I can’t believe the Walk for MS is almost here!  I hate asking for support, even though this cause means so much to me.  The Walk for MS is Sunday May 7th.  Weather permitting, I plan on flying over all three walk sites in Niagara while the Walk is underway.  They all start at the same time so I typically fly out to the St. Catharines site ten minutes before the Walk starts and I do some aerobatics to get folks going.  It’s such a rush to look down at the people there to support this cause so close to my heart.  After the Walk starts, I fly overhead and take some pics, then I head over to Welland to take pictures of them, who also just started their Walk.  After flying over for a bit and taking some pics, I head to Chippawa (near Niagara Falls) to take pics for their Walk participants.  I’m so lucky that I have the gift to do this every year. I did not ask for pledges last year (I had major surgery in April and wasn’t sure if I would be healed in time) so I’m going to ask for support this year.  As I do for most years, everyone who pledges me for the Walk will be entered in a draw to go up with my in my Cessna 150 Aerobat.  If you wouldn’t mind, please check out my Walk for MS pledge page here:  http://mssoc.convio.net/site/TR/Walk/OntarioDivision?px=1375843&pg=personal&fr_id=5499

Paws crossed for great weather that day!  Thank you so much for your support!

Here’s a pic I took over the St. Catharines Walk site a couple of years ago:

Today’s symptoms: Felt pretty decent except my energy took a dive early this afternoon.  I had to lay down for about an hour (I was off work today).  Feeling a little more perky now.  My headache isn’t as bad as normal today, so that’s a bonus.

Oops, I wrote this yesterday and forgot to publish.

Mike’s sister graciously decided she was able to tolerate me in her home for a few hours and invited me to Easter dinner.  I’m so grateful as I had a great time.  She had quite a few people over so I thought I’d help out by bringing a cooked ham.  Since times are tight, I unfortunately had to glaze and roast Pinky, who kinda looks like a big ham anyway:

Fortunately, Pinky is so huge, the chunks we took out of her didn’t even make a dent.  She was very yummy!

The rest of my critters were thrilled with Easter and totally got into it:

Even Zim got into the festivities:

Good times!

I was off on Monday and the weather was good so my little mother and I flew out to Brampton for brunch.  As I was checking out Vyctor, a helicopter came in to land:

She hates getting her picture taken and of course, turned away:

It was a smooth flight and we made it to Brampton in about 40 minutes.  Jan had never been there before.  The circuit was fairly busy and we were third on final.  We then taxied behind one of their training planes:

It was a great breakfast.  With full bellies, we headed back out to Vyctor:

I told Pinky about our adventures and as you can see, she was thrilled:

I saw this phrase recently.  How many people can relate?  I used to do it constantly but since I don’t let it bother me much anymore, I have to admit, I’m much happier.  Easier said than done but worth working on:

Mike and I are watching a movie while eating some treats.  Mya didn’t want to miss out…trust me, she didn’t:

You’re welcome, world!  Yeah, my cats are awesome.  You can thank me with cheques or large quantities of aviation fuel and/or chocolate.

Today’s symptoms:  I felt not too bad when I woke up.  Pranced into work like an adorable little blonde….errrrr…..stick-like-thing.  Started to crash toward the afternoon.  Going to feel great tomorrow though – I’ve already decided.  Life is good.

The weather was nice last weekend so we flew to Brantford for brekkie.  I met up with a friend from Exeter there.  Mike took this pic:

The wind was blowing and exposed my big egg forehead, so I drew a Santa hat on the pic.

We had a really nice breakfast before heading back to St. Catharines.  The flight back was much quicker as we had a tail wind.

Yesterday we went to the Pet Show in Mississauga.  We arrived just as they opened at 10:00.  The lineup was insane, but went fairly quick. We first checked out some lizards, snakes, spiders, and this cutie:

There were gourmet (fancy) chickens:

Roos:

A couple of pups that apparently just got hitched:

We also watched the aqua dogs show where they jumped off a ramp into a large pool.  Some of them went almost 20′.

This little fella wasn’t quite so gracious:

It was a good few hours we spent there.  I was having a bit of an issue walking for so long because I’m still experiencing spasms and increasing stiffness in my left leg.  After walking around for about an hour, it was causing quite a bit of pain in my leg and lower back.  I think I was a little limpy by the end.  During the drive back, I had another ocular migraine.  This is my third one in two months.  I went to my eye doctor the day after my second one and that’s when I was told exactly what it was.  I’m a little bothered that I’ve had three so close together.  I don’t like the worsening (over the last week, although it started a few months ago) stiffness and pain in my left side.  During my neurologist visit in January, he said the stiffness was noticeable to him during his examination and paired with the new lesion on the MRI, assumed I was having an MS flare up.  I didn’t take him up on his offer of trying a medication for it because I assumed it wasn’t going to last long.  I’ll be giving him a jingle on Monday to see if I can get an appointment.  Sigh.

On the way home, we stopped at the Marble Slab Creamery for some ice cream.  I had raspberry cheesecake frozen yogurt and Mike had this chocolatey dream:

Once home, I told my little goobers about our adventures with all the other pets.  Zim was thrilled:

Pinky didn’t care to hear about the details but was interested in Zim, who booped her on the nose:

Boo didn’t care much either.  She sat there patiently while I stuck paper reinforcements to her head.  It made her look like she was getting a brain scan.

