Posted by Lizzy McFly at 9/20/2010 8:00 PM

I’m having a much more interesting week than the previous one.  It all started this past weekend.  Someone who previously told me that he was deathly afraid of flying and would under no circumstances EVER fly with me, asked to join me on a flight.  Of course my immediate reaction was to laugh, since I knew how bad his fear was.  He told me he was serious, then started to freak out.  I thought it was great that he wanted to face his fear head-on.  I didn’t waste any time in calling the Flying Club and asked them to pull my plane out of the hangar, and I would be there in about half an hour.  I really had a good feeling that he was serious about this and I would see him out at the airport.  Sure enough, just after I finished my inspection, he arrived with his spouse and son.  I gave the spectators my camera so they could take some shots from the ground.  I took my smaller camera up with us so I could video his flight.  After my run-up (checks done once the engine is running), we headed over to the runway.  He was seriously stressed but already made the hardest decision – deciding to take the flight.  We quickly took off.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the smoothest flight, but certainly not the roughest.  The Control Tower asked if I was going to do some aerobatics today, but I told him I had a very nervous passenger with me, so that would be a no!  Another pilot who was just coming into the airport, radioed the Tower and said that it was quite a bit smoother above 3000 feet.  However, soon after take-off, my passenger informed me that he was done.  I told him I had to fly around the circuit and land the same way we took off.  Just as I was about to turn final, he said that he would like to keep going.  I told the Tower I was going to overshoot the runway.  We headed above 3000 feet, and it was quite a bit smoother.  I had to ensure my passenger that the small bumps and slips we were experiencing would not cause the plane to lose control.  We were up for 27 minutes in total – I was really impressed with him!  Here is a pictorial of our flight. 

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

As you can see, he was a little relieved to have survived the experience.  His son eagerly ran over to greet him.  Actually, his son wanted to sit in the plane.  Once he was in, he asked if he could go for a flight.  I told him he would have to talk to his parents about that one day.  They both looked at each other, looked and me and said “sure!”  So, up I went again!  Mind you, my second passenger was a little less stressed.  Soon after we took off, he asked if I could fly him to Florida so he could go to Disney.  I told him we didn’t pack our bags so we would have to do it another day.  Instead, we flew over Niagara Falls:

Next he wanted to fly to Sherkston, which is where they went camping this summer:

He really was a great passenger!  Certainly my youngest, at only seven!

Next on my list of exciting events for this week was Tuesday.  My friend and I went for a coffee break at the Cool Moose, near our office in St. Catharines.  It was market day, which is right next to our office.  We decided to walk through on our way back.  Just as we were about to cross the driveway alongside of the parking lot, a woman in a black car floored it in reverse, without even looking.  She had her window open and my friend said “Don’t you look both ways?”  The woman screamed profanities at her.  My friend made another comment, with the same response.  At this point, the car was half out on the road and we were across the driveway.  My friend said that the driver made a gesture like she was going to hit us, and my friend made a “Bring it on” action with her hands.  At that point, the extremely enraged woman threw her car in park and jumped out.  I swear, she was so full of rage, her feet weren’t even touching the ground as she made her way towards us.  She was yelling plenty of swear words and saying “You want to go?  You want a piece of me?”  This is where the title of this blog comes into play.  I’ve always wondered what I would do in this type of situation.  I really didn’t have any time to think, but reacted in about a second.  I immediately stepped in front of my friend and faced the crazed psycho-woman head on.  She stopped a few feet away, still screaming.  I didn’t budge.  She turned around, went back into her car and drove away.  Wow!  What a crazy experience!

I had another very interesting day today, but will discuss it in my next blog.

Today’s symptoms:  This has been the second day in a row of worse-than-normal weakness.  Fortunately, today was a bit better than yesterday.  I have quite a bit of pain in my bones and joints today.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 9/16/2010 7:12 PM

Gee, I feel bad for the amount of time that has passed since my last blog.  Needless to say, nothing much has happened this past week. 

I went shopping on Sunday and purchased a couple of baskets for the shelf in my closet.  When I arrived home, I put them on the floor of the bedroom.  I only turned my back for a second and when I turned back around, this is what I found:

I think it’s cute that Mya climbed into the smaller one, since she’s so petite!

