I hit the big 4-0 on Tuesday.  Yea!  I had a joyous day at work then Jan came by.  Mike came home from work and we chatted for a bit.  We had reservations at Kelsey’s for 6:25.  I was just a wee bit shocked when my best friend Laura and almost all of Mike’s family was there waiting!  Wow!

We were there for at least a couple hours.  It was such a blast!  Mike got me this sexy hat to wear, which we donned toward the end of the night:

What a great surprise and perfect birthday!  One of the great pressies I got was from Jan, which was entitled “Piece of the American Pie” and was a lovely plate of US money:

Very creative, Jan!  It will come in very handy when we go to Rochester next month!  Mike’s gift is also something I’ll be using at a later date – a skydiving certificate!  I can’t wait!  I’ve done four jumps many years ago, but they were only static line (pilot chute then main chute automatically pulled) at 4500′  This one will be from 12,000′ while I’m strapped to someone.  At least I likely will not have the issue I had during my first jump, where my chute didn’t open all the way at first and once I got the line untangled, I was way off course and landed on the shoulder of Hwy 400!  Oops!  My next three were a tad less stressful.

Laura was kind enough to get me these awesome balloons, which you can see in the first photo.  Of course, I had to pose with it:

I was off yesterday and in the afternoon, Laura and I went to do some shopping.  We went out for suppies then drove over to her house to pick up her laptop.  She asked me to tweak it a bit again, as it’s been very slow lately.  I was a little nervous when we got to my place, due to my latest “pet.”  I rescued a snail last week from the Flying Club.  Poor wee lad was on the sidewalk, right outside the main door to the ramp, so he was likely going to get smooshed.  I brought Ralphie home and made him a little habitat.  Laura likes to pick up snails and throw them across the street, so Ralphie made this sign:

Fortunately, she obeyed!  After meeting her newest nephew, we got to work on her puter.  Then, for some reason, I decided to get the goofy glasses I used once at university.  (Laura looks lovely in them, eh!)  I was always so fatigued and sometimes fell asleep in class.  Little did I know at the time, the fatigue was from MS, which wasn’t diagnosed until years later.  Anyway, I wore these glasses once while sitting in a lecture at the very front.  The professor looked over and saw them and instantly started cracking up.  Oops.  I kinda felt bad he laughed in front of over 220 people, and no one except me knew why!

I had something totally shocking happen today.  I fell asleep last night and I actually stayed asleep – until 9:50am!!!!  I couldn’t believe it!  I woke up a couple times briefly last night but fell back to sleep easily.  I slept for almost 11 hours!  I think after four months of insomnia, my bod decided to try sleeping for a change.  I can’t believe how much better I feel today.  I’m so hopeful this continues, maybe just not until that late in the morning!

Today’s symptoms: Felt SO good!  It’s amazing what a good night of sleep does.  I’ll give anything for this to continue.  Great way to start off life in the 40’s!

Mike and I decided to go to St. Jacobs for our five year anniversary, which is at the end of November.  We didn’t realize when we booked if for this weekend that they were having a huge sale event.  Needless to say, it was a tad busy.  We drove up Friday and spent the day wandering around the town.  They converted a church on the main drag into an awesome toy store.  How long do you think this puzzle would take to finish?

That’s quite a few pieces!  Due to the sale event going on in the town, there were Christmas carolers out, treats in many of the stores, plus the horsies clippity-clopping down the street:

As usual, we hit the Stone Crock for dinner.  They have the best buffet ever:

It was a really productive day.  We ended up getting a good chunk of the rest of our Christmas shopping done.

The next day, we went to the Outlet Mall and the Farmer’s Market.  I saw this perfect sized cheese grater for my tiny mother:

I figured it would go nicely with this Jan-sized cooking set:

Tee hee!

We got finished at the market fairly early, so we decided to go to the nearby Conestoga Mall.  It was our first time there.  It was a bit of a zoo due to the Pre-Black Friday sales, but we ended up getting the rest of our shopping done.

