A Step at a Time

I'm Making the Switch

2007-07-09T15:49:00.001-06:00

I'm switching to over Wordpress and true to my indecisive nature it only took me 7 months to do it.
If all goes well I won't be posting here anymore.
Here's the link where I will be: http://debbiemomof2.wordpress.com/

P.S. My Fun Monday post for this week is below and I'll still be receiving those comments.

Happy Birthday!!

2007-07-09T11:48:00.000-06:00

We have two young friends whose birthday it is today. L (a boy) is turning 10 and M (a girl) is turning 6.

Happy Birthday!!

We love you!

Fun Monday

2007-07-09T08:03:00.000-06:00

Fun Monday's assignment this week comes from Deb's Melon Patch. She asked us to:

Show your favorite place to relax. It can be a chair, corner, ledge, or limb. :) Get out those cameras and take pics or just write how you feel when you are in your "zone".

I've been thinking for a few years that I'd like to create a place in the house. A kind of Zen place that is special. I could go there to pray or meditate, and I could decorate it with things that I cherish. It couldn't be a whole room because my house isn't big enough. Perhaps just a corner? At any rate, I haven't gotten around to it so I take my moments where I can.

In the summer my favourite place is my couch swing. It's a Canadian Tire special and it's about eight years old. In other words, it ain't fancy! But I love it. It's where I sit to read, talk on the phone, and watch the kids play. Sometimes all four of us squeeze on there (and it is a squeeze - Adrian and I are not small!), swing away, and suck on Popsicles. My favourite memory was the four of us doing just that one evening while it was raining. We were sitting around the fire when the rain began. The swing has an awning, so we huddled in there roasting marshmallows, and talking. The kids still talk about that night.

My second favourite place is this hammock below. We got it as a wedding gift. It's getting a bit ratty but it's still holding up quite well. It's gotten a lot of abuse - I mean - use, too. We have this huge play centre but every kid that comes over is drawn to this thing like a bee to honey. They pile on there trying to flip each other off. Adrian, the kids, and I have had some of our own flipping matches, too, actually. Obviously, that's not relaxing. What is relaxing is having the children cuddle on there with me and read. Lovely times. Again - not fancy, but I'm not a fancy kinda gal I guess!

Both of these spots are subject to mosquito infestations! A hammock isn't relaxing when you've got mosquitoes trying to bite your ass! That's when we retreat to the house and use the couch.

More Swimming and a Burn

2007-07-07T09:54:00.001-06:00

Silly me. :(

Going Batty

2007-07-06T12:39:00.001-06:00

A couple of nights ago I went to bed early and was sleeping peacefully, when Adrian came barging in. He’d been downstairs watching a movie. “There’s a bat in the house!” he exclaimed. After I recovered from being jolted awake, I was suddenly thrust into terror. A bat!!! In the house??? How? I reacted quickly…by hiding under the covers. Adrian came back in the room asking for the nets I'd bought the kids for pond dipping. He thought he could try to catch it. I stayed under the covers. “Now it’s upstairs!!” he reported, helpfully. I was royally freaking out at that point. What if it finds it's way into our room? I got up and quickly shut the door and then returned to my post under the blankets. What if Adrian doesn’t catch it?? I’d have to deal with the thing the next day. “I’m gonna open the door and see if it’ll fly out!” he called. Oh God. Please fly out. Please fly out. “Yup. It flew out”, he said.

Sigh. Relief. But then I couldn't sleep. I kept imagining more bats. No. There couldn't be anymore, right? Even though we didn't know how the one bat got inside in the first place. An hour later I finally eased myself back to sleep. The next morning I was telling my friend, L, about it and she nicely informed me that her aunt once had a bat infestation in her house. Apparently, they were all in her attic. Great! Now when I walk into a room (especially in the basement) I can’t help looking up to the ceiling for a bat that may or may not be there. Oh yeah. I’m getting Adrian to look in the attic this weekend.

TGIF

2007-07-06T12:35:00.000-06:00

I haven’t worked outside of the home in eight years – since R was born – and I’m getting the feeling that when I do back someday it’s gonna be a difficult transition. Why? Because I’m so happy today is Friday and J’s horse camp is finally over and I don’t have to get up early (7:30!! – which I know isn’t that early in the real world) to drive her. Everyday. Because they only go to school part time I usually only have to get up early twice per week. It’s a tough life, I know.

Swimming with Friends

2007-07-05T17:06:00.000-06:00

J is at a horse back riding camp all of this week for the whole of each day. On Tuesday and Wednesday R had friends over to swim. Today we had the neighbours (Colours of Dawn) over. She brought her three girls plus two others that were with her for the day. R was so out numbered! He was the typically annoying boy, though, and kept splashing them and trying to dunk them. What he forgot though, was that there was five of them, and only one of him. Oh yeah. They ganged up on him good. And it was good, too. He had a blast.

R's friend, L.

Afternoon at the River

2007-07-05T16:59:00.000-06:00

While J is at her horse back riding camp, I keeping R occupied doing play dates with his friend. His friend L came over yesterday, and they played in the pool. Afterwards we met his mom at the river with her day home kids. It's a lovely place to hang out with the kids. You do have to be careful, though, because the current is swift. We put our chairs in the water to be close, and to dabble our toesies, of course.

Tiger Cutie

2007-07-05T16:55:00.000-06:00

Some of the older girls were doing face painting at the year end picnic for our home-school program. J (DD) loved it, but R (DS) wasn't into it.

Peter

2007-07-05T16:54:00.001-06:00

I actually don't know how to find you. Could you please leave the link to your new blog? Thanks!

I forgot!!

2007-07-03T10:00:00.000-06:00

So sorry for those who popped over to see Fun Monday. It totally slipped my mind. I'll catch it next time.

PS I believe the assignment was to talk about our favourite summer time activity from our childhood. Swimming was always my favourite as a girl. Everyday was spent at the pool, and I loved camping and swimming at the lake.

"Summer timmmme and the livin' is easyyyy..."

2007-07-03T08:05:00.000-06:00

We have summer weather! Hoorah. And with that hot sticky weather comes days spent by the pool (and some time doing yard work), and less time on the computer.

Housework is a challenge for me normally because…well. I don’t like it! But I’m having a harder time these days keeping up with the house because we’re outside so much and when we’re inside I’m tired. Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

I might get a chance to get on here later today to catch up with reading and maybe even do a post. I hope you all are enjoying summer where you are.

I really do love singing that summertime song from which I stole the title for this post:

Summertime and the livin is easy

Fish are jumpin and the cotton is fine

Oh your daddys rich and your mama is good lookin

So hush little baby, dont you cry

One of these mornings

Youre goin to rise up singing

Then youll spread your wings

And youll take the sky

But till that morning

Theres a nothin can harm you

With daddy and mommy standin by

Happy Canada Day!

2007-07-01T10:24:00.000-06:00

We enjoyed a wonderful Canada Day celebration last night at the family of Colours of Dawn. Awesome food, great conversation, and a delightful fireworks display. The kids had a marvelous time, too, and met some new friends. And the 15 minutes or so of torrential rain just added to the excitement.

I don't have any pictures because I actually forgot my camera. Someone (I think it was Peter)commented on my previous post reminding me to bring my camera. When I read it I thought: OF course! I NEVER forget it. And then I go and forget it. I was jinxed I tell ya!

I'm very certain that Dawn will show photos of the evening on her blog soon, and maybe Sirdar will too.

It was a great time, guys. Thanks again for having us!

We have another party tonight at some friends from the next subdivision. Looking forward to the food - uh, I mean fireworks - there too.

Pool Time

2007-06-29T08:42:00.000-06:00

(picture from last summer)

I hope the weather smartens up soon. It doesn’t feel like summer has started because it just hasn’t been that warm.

Before I bore you to death with the talk of weather I’ll move on. It’s on my mind lately because we’re finally setting up our pool. It’s one of those large soft sided ones, and it’s a big pain in the butt to put up. We love it once it’s up, but it’s the before and after that I detest. I was a little worried that it wouldn’t be in that great of shape because we didn’t store it that well. It should be completely dry when it’s put away for the winter, but last fall I had some difficulty.

We drained the pool, which takes awhile. It is over 5000 gallons of water after all. Then I borrowed my dad’s wet/dry shop vacuum and sucked up the puddles. The next step is to use towels to finish drying the rest. Keep in mind that the sides are flopped down, so it’s quite an arduous task physically crawling around underneath the material. The first year I took the pool down this method worked like a charm. Last year, however, it decided to rain before I was finished. So, everything I had just dried was now wet. I proceeded to dry the pool again, but it rained...again! In the end, we just wrapped up the pool and put it away. The pool is fine, though. Not icky or mouldy. Whew. A relief because those pools aren’t cheap to replace.

So, now I have the pool out there waiting to be filled. It’ll be a couple of days before we can swim in it, and even then it’ll be verrrry cold. We’re actually buying a heater for it this year. It’s a wood burning type. Doesn’t that sound cool? Adrian found it online. I’ll show a picture once it arrives.

Good for Everyone

2007-06-26T16:43:00.000-06:00

I found this on My4Kids. I was curious enough to check out my own blog. I guess I'm not that naughty. How 'bout that? I'm gonna have to step up my game. I was hoping for a PG rating a least. I did chuckle when I read this:

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words: fart (1x)

That must have been the reference to musical fart machine we played with at the science museum...uh oh!! I said it twice now!! I wonder if it'll affect my rating.

Fun Monday

2007-06-25T12:32:00.001-06:00

Fun Monday this week is hosted by Swampwitch of Anecdotes, Antidotes, and Anodes. Her assignment was to show our shelves. And a place that we store stuff.

I've learned through this exercise that I don't have a lot of shelves. I'm not a big knick knack person, I guess. And I need more book shelves. I have plenty of books with no home. Mind you, we don't have a big house to put lots of book shelves!

