The difference between being single and married....

• When you're single, your date nights consist of dinners to the The Royal Crown at the Revolving Restaurant.
• Dinner comes complete with steak, lobster and wine.
• The view from where you're eating is beautiful......at the top of the restaurant you can see the entire city, leaves in full color, dining in elegance.
• Perhaps an after-dinner hop to Silver City to catch a flick. And maybe some popcorn and M'nM's. You know, spare no expense!

• When you're married, your date nights consist of a dinner on the run at A 'n W. You don't have time to sit down to eat anymore. You actually have to work a few jobs to pay the bills. So, you head off to the good 'ol drive-through.
• Dinner comes complete with a burger, salty fries and a large coke.
• The view from where you're eating is quaint......it's whatever you can see through the windshield, and hope that you don't drop ketchup all over your lap as you try to balance your fries and burger on your lap.
• Perhaps an after-dinner jaunt to the Cheap Theatre. And when you buy those M'nM's, you make them last a whole week. Yummy!

The moral of the story: Good thing I married for love, not money.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Well, like the Chinese symbol, the ying-yang, life has its share of good and bad. I try to highlight the good in life, b/c there really are blessings to be found. Nevertheless, here's the good, the bad and the ugly.....

The Good......I started off with 8 piano students last September. This Sept, though, I counted 22 students! I did not expect that at all. It's a huge blessing. And just a reminder that God still blesses, AND answers prayer.

More Good......a hubby who's been cooking and painting for me. I'm enjoying him being home while his tailbone recovers. He can't sit at all because it puts a huge amount of pressure and stresses the healing, so......he's been cooking and painting the livingroom (activities which require standing). I had decided to do the livingroom 'Providence Olive' (instead of the Capilano Bridge beige, Jill. A last-minute decision). It's hard to describe, but it's a really, really subtle shade of green, and a hint of some taupe-ish grey. I don't know, it changes during the day and evening. Those crazy paints! I'll post pictures once we get the furniture back into the livingroom.

More Good......I now have my own car. Dave and I work in different areas of the city, and it takes 50 minutes to get to my work by bus. Another blessing, my brother Terry sold his old car to me last weekend. It's a '95 Honda Accord. What a change from the previous Flintstone cars I've driven in the past. I've had 4 or 5 incidents of car problems, whether it's stalled out completely, or flat tire, or over-heated, and there usually seemed to be an angel rescuing me. Whether it was a stranger jogging on an empty highway and offering to change my tire, or a kind person offering me a ride home, it's amazing how God had always looked after me.

The Bad.....my glasses suck. Like, there's 2 HUGE scratches on both of my lenses. Even Bill Gates has better glasses. At least he has tape holding up his frames. On my pair, though, everything's a blur, but I had to remove my contacts b/c my eyes are drying up. Not to mention, I'm missing an arm on my glasses. I went through the Tim Horton's drive-through tonite and was so embarrassed that I made sure I got the correct change so that the staff wouldn't have time to do a double-take on my hideous eyewear. It's kinda hard to search for nickels and pennies in the dark, b/c I still haven't figured out where the interior light is on the car, so I kinda stalled the traffic searching madly for the darn change!

More bad, but planning to take a turn for the good.....everytime it rains, we get puddles *inside* the house by our 2 doors. Now we know why they call it *character homes*. Screw the character, next time we're buying new! (Yes, this development in one's character is still in the elementary stages). Anyways, Home Depot is becoming my new store of choice. We'll be purchasing doors and insullation shortly. Luckily, MB Hydro has that lovely rebate program.

The Ugly......welcome to Elm-hood! Yeah, every single week, I get an email from our Block Captain about another incident in our neighborhood. From break 'n enter, to graffiti, to hooker activity, to theft. It's not pretty. We found that using 'Oven-off' works best to remove graffiti. Maybe we'll put up an electric fence next spring.

That's it for the blog entry tonite! I'm nervous about teaching this coming Monday. Shy little me, teaching a class of 4 little faces and their moms. I hope they all love my classes!

the August scoop.....

Well, I guess it's time to update my blog. Although, everyone pretty much knows the news already via verbal communication or Facebook. But, anyways, here goes.......over the August long wkd, we took a short trip to Calgary for a family reunion. To my surprise, everyone was normal! Actually, in all honesty, everyone was very nice and quite welcoming. I struck up a friendship with Tracy, over a pair of earrings, and after the reunion ended, we went on a shopping spree downtown. I bought a necklace, pair of wooden hoop earrings (in picture below) and a pair of shades (also in picture below). Got to experience Banff for a day, went up the scary gondola (I was suddenly afraid of heights -- or rather the fact that we were being suspended from a cable in mid-air!) and also indulged in a fun saloon picture.


The Saloon pic.........(we changed into costume and put on our most serious face.....inbetween laughing!)

