Back to Work Tomorrow

Another week of vacation is coming to an end and for the first time in a long time I'm okay with going back to work tomorrow. Not that I didn't enjoy my vacation. I did. It was a very relaxing holiday. We didn't stress about what we did. We didn't try to jam too much stuff into it. For the first time in a couple years I feel very content about going back to work. I think that's a good thing.

I started my week of vacation with a mouth full of stitches, on antibiotics, and a long-range forecast of an entire week of rain. The first day I cried I was so down in the dumps. My vacation had nowhere to go but up. And it did. We didn't dwell on the forecast and decided that it is what it is and we'd just take it as it came.

Saturday and Sunday were beautiful days. Warn, sunny and quiet. We hung out at the cottage by ourselves and just relaxed. Monday we went to my parent's house about an hour and a half south of here. They're selling their cottage and wanted us to trade paddleboats with them. Theirs is better than ours was and they figured we should have the good one and let the other one go with the cottage. They also wanted us to see if there were any treasures that we'd like from their cottage for ours. We had a nice lunch at their house prior to heading out to their cottage (another 20 minute drive).

My Dad made me this coat rack and I absolutely LOVE it! I found a picture of one and asked if he'd be able to make one for me. We have a bear theme at our cottage and I thought it would be a cool addition to our bear collection. Dad is really good at woodwork and the coat rack turned out even better than I had imagined it could.

At the cottage we found a few more treasures and filled the truck. I said goodbye to the cottage. They've owned it for over 20 years but now that they have a new camper they never go out there.

We then drove out to visit some friends. We'd never been to their house before so while we were in the neighborhood we drove another half an hour to get to their place. They were coming to the cottage on Wednesday and we wanted to confirm our plans. After a short visit with them we headed back to Mom and Dad's for dinner. We had thought about going to see The Dark Knight on the way home but we were anxious to get all our new treasures home.

On Tuesday we went and bought some wood and patio stones to start working on the new support piers for the cottage. The ones we're sitting on now are old, sinking and rotting. I looked really cute shovelling sand out of the back of the truck in my bathing suit and sandals.

Our friends came to the cottage on Wednesday morning and we sat on the deck and had a couple cocktails before heading down the lake to swim in the fast water. We putted along and showed them the lake and when we went under the bridge the husband stood up and grabbed the bridge and climbed up on it! We had to circle back and pick him up. He had hoped to be fast enough to get to the other side and jump back in on the other side. *snicker*

We swam and played in the water for a while, swimming across the current until the skies opened up and it poured rain. Our friend saw a tire on the bottom of the current and he was determined to get it from the bottom. Even the rain didn't deter him. He was finally triumphant.

Reluctantly, we decided to head back to the cottage and when we got there the dock was dry. It hadn't rained at all at the cottage. We swam again off the dock and all had a good laugh watching our friend try to get in the kayak. We had more drinks and a fish dinner before getting lazy and relaxing for the evening.

One of our friends had to work at noon so after breakfast they had to head out. Thursday was another work day for us and I filled and delivered pails with sand for Dusterboy who was under the cottage building piers. We were really happy with the amount we got done seeing as we hadn't even planned to work on this during our holidays. By 5pm we called it quits and went for a nice long boat ride to a corner of the lake we'd never been to. We made it back just in time as it started raining about 5 minutes after we got back and covered the boat.

On Friday we started getting ready for the weekend. Voyageur Days is a weekend festival in Mattawa (about an hour away) and they have a huge turnout. http://www.voyageurdays.com/home.htm It's one of the top 100 festivals in Ontario. We drove out on Friday night to see Michelle Wright. Dusterboy was the DD and I had my fair share of $5 drinks. We met up with the friends who'd been up to the cottage Wednesday as well as another couple from work and some friends we hadn't seen for ages. We got back to the cottage at 1:30am and watched the last bit of Swingtown on a late feed.

We slept in until 10am and then packed up and headed back to Mattawa. The music started at noon and went until midnight and we decided to stay the night. All the campsites and hotels are booked well in advance so we took our truck tent that sets up in the truck bed and parked in a friend's driveway for the night. It had poured buckets just before we got there and the street beside our friend's house was flooded. It drained away fairly quickly but not before killing a couple cars. We headed down to the festival grounds and listened to the music and hung out with a bunch of friends we met up with. It was hot and sunny and the ground was saturated with water so our feet were quite a mess. I was glad that I packed a box of baby wipes to clean up with before the evening session. We stayed until midnight and then headed back to the tent. We were wiped and our legs and feet were done. We slept, but not very well, until 7:30 this morning and we packed up and came home. It's been a very lazy day today. I've been napping off and on while we watch the Brickyard race.