I had something interesting happen yesterday and today.  A supervisor at work told me that she just lost her cat on the weekend and she was planning on getting another one.  The same day, I received a call from someone who knew that my mother was considering getting a declawed cat at some point.  She said there are two cats in Dunnville that needed a new home immediately or they would be put to sleep on Saturday.  Their owners had to move to a smaller home and were unable to bring their cats with them.  They tried for over a month to find their cats a new home.  They called all of the vets, Humane Societies, SPCA’s, etc. in Niagara and Hamilton, but no one would take them.  Their only option was to have them put down.  I quickly phoned the supervisor at her home and asked if she wanted two adult kitties.  She readily agreed!  I was so happy and excited to phone back the owners and tell them I had found their cats a new home.  I took a couple hours of vacation leave today and my mother and I drove down to Dunnville to pick up the cats.  I got quite emotional at one point, knowing how hard this was for the owners.  We managed to get them in their cages and headed back home.  They’re very cute.  The female is seven years old, and an average sized kitty:

The male is four years old and is quite the little heifer:

I was very relieved that the new owner was able to pick them up as soon as I got back into St. Catharines.  I didn’t want them to have to go through the trauma of being transferred from home to home.  I really hope they have a happy life with their new family.

Getting to leave work early today was actually quite a blessing.  I wasn’t feeling very good to begin with, and having to hear the construction going on outside was really starting to get annoying.  The whole office was vibrating so much, the noise was deafening!  Here’s the view from my window:

My mother is coming by for a short visit tomorrow, then I hope to go for a flight.  It’s supposed to rain on Sunday, so no flying for moi.  I’ll head over to visit my tiny mother and do some grocery shopping.

Today’s symptoms:  Feeling much more weak than normal.  I hope to get a good sleep tonight and hopefully have enough energy for a flight.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 9/10/2010 7:44 PM

It’s really hard to concentrate on writing a blog entry while there are two little hairless psycho’s running amok!  Mya and Abby have been play-fighting for the last 10 minutes.  Kids these days – geesh!

Nothing really exciting happened during the previous week.  The most thrilling event was when I was looking at the Compass Traffic Cameras during my break at work.  On one of the Toronto images, this horrific sight caused me to yell “Oh no!’  A few people came running over to my desk to see what was wrong – I feel really bad about that.  Needless to say, I’m not a big fan of spiders:

Yuck!!!!

Fortunately, my weekend was a little less spiderish and more joyous.  Jan and I took the bus from St. Catharines to Toronto on Saturday morning.  We had tickets to see South Pacific at the Four Seasons Performance Centre .  We left a couple hours early so we could hit a few shops in the area before heading to the show.  After visiting Timmy’s, we browsed the Winners store in the same building.  I bought a couple of nice shirts (orange, to match my plane).  We started walking toward the performance hall, and were able to enjoy some live music on Bay Street:

We didn’t catch the name of the band, but they were quite good.

As we continued on our way, we saw a few people with big “Free Hugs” signs.  I’ve seen people do this before (on the news) and have always thought it was such a neat idea.  I gave Jan the camera to take a picture of my hug:

People don’t realize what they were passing by.  It was such a nice thing for them to do and it actually felt a little tension relieved afterwords.

We made our way to the theatre with less than 10 minutes before the show was to start.  I asked Jan if she wanted a wine.  We didn’t realize the time when we arrived.  My mother had her watch snatched while in the Toronto crowds!  I told her she should have a drink to calm her nerves after being mugged.  After the guy poured her glass, he informed us we had 8 minutes before the start of the show.  Poor Jan had to suck it back in a hurry!

Our seats were perfect – front row, about 7 feet from the stage.  The orchestra was feet away in the pit in front of us.  As if the show wasn’t good enough, these perfect seats made it even better.  I would certainly recommend South Pacific to anyone.

Once the show was done, we had less than 5 minutes to get to the bus station to catch the 5:00 bus.  Needless to say, we didn’t make it.  However, we did pass a bra hanging in a tree, so our walk/run was somewhat entertaining.  We wandered around a bit and decided to grab something to eat before catching the bus.  We splurged on bananas and water.  We caught the 6:00pm bus and headed home.  We passed this nasty accident on the way:

I went to visit Jan today, so we could go for a coffee, get some groceries and vacuum out our cars.  I’ve just been doing odd jobs around the apartment since I’ve been back.  Needless to say, it was a great weekend!

