Kitty’s Place

We had a nice christmas. I got up early on the morning of the 24th and put the turkey in the oven. I also did sweet potatoes and a pumpkin pie. I had no pumpkin here and was planning on not bothering with it this year, but farfar came through and brought me two pieces of pumpkin to bake on the 23rd. *smile* The turkey was ready about 1300 and we were all dressed in our christmas finery, gifts packed up in bags to transport to my fellow’s parents. Once there I got the ham ready to heat up in the oven. We visited, watched Kalle Anka and then had dinner. It was a combination meal, with my turkey and stuffing, sweet potatoes and pie and the swedish julskinks, prinskorv, köttbullar, gravad lax, rokt lax, potatoes, janssons frestelse, pureed carrots, pureed cabbage, 3 types of pickled herring, lots of pickles and a half dozen types of cheese. Needless to say we were stuffed after dinner and that was without touching the cheese. *laugh* We watched the last part of the Jul calendar show together and then Tomten arrived! He came in and asked if there was a Llywellyn there. Of course the kidlet jumped around saying “me! me!”. Santa looked confused and dialled out on his cell phone. He spoke to someone to verify that the Llywellyn there was the one who lived at our address, but he was visiting at his grandparents. Once that was cleared up, Tomten left a bag of gifts and asked the kidlet if he would help by passing them out, since Tomten had many more stops to make. LL is still talking about Tomten phoning on his cell phone. *laugh* It was the next door neighbour who was Tomten this year and he was wonderful. After the gift opening, where everyone was spoiled, we had our dessert and coffee. By the time we got home it was really late and the kidlet didn’t get to bed until 2300.

Christmas day he got up first. He was out here for about 10 minutes before he came into the bedroom and whispered really loudly “mamma, there is Beyblade stuff under the tree, who is it for?”. *laugh* So I asked if he thought Santa had brought it for me or dad and when he ruled us out, he figured it was his. *laugh* We took down our stockings and oohed and aahed over the contents. We went back to farmor and farfar’s then and spent the day and evening with them. The kidlet spent the night because Jonas was there for christmas and he wanted to spend time with Jonas.

On Boxing Day we slept in, then went over to my fellow’s parents again. Some of them went out to the christmas sales but LL, farmor and I stayed home. When we got back here about 2130, we called to Canada and wished my family a Merry Christmas.

Yesterday we all went to Skärholmen in the morning. I finally got to see the huge flea market there and we shopped for a few hours. Then we went out for chinese food, a nice break from leftover christmas food. From there we went to Heron City. The kidlet got to drive a little car in a kid’s driving school and then got a drivers license. We shopped a bit then went to the arcade where he played a bunch of games, got a bunch of tickets and turned them in for a little stuffed camel. He wanted to play minigolf, but by then I had a raging fever and was just wiped out. So we bought him a huge dinosaur balloon instead. It is helium filled and is almost as tall as he is. We got home about 1830 and I went to bed, fully dressed, where I stayed until 1000 this morning. I was up once at 0600 when a temp of 39C convinced me it was time to take Tylenol. *laugh*

Today we relaxed most of the day. My fellow continued to work away at a puzzle he got for christmas and the kidlet tried out a lot of his games and toys. I worked at catching up here and with my mail as well as doing dishes and all that fun stuff. We went over to farmor and farfar’s about 1600, had the last of the christmas leftovers for dinner and a lovely fruit salad for dessert. We left the kidlet there since he is going to the theatre tomorrow with his grandparents to see “When Findus was Little”. We got home about 2100 and I have done nothing at all except relax. I still have a fever and feel yucky, but hopefully this will be a quick headcold. *laugh*

Wishing everyone a Christmas that will bring happy memories for many years to come!

Here are a few holiday pictures.

It will soon be 12 years since my mom died. She was a wonderful mom and my best friend, I miss her every day.

When we were kids growing up, my mom stayed home with us. That was what mom’s did in those days. There were 5 of us and she raised us up to be good, kind, caring adults.