That evening I attempted to watch TV, but Mya decided that it wasn’t going to happen:

Today’s symptoms: I was dragging quite a bit this morning but went to see my little mother for a bit.  We hit Timmies, Food Basics, then back home where I vacuumed my car.  I got home around 1:00 and was in bed for a few hours afterwards.  I really feel lousy (lots of pain and fatigue).  Have been vegging on the couch since then.  Hopefully I feel better than this tomorrow.  Geesh!

My mother just gave me a great tip for my recent issue.  Lots of new people have moved into my apartment building.  Some of them are quite stinky.  We never used to have this problem.  I feel like dropping cards off at their doors saying “Welcome to the neighbourhood!  You stenched it up perfectly!”  On a day like today when it’s raining and there’s hardly any breeze, the smells float around quite a bit more.  It doesn’t help that I have a highly sensitive sense of smell (can smell a fart from a block away).  My mother looked up online what to do about this odour problem and suggested that I put equal parts of water and vinegar in a pot and put in on the stove on low.  I did it and in less than thirty minutes, the smell was gone.  It’s not just masked, it’s been totally neutralized!  I didn’t want to bring the oven into the bedroom, so instead I used my tea light oil diffuser with vinegar in it:

I’m so happy with how great it’s working.  Yea!  Thank you Jan!  I wanted to get her something as a thank you gift.  We were at the mall today and I asked if I could buy her these little shoes for her little feet:

She said no and called me a few choice names.  I think she was just afraid they would be too big.  Tee hee.

Today’s symptoms: I’ve had a bad headache on the left side  for the last couple of days.  Yesterday, my pupils were two different sizes from it.  Also had bad aches shooting down my left side today.  I think it will be better tomorrow….one can hope!

Great weekend!  Mike and I wandered downtown yesterday and hit Timmies then the St. Catharines Market (although didn’t buy anything).  Weather wasn’t the best so when we got back, we just worked on a puzzle and watched some shows and a movie.  Weather was great today so we hit the airport and went up for a flight.  When I walked into the hangar, I was thrilled to see Vyctor was wearing his pants again.  My aviation mechanic removed them just before the first snowfall of the year – the covers over the wheels can pick up snow which can interfere with the brakes:

While we were starting up, we saw a Club plane park on the apron and the instructor hopped out.  I waved him over and asked if the guy still in the plane was doing his first solo.  Yup!  We both felt his pain!  The first solo is so insane….you look over and there’s no longer an instructor in the right seat.  It’s very scary but so freeing.  We followed behind him to the runway and waited for him to take off:

Good luck dude!  We followed him in the circuit and watched his great flight.  I congratulated him after he landed.  The awesome tower dude Yousef said “Thanks for taking my job, Liz”, since they always congratulate the solo students.  I told him he was a slacker.  He got me back when I was leaving St. Catharines air space and he called me to tell me I was leaving the airspace before I called him.  He called me a slacker too….tee hee.

It was a nice flight.  I felt a little incomplete for not doing any aerobatics.  We headed south almost to Lake Erie, then north and a little east to the Niagara Falls scenic circuit.  Just as we entered, an awesome helicopter pilot I know said hello to me.  We tried to grab some shots of him flying below us”

A little hard to get a good pic as we were bouncing around, zipping along in opposite directions.  He let me know that he noticed traffic behind me at 4000′.  I was at 3600′ (planes must be at least 3500′ in the scenic circuit).  We were just a tad shocked when the traffic he pointed out passed over us:

They were from the Niagara Falls Airport in the States, which is just slightly east of the scenic circuit border.

Mike grabbed some nice shots of the Falls.  I was surprised to see Maid of the Mist was already operating:

After our flight, we drove over to the new Chef restaurant for brekkie.  Copilot Donkay came along and Mike was thrilled:

We got home, finished a puzzle avec the help of some chats:

Let them play with Zim:

Made a gourmet meal (tuna casserole) with some high end, hand crafted napkins (I kinda somehow missed cutting out one of the arms):

Worked great though:

(I think Mike’s was doing the Macarena).

Then we topped off the evening playing with Peanut using the laser pointer….please welcome Peanut the Red-nosed Gecko:

Today’s symptoms:  Felt quite good the last two days!  Always nice when it happens on a weekend!  Weary now after all the excitement and awesome flight…totally worth it though.  Life is good!

It was very splooshy out today.  Rain started late last night and had the unmitigated gall to keep going while I had to walk to work this morning.  At least I had the best umbrella ever made:

See, even Pinky agrees.

My bestie Laura and I tried to go to a restaurant the other night, but were bummed when we saw this in the window:

Tee hee – I love the last line!

Oh well, we found another good restaurant in the area and hit there instead.  All is good in the world again.  It almost wasn’t good when I was first leaving my apartment that night.  I did a head count and noticed I was missing a Boo.  I checked all the rooms but nothing.  I noticed the balcony door was open.  It was still cool out but the sun was shining.  Boo was lapping it up out on the chair:

It was a great evening!