Now, I'm back at work, like the rest of the world. Since working at the music store, it's been so fun seeing the new music come in. I've been picking up new stuff for my students, all excited to show them the new tunes in the Fall. Still lots to learn at the store, though, in regards to the computer system, but I guess nothing good comes easy. Same with teaching.....I went from 8 to 19 in one year. Pretty excited and thankful for that too!

Tonite was fun! Two friends of mine dropped in for a visit to see our red diningroom. I was so excited to show them. We all love talking design (we should have our own show on Cityline!!!), and went over colors for the livingroom next and furniture placement. I think I've got it figured out now, thanks to my designer friends! My excitement is billowing, I can't wait to start. Now, I just need a day-off work!!!! It's a blessing having friends who live so close by and can just drop in, kick back, and have fun chilling out! Thanks so much J & K! You guys are awesome!


The much-talked about diningroom........7 months in the planning, finally painted on the walls!




Alright, I gotta go rest my legs now. After 7 hours of constant walking around the store with no breaks, my limbs are ready to snap off! Later!

The prairies are alive....with the sound of music.....

Is anyone going to Rainbow Stage to see the Sound of Music? The tunes are perfect for shower-singing in your best opera voice........'the hills are alive.....with the sound of mu-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-sic!' Plus, who can't recite 'Do Rae Mi'? But, I won't indulge you in the fluff. To be honest, I usually don't like old musicals. The Wizard of Oz, for example, only serves the purpose of spoon-feeding us nostalgia, and watering down the intellect like we're an audience of 3-yr-olds. Maybe that's where the lady on Romper Room got her inspiration. The only thing that Dorothy and the 3 dopes had to offer was a snazzy pair of red shoes. The musicals that do deserve credit are ones like Abba, Phantom of the Opera and A Chorus Line. Now those musicals have a carefully crafted mixture of wit, humor and intelligence. But, back to the Sound of Music....... even though it's old, I'll make an exception and go see it. Yes, it's nostalgic. Yes, it's a bit kitschy. Yes, we're tired of seeing those curtains transformed into 8 yellow dresses. But the tunes are so familiar that you can't stop yourself from singing along. You can try to rebel, but eventually you too will be yodelling it up better than the Ricola commericals. And the last reason we'll go see it: everyone likes to watch another sucker have her life completely transformed by a husband and children. Welcome to the Desperate Housewives Club, Maria! :)


Speaking of music, I just called my piano student yesterday to ask what she got on her Grade 3 piano exam. I was ECSTATIC to hear that she scored 87%! Isn't that awesome?!?! My proudness is bubbling; bragging priviledges are in order at the next piano teacher's meeting. YAY for Sarah! She earned it!



We're heading out to Calgary this week for a family reunion, so I'll be off Blogger and Facebook for a bit. Hopefully, I can score some pictures from Ikea to decorate the walls of the new red, diningroom. Here's a pic of the before-and-after painting process, as it went 2 weeks ago. Hope everyone's having a great summer!!!!! Talk to you soon!

Looking back 1 year ago......

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Last nite I was awakened by what I can only describe as a very loud grunting kind of siren. It was so disturbing that I thought the rapture was here. It was 4:45 in the morning and I looked out the window and couldn't see anything creating the noise. I starting wondering if I was one of the folks "left behind." Of course, Dave was in Edmonton so I couldn't accertain whether or not this was true. I was on my own on this dilly of a pickle. Everything else on the street looked quiet. The noise diminished a bit so I went back to bed, questioning over & over whether or not I really did *believe*. Then the noise came back and I jumped back out of bed again. What on EARTH is that?!?!? I waited a couple more minutes peering out the window and then Nancy Drew -- I figured it out! A truck drove down my street spraying what I can only piece together to be malithion for the mosquitos!!!! What a relief! Later that morning, I received calls from both Dave and my dad. I didn't mention this event, but inside I breathed a sigh of relief confirming that I wasn't left behind!!!!

Happy Tuesday!

Well, today was a good day! Who can complain when it's hot, hot, hot! For the first time in my life, I live in a house with air conditioning. Mr. Steinhilber, though, likes to walk around like a popsicle, while I drown myself in long-sleeved hoodies and shiver to keep warm. Ah well.....summer is finally here!

After a day of work, I headed out to Oakbank. I think it's important to remember where you were raised. I'm so appreciative that the majority of my students are willing to drive in from Oakbank, so I decided to do the same back. I dropped off some music at a teacher's house today, headed off to the Paint Shop to buy my red paint, headed off to my parent's house for a fabulous dinner (Good Job, Mom! I know you're reading this!), and then visited my piano student at her own home. I figured it'd give her parents a break from driving in, and it was fun to see her play on her own piano.

Now my next project is to get the diningroom painted. I'm so excited! Red is on it's way!


Does anyone have any dropsheets that they wouldn't mind lending me? Or else, do you know where I can get some cheap ones?