We went camping every summer. When we were very little we had a big old tent and we would go “down home” to where my mom’s family came from, an itty bitty place in Quebec called Avoca. Eventually my parents got an old bus and my dad built bunk beds in it and we camped in that. My mom drove that thing. To this day I wonder how she had the nerve, but my mom was a very strong willed woman and did what she put her mind to. We went to a lot of different places in the summers, I remember a trip to Algonquin Park that was spectacular. When we got older, we began camping all summer. We would stay at a campground close enough that my dad could go to work from there in the mornings. One summer at Rock Point, I made a trip up to the ranger station. My mom was going in to town to shop and she asked if there was anything she could get me. I said a cute guy would be nice. When I got back from the ranger station, there was a group of cute guys playing volleyball in our campsite. *laugh*

My mom never learned how to swim. She tried hard, took swimming lessons over and over, but as soon as she knew she was in deep enough water that she couldn’t touch bottom, she would sink. She would take the 5 of us down to the lake every day and sit on the beach and watch us. Every few minutes she would do a head count. We would watch for her to start and then duck under the water and scare her. Kids are so bad at times. *smile* The summer I was 16 my parents took us on a cross country trip. My mom and dad had a pickup truck with an extended cab. There was a camper on it and then they towed a house trailer behind. We went from the east coast to the west coast through the US and then came back from west to east through Canada. While my dad drove, my mom navigated. She would collect brochures along the way and then pick out cool sites for us to visit the next day. It was a trip we all refer back to still.

We always had to try every food. Even if we only had a mouthful, it was important that we try it. My mom said that one day we might be somewhere where that was the only thing we could eat, so we had to learn to be open to new things. My parents took us out to restaurants as well. Not fast food joints, they took us to real restaurants where we had to act good and use the manners we were taught. We went to all different types of places and learned to enjoy a wide variety of foods. My mom really placed a lot of importance on that.

One year we had a party, I have no idea what it was for. My mom made a big bowl of punch and then added a small bottle of Lonesome Charlie. All our friends thought that was the coolest thing in the world, that she let us have alcohol. None of realized that it was so watered down in that big punch bowl that we likely got more alcohol from a teaspoon of cough syrup. *laugh* When we were kids my dad was very protective of us. He thought we should never stay away from home and liked to peek in on us all at night, before he went to bed. My mom would convince him that it was ok for us to spend the night with a friend, or at our grandparents. When we were very little, before my sister was born, my dad almost died. The doctor told my mom that he could not handle the stress of raising us, he worried about every little thing, so she would have to run interference. She would keep quiet about things so that dad would not fret. She never said a word the time I got in a motorcycle accident on the way to a bar with a friend. It was weeks later that my dad noticed the bruising on my leg and asked, then we told him. She kept quiet the night I had my very first “grown up” party too. There were just a half dozen kids from high school there and some of them brought beer or wine. I kept a close eye on the drinking by my friends but had no idea that my younger brother was indulging in the rye that was in the back of the kitchen cupboard (the bottle that was dust covered and cob webbed *laugh*). When we realized how drunk he was, we got the neighbour, who was a cousin of my mom’s, to come and check him. He said we had to stay with him to make sure he didn’t throw up and aspirate. We all took turns sitting with him and when my parents got home, we told my mom the whole story. She managed to get my dad to bed without his usual bed check and sat with him too. It was a very long time before dad found out about that.

When I decided to get married, I planned on eloping. My mom got wind of the plan and talked me out of it. She and my dad had eloped and she said I would be sorry one day that I had not had a wedding. So she planned one in 3 weeks. I got married at home, in a long white dress off the clearance rack at Suzy Shier. We had about 75 guests and after the ceremony we went across the street and had a buffet style outdoor meal at grandparents home. Then we had a reception at the hall halfway between those two places. It was not my plan to have a wedding but she made a nice one for me.

