The Bucket List

For those of you who don't know this movie it is about two elderly gentleman that were given a second chance at life from cancer.  They decided to write a list of things they wanted to do before they died.  I really enjoyed the movie and thought a bucket list would be a great idea though I don't think I would accomplish it all before my death.  But the last two days I did two things that I might have put on the bucket list if I had thought of it.

Yesterday was a lot of fun.  A kind lady from the conference Mike went to volunteered to drive us to Banff.  This is a small ski town and it reminds me a lot of Park City but it's downtown is much smaller.  On the way there we went up a gondola to the peak to see the view.  It was very very cold so we didn't stay long and then at the bottom there was a Hot Spring.  Now I must tell you that bathing in a  Jacuzzi is not my favorite thing to do.  This was a very different experience.  We did bring our bathing suits.  The water did not smell of chlorine or sulfur, though there was sulfur in the water.  Before you went outside you actually entered the hot spring with your feet so you could gradually get used to it and also you weren't so cold outside.

It was delightful.  I think we were in there about a half hour before we came out.  I really enjoyed the experience because I had heard many things about bathing in hot springs and had never done it.

We then went to Banff.  We ate lunch and we shopped for a few souvenirs and returned to the hotel.

So bathing in Hot Springs would be one of those Bucket experiences but today what we did was icing on the cake.  We went Dog Sledding!  The dogs were wonderful.  I think 9 dogs pulled the sled.  They were relatively young dogs and mostly female.  The female dogs weren't always cooperative and "professional".  But isn't that like us females even in the human state?  During the ride our tour guide was telling us about the different dogs and their personalities and how they train the dogs.  One dog was so sensitive that every time the driver/tour guide yelled at the girls in the front he would get upset and lie down.  It was hysterical.  These were very friendly dogs and they loved on us.  We also got to take turns driving the sleigh for a short distance.  It was definitely a wonderful experience and wouldn't have traded it for the world. One more thing to scratch off my bucket list. :)

A Baby and A Sleigh Ride

Kind of strange for a title isn't.  But those two gave me big smiles.  Last night at dinner we sat at the table with a couple that had a little baby girl.  She was three months old and was three months premature.  So at three months she was very tiny.  Must have been the size Stephanie was when she was born.  Stephanie too was tiny.  This little girl was absolutely beautiful.  I had the honor of holding her for a about half an hour.  When I talked to her her eyes looked straight into mine.  She seemed to be listening intently to me or at least interested in me.  She had the most beautiful big eyes and the tiniest perfect hands with the tiniest perfect fingernails.  She fussed a bit when she got hungry, but she never cried.  I then put her on my shoulder and very very gently rubbed her little head.  She fell right to sleep.  What female doesn't love to have her head rubbed.  I believe that is why hairdressers exist.  Women just love to have their hair and heads messed with.  Well she wasn't any different.  I wonder if baby boys like it too.  I can't wait to find out.  My grandson should be about 2 1/2 lbs and 15 inches long by now.  That is what info says.  Anyway, holding that little one really made my day.

Today, still too cold to ski and Mike still in meetings we decided to go on a sleigh ride during his break.  The sleigh was drawn by two horses.  The young Aussi girl who directed the sleigh, was delightful.  Of course we were bundled in our ski clothes.  It is 10 F today.  We had two wool blankets covering us.  The ride took us to the end of the large Lake Louise.  We saw the most spectacular site.  We saw a frozen waterfall.  It was absolutely beautiful.  There was someone trying to climb it too.  If I can figure out how to post pics when I get home I will post a pic of that waterfall.  The ride took one hour and we had a wonderful time.

It's Still Cold Brrrr........

In this hotel there is a lobby are above where we have regular internet without plugging in ethernet.  The connection in the room is not too bad, but I am hoping it is better up here.  Unfortunately the problem is that it is quite noisy.  There are two different meeting here.  So it is a bit hard to concentrate.  Bare with me if my thoughts are a bit scattered.

