I first flew over my mother’s house to make sure everything was in order.  I called her and she came outside to wave at me.  The neighbour’s asked her who she was waving at and little Jan said that I was flying around up there:

After visiting Jan, I headed toward the South.

I was going to hit the Lake Erie shoreline, but the weather was really pooping out.  The clouds looked yucky and it appeared to be snowing lightly.  I decided to scrap the Lake Erie plan:

I had visited the Flight Service folks in the tower prior to hitting the skies.  I brought them some Christmas goodies – better late than never!  I asked them to look away when I called in that I was going to land.  It’s been over a month and my landing may be a little rusty.  After flying around for almost 50 minutes, I decided to head back to the airport.  On my way, I decided to instead to head over to the Grimsby Airport to do some touch and go’s to practice my landings and not make a dork of myself in front of the wonderful people of the Niagara District Airport.  I ended up doing three landings and take-offs (touch and go’s) then felt confident enough to attempt an impressive landing in St. Catharines.  Here’s a shot of Grimsby on my way out:

On the way back to CYSN, I snapped another picture of the new hospital being built.  I’ve already posted two pictures during previous blogs, so you can see the progress:

I was shocked as I approached the St. Catharines airport – there were four other planes already in the circuit.  I guess everyone was taking advantage of the nice weather.  I’ve never followed that many planes around the circuit to land.  I had at least two behind me too!  Fortunately, my landing was decent and there was no serious heckling from the tower.  Here’s a pic of little Vyctor, all ready to be put back in the hangar:

What a perfect day!  I’m totally wiped out now, but it was well worth it!

There was a little (although typical) incident with the kitties when I got home.  I was sitting on the bed, reading my emails, and little Abby crawled under the pillow sham next to me.  She was there for about fifteen minutes, nicely warming up the spot.  As usual, Mya came over and bullied her out of her comfy, warm and cozy sleeping place!  She’s so mean, but so cute!  Little Abby walked behind my computer and got back into her sleeping position.  There she was, totally exposed, soon to be shivering from the cool air.  I walked around the bed, told her how sorry I was that her sister was a bully, then tucked her in with the blanket.  The look she gave me while I was covering her just about melted my heart!  It was like she was thanking me with her eyes.  I wish I got a video.  Regardless, I was happy to see her sound asleep shortly after:

Today’s symptoms:  I had a decent amount of energy today – worked out well with the nice weather!  I would have been so bummed to have a good flying day but not feel well enough to go!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Chuck and I opened up a few pressies at the apartment on Christmas morning.  The cats opened a couple of their gifts, and were playing with them all morning.  Around noon, we packed up the gifts that I didn’t get out to my mother’s over the last couple of weeks, plus the kids, and off to grandma’s house we went!  As usual, we all went overboard with the gifts, and spent over three hours opening everything.

Mind you, we stopped to play with the kids, who were being cute but also a little naughty:

Look at that little tongue!

The house smelled so good with the turkey in the oven and all of the other goodies my mother prepared.  I wonder if it was the smell (and wonderful company!) that made Mya so weird all day.  She was meowing up a storm and running all over the place.  I wish Abby came out more, but she mostly hid under one of the beds upstairs.  Mind you, at least she didn’t go anywhere she wasn’t supposed to be, like little Mya did:

It was a great day and I’m already looking forward to next year!

I spent much of the next two day’s after Christmas in bed.  I’ve had a bit of a cold for the last week and it became quite a bit worse on Christmas day.  It’s a bit better today, although I was completely wiped out at work.  When I got home, Abby had yet again caused complete chaos with the mitten cabinet:

There was one under the Christmas tree and two in the bedroom:

Mya just looked on, with her innocent little face.  Mind you, as Abby’s bigger sister, she should really teach her that she is being naughty.

We don’t have any plans for New Year’s.  I hope the weather is decent enough this weekend for me to go for a flight.  It’s been about a month now since I’ve flown last!  My plane is probably going to report me for neglect!

Today’s symptoms:  Very tired and drained, I’m assuming from the cold and still recovering from my recent MS flare-up.

