Happy Birthday Babe!

25 years ago, a little baby named Scott was born. Today, we celebrate his quarter century birthday. I don't know who was more excited about this day coming, but it was probably me. I have a killer gift to give him tonight, woke up bright and early this morning to make a big French toast breakfast, and tonight I'm taking him to the Keg for dinner. Tomorrow we are headed to Pestos for dinner with a bunch of great friends, and then to Paddy's to continue the shenanigans.

I wish everyone else could be here with us to help Scott celebrate, but he appreciates the great Happy Birthday notes!

Here is to the best boyfriend a girl could ask for, and the greatest friend in the world:

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY SCOTT!

Love you always.

xxoxxoxxoxxoxx

*-- Quotes --*

Still in recovery mode from the epic BFF weekend and playing catch-up for the extra day off from work, but wanted to post a few wicked quotes that were collected over the last 4 days.

"It's not like it'll go bad."- Rachel, in reference to her WestJet giftcard never spoiling.

"I never used to drink. Then I met Cody."- Robbie

Me: Whatta ya doin' Rach?
Rach: Fingering the icing.

"I'm not gonna lie- I'm terrified of Lanette. She'd kill me if she wanted to. Like, if I got up in the morning and she was in the bathroom and told me to brush her teeth for her, I'd do it."- Robbie, referring to his fear of his downstairs roomie.

Derek: Whatta ya got on there? Black jam?
Robbie: Nutella.

Me: Rach and I like Big 'N Rich.
Lanette: I like 'em big and rich.

"Oh but I could so do him. I like 'em dirty."- Rachel's response to Lanette referring to Justin Bobby as a grease-ball.

"I don't use condoms. I'd rather die."- Chris

In the early stages of our party on Saturday night....

Scott: Someone ripped off the last couple days from my baseball one-a-day calendar!!!
Me: Oh, no, that was me.
Scott, completely disgusted: WHAT?!? Why would you do that?!! It's bad luck! I'm doomed thanks to you. Not that I wasn't already.

Halloween Shmalloween...Or Not?

Anyone that knows me will tell you that I do not embrace Halloween. I am a downer when it comes to dress-up parties, themes, costumes, etc., so you can just imagine how much of a riot I am when October 31st rolls around.

As kids we always had fun on Halloween, and had pretty decent costumes......

but once I outgrew the opportunity to collect pillowcases full of sugar-infested goodies, the novelty wore off.

When I reached my twenties (ya know, cause I'm so far past them now) I just didn't understand all the hoopla around Halloween. I have friends that are OBSESSED with it and plan their costumes a year in advance. Sometimes their plans actually require these insane time lines for the purpose of growing out their hair, etc. I have other friends that use Halloween strictly as an excuse to be the true jacka$$'s that they really are (ie. Kyle Bucholtz dressed as the late Crocodile Hunter who had not yet been deceased for two months). Then there are the folks who like Halloween because they can dress up as skanky Nurses, Firemen, Police Officers, or Nuns. To each their own, but I never really "got" it. Until this year....

For some reason, I am truly excited about Halloween. I couldn't think of a costume for the last couple weeks and was starting to panic as I knew we had committed to attend a "Costumes Only" party on the 31st. I figured that once I convinced Scott to reveal his costume plans I would have some sort of inspiration or maybe his costume would require a sidekick or counterpart. I was wrong. I got nothing from his idea, and was left with less momentum to participate than when I first started on my costume-quest.

This brings me to yesterday. I had been tossing around a couple different costume ideas, one that Scott immediately kiboshed (why wouldn't he want to dress up in awesome foam penguin costumes and go as Mumbles and Gloria from Happy Feet?), and a few others that I just couldn't get really worked up about. I refused to wear something that is listed on eBay as "Sexy something-or-other" or "Luscious something-or-other" so I was left with the frump. Running out of time, especially to order something via the interweb, I pulled the trigger. I decided on a costume, selected expedited shipping, and the costume was on it's way.

Then today I came up with a really good idea and was a little bummed I'd already bought a costume. I had purchased it through eBay so I couldn't even cancel the order. C'mon, I have 100% positive feedback and I'm not willing to jeopardize such a GoldStar-shopping accomplishment.

I couldn't get the new idea out of my head and I had butterflies in my tummy because of the excitement. What is this strange feeling? Halloween enthusiasm? Wow, I figured I better act on it. So I did. I bought the 2nd costume and am now totally stoked for Halloween!

