Dec the halls !

So its that time of year again...yeah you got it when the snow falls and people either dont care about the risks of winter driving or they drive like they do if they were walking in it !  I have to say my experience of some canadian drivers leaves me steaming at the ears and thats during the summer, let alone in the winter time, not care in the world for their own safety let alone anyone elses, it drives me insane - pardon the pun ! you only have yourself to blame so if your behind me when im driving you'll notice i go S.L.O.W.L.Y not to annoy you to ensure I'M safe as i hate driving in the winter, us UK folk are not accustomed to driving in such conditions and ohhhhh was a pleased to be on days off when the snow fell. That day was 'pyjama day' in the Ehglish Rose household :) total Bliss ........... BUT i did have some play time as you can see :

And so after a little fun with the girls and the pretty surroundings it was back in doors to tackle the worst job for me yeah you got it ....... PUTTING UP THE TREE !

think i did a good job though ... whatta ya think?

Even Molly and Velvet wanted to join in the festive fun !

And we have light !

November to remember !

 

Hi Guy's,

Well its been quite the month in the English Rose household most of which has not been in a good way I'm sorry to report. To start with we have been struggling with 1 laptop which has been over heating and last week it finally gave up the fight and off to computer heaven it went, our other laptop went to see if it could be fixed, i wasn't expecting much after all, flames were seen coming outta the back ! and you guessed it the mother board got 'fried'. how upset i was to go a week without the WWW at my fingertips.

My husbands truck broke down in Abbotsford last week, he had to get towed home and we don't have breakdown coverage, my truck decided she would do the same 2 days after my husbands mine was easy to fix a little hole in the pipe preventing her from running properly, alas they are both back on the road again for how long ? who knows !

The laptop situation has now been resolved as I'm typing this with my new one, getting use to the US keyboard is a bit weird the @ button is in a different place compared to my poorly UK laptop but i like the new one, as long as i can facebook, contact family in the UK then I'm happy.

Its also been very stressful at the office despite loving my job as an RN, the last few weeks have really made me think about my career, its been such a challenge coming to nurse in Canada and I'm so grateful for such wonderful co-workers who i admire so much, who support my learning, who show such compassion despite our difficulties but i remain proud to be part of such a team. I'm thinking it could be time for some changes in the near future and have to get organised!!

On a lighter note there have been some good times in the last month, i had a fab time with mum being here, i thought the five week visit would feel like a 'bit too much' if you hear what I'm saying but it wasn't that bad, we had a wonderful time, we enjoyed our 3 days in Whistler despite it raining all the time, we shopped - well that's what women do right ? and off course sampled the local beers on offer, husband did the cooking and i did the dog walking at ridiculous o'clock but a good time was had by all.

the final week with mum was nice and relaxed, we watched movies: Marley & Me, The Proposal and a few other tear jerkers and the rest of the week was spent having lunches in Clayburn Tea-Shop a little bit of home-from-home for us both and of course the food is just as good. It was emotional to see mum at the airport to go home, knowing we wont be there for her 70th Birthday on Jan 2nd is hard but god willing she will be back here trying to take over my kitchen again!

The last few days for me and hubby has been trying to cope in the ridiculous weather, OMG were not use to such cold in fact the coldest its been in the UK is -7. Its shocking, I'm paranoid in case the tortoises freeze to death now they're hibernating, the dogs aren't happy and its an excuse to stay snuggled in bed under the winter blankets :). Hubby and I are waiting to hear about our passport requests then we can have our permanent residency which has been 3 yrs in the waiting were excited but nervous too, it will change so much for us both to have the security of staying in this beautiful country. we cant wait to buy a house and truly settle down. In the meantime its back to work, keep everything crossed and hope Santa brings some Christmas cheer to the English Rose household x

Bye for now

Ms English Rose x

October is one of my fav months

I love this time of year ! gone are the very sweaty, not being able to sleep days replaced by pleasant days with beautiful autumn colours- better known here in Canada as 'Fall'. The crisp mornings and the warmth of the sun on your skin.....LOVE IT.