The year I finished nursing school, my mom found a lump on her breast. She went and had a mastectomy and then needed chemo because the cancer was not contained. She was so scared that she would never live to see her grandchildren. It was at that time that I went to see a fertility specialist and had all the testing done. I was the oldest and married, so I needed to have a grandchild very quickly. But I was told I would never have children and my mom had to hold out hope that one of my brothers would oblige in the grandchild quest. *laugh* My mom said right from the beginning that attitude was the most important aspect in healing and she kept a positive one. Eventually she got her wish and the girls were born. They were 3 weeks apart and those girls have turned 18 this year. I don’t think my mom would ever have guessed that it would be my baby sister who would have her second grandchild although it was likely not so much of a surprise that my middle brother and his wife had the first.

She had some cancer free years. She would go for 2 or 3 years and then it would show up again. She wanted to have as much time as she could with the grandchildren, so she started watching the girls every day. She eventually had to go back on chemo and she had those on Fridays, so she would get over the sick part before Monday rolled around. The Fridays she had chemo I would watch the girls and I loved those days with them. Time went by and my mom had 8 grandchildren to love. All of us children were married and working in jobs we loved. Between her and my dad, we were instilled with a strong work ethic and a strong sense of family. Cancer kept coming back, but my mom never gave up. She had what my brother dubbed her “visitor’s face” and that is what she showed the world, even when her real face would have been showing pain and despair. She made a trip to Germany with my brother and his family and she travelled within Canada a lot. She had a few trips to the west coast, many trips to Quebec and to the east coast as well. She loved life and her family and she enjoyed both.

Christmas was my mom’s favourite time of year. When we were kids she would put the tree up early and it came down late. One year the needles had mostly fallen off and when we took it outside, the rest fell off. My mom brought it back in and redecorated it. It was just the funniest moment and I have a picture of that tree (although it is in storage in Canada with all my other pictoral memories). She would shop and shop for months before. Often she would lose gifts because she would forget where she hid them and they would show up months later. She put so much thought into our gifts. One year I got a phone. My dad was working at a job where he was on 24 hour call. In those pre-cellphone days, that caused a lot of angst in a home with teenagers. So they decided to get a second phone line installed. My mom arranged to have Bell come while we were at school and had the phone jack placed where I was unlikely to notice it. On christmas eve that year we went to see my paternal grandparents and my uncle spilled the beans when he said “so I hear you got your own phone”. I was so excited! Christmas morning I opened each gift full of expectations, but no phone appeared. All the gifts were opened and there was no phone. We had breakfast and started getting ready to go out when my mom said “oh look, here is one we missed!” It was the phone. *laugh*

I have very vivid memories of the christmas of 1991. I remember the pink beaded dress my mom bought and how she loved it. The mink coat she wore so proudly that year. The family christmas party complete with Santa that she organized. Christmas day at my parents home, with family and friends and so much love. It was also a hard christmas. My mom was very ill and the cancer had spread to bone and brain. We knew that time was running out but we never imagined that a month later she would be gone. Early in 1992 she was admitted to the hospital. This time she had no visitor face left. What she did have was a family that loved her and stayed with her. After the first couple of nights, when she was restless and scared I stayed at the hospital, sleeping on a cot in her room. During the days she had my dad, the other kids, her parents and her siblings, visiting, chatting and sending out waves of love to her. She didn’t want to give up. She had fought hard for 11 years and she was not ready to let go. I remember the minister coming to visit one day. She had been drifting in and out, the combination of the brain cancer and the morphine drip. He was looking at a picture of all of us and he commented on what a lovely family she had. She became very alert and told him about each of us in turn, “this is Kitty Sue, she is our Nurse, this is Gregory ….” She recited to him what education we had and what we had done with our lives and never was there a more proud mom than her in those few minutes. But after 3 weeks she had no more reserves. She was in a coma and after a long night of listening to her rattled breath, it was morning and time for me to go home. I leaned over and kissed her and told her that we were all strong and we had each other, so she could let go if she wanted to. I went home, but I didn’t go to bed because I knew the phone call was coming. Shortly after my dad phoned to say she was gone.