11 sleeps until the Jack 'o Lanterns light up and the crazies come out.

Trick. Or Treat.

Thanksgiving 2009

What a great long weekend! As unfortunate as it was that I had to miss Jenna's wedding, my parent's anniversary, and spending a birthday with Lanette, we had a pretty great few days.

Scott took Saturday off so that we could go to Lloydminster for the day (1200 kms later) and get him all geared up for a winter in the North, we spent Sunday night at the Ross residence for Thanksgiving dinner and shenanigans, and a recovery day at home on Monday.


Myself, Scott, and Rocky packed into the car at 6am on Saturday morning and made the 5 1/2 hour drive to Lloydminster. We could have done it in 5 hours but we hit some bad weather and road conditions early on that caused a bit of delay. We made it to Lloyd early, took Rocky for a walk and did some driving around the city to see the Alberta and Saskatchewan sides. We wondered how a person would decide to live in Lloydminster, Alberta or in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan? Saskatchewan has a provincial sales tax, but there is no way it applies in Lloydminster. Why would anyone ever choose to live on that side of town? As Scott said, it would be a ghost town!

We met Rae's friend Neil at his store in the early afternoon and managed to get Scott all geared up for the upcoming chilly months. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the local Kelsey's and were back on the road by 4pm.

We arrived in Fort McMurray just before 9 pm with only a slight delay thanks to the wonderful RCMP. I got pulled over for speeding and received a hefty ticket of $57 for doing 101 in a 100 zone. Technically I was doing 123 (Scott and I both thought it was 110 and I had the cruise control set around 120 to be safe) but the bugger still got me. He was nice enough to give me the lowest ticket possible and we were back on our way.

Sunday I made a batch of yummy mashed potatoes as our dinner contribution and were on our way to the Ross residence. About 10 of us gathered for dinner, ate a good portion of the ginormous turkey, and people were coming and going for other dinners and work all night. I taught the girls how to play Bullshit Pyramid while the boys watched football, and the night took off from there. We had plans to go out to the bar afterwards but never actually made it. A great big thanks to Mark and Krystal for inviting us to share in their Thanksgiving and for providing such a delicious meal.

Scott and I missed spending the holiday with our families, but all of the great friends we have up here made it an easier pill to swallow. A very Happy Anniversary wish to my parents, a Happy Birthday to Lanette, and a big congratulations on her first 10k race completed on October 12th. She finished in an hour and 5 minutes and we're all very proud of her for beating her target of 1 hour 10 minutes.

This week has been an interesting one. I need to be as focused on my future and our lives as I can, and hopefully everything works out for the best. Everything does happen for a reason and the power of positive thinking will prevail at some point in my life :)

Today we woke up to this, and it's still coming down....

Happy Winter everyone!

How Do I Call Someone?

Here I sit in Kelsey's Restaurant in Lloydminster, over hearing a conversation that an elderly woman is having with her son just one booth over. She purchased a BlackBerry this morning, somehow not realizing it was a Smart Phone, and just had a serious meltdown...

"How do I call someone? There aren't even numbers! I can't see the buttons. Everything is shifting around. It just shut off! I think its broken. None of the keys work. This thing is a piece of shit. Excuse me waitress, I'd like a double Caesar extra spice. Thanks."

Get this lady a walkie talkie, asap.

Just The Business

Nothing witty or overly entertaining to post about recently, so I'll just give you the business. Ha.

• Rocky is in full recovery mode. Has kicked his infection and came out of his re-check on Tuesday will a clean bill of health. No more severe urinary tract infection and no stones! Phew*


• Scott and I are going to Lloydminster on Saturday to pick him up some new winter work gear. Looking forward to a day road trip with our little Fam and some new photos.


• Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday with the Ross familia is going to be oh-so fun.


• Mother Nature has taken to the streamlining craze. No fall season for us this year- straight into winter. Fml.


• 15 sleeps until BBF Rachel Penner arrives in the Mac.


• Undetermined amount of sleeps until she heads home as I have put my "Rachel now resides in Fort McMurray" plan into action.


• School is well underway, 2 classes going right now, and I have my first midterm tonight. Thank the good lord for one of my teachers deciding to not have tests or exams.


• Lanette got her braces off yesterday. Her teeth look amazing and she couldn't be happier. I still don't recognize the bottom part of her face though...It's like some hi-jacked her mouth and chin.


