Just Another Saturday

Hello out there! Long time no write! I can't believe how little I write compared to my friends L and M. I don't know how you do it to; be able to write every day like that. To me, it seems like just yesterday I posted my last blog and here it has been over a month.
Things here have been rolling along fairly smoothly. Work for me has been busy as we have gotten a new coworker to take over another persons position who has temporarily taken over another persons position before she goes on maternity leave. The nice news is that I received a two part raise, one which took effect Jan 1 and the other on Mar 1. It is nice to be appreciated and I am very happy about it all.
Home has been all right with all of us feeling the dregs of the weather and no one at all happy to think that we still have at least one more month of snow, if not longer. Of course we had another dump of snow yesterday which makes for about 5 feet of piled snow on our front lawn. In all the years that we have lived here, we have never had this much snow. Between the cleared sidewalk and the street, there is about a 6-8 inch height difference as there is that much packed snow on the street. We are beginning to think it will take months for it all to melt and we will never have a decent summer. Green grass is on everyones minds.
Shorty has been practicing hard for track and basketball. I went and watched him at a community track meet on Thursday. This was a meet for just relay races. The night before, I had taken Shorty shopping to buy a decent pair of sweats because what he was wearing was not all that great. When we got to the track meet and saw half the kids running in jeans I wondered what I was so concerned about. Shorty ran two races. He was ran 4th in the relay race. The first race they came in 3rd out of 6 and the second race they came in 5th out of 6. As this was Shorty's very first time at a track meet, I felt he did really well. I was very proud of him.
Boo has been busy doing a lot of babysitting and getting ready to finish grade 8. Last weekend she had a valentine's party where she got to invite several friends. They are a great group of kids, who except for being fairly loud, are friendly and well behaved. I never have a problem when Boo has friends over.
With the two new high schools being built on the west side of Saskatoon, the girls are getting excited about attending Bethlehem school which will be the Catholic school. In fact, it is not just the girls who are excited, I am sure the whole west side of Saskatoon is excited.
The project is called the Blairemore Centre. Two schools are being built at each end of the Centre, one the catholic school, the other the public school. The centre will be joined by a civic centre, which will someday house a new library and an olympic sized swimming pool to name a few. This is the first time that the the two school boards have joined together to build such a project. If you are interest in reading more about the Blairemore Centre, please go to http://www.saskatoon.ca/org/leisure/programs/blairmore/index.asp to read more about it and see actual plans for the site.
For those of you originally from Saskatoon, you would not recognize the city coming in from Asquith. The highways have totally been altered to accomodate all of this and 22nd street now runs all the way out to the Dalmeny turnoff. Since my parents live along that highway/street, it is very bizarre to look out and instead of seeing cars going by at 100km/hr, there is actually a set of lights there that people have to stop at.
The schools, although still in the building stage, are set to open for September, 2007. The schools will only have grade 9 and 10 to start, with a new grade being added each year, as the kids go on to the next grade. Kat will be in the first class to graduate from Bethlehem, and Boo will be the first class to go from Grade 9-12.
Although the school board has proposed the school having to wear uniforms, it was voted down by the parents, largely due to the cost of the uniforms. Who would want to pay 30 dollars for one pair of pants and 25-40 dollars for t-shirts and sweatshirts? We can dress our children for much cheaper than that. We figured the initial cost would be around $250 to get them first dressed. I can dress 3 children for that when we hit the sales as Sears :)
Kat only decided this past week that she is going to switch to the new school. This year, she has been going to ED Feehan and has really enjoyed it (although her marks don't reflect that part of it). Her initial plans were to stay at Feehan, which we had no problem with. But in the last week or two, her friends have been all talking and most of them have decided to make the switch. When you are 15 years old, it is not what the school is offering, but what your friends are doing. Kat has come right out and said, that although Bethlehem has some classes that she wants and Feehen doesn't offer, she is switching mainly because her friends are switching. I am okay with that :)
In the years to come, we will be seeng a new Walmart built, which we are being told will be the biggest Walmart in Western Canada. A new one just opened on the south side of Saskatoon, and this store is HUGE. We have only been to it once, but we couldn't get over how big it is. And to think that the one that will be built by us will be even bigger, holy cow! Other stores will be built as well and this will be the newest box mall in the city. It is nice to see this side of the city finally being recognized and having things done as opposed to it always being on the east side of Saskatoon.
My day today has to include cleaning as we are having friends over tonight that we haven't seen in over a year! Why are Saturdays always cleaning day??? Oh yeah, cause I don't clean during the week LOL
Happy Saturday!!