She was buried in that pink beaded dress. There were many yellow roses at her funeral, her favourite flower. We all grieved but what I said to her was true, we had each other and we grieved together. Her grandchildren remember her with love. After her death two more grandchildren were born. One to my youngest brother and my son. I tell my son about his nana and we have pictures of her here. We also have a video that my brother Greg made up after her death. It is footage gleaned from years of old 8 mm home movies and the final section is that last family christmas party. I watch it every few months and the kidlet can recognize her as well as other family members.

There was a tv show I used to watch called St Elsewhere. One of the stories was about a woman, Eve Layton, who got a heart transplant but later died. In a subsequent episode one of the doctors is shot and goes to heaven. He sees Eve Layton there and she has all the little children gathered about her. Whenever I think about my mom in heaven, that is how I see her. Laughing and spreading love, caring for all the little children and making life a joy for them.

I did sleep in today and it was nice. Got up about 0830 and did things here, put away clothes, did dishes, got out all the rest of the gifts I need to wrap and packed up some things to go to storage room. I did not get to the store for the stocking stuffers though. My fellow came home about 1100 from Göteborg and after some lunch headed out to a meeting. While he was looking through the local newspaper that came yesterday, he saw that Return of the King had started playing at the local movie theatre last night. So he suggested I go. It didn’t take much convincing. *laugh* I had planned on rewatching the other movies first but it isn’t as if I don’t know the story. I have reread The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy at least once a year for the past 33 years (I have even read 2 of those books in swedish now). *laugh*

Headed to the theatre for 1500 and waited in the queue of about 20 people to buy a ticket for the 1600 showing. After I had my ticket I went and had something to eat at the hamburger stand close by. One nice thing about going here is that the theatre is rarely full. When we went to the premier of Fellowship of the Ring on Christmas day in 2001, we got there when the commercials were playing and the place was maybe 2/3 full. So I was back to the theatre before 1600 and settled into a nice seat 4 rows back and 6 rows away from the group of rowdy teens who had been in line in front of me. There were perhaps 50 people total. I had my bottle of mineral water and was all set. The movie was wonderful! I have been thrilled with the work of Peter Jackson. Of course the movies did not follow the books word for word, that would be impossible. But he managed to get the feel of the trilogy into the movies and preserved the continuity so well. I was a b1t sad when “The End” scrolled onto the screen. It has been such fun waiting for each movie.

The rowdy teens remained rowdy throughout the movie. There was a little battle going on between them and a middle aged couple who made the mistake of sitting near them. Management came in a couple of times to quiet them down and the couple actually left the movie when there was still an hour left. That caused some hearty congratulating among the teens. *laugh* I personally think they should have been ejected after the manager had to come in a second time, but then again, they were a group of 20 or so and it likely would have led to much more disruption if that tactic had been attempted. I don’t agree with vandalism, graffiti, violence etc by teens (or anyone else for that matter), but kids are going to be loud at the movies and people should try to remember what they were like when they were that age.

So it was a nice day all around. Low stress and a big treat. I would like to see it again, after watching the two previous ones on dvd. I am not so diehard a fan to want to sit in the theatre for 12 hours to see them all on the big screen in sequence. *laugh*

We have had so many great cards arrive here!

This morning a christmas postcard arrived addressed to the kidlet. He was just thrilled. It was from Michelle, I woman I met in 1996 when I took a night school course about using the internet. We have stayed in touch since then and when the kidlet was born she sent the most lovely book of fairy tales to him. She has however, never met him. We tried to get together on both trips to Canada but it just never worked out. She is a postcard collector and sends him postcards at christmas, easter and whenever she comes across a cute on he might like. She is definitely a keeper when it comes to friends. *smile*

Life is just rushing on by and I am here sleeping and feeling like a well wrung dishrag. Honestly I do feel somewhat better, no more sore throat, no more chest pain, no more sore ears. But I am just totally and utterly exhausted all the time. I honestly can’t remember much of what we did the past week. Wednesday and Thursday are a complete blur.

