Sisterlines Space in Time

"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you always got." Mark Twain.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Windy windy windy

I went to the nursing home to visit with Granny yesterday. The winds were so strong it was crazy. When I got there, one of the cranes that had been there for working on the renovations had blown over. I guess there was a man up in the boom of the crane working it with the remote control and the wind picked up and blew it right over. He was thrown from the boom and had to be taken away in an ambulance, and I guess it was very very serious. I hope he is okay. So Granny had a birds eye view of the crane. She did not see or hear the accident, which she is glad about, she slept right through it! But she could see the truck and the police officers walking around and doing their investigations. 
chow for now



Jacqui

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Ontario Championship Weekend

This past weekend was so much fun. Not only did I get to spend a whole weekend with just me and my son Joel, but we got to hang out with the rest of his volleyball team too, and they are a really fun bunch of people. 
The weekend started on Thursday when I only worked a half day and picked Joel up at school at 11:00 AM. We headed back home and had some lunch and then we packed up the car and started on our way. We were planning on doing the #7 highway route, but started along and came to a sign for a detour - and I'm not sure of that area - so I just said we'll zip across where I know where I am and get on the 401 and go from there. So we zipped over and went through Woodstock. We stopped at the new No Frills store and grabbed some groceries for the weekend. The room had a fridge and a microwave, so we grabbed some water and some fruit and stuff to keep us going! We got to our room around 3:30 or so and we settled in to surf the Internet a little with our free WiFi! Neither one of us were hungry, so we opted out of going out for supper and decided to go see a movie and have some popcorn instead!!! So we headed out the Empire Movie Theatre - only to find it is right across from the Lindt chocolate outlet!!! so we had to stop in there for some goodies too! We made sure we put them in the trunk so no one made off with them while we were in watching our movie!!! We picked The Hunger Games!!! Oh my gosh it was sooooooooooooooo good. It was pretty much exactly like the book and that is what I like. I hate it when the directors or producers or whoever it is changes the way the book was written for the movie. All of the people they picked to play the characters were awesome. I love Stanley Tucci!! He is a great actor, but him with that blue hair - too funny - and those super super white teeth! Elizabeth Banks had the craziest colours and outfits on. I wonder if there will be a big change in the way people wear their makeup in the next year or so - to the way the people in The Hunger Games wore theirs! The costumes were cool and I bet she had a hoot getting all done up. Even her finger nails were done up all crazy like! I can't wait until they bring out the next movie...but it looks like that is gonna be not until November of 2013 - that's a long ways to wait. We got back to the hotel a little after 10 and then we just hung out and crashed cause we had to be at RIM Park for 7:30 AM. 
So Friday we got up early had our showers, grabbed John and headed out to Subway for breakfast. I always try to make sure that Joel has some protein for breakfast when he has a game that day. We got the Subway at 8 minutes to 7 and of course it did not open until 7 - so we had to wait in the parking lot until the store opened. At about 2 minutes to 7 a girl came and unlocked the doors and turned on the lights - we waited till about 2 minutes after 7 and then we went in. We ordered two of the Sunrise Breakfast sandwiches on flat bread - which are really really good...however, she asked us if we wanted them toasted..and I said sure......then she proceeded to tell me that her oven wasn't ready - so why would she ask me if I wanted the darn thing toasted if she had no way of toasting it.....maybe if she had of got to work BEFORE 2 minutes to 7 when the store opens at 7 and it says you serve breakfast......but I digress - we got our non-toasted sandwiches and had our breakfast and headed off to RIM Park.
WOW - the place is huge - they had 24 volleyball courts all set up - it was quite a thing to see. There were around 200 - 250 teams there for the tournament - 16U boys, 14U Boys and 14U Girls, 18U Girls and 18U Boys - there were 89 teams of just 14U Girls  - with about 12 people on each team - you can just imagine the number of people at this event. 
We found our court and the boys started warming up. Joel started putting on his volleyball shoes and broke a shoe lace, so he had to take a lace out of his "outdoor" shoes and put it in the volleyball shoe - our next mission find some shoe laces.  