This is the main one in my living room. My dad made it for me.

I used to be an Usborne children's book consultant, and so I have many of their books which is great because I love them.
Adrian's David Eddings collection in hard back. He has several more soft covers. He likes fantasy books, obviously.
This is that shelf in the kitchen that I avoid showing. Homeschool, craft stuff, and my paper monster usually reside here.

I thought that I'd zoom in on this from the above pic. This was Adrian's idea. Wouldn't it be great to make casts of our kids hands? It does sound nice...but also creepy. Look at the pictures on the tin!! The scene from "Carrie" comes to mind. Ick.
My son's bookshelf. He made that ceramic skull at a birthday party this year.My daughter's book shelf. My dad made this for her.
My dad made me this, too! Love it.
This is in a closet in the basement. Toys and more homeschool stuff.

I was not brave enough to show the whole storage room. Here are the many coats that we don't wear. Time to go through them and donate, I see.

A Great Weekend with One Scary Bit

2007-06-25T11:56:00.000-06:00

We had a great and busy weekend.

Saturday morning was spent frantically cleaning my house. For some reason I let it become a complete tip, and then when I’m about to have guests I have to stress myself out by cleaning for 3 hours straight.

After the cleaning frenzy, my friend, G, and her daughter came over. Adrian was away getting his canoe certification for the Junior Forest Wardens and her husband was away on a business trip. We were able to visit on our own for hours and it was awesome! The kids played so well together, too. I pulled out the paddling pool since we don’t have our big one set up yet and they played in and around that for quite awhile. Then in the evening we sat around the fire and roasted hot dogs. Well, G and I sat around the fire while the kids ran all over the acreage. They didn’t leave until after 10:30 pm. It was a marvellous visit.

On Sunday we went with my parents (and my friend’s son) to the Telus World of Science. They had free tickets to see Dinosaurs Alive on the IMAX screen. The movie had spectacular effects. After the movie we roamed around the museum for awhile.

The kids enjoyed the weather station where they stood in front of a green screen and pretended they were forecasting the weather.
My dad got in there with Dd. It kinda looks like he's strangling her, but he's not!
Ds always like this stationary bike where you have to peddle hard in order to get the light, radio, and train to work. The boys are building a bee hive here.
The big piano is a huge hit, too.
The Body room has many fun activities including this musical fart machine.
My dad.Dd on a huge tongue.

The only hiccup was losing Dd. We were looking at some displays on the second floor, and decided to move on to somewhere else. "Let's go" I said to the kids. I actually thought she was with us. Next thing I know we can't find her anywhere. It was like in a movie. I ran around frantically trying to find her, all the while imagining the worst. It felt like forever but it was only a minute or two. The place was so busy, and I just couldn't see her anywhere I looked. I quickly walked up to one the museum attendants and told him that I couldn't find my daughter, and told him what she was wearing. Then immediately started running around again searching. He got on his radio, and said. "Okay, we have a missing girl. Her name is #$, and she's wearing a pink dress with denim carpis". I was happy someone was helping but it also made it real that my daughter was gone! "Mam", he says. "They have a girl matching that description down at the front desk." What?! How did she get down there?!! I looked down over the railing and sure enough. There she was. Relief just washed over me, but then it was quickly replaced with concern for Dd. She must be so scared. I could see her little face from where I was standing. I ran down to her, and gave her a huge hug. It was such a close call. Apparently an attendant saw her on her own and took her down to the desk. It happened that fast. This time it was a museum attendant, but it could have been a sicko taking her that fast. Scary scary scary. And it's my fault for not watching more closely. Well, I've learned my lesson.

Nature Video

2007-06-22T11:03:00.000-06:00

I saw this incredible video on Free Range Learning. I just had to share. The people's reaction in the background adds to the excitement. Amazing!!

Please note: It has a happy ending. :)

Sunny Afternoon

2007-06-21T18:50:00.000-06:00

Please, be tolerant of my many recent pictures. I've been enjoying the camera lately, and have not been in a writing mood.

Pond Side

2007-06-21T18:46:00.000-06:00

*Update* - In the comments section, Peter wrote a lovely poem to go with this photo. I wanted to share it with those of you who might not always read the comments.

Thanks, Peter! I'm just not sure of the "Oh, no not again" line. ;) What are you trying to saying there??

And now Blogger won't let me keep the spaces in the poem. :(

~ We Sit Alone ~

We sit alone

Just you and I

Alone with our thoughts

Alone with our dreams.

Looking out across the lake

What mysteries lie within?

Deep and blue

What lurks so within?

We sit alone

Just you and I

But Mum is not far behind

Camera at the ready

What will she find?

Perhaps a picture of the lake?

"Oh, no not again".

Reflections

2007-06-21T18:45:00.000-06:00

Creature Pictures

2007-06-20T22:23:00.000-06:00

The kids and I have had a lovely few days. We've taken a couple of walks at our nature sanctuary and then even just been taking time in our own yard to experience wild life and not so wild life.
We saw this family of ducks at the Sanctuary this afternoon. This is as close as I could zoom into them. We followed them around the huge pond to a spot where there is a telescope set up and watched them for quite awhile.
Just as I was setting up to zoom in and try to get a better shot of this little guy, the batteries in my camera decided to quit. Ah well. :)

We saw this cutie pie on our walk as well. He stayed there for several minutes until I dared to creep closer. Then he hopped away.

This pretty fella was in our back yard. We had fun following him about for awhile.
She just loves caterpillars. At one point, she thought that she'd lost this little one. Then shortly after in the van, he crawled out of her shirt. It was quite an exciting moment.
A quick snuggle with Max.
Our pretty lady, Ceo.

Feeding my neighbour's horse, JR, some grass.

Bad Title

2007-06-19T20:40:00.000-06:00

Okay. My previous post: "Can You See This?" really was just referring to all of the previous pictures on my blog. There were no pictures published with that particular post. I should have titled it: "Can You See These?" or "Do You See All of the Previous Photos?" or "I Can't See the Photos on My Blog - Can you?". Anyway, sorry for the confusion...if there was any.

I have given myself a bit of a chuckle over this, though. Silly me!! But, if you can't laugh at yourself then who can ya laugh at, right? :}

Can You See This?

2007-06-18T10:17:00.000-06:00

Can you see all of the pictures posted on my blog? I can't and I'm not sure if it's due to my s-l-o-w-w-w Internet connection or if I have to re-post the pictures. I've been publishing them as "large" lately rather than "medium". I wonder if that's causing a problem. Could you please comment if you're not seeing the pics? Thanks!!

Update: I can see them now, and I received a comment from Carla that she can see them, too. It must have just been my connection. Darn thing. :)

Fun Monday

2007-06-18T09:10:00.001-06:00

Molly from Return of the White Robin was the host of today's Fun Monday. She asked us to show something that hangs on our wall. She wants it to be "fun, interesting, endearing, sentimental, or otherwise enticing". This is what I came up with:

My mother-in-law's cross stitching, a friend's painting, and our kids' art board...

Adrian's mom made this for him. It's a map of the area where he grew up in England. Adrian has a real fondness for maps. He collects them.
A friend of ours gave us this painting when we got married. It's huge (you can see the light switch on the bottom right). We were at his place one day, and he was showing us some of his recent paintings. I was going on and on about how much I liked this one. (I had an affinity for pathways back then, too.) So, he gave it to us...likely to shut me up. ;)

This is a large bulletin board that is on the back of our kitchen cupboards. I guess it's not technically a wall, but like last Fun Monday, I'm stretching the rules. :) It holds the children's art work, the odd bill or speeding ticket.

Playing with my camera...

2007-06-18T08:51:00.000-06:00

I got my camera back from Best Buy. It was in getting looked at because the flash was working intermittently. They had it for about a month and say they've fixed the problem. Of course, I won't know for awhile. While they had the camera, they phoned several times asking for more details on the problem. I kept trying to come up with creative ways to say: "the flash works sometimes and then sometimes it doesn't" but they phoned again to ask the same question. Granted it would hard to diagnose a problem that doesn't happen consistently. I should have told them to take the camera to an important indoor event (like their husband's Citizenship ceremony) and then the flash would stop working.

Anyway, I have it back and I'm happy - as you can tell by all of my recent posted pictures!

Thanks again, mom, for lending me your camera this last month! Much appreciated.

A Sunny Afternoon...

2007-06-18T08:38:00.000-06:00

The kids love these big Frisbee things I recently bought at Canadian Tire. In these pics you see them using them as shields. I just love listening to them laugh and play.

To my Dad, my Husband, and all of you Fathers out there:

2007-06-17T10:41:00.000-06:00

Blogging Questions

2007-06-16T10:43:00.000-06:00

Over at Joy’s blog she has a post on blog etiquette. She has a bunch of questions with her answers regarding the subject. I won’t put the questions here, because I agree with 99% of her answers anyway. Go check them out. However, while I was leaving a nice long winded comment on her blog, I thought of additional questions.

1. How important is spelling and, for that matter, grammar in both your own blog posts and while commenting on other people’s blogs?

I’ve wondered about this one because I’m not a great speller, and probably make a tonne of grammatical errors. Generally, I think, people understand. I mean most of us in the blogging world are amateurs, right?

When it comes to my own blog, I’ve gotten in the habit of writing the post (especially if it’s long) in Word. It doesn’t catch everything. Mistakes still slip through, but I feel pretty confident that there won’t be errors. And I don’t want to know if there are, okay?? Except that I used to keep spelling “maybe” as “may-be” until G called me on it one day. I really thought the word was meant to be hyphenated, and it never came up in spell-check. Huh.

