Perks of Age

OK - so this isn't much of a picture. What it is though is a celebration of the perks of aging. The way I see it, we all have to age (it's better than the alternative!) and some businesses are savvy enough to celebrate with us the fact that we've made it this far and are cheering us on our way.

Today Mickey and I enjoyed one of our 'girls days out' and went to various stores in search of the perfect border scallop tool by Fiscars. Along the way, we stopped at the Royal Fork buffet for lunch. Noticing their seniors reward program, I asked them how old one had to be to take advantage of it. Lucky for me, they regard us young 60 year olds as seniors so Mickey and I paid less for our meal and got the Senior Value Card as well - my very first senior value card! You can bet I'm going to collect as many different seniors perks cards as I can. If I have to be this old, why not take advantage of it and enjoy it all the way. It's not as if I feel old - I don't feel a day over 50.

And yes, we did find the much coveted border scallop tool. We got the last two in stock at Michael's.

Fun With Anson and Brooklyn

Lloyd and I had a chance to hang out with Brooklyn and Anson this weekend. That's always fun. Brooklyn is developing her t-ball skills and we had fun tossing the ball to her to hit. Then she tossed it to me and I swung the bad and hit the ball a bit too hard, walloping the poor little girl in the middle of the forehead, effectively ending the game. She recovered without a bruise so all is well.

Celebrating 60

We had a birthday party at Rob and Cindy's place tonight to celebrate my birthday. The whole family wasn't there - even Lloyd had to be travelling back to High Level today - but it turns out that that's all right. My main birthday gift was the announcement that they've organized a family reunion for my birthday to be held on June 7th. Sara has spoken to the out of town kids and they've all agreed to come. We'll have a picnic party at one of the city parks (already reserved), and one of Sara's staff will come for half an hour or so to take pictures. Hopefully we'll be able to get a fairly decent picture of the whole group of us (Lloyd and I, seven kids, seven spouses, and 16.5 grandchildren). It won't be an easy feat, but we'll make sure lots of pictures are taken. Sara and Emily are whizzes at Photoshop so we'll be sure to get at least one good picture of the crowd.

Cindy and Rob had their dining room decorated with streamers saying 60...60...etc., and presented me with a necklace with purple beads, disks saying 60, and a medallion in the center saying "Clearly a Classic". The cake had sixty candles on it, which took two of the men to light. The heat from the candles was so hot that the icing roses began to melt. It took several grandchildren to help me blow them all out.

It was a fun evening. Thanks kids.

Freedom 55, I mean...60

Today is the day I retired...I am no longer a secretary. It's a strange feeling. There was a large coffee party for me at work, lots of food and people, cards and gifts...and tears. Both my boss, Sandi (that's her with me in the top pcture), and I broke down. Sandi and I have a really good relationship...besides being so close in age. Her birthday is today...mine's tomorrow. She's less than a day older than me. I'm going to miss her...and the rest of the bunch at the hospital. It was a lovely place to work.

Our house is finally back in order now too...sort of. The carpets were reinstalled yesterday and cleaned today, so we're in the process of putting furniture back in order. Things are looking up. It's nice to be able to blog once again. I've got a lot of catching up to do.

My Place is Humming...

My place is humming like three washing machines, all on spin cycle at the same time. All thanks to three super strong fans with extensions that sit under the wet carpet and blow great blasts of air under the carpet causing a remarkable billowing affect...not to mention blowing any dust that was in the carpet at the time of the soaking into the air. Not the best environment right now, but at least it'll be dry and habitable again....in four days! Meanwhile, we have no place to sit, except for the computer chair and the bed, we're reduced to watching the tiny televisions because the 46" one is lying face down on our leather couch because it was in a wet spot. You'll notice the updated picture of the kitchen - no access to most of the cupboards, the stove, table, or microwave. Guess who's not cooking this weekend.

All of this would be really depressing except for the fact that tomorrow afternoon I'm off to a weekend crop, just coming home to sleep before heading out again on Saturday and Sunday...by which time the fans will be gone and the furniture moved back into position....hopefully. Lloyd is escaping the carnage by heading down to Phoenix with our nephew to take possession of the house, installing light fixtures, checking on the pool construction, etc., and won't be back till Thursday. So the end is in sight and we'll be constructive in the meantime. But, man, this roar is tiring. Luckily the bedroom is safe and the door can be closed.

NOT a Good Welcome Home

Lloyd and I live in a lovely basement suite Amy and Curtis built for us in their new-to-them house. For the most part it's working out really well for all concerned.

And then today I can home from work and my feet squelched on the carpet...not a pleasant feeling. Turns out, all the melting snow, more snow, and rain today decided to come in through a pipe under the carpet in our large front closet. The more Amy and I walked on the carpet, the wetter it got. The water ran under the carpet along the wall of the alcove where most of my scrapbook stuff was stored (nothing is ruined because it was in cases on casters and the big shelving unit is protected by a couple inches of wood at the floor level), and along the wall in the living-room, clear to the far wall of the house.

Curtis came home from work, having cancelled the last two hours worth of chiropractic patients and managed to unplug the drain and get the water flowing out. Then we had to move all of my sb stuff off the carpet. I lost track of how many times I heard him say "you have too much scrapbook stuff".

Lloyd is on his way home from High Level as planned and will be here in a couple of hours. I called to let him know what to expect when he got here. He's getting us a motel room - I didn't think we'd have to, but I've put my sb stuff in the spare bedroom, the main bedroom, and the kitchen (see picture). We'll probably be working on this all weekend, and I'm supposed to be at a weekend National Scrapbooking Day crop from Friday to Sunday. Guess I won't know if I can make it until tomorrow.

And this is my life today.

Elly's Feet

Elly and her family came over to visit me for awhile this evening. She looked so sweet in her new pink outfit. Sara always dresses her kids so nicely. Just don't look too closely...




see her sweet little feet...mismatching socks, neither one of which matches her new pink outfit. As Sara says...baby socks are just so hard to match up after they've spun around in the washer and dryer. She's got a point there. The kids will be free spirits.