Happenings

A couple nights ago, my old clarinet saw its first light of day in quite some time. (The picture is there because I *knew* you wouldn't believe me!) :)

It needs a couple of corks replaced and a good cleaning, but it still works. And here's why the sudden interest: it looks like I'll be playing in a pit orchestra at the end of March, accompanying a local production of the musical "Anything Goes". I'm really excited! Playing along with other musicians is a really unique and fulfilling experience; one I haven't had opportunity to share in quite a number of years! Rehearsals will be Sundays, either in the afternoons or evenings, and will be starting in a few weeks. The performances are being held the last weekend of March.

Another exciting recent happening is, we bought Air Canada flight passes which allow us to travel on as many Saturdays, Sundays and/or Tuesdays we want between Jan. 1 and March 6th, to anywhere in western Canada - including Winnipeg! The cost is barely more than a regular-fared trip to and from Vancouver would be! So we're going to Vancouver for a couple of days in January; and in February, we're going to fly to Winnipeg and drive up to Thompson, Manitoba to see Raylene (one of my sisters-in-law). We'll probably also fly to either Cranbrook or Calgary to see my mother- and other sister-in-law, but we're not sure when as yet. Most likely we'll spend more time in airports and traveling to and from them than we will actually visiting people - but it's visits we wouldn't have otherwise. So we're pretty excited about that!

This isn't really *new* news, but I thought I would include it just so my blog is up-to-date: I started working at the newspaper in November. First I trained in and filled in for the classifieds dep't, then I trained with and am currently filling in for the accounting dep't. It's going well, there's a learning curve, of course, because it's a different office, and there's always new things to learn, *and* it's a daily newspaper (except for weekends) which is a new experience, too. My body / mind / emotions sure don't react well to working full-time, but it's only going to be a few weeks a year, filling in for holidays and such. And it's really great working with Chad again. :)

And.... the reason I'm not at work *at this moment*? I was scraping the windows of the car this morning (we got a wee bit of snow yesterday), and I started to slip with my right leg. My left leg decided to try to save me, but it's useless as tits on a boar. So I twisted my left knee. Again. And met the pavement anyway. So after lying on the ground for a few minutes waiting for the pain to subside a bit, I hobbled back into the house, saw Chad off to work by himself, took some ibuprofen and tylenol with codeine, grabbed the ice pack, and made my way back to bed to rest my knee! I should be in fine enough shape to go in tomorrow after caring for it all day today.

Oh! And our house is all done... the contractors have all moved out and left town as they'd planned. They did an amazing job on everything, and we miss them in the congregation, but are sooooo glad they're out of the basement! LOL
And, now I can walk around my own house wearing (or not!) whatever I want! :D