On the other hand, there isn’t a spell checker when you’re commenting. I wish there was because, like I said, I have spelling issues. I always misspell definitely and unfortunately. It’s amazing how many times I use those two words, and yet I still can’t get it into my head how to spell them. So, when I have the time, I copy my comment into Word to spell check. Neurotic? MAYBE. Many times, though, I just fire a comment off and don’t read it until it’s already posted. Then I see my errors. When THAT happens, should you write ANOTHER comment apologizing for the errors on the previous comment? My non-blogging friends who read this are probably thinking that I’ve lost it at this point!

By the way, I’ve read that some people save their posts to drafts and come back and proof read them later before they’re published. I do NOT do that. I write and then I post.

2. Is it okay to comment on other people’s comments on other people’s blogs?

Sigh. Did you follow that question?? I like it when people do that in my comments section. Great conversations can ensue.

3. (I just thought of this one after reading Emma’s blog today.) Is there a polite amount of time in which you should complete a meme if you’re tagged? And, for that matter, is it rude to not complete one if you’re tagged?

In my opinion. No and No. Others may disagree.

4. When you’re a new visitor/commenter to someone’s blog should you introduce yourself? Ex: “Hi! I’m dropping by from Heather’s blog. Great picture!” Or do you just jump into commenting?

I’ve done both. Sometimes, I think it’s nice to say where you heard of their blog. That’s the fun part about the blogging world. The tangled web.

Now that I've written these questions and my answers I'm feeling they're kinda pointless. In the end, blogging is supposed to fun. Well, that’s why I do it anyway. I know that it would quickly lose its attraction if there were suddenly rules I had to follow. Or do people find comfort in rules? It could go back to school days where they posted a set of rules on the wall.

We could have a blogging version.

Our Blogging Rules

We write.

We read.

We share.

We be nice.

Nature Walk

2007-06-15T17:38:00.001-06:00

We had a lovely walk out at our local Nature Sanctuary this afternoon. And there's so much more water than I've seen in a long time which means there were LOTS of birds to see. Ohhh, how I wish I had a camera that had a super dooper zoom on it. It was just a great walk. I can't wait to go back. With mosquito repellent this time, though.

Walking with Dinosaurs

2007-06-15T12:57:00.000-06:00

We just booked tickets to see "Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live Experience". I'm pretty excited about it because the production looks so amazing. The tickets are expensive for all of us but I think it'll be worth it. The show has life size models of dinosaurs walking around! Check out how they make them HERE. (click on The Dinosaurs and then Video) We have to wait until the end of July, but I think the kids are gonna love it...or be totally terrified. One of the two.

I'm wondering if I should show them the making-of footage before we go or afterward. I don't want to ruin the mysticism of the show, but it also might prevent them from being too frightened.

The Long Walk

2007-06-15T08:46:00.000-06:00

What are friends for anyway? They are for calling up when you’re walking in the ditch down the side of an industrial road on your way to Wall-Mart while your vehicle is at Fountain Tire getting the tires changed. Thanks, S! So, my cel phone bill will probably be huge. Ah well. It was nice to talk to someone all that way. It took me 45 minutes to walk a distance that normally would take 7 minutes to drive. Fountain Tire said it’d be a 3 hour wait for my van (no, they don’t take appointments) and we (and by we I mean Adrian) couldn’t get it together for him to meet me at Fountain Tire so I wouldn’t HAVE to wait for 3 hours.

I can’t stand waiting in auto fix-it waiting rooms. They’re so depressing. I even brought a book but didn’t feel like reading it. (The Girls by the way has been a little slow going for me.) The teachers at our home school program asked some parents to write down our (hopefully positive) experiences with the program. They’re having a meeting with the Education Board regarding its viability. So, I did take the first half hour of my 3 hour vigil to write down some things, and then got the bright idea of walking to Wal-Mart for a notebook. It’s not that far, I thought. Well, it was. And trudging down a road in an industrial area does not a lovely afternoon walk make. There were semi trucks and trailers, speeding pick-ups with dust flying in my face, dead birds on the road (okay there was only one dead bird, but still!), and a train. And it was hot. And I was sweating. But I did make it to Wall-Mart, and I bought a notebook. I turned around and headed back down the dusty road with the 45 minute walk stretching out before me. I was pretty fatigued at that point. (No, I’m not in good shape, okay?!) S had to get off the phone and go to work. Then Fountain Tire called. Guess what? My van was done early. Great. I was still a 30 minute walk away. Figures. They say it’ll take 3 hours, but it turned out to be only 2, and I went on The Long Walk for an hour and a half of it. I decided to call on my friend, G. We had a nice talk. Laughed. I’m freaking hilarious when I'm all grimy after an hour of walking. Then G had to hang up. At least I could see the Fountain Tire sign ahead. It was wavering like a mirage. Hanging in the air in the distance. I was getting close. I knew I would make it….Okay, I am dramatizing a bit now. But it was nice to see my van finally. I drove home to type up what I wrote for the school on my computer. I never did use that notebook.

One Big Mess - One Reluctant Little Girl

2007-06-13T09:47:00.000-06:00

My daughter loves our dress-up closet.

She just doesn't like cleaning it up - as seen by these pictures.

A Tall Dandelion

2007-06-13T09:44:00.000-06:00

Caterpillar Issue in Fort Mac.

2007-06-12T15:57:00.000-06:00

My previous post was about how cranky I'm feeling today.

At least I don't have thousands of caterpillars crawling all over my house like this person. :)

One of those days...

2007-06-12T14:24:00.000-06:00

Have you ever felt really happy one day and than really crappy the next? That’s the way I am today. Yesterday was a great day. I cleaned my messy kitchen, talked on the phone a bit, read quite a bit with the kids, watched my daughter at horse back riding lessons…and on and on. It was just an all around good day. It had all of the elements that a good day makes:

I woke up happy and rested. This part is very important. If you wake up cranky it just sets off the whole day in the wrong direction.

The kids were happy. Also important. When they’re cranky, it kinda makes me cranky.

I spent some time on the computer…but not too much time. There wasn’t much guilt factor there.

I got stuff accomplished. I love that feeling. Makes me feel like I got my shtuff together.

I visited with a friend on the phone. This always cheers me up.

I was organized enough to have something defrosted for supper BEFORE we went to horseback riding thus cutting down on stress when we got home at 5:30 pm.

We had curry for supper. Yummmy. Korma. My favourite.

Adrian and I had a nice evening together.

Today is the just the opposite of all of that.

Woke up tired and cranky. The kids had a big fight this morning which really pissed me off. I’ve wasted way too much time on this blasted computer already. I should even be leaving right now or I’ll be late to pick up the kids. Not to mention the internet is still cutting out all of the time. I’m not getting anything done because…I’m on here! I did talk with my friend, but she’s having a worse day than I am. I have no idea what we’re having for supper AND Adrian and I had an argument on the phone.

So far…this day sucks!! I hope it gets better soon.

Fun Monday was edited.

2007-06-11T10:29:00.000-06:00

I'm new at this, okay?? ;) I posted my pictures below and THEN decided to add a few more. So, if you looked earlier that post has since been amended.

Fun Monday

2007-06-11T08:08:00.000-06:00

Joy from a Spot of T is hosting Fun Monday this week. For those five people (out of my thirteen readers) who don’t know what Fun Monday is: Different people host it every week and come up with themes or assignments. Joy wants us to show our kitchens.

This is the first time I’m participating. AND I’m cheating. How is that for good beginnings? How am I cheating? These are old pictures. Ones that have already been posted on my blog. You see, my kitchen is a disaster zone at the moment. I did have a fleeting thought that it would make a more interesting picture, but then I came to my senses. So here is my kitchen – when it’s clean.

This is to the right of the sink.

This is to the right of the fruit bowl from the above photo.
This is just SOME of our homeschool stuff. This space can be very cluttered. That is a seedling tray on the left. And the red and white thing is a homemade card from our friends Paul & Robin to congratulate Adrian on his Canadian Citizenship.

These drawers are underneath that cluttery spot. I took this photo this morning and you may notice at the top how cluttery it really is! You can see a bit of the chairs in each shot. I LOVE these drawers. My dad made them to fit this spot specifically. Those are my children's hand prints. In the drawers are all of our craft stuff. A drawer for scissors, a drawer fo paper, etc.

These are the chairs to the bar like counter. We argue over who sits in which chair a lot.

Our dining room table is actually around the corner from the kitchen, but this is where a lot of the action happens. You can see in the background those colourful drawers.

Like most people, we do a lot of different things in our kitchen.

We entertain...

We make Guy Fawkes dummies...

We bob for apples...

We play...

We do play dough...

We make crafts...

Decorate Easter Eggs...

We do science experiments...
Oh yeah. And we cook...

To see more Fun Monday kitchen pictures go HERE to see the links.

I hope you all have a wonderfully fun Monday!!

A Neighbourhood Parrr-tay

2007-06-10T09:03:00.000-06:00

We had our third annual lobster feast with the neighbours last night. Three sets of neighbours attended. The ones across, next door, and around the corner. The ones from around the corner, Sirdar and family, are the newbies to this particular shindig. We allow them, once in awhile, to visit from the ghetto side to the decent side of the neighbourhood. ;) My parents, who do not live in the neighbourhood, also came.

When we were setting up for the party the skies were clear and the air was warm. We decided, as we had on a previous year, to host the party on our screened-in deck. We pulled our dining room table out there as well as a couple of smaller tables for food. By five o’clock the skies were dark and it was raining. We were dry because the deck is covered, but we were cold, too! We have a perfectly warm house but noooo. We were outside eating our lobsters (and steak for those who chose not to have lobster) wearing coats and shivering. Great hosts, heh? Everyone was a sport about it, though. After all, if they wanted to eat indoors they would’ve had to help drag the table back in!

"Double, double toil and trouble..."

Sirdar and my dad looking on to the cooking of the lobster from the deck. A couple of scaredy cats! Well, it was raining, too. I guess I'll give them that. ;)

Some people's lobsters were bigger than others...

