Our Christmas Party

Thank goodness that the snow didn't happened till after our party. I shoveled snow till my face felt like it was a cold rubbery mask. Then the plow came. Although I am thankful that the plow actually did our street, sometimes I feel it is a rare treat, it means I have to dig out a spot for the van to get out.
Back to the party.
Louise gave massive help with the setup and sandwiches. Everyone helped with the setup and afterwards the cleanup. The gang looked wonderful thanks to Natasha and Manny. We had food and treats for all. Ken helped himself to many a butter tart. I don't remember sitting down except once to have a bowl of bean salad. Nice and garlicy!. It was nice to chat with everyone, I just wish I had more time to do so. We had our fake fireplace going as well as the singing Santa. We also had the Leafs game on for the gang on the big TV in the livingroom. Something for everyone. An amazing night and thanks to all that made it possible.

Leafs Skate

We went to the Easter Seals Leafs Skate at the ACC on December 2nd. For us not skating it was $25.00 per person, which included lunch. Jen raised a respectable amount for the privilege of skating with the Leafs for the Easter Seals campaign. She's the one in the red vest near her favourite Leaf, Kyle Wellwood. He is definitely eye candy with that cute baby face and a group home favourite. The rest of us were behind the bench taking as many pictures as we could for each session. The Leafs signed autographs while on the ice and the skaters had their picture taken with each of the group of Leafs that were on the ice. What a nice Sunday.

I wish I was at the Cottage

It's when all the troubles appear that you want to retreat to a safe haven. All the death, untruths, ugliness and problems are like a snow drift slowly burying you in their cold grasp. To be at the cottage means leaving the worries at home for a couple of days. Enjoying the outdoors without having a to think about what to do next about what ever is the top worry at home. It is an escape. Sometimes the weekends are only a small respite from all the things that you have to deal with but still it tends to creep up on you. Such is life, must think of the rose and it's beauty and not the thorns on the stem that support it.

Halloween 2007

I had more time off to get ready for Halloween but still it was not enough. I need better planning skills and this time between my sister & myself we did a complete inventory of all the Halloween props. That should help with next years planning. This years theme was Alcatraz. Arlene had the prisoner numbers for our crew of Al Capone, the Birdman of Alcatraz - Robert Stroud, Machine gun Kelly to name a few. The wind was unnaturally fierce. It kept blowing the false house front over and various items would take a life of their own and would settle in new places. I kept stepping on my cape and giving myself whiplash. Quinton came over (with his parents of course) and announced that he was scared of some of the props. We made a game of it and after a while he was fine with most of the props. Quinton decided that he was in charge of the fog machine. He said he was "The Man for the job." and he needed to stay on the job. He would push the button to set off the fog when treaters would walk by. David & Quinton thought that the people in the house were not fully experiencing the fog machines magic. They started filling plastic bags with fog and poofing it out in the livingroom. Quinton gave out the treats and made sure that everyone was served. He even brought the treats to one little girl who was too scared to come up to the house. Bill gave a few treaters a scare by pretending to be a life sized prop that would come to life every so often. The night went real well despite the wind and it seemed to go by too fast.