Beautiful People

I'm related to all these young ladies and I'm proud of it. We get to stay in touch via the Internet. The WWW is the best in my books. Just glad to living in this age of technology. Just hope I can keep up with it.

I'd post pictures of my nephew's too. (6 of them) But, I don't have any current pictures of the young gentlemen.

Tim Hortons call

This is sort of funny.

Kirk and I are in the shop working. He is welding and I'm cutting aluminum. I'm almost done my part of the job but we ran out of material just awhile ago. Anyway, back to the call.

The phone rings and since we have "caller ID" Kirk can see it is Tim Hortons. They only call when they need you to come into work. I thought the man was going to have a panic attack. He excitedly says "It's Tim Hortons! What do you want me to say? You're not here!"

I quickly calmed him down and took the phone. It was obvious he did not want me to go into work. Yes, they did need someone to come in. I gave a short explanation I was busy and that was that. Kirk is now relieved that he has me for the day and his comments are - why don't you quit?

I'm not going to give up yet, because there are still some good days and I'm starting to enjoy working with certain people. Besides, if I quit, I'd be right back to - needing to get out of the house a few days a week.

The funny part is; Kirk's reactions when we sees "Caller ID" showing - Tim Hortons.
I guess you'd have to be there.

Mary Kay Session

OK, I did the "Before and After" with Mary Kay.
So, what do you think?

Kirk wasn't crazy about it. His comment was "too much makeup".

I just want to get rid of the wrinkles on my neck. High collars and turtle-necks work. Or, resign to the fact, I'm just getting old.

Engaged to be Married

This is great news!

When and where is unknown to me.

Happy for them all and looking forward to the Wedding Day.

(I believe they are planning a double wedding)

Karlis and Jacalyn (niece)

Justin and Natasha (niece)

I got to witness and record this proposal.

This is one time they are all together in

Hot Water!

Congratulations!

Busy (American) Beaver

Kirk was out in the shop at 5:00 am trying to get something done before people arrive needing something fixed/built.

Today was not the day to get any steps built. The first customer arrived at 6:23 am and left at round 9:00 am. Then, they just keep arriving or calling. To top it off, Kirk offered his welder-friend the use of his equipment because his friend's equipment wasn't powerful enough to do the job.

Why did I know this would tie him up some more. Kirk assured me this morning, his friend wouldn't need any help. Wrong.

Around and around we go. It is just after 4:00. I know Kirk - he is tried and hungry now (I did feed him an omelet at 10:00 am) and will stay out there with the "evening/night" person until the job is done. (yes we know for most, it is still afternoon)

I Graduated?

This scary stuff. I've graduated from "in training" to "now I just don't get it right".

Tim Horton's took away my "In Training" name badge today. (Well, they did ask me first) If I was insecure before, I'm full-fledged insecure now. I really don't think I'm ready. Sure, I know it has been five months since I started there and I don't feel much more capable now, than I did when I started. There must be something wrong with me. Does my picture give you a clue?

Hunting for fish

This is different than "Going Fishing".

Today is the first time I've ever been on the water in Kirk's boat. We supposedly went fishing. I found, with his new "fish-finder" we spend more time driving around watching for fish to show up on the screen than picking a spot to fish. (We never did find that spot).

Problem was... we are moving too fast to stop when the fish are seen on the screen. So, when we turn around we can't find the location again? Now we troll along. Boredom sets in and we have to go fast again. Low and behold, fish on the screen. Can't stop. It has to be a "guy thing". Kirk's native friend points to a lot of different locations. His advice was as reliable as the fish-finder. Two for two.

We all had a great day out on the water. I'm not going to do it again real soon. I got one heck of a tan though.

(pictures are taken with our old camera, now Kirk's camera, advantage of being the photographer- you are not in the pictures. I send him out with the camera all the time. Kirk never comes back with pictures. Fish or no Fish.)

Things that move

It is funny how similar things arrive. It is probably pure coincidence that everything, so far, today is vehicle related. Started with a bumper needing repair (didn't bother taking a picture of that) Kirk is in the process of cutting out a sheet of aluminum to cover something on this buggy.
Kirk transformed this beer keg to a gas tank last month. Obviously it works.

This repair is simple one - just weld a break in the frame. Repeat customer with different repair.

Kirk does like the change in pace. He is getting tired of building steps too! (mind you we have to have 20 completed by next weekend. )

Stupid Dog

Some say the dog has a fishline tied to his foot. I don't really believe that because I've seen our dog do similar things.

Wedding gift

We try to be creative when in comes to special gifts for life changing events. Kirk and I discussed this at great length (because our minds wander off on different topics it takes awhile to get back to the gift) As you can see we came to a decision. Make another candelabra. At least it is original and personal. We hope they like it!