And then bigger still...

Most people stayed until about 9:30 when frost started to set in…I’m kidding. There was no frost, but I could see people’s breath when they spoke. We came in the house at that point and Sirdar and his gang stayed awhile longer. We had a great conversation. What I mean is, the guys stayed in their part of the house while Dawn (who has recently started her own blog) and I had our own tête-à-tête in our part of the house. The guys even tried once to weasel in but we set them straight soon enough. :-)

Then around 11:00pm, four of the kids came running upstairs dressed to the nines in costumes. I just had to grab a picture of that!

All in all, it was another successful neighbourhood bash.

Lawn Mower Therapy

2007-06-09T10:16:00.000-06:00

I love the smell of freshly mowed grass. And the look of it, too. So crisp and neat.

I spent Thursday evening on the lawn tractor. I actually don’t mind it because it’s like an escape. I sing loudly because no one can hear me. Or I think about things…life. Sometimes I vent my anger because, again, no one can hear me. It’s therapeutic really. Ohhh, if my lawn tractor could talk.

I like going up and down the rows, making neat and tidy patterns. The best patterns are those that push the grass out to the sides. Now that I think about it, sometimes that’s the therapy. Thinking about nothing except the methodical patterns made by the lawn mower.

Happy Anniversary To Us!

2007-06-08T07:56:00.001-06:00

It's our eleventh wedding anniversary today. :-)

Click HERE to see this classic scene of Fred and Barney singing "Happy Anniversary" to Wilma. You just have to scroll down a little bit to see the video.

Comments Catch-up

2007-06-07T12:46:00.000-06:00

Just so ya know….my internet is acting up….AGAIN!! It’s because there are leaves on the trees now. They're getting in the way of receiving the signal, I guess. Or so I’ve been told anyway. Anyone who has been reading my blog for awhile knows that this happens from time to time. The connection works for a minute or two than blips out. So, I haven’t been posting or commenting on other blogs - except for a couple. I suppose I’d be able to if I worked at it for a couple of hours, but after two or three attempts I know I have to stop or I’ll just end up getting too angry. And I don’t wanna be angry. Not over a stupid internet connection.

There are some blogs that I’ve managed to read but the internet cut out before I could comment. So, I'll do it here. :-)

Terri – Your day at the fun park looked awesome. The rides looked thrilling and terrifying. Especially that lying down one. Crazy! And your scrapbooks look lovely. I can’t remember if I commented on your pictures of the fireworks. (I can’t get into look.) They’re gorgeous shots.

Heather – Pac Man IS a fun game. The kids and I are playing Super Mario Bros. on my mom’s old Nintendo. We’ve been having a blast.

Happy 6th Birthday, Haley!! The wind got in the way of my daughter’s birthday celebration, too. How frustrating. I can handle the cold. You just bundle up. But wind is annoying.

The fishing wheel contraption sounds cool.

Re: Going to Minnesota. Seeing old friends can be so fun! I hope you have a great time.

Have you ever tried chocolate covered Hob Nobs for Smores? They are ab-solutley THE best. Yummmy.

AND it sounds like you were living in a customer service nightmare! I can just imagine the frustration while you were shuffling through all of those darn shoe boxes. How irritating!

Carla – I NEED TO KNOW what happened next after you got out of the cab!! Your descriptive writing is awesome. I felt like I was right with you in the cab.

Joy – I feel exhausted after reading about your Wednesday of running around! Whew. I’ve had days like that where I feel like all I’ve done is run around. I’ve never heard of the store Nine West.

Emma – Although I don’t keep up on Oilers news (don’t hate me!) I do remember the Chris Pronger thing. I remember that he said it was a private matter, but I didn’t know what exactly. Hmmm. What a doe-dod he was! I do have to admit I just skimmed the rest of the sports stuff. ;)

Now. I really hope after all of this typing that this successfully publishes.

Junior Forest Warden Camping Weekend

2007-06-04T08:24:00.001-06:00

We had a MARVELOUS time this weekend!! The lake was GOR-GE-OUS. I couldn't stop taking pictures of it in fact.

We had the use of a private facility. Mine and another family went Friday night, while the rest of the JFW was due to arrive Saturday morning. It was lovely to have the place to ourselves for one evening.

Soon after we set up our tent and got settled the dad of the other family started fishing with the kids. Ds wasn't into it very much but Dd seemed to really take to it.

Ds and a buddy taking in the view.
Ds loved this teeter totter.

I like our new tent. There's plenty of room for all of us.

Part of the area available to us for camping. You can see benches circling the fire pit and the shelter at the back that we used as a makeshift kitchen.
Dd fishing at dusk.

(if you click on the photo to enlarge you can see all of the mosquitoes heading for her!)

The water was just like glass.
We saw a lot of beaver and muskrat. I love my mom's camera, but I am missing the zoom on mine.

Saturday...

One of the activities with the children was a pond (lake) study. They all enjoyed examining the creatures they scooped out of the water.

One of the leaders in our group is a very knowledgeable ecologist. He took the kids on a walk through the bush educating them about the different plant life.

We spent sooo much time in the canoe which was wonderful and peaceful. We enjoyed seeing wildlife and spending time together.

I managed to twist around and take a photo of Ds, his friend, and his friend's mom. I've never learned to steer a canoe (don't make fun!) so this kind lady went with us. We had a great time together.

The one and only thing that put a damper on the weekend were the darn mosquitoes. They were like little kamikazies. Repellent nor smoke from the fire did nothing to deter the little buggers. So besides pictures we have many MANY bites as souvenirs from the weekend.

New Shoes

2007-05-31T17:19:00.000-06:00

My daughter loves her new shoes. Cute little tootsies. :-)

You Are All Kind and Generous

2007-05-31T16:51:00.000-06:00

As I was belting out this tune in my van today (my favourite place to sing) I found myself thinking of you all out there in blogland. You all are so kind and generous. Thank-you.

I have rich and wonderful friendships. My family loves me so much. My life is full. Yet I find there is a space in my heart for the friendships I make in this space. This virtual world. I even think of you at times out in the real world. What poem would Peter concoct from this experience? I wonder if Joy has been to this greenhouse? What does Heather's homeschooling day look like? Those roses remind me of Steffi's roses from her garden. More and more I find myself thinking of you all. Weird. But true.

So, this song is for you. Even if you don't like Natalie Merchant these words are powerful in their simplistic gratitude.

Dandelions

2007-05-31T14:12:00.000-06:00

A field of dandelions. Literally. There is so many this year. Not just in my own back yard, but I see them in all of the ditches as I drive our country roads. When I look at the dandelions I feel annoyance. I just mowed and yet here they are. An eye sore. A thorn in my side. Should I spray them? How do I get rid of these pesky weeds?

To my daughter, they are flowers to be marvelled. She loves their bright yellow petals. Please, don’t mow them, mommy. They’re so pretty, she says.

I think of Carla’s recent post on memories from her childhood. This is my version regarding dandelions:

When I was a child, I loved picking dandelions and giving them to my mother. It thrilled me when she put them in a glass of water and displayed them on the windowsill next to her roses. To me, they were just as precious and beautiful.

A Prattling-on Post

2007-05-31T13:43:00.000-06:00

Thank-you to everyone who commented on my “Ho Hum” post. Please, know that I wasn’t trying to whiny! I do appreciate all of you who keep coming back to read. I was just having one of those ho hum days. I’m good now. The weather is awesome, and I always feel better when I get to spend time outside.

What I don’t like, though, are mosquitoes. They are out in full force at the moment. Especially out here in the sticks. We were at a friend’s house for dinner last night in the city. We sat outside and there was nary a mosquito to be seen. Lucky city folk. We’ve got the open space, but the only way we can enjoy it is by dousing ourselves in deet. Ah well. Everything has its price. I swear, though, that I swatted at or got rid of a dozen mosquitoes out of our van this morning on the way to school. Sheesh. Open the door for a second – or five minutes in the kids’ case – and your vehicle gets inundated. I am loving our screened in deck at the moment. We did our homeschool stuff out there yesterday and it was lovely.

Today I finally returned the tent we bought last week from Canadian Tire. It said that it was a six man tent on the box, but we found it pretty squeezy for the four of us. Plus, the zipper was already splitting after just one use. I was supposed to bring it back last week but didn’t, and boy was I regretting that yesterday. When I tried to take it back they said that they had a 7 day limit on returns for tents!! I was over by four days! It didn’t say that anywhere on the receipt, but they said that there was a tag on the tent somewhere. We didn’t see that either, obviously. Adrian was pretty ticked. At them and me. We tried a different store, but we got the same news. We called Visa (since that’s what we used to buy it) and they said to try one more time, but this time leave the tent there at the store, and let them know we’ll be taking it up with Visa. In the end, though, I was finally able to return it today at our local store. Whew! Three times carting that thing into Canadian Tire, and I was finally able to leave it there AND get out $370.00 back. In the meantime we bought a different tent from Camper’s Village. Nice and big with a nice screened in veranda area.

Sheesh. I prattled on about the tent awhile there. I don't even feel like proof reading it right now. If it's confusing - sorry! :-)

We get to break the new tent in this weekend because we’re going camping with the Junior Forest Warden again. Yeah!! So looking forward to it.

Now, I’ve gotta go and pick up Dd from school. Ds stayed home sick with Adrian today.

I Guess I Need...

2007-05-30T12:51:00.000-06:00

I saw this little game on a couple of other blogs and decided to give it a try. Type "Your Name" needs as a Google search and see what comes up.

Debbie needs a saddle.
Debbie needs to find out about any licenses or necessary insurance.
Debbie needs a break.
A lot of people will probably hate me for this, but I think Debbie needs to give it up.
Debbie needs a feature rich system that will be easy to use.
However Deborah needs to lower her voice a few octaves, and learn not to belt out songs.
Do We Need More Alien Students Like Syed Maaz Shah? By Debbie
Debbie needs a lawyer ASAP.