All in all it's been a great holiday. My stitches are gone, I'm relaxed and tanned and I think I can handle another month of work before we have another week off.

The Fortune Teller & Lasso Girl

One of my co-workers plays in a band and often play at a bar in North Bay. Whenever they do a bunch of us from work get together and go. Last night was one of those nights. We went out for dinner first and then headed over to the bar around 8:30 so we'd get a good table close to the dance floor.

The bar is not one of the most happening places in town. The patrons are um, colourful to say the least. *grin* The place is always packed when our friend's band plays and our group normally stick together in one corner and travel in pairs to the bathrooms. Last night as the place was filling up with these colourful characters I thought of that music video for Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar".

We spent half the night laughing our asses off at them and the other half feeling guilty for doing so. Watching them dance was like watching a train wreck, we just couldn't look away. Now I'm not a great dancer by any stretch of the imagination but never in my life have I seen so many unique dance styles under one roof.

At one point I was dancing with my co-worker and this chick who'd been looking at me all night came over and starting talking. We didn't catch everything she said but from what we did hear, she was telling us our "fortune". She said that we were going to be very happy together. *snort* Um, okay.

Near the end of the night there was only Dusterboy and I and one other couple left. Two young guys and three young girls came in, I'd guess them to be college students. They were having their own little party and were told they couldn't have their drinks on the dance floor so they set them on the end of our table after asking if that was okay. The girls were beautiful, absolutely stunningly beautiful. The stood like sore thumbs in the motley crew that were on the dance floor. The tallest girl was a very sexy, seductive dancer and we were all hypnotized by them although I'm sure Dusterboy and my co-worker were enjoying it more than his wife and I were. *grin*

The tall, dark haired girl got my co-worker and his wife up to dance and during the next song she tried to get Dusterboy and I up. Dusterboy doesn't dance. Ever. I got up and danced with her against my better judgement. I didn't even want to be in the same room as her let alone dance beside this tall, young beauty. I don't think I've ever felt so old and frumpy. But what the hell I wanted to dance. While she was dancing with me she made a motion of twirling a lasso and then throwing it at Dusterboy. Once she had him "roped", she then started to try to lure him onto the dance floor. The look on his face was PRICELESS! I was LMAO at his inner turmoil at not wanting to dance but not wanting to say no to her. *snort* She never did get him up...on the floor at least. *snicker* She started dirty dancing with me a little and I had a moment where I thought I might be able to switch teams. Wow. That girl oozed sex appeal.

What a fun night! We didn't get home until 3am so we were heading towards 24 straight hours. I'm having a lazy day today but I did manage to make French Onion Soup, ribs and salad for dinner which is ready now.

Bling Bling!

Or how I celebrated the 4th of July!

Last night after work we went to the mall to start buying replacements for some of the items that were stolen during the breakin. We were just going to have a look at stuff and not buy it all but we were thinking of picking up Dusterboy's watch and my anklet.

We went to one store and then wandered into Dusterboy's favourite store, Peoples. They were having a 30% off sale as well as a save the tax sale. It was a really good sale and the saleslady was really nice. She showed us watches first and we decided on a Seiko Titanium. I love it and Dusterboy is so excited that it is soooooo light. Then she found me the exact anklet that was stolen. I immediately put it on my ankle and wouldn't take it off. I finally felt dressed after feeling naked all summer while wearing sandals and shorts or capris.

Then I mentioned that I needed to start looking for a wedding ring replacement as well. Her eyes lit up a little at that. She showed me a three stone ring. It had one large stone in the middle, two smaller ones on either side and then 5 tiny stones in a line on either side. On the inside of the ring it says Past*Present*Future. Where the asteriks are there are two tiny diamonds as well. Then the wedding band has five more stones with the same 5 tiny ones on either side of them. All together there are 30 stones. It's so pretty. And sparkly too. I wasn't sure if I wanted to commit myself but I have 30 days to decide if I want to keep it and 90 days to pay. It was such a good sale and the ring was so perfect that I had to go for it.

Thirty stones for 30 years of marriage. Past*Present*Future. I really think it was meant to be. I can't stop looking at it. I almost started crying in the store. It was strange. I wasn't expecting it to be an emotional night but it was.

To make it even more emotional the saleslady was Michelle's neighbor and she recognized us from the funeral. We told fun stories about Michelle and talked about how much we missed her.

I will always remember how I spent July 4th, 2008.