I think she’s looking a tad annoyed with me in this picture:

I can’t believe how big she’s getting.  In July, she weighed 2.9 kg.  I had the vet weigh her last week and she’s up to 3.6 kg!  When the vet, technician and I noticed her weight increase, we all started oinking at her!  I feel kind of bad about it, in retrospect.  Still, look at her rolly-pollies in the above picture!

I think I mentioned in a previous blog that I helped with our new library at work.  We had the extra space and needed something to fill it with something constructive.  So far it’s been a huge hit!  We have a couple seating areas where people can read, do crosswords or jigsaw puzzles.  Here are a couple pics:

Here is the puzzle that was completed last week.  Apparently it glows in the dark but we haven’t had a power failure yet to prove it:

And we already have another on the go:

It has really been a nice way to take a break and just chill out for a few minutes.

Another joyous thing about my work is the donations we collect every year for Christmas.  We typically support a couple families and buy them gifts and meals.  I do believe it was for more of a community-oriented cause this year.  Regardless, another great turn out:

Hopefully I’ll get to go for a flight later this week.  I think the weather may clear up a bit tomorrow, so we’ll see.

Today’s symptoms: Very tired today since I hardly slept last night.  I guess I still have steroids in my system, which are causing the sleeping issues. 

On a bright note, little Mya decided to behave herself while I was gone.  I took this shot to demonstrate her overwhelming cuteness:

I’m looking forward to work this week.  Usually everyone’s spirits are up (not saying that they’re normally down, but you get the drift).  I have my team Christmas lunch tomorrow.  I’ve changed teams so many times over the last year, I don’t even know who is currently on my team!  I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.  I love surprises!

I visited my little mother today and brought the rest of the pressies over.  Chuck and I will open a few at the apartment in the morning, then head over to mini-mom’s house to spend half the day opening the rest of them.  That’s the beauty of a small family – you really get to spoil each other to death.  There are so many presents under the tree that there’s no where for us to sit in the living room!  We’ll have to open them from the kitchen or dining room.  Can’t wait!

Today’s symptoms:  My leg seems to be getting more mobility and feeling every day.  I’m still walking a little gimpy, but it’s improving.  I’ve been having constant body aches since about 5:00 this evening (it’s almost 9:00 now)

I decided to help out the nurse on the second day, by setting up the “fluids” on the IV pool before she arrived:

Unfortunately, the vodka fusion was a no-go.  Oh well, I tried!

The kitties have been their typical insane selves lately.  The other day I came home to the mitten drawer open, with mittens in all different rooms.  Abby enjoys hiding socks and mittens.  Needless to say, she’s very easy to shop for at Christmas:

The same night I made myself some vegetable soup for supper.  I went into the kitchen to get something and came out just in time to see Mya jumping off the table.  What a show-off:

I’m so glad I have everything all ready to go for Christmas.  I’ve had most of my pressies purchased and wrapped for a few weeks now.  I just have a couple more to wrap and I’m totally done.  Chuck and I will spend a couple hours at the apartment on Christmas morning.  We’ll open a few presents then pack up the rest plus the kitties and head over to my little mother’s house.  We’ll probably spend a few hours opening pressies, sipping Bailey’s then have our Christmas dinner.

So there’s my joyous update.  I will try to never allow such a lapse between blogs ever again!  *lowers head in shame*

Today’s symptoms:  Quite weak today just because of the long week I’ve had dealing with this flare-up.  Still, I’m walking better today and more coordinated.  I’ll sleep well tonight and feel even better tomorrow.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 12/14/2010 8:35 PM

I was hoping to work overtime at work tonight, however, I was the only person who put in for it.  They weren’t too keen on the idea of having to have a Team Leader there just for one person.  Oh well, I think overtime is being offered in the New Year as well.

Today’s Symptoms:  Feeling pretty darn good!  No bad symptoms to report.

After admiring the horsey-go-round, I continued on my way north.  As I was getting fairly close to the airport, I heard a friend of mine tell the tower that she was taking off.  I changed my heading a bit to try and get in viewing range of her, to take a picture of her plane.  I think I scared her off as she headed in another direction as I approached.  Geesh!  Regardless, I managed to take a pic, albiet not a very clear one:

Soon after snapping this pic, I headed back to the airport to land.