• We are having a party at our new place on October 24th to celebrate Lanette's birthday, Kristen's birthday, Rachel's arrival in Fort Mac, UFC 104, and living in a new house.


• Robbie has moved in with us and is getting settled. His first week was pretty crazy as he was still trying to clean and fix things at his old house in an attempt to recover some of their damage deposit but we are getting him initated with the ways of the Lundquist household and we're very glad to have him.


• I have located a dog groomer who does scissor cuts and lives on the same street as us! This means I can cancel Rocky's appointment at the groomer's on Saturday and he won't have to get shaved to the skin right before winter. Yay for looking cute immediately after an appointment rather than 30 days down the road when his hair starts to grow back.


• Lanette the Dog Whisperer strikes again! She has taught Rocky a ton of tricks since his arrival North in July, and he's a rolling-over machine!


• Our network crashed first thing Monday morning (payroll cut-off) and we didn't get it back up and running until 3:30pm Tuesday. I managed to help out our IT departments quite a bit and received a new Bucyrus jacket today as a thank you for my efforts.


• I am having a difficult time deciding what costume to get for Rocky. Halloween is fast approaching and I'm torn. Please help me decide and cast your vote for your favorite!

Me: Wow, Rocky! You really do smell like Apple Pie. Lanette: I know! So weird, eh? Me: No, not really. You bathed him with Apple Pie shampoo...

"It's snowing so hard here today. Its like somebody forgot to pay the 'Summer' bill."- Erhan.

*Stones = Surgery = Sad Rocky = Stressed Mommy = Lots of $$$$

A Mother's Intuition

I don't know how parents do it.

For the past few days I have noticed that Rocky makes a beeline for his water dish as soon as we wake up in the morning. I know it doesn't sound like too odd of a thing for him to be doing, but Rocky is the dog that gives you the eye when you turn the light on in the morning, and refuses to get out of bed until I've showered, make-up'd, hair did, and dressed to go out the door. It is only then that he will drag himself up, give a great big stretch, and then march straight to the front door for his morning walk.

I had noticed he was drinking a little bit more than usual, but didn't think too much about it. Then Lanette and Scott both walked him at separate times yesterday evening and said that he was peeing an excessive amount. Lanette mentioned that she noticed his "thingy" was sort of an orange color, but by the time I got home from school late last night, it was red. Blood red. Either his "thingy" was bleeding, or it was coming from somewhere.

Scott and I decided to let him sleep for the night and we'd check it out again in the morning. There was no sleeping....not for me and Rocky at least. He whined all night, wanted to go out for a pee every 5 minutes, didn't sleep a wink, and paced around the room. I took him out several times but it got to the point where he wasn't doing anything. I tried to get him to go to sleep in his bed but he was crying quite a bit and it was keeping Scott up. By this time I had definitely decided that I was not going to work in the morning and was taking Rocky to the vet asap so I moved him out to his bed in the living room and laid on the floor next to him until he calmed down enough to stop whimpering. I think I fell asleep on the couch for 20 minutes before he started back up again.

I spent probably 15 or more minutes with him outside and then tucked him into his bed in the living room so I could try and warm up and get a bit of sleep. I think I slept from 5:45 till 6:15 when Scott got up for work.

I took him to the vet this morning and they asked me to get a urine sample and bring him back in. I couldn't get another appointment with them until 12:20 so we headed for home. Spent the morning trying to keep him occupied with something other than the pain and then took his urine sample right before we were scheduled to leave for the appointment.

This was the scary part.

I knew he had some blood in his urine, obviously, but by this point he was peeing what looks to be straight blood. Rocky has never really been sick before, and I've never really not known what's been going on with him. I am the most freaked out about my little guy than I've ever been before. I know that it's probably just a bladder or UT infection, and am hopeful that it isn't kidney stones or will require surgery, but it's scary. I feel so helpless and he seems so uncomfortable.

I got a call from the clinic and Rocky's appointment had been cancelled. The power was out and they didn't know when it would be back up and running. I could take them the sample but they couldn't run the tests. They could send it out to a lab but it would take 2 days to get the results.

Cue freaking out a little more.

I have now scheduled him into a different clinic for later this afternoon, but I will have to take another urine sample, and he seems to be getting worse as the time passes.

If only I had caught it sooner. If only I'd paid more attention to the signs. If only I had listened to what couldn't be anything other than a Mother's intuition.

I don't know how parents do it, but I hope one day that I'll be able to.