I think I just hit a milestone in life.  I’m not sure if all milestones are good or not.  This is the conversation I texted  with my mother Jan, yesterday.  Trust me, the text doesn’t do any justice to the amount of emotions I actually experienced!

At the time, Mike and I were sitting down in the living room, playing Diablo 3 on the Xbox.  He wanted to get up and close the curtains.  So, I wanted him to give me his controller so I could finish his task while he was “curtaining”:

(Lori and Tami are hosts of our local radio show, 105.7 ezrock.)

There you have it.  Wow!  And really Jan, you come back with a dorky ladybug wearing oven mitts?  Think back to when you hit the point where you realized you were becoming your mother.  On the bright side, your mother was as awesome as you, so I don’t think this recent realization is a bad thing. I love who and what you are. 

So this is life changing!  I’ve finally hit that point in life where I’m officially “getting older.”  Over the last couple of years, I’ve had many indicators of the aging process.  I can recognize the difference of the horrible MS nerve pains I get daily, but also the aches and pains of getting older.  My knees creak, ache and stiffen.  Often, my nerve pain is around the area of my joints.  I’m now experiencing either normal wearing of the joints, or possibly the start of arthritis? I really don’t think this double whammy is fair, but life carries on!  Not to get too graphic, but my blood work two weeks ago shows I am post-menopausal!  I am at least in the menopausal stage, but more investigation by a specialist is underway to determine if I have already passed through the wretched menopausal stage.  I’m only 41, but my body is so totally messed up from so many things beyond just the MS.  Thankfully the physical ca-ca is no match against my mighty Elizabrain!  I remain positive, happy and grateful through it all.  🙂  Life is still great!

Today’s symptoms:  I had the day off and was so happy to wake up feeling much better than I have over the last week.  It’s been really rough.  I’ve been dealing with weakness, fatigue and pain in levels greater than normal.  But my bad headache hasn’t been as frequent throughout the day as it was, so there’s a nice dose of awesomeness!

I woke up feeling better than I have in weeks!  I had the day off and the weather was perfect, so you can only guess what I did.  The St. Catharines Flying Club was rocking today.  Everyone wanted to take advantage of this amazing weather.  I first flew south to Lake Erie to check out the boats heading through the canal.  The ice breakers leading the way:

And there were a couple more a little further off shore:

The weather is finally starting to heat up a bit so I think that ice isn’t long for this world.

I then decided to head back over Niagara Falls to get some pics and video:

The rocky and snowy American Falls:

The awesome Canadian Falls and the Skylon Tower:

Needless to say, there were plenty of helicopters buzzing around, sharing this epic view with their passengers.

I did some aerobatics over CYSN and then came in for a landing.

Someone on Facebook requested some videos of my last flight, so I’m just putting some together.  Stay tuned!  In the meantime, here’s the video of the Falls I took today and posted on Facebook earlier:

Today’s symptoms: I can’t believe how much better I feel today.  My headache is only average now (I get headaches every day and the one I’ve had for over three weeks has been very bad), still lots of nerve pain but my energy is decent.  I live for days like this!!!

The weather is perfect today and I’m so happy to say that I was feeling better this morning.  All of the Flying Club planes were up and the Niagara Falls scenic circuit helicopters were making plenty of trips.  I first headed over the Falls:

There was a smidge of a rainbow over the Canadian (Horseshoe) Falls:

Then I descended a bit (from the 3500′ requirement over the Falls) and checked out the extremely chilly looking Lake Erie:

The massive ice wall that attacked Fort Erie’s shoreline is certainly getting smaller:

Greetings, Buffalo!

Corn maze, perhaps?

After a pleasant tour around Niagara, I decided to head back to the airport for some aerobatics:

They say to keep the shiny side up, but I like it the other way around:

Heading back to Vyctor’s home:

There was a rescue chopper doing landings and/or approaches at our local hospitals while I was flying around.  They landed a couple minutes before me:

What a great day!

Today’s symptoms: I started to feel yucky again not too long after my flight.  Things typically get worse in the afternoon, so I always try to fly and do other physical activities during the morning.  My fatigue and weakness kicks in later, as my energy depletes.  This is typically when the headaches and nerve pains get worse as well.  This is why I take full advantage of the hours where I feel more like a normal person – it’s these times that I look forward to greatly, which helps me through the rough times.  I always try to have hope that tomorrow will be better!