It is still very very cold here.  I honestly don't remember ever being out in cold this sever.  I know I have felt cold skiing.  The top of Snowbird can be quite intense but still nothing like what I experienced yesterday.  We wear a helmet now.  My head has never been cold in the helmet but yesterday my head was cold.  Even with toe warmers and hand warmers my hands and feet became so cold I could not feel my toes and thumb.  It was so beautiful at the Sunshine Resort but because of the cold I could not enjoy it.  After my first two runs I had to go in.  Did another three runs and I had to go into the lunch area again.  Finally I just told Mike and his friend to go ski without me.  I didn't want to hold them back but I didn't want to ski.  Actually the skiing I did was quite lovely.  There were a few icy spots but otherwise delightful.

The ride to the resort was interesting.  Do you know they have bridges here for the animals to cross over from one side to the other of the freeway?  Doesn't that sound funny.  How do the elk know to use it?  They Canadians also have put fences along the tree line to convince the animals to use the bridges.

Today the temperature has not changed.  It was snowy off and on so I spent the day indoors.  I went to the gym did about 45 minutes on the treadmill.  I love to listen to my Christian music. There was no one else in the room so I started to sing one of my favorite praise songs with the I Pod.  I was about to really belt it out and raise my had in praise and some people walked in.  I was so disappointed I couldn't stand it. Oh well.  I left shortly after. lol I then proceeded to  look around in some of the hotel stores.  My grandson has the first and only souvenir.  I bought him a book about polar bears.  I will look forward to reading it to him when he visits me someday.  I would like to collect some books to keep around for the children.  The baby is at 29 weeks today.

On the Way......

After a week of packing (yes this one took more thought than usual), I still forgot to bring a hat. There is always something.  It was a long trip here to Lake Louise, but it could have been longer.

We took a plane to Calgary.  That was only two hours but it is a 3 and a half hour bus trip from Calgary to Lake Louise.  We landed at 1 thirty.  The bus was at two o'clock.  Mike had us signed up for the 4 thirty bus because the bus employee had told Mike that going through customs would take too long and we would miss the two o'clock. Customs on the other hand was empty so we were at the bus place with all our luggage by one forty five.  They told us that their bus was full and there was no way we could get on.  They directed us to a restaurant in the airport.  I asked them to please let us know if someone didn't show up.  Again I say my God is merciful kind and loving and 5 minutes after we parked ourselves in the restaurant the bus people came to get us.  Yea!!!!!  We arrived at 6 thirty. 

 Not only were we in awe of our surroundings but the hotel is beautiful too.  We have a window overlooking the frozen lake.  The mountains are just beautiful.  The ski resort is 20 minutes away.  Banff, the nearest town is 45 minutes away.

There is ice skating on the lake and we arrived in time for the last day of the Ice Festival.  There are about 10 ice sculptures outside.  The artisans are giving 3 days to create these sculptures and so they are mostly working right in front of you.  They can work all night if they have to.  So we had the chance to watch some.  The sculptures are beautiful and we took lots of pictures.

The food here is wonderful but the coffee has lots to be desired.  I miss Starbucks!  It is also very cold here.  We were going to ski today but the temperature of -14 F changed our mind.  We went outside for three very short walks and we went the pool.  The pool and hot tub are indoors so I didn't mind going for a swim.  They have a small but adequate gym.  It's good to have internet.  

Snowbird Days 5 and 6

Yesterday I woke up in pain.  Though the day was absolutely gorgeous I opted to stay in and spend the day with Stephanie.  Mike left about noon and skied for a few hours.  Stephanie and I went over to the center to buy her a book to read.  She is such a fast reader.  Then we came back to the room and I went to the gym and spent over an hour there.  The exercise felt good and it did not strain my leg too much.  Honestly, after that fall on Wed.  I didn't think I would ever want to ski again.  While Stephanie read I played on the computer a bit.  Sometimes the quiet days are the best.  Sally Jo and Keith came back up last night and today everything was different.