Okay I think the "not belting out songs" one is a bit freaky! And so true. ;)

I also found another Debbie doing the same thing. And her blog is called DebbieLogic. Funny!

Ho Hum

2007-05-30T09:15:00.000-06:00

I need to get better at blogging, I think. Yes, I do this for myself and all, but I’ve gotten kind of lax with this lately. I don’t even know why.

I used to be all into reading new blogs and building new relationships and as a result, trying to encourage new people to come and read my blog. I don’t do that so much now. I keep up with the ones on my blogroll and that’s about it! Even just with that I find myself on here for an hour or more. Mind you, my computer is slow.

Now, I’m not putting myself down but some of you have awesome blogs. You get lots of comments, and even more readers. I’m not there. My family and a few friends read, I know that. And then there are my blogroll people. Most of them at least check in from time to time. My site reader says I get an average 35-40 people visiting per day. Not a lot, I know, but I’ve been satisfied with it so far. And like I said, I’m not really out there reading new blogs very much. But I just checked my site reader, and I’m down to 13 people per day! And not all of those 13 are actually staying to read! A lot of zeros. Yikes. So, I’m thinking I had better step up my game here and write something interesting.

...................................hmmmmm ...............................................eh hem.............................I got nothin’.

I even find that what I blog about isn’t always consistent. In the beginning this really was a journal of sorts. Now I just write when I think something interesting has happened and even then I don’t always write about it. Maybe because I’m feeling a little hum drum in my life. I’ve got a case of the blas right now. So, actually, maybe it’s not a case of me stepping up my game in the blogospehere. What I really need to do is step up my game in the real world and that will shine through in my writing.

...........................I suppose that could be it.....................

Who knows? Anyway, something’s chasing people away. :(

No worries. Sniff. I know I'm a good person. Sniff. People love me. Snuffle. Sniff Sniff.

I'm kidding, people!!! Just trying to get some perspective here. :) It's all good.

Now. I've got mowing to do. I have my lawn mower thingy attached to my lawn tractor now and the grass in my front ditch seems a foot long. Afterwards the kids and I will do some math outside. Then Adrian is coming home early. We're going into the city to buy a new tent. We just bought a new one but the zipper is already broken and it's really not big enough so we're returning it. We also want to look at a new pool.

It's a cracking day out there. I hope everyone (all 13 of you) enjoy it!

The Weekend...

2007-05-28T10:28:00.003-06:00

It was a good one. Beautiful weather and lots to do. Some of that “lots to do” didn’t get done, but that’s okay. We’ve got the whole summer to do yard work.

On Friday, as I posted about previously, we went to the local rip-off – I mean – carnival. The kids did have a bit of fun. Ds and I went on this lame – I mean – scary haunted house ride. Both kids went in to the dumpy shack – I mean – House of Mirrors. The biggest highlight to them was the bags of cotton candy. That night they stayed at my parent’s place for a sleep over. They used the new cots! And even stayed in them the whole night unlike previous times (on air mattresses) when they’d wake up at 2 am and practically manoeuvre my mom out of her own bed.

Ds in the haunted house ride waiting for the scary thing that didn't come.

You can see the hole in the mirror right by Ds's head. Nice maintenance carnival people.

On Saturday I joined them in town to watch the parade. I think it was a good one this year. My friend, L, is on the Carnival committee and it’s her job to organize the parade. Great job, L!! In past years there’d be more cars with politicians in them than floats. Not the case this year.

The kids liked this float.

After the parade, we had lunch with my parents then came home. That’s when the yard work began. Only I didn’t get as much accomplished as I would have liked because SOMEBODY (Adrian) didn’t put the lawnmower thingy on the lawn tractor. And before you say anything about being a strong independent woman, the lawnmower thingy is too heavy for me to lift and drag over to the tractor. And by the way, I married a man for a reason. So he could lift heavy things. ;) Annnyway, because the lawn tractor wasn’t ready, and because the grass is getting so long I feel like we’re living in a jungle, AND because mosquitoes love long grass, I decided to mow the grass using our walk behind push mower. I got a lot done, too. We’re on acreage so I didn’t get everything done, but I mowed all around the house and where the kids play.

After supper, I was busy flaking out on the couch, when the phone rang. It was Sirdar’s wife inviting us over for a sit around the fire pit. I was considering declining because I was so comfortable reclining (ha!) but Ds started jumping around the room at the prospect of going over to their house. So, we decided to go. I’m glad we did, too. It was lovely to get out and visit. We rode our bikes over which was fun. We got there a little after 8 Pm and didn’t leave until…2 AM!!! That was me and the kids. Adrian stayed until after 4 AM!! A classic example of out-staying your welcome! And Adrian kindly drank through most of Sirdar’s whisky. Aren’t we wonderful guests? The kids had an absolute blast, though. Sirdar – your kids are awesome. They entertain my kids so beautifully and generously. Thank you.

Okay, So. We had a slowwwww Sunday morning. I think Adrian was actually still drunk from that night – I mean – morning. We got up, had breakfast, and played a bit of Junior Monopoly with the kids, then my friend, M, and her children showed up around 11:30 am. We had planned to go to Picnic in the Park in my home town. That was a fun time. Again the weather worked out and we all had a nice time. There was a huge bouncy jumper thing that the kids loved.

The bouncy jumpy thing.

There was an nine year old girl painting faces at the park. Apparently, this is supposed to be a cat face.

That was our weekend. It’s nice to have a busy once in awhile.

Swim against the current...

2007-05-26T13:29:00.000-06:00

I got this from Free Range Learning. Apparently the creator is putting them on t-shirts, etc. Heather also put it on her blog, but I wanted to share it, too. :)

A Huge Rip Off

2007-05-26T08:40:00.000-06:00

This is the last year that I'm paying $5.00 for three darts to throw at balloons in order to get a little stuffed frog. OR $7.00 to scoop four rubber duckies out of a tub of water in order to get a stuffed snake and polar bear. AND it's the last time I pay $12.00 to go on rickety, dusty, broken down boring rides.

I'm sure you've guessed it by now. It's carnival season!

Last night I took the kids to my home town carnival. Was the carnival always this bad?? I wonder if it's gotten worse or if I'm just seeing it through adult eyes. Games that used to seem like so much fun (I find) are just stupid now. The carnies seem scummier looking and more bored with their jobs than ever before. And I know at these things that I'm going to get ripped off a bit, but I detest feeling totally ripped off. $9.00 for two measly bags of cotton candy!!

I could tell that even the kids were disappointed in the fair. But, I'll bet they'll want to go next year. I won't be paying, though. They're earning their own money for extra things they want now, and I think the carnival fits perfectly in that category. When they see what 5 bucks gets you at a carnival, I have a feeling they'll only be paying once, too.

I thought of Peter, actually, as I was walking through the carnival last night. I am NOT a poet, but I felt a poem coming on. Or at least, the subject of a poem. Something about the disillusionment of the carnival. How as a kid, the lights, sounds, smells, and busy activity of a fair is mesmerizing and thrilling. Seeing it all through adult eyes, however, is oh so disappointing. See? I'm not a poet!

This morning we're going to the parade. At least THAT'S free!

#2

2007-05-25T23:29:00.001-06:00

I saw this on Joy's blog.

You Are 2: The Helper

You always put on a happy face and try to help those around you.
You're incredibly empathetic and care about everyone you know.

Able to see the good in others, you're thoughtful, warm, and sincere.
You connect with people who are charming and charismatic.

At Your Best: You are deeply giving, altruistic, and humble. You devote your life to others while caring for yourself too.

At Your Worst: You are manipulative and enjoy making other people guilty.

Your Fixation: Rejection

Your Primary Fear: Being unworthy of love

Your Primary Desire: To be loved unconditionally

Other Number 2's: Mother Teresa, John Travolta, Princess Diana, Dr. Phil, and Mr. Rogers.

What Number Are You?

Don't I sound like a saint? hee hee. ;) Yup. Me and Mother Teresa.

Baby Spiders

2007-05-24T15:55:00.000-06:00

For those of you who don't read Free Range Living you've just gotta check THIS photo out. She managed to capture a bunch of baby spiders that had recently hatched. Amazing! Be sure to click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Crazy Weather

2007-05-23T13:55:00.000-06:00

I just took this picture. You see that white stuff???? Yes. That IS snow!! At the end of May.

Time to relax

2007-05-23T09:20:00.000-06:00

While Adrian, Ds, and the rest of the crew from our JFW club joined in on the Skills Challenge this past weekend and spent more than three hours trudging through the bush, Dd and I spent the afternoon by the lake. I volunteered as a judge and that is where I was stationed. Poor me! ;) Dirty and exhausted teams would periodically emerge from the trees, build a fire, and then move on. I had to mark them on team work, preparedness, safety, completion, etc. And let me tell ya. It was a hard job. Buuuut, I guess somebody had to do it!

Dd loved looking for treasures in the lake.
She spent a lot of time constructing a lady bug habitat. Do you see him there at the bottom of picture?

What to bring - what to bring...

2007-05-22T12:36:00.000-06:00

Adrian brought along his outfitter’s tent this past weekend because of the rain and wind. We still used a regular 6 man tent to sleep in, though. Man, we brought a lot of stuff this time. The van was full AND we brought a trailer. The trailer wasn’t full, though. To be fair, we brought extra stuff this time because it was a JFW event and we didn’t know what we’d need. Adrian was teaching a map and compass course and he needed stuff for that, too. But I did think of Heather a couple of times this weekend. How does she manage to fit everything in backpacks!? Adrian says that you buy specialized equipment. Like small stoves, etc.

I thought about what we bring and don’t really know how to cut it down.

