Tag Archives: Saskatchewan Roughriders

Thanksgiving

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After Mark’s team won it’s seventh football game of the season (and is still undefeated), we drove to Arlington Beach and the cabin to spend Thanksgiving weekend.  We drove the remarkable 2013 Ford Flex (more on that later) and got in time for a late lunch.  After lunch Jordon cut and taped up some hockey sticks and changed a hockey blade on Jared Siebert’s aluminum hockey stick.  Oliver and Mark found some time to check out the road hockey rink and shoot the ball around while we chilled out at the cabin.

Oliver and Owen

I kind of lost track of Oliver and my friend Brooke took this great photo of Oliver and Owen checking out the hockey sticks.  They were both born the same day at RUH but Owen was a lot bigger.  Time has a way of evening everything out.

Later that night, I was showing Kath the Ford Flex and in doing it, the fob was in the vehicle and I was leaning on the door when all of the doors locked.  Now the doors are not supposed to lock with the fob inside it but it did.  We had no way to open it.  I’ll be honest, I panicked.  Jordon looked online and found out what went wrong and I called roadside assistance.  An hour and $133 later, a tow truck came and opened the door.

Our new infrared heater worked well and in combination with our hot oil heater, the cabin was quite warm despite the really cool weather.  While the temperature dropped below freezing outside, we were toasty warm.  We are heading back in early November and I expect it will be quite nice then.

Sunday morning Mark and I went to get some water and came back to an empty cabin.  Jordon and Oliver went “fishing” with Ollie’s new fishing rod.

Oliver fishing

Sunday saw me hanging out with Katherine while Jordon, Jared, and a couple other “responsible” adults by the name of Kelly and Adam decided to arm all of our boys with guns and slingshots and take them out shooting.  Including Oliver and Owen because according to them, four years old is a perfect age to shoot things.  

Later on Lee and Brittany came up bearing Ninjabread cookies.  We figured out Christmas (it’s at their place and we are having lasagna) and then had Christmas dinner at the lodge.  There was turkey, ham, potatoes, salads and most importantly according to Jordon, turnips.  Now Brittany and I need to plan a meal that has turnips and lasagna in it which is going to be hard as Lee wants lasagna with a side plate of lasagna.

Monday we packed up and headed back after coffee with Dennis and Wilda Camplin.  We were home in time to see the Saskatchewan Roughriders beat the Toronto Argonauts.  It was another great Thanksgiving weekend.  Hope yours was nice as well.

