Long Time no blog

I've been neglecting my blog, mostly because I haven't had anything new to talk about.
Mostly life has been same old same old. I'm still trying to get over the cold I picked up in Calgary. Just when I think it's over it comes back, so it's starting to really get on my nerves.
Last week I did a little volunteering for the Animal Rescue League. I spend a couple hour Thursday standing outside the liquor store at Prince Edward's Square collecting donations. Of all the liquor stores in Saint John to stand outside of....that one is... well...that one is kind of heartbreaking. There are some very damaged people in the world, and it's quite sad, and if you want to see them, just stand outside the Prince Edwards Square Liquor store for two hours in the middle of the afternoon. What is very surprising is who actually puts their change in the bucket and who doesn't. It seems the people youwould least expect to be generous ar the one who are the most, and the people who would expect to have the change to spare are the ones who pretend you aren't there. There was one guy, who quite leterally begged for money in the street to get enough to buy a bottle, then came out the door and put the rest of his change in the bucket (that was Saturday). But, buddy in a brand new mustang wouldn't even look me in the eye.
On to other things. My cousin Laura recently moved to Fredericton and I finally got a chance to see her for the first time since she's been here on Saturday Afternoon, after my shift at Prince Edward's Square. She and her significant other, Ray, came down to do a little exploring and we me tup at the office around 3. I haven't seen her in well over a decade since she was just a chubby little girl, but she has grown into an extremely beautiful, intelligent, and wonderful young woman. I had a really great time getting reaquainted. Laura was bornt he same year my sister was, so she's ten eyars younger than me, and she lived up in the Queen Charrolotte Islands until she graduated highschool so I didn't get to see her that often growing up. Her boyfriend (for lack of a better more appropriate title), Ray, is a very nice guy. He's a chef and took an amazing job at a restaurant in Fredericton, which is what brought them out here from Vancouver. I think they're both still a little culture shocked, but are finding that there are a lot of oportunities that the maritimes offer that Vancouver just can't. I was already in town when they arrived, so Darrell drove in and met us all and then we headed out to the house to drop off some vehicles and tooka trip to Saint Martin's to have a late lunch at the restaurant by the caves. It wasn't haute cuisine by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn't terrible either. It's just so nice to have a little family close by. I can't wait to spend more time together and show them around the maritimes, and now that Laur's here, it's pretty much a given my aunt Kelly will come out for a visit and probably my cousin Robert as well (who I haven't seen since he was alittle boy so I could probably trip over him and not recognise him). Who knows... with two grandkids out here, and all the golf courses we may even see my Grandma put in an appearance.
Sunday we spent the day cleaning the disaster that is our house. It has been so neglected and fallen into a state of total chaos. I was mortified to bring Ray and Laura over to see the filth. We got a good chunk of it taken care of, but there's still quite a bit to do. I finally got up the nerve to tackle the downstairs bathroom, which was the absolute worst offender, and it is now spotless. When you tackle the biggest job first and get it out of the way, the rest seem less oppressive.
As usual we are hard at it at work...nose to the grindstone pluggin away which I should get back to.