After a rather stressful drive home in the rain, it was great to see my adorable kitties.  One of the first things they did is beg me to put the tap on:

Mya was too comfortable under the covers to come out.  It was a tad cold today, so she got to wear her little sweater:

On Sunday, although a tad weary from the trip, I went up for a quick flight to test out the new high voltage sensor my mechanic installed.  It was very windy that day and cruddy weather was coming in, so I was the only one flying.  On my second circuit, I had to do an overshoot and switch runways because there were so many seagulls on the runway.  Geesh!  I asked them nicely to move but instead they just flipped me the bird.

Today’s symptoms:  Unfortunately, my insomnia is still hanging on and I’ve been up since 4:30am.  Ugh.  I guess since this is the last day of my 30’s, my body wanted to get the most of it!  Paws crossed I actually sleep tonight.  I was born at 3:21am and considering how the last almost four months have been sleep-wise, I’ll likely be awake to celebrate.  Yea. 

Had a really good weekend.  On Saturday, I flew my father out to Brampton for brekkie.  It was great seeing the passenger jets flying right over us, on the way to Pearson Airport in Toronto.

A great sight was the three Sopwiths that were doing a couple circuits together:

My little Vyctor looked on in awe, while he was all snuggled with his cowl cosy:

Yes, I know – I didn’t get his nose wheel right on the centre.  Close though.  ***lowers head in shame***

On the way home, had a wee little incident.  We were just East of Grimsby when my microphone to my headset started cutting in and out.  A few minutes later, his headset started to act up.  Then I noticed my transponder light was out.  I called the tower and asked if they had my on the radar via my transponder, and he said no, only as a primary target.  Then my gas gauges went dead, then the radio started flickering.  I let the tower know that I was having a bit of an electrical issue and asked for priority landing.  I wasn’t worried at all because I was in St. Catharines Airspace and the runway was just up ahead.  I phoned the tower on my cell phone just to make sure everything was good to go.  No problem – had a really nice landing and taxied over to the Flying Club.  Poor battery was dead.  My awesome mechanic came out the same day and put in a new battery.  Man, I really lucked out getting him as my aviation mechanic – he’s amazing and takes such good care of Vyctor!  Fortunately, my passenger wasn’t bothered at all by the situation and said it actually made it more exciting than it already was!  Good times!

Once home, I spent the rest of the day snuggling with the kitties and working on my presentation for work.  My little Pinky….

…..slept so peacefully, with her little tongue hanging out:

While I was in the other room, Boo grabbed my phone and took a selfie:

Today was really good as well.  Jan came over and we went to the airport to do a few circuits and test out Vyc’s glorious new battery.  There was a bit of a cross wind and my first landing wasn’t perfect, so she told me to smarten up.  Fortunately, the next few were better.  I told the tower that my mother was critiquing my landings.  He said “Mothers are always right!”  “Very true!” I replied.  After my fourth landing, I taxied back to the Club.  The tower said my last landing was textbook.  Jan said “Let’s not exaggerate!”  Geesh!  He laughed when I reported that back to him.

After the flight, we went to Niagara Falls to pick up something very nice.  This awesome woman, Stephanie Nielsen, wrote a book about some special folks in Niagara.  I am SO honoured to be one of them, as she included me in her book!

Holy moly!  She has people in there like James Cameron (who was from the Falls), amazing athletes, true heroes and more.  She’s an excellent writer and I’m really looking forward to reading about everyone else.  If anyone wants a copy, just let me know and I’ll get in touch with Stephanie.  Jan and I sat and chatted with her for about half an hour.  She had great stories to tell and her husband was a total hoot!  I also laid on her floor (I have no shame!) to snuggle with her adorable kitty, Angel:

Thanks again, Stephanie!!!