Friday we went to the Lucia tåg at the kidlet’s school. It was cute as always. He wanted to be a star boy again, but that outfit no longer fit and he had a santa one that his grandparents got for him last year. He really was disappointed, so after I dropped him at school I went out to see it I could find a star boy one. It took checking out a few stores but I did get one, rushed home and ironed it and took it to school. He was already in the other outfit though and didn’t want to change. I did get one big enough that he can wear it next year if he wants. My pictures are not very good, I know the flash worked, but they are very dark. We went for coffee at my fellow’s parents in the evening.

Saturday my fellow had to be at the centrum for a what I call a “meet and greet”, local politicians passing out coffee (or in this case glögg and pepperkakor) and talking to people. We went over and saw him there for a few minutes then went home. We did got back at 1400 for the Lucia celebration.

Sunday I would have loved to sleep all day, but it was our day to go to see “A Christmas Carol” in Stockholm. I met Ibo’s mom on the bus and we went into the city at noon. We shopped a bit, went out for sushi, shopped some more, went to the theatre and had coffee and then watched the performance. It is just such a great story and they do a wonderful job. It was a lovely afternoon and evening.

Monday I finally got to sleep a bit, but not so much, since it was back to work and school for my fellows.

Tuesday I was up at 0400 with my fellow since he had a 6 am flight to Göteborg. I woke the kidlet up at 0730 and we went to Stockholm. These days I am not as patient as I normally am, because I am so tired. So I lose my temper more often and I do have a really bad one, as my brothers and sister know. We were too early to go to the stores I needed to go to, so we stopped at McDonalds. I ordered a Happy Meal with pancakes and cola. The girl behind the counter rung it in and asked if I wanted juice or hot chocolate, I said cola. She said “orange juice or chocolate” and I said cola, he throws up your orange juice. She said “you don’t understand, this is breakfast, do you want juice or the chocolate milk. Then I lost it. I switched to english, raised my voice and said “are you telling me you don’t have cola here?” “I said he can’t drink your orange juice and he also cannot drink milk, so I want cola” She got all defensive and went and got the cola. Then she asked if I wanted anything else and I said no. She asked me a second time and I said no, but when she asked me the third time I again switched to english, raised my voice and said “NO”. She almost threw his things on the tray and kept huffing about. As the final straw, she forgot his toy and when I reminded her, she gave this huge sigh and stomped off to get it. I was busy muttering about bitches and incompetence at that point and the elderly man in line behind me was smiling and shaking his head. We went and sat down and about 10 minutes later, that man came back with his take out order, that she had managed to screw up. After that fun, we went and did our shopping and then went to see Jennifer. As an indication of just how absent minded I have become, we got off at the wrong stop and after looking around and realizing it was wrong, I had to phone her, because I could not remember which one was the right one. *laugh* I returned the movie I borrowed and took over a couple books for her to read. Also got her birthday gift to her finally. As Kim knows, I am notoriously late with gifts. *laugh* We had a nice visit there and then went to a different McDonalds for lunch. When we got back to Central Station, the kidlet and I went to Hemköp and got some pie filling, since he wants me to bake him an apple pie. Then we went in search of an old subway train and had a ride on it, we went to Gamla Stan then turned around and rode an old train back to T-Centralen. It was like the perfect ending of the day for him. *laugh*