I was scared to go out today.  The day again was absolutely beautiful, clear and sunny.  Today I got my ski legs back.  I was able to keep up with Mike.  My rhythm was good.  It is amazing what a heavy dose of Ibuprophen right before you start skiing will do.  There was no pain.  I felt comfortable and had an absolutely wonderful time.  Today I am sorry this is our last day here.  

Snowbird Day 4

If this blog is not totally coherent please know that we have just come from a Sushi meal with Sake.  Sake is Japanese wine by the way.  Ok I do have a weakness for Sake and Sushi and they go very very well together.  Ok, so this was an interview dinner.  Mike and one of his coworkers were interviewing someone for a job.  Stephanie and I had the joy of enjoying a great mean lol.

It was a beautiful day on the slopes.  The sun was shining.  It was reasonably warm and the wind was a bit less than yesterday.  My problem began with a very bad shot of pain down my leg before I left.  I suspect it might have been the sciatic nerve on my right leg.  Lets face it, my back is out for sure.  I ignored that first sign and went out to ski anyway.  The weather report told us that the Mineral Basin side of Snowbird was open.  Mike couldn't wait to get in there and said we would have fresh powder since it was closed for two days.  The problem is he forgets that strong winds change the equation.  Strong winds equal hard icy conditions and terrible skiing.  I reminded him of that but the warnings were ignored.  So we go to the top.

First run down we go to a spot where he yells stop.  He is in front of me.  By accident we ended up in a cliff area.  We had to climb back up hill.  I had my first shooting pain down my leg.  I prayed at that point and asked God to remove shooting pains down my leg until the day was over.  God is so good.  He did answer that prayer and though there was some muscle pain the rest of the day no more shooting intense pain did I have to endure. 

We climbed up the mountain.  We got to a safe place that I could come down easily.  Then we went to the easier lift.  The young man that was being interviewed is a very very good skier.

Mike was torn with staying with me and going with him.  Stephanie was kind enough to tolerate the easier terrain and she skied with me.  Mike went off with the young man.  Mike's cell phone does not work reliably up here like my cell phone does. We split up and my leg was ok on easier terrain.  But we did discover that I was right.  Strong winds equal choppy icy snow conditions.  Stephanie got tired of the easier runs so we compromised and decided to go to the other side.  Mike and the interviewee had the same thoughts.  Mike tried calling Stephanie and I and couldn't get through but God brought us together at the lift at the same time so we left that area together.   I so praise God for his planning.  I know this was not a coincidence.

We went to the other side of the mountain and the snow was better but my leg continued to bother me though I had no more shooting pains.  At one point, I fell and I felt the pain.  The leg was strained.  I decided it was time to quit so I did.  Left the slopes at 2.  It was hard to give up early but I figured that maybe if I rested the leg today I could ski tomorrow.  God is good and he sometimes must help us make difficult decisions.

  

Snowbird Days 2 and 3

Weather report yesterday cold and snowy with some sleet.  Sun tried to surface but was not around for very long.  Today cold and sunny with winds up to 40 miles per hour at the top.  Mineral Basin was closed.  The skiing was obviously better today than yesterday and we stayed out much longer.  Yesterday there truly were vision problems and that made skiing very difficult. Mike said that if we stayed by the tree line there would be less fog.  The fog was so thick in places you couldn't see more than a couple of feet in front of you.  Sally Jo and I were not quite sure if this was correct.   I do know that at least we could see the trees and that did help guide us.  At that point I had to trust Mike because he was at least a beacon in the fog.  If I followed him I could see where I was going kind of.

Sally Jo took a lesson yesterday.  I am not sure if there are internet rules for blogs as her instructor did identify body parts in the lesson.  I will take a chance.  If you are reading this and are prudish please skip the rest of this paragraph.  Ok here goes.  This is from an all woman's ski lesson with a female ski instructor.  Keep the nipples straight pointing them downhill, push the bush and unclamp the virgin.  Let me tell you just hearing it improved my skiing lol.  We did get a good laugh out of it too.