Today (Saturday), my best friend came over to the apartment with all of her pressies to wrap.  I hauled mine out and we spent the afternoon, sipping Caramel Bailey’s and wrapping our hearts out.  It was nice to get it all done.  I still have a few more items to pick up for my mother, then I’m done!  Yea!

It was insanely windy today and I’m hoping for a nice, calm day tomorrow.  I’m going to head down to my mother’s house, then hopefully out for a flight.

Today’s symptoms:  Felt pretty good today!  I was in a great mood and had decent energy.  My most predominant symptom was a headache.

Not that I’m wishing my life away or anything, but I’m really looking forward to the weekend!Last weekend was quite nice…well, for the most part.  I decided to go for a flight on Saturday.  The weather was nice and I was feeling pretty good, so I packed up my gear (cameras, GPS, bottle of water, etc.) and headed over to the airport.  There were quite a few people out flying that day.  The Flying Club planes were being fired up or already heading out of the circuit.  The guys helped me pull my plane out of the hangar, after he had been plugged in a few hours (to warm the oil).  I did my inspection, climbed aboard and fired him up.  Well, I tried to anyway.  I think my battery is having issues.  The engine actually kicked in twice, but then stalled.  I was so bummed!  Fortunately, the manager of the Flying Club charged my battery the next day, plus my mechanic is going to test it to see if it needs to be replaced.  If I’m feeling well enough tomorrow and the weather is good, I’ll take some vacation leave from work and make another attempt at a flight.

Since I wasn’t able to fly, Chuck and I decided to take the spare time we now had to put up our Christmas tree.  The kids helped, mostly by picking up the ornaments and dragging them into another room.  Still, I think they meant well.

Just to remind you folks of what kind of classy gal I am, here is another Christmas “decoration”:

Continuing with this weekend’s events, there was a chili dinner at the Flying Club on Saturday night.  Chuck and I headed over for around 5:45.  There were eight or nine pots of chili brought in by some of the members.  Chuck and I both sampled either three or four.  All were quite good, but we both agreed on a favourite.  I was glad to see the one we picked was voted the best.  I’m also glad the chef shared the recipe!  I’ll have to attempt it sometime.  The link to the pictures from the event is here .  There are a couple shots of Chuck and I.  It was a great night and I hope they have another like it soon.

On Sunday, I visited my little mother.  We did some shopping at the Seaway Mall ,  I don’t think we ended up buying anything.  After “shopping” we headed back to her house.  We finished the laundry then I climbed up on the roof to clean her eaves-trough.  Glad I got that done before the cold weather came in, which I believe is now!  It was so nice out earlier but the temperature dropped about 10 degree this evening.  Oh well, tis November!  About an hour after I finished up on the roof, Chuck drove over to Jan’s house to meet up with us for dinner.  Jan took us our for my birthday dinner at the Lazy Loon , one of our favourite restaurants.  As usual, our meals were great.  The staff even came out and sang me happy birthday!  It was such a nice evening!  I’ve already decided that this is going to be a great year.  Last year wasn’t too good since my age was an even number.  Even numbers are yucky.

Today’s symptoms:  Quite drained and fatigued, bad headache and body aches.  I WILL feel better tomorrow, so help me Hannah!

I’m hoping for decent weather tomorrow as I haven’t flown in almost two weeks.  Very depressing!  I hope to go up and do some aerobatics, as well as a nice scenic flight.  It will be nice to take off from the newly paved and painted runway.  I’ll have to go up for a night flight soon too, since the runway lights are back in service.

I had the day off yesterday and Jan and I went shopping.  I decided to buy some stocking holders – I needed five (Mya, Abby, McGildenstern the fish, Chuck and myself).  Check out how cute:

I guess I’m starting to get in the spirit.  I also brought up the tree, decorations and everything else Christmas related.  Hopefully the cats won’t do too much damage to the tree.  Can anything this cute be destructive?

I’m planning on attending a chili dinner at the Flying Club tomorrow.  On Sunday, my mother is taking Chuck and I out for my birthday.  We’re probably going to the Lazy Loon at the Log Cabin in Fonthill.  Great food and atmosphere.  What a perfect way to celebrate aging!

Today’s symptoms:  More energy today than normal.  However, quite a few body aches and pains.

