Wrapping up the past couple weeks.

The last couple of weeks have been busier then I had planned on. Lots of good things. A bit of bad. The bad part being I got sick in the middle of it all. Which wasn't so fun.

* Spent a most enjoyable day with my dear friend Nancy. Not only did we have a chance to get caught up, we enjoyed a nice little lunch at Meme's here in town. Delightful!

* Spent another most enjoyable day with my sweet cousin Tricia. After I picked her up at her house, we toured over to Living Waters Book Store and did some browsing before arriving at our house. Heather joined us on her lunch break. And all afternoon, the two of us schnibbled and pasted and cut up a storm...making cards. Max even joined in on the fun after he got home from school and made 5 cards himself. So fun!

* Did a little cross border shopping with my another dear friend Janice last Friday and Saturday. This is where the not-so-fun part comes in. Friday morning, out of the blue, I woke up with a head cold. And just felt lousy. Congested. Headachy. Runny nosy. Sore throatish. You know the drill. So I definitely was not 100%. But I still managed to have fun and get some shopping in. Janice introduced me to Cato's of which I had heard so much about. Fab prices! And also Panera Bread. Have you ever been? Mmmmmmmmm!!!! Their Vanilla Hazelnut coffee is the best. THE BEST. I had two extra-larges on Saturday and could have indulged in a third if it would have been available. Hands down the best flavoured coffee. I'm addicted. As long as I had my box of Vicks Puffs tissues at my side and throat lozanges, I was good to go. Other fun things included dinner at the Olive Garden on Friday night...Target...and best of all using Janice's GPS. Stress-free driving wherever we pleased! :-)  The icing on the cake... no duty had to be paid. The border guard wrote us up and sent us in. The man inside looked at the paper, asked if we bought any duty free and when we said no, he said to just go. Whew. By the skin of our teeth!

* Last Sunday night my mom threw a surprise 60th birthday party for my dad at their place, for a bunch of their friends. I was soooo feeling under the weather but I had promised to help her get ready for the part-aye... I stayed home from church and rested all morning and for part of the afternoon before going over to help. LeeAnne was there too and between the three of us, we got it all done and then we left before the guests arrived. My dad had no clue until about 30 minutes before it started when he came into the house from helping with barn chores and saw all the food and the balloons. Pretty funny!!

* Tuesday night (Jan 26) I threw a birthday party for dad for our family. It was pretty fun. I'll blog more about it in another post. It took me all day Monday and Tuesday to get ready for the party. Because I was still fighting/enduring my head cold, I had zero energy. It seemed like everything took me three times longer to do.

* Wednesday evening our friend Laith came over for dinner. He had flown in from BC for work meetings and it worked out for him to come over for a few hours. Keith grilled some steaks, I made some sides and the three of us had a great little visit together.

Laith brought us a beautiful housewarming gift on behalf of his family. A runner for the dining room table which he had bought over in Oman (UAE) this past summer. It's absolutely gorgeous. I love all the textures and colours together. Looks awesome on our very used and abused dining table (formerly a butchering table in it's previous life.)

* Wednesday night LATE (as in midnight), Greg and Gerry arrived from the wild wild west. They were also in town for the same work meetings. They were staying overnight at our place and leaving with Keith the next morning at 6:30am so this was my only chance to see them. It was a bit of a late night to say the least.

* Thursday morning Keith left and was gone until Saturday morning. His days were crammed full with Electrical meetings and shareholder meetings and the ten-year dinner party. I used Thursday and Friday to recuperate and take things a bit easy. I am happy to report that I am feeling much better and my headcold has pretty much gone away. So thankful it didn't linger.

* Also included in those days were the usual hockey practices/games, lacrosse, helping with hot lunch at the school, getting the trailblazer safety'd, picking it up and then having to go back again because the paperwork was filled out incorrectly (see...like I said....this licence business is NEVER a smooth process)...picking up Vanessa after her exams...morning tea with my friend Val after dropping the boys off at school in the morning...going to my mom's for a nice dinner midweek... things like that.

* This weekend was more lowkey... very much appreciated by both Keith and I. Keith arrived home mid Saturday morning with flowers and a Starbucks coffee for me in hand. (can't beat that kind of homecoming!) Max didn't have hockey at all so we got to just stay home and hang out. In the afternoon I went over to my neighbours for a "Beat the January Blahs" party. I was able to meet a whole bunch of my neighbours whom I hadn't met yet so that was great. There was a girl there selling beautiful handmade glass jewellery and lots of yummy foods to nosh on. Awesome way to beat the January blahs if you ask me! Today we went with my cousin and his wife to their church and out for thai food afterwards. It was YUMMY and Max even ate it. A major accomplishment. We relaxed and dozed this afternoon. LeeAnne is just arriving now for the evening and Keith is making popcorn and we're all going to watch AFV. Yay....love cozy nights like this! :-)