Now, I have to get this to my friend in England. Another challenge.
Of course, I add each creative piece of work Kirk builds to his "Kirk's work" folder on my computer. (click on picture to enlarge)

Ain't that the truth

Fried taters & greens

Don't know why? There are days we really miss NC. It has to be our friends and memories of great times we had together. This is a photo of Kirk's gold prospecting friends. No gold, but they had a great time diggin' and drinkin'. When they returned I served fried taters & greens.

(I also miss our previous home, in the background)

Random IQ Testing

I'm sure if this happens, I would fail.

The debt card is my best friend. I like using the debt card. It's only in the last five months I've had to deal with cash due to working in an establishment that only takes cash. I think, I'm getting use to it.

Then today I made a purchase that totalled $122.35. Having in my possession 5 - $20. dollar bills and 1 - $50. dollar bill. For some unknown reason I was confused on what to give the cashier. I lay all the bills on the counter and then quickly took a $20. back. Not sure if I startled the lady, as now she had a confused look. It took a moment and I received my change of $7.65

Upon leaving I studied the receipt. There are two entries on the receipt show $80 cash + $50 cash and let the electronics give the total of change. Not sure why she didn't enter $130. cash. I believe, it's not only me that has difficulty dealing with cash. So there!

PS - Also still adjusting to loonies (1 dollar coin) and toonies (two dollar coin)

The start of the next 20 steps.

I better get cutting the tread.

Steps are moving out.

Looking forward to a "Pay Day" soon.



Click on pictures to enlarge.

"Man has got to know his limitations"

This was the last line in the movie we just watched - Magnum Force Yes, we have watched it a few times over the years. This maybe an age thing- Kirk or I would say "I don't remember that happening". We enjoy the movie. Again. And comment on how young Clint Eastwood is.

I also think, this is the line I should be considering. There are days I really wonder why I do, what I do. It seems, all I have now are limitations. It is partly due to the lack of experience and training (most training is trial and error).

Situations arise which make me look stupid and then embarrassed, as co-workers explain in front of the customer the errors of my ways. The co-workers are not doing anything wrong. They are just being helpful in explaining the "how to" do something. I just feel their timing is off. As the customer and I exchange glances - is this going to take long?

The Shirt Police

No shirt, No shoes, No service. We have all seen the signs on the doors of businesses.

Today, I made the mistake of waiting on a young man with no shirt. I have to admit, I didn't notice the fact he was not wearing a shirt. (gee, I'm getting old) He was covered with a black substance which either came from working with metal or asphalt. It is a hot day. I noticed those things.

I think I understand the reason for this rule - health reasons. The part I don't understand; when someone comes in that has "some" clothing on but shows more skin than this guy with no shirt. That's just called sexy?

It wasn't made clear to me how to handle the situation in the future.. I might just tell him to give his money to his friend to pay for his coffee and let the "shirt police" usher him out of the premises.

Services

Dealing with people and public services has it's ups and downs. Today we had our share of both.

You may remember that we are still working on permanent residence status for Kirk. This seems to be a continuous endeavour. Our paperwork was returned from Kentucky Police requesting more money and additional forms to be completed. (In the first set of instructions they only required $4.00 for processing.)

I race to the bank to have them change the $4.00 US money order to a $10.00 US money order. Filled out the form which only confirms the information we sent them in the first place but now it is written out on their form. It is off in the mail again! We are dealing with four states. This is only the second of the four states we have to hear from. At least NC Police called us and asked for money. (the original instructions stated - no fee)

At least the bank didn't charge us the $6.50 fee this time to issue the money order. I think she sympathized with me as, she was the person who issued the original three money orders while listening to my complaint. "Why should we have to do this? Immigration has the FBI report".

In the mean time, Kirk is expecting money back from the keg he ordered for the party. It is new found funds which he wants to use to order charts for his fish finder. The ordering of the charts became an all day ordeal. He called the company that makes the fish finder, the company that makes the charts, and companies that sell both. There seemed to be no one that knew anything. Frustration was setting in. Finally, he called Cabella's. We think the charts are on their way?

We are probably all guilty of not listening or reading. But I feel we try not to assume and we know, we don't know much. But why do some things get so complicated when it starts out just following the directions?

Babies Laughing

Too cute not to share.

July 1 2007

We celebrate a 50th Birthday
We celebrate friends
We celebrate an engagement
We just celebrate life!

Too Much Fun

I spend so much time on Facebook I forget to write to my friends in the south. Shame on me. July 1 is the Holiday here. Boy did we celebrate. I'm just dead.

I would attach more pictures but it is too much work to edit the size for blogger to handle. It is so much easier to download pictures to facebook. (I have at least 60 or more of the weekend. Ok some of them are boring but what the heck, that's life.)

Well, have to run and check out friends on facebook. Love you all.