In the English Rose house hold it is the start of preparing the tortoises for hibernation, so Doris and Whistler are 1 week of 6 of starvation and the cooling of the temperatures in their 'house' so they graduall+y become slower and start to sleep, you see it takes 6 weeks for them to be 'poop free' sorry for the expression but they need to be cleared out or they can die. This will be my 2nd year of hibernating them and it makes me very nervous incase they dont wake up in a few months time.

My Mum has been on vacation almost 4 weeks now she goes back to the UK next friday :( there have been times when its been stressful, especially when she tries to take over the cooking !!!!!! but its going well and were looking forward to a weekend in Whistler. Its been nice to catch up on things too and just have her around, i have noticed that the dogs have put weight on though and mum swears 'im not giving them treats' ... yeah right !

Both hubby and I have been working very hard, when we do see each other its briefly or we cant be bothered to talk or were cranky so were looking forward to getting away. This last few weeks at 'the office' have been crazy busy and it shows with us all striving to do our best but often feeling you have achieved very little .Me n Step-Daughter have decided to make amends :) its taught us both alot about each other.

The last month has been a shopping fest which is fuelled by my mother... she is such a bad influence but it did result in me buying a new pair of black calf length sassy boots and yes i will put a pic of them on here, i dont normally buy black, i prefer brown but i love them and as you know if you dont love it dont buy it !

well thats my latest update i dont have time for anything else to tell you the office is calling ...........


bye for now :)

Emotional :) or :(

Well another month has gone by since my last posting, where has the time gone?
Lots has happened in the English Rose household some good some not so good, myself and step-daughter ended up having a row the other week which resulted us deciding not to contact each other, you see we chat through facebook, so have blocked her and her mum, yes you guessed it, it was quite the argument, but i was taught honesty is the best policy and it hurts to hear the truth but life goes on ! ya gotta pull ya big girl pants up and move forward. So that's what i have done.

I have decided to join the gym at work and there are some good classes included in the very cheap membership such as yoga, Pilate's, kick boxing and 'Zumba' which I'm very excited about- its like an aerobics class to Latin American music....cant wait to try that out, so its my first ever yoga class this coming Monday.

On a more positive note as some of you are aware Mr English Rose and myself have been in Canada for 14 months and have been waiting to progress through the immigration process for our permanent residency well we finally got our medical requests 3 days ago so we have our medicals booked for next Tuesday, to get that large white envelope was like an early Christmas present and we have been on cloud nine ever since. So its going to be quite the week next week with fitness classes, medicals, and then my mum arrives from the UK next Saturday for 5 weeks ! its a good job my hubby get on well with his mother-in-law *chuckling to myself*

five weeks is a long time but its been a year since i had a cuddle from my mum...oh i love her and miss her so much so i have to plan what we are going to do, unfortunately i don't have any vacation time so its Canadian TV all the way mother :)

time at the office has been relatively good lately and i love my co-workers they are so supportive and provide lots of laughter, its a happy place most of the time but i enjoy my days of and they're filled by Beauticontrol deliveries and products, spa invites, make-up, lotions and perfumes that smell like chocolate or brown sugar yummmmmyyyyyyyyyy .

well i have to get back to work now... see ya all soon

x

what a month its been

time has flown by this last month I've been so busy my feet haven't touched the ground!

you see my step-children Thomas aged 18 and Olivia aged 17 have been on vacation here in abbotsford with their dad and myself since the 18th of July and we have had a blast.

we did all the local things like going to Roley lake with the dogs but it was far too busy, we had a picnic in Stanley park, went into Vancouver and the pride parade was on- which was wonderful to see but i would say that the pride parade in Manchester in the UK is more risky than the Canadian one.

we went up mount baker and off course Olivia and I were in flip-flops in 2 meters of snow, my husband got vertigo going up in the car and we all got altitude sickness and headaches! but was worth the photos we got.

we spent the day in the states and returned another day to go to Seattle which i fell in love with.

