Setting the Pace

Gillian, Sue, Colin, Henry, Michael, Andrew, Ben, Jenny


Yesterday, we had yet another fun day. I feel it is time to start pacing ourselves (as we do when we run…)…otherwise I am going to spend much of this winter hibernating.

Driving to Sarnia in the fall is one of my favorite things to do…not because there is so much to see (NOT) on the 402, but because fall is my favorite time of the year and the tree leaves are so beautiful to see. However, only a few are changing now, as the season is still in its’ early beginnings.

Once I dropped Michael and Henry off at the arena, Jenny and I went to the Mall to choose flowers for Nana’s resting place. Fall colors are a must!

I know it is early in the season when we have time to get flowers, get a coffee, and arrive at the cemetery without having to break out the flashlights to find our way to Nana! Low and behold, Jenny and I had ample time to change the flowers and catch Nana up on things (by the way…she approves highly of my blog!) My mother, she devoted herself to writing in a journal everyday from the time she was eighteen to the week she passed away). I must admit, I think of her every time I write my online journal. She would be amazed at the pictures that could be included (and those that should probably be excluded…I can just hear her now… “Oh, Gillian!”) I covet those journals of hers that I now spend time reading leisurely.

Jenny and I returned to the arena for Michael’s game and found the area busy with activity. A hurricane relief concert had been arranged for the evening on the large ice surface.

Colin, Sue and Andrew and Ben came to watch Michael play. We then went upstairs to Kelseys so that they could eat supper. (Of course, Henry and Michael had short term memory loss and conveniently forgot they had eaten this meal, and ordered supper themselves!)

We had a lovely visit and listened to the concert going on in the background.

Setting the pace is quite hard when everyone is having fun and not wanting to leave. However, with school the next morning for the children…and thinking fast-forward to the 6 a.m. hockey practice for Jenny on Saturday morning…it was time to rein things in.

I drove home while everyone slept (this is a common occurrence in our van). Seems everyone is well rested today except for me (can you say ‘toothpicks’?)

Linda McCauley dropped some of Michael’s things off this morning at 7:30, saw me in my jammies and said, ‘Did I get you out of bed?”. Why is it, when anyone asks me this question, I DO NOT HESITATE TO LIE? Bad, Bad…although, I can hear my mother laughing! Now that I think about it…for years, Mom would call upstairs to my bedroom, “Gillian, are you up yet?”
What do you think I automatically said?

mmmm…I guess I haven’t changed much?

Still like to sleep, still like to socialize…must pace myself!

A reminder to those that read the blog...I would really like to hear comments. Anyone can comment...Just click on the comment at the bottom right of my posting that you are reading.
A window will pop up and you can type a message to me or anyone else commenting. Click the radio button below your typed message that says "Other", and then type your name in the box below. Click on 'publish' button. Now everyone will be able to read each other's comments. It's fun to do and easy to keep in touch that way! (That, and I feel better knowing my effort is being appreciated just a little!)

p.s. This is what Henry looks like when he is not working. Hair just cut...lookin' good (with his 'other' woman, and, of course, food).

brothers and sisters

I consider myself a very lucky girl. I have two older brothers that dote on me…and I love it! The highlight of my day today was having lunch at the Flying J with my oldest brother, Mike.

He is a truck driver for Challenger Motor Freight.


When we were younger, I idolized him from afar (he was the one with the car and the freedom as he is ten years older than I). I remember Mike and Colin taking me places with them (I coveted these moments – they might have thought differently!) like the local swimming complex or just on routine errands. Colin, being eight years older than I, also looked out for me and every year took me trick or treating. Oh what fun for me…someone who could keep up with me (of course, the wineskin Colin brought along may have helped him with the merriment part)! We covered soooo many houses in such a short amount of time. Thank you, my dear brothers for giving me really good memories (we won’t mention the time that Colin locked me in the wardrobe because we couldn’t agree on what television program to watch when Mom and Dad left us to go out somewhere).

Today, I still idolize my brothers…I love getting together for visits; even though visits don’t sometimes happen often enough.

This week, I am extremely lucky…I get to see both Mike and Colin.

Today, Mike and I spent lunch together talking about anything and everything. Catching up on life and planning future times together is what it’s all about, folks!

Tomorrow, I will see Colin (and Sue and the boys), and catch up on the important things happening in their life (at this moment, the house renovation that is starting this week). Hopefully, I will be able to snag a few pictures before it gets too dark outside.