Last week I went to the hospital for MRI number 15! It’s actually to the point where I kinda enjoy them. They always play good music (they have you wear a headset), and I just find the rest very relaxing. I’m not claustrophobic at all, so no problem there. I just close my eyes and absorb the music and crazy sound from the machine. Here’s some examples:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOjALmwaJ1Q

I had to go back the next day to pick up the images on a CD. I noticed a couple lesions but they may have been there before. Nothing major though so that was quite a relief, considering the symptoms I’ve been experiencing over the last two weeks. It started with smelling rotting flesh intermittently throughout the day, very bad headaches, horrible crushing pain in my hands plus weakness like I haven’t experienced before. I assume this is a bit of an MS flare up. I’m still feeling really lousy. It’s probably going to be another weekend of laying low.

The kitties seem to have sensed that I’m not feeling well. They’ve been ever more snuggly than usual. Bedtime is always interesting. Abby, Boo and Mya try to sleep as close to me as possible:

My Pinky usually sleeps at my back or on the heater behind the bed. Typically wakes up quite perky:

Morning comes along and everyone scurries into the kitchen for brekkie:

You can see how happy Abby gets from eating:

As does Peanut:

So other than that, not too much new in life.  Just hoping I start feeling better soon – I don’t want to play this game anymore.

Today’s symptoms: Same as the last almost two weeks.  Very weak, crushing pain (often very intense) in my hands, much worse than normal headache, and just overall blah.  It WILL get better though!

I had such a great weekend.  Mike and I went to the Mapleview Mall in Burlington on Saturday.  I was feeling decent and managed to last wandering around for a couple hours.  During our shopping adventure, I was very excited to find some socks with broccoli and chainsaws to add to my classy sock collection.  (I don’t own a plain pair – too boring!):

We survived the 40 minute drive back home and chilled for the rest of the day, with the kitties of course:

Mya is smushed up against her padded sister, Pinky:

Pinky (who is slightly rotund), is frequently used as a pillow by her smaller sisters.  She’s pretty good about it though:

We ended up watching Fahrenheit 11/9 that evening.  It was very interesting and I’m not into politics at all.

On Sunday, the weather was in our favour so we took to the skies, flying out to Tillsonburg for breakfast.

There was a bit of a lineup at the Skyway Cafe, but at least there was one table left.  Little Vyctor waited for us patiently out in the cold:

With full bellies, we headed back home.  I’m going to have to go up for some aerobatics within the next flight or two, to get my horizon indicator to flip back around again.  Hehe!  It sometimes goes a bit out of whack after doing snap rolls, which I think I did a few flights ago.

We had a nice flight back to St. Catharines and fortunately, the snow held off:

I don’t know if I did too much this weekend or if I was just going to end up feeling this way regardless, but I have been so weak and fatigued yesterday and today.  I spent about half of yesterday in bed.  Feeling a little bit better today, but I’m sure tomorrow will be a big improvement (paws crossed!).  I am still dealing with the new symptom I mentioned in my previous blog, where I’m smelling a very unpleasant odour for most of the day.  I saw my neurologist about this before the weekend, and I have an MRI scheduled for two days from now.  I think this will be my fifteenth!  It’s always a little stressful when new symptoms develop, but at least I have my family, friends, Vyctor and awesome kitties to keep my spirits up.  Right, Abby?

Today’s symptoms: Very weak, lots of nerve pain and more fatigued than usual the last couple days.  I’m just going to put it down to doing quite a bit this weekend.  Sometimes paying for it for a few days is worth it though!

This is going to be one weird post.  It all started about three weeks ago.  I was sitting on my couch, watching TV.  I was suddenly hit with a extremely distinct and highly unpleasant odour.  That of a very slightly decomposed body.  I will never forget the first time I experienced this smell.  It was when I was in college for Funeral Services.  We had to do a few weeks of experience at local funeral homes before and during the first year.  Anyway, it was quite faint but there kind of in the background.  I thoroughly searched around (and I’m a bit of a neat freak!) the room but I could kind of still smell it.  Fortunately, it only lasted for a few minutes.  Well, this same symptom has been happening progressively more often for the last three weeks.  Today, it has been on and off for a total of at least five hours.  Ugh!!!  I was sitting in the bank today and it hit me quite strongly part way through the meeting.  I looked this up online and it appears it is possible from multiple sclerosis.  MS is such an odd disease!  I never thought about symptoms involving smell since I’ve been diagnosed, until now!