Tent
Sleeping bags
Cots
Pillows
Clothes
Stove
Coolers
Pot/Pans Box
Plates, etc.
Weiner Sticks
Ax
And so on and so on…

Not to mention the challenge of keeping all of that shtuff organized! Sigh. It seems to be getting harder and harder to go camping.

And it’s hard finding a decent place to go, too. We don’t like going to crowded camp grounds. When we do we have more neighbours there then we have in our back yard! In the pre-children days we used to just drive until we found a nice spot by a creek and set up there. I feel uneasy now about driving around aimlessly without a specific destination in mind.

What has having kids done to me?! Taken my sense of adventure? Also, I didn’t used to be so obsessed with bringing all the right stuff. It must come from packing those darn diaper bags. When you’re in a mile long line up in Superstore with a screaming kid just one time you’re not likely to forget the animal crackers or sippy cup twice. I find it difficult to relax and just go with the flow like I was capable of doing before kids came into the picture. Now, I need a plan! And lists. Not one list – many lists. Must-not-forget-the-sand toys!! What will we do if we’re on a beach and my kids don’t have a shovel and pail??? I don’t want to be that mom that has to borrow from the other moms! Eeek. Tragedy! Sigh. I just thought of something else to put on a list. Learn-to-relax….yeah like that’s gonna happen. ;)

A complete waste of time, but what the hell? It was fun.

2007-05-21T18:40:00.000-06:00

I saw this over on Joy's blog and had to give it a try. It's called Portrait Illustration. It was pretty fun. My daughter helped me out with it - I even think it kinda looks like me.

A little warning, though. Don't click on it unless you have a half hour to kill. :)

JFW Weekend Camp-out

2007-05-21T17:52:00.001-06:00

We had a wonderful time this weekend at the Junior Forest Warden camp out. There were lots of awesome activities planned. Whew! Am I ever tired!

I just finished posting the pictures and details on our JFW blog, and have lost all desire to do the same here. To read about and see pictures from our fun weekend click HERE.

Medieval Camp

2007-05-18T10:37:00.000-06:00

The kids went to a Medieval day camp on Wednesday. It's put on by a homeschooling mom who created a business called Educational Adventures. She does a variety of workshops for both children and homeschooling parents. We've done several of them in the past. The kids come away with sooo many things that they've made from every camp they've attended.

She's a homeschooler that I aspire to. She's energetic and creative. She's not an Unschooler but she rarely uses work books, etc. either. She makes games and invents creative and original ideas to teach concepts. She believes in making education an adventure. She's an awesome person to talk to about homeschooling, and I'm grateful that I can call her a friend.

Ds getting knighted.

In the backgorund you can see the swords and shield the boys made.

Gathering around a fire...

2007-05-18T10:16:00.000-06:00

My parents.

I just love love love getting together with friends around the fire. This is how we spent Mother's Day. Our neighbours to the east joined us as well. We had a great visit.

New cots

2007-05-16T12:16:00.000-06:00

I am sick and tired of dealing with air mattresses when we go camping. I've bought a couple new ones every year and they always end up leaking every year. Then there's the pain of having to blow them up. No I don't actually blow them up myself, but even just fussing about with the pump. Using a manual foot pump takes forever, and the battery/plug-in ones are so darn loud. Isn't it annoying when you go to a camp ground and hear all of those pumps humming all over the place? I mean, whatever. It has to be done. But it's still annoying.

So, yesterday I went and bought a cot for each of us. Adrian already had one for hunting. We set them up last night, and, of course, the kids wanted to try them out. Next thing we know they're cuddled up watching a movie.

I'm looking forward to using them this weekend. We're going out with the Junior Forest Wardens. The weather sounds like it's going to be terrible with wind and rain, but ah well. At least we'll be off the ground!

Their fleece as white as snow...

2007-05-16T11:51:00.000-06:00

I went out to my friend, M's, acreage yesterday while the kids were at their home-school program. She has such a lovely place. She has a real talent for landscaping and decorating in general. Honestly, I'm a little envious because I'm not good in that department even a little bit. I keep our place mowed (which I actually enjoy doing) and Adrian plants a vegetable garden. And that's it. Last year I got two hanging baskets which I managed not to kill so I'll get them again this year. If we were rich I'd just hire someone to come and landscape our place. I don't want anything fancy. As much as I enjoy being outside, my thing is to cosy up on the hammock and read. Not spend hours in flower gardens. But I would like some low maintenance stuff. Like tulips. But I always have the dilemma of not knowing where to put them.

What's up with the sheep? Well, M's neighbours have sheep and I couldn't resist snapping some pictures of the babies. They-were-so-cute!!

Horse Back Riding

2007-05-16T08:50:00.000-06:00

Brushing Smojo

These pictures are dark and blurry but I wanted to share them anyway...so there! ;) I am borrowing my mom's camera by the way which is a real nice little point and shoot, but maybe I just I don't have the hang of it yet.

My son hasn't been taking the lessons for a few weeks now. He quit because he wasn't enjoying it so now he has to come and watch his sister...which he isn't thrilled about. This last time, though, he seemed to enjoy helping her groom the horse, and then said he might like to try the lessons again. I told him I'd think about it. He quit because it was getting too hard. His butt was hurting when the horse was trotting. His legs hurt when he was doing the 2 point (what she's doing in the bottom pic). Hello!! Any sport will be a little difficult. Anyway, we'll see if he's really interested in lessons or if he's just bored watching his sister.

Outside School

2007-05-14T23:02:00.000-06:00

We did school outside on the play centre today. This is always a big hit, and it's amazing how much work we get accomplished, too.

She loves her birthday hat.

Truth be told...he's posing here. I said to him: Look like your working hard. :)

This is more like it!

And this.

Taking the quick way for a bathroom break.

This little robin visited us in the tree, but by the time I got my camera out he/she flew down to the ground.

Had to stop work to watch the neighbour's horses run across the field.

And watch them eat.

Now that's how school SHOULD be, right?

A Sweet Mother's Day

2007-05-14T07:51:00.000-06:00

I had a lovely Mother's Day. The homemade cards from my children are scrumptious. I savor moments like these because of their innocent simplicity. Seeing their faces so full of love and the desire to please makes my heart ache. This all may sound corny, but I'm sure all parents can relate. Their faces lit up with pleasure when I told them how wonderful their handwritten sentiments were, and the hugs were oh so sweet. What is wonderful about their ages right now is that I get this all of the time from them - not just on Mother's Day. And I thoroughly enjoy every moment. I am a realist, however. One day, hopefully not soon, their adoring looks will fade and be replaced by the looks that teenagers give their parents. For now, though, I get to enjoy the pure untainted kind of love that small children give freely to their parents. Every day is Mother's Day around here.

Her 7th Birthday Party

2007-05-13T13:49:00.000-06:00

Adrian's test he was supposed to take was cancelled this weekend so we decided to give Dd's birthday party yesterday rather than at the end of the month. It was at the last minute, and I'm grateful that pretty much everyone was able to come. We still did the carnival theme, but on a scaled down version. And unfortunatly because I was involved with the activities I didn't get around to taking many pictures.

My planning was also usurped by my back. I pulled it on Friday, and spent much of the day in pain. Saturday wasn't much better until after I went to the chiropractor. Between being laid up and being at the chiropractor's office, I barely got anything organized. In one of the pictures you can see my ironing in the background! Ah well. The kids had fun and that's all that matters. Dd's birthday isn't until the 16th, though. We'll have a little dinner with my parents on that day.

It was pretty windy, which interfered with some of my plans, too. Everything I set up got blown down right away. Very frustrating. In the end, I set up everything on the deck.

This is what I get when I ask for a smile...

I loved these little popcorn boxes. They went perfectly with the carnival theme.

Paintball was one of the games we set up for the kids. They all loved it.

You can't see it here, but they were supposed to drop clothespins into a glass bottle.

Using a water gun the object was to spray the ping pong balls off of the golf tees. It wouldn't work unless they were sitting close, though. A result of the wind, I think.

Ice cream cake...yummmm.

Happy Birthday to you...

Bubble-icious

2007-05-13T13:37:00.000-06:00

The wind was helpful when it came to bubble time at the birthday party.

Her Favorite Flower

2007-05-11T12:21:00.000-06:00

While attending a marriage seminar on communication, Wally and his wife Carolyn listened to the instructor declare, "It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are important to each other.
"He addressed the men, "Can you describe your wife's favorite flower?"
Wally leaned over, touched Carolyn's arm gently and whispered, "Robin Hood All-Purpose, isn't it?"
And thus began Wally's life of celibacy.

My friend, G, sent me this one. I thought it was cute enough to share.

Good Vibrations

2007-05-11T09:26:00.000-06:00

I don’t want to be overweight.
I don’t want to procrastinate.
I don’t want to be jealous.
I don’t want a messy house.
I don’t want to yell.
I don’t want to be late.

According to Oprah and Michael Losier, author of Law of Attraction: The Science of Attracting More of What You Want and Less of What You Don't, that list is a sure fire way to get all of those things. God, the Universe, The Law of Attraction or whatever else you want to call it does not hear Don’t, Not, and No. When I say “I don’t want to be late”, The Law of Attraction only hears…”Late”, and that is what I attract to myself. Michael goes on to explain, that if you typed in a search on the Internet saying “No Football”, what would you get? Tonnes of stuff about football. When you say to your dog, “Don’t go get your leash” all she hears is “leash”. Parents even know that saying, "Walk" rather than "Don't run" gets better a better result.

Many of us have a hard time focusing on what we want, however, so he recommends first compiling the list of things we don’t want then switching it around. It's like a re-set button. The longer the list the more detailed it becomes.
My list above can change to:

I want to have a fit and healthy body.
I want to do things in a timely manner.
I want to be satisfied and happy with my life.
I want to have a warm, welcoming, and organized home.
I want to speak calmly.
I want to be on time.

