Wednesday 31 December 2014

The Year in Review

So, it seems I have a few things to bring everyone up to speed on.  I will go in order of family member so as not to confuse things.
Tee - Upon not returning to his construction work job after the new year, he fell into a dispatching job for a trucking company.  The company is owned by a former work associate of PJ, who happened to mention that he was looking for someone.  PJ offered that, although Tee had never done dispatching, he is a quick learner and would likely want to have a go, if the company was willing.  The owner hired Tee but unfortunately, with his inexperience, he was let go just a few months in.  It was on good terms, however, and the owner and his wife, who had taken a liking to Tee, wished him well and gave him a generous severance.  Tee applied for UI and lived on that for a bit but one day when PJ and I were at the local mall, we saw a booth for one of the techy colleges in the area.  We picked up a brochure and as they say, the rest is history.  Tee looked into it and was immediately drawn to the Video Game Design and Development degree.  He began the process of registering and getting a student loan (thank God) and was successful in being approved for the degree courses.  He began in July and has completed 5 courses at this point - all with honours grades.  His committment to this is staggering, spending hours every night doing homework and determined to maintain his honours marks, even through Mechanical and Engineering Calculus!  Needless to say, PJ and I are ecstatic as is big sis, Coco.  Obviously, I will keep everyone up to date on Tee's progress.  Let's just say, from high school drop out to honours college student is a dream come true for this mom.
Coco - So Coco and Big Daddy found a sweet little basement apartment that is perfect for them.  They have 2 bedrooms for when the children are there and the landlords live upstairs - a lovely young couple with 2 kids.  No news on the wedding front but I think that financial woes are taking precedence there.  Either way, they are very happy with their own place and Big Daddy has become somewhat of a gourmet cook, surprising Coco with dinner delights now and then.  They were very excited to host their first annual Christmas eve party as well, this year, which was great fun.  It was so nice to see the children again since we had not for a little while, what with the busy season upon us.  And we had numerous treats and a visit with Big Daddy's big daddy!  LOL
PJ - Well, of course the biggest news there has already been broken - the final retirement date!  He has a lot of plans for retirement too.  Not the least of which is some renovations of the house.  I have been "pinning" a lot of ideas and would like to get some started soon, so I may have pics for you, to break up my droning text.  Haha, we will see.  

Buddy - Who, you say???  Our latest addition to the family.  Budinski, Mr. Poohead or Monster, just a few of his nick names.  Back at the end of June, a family up the street from us offered him to a good home since they were moving and could not take him with them.  It is a little more complicated than just that, but suffice to say that Tee and I went to see him and could not let him go.  He is a 4 year old Bishon Fris / Yorkshire Terrier mix.  He weighs about 12 pounds and is a little ball of love.  He is excited to see everyone who visits and greets them as if they were coming to see him.  He loves "walkies" with PJ and has a big best friend next door - Rusty, our neighbour's golden retriever.  When we sit out on the deck in the summer, he MUST sit on my lap (which has produced a fair share of bruises with his bony little bum).  He also is a great supporter of death by licking.  He will lick you til the cows come home.  Not to fear, we still have Kitboo, the little princess.  They have their moments but he actually "smiles" at her every now and then.  I will try to get a pic of that too!
So now you have all the news, I think.  If there is anything I have omitted, I am sure Coco will remind me.  She says she follows this blog.  See you all soon.
Love from Lulu, xxxx 

Saturday 27 December 2014

The End of An Era!

Well, hello, all and Season's Greetings to you!  Merry Christmas seems trite now, since it is already the 27th, so I will say hope you had a very Merry Christmas this year and I look forward to a Happy New Year for everyone.  I realize and apologize for not being diligent in keeping up my blog this year, but I would like to try to keep things going in the coming year.  Perhaps not every day, perhaps once or twice a week or even a month, but at least something a little more timely.  Again, forgive me, and I hope that you will join me this year, when you have time.  And please feel free to send me comments; I love to hear from everyone!
Yes, it is the end of an era!  At least in this house.  The 4:00 am alarms and nightly lunch preparations are over.  PJ has officially retired.  It has been a long time coming and several dates were bandied about before the Company would finally let him go.  The original date was the end of October, but that was pushed back to accommodate the closing of his building at the end of November / beginning of December.  That date was then pushed back as the Company was making early retirement package offers to many of the old timers (due to the contract expiration of a very large and long term client causing a considerable lay off for the newer employees) and had come to an agreement of January 15.  Since PJ had holidays owed to him, his official retirement date will be January 5th.  That is the day that he is supposed to sign his life away for the final time.  (A friend joked that he should take a body guard with him just in case they were going to kidnap him until another "pushed back" date in the future.)  And so, my friends, it has been almost 40 years that he has been a working stiff.  Now you must know what that means.  How is he going to keep himself occupied through these endless carefree days and months?  Funny, you should ask.  He already has a list in his head that he has shared with me on many occasions, editing and reconfiguring it over and over.  I know that volunteering some time at our church is important to him and there is always something to be done in the maintenance of the buildings and property.  I also have him on record committing to painting several rooms in our house; a job he detests but has promised to do.  He also wants to do some finishing in the basement to create a nice play area for the grandchildren when they come to visit and fixing up Tee's space - his bedroom is in the basement and he would also like an adjoining work / office area for his new endeavours (to be elaborated upon in an upcoming entry.  Haha, stay tuned!).  He is also talking about going to a gym periodically (again, another upcoming entry).  The summer will be filled with BBQs and friends visiting and pool time, hopefully, as well as gardening and general upkeep of the property.  But winter is another story.  I can only hope that Mother Nature is not too harsh to us this January and February and that by March he will have lots of preparations to keep him occupied for the coming summer.  Some of his work mates are also retiring so there will likely be a cronies date periodically so they can all get together and chirp about how happy they are not to be working for the Company anymore.  LOL  And PJ's work wife, the beautiful Momo and her man, John have invited us to their new digs on the waterfront in Fort Erie - can't wait to see them and the new place. 
All in all, it will defo be a change for all of us.  I have already told him that he needn't be hanging around the house all day.  After all, I have my "routines", and I don't need PJ staring at me with boredom in his eyes.  Hahaha  So I will make sure to let you all know how things are progressing, but in the mean time there is so many other things to talk about, so stop in now and then.  I would love to hear from you.
With love from Lulu, xxxx