Today’s symptoms:  My fatigue was pretty bad today due to my long day yesterday and hardly sleeping last night.  My jaw had been hurting much worse than normal over the last few days.  It’s hurting in a way it’s never hurt before too. 

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 8/29/2010 7:04 PM

I had a decent weekend.  Despite flying on Thursday and Friday, I headed out again on Saturday.  Chuck and I endured the exceptionally long flight from St. Catharines to Welland.  It took about 10 minutes.  I’m so glad we went though. 

Quite a few of my folks from the Recreational Aircraft Association , including a few directors:  Fred the vice-president, Ray our social guru, Dave our man with the connections and me, the president.  Chuck got a nice big ol’ beef on a bun with a side of beans and I had a muffin and coffee:

While we were eating, they drew names for the door prizes.  All of the pilots who flew in were entered in the draw.  My name was called first.  I walked up to the prize table and was torn between the case of aviation oil ($90) and the beautiful framed biplane picture.  In the end, I took the oil.  Vice-pres Fred was at the table next to me and told me “I had my eye on that oil, Liz!  You took my oil!”  I actually felt really bad, even though he obviously wasn’t mad that I took it.  His name was about the fifth name called.  He walked up to me and said “Look, I got a free oil analysis!”  I said how wonderful that was and asked if he wanted some of my nice, new oil to analyze.

We wandered around for a bit and checked out the planes and the classic cars:

Fred, his wife and his coupon for his free oil analysis were leaving around the same time as us, and also going back to St. Catharines.  I checked out his plane before he left, as I hadn’t seen the inside yet.  He just redid the interior and it looks awesome!  After chatting for a bit, Chuck, I and my big, wonderful case of oil headed over to my plane.  Here’s a shot of Welland while we were taking off:

Chuck was disappointed that during the trip back, there was no meal served during the long flight.  Fortunately, he got over it.  Just as I was approaching the circuit, I watched Fred land.  He called the tower on the radio and let them know where he would be taxiing.  I then called him on the radio and said “Hey Fred, I would have been here sooner but the large case of oil in the back of my plane really slowed us down!”  He radioed back and said “I thought it would!”  Chuck and I had a good laugh and came in for the landing.  It was a really nice day.

Sunday I went to visit my mother.  I hadn’t seen her in a couple weeks since she was on a shopping trip in Chicago.  It was really nice to see her, but I don’t think she would say the same about me!  How rude!

Today’s symptoms: The fatigue isn’t too bad but the pains in the bones of my forearms are as bad as they’ve ever been. If I had to describe it, it’s as if someone is bending my bones to the point where they’re about to break.  I hope to be pain free tomorrow. 

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 8/24/2010 7:18 PM

I had two great flying days.  I flew a friend out to the Brantford Airport for lunch yesterday.  It was such a nice day, with very little humidity.  Hopefully it’s a sign of days to come!  Today, I left work around noon and climbed aboard my Cessna 150 and flew out to a golf course near Niagara Falls.  We have an annual golf tourney through work to raise money for cancer.  I donate a flight around Niagara at the silent auction.  This is either the second or third year I flew over the course for about 20 minutes after the shotgun start.  Here are a few photos for your viewing pleasure:

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve flown over people and they’ve asked “Did you see me wave?”  Of course, I usually don’t.  I was quite happy to see this picture I snapped during the fly-over:

It will be interesting to see who it is when I go into work on Monday.  I think I recognize who is standing next to him…

I’m planning on taking to the skies again tomorrow.  It will involve an arduous 10 minute flight to the Welland Airport.  I think Chuckles and I will go around noonish.

Looking forward to visiting my petite mother on Sunday.  She just returned from her shopping trip to Chicago.  I’m sure she’s just counting the hours until she sees my smiling, loving face.  (Stop laughing, mom!)

Today’s symptoms:  Felt pretty good.  The fatigue wasn’t bad but I’ve had a headache since around 4:00.  I think I would like it to go away now…

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 8/20/2010 7:19 PM

I had Thursday off as my compressed day, but decided to go in to work and take Friday off instead.  Someone reminded me on Thursday that it was going to be Friday the 13th, which is when all of the bikers flock to Port Dover.  I figured it would be a pretty interesting fly-over.  Mind you, the airspace was restricted to above 3500′, so I was quite thankful for my camera with the good zoomage factor.  The flight there was really nice and smooth.  I headed down toward Highway 3 to see if I could see many bikers heading into Port Dover.  There were quite a few, mostly in groups.  When I made it to Port Dover, I was blown away at the view.  There were TONS of bikers!  Check it out:

I actually flew around for about 20 minutes, snapping pictures:

They were doing helicopter tours as well:

Tons of people were camped out from the day before:

It really was a neat experience!  Perfect weather for it, too.  I’m not too big on crowds, so I was quite happy to be well above everyone.