I phoned my neurologist’s office today and they got me in for tomorrow morning.  It will be interesting to hear of how many other MS patients of his have had this creepy and distasteful symptom!

Today’s symptoms: Well, the most yucky of symptoms is certainly this one affecting my sense of smell.  My energy was actually decent today.  My headache didn’t become bad until after 6:00, which was nice.  Other than that, just the normal aches and pains, plus lots of nerve gobblety-goop going on today!

Can someone please explain the purpose of memory foam to me? Why do I want my pillow to remember where my head was after I move? If I re-position, I obviously no longer want my noodle in the same spot. I love my awesome gel topped pillow, but the memory foam can be a little frustrating at 3:00am. I re-position my head, and now my face falls into the crater where the back of my head just was. So now I have to wait until the foam poofs back up before I can rest my face. First world problems, eh?

This week went by fairly quickly. I’ve been dealing with a cold and bad sinus infection since Monday. Fortunately, my four little freaks have been very comforting and therapeutic. I’d love to see memory foam remember this twisted yet adorable pose:

She actually made me jump the other day. I had to rinse something out in the tub and opened the curtain to this:

I have never seen her in the tub before. I guess she was looking for a new water source.

Boo decided to grace me with a slew of goofy faces, after sniffing my yogurt and getting a smidge on her schnoz:

 

Abby was impressed and attempted a paw bump:

Meanwhile, Pinky just sat there, very unimpressed:

I was supposed to go to the casino with my Army buddy, mother and Mike tomorrow, but won’t be able to with how I’m feeling. My immune system probably wouldn’t appreciate being in close quarters with hundreds of people and their germs. So Mike and I will probably just take it easy this weekend.

Today’s symptoms: For some strange and rather rude reason, my sinus headache was worse today than the rest of the week. I don’t think my body understands the concept of how to recover from a cold. It’s not supposed start getting better then suddenly say “Guess what?!” *Pow – punch to the face!*. I normally don’t take anything for cold symptoms, but had to this morning. Almost two hours after, I couldn’t figure out why I was actually feeling worse. Then I reached in my pocket and found the cold pill I forgot to take. I’ve discovered meds work much better in the tummy rather than the pocket.  You’re welcome!

Guess who got to go flying today?  Meeeeeeee!!!  Woot.  The ceiling was below 2100′ so I was just a little restricted to where I could fly, and certainly no aerobatics (which was my original plan).  In the Flying Club, I presented the Club cat (I call him Clubby) with a new toy.  A couple of my kitties like it but it keeps getting sucked up in my little robot vacuum:

There were a couple planes doing circuits, which I thought about doing, but just checked out some sites around chilly Niagara instead:

Please excuse the quality of some of the pics, but it was a tad bumpy up there.

I had a bit of a bridge thing going on today:

There were some ice fishermen out on the Welland Canal.  Brrrrrrr…..

I yelled “Choo chooooo!” when I saw him:

Chilling birdies:

Can’t get much more Canadian than this, eh?

I can’t remember if I posted this pic of a snowy owl on a previous blog.  It wasn’t from today, but a few flights back.  They have at least three of them that stay around the airport.

Coming in to land, you can see how perception can be quite tricky when you’re flying.  Notice the red and white plane which looks like it’s in the upper right corner of the runway?  Where does he look like he is in relation to the ground?

He is actually quite a bit below me, all set to land ahead of me.  He’s not at the runway yet.  I had a joyous landing then quickly stopped in at the car wash, as I can’t remember what colour Lola Corolla actually is.  I hardly recognized her when she reemerged.

It’s been a nice day.  I’ve mainly been chilling since I’ve been home. Relaxing with the kittahs.

Today’s symptoms: Feeling a bit meh after my flight.  Lots of nerve pain all over the place.  My new norm!  My paws are crossed for a good day tomorrow.  Cheers!