We had a truly good meal as Sally Jo's husband Keith brought up barbecue.  It was delicious.

We had a great time as Sally Jo has a wonderful sense of humor.  After dinner we went to the game room and played some fuse-ball and air hockey.  I was the worse and I think Stephanie did the best. 

As I said today was a wonderful ski day.  Over the years in skiing with my husband I have learned a variety of things.  One of them is think carefully before following him.  I have a trust issue when I get to the top of the mountain.  Ever since the fall I have become somewhat scared. I am afraid of steep and speed.  I was getting more comfortable with the speed today but the steep made me freeze with terror.  I chose not to follow Mike in certain places and it makes me sad because I used to follow him to more places.  Twice today I had to sidestep downhill because when I hit the steep I froze.  When I freeze I just can't turn.  I used to love the the run Madam Annie.  Of course Annie can be questionable at times.  Somedays her moguls (tits as we call them) can be reasonable and the run is fun.  We went to Madam Annie today and she freaked me out totally.  She seemed much steeper than usual and her tits were huge!  Sidestepped down that slope too.  Well the day is ended and I plan to get a good nights sleep tonight. 

Snowbird Day 1

The newspaper said there was no snow predicted for the whole week.  It was a bit disappointing, because skiing of fresh snow is delightful.  As usual the Newspaper was wrong, at least for this area.  We met the morning with not only snow mixed with sleet, but also very strong winds at the top.  The visibility was awful and the sleet stuck to the goggles so it was quite a chore getting down that first run.  From time to time I would have to stop just to scrape the sleet off the goggles.  They should invent defrost goggles lol.  On top of everything we had a friend with us that couldn't ski well.  He fell about 20 times trying to get down the mountain.  When we suggested he take a lesson he kept saying no. He has taken one ski lesson total.

The afternoon was a marked improvement.  God blessed us by sending the sun for a few hours.  The skiing was perfect.  There was that bit of new snow and it was a bit warmer.  We had a delightful time.  A total of 6 runs for the day had me wiped out and sore.  Yes, I did bring the heavy duty bottle of Ibuprophen.  I have to tell you that I am still very cautious on the slopes.  I have become very afraid of speed.  It has been two years since I broke my leg and the thought of hurting myself is not appealing.  As I was expressing this to an on line friend yesterday afternoon he reminded me that fear is not from God and I should just go out and enjoy His creation. Will try to do better today.  After all I do ski pretty well.

The only other downer is that the internet up here is really unreliable this year.  So it is frustrating to have down time and not be able to do what I enjoy.

We do have several friends up here who come and go.  Yesterday we had SallyJo's family.  SallyJo works with Mike and she has a delightful family. Sandra too came up last night.

Today was sleep in day for my family.  SallyJo got up early to take a lesson.  Her husband had to go back down for work this morning but will come back this afternoon to ski.  Weather at Snowbird is again cold with light snow.  We will see when we get out this afternoon what the visibility will be like.  I will stick to easier terrain especially if can't see well.

Preparing for Snowbird

Snowbird is a ski resort where we have a time share.  Every year for the past 10+ we have come here.

We used to ski a lot as a family but now we basically ski one week a year and depending on the weather here it might even be only a day or two.  Good weather is predicted this year so we might ski the whole week.  This is the time when God surrounds me with his angels because I cry for help several times a day.  I am surrounded by angels so as I don't kill my husband when he takes me down areas I don't want to be at.  But enough of that you might hear more about that as the week goes on.

This year part of my preparation for Snowbird was having to hem a pair of jeans.  Now you know I quilt and have sewing machines so you think this is probably an easy small insignificant chore.

