July 3, 2006

Hello and Goodbye. I have to decided not to continue writing my blog here. I have quite a collection of blogs that I read on a regular basis. I am always so impressed with the quality of theirs and so sad by the boring white background of mine. Not to take away from all the work Mark did to put together this website, it's just that it's a website, not a blog site. I created an account with Blogspot. It's a service specifically for Blogs. Now I have a nice background and it looks more professional. Plus, now I can hear your comments. So, goodbye, but hello from a new home. Come and visit me...

www.emilykroeker.blogspot.com

Stay Classy Galaxy

July 2, 2006

We had some fried Trout for lunch today. Mark brought one back from fishing last night. They went to Lake Athapapuskow (Athapap). It's at Baker's Narrows and it is a giant lake. Mark said that our boat wouldn't be able to handle it cuz the waves were so big. The boat he was in was even kinda choppy. They took and half hour boat ride to steadier waters to fish.

(http://www.bakersnarrowslodge.com/lakeatha.html)

They only caught the one fish but I guess that is how trout fishing goes. They are about 100 feet deep so you're lucky if you can even find them let alone land one. But they had fun so that's all that matters (and we got to eat one fish).

We have some of the prettiest weeds in our yard. I took a few pictures of them. I think our neighbour thinks I'm crazy. She has a beautiful garden and here I am taking pictures of the weeds! I've decided I want my flower garden to resemble flowers growing in the wild. When I take Dee Dee out in the bush, the flowers are so nice, so much nicer than flowers growing in rows. So I'm going to plant flowers that are found around here and not necessarily plant them in even rows. I want it to look natural, not contrived. I wish I could keep some of those weeds. Dad always said, they're only weeds if they are growing where you don't want them. A rose growing in the middle of your lawn could be considered a weed if you didn't want it there. And our yard is definitely going to have a lilac bush. There are so many here that I know they can flourish. And it would be perfect in my garden. I'm not big on the whole veggie garden. Maybe a few carrots and peas but not a lot.

I've been playing minesweeper quite a bit lately. The expert level is really difficult and I don't win very often so it's a good game to play. However, I was playing along one time and all of the sudden, I realized that I won. In 52 seconds. I looked at my score for the intermediate level and it was 63 seconds. Well, this had to change so I tried and tried to beat the time in intermediate. Going as fast as I can, I only got 52 seconds in intermediate. I wasn't even trying to go fast in expert! Now what am I going to do. My leisure game is over. I can never beat the time in expert and every time I play intermediate, I'm playing for speed only. I might have to find a new game.

Stay classy Planet Earth!

July 1, 2006

Happy Canada Day! We didn't really celebrate today. Mark just left to go fishing so maybe we'll celebrate later. Lat night there were fireworks, yes last night at midnight. I guess they figure it get dark so late here that they might as well wait the hour and have the fireworks as a kick-off for Canada Day. I was fast asleep when I heard booming. I don't think Dee Dee liked them very much. She was sleeping in her kennel and then I could hear her walking around and then she went downstairs. They lasted (in total) half an hour however, the grand finale was at 12:10. The rest, I'm assuming was getting rid of the ones that didn't go the first time. It reminded me of Weyburn. You think it's over and then one more...and then five minutes of nothing and then one more. repeat. I got too tired and fell back asleep. I was tired. it was Mark's last day of work and some of the teacher's got together at one of the teacher's father's house who owns quite a nice pool. We swam for awhile, then had some BBQ. Mark got stuck with BBQing everyone's steaks. He did a real good job and got a lot of accolades. It was a nice evening. We played Frissticks. It's neat game. It's supposed to be played with a drink in your hand. Anyway... There are two sticks pounded into the ground at different ends of the yard and a beer bottle is placed on the end of the stick. Then you throw a frisbee to know the bottle off. Two points if you hits the stick to knock off the bottle and three if you hit the bottle and knock it off. The defending team is allowed to try and catch the bottle. If you catch the bottle, then I think it's only one point. I'm not too sure of the scoring, I let everyone else keep score. It was fun, and hard.

It's been cloudy and windy here today. Mark's fishing trip was already cancelled once tonight, then I guess they decided it was clearing up so they went ahead. There are still some dark clouds but I think the worst is over. I don't know what I'm going to do this evening. I have the place to myself. Maybe I'll watch a movie, a girl movie that Mark would never watch with me...maybe. Well, I'll go see what we have!

Stay classy Plaent Earth!

June 28, 2006

I sure got my daily dose of vitamin D today. After Mark got home from school, I suggested we go to the beach. He was a little unsure so I kept at him and then a few minutes later he said to get the stuff together cuz we're goin'! We drove out to Baker's and had a nice swim in the lake. We didn't stay long and were home for some fish for supper. It was nice to get out of the house and get some fresh air and exercise. Now I'm all cooled off and refreshed. We even saw a plane taking off the lake. Neat.

So did anyone see the Rider game on Sunday!? Pretty exciting stuff eh? Well, we missed the first quarter because Starchoice doesn't understand that you can have a city on the border of a province and therefore be both in Saskatchewan and Manitoba at the same time. I know, pretty confusing. Anyway, they thought we were in the blackout zone so we were blacked out. So right away, Mark phoned them to see what the heck was going on. The people knew that we were supposed to see the game, it was the satellite that was being a pain. At first they tried to give us an Alberta postal code to see if they could convince the satellite to show the game. They ended up giving us an entire Alberta address. They said that after the game they would reset everything. Well, we phoned the next day because we still had Alberta time and they said that we had our real address in the system. Fine. But we still have Alberta time. It's not a big deal cuz it doesn't affect the TV programs. We just have to add one hour if we want to know the actual time. Kinda annoying but if that's the price for awesome (and sometimes not so awesome) Rider games, that's just a price we'll have to pay.

Mark hooked up another router to the computer. Now he can play X-Box live with his friends and I can print and post things from the files I had saved on the laptop. So I'm going to start updating Emily's Ramblings soon. There were a few stories I wanted to add. Keep your eyes open!

