Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Chuck and I opened up a few pressies at the apartment on Christmas morning.  The cats opened a couple of their gifts, and were playing with them all morning.  Around noon, we packed up the gifts that I didn’t get out to my mother’s over the last couple of weeks, plus the kids, and off to grandma’s house we went!  As usual, we all went overboard with the gifts, and spent over three hours opening everything.

Mind you, we stopped to play with the kids, who were being cute but also a little naughty:

Look at that little tongue!

The house smelled so good with the turkey in the oven and all of the other goodies my mother prepared.  I wonder if it was the smell (and wonderful company!) that made Mya so weird all day.  She was meowing up a storm and running all over the place.  I wish Abby came out more, but she mostly hid under one of the beds upstairs.  Mind you, at least she didn’t go anywhere she wasn’t supposed to be, like little Mya did:

It was a great day and I’m already looking forward to next year!

I spent much of the next two day’s after Christmas in bed.  I’ve had a bit of a cold for the last week and it became quite a bit worse on Christmas day.  It’s a bit better today, although I was completely wiped out at work.  When I got home, Abby had yet again caused complete chaos with the mitten cabinet:

There was one under the Christmas tree and two in the bedroom:

Mya just looked on, with her innocent little face.  Mind you, as Abby’s bigger sister, she should really teach her that she is being naughty.

We don’t have any plans for New Year’s.  I hope the weather is decent enough this weekend for me to go for a flight.  It’s been about a month now since I’ve flown last!  My plane is probably going to report me for neglect!

Today’s symptoms:  Very tired and drained, I’m assuming from the cold and still recovering from my recent MS flare-up.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 12/30/2010 8:08 PM

Not So Smitten Anymore!

I’ve been mentioning how my lovely little Abby has been breaking into my mitten cabinet and stealing my monkey mittens.  Well, she sure was bold today!  She committed the crime right in front of my eyes.  Even the flashes from the camera didn’t deter her:

I think she’s looking a tad annoyed with me in this picture:

I can’t believe how big she’s getting.  In July, she weighed 2.9 kg.  I had the vet weigh her last week and she’s up to 3.6 kg!  When the vet, technician and I noticed her weight increase, we all started oinking at her!  I feel kind of bad about it, in retrospect.  Still, look at her rolly-pollies in the above picture!

I think I mentioned in a previous blog that I helped with our new library at work.  We had the extra space and needed something to fill it with something constructive.  So far it’s been a huge hit!  We have a couple seating areas where people can read, do crosswords or jigsaw puzzles.  Here are a couple pics:

Here is the puzzle that was completed last week.  Apparently it glows in the dark but we haven’t had a power failure yet to prove it:

And we already have another on the go:

It has really been a nice way to take a break and just chill out for a few minutes.

Another joyous thing about my work is the donations we collect every year for Christmas.  We typically support a couple families and buy them gifts and meals.  I do believe it was for more of a community-oriented cause this year.  Regardless, another great turn out:

Hopefully I’ll get to go for a flight later this week.  I think the weather may clear up a bit tomorrow, so we’ll see.

Today’s symptoms: Very tired today since I hardly slept last night.  I guess I still have steroids in my system, which are causing the sleeping issues. 

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 12/20/2010 7:41 PM

Smitten Mitten Kitten

Abby attacked my mitten drawer again.  It’s funny that she always pulls out the red and blue striped monkey mittens.  I had to run over to the vet (half a block away) to drop off an Abby-poo sample.  I knew when she saw me take a pair of mittens out of the cabinet that she would be in there as soon as I turned my back.  She’s SO predictable – fortunately, she’s also SO cute!

On a bright note, little Mya decided to behave herself while I was gone.  I took this shot to demonstrate her overwhelming cuteness:

I’m looking forward to work this week.  Usually everyone’s spirits are up (not saying that they’re normally down, but you get the drift).  I have my team Christmas lunch tomorrow.  I’ve changed teams so many times over the last year, I don’t even know who is currently on my team!  I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.  I love surprises!

I visited my little mother today and brought the rest of the pressies over.  Chuck and I will open a few at the apartment in the morning, then head over to mini-mom’s house to spend half the day opening the rest of them.  That’s the beauty of a small family – you really get to spoil each other to death.  There are so many presents under the tree that there’s no where for us to sit in the living room!  We’ll have to open them from the kitchen or dining room.  Can’t wait!