The view was amazing:

I took a leisurely 15 minutes coming back down and heading to the airport.  Coming back in, it was nice to see how our newly paved and painted runways were coming along:

I hope the runway lights are up and running again soon, as I would really like to go for a night flight.

I had to drive over the Whirlpool Bridge (Nexus only) and pick up a couple packages that I ordered.  My mother and I decided to quickly drive over to the Factory Outlet mall, to try and find me a new pair of shoes.  I just bought the ones I’m replacing in May.  Clearly they’re lemons as they both have big holes on the inside on the backs.  Geesh!  We were in such shock when the whole parking lot was completely full.  They even had valet parking set up!  We drove around for about 10 minutes until we finally found someone pulling out of a spot.  I quickly snagged it and we headed into a few shoe stores.  Have I mentioned how much I hate buying shoes?  Anyway, after over half an hour, I finally found a pair.  I swear we had a whole string of cars following us as we walked back to my car – all eager to grab my parking spot!  We were so happy to be out of there.  I’ve never seen it that busy.  It was like Christmas!

Since I wasn’t feeling too great today, the kids and I just lounged around the apartment.  They slept most of the time and I watched a slew of shows that I had recorded over the last few weeks.  They finally got up and Abby decided to groom herself in her typical lady-like manner:

She’s such a classy gal!

Today’s symptoms:  Bad headache and body aches.  It was nice to be able to just veg and not do anything strenuous (or even non-strenuous!)

I really need to clean my windshield.  Yuck!

There was only one downer of the whole flight.  After turning around to head back to the airport, I passed a group of cows.  I snapping a picture and yelled “Hello cows!”  One of them flipped me the hoof.  Gee, who got up on the wrong side of the haystack this morning?

Before landing, I called Chuck and asked him if he wanted me to fly over his building. I wasn’t too sure where it was, so he guided me over via the phone.

At least he didn’t flip my off like the cow.

It appears that our large runway is all paved.  They were working on the apron while I was there today.  Like everyone else, I’m really looking forward to the airport being fully up and running again.

After landing, I had to go to the mall to replace the two pair of jeans that were stolen from the laundry room at our apartment.  There’s only one thing I hate more than buying shoes, and that’s jeans!  Ugh!  I tried on eighteen pair in three different stores.  I was only able to find one pair that fit properly.  Mark’s Work Warehouse had the best selection of sizes and styles I’ve ever seen. Hopefully I’ll find a second pair soon.

Today’s symptoms:  much more fatigued today than yesterday.  I’m having a lot of body aches and pains, mostly in my limbs. 

 

It was quite dark out and very overcast, but no chance of any serious rain.  It was a very smooth flight and we passed quite a few other airplanes during our travels.  It was far too windy to fly yesterday and the airport was closed for a full week last week, so everyone was getting a flight in while they could.  It was nice to see the large runway was paved, so work is certainly progressing.  I think they are going to keep it closed for another week while they install the lighting and paint the runway.  Fortunately, at least one of the other two runways will remain open.

After our flight, we returned to the apartment and unloaded the car.  I gave Abby her birthday card and Jan gave her the little shrimp cat toy she bought her.  I also then dressed Mya in the outfit I bought her for next Halloween:

The little shrimp toy is at her feet.  I didn’t notice the feathers on the outfit when I bought it.  Abby seems to enjoy licking feathers, so Mya got licked to death while wearing her new clothes:

Fortunately for the kitties (and humanity in general), I only dress them up for Halloween and when it’s really cold in the apartment.  Mya does not seem to mind wearing her little fleece sweater when it’s cold.  Anyway, we did dress them up and took them trick-or-treating to a few units in our apartment building.  We first took them to the apartment at the end of the hall, to see the nice folks that live there.  They have a bird so Abby wasn’t allowed in due to the fact that she would lick it to death.  Here is a pic of Abby dressed up as a bee (get it?) and Mya as a lobster:

It was so nice of them to take this pic and send it to me.  Also, they put some treats in their basket!  I should have asked them what kind they were as the cats LOVED them!  Anyway, we then visited a few more people, then brought the cats back to disrobe and gobble their treats.