Life is good, brothers make it better…

a sunny day

Guarding the laundry room

My own version of the 'Apprentice'

From one extreme to the other…today is a sunny day (both inside and out). The fatalities from yesterday boiled down to one hair drier that is pooched (yes, I told Henry… with a minimum raised eyebrow reaction…he is determined to perform CPR tonight to bring it back to life). Of course, I only told him AFTER he fixed the drier and seemed to be in a relatively good mood (do I know my husband, or what?).

Life is thrown off kilter when you aren’t surrounded by working appliances! It is amazing how reliant I am on such things. Never thought I would be admitting that I am happy doing laundry! (I’m sure this statement is going to come back and bite me in the butt at some time). Life is good when the hot water heater, water softener, kettle, coffee maker, dishwasher, washer/drier, fridge, freezer, stove, mixer, crock-pot, and toaster are all in working order! When I am able to run them in unison…well, a good day is sure to result! Company is then appreciated to see the results of my labor…then there’s that sinking feeling when you stay in your jammies all day playing on the computer or reading a book, and the doorbell rings. Will it be the neighbor or friend that just drops in for a drink, and won’t care what the place looks like? Or, will it be someone that looks at the house first (sinking feeling) and then at you? To make a long story shorter, I did pull myself together yesterday by leaving the house and volunteering at the school library! When I returned home, I put Jenny in the living room, Michael in the kitchen, and I cleaned out the laundry room so Henry could look at the drier. Now there are six laundry baskets of clean clothes waiting to be folded and put away in our bedroom (Oh well, door can be closed if the doorbell rings!)

My plan was executed beautifully in less than one hour. Henry arrived home to a roast in the oven (always, ALWAYS bribe Henry with food!) and a clean house. VOILA!
Drier fixed, low and behold…company in the form of Uncle Will dropped by! (no sinking feeling, A. the house was clean, B. he comes to visit US, not the house). We were off to Jenny’s hockey practice (she is just getting better and better with her stick handling), and then home to watch Las Vegas and Medium.

Michael was pleased to see a full bowl of poured Alpha Bits on the counter this morning before school. He commented on how nice it was. Then he went to add milk…oops…no milk. Sorry honey! For those of you that do not know Henry well enough, he has fried eggs and a bowl of Alphabits every morning (mind you, he would eat a lot more if I would drag myself out of bed to make him a substantial breakfast…of course, after fourteen years of marriage, we can’t start that now, can we?) Those of you that know ME, know that sleep is my top priority! Reminder…must grocery shop today.

Like my friend Megan, I don’t know where all the groceries go in this house. Anyways, that might be food for thought (ha ha) for tomorrow’s blog…

An Eeyore kind of day

Today is an Eeyore kind of day. Dark clouds and stormy interludes are both outside and inside on this gloomy Monday morning.

Normally, I am a positive, ‘look on the bright side’ kind of person. However, once the ball starts rolling downhill, it seems impossible to stop the momentum.

It all started with my favorite ‘bed and breakfast’ shirt that I paid way too much for on our trip to New York State in the summer. Because of what I paid, I was very careful and treated the shirt lovingly. You can imagine my shock and horror to find little (but noticeable) rust spots on my shirt from the tub of the washing machine. Now, this tub had been replaced almost five years ago for the same problem…I was not impressed.

Yesterday, I was to finish and send in my first Information Work III assignment. No problem, I thought…assignment was done, results printed out. However, I had to figure out how to ‘save’ the results in order to send the information through email. My print copy needed to be sent electronically. Here comes Eeyore…Mohawk database site was not accessible for the most part of yesterday. Quick thinker that I am, I accessed what I needed through my public library site. However, I could not figure out why…that page I needed would not save or copy into an email. (Moan, groan) I ended up sending in my assignment at 6:00 without the results. At 10:00 (interrupting my prime time TV viewing pleasure) Mohawk opened up and everything was good again.

Until…going upstairs to bed, I decided to check on the drier. Michael had put his load of laundry (yes, my children do their own laundry!) in the drier before going to bed…at 9:30. The drier should not have been on at 11:00. Sure enough (Eeyore again), there was no heat to the drier cycle. Henry (while giving me the expectant eye rolling) asked me if I had removed the lint from the filter. Thankfully (I am getting much better at this task) I replied in the affirmative. Now the eye rolling took on a slightly hooded look, which means that Henry will be spending time and money taking apart and fixing the drier as soon as he comes home from work Monday. I suppose I can laugh about it now, but Henry was not a happy camper when he reached up to turn the drier knob, and knocked over the opened bottle of Downey. The blue goo spilled all over the washing machine (although it does smell nice). We looked at each other, turned the lights off in the laundry room and went to bed without saying another word about the menaces in the laundry room.

