I'm officially on holidays! Woohoo!

I appreciate Ebenezer Baptist Church's worship style. I recall when I was going to Westmount that I felt that their music was a little too 'old' for me. However, it was recently brought to my attention that Alan Jackson (I have always enjoyed that guy) has a gospel album out called Precious Memories. I gave it a listen, and it kind of reminded me of Westmount, and that was actually a good thing, a nostalgic thing. Sometimes I miss singing the old hymns at church, and I really appreciate when we do sing them once in a while. Anyway, if you are in the mood for some good country gospel hymns, definitely check out Alan Jackson - Precious Memories.

After a brief visit with Jason's Aunt Doreen and Uncle Jim this morning, I have decided that I would like to die suddenly when my time comes. Uncle Jim is struggling with terminal cancer right now and it's so hard on him and Doreen. I think that it would be much easier for those around me if I were to die suddenly than having to live with illness for an extended period of time. It makes me so sad to see Jim in the state that he's in *sigh* Please keep them (and us) in your prayers as this will be a difficult time for them as well as those close to them.

I must be getting old

I think I came to the conclusion this weekend that I don't like tubing. I have had some fun times in the past, but more often than not I find it painful and scary. I went tubing this weekend and I am so unbelievably sore. I didn't fall off or anything, it's just the bouncing and the holding on for dear life that have my triceps, lats and all across my back by my shoulder blades sore as can be.

Jason and I are on a countdown to our holidays next week! I booked next week off of work months and months ago and I can't believe it is already here. It will be fun but makes me sad that it will be over so soon and then what do I get to look forward to? Hopefully a fun trip to Edmonton with Karen and Arleen in September or October :) I might try out Jason's sitski on our holidays. I think it would be less painful than tubing and a smoother ride. We'll see if I chicken out...

Sooooooooooooo hot...

I just got home from a weekend up at Camp Kadesh at Christopher Lake. It was a great time of hanging out with Arleen and her new puppies (Caramel and Mack), but it was SO hot! I am not sure what the temperature was yesterday but it had to have been over 30 for sure. It was fun to hang out down in the lake and go for a boat ride, but when it came time to sleep last night it was just ridiculously hot! I am sure that it was at least 25-30C in our room last night. We talked about going down and sleeping on the trampolines and we would have, except for the fact that a storm was rolling in and too many mosquitoes! We finally settled for having 3 fans on full speed blowing at us on the bed. I managed to sleep fairly well considering the circumstances. I always enjoy being up there, but this heat was just unbelievable. I would have liked to hang out for a while longer today but the thought of sitting in an air conditioned car was a little too appealing to me. So I left at noon instead of 1 or 2pm like I originally thought I might. All in all a good weekend :)

Saskatoon Farmer's Market

Jason and I went to the farmer's market for the first time ever this morning. It is located in the Lakewood Civic Centre parking lot on Tuesday morning/afternoons. It was quite fun and I think I would like to go to the big one downtown sometime on a Saturday. There were tons of beautiful vegetables for not the cheapest prices, but they just looked so much healthier than the ones at the grocery store. We bought some peas (still in the pods) that are so sweet and crunchy, kohlrabi, a cucumber and a jalepeno pepper (for our quesadillas tomorrow). I will definitely go back again! You should check it out!

Saskatoon Farmers' Market

This makes me smile...

http://www.pagetutor.com/idiot/idiot.html
http://www.compfused.com/directlink/3671/
I wanted to warn people who visit the second link that there is a bit of questionable advertising on the sight where that video is. The video is hilarious though!

Frustration

I am so frustrated right now. Mostly with an organization called Home Care. I am thankful that they are available to us, but I wish that they were not strictly a government run organization. That way there may be some competition available within the market and I think that may make them less lazy in their practices. I realize though, that without the government subsidization that most people that need home care's services, could not afford them.

