Where's the Irish Church Lady?

I'm sorry that I haven't been a good blogging friend.

There's a few things going on over here so I'll give you a bit of an update:

• Pool Boy and I had this wonderful experience at Worldwide Marriage Encounter. I need to do a separate post on this when I have time. It was so awesome! The bottom line was that it really helped us to take stock in what is good with our marriage and relationship together, and reunite as a couple. We are now working together as a team. We feel much friendship and kinship and love for each other.



• We actually felt like honeymooners for the first few days after our encounter. I would say that we still would now except that we have had some pressing issues that have prevented us from connecting as we would like. We now hold the key and secret to this wonderful way to communicate and become truly intimate in our relationship, and I am thrilled with this knowledge and new found hope that all our dreams really can come true.



• So the pressing issues have been getting some major work things done on the homefront before he goes in for his surgery on Monday. This has been exhausting both of us, and of course has been very hard on him physically because of his handicap. We press on because we know that after the surgery, we do not want anything to jeopardize his rehabilitation. Anyways the list is getting crossed off, however it will take us the rest of the weekend to complete the tasks. (lawn fertilized and seeded, spray deck, fix garage door, paperwork, roof shingles that need repair, house cleaning etc.)



• We have a coop student living in my son's room now and he is great! Really nice kid. We couldn't have got a better one. We spent last weekend getting the basement in tip top shape including installing upper cupboards in the kitchenette, fixing things, clearing out my son's stuff and cleaning. All the girls chipped in and helped and we got it done but just in time. This is to help offset the loss of income from Pool Boy not working and it's been a great decision so far.



• I've only managed to bike to work once so far, with everything else going on. I doubt next week I will be able to at all with going to work and then to the hospital after work. Oh well, hopefully soon. Keeps me off the injury list, anyways! he he



• Big congrats to Pool Boy ~ one of the tasks he got done was opening the pool! So some local ducks have made our pool their swimming hole. I blogged about it before. They were coming back all the time and swimming on the cover and now that the pool is open, they are back in the water. Even the dogs don't seem to scare them away permanently. Not sure how we feel about this yet as we are concerned about a big mess, but being animal and bird lovers it's hard not to love a couple of love ducks in our big pond!!!



• In other news, the Ottawa Senators are doing a bang up job in the second round of the NHL playoffs. If they win tonight against the NJ Devils, then they take the second round. They have 3 more games and all they have to do is win one of them to win this series. We take particular interest in watching the games as we are great fans but also because the Senators doctor, Dr Chow is Pool Boy's back surgeon! He scheduled his surgery around the playoffs. If they go to game six then it's Pool Boy he will be attending to in the four hour surgery Monday 8 a.m. and the Ottawa Senators bench on Monday 7 p.m. in Ottawa. LOL



• My daughter #1 has bought her first home and is busily fixing it up before she starts moving furniture. The place was a mess, compared to the first house she bought that fell through. It was rented out to a lady that smoked and kept it dark and dingy all the time. I didn't see it before she bought it but when I saw it the day of her close I was shocked at how dirty and awful it was. I was in fact really surprised that D#1 bought it because the condition was so bad. Well she wanted a fixer upper and that's what she got. So with some help from her friends they have ripped out all the carpeting and started cleaning the walls with TSP(?) to get the nicotine out and ready for painting. Next comes hardwood floors, carpeting and I think she wants to put some new bathroom fixtures in but I'm not sure what yet. She did a cute little video on it with her new camera. I will post it here when she sends it to me. Her ex bf, DQ Boy, has been helping her a lot. I may have to go back to calling her DQ Girl after all! LOL

I miss you guys. I just can't commit to regular blogging again yet. It's already 10:30 and yikes, I have to get on with my list!

I hope all is well with you all. I will try to visit soon!

Prayers for Pool Boy on Monday, if you're so inclined.

Big hugs

Irish Church Lady
(ICL)

WW ME

Worldwide Marriage Encounter

It is amazing!

Irish Church Lady (ICL)

Hiatus

Yay Ottawa Senators!! They won the first round of playoffs 4 games to 1 with a 3-0 shutout last night against the Pittsburg Penguins (Sidney Crosby - one of my sister's dogs is named after him, yup they're big hockey fans!)

They've been able to achieve this the last few years and usually don't make the second round. Here's hoping 2007 will be the year!!

I was so zonked last night after a busy busy week, all I could do was stay awake to see the game but I almost went under between periods! I didn't even turn on the laptop.

Today I'm working from home while I do laundry and I'm getting my hair done - colour and cut at 3:30. Double yay!!

The best part is I'm on a wee bit of a hiatus for the weekend. I won't be blogging because I'm going on a Marriage Encounter. By myself. LOL Not true. Read all about it on ICL Talks.

Prayers for us and well wishes appreciated!

All my photo memes are up:

Thursday Challenge ~ Wildlife
Friday Photo ~ Country
Saturday Photo Hunt ~ Steps

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Irish Church Lady
(ICL)

About ICL: Thursday Thirteen #89, my #39 - Random Idea Generation

Foto Pherrets is over at ICL Plays Groovy Baby!!

Irish Church Lady
(ICL)

Have a Happy (.)

Kwizgiver wrote a post about that awful tagline for Always Maxi Pads:

"Have a Happy Period."

Read her post above about how inappropriate and aggravating that is. It is printed on their boxes and on the back of the liner strip, believe it or not. Isn't that the last thing you want to see when you are preparing your granny undies for the dreaded bleed?