The weather was finally in my favour a few days ago and I was able to go for a flight.  Woot!  The last time was before Christmas, so I was starting to go through withdrawal.  We were hoping to fly somewhere for breakfast, but the weather socked in Niagara.  We headed over Niagara Falls:

We were both surprised how full the Welland Canal was, and were unsure if the water level was lowered for the winter:

We flew around for about twenty minutes, then did a few aerobatics back at the airport.

Hope to see you again soon, little Vyctor:

After the flight, we stopped at the nearby outlet mall, as my ten year old winter boots died (a seam gave out and they weren’t repairable).  Mike ended up buying a winter coat for a really good deal (around 70% off).  It was the first one he tried on too.  I was set on getting Sorel boots as they have amazing reviews online plus everyone I spoke to about brands suggested them.  Fortunately, there is a Sorel store at the mall.  Unfortunately, the ones I bought cost a bit more than I wanted to spend and weren’t on sale.  Still, I have a great new pair of boots which will hopefully last me over ten years.

Back home, we snuggled with the kitties and watched some movies.

I tried to toss a treat to Pinky.  Oops.  I’m surprised it didn’t get lost in one of her wrinkly crevasses:

It was such a great weekend.  Nice to get out more than I had over the previous week.  The flight was certainly uplifting too!

I hope everyone was safe today in this rotten freezing rain.  So many things around Niagara and Hamilton were closed today.  I will have to go and check my car again tonight.  I’ve had to have it boosted twice in the last week.  Poor Lola Corolla may need a new battery.

Today’s symptoms: I’ve been feeling rather weak and lower than usual on energy this week.  Worse than normal headaches too.  I think the second half of the week will be better – it’s only fair!

I rarely get them, fortunately, but I received a message from someone who was very excited about me signing up with his/her “adult” site.  Here’s how it went (and yes, I blurred the naughty pic):

Yeah, that was fun!  And in case you’re wondering what my chat picture was, it was the same picture that made the Bad Cat 2019 calendar!

Yet again, one of my little freaks made it in this prestigious calendar – and is even on the back cover!  Way to go, Abby!

Tee hee.  I’m so proud of my youngest daughter, although she’s ten now (I’m not sure where they got four from):

And yes, this was my “handsome” chat pic that prompted “kemberly tabatha” to try and lure  me to his/her fantasy land!

Today’s symptoms: I had a cold for almost two weeks, then ended up with a bladder infection.  It hit me so fast and hard – knocked me flat on my tush.  I forgot how much these infections take out of me.  I’m feeling a bit better every day, which is a huge relief.  

Poor little Mya had to go to the vet the other day for a check up.  She’s twelve years old and seemingly very healthy, despite being so thin.  I’ve been feeding her wet food constantly throughout the day and tons of treats.  Still, she lost yet another half pound over the last year.  She’s down to 4.7 pounds.  It’s making me so nervous.  She has steadily lost weight for seven years, with this last year a bit more dramatic.

She was surprisingly very affectionate with me after we got home, despite being at the vet for around two hours.  She’s usually pretty ticked with me for a few days.  And she came close to topping out her cuteness factor when I woke up to this:

I’ve kinda been held up in the apartment for the last four days, with a bad bladder infection.  I’ve been going a little stir crazy, but fortunately my girls kept me well entertained and happy:

Pinky goes well with my socks:

Feeling a bit better today and was able to get out for a couple hours before my energy splatted!  I’ve just been working on a presentation I have to give for work since being home and vegging with the girls.

A headless Boo:

Notice the little growth on her front right paw?  I think I need to call Dr. Pimple Popper!

Paws (growths and all!) crossed that I feel better tomorrow so I can get back into the office.  I miss people!

Today’s symptoms: I’m in a fair bit of pain from the bladder infection.  I was worried this morning when I had pain in my lower back toward the sides.  Could be the infection in my kidneys.  I decided to mentally dispute this possibility and in my mind at least, although I think a bit physically too, I am feeling better than this morning.  Unfortunately these infections really wipe me out physically, because I already experience so much fatigue from the MS.  So it takes me quite a bit longer to recover.  My body is a bit of a jerk.  

