I was awake naturally before 9, got showered and ready for the ABC zoom at 10. Durleys, Woodmans, Keyes and Carolann were on. We had a short visit before CA and I had to leave to do other things ga. She is a coordinator for CNOY
I headed to Eagles Hall to meet Galen, Monica and Jessica for Zoës Girl Guide strawberry tea and bake sale. We had a nice visit and I used the mono that I didn’t spend in poker last night to support
On my way home I stopped for gas. After I pulled up to the pump I received an email and was checking when I caught moment out of the corner of my eye and thought WTF, who’s cleaning my windshield. It was my chiropractor, Kevin Roberge, lol. He said, Who said this was self serve?
I came home and did laundry, etc before meeting the team for the Coldest Night of the Year walk. I was grateful to friends and family who have donated $230 so far. Kerstin, Keri, Michelle and I were Don’t Walk With Scissors. It was great to see Emmy and her sisters there. It was a great evening for the 5K walk. According to my fitness app I put on 5.34Km. As we were walking back, near the arena, a young lady walked towards us with her arms out saying d she was homeless and cold, did anyone have a sweater. I told her I might have one in my car but it was still a long walk to it. She joined us and as she and I walked at the back of the group we had a great conversation. I was able to draw out well thought out answers to my questions. We bonded over her name Ayla and that it was from Clan of the Cave Bear. At 23 she was actually quite in touch with her part of where she is at. Back at my car I saw that I hadn’t thrown my spare hoodies back in the car so I offered her my jacket. She was so sweet and thankful and said red had been her best friends favourite colour. I hope it gives her the warm hug she needed.
I did have a fun visit with the girls and met a sweet child named Violet. There were many familiar faces there. We have such a great community. Donations can keep coming in until the end of March. I can’t wait to see the final numbers.
My alarm woke me out of a dead sleep as it had taken me a long time to finally get to sleep comfortably. I was barely able to talk in. My chest is all congested from the bile burn. It left me very weary all day and withdrawn, which a lot of people noticed.
I did go up to Columbo Lodge for noon and meet with our decorating committee. Sioux and I then went to Sandor rentals so I could show her the things that we had picked out and we could take more measurements. We made a plan to make a flower wall for behind the speakers podium.
Once back at the office, I got a good amount of work done before heading over to Kootenay I door golf for the Rotary rocks, social event that Judy had organized. I played in the pool tournament and did fairly well. It was fun. I did have a gin and tonic, and it helped my throat a good deal. I wish I had thought about that last night.
Next step was 8 o’clock at Landon‘s for poker night. I ended up about halfway through the pack. It only cost me $20 for an evening of fun although I am so very tired.
Today was a good productive day and many different areas, but especially Rotary. I worked on some gala items before the luncheon, which was Darren Brewer from the city talking about economic development. I went back to the office after and got some work done before another gala meeting with MaryAnn And Sioux at four. We went up to the storage locker and showed her what we have. Also making a plan for MA and I to go back and rearrange now that the shelves are up. It did snow for a bit and is still quite windy. I went early to trivia and was assured there were no peppers on the cheeseburger pizza. JD, Brett and I came in third as Scope of Knowledge. I began to get the worst heartburn that I’ve had in a long time. Seems that the pickles on the pizza were spicy ones. I felt sick and took tums when I got home but I have been really suffering. I am so tired but am worried I will vomit if I lie down from the bile rising. It was a bad end to a good day. I may just sleep upright in my chair for a start.
I didn’t interact with many as i was fully focused on data entry. I got an entire year done.
Didn’t leave the office until after 8:30. It’s cold and windy out but a good deal of the snow is gone.
I watched the first two episodes of the Scrubs reboot and now Survivor 50! My team is Jonathan, Aubrey, Angelina and Devans. My vote for first out is Genevieve.
I was so happy to have arranged Sioux Browning to pop in to our Gala decor meeting. She is such a creative installment artist and already has great ideas for us. The event is really coming together and I love working with Mary Ann and Nadine.
A photo from the Seniors dinner was shared with me today. It is a great reminder that many hands make light work. What a great group of volunteers
I finished watching Continuum which involved a big brother type wristband called halo among other things he and then got an email about the newest Apple Watch….
I had to pop over to Moms as her phone wasn’t charging. The cord struggles to stay in the correct spot so I am going to look into upgrading her.