Stay classy Planet Earth

June 25, 2006

I remembered one of those things from yesterday. When we unloaded the boat into the lake, it got deeper quicker than we anticipated. So when Mark stopped the car, the boat didn't. It continued to back up...into the lake. Now, I should have had a hold of the rope to keep that from happening but I didn't think of it. So instead of just tugging on the rope to keep the boat from sailing off into the lake, I ran in after the boat getting my shorts quite soaked. Good thing I was wearing my sandals. It wasn't too deep, I didn't get my bum wet. And it did dry off, but it was kinda funny. I thought Mark would be upset cuz the boat could have gone a long ways but when he got out of the car he was laughing. I guess he got a kick out of me splashing into the water to catch the boat. The water was a perfect temperature. Good thing too or else I would have been pretty cold!

June 24, 2006

Well, am I ever tired. I really shouldn't be, but I am, so accept it. these last few days mark has been helping one of the teachers at Hapnot build his deck. We actually met them at the Alliance church. He's married and had a three year old son. I get along really well with his wife. So anyway, we went over and Mark helped and I sat and talked with the rest of the family. It was fun. Yesterday they invited us over for supper and the guys did more work on the deck. Today we went over in the morning. The boys got to work and We went to the beach! We water was a nice temperature, not too cold. And it was shallow for a long time. The water was so clear. I was up to my waist and still saw my feet. hte bottom was sand. Maybe a clump of seaweed but no rock or weeds. Just sand. It was nice, there were some of her friends there with their little kids. I felt so weird not having children to run after. One of the moms was a speech path. It was so hazy today so the trees in the distance looked cloudy and blue. It was actually, very pretty. I was watching an eagle, I don't think it was a bald eagle because it was all dark, and a little lighter on the tail. Anyway, I was watching it circling when I hear someone say, hey look at the eagle. I turn around and this huge bald eagle flies by and goes in to the trees. Neat. Where these people live is on the edge of the city, their backyard borders the brush. She said that there was a bear around last summer. I told Mark that and he seemed unimpressed, oh yeah, he says, there's lots of bears around here. I may have actually seen one when I went to The Pas. I saw something big and black cross the highway.

So after the beach, we went back home and had a nap. We were both tired. Me from being out at the beach and Mark because of building in the sun. We had a nap and then went back and picked him and went fishing. We were a little nervous cuz it had been so hot during the day and there were clouds rolling in. We could hear thunder. But we went out anyway. We got out to the lake and found a few spots. It started raining but we toughed it out. Mark and I caught a Jake each. Then it really started to thunder and rain. We decided to be safe rather than sorry. the clouds were getting bigger. We figured that it only takes one lightning strike. So we packed up and drove home. Now we're just watching NewsRadio. Mark bought the third and fourth season DVDs. Yeah! I thought I should write some stuff sown before I forget it all. I already forgot quite a bit, but at least today will be chronicled. Oh yeah, I worked Friday morning. They were kinda loud until I yelled and one and sent her to the office, then they were good.

tomorrow, we're going to go to a different church. The couple we spent the last few days have switched from the Alliance to the MB church (that's the Mennonite Brethran for you English). They said that they went there for their son cuz there is more for him to do. She also said there are more people their (and our) age there too, So we'll give it a shot. We like the Alliance church, they've been so firendly to us, but there are no people our age and in our stage of life. It would be nice to hook up with some. Well, that seems like enough for today. Goodnight and stay classy Planet earth.

P.S. As soon as we got the boat out of the water, it stopped raining and thundering and it's now a very nice evening. But, still, better to be safe than sorry, we can always go fishing some other time.

June 20, 2006

Well, the game could have gone better, but at least we all had fun. Everyone showed up about 7pm and they all brought food, including a chocolate cake. Very yummy. Anyway, we had everything set up before the game started and had a good time watching it. By the end, we all brought out our theories: they didn't hit hard enough, well, no team has won an way game 7 in five or six years, there's only 6 Canadian teams and twenty-four American teams so we did good, the refs were paid and my personal favourite...well, the majority of the Carolina players are Canadian anyway so really, we won. That's the excuse I used when Tampa Bay won. Anyway, it was still a good night. And my official first attempt at entertaining. I think this is a start of future get togethers.

Today was the last day of school for the high school. The other schools still have a week. I'm subbing on Friday, just in the morning. Wish me luck, I've been warned about this class. Oh well, it's just the morning. It was thundering today. Lots of lightning and thunder. Dee Dee doesn't mind storms. She's spent most of her life outdoors, so she's a pro. She behaved very well last night. With two kids giving her lots of attention and everyone feeding her crackers and chips and cheese, she did real good. It's been so hot here that the rain is welcome. We've had trouble sleeping it's so hot. Tonight will be better because of the rain. It was almost cold in the house today. Nice.

Stay classy Planet Earth

June 19, 2006

We're eatin' tonight! Yep, went fishin' yesterday and caught a mess o' fish. Well, okay, we actually only caught two but Menno gave his two pickerel (walleye) and his Jack (Northern Pike). I think every fish here has two names, kinda neat! Anyway, back to the rest of the story. After church yesterday, we went fishing with Menno. He had a bunch of holes that were good. But when we got there, either there were no fish (Menno has a fish finder) or there were a lot but didn't want to eat. So we spent most of the day feeding the fish. I caught a few small Jack so we threw them back and the same with the little Jacks Mark caught. When Menno caught the big 10 lbs pound, we decided to keep him or we'd end up going home empty handed. But soon, we stated catching some more yummy fish. It was fun anyway and next time we'll limit out.

I got sunburned on my back and Mark really hurt his back. But hey, it's not fun unless you get hurt (right Dad?) The burn isn't too and and I'll keep it lathered in lotion. Mark took some back drugs so he's feeling a little better now. The fish weren't the only wildlife we saw. There was a bald eagle that was flying around. The first time we saw him, he was too far away to take a picture. we moved on to another hole and there he was again, and getting close. He was so close so I got out the camera (i take along a disposable camera for those big fish pictures) but it hadn't been wound. So by the time, I got it wound, he had landed in his nest. It was something though, watching him circle in and land like that with his talons out. Just like on TV. We caught a small jack and thumped him good and threw him back on the water. We were hoping the eagle would come down and eat him. That's all small Jacks are good for. Eagle and seagull and pelican food. A lot of people don't like to eat Jack but we do. So we only keep the ones that are worth eating, the rest the birds can have. Menno was telling us about the time he threw a Jack to an eagle. They threw the fish about 15 feet away. The eagle flew over and plucked it right out of the water. That close to the boat. We saw about four pelicans and a lot of rabbits, but the eagle was the most exciting.