 

 

Well I blew it.  My New Year’s resolution was to try and be more “normal” this year.  Here’s the text conversation I just had with Mike, who’s quarantined to his place with a cold:

 

 

Oh dear.  I guess I’ll try again next year!

Today’s symptoms: Felt much better today than the last four or five.  Woot!  I was off so spent time with Jan.  Had energy during our visit and I didn’t need to take anything to perk me up.  I’d give anything to have these days more often!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and joyous New Year! My Christmas was awesome. Lil Jan came by after work on Christmas Eve and we promptly ordered a pizza when we got home. I love the frozen ones we get all the time, but dang! Good ol’ Pizza Hut is a bit of an upgrade! We split a medium and walked away from the table a tad stuffed. We watched about 20 episodes of Big Bang Theory that evening, as they had a marathon going on. Peanut joined us for a bit:

We had a blast opening up pressies in the morning. Abby was thrilled when she opened the grumpy carrot:

Everything was absolutely marvelous. I was sad to see Jan go home on Boxing Day.

The weather finally cooperated this past weekend and I was able to go for a quick flight. The ceiling was only at 2500′ around St. Catharines and lower everywhere else. Someone landed just before I took off and that was the only other plane I saw or heard.

I think I’m going to start a new service. Aerial parking spot finder! Here’s Costco….I was surprised to see there were quite a few still available:

I only flew for about half an hour, since the weather was kinda limiting with where I could go. I mainly flew around downtown St. Catharines, admiring the scenery. Here’s the Burgoyne Bridge, blending in nicely with the snow:

After circling over Niagara-On-The-Lake, I came back in to land and head home. I figured the kitties would all be snuggled on the couch, but instead I found a train of them on the heater behind the bed (except Boo):

Boo was on the bed, contemplating:

Today’s symptoms: I actually slept fairly well the last few nights.  I had a decent day today, just the average MS stuff (nerve pain and fatigue) plus my headache was a bit worse than normal.  Nothing to complain about though!

I recently posted a disturbing and graphic image on Facebook.  The text was “OMG…one of my my hairless cats is growing fur.” (Please note that this picture may be disturbing to some people.  Viewer discretion is advised):

 

 

 

 

She’s turning into one of those freakish cats with fur!  Good thing she is still adorable, so I think I’ll keep her around for a bit.

Someone responded to my post, asking for more pictures.  Thus, I present to you the following.  A sphynx with phur!

I hope all the pilots reading this notice something other than Pinky’s fur right away.  🙂

I love how you can clearly see how the phluffyness only grows on the outer part of her wrinkles.  The valley part is kept nicely warm and therefore remains normal (you know – furless!)

And a closeup of this odd, foreign substance:

I’m going to have to change her name from Pinky to Whitey!

Today’s symptoms: I unfortunately felt pretty yucky today.  I haven’t slept well over the last few nights, plus I”m having a lot of nerve pain still.  I made sure to always keep a smile on my face whilst at work so no one knew.  Mind you, interacting with my coworkers made me feel a bit better!  Made the smiling easier too!

What a perfect weekend I had!  On Saturday, my little mother, Mike and I met up with my friend Ken and we drove over to the Casino.  We got in line for complimentary tickets for the Christmas on Ice show.  We got there soon after 11:00, so the line wasn’t super long yet.  Great seats were acquired (balcony near the centre).  Next stop was the buffet.  Lucky again – hardly any line.  My friend had enough points on his card, plus being comped for a couple, that noms were free.  And what wonderful noms they were!

With bellies stuffed, the next stop was the show:

I was surprised how many performers there were.  Skaters, dancers and singers.  The tricks the skaters did on such a small rink were so impressive.  The music was great, as was the skating and dancing:

All of us thoroughly enjoyed the show and would certainly recommend it!  Thanks again, Ken!

Sunday, the weather was fairly decent so I went for a flight.  I noticed that the snowy owls were out again:

The sky right above the airport was blue and cloudless.  All around the airport within about fifteen kilometers was at about a 2000′ ceiling and less than ideal visibility. I headed North to Lake Ontario to check out all of the ships floating out there.  I guess their time left to utilize the canal before it gets shut down for the winter:

Then I went East to Niagara-On-The-Lake and when I turned South, Vyctor’s dangling wheel was over the States:

Since I couldn’t go too far due to the weather, I just did a few circuits, trying to do some spot landings.  Tres fun!

