what began as an unknown journey for our family, 9 years and 6 weeks ago today, has played out it's destiny.
what we knew then, the world knows now.
we are family.

ya..... I'm still around.... lurking thru blogdom,
sometimes leaving a comment, mostly catching up...
On my Feb 27th post, I promised you 11 more tidbits...
sad to say but, that post is still on this page, so scroll down and
then we'll just pretend months haven't gone by...
can't promise 11, but here's a start...

• our family still struggles with the first point of my feb 27th post... don't want to rehash it here... but it's sad to have your lawyer on speed dial. We remain positive, she remains blissfully unaware...
• I just had a birthday... and it sucks getting old... plain and simple
• I am over worked, under appreciated and having started opening my "current ,real estate in Spain " website before I open my e mail...
• Summer came, and is just in the last stages of gathering all her gifts, and leaving us for a few months. Around here, you never know if autumn will come and linger, or winter will hit fast and hard...
• My attitude generally sucks these days... slugging through a plateau that feels like a flood plain....
• so I've adopted a new mantra: (it's actually a philosophy straight from my youth, but somehow along the way I grew up and forgot...)

Life should not be a journey to the grave

with the intention of arriving safely

in a well preserved body..........

but rather to skid in sideways,

chocolate in one hand, wine in the other,

body thoroughly worn out and screaming

"WOO HOO, WHAT A RIDE"

thank you nan for reminding me...

Knowing I was teetering on the my annual "where the hell is spring???" breakdown...
my husband surprised me with a day away here to a production of Lettice and Lovage.
A little piece of my lost self found.

March 10th, 2009 Captain's log....

• minus 34 C with a wind chill

beam me up Scotty.....

Although I attempted to deal with my accident with humour, in truth,
I am suffering from Post Traumatic Deer Syndrome.
Although you may not be able to see it in the photo, the deer actually hit the drivers door, smashing out my window, covering me with glass and caving in the door. The momentum then flung his rear end around, his antler breaking through my windshield and cracking my steering wheel, while his butt smashed the front side of my car. It has not been unnoticed by everyone that has seen the car, that a few inches higher and and his antler would have pierced me, instead of the steering wheel.
My rental car has been sitting in the garage since I brought it home on Friday... the horse I haven't been able to climb back up on.... which sucks. I live in the country, I have to drive.
It isn't even noon, and since I woke up, I have had that cold stone of fear that sits in your stomach.
I have to pick up my son from basketball practice tonight.
No avoiding it, same route, at dusk, when the deer like to come out and play, on crappy, ice covered country roads.
I should have rented a Hummer.

I had a very, very bad day......

but all in all...................

it was much better than the deer's........

February is typically the month that in long Canadian Winters seems to drag on forever, and whether it's age or the ridiculous pace of my current life, this February has flown right by.... and seeing as it has 28 days, I will attempt to come up with 28 high/low lights .....

1. our family has been holding their breath for months while the reserve that the Cree Princess is a member of , goes through political upheaval. Her life of almost 7 years with us, is in the hands of a racist band council ... we have placed it in the hands of very expensive lawyers and God... please pray that common sense prevail, and that this precious child stay where she belongs.
2. Damn it's cold outside..... a teasing mild January convinced me that Spring was on it's way, but this last week, snow and minus 30 C weather has me cruising the net for property in Spain....
3. liz has crocuses, we have 2 foot snow drifts.
4. although I've been busy, it seems I still have time to vegetate in front of the tube... (is it still called the tube if it's tubeless???) it's is some what sad how excited I get that Survivor and American Idol are back.
5. I have mastered and become bored with my IPod. I obsessively created my master play list, and soon learned that I am not a "silent" music person. Listening to music and not being able to sing and dance just isn't for me. I mean what is the point of sitting in the dr's waiting room, listening to janis and having to restrain yourself from bopping and crooning. Besides that, I keep losing the damn thing.
6. and I told you before that i inherited my IPod. It was originally a gift for my son. He had this as one of two things he wanted on his Christmas list. A cell phone was not on his list, but seeing as he is headed for high school, which is much further away , in the fall, we decided it was a good time to get him one. One of those nifty keyboard jobs, that have an MP3 player in it, and a fav 10 plan. It was going to be a fav 5, but seeing as his mom, dad and sister took up 3, we expanded it...... I programed the fav 3, and then I had my daughter download his and my favorite childhood song into his IPod. Driving home on Christmas night, I heard his voice from the back seat say, "Mom, I don't want the IPod." My first instinct was to jump to the conclusion that in my confusion over "Touch" "Nano" and such , I had bought the wrong one. Nope.... my son tells me "there are some families out there that didn't get anything, and I have everything"........ he steadfastly refused the IPod for the week and because it was already activated, it became mine.
7. and while you are saying ahhhhhhhhhhhh, what a wonderful boy.... let me jerk you back to reality. I am sick, a pounding headache that I had woken up with yesterday, and remains today. I drove 45 minutes to see his 4 o clock basketball game, except when I get there, no one is there. And I freak...... if he is not there, he is standing in 30 below weather at his bus stop waiting for his incompetent mother to pick him up. But he has a phone!!!! I call, and I call and I call.... no answer, because of course, he is laying in a hypothermic state, in a pile of freshly fallen snow, unable to answer his phone. I head east, driving as fast as the snow packed back roads will take me, all the time calling his unresponsive phone, and sending telepathic messages to him... "hold on son, I will be there in half an hour, get up, move around, do not lay there and freeze to death!!!!" I get to his bus stop, and he is not there... he is not there because he is on the warm team bus, heading to his rescheduled 5:30 game. Just about to call me.... I could not get ahold of him,and he could not call before because all his friends were using the freakin phone I pay for, to call their mothers!!!!!
8. although I pride myself on being a wonderful, loving and rational mom, I will admit that after the game, 45 minute car ride home was not pleasant.... and I only feel a little guilty for not feeling guilty.
9. ok... I promised highs and lows and I'm a little short on highs... gotta come up with a high now and then or this blog is going to become a rant.Time for a break .... driving into town to do lunch with a friend. That will definitely turn my frame of mind around. I'll post, and promise to complete when I get home.
10. the Cree Princess has always been facinated to watch me sew, and has always circled children's sewing machines in the Toys R Us flyers. I bought her a real one for Christmas, and have had some of the most joyous times with her, teaching her to sew. Not only is she learning to sew, but we are designing outfits for her many Webkins....Watch for this talented girl in a dozen or so years on Project Runway: Canada.
11. We bought an infrared sauna and between aching sport muscles, and a need for comfort and relaxation this has been one of our best purchases in years.
12. today has warmed up to around minus 9C and it feels positively balmy out.
13. my son brought home 3 weeks worth of school notices and half a dozen plastic containers home from school today, so perhaps the tuning up he was given last night, served a purpose more than relieving my frustration.
14. the continiously growing pup, "Scout" is now a whooping 42kg. We installed an invisible fence this year to keep him safe, and this too, has been a great investment.
15. my son's basketball team is second in the division, and playoff are coming up next week. I am amazed how this boy lives and breathes every sport he plays. I need this kind of passion back in my life... trouble is, I've kind of lost myself.
16. President Ombama visited our country this month, and I, like millions of others, am charmed.
17. my fridge and dishwasher are both in need of repair, the fridge door hinge, and the latch on the dishwasher.... trouble is with high repair costs it makes more economic sense to replace them.
18. I'm scrapping the bottom of the barrel... I owe you 11....

peace