Surprise!

My office mates had a little birthday celebration for me today. I was pretty surprised as it was not my birthday. Apparently my birthday is in the Queen's system wrong.
Take notes Sarah B.- that is one way to surprise me! My office mates were surprised too as they really thought it was my birthday.

Today was incredibly exhausting. Tomorrow will be especially long as I work until 6:30pm. I hope I make it through the week :)

amherst

James has been 'rostered' as an alternate on the "Player development" team for his league. This means we pay more money but he may play some more games. I think he's pleased about being on the team. He doesn't care about the money of course.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day at a funeral on Amherst Island. I had never been to the island before. You have to take a ferry over. Luckily, I went with Geoff and Anne and Geoff can reverse really well. This was important as the ferry was full (lot of people for the funeral) and so the cars had to be squeezed in pretty tight. The ferry is not a drive on- drive off ferry- it's a drive on- reverse off ferry. It was very windy when we went over, so there was a strong rocking motion. It felt a lot like flying. The way back the ferry was not so full and the wind had died down so it was a pretty quiet journey. It was dark so we could watch the stars as we made the trip.

Most of the people on the island came to the funeral (it seemed) and so when everyone from the ferry arrived at the Church it was already pretty full, so we ended up getting a the front seat. The islanders are a little community. The man who died had made it more of a healing community. You could tell from the stories they told. One probably hates to have funerals on their list of best moments, but this was a truly incredible funeral. I am honoured to have been a part of it by being there.

I'm currently listening to "Stained Glass Masquerade" by Casting Crowns.

forward

James came home with a very sweaty shirt after hockey practice. I asked him if he wanted a clean shirt. He replied "No, it happens all the time in the NHL, I might as well get used to it now"

James claimed that he wanted to spend some time with me. How sweet, I thought. I ended up watching him play hockey on his wii. Not really quality time in my book, but it was for him!

I can't say that I'm a big fan of Katy Perry, but I do enjoy her song "Firework"

party pictures

From last weekend



I can't believe that was only a week ago- so much has happened in 1 week.

Yesterday I went to Loblaws early in the morning and was surprised by the line up of cars going in. The was a no-tax event going on and thus the popularity. I thought there might be long lines at the check out, but that ended up going quite efficiently.

James had a game yesterday morning and a 2 hour practice today.

I have to write my mom an email soon. (James and I are just going to do his homework now). There's a sale on at sears with 25% off some lego star wars stuff.

flash

I know Bob likes singing flash mobs. This one happened on nov 13 in Welland.

Work has been super busy as exams are drawing near. I suppose it will be this way for a while. On top of it, I have training next week for the new student system that will roll out next year.

My mothers' mom (my grandmother) in Holland has had a stroke and can't talk much now. I will be writing!

surprise

James had a 2 hour hockey practice this morning. So I got to listen to my new "Casting Crowns" CD. My favorite song is "If we've ever needed you". Good stuff.

At Church I saw a card being passed around. After Church several people wished me Happy Birthday and I wasn't quite sure how they knew. It turned out that the card was for me. I was really surprised! Sarah also promised to throw me a surprise party next year. I'll be holding her to that :)

I haven't downloaded my party pictures yet- but I will soon!

Aged

Last year, I was too busy with 2 jobs to celebrate much for my birthday. However, this year I decided to go for a small party. I invited a few ladies and ordered pizza, so I didn't need to cook!

Annette got me a Jonas Brothers card (no, I've never heard their music) that was really funny. The front said "Off the hook and in control..." and inside it said "Superstar, that's how you roll. Hope your birthday rocks!"

I got a lot of cards and calls from family (thank you!) and FB messages. My mother got me some nice clothes. I let James open the present (cause he's 8) and as he was opening it he said "I think it's clothes" and as soon as he opened it he was immensely disinterested, but I enjoyed them. Did he think I would get Star Wars for my birthday?

Kim got me a "casting Crowns" CD but I only got to listen to a little of it before Hockey night in Canada took over. Now I'm listing to Taylor Swift's "Change"- Sam played the song at Church last week in his sermon about change.

Age appropriate

James was really tired tonight- he performed at the Kingston Frontenacs intermission, so he asked me to sing to him. I started "Rock a bye baby" and he stopped me and said "Could you sing something more age appropriate like "Saturday, Saturday, Saturday night's all right for fighting" (Hockey night in Canada theme for those who don't recognize it!) I obviously could not sing this song as it was Friday night.

Turnover

Uncle Nat asks:

How did you fare in your quest for half priced Halloween candy? By the
time I got to the store, they had already replaced all the Halloween
stuff with (full-priced) Christmas candy. :-(
These stores don't miss a beat!


Well, Uncle Nat, I went out at lunchtime the day after Halloween and noticed much the same thing as you. There was not much good treats left and Christmas was indeed prominent. However, I did manage to find a shopping cart with 0.99 bags of 12 pack of Smarties, so I scored some of them and was quite pleased with myself.

Today I received some very crazy news via email. More crazy stuff that went on in the summer. I can't believe people have to watch soap operas- isn't real life crazy enough?

I am doing round 1 of the special exam scheduling. I have done about 400 exams so far, another 1000 to go and then I get to start round 2. Whoo hoo!

Été de James

James wrote this at school- it is in French.
I am reprinting it exactly (no corrections- but I have put clarification in brackets)

On va a la Victort (Victoria)inn. Il y a 3 chats. Qui s'appillaie Sophe, Telli (Tetley)et un autre chat. Les chats va a toi au soupé.

Peterboug (Peterborough)

On est aller eau Mine pate. (Mini putt) Après on est aller au pizza pizza. (It was actually Boston pizza)

le foret Nordmbland (Northumberland)

Quand tu marche so pan 120:00. (2 hours) Après on est aller at j'ai jouer au DS jusqu'à la maison. J'ai jouer mon Wii con j'ai jouer tou la journer. J'ai fais le 100er but sur soccer Wii. On a jouer lego star wars, aussi.