I came back home to find that the antibiotics I’ve been giving Abby for the last two days finally started kicking in.  She started looking not well a couple days ago and she tinkled on the floor twice in two days.  The second time, I used a syringe to pick up some pee and put it in a bottle.  The vet tested it and said she had a fairly bad infection.  I’m so glad it’s something treatable.  I told Pinky the news as I looked up at her whilst she was perched upon her glorious cat tree.  Her expression of elation was indescribable:

I asked Abby if she was appreciative of her sister’s loving reaction to her plight.  Does she look impressed?

I was all snuggly in bed last night when suddenly a swarm of freaks ascended upon me.  Oh yes – I forgot this is how I spent every awesome night….a wee bit cramped but full of love and warmth:

At least I found a small speck of blanket and covered about an inch of my girlish stick figure to keep slightly warm that night.  ***sigh***

Today’s symptoms:  Had a pretty good sleep last night but woke up with another bad headache and lots of crushing pain just in my left hand and forearm.  Still a rather productive day, and the best part – it’s Friday!  Woot!

Had a bit of an incident yesterday.  I heard water dripping in the wall between my living room and kitchen.  Then, I heard much faster dripping into the kitchen sink.  The roof was leaking and water ran down the wall into my kitchen cupboards and into my sink (thankfully, rather than the floor!).  Three shelves were flooded.  Unfortunately, it ran down through the faucet and soaked the high-end particle board under the sink the the cupboard door.  That door basically was saturated and fell off the hinges today.  Oh joys.  They fixed the issue so I’m hopeful I don’t have to worry about the rain in the forecast the rest of the weekend.  Washed all my dishes and put a fan under the sink.  I hardly doubt the door will be fixed anytime soon….ugh.

That night, we went over to the Legion (as we do every Friday night) for their amazing fish and chips.  We usually get there right before they start taking orders and are either number one or two.  Since we were a couple hours late:

It was a looooong wait but worth it!

Mike and I went to Fonthill for a visit with my little mother this morning. As usual, the first sign of Spring for me is bonking either Mike or my mother in the head with a pool noodle.  Mike was the lucky recipient this year:

When we got home, we made a gourmet meal.  Check out these classy smushy peas!

….and perogies.  I could charge a pretty penny for this plating:

To make it even better (you ask, how could that possibly get better???), the smushy peas were 75% off from the Bulk Barn and set us back a measly 70 cents!

While watching TV tonight, I allowed Mya to lick a couple of my cheese crackers.  The result:

When I got up at 4:00am this morning to check if the water was still pouring into my kitchen after the night of rain, I checked in on the lizards.  Zim was frolicking about:

And Peanut was hanging around:

Happy to report the leak was resolved, although now I am missing a cupboard door.

Today’s symptoms: Felt pretty good except for a bad headache.  A little weary due to having to wake up a couple times in the night to check the status of the leak.  Paws crossed for a good sleep tonight:

I mentioned in my last blog that I was going to take Mike somewhere on Saturday.  He didn’t know where we were going until we got there.  I took Abby to the vet on Friday and someone mentioned a cat show in Ancaster that weekend.  Sweet!  It took us about 45 minutes to drive there, in rather yucky weather.  I don’t think there were too many people there that day due to the weather, so it was a bonus for us.  We wandered around for a couple hours, adoring the many cuties:

We watched some of the judgings:

This poof ball was quite the sight – could he be more relaxed?

And this cutie walking around collecting money in his little wagon for a cat charity:

It was a great day.  The only disappointment was there were no sphynx kitties there.  At least we had four to go home to (like Pinky checking out Zim):

On Monday, I was feeling decent so we decided to go for a night flight.  He rented a plane from the Flying Club and of course, I took Vyctor:

It got dark around 8:00pm.  He headed up first and I followed for the first circuit.  We just did touch and go’s for the hour.  I ended up passing him on the second circuit, then eventually caught back up to him.  It was quite an enjoyable flight, and now we are both current again with our night ratings.

We landed and parked the planes for the night.  An instructor was up with the students so I do believe he put the planes back in the hangar when he got back.  I was kinda proud to get my nose wheel so close to the centre of the line, since it was a wee bit dark:

I was recently honoured to go back to the Tax Office in Toronto again for another mental health presentation.  I’m glad I didn’t scare them too much when I was there in January.  I was so thrilled to be asked back, since they were such an amazing, interactive group of folks.  I left my apartment around 7:15 this morning.  The traffic was typical – very heavy.  The main thing is I got there in one piece!  I love the view from their office:

I was asked to be part of a panel for a discussion on accommodations.  While waiting for our turn to take the stage, I doodled on some pics of my cats:

I didn’t have quite enough time to do one for Mya.