Let me explain.  I don't do alterations.  There is a reason.  They are boring.  The problem is that my favorite pair of pants to wear this time of year are flannel lined jeans.  They are warm and I am always cold.  They are not easy to find and the only two stores that carry them that I am aware of are Eddie Bauer and their competitors.  Because of my age I can't think of their names.  It doesn't really matter because they are just catalogue and I rarely order from them anyway.

Normally, I order petites from Eddie Bauer but I happen to be in their store.  They happen to carry the right size, they happen to fit and they were on sale what more can a woman want right?  Problem was they were to long in the legs.  Well, I couldn't resist the other advantages so I bought them anyway.  Normally, I would take them to a friend who is a seamstress to have them shortened but I did not have enough time.  Snowbird was less than a week away so I decided that if Stephanie can hem her pants, a creative person with great machinery can hem hers too.  Short cut was all I could think about.  So first to cut them to size.  I was smart enough to realize my fallibility  so instead of three inches I only cut off two.  Then I attempted to serge the edges.  Ouch, I couldn't even remember how to thread the damn thing.   Ok after a half an hour relearning how to thread the serger and got the stitch right I attempted to serge the seams.  It did not work well because the serger cut in places that were not right.  Then I tried to do it on the sewing machine.  I realized that with a lining the usual hemming way would not work since the hem would become so thick.  So I finally ripped everything out and did it the right way. The right way is too hard to explain only that the inside and outside get sewn together right sides and mesh happily together.  What took me two hours plus to do could have taken me less than an hour had I not tried to take the short cuts.  Ladies remember this lesson.  Do it right the first time and it is easier.

Ok this next paragraph has nothing to do with Snowbird preparations. This has to do with observations about men and woman.  It had to do with the TV show NCIS.  I will spare you the story line.  All I will tell you that the murderer and reason for murder were definitely thought of differently by Stephanie and I and Mike.  Mike had a black and white view of the murderer and Stephanie and I saw shades of gray.  Mike would have convicted the murderer and Stephanie and I would have said not guilty or leniency if on the jury.  The more I have observed and listened to men speak and observed and listened to woman,  I have truly come to the conclusion that most men are black and white and most women see shades of gray.  I always thought that it was just my husband who was black and white.  I am very gray and have been criticized for this for years.  Now I respect that this is an estrogen trait that God has blessed me with for it fills me with the gift of tears, intuition, passion and other traits that compliment my progesterone counterpart.  Now,  I do want to tell you that I am grateful for Mike's black and white attitude for it compliments and completes me and helps me in my emotional states for he is my rock and I am his waves.

Back to the lighter side of life.  Snowbird is one of those vacations that being close to home can make it a disadvantage.  We do not always concentrate as hard in what we need to pack.  Every year we tend to forget something important.  I have been known to forget my socks, my ice skates,  my hairbrush and hair clips.   This year Mike forgot his underwear lol.  He is finally getting old enough to forget so I no longer feel so bad.  I am usually the flakey one in the family.

Luckily there are enough of us going up and down the mountain that someone will with permission (if it is not a family member) enter the house and grab what is missing and bring it up.  This year Sandra (Stephanie's best friend is the chosen one).

A Week into Jan 2009

This new year has already begun to speed by.  My grandson is at 26 weeks now and in only about 12 now he will join the rest of us.  Now I must say that 12 weeks sounds a lot shorter than three months.  April 15th is the due date.  As I think about it the excitement mounts.  He can now hear things outside the womb.  He can open and close his tiny eyes.  He has eye lashes too.  I wonder if he will have long eye lashes like me.  I wish he could hear my voice.  I wish I could tell him what a wonderful little boy he is and how excited we all are to see him.  That will come in time.  