We're having a hockey party tonight. We invited a family from the church to come over and watch the game. Hopefully, the Oilers win. More about the party later.

Stay classy Planet Earth

P.S. Happy belated Father's Day!

June 15, 2006

Hey everyone. I'm a little sleepy today. We went out yesterday to do some fishin'. We went with James out to some lake, I forget which one now, there's too many. It was nice out there. So beautiful. Mark caught a Jack right away, big guy, real ugly. We kept him along and are going to eat him today. We spend the evening going around, getting a few bites here and there. Mark and James caught a few more and threw them back. It was getting late and James and Mark started filleting the fish. Mark said that I may as well keep casting cuz they'd be awhile. Well, a few more casts and I was down to my last minnow. Well, sure enough, I caught a small Jackfish. And this time I reeled him in myself. So, this was my official first fish. I brought a camera along this time so I took pictures of my fish and Mark's fish and one of the scenery. This will be my fish camera and keep it around for fish pictures. Hopefully I'll fill it up soon!

Stay classy Planet Earth

P.S. Happy Birthday Mom!

June 12, 2006

Okay, so I'm sitting in the office with the door open so I can hear the hockey game once it starts. All that was going on was the Anthems. Well, the singer did very well on the American and then was the Canadian. Well, I'm doing my thing on the computer, half listening to the singer, when all of the sudden he stops and the fan continue. I'm thinking...oh boy the mic has cut out and they're probably madly scrambling. It's in the middle of the song so they can't just start over. I decided to get up and take a look and here he is, standing with the mic over his head and the fans continue singing. They were so loud, I thought they had the mic. I have to say, I was touched. Touched by just how fanatic the Oiler fans are and how the singer saw and hear that and recognized it. He gave up his place in the spotlight and showcased the fans. I thought that took some class. Just thought I'd share.

Stay classy...singer from Edmonton

June 11, 2006

Okay, yesterday was the Hapnot High School Staff Fishing Derby. Now, I've always liked fishing. But now, that there's actually a chance to catch a fish, I love fishing. We got the boat into the water and set off to a spot that we thought would be good. Well, Mark casts and gets a snag. So he's pulling it up and all of the sudden, the snag shoots under the boat! Well, it wasn't a snag or a piece of seaweed, it was a huge Northern Pike, or Jack as we call them. Unfortunatly, just as we got it close to the boat, it broke the line and swam off. A few minutes later, I got a bite. I tried to reel it in, but it was too strong. Mark took the rod and reeled in a 31 inch Jack. My first fish! I caught another 28 inch Jack a few minutes later. We tried a few other spots but never got anything close to that. I should have won the prize for biggest fish but another boat came in with a 39 and 38.5 inch Jacks. They were late so I should have won, but they were big fish. It was a lot of fun. So much fun that after church today, we bought me a rod and are planning to go out again today. There is a couple at church that fish and live on the edge of Big Island Lake. It's kinda raining now so we're going to wait until after supper to see if it's nice enough to fish. I hope so. Wow, that's a lot of new experiences for me. First time golfing, my first fish. I can't wait for what's next!

June 8, 2006

I have to say, I'm glad we moved. Before we moved, Mark was always asking me if I was okay with the move. I guess he was worried he was taking me away from everything and maybe I would be upset being so far from my parents and everyone. I kinda knew I would like it, I had a feeling. But now I'm sure that this was a good idea. The scenery is absolutely beautiful. I (now) can't imagine a more beautiful place. One of the teachers that's friends with Mark told us that you get used to it here and then if you go away and come back, you think, "Why did I ever leave?" I can sorta see that now. We can do lots of things that we couldn't in Saskatoon. We bought a boat so we can go boating and fishing. We tried to do that in Saskatoon a couple times, but you had to drive to Blackstrap and even then you could never catch anything. Here, two fish is considered quite disappointing (unless they are the first two ever caught). Here, there are so many lakes, you have your pick.

It's not just the free food, it's a chance to start fresh. We're really starting a new chapter in our lives. I like having a new location to wipe everything clean. I went to an Alliance Women's meeting last night. I really felt welcomed. I felt like I could be a peer with them. Not that I couldn't do that In Regina, it's just that I was a Youth there and I would always feel like I was a Youth going to a Women's program. But here, no one knows me as a Youth, they just know me as me.

I was driving home a few days ago and it hit me. It feels like home here. It still feels weird to say that Flin Flon is my home, but the area and the people feel like home. It might take me another month before I can say that the city is home but for now, even with all the trials we've had, there's no place like home.

Stay classy Planet Earth.

June 3, 2006

Hello again. What a week. Well, I guess what a last couple a' days. On Wednesday, I was waiting for Mark to come home for lunch but he was kinda late. Then the phone rings...the car has a flat tire! And when the person put the tire on, they cross threaded the screw. So now, it won't come off. Well, finally, after thoughts of tow trucks and mechanics and sledgehammers dance in our heads, he gets it off with help from one of his friends. And we get the tire fixed kinda. They can't find another screw to replace the busted up one and they didn't put the hubcap back on. So Mark drives down to a mechanic's place just outside of town. He hands it to Mark and tells him to have a nice day. Well, that was easy. So last night we went to this friend's house on the edge of the lake. Beautiful house and beautiful land. We brought Dee Dee to play with the other dogs. She got along with them alright. We spent some time out there and visited and put the hubcap back on. All is well again.

