Where is the reset button?

It's work days like these that I would push it and have a do-over.....

"Hello? Yeah, it's Donna. Sorry, I won't be in to work today"

The fall of Riot

Just a quick update for all you ringette fans out there....heeelllooo?? are you there? Anyone?
Ok, I will update the rest of you then.
I did take a few pictures (still in camera, no where near me right now) but there is really nothing to see.
Riot went into what is now their final game of playdowns and lost out to Beaumont. I gotta say, they did not go down with out a fight. Their passing game is what lost it for them in the end...or they lack of it.
It was quite the exciting final game, I was a little worried though in the second half that we weren't going to get to stay and see the end since we have a parent or two on our team that are quite vocal with the men and woman in stripes and we got threatened that we would be removed with one more out burst from the stands and Riot would get a bench minor...embarrassing!!
Tayler had a great game, one of the best games I have seen her play in quite some time. She really did look amazing out there. She played center where she usually plays defence. I was shocked because she usually doesn't have the legs for center, not last night. That girl was every where and hard. She fought the corner battles and seemed to always come out with ring in tow...she checked, she defended and yup, she scored the teams only goal that game with a couple other extreme chances that you would have thought 'robbed' had you saw it with your own eyes.
Nothing left but the party now.
Just two more weekends of soccer to go and we should be weekend free.....for now.

A classic Seinfeld moment

Terry and I were out and about this Monday enjoying the beautiful weather brought to us sponsored by Family Day.
It was weird not having the whole family with us to savor the day (they were with their Dad this weekend) but we knew we couldn't just sit inside and ignore this fantastic February day. Besides, Terry needed a break from his insane addiction to studying.

So we drove around checking out the various venues around the city and settled on parking down town and walking around Churchill Square.

We parked in the City Center parkade then headed into this amazing downtown gerbil cage for humans. Its a huge down town mall that is linked via pedways over and under ground. You never really have to go out side. I haven't been there much but it is fun to be in amongst the 'real' people of the city.

Check out this pedway system.

So then we headed out side to Churchill square which was full of people enjoying the various activities set up pretty specifically dedicated for small children..

Can you believe this is February?!

I found this underfoot. I placed it up against the monument in hopes who ever dropped it spots it.

Check out these super cool burning barrels. Pay close attention Terry! :o)

I want one!

We walked around quite a bit and just did some people watching while soaking up the unusually warm February sun....soooo nice!!

Onto our Seinfeld moment. When we finally decided we had enough we strolled back to the parkade to grab our truck and head for a rare afternoon lunch out. We talked about how nice these stolen moments were and too far between. We grabbed the first exit we found into the parkade. First mistake. We are such creatures of parking habit, we ALWAYS park in the same area every where we go so as not to have to worry about forgetting where we parked. We are well aware of our ageing! LOL and our scattered thoughts! We never go down town so we don't have a spot!! But as out of practice as we are heading out into the world lately we didn't think to look around to remember where we parked. Apparently this parking garage (which really isn't that big) is made up of four or five levels but in different spirals?! Not really sure but I do know we were not on the correct 'spiral' and were not entirely sure of where we parked. Terry felt confident at first. So I followed. All the while snapping pictures (mostly still blurry pictures! DOH!) and thinking about this Seinfeld episode .Classic. We were now living it.

This doesn't look right!

So we forged on...how much farther could it be anyway?

Seriously?

We finally decided to head out side and walk around to were we drove in.Oh my....there she is! We treated her to a nice wash after lunch.

Oh the places we will go.