Just saying those same things in a positive way causes me to feel differently about them.

Yesterday on the radio show, they talked about applying this technique to getting the job/career that you desire. It was so enlightening. They helped a lady caller create her own list of "don’t wants" about her job, and then coached her into switching the list to the positive. When she did it you could immediately hear the change in her voice.

The list is just the beginning, however. After you create the list of all of the things you want, it’s now your job to put attention, energy, and focus onto those things. Every time you write about them the Law of Attraction is listening. When you day dream it’s listening. When you talk about them, it’s listening. The Law of Attraction is always checking to see what kind of vibration (or vibe) you’re sending out. And by the way, there are only two kinds of vibrations. Positive or negative. And the LofA will always match what you send out. It doesn’t help to just say the words, you have to FEEL them and believe them ,too.

One of the things he said that I just loved was that once you start sending out this vibration, you will start seeing results. In the case of that lady caller, she might not immediately get her dream job (which is to be self employed) but she will likely start coming across people who are, and can then learn from them. She can surround herself with people who have or are aspiring to the same goal and by doing so she is focusing her attention on that which she wants. The part I loved is that when we’re paying attention we will see the proof. It may start off small, but the more energy I give to my desires, the bigger the results.

I’m not a religious person, and I’ve been curious for awhile as to why I have so many religious people in my life. Most of my friends are religious. Some more devout than others. I clued in when I realized that I talk about it a lot. “Not religious”. If the Law of Attraction doesn’t hear Don’t, Not, or No, then all it would hear is “religious”. I’m attracting these people to me for a reason. Which, incidentally, I think is great. Even though I follow my own path spiritually, I love to learn about other people and their beliefs.

So, everyone. I hope you all have a great vibrational day.
“I'm pickin' up good vibrations. Good good good good vibrations!”
For some reason I can’t get that song outta my head!

As Per Request...

2007-05-11T09:22:00.000-06:00

Last fall Adrian rented a quad for hunting. Before he returned it, the kids and I took a couple of spins around the yard. I am not experienced at driving the thing - hence the above that Adrian kindly captured while I was navigating a very difficult and high slope. :) You can see by my daughter's expression that it was very scary indeed. Peter had a post on laughter on his blog, and I thought that I'd share the link to this photo and in doing so share the laughter. He requested that I post it again. I actually think it's hilarious, so I complied.

Married 30 Years

2007-05-08T19:07:00.000-06:00

Double click on image in order to read.

The Play Centre

2007-05-08T15:33:00.000-06:00

Ds drew a picture of what he would like our play centre to look like after we make our crazy addition.

What we have: To the left is the tower with the spiral slide and climbing wall. The bridge (which he drew us all walking on) to the main platform with the tree going up the middle.

What we are crazy enough to add: The second floor above the main platform. I know. I already said we're crazy...

What Ds wants but we aren't quite THAT crazy!: On the second floor, you see two yellow things. Those are the fire pits he thinks we should put in! Funny kid. He also requested a toilet. :)

My Adventurous Self

2007-05-08T15:27:00.000-06:00

I was going through my videos and found the one of me sky diving. Tucked in the sleeve were these pictures. I thought they'd be fun to share. This was back when I was young and adventurous. Pre-children, that is.

Balance

2007-05-08T09:00:00.000-06:00

Joy gave me this Balancing Your Life meme oh so long ago. I’m sorry it took me so long to get to. It’s interesting what she said in her post:

“I'd love to know how a homeschooling mom balances her life. Or does she? She SEEMS to have everything together, but is finding balance in life a chore like it is for everyone else?”

I seem to have everything together? Really? Huh. While it’s true that I don’t post all of my heartaches on here, I always strive to be truthful. In fact, one thing my neighbour keeps telling me is that I’m sooo hard on myself on here. I don’t agree. I think I’m honest. But that comes down to perception, I guess.

So, yup. Finding balance is a chore. Or a journey…

How do you achieve balance in your life?
I talk with friends quite often about this word/topic. I have to admit that I haven’t achieved balance…yet. I talk about it, though, so that’s a start. I struggled writing this piece because the word balance can actually be quite deep. It can mean a balance of time: work time vs. family time vs. me time. In my opinion, though, balance is more on a soul level. The whole mind/body/spirit thing. Taking care of each of those aspects is important to keep balance.

Mind, Body, Spirit in Perfect Harmony

My mind – At times I feel like I’m losing it! My memory sucks for one thing. I’m reading more now, though. And, actually, I find homeschooling helps in this department because I’m learning so much through teaching the kids.

My Body – Well. There is always room for improvement in this department. I just don’t have the willpower to stay on a decent eating plan for long. With the arrival of spring, though, I am becoming more active. Playing outside with the kids, walks, and bike rides all add to my feeling of being uplifted during the day. When I’m eating right and getting a bit of exercise balance comes more easily. Everything seems to fall into place.

Spiritually – This one has been a real journey for me during the last ten years. God was a word that I never used to embrace. Universal Power was what I would say. Then a couple of years ago I had my own spiritual awakening. God is in my life now, but beyond that I’m still searching.

What is your biggest challenge in balancing your life?
I “should” on myself a lot. I should meditate more. I should exercise. I should eat better. I should join that class. We should get together sometime. I should give her a call. I should read that book some time. I should mail that card/parcel.

The problem with “shoulding” on myself is that trust becomes an issue. If I don’t come through for myself how can I trust that I ever will?

What are your priorities?
My family is my main priority, and I’m included in that.

Raising my kids to the best of my ability is, of course, important. We’re training them to be adults in this world. It’s what I think about most of the time.

My marriage is another priority. The kids aren’t going to be with us forever, and I want to have a great relationship with this man so that we can enjoy the rest of our lives together. Sound corny? Well, it is. Truthfully, we have some work to do, but we’ll do it.

How have your priorities changed over time and why?
Ten years ago, my top priority was me. And getting married. Finding a nice house. And so on. Now, of course, it’s my family.

What advice can you share to help all of us balance our own lives?
Well, since I haven’t achieved a real balance in my own life I can’t really dole out any advice.

I will say this, though. Speak positively. I am in the process of learning and applying this lesson, and it takes work to change the habit of talking "down". Not just about myself, but in general. We’ve all been around those people who have nothing positive to say. How much fun is it to be around them?

I’m not saying that we can’t ever express our sadness or anger, but our words have power. It’s amazing the shift in my heart that comes when I say something that has positive energy as opposed to negative energy.

That's why I started writing in my Gratitude Attitude blog. Positive energy. We have to create it for ourselves.

As for tagging someone.

Steffi at Mausbär´s - Nähkiste - I would just love to know more about her. Does crafting provide her a kind of meditation or food for the soul?

Terri at My 4 Kids - Although she has 4 kids and I have 2, she lives in the states and I'm in Canada, I feel like I have a lot in common with her. When I read her blog, I find myself nodding my head a lot in agreement. So, does she struggle with balance like I do, or has she got it figured out?

Peter at Portrait of Peter - Joy tagged him already, but that's okay. I'd love a guy's perspective. A beautiful poet he certainly seems balanced. How does he do it?

Obviously, don't feel obligated to do this exercise. Only do it if you're interested. Saying 'no' at times also contributes to being balanced. :)

Delenn

2007-05-07T09:30:00.001-06:00

Devoutly dedicated to helping lead others to glory, you are a strong, supportive, and spiritual caregiver.

Summoned, I take the place that has been prepared for me.

Delenn is a character in the Babylon 5 universe. You can read her biography at the Worlds of JMS fansite.

I saw this one at PortraitofPeter's blog.

We had a wonderfully full weekend...

2007-05-07T07:49:00.000-06:00

We spent most of it outside, which I just love. My face got a bit of sun, though. It’s kinda tight feeling this morning.

Saturday morning we went with the Junior Forest Wardens for spring clean up at the hall where we hold our meetings. It was raining all last week and into early Saturday morning. It even snowed a bit, if you can believe it. Wet and sloppy snow that was gone soon enough, but just seeing white stuff makes me feel a little depressed. Especially when it happens in May! BUT the rain/snow stopped and the sky cleared just in time for us to go the hall.

We were at the hall for the morning. It was hard work but it felt good. Besides cleaning up the garbage in the fields, we had to clear deadfall from the bush area where there is a trail. The kids worked hard, too.

After spring clean up, we invited two of the families back to our house for a wiener roast around the fire. Adrian is going to be president of the JFW club next year along with another lady so he wanted to get together with her to make some plans. The other mom that came is going to be a leader. They stayed the whole afternoon. We had great conversations around the fire while the kids just played and played. I just love afternoons like that.

Then that night my parents and my Uncle came over for supper. Adrian and were exhausted by that time, but it was still a nice visit. The kids love my Uncle, whom we don’t see that often. And he’s a great sport letting them climb all over him and play fight. It was nostalgic for me because I remember doing that with him when I was their age.

Dd had fun dressing up my Uncle's hair with a bow barrette. I took the picture with my my mom's cel phone.

Sunday brought another brilliant day outside. We started off slow, but then by 11:00 am we were outside and didn’t come back in until 8:00 pm. I got a lot of leaves cleaned up. My body is feeling that work out this morning. And Adrian started work on our play centre. We have one, but we are crazy people and thought that it’d be fun to make an addition to it. Yes, we have plenty of other stuff to do around the yard, but we chose to do the fun thing. This is time management at its best, people.

Now, today I have got laundry and more laundry to do. Homeschooling and Dd has riding lessons. Have a great day, all!

My Poor Camera

2007-05-05T07:44:00.000-06:00

I've taken it to get serviced because the flash doesn't work half the time. Of course, when I took it into Best Buy, it was during the half time that it did work.

I'll likely be without the camera for several weeks. :( I just hope it comes back fixed. The Best Buy guy said if they can't see a problem then they'll just send it back to me. I say, just change the flash anyway, but nope. They won't do that.

