Swimming With Seniors: The Continuing Story....

Okay, so the senior saga continues...
This week when I arrived at the pool, I was hurriedly met on deck by my new friend Gary, AKA Mr. 1950's swimtrunks... Gary was seriously disturbed this morning by a gaggle of teenagers who had taken over the pool and joined in on our class. He grumbled that they shouldn't be in here and clapped with relief when they straggled out of the pool partway through the routine. I guess those senior swimstrokes were more than their tiny frames could manage. The best momment of the class was glancing over at a fellow member, a senior lady much like the one in the above picture, and noticing the horrified look on her face. During the routine she had failed to notice that the gaggle of teenage bikini's had completely surrounded her. She looked scared! Arms churning, she quickly tried to swim for the side, but the girls all laughing and bouncing just moved in tighter. I almost expected her to shriek, "HELP!" Mercifully, the sea of Old Navy bikini clad sailorettes parted and let her through! I have never seen a person look so panicked! Major generational clash, whoah! I felt within myself rise an inexplicable urge to yell, "Senior Power!!" Just as a way of encouraging her to stay strong, after all it was the seniors that rocked the pool and stuck with the whole workout, not the young punks! Power to the Seniors!

CPR with Dummies?!

Yesterday I spent the majority of the day "sucking face" with a small styrofoam man on a table.... Sounds strange you say? It was!! Ahhh, the dreaded CPR/First Aid update, always a pleasure! At least it wasn't as bad as the last time several years ago... In a freak mishap, the dummy adhered itself to my upper lip and held on for dear life! Needless to say I sported a splendid "hickie" for several days. Not exactly my idea of lip-action, still what's a girl to do?? You'll be happy to know that I am now certified to save lives, and escaped the ordeal "hickie-free." In the middle of the two breaths and 15 compressions I did however, manage to blow out the makeshift lung of my styrofoam friend. BANG! What are lungs anyway? The man's heart as already stopped! "They were coneeeessss!"

SWIMMING WITH SENIORS

I started swimming at our local Holiday Inn in a class with seniors last week. Have you ever watched a 72 year old with a pink pool-noodle do the twist underwater? Funny's not really the word! A guy in the class (Gary) invited me to join and even went out of his way to introduce me to the 20's something aquatics instructor. I forgot how kind older peeps can be! Needless to say I spent most of the 30 minutes smirking at the pink pool-noodle lady, and waving at my new friend Gary who kept smiling encouragingly everytime I messed up the legwork. I think I'm going to go back and hang with those seniors... After all, they have to be a pretty cool bunch to be able to leglift underwater to "Rhythmn is a Dancer!"

Maple Momments

Okay, so last Saturday Tony and I left for the wild blue yonder of the Montsberg Maple Syrup Festival. For all of you unfamiliar with Ontario and its maple monopoly (well, besides Quebec!) Every year around springtime, we Ontarians leave the comfort of our warm homes to trek into the bush and participate in one of the greatest wonders of the world....THE MAKING OF MAPLE SYRUP!
As with tradition, one must dress very warmly and layer up. Not so much for the cold, as much as for the extra space to fill one's belly with pancakes, dripping with the liquid gold!

Here we can see Tony effortlessly ordering up the infamous LUMBERJACK PLATTER. I think my exact words here were, "Oh my WORD!!!"

Just in case anyone was wondering, the LUMBERJACK is for those with larger appetites, (Tony) and includes 8 gigantic pancakes and 8 sausages! Good Lord! Unfortunately, I seem to be missing the next picture of us opening our pants!

There was also a cool assortment of big horses! We took a wagon ride at the end of the day in order to see how the early settlers harvested the maple sap. I felt like a sap snapping so many photos!

Here's an interesting Ontario fact: it takes 40 litres of maple sap to get 1 litre of maple syrup. Hmmmm! If you look closely here, you can see T-bone and the horse having a "special momment." No nibbling!

It was a fun, cold day... I think we both came home guilty of having sampled one too many maple sugar candies (thought of ya T!) Let's hear it for the Lumberjack Zimms!!

BIRTHDAY WISHES!!!

Well, today's the day! Not only is it a special holiday.... where many Irish folk drink green beer, yell loudly, and wear green...but it's also, da, da, da, daaaa!!

Tanneal Haazen's Birthday!!!! Yay!!!

This is cause for a great celebration and rejoicing as Tanneal is now the legal drinking age...

T, we lift our glasses to you!

KIDDING!!!

T, on your very special day today I hope you have a barrel of "monkeys, er I mean laughs" with the family. Gid is so lucky to have such a young looking mother!

Since we couldn't be there to cut the cake for you, Tony and I are celebrating for you here, down at our local Dairy Queen. They treat you right!

You are a dairy "Queen" T! Eat a big slice on your special day!

Love,

Tony & Cyndi

Trevor's Tribute

Today I had the esteemed pleasure of spending part of the afternoon with my brother Trevor, A.K.A. the coolest cat in town! First he introduced me around to all the co-workers in his office. I saw the infamous desk where all the "creative thinking" takes place... then we went out to lunch... Yay, food!

I love Japanese food! Suddenly without warning, my purse caught fire, everybody screamed and all the people fled the building, sushi in hand... Ooouukay! Maybe not, that's a different story...

We did have a good time though, and I loved the food :)

One of the things I appreciate the most about my brother, is his sense of humour. Even when talking about something difficult, he breaks up laughing. What a guy! It must be the "Irish" in both of us!

