To Blog, or Not To Blog...

The question of my continued blogging has arisen.
Will I?
Won't I?
There are formidable hindrances. I will only have dial-up internet access, and time to access it will be very, very, limited.
However, as far as it is in my control, I will try to keep up PJ. I've grown rather attached. I will probably only be able to blog once a week; less during the summer months. Pictures will be a no-go with dial-up. It would take FOREVER. But I'll do my best to relay how everything on Quadra is running, and maybe throw in a few funny camp stories. You can never hear too many of those!
So there you have it...I will persevere! Don't abandon me. If no one comments, I'll assume no one is reading, and give it up until the Fall (when I can beat you up for not commenting!). You've been warned!

Last Weekend at Home

The last few days have been a lot of fun, which of course includes a lot of pain.
On Saturday I went up to Sun Peaks with some friends to learn how to Snowboard!
A few years ago there was a sort of "free day" where I tried snowboarding for the first time, officially. I only remember going down one run which seemed to go on FOREVER and by the time I made it down, I was too exhausted to do any more, so I was done for the day. The next morning I could hardly move! Lots of pain.
Needless to say, I was a little nervous about trying it out again, especially since I had to dish out the cash this time. For that kind of money you need to go down more than one run!
It turned out really good, and I actually made it down Three Whole Runs in a half-day...that's right folks, Three Whole Runs. One of them was even a BLUE. I know...I'm very daring. Heh heh...
It came a lot easier this time around, but it was still very, very tiring. The best part of course was the embarassing face-plants that conveniently take place under the chair-lifts or at the bottom of the hill where everyone has a good view of your wipe-out. It would be a shame to let those less graceful moments be wasted at any other time, when there is no one around.
ANYWAY...it was a very fun day, and the pain was well worth it. Yes, hobbling up and down the stairs is worth it. Not being able to lift my arms above my head is worth it. I'll try it again next season.
Sunday was a very exciting day! My friend Liz invited me to go out for lunch after church, but ended up luring me right into a suprise farewell party! No one has ever thrown me a surprise party before. Tear, tear. There was lots of food, and competitive games, and best of all, a Ju Jube war! Of course an innocent pack of ju jubes cannot simply be eaten at our party. They must become weapons of mass destruction. I learned just how dangerous a simple blob of ju jube can be when thrown at terrifying speeds. In fact I found a pretty nice bruise on my arm this morning from one shot. One candy was even embedded in the wall of the youth room. Wow.
You can find pictures of the party here.
To top it all off, I went to my last Sunday Night College & Careers meeting, and it was completely A.D.D. and marvelous! I will miss you guys tons!
Overall it was a very satisfactory last weekend at home!

Shut Up Michael Buble!

Here I am sitting silently in my room staring at empty shelves and clothes hangers listening to the lonely, mournful wailing of "Home" by Michael Buble. Its fairly depressing.
I decided to "start" packing up my things today. Somehow, in a productive frenzy, it escalated so that my belongings are divided into "staying" and "going", and both are neatly packed away. I even put away my picture frames (I might have to bring them out again so that my room doesn't feel so barren). One large suitcase is stuffed with summer clothes and bulky sweaters, another with books and DVDs that I can't part with. One tote has scrapbooking things, and another crafts and fragile room decor.
I know I should have resisted packing for a little later. I don't leave until Saturday and staring at my empty room all week is going to kill me...but its too late now. I refuse to unpack unnecessaries (barring the pictures).
I'm more attached to my bedroom than I thought. But I guess I have lived in it ever since we moved to Kamloops 14 years ago. Its undergone serious redecorating over the years, and lately its been morphing into a very Jill-ish space. I love it. And it looks so wrong all empty like this!!! Now it shall no longer have a loving, appreciative resident, but instead be relegated to the cold and impersonal service as a "Spare Room". How sad. How sad.
Bedroom, you shall be missed, and remembered fondly.

Girlie is Gone!!!

Missing!!!For the last four days, Girlie has not appeared for her morning feedings. I have not seen anything of her for the same amount of time...I think she might be gone for good. I just wish I knew what happened to her :(

Perhaps Beebs had something to do with it...that is not exactly the face of innocence....

I Homeschooled For a Day...

and it was crazy.
Somehow word leaked out that I am unemployed for the next while, SO...a friend of the family asked if I would watch their four homeschooled children while they raced to Kelowna for a day for an appointment.
I knew there was no REAL reason to say 'no', and that it would be a "good" thing to do. I actually do have a fairly healthy conscience. So I said I'd do it. After all its ONLY eight hours, right?
Well let me tell you I have a new-found respect for my mom, and all other mom's that make the crazy decision to homeschool their kids. I don't know HOW they manage it day after day after day! I am thoroughly exhausted from simply being with those kids (I don't know their exact ages, but I'm guessing they were between 7 and 12) and always hounding them to get back to work, or helping them figure out (aka TELLING THEM) which of the four words in the list are misspelled, or trying to remember how to create common denominators...my poor little brain is only used to taking Tim Hortons orders, not teaching kids school stuff. It was unbelievably hard to keep up with four different "lessons" at the same time, and then move on again and make sure everyone was getting stuff done and not just taking advantage of Mom being out for the day and duping the stupid babysitter.
I think I was just as eager for school to get "out" as they were!!
Tomorrow's sleep-in is well deserved.