Since Jason and I got married I have learned a lot about Home Care. Without going into details, Jason sees them a few times a week for some personal care. It is of the utmost importance that he see people who have been specifically trained for him. One of his regular workers that he would see only about every 12 weeks has been gone for quite sometime. Now instead of looking ahead to these times when they are going to have to fill these gaps, they run around like chickens with their heads cut off on the day they need to find someone to fill this spot. You would think that it might make sense for them to anticipate this gap in their schedule. It is a good thing that Jason is as on top of things as he is, and he calls to make sure they are on their toes. He is always very polite on the phone, but the home care workers who answer a lot of times are very growly and unfriendly. *sigh* I just don't get it.

Sorry for my rant, just needed to get that off my chest.

Hemochromatosis

A few months back one of my cousins on my dad's side of the family was diagnosed with a genetic disorder called hemochromatosis. It is an excess of iron in the blood. In her family there are 5 other children. A few of them have been tested for it and were also positive for this condition. Their doctors urged them to talk to their families and ask them to be tested. My dad was tested recently at his last physical exam and tested positive. Now this may or may not affect my sister and I. It all depends on whether my mom either has this condition (probably unlikely) or is a carrier of the condition. It does not show up until middle age and it can be deadly but it is quite treatable if it is diagnosed. The treatment is taking blood. I read on the website that I have linked above that in the initial stages after diagnosis sometimes a person needs to give a unit of blood once or twice a week for up to a year until they get the iron levels under control. After that they will give a unit of blood every 3-4 months for the rest of their lives. This can be done at a doctor's office or at a blood donor clinic as long as their blood and health is otherwise okay for donation. I suppose this isn't the worst condition to have in our family, but it's still something to think about. A few weeks ago I was watching a program on tv about this family that has genetic stomach cancer in their family so this whole family (aunts, uncles, cousins and all) had their stomachs removed because the cancer killed some of their other relatives by about age 45. Anway, just some interesting information. The fact that my dad has it means that one of his parents had to have it and the other was a carrier of the gene.

Say hello to William Michael Vanin!

I am happy to announce the birth of my second nephew today at 6:07pm. He weighed in at 8lb 6oz, is 20.5 inches long and his name is William Michael. We will get to meet him tomorrow hopefully. I will post some pictures soon :)

Canada Day at Lac Pelletier

July Long Weekend

After going to two funerals last week (I think before that I had only ever been to 4 in my life), it was nice to have a pretty relaxing weekend. We spent the majority of the weekend at Lac Pelletier half an hour south of Swift Current. Jay's parents just got a new mobile home moved in this spring as a more permanent cabin for them and let me tell you it's beautiful. It is 4 feet wider than the old one, a few feet longer and much much newer. It is so spacious that it feels like another home more than a cabin.

Friday night there was quite the thunder storm which knocked out the power. Not too big of a problem except for the fact that we were outside and needed power for the wheelchair lift at the cabin. So Jay and I went down to the beach in the van to watch the thunder storm and see if the power would come back on. We waited until the rain stopped and decided that we just didn't know how long the power would be out, so Dale and I managed to haul Jay up the steps and into the cabin for the night. I think the power came on about 40 minutes or so after we got Jay into the cabin.

Saturday was Canada day. The weather was quite hot (I have learned my lesson and put on sunscreen and didn't burn! ha!), and we went down to the beach, got some ice cream, had steak for supper and saw some fireworks in the evening (mostly Roman Candles tho :P). Then Sunday it was again a lovely day, so we went down to the lake and Jay went for a swim which was fun!

Oh yeah, and Jay and I made friends with a dog. There were people camped in a field in front of the cabin in a 5th wheel trailer. We barely saw anyone there the whole weekend and this dog was tied up outside the whole time. I felt bad for the poor thing so I went over and held out my hand to her to see if she was friendly, and she held out her paw to me to shake my hand. After a couple of visits I managed to look at her tags and found out her name is Piper. She was a sweet dog...*sigh* makes me want one of my own!

While we were away my sister had some pretty intense false labour (she is due on the 15th of this month). I tried calling her this afternoon and she wasn't there, so who knows. There could be a new baby any time now! I'll keep you posted!