December 23 to 25, 2014; Christmas with family

DEC 23 Tuesday; 2 days to Christmas!

More driving today!  I went to Richmond and a 2.5 hour trip turned into 5 hours because of two serious accidents; one on Hwy 17 and the other on Hwy 1.  It rained all day and I have no doubt it played a part into the mishaps.  Anyway, I made it back to the office and after unloading the truck, I helped in the year-end inventory.  At 3 pm, Rochelle and Kevin separated the presents received from companies they deal with and we split them between all the employees; I got two bottle of wines.  I got the windshield on the Jeep replaced today; I had a crack in it and 3 chips ready to spread.  A quiet evening at home and I finally heard from my brother Johnny.  He says he will be at Rochelle for dinner on X-mas day!

DEC 24, Wednesday; Christmas Eve

Last partial day of work for this year!  I am off now until January 5^th.  I went in at 8 am, took the truck I drive over to the garage down the road to have the batteries secured; there’s been a rash of battery theft from business trucks in town lately.  The Delivery truck always stays at the shop, overnight and week-ends whereas the other three are taken home.  I was home by ten!  Well, as I suspected, Johnny never showed up and phoned around 4 with some excuses.  No surprise there!!!

We had a quiet evening at home enjoying a drink and watching some Christmas show.

DEC 25, Thursday; MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 We had a nice breakfast then got ready for a busy day!  I packed all the presents in the Jeep and boiled the potatoes for the dinner later (2 full pot).  Brother Johnny arrived at 12:30 pm which allowed us to catch up to his news.  We drove to Rochelle and Kevin at 2 pm where Jeffrey had already arrived.  Doreen and Gord got there around 3 pm and the grand-kids finally arrived around 5 pm.  We soon were seated at the table (13 in all) and proceeded to devour the food that Rochelle and Kevin worked so hard in preparing.  It was delicious.  Afterwards, we moved to the Living Room and Santa (read me) gave out the presents.  We had fun and it was so nice to be in the presence of all the kids.  I really enjoyed my moments.  Soon, it was time to move on and we got home around midnight  

IT WAS A FANTASTIC DAY!!!

December 18 to 22, 2014; Getting ready for Christmas

DEC 18, Thursday; Transport Day

Another busy day.  I went to Burnaby to pick up doors then to a couple places in Surrey for small parts.  Kevin called and I had to go back to Burnaby to pick up two big mirrors then back to Aldergrove for more doors.  On the way back, I stopped in Abbotsford to drop off a part we were missing and that I picked up at “Aluminex”.  I helped Rob by cutting that piece to fit, installed it and put the final “beauty cap” on it while he was busy on installing an interior door.  I was there for about a half hour then we both headed back to Chilliwack.  Weather wise, I had pretty well everything; rain, clear skies, winds and more rain.  A quiet evening at home.

DEC 19, Friday;

This week has gone by fast!  I had to pick up some doors in Langley this morning, after unloading the load from yesterday.  In the afternoon, I took some stuff to the “Home Shop” then had to deliver a door to a customer in Sardis which I picked up this morning.  I had some weird weather, first it just poured under a very dark sky and all of a sudden, the sky broke and the sun came out, albeit not for long.  By 4 pm, I was all done and came home.  We had an early dinner then went to Courtenay and Graeme for birthday cake.  Everyone brought a dessert and we got to taste them all.  Val made macaroons cookies (Yum, yum!).  Everyone was there except for Vanessa and Sid & Vera who had previous commitments.  A few of their friends also showed up which made for a very noisy evening and fun was had by all; Courtenay was spoiled with presents as she should!  We were home by 9:30 and to bed by 10!

DEC 20, Saturday;

Last week-end before Christmas!  It is very somber and drizzling at this moment (8 am).  After showering, we went to the mall to check out a couple things and ended buying a present for son Jeffrey.  We then went to Rochelle and Kevin where we caught Vanessa helping mom making pastries and Hayley doing her make-up for work.  We had a short visit with everyone then went to the Pub and had dinner before going to the cinema to see “The Hobbit”.  As I came out of the cinema I realized that my glasses had fallen out of my pocket so I went back in to find them.  No luck but I did find a watch which I turned in. I sure my problems lately with glasses!? It is still raining!

DEC 21, Sunday; Laundry day

I went back to the cinema and got my glasses which they found when they did their major clean-up at the end of the day; thank goodness!  Val did the laundry and I watched football then after dinner (roast pork cooked in the crock-pot), we went to the cinema to see “EXODUS”.  It was very good and more plausible than any other movie I’ve seen on MOSES’ subject.  Early night!

DEC 22, Monday; Back to work

I only worked half a day today.  I had a pick-up to do in Aldergrove then I stopped in Abbotsford to pick up all the equipment left over including three windows.  I drove back to the shop and unloaded everything.  I was home by 1 pm! 

December 13 to 17, 2014; Tourtieres making and new job for Val

DEC  13, Saturday; cooking

After a lazy morning, I began cooking tourtieres with Gran-Daughter Vanessa helping (Hayley was invited but had to work all day).  Vanessa is not a cook but she did make two of them on her own and they turned out very well.  We cooked 8 totals and gave one to our landlord, Mary-Ellen and Thai.  Three are for X-Mas dinner, one for son Jeff, one for Vanessa for helping and two for us.  Vanessa left around 3 as she has to work at 5 and we cleaned up, relaxed for a bit then I went to the Mall to pick up my new glasses and had a haircut at the same time.  We had tourtiere for dinner (no surprise there).  An evening in front of the tube; our landlord has family over for the week-end and they have young children so it is a bit noisy and hectic upstairs!