Today, he came over to our house and helped Mark put on the new garage door. It took all day, some second and third tries but it's on and working. The door opener still needs to be hooked up, but that can wait for another day. I was proud of myself, I didn't help with the garage door or anything like that, but I stayed out of their way and told them that it looked like a door--good job guys! I did however, make lunch for them. I had made hamburgers before and had frozen them. Well, today, I BBQed them all by myself. I was a little nervous cuz I had never BBQed before and I wasn't sure what I was doing, but they ate them up and Mark said that they were good! Yeah! So my entertaining skills are getting better and better. Also, earlier in the day, I assembled a weed wacker! I am all muscle! Our neighbours are quite elderly and she was nervous about assemling it herself and he can't see very well so she asked Mark if he could do it. He said okay but when she handed him all the stuff and the big box, he accidentally dropped the battery and battery charger. Whoops! So, I put it all together and tried it out. It was start but then kinda die away. So I tried to charge the battery. Well, it said it was charged and defective. Not good. I left it alone and soon the charging light blinked and once it charged, the weed wacker worked like a charm. She tried it out and offered to let us use it whenever we need. Great!

I should mention, that I worked on Friday. Worst kids ever. Well, maybe an exaggeration. But it was hard to get them to work cuz every time I turned around I was telling one kid to sit down and another to be quiet. Every other word out of my mouth was NO! What a day. I was exhausted. But I got through it and added to the bank account. Teaching is it's own reward! Whatever gets you through the day.

Stay classy Planet Earth

May 27, 2006

Well, it has been awhile since I last wrote because frankly, I didn't have much to say. Now I do.

I brought Dee Dee back from the vet on Thursday and she was so groggy. She walked around like she was drunk. It was kinda funny. She threw up a few times which wasn't as funny. She's all better now. She's eating and keeping it down and she has her energy back.

Yesterday was a very big day. Mark got his Trike working and took a few spins around the block. He had had a bit of trouble getting the tires off so he could get the inner tube fixed but it is all better now. In the afternoon we went golfing! There was a tournament for the teachers and once Mark got his clubs, he signed us up. I reminded him that I had never played golf in my life but he said that was okay. I was hoping that I wouldn't be too bad and that the people on our team wouldn't get mad at me cuz I was so bad. Thankfully, we had great people on out team that, not only didn't get upset with me, but they encouraged me. It was a lot of fun. We played best ball so whoever hit it farthest, we all used that drive. But we had to use everyone's at least twice. Thankfully I hit some balls pretty far. On the sixth tee, there was a prize for closest to the pin for men and ladies. I smacked that sucker and for about 10 minutes I had the closest to the pin. The next team beat me. Too bad. And then, on that hole, I putted it. So they used my ball both times. I was very proud. Oh, my not proud moment, I hit someone. A couple was walking their dog along the path and I hit it kinda crooked and all five of us yelled "Fore!!" The ball bounced and then hit the dog. No one was hurt so that was good. I felt kinda bad but one of the ladies on our team said that they shouldn't be walking their dog that close to a gold course anyways. Yeah. So all in all, we had a good time. Mark lost a few balls but I never did, they never far enough to get lost. After the golf was done, we went to the club house and had steak. We had to BBQ it ourselves but everything was set out for us. It was good. There were door prizes and there were actually more prizes than people so everyone got at least one thing. I got a waterbottle and a month membership at Curves. Mark got a coffee and spice grinder. When they pulled the names, they called the best team and the worst team first and second. Then they went worst to best. We were the second best team so we got called last and all the really good prizes were taken. Too bad. T hat's what you get for being so good. We were only two strokes off of the best team. We rocked! We got home after 10:00. We were wiped!

So today, we got up and went to church. It was their mortgage burning. The district superintendent was there and spoke. There were videos of the old buildings that housed the people. Then they showed the video with the semi bringing in the present church. After church, we had lunch. Menno and Debbie catered and boy was it good. There was roast and potaoes and salad and cake. I am so full. So tonight we are probably going to have a nap and a very late supper. Hope everyone's week went well. Talk to you soon.

Stay classy Planet Earth

May 24 Part II

Greetings from Emikr Chwey, Rekcavalier of Tylenol. Sorry, I had to. I was watching Star Wars (with the surround sound that we just hooked up) and had to know my Star Wars name. Neat eh?

We took Dee Dee to the vet tonight. She's going to get spayed tomorrow. I hoped she's okay. I don't know how she'll take it being away from us overnight. Mark says I'm being silly cuz she'll be fine. I know she will be, but she's been through so much already, I don't want her to think we're abandoning her too.

I subbed again this afternoon. Went okay. Well, not too much to report. Talk to you soon.

Stay classy Planet Earth

May 24, 2006

Sorry everyone, I have erroneously past on misinformation. My new nephew is not 7lbs as I thought, he is 6 lbs 15 oz. Thanks for the correct info.

May 23, 2006

Hi, I have created a link off this page, and the main page to a little side project of mine called Emily's Ramblings. I will still be updating the blog regularily but now I have a space for any writings I may do. So yeah, check it out.

May 20, 2006

Every so often there is a rumbling that rattles the house and me especially. Mark just looks and me and says that they must be blasting at the mine. The fist time he said that, I thought he was joking. I kinda looked at him and asked, "Isn't that a little dangerous?" Well, I guess it is perfectly safe but it's a little scary when you think about it. There is dynamtie blowing things up near my home. Near enough to shake the house and make a very scary rumbling noise. I'll get used to it I'm sure, but it still makes me nervous.

Safe safe Planet Earth

May 19, 2006

Guess what I did today...... I subbed at Ruth Betts School. Grade 8. It went pretty well. The kids had been threathened pretty good so they were quite well-behaved for me. They played O Canada at the beginning of the day and it was like this hip hop a capella version that was so weird and stupid sounding that it was really hard not to laugh at. There was one girl that while I was trying to get them to do their math sheets, she was reading her book. I told her to stop and continue with her math. She said that she was going to do it tonight, I said no, you'll do it now. Again, she said that she'd do tonight and again i said no, do it now. So slowly, ever so slowly she put her book away and resumed her math problems. Then, after lunch, I told them to work on their math sheets again. She looked at me and said, but I took it home to work on it there. I said, well then it's a good thing that I have extras, and handed her one. There was a presentation from WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) It lasted nearly all morning. One of the presenters reminded me of Faith. She looked like her, spoke like and acted like her. Her had lighter hair and was taller but other than that, I was sure it was Faith (except that the real Faith is across the world).