The flight home was a little more lumpy and bumpy, due to the clouds rolling in.  I flew over the plant in Nanticoke and took a zoomed in shot of the smoke stack:

I had another great day today.  Chuck and I went over to Buffalo to do some shopping.  We were mostly looking for clothes that matched my plane.  It was really hard to find orange tee-shirts!  Most of them were V-necks, which I’m not too struck on.  I don’t like to accentuate my lack of cleavage.

Today’s symptoms: I haven’t had this much energy in months!  It was so great!  I’ll probably pay for it tomorrow, but it was well worth it.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 8/14/2010 7:16 PM

It was a rather interesting weekend.  I finally started feeling better, and was well enough to go for a flight Sunday morning.  Chuck and I decided to fly to the Tillsonburg Airport for breakfast.  There was a rather strong wind and it took us about an hour and ten minutes to get there.  We had a nice breakfast in their new terminal building.  I was surprised to see they had free Wi-Fi there!  After we gobbled our meals, we fueled up, since Tillsonburg has the cheapest aviation fuel in Southern Ontario.  The flight back was much quicker, as the wind was at our back.  We arrived back at the Niagara District Airport in less than forty minutes!  Even the officer in the tower said my ground speed was about 140 miles/hr.

Chuck and I made a quick trip to Costco on the way home.  Next, I decided to go back to the bookstore on St. Paul St., which will be closing down at the end of the month.  I spent three hours there, as I did during my last visit.  I got around 80 books for $20!  I’m going to visit again at least one more time before the end of August.

When I got home, I was shocked and very proud to see my children on the news.  I took a picture of the TV while they were on:

This was their first time competing at this event, so I’m just ecstatic that they won gold!  Mind you, there was some controversy soon after the event.  The word got out that they were both tested positive for snorting catnip before the competition.  We soon discovered that this rumour was spread by the silver medalist team, obviously out of jealousy.  Once a hair follicle test was performed (which wasn’t easy since they’re hairless cats!), the silver medalists were stripped of their medals, and forbidden to compete again for seven years.  Since they figured they had nothing else to lose, they still attempted to destroy the reputations of my kitties, by posting wanted ads around the region.  Here are pictures of two of them:

I told both Mya and Abby that they have nothing to be ashamed of – many cats would give anything to be as cute and googly as they are.  The support for both of them has been flooding in, via emails, cards and numerous fan clubs that have cropped up.  I’m so proud *wipes away tears*

Today’s symptoms:  Feelings rather fatigued today as I hardly slept two nights ago.  I usually don’t feel it the next day, but typically two days later.  Delayed reaction….

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 8/10/2010 6:47 PM

I don’t really have anything to write about during this past week, as I haven’t been feeling well and have spent my days in bed.  However, I was feeling good last weekend, so Chuck and I took a little flight.  We decided to check out the Waterloo Airport, as we hadn’t been there before.  It was a rather hazy day, so the view wasn’t too great.  It was quite smooth at least.  Chuck snapped a few photos on our way there, including this one of joyous Hamilton:

I took the most direct route there, which really wasn’t the most enjoyable.  We first had to speak with the Hamilton tower, which was really busy.  Once past the Burlington Skyway, Hamilton asked me to call up Toronto Terminal.  Of course, they were really busy too.  It made it hard for Chuck and I to talk to each other, as we were constantly listening for my next message from the tower.  Oh well, once we were passed off by Toronto, it was a nice, short flight to the Waterloo Airport.

It was quite a long taxiway over to Apron II, which is where the Runway Cafe was located.

The restaurant was quite nice.  We scanned the menu and both notice the goulash, which was listed as a “local favourite.”  We decided to split a bowl, plus Chuck had a burger and fries and I had a salad.  The goulash (which I have never had before) was worth the flight in itself!  Yummaroos!