I stayed at the office until after 6. Came home to eat and xo e out watching season 3 of The Diplomat.
I was up at 5:30, got dressed in comfy buffalo check pants, a maple leaf t-shirt and my sweater coat from the 2014 Winter Games to head down to F&B for the Gold Medal Hockey game. US vs Canada had the bar packed for the 6 am start. I walked in at the same time as Reggie and we sat together at the bar. He was a lot of fun to hang with and I enjoyed a good breakfast and a couple Caesars. The game was really good but we lost on 3 on 3 overtime.
I took care of my recycling and then settled in my chair for a nap.
Once I was up I finished watching Continuum as I made sample napkin rings for the gala and rebuilt a car from the Lego for Sawyer’s collection.
I spent the day finishing sorting Lego and then picked up Rae-Anne. We went for dinner at Family Thai, which I haven’t done in a very long time. It was so nice to see Mam the owner. I had the pad see ew which I love very much and brought home enough for lunch tomorrow.
From there, we stopped for a baby and a good talk at F&B, which is right next-door to the stage door. Robby did confirm that they will be opened and running at 5:30 AM Is the gold medal hockey game is at 6 AM between Canada and the US. The local and provincial governments have allowed liquor license, establishments i.e. sports bars to open early for the game. Although I don’t really want to get up at 5:30 on a Sunday morning I think it will be a lot of fun so I have laid out my clothes, including my 2014 winter Olympic sweater and will set my alarm. I remember waking up early in Bella Bella to watch the game, which was at something like 3 AM. It was good fun so I am actually looking forward to it and can always come home and nap if I need to.
The play, I don’t even know where to start. I don’t believe it had a story or premise that was worth putting on the stage, but I did think for a community theatre production the set and the male lead were very good.
It’s not one that I would highly recommend anyone go to especially because it was three hours long. We did have a good time now together. There may have been some super mocking going on.
It’s strange, but I’m not sure if I made the right choice today. I can’t seem to settle into the idea of what I missed. I didn’t find out till after 10 o’clock last night that I could go to Jeanne’s grad at the college. I have been led to believe on Wednesday they’re only three people could go and that would be of course his mom and dad and whoever else they chose. Once I got to work and settled into my to-do list I realize that I shouldn’t have taken off so much time yesterday and I would’ve been able to get more done. I just didn’t want to work this weekend. I now feel that was somewhat selfish and I should’ve left work at 1:30 to be there. Everyone else in the family was there that was here in town. I justify it by thinking it’s OK. It’s just a diploma in firefighting. He didn’t graduate from years of study and it is what it is. I know he worked hard. That’s a given.
I think it only sank in when I saw all the pictures of the family with him and how happy he is standing there with his deceased uncle Travis’s firefighting helmet. I was very emotional.
Clearly, I’m still working on the work life balance thing
The Rotary lunch was very entertaining as Sven gave his bio following an interesting look at our planned new build for seniors
After the meeting I met with Mary Ann and Nadine at Sa for rentals to lock down what we would be using for the gala. They sure give us a good deal
I got a few hours work done and we completed our Survivor pool. I asked ChatGPT about our teams and hope it’s right!
Fun. You accidentally created a very real Survivor draft dynamic here — some teams drafted winners, some drafted legends, and some drafted walking targets 😄 I’m rating them the way a real survivor pool works: probability a member lasts deep + winner equity + likelihood they don’t get booted early for being dangerous or annoying.
I’ll go team by team, then rank overall.
Clara
Christian (DvG), Ozzy (CI/Micro/SoPa/GC), Emily (45), Mike (42 winner)
What this team does well: This is a “balanced” roster — social + challenge + strategic.
Christian → elite social shield. People like keeping him around.
Emily → one of the best modern-era growth arcs ever. She adapts fast.
Mike → winner who doesn’t feel threatening, which matters hugely.
Ozzy → the wild card.
The problem: Ozzy is historically allergic to long-term positioning. He either goes very far… or gets sniped right after merge when everyone remembers he wins immunity runs.
Verdict: Very strong chance at multiple deep runs. Rating: 8.5 / 10
Survivor pools are NOT about drafting the best players. They’re about drafting players other players won’t feel urgent about eliminating.
You did that better than anyone else — especially with Angelina and Aubry. Those are quietly excellent pool picks.