Exciting news, Malisa had her baby. A boy. No name yet but soon. He was born this morning and weighed 7 lbs and a few ounces. So, the first grandson for the Kroeker's and the sixth grandson for the Erdmann's. Congratulations!! Timothy David Erdmann

Well, the dishwasher is working again. It cutting in and out (the power) and Mark checked out the breakerbox. Apparently the breaker was loose and now provding a good connection. Now it is fixed and I can do dishes properly again. Not having a dishwasher is one thing but having a brand new one all installed and sitting useless is another thing. So, yes, the dishwasher works. Whew!

Better go. I can't let Mark hog the TV all to himself!!

Stay classy Planet Earth

May 18, 2006

Yeah! The dishwasher works. And it works really well too! The dishes are actually clean and I didn't even rinse them! And when they're done, they come out dry. This is so nice.

Wanna hear something embarrassing? We're changing our driver's licenses over to Manitoba so we had to go get our driver's abstracts. Well, when I handed her my license, I saw that I was wearing the exact same shirt! It was my striped blouse with the blue shirt underneath! I could have at least changed the t-shirt, but no. And my hair was exactly the same too. I felt kinda stupid but it did prove that the girl in the picture was defiantly me.

The end of April and beginning/middle of May

Okay, I’m sorry it’s been so long. It’s taken this long to get internet. First, they needed to install a jack in the computer room and then hook it up. Quite a production. I’m sorry to all those who are checking the blog faithfully and not getting anything. And I’m sorry to those checking the old address. With the change of houses brought upon another address change. Okay, now that the apologies are out of the way, I’ll tell you what we’ve been up to these last few weeks…
Friday morning we met with Brian and Tanya and his mom for breakfast. It was a nice farewell. We drove to Moose Jaw and picked up the cargo van and packed it up. We managed to fit Mark’s ATV, his chest, two chairs and all of the other stuff we stashed there. We stayed the night (slept well) and left in the afternoon for Regina with the boat strapped to our car. There, we went over the furniture we wanted to take and what pictures off the wall we wanted. We left some of the stuff there because it was getting to be a lot and they are planning a visit soon anyway. We slept well again. I had caught a cold a few days before we started moving so I was wiped. I’m just getting over it now.
The next morning we woke up early and loaded up the truck. We set out for Saskatoon and met up with Mark’s parents there. When we got there, it was time for lunch so we had a little picnic and then cleaned and emptied the apartment. We made good time with everyone helping out. We fit everything and took off for P.A.

Gas Break

More driving…. And finally we pull into the hotel. A good sleep and thankfully too because we were beat. Next morning, Mark and I went to the lawyer’s to sign the final papers and then over to the Realtor’s to get the keys. We drove over to the house and started unpacking. This is the worst unpacking ever. There is so much space and so many rooms to decide where things are going to go. We still have two empty rooms upstairs. The hot water wasn’t working at first so they got that turned on. Then Dad mentioned if we knew that there was water on the floor in the basement. It had been raining steadily all day we were worried that it was seeping through the walls. But the water was soapy so it was obvious that it was coming from the sink. They got it all cleaned up and continued on. So it is now our first night alone in our new house. Kinda weird.

The next few days were spent buying things from different hardware stores to fix up the house, going to the bank and getting groceries. The days flew by. We did however, find time to got to the SPCA and adopt a dog. Her name is Dee Dee and she is black with a white stripe down her chest. I’ll post pictures soon, I promise. She is a black lab/border collie. She is a very calm dog. She doesn’t run around or chew on anything. We got her a Kong to chew on and she will just lick as much Cheese whiz as she can and then leave it alone. What she really likes it to lie down on your feet or paw at your feet. She likes to be held and cuddled and petted. She was found on an island by a group of people. She had been abandoned there. I guess there is guy that lives there and he takes dogs with him and then when he leaves, he will leave them there. He does it every year three times a year with all of his dogs. So luckily someone found Dee Dee and took her home and fed her. Now she has the easy life. Sleep, eat, and be cuddled. That’s her day.

Mark started work. I’ll let him tell you all about it. It sounds like it is going really well. A little overwhelming because he is coming in part way through. But it sounds like he is really enjoying it.

I am going to be subbing pretty soon. I just have to find a time to drop off my resume and talk to the super-intend ant. I had to be home all this past week because we had different people coming. The dishwasher was supposed to be installed but when the plumber came, he said we need an electrician first, so now I have to wait for him and then call the plumber back and get him to finally install it. It was good however, that he came when he did cuz when he asked to see the electrical box, and there was another big puddle of water on the floor. He snaked it to the property line but couldn’t go any farther. Now it is the city’s problem so they will have to fix the blockage. Hopefully they can come and fix it before if backs up again! Then I had to wait for the satellite installer who still hasn’t shown up. Wednesday I waited for the phone guy to come and install the jack so the guy could come on Thursday to install the internet. However, the phone guy didn’t come so when the internet guy came, he had to just leave the modem and not do anything. We phoned the phone people and they said they could send a guy on May 31. AHHH! I kinda wanted internet before that. So yesterday, the guy showed up. He didn’t know if he could do it cuz the house only had one jack and the wires were wrong and there seemed to be a lot of problems. I felt like saying that I didn’t care, just make it work and give me internet. So he fixed it all up and installed the jack. He took the modem and installed it too. He had to put the filter on the jack so the internet could work. They had given us three and he said it was weird that they gave us so many. Then we just needed to know our username and password which we could find out from MTS. He left and everything seemed fine. Then Mark phoned and there was so much static that I had to switch phones in order to hear him. Anyway, he phoned MTS to say that we could hardly hear and that the internet still didn’t work even though we had the username and password. Mark switched the phone to the new line and all of the sudden there was no static. We realized that we needed those filters on all our jacks and sure enough, no more static. And, the internet worked. Well, kinda. Just for this computer and not through the router. We’ll get it fixed up soon enough but right now, I’m happy just to have internet somewhere in this house. I can follow Blue Jays games again. Now if only the satellite people would show up so I could actually watch the games.

Wow, this has been a long blog. Sorry about that. So much has happened and quickly and I haven’t got the chance to update regularly. Next post will be shorter, I promise.

Update:
Yeah! Satellite came and hooked it all up for us. Now I can watch baseball!!!! I also went to the School Board Office and dropped in my resume. Now I just have to get a provisional certificate and I can start subbing.Dishwasher is electrified so soon it will be installed!