After lunch, we climbed back into Vyctor and headed back home.  I really wanted to check out the bridges over to the US, since it was a holiday weekend and the traffic would likely be insane.  The night before, the wait time for the Queenston Bridge was 1 hour and 45 minutes!  We headed south of Hamilton, passing through a of couple little rain showers on the way.  Nothing like a free plane wash.  The flight over to Fort Erie was about 55 minutes.  The Peace Bridge wasn’t too bad, and neither was the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls.  They were busier than usual, but nothing like what we saw on the Queenston Bridge:

I don’t think I’ve ever been in a line-up that long to cross the boarder – yuck!

Not too much else to report.  Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve spent most of this week in bed like a weak blob.  Hopefully all of this rest will have paid off and I’ll feel better for the weekend.

Today’s symptoms: Really weak and more fatigued than normal.  Fortunately, I did feel a bit better today than I felt yesterday.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 8/6/2010 7:15 PM

I’ve been sans computer for a week or so – it’s so nice to have it back up and running.

I did a fly-over for the Wise Guys charity last week.  Here are a couple shots:

I was supposed to fly over another charity golf tourney yesterday, but the severe thunderstorms ended those plans.  Apparently it was so bad, they had to leave the golf course half way through the game – bummer.

Not too much has been going on lately.  I hope to feel better this weekend so I can take to the skies again.  The weather is supposed to be quite nice.  I’ll have to check if there are any fly-ins around here to attend.

The two little goobers have been their typical cute, little selves, as seen here:

Actually, they’ve been more affectionate lately than normal – even toward each other.  Weird.

Today’s symptoms:  I had to leave work a couple hours early today due to worse than normal weakness and fatigue.  I actually slept for a few hours this afternoon.  Hopefully, it will leave me feeling better tomorrow.  Enough of this silliness!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/29/2010 7:27 PM

I was feeling decent yesterday and decided to take a couple hours vacation time to go flying.  I hopped in the plane and headed out (solo) along the Lake Erie shoreline.  It was such a nice, relaxing flight.  Here’s a shot of the refinery in Nanticoke:

After taking the scenic route along the shoreline, I arrived at Tillsonburg after a little over an hour:

After getting fuel, I went into their nice, new terminal building to pay.  They have a restaurant there for breakfasts on the weekends, so I’ll have to head back there sometime.

I taxied over to the grass runway and noticed the cutest little young fox at the side of the runway.  There was another plane in the circuit to land, so I called him and let him know there was a fox on the runway.  I said “He’s really cute so please don’t hit him!”

I took a more direct route back to St. Catharines.  The clouds were fairly low so it was a little bumpy.  My mother would be having a fit if she was flying with me.

It’s nice to see how well the new St. Catharines hospital is coming along:

I’m supposed to fly over a charity golf tourney tomorrow around 12:30.  There is a chance of thunder storm, so I’ll have to check the weather tomorrow.

Today’s symptoms:  Feeling very drained (emotionally and physically) today.  I also have quite a few aches in my arms and left hand.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/20/2010 8:22 PM

I received the plastic panels for the interior of my plane yesterday.  My mother and I drove over to the airport to stick them in the plane.  I was quite happy to see my mechanic there, since he’s the one performing Vyctor’s plastic surgery.  He allowed us to load up the panels in his truck, and arranged for me to fly out to his place the next day.  Despite the wind, we went for a brief flight.  My mother nagged the whole time, telling me to stop making the plane bounce from the wind and air pockets. 

I headed out to the airport this morning and called Chuck to meet me at my mechanic’s place.  I spotted him driving on the QEW and tried to slow down enough to fly next to him into Welland.  I was able to fly directly in front of him once we reached Montrose Road.  After landing, I helped remove a couple of the old, brittle panels, then got out of my mechanic’s hair so he could carry on with the transplantation.  Here are some of the pics we took:

Rear panels removed (Vyctor’s skeleton exposed):

I also had to replace the glove box door, which was missing a fairly large chunk of plastic:

I would love to fly without the doors!

Yucky old panel and beading:

I’m really looking forward to seeing him with his facelift.