I must admit - in a tournament this large, it was awesome to have the boys wearing their bright "bubblegum" sweaters. We were the only team with yellow jerseys and with those bright jackets we could see the boys anywhere. It was awesome. We had a game at 8:00 AM then one at 1020 AM and then one at 1240 PM. I even kept score! Our last game we were able to play early so we were done for the day at about 1:30 in the afternoon. We ended up second in our pool. We were standing in the hallway waiting for the coach to talk to the boys and I saw this man. I knew that I had seen this man somewhere before. He was an actor!!!! I was quite certain that it was Colm Feore who, the first time I saw him was in a play at Stratford Festival back when I was in high school. I needed him to turn and face me to be certain, and when he did I knew for sure that is who he was. So I whispered to Joel.."see that guy over there? He is an actor. His name if Colm Feore" Joel was like "who's that?" I said don't you remember that bad ass from the movie the Chronicles of Riddick? He had no clue. So when Colm walked past us...my "never embarrassed to do or say anything kid" says "dude.....hey dude....are you an actor?" So Colm turned around and gave him a big thumbs up! I knew it was him!!! I decided if I saw him the next day I was gonna see if I could get my picture taken with him.We headed back to our hotel to get showered up and to get some food. We decided to head to Moose Winooski's for food with the Tweddles. It was not very busy which was nice, I think it was like around 3:30 or so, so not a busy time at a restaurant anyway. They have all these cool moose heads on the walls - not real ones - funny ones - although I think it does have one real head in there. There is a very very large moose out front when you walk in and when we were all done eating and heading out of the restaurant there was a little boy who was coming into the restaurant and he was playing with the "nether regions" of the big moose - probably cause it was hanging down a little lower and it was all he could reach - but of course that got the 2 16 year old boys laughing uncontrollably! We then headed across the parking lot to the athletic store to get some shoe laces........um.....we don't sell shoe laces....seriously....you sell shoes but you don't sell shoe laces.......can I just take a shoe lace out of one of the pair of shoes on the wall......um ...no......I think the Shoe Place has laces.......so off we go to the Shoe Place - and yes, they had laces - yay!! Joel didn't have to keep swapping out his laces between his shoes any more! We then headed back to the hotel and then Joel, Matt and I went back to RIM Park because one of the fellas the boys goes to school with was playing against a really good team in the 18U tournament and we wanted to watch. We saw some pretty good volleyball. We headed back to the hotel and I went and had some surfing time and the boys hung out for a bit. To bed early enough cause we had to be back at RIM Park for 7:30 on Saturday.
 Early to rise on Saturday and we chose the free continental breakfast this morning......not good ......then off to RIM Park. Our game times this day were the same as yesterday, 8:00, 10:20 and 12:40. My friend Bob drove down from Stouffville to watch the games which was a nice treat to visit with him while we were watching Joel play. As we were sitting on the benches after one of the games, I looked up and there was Colm Feore walking by me on his way to get a coffee. I looked up and we made eye contact and I smiled at him. So I started getting some heart palpitations!!!! And decided that if I saw him again I was gonna ask him if I could get my picture taken with him. We sat for a bit cause the coffee line was very long, and he headed back down the hall. When he got close I got up and asked him if he would mind getting his picture taken with me. He was soooooooooo nice. We chatted a bit and my heart palpitations continued for a while even after we were done talking!! Nancy said I was like a 13 year old girl all over again!!! The boys played well. We ended up in 3rd in our pool this day which put us in Tier 1 for Sunday. After the games the coach decided we should go out for a team dinner. We went to Ye's Sushi (not my choice)  - I tried one...will never have another and will never go back....I was looking out the window the whole time across the parking lot at Boston Pizza, but I know that team dinners are important. Then the boys went back to RIM Park to watch some more games with the coach (I think they watched the girls!!) and then the girls (me, Nancy and Heather) went back to the hotel for some quiet down time. I watched some TV and did some surfing. A nice quiet evening. 
Sunday morning we had to play at 9:10 so we had to be at RIM Park for 8:30. I thought great at least the ovens will be turned on at Subway by that time......well.....not on Sunday...they don't open til 9 AM...so Tim Horton's breakfast it was. I did make Joel get a wrap with some egg  in it though so he had some protein. We played our first game and it was a stressful one. We lost the first game then we won the second game, which forces a third and we ended up winning that one 15 - 13. That was a very close game, but a great victory. Riverside Rage is a very competitive team and we have met them before. Winning this game put us to our next game against Ottawa Fusion. I was looking forward to the boys playing this game for a number of reasons. One we had not played against them before, Two Stephen Harper's son Ben plays on the team and I wanted to see all the security staff, and Three we could beat them. Well....the boys struggled with them a bit - they kind of fell flat, they came back stronger in the second game, but we came out on the losing end of that game. So we were done our showing at the Ontario Championships. I am so proud of the boys though. We went into the tournament ranked number 10 out of 25 teams and we ended up as 5th in the Province, so that is awesome. I had a hoot this season with the Spiking Sharks and am looking forward to next season! 
Chow for now,
Jacqui
 

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Ontario Championships....