When we got to the platform for the Pendaltåg home, there were 26,000 teenagers (ok, slight exaggeration *laugh*) waiting for the train. We found a spot between two groups of them, a clearing with a 3 foot radius. I had 4 bags I was carrying at that point and the kidlet by the hand. The kids all milled about and eventually they surrounded us. A young boy who looked to be about 14 and was busy grabbing and groping a young girl of the same age, leaned on me (and I do mean leaned, it was like he thought I was the wall). I pushed him away and he kind of threw himself back on me. So I said in my most sarcastic tone “are you quite comfortable there?” and you have never seen a kid move so quick. The “oj då! förlåt” was very quick in coming as well. *laugh* Obviously he thought it was some school mate behind him, not a short tempered stranger. *grin* When we got home farmor stopped by for a quick visit and invited the kidlet to come and sleep over. She would have taken him home with her then, but he insisted he had to go to school on Wednesday, so they agreed that he would sleep there Wednesday and Thursday night and go swimming with farfar on Thursday. He said he had be home in time for school Friday afternoon though. He really does love school. *laugh*

Today I was exhausted from our trip to the city and have done very little. I did have to empty out under the sinks and take the side off the tub, since the condo association has someone going around and checking that all the pipes and drains are in good condition. I also had laundry time while the kidlet was at school. He went off with farmor and farfar at 1700. Now I am having tea and relaxing in a very quiet apartment. *smile* I have to go out to the store tomorrow to pick a couple more stocking stuffers and perhaps the ham for christmas dinner as well. But I plan to sleep in very late first. *laugh*

I have been reading and have all the comments from the last few posts stored away to be answered. Hopefully I will get to that before next year. *laugh*

I very rarely discuss any type of political issues in my journal. but today I was reading an article online and this quote jumped out at me:

“Here was a man who was photographed hundreds of times shooting off rifles and showing how tough he was, and in fact, he wasn’t very tough, he was cowering in a hole in the ground, and had a pistol and didn’t use it and certainly did not put up any fight at all,” Rumsfeld said.

“In the last analysis, he seemed not terribly brave.”

Is this Rumsfield really that obtuse? Or is this just more of the same rhetoric we hear from government officials the world over? If I was Saddam and I was in a hole in the ground and a bunch of well armed soldiers found me, I wouldn’t use my pistol either. The man obviously does not have a death wish. I don’t have any respect or compassion for Hussein but I certainly don’t think the man is stupid either and firing a little pistol out of a hole at a group of well armed men who would not have thought twice about shooting him like a trapped rat, is not something an intelligent person would do.

So when I moved here I got an account with FöreningsSparbanken. I went there because I didn’t know anything about banks here and my fellow has his accounts with them. I asked them about internet banking because I had an internet account with my bank in Canada. I was told that I could not get it until I got a job. I also had to wait a year to get a bank card that would work in all bank machines not just FSB ones. She also pointed out that I would have to wait 2 years to be able to apply for a credit card. Not a problem since I decided when I filed bankruptcy forever ago, that I would never have another credit card.

After a year here I got a job and I stopped in and asked about internet banking again. I was told that I didn’t make enough money to make it feasible to have that type of account. My fellow has one so I just had him pay my bills from his account. No big deal. 2 weeks ago I lost my job and last week I got a letter from the bank offering me internet banking for free until next summer. *laugh* I took them up on the offer but it really made me giggle.

Am still feeling yucky but I have my voice back and my throat and ears are getting better slowly. So have been really taking things slow and easy here for the past week or so. Have been sleeping a lot, which is a nice change. *laugh* LL’s eye looks great and he has one more day of eye cream to go. He is used to it now and even reminds me if I forget. Friday was a day of sleeping on the couch. The weekend included more sleeping and I did get dishes caught up and some basic cleaning done. Sunday the kidlet and my fellow went to his parents for dinner, to celebrate his mom’s birthday. I stayed home so as not to infect anyone and did laundry.