Introducing Dee Dee

April 26

Hey, all! If you're keeping track of our plans, just stop now, I'll tell you how it goes once it's finished. Our plans have changed in major ways three times so far and that was just yesterday. I had to write out the schedule three times! Right now, it's right, but like the weather, wait 15 minutes. I think this last way will be best, and cheaper too. So hopefully, smooth sailing from now on. We started packing today. We got most of it finished. This is good because Mark has an exam on Thurday and needs time to study, and I am getting sick and need time to sleep. I haven't slept well the last few nights. Waking up a lot and not getting comfortable. Last night, I woke up at 3am and then woke up every 10 minutes until 4am. I didn't even know that was possible. So, yeah, I'm getting a cold and not feeling very energetic. But the packing is going really well so that is encouraging.

Anyone following the hockey playoffs? I am cuz it's on CBC and the most exciting thing on. I usually watch the playoff because they are long enough to develope a loyalty and not long enough to get sick and tired of hockey. Boy, have the games today been physical. Chara almost killed Lecavalier. He hauled him down and his head was in perfect position. Chara pulled his fist back, but held it there until the ref tackled him. Man, if he had let loose, no more Vincent. Very physical.

So, all our movies are gone and now we only have TV and internet. Soon, internet will be gone too, so if I don't write anything soon, keep your stick on the ice.

Stay classy Planet Earth.

April 22, 2006

Well, if it's not one thing, it's another! We tried to get a moving truck with some difficulty. Nobody has a truck big enough for us, so we ended up renting a one-ton cube van from one company and a cargo van from another. It had better work. Plus we'll have our car, so hopefully it will all work out. We're going to have quite the convoy. It's going to take some thinking about who is driving what, when and where but we'll figure something out. Plus, gas prices are not going down anytime soon, so the moving expenses are going to be big. We get some money from the school board for moving but right now, I think most of that money is going towards our phone bill. We've been hooking up utilities and cancelling pones here and phoning all over the province and beyond. Just to get a truck we had to phone Regina at least four times. But I think it should be easy from now on. All the furniture can fit in the truck and the boxes in the van and the car. Whew.

Today is my last day at work. I'm going to miss it. I really liked it, even the parts I didn't like, were okay. I'll have more news about my last day in the future. Until then...

Stay classy Planet Earth.

April 18, 2006

Hello, I'm back! I know it's been a long time, but a lot has happened and changed so I didn't feel able to update it with any certainty that it wouldn't change in the next minute. Perhaps I should start at the beginning. Now, when was that....

We got back from FF after putting in an offer for the house. They came back with a counter-offer, not too surprising. We spent the day going back and forth. We finally decided on an amount. Boy is our phone bill going to be big! Then, we thought everything was great. They had the house appraised with no appliances for the original amount and we got them down quite a bit. We went to Sears and picked out applinaces so we could pay for them as soon as the deal was official. So I started getting excited, planning what I was going to do with that 1970s bathroom. Then, we got a call from the Credit Union in FF saying that the Mortgage people would only approve out mortgage up to a certain amount, which was something like $18,000 less of what we agreed on. The CU said that they would send the Mortgage people some more info...like the fact that the house has basically been rebuilt and that two other house in that area have sold for comprable amounts. It wasn't looking too good but CU got back to us saying that CHMA agreed and we have the house. So after several trips to Staples faxing things back and forth, to Sears twice, (did you know that you have a maximum debit amount and you can't go over. It's so if someone steals your debit card, they can't spend all your money. It's a good thought, but bad if you want to buy five appliances on your debit card) and to the CU here to sign more papers, I can now say with 98% certainty that we own a house! We even have insurance!

I decided not to get too excited until we actually move in. I got excited last time and when it looked like we were going to lose the house, I got really disapointed. Mark said that it's okay if I get excited now, cuz nothing can really stop it now. But still.... I'm a little excited, and I'm back to thinking what I'm going to do to that bathroom and all those bedroom we have. FIVE! I'm used to one. One guy at work suggested having a Room for the Lost. It's basically an empty room with a single candle in the middle. That would really save on decorating. Mark doesn't like that idea so it's probably a no-go. But anyway, I'm more excited now. We just have to do all the address changes and rent a moving truck. Fun, fun, fun. I promise I will write more now that things have calmed down.

Stay classy Planet Earth.

April 9, 2006

Another busy weekend. We left early Friday morning and drove all the way to Flin Flon. We were there pretty early, even with the time change, so we stopped in at the School Board. The Superintendent offered to drive us around and look for for houses being sold privately. Apparently most of the really nice houses don't even hit the market before they're sold. There was one house that just put a sign in their window yesterday. We phoned them but the price was too high. The neighbourhood was really nice and so was the house, at least the outside, but too pricey.
We drove to the Credit Union to see about mortgages and opening an account. Even though the rates were a little higher than we could have got with Concentra, we still decided to go ahead with FFCU just because there is a person in our own town we can speak with directly. And the rates weren't that different. 
We went ans stayed with a couple from the FF Alliance Church. They live at Big Island Lake. Truly a lakefront house. It was beautiful, the house, the view. I guess he goes fishing every day, at least one. They were so nice, we felt really welcomed and not like we were imposing. We met up with Mark's folks later that night for supper. After that we went back to the house and had wings. Boy were they good.
The next day we woke up and went to Denare Beach to look at a house. It was not at all what we were wanting. IT used to be our first choice, but wow...not anymore. the shingles were curling, the siding was warped and that was just the outside. The inside was really poorly laid out. The kitchen was all open with counters that went forever. The dining room was across the kitchen. I mean, I like a large kitchen, but c'mon! The stairs to go upstairs were winding and not at all stable. Kinda scary. The bedroom that was suppose to be so large, didn't look that large at all, and again, poorly laid out. The whole house was just dumb. So we crossed it off the list and went to the next one.
We were warned to be really cautious because the house had been hit by a semi. It had been parked up the road and loaded down with concrete pads. So it didn't stay and drove into the front of the house. They got it all fixed up though and we read the engineer's report who had fixed everything. They poured two new basement walls and fixed most of the interior. It looks half new! We really liked it and after reading the report, we decided to make an offer. There was one other house we looked at but it had a crazy interior, really cabin themed. It was not what we wanted. So we'll find out if the offer was accepted soon. I hope it goes through. We drove home in a convoy with Mark's folks. Boy were we exhausted.
One small note. Because we don't have cable, I can't watch BJ games. This is not cool. However, on the Blue Jays web site, they have a link to a pitch by pitch update. It shows each pitch by location and whether it was a ball or strike or in play. The only problem is that it is kinda slow so you know that a ball is in play but you don't know if it made an out or not. It's the best I got so I'm not going to complain.