You’re probably wondering about the title of my blog, well, let me explain.  You may recall a previous blog entry that I posted a couple months ago.  My friend from work almost got in a confrontation with an irate driver who jumped out of her car and ran screaming toward my friend.  I stepped in front of my friend to protect her – I guess just a natural instinct.  Well, today across from my apartment building, there were three drunk guys (noticeably drinking!) on the bench across the street.  The younger guy started screaming at the older guy then lunged at him.  I stayed across the street, watching in case I needed to call the cops.  Well, a woman crossed the street and started screaming at the young guy.  She told him to back off.  The very large third guy (holding a wine bottle) stood up, screamed at her and pushed her.  At that point, I have no idea how I crossed the street as fast as I did.  I ran up to the guy, screaming “Don’t you lay a hand on her!” He took a few steps back, probably in shock that a little, blonde celery stick would be so assertive!  He took a few more steps away from the girl.  The younger guy then started yelling at her and I was yelling back that it wasn’t worth it and to walk away.  The guy with the bottle told us F***ing B**ches to get lost and I told him to go sit down and stay out of it.  I then told the girl to walk away to try to diffuse the situation, as the young guy was now directing his anger at her.  She walked away, and the young guy called me a racist….  I’ve yet to figure out how there was any racism what-so-ever involved in the situation, but I guess drunk people aren’t very logical.  Things seemed to calm down so I walked back to the apartment.  Yup, my job there was done – nothing more to see, folks!  Carry on!

Today’s symptoms:  I was actually feeling better today than I’ve felt in over a week.  I ended up with a bad headache after the flight, and I’m having some sharp body pains tonight.  Still, I’m going to focus on the positives – I felt pretty darn good overall!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 10/31/2010 6:45 PM

Aren’t they adorable?!?!  Both Chris and the gnome can be found at the Cool Moose at

71 King Street in St. Catharines.  I’m usually there around 10:15!  Oh, and they have the best chicken noodle soup I’ve ever had.  Yum!Chuck and I went to Montreal for a business lunch this past Friday and Saturday.  This was our third time there and again, we had a wonderful time.  We stayed over in Toronto on Thursday night to catch our Friday morning flight.  It was only 55 minutes.  Unfortunately, my head almost exploded once we started our decent, due to the pressure change acting on my sinus infection.  I survived!  We took a cab to our hotel, the Queen Elizabeth (Fairmont) .  This was where we stayed during our last visit.  Again, we were up on the 18th floor.  Here was the view from our room:

Not bad, eh?

After checking in, we walked over to an office where we were meeting some wonderful folks for lunch.  We went out for lunch with them the last time we were there too.  It was so nice to see them again!  We walked over to the Baton Rouge for lunch.  It was a very brisk walk.  I remember the last time I was there, I was frozen and said “I will dress much warmer next time.”  There I was in the same light coat and no gloves.  Brilliant.  Anyway, the company and meal was great.  Here is a pic of us gals after lunch:

It was sad to walk in separate directions after departing the restaurant, as it was a really nice visit.

Next, Chuck walked me back to the hotel and he grabbed a cab to go visit another office.  I decided to browse around the underground mall, including the Eaton Centre .  I was actually quite fatigued and felt yucky from the sinus infection, so I kept my wandering to a minimum.  I went back to the room and waited for Chuck.  When he got back, it was time to eat.  The 18th and 19th floors of that hotel get this special lounge.  I believe I posted pictures on my blog from the last Montreal visit.  They have a ton of really nice finger foods and snacks.  I ended up pigging out on the veggie chips.  Chuck pigged out on nuts, cheese and tuna salad sandwiches.  Here was the view:

I decided to go up to the food area one more time.  I noticed earlier there was a coconut cream pie-looking item at the end of the table.  I thought I would surprise Chuck with a plate of yumminess.  I was curious why it was under a heat lamp.  I figured it was a type of sugar pie (famous in Quebec) and was best when warm.  Since we ate so much, I just go a small sliver for us to share.  I walked back to our table with the pie slice on a plate and told him that I brought some nice pie.  Chuck looked at me like I had three heads and was completely mental.  He then informed me that it wasn’t coconut cream pie, but brie cheese!  Duh!!!