Once home, Jan and I unloaded some stuff up to my apartment, which included this year’s Christmas decoration for my centre piece:

Isn’t it great?!??!  I asked her last year to use the alien head to make a decoration for my table.  I’m sure just like last year, she was calling my some names while completing her masterpiece….things like Dork, Weirdo, Nut Case…..  Yup!  Normal is boring!

Today’s symptoms:  I actually slept very well last night after three nights of only a few hours of chopped up sleep.  I’ve been under a great deal of emotional stress lately, due to an issue I don’t want to publish quite yet.  It’s just been awful – I feel myself getting quite down but I’m fighting so hard to pull myself up.  Hopefully everything works out but it will likely be months before I find out.  😦

Just before Halloween, Mike and I went to a Ghost Tour at Fort George.  I hadn’t been in the Fort since I was a kid, but fly over it fairly regularly:

This was a nice touch while we were waiting for our guide:

The tour was really neat and interesting!  Unfortunately, no spooks were spotted.  We liked the stories and history facts our guide told us.

We toured around the grounds, into a tunnel and a couple of buildings.  Thankfully it was a nice clear night and not too cold.

I certainly recommend the tour.  Only $20!

At work Monday, I noticed my friend from upstairs struck again.  She likes spiffying up the cat pictures I change on the post next to my pod.  I think this is her best work so far:

Priceless!

This weekend was quite good.  I went for a flight on Saturday morning.  Once back, Mike and I went out to pick up some groceries to make slow-cooker pulled pork.  Yum!  That evening, we watched some shows and attempted to finish the puzzle we’ve been working through.  Little Zim came out to help but he wasn’t too productive:

On Sunday, we went to the Homemade Market in Niagara Falls.  The number and variety of vendors was very impressive.  Another great thing was the food.  I had this amazing naan bread pizza and Mike had a fried chicken sammich:

We made a few purchases, talked to some really interesting folks and also visited a photo booth in an Air Stream Trailer:

What a creative idea!

We had a great time and stayed dry on such a yucky, rainy day.

I am off tomorrow and my little mother (a motherlette!) is coming to visit. I’m a little overdue for my three month blood work (for the MS drug Gilenya).  Oops!  I’m sure we’ll also hit Timmies then maybe the mall.  After she goes, I’ll probably work on the Lunch and Learn presentation I’m giving at work later this month.

Today’s symptoms: Feeling pretty cruddy today.  The insomnia is hanging on and I’ve been up before 4:00 the last two mornings.  I generally can’t fall back to sleep once I wake up.  It’s been over three months now and it’s so frustrating.  What long-term lack of sleep does to a person is not pleasant at all to deal with.  I would give anything to find a solution to this. 

I can’t believe my youngest daughter turned nine on Halloween.  Geesh, they grow up so fast!  Check out this pile of cuteness – Abby is in the bottom right:

So tiny:

Her first noms at her forever home:

Her shirt says she’s naughty, but she really isn’t:

Her look kinda says different though!  Fortunately, big sister Mya saw past her mischievous glare and took her under her paw:

She’s just as cute today as she was back then:

Her and sisters received some awesome pressies a friend from work made.  How awesome of her!  She’s such a good person – volunteers at a cat adoption place in Niagara:

I’m going to stop this blog here, so it’s fully about my little Abigail McGuilicutty.  She was diagnosed with an issue with her colon and we didn’t think she would make it to her third birthday.  Surprise!  Sure, she’s on a daily anti-inflammatory and antidepressant, but she’s comfortable and full of life!  Here’s to another nine years, sweetie!

Today’s symptoms: A little weary because I’m trying to get off my sleeping pills, and haven’t taken any in the last two nights.  Only been getting a few hours of sleep on and off.  I may take something tonight so I get a more decent night.  Hopefully I can wean myself off of this stuff soon.  I think my body is becoming dependent on them – not good!  I would much rather become dependent on better things in life, like chocolate and wine!