Yesterday was not too busy either. I took the kidlet to school, then took the dog for a long walk. After that I went out and had a coffee, got some groceries and came home. I was worn out from all the excitement. *laugh* Today when I dropped off the kidlet I could hear a man singing and yelling. I didn’t see him and assumed he was in the woods. He was passed out behind the preschool and just revived occasionally to yell or sing. The teacher told me she was going to call the police and have them take the man away. The kids were quite freaked by it and kept asking if he was dead. Apparently what he was, was quite drunk. Dorit explained to the kids that it was cold out and since the man did not seem to be going home to his own house, the police would take him to their place and he could sleep where it was warm, until he felt better. I heard all about if from LL when we came home. *smile*

It has been a busy mail week so far. Yesterday I got two christmas cards and today I got 3 packages. One was from the bank, the info and code calculator for internet banking and one was napkins from a napkin swap I joined.

My fellow got the kidlet his very own copy of Piglet’s Big Movie. We are on the fifth viewing today. He was so excited about it, he even forgot to open today’s Advent calendar bag until lunch time. *laugh* What a bonus it was that today’s bag contained Winnie the Pooh postcards. *smile*

Friday they are having a Lucia tåg at his school. We have to send the kids with thier Lucia outfits and then parents can come to the school at 1500. The kids have made clay Lucia’s and clay Santa’s. Apparently we will be getting them to bring home on Friday. *smile*

I spoke with Aunt Maud last weekend and also with my brother Eric. I was behind reading the news online and did not see the article about the bus shelter vandalism until I after I spoke with him, so I didn’t ask him about it. I can’t believe that many bus shelters could have had the glass broken out of them in such a short period and no one saw anything. St Catharines is a busy city, surely people were out and about between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. I just don’t get the point of wanton destructiveness. I will have to call my brother and find out more.

Vandals shatter 30 bus stops

Broken glass at shelters is the worst damage co
mmission has seen in 15 years

By KARENA WALTER

Friday, December 05, 2003 - 01:00

Local News - Standard Staff
A vandalism spree which shattered the glass walls of 30 St. Catharines bus shelters could cost the transit commission up to $15,000 in repairs.

Transit users were greeted by piles of glass debris at shelters Thursday morning as cleanup crews tried to make their way from bus stop to bus stop through the city.

“It’s absolutely beyond belief,” said Dave Stuart, marketing supervisor at the St. Catharines Transit Commission.

“Someone’s gone hog wild over the last 24 hours and it’s senseless damage.”

Stuart said it’s the worst case of vandalism the commission has seen in at least 15 years.

More damage was done between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning than the commission would typically deal with in a year.

The vandals struck city-wide, at shelters on Geneva and Lake streets, Lakeshore and Pelham roads, Fourth Avenue and beyond.

“They’re from Port Dalhousie to Port Weller, Thorold to west St. Catharines,” Stuart said.

The city’s bus shelters are made of tempered glass — the same type used in hockey arenas — designed to shatter into millions of tiny pieces when impacted rather than in big shards to lessen the chances of injury. The glass is supposed to be strong enough to withstand getting hit with a baseball bat, so Stuart believes the perpetrators used a high-powered BB gun or hit the shelters with ball bearings.

Members of the transit commission were left fuming.

The vandals not only endangered people using the shelters but have caused a great inconvenience to bus riders and added cost to the taxpayers, Stuart said.

“There’s seniors that use it, there’s young families that use it. We try to get up more each year to keep them out of the elements.”

However, if a shelter is broken too many times or incurs too much damage, the commission will remove it from the area. They did just that last month when someone drove through a field on First Street to back into a shelter with a vehicle. As a result, Stuart said there will never be shelter built on that location again.

Damage to the shelters this week is between $400 to $500 per bus stop.

The commission hired an extra crew in addition to a regular company to help clean up the damage so the mess would be moved quickly before anyone was injured by broken glass.

It is not known how long it will take to repair the damage. The subcontractors who install the glass told the commission they don’t know if they have enough panes to fix all the shelters.

Stuart is asking anyone who saw something to report it. “I find it hard to believe 30 could go down in this community and nobody saw something,” he said.

“We’d love to catch somebody and make them pay for this.”

