Official Post for June 2007

Okay so, since Bruce has been back and the weather has been nice and my computer has been out of commission for 2 months, I have not been blogging at all ... It is my summer resolution to blog more often, if even in short posts, to let you know what we are up to.

Well, the first big news is that Bruce sprained his ankle very badly last Thursday. He has been back to work since Wednesday but it has not been on the ship since the Dr. declared him unfit sea and unfit along side so he has to go to the base school (I think they teach other electronic techs there? It is appalling how little I actually know about his workplace sometimes) which is very different from the ship. First of all, his uniform was not well ironed (hung up after sitting in the basket for a few hours apparently doesn't cut it), his boot (yes just one boot since the other ankle is way too big for the boot) was not polished, his hair was too long and his backpack was not completely black which is apparently a no-no too. Being on the ship is obviously quite a bit more relaxed. In any case going to this job is pretty much like a boring desk job but with literally nothing to do when you can't even walk. So, he has been bored and his ankle has been suffering a bit since he finds it most comfortable to have it elevated (he seems especially comfortable elevating it while sitting at the computer playing Age of Empires III .... hmmm I'm starting to wonder if I really am the only one who can be washing the dishes and making dinner...)

Here you can see what I have described above, only
Bruce has been so kind as to pause Ages of Empire III for
this photo. (Recognize the blanket Nana?)

Seriously though he has been working very hard to keep his ankle comfortable and not to strain it which is very smart as we hope he will have full use again in the very near future. The unfortunate part is that he sprained it during a soccer game with some other people from the ship and he was only about a month into soccer season, playing with a team on the base who is in a local league. He was just getting his fitness up enough to be playing 3-4 times a week and then bam! - rolled ankle. It puts a damper on some summer plans (camping, big bike trips, weekend in Seattle) but hopefully with lots of rest and taking things slowly, we'll be set for some summertime adventures in 4-5 weeks.

In other news we've applied for a Habitat for Humanity Global Village trip to Ghana for November/December 2007. The trip would involve four days of building homes with the local Habitat affiliate, a weekend experiencing life in the community, 3 more days of building and then two days of R&R, visiting some of the Slave Castles on the coast, a canopy walk and some beach time. We have applied online and I have spoken to and emailed several contacts about the trip - so far we wait to do an interview and then hope that we will be a good fit with the team and will be accepted. Overall the trip would cost about $7,500 for the two of us, so I am anxious to hear some good news re: our application so we can start fundraising (how could I not love that?). Anyway, we will keep you posted about our possible next great adventure.

And, speaking of fundraising, today we hosted a garage sale with some help from our neighbour Chantal. Here's a photo of the living room last night - filled with donations!

Chantel helped me to sort and organize things last night and then we were good to go for this morning. Unfortulately I was moving a bit slowly and we didn't start to move things out until 7:20am or so for the 8am start. By then there were people waiting to get in - and by 7:45 people had broken through my ribbon and joined the craziness to look at the boxes and boxes of books and other goodies - it was insanity! Here's Bruce holding his own with the hard cores at about 8:01am:

We held the sale in the front parking area of our complex which is
beyond the locked gate that separates us from Fernwood Rd - the
actual street of our address - most times I really do feel 'streetless'
when I have to tell people to come around back - it is very confusing
for cab drivers especially.

We had so much stuff donated and even cooked up some BBQ hot dogs & veggie dogs. In total, we raised $441.46 [CORRECTION! I just found a jar with a stash of 20's I set aside earlier in the day ... $751.27 - that makes me much happier!!!] which we are donating to the Victoria Chapter - Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and to our friend Joey who moved to Toronto in December to wait for his double lung transplant. Throughout the day we met lots of very interesting people, which is usually the case with garage sales, but most exciting was meeting Joey and Kirstin's friends who stopped by to buy stuff, donate, share their stories and just say hi - it was a pretty fun day! Other highlights included the very interesting collection of books donated from an estate - check these titles out - both written by the same author ... interesting!


And then the two neighbour dogs Bain (the bigger black one) and Bella (the small beagle) wrestling for about 1/2 an hour, most of it wearing kids t-shirts (thanks Bryony!) - hilarious! esp. funny considering Bain is a he (he's the one wearing the chicks rock shirt!).


Okay we'll I'm going to go relax and try to figure out how the hell I'm going to put our entire apartment back together all by myself ... I think I deserve another one of these (my new fav. summer drink 'imported' all the way from Esquimalt which is across the bridge ; )

See how messy our office is? The whole place looks like this
even when I only sleep 7 hours a night ... anyone have a
recipe for time? I think I need a boyfriend who isn't on
crutches ; ) just kidding I wouldn't trade this one in for anything!