Well Joel and I are off to the Ontario Championships for volleyball today in Cambridge held at RIM Park. I am very excited for the whole thing. I think Joel is excited too...but he is a 16 year old boy so he of course can't show his excitement to his Mom....that's just not what 16 year old boys do!!
If the boys play up to their ability, they have a really good chance of doing well at this tournament. We have a crew of 8 very talented boys. If truth be told....I'm gonna miss the little buggers when this weekend is over! They are a great bunch of kids and I have had fun watching them over the season. I hope to see them all again in the fall when the club starts up again. I'll try to post some pictures and maybe a video or two over the weekend if I can.
Here's a little video of people getting ready for the championships!
Chow for now
Jacqui

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Happy birthday Uncle Mel!


It is my Uncle Mel's birthday today! I am a terrible niece and I have not got over to see him in ages.
I don't have a real recent picture of him, but I love this one of him and Mom, so I thought I would share this one with you again.
We are off to Cambridge this weekend for the Ontario Championships. I am looking forward to it. I hope the boys bring home some hardware!! Gold hardware would be nice, but we'll settle for any colour!
Go Sharks!
Chow for now,
Jacqui

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Happy Birthday Granny!

Can you believe it, my Granny is 93 years old today, and she doesn't look a day over 70! We went to see her on Easter Monday and she was all tucked into bed in her cute little pinkish flannel night gown, with her teeth out, but she looked fabulous. We told her she looked great and she said well I feel great! So that is good to hear. Sometimes when we go see her she is having some knee pain or something, so it is great to hear she is feeling great. She is very excited to see the building coming up at the nursing home. They are doing a major renovation, so all the residents will be in rooms of 1 or 2, but no more 3 or 4's to a room. She is looking forward to it being completed. I'm not sure how long it is going to take, but they seem to be making pretty good progress.
This is a picture of Granny, I believe on her 80th birthday, and this is her now. Seriously, she doesn't look any older! Words cannot express how much I love this woman. She is strong, she is wise, and she is funnier than anyone I know. Happy Birthday Granny. I love you so much.
I thought I would put a funny picture on here too. I saw this picture somewhere and it made me laugh out loud!!!
Chow for now,
Jacqui

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Game of Thrones....

Well I have heard that this is a good book, so I have decided to read it. They have also made a television series about it and I don't want to watch the show until I have read the book. I think there are 792 pages in it, but that is the nice thing about reading a book on my Kobo - the weight is the same no matter how many pages the book has! I also like the way it tells you the percentage you have read. Right now I have 9% read. There are a large number of characters in the book and I am trying to wrap my head around them all. So far I like it though.
I have been hearing all kinds of rave reviews about the show Revenge that is on television. I watched the first episode yesterday - and I must say - it certainly leaves you wanting to watch more. I like Madeline Stowe and she plays a good "nasty" woman. I think I am going to like this one.
We also watched We Bought a Zoo the other night. I knew it was based on a true story, which is one of the reasons I wanted to watch it, and because Matt Damon has got to be one of my favourites as well. I really enjoyed the movie. The little girl who plays Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) has got to be the cutest thing I have ever seen. She was also in Footloose, which I didn't recognize until Jade said something, and she was right. She is soooo cute. When she tilts her head and smiles you just want to scoop her up and hug her so tight. I remember when she was on Ellen, she said that she spent a lot of time with the monkey that was in the show, but actually on the show she did not have any screen time with her at all. Even though parts of the movie were sad, it was a feel good movie and I'm glad we watched it.
Well tomorrow I am off to Detroit to pick up Mom at the airport from her visit with Diana in Arizona. From Diana's blog it looked like they had a great time and I can't wait to hear all about it. We are also doing a tour of St. Clair College in Windsor in the morning, so after tomorrow, Jade will be able to make an informed decision about which college she wants to attend!
The next chapter is happening....whether I like it or not!
Chow for now,
Jacqui

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Happy Birthday Diana!!!

