Family, Fights and Fall

My sister and her husband came to visit us last week and we had a blast.  We went to the Parliament buildings again but this time we took a tour of the main building.  I may not have explained this before but the Parliament buildings are like our White House and Capitol buildings.  They are so beautiful every time I go but the beauty of the outside pales in comparison with the beauty of the inside.  We saw inside the House of Commons and the Senate and then the library.  Oh the Library.  I can't even describe it so here are a couple pictures of the library.

I definitely want to go do the other tours, including going up into the Peace Tower.  It is neat to see all of the royal history and influence but even some funnies.  The buildings burned down at one point and so they had to rebuild well the sculptors that were sculpting some Viking heads in one area actually sculpted self portraits and it wasn't discovered until it was too late to change so there are some viking heads and then some obviously not viking heads, one even has glasses.

My sister and I went and explored another small town, Merrickville.  This town again had some cool shops, including "Millers of Merrickville".  We thought that was cool since our maiden name is Miller.  Very cool store.  This town has a Christmas transformation so we will be heading back there shortly.  Connie and I took the girls and we also checked out a Victorian house museum that is in Smiths Falls.  It is an old Victorian house built by one of the original settlers in Smiths Falls, that the town has bought and renovated.  A lot of gorgeous antiques and a great story.  We learned more about the town we live in and got the taste for a small town museum.  There are two more museums in town that we will have to visit soon. 

One thing I am learning, is that I don't have any clothes suitable for layering and my fall/winter Colorado clothes are not warm enough.  So my sister was coaching me on things to look for and to invest not go cheap which is my inclination.  I did find this adorable sweater/jacket that I love...attractive and warm.  I bought it but passed on a gorgeous plaid skirt...thinking about going back for it.

I worked two more days this week at the new job.  It will be a fun job but it is challenging to learn.  Things are very laid back and it seems like alot of questions I ask are answered..."well it depends".  AAAHHHH!!  One thing I learned is if I don't go to work early, I park several streets away and walk.  When they built the building, I am not sure what they were thinking but there isn't any parking for staff..well there is parking but if staff parks there, then patients have no parking so staff parks on side streets.  Right now not an issue but when it snows, it will be a bear.  Oh well, if that is the worst part then no problem.  It is really busy when we are seeing patients but the days go by fast which is nice.  It looks like I will be working Tues, Wed and every other Fri starting in November.  They ended up offering me $24 an hour so I chuckle a bit at that.  After 9 years at the ortho office and being and office manager of 50+ employees, I was making just over $20 so this is AWESOME!  It takes me about 15 minutes to get to work so that is great for the fact that I am in a rural area.  Challenges? They want me to organize their office and rework some things.  I can do that no problem but how with the other nurse that has been there for 30+ years feel about that?  I hear she doesn't like change so that should be interesting.  My first goal?  They do all their appointment scheduling in a hand written book, then put it in the computer.  That is so redundant and inefficient.  All of their records are electronic...their EMR (electronic medical records) system is great.  They do everything on the computer so it doesn't make sense to do the scheduling this way.  We shall see.

Wil has been working on a snow blower attachment for our lawn tractor and with the help of my brother in law and one of Wil's friends, I think he finished it tonight.   So that is good news for him as winter is coming fast.

Tiana and Tabitha both had sleepovers this weekend so they are both tired tonight but they both had fun.  Tabitha had a friend here on Friday and Tiana went to a friends house yesterday.  Hopefully they will rest up because they are going to Canada's Wonderland for an overnight with their youth group on Friday.  Canada's Wonderland is a large amusement park in Toronto which is about 3 hours away.  Then Halloween on Sunday.  Busy girls I tell you.

Well, remember how I said that Wil and I bought season tickets to the Jr A hockey team in town.  Well they have been building a new arena and Friday was the first game in the new arena.  We were so excited to go check out our seats.  We had picked seats in the first row behind the players bench, so we could see the players and hear the coaches.  Great seats but there is one inherent problem with sitting that close to the players but I will let you guess what it is and tell you next time.  It was a great game and we WON!  You know the saying, I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out...that was it!  Lots of fighting...it was awesome.  These players obviously have alot to prove and they play so hard and it shows.  Lots of fun.  I miss football but I do love hockey and in person even better.

I have been having a hard time getting into the habit of working out.  Man I miss that lunch hour work out at the district.  There are so many distractions at home so as a reward for me working, I have decided to join Curves.  There is one in town, very close to the house so I am starting tomorrow.  They are very friendly and it will also give me another opportunity to meet some people and they even call you if you miss too much time.  I need the accountability so that will be good. 

We have all been battling the fall illness thing.  Tiana had it, Tabitha had it, Wil and I are fighting it hard and now Tiana seems to be coming down with it again.  Oh well, what can you do.  I got my flu shot last week and the girls will get theirs in a week or so at a clinic.  I doesn't help that it is rainy and cold right now.  The amount of rain we have had is just amazing and I guess unusual for the area but it rains and rains and rains and rains and rains.....and rains.  It is the end of October and our grass is as green as ever...weird.  The fall colors are pretty much gone because the leaves have fallen off most of the trees but we still see an occasional pretty tree.

I found a garden consultant who has been helping me identify what we should do on our land. She brought me some trees and large shrub starters so yesterday Wil helped me dig holes and I got about half of them planted.  We are planting sumac and false spirea around the edges or our property as a pretty natural border and then some amur maples.  Our house is surrounded on 2 sides by hedge cedars so we want to continue that on the 3rd side but our ground is SUPER rocky so digging holes is very tedious and time consuming so we won't get as much done this year as I wanted but we will just do what we can do.  Wil bought me a large DIY cedar container garden that we will have to figure out where to put and then put it together next year.  So right now I need to get the rest of the shrubs in the ground and then I want to outline my garden area and put a bunch of newspaper down to inhibit plant growth for next year.  Then if I have time maybe some bulbs or a couple hedge cedars.

I think that is it..until next time....Happy Halloween y'all.   Below is a pic of my sister, me and the two girls on the steps of the main Parliament building.