My heart was in the right place, at least.  I felt really bad because I realized how expensive this type of cheese was, and it’s the only kind that Chuck hates!  We did our best to hide it between a couple of plates.  I was going to put it on the guy’s table next to us when he wasn’t looking, but the dude didn’t budge!

We wandered down St. Catherine St. to browse some shops on Saturday morning.  We left for the airport before noon for our 2:00 flight.  It was a nice quick flight back, and we were back into St. Catharines to greet the children that evening.

Today’s symptoms:  I’ve been having swallowing-reflex issues the last few days.  Apparently a fairly common MS symptom.  My brain tells my mouth and throat to swallow, but nothing happens.  I almost chocked to death on my delicious chicken noodle soup from the Cool Moose at work today!  Hopefully it won’t last much longer.  I had a bad headache today with more fatigue than usual.  I’m going to attribute it to the trip and sinus infection.  It will be better tomorrow!

 

Ah, but the ineptness doesn’t end there, my friend.  Just the other day,I was speaking on the phone with my mother.  I asked her to look for some RCA cables that I had at her house.  She thought she spotted some in a filing cabinet and told me she needed to put the phone down while she picked them up.  Once she had them in her hand, she proceeded to tell me that she had them.  I didn’t hear her too well as she put the RCA cables up to her head instead of the phone!  Duh!  I couldn’t believe she could be so utterly clueless.  I told her that I was going into the other bedroom to look for some other cables I had.  I too had to say that I was putting the phone down to dig out the cables.  Well wouldn’t you know I did the exact same thing – I put the cables up to my head and told her that I found them.  Duh times two!  You know the Ya-Ya Sisters?  Jan and I are starting a club called the Duh-Duh Sisters.

Today’s symptoms:  My balance is fairly bad today.  I wonder if the sinus and cold issue has anything to do with making it worse.  My fatigue was quite bad today.  I think it’s due to the meds I’ve been taking to fight the sinus infection.  Plan on getting a good night sleep and be back to “normal”-ish tomorrow!

I told you she was tiny!

For the rest of my hour long flight, I just listened to some tunes on my iPod and cruised around Niagara.  The Fall colours are really coming out.  On the way back towards St. Catharines, I flew over Howell’s Pumpkin farm:

Anyone want to use this picture to cheat on their maze?

I thought flying over these pumpkins really meshed with how I decorated my plane:

Oh, I almost forgot.  Soon after starting up my plane, I heard over the radio that the Lancaster was doing a low and over.  Here are a couple of shots – it was such a sight to see and hear!

I started taxiing toward the runway as soon as it flew past.  I didn’t even make it to the runway before the Lancaster called the tower and stated he was clear of the zone!  Geesh!

Before I went on my Saturday flight, I brought some fudge to the folks in the tower.  One personage asked if I was still considering bringing one of my hairless cats by for a visit.  I suggested it to him months back.  Ironically, I had the same thought before leaving for the airport that morning.  Needless to say, Mya and I took a little road trip to the airport this morning.  She was a little nervous upon arrival, but within a few minutes was her cute, affectionate, putting and playful little self.  I think she may have converted one person there from just a dog person to a dog and cat person!!!

Here she is checking out the view:

She was surprisingly quick on picking up on the technicalities of the radar system:

She noticed a couple planes were getting fairly close to each other.  She picked up the radio and called one of the planes, stating that he had an unidentified plane at his eleven o’clock, 400 feet below him.  The pilot called in “no contact” as he clearly didn’t have the other plane in site.  Fortunately, the plane coming toward him heard Mya’s call, and quickly located the oncoming plane.  He banked to his right while letting Mya know that he spotted the traffic and took the necessary maneuvers to avoid him.  The tower burst into applause as we knew Mya just diverted a potentially tragic event!  She was offered a position with NAV Canada on the spot – just said she would think about it.

Right now Mya has collapsed in a tiny heap of cuteness, after her harrowing day!

Today’s symptoms:  Feeling pretty good today!  Still dealing with my sinus thing though, which has caused some unpleasant headache sensations in my…..well….head!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 10/17/2010 6:59 PM

Chuck and I went to my mother’s house for Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday.  As usual, her meal was perfect.  It was the usual turkey dinner fare, with a new squash and apple dish which was also perfect.  Man, I haven’t eaten that much in a long time.  She topped off our meal with a pumpkin-mousse pie.  Holy cow!  Moooo!  It was so good!  Thanks again, Lil’ Jan!