The presentation went great.  Everyone seemed so interested in what we were saying and were again very interactive.  It was a great day – I’m so hopeful I’ll be asked back again.  Not surprising, I was completely drained when I got home, but it was totally worth it.   I had an interesting little situation when I made a quick stop at the Giant Tiger to grab some noms for dinner.  An older gentleman saw me across the parking lot and said “Wow, I’ve never seen such blonde hair, and it’s natural too!”  I was quite impressed that he could tell.  He asked if I had a toonie so he could buy something to eat.  I said I didn’t have any change on me (honestly).  I asked what he wanted to buy and he said some sardines (yuck!).  I said he could come in the store with me and I would buy him a can, which he said was $1.  I told him I needed to get some yogurt for my boyfriend and a salad for me, so I would meet him over by the canned goods.  I grabbed my loot and walked over to him, and his hands were full!  I said “Dude, that looks like a bit more than a can of sardines.  I know a bag of cookies when I see them!”  He had a couple other things too.  I felt bad for him but in all fairness, I did offer to buy him just the sardines.  I told him I would get them, plus the can of oysters (yuck again!) he also grabbed.  He put the cookies back.  We walked over to the checkout and I put everything on the belt.  He picked up a big Dairy Milk bar and asked if I wouldn’t mind getting him it as well.  I said “Do you see me with a chocolate bar?  If I can’t have one, then I’m afraid you can’t either.  Besides, it’s not good for you!”  Tee hee.  I was glad I could help him…..and the cans of sea-grossness were both more than $1!

I pulled into my parking garage and saw this one tiny little spot in the back corner.  I stepped out of Lola Corolla to get a better look at the spot, and a construction worker said “It’s way too tight – you’ll never make it.”  Challenge accepted!  I had to make three small adjustments but voila!

I got out of the car, looked at him, smiled and said “In your face!”  Hehehehe!

Today’s symptoms:  Despite very little sleep last night (evil insomnia!) I felt really good this morning.  After the long drive, awesome day at the Tax Office and drive home, I’m quite drained and achy now.  I’m just going to chill for the evening with the kitties and hopefully sleep better tonight.

Last weekend, Mike and I went for a flight and I think due to the cold and wind, we were the only ones flying.  You can almost feel the cold from this pic:

The snow plow dude honked at me while I was taking his pic.  Either that, or he was trying to tell me how adorable my plane is.

We also went to an Ice Dogs hockey game at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines.  If we lost this game, we would have likely been out of the playoffs.  They played great and I think the final score was 7-1 for the Dogs.  The mascot was there, getting pucks thrown at him for a contest:

We met up with Mike’s boss after the game and went over to The Works for burgery awesomeness.

Yesterday was Mike’s birthday so I took him to The Keg for din-dins.  Oh man, I always get the teriyaki steak.  It’s amazing.  He got a steak and yucky shrimp dish:

And for dessert, the Billy Minor pie, which we split:

We told the kitties about our gourmet meal and here are a couple of reactions:

We commonly refer to Pinky as a honey baked ham.  She’s a tad plump, and apparently headless:

I was off yesterday so went to visit the little Janski.  We went to the Seaway Mall to pick up the new glasses she ordered.  I picked up a pair of sunglasses while we were there:

I went to pay for them and my credit card was declined. I knew I was no where near my limit so couldn’t figure out what was happening.  Fortunately, Jan’s card was fine.  Once home, I phoned the credit card company and they said they deactivated my card due to some suspicious purchases recently, including about eight in one day in Walmart, no where near where I live.  Yup, my card number had been stolen.  Ugh.  I’m so glad they were able to catch it and I won’t have to pay for anything.  The cruddy part is I now do not have a credit card.  My mother is going to lend me hers until my new one comes in the mail.  I don’t own a debit card.  I need to get more of my MS medication soon and I don’t exactly feel like paying almost $3000 in cash!  Man, people suck.  What an inconvenience.  Just glad they stopped the wrath of the thief.

Boo kinda sucked the other night too.  She smacked Mya on top of the head.  Unfortunately, I only caught a pic right after it happened – just as she retracted her paw and a hiss by Mya:

We have a nice weekend planned.  I’m taking Mike somewhere out of town to do or see something.  I’ll provide pics in my next blog, as he won’t know where we’re going until we get there.  Sunday, we may go out for a flight in the morning and maybe join up with some Recreational Aircraft Association folks for brunch, which we go to every couple of weeks.

Today’s symptoms: Felt pretty decent, except for some weird MS sensory issues, which I haven’t had in almost a year.  When sitting, it felt like I was sinking into the chair and leaning back at around a 45 degree angle.  When standing, it felt like I was floating.  When I had these symptoms previously, they were pretty much the same, plus my hands felt like they were enormous and when laying down, it felt like I was sinking through the mattress.  MS sure can cause some weird stuff!

 

 

 

 

I decided last weekend that I would change up Zim’s habitat a little.  I switched his tank with the one I use for the crickets and was able to add an extra platform.  He has more room now with the two levels:

I guess he’s seeing if the ramp tastes ok.  He seems to like his new digs, which I named Zimtropolis.  So Peanut wouldn’t get jealous, I gave him a little more attention over the last week:

Boo was pretty excited to see him as well:

Pinky wasn’t as thrilled to have him in her domain:

Abby was checking out Zim while he was out, frolicking about:

I’m so proud of my children all getting along so well.  Although, with the look on Abby’s face, I’m not too sure how thrilled she is with her sister Boo:

Pinky had an equally shocked look on her adorable face when Mike was doing something behind her:

I took some vacation time this week and went for a flight.  I flew over Jan’s house and waved to her while she stood out on the driveway.  I did some aerobatics once I was back over the airport.  I hooked up my GoPro and got some pretty decent video.  When I was testing out the camera at home before the flight, I got this ultra weird shot of Boo while she was sniffing the lens:

Mike said she looks like a dog and my mother said she looks like a hamster.  Anyway, it was a great flight and hopefully I’ll be able to go up again this weekend:

Before heading home, I stopped off at the Petsmart in Niagara Falls to utilize my 20% off coupon and load up on cat food and litter.  Since the dry food I get my kitties is $75 a bag, the discount was very helpful!