Checking In

So I endured a weekend of being called an un-employed slacker, which is completely unfair because even if I WERE employed, I am entitled to my weekends.
So today was my first day of legitimate slacking.
Sleeping in was definitely nice. I got up about nine, had a nice hot shower, a lesiurely breakfast, not too shabby.
Then I helped my mom grocery shop (my good deed for the day), and then shopped at good ol' Value Village with friend Liz. We figured we couldn't miss 50% OFF day...but we could have. We each found three items, waited a half an hour in line for the change rooms, and were unsuccessful. Sigh.
Then after a little coffee time at Zacks, we froze our butts off downtown, and bussed home.
I don't really remember much after that, except I vaguely recall a episode of 'Remington Steele' season one...
Its really scary how little you can get done in a day.
Tomorrow shall be a little less relaxing...I'll let you know how it goes. I may even have pictures.

New CD

I recently bought this CD, and I'm really enjoying the music. Leeland is a relatively new band, but very good. They write the kind of songs that get stuck in your head and you can't get them out alllll day! And that's a good thing. Check it out, you might like it.

Blast Off!!!

Check out my new best-seller! Its a big hit.

So...
Its over.
Weird.

Today went pretty much like every Friday at Tim Hortons goes. The only thing different was everyone saying goodbye to me. It made me sad, because I don't know when/if I'll ever see them again. But it was nice to know I'll be missed. I plan on sending them a postcard from Quadra!!!

Thanks for rooting me on to the end of this week guys! I'm not gonna lie, I could have done it without you, but it sure is nice to get such supportive comments :P

EDIT: If you're looking at that picture and thinking "what the hecK???", you obviously were not ferociously force-fed the teachings of this book.

One...

MORE DAY!!!
I just need to make it through one more gruelling 8-hour shift, and then I'm home-free. I'm even beginning to feel better, so maybe I won't be spending my free weeks before I leave in a coma. Its a cheering thought.
Oh and I have GOOD NEWS!

The Prodigal Chapstick Has Returned!
It was lost, but now it is found.

See, I have very specific chapsticks. I have a purse chapstick, a coat chapstick, a home chapstick, and an at-work chapstick. The above is my at-work chapstick, and the other week at the bus-stop when I needed it most, I couldn't find it. I seriously turned my bag inside-out looking for that chapstick!!! It was nowhere to be found. I figured I must have left it in the locker at work, but it wasn't there the next day. I was very sad.
So, imagine my delight when it turned up yesterday. I don't know where it was hiding, but it saw fit to return to me, and that's all I need to know. I'm just happy its back. Its Vanilla-Minty freshness was missed.

Two...

More wretched days at Tim's.
I had a wonderful blog all planned out for today, but when I got home I curled up on the couch with my sniffles and misery, and watched a movie instead. And now I'm going to bed. Better luck tomorrow.

Three...

more days at Tim Hortons!
Yes, I'm back from the near-dead. Though not 100% healthy, I was able to go back to work today. I feel kind of ripped off though. Sure sleeping lots and taking Monday off as well as having a free Saturay and Sunday MIGHT sound pretty nice, but trust me, it wasn't. Being sick is never fun. So my weekend was wasted. sigh.

Sick

I am sick. I can hardly talk because my throat is sore, and I have no voice. On top of that, I also have a perma-headache. It refuses to leave. Waaah. Yes, I know I'm whining. This is your cue to comfort me.

Welcome Home, Liz!!!

For the last seven months my good friend Liz has been off adventuring in the lands of Australia and New Zealand, and tomorrow she's coming home! I'm so excited to see her again!!!

FREE TO GOOD HOME

Long story short: Girlie is not going back to her previous owner, and is therefore looking for a nice family to live with.
She is a really sweet little thing, LOVES to cuddle and purr, is indoor/outdoor, litter-trained, and CUTE.
I never did follow up on the very long process of getting her and Beebs to tolerate each other, and my parents don't want another cat, especially since I am leaving...so we can't keep her.
I don't want to send her to the SPCA!!! She is too nice a cat to go there. If you want her, or know someone who will take her and love her let me know!!!
She is a very talented cat. Here you can see her working as Beebs' stunt double in our family photo.