Once back home, Mike and I decided to put up the Christmas tree.  Decorating the tree and entire apartment takes about an hour (if that – tee hee!)  First and most important step is to orient my compass “tree skirt” to true North.  I asked Mike to use his compass app to find magnetic North, then set to true North.

Unfortunately, thanks to a rambunctious Boo, it has gone from true North to Boo North!

My most classy and eloquent decoration is Ratty all dressed up:

My most classy and eloquent cat is Abby all dressed up:

Once we were all done and cleaned up, Mike and Zim watched a short video on his phone:

I just pretended I wasn’t in any way related to either of them!

Today’s symptoms: I haven’t been sleeping well again and just had four bad nights, with about 3-5 hours each.  I was doing fairly well this morning but then quickly started to fade early afternoon.  I’m so nervous I’m not going to sleep well again tonight, as I have training at work the next two days.  When I don’t get enough sleep, all of my MS symptoms become worse.  And with the significantly increased amount of nerve pain I’ve been experiencing lately, it will make this training very rough to sit through.  Hopefully I won’t have to fake feeling good too much!  Peace out.

Last weekend, Mike and I drove up to Mississauga for the Christmas Pet Show.  We arrived at the International Centre, close to Pearson Airport.  The last few times we were at a pet show here, there was a huge line of folks waiting to get inside.  It was rather shocking to see no line at all this time.  Sweet!  Right off the start, I saw a perfect little hat for Pinky.  I only let her go out on the balcony about ten minutes at a time in the summer, but even in that short of time, her little head gets lightly burned:

Unlike the last show, there were a couple of awesome sphynx kitties at this one:

We had a nice time, and are looking forward to the next one.  And, the fact that it is right near the airport, which has AvWorld right next to it, the trip ends up being doubly worth the drive.  Surprisingly though, I only came out with two things.  One being this (and I’m EXTREMELY grateful to my wonderful little mother, who has graciously agreed to sew it on to my lined Spring coat – thanks again!):

Just before leaving, we stood and watched about half a dozen planes come in to touch down across the street from us:

I made sure I conserved my limited energy for the beginning of this week, as my mother and I had our annual Rochester shopping trip from Thursday to Saturday.  Woot!  We so look forward to this trip every year.  We left here around 10:15 Thursday morning.  It was a smooth, uneventful drive, which is always appreciated.  Just in case, I created my own little dash cam by stick-tacking a GoPro to the back of my GPS:

We leisurely strolled through the Marketplace Mall until we had it all covered.  Once checked in at the hotel and freshened up, we walked next door to Sticky Lips restaurant.  We ate here last year the first night too.  Tres yummy.

The next morning, we headed to Eastview Mall – the same as we do every year.  It’s an awesome mall.  We found lots of great deals and essentially finished up our Christmas shopping.  Woot Navidad!  To top it all off, there was nary a single bad incident!  (We had a before 6:00 am fire alarm, had to move rooms a couple times, running over a chipmunk…..poor chippy….)  Although I shouldn’t say there wasn’t absolutely no negative experiences.  First, I spotted this in Target:

Things like this are why I’ll never become a parent.  Mind you, thinking of a mini me running around, terrorizing the world is the main reason for that.  Anyway, as if that wasn’t grossy gross enough, I came across a product that made me want to projectile vomit all over it, just so it would cover up what I was seeing.  I will never get this image out of my head:

Just to top it off, I see this on Reddit that night.  The question asked was “What is the grossest thing you’ve ever seen a person do in public”:

Ok, change of subject!!!  Look, it’s Boooooo!

Back to our trip – it was another great drive on the way home.  No issues at the border and we got home early afternoon.  I think this trip has been the best Rochester excursion yet!

Once home, I noticed it was a little chilly in the apartment, so I put skinny little Mya’s coat on, which her and Abby posed near their new vacuum friend:

So far, none of the kitties have tried to take if for a spin yet.  I’m very relieved that none of them seem afraid of it either.  I’m glad because this means not only do I get to save some energy by not having to use the old vacuum every day, but they won’t have to be scared by it anymore.