DEC  14, Sunday;

Clear sky and sunny today, finally!  Val went for an interview at 9 am today at McDonald in Sardis and she sounds very positive about it.  She has another interview on Tuesday and the owner sounded very positive.  She came home with two Mac breakfast.  We went to the Mall to buy a couple things for me then we stopped at the Pub for a beer and watched the football game, Seattle vs San Francisco; Seattle won!  We had dinner while there. We came home, got the pie for Vanessa and went to her house.  We had a quick visit and tour (she was tired from her work) then came home for the night.

DEC  15, Monday;

We worked on a private house replacing 6 windows and a patio door; we spent two days on that job.  Evening was quiet

DEC 16, Tuesday;

I did some delivery today then went back to the house at was at yesterday for a while then to the “Home shop” to take some old windows apart for the aluminium.  Val made a stir fry for dinner and gave me the news that she got a job at McDonald; she is quite thrill about that!

DEC 17, Wednesday;

Today, I spent the day at the job in Abbotsford with Rob.  We completed a job that one guy worked on yesterday and never completed.  There is very little to do now, maybe one more day for one day and this job will be completed.  I also learned today that the office will closed for one week over Christmas which suits me quite fine.

December 6 to 12, 2014; work and more work but it's all good

DEC 6, Saturday; shopping and car wash day!

We got a text message from Rochelle inviting us to go shopping in town for X-Mas presents for the kids and we gladly accepted.  We picked her up and went into downtown to look at a few shops and eventually bought almost everything we needed.  Rochelle had to go to a family get-together on Kevin’s side so we dropped her off at her house and drove to Costco in Abbotsford where we got the last gift and a couple of other items, of course!  We came back to Chilliwack where I stopped at a car wash and got most of the salt and road grime form our trip yesterday to the Interior.  We went home, cooked dinner and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

DEC 7, Sunday;

Cloudy and much warmer, 10*C; the forecast is for some sunshine today!?  We watched football until son Jeff showed up.  We had a nice but short visit as he was playing hockey later.  Dinner and relaxing evening!

                                        

DEC 8 to 9; back to work

Monday was a fairly decent day with no rain and warm enough to be in short sleeve!  We worked on a new project in town replacing all the windows; a two day job.  We were invited and attended dinner at our landlords upstairs.  Dinner consisted of an Occidental dinner (rice, spices, BBQ drum sticks,) which was delicious.  We had good conversations and came downstairs to our place by 9 pm.  The rest of the week was rain and more rain, heavy at times.  I was given a work phone which will be helpful.  We finished the house and it was very nice.  Oh, and I dropped and stumped on my glasses while working so had to buy a new pair.  I need to get a necklace to keep them safe!!!!!!

DEC 12, Friday;                     

A fairly day for me; first I loaded windows for Monday delivery and ended up delivering them today in Hope.  I also took 21 windows to the “Home shop” then I spent the rest of the day at the Main Shop getting some frames ready for Monday.  Kevin and Rochelle left around 2 pm and I was left to finish a couple of little things, clean up then locking shop.  TGIF!!!  Home by 4:15 and a relaxing evening and week-end

December 1 to 5, 2014; Work, Christmas Party and doctor's appointments

DEC  1, 2014, Monday; Work continues

Man, what a cold blooming day this was!  - 5 with a chill of -10*C.  It finally warmed up some by noon once the sun hit us at our work site in Chilliwack.  We installed glass on a skylight above a pool in a complex.  We got most of it done but ran out of time so will be back tomorrow to finish.  Once home, I took a quick shower to warm all my body’s members.  I am beginning to miss the southern warmth!!!

DEC  2, Tuesday;

I spent the morning with Graeme and Todd working on the Sky Light project.  We got most of it finished but we ran out of material and so have to return one more time.  In the afternoon, I spent over an hour at a workshop getting an antenna installed for a VHF radio that Graeme will need when he goes to Babine Lake near Smithers.  I was home by 4:30 pm.  We had a nice dinner then watched the tube.  Val has been sick with a cold all day!

DEC  3, Wednesday; Sunny and cold

It was warmer than it has been but still cold, especially with the wind!  I spent the day taking old windows apart at the “Home Shop” and signed off by 3:30 pm along with Rob and Joe.  Todd and Graeme are still at their job site.

DEC  4, Thursday; Transport day and Company X-mas outing

I was busy with pick-ups until about one pm and after delivering them to the shop, I went home.  Everyone was off by 3 pm and we were all back at the shop for 4:30pm with our spouses.  R&K rented a small bus and driver to take us all to Port Coquitlam where we had dinner and watched a live theatre show about Christmas.  We had lots of laughs as the show was excellent and very funny.  We were back home by midnight.  It sure was nice not to have to drive especially since it was raining.

A BIG THANK YOU TO ROCHELLE and KEVIN for everything tonight!!!

DEC  5, Friday; To Salmon Arm

We were on the road by 7 am under cloudy sky.  We stopped in Merritt for gas and breakfast and arrived in Salmon Arm at 11:30 am.  We picked our mail, did some banking, went to the mall to get a pair of sunglasses (prescription) then to the doctor for both of us for our annual check-up. While at the Mall, we ran into co-workers from the Provincial Park.  We caught up to some news but soon had to go for our appointments.

On the way back, we stopped in to pick up some of our meds then onwards to Merritt once again for gas only then a stopped in Hope for dinner then home.  There was compact snow on the Coquihalla at the higher altitudes but it was in good driving conditions.  The weather cooperated and we had no rain or snow but I did have to stop to buy some windshield washer liquid.  We were home by 7:30 pm and I was in bed by 8:30.  A good day overall.