After loading up the car with my $328 worth of food and litter (ugh!), I headed home.   Soon after walking in the door, three of the little freaks decided they wanted a drink from the bathroom sink:

Abby, not wanting to be left out, joined us on the dinner table while we ate our gourmet meal of cheese fries with chicken:

Today’s symptoms: Felt pretty decent today.  Had to head out of town for a dentist appointment, plus had a nice visit with little Janski.  I’m glad tomorrow is Friday, but at the same time, I can’t believe (and am a little sad) with how fast the week went by.  And how the heck did it get to be March already?

I decided to get sick over the last couple of weeks.  You know, just for something to do.  I’ve never had a flu or cold take so long to peak.  It gradually became worse over a week, then finally hit maximum sickage on about day eight.  By day ten, I decided I shouldn’t mess around since my immune system is compromised from my MS med, so I went to the clinic.  Mike joined me and we were the second ones there once they opened.  The doctor gave me some antibiotics, nasal sprays and sent me on my merry way.  The severity of the sinus pain I was experiencing was certainly in the top five I’ve had.  Meds are doing the trick and I’m on the mend.  At least I had lots of great company while recovering:

Little Peanut was all smiles, as usual:

We played a few games, such as ring toss:

Boo was thrilled:

Of course, Pinky was her usual, bloated, blobby and adorable self:

Poor sheep never had a chance.

My little mother came over one day last week.  While I was bidding her farewell in the parking lot, I became very concerned when I saw this tiny shoe:

I ran after her car yelling “Mother, oh tiny mother of mine!  I do believe you may have lost one of your minuscule shoes!  Oh the humanity!!!!”  After calling me a few choice names, she told me that was not her shoe and drove home.

I was going through some old pictures and found this nice one of my last furry cat, Beau, and her naked little friend Mya:

I can’t believe how fuzzy Mya’s tail used to be!  I guess we all lose hair when we get older. At least she didn’t lose her cuteness and manners.  Oh wait.  I put a plate on the floor last night after nomming a brownie, and Miss Manners decided to walk over it three times:

Ugh.

Today’s symptoms:  Feeling much better.  Still have a pretty bad sinus headache but much of the congestion and wheezing has bid my bod adieu!  Fatigue is a bit worse than usual but I’m sure that’s just from the infection.  All is well in the world.

Due to my insomnia, I typically have to take a sleeping pill to get even a few hours of sleep at night.  My doctor put me on a med that I was on a few years ago, rather than my usual Sublinox (sublingual slumber-land pill).  I only took half and wasn’t sure how long it would take to wipe me out.  Apparently, it hit before I thought it was going to and my goodnight message to Mike wasn’t quite as clear as I hoped:

Tee hee….translate that bad boy!  I think I was trying to say “I’m starting to fall asleep……something, something….Guess my pill is hitting.  Have a good night!”

I was feeling good this morning and the weather was in our favour, so we were good to go for a flight.  His friend lives fairly close to the Brantford Airport, so he set up a meeting with him this morning.  Poor dude had to drive while we had the pleasure of flying.  This was a neat site before we flew into Hamilton airspace:

I asked Mike to take pictures of the adorable planes at the Hamilton Airport:

I love how tiny that one Jazz plane looks.

As usual, I brought the best copilot ever with us…good ol’ Donkay:

We had quite a bit of a headwind, so it took us over 45 to get to Brantford.  We landed just as his friend arrived:

It was a really nice visit.  Good noms and good company.  And great view of little Vyctor:

I have to admit, almost every meal we’ve ever had at an airport restaurant has been fantastic.  Ham and cheese egg white omelette…yum:

My awesome airplane mechanic asked if I could pick up his order from Aircraft Spruce, which is at the Brantford Airport.  It was a pretty big battery…good to know if mine died, I’d have a spare for the trip home:

The flight home was nice….we had quite the tailwind so it took us about half the time to get home as it did to get there.  Whenever I land, I always try to park right on the cross of the parking spot at the airport.  So close again – even Donkay came over to check it out:

After the airport, we made a quick stop at Pet Smart and the Fairview Mall.  I noticed a plane there and realized I just wasn’t done with airplanes yet:

Donald or Daffy or Mickey…whoever that was – thrilled to have me as a copilot!  Right Abby?

Thrilled, as usual.

Today’s symptoms: Felt quite good – again!  Wow, this is awesome!  Tomorrow shall be good too – I command thou, fine, adorable body of mine!

I took up a retired co-worker today.  We were hoping to fly yesterday but the weather pooped out on us.  Fortunately, woke up to better conditions today.  Sweet!  We met at the airport for around 9:30.  We first went up over the Falls:

We didn’t see or hear any other planes or the helicopters while we were buzzing around at 3600′.  Guess it was too nippy for people.

She seemed to be enjoying the flight, so we headed North to Niagara-On-The-Lake.  She was feeling even more adventurous so we flew west to the St. Catharines Airport for some aerobatics.  Still at a bit over 3500′, we started off with a loop.  I have never had a passenger laugh so much during a maneuver!  It was priceless:

She was totally hardcore and had no issues with doing a bunch more stunts.  We did an aileron roll, snap roll, hammer head…..

