6 posts tagged “family”
Ok, so it was a great weekend, but I didn’t get nearly enough sleep!
Friday was your typical Friday – we laid low and tried to recover from the week – which is a good thing, the next couple of days were going to be busy!
We did a little shopping Friday night to get the stuff for the Tiramisu and we also stopped in at my Mom’s place to visit with Aunt Heather (who’s down from Newfoundland). Shortly Newfoundland will be a ‘have’ province and will be paying equalization payments to Ontario (which will shortly be a ‘have not’ province) – I LOVE it!
Saturday morning I did go to my 6am meeting (there were only three of us there that morning – but it was still pleasant and productive). Then we did a little housework getting the place whipped into shape for the evening’s festivities.
We made the Tiramisu early that morning so that it had time to chill. We also cooked the onions, mushrooms and chicken for the meal that night.
I did a little more work on my side project – converting 60 8mm reels of film to DVD. The capture process takes a lot of time and you have to be there watching the whole time. The converting will take a bit of effort too since he wants labels on everything…
We finally started getting dressed for the party and it started pretty much on time. We were all dressed to the nines (and I didn’t get any photos – doh!) and we had a great meal. We sat around 6pm and started with Asagio Bread with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar. Then the salad was served followed by the main course.
I cooked Chicken Fibonacci marinated in white wine and slowly roasted on the BBQ – it was tender and juicy and delicious. We served artichoke hearts and mushrooms with the chicken and oil basted gnocchi with caramelized onions and mushrooms – wow – what flavour!
Dessert (as you know) was homemade Tiramisu. It came out even better than our test batch and was the rave of the party. Then we wrapped the evening with a couple of bottles of Amarone wine Very fun.
Our guests stayed until about 10:00 (we were scheduled to go until 9, but I guess people weren’t ready to leave… we actually stayed around the dining table the whole time. I guess our 7’ table and 10 wooden chairs was a good investment. Cool.
Right after our guests left we changed into our grubbies and headed to a party at one of Sherry’s co-workers. It was her bosses’ birthday a couple of days before and this was his big bash. We stayed to 11 and then called it a night (keeping in mind that we’re usually retired for the evening by 9 most nights!) We didn’t get to bed until after midnight!
Sunday we actually skipped church – which turned out to cause a small panic for a buddy of mine – he was expecting us there and got a little worried when our phone wasn’t answered… he called my Mom’s place looking for me. I guess I should let Rick know the next time I plan to play hookie from church.
We cleaned up the house from the night before and I bottled a batch of wine for Dad. Sherry whipped the garden back into shape and I did a LOT of video capturing that afternoon – I actually have all of the reels on my HD now and I’m getting ready to start the render process. Very cool. Did I mention that this job is worth about $500 to me? That’s the start of our Mexican vacation right there I tell ya bye.
That night’s dinner was at Danielle’s place (my future potential Sister-in-law, maybe). She cooked chicken and ribs which were good, but the potatoes and veggies were amazing. She served the salad in cucumber bowls (which was pretty cool) and the dessert, oh the dessert. It was a chocolate and peanut butter as ours was Italian and espresso. Wow.
Home and in bed by 11pm. Yikes
I’m thankful to see Aunt Heather again
I’m thankful that Sherry works so hard (this would be tough to do on my own!)
I’m thankful that our family is so close
I know that God blessed me beyond everything I deserve
Ok, so it was a great weekend, but I didn’t get nearly enough sleep!
Friday was your typical Friday – we laid low and tried to recover from the week – which is a good thing, the next couple of days were going to be busy!
We did a little shopping Friday night to get the stuff for the Tiramisu and we also stopped in at my Mom’s place to visit with Aunt Heather (who’s down from Newfoundland). Shortly Newfoundland will be a ‘have’ province and will be paying equalization payments to Ontario (which will shortly be a ‘have not’ province) – I LOVE it!
Saturday morning I did go to my 6am meeting (there were only three of us there that morning – but it was still pleasant and productive). Then we did a little housework getting the place whipped into shape for the evening’s festivities.
We made the Tiramisu early that morning so that it had time to chill. We also cooked the onions, mushrooms and chicken for the meal that night.
I did a little more work on my side project – converting 60 8mm reels of film to DVD. The capture process takes a lot of time and you have to be there watching the whole time. The converting will take a bit of effort too since he wants labels on everything…
We finally started getting dressed for the party and it started pretty much on time. We were all dressed to the nines (and I didn’t get any photos – doh!) and we had a great meal. We sat around 6pm and started with Asagio Bread with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar. Then the salad was served followed by the main course.
I cooked Chicken Fibonacci marinated in white wine and slowly roasted on the BBQ – it was tender and juicy and delicious. We served artichoke hearts and mushrooms with the chicken and oil basted gnocchi with caramelized onions and mushrooms – wow – what flavour!
Dessert (as you know) was homemade Tiramisu. It came out even better than our test batch and was the rave of the party. Then we wrapped the evening with a couple of bottles of Amarone wine Very fun.