Today’s symptoms: I didn’t have the most pleasant day.  I hardly slept last night and felt just all over lousy.  I had a really hard time focusing later in the day.  Lots of nerve pain, which always seems exacerbated by a lack of sleep.  Makes sense, since the body is in overdrive, fighting the normal MS symptoms plus a now sleep deprived body.  I’m going to sleep well tonight and feel much better tomorrow.  

Thanks to all of my FaceBook peeps who wished me kind birthday wishes!  That really made my day!

My mother gave me a slipper.  The left foot only.  She said I get the other one for Christmas!  Tee hee.  What a dork.  We got together for a visit today.  I noticed in the Canadian Tire Flyer that the Roomba vacuum this is half price for $250.  I’ve wanted one since they first came out, but could never get through the guilt of spending money on something I really don’t need.  While at Walmart, we went over to their vacuum section and noticed a tag for the Shark version of the Roomba.  It was half price as well, for $200.  I managed to break through the guilt and purchase one (ordered online as they were out of stock).  I still feel guilty when I see the receipt, but I think I’m going to be quite happy with the purchase.  Hopefully it doesn’t scare the kitties!  I feel kinda bad that Dysie, my Dyson vacuum, won’t be used as much.  I actually find vacuuming a little therapeutic, and Dysie has been great with this over the last seven years.

My little mother reminded me to make sure I have a snow scraper in my car.  Good reminder and I’m passing it on!  I’ll have to go check if I have one in Lola Corolla.

I went for a nice solo flight last weekend.  I headed over the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre (white roof on the right).  I’ll be heading there for a concert soon, which I’ll report on in an upcoming blog.

The one on the left is the Meridian Centre.  I’m lucky they are walk-able from my place.

This is heading back into St. Catharines, with the Burgoyne Bridge at the bottom:

It was a really nice flight.  I couldn’t do any aerobatics because of a fairly low ceiling, which progressively dropped.

I was off today and after my awesome visit with Lil Jan, I did a bunch of cleaning with the critters.  Peanut had his tank cleaned, Zim as well, plus his sand changed.  The crickets were cleaned and their egg medium was put in the other tank.  I asked them all to pose for a pic in their new, clean home (not that I ever let it get that dirty!) and show how good it feels.  Little Peanut stepped up to the challenge:

He actually had a little rest on his sister, Pinky, while having his tank cleaned:

None of them having any issues with their two gecko brothers, but Pinky is the most docile with them.

Abby just chilled on the heater:

Today’s Symptoms:  It’s been a great week so far.  I’ve felt average consistently over the last few days.  I’m just experiencing more and more nerve pain in my hands.  Feels like I’m being stabbed to the bone with an ice pick.  Sure makes me know I’m alive!  Yikes!

Last weekend was great! On Saturday, Mike and I went to the Hand Made Market in Niagara Falls. We arrived around 11:00. I thought we had only wandered around for about an hour when Mike informed me it was after 2:00! I couldn’t believe we were there that long. We walked out of there with a few items, including some Christmas pressies.

Sunday, the weather was quite nice, albeit breezy. We headed to the airport and hopped in Vyctor for a flight to Kitchener for noms. We arrived just before noon and missed breakfast. It was our first time having lunch there and it was quite good! While nomming, we noticed Vyc’s brother taxied by. He’s the only other Cessna Aerobat I’ve ever seen in person.  We first noticed the newest addition to the Kitchener Waterloo Flying Club’s fleet last summer:

Heading back, we passed over the very busy Burlington IKEA:

Back home, we played Forza for a bit. Team Orange at it again. I can’t remember if that’s him or me on the roof:

Then it was time to wash the girls. I think Mya was mocking her sisters. She only needs a bath every month or two but her three sisters get more greasy than her so need a cleaning weekly:

Boo was clearly unaware of her upcoming dunk in the sink (she hates baths):

I swear three of them were conspiring against me afterwards. I’m not sure why Pinky wasn’t joining in:

Little Peanut came out for a visit:

He went for a little ride on Pinky:

Actually, he really did go for a ride when Pinky suddenly jumped off the couch. He held on though!

Mya is trying to figure out why I picked her up Hair Care food. It was a free sample, ya little twit!

