The time has come and we are off to WAGGA WAGGA. We leave for the airport at 3:30 pm and our plane leaves at 7:00 pm. See you all in a month. I will try to access the blog from Australia and write to you all.
Love
Shuirley & Ardell
Friday, February 27, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
YES just five more sleeps till we leave for Australia. I am so excited. We just received an email from Brian and Annette this morning. This past week they have been up to Geelong where Annette participated in the Austrialian swim meet. I am not sure what it was called, but she won third in her age group in the 100 and 200 metre breaststroke swim, so she has two Bronze medals to show for her wins. Brian is the proudest husband in all of Australia. I knew they were going up there for the meet and we are so proud of her winning place. She will be floating on air.
We will have to take pictures with her and her medals to show Jill Ackroyd for sure. Annette will be in the Olympics next we hear. She swims every day, so I will be going with her alot to swim while I am there.
This morning we are packing and getting ready to go. I just have to work Monday to Thursday, then on Friday till 10:30 am. and then I am done for the next month at work.
I have been up to Edmonton 6 times in the last two months. I am an alternate on the Negotiating Committee with AUPE Union, negotiating the new flex benefits and a new service agreement. It is very interesting but the driving to Edmonton back and forth is very tiring when you are alone and the roads were icy. This last trip was touch and go, I just about stayed over night in Red Deer, but decided to continue on and got home by 6 pm. We usually stay at the new Hampton's Inn on 100th Avenue & 170th St. close to the AUPE office, but this last trip we had to stay at the Executive Royal Inn. It wasn't as nice a hotel as the Hampton's and the staff at Hamptons knew us by name, so they made us feel so comfortable. The Hampton's have a very nice continental breakfast too which we liked. The service in the restaurant at the Royal Inn was the pits. It took over an hour to get a steak cooked.
The negotiations are going good. They start meeting with ATB on Monday. As I am only an alternate to the committee, I don't have to go again unless someome cannot make the meetings. I didn't want to be on the committee as a member, because I knew we would be away in March, so I let my name stand for alternate. I hope by the time we get home from Australia the negotiations will be over and done with and I won't have to go again till fall for the convention.
I don't think these new Flex Benefits will fly with the membership. It is hard enough for the committee to understand them, let alone the ordinary member. You can't really figure out what one would be paying for the benefits, so it is hard to know if you want them or not. All ATB keeps telling us is the glorified benefits we can pick and choose, but people don't realize that all that costs the employee more money and the employer will pay less. The real clincher is the life time maximum cap on orthodontics is $5,000. So the premium to cover orthordonics cost you more and what does $5,000 buy you at an ortho office. Not much. Maybe a visit or two. Then on prescriptions for a single person, every prescription you take to the pharmacy to fill, there will be a deductible of $7.00 per prescription and $11.00 for an employee with two or more persons on your benefit plan. Well I have 6 prescriptions that I get filled every three months, so that will cost me $66.00 every three months, which is $264.00 a year deductible for just my prescriptions, not including Ardell's prescriptions. Plus I pay a premium for the prescription benefits. Mind you my pills alone would cost over $568.00 every three months wihout the coverage I have now. So people are going to have to be very careful when they decide what coverages they want to take. The problems is the younger employees really don't care, until they see the deductions on their pay cheque and the older members will suffer just as much too.
So it is the same old story, the employer will pay less and the employee will get socked in the teeth.
Well I have more packing to do, so better get at it before the day is gone here.
Love you all,
See you when we get back March 27th.
Shirley
We will have to take pictures with her and her medals to show Jill Ackroyd for sure. Annette will be in the Olympics next we hear. She swims every day, so I will be going with her alot to swim while I am there.
This morning we are packing and getting ready to go. I just have to work Monday to Thursday, then on Friday till 10:30 am. and then I am done for the next month at work.
I have been up to Edmonton 6 times in the last two months. I am an alternate on the Negotiating Committee with AUPE Union, negotiating the new flex benefits and a new service agreement. It is very interesting but the driving to Edmonton back and forth is very tiring when you are alone and the roads were icy. This last trip was touch and go, I just about stayed over night in Red Deer, but decided to continue on and got home by 6 pm. We usually stay at the new Hampton's Inn on 100th Avenue & 170th St. close to the AUPE office, but this last trip we had to stay at the Executive Royal Inn. It wasn't as nice a hotel as the Hampton's and the staff at Hamptons knew us by name, so they made us feel so comfortable. The Hampton's have a very nice continental breakfast too which we liked. The service in the restaurant at the Royal Inn was the pits. It took over an hour to get a steak cooked.