10 things I learned in 2011

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  1. At Eternity's GateAfter years of battling unipolar depression (or major depressive disorder), it is still a part of my daily life.  Luckily I don’t suffer from the manic episodes but it does mean that I hate life for months at a time.  It sucks and Jordon pays quite a price for it.  It is best described by Winston Churchill as “my black dog”.  I wish I could say that Saskatchewan’s ground breaking Medicare took good care of me but mental health care in the province is really hard to access.  After years of waiting to see a psychiatrist, I finally got into a clinical psychologist and because a combination of him being on holidays and my family doctor leaving the province, my file was closed and so I am back on the waiting list again with a new family doctor.  If it wasn’t for Jordon’s ability to put up with me, I don’t know if I would have made it this far.  It’s scary to think about sometime.
  2. I really don’t understand the game of football.  Despite being a football fan of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Denver Broncos (you don’t have any choice living in this house) and watching a lot of Babineau Warriors practices and games, there are times when I really have no idea what has happened.
  3. I learned a fair bit about Android and smart phones.  Jordon gave me a new Android powered smartphone for our anniversary and it’s the first time i have really had a computer in my pocket and I liked it.  He later left his beloved Blackberry Curve behind and joined the dark side when he bought a Samsung Galaxy Ace and of course my Kobo Vox is powered by Android.  I know what a .apk is, how to manage apps, and of course I can now play Angry Birds on multiple platforms.
  4. If Jordon goes to be before me, Maggi cuddles up to him on the bed but when I walk in, she looks at me, slowly gets down and sulks in her bed despite me always wanting Maggi to cuddle with me.  I am starting to realize that it must be an “alpha female” thing or as Jordon says, she thinks I spend too much time with Hutch.  Either way it is weird.
  5. I never played sports competitively growing up and I never learned the idea that you have to do things to the right way to be successful.  Jordon preached that to me all year.  For years I got by with a combination of being funny and cute and trying hard but I never learned process.  Part of it is my personality type, INTP’s aren’t big on process but part of it is laziness.  Getting through the depression needs some discipline and I never had it.  I did make some progress by creating processes and systems for paying bills, making meal plans, and even planning out events with the kids on a calendar but I have a lot of work to do.  Making it up as I go along might have worked when I was 20 but I am 42 now and part of a family of 5.5 (Hutch is only a 1/2) and by me making things up as I go along, I hurt everyone.   I am realizing that structure, planning, and organization are all good things.
  6. I am co-dependent and it was hard to deal with rather than just be enabled.  I cut some big time ties to work this year and instead started to focus on people that needed me (my kids).  Work was a consistent when my life was chaos but in the end I realized my putting it first was creating more problems than it was solving.
  7. I am a packrat and that is a big thing that is changing.  We have tossed out box after box of stuff.  No I am not recycling or donating because I use that as an excuse to put off making a decision.  A lot of the stuff is just going to the garbage.  There are books, CDs, DVDs, and even big pieces of furniture.  I realize that I need space to be what I want to be and clutter gets in my way.  As stuff comes in to my life, the same amount of stuff needs to go back out.  I am not giving up being a consumer but I want to consume less stuff going forward.  Not all stuff is good stuff.
  8. Now that my schedule allows for a social life (no more working evenings and weekends), I am learning to re-engage socially with the world around me.  It means going to the occasional movie, having a date with Jordon or spending the evening chilling out with Mark and Oliver.  It’s been lost for years.  I am glad to have it back again.
  9. I am learning to be a bit of a gamer.  I am not going to hold my own playing Modern Warfare but I am getting decent on my Nintendo DS and on the Wii.  It’s progress.  As an aside, Jordon took a solemn oath when Mark was born that he was always going to be a better gamer than his kids.  So every once in a while Mark will pass a game and then Jordon will come along and pass it quicker at a harder level.  Of all of the things to take a solemn oath over…
  10. I discovered good television in 2011.  The Wire, Mad Men, Arrested Development, Modern Family… some because of Netflix, some because of Jordon but if I am going to watch television, it needs to be good television.

So that is what I learned in 2011.  What did you learn?

The start of the season

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kflFor those of you who don’t follow Jordon on Twitter (@jordoncooper), you may have missed that Mark is playing football this year for the Pee Wee Babineau Warriors for the Kinsmen Football League.  Unlike karate, which was once or twice a week, this is every night over at Dr. Seager Wheeler Park or as it was today, at the SaskTel Soccer Centre.

I work most evenings but I have had Wednesday nights off and I get off work most Fridays in time to get to the practices.  It’s a different experience for me.  While Jordon just watch Mark take karate and didn’t care that much either way, he has played and coached karate and cares tremendously how Mark does.  Every morning he heads into work early so he can be there for Mark’s practice where Oliver and him watch.

Mark is playing receiver.  He wanted to play defence like his dad and uncle but he started at running back and then moved to slot back where he is a receiver.  Jordon bugs him a lot about being one but he takes him to the practice field early every night and pulls out a junior football that he bought for him and they run pass play after pass play before the practice starts.  It’s paid off.  Once the kids show up, Jordon sits back down and is quiet during the practice and let’s Mark do his own thing.

The one thing that Jordon has been on Mark about was his lack of effort.  While Jordon played hockey from a young age and knew how much effort was needed to do well, Mark isn’t as competitive and tended to do as little as he could which drove Jordon crazy.  Jordon got on him before and after practice and let him know he was letting down his team mates and wouldn’t improve unless he did every drill his absolute best.  It took a couple of practices for him to get the message but it started to pay off.  At the same time Jordon invested in him by buying him a new football and threw a lot of balls his way.  For Mark, he loved the time spent with Jordon but I am not sure he loved the phrase, “Let’s do it again.  No, you didn’t do it right.  Do it again.”