As Chuck and I were getting ready to leave, I discovered that I was totally coordinated with the large hazard pylon thing out in front of her house:

Talk about a stripe-fest!

On Sunday, Jan came up to St. Catharines and we hit a couple malls and Costco.  It’s funny how you go into Costco for just two or three things and you come out with a buggy full.

I’m glad the weather was somewhat decent on Monday.  It was the last day the Niagara District Airport was going to be open for at least a week.  They are repaving all three runways (as far as I know).  Chuck and I went for a local flight just after noon.  He snapped a few photos during the flight.  You can see that runway 01 has been partially repaved:

I thought they were going to rename runway 06/24 due to the magnetic variation, as they did in Tillsonburg and Toronto.  It looks like I was el’wrong-o!

Here we are just after lifting off:

We hit a touch of rain while flying around Niagara.  Chuck phoned my mother when we arrived in her area and she came out to wave.  What a dedicated and devoted little mother I have, willing to stand out in the rain to wave at her cute and loving daughter.

It was sad when we were coming back in to land, since I knew it would be my last flight for a least a week:

Nothing too exciting is planned for this week.  I’ll be sure to tell y’all about it if anything happens.

Today’s symptoms:  Much more tired and weak than usual.  Quite a nasty headache too.  I’ll try to get a good sleep tonight so I can feel sassy and joyous tomorrow.

My mother and I took a trip to Rochester this past weekend.  Actually, we left on Thursday and came back Sunday.  We had a great time.  The main purpose was shopping.  I believe we filled this objective quite nicely.  Our hotel was right near the one large mall, as well as a slew of box stores.  We hit this mall on our first day.  The next day we took a 20 minute drive to another large mall.  We found some amazing deals, mostly at the Burlington Coat Factory store.  On Sunday, we hit some of the larger box stores around the area of our hotel, and hit the mall again.  It was fun to go back to our room each night and admire our newly purchased goodies!  For our last day, we went to Wal-Mart and Target, then one final stop at Tim Hortons before heading home.  The Timmy’s there had pumpkin coffee!  It was quite yummy.  I’m disappointed that it isn’t here in Canada.

It was a wonderful time and I hope we can make it yearly trip!

I haven’t flown for about three weeks, due to feeling yucky.  I was feeling better today and the weather was perfect so I headed out to the airport after work.  They are repaving the larger runway, so I had to take off from the smaller one.  Just as I took off, the small door to access the engine flew open.  Ugh!  I was so nervous it was going to rip off.  I called the tower and let them know that I had to come back around and land.  After landing, backtracking and parking at the runway threshold, I turned off the plane, ran out and closed the door.  I was shocked when I climbed back in the plane and it wouldn’t restart!  I think I tried for almost a minute.  I had all of my electronics turned off so I wouldn’t kill the battery.  I turned my radio back on to tell the tower I was going to have to get out and push.  I tried starting it again after turning on the radio, and she started perfectly.  I must have a radio-powered starter!  Cool!  I headed up over the airport and did some aerobatics.  I asked the tower-folks to keep their heckling to a minimum, as I hadn’t done any  aerobatics in over a month!  After about 30 minutes of loops and rolls, I headed out to Fonthill to check my mother’s gutters for leaves.  They looked pretty good!  I think I’ll have to clean them out in a few weeks.  After flying over Jan’s house, I was going to head over to Port Colborne, then Fort Erie.  However, I suddenly felt rather icky.  All at once, my throat, ears and head started hurting.  I decided to head back to the airport.  I’m not surprised as everyone at work has been sick over the last couple of weeks.  I guess it’s my turn!  It’s too bad I had to cut the flight early, as it was a really nice day.  Here are some pics:

Welland

Niagara Falls

The new hospital being built in St. Catharines

I’m just going to veg for the rest of the night, and hope I don’t feel too much worse tomorrow.  I certainly don’t want to be sick for Thanksgiving this weekend!  Gobble Gobble!

