Season Three - Episode 1

And it begins again! Since my last post, we enjoyed two full seasons in K-town. Working on the house (still) and yard through the spring and summer.

the hedge filled out

new beds in the front

the rotten fire hazard of a shed now gone!

Lots of very enjoyable company came and we were on the coast a few times too. Discovered the joys of some East Kelowna wineries, and Boones Sangria (a few cases worth LOL). Rene got an IPad, so I am going to try using it to post, as the laptop gave me fits last season. Will see how it goes.

Life never slows down...

So the winter ski season has finished, even though in the last 2 weeks it has snowed on the hill every day and we have about another metre added to our base.  That means we have 4 METRES of packed snow on the ground.  If it ever warms up we'll need an ark.  The snow tires are still on the Honda, and I am still carrying my chains and shovel in my trunk.

We've moved out of the condo and decided to share the same one again with Zia next season.  Worked really well for all of us.  Still can't believe how much stuff we had in it!  And how long it takes to clean.



 The weekend after we closed I went down to the coast for a girls sewing/drinking weekend in Abbotsford.  Had lunch (mmm sushi) with Vicki in Chilliwack, shopped at Hamels (bought a seam ripper - ooooh aaaah), stayed at both Barb's and Judy's, sewed a bunch, drunk a bunch, laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.  I can definately see Poise in our future get togethers as we are approaching the age when such things are required. 



Judy ~ looking fabulous, trust me it's

 the picture that's blurry, not Jude





Barb, Judy, Joanna, Tracey ~ In Barb's dining room

which is used more for sewing than dining.





Table topper finished for Barb, well except

for the button closures which I forgot!



Got out to IKEA and Lee Valley and had lunch with Rick.  The shopping was pretty lame, as my strict budget only allows for necessities like new frypans and a $30 splurge on a new set of dishes.  I am so glad that I don't live on the coast and have to contend with the "WTF are they doing now" traffic/construction.

Easter weekend I got to spend at home!  Yeah!  It's the first one since the end of November.  We did some cleaning, and some weeding and some deconstruction.  Removed a rail off the front stairs and began to pull out some huge Yucca plants that are in front of Cheyenne's windows.  I have a big box of Dahlia's from mom's neighbor that I would like to replace them with.  The first Yucca took Cheyenne and I a couple of hours to remove.  Rene and Josh did some heavy pruning on our front hedge, removing every third bush so we can get at the front side to prune it this year.  This hedge grows about a foot a month once it warms up, so it sure isn't low maintenance.  We also decided on our new front rail design, using the recycled glass from the old double sliding doors out of the family room.  It's not only going to look fab ~ but it's going to be cheap affordable!  Here are some of the before pictures...



The white railing is what we are going to replace
using the recycled doors and electrical conduit



   

Finally purchased a new gazebo/sunshade for the back as our old one was sun rotted and ripped.  http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/2/OutdoorLiving/4/PatioFurniture/Gazebos/PRDOVR~0880342P/Havana%252BGazebo.jsp?locale=en  I tried to post a pic here...but not having any luck!  It hasn't yet warmed up enough to actually pull out the lawn furniture and enjoy the back yard but at least now we are ready for it.

Cheyenne's playing ball - 2 games a week and a number of tournements this season.  And I started playing on a slow pitch team this Tuesday ~ and man am I sore now.  Our games are under the lights an start at either 7:45 or 9:15 or 9:30pm.  The 9:30 games should be interesting as they are starting after my bedtime.  But at least I am out doing something.

Picture's will following tomorrow hopefully!

Spring Break




What we did this year at spring break... it has taken forever to get these pics posted - darn Blogger!




A few icicles

  





Josh, Cheyenne & Zia tube racing

 

Zia Won!

 

Cheyenne trying to beat Josh



Josh came in last



Our Condo - Snowbird Lodge - 300cm+ snow base



Dad & Seb amusing themselves while the others get ready

This is 60 feet of ice wonder

 

Josh getting roped in.





last lunge to the top



All the way to the top!



Cheyenne getting roped in

Zia on her way up.

Yeah she's at the top!

Woo Hoo I made it down!

The Furrers







Last seam in the centre of Josh's Quilt

 


Josh's Quilt - needs the green border and then the multicolor yet



  

Cheyenne racing the Gondola down to Happy Valley







My Job

I am a trained accountant, I'd say at one time I was highly trained, but my brain has been atrophying at an alarming rate, so now I am just trained.  On my business cards it says I am Big White Ski Resorts Controller/Human Resources.  In reality I do the following...controller type duties like financial statement preparation for the six different companies, bank reporting on a consolidated basis with our sister resort, cash flow analysis, budgeting, departmental reporting budget vs actuals, payroll review blah blah blah. 

The other duties can be very interesting.  They include things like general office management - keeping the reception desk manned (which can be surprisingly challenging), the mail coming in and going out (my office is the post office for the resort - at Christmas you could barely see the door.), handing out staff t-shirts and hats, coordinating cell phones and business cards, and making sure staff name tags are ordered correctly.

A big part of my work life right now is Staff Accommodation crap.  There have been 152 people in staff accom this year - 53 have moved out - and half of them are immature children who haven't figured out that mommy isn't here to pick up after them.  I pity their roommates.  In the next 2 weeks they all will move out and leave behind mountains of stuff.  Last year the sorted clothing filled our 8 x 10 trailer 2 bags high, an equal amount is simply garbage.

I am also working on planning the season ender bender (or staff BBQ as it's officially known)  400+ drunk kids golfing - yeah!  Thankfully I have a bunch of other managers that pitch in and help - cause otherwise it would be enough to drive me to drink.

I really love my Job!

Four Weekends Left

My quilting this weekend...

Lily enjoying a comfy warm spot



all the blocks are sewn



layout decided

a block up close

first 4 rows

The skiing wasn't so fine this weekend.  It was windy and foggy and cloudy.  So we went for a couple of runs and then hit the hot tub.

What I am Working On!

I have started a bed quilt for Josh, this will be my largest project todate (finish up somewhere between a Queen & King size).  It was supposed to be this quilt;  Scrap Happy from Fons & Porter Jan/Feb 2010 issue, which I still might make one day - but I really wanted a project that didn't take me a year to piece. 

I also am going to try out my Flynn Multi Frame to quilt this sucker and was worried if I put too much time into the top I would be paralyzed with fear/indecsion that I would "wreck it" and it would never get done.  I picked up a large fat quarter bundle of asian-ish prints at Hamels in Chilliwack this summer and added to it a dark green blender from Fabricland.  I have decided on a 9" rail fence block with the 5" of asian print flanked by 2" green.  I think it will showcase the prints while removing the girlyness of the fabrics.

Here are some of the blocks...laid out on the condo floor.  This is a very bad picture - the BB Curve doesn't do pictures inside very well.

I really like how they are looking - much less like a traditional rail fence quilt than I originally imagined.  Amazing what playing with block dimension can result in.

Now I am just hoping I have enough of the green fabric!

Winter Weekend

So this past weekend we hosted Rene's sister and her family for a weekend at Big White.  It was frigid; one of the coldest weekends of the season.  Sebastian and Owen went for a ski lesson Friday morning.  Rene, Josh, Cheyenne & I took Brian skiing/snowboarding.  It was a beautiful bluebird day ~ well except for the minus 20C weather.  We went skiing/boarding tubing and for a sleigh ride on Saturday.  Had a great visit and can't wait to do it again next year.

Cousins sharing their breakfast Friday.

Cheyenne & I warming up after our first hour.

The oldest Furrer grandson with the youngest.

 

All of the kids sharing the Big Seat!

My baby on his first sleigh ride.