The negotiations are going good. They start meeting with ATB on Monday. As I am only an alternate to the committee, I don't have to go again unless someome cannot make the meetings. I didn't want to be on the committee as a member, because I knew we would be away in March, so I let my name stand for alternate. I hope by the time we get home from Australia the negotiations will be over and done with and I won't have to go again till fall for the convention.
I don't think these new Flex Benefits will fly with the membership. It is hard enough for the committee to understand them, let alone the ordinary member. You can't really figure out what one would be paying for the benefits, so it is hard to know if you want them or not. All ATB keeps telling us is the glorified benefits we can pick and choose, but people don't realize that all that costs the employee more money and the employer will pay less. The real clincher is the life time maximum cap on orthodontics is $5,000. So the premium to cover orthordonics cost you more and what does $5,000 buy you at an ortho office. Not much. Maybe a visit or two. Then on prescriptions for a single person, every prescription you take to the pharmacy to fill, there will be a deductible of $7.00 per prescription and $11.00 for an employee with two or more persons on your benefit plan. Well I have 6 prescriptions that I get filled every three months, so that will cost me $66.00 every three months, which is $264.00 a year deductible for just my prescriptions, not including Ardell's prescriptions. Plus I pay a premium for the prescription benefits. Mind you my pills alone would cost over $568.00 every three months wihout the coverage I have now. So people are going to have to be very careful when they decide what coverages they want to take. The problems is the younger employees really don't care, until they see the deductions on their pay cheque and the older members will suffer just as much too.
So it is the same old story, the employer will pay less and the employee will get socked in the teeth.
Well I have more packing to do, so better get at it before the day is gone here.
Love you all,
See you when we get back March 27th.
Shirley
Thursday, February 19, 2009
NOBLE NEW #74 - Marvelle Reporter
hi - we are just waiting for our Colleen to come. Then Brad and Helen will come and then LA, Gayle and Taylor. We can hardly wait. Pat and Ken Vadnais came down and we took Ken to Mexico to have his teeth done. He had 28 crowns done for $3750.00 which would have cost him
$32,000. in Canada. Then Carole and Ted Sommerfeldt and now our family is coming. We are very excited. We are leaving for home the middle of March as I have two doctors appointments on April lst. Will write again. Shirley you are a great writer. Keep it up. You will be going to Australia in March. Just a few more sleeps. For your honeymoon. I phoned you last night but Ardell said you were in Edmonton on union business. See ya soon.
love Marvelle
$32,000. in Canada. Then Carole and Ted Sommerfeldt and now our family is coming. We are very excited. We are leaving for home the middle of March as I have two doctors appointments on April lst. Will write again. Shirley you are a great writer. Keep it up. You will be going to Australia in March. Just a few more sleeps. For your honeymoon. I phoned you last night but Ardell said you were in Edmonton on union business. See ya soon.
love Marvelle
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Well Today is Paula's birthday. It doesn't seem to me she shouldn't be 35 years old. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAULA. I hope you are enjoying your birthday and I hope Garry takes you out for dinner tonight.
I remember well the day Paula was born. It was a miriad of emotions for me being a new mother and the responsibility of raising a child. We really didn't know until she was born what the baby would be. It was very different in my life to have a baby that was mine 24 hours a day. Paula was a very good baby. She loved to eat and sleep and was very good. She grew fast and poof it is 35 years later. At an early age Paula became a very good little Mother for Jody. She mothered him all her life.
When it came time to marry and start a family of her own, she was very well prepared. I remember a friend of Garry's commenting on how Paula could cook. She knew how to prepare a meal with meat, potatoes and vegetables. She like to bake and did well at all her cooking. She provides health meals for her Garry, Ashley and Christoper and always watches what they eat to be sure it is healty for them.