Stay Classy Planet Earth

April 4, 2006

Hello all, just a short note to celebrate what I am sure to be the fist of many many victories for the Blue Jays. I have a good feeling about this year. Of course, I say that about every year and even for the Riders and we all know how that turns out. But I have faith.

Oh, and Mom, I was eating Rumball in that picture you saw. Faith made them and they were quite good.

Stay classy Planet Earth.

April 3, 2006

Boy, my weekends are getting more and more busy. Good thing I have a two days off after that to recover! On Friday, we went to Mark's PAA grad supper at the Granery. The food was great. Mark had a steak and I had seafood pasta. Mmmm. The actuall party was alright, we left rather early. The supper started at 7:00pm but we didn't order until around 8:00 and the food didn't come until 9:00. There were 50 of us so we weren't expecting it to be fast. But it doesn't drag a little. We went to Brian and Tanya's house after the supper and decided to go to a midnight movie. We saw Firewall It was alright. I only kinda liked it but Mark seemed to like it. We got home fairly late and I went straight to sleep. On Saturday, Mom and Dad and Julie along with Annika and Naomi came for a visit. They were meeting up with Justin, who later showed up, to go back to Red Deer. We had a lot of fun and Annika wore out everyone! She's such a cutie with so much energy. Naomi crawled circles around everyone and we had to keep her out of the desk, the bedrroom, the hallway etc. It was fun and we haven't had such a full house...ever. After they left, I had to go to work. I stayed awake until around 10:30 when I nearly crashed at the computer. I was so happy to go home. Yesterday Tara came and we went for lunch at Manchu Wok and walked around the mall for a bit. It was nice to see her again. It's been a long time and will be a long time before we hang out again.

Ttoday has been a relaxing day. I took Mark to school and now I'm just doing some writing. I should start the wash pretty soon. I was going to get groceries today, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow. There is nothing we really need, except milk and that will last another day. Well, hope everyone had a good weekend, talk to you soon!

Stay classy Planet Earth!

March 28, 2006

Wow, what a weekend. Saturday morning, we woke up and drove to Regina. We had lunch there with Grandma, Mom and Dad, Julie and Justin and Annika and Naomi. It was a full house. After lunch, we drove to Grenfell for my cousin Celeb and Nicole's wedding. I can't belive he really got married. I still think of him as my baby couisn. He was the youngest of the cousins that we would let play with us. There were two younger but we always made some rule that excluded them. Like, you have to be eight years old, and the next year we would change it so Caleb would be the cutoff again. Well, now we can make it a married club, with certain exceptions to allow some others. But I guess we're so spread apart that it doesn't seem like such a necessiity anymore. It's strange, i thought we'd always hang out and stay close. Like at Christmastime and Thanksgiving. We were always close, but I guess everyone grows up and starts their own nest. My parents don't get together with their couisns anymore either. Pretty soon I'll have kids and they will (hopefully) be able to play with their cousins. I've always gotten along with my cousins (well, I think we made the younger two cry every once and awhile). I had friends who hated their cousins. I always thought that was so weird. It never occured to me that you could not like your cousins. I mean, they're family, you have to get along with them. But perhaps I'm being too nostalgic and looking through those rose cloloured glasses. Weddings will do that to me.

Well, after the wedding was over, we drove back to Regina to pick up our stuff, then on to Moose Jaw. We got there about midnight. Boy were we tired! We went to church and then spent some time with Mark's parents and then headed back. What a weekend!!

Stay classy planet Earth!

March 21, 2006

Alright!!! Julie's suggestion of putting a crust a bread in with the brown sugar wins!! I did it last night and I checked it at noon today, and it's back to normal!! I'm making cookies!!! Boy oh boy will Mark be happy.

Oh, and another piece of exciting news, I saw two Canada geese today! IT"S SPRING!!! Yesterday was the offical first day of spring, but it's not really spring until the geese come back. There were only two but it's a start. I can't wait until the huge flocks start flying back!! I hope the roads start melting. The highways were really bad this morning, all covered in ice and snow. Hopefully it will clear up by the time we have to drive to Flin Flon. We got an appointment with the Credit Union there. I guess that's exciting too. But right now I'm more excited about borwn sugar and geese. It really doesn't take much to make me happy. Cookies and spring. That's all I need.

March 20, 2006

It's me again! We've talked to a real estate agent in Flin Flon and set up an apointment to go look at a few houses. She seemed pretty excited about it. We wrote the email together and sent it off just before Mark drove me to work. When he got home, there was a response. There's one especially that we want to look at. We didn't know it at the time but it's at Denare Beach which means we will still technically live in Saskatchewan! Anyway, it's the most expensive one on our list, but it's beautiful. Denare Beach is a little town, smaller than Flin Flon! And it's next to Amisk Lake which is huge, again, relatively speaking but i'm used to ponds compared to what's up there. The best part is that the house is on a bay or Place as they call it and is right beside the lake. This is the map of Denare Beach and it's on Bayview Place. See how close it is? It's not our only choice but our first!

Yep, so that's what's been going on here. Mark is still quite busy with school. He's just wrapping up assignments and getting ready for exams. It's been a little stressful trying to juggle school and a big move but we'll get through it!

Stay classy Planet Earth.

March 14, 2006

Hello. How is everybody? I've been doing pretty good lately. Not too much news. I did quite a bit today though. After I dropped Mark off at school, I did some banking, got some groceries, went to Staples and finally got my hair cut. After I got home, I made buns! Mom had given me her recipe but she cut it in half for me. I only have two baking sheets and they are really small, so I cut the recipe in half again. They turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. Mark likes them. They don't look that great. The bottoms are fairly dark and the tops are really light and I can't seem to make them into balls. Mom could make the most perfectly shaped buns but I have aways to go. I guess I should be encouraged though cuz this is only the second time I've tried to bake buns and they have always tasted good.