Sitting at my desk happily working away this morning (LMAO) and I get a phone call from Tay just minutes after she should have been just on the bus to school.
~I missed my bus
*no big deal, just catch another one.
~there aren't any other ones.
*in all of the city, there are no other buses that can take you to school? Really?
~Really Mom! There aren't any! -in a panic now-
*I can't come get you and there is no one to pick you up and you have to get to school.
~ I know! But there is no way.
*you know, people take the bus all over the city every day?
~ -silence-
*go online, find your bus route and #, call to find out when the next bus is coming and if you need to transfer and then call your school to let them know you will be late.

end of conversation
---------------------------------------------------------------------
minutes later

~OK, the bus comes in a few minutes, I called the school and I am leaving now
*that's my girl, I knew you could do it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Of course there were a few more filler sentences spoken in there but you get the gist. In all this as well, I had to talk her Dad down from running back into town to pick her up and drive her. He was going to leave his job and drive her to school...15 to 20 drive each way. Not necessary, the time to grow up and start being responsible for one self starts now.

I get a text from the bus. She has made it on! woo hoo...Proud Mom. I send her words of praise and we text back and forth about growing up and accomplishments. She is obviously happy with herself and her new found independence (I personally have been pushing her to take the plunge into finding her way in the world of transit for a couple of years) we text back and forth a bit more then carry on with our mornings.

The phone then rings...She is at the school, late but she is there. She has forgotten her phone on the bus. Oh my girl...too funny.
~It's OK though Mom, I have already called the transit station, told them which bus I was on and they have the driver getting it and will hold it at the station until we come and get it.

She is definitely on her way.

Well, it was a start.

I went to a class last night. It was a basic digital photography class meant to help people learn to use all the settings on their digital cameras for the purpose and reason they were actually put there.
I have been very frustrated since I received my camera as a b-day gift from Terry a couple of years ago. I wanted so badly to take wonderful pictures and record moment of my kids doing what they love capturing the raw emotion on their faces.
Maybe I set my standards to high to quickly because it became clear pretty fast that a point and shoot camera still involves some technique and knowledge to run. Well, true to being me I decided I would just learn as I went and not actually spend the time reading the manual. Who has time for that? It's a novel for pete sakes.
Turns out, had I spent the initial time reading the manual, maybe one hour out of my life two years ago, I would have found that my pictures would not have been so grainy and blurry for two years if I would have just made two simple adjustments to the settings. Go figure.
This class I attended last night, seemed to be at first like a big waste of time. It was filled with a handful of happily retired grandparents who had received their very first digital camera for Christmas and wanted to learn how to use it. Most of the instructors time was spent explaining what some of the symbols were and helping each one figure out how to find it in their books..Boooorrriiinnggg. I was sitting antsy in my chair ready to really learn, to walk out of that class born again the photographer I imagined I can be...not so much.
First off, my young cocky self thinking I knew so much more than ol' grandpa next to me had to ask to borrow a pen from him, the one I had grabbed out of the truck from the floor didn't work. Really?
Then I had to excuse my self 45 minutes into class because the battery I had so diligently charged was still sitting at home, charging. ( There was a last minute laundry emergancy) No problem, they were waaay behind anyway. So I take off home grab my extra battery and get back just as they were finally talking about the next setting, how to turn off your flash. *sigh*.
The big waste of time I initially thought this class was going to be turn out all right in the end. At the beginning of the class the instructor gave us a hand out that we were vaguely going to follow (we didn't actually with Grandma and her big book having so many issues) so while they were all fiddling with their camera straps and discovering the wonder that is macro, I was forced to spend two hours referencing my camera's manual and learning how to use my camera, like I should have done in the first place.
The class made me slow down and actually focus on one task with out distraction.$40.00 well spent.
Next, editing and sharing. Yay!

..and along came the most unlikely spider

A modern day rendition of Little Miss Muffet!

Thanks for the laughs Dan.

....oh my Daniel.....

Who are you when you're home alone?

Well I am a person who doesn't get to experience that home alone time too often so on rare occasion when it happens I almost panic.

I can think of quite a few things that I would, could, and should do.

Last night I did none of the things that came to mind.

This is what I did while home alone last night:

-I ate a whole bunch of peanut M&M's

-I drank some beers

-I watch hockey (Go Oilers)

-I ironed and folded laundry

Yup....I need a hobby.

Good thing I am going to the gym tonight.