I do remember one time she was only a young teenager and she wanted to surpise me and make a cake for supper. She called me at the office to ask if she could make a cake. I told her to get a cake mix out of the cupboard and just follow the directions on the package. She did that and when I got home she said the cake was still cooking. She had cooked it and cooked it but it still was not done. When I looked into the oven the cake was still like soup and it had been in there for well over an hour. I asked her what she did wrong. The package said to use 1/3 cup of oil and she miss read it as 3 cups and so the cake did not turn out. We made another cake for supper and it was just as good. She has never lived that one down.
I am very proud of Paula and her little family. Ashley and Christoper are developing into very good children and individuals let me tell you. Ashley went to her Jelly Bean dance last night and invited Grandma to come along. So I went and they all had so much fun, with their light sticks and light necklaces and such. They had treats for the kids and very nice gift baskets to win as doorprizes. The DJ was really good and the kids all had such a good time.
So Happy Birthday Paula, and many more.
Shirley(Mom)
I remember well the day Paula was born. It was a miriad of emotions for me being a new mother and the responsibility of raising a child. We really didn't know until she was born what the baby would be. It was very different in my life to have a baby that was mine 24 hours a day. Paula was a very good baby. She loved to eat and sleep and was very good. She grew fast and poof it is 35 years later. At an early age Paula became a very good little Mother for Jody. She mothered him all her life.
When it came time to marry and start a family of her own, she was very well prepared. I remember a friend of Garry's commenting on how Paula could cook. She knew how to prepare a meal with meat, potatoes and vegetables. She like to bake and did well at all her cooking. She provides health meals for her Garry, Ashley and Christoper and always watches what they eat to be sure it is healty for them.
I do remember one time she was only a young teenager and she wanted to surpise me and make a cake for supper. She called me at the office to ask if she could make a cake. I told her to get a cake mix out of the cupboard and just follow the directions on the package. She did that and when I got home she said the cake was still cooking. She had cooked it and cooked it but it still was not done. When I looked into the oven the cake was still like soup and it had been in there for well over an hour. I asked her what she did wrong. The package said to use 1/3 cup of oil and she miss read it as 3 cups and so the cake did not turn out. We made another cake for supper and it was just as good. She has never lived that one down.
I am very proud of Paula and her little family. Ashley and Christoper are developing into very good children and individuals let me tell you. Ashley went to her Jelly Bean dance last night and invited Grandma to come along. So I went and they all had so much fun, with their light sticks and light necklaces and such. They had treats for the kids and very nice gift baskets to win as doorprizes. The DJ was really good and the kids all had such a good time.
So Happy Birthday Paula, and many more.
Shirley(Mom)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Happy Birthday Dawn
Tomorrow is Dawn's birthday and she will be 42 -- that is a good number because backwards it is 24 so you get to be 24 for the day. You deserve to take your facial on your birthday, What a lovely gift from your husband and family.
I remember well the day Dawn came into this world. Lester Ann and Gayle were so proud of their little bundle of joy. She was all pink and cuddly. I was always disappointed that Dawn looked so much like the Jensen side of the family, but low and behold as she is getting older I can't believe she is looking so much like Lester Ann. Your picture of you and your missionary companion on the lawn by the church, I would have sworn it was Lester Ann standing there.
WOW you do look like your mom.
It is scary when we look so much like our moms. I too look like Nanna, especially when I get my hair permed so short and curly. It scares me to look into the mirror and see myself. I always think it is MOTHER.
Well Dawn have a wonderful day on your Birthday, and go get pampered all you like. You deserve it.
Happy Birthday and Many more.
Shirley
I remember well the day Dawn came into this world. Lester Ann and Gayle were so proud of their little bundle of joy. She was all pink and cuddly. I was always disappointed that Dawn looked so much like the Jensen side of the family, but low and behold as she is getting older I can't believe she is looking so much like Lester Ann. Your picture of you and your missionary companion on the lawn by the church, I would have sworn it was Lester Ann standing there.
WOW you do look like your mom.
It is scary when we look so much like our moms. I too look like Nanna, especially when I get my hair permed so short and curly. It scares me to look into the mirror and see myself. I always think it is MOTHER.
Well Dawn have a wonderful day on your Birthday, and go get pampered all you like. You deserve it.
Happy Birthday and Many more.
Shirley
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