold the clothes.

Of course my thoughts are with my BIL (see yesterday's post).  Fuck anyway. I just read that cancer of the appendix happens .012 in a million or about 1000 cases a year in the U.S.  Of course, we do not know yet if it even started in his appendix or it has spread there.  My question is how do they know how to treat such a rare form of cancer? 

Anyway, I think I am going to go get he clothes in the dryer and wrap myself up in them. 

And on and on it goes...

My dad, as I have mentioned was diagnosed with Prostate cancer just after my mom died.  This week he had Brachytherapy (small radioactive seeds inserted into the prostate).  He is doing fine, just a little tired.

On Friday the other shoe fell...

I will back up a bit.  My amazing kind, gentle and sweet brother-in-law had an attack of  appendicitis a while back.  He had his appendix removed (laproscopic) and was back to work and feeling good.  And then the shoe fell.  You probably know that when anything is removed from your body it is sent for a biopsy just in case.  Friday afternoon they got a call that there was cancer.  WTF?  That is my mom, my dad and my BIL in 13 months.  My BIL is 33 years old!  He and my sister have a 7 year old and an 18 month old. Right now we know nothing.  He has to go for tests to see if the cancer is anywhere else. 

I am tired.   

Jet Lag & Crochet

Learn to Crochet! 

Jet lag and crochet.  Have the two words ever been said like that in a sentence?  I don't know.  I do know that I am a shit-kicked tired.  I got home and went back to working nights.  I was so tired today that I went to bed after work and slept 11 hours straight. Woke up to go to the bathroom but I was too tired to get up so I decided to ignore it and went back to sleep.

My job is slow tonight so I am trying to teach myself to crochet.  (My co-worker asked me sarcastically if that was the same thing old ladies do.)  So far I can cast on and do one row but it is all twisted and crooked.  From there I have no idea how to make the second row and the crappy book I got from the library is no help at all.  You Tube has some videos but there are about a million different ones so this venture may end in failure.  The supplies (yarn and hook) were $4.00 and bought at the thrift store. If I never figure it out the yarn will go to the Ungrateful Bastard.  But I want to do this!  Even if all I ever make is dish cloths I will be happy.  Everyone I know has some sort of crafty thing they can do but not me.  I don't sew, bake, scrapbook, knit, cross stitch or anything.  I want to make a damn dish cloth before I die.  (OK I will be honest, my real goal is to become an expert and make blankets and all sorts of nice shit.  Maybe I will become all calm, serene and wise and people will come to me and seek my wisdom while I calmly dispense my wisdom while crocheting.)  

Who else does this?  I start a project with great enthusiasm only for it to end up in a closet and then in the thrift store bin. Have I have mentioned my cross stitch pillow cases that I worked on for 12 years  before finally admitting to myself that I was never going to finish them?  And besides, I bought them when I was first married they were his and her pillow cases and I was now divorced.  I would have made a terrible pioneer woman.  Right now I just looked at crochet dish cloths and I realize I may be in over my head.  Seriously.  Look at this! 368, 000 images of dish cloths made by competent people! meh Will keep you posted. 

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig!

We are home!  So much for posting during my trip.  Most of the time there was poor or no Internet  access or I just had no time.  Other times I just wanted to be in the moment and enjoy  our time together.  
As with any holiday, a melancholy follows when you come home.  Bags to unpack, laundry to wash (a lot of laundry) and a general malaise from travelling   And of course, when any trip is over and a feeling of sadness comes.
But!  I am now home with my husband!  Eloping was one of the best decisions.  It was so much fun and one of the most intimate times of my life, just the two of us promising our lives to each other.  
Over the next while I will post some of the 839 pictures I took!  I will post more wedding pictures and our vows. There is no way I will ever be able to read all your blog posts over the last month but I will try to see what has happened to all of you, my wonderful bloggy friends.
xo

Here is what we did yesterday!

We eloped!  More pictures later! 

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!

We are on the train now.  I have never been on a train.  And because I am taking you along with me I am going to take some pictures. And yahoo, I just waved at someone and they waved back.  
First some pictures from the last couple of days. 

This is just north of Waterloo, Ontario. A very beautiful part of Canada.
And here are the train pictures. 

In other news I finally broke and bought some make-up.  I am tired of looking old and haggard.  There is always the issue of looking like a hooker but I have been assured that I don't.  If you look at the last post of me in my red hat you can decide.

Question - Does anyone do dream interpretation?  Not the kind of dream interpretation when you dream of a whale you are afraid of getting fat.  I mean real dream interpretation   I had a dream about my mom and is has me curious. Not quite ready to share it here yet but I will later. 

Anyway, my laptop battery is going to die. Besides, I want to look out the window and enjoy the moment. 

Yesterday...

Bucket List

Go to Oktoberfest and get a bit drunk on beer.

(Formatting is all screwed up on this post but but I don't feel like fixing it.)

It was so fun!  We had a blast.  Everyone was so nice.  I danced with a man that I did not know. He was with his husband but his husband did not want to get up. 

That did not deter the dancing man.  He has and danced with everyone, men and women. His husband eventually went back to the hotel and dancing guy continued to dace with anyone who who would dance with him.  These are the days that make me believe that the world is not a shit-hole and we are all not going to kill each other. 

We also at cabbage rolls, sauerkraut and scalloped potatoes!  