Today we were at the jamboree for the Kinsmen Football League.  All of the teams play each other in a scrimmage and when the starting units when out there, Mark was with them.  He worked harder than he ever has and it was fun to see it pay off.   I wasn’t able to stay for the entire morning but Jordon was true to his word, all he wanted from Mark was for him to work hard and he did.  Jordon was pretty proud of him. 

Saskatchewan Roughriders Dog TagMark also has learned how hard he needs to work and what it takes to improve.  Now instead of just doing the least he can get away with, he is pushing himself and wants to look better.  He is catching more balls but his blocking is horrible.  Jordon was bugging him that he blocks in the same way our dog Hutch jumps up on you.  Mark through it was funny and then said, “Maybe I need dog treats as motivation”.  After the scrimmages today, Jordon went out and bought Mark some Saskatchewan Roughriders dog tags.  Mark loved them and appreciated the joke.

It’s been an adjustment for me.  I can’t even motivate myself to function normally outside of work so motivating Mark is not my strong suit.  It’s also been hard for me to realize the dedication you need as parents.  I played a bit of basketball in junior high but my parents only came to one game and were never that involved in me doing anything.  After that one year I kind of got the message and didn’t play anymore.  It’s a little odd to think that I have four years of Kinsmen Football and four years of high school football to look forward to.  That’s a lot of practices, games, and raffle tickets to sell.

Christmas 2K10

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Well Christmas is out of the way and it was a nice couple of days.  On the 23rd I had to work but the guys went to Lee’s place where they watched Family Guy: It’s a Trap and ate too much pizza.  That much late night cheese gave Oliver nightmares all night but I don’t ever assume that good parenting decisions will be made on a night where they gather to watch the Family Guy.

On Christmas Eve, I ran to Walmart to get some pop for the guys of the Salvation Army Community Services shelter.  That night they had fresh pizza being made so pop was a necessity.  Once I picked that up, I met Jordon, Lee, and Mark who were already down there.  Jordon and Lee were moving some bags of Christmas presents around while Mark was in the kitchen making some pizza and lunch with the Centre’s head cook, Ryan.  Mark had already pounded back a large double-double coffee by that time.  Again, what was Jordon thinking.

In the early afternoon we ended back at the house with Lee where we had some KFC and waited for my friend Micheala and her daughter Taylah to come over and spend Christmas Eve with us.  Around 2:00 p.m. they come by and Taylah and Mark went sledding while Micheala and I made lasagna and Caesar Salad for supper. 

During this time the kids had come back and Mark was driving me crazy in the kitchen so Lee told Mark that every time he came into the kitchen, he would lose a Christmas gift.  Mark agreed and then looked really concerned when Lee and Jordon would have him head to the kitchen and get them a drink.  Of course Jordon and Lee were bugging Micheala over slowing me down and if that was the case, she would be asked to leave the kitchen.

We finally ate and then opened our stockings and presents.  Mark and Jordon will probably write about Christmas  on their blogs so I’ll leave that with them.

In my stocking I got

Meade StarNavigator 102 telescopeFor Christmas Lee gave me a Meade StarNavigator 102 telescope which totally shocked me.  It has a built in computer that not only tells me about certain stars but helps me find them.  We will be taking it to the cabin and using it up there on summer nights.  Not only am I excited about but so is Jordon, Mark, and Lee.  It will be a lot of fun to try out all summer.

Lee also gave me a Saskatchewan Roughrider blanket which will keep me warm while I am freezing to death watching Saskatchewan Huskies games next fall.  The good news is that it isn’t big enough to share so Lee, Mark, and Jordon can be cold while I am toasty warm at Griffiths Stadium.