Today’s symptoms:  Much more energy today than I’ve had in weeks.  It’s too bad this cold had to set in.

I was really bummed about not feeling well enough to go for a flight.  It didn’t help that I had to hear a plane towing a banner, fly around the apartment for over an hour!

Oh well.  At least I had some company to enjoy the sights and sounds with:

“Hey, Mya!  Look over here!!!”

It was a nice day for the parade temperature-wise.  Unfortunately, it was VERY windy.

So that was the extent of my day on Saturday.  Sunday I was feeling well enough to visit my micro-mother.  We threw in a load of wash and then headed over to Tim Hortons.  After placing my order, I brought everything over to my mother who had already grabbed a table.  I then went to the other side of the establishment to await my lovely, toasted bagel (cinnamon raisin with butter on the side.)  There was another guy waiting for his breakfast sandwich on a cheddar cheese bagel (I heard him order it).  The woman on the other side of the counter said “Cinnamon raisin bagel!” then set the plate down.  The guy standing next to me said “That’s not mine!” and proceeded to pick up the top half of MY bagel and inspect it.  He could clearly see that it was NOT a sandwich.  I said “I think that’s mine.”  Why he decided to finger my bagel, right after he said “That’s not mine” is completely beyond me.  He then said “I just touched your bagel.”  I said “I noticed that.”  The woman behind the counter picked up the plate and said she would make me a new one.  I’m very environmental plus I hate to see food go to waste, so I told her it was OK.  I was going to ask the man if he had picked his nose in the previous fifteen minutes, but didn’t think that was appropriate.  I then thought of telling him that I was going to wait for his SANDWICH to be ready to I could finger and lick it, but decided that this too was inappropriate.  So, I took my soiled bagel back to the table and asked my mother for an alcohol wipe.  I told her what happened and she took her napkin and diligently wiped off my bagel.  It was actually really cute.  So far, I have not come down with any strange diseases, but I’ll keep y’all posted.

Today’s symptoms:  I had much more energy yesterday and I enjoyed every minute of it!  I kinda figured I would pay for it today, but it was worth it.  Hopefully it will be a bit better tomorrow.  I also had quite a bit more pain in my bones and joints than normal today.

Face The Cookie: the player had to move the cookie from their forehead to their mouth, only using their facial muscles.

Don’t Blow the Joker: the player had to blow all of the cards off the pop can, leaving only the bottom “joker” card on the can.

I forget what this was called, but the player had to knock down all the cups with elastics.

Speed Eraser: the player has to bounce a pencil into a cup.

The whole day was great, mainly due to the company.  If you would like an indication of what my coworkers are like, check this out.  A few months ago, I emailed a couple of my coworker friends “The Spoon Theory .”  It was written by Christine Miserandino, regarding her fatigue with Lupus.  This is a perfect description of what MS fatigue feels like.  Anyway, this morning I was sitting at my desk, diligently working away, when a friend of mine tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to help her with something.  I was a little confused as to why she was going in a different aisle than her desk location.  When I rounded the corner, there were about ten people, two with cameras, standing there facing me.  I had no clue what was going on.  I think I looked behind me to see if someone else was coming around the corner, thinking it was their birthday.  I honestly don’t know what was said when I stopped.  As you can see, I was a little shocked:

The next thing I remember is feeling really light headed, because I think I was starting to comprehend what was going on.  Someone brought me a chair:

My wonderful, compassionate co-workers took their time, creativity and energy to create me an inspirational spoon bouquet.  About twenty-five people beautifully decorated a spoon, and wrote words of support and care.  I was completely (and still am!) blown away!

This is one of the most thoughtful, loving and amazing things anyone has ever done for me.  I just still can’t believe it and will cherish my gift forever:

As you can imagine, I was completely overwhelmed after this amazing surprise:

I had to go to Toronto for a test today, and a couple of my friends gave me an individual “Spoon To Go” to take with me to the appointment.  I asked the lab technician to take a picture of me with my spoon before starting the test:

I felt like a bit of a dork when I initially asked her to take the picture.  However, she thought it was wonderful what my coworkers/friends did for me today.

Today’s symptoms: I’m still in shock after today’s experience!  Although I’m physically drained, I’ve never felt so alive.  Corny, but true.