Today is Jennifer’s birthday. Happy Birthday Jennifer! I hope you have lots of fun and laughter today with your friends and the same throughout the coming year! *hugs*

In my case heal would be the next word in the subject line. *laugh* I was up bright and early with good intentions of going in to Stockholm. But my body had other ideas and I ended up back in bed with all my clothes on, where I slept until noon. Since my fellow was planning on working from home this morning so I could go to the craft show, that worked out ok. I would never let the kidlet have free reign here all morning, he gets too many “cool” ideas of how to spice things up. *laugh*

Today my “morning man’s voice” that everyone in my family would recognize, has reached a new low, since I have some form of laryngitis. The fever is back with a vengeance as well. At least I can take it easy today and tomorrow. It is farmor’s birthday today but we won’t be going over tonight since I don’t want to pass along this bug and my fellow won’t be home. He has some potluck meeting thing, I guess it is potluck since I was informed yesterday that he is bringing the meatballs and I will need to prepare them. So I guess we will see her on the weekend to wish her a happy birthday. I think I will pick up a pizza and heat it up for supper for the kidlet tonight, he has been asking for pizza for days.

The kidlet is not impressed with the eye cream. I put it in early this morning and he wept and sobbed. Then I said he needed more when I woke up and he plastered himself against the wall on the opposite side of the room and yelled “aldrig!” (never). I showed him how little a bit it is that I am actually putting on his lower eyelid, but he still made a fuss. This time though he got over it much quicker. The antibiotic is working, his eye is already looking better and I keep telling him that once it gets all better this time, he won’t keep getting a sore eye over and over.

My fellow went to work after dropping LL off at school. I am desperately wanting to go back to bed but am afraid I would sleep through the alarm and not be there to pick the kidlet up. So I am going to putter about here and drink tea all afternoon. *smile*

I have been sick as the proverbial dog since Sunday. Sore throat, sore ears, fever and of course a flare up of the asthma along with. Today I went to see a doctor. I actually had an appointment for Friday but I called this morning and asked if there was something sooner. The receptionist fit me in. I got the kidlet bathed and discovered he was brewing another sty in his eye, so I kept him home from school and took him with me.

The doctor looked in my throat, my ears and listened to my lungs. I had a throat swab and bloodwork done and also got an inhalation treatment from the RT lady. I had told her that I had chest pain at night from the asthma and had blacked out twice in the past two days because my balance seems to be off. But when all was said and done, I do not have strep throat and she said that this is a bug and it will just have to run it’s course. So I was there for 75 minutes to find out what I already knew, I am sick. *laugh* On the plus side, she looked at LL and said that while a sty is not uncommon in kid’s his age, the fact that it is recurring so quickly means he is not fighting off the infection itself. So we now have antibiotic salve for his eye. I put the first dose on a few minutes ago and he cried but now he is fine. Only 4 times a day for the next 7 to 10 days … yay. *laugh*

My christmas cards are almost done, I have 30+ addressed and ready to go and a few more to fill out. My ornaments for gifts and the xmas ornament exchange were done as well. When we finished making them, the kidlet put an “L” on the bottom of the ones he made and a “K” on the bottom of the ones I made. Monday night I picked one up to show his dad how he had initialed them and was surprised to see both letters on the bottom. The next one was the same. Finally I looked at the actual ornaments and discovered that he had “embellished” all of mine. They were Santa’s and he decided they needed freckles, so he took a black marker and spotted the faces on all of them. *laugh* So those will go my grandparents and other family members, who will appreciate his artwork. I will make new ones this week for the ornament exchange. *laugh*

Tomorrow I am going to Stockholm, come hell or high water. I am going to a craft show and meeting Jennifer there, since she is one of the vendors. I am dying to see the things she will be selling there. *smile* My fellow agreed to work from home and drop the kidlet off at school. So I should be kidfree for a few hours and I plan to get his last gift while I am in the city.