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of speaking to some high school kids or Take Your Spawn To Work Day. I’ve presented three or four times in previous years, so I’m always happy to be asked back. A great group this year again! I do a compressed version of my motivational-type talk that I’ve had the pleasure of giving all over southern Ontario and out to Nova Scotia earlier this year. Good times!

Today’s symptoms. Had an average day. Minimal headache which is always nice, a fair bit of nerve pain but that’s just typical.  Energy level was my average, so blah.  It’s all good though!

The weather last weekend was quite good, so I was able to go up for a flight.  Donkay and I decided to head over Niagara-On-The-Lake.  Here is the main street through the town, with the clock tower on the right:

And the gazebo we stopped at during our Ghost tour a few weeks ago:

The Queenston Bridge wasn’t too busy at that time:

We ascended to 3500′ to join the Niagara Falls scenic circuit.  There were quite a few helicopters flying around on this great day.  The Falls looked spectacular, as usual, with a nice little rainbow on the US side:

And landing back at St. Catharines:

On Sunday, Mike and I went to visit my tiny mother.  Once back home, we walked downtown and wandered through the library.  We sat down for a bit and admired the Fall colours:

We hit Giant Tiger on the way home because we were craving cake.  They actually have nice little ones for $2.00.  Quite good too!

Yesterday, I drove to the Hamilton office to give an EAP presentation (Lunch and Learn).  I always arrive to these things quite early in case there are any technical difficulties.  Had a couple issues with the screen resolution and my computer occasionally disconnecting from the proxima, but I got out all the kinks well before everyone arrived.

I then presented to another group at the second office across the street.  Another really great group – very interactive.

Driving home wasn’t quite as pleasant as giving my presentations.  It look me half an hour to go less than a kilometer on the way to the main highway.  Just a wee bit of construction.  I sat with the car in park most of the time.  You know you’re going slow when your GPS does this:

I finally made it home.  Actually, I was still smiling so much from the great day I had, the traffic issue didn’t bother me at all.  Others clearly weren’t having the same experience.  I saw many looks like this:

Today’s symptoms: I felt much better than I did earlier in the week, when I was dealing with a rather short-lived cold.  Still dealing with a worse than normal headache, but it’s getting better so shan’t complain! 

My little mother had yet another flight with me recently.  I needed to pick up a case of aviation oil, so on Tuesday, we flew out to Brantford.  The weather was perfect with nice smooth air (so Jan didn’t glare at me).  There was some ground fog to the south:

We parked Vyctor then headed in to have breakfast at the restaurant at the airport, the Skyway Cafe.

Their food is always so good.  Once our bellies were full, one of the folks from the Flying Club drove us over to the Aircraft Spruce store:

We picked up our orders (one for myself and those of three of my peeps back in Niagara) and headed back to the plane.  It took a bit of maneuvering to get everything loaded nicely in the back, but we managed.

The flight home was nice, but a little bumpier than on the way there.  I don’t think Jan glared at me though.  She was too busy admiring the leaves in their Autumn glory:

Since we left fairly early that morning and were back at CYSN (Niagara District Airport) around noon, I still had a bit of energy left.  We decided to hit Zehrs on the way back to get our flu shots.  We didn’t realize this, but there is a higher dose of the flu shot for seniors, which you can only get from your doctor.  Good to know.

I have a feeling Mya was missing me that day.  When I got home, she was snuggling with my Dusty pillow (Mya knew I flew in Vyc that day):

She followed me around everywhere and even stood guard as I dried my hair:

Eventually, my little guard jumped up on the counter and her three minions soon followed:

Yesterday was a very special day for one of them.  This is from a Petsmart email:

That’s right.  My youngest, little Abby, turned 10 on Halloween.  Here she is when I brought her home as a kitten:

And something a little more recent:

She wasn’t supposed to make it to three, so it’s awesome she’s made it to ten!

Today’s symptoms: Felt decent, which was nice because it was my day off.  I got my final emissions test done on my car first thing in the morning.  For those of you who don’t know, there will be no more emissions tests starting in 2019.  Yea!  I’m having a lot of nerve pain in my hands, which was a tad annoying.  I managed to get a few things done at home and then just chilled for the rest of the day.