Our guests stayed until about 10:00 (we were scheduled to go until 9, but I guess people weren’t ready to leave… we actually stayed around the dining table the whole time. I guess our 7’ table and 10 wooden chairs was a good investment. Cool.
Right after our guests left we changed into our grubbies and headed to a party at one of Sherry’s co-workers. It was her bosses’ birthday a couple of days before and this was his big bash. We stayed to 11 and then called it a night (keeping in mind that we’re usually retired for the evening by 9 most nights!) We didn’t get to bed until after midnight!
Sunday we actually skipped church – which turned out to cause a small panic for a buddy of mine – he was expecting us there and got a little worried when our phone wasn’t answered… he called my Mom’s place looking for me. I guess I should let Rick know the next time I plan to play hookie from church.
We cleaned up the house from the night before and I bottled a batch of wine for Dad. Sherry whipped the garden back into shape and I did a LOT of video capturing that afternoon – I actually have all of the reels on my HD now and I’m getting ready to start the render process. Very cool. Did I mention that this job is worth about $500 to me? That’s the start of our Mexican vacation right there I tell ya bye.
That night’s dinner was at Danielle’s place (my future potential Sister-in-law, maybe). She cooked chicken and ribs which were good, but the potatoes and veggies were amazing. She served the salad in cucumber bowls (which was pretty cool) and the dessert, oh the dessert. It was a chocolate and peanut butter as ours was Italian and espresso. Wow.
Home and in bed by 11pm. Yikes
I’m thankful to see Aunt Heather again
I’m thankful that Sherry works so hard (this would be tough to do on my own!)
I’m thankful that our family is so close
I know that God blessed me beyond everything I deserve
That was a lot of fun. We should do it again next year.
We had a blast this Christmas season. The only thing that was a little awkward was that our family crashed a Christmas party for my Sister-in-law’s family – if we do next year exactly like this year (without the in-law thing) it’ll be perfect.
Our Christmas Eve traditional Chinese Dinner was a little different this year – it’s always been take out up until this year – and since Michelle was working at 5 at our favourite Chinese restaurant we had the buffet there at 4:30. It was a lot of fun (although Michelle really felt that she should be helping to serve the customers there – so I don’t know if she ever fully relaxed and enjoyed the meal).
The Christmas Eve gathering at my Brother (and his S.O)’s place was fabulous (a little late for Christmas Eve for our family). Danielle tried to absolutely STUFF us full that night. She pretty much succeeded. There place is very nicely decorated, the TV is amazing, the bathroom is breath taking and the décor is spectacular, not to mention the kitchen. They’ve done a tremendous job taking a very small house and making it really usable. Next they plan to dig out the basement and double their floor space. Should be good.
Everyone enjoyed their gifts and we were given season passes to the Playhouse Theatre – which is an amazing gift for us. Not only do Sherry and I date every week, we love live theatre! Very thoughtful gift
.
Christmas Eve night was a late one and when we woke up at 5 it seemed like it was a little early to get up, so we all had coffee in our room and went downstairs around 5:30. Everyone was pleased with their gifts. I’m going to be the best dressed guy at work now and Sherry was pleased with her mirror (she was impressed that I found exactly the right one!) Michelle was happy with her gifts and especially with her new phone (although I’m a little worried that she’s going to spend more on the phone than she really should. We gave her $100 of airtime with the phone – I’m hoping that lasts for at least four months – she’s going to have to be a little disciplined to get it to last that long).
Breakfast at Mom and Dad’s was next. That was amazing too. Way more food than I should have eaten (sensing a theme yet?) and it was all really tasty!
We stopped in at the church on our way home to see how Rick was making out with his Christmas Day event at the church. One of the guys in our church decided that people that don’t have families (for whatever reason) shouldn’t be alone on Christmas day, so he planned a whole day’s event for anyone that wanted to come. Rich volunteered to take care of the food for the day – which meant Breakfast a snack for Lunch and then a full blown Turkey Dinner at 5.
We came just as Breakfast was being served and Sherry helped prep the birds for supper. We only stayed an hour or so.
Back to our place for a little bit and then off to my Sister-in-law’s party for her family. The meal was incredible. Ham, Turkey, Veggie casseroles, stuffing, chocolate, cream, sugar, sweets – wow! The pool table was well used and we had a nice visit too.
As soon as we were back from Robyn’s we packed up to drive 2.5 hours to Sherry’s Mom’s place. Michelle drove the whole way (which was kinda nice – I had a chance to take a power nap which really helped out). Dinner at Sherry’s Mom’s was really pleasant (even though I was way too full to really eat!)
We had a nice visit with the family and pretty much called it a night. It was really nice seeing them while it was quiet and calm.
The next morning was spent getting ready for Sherry’s Christmas gathering. We drove to Kitchener and had a really nice time at Aunt Cathy’s place. Way too much food again and a really pleasant visit with Aunt Patsy, Drew, Nathan and Uncle Leigh. Good times.
Home by 8:30 and in bed by 8:37 – asleep by 9:12. Whew.
This morning is a good day – I’m going to finish the proposal document that I was working on before the holidays struck. I’m just rebooting my Virtual Machine now and I’ll be documenting in a couple of minutes.