Olivia made full use of the bathroom, hot water, sunbathing and face booking opportunities in between being miserable most of the time and Thomas was in awe with Canada, BC and all it has to offer, in fact he took 1450 photos on his vacation !!!!!!

they have been back in the UK a week now and the house seems empty, my husband and I have been in low mood despite them disagreeing all the time...you know typical teenagers but we miss them both.

My hubby and I have struggled this week at work its been quite a shock, the humid weather doesn't help much either because i have trouble sleeping in the day when I'm on nights.

so we have a few more weeks to ourselves in the house then my mum arrives at the end of September for 5 weeks----YES 5 WEEKS! yikes i hear you say ... i am fortunate that hubby loves his mother-in-law very much and they get on very well.

I have also decided to become a BeautiControl Independent Consultant....oh what joy this has brought, i love their body products from exfoliating, cleaning , toning, moisturising, firming, and then there is their make-up products which are all mineral elements so natural products that just feel so nice on your skin and they don't clog up the pores. I received the new autumn brochure this week and the make-up colours are beauti-full!

I am looking forward to having some Spa days and of course will be calling on my new friends to be the host of a spa at their homes - inviting their friends to come along and experience some pampering and get to sample the products. This i am really looking forward to .

so i am sorry for being away for so long i do plan on posting some pictures from the vacation file ---soooo many to chose from.

Regards

English Rose

the excitement mounts :)

well as your aware by now my step-children arrive this Sunday from the UK and the excitement i have is almost uncontrollable ! I have so much to do before they get here and i wont be doing much today having just finished night shift but alas I'm now on my days off.

I have the usual chores of cleaning but i have to clean my carpets don't you just hate having to do that, i so wish we had found a rental with wood flooring it would make my life easier, Ive stripped the covers of both settee's and they re being washed, we've run out of gas for the BBQ so hubby can go stand in that stupid queue in walmart to get a new one because I'm refusing to do that chore.

at least the weather is holding out in fact its quite pleasant right now.... i love a breezy sunny day it makes you feel so much happier and it makes my dogs sleepy and sometimes cranky ......see for yourselves !

Excited to say the least !

well its been a while since i last posted and that's because my stupid laptop decided it would over heat smell like rubber, spark and then set on fire....all of this whilst it was on my lap!!!!!!!!!!! so i hastily threw it across the room and hence its gone to laptop heaven...or hell ! so i have had to resort to using my hubby's laptop which he's none too pleased about....

We have the 'kids' joining us from the UK this Sunday...well i say kids they're 17 and almost 19 and its their first visit to Canada and the first time since last June that we have seen them.... EXCITED is an understatement, they're coming for three weeks and a friend of ours has let us stay in his villa with hot-tub and pool in whistler even better its dog friendly which is good for us, we have someone else lending us 4 body jackets and a 4 person canoe ...RESULT :) we are so thankful for having such good friends. the kids are excited its they're first time away from their mum, first long-haul flight and have an itinerary as long as a baseball pitch, were just praying that the weather stays nice.

this week i have also decided to become an independent consultant selling the Beauticontrol products which are just Divine, its so nice to treat yourself or someone else to a bit of luxury and have some nice body products- in fact i gave my husband his 1st ever manicure which he was amazed at the results :) being a drywaller he usually has ruff hands - but not anymore. so I'm getting excited at putting in my first order next week and i find out that the beautiful rocket girl uses the same products :).

apart from the organising to be done for when the kids arrive life has been has busy as ever at work, no rest for the wicked as they say, i have managed to find some me time at the lake last week with my new girly friends only to find i hadn't put enough sun lotion on and promptly burnt myself ! i was not happy...but I'm healing now :)

i have 2 more night shifts to work then I'm off until weds of next week and its gonna be such an exciting day on Sunday when we go to the airport, just hope the kids enjoy BC as much as we do !

bye for now

English Rose