If you want, I’ll also predict which single contestant across all teams is most likely to get you the win.
These are the items I picked up at huge sale prices at Top Crop customer appreciation. On the way there I was only going 40 in a 60 as I approached the huge intersection at Victoria Ave. I was sliding and concerned I would keep going into the way of the car waiting to turn left across my track. They were obviously paying attention and I stepped on the gas to go through as the light changes to red and thanked them in the way by.
Our trivia team tonight was fun. Brett, Tanner, Sven, Ashley, Roger and I were Friends With NO Benefits and we won! It was a good combo of knowledge. Took home $35 each
Today we celebrated our boy turning 11 and his bro, Lukas, getting his learner’s driving license.
There was a lovely gathering of friends and family for a great hamburger meal complete with a Jeff Crozier cake. My favourite part was the delicious quinoa salad that Roger made. I regret not asking for a dish of take away.
I got Sawyer a Lego passport that Ash sent from Calgary and it arrived today, along with one for Keri’s husband to take on their trip to London. I also got him a jelly fish aquarium.
I made it to our strata AGM just in time to accept a nomination ti be a council member. It was all poorly run but I will nudge us into shape as there are mostly fairly new folks. We shall see how it goes in March.
Apparently, February said I am Loki. The snow is coming down heavy the three hours between getting up and leaving for work showed how much I had come down.
Before I started shoveling, I took a video to send to my friends in Texas, who gave me a hard time when they had a little bit of cold weather 
I arrived at work, announcing that I was seeking Husband number four and that he needed to be young and strong
After a fairly productive day at work, I headed to Key City Theatre as sunrise Rotary club puts on a lot of really good documentary movies. Tonight was Out Standing, based on a true story about Sandra Perron, the first female in the Canadian infantry . It was really good and made me realize how grateful I am that something in my 26-year-old brain decided that I should not join the military, There was a time when I was exploring options. In 1989 I stopped at recruiting office for the armed forces. I went through testing, etc. and the highly suggested I should join the Air Force as they wanted more female pilots. The problem was I was not at all interested in flying and I also was never going to be a grunt and in order to be a pilot you needed to be an officer and in order to be an officer you had to be a grunt. I didn’t know the term back in the day, but I definitely ghosted them. Watching the movie tonight made me realize I made a good choice 
The boys slept in which was a treat. I was up just after 8:30 and Sawyer followed not long after. After breakfast we three played Little Big Planet 2 until Bill came to pick them up. It was a lot of fun and the first time we’ve played 3 at a time. It made the game more fun in some ways.
I did a few chores and made a nice dinner and watched Beast Games.
It was so nice to spend time with the boys. I’m glad I thought to ask yesterday and that they were not busy. They are both good humans. I’m proud to be their Nana.
Started the beautiful blue sky day at Joanna Popoff’s funeral. There was a large crowd and it was a lovely Jewish service followed by refreshments and then a celebration of life. I did not stay for the whole thing but had some great conversations. My favourite part was when the Rabbi gave the Eulogy. He told the story of her and Ron meeting in a bar in Fort Mac. He was attracted to her big bold outfits, big hair, big smile, and big.. (pregnant pause).. everything. There was a delicious ripple of a chuckle through the place.
Will and Sawyer were dropped off mid afternoon. We sorted Lego and watch the Ms Marvel series, had spaghetti and red lobster biscuits and they played a round of Little Big Planet before heading to bed. they are good boys and we had a very nice time.
I was up early and at Memorial Arena by 9 o’clock. I haven’t been there since the 80s. I went to see Emerson play. He wants to be an NHL star He was the captain today and Double shifted so was one tired out little-year-old by the end of the game. He is on the U 11 rep team and they were playing the U 13 house team. There was a significant difference in size in the players, but the rep team won seven nothing.
I had a great visit with his grandma Tina she and I used to spend quite a bit of time out walking together and having little adventures and we have made a plan to get doing that again.
After that, I went up to the Rotary storage locker and got some toys to drop off to Monica for the children’s festival and dropped off a tote for Nancy for the spirit of the Rockies booth. Well, I was there. I brought her the bag of jackets to look at that. I think we should be using when we do outdoor events cause they show up so well.