Michael, anticipating clean dry clothes for school this morning, leaped out of bed and went directly to the laundry room. I had to break the bad news. In his infinite twelve-year-old wisdom, he decided to use the hairdryer to dry his socks. A few minutes later, he asks why the hairdryer isn’t working anymore. It seems he blew the motor. We unanimously decided that we would NOT tell Dad in the immediate future.

The laundry is overflowing out of the closet and over laundry baskets…and it is raining today (there goes hanging the laundry on the line outside). The house is a mess, and does not seem to be looking any better the more I clean it….homework is piling up to my eyeballs...Eeyore, I’m with you buddy.
I need to drag my ribboned tail upstairs and make coffee. Truth be told…I am scared to touch the coffee maker and any other appliance in this house today. Time to prioritize my ‘to do list’ for today and hunker down.

Of course, (moan) I have already typed up this post once and tried to include pictures. Not only did my pictures go somewhere into CYBERSPACE, I also ‘lost’ my whole write-up!

There are days when you wish you could just stay in bed with the covers over your head…today is one of them.

Coffee…

an afternoon to myself

Ahhhh...an afternoon to myself!

Jenny's early morning practise went well. She might be a tad vendictive, though...Some boy didn't pass to her (after she passed to him), so she is already telling Dad that she can't wait until the teams are made. Our little darling hopes this boy is on the other team. She told Henry she can't wait for the body-checking to start! (Oh boy).



Michael's team lost to their nemesis, the London Junior Knights (darn that team) with a 3-2 score in the semi-finals this morning. So close...so close. However, looking at the bright side, both Jenny and Michael can now attend a friend's birthday party this afternoon! They are doing the cake and ice cream thing and then going to Laser Quest. Michael and Jenny absolutely love that place! All partygoers seem to have a different plan of 'attack' this year, as they ran into 'cheaters' from another party last year. So they are gone for the afternoon...thank you, Joanna and Steve!

After just going for a walk with Henry and Bailey, Henry decided to go and watch his brother Rob play hockey. That should give me a good two hours minimum (three hours if another brother is there at the arena). My formula for adding an extra hour of time for every brother that is at the arena works incredibly well!

Although this time is nice and quiet...I have to finish this up in order to finish an assignment that is due tonight. And boy...you know me...so looking forward to Season premiere night tonight for Extreme House Makeover, Desperate Housewives and Gray's Anatomy. Being the good girl that I am (and my children will grill me when they get home!), I have to complete my homework first! Michael and Jenny love the fact that I am in school and they can oversee my 'progress'.

On the roster for this coming week;

Monday: Jenny evening practise, Gillian class chat for Indexing.
Tuesday: Michael begins Youth Leadership Camp in London
Wednesday: Michael spends all day at Youth Leadership Camp in Dorchester with 5 other students from his school, Gillian to lunch with brother Mike (hopefully, I'll get to go for another ride in his truck ~ he drives for Challenger motor freight), Aylmer hockey practise.
Thursday: Powerskating, photo day at school, Off to Sarnia for a hockey game (Michael) p.s. Colin and Sue ~ will bring dog bowls that you left behind with your last visit!
Friday: ? Can it be? An empty day? Laundry and dishes will be piled high by this point!
Saturday: Hockey in London, then off to the Blue Jays Game (thanks to Karin)
Sunday: Hockey Practise (Jenny) Off to Windsor for Hockey (Michael)

Anyhow...enough procrastinating...time is ticking before the house becomes 'alive' again.

Until tomorrow.

the 11th birthday

Our little girl when she was small:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR JENNY...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!

Ahh....to be eleven again! Jenny had a good day today (even though we were at two hockey games). She is on the ice tomorrow at 7 a.m. This will be a short entry!

We started the day by sleeping in...good way to begin!
Michael had two hockey games in his London tournament, which his team won to advance to the semi's tomorrow morning at the Western Fair Grounds.
A lovely afternoon BBQ supper and visit at the Worrads in Birr in between games was the highlight of the day. On our way out to Birr, we stopped at the Dairy Queen for Jenny to chose her birthday cake. Luckily, (and much to Jenny's delight) they had a SpongeBob cake already made! Quick sale and out the door! Also found Jenny's present today (much to Henry's amazement...we were in and out of the store in less than 15 minutes!). Much to my dismay, Jenny is very much like Henry and does NOT like to shop.

We are all very tired from all the laughter and socializing today.

What a great day!


