Oh dear it's been a while however with the spam attack I had and the very busy person I've been, well, it's hard to post right now.  As I take a moment at lunch, I was humming the Dan Fogelberg song, Leader of the Band.  I love that song.  It reminds me of my dad though he was no band leader, lol, and it brings a tear to my ear to hear it even 12 years after his death.  But what makes me remember today is the fact that Dan Fogelberg died yesterday.  A beautiful voice is silenced, and for your listening pleasure I bring you his song:

Now, in other matters, December 6th was the most incredible day!  Jim became a Canadian citizen, and, while he was waiting in line to sign his papers he received a call:  the dog we had our fingers crossed on adopting was all heathly and ready and waiting to go to his new home.  So after the ceremony we quickly drove off to the SPCA in Alymer to pick up our newest addition to the menagerie!  He is a 5 month old black lab mix (though looking at him I'm not sure where the mix part comes in, I see no sign of any other breed in there).  He is just a adorable, busy learning his training things and now can sit and shake a paw on command, and his crate training and cat acclimatisation is coming along nicely.  Soon he will go for obedience training because he will be a big big dog I think when he's grown (his paws are quite large and he's already up to about 24" tall).  So, welcome to Jassper (misspelled by accident, kept because it gives a "7" in numerology, lol).

It has been an unbelievably snowy December, already the snowbanks are higher than they were last year.  We ran out of wood for the wood stove a couple of weeks ago and now that we have all this snow, including yesterday's massive dump, I wish I had more but calling around proved that locally I don't know that there is any.  The ones advertising in the local papers are too far away to want to come and deliver 2 cords.  Sigh.  Anybody have a free utility trailer about 8 x 6 with sides to give away? 

My year of French training is completed as of last Friday, and now I just study for my exams which will be the second and third week of January.  Wish me luck, I'm supposed to be going for my "B" levels but I'm mentally preparing for a "C" (that's higher by the way).  You never know, I might just make it if I put my mind into it.  I'll miss my 4 weeks of learning every 2nd month, but you know, after all this time I am glad to be back in the office, working my compressed hours and now can start hunting down a parking spot as well.

Beyond that, I look forward to the visit from my daughter - it's been a while, we've all been busy (and broke!  I work an hour and a half every night as well now cleaning to keep ahead of things) but for her she is looking forward to a little down time with us.  It's been a fall of many projects at school, a new boyfriend, and the terrible murder of a girl in two of her classes - she was killed by her father over religious differences.  You know, it's great to be religious but for heaven's sake, when it comes to destroying your family over it, do you not think it's a gone a little too far?  It breaks my heart when I hear stuff like this, all the more so since that poor girl who just wanted to be a regular teenager was so brutally taken at the young age of 16.

Okay, this was supposed to be upbeat, so here's me signing off and wishing every one a safe and happy holiday season if I don't update before then.

Take care and drive safely please.

Cathi