My Amazon KindleJordon surprised me with an Amazon Kindle.  I knew he had wanted one and was frustrated that he couldn’t get one by Christmas. I had no idea that he had already ordered me one.  I haven’t had a lot of time to play with it but it’s web browser is better than I thought and it really is easy to read with.  It can’t wait to get it all set up with some winter reading.  He also set me up with a subscription to The StarPhoenix which is delivered every morning to the machine.  Jordon plans to set it up with Instapaper and some other tools.  It should be a lot of fun and a much better alternative then bringing up a boatload of books up to the lake.

Mark gave me a pasta maker that blew me away.  I had wanted one and checked them out around town and they were $150 – $200.  Apparently Jordon found one on Amazon and it was only $30.  The dogs got me a pasta drying rack (thanks Maggi, how did you know?)  What’s funny about this gift is that Jordon always checks out kitchen purchases for me with the kitchen staff at the Salvation Army.  He has brought a lot of ideas to them that they have rejected and on each occasion they have been right.  Well one of the cooks is a big fan of making fresh pasta so not only will I get to make fresh pasta but Debbie will be borrowing it as well.

Santa knows that I am a now hooked on CFL football (even if the rules confuse me) and left me a Saskatchewan Roughriders jersey.  Nice.

Oliver gave me a Elton John CD.  Lee mocked me for it but I like Elton John and Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum for the Wii

Our last gift was a Sony Playstation 3 from Lee.  My part of the gift was EA Active 2  personal trainer game.   I am starting to wonder if everyone thinks I am fat (actually I asked for a workout game)

After the gifts were open, we ate some dessert and then had an epic game of NHL Monopoly (Lee’s gift to Mark) with everyone. Mark did the same thing he did last time and traded Lee the Montreal Canadiens (Boardwalk) while Lee had the Toronto Maple Leafs (Park Place).  In the end we lost again.

After we kicked Micheala, Taylah, and Lee out for the night, we tried to go to bed.  Jordon made it as far as the couch and fell asleep.  In the morning we got up and Jordon ran down to work while I got the boys ready as we met our friends Carl and Debbie for coffee and Tim Horton’s.  Debbie cooks at the Centre and last year her and Jordon were frantic that they could not find an open Tim Horton’s on Christmas Day.  They found out that the airport Tim Horton’s was open later on and vowed to go there this Christmas.  Well the one on 51st Street was open and we went over there.  There was Debbie, Carl, us, four police officers, and a long lineup in the drive through and takeout line in there.  We had a good time chatting and drinking coffee before we came home, grabbed lunch, and then headed over to the Reimer’s for Christmas dinner.

About an hour later Lee joined up and about an hour after that, Micheala, and Taylah joined up for some gifts and a really, really good supper.  Jordon doesn’t like green beans but the Reimer’s make a bean casserole that he loves.  We brought the Wii along to play but the main game played that night was a Monopoly game the Reimer’s game Taylah.  Instead of Lee winning, Taylah beat everyone handily and we spent the night listening to Mark make more bad trades and Taylah gloating (she really beat everyone badly) which was fun.

We came home last night and got the kids to bed and went to bed ourselves.  I am back at work this morning and we have some friends coming by later night so I am trusting the guys to get the house cleaned up in time for guests.  i think they will do alright.

Update: Mark’s Christmas post and Jordon’s Christmas thoughts

Done

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The Grey CupWell outside of a couple of stocking stuffers and some batteries, we are done with Christmas shopping.  The presents are wrapped and now under the tree and we can take it easy and avoid the malls from now on.  The only disappointment of the season was that we had hope to give Lee a mini replica Saskatchewan Roughriders Grey Cup  and I surprised at how poor quality they were.  All of the ones we looked at in The Rider Store had scratches and scuffs on them and on most of them the Roughrider logo was crooked, applied poorly, and had glue showing on it.  So Lee if you are reading this, we didn’t get you a mini replica Roughrider trophy.  Sorry if your Christmas joy was dependent on it but we did get you something else nice.