I am so grateful to have Stephanie here at this time.  She has relieved me of many of my weekly duties of driving my parents around.  It has aloud me to schedule other things that I don't normally do otherwise during those days.  I was able to get the carpets cleaned, get the dreaded dentist out of the way, spend time at baby stores and shop, and generally relax and de stress after the holidays.  I have been able to finish two wonderful books.  Of the two, I think I enjoyed Snow Angel the best.  It was written by Jamie Carie.  I read it rather quickly.  I started a book about Mary Queen of Scotts last night.  I have also spent a little bit more time on my game the past few days and have really enjoyed myself.  As soon as this month is over I have a stash of sewing projects to work on.  I finished a burp bib this week and would like to begin a special quilt for my grandson.  I don't know yet what theme to make it.  If any of you out there have any suggestion I would be happy to hear.  This month will be hectic as I have two ski trips.

I love going out of town.  Being in the mountains and the ocean fill me with a certain peace I don't have anywhere else.  When I look out over the them I see God's mighty power and His awesomeness.  

My grandmother lived in Genoa, Italy.  The area is a little hilly and when I looked out of her apt. window I could see a hill called Mt. Moro.  I told her when I grew up I would live on a mountain.  Little did I know that when I grew up God would allow me to live half way up a mountain.  God knows our hearts and if we look deep enough, he does give us the desires of our hearts.  Unfortunately, sometimes we don't always know what our heart really wants.  On that note I hope to write from the slopes. 

Happy New Year

The excitement of the holidays is finally over.  This is the first time in this new year that I am alone in the house.  Its time to reflect I guess.  Maybe reflect over the past few days at least or at least talk about it giggle.

We had our New Years Eve party again this year.  We were a couple of families short but still had a good time.  I got my friends Shirley and Doreen to dance a few dances to The Beach Boys.  I really enjoyed dancing .  Dancing is my favorite thing in the world to do.  Unfortunately, it throws my back out of whack and a visit to the chiropractor becomes necessary.  While the chosen few danced, a few others were in the kitchen playing cards with the family card shark.  You would never believe that a cute little old lady like mother would win most of the time.  She is the family card shark.  You should see her with the card game Machiavelli.  She will take hours looking at the board, switching the cards around and driving us all crazy in a very funny way of course.  And then she wins.  I bet she would clean up playing poker in Vegas if she knew the game well and was given a chance lol.

Well the dreams have become interesting.  I have started dreaming about my grandson.  Of course, he is the cutest little boy on the face of this earth but that is besides the point.  Even unborn he has thrown my life upside down.  The other night I dreamt that at 8 months he was talking.  He wasn't just babbling but repeating words right and left and then putting them together to form short sentences.  He was definitely a little genius.  I have had other dreams but that one was the best :).

These dreams are probably due to the many trips I make to baby stores.  Stephanie dragged me into the Carter outlet store again on New Years day!  Ok, ok she didn't totally drag me.  I really thought I would get off the hook with that shopping trip.  I told her that if we got the tree put away on New Years day and it was early enough we could go to the outlet mall.  We always take down the tree on New Years day.  Never in the world did I expect that she would stay up till 3 am after the party to take down the tree.  Never did I expect to have to leave the house to go shopping on New Years day.  So I guess I got what I deserved.  I do try to keep my promises!

So into the Carter store we went.  The sales were unbelievable.  Yes, Yes I did spend quite a bit of money sigh.  I am trying to put together a layette.  We found a few pieces of clothing with soccer balls but the best was this little soccer rattle.  It had several things the baby could do with it.  We of course found a Christmas bib and today I found a Thanksgiving bib.  Oh, did I mention I went to Baby's R Us today.  No, I wasn't dragged.  I actually went on my own.  Spent an hour in there.  I wanted to buy out the store.

Did I hear you say that maybe I was going to speak about reflections?  I think I'll have to pass.

All I know that the anticipation of my grandson coming into the world is my greatest joy.  I do think everyday of what he will look like and what his personality will be like.  I thank God and praise Him for the opportunity to experience this.  I can't wait to be a part of it all.

I have no New Year's Resolutions so I have nothing to break.  I do want to spend more time with my sewing machine but that is all.