My baby sisters are 40!

Well today is the Birthday of four special ladies. My MIL and her sis whos Birthdays we celebrated on Thanksgiving. And they share today with My younger sisters Cathy and Sheila.
Two sets of twins all born October 18th. Cathy lives out of town so I sent her happy wishes via an email card. Sheila, pictured here with her daughter Jocelyn. She lives in the neighbourhood so she came over last night with her family and we celebrated her 40th with a chocolate cake. Binzen the springer spaniel was very interested in the cake as you can see. My other sister Carol and her family also joined us. Nobody seemed to mind me hacking and coughing all evening.
There has been an outbreak of mumps in our health region, and I was begining to wonder if I had a mild case of mumps? I have had most of these symptoms over the past couple of weeks...Hmmm. I had mumps as a kid and Ive heard it is possible to be reinfected. Nahh nothing that interesting ever happens to me.
The symptoms and signs of mumps are:
Soreness or swelling of the parotid glands on one or both sides. Discomfort may range from vague tenderness to obvious pain when opening the mouth or swallowing NOPE
I have swollen glands on my neck,but not my jaw or throat.
Fever, usually lasting about two to three days CHECK
Sore muscles CHECK
Loss of appetite CHECK
Headache CHECK
Earache that is aggravated by chewing NOPE
In men and adolescent boys, swelling in one or both testes NOPE
Aversion to light, lethargy, and a stiff neck (which may indicate meningitis) CHECK
Upper abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting (which may indicate pancreatitis) CHECK
Lower abdominal pain in women (may indicate swelling of the ovaries, which is rare) CHECK
It would be so easy to be a hyperchondriac with the internet so full of information like this!

I just had a call from Deanna. She is on her way to our 25 year high school reunion. Im not going obviously. Not with a roaring case of MUMPS! Ill be expecting a full report from her tomorrow.
My 19 year old son came home the other day on the bus. He was furious. The bus had stopped to let on a very frail elderly couple. He said they could bearly walk. After the were seated the bus started to go, a child about ten years old, who was sat behind the couple, started to poke at the old folks and annoy them. The old couple tried to ignore the kid so she got more aggressive and really started to prod them. Seeing this, David said he went over to the kid and in a loud voice asked the kid " What the hell do you think you are doing? Have you noe respect at all?". The bus driver came back to see what the commotion was about. When the older gentleman explained. The bus driver made the kid move and said she would be banned if there was any more trouble from her. David can't tolerate kids doing these things. Im proud of him for saying something.
Beginning Oct 1st. Our electric company changed their rates.
How the rate works(from BC Hydro's website)
customers have been paying a flat rate of 6.55 cents per kilowatt hour(kWh) for all of the electricity they use.Under the new Conservation Rate, customers will now pay less (5.98 cents per kWh) for the first 1,350 kWh they use over a two-month billing period. Above that amount, customers will pay 7.21 cents per kWh for the balance of the electricity used during the billing period. This rate structure is designed to encourage conservation and is referred to as a "stepped rate". The first portion is called Step 1 and the amount above that is called Step 2.
The problem I have with this, is it does not take into consideration large families. So if you are single and living in an apartment, you will save money on this plan. But if you are like us, in an older home with nine people... we will no doubt be in the higher rate category. Certainly we are trying to be more efficiant. Using candles in the evening even.(Actually, I kinda like that part. We have been fairly good before this anyways. We use our fires and rarely turn on the funace. David is constantly turning off all the lights in the house, he has for years. Thank goodness we got the thermal windows installed last year, that makes a big difference. And we have all new energy efficiant appliances. But what about the people who dont have the budget to replace the old windows or appliances. They will be penalized for that. It will be interesting to see the difference on our next bill.
I stepped out on the front step today to get this shot of our maple which is changing colour, giving us a fabulous autumn display. You know I am on the mend when I start picking up the camera again. When I turned around to come back in, lo but who should be watching me from the window! Aww , aint he cute?
I was glad to see a new posting from Herman today. He has done a wonderful post about the Amsterdam Airport. Looks like a cool place. Holland is definitely on my list of places to visit. If you have never been to his blog, you are missing a big treat. He should be getting paid by the Dutch tourism board!!!!! He also has a wonderful musical playlist on his site for you to enjoy!
At the moment, Keith's dad is here installing a louvered door on the furnace and hot-water cupboard. What seemed like a quick and simple job has turned into one of those annoying problem jobs. Nothing ever goes the easy way does it??? I think Harvey is just a wonderful father in law. He really looks after us. He is 75 and he is down there working away to give Keith a hand. Earlier he came by with a load of groceries for Norman. He said it was to christen the new kitchen. It reminds me of when we bought our first home and started our young family. He would come over and fill our fridge every week for a year at least. We really appreciated that. He is so giving. Then what do I go and do? I made him a nice salmon dinner with a seasoned brown rice and wonderful green beans. Now this is one of my families favorite dinners. But Harvey grew up on a cattle ranch on the prairies. He is made up of so much beef that he Moos in his sleep. So fish isn't on the top of his list of favorites. He came to the table and said "Fish, eh?" with about as much enthusiasm as a convicted killer saying "Firing squad, eh?" Poor Harvey. Having two vegetarians in the house and very little red meat served in this house baffles the likes of this old farm boy!!!!
Hope you are having a great weekend.