Yes Lesley, I did find a dress at Reitmans. It "will do". It is a black stretchy thing that has a criss cross front and a tie around the waist that I am not so crazy about. But, the thing I hate most is three quarter length sleeves. I just can't escape them! Oh well. I think I will buy some chunky braclets to cover the rest of my arms to kinda keep the lines long. Oh, and can't forget the stilettos. Although it has been awhile, I better dig them out and wear them around the house a bit to get used to them again.
I'll post a pic of us after my work christmas party, if any of them turn out decent.

So I see David and family are moving back east. That is wonderful! Any word yet on what province?

On another note (Mat probably heard all about this at work), the apartment building where Mom lives had a fire during the week. They had to carry Mom down 4 flights of stairs in her nightie. The Red Cross & the Salvation Army set up a shelter center at a local hotel and everyone spent the night. Mom was really upset. We were all waiting out in the lobby of the hotel for hours waiting to get rooms assigned and the landlady came over to a girl who lives on Mom's floor and told her that the firemen had to break down her door and the place was basically trashed. She said she just came home from christmas shopping and laid all her gifts out on the floor to wrap when the alarms started going off. She also said she didn't have fire insurance and we noticed she was all alone. It was really sad. We were terribly worried, but the RC & SA did such a fantastic job of feeding everyone and getting them rooms and stuff like toothbrushes, paste, etc. it was great to see. Everyone was very gratefull.

We were told the next day that some people could go back to stay and some could go back to retrieve stuff, but would not be allowed back to their apartments to stay. Mom was the first one back and the girl from the night before was right behind us. She went to her door, but it was just a sheet of plywood screwed on so they had to find some power tools before they could let her in. Mom's place was fine, just a bit smokey. Thank god!! She said Dad must have been watching out for her.

Apparently the newspaper said the fire started on one of the lower floors and went up the walls, basically causing damage to one apartment on each floor, one above another. When we were in the elevator going up to her floor with the firemen, it stopped on the second floor and when the doors opened, the smell on that floor was SO bad, it made me gag. It was a carpet cleaner guy who wanted on, but we were too full so he had to catch the next one. We didn't know what to expect when we got up to Mom's floor, but she was OK. Thank GOD! First thing she wanted to do was go to bed and sleep. She didn't care about anything else. She was so upset and tired from all the excitement, she just had to sleep. Can't say I blame her. I came home and took a nap myself after work.

Well all ended out OK for Mom. I feel bad about everyone else in the building though, that weren't as lucky. So sad.

Here are the firemen on one of the balconys at Mom's building, from the newspaper. I tried to paste the article from the newspaper, but it didn't work.