Today’s symptoms:  My leg seems to be getting more mobility and feeling every day.  I’m still walking a little gimpy, but it’s improving.  I’ve been having constant body aches since about 5:00 this evening (it’s almost 9:00 now)

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 12/19/2010 8:31 PM

Oops!

I feel so guilty for not posting a blog entry for a couple weeks!  How rude!  Actually, I’ve been going through a bit of an MS flare-up.  A nice new lesion on my brain (I had an MRI a couple weeks ago) caused my right let to go a bit gimpy.  I was able to see my neurologist in Hamilton soon after the symptom started.  He ordered an IV steroid infusion for four days.  I had my last one yesterday and am noticing improvements today – yea!  I’m so glad we started treatment soon after the flare-up started.  I shall be back to frolicking about in no time!  The nice thing about the IV was that the nurse came over to our apartment each day and hooked me up for about an hour.  The line stayed in my arm, so at least I didn’t have to have a new one each time.  Little Mya typically kept me company during the infusions:

I decided to help out the nurse on the second day, by setting up the “fluids” on the IV pool before she arrived:

Unfortunately, the vodka fusion was a no-go.  Oh well, I tried!

The kitties have been their typical insane selves lately.  The other day I came home to the mitten drawer open, with mittens in all different rooms.  Abby enjoys hiding socks and mittens.  Needless to say, she’s very easy to shop for at Christmas:

The same night I made myself some vegetable soup for supper.  I went into the kitchen to get something and came out just in time to see Mya jumping off the table.  What a show-off:

I’m so glad I have everything all ready to go for Christmas.  I’ve had most of my pressies purchased and wrapped for a few weeks now.  I just have a couple more to wrap and I’m totally done.  Chuck and I will spend a couple hours at the apartment on Christmas morning.  We’ll open a few presents then pack up the rest plus the kitties and head over to my little mother’s house.  We’ll probably spend a few hours opening pressies, sipping Bailey’s then have our Christmas dinner.

So there’s my joyous update.  I will try to never allow such a lapse between blogs ever again!  *lowers head in shame*

Today’s symptoms:  Quite weak today just because of the long week I’ve had dealing with this flare-up.  Still, I’m walking better today and more coordinated.  I’ll sleep well tonight and feel even better tomorrow.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 12/14/2010 8:35 PM

 

Night Hawk

I did my final required solo night flight to achieve my Night Rating – Yea!  It was a nice flight.  The clouds were fairly low at 4000 feet, but the winds were calm.  I flew over my mother’s house and called her to come out and wave at me.  Since it was dark, I didn’t see too much of her (that and the fact she’s so tiny).  She did blink the garage lights at me though.  I headed out to Dunnville and on the way, I circled over a couple houses that had amazing light displays.  The one house had about five cars pulled off to the side of the road, watching the display.  I had a much better view, especially for the lights which covered most of the roof.  I arrived at the Dunnville Airport, which does not have any lights.  I also wasn’t sure if the runway was ploughed, so I didn’t attempt a landing – just a low and over.  I slowly headed back toward St. Catharines.  I noticed an ambulance whipping through the streets around Smithville, so I followed it for a bit.  It got boring after about five minutes, so I continued on back to St. Catharines.  I called the Flying Club to see when they were closing, since I didn’t want my cute little plane left outside overnight.  There was a student flying around in the circuit, so I joined him and did three or four circuits before making a full stop landing.  The flight went really well and it felt great to have achieved my Night Rating.  I’m looking forward to taking my mother and Chuck up at night, especially over Niagara Falls.
I met with my instructor today to complete the paperwork to send to Transport Canada for my rating.  I then wandered over to the airport to visit my new plane (Vyctor).  It was so sad to see him sitting there, without his propeller and magnetos.  He also had his seats removed, the back panel and the ELT (Emergency Locater Transmitter).  I told him his medical would be over with soon, and he could take to the skies once again.  I thought I saw him shed a tear, but realized it was my own due to the fact that it was so darn cold out!  Brrrr!

I was hoping to work overtime at work tonight, however, I was the only person who put in for it.  They weren’t too keen on the idea of having to have a Team Leader there just for one person.  Oh well, I think overtime is being offered in the New Year as well.

Today’s Symptoms:  Feeling pretty darn good!  No bad symptoms to report.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 12/30/2009 5:14 PM