why the banner ad above is in Korean and I am not …. Hello? Google?!

****post edit****

I correct myself, the ad is in chinese … it is for a telephone in Hong Kong… but still, I am not there nor am I chinese… huh.

Yes they are all things I have learned, but they are a bit more than things I have learned, because I find all too often that I use this knowledge daily. And sometimes not!

1) I am blessed with good friends and some great Family.

2) you really can choose who your family is.

3) I do not miss wet weather.

4) sunshine and warm weather = dirty happy children.

5) When driving in traffic it is signal, look, manouver not look, signal, manouever.

6) Laundry never ends.

7) Never shower unless your children are fast asleep last thing at night or there is another adult in the house.

8) Thanks to Facebook I am in more contact with my friends in Ireland than when I lived there!

9) Just because you get a cat does not mean that the cat picks you as the owner ….

We are one more step closer to The Husband’s immigration application being FINALLY submitted!  We were prepared to put it in today, but when I clicked the button asking how to pay for the application, I found that we could not just send in a bank draft.  We had to either pay on line with a credit card or send away for an official receipt to take to the bank etc etc etc.  Neither of our credit cards have anywhere near the limit that we have to pay out and when I rang the credit card company to make sure that I could just pay what I needed to use to my credit card and then pay the money hungry greedy politians Canadian Gov’t, I found out that I can only use up to my limit per transaction, and then I would have to wait for that transaction was posted to my account before using the next amount.  In short, it was going to take several days to make one payment.

Anyhow I’ll not go there.  What did end up happening was that after we got everything together, there was one part of the app that we could hand in, so we went to Downtown Calgary with Healthy Weighty Wee Man and Wee Blonde Child in tow.  This was a treat for them because they got to go on the train and in the process of getting to the Harry Hayes Building, we got to see a fire truck leave its station with “lights flashing and sirens going and firemens waving”.  This made HWWM’s day!  There was a big grin on his wee face for the next 30 minutes accompanied by an occasional siren sound (the British one not the North American one though!).  Okay, I am digressing … I’ll get to it!  So we knew that we had to hand in two parts to the Right of Permanent Residency Application for The Husband, but what we found out after waiting for nearly an hour in line, was that we had to wait for Part A to be entered on to the system and showing as entered and being worked on or Part B could be declined!  That would be one expensive lesson, as Part B will be costing a gross amount of money.  Good thing we found this out, because we were about to hand both in together if not for the receipt thingy.

But while at the Immigration office we did get one of those “Official Receipt” thingys so we don’t have to wait for the ones I ordered to arrive.  So now once again we wait, but this time it seems a good wait.  Now we are not necessarily waiting for a document to arrive so we can get on with this thing that in so many ways feels like it is holding us back.  So God willing, we will have an open work permit for TH by the end of summer/early autumn.

while I am more than happy to see the beauty of spring creep in to life, I will miss the stark beauty of scenes like this.  Until next year.

Yes I do!  Can you believe it!?  I really have a friend.  And I have to say she is pretty amazing!  Not only is she outwardly beautiful, she is inwardly beautiful too.  You know the kind, you just want to hate her because she is so genuinely nice and pretty and talented and successful and has beautiful children and a handsome, talented husband who loves her beyond all things?  But you can’t hate her because she is your friend and you have seen her without makeup and a messy kitchen.  AND she blogs too!  You can read about her journeys here. 

My friends name is Feather Janz.  Maybe you’ve heard of her, maybe you haven’t, but you should.  Feather is amazing.  And not only because she is my friend.  Feather has fought breast cancer twice in the 37 years she has been alive.  The first time she was in her early 20′s and after a mastectomy and treatment Feather remained cancer free for about 10 or so years.  Then shortly after the birth of her second daughter, Feather was diagnosed with another type of breast cancer.  That was just over two years ago.  Since then Feather has valiantly fought, and to date has succeeded, this cancer.  But Feather still has to fight, and that Internet is JUST NOT FAIR!  Her husband and two brave little girls have stood beside her and fought with and for her too.  I love Feather and her family (even if her girls have no idea who I am because I moved away when Carmelle was too young to remember and before Cadance was born!).  Both Chris and Feather are so amazing and talented, it really gobsmacks me.  Yes, me speachless! 

Here they are …. aren’t they gorgeous? 

Feather get well, be well and know you are loved.

Okay I have to say that I can’t wait for Monday to get here!  The long Easter Weekend is not half way gone yet and I am ready … no I NEED to go back to work so I can get rest!  I have been baking goodies, roasting a chicken and a ham, running errands and I’m not done yet!  Easter Sunday is tomorrow and that brings about the Easter Bunny and his wee gifts, Easter Dinner and all the fixin’s, and of course trying to fit in a round of visits!

I get that we are celebrating the gift of forgiveness given to us and how it came about, but I’m telling you, I’m not so thankful because I WANT TO SIT DOWN! and I am far from done yet.  There is still laundry to do, and a house to clean.  I think I need a Radox moment!

The weather has been SPECTACULAR for the past couple days and with that the monsters have been outside for a majority of the day (if not all of it!).  And while this makes for a really fast bedtime because they are so tired from running around all day in the fresh air playing, it also makes for an extended bedtime ready ritual because while they are outside running around playing, they are all getting dirty!  What was once a 15 minute get-ready-for-bed-and-then-get-in time line is now an hour to get all three showered and clean before getting in bed …. hmmmm maybe this summer thing is over rated!

The Husband (looking at a slip road off the highyway we were driving on): Whats going on over there?

Insane Mother of Three: Speed trap.  The cops are getting the ones who don’t slow down as they exit the freeway.

drives a couple minutes in silence….takes an exit off the freeway …

TH: Yeah the summer nights coming in you’re gonna see a lot more cops out.

IMoT: You mean like him? (pointing to a Calgary Police officer standing beside the road with a radar gun pinted at the car)

TH: HOLY MARY MOTHER OF GOD!! Where did he come from?

IMoT: I would say the local station … but most likely the unmarked car he’s standing beside.

I should have cropped the fence off, but still a serenely beautiful winter picture.  Spring pics to come soon.

I was planning to make this a picture post and that changed with a knock to our door last night.

Lately The Husband and I have been struggling financially and last week our neighbour found out just how much.  Currently The Husband is not working and can’t as he is tied to the employer named on his work permit and there fore can’t work for anyone else unless a new employer is going to jump through flaming hoops the Gov’thas “imposed”.  With the amount of layoffs happening and with the economy the way it is, there is not much hope that The Husband will be able to find work in the near future.  Add to that the flaming hoops a new employer will have to jump through things look a lot bleak on the job front for TH.  Now, we are not going to be evicted, this month anyhow, but we are barely keeping a roof over our heads, food on the table at meal times and clothes on our backs.  This of course doesn’t leave alot of room for much anything else.  We plan outtings around what can be done very cheap or free.  And in a round about way that is why I am trying to make a go of this “professional blogger” thing.

However I am regressing.  Last night as TH and I were getting the monsters off to bed before settling down to find a movie on the telly, there was a knock on the door.  Our next door neighbour, the one who had found out just how much we are struggling at the minute, took it upon themselves to get us some help.  They have a small group they meet with every week and between them all they took up a collection and did their own food drive amoung themselves to help us out.  People we have no idea who they are, and other than knowing us as one of their group member’s neighbour, they don’t know us either.  There was so much stuff, it took 45 minutes to find homes for everything!  And the collection I mentioned, a voucher for a grocery store worth $150.  I am beyond speachless about the generosity shown by people who have no personal investment in our lives.  This is not something that happens everyday, but when it does … it really makes you stop and think.

There really are angels amoung us.