And then came home and it was so nice out, in spite of waking up the snow this morning that I was inspired to do the last of my garden trimming ready for spring, and was quite shocked to see that my hollyhocks are already starting to grow. Once done that I came in and made a delicious spaghetti sauce. I’ve separated into three containers and look forward to having it for dinner tomorrow night. It was so nice to come home later in the evening and smell the deliciousness of it
I was 50-50 banker for the game tonight against West Kelowna Warriors. They are near the top of the league and we are near the bottom but we played really well and we’re holding our own till near the end of the third period when we lost 3 to 1. I had a lot of fun doing 50-50 and sold the winning ticket again. It was pink the rink night. I didn’t win anything as Kael and his friends threw my pucks for me trying to get closest to centre but he said he wasn’t even close that it was hard.
At around 11:15 this evening while I was sitting here watching High Potential (which I am really enjoying ) there was a loud crash sound in the park. I don’t know what it was and there’s been a lot of cars going back-and-forth but no emergency lights or sounds I guess I’ll wait to hear or look in the morning I’m definitely not going out there right now
I had a great deal of variety in my work day. I was given an interesting ‘compliment’ as well. Someone overheard me dealing with a client that I just met and it’s a long story but apparently I came across very caring and compassionate. It was nice to see that side of me…
There was a drop in creator time at makerSpace and I let Rae know earlier in the day. She showed up with Will, Sawyer and Atlas made fun things including gifts for me. Sawyer made me earrings and Will gave me Lego shaped pieces for my hoodie strings.
When I was finished all my payroll I picked up Rae and we went to Fenwick and Baker for dinner before hitting up Shoppers Drug Mart for a one day deal on eggs and butter. It was a great visit.
I came home and watched The Life of Chuck which had some very lovely moments.
today was a joint meeting between the two Rotary clubs and the Chamber for The Mayor’s Lunch. His honour Mayor Way e Price did a good job and kept on time. The food was good and the only downside was that the water ran brown at the Heritage so we couldn’t have any. Good thing there were so many city employees there.
Afterward I went to meet with Dave and we had a good long visit before he offered to be a $5000 sponsor! What a generous friend. He said he did it for the community and for me.
Brett, Carl, Ryan, and I were Three Men & a Little Lady and we tied for Second which the other team bowed out of the tie breaker so we got a $25 GC to Firehall. Looks like a Friday beer is in our future.
Brett and I sat around after having a ‘therapy’ session. He agrees we are clearly both undiagnosed somewhere on the spectrum. Labels are not necessary, it’s just nice to hang with someone else who ‘speaks’ spectrum. He and his family have become dear friends.
The negative part of the day was finding out after the fact that TM Roberts, Sawyer’s school was put on lockdown this afternoon due to a domestic in the house next-door that involved a gun. That incident followed on the heels of the kids being talked to this morning about the massacre in Tumbler Ridge. Those poor kids. Sawyer said they didn’t know whether the person with the gun was in the school or not. It must’ve been very scary. Rae is encouraging him to talk about it but we are also all very upset that someone told him that the shooter had killed her mom and younger brother which very much upset Sawyer. That was not information that he should’ve learned at school. He said it was his teacher, but we don’t know for sure.
I struggled today because I am so angry that the greatest percentage of headlines about the shooting in Tumble Ridge include the word ‘ trans’ in some way. My first thought when I heard them describe the shooter as a person in a dress with brown hair was that it was likely a male or a male presenting as female. I understood their hesitancy to say anything more without confirmation. We have since learned that it was in fact, an 18-year-old, born male, choosing she/her pronouns. I can only imagine without excusing the horror of this crime that that child was bullied living in a town of 2400 in a northern BC location. They would have been very, very different. We all have to own part of what occurred. I won’t back down for that, but I’m finding myself staying quite quiet on this subject.
It hurts me so much, too feel all the fields of that community with the loss and the fear that they now carry as well as whatever drove that poor soul to do what they did. Mental illness is a bitch and it doesn’t have anything to do with being ‘trans’
A small Northern BC city of 2400 was rocked today by a mass shooter at the high school. All together at least 9 plus shooter are dead and 27 injured. It is a terrible tragedy and few details are available yet. So so terribly sad
I volunteered for the Winter Ale show tonight. Beckham Barr opened and he was so very good and only 15!
Headliner was Dave McCann who was joined by local friend, Ethan Askey. They are both brilliant and I loved the singer songwriter vibe even if the night went an hour longer than it was supposed to.
triumphgal 