I should've known better than to sign up for an outdoor activity in the middle of winter, especially with all my ailments that act up in the winter time. Oh well, I've missed 2 out of 4 of the 13 Sun Run walking clinics so far. If I can make it to half of them I guess that will be some exercise since I haven't been able to play badminton for over a month. I can't wait until it warms up and also when this !#$%^&*(<>?" sinus congestion is gone!

Ray and I checked out the Starlight Casino for the first time on Valentine's Day. Kirin and Shang Noodle House are outside of the casino but in the same building so that you don't need to go in the casino to access them. Actually I don't think there is any access to them from inside the casino. So, it's good for families who want to bring their kids. Inside the casino we ate at the Redbar Lounge which was really cool. There was a level of U-shaped booths (could seat 5 people I think comfortably) on an elevated level looking down at the stage and 200 square foot screen the Canucks were on. Below the booths were smaller round tables on other levels so everyone had a good view. All the walls are red. We could see a drum set behind the screen so it would be a good place to watch a live band. There was a Valentine's Day dinner special which consisted of 2 steak dinners, 2 glasses of champagne, and expresso chocolate cake with some sort of coulis for $35. Since both Ray and I don't drink champagne nor expresso and since I wanted salmon we declined the special. I had wild BC salmon and Ray had a steak. The food was good there. It's the biggest screen I've seen besides the ones at the movie theatres. I wasn't really paying attention to the game until it got exciting at the end and then went into Overtime and the Shootout.

The Salt and Pepper Cafe was also open with lighter fare. I checked out their Chinese food buffet there but it looked like it had been sitting there for a while. For a casino it wasn't that busy - so good for us as we had our pick of poker slot machines.

I'm looking forward to when their last restaurant Schanks opens in a few weeks (soft opening Feb. 25 and grand opening March 4 according to the waitress who will be working there). There's supposed to be mini-golf and an arcade there.

Hmm, let's see...what's been happening the past month. I volunteered for the BMO Canadian Figure Skating Championships in mid-January. That was cool to see (no pun intended)!

A few weekends ago Ray and I miraculously both got up in the morning on a Saturday. Had lunch with C that day. That didn't last long as the past few weekends I've been sleeping 14 to 16 hours each day including naps.

Saw a few movies that Ray wanted to see. I can't handle horror shows like I could when I was younger so didn't like The Eye for that reason a few weekends ago. If I had seen the ad for it ahead of time I would've known it was a horror flick. Ray thought I would like it since I like Medium so much. We saw Jumper last night. The special effects and scenery were good but the show and storyline itself were hoakie. Last night I wanted to see Juno as it had good reviews etc but Ray wanted to see a science fiction movie. He was quite disappointed too. Oh well, my vegetarian pizza I had at the theatre was good so all was not lost!

Speaking of vegetarian I had dinner with A on Friday at Greens and Gourmet which is a natural food restaurant where you pay by the weight of your food. There aren't any vegetarian restaurants like that out my way so I've enjoyed going there with her the past few times as I really like their food. We both had blueberry pie for desert which was so chocked full of blueberries :)

Am not feeling that great now as I am stuffed up and can only breathe through my mouth. Even my ears feel some pressure. I didn't realize how difficult it is to talk or gargle mouthwash when I couldn't breathe. It's one of those things you don't really appreciate until you can't do it! At least I was able to be on the computer longer tonight with the help of the infrared heat pad on my back.

I haven't blogged for a month. Besides back, neck and arthritic woes I've had a sinus infection for about a month now. It's the same every day - really bad sinus congestion and to sleep I use Dristan nasal spray. So then I can breathe until about 12 to 15 hours later when it wears off. I've been seeing a naturopath but that doesn't seem to be working so will see my g.p. again and see what he has to say. Ray got an infrared heat thermal pad which temporarily helps out my back, hands, knees etc.