While I was in The Rider Store, I noticed they had Roughrider baseball jerseys.  They had them in there before but they had the centennial numbers on them and Jordon wasn’t crazy about that.  I may pick him up one in January since I am done for Christmas.

Need for Speed: Most WantedAs is our weekly tradition, we did stop by Best Buy and Jordon bought Mark Need for Speed: Most Wanted which means that Mark is learning the skill of high speed police chases.  I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

For those of you who are still doing some shopping for kids, one place that has a great selection of toys that I would never have thought of is Peavey Mart.  It isn’t a lot of help for those of you outside of western Canada but they have a lot of neat stuff that you don’t see in Toys R Us or Walmart.   We were in there last night picking up some stuff for the boys and Lee and all of their toys were even 20% off which was even nicer.

The Western Conference Final

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Saskatchewan Roughriders logo

Lee is over today as we all watch the CFL’s Western Conference Final today which features the Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. the Calgary Stampeders.  As a former Manitoba resident, I have been harassed for years over being a Winnipeg Blue Bombers fan (which I am not).  Last night I was telling Lee I would have on my Saskatchewan Roughriders ear rings, shirt, and bandana.  Lee’s comment back was, “You really are going to a lot of work keeping up the charade that you are a Roughriders fan aren’t you.”  I can’t win.  Let’s hope the Riders manage to win.

Life with a sports fan…

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One of the best things about being married to a huge sports fan is that you can purchase him almost any sports gear and he is thrilled with them.  Today I picked up a Kansas State Wildcats hoodie, a New York Titans shirt (a retro New York Jets nickname), and a Buffalo Bills shirt at Giant Tiger today and he was thrilled with all of them.  This goes along with his Rutgers University Scarlet Knights, University of Texas Longhorns (as he puts it, “it’s poo brown), Houston Astros, University of Southern California Trojans, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, and Milwaukee Brewers shirts which means that he looks like a walking billboard for Jersey City.  Oh yeah, he has a Denver Broncos hoodie, a John Elway jersey, a Calgary Flames hoodie, and some Saskatchewan Roughriders shirts.  He is in need of fashion makeover.

Shoes

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crocs-cayman-khaki-2732-161_zoom Last year Oliver developed an all out hate on anything on his feet and an even worse hatred for anything on his head.  This year he cries in the morning until you put on his shoes.  He especially loves his Crocs, of which he has several pairs.  Today he carried around his shoes from Mark to Jordon yelling louder and louder “SHOES!” until they gave in.  Not only does he have to be wearing shoes, they have to fit properly.  If they don’t fit properly, he starts to harass you into adjusting his shoes.   Once his shoes are on, he wants them on all day.

After his shoes were on, he went looking for a hat.  Generally he finds one of Jordon’s baseball hats but he also grabs one of mine and on the occasional day he grabs one of his many Saskatchewan Roughrider hats because you know if you don’t have a hat, you aren’t ready to go out or even hang out in the house.

My two year old is a diva.

Seafood Lasagna Recipe

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When Jordon was attending the University of Saskatchewan, he had a great apartment in City Park which was across the street from the legendary restaurant, Seafood Sam’s (now closed).  We used to head over there on Saskatchewan Roughrider game days and Sam would ask as we came in, “Are you watching the game or just eating?”  If you were there to watch the game, you were sent into the lounge and watched the game with a very intense Sam.  If the Rider’s lost, he would often tear up our bills in celebration and one time when they were horrible, he ripped up our bills and blamed Reggie Slack for wrecking our meal.  It was a great experience and Jordon always used to order a seafood lasagna.  So in honour of Rider games of the past and Seafood Sam’s, here is a great seafood lasagna recipe that I posted over at The Cooking Blog.

Jordon’s Birthday

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A couple of days ago Jordon turned 36.  The boys and I bought him a couple of things that I thought I would link to.

We went out with some friends to the Konga Cafe, ate some Caribbean food, and then came home and watched an IMAX movie.  I think we all had a lot of fun.