Still in Windermere today.  No golf today.  Dad is moving back to Calgary tomorrow so our mission today was to get the place ready for winter shut down.  Not so hard when three of you are working at it.  Kelli and I took on the house cleaning part of things and I'm thinking we should open a Molly Maid Franchise......we could call it "Sherlock Homes."  Were finished by around 11:30 and then loaded up the Forerunner.  We were pretty much sky high with our gear and some of Dad's stuff that he moves back to Calgary but we managed to cram in a significant amount of stuff.  Boomer was quite unimpressed to have to share his back space with a bunch of boxes.  He was quite disgruntled by the travel arrangements.  We stopped in Canmore at Beamers for lunch.  Poor dog had to wait in the cramped car while we went in and enjoyed our lunch.  We finally finished our lunch and continued on home but the icing on the cake was that we decided to stop at the dog wash and give him a bath!  After a few hours of him in the car we both decided he needed some sprucing up!  Tomorrow is his birthday and a boy needs to be clean for his birthday!  That and the fact he is heading back out to Kim and Greg's when we head off to Hawaii on Friday.  Nobody appreciates a stinky dog except the dog himself and his friends!  Puppy perfume!  Sienna will not recognize him!

Stopped at Dad's place and unloaded his stuff and finally got home.  We have been going non stop all day!  Kelli decided to take on the job of consolidating my computers and backing everything up.  I don't think she realized I had 5000 photos, many in a very disorganized state, when she volunteered to do this job for me.  She has finally got everything organized but it has been hours of work for her.  She just looked at me and said I've been a pretty good daughter today!  Earned a lot of Attagirls!!!  Even cleaned Grandpa's toilets!!

As predicted, I think I have turned the corner.  Feel like a different person today than I did earlier in the week.  A couple of solid nights sleep, some fresh air and exercise and I'm on the rebound!  I guess I should count myself lucky that I handle the chemo as well as I do.  I just got an email today from my hospital room mate, Connie.  She said that when she was in treatment she would end up in the hospital for a week following her chemo!

Have thought much about Friday's assembly over the weekend.  I am still overwhelmed and honoured that the school recognized me in this way.  My apologies to all of you who sent me emails telling me that you balled your eyes out reading my version of the day.  I must confess I was pretty much exhausted by the time we reached Windermere on Friday night but that day is definitely one of my career highlights and to have my family and some of my friends there to share it meant so much.
After the assembly, over lunch, I confessed that I'm really not much of a crier at school.  I could probably count the number of times I've been brought to tears at school.  I actually remember the times that it has happened.  I have cried at each of the headshaves.  These are incredibly emotional events.  I also had a good cry about a week after I moved to Ranchlands School.  I had worked at Cambrian Heights prior to my time here.  It was a small school, with a small gym and there were few behavior issues with our students.  I had formed many friendships there with staff, parents and loved the kids but I had been there for a long time and thought a move would be good.  I arrived at Ranchlands thinking the kids would love me!  Boy, did they teach me a lesson that I have never forgotten.  Respect and love need to be earned.  They aren't a badge you wear into your job announcing "Here I am kids....you are going to love me!"  The first couple of weeks at Ranchlands were major rough!  I have never taught such a difficult group of grade 6's in my entire career.  The school population was over 700 children, the staff was the biggest I had been part of since my Junior High School Days.  I was totally overwhelmed and I remember sitting on the bench in the gym crying my eyes out!  There were too many kids, the gym was too big, why did I come here!?    Well, to make a long story short I had my cry then pulled up my big girl pants and got to work.  It took the better part of a year but once I put the work in I realized I loved those kids.....the gym was amazing..we had a fabulous staff...and I have  had the best years of my career in that very building!  Thank you Ranchlands!