….and finished off with a spin, straight down:

She laughed and screamed through everything – it was music to my ears!  I love nothing better than hearing my passenger having an amazing experience!  We flew for almost an hour, then came down for a nice gentle landing.  The flight was a blast for both of us!

Today’s symptoms: Had another good day!  Slept fairly well last night, which always helps.  I was quite drained in the afternoon, but always get pooped after a flight (especially aerobatics!)  Totally worth it.  I ended up taking the rest of the day off and just chilled with the kitties.

I was really hoping to be able to go for a flight today and fortunately the weather was in my favour.  I hit the airport for around 10:30.  I wanted to do some aerobatics (don’t want to get rusty!) and the clouds were high enough for me to climb to 4000′ above the airport.  I started off with a few loops, which require more effort with heavy, fully loaded fuel tanks:

Good work out though!  I did aileron rolls, hammer heads, snap rolls, Cuban 8’s and a bunch of combos.  Kinda neat to see the mostly drained Welland Canal and Skyway from a different perspective:

After some fun maneuvers, I stayed at 3500′ and went around the Niagara Falls scenic circuit.  I never get tired of seeing the Falls from above:

After a circuit, Donkay and I headed north to Niagara-On-The-Lake.  Mind you, I inadvertently called it Niagara-On-The-Leak when I told the Tower where I was heading.  Oops!

Mike and I were just at the amazing Prince of Wales hotel a couple weeks ago, so it was nice to see it again:

The town is equally as attractive from above:

I was flying around for about 45 minutes.  The weather stayed decent with only a few little snow showers here and there:

Good times.

Back home, Abby was completely thrilled to see me:

Two of the kitties didn’t even bother to crawl out of bed to see me and Boo just ran into the bathroom so I would turn on the tap for her:

Today’s symptoms: Felt quite good!  My fatigue level wasn’t too bad and no sinus headache (just a regular one, as always), so it’s all good!

My mother and I both started reading a great book series.  They’re the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.  I’m part way into book four and my mother is on book nine.  Man, they are awesome!  Funniest books I’ve read in a very long time.  Here’s a quote from Goodreads, linked above:

Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter with attitude. In Stephanie’s opinion, toxic waste, rabid drivers, armed schizophrenics, and August heat, humidity, and hydrocarbons are all part of the great adventure of living in Jersey. She’s a product of blue-collar Trenton, where houses are attached and narrow, cars are American, windows are clean, and dinner is served at six.

Out of work and out of money, with her Miata repossessed and her refrigerator empty, Stephanie blackmails her bail bondsman cousin, Vinnie, into giving her a try as an apprehension agent. And that’s only the beginning of series that will set her on the trail of fugitives. Stephanie will have to sharpen her sleuthing skills, because she’s got many a mystery to solve.

I’m not usually into mystery or crime books, but I’m so glad I started reading these.  The humour is to die for and the characters will literally have you laughing out loud.  Both my little mother and I highly recommend these books!

I was hoping to go for a flight today but the weather is poopola.  Looks like I may catch a break tomorrow and be able to go up for some aerobatics.  Paws crossed!  Today, my mother came by and we went to Timmies then to the Bulk Barn and dollar store.  I had to buy some ingredients (oats, peanuts and dog food) to make food for my crickets.  This last batch I bred turned out to be far more in number than I expected.  I usually aim for about 100, but I have well over 300 this time.  I just lifted one of the layers of egg carton in their tank and was shocked at the number:

Oops.  That’s maybe a quarter of how many there are.  Good thing I can make their food in large quantities.  This batch cost me less than $2.00:

If anyone in Niagara is in need of some crickets over the next month or two, let me know!

After my mother left, I just chilled with the kitties and watched some TV.  Both Boo and Abby were sitting in really weird positions today:

Looks like they both wanted to show off their adorable little belly bulges.

While out with my best friend the other day, I spotted the coolest shirts!  I just had to buy them:

Tee hee!  I love being weird.  Speaking of which, while at my mother’s house last week, I found my egg from high school.  You know, the one we had to take care of for a couple weeks for some home economics class or something.  Of course, my egg had to be unique…

Can’t imagine what the inside looks like.  Yuck.

I just realized I neglected to put Pinky in my previous blog.  Sorry Pinky (aka Honey Baked Ham, Bacon, Porko…):

Today’s symptoms: Felt pretty good.  Slept better last night, which can make a fairly big difference.  I’m aiming for a second night in a row of awesome slumberage!  Woot!

I just wanted to give everyone an update on the chocolate bar mentioned in my previous blog.  The chocolate has left the building (and now resides in my belly).  I’m asking Santa for will power next year.

If you’re wondering, I don’t like having my picture taken, thus the unicorn head.  Mind you, if I was wearing it earlier, I probably wouldn’t have been able to eat the rest of the chocolate bar.  ***sigh***  Damn it was good though.