And a story that should have been funny if it wasn't actually sort of sad.  (But it was still funny.)  We walked by a woman about 25 and she tripped on the side walk and fell.  She went down and her purse went flying.  As her purse went flying it opened up and dozens of condoms flew in  every direction.  We helped he up. I think the fall just scared her because she was not hurt but now were are all trying to ignore the elephant in the room.  Condoms, lots of them. Everywhere.  My fiancé and one of the other people that stopped was picking them up off the ground and stuffing them in her purse but we kept finding more.  So it was not funny because she was obviously a hooker.  We saw her sitting on the street the next morning.  Sad.  

So, we are going out again tonight!  More pictures!

Another morning with coffee in bed.  It is cold out there this morning!  -4 (that is 25 in American) When it gets to -4 where I live they close the schools!  Ha!  OK, not quite but almost.  It is almost time for breakfast so I will write more later. We need to be at the airport in a few hours.

At the airport now.  There is this cool wind-up plane toy for children but more adults are using it than children.  I am going to go in a second to wind it up!  Airport is busy and our flight boards in 20 minutes.  We are flying from Calgary to Kitchener/Waterloo.  More later...

Well, I didn't wind it up because I started wondering how many people had touched it.  Agh.

We arrived in Kitchener/Waterloo and we are now ready for Oktoberfest!  Woot!  

P.S._- The fact that I would consider putting small children up on the ride to keep them quiet shows why it is a good thing that I can no longer have children.  3 cheers for permanent forms of borth control! 

Get this.  We are in bed and we just had coffee delivered to our room.  I am drinking coffee in bed! Good coffee too I might add.  This is certainly the life.  Breakfast is in 25 minutes.  It would be very easy to get used to a life like this.  If I had a million several million dollars I would hire a cook to make me breakfast, lunch and dinner and to bring me a coffee in bed.  There would also be a hired massage therapist.  I would still do all my own laundry and clean my house.  I would also quit my job and do the same job as do now but as a volunteer for people that want to die at home but could not afford nursing care.  Anyway...I am getting off topic.

Last night I put Vanilla Foot Butter on my feet.  A sample came with the room and I will be buying some!  

Later on...  We went to see Tuesdays with Morrie. (I just realized that yesterday I put an apostrophe in Tuesday's.  *gasp*)  The play was wonderful!  I was crying by the end.  Afterwards we had more pie.  This time I had bumbleberry.  So yummy! 

Here is a picture of cows in Alberta. There are a lot of cows in Alberta.  It would be nice to have a cow as a pet. 

Yesterday one of you asked who was looking after my kids and the Ungrateful Bastard.  My dad is.  Mark my words though, the Ungrateful Bastard is going to screw me over for going away.  He does it every time.  Once he ran away. Usually he pees on my bed when I get home.  Good thing I have a medical grade mattress cover or I would have to kill him. 

Question for today - Why does Olay day moisturizer have a black lid and the night moisturizer have a blue lid?  Shouldn't the night  moisturizer have the black lid?   These are the things that perplex me. 

OK, I am off to bed!  What perplexes you?  

Eating and Driving

Oh, I love eating while on holidays!  We went to Tony Roma's last night and I had the chicken and rib special.  I was so stuffed I had to take most of it home.  For breakfast/lunch I had a huge chef 's salad but before you applaud for me because I had a salad I want to say I had a shit-load of balsamic dressing on it.  So good!

We drove around last night and got a little lost.  That's OK because I was with my sweetie.  I won't mention that I looked up our destination before we left on Google Maps but he knew how to get there.  Ya.  Right.  We got all frustrated and over tired and hungry.  Tony Roma's and a Guinness filled the bill!
Today I bought a new camera but I don't have it set up yet.  By tonight I should have it set up so check back later.  We are at a B&B right now and the Innkeeper just offered up Peach pie with whipped cream I said no.  Ya, right!  I said YES! The picture above is our room.  (Peach pie has arrived.  Mmmmmm!) 

Several hours later... We just came back from dinner and all I had was a Greek salad (sans olives).  I do not love olives. Here is a picture of my salad. Oh, yeah.  The Guinness is also mine.  I rarely drink but when I do my drink of choice is usually a Guinness.  The little ball inside the can is fun too.

Here I am in the car trying to figure out how my new camera works. There are a lot of functions.  It took me half an hour just to attach the wrist strap.  

This is Alberta.  It is very brown and very flat.  And here is a story.  I went to Saskatchewan the first time a couple of years ago and I cried because I found the never ending flatness upsetting. And there was no ocean!  I have never lived more than 5 minutes from the ocean. British Columbia, where I live is green, green, green with mountains.  

That is it for today.  Tomorrow we are going to see, "Tuesdays With Morrie".  I love live theatre!  Whaaa hooo!

At the Airport

Here we are at the airport.  Flight leaves in an hour.  I am so excited!  Eeeeeee!  I wish I could scream but I think that would be considered "unruly conduct" and get me thrown out.  (Note - I don't think I have ever been "unruly" in my life.  Maybe I should add that to my Bucket List.  I do have "getting arrested for a good cause"on my Bucket List.)  
Today we are going to Calgary.  We are stopping to see my fiance's daughter.  I am going to buy a new camera tomorrow as the one I have is old so I will start posting pictures tomorrow.  From there we are going to Rosebud, Alberta. Isn't Rosebud a nice name?  I could  live in a town called Rosebud.  
So tell me reader, what is on your Bucket List?   Have you ever been arrested?  

A couple hours later - We are at the Vancouver airport.  Flight is delayed and it is overbooked.  They keep asking for people to volunteer to not go onthis flight.  HA!  It won't be me. There is a group of ladies sitting across from us.  One of them was playing with the other's hair and then she pulled a piece out. Now she has been playing with the said hair for 10 minutes now.  It is getting on my nerves!  STOP IT!  Fuck, people are weird. OK, my flight is boarding.  Ta ta!