I’m thankful that Michelle and I are doing well again – it was really nice being able to chat with her this holiday and not have any tension between us.
I’m thankful that my gifts were well received (whew) I always enjoy it when I pick out good gifts to give.
I’m thankful that Christmas went so well all around – I really do hope that it goes this well again next year.
Just another Tuesday.
One of the troubles with blogging every day (well, every weekday) is that sometimes there's really nothing to write about.
We're looking into getting a beater car for the winter. We've found a really affordable Breeze that looks good. It'll be time to make a decision soon.
We've hired a new guy at work - I've known him since I was a teenager and he's a really funny and hard working guy. It should be fun.
Michelle has an appointment at a college on Friday (actually three!) it'll be a busy day and I'm really hoping that she catches the vision.
Sherry is counting the days until she gets laid off for the winter. It's supposed to be cold and rainy all day today, but she has to work anyway.
I'm really looking forward to starting a job that I just quoted on yesterday. It'll be starting soon as long as the client approves the cost.
I had someone ask me when I was going to teach the course that I haven't been trained at yet. The training is supposed to be the end of November, but it's been cancelled before. Hopefully January.
Last night was Alpha. I had a lot of fun serving. Sherry made an amazing Shepherd's Pie (which is appropriate for a course abou The Great Shepherd). There were a ton of complements - and I get to hear them all and pass them on.
I'm thankful that serving is fun. It's amazing when you're doing what you were created to do and I'm very thankful that I have a deep appreciation for where I'm supposed to be going and that the journey is fun.
I'm thankful for hot and cold running water. The water that I drink is healthy and tasty (I have a 5 stage RO unit under my sink to polish it up even more than the city water already is!) I'm thankful that I can take a shower and linger longer than I should and not have to worry about taking water from someone else.
I'm thankful that my family is all so close to me. Both physically and emotionally. I have a buddy that hasn't spoken to any of his family in years - even though his sibling lives close by. I have a good relationship with my brothers and my parents (my aunts and uncles live pretty far away, but I'm ok with that).
As I've mentioned, I'm in Canada (and I don't know how to change the country on my profile - it seems to be locked)...
It was a fabulous long weekend!
Not only did we get Monday off (and get paid for it!) the whole weekend was a lot of fun.
Friday not a lot happened (other than telling Bernie that I had a job opening that I was considering - that did not go over well at all). We had pizza for supper and found out that Michelle had driven the 2.5 hours to Sherry's Mom's place -- without telling us she was going to. Cool - I guess.
Saturday was spent lounging, sorting, prepping and doing. It was really nice. The home theatre is back up - I have a 12 foot screen (across) at one end of my 25x17' media room. The projector is about 2/3s of the way back and the image is fabulous - it's only 800x600, but for what we do it's more than enough.
Sunday we went to my Mom's house for Thanksgiving dinner. I went a couple of hours early so that Mom and I could play a round of golf.
Mom is a huge golf fan and when I bought my Wii I also got a goofy little golf game with it (if you don't know what a Wii is you need to find out. Realy.) We liked it so much that I bought the Tiger Woods golf game from EA and brought it over with me.
I played as myself and Mom played as Mike Weir (since we're Canadian and he seems to be the only Canadian with any street cred in the PGA).
She whipped my butt all over the course! She understood what a buck-and-a-half is and when to use a wedge and what a seven iron can do. Yikes.
I coached her through the putting, but that's all I had to do. Wowsers.
Then Bernie and I played Big Brain Academy and he beat me at that, so we gave the remote to Chris who really spanked me hard at BBA. Bummer. It was a fun time and a fabulous meal.
(Michelle had a bit of a nasty run-in with my brother Michael who was really displeased with Michelle's nose piercing. Bummer).
Monday was spent working on my Vader costume and visiting with Sherry's Mom (who came down early with Michelle). It was really nice.
Dinner was at Abe and Chantal's place. They are such a cute couple! It was their first major meal and they went WAY overboard. Fabulous.
Excellent weekend - I can't wait to do it again!
It's nice that this weekend is a long weekend. I've got a bunch of stuff to catch up on and it'll be nice having the extra day to work through them.
Oh, wow - remember when I asked yesterday if it would rock the boat to look into the job at the College? Yikes. I mentioned that Mike sent the application and Bernie almost melted down on the spot.
Great. Have I done damage?
The problem is that the new job pays just over twice what I get now and comes with 9 weeks vacation instead of the 2 that I get now.
Sherry could retire (or start her own business, or whatever) and we'd still make 25% more than our combined income with just this one job. That would give us 9 weeks to explore using the 10% (after tax) that we'd have above our current budgets.
The huge downside is that I'm a programmer - that's what I'm created to do. The new job is management (Robyn calls it 'babysitting') -- I'm not sure I could be happy there for more than a few months.
Yuck. It would be easier if Mike wasn't looking for a new job for me.
Why *does* he look?
Anyway - we have turkey dinners Sunday and Monday, so there'll be no entry on Monday.
Ok, long weekend time.