Today’s symptoms: Feelings pretty decent today!  This is the second “good” day in a row – I’m hoping for many more!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/18/2010 6:02 PM

We had an interesting day last week, the day before we went to the Elton John concert.  My little mother’s birthday is coming up, so Chuckles picked her up a 2001 Mercedes Benz ML320!  She was in total shock and thought we were kidding.  We handed her the ownership, pointed out her name, and she didn’t believe us.  We ended up going out  for dinner, and of course had Jan drive us in her new ride.  She couldn’t believe how nicely it drove.  She goes on about her new pride and joy (which is no longer me!) almost every day. It’s so nice to see her so happy!Speaking of happy, Jan found a poem I wrote on February 25, 2001.  I wish to share it with all of you.  *Elizabeth clears her throat*….dramatic pause for effect:

Silly People – by Elizabeth Murphy

Clowns – happy, cheerful, funny
Amusing, laughing, silly
What is our fascination
With these silly people?

Devoted to lifting spirits
Making children laugh
Painted faces and funny clothes
Crazy antics always fun to watch

What’s beneath these wondrous smiles?
It must be something grand
I think it’s more than that
Emotions they try to hide

They are real people too
With evil thoughts and heartaches
Painful life stories and woes
Who are they trying to kid?

Psycho clowns scampering about
Trying to be something they’re not
I know what’s under that crazy hair
Pure evil in disguise

Wow – I must have had issues in 2001!  I’ll have to check out the rest of my poetry (I wrote quite a bit) and see if it’s as twisted as this little number.

Today’s symptoms:  Feeling better today than I have in a few days.  Still very weak and tired, more than “normal.”

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/15/2010 7:02 PM

Yesterday was a total blast.  My friend Laura and my mother arrived at our apartment around 3:00.  We had a couple drinks then headed downstairs to leave for Hamilton.  When the elevator opened, my mother said “Oh look!  Someone has a limo waiting for them!”  I just said “How lucky.” and walked toward the front door.  Jan asked why I was walking out that door, since we usually go out the back door to the parking lot.  I said that I wanted to check out the limo.  She and Laura stayed in the lobby while I walked up to the limo.  The driver opened the door and I got in.  My mother was in absolute shock and said to Laura “I can’t believe she went inside!  I didn’t raise her like that!”  About 10 seconds later, they both finally walked out the front door and the limo driver said “Your ride is here.”  They both still just stood there, in a state of shock.  They eventually got in with their mouths hanging open.  Needless to say, we had an amazing ride to Hamilton! 

Here’s a shot of our reflection in Downtown Hamilton:

We went out for dinner to kill some time before the show, which started at 8:00pm at Copps.  It was during dinner that I warned my friend that I will probably lose it when I see Elton walk on stage.  Oh my – that was an understatement!  I totally broke down and was sobbing like a big dork!  Laura gave me a hug.  Either that or she was just trying to throw me on the floor so I would stop embarrassing her.

The concert was unbelievable.  He went on for about three hours, non-stop, mostly his greatest hits and classics.  We all had an amazing time.  The ride back in the limo was great too.  Here it is back at the apartment:

After all of the excitement yesterday, today was very lazy.  Chuck and I went out for groceries, then spent the rest of the day vegging out.  For dinner, he made us turkey burgers.  Guess which one is his???

Today’s symptoms: Very weak and tired, but it was completely worth it!  Oh, I also have a bad sinus headache.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/11/2010 8:10 PM

It was my short day at work today, which was perfect timing as my mother and aunt had their interviews for their Nexus  cards.  I drove them down to Fort Erie and we arrived 30 minutes early for their appointment.  Fortunately, the officer was able to take them both right away.  The whole process took only an hour, so we were out of there sooner than we planned.  It will be so nice to go over to the States with Jan using our Nexus cards, so we can miss the bridge line-ups. 

I was so happy to see what was in my email when I got home.  I ordered a custom made model of my airplane through Factory Direct Models .   They sent me confirmation that my model was complete, and asked that I check it over and approve it for shipping.  It’s perfect:

I can’t wait to receive Lil’ Vyctor in the mail!

Today’s symptoms:  Very weak, a lot of pain in my arms and hands, a bad headache and really bad fatigue.  Blah!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/7/2010 6:14 PM

It was my short day at work today, which was perfect timing as my mother and aunt had their interviews for their Nexus  cards.  I drove them down to Fort Erie and we arrived 30 minutes early for their appointment.  Fortunately, the officer was able to take them both right away.  The whole process took only an hour, so we were out of there sooner than we planned.  It will be so nice to go over to the States with Jan using our Nexus cards, so we can miss the bridge line-ups. 