I had an amazing experience yesterday – I was invited to Toronto to give a presentation on mental health.  I was presenting at 11:00, so I left St. Catharines just after 7:00.  I bit the bullet and decided to take the 407 highway, to avoid any traffic issues.  Maybe the cameras missed my license plate and they won’t send me the bill?  It was a relatively uneventful drive.  I think the best part was when I was just a few blocks from the Toronto North Tax Office and saw a bus in front of me with the digital sign that said “GO Transit….Not In Service….Sorry!”  You know you’re in Canada when even the buses are apologizing.  I arrived at the office before 10:00.  I wasn’t too nervous, despite the large crowd I’d be presenting to (about 80 people there and they were Web-casting it to another six offices).  However, I was a little tempted to hit this in the parking garage:

After parking, I wandered up the stairs and out to the main doors:

The room I was headed to was on the 19th floor.  After using the little girls room, I took this pic of the view.  I didn’t notice the reflection of my hands in the pic while I was taking it….oops:

I sat next to someone I knew from my office.  It was nice to have someone familiar there.  I was really happy to see how interactive the group of folks was.  The previous presenter was great – so engaging.  After her, it was time for a break and then my presentation.  I actually felt so comfortable and wasn’t nervous at all.  The only thing I forgot to do was watch the time.  I have no idea if I went too long or not.  Everything went great.  The only thing I regret is breaking down at the end of my talk, as I brought up something very personal and hard to talk about.  It wasn’t planned and I feel really silly and a little disappointed in myself for getting upset.  Other than that though, my talk about dealing with depression, MS, the good and the bad in life, went very well.  I had pictures throughout the whole talk which I think people enjoyed.  I wish I could have stayed and listened to the next presenter, but I was getting so fatigued.  Still dealing with the insomnia so hardly slept the night before, plus I was a little stressed about the drive and giving the presentation.  So, after bidding everyone adieu, I went back to Lola Corolla and started the journey back home.  I took the 407 again, but didn’t stay on it as long so it wouldn’t cost as much.

I met some really great people yesterday.  I’m so lucky to have had this opportunity.  They also sent me on my way with some nice gifts, such as this decoration, which goes great with my 10 year service award, (a glass polar bear):

I also got a nice mug, thank you card and a chocolate bar.  I don’t have the heart to tell them that the chocolate they gave me is defective:

I got it home and the package just suddenly fell open.  Then, to my shock and horror, a piece of chocolate flew off of the bar and landed in my mouth.  Strangely enough, this same thing keeps happening every time I go by the kitchen.  I’m not sure if it’s possessed or what….mind you, I don’t think I’ll have to worry about it anymore by tomorrow.  (Slurp)

For the rest of the day, I just chilled with the kitties.  I need to have a talk with Boo though – she’s turning into a bit of a bully.  She loves it when I turn the tap on for her, but Mya decided that she would have a drink first:

Jealous little Boo just couldn’t be patient and let her finish, and jumped in the sink with her:

I sat Boo down on the couch and gave her a little chat on how she has to share with her sisters and to be a little more patient.  She found the talk truly enthralling:

Yup, my cats are dorks.  Right Abby?

I decided to take today off to recover from yesterday.  The excitement wore me right out.  Totally worth it though.  I would love to be asked to give my presentation at another office in the future.  Hopefully I don’t get all choked up again.  It’s still really bothering me that I did.  However, I’ve received some amazing emails and messages from a few people that listened to my presentation.  Their words and kind thoughts were amazing and made me feel so good.

Today’s symptoms: Just felt really drained and I have a bad headache.  I plan on getting an amazing sleep tonight (paws crossed!) and will feel better tomorrow.  I’m also having crushing pains in my hands today, which is a little annoying.  Those too shall pass though!  Life is good.

Mike and I had an amazing experience this weekend.  For tolerating me for four years (good job, buddy!), he booked an overnight stay at the beautiful Prince of Wales Hotel in Niagara-On-The-Lake.  Wow, been to NOTL dozens of times but never set a paw in that hotel.  It was amazing….did I mention”wow?”

There were roses everywhere:

Prior to our dinner and settling into our room, we spent a couple hours walking through the town.  I saw this adorable dog walk through the street.  I pointed and laughed because he was so gosh-darn adorable with his little coat.  The owner gave us treats to feed him:

We toured the town but didn’t buy too much.  Regardless, it was a great time.  We headed back to the room for around 4:00.  We had a dinner reservation for 5:00.  We left our room briefly to tour the hotel, and I noticed that Donkay hitched a ride in my pocket.  I was shocked.  However, he posed perfectly for a few shots:

It was then back to our amazing room to change for dinner noms:

We couldn’t believe how high the bed was.  I did my impersonation of my little mother trying to climb up on the bed:

Tee hee!  What a beautiful establishment.  We went down to the main dining hall for our dinner.  It was the Ice Wine Festival just outside on Queen Street.  We had an amazing glass of wine pre-dinner noms:

I’m not a big salmon eater (it’s just too strong for my adorable tummy), but I ordered the Arctic Char.  We were told it’s like a mild version of salmon, so I gave it a whirl:

 

It was amazing!  Mike had the duck and don’t even get me started on describing that perfection on a plate.  We then had dessert.  Mike had like 12 layers of “wow, my life sucked until now” cake and I had a great fruit plate:

Holy crud sticks, that was an amazing meal (minus the grossy-gross oysters Mike had as an appetizer.  I tried a piece and was very discrete in my non-vomitting response).  Like Ewww.