I am quite upset with brown sugar. I must not use it often enough because it gets hard and crusty. Even though I have it in an air-tight container, it still dries up. I have half a container of a solid brown sugar brick. I tried to chip it apart but my spoon was starting to bend.

I have another beef with baking. In my new cookbook, there is a recipe for unbaked cookies. However, it says to cook sugar, milk and butter. What does that mean? I thought it said no bake! How am I suppossed to cook this mixture? On the stove? In the oven? At what temp? Boil it? I am so confused.

Mark has already heard my ramblings. He doesn't know either. He is out with Brian tonight. They are going to an informational session at the Saskatoon Inn for martgages. I hope he learns a lot. We're trying to do our taxes right now. We're using Quick Tax and it's great. It plugged in all our info from last year. I wasn't sure if I had any money carrying over from tuition and sure enough I do! I have to pick up my T4 from TIm Horton's and Mark is still waiting on his from the School Board but we're well on our way! It feels nice not to worry too much about taxes.

Well, I'd better go. If anyone knows any answers to my questions.... please let me know!

Stay classy Planet Earth.

March 9, 2006

Hi all. Hope everyone is doinf well. It's really melting here and the streets are slushy and dirty. Oh well, at least it's warm. Work is still going well. I don't like doing the web orders though and I've managed not to do it too mcuh lately. I have a meeting today about it witht he rest of the web order people. Hopefully it won't be long and boring. I was going to get a section of the store to look after but since I'm leaving they decided not to.

Some sad news to report. Our fish passed away early this week. The cause of death is still unknown. He enjoyed eating and was an avid swimmer. He will be missed. He was predeceased by our other fish - Robbie, Fred, Barney, Bottom-feader, The Big Striped fish and The Other One who perished in the Great Flush of '05. Funeral aragemnets courtesy of The Toilet, director M. Kroeker. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Fish Fund c/o Mark and Emily Kroeker. Our only regret is that we never bothered to name him.

Stay classy Planet Earth.

March 7, 2006

Okay, if you are offended by the cartoon that the University of Saskatchewan newspaper The Sheaf printed, don't call me at work to complain. I mean it. I was offended too. I'm sure most people were however, it is not up to McNally Robinson to control what was in this issue. It's not the same situation as the cartoon that was in the Western Standard that we chose not to sell. In the case of the Western Standard, we knew that the cartoons were published in that particular issue and head office decided not to carry it. Fine. In the case of the Sheaf, there was no prior warning. And what were people's main complaint? That we advertise in the Sheaf. So what?We should pull our advertising? Even if we had known prior so we could have pulled our advertisment, it would not have stopped the cartoon from being published, printed and distributed. So stop calling me at work!

 Whew, I'm glad that over. I can't complain to the customers at work. I just have to listen to their uninformed tirade and pass the message along to the manager. Poor guy, he couldn't do any work cuz he was busy dealing with all the complaints. So now I'm done, no more tirades of my own.

 So I guess you read Mark's blog. We decided that we'll go after his exams are all officially over. It's one thing to make an few extra bucks but an entirely other thing not to pass the exams. There's too much stress and extra work involved to justify it. We were just so blown away by the offer. Well, I'm going to go check out the real estate options in Flin Flon. Wish me luck!

 Stay Classy Planet Earth.

March 6, 2006

Whew, quite a bit has happened lately. It seems like I've been really busy lately. On Firday, Mark had his grad. It seemed a little premature cuz he still has nearly two more months left. It was nice to get together and celebrate what will shortly be. There was a board with all the grads' pictures on it. Mark was wondering what happens if they don't graduate. A big black X through their picture? I hope not. Gene Makowski was the key note speaker at the banquet. He was realy funny. Before it all started he was sitting by himself at his table. Dad pointed him out to me but I probably should have guess who he was... the largest man in the building. Since he was all alone, I asked him for his autograph. He was really nice and I told him that I was moving to Flin Flon but I would always be a Rider fan. He told me not to boo him and I promised I would never. I figured being on the border, I'll be pretty safe. I might have to make a run for Creighton on Labour Day though.

So the next day, we went out for Brunch with Mark's family and then after lunch my folks came over. We all had a nice visit and then they had to go too. It had really started to snow and Marj had phoned saying that they had to stop in Davidson. So I was kinda worried. I had to go to work right away and Mark went over to Brian and Tanya's house. We left a new message on our machine for both our families to phone if they needed help. Marj phoned back and said that they made it home and I haven't heard from my folks so I guess they made it home okay. They left after and it must have cleared up. I was kinda worried at work but no news is good news. I will probaly phone them tonight just to be sure.

Mark is a video productions class so that has been taking up a lot of our time. He's shooting a five minute movie of how to take the bus. It's aimed towards prospective students. I'm the Girl who is learning all about the bus system. We even my parents in the movie. They leave me at my apartment and say goodbye. We rehearsed our goodbye hug and then nailed it on the first take! We shot all morning yesterday. No wonder it takes 5 months for a feature length movie. For a 5 minute movie, we've spent hours and hours!

I got my first Roll up the Rim cup in nearly two years. Didn't win.

Classy Planet Earth

P.S. Shout out to Brian who got a job! Good on ya!

March 2, 2006

Well, well, wll. It's March, and it sure came in like a lion. Mark had to clean the car cuz it was buried in snow. Driving was sure fun. I'm so glad I have front wheel drive. Just hit the gas and it will pull you through. The stupid thing is that at work, they pilled up all the snow inthe middle of the parking lot. There are parking problems as there is and now we lost half of the parking lot! Last Saturday, I had to park in another lot cuz ours was full. I hope they cleared it all away or I'm going to have trouble when I get to work. At least they finally plowed the streets today (some of them).

Not much in the way of news, just the weather report today. Stay classy Planet Earth.

• Monday - Washing
• Tuesday - Ironing
• Wednesday - Mending
• Thursday - Marketing
• Friday - Baking
• Saturday - Cleaning
• Sunday - Day of Rest