Our little girl, now quite tall! (Jenny and her present, the cake)

here we go again

Chiefs' (back row, Mitchell and Luke; front row Kurtis and Michael)

The van cargo area is stuffed to capacity.
Every seat is filled.
“Dad, do you have your blackberry?”
“Dad, do you have your wallet?”
“Dad, do you have your coat?”
“Mom, do you have your purse?”
“Mom, do you have some snacks and drinks?”
“Mom, do you have your coat?”
“Are the maps in the van?”
Count heads…we’re off!

Must be going away for a family vacation, you think? Nooooo… this is just one outing to the hockey arena. You think, oh, Gillian, that’s not so bad? Well, people, multiply that by 3! Not only is Michael on the ice (six + times this week for the Elgin Middlesex AAA Chiefs), Jenny is on the ice twice a week for Ingersoll, and Henry is on the ice at least twice a week as well. Yet begins another season of hockey for them, and another session of three courses at Mohawk for me. (And some of you wonder why you don’t see me much!)

I have decided that when people ask me what I like to do in my spare time (ha), I am going to say ‘evening TV’. Sitting down…putting my feet up…in the warmth of my own home…with popcorn and hot drinks…mmmmm.

Now, I realize that many of our friends are not accustomed to the hockey life, and in the future, I will strive to ‘gloss over’ this sport that consumes our family life. However, you must realize that hockey pretty much is our life! We like it though, because we meet so many new people and see many new places (mostly the Tim Horton’s) and arenas in cities across Ontario.

Goaltenders Extraordinaire, Michael and Lucas

The other team might as well pucker up and kiss their goal goodbye!

Today, we are in London for the London Junior Knights Tournament. We played our first game at noon against a team from New York state. Yes, folks…this is big peanuts. You should see some of these teams…matching jackets, hockey bags, parents sporting matching ensembles…you see it all! However, we started off the day with a very chippy game, but emerged victorious with a 5 – 4 win. Our opponent this evening was a team from Don Mills that we also beat.

Jenny and Speedy

Jenny is currently dancing around the house telling everyone in listening range that her birthday is tomorrow (like we are about to forget?!) She is going out to dinner with friends tonight while we do the hockey thing. Thank you so much, Sue, for making Jenny a part of your family all the time! Tomorrow we will shop until we drop (Henry says we better find it at the first store) for her present (that way she chooses EXACTLY what she wants ie. a particular BRATZ doll?) She is having a fabulous year at school and at hockey.

As for Henry…well, he had a hockey practice last night and played against his brother. Need I say any more? This morning I find that Henry seems to have ‘tweaked’ his knee and is hobbling around, claiming all will be right again in a couple of days. BOYS!

Other than the usual rush...today seemed to be a Saturday...not a Friday. Now my days of the week are going to be all messed up!

I need some sleep!

the beginning

Welcome everyone to my new blog site! This site is a combination of an online journal and general 'what's goin' on where' for our family and friends. Comments are always fun to write and read..so please feel free to add your two cents to my daily (or whenever) musings!

I think I have finally figured everything out for my blogging site. It took awhile (OK...a long while) to figure out how to resize my photo to get it small enough for the profile...and then figure out how to actually move it into the profile area to the left of the screen. Many coffees and a few panicky emails to Megan later...if you are reading this, I was successful in creating the page! Although I try very hard to stay in touch with all of you...this way you can see what our family is up to and comment whenever you feel neglected (or in most cases ~ extremely loved)!

I think this blog page is a terrific idea and I hope all of you like it. Please feel free to send in comments or suggestions and I will do my best to respond.

As I have spent the last two days figuring out this site...I really have to spend the rest of my time on my assignments that seem to be coming at me faster than usual! (probably because I am spending so much time blogging!)

P.S. please send comments as my instructor will count them towards my Assignment 2 (create a blog account) mark!

For those of you that haven't seen me in awhile...and may not, due to school work and hockey...

first posting

Well, hurray...I think I did it!

Megan inspired me to get my own blog and my second assignment in Electronic Publishing this term required that I create my own blog...so here I am.

This online journal will cover the daily (or weekly) events that occur in the very busy lives of the Roefs Family (myself, Henry, Michael, Jenny, Bailey, Speedy, and Cookie Roefs...I think that's all of us!)

Jenny's birthday is coming up this Saturday...our baby (sob!) will turn eleven! At some point in our scheduling madness, I must find time to create an opportunity for approximately 11 girls to have a 'wake over' (I do not call them sleepovers, as there is never much sleeping involved!)

Michael is so excited that there is a hockey tournament this weekend in London with his team, the Chiefs...he gets to miss school Friday. I'll be sure to include pics next week.