Back to our room, someone came in an put on some nice music, closed the blinds and left a rose on the bed.  Yup, this place was a tad classy.  Unfortunately we put on the TV and witnessed Trump’s inauguration.   The night was a tad tainted at that point (and I threw up a little).  After scaling the 7′ bed, we went to bed then woke up to life in the “damn this is awesome” world.  We repelled off the bed and got ready for brekkie.  Holy cow, that was the best omelette I’ve ever had.  I always get an egg white omelette, due to the cholesterol issues in my family.  They put Armstrong White Cheddar (I asked our waiter dude to ask the chef what it was) in it….best cheese ever.

What an amazing weekend.  We just didn’t want to leave.  The beauty was the 25 minutes drive from our places to get there.  Can’t wait to go back!

Symptoms for Today:  Damn, still trying to come down off of that great weekend.  Had to go to Hamilton yesterday for work, then Toronto today.  I shall discuss the day today in my next blog!

I had my appointment with my neurologist in Hamilton yesterday.  My adorable little mother joined me, as she always does.  The weather wasn’t good at all.  Both legs of the trip were in total downpours.  Oh well, at least it wasn’t freezing rain!  Surprisingly, people were driving fairly decently, with only a few maniac drivers on the QEW.  I had my MRI images on CD with me, which the doctor reviewed, along with the written results (which I did not see).  I asked him if he noticed the little lesion, and if he zoomed in on it.  I showed him my slightly altered pic on my phone:

He had a really good laugh and said “Oh look, it’s waving hello!”  I told him that all of my lesions are adorable.  Tee hee!  I explained to him how I had some very severe itching spells over the last few months.  I said it was itching down to the bone and was harder to deal with than the crushing pains I often have.  I was leery telling him about it because “itching” sounds so trivial, but both bouts lasted for two to five days and were very intense and worse than pain.  He said that based on the description and his physical tests showed I was stiff on my left side, that I most likely had an MS flare-up.  Bummer, but it could have been worse!  Still sucks though.  He offered to put me on another med to help control the spasms, itching and numbness, but I declined unless things get worse and harder to deal with.  I’m on enough meds already!  So other than that, the appointment went fine.  Then another yucky drive home in the rain.  It’s all good, especially when you get to come home to this….Boo looking like an angel:

Abby being as googly as ever:

Pinky and her friend Peanut:

And then there’s Mya, who we unfortunately had to eat tonight after cooking her on the grill (food prices keep going up):

The Mya burgers were very tiny but delicious!

Today’s symptoms: I think I got a total of three hours sleep last night, and not all in a row.  This insomnia really sucks!  Been going on for over a month.  I think like the neurologist pointed out, my left side is stiff – feels like I’m constantly tensing all of my muscles on that side.  It’s like a 24/7 work out!  Makes it hard to relax though and I’m sure it’s contributing to the lack of sleep.  Hopefully things get better soon!

 

I’m so happy about the previous week.  I had two really good days energy and symptom-wise.  I couldn’t believe it.  Usually after I have one really good day, I pay for it the next with more-than-normal fatigue.  I felt quite good on Wednesday – was in Hamilton all day for a work meeting.  After the drive there, spending the day, I still had good energy heading back to Niagara for my doctor appointment in Welland.  I started getting drained by the time I got home, but that is far better than I normally do so absolutely no complaints.  I couldn’t believe how good I felt when I woke up the next day, which was my day off.  I thought my little mother and I could do something different, than our normal trips to a mall on my free day.  So, we went to the Bird Kingdom in Niagara Falls.  Jan had never been and I went about four years ago.  She wasn’t too thrilled with the non-bird exhibits, like the adorable snakes and spiders, and this cute dude:

He’s a wee bit larger than my little Peanut:

As you can see, Abby is thrilled:

Back to the birds…..Jan was much happier when we made it to the main aviary:

I love how this little duck has his legs sprawled:

I had to pose like a dork when this guy stopped next to us:

We actually went around twice, as we paid for two hours of parking and it only took us an hour to view everything.  Back through the gift shop, I chased Jan around with this toucan:

She wasn’t too amused.

I couldn’t believe I had two good days in a row!  That’s hasn’t happened in quite some time.  The third day (yesterday) wasn’t too good and I spent at least two and a half hours in bed, feeling really drained and weak.  It was worth it though.

Was still quite drained today, so was a blob in bed until after 9:00, then Mike came over and we watched a couple shows.  At 12:30, we went to the theater in Niagara Falls to see Passengers.  It was excellent – best movie we’ve seen in a while.  Mind you, I dropped my iPhone yet again while I was trying to zip up my coat pocket (so said phone would not get dropped).  Yet again, my case broke.  I’ve glued it so many times.  I’m even missing a small piece of the edge and replaced it with a prong from a plastic fork and some packaging tape.  You can’t hardly see it and so far that piece has held up quite well!  I love that case and am not willing to part with it yet.

I haven’t had any pics of Zim here in quite a few blogs….he has been a bit shy.  He came out for a visit this evening though:

Today’s symptoms: Felt drained and weak again today but will hopefully be more perkish tomorrow.  Having bad crushing pains in my hands as well.  Not sure if we’re going flying or not – I’ll have to see how I’m feeling and check on the weather.