She got me thinking of some potential feminine hygiene taglines from hell. Wouldn't it serve all women better if this were printed on the adhesive backing strip?:

• Cause sometimes it sucks to be a girl.
• *Hugs* from all the women at Procter & Gamble
• Just a few days, that's all.
• Hoo ha blotter, handle with care
• The only time of the month, you don't want your pussy petted.
• Pre-menstrual mood swings are justifiable reasons for throwing your television out the window, but the clean up afterwards isn't worth it.

And what are your suggestions for new tag lines????

Irish Church Lady
(ICL)

Cats on Tuesday

see Gattina's Cats-on-Tuesday ~ a must read for all you cat fanciers!!

Clancy - my cat. I adopted him from someone at work. He was my first ginger tabby and he was a domestic short hair. He was a great cat. Orange cats tend to be very friendly. Did you know that? He got sick and died suddenly when he was only about 8 years old. I was devastated and it took me months before I was ready to replace him because I thought he was such a perfect cat.

I have no pictures because it was before the days of digital cameras and I'm too lazy I have no time to scan one in but he looked like this.

Irish Church Lady (ICL)

Irish Marriage Counselling

Manic Monday Meme

After just a few years of marriage filled with constant bickering, the Kerry couple decided the only way to save their marriage was to try counseling.

When they arrived at the counselor's office, the counselor jumped right in and opened the floor for discussion. "What seems to be the problem?"

Immediately, the husband held his long face down without anything to say. In contrast, the wife began talking 90 miles an hour, describing all the wrongs within their marriage.

After 15 minutes of listening to the wife, the counselor went over to her, picked her up by her shoulders, kissed her passionately and sat her back down.

Afterwards, the wife sat speechless. The marriage counselor looked over at the husband, who stared in disbelief. The counselor said to the husband,"Your wife NEEDS that at least twice a week!"

The husband scratched his head and replied, "I can have her here on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

Coola & Grinder

The Grouse Mountain Grizzlies
Orphaned at Five Months old

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Being cared for by the Refuge for Endangered Wildlife

Web Cams by www.wavelit.com

More info on forums (also on sidebar at left)

They are still in 'hibernation' due to the climate conditions on the mountain.

There is no food yet available for them to eat.

Other grizzlies are still under a significant amount of snow.

They will be let out in a controlled manner, soon (I hope).

This video also on www.youtube.com

Irish Church Lady
(ICL)

Grizzly Webcam Post Updated

See update to Webcam post below. I finally was able to catch them awake, and get a screen shot of one of the grizzlies. I'm not sure which one is which yet.

See my note re my concerns for them below too.

Irish Church Lady aka animal lover
(ICL)

Cyber Cruise Couture

Captain Lifecruise is having a blog party at the Cyber Cruise Ball.

I went shopping the other day and after much hemming and hawing, selected a dress. Please see the ones I passed on here. Shopping Day for the Cruise Ball

My final outfit and accessories for tonight's party are shown here Cyber Cruise Ball ~ Here I come!

I believe it's time to get this party started!!

Irish Church Lady
(ICL)

More on Webcams ~ Updated below

I have added two more webcam links to my sidebar Africam and Grizzly Bears.

<-- See the hippo I caught at left as he was entering the watering hole at night? I was so excited to see him!!

The baby grizzly bears were moving around and playing as I first started this post.

"Both orphaned at approximately 5 months of age, Grinder and Coola have made the remarkable transition from struggling cubs with an uncertain future to vibrant, healthy bears that now act as West Coast ambassadors for their entire species.
Read more about the Grizzly Bears on Grouse Mountain"

Unfortunately there's no sound on the Grizzly webcam but there is on the Africam one.

You will hear lots of night sounds and see some flying bugs (or maybe birds) depending on the time of day that you watch. Once I saw a big slithering snake go by that watering hole.

I love watching these sites. Sometimes it's hit or miss, there may or may not be a lot of action going on. I've put them on my side bar to remind me to go there more often.

Wavelit Forums about what people have seen on the webcams / comments / questions etc.

UPDATE:

I'm feeling a little more stressed about these grizzlies, I've been watching them off and on all day and the really seem like they want to get out of this enclosure that they are in.

They keep going up to the window and looking out. I even saw one of them pushing on the window it seemed like. I feel sad now.

I hope that the people that are minding them know what they are doing and are not just exploiting these poor orphaned bears.

Irish Church Lady
(ICL)

Biking - Saturday Photo Hunt - Hobby

Biking - Saturday Photo Hunt - Hobby
Originally uploaded by irish_church_lady.

The story to go along with this photo is that Biker Boy (aka Pool Boy) will not be biking this summer.

He's going to get the bikes ready and hopefully bike a bit with me in the next few weeks but after that he's undergoing surgery for broken vertebrae in his back on May 7th.

They are pressing on his nerve and he's in constant pain and is pretty disabled right now, even though you probably would wonder how he could bike with this.

His main problem is standing and walking. That is mostly what causes him the most pain. This makes every day living pretty miserable for him.

Anyhoo, we are happy that something is finally being done for him. They are going to put in a titanium rod and screws to fuse everything together. He has a three month convalescense period. Hopefully in late August or September he may be able to ride a bit.

I, of course, will start my regular biking to work any day now if this weather would improve!

Great for the psyche, environment and pocketbook!