Journal

Well, what an eventful few weeks it has been.  My son and I had a really wonderful visit with my parents.  We missed our bus connection in Vancouver, so we had a couple of hours to wander around the neighborhood and take in the sights.  It didn't take us long to realize we needed to abandon our rural openness and be a bit more cautious.  We gave a bit of money to one panhandler (he was clean, sober, and gave us a good story), but managed to say no after that.  The good thing was that the customer service office at the Vancouver bus terminal managed to get a message through to my parents at the Chilliwack terminal, so that they didn't panic when we didn't show up.

The day after we got to Mom and Dad's,  my son (Ansel) decided to wash up the breakfast dishes while Mom and I got the turkey ready for the oven.  The next thing we knew, he was standing there with the faucet in his hand and a stunned look on his face.  One look at the faucet and we could tell that it was badly corroded and there was nothing he had done to break it, but it was hard to get him to believe it.  So he and his Grandpa went to the hardward store, got a new faucet and installed it.  It's a good thing my Dad has always been handy.

We spent the next few days walking around Agassiz, watching Mom and Dad floor curling at the seniors' centre, checking out a dog show in Abbotsford, and doing a lot of talking.  It's hard to believe now that I had such a tenuous relationship with my parents for so many years.  I found a perfect pair of curtains for our bedroom at the local second-hand store, and Mom gave me a comforter and a stainless-steel stock pot that she wasn't using, so we ended up having to pay for extra baggage on the way back.

 Since we've been back, we've been helping a friend with her house renovation.  It has been a revelation going around with her to choose tile and doors and things.  It must be a different experience not having to choose things by what you can afford.  The renovation is proceeding nicely.  They should have the drywall finished by today.

We have been having some pretty extreme weather for the last few days.  Wednesday night there was a huge storm, biblical amounts of rain and winds of up to 100 km per hour.  When Peter went to take the dog out in the morning, he discovered that a tree branch had demolished the windshield of the van.  Since there was no point replacing the windshield in a 30-year-old van that we were going to have to take off the road soon anyway, we were faced with trying to find a new vehicle we could afford.  Fortunately, a friend of ours knew of someone who had just gotten a company car and was selling his van cheaply.  So now we have a very nice 1998 Ford Windstar and owe our friend $1400.00.  Peter has some handyman jobs lined up and the store is still doing well, so we should be able to pay it off in a few months.

Anyway, that's about all the news.  The weather's still crappy, but at least we have a vehicle.

Aargghh!!  I'm getting really tired of these mood swings!  I was lying on the couch for a while the other day, reading some of my collection of "For Better or for Worse" books, and I was breaking into tears just about every other page.  I don't get crabby very often, but I'm so weepy I can hardly stand myself.  My husband was teasing me a bit yesterday, because I was having a bit of trouble figuring out the oven on our new (second-hand) stove, and I told him he'd better cut it out because I was going to start crying otherwise.  I hope I manage to get through my vist to my parents without incident, because my Mom can push my buttons at the best of times.

In other news, my brother just emailed to say they bought a town-house in Victoria.  I knew they were going to end up retiring on the coast.  At least I'll be able to see them more often.

I bashed my right hand really good against the kitchen counter yesterday, while I was making tomato sauce.  Today it's all bruised and swollen and really aches.  Anyway, time to stop whining and get back to work.  Have a good day, everybody.