I was so happy to see what was in my email when I got home.  I ordered a custom made model of my airplane through Factory Direct Models .   They sent me confirmation that my model was complete, and asked that I check it over and approve it for shipping.  It’s perfect:

I can’t wait to receive Lil’ Vyctor in the mail!

Today’s symptoms:  Very weak, a lot of pain in my arms and hands, a bad headache and really bad fatigue.  Blah!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/7/2010 6:14 PM

We have a new family member – little Guildenstern, the Betta Fishy!  I always feel so bad for those fishies in the little cups so I bought a Betta tank, some supplies and of course, little Guildenstern (Gilly for short).

Here he is with his new home decor (mostly housewarming gifts from Mya and Abby):

The heat was absolutely brutal today and is supposed to be the same tomorrow.  Still, I hope to take a couple hours vacation and go for a flight in the haze and smog.

Side note – Abby’s weird:

I’m too hot and tired to write any more.

Today’s symptoms:  Feeling a bit better today than I have over the last week.  I have been very weak, sore and just all out poopy.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/5/2010 9:13 PM

I have been looking forward to today all week – unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned.  I woke up feeling really poopy…I mean poopier than I’ve felt in a while.  I spent most of the day in bed.  I was really hoping to fly over some firework shows today, but it’s not going to happen.  I’m so bummed about it.  On a bright note, my little mother drove to St. Catharines today for a visit.  She’s such a good little mommy.

Actually, I think I may know why I am so weak and fatigued today.  Earlier this week, Chuck asked me to pick up his shoes from The Boot Shop  near my office.  Needless to say, his shoes are much bigger and heavier than mine.  I was going to make two trips when I walked home – one for each shoe.  However, I decided to take them both home at the same time.  A friend of mine at work took this picture of me, starting my journey home:

The walk home usually takes me 6 – 8 minutes, but I was over an hour that day.  Oh well, Chuck has his shoes so he’s happy.

Today’s symptoms: My whole body feels really heavy (like it’s encased in cement).  I’m really weak, sore, stiff and just feeling all around rotten.  Not to mention how bummed I am about not getting to fly tonight. 

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/1/2010 7:22 PM

As I mentioned in my last blog, I was unable to fly this weekend due to the airspace restrictions for the G8/G20 summits.  Fortunately, the weather was poop-o-la, so I wouldn’t have flown anyway.  Instead, Jan, Chuck and I drove to St. Jacob’s on Saturday.  We had a great time!  We first hit the farmer’s market, then over to the outlet mall (across the street).  Next, we went to the Stone Crock for their lunch buffet.  As usual, it was amazing.  We all stuffed ourselves silly and had to waddle out of the restaurant.  We rolled down the street and hit the stores in the silo.  We didn’t make any purchases, but Jan purchased a straw broom from the broom shop across the street.  It was interesting to watch the dudes make them from scratch.  Probably a little better quality than one you would buy at Zellers….

We went into my favourite store – Angel Treasures.  I had purchased some really nice prints by the artist Elvira Amrhein, during my last couple of trips there:

And the one Chuck bought me yesterday:

Ugh, it’s hard to pick a favourite, but I think it would be either of the last two.  While there, I also purchased this one:

Totally different than the others, but something about it screamed “take me home!”….so I did.

It was a great day – we all really enjoyed the trip.

Today, Chuck and I just sat around, half out of it.  The humidity was a total energy zapper.  Now we’re experiencing a bad storm and the poopy cable keeps cutting out.  How rude!

Today’s symptoms:  Very weak and tired, due to the long day I had yesterday.  It was more than worth it though!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 6/27/2010 7:07 PM

I’m not sure what’s going on with the weather forecasters these days.  Last weekend they called for severe storms, which never happened.  Today was supposed to be the same, but we didn’t get anything more than a shower. 

Jan and I went for a brief flight on Sunday.  It was a little rough so we didn’t stay up too long.  After I got home, one of the nice folks from the tower sent me some pictures he took of us:

I hope to get out for another flight or two this week, since I won’t be flying this weekend.  The airspace in our area is affected by the G8/G20 summits, so I’m grounded.  I can fly if I file a flight plan, but I would be too nervous that something would go wrong and I would end up being intercepted.  It would look something like this:

How embarrassing would that be?  Little Vyctor is too cute to be intercepted and experience such trauma!

Symptoms for today:  I unfortunately had to leave work early due to fatigue and a fair bit of crushing pain in my right arm, hand and hip.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 6/22/2010 7:48 PM