There is sooo much I could say... However, it would not nearly convey how proud I am of my "little brother," you really just have to know him. He is the loving husband of my gorgeous sister in-law, Isa, and the proud Papa of two cool kids, Dahlia and Joey. Trev is a hard worker, and a deeply committed man to Christ. He is an awesome father, a good provider, and apparently a well-appreciated employee (as I saw today!)

I guess I wanted to write this blog as an "embarrassing" (sorry bro!) tribute to him. Hanging out today brought back many memories, (notice the great bathing suits above!) of a childhood that just wouldn't have been right without a smaller guy to look out for.

Here's to all those long bike-rides, puppet shows, wrestlemania's, toboggan runs, computer gaming, not so friendly fighting... good times bro!

Love You Always, Sis

Tag, I'm It?

4 Jobs I've Had:

1. One of my first jobs was with Molly Maid, and yes, I drove the car!

2. Waitressing at Swiss Chalet, love the sauce, love the sauce

3. Here's a big unnecessarily long title: Assistant to the Director of Enrollment for Recruitment, Canadian Bible College and Theological Seminary. Whoah! Try putting that one on a business card! I had to buy an oversized wallet!

4. Currently now, and feeling like forever more, da, da, da, daaa! Support Worker: Christian Horizons, Waterloo Supported Independant Living. This means that on occaison... I get to go to movies for free, and go on cool trips with clients :)

4 Goals for this year:

1. Spend more time with the people that really matter

2. Do more things that are REALLY important

3. Go on a vacation!! And hang with Tanneal Haazen, the greatest Mom in

in the west! Yippeeeee! Can't wait to buy that perfect cowboy hat!

4. Learn to celebrate the little accomplishments, and not sweat the big stuff. Mostly I figure this will happen the more I'm in prayer and in the Word. WORD!

4 Movies I Would Watch Over and Over...

1. Definately Fried Green Tomatoes. Who doesn't wanna "Towanda" once in a while?
2. Legally Blonde, too many memories tied up in that one!

3. Along Came Polly (first movie date with my future hubby)

4. Planes Trains and Automobiles. Of course this list is always changing!

4 Places I Have Lived (not in chronologcial order :)

1. Regina, Saskatchewan. That's right, nobody here believes it!

2. Millgrove, Ontario

3. Mexico City

4. Cambridge, Ontario (in a van down by the river)





4 TV Shows I Love
1. American Idol all the way!

2. The Simpsons

3. Law & Order SVU

4. CSI (when Tony's not around because it scares him:)

4 Places I've Vacationed

1. Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic (honeyyyymooon!)

2. Port Stanley, Ontario (Annniversaaary!)

3. Wasaga Beach, Ontario (The In-laws lovely cottage)

4. Sylvan Lake, Alberta (visiting the Reverend John Haazen and his esteemed partner in ministry.... Mrs. Tanneal Haazen)

4 Websites I Check Daily

1. Hotmail of course!

2. The infamous Haazen blog :)

3. Daggers' Blog, and other fellow Bloggers I know :)

4. GOOGLE!

4 Favorite Foods, From 4 Favorite Places

1. The gyro sandwich from Pita Pit

2. Fifties Diner (Cambridge) they've got killer burgers!

3. Subway, eat fresh, love the wraps

4. Swiss Chalet, 1/4 chicken din-din with all the trim-trim

4 Places I'd Rather Be...

1. ON VACA
2. On Vaca
3. OnVacAAAA!
4. On Vacation

4 People I'm Tagging To Do This:

1. Daggers

2. Trevor (are ya blogging yet?)

3. Anyone interested?

4. Yo' Mama

The Amazing Adventures of MetalMan

A while back a dear friend of our, DAGGERS! Sent us the coolest comicbook ever....The Adventures of Zimmerman....

Now, without further ado... I give to you..

MetalMan, fighter of all heating injustices... With his quickwork, quick-thinking, quick-welding, he was able to defeat once again Pilotpooper, the evil flame killer, and sworn archenemy of MetalMan. Pilotpooper's only aim is to bring subzero degree temperatures to all warm Canadian homes. Once again MetalMan was able to deflect Pilotpooper's evil plot to snuff out pilot lights accross the nation. Our hero restored homes once again to fast, efficient heating ducts to maintain temperatures. Hooray MetalMan!

Stay tuned for more adventures with this amazing coldbuster MetalMan... "To inferno and beyond!!!"

Ode to 15 Months!!

It is indeed hard to believe that I have in fact been hitched to Tony, AKA Tone-star, T-bone, Tone-Tone, and the new recently accepted nickname....Copper-Tone for 15 months! This is a pic for our dear friend "T" to prove that we are INDEED MARRIED! T, if you don't recall, it is probably due to all of those glasses of "punch" you sampled during the karaoke and speeches.... er, yah, maybe not so much!

I do still sport my ring faithfully everyday, and engraved on the inside of our weddingbands are the words, "Chosen One." No, we don't think each other is Jesus! It's to remind us everyday of who chose us before we met, and that marriage is all about choosing the other person everyday... Even on the days when you find his socks have somehow been placed on the kitchen table!

Ewwww! Tonnnyyyeeee!

Here's to a lifetime of choosing everyday to love honour and... take out the trash :) Love you Tone! Yours, Cyndi