Today is my big sister Diana's birthday. I won't tell you how old she is cause..she didn't say how old she was on her blog, so I can't give out the secret!!! I am jealous this year cause Mom is there celebrating her birthday with her. I am not jealous that Mom is there with her...just jealous that I am not there with them! I am saving my pennies and hopefully some day soon I will be able to make the trip to see her. I have not even seen her new house and they have been in it for a while. I like the drive out there - it only takes 4 days - but then that means you have to have 8 days of your vacation just for driving..so I figure if I do go sometime, it will be by plane.
I really wish that we lived closer together. I would like her to move back to Canada, but then she has a really good business in Arizona and has made lots of friends and they are all doing so great, I would hate to see her pack up and lose all that. But I still wish she lived closer!!! Kind of a double edged sword I guess! I thought I would share a few pictures of Diana - I am in a few too!
I don't know exactly when this shot was taken, but it was taken when we lived with Granny and Poppa in the big ole house outside of Lucan. That was our "corner" for taking pictures - you will see that in a few more pictures as well!
This one was taken at Christmas - not sure what year - it might be on the back of the original photo, but I'm not sure - check out those scrawny legs!!!
Here's another corner shot with Mom too!
This one reminds me of that woman from those crazy movies - "the spy who shagged me"
How cute is Diana in this one!!!
I think she is coming back from getting the mail...or heading out to get the mail in this one.
Check out the hair and dresses on this one!!! This was what we wore to our Aunt Olive and Uncle Bill's 50th wedding anniversary open house. I wonder how long it took to get our hair to look this AWESOME!!!
This picture is from my wedding in 1992.
And this is how beautiful she is today!
Love ya sis, have a great day!
Chow for now,
Jacqui

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Birthday Jade







It's hard to believe that today is my daughter Jade's 18th birthday. I can still remember quite clearly the day she was born. I had awful, awful back pain and could not get comfortable, so I ran a nice warm bath and hopped in the tub in hopes it would ease some of the pain. It seemed to help a bit, because I fell asleep in the tub and woke up when the water was chilly. But as soon as I got out of the tub the back pain started up again. I asked Joe to take me to the hospital to see if I could get something for the back pain cause it was just too much to handle. He made we wait until he took the dogs for a run! Our niece Nancy came and got us and took us up to the hospital. They were going to check me to see if maybe I was in labour. Joe left and went back to work figuring if I was in labour it would be about 12 hours or so before anything happened anyway. Well they took me upstairs and I was 6 cm dilated already! What a trooper!! So Nancy called Joe to tell him that if he wanted to be there for the birth he better come up right away! So he left work and headed up. Not long after that I gave birth (quickly) to Jade. Joe got her this doggie right away - I think maybe this might be the reason she has loved dogs ever since!!! She was a fun, cute little baby. And a good baby too. She loved her bath time, playing and splashing in the water. She was very excited when her little brother Joel was born, and even though some days they fight like cats and dogs.....they are there for each other when it counts. She loved to dress up and this was a Halloween costume I made for her - I think it was the warmest costume ever - fun fur sure does keep the heat in! Here she is with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Diana! We were lucky as she was growing up and I went back to work to have great babysitters. The Larcher's watched the kids and now Jade works for them at their store in Woodstock. They are good people and we were very lucky to have them in our lives. Here is Jade riding a tricycle outside of their house. She has done a great job over the years picking good friends. Friends are so important in your life, and she has some great ones. She has turned into a beautiful young woman and I am so proud of her. I am very excited for her as she ventures off into the next chapter of her life, going to college. I'm sure she will be very successful in anything she decides to do.
I love you Jade,
Happy Birthday.
Chow for now,
Jacqui

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Happy Birthday Aunt Brenda

Today is my Aunt Brenda's birthday! Happy Birthday!!! I really need to get around to see her. I don't have a picture to put up of her, so I'll put this cute little girl up in her place!

I just finished reading the book called "Before I Go To Sleep" by S.J. Watson. It was pretty good. A friend of mine who likes to read, but can never find the time to read, has decided to join a book club and this was the book they were going to read. It sounded kind of interesting, so I got it for my Kobo and just finished it the other day. It is about a woman who was in an accident when she was 20 years old. She is now 47 and each night when she goes to sleep her memory is erased. So when she wakes up beside her husband every morning - she has no idea who he is, or why her body is 27 years older. I cannot even begin to imagine how weird it must be to go to sleep each night and forget everything you ever knew. It was a pretty good book with some twists and turns.
Have a good day
Chow for now,
Jacqui