So I'm sans camera, and I already miss it. Yesterday it happened twice that the kids were doing something picture worthy, and I felt the sting of loss.

Dear Camera,
Please, come back healthy and happy.

Slumpity Slump

2007-05-05T07:15:00.001-06:00

Can someone who is not really a writer have writer’s block?

I’ve been mildly busy the last few days. However there have been snippets of time where I had the opportunity to be on the computer, but I came here and just kinda sat. There’s been stuff happening that I could certainly write about, but I just get a blank. Nothin’. I’ve even started writing a few posts and then stop and save them to drafts. If I’m bored writing it then you’ll certainly be bored reading it.

Huh. Maybe that’s my problem. No offence, but maybe I’m thinking too much of you all out there. This blogging thing is supposed to be for me anyway. Therapy. Self expression. Whatever you want to call it, but for me. Hmmmm.

Ahhh, it’s happening again. I don’t feel like finishing this, but I’m going to post it anyway. Maybe it’ll get me out of my slump.

Bad to the Balloon

2007-05-02T16:47:00.001-06:00

In the middle of the night, I go walkin' in my sleep...

2007-05-02T08:35:00.000-06:00

I got mad at my son last night and I feel badly about it. It was 1:30 am in my defense, but I still shouldn't have gotten mad.

He's been having troubles sleeping lately. He thinks a lot about stuff that happened during the day as he's trying to go to sleep. Sometimes it's happy stuff and sometimes it's stuff that upset him. I used to let him listen to an audio book, but that had the opposite effect. He'd still be awake at 10:30 or even 11:00 at night. Then we tried soft music, but still he stayed awake. Finally, we got him a CD with the sounds of the ocean and that seems to have helped. He's also waking through the night, though. He says he's scared of ghosts or noises that he hears and the only way he seems to be able to fall back to sleep is if I lie with him. He comes into our room at all hours and announces that he can't sleep. Usually, I just groggily stumble to his room and lie down with him. Soon we're both asleep. Then I wake an hour later and go back to my bed. Last night, in my groggy still half asleep state, I decided to tell him that he has to try and go back to sleep on his own.

I don't mind lying down with the kids in their beds once in awhile, or having them come to our bed from to time, but I was beginning to see a long standing habit forming. I know some people may think I'm being selfish, but I don't want my sleep interrupted every night. I get pretty bitchy when I'm tired.

So, for some reason I thought it was a good idea to take a stand at 1:30 in the morning. I told him that he'd have to try and go back to sleep on his own tonight. He started to complain and I got angry. I did lie down, but I snapped that this was the last night. By morning I felt pretty crappy about it, and I apologized to him. I said that, of course, he can come to mommy if he's scared in the night, but we still need to think of something to help him go back to sleep on his own. For now, we've suggested that he turn on his ocean sounds if he needs them.

Anyone going or did go through this with their children? Suggestions?

Popsicle Stick Cabins

2007-04-30T13:33:00.000-06:00

Ds saw this idea in a book he was reading and wanted to do it, too. I think it's a cute little craft and they had fun making them.

Paintball Massacre

2007-04-30T13:30:00.000-06:00

Adrian let the kids shoot up his old land rover with the paintball gun this weekend. They had a blast...hee hee. ;)

The Weekend

2007-04-29T19:51:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I had a wonderful afternoon with my mom, shopping, while my daughter went to a birthday party. Adrian and Ds went for a bike ride and puttered in the garage while we were away. Mom and I went for lunch at Boston Pizza and I had a very yummy Chicken Chipolte salad - she had a baked pasta dish. I bought the kids some clothes, but they need so much more. Why do they both have to grow out of all of their clothes at once - and at the same time!? They need new shoes, too. I need to find a good quality second hand store in my area. I really don't know how you guys with 4 and more kids manage. Clothes, clothes, and more clothes.

Today was a quiet one at home. We had a slow morning and then went outside in the afternoon. I started a little fire for the kids to warm up around and I did some raking. On an acreage there is always raking to do. I don't even try to kid myself into believing I'll do it all. What we really need is one of those gizmos that attach to the back of the lawn tractor. But since we DON'T have one of those the leaves will just stay there like they have for the last ten years, and just get mowed over when the time comes. I do like to rake around our fire pit because that's where we sit and spend time.

Later in the afternoon we ventured over to the neighbour's across the street. They have a small pond and we thought we'd look for some frog spawn to collect. I've never done this before, but Adrian has. I always hear about it in the homeschooling circles, though. Unfortunately, it seems like we're too early because we didn't see any. We did see what we think is mosquito larvae, though. Lovely. And rabbit poop. So the trek wasn't a waste. ;) When DO frogs lay their eggs anyway? Does anyone know?

Around 3:00 it started to rain so we retreated to the house, cuddled up, and watched a movie. Adrian watched Elizabethtown with me. I really like that movie. It's a bit of a chick flick, but not too bad.

I didn't even make supper! Woo hoo. Adrian had soup, and the kids had left overs. I just munched on this and that. I love nights where I don't have to cook.

That's me caught up. Now, I've gotta go and "kick" the kids to bed.

Plannin' a Party

2007-04-27T08:00:00.000-06:00

Do you remember being six years old and so excited about your birthday that the anticipation was almost painful? I do. I remember lying in bed and not being able to sleep. This is what Dd is experiencing at the moment and her birthday is still a couple of weeks away on May 16th.

We've started to make plans for her party, and now it's all she can think of. I'm looking forward to it, too because I do enjoy giving parties. We always find a theme and then just go crazy - I mean - have fun from there. We've had a Bob the Builder party in the past...now we DID go a little crazy for that one since it was the first at home B-day party we had. We had hard hats, my mom made aprons, and I bought these small wood building projects from Home Depot. Paint trays were the serving bowls for chips, etc. It was fun. We've also done Harry Potter. I got a bunch of the glasses from the Dollar Store and my dad made wands from wood doweling which I painted black with silver tips. There was also a Jungle party a couple of years ago and last year we had a pyjama breakfast party. Of course, there are always plenty of games to match the theme. I've found that if you keep the kids busy during the party then it goes much smoother. I've also learned not to waste money on fancy plates, cups, and napkins. That first year was pretty painful watching those Bob the Builder plates with a half eaten piece of cake still on them get thrown away. So I go cheap with that stuff and spend the money on the games. Some years I've gone a little over board, but I'm learning to be more frugal. With Ds getting older and his B-day being in the winter, we've had his parties away from home the last couple of years (bowling alley and laser tag).

Jungle themed party.

So what's happening this year? A carnival party! Dd and I have tonnes of ideas swimming around in our minds which adds to the excitement, of course. What's worse is that we're having the party a week and a half late. :( Her B-day falls in between Mothers Day weekend and the long weekend. Adrian has a big test for his Electrical Master's course on the M's Day weekend and, of course, everyone will be away on the long weekend. So it won't be until the 26th. Ah well, what d'ya do?

I know some people go very simple for birthday parties and will think I'm nuts, but I actually have a lot of fun planning these things. And now that the kids are older they have a lot of fun, too. With this carnival party I got the inspiration from Martha Stewart. This looks like fun to me!

The ultimate themed party...our wedding. Medieval. I do love a good theme.

Something New

2007-04-27T07:59:00.001-06:00

I welcome you to check out a new blog that I've decided to write: Gratitude Attitude. It will be my version of a Gratitude Journal.

Books

2007-04-27T07:57:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I finished the book, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. It’s a riveting story about a man’s rash decision and the consequences he faces as a result. I enjoyed the book, and would recommend it, but I wouldn’t put it on my Books I Love list.

This reminds me suddenly that Peter asked me about one of the books I have listed there. “Bird by Bird”. This is a great read. Especially for those who are interested in writing, but even if you aren’t you’ll find it interesting. She’s hilariously entertaining first of all. I was introduced to this book through a creative writing class I took several years ago. The instructor was inspired by the book and so named the class: “Word by Word”. The premise is to not get bogged down by the vastness of an entire book. Instead, take it one word at a time. Anne Lamott got her inspiration from her father when he gave similar advice to her brother who was writing a report on birds. Her brother was overwhelmed by the enormity of the task, and asked his father how he would ever get it finished. His father wisely responded, bird by bird, son. Bird by bird. It was advice I took to heart because I tend to get easily overwhelmed.
Shitty First Drafts is another lesson I took from the book. Basically she says that all writers have shitty first drafts. You see, I’ve always loved writing but have never been that good, I thought. One reason is that I never allowed myself to get past that shitty first draft. I had romantic images in my mind of Stephen King (or whoever) happily typing away and their stories simply flowing out of them. What I learned from the book, however, is that writing is often a painful process. It gave me hope that I could perhaps be a good writer one day. So the title, "Some Instructions on Writing and Life", is aptly named. Peter, I hope that helped and sorry that I didn’t respond earlier.

Now I'm into a new book called The Girls. It's a fictional autobiography from the perspective of a conjoined twin. So far, it's a facinating story.

Starry Starry Night

2007-04-26T23:55:00.000-06:00

I just came inside from letting the dog out to pee for the night. She and I always have to go through a ritual before she pees. She doesn’t go until I say over and over in a high excited voice, “Go Pee, Cleo. Go pee. Go pee, Cleo”. Then she walks in circles a couple of times, looks up, I say again, “Go pee, Cleo”, and she finally goes. Sigh. Darn dog. This night, while I was waiting, I couldn’t help but take in the beauty of the night. The moon is startling in its brightness tonight. I wish I could capture its beauty in photos but they come out spooky instead. The stars are sparkling and the busy sounds of crickets are all around. I just stood there and soaked it in for a moment or two. Peace....Except for this odd high pitched blipping tone I hear in the distance. I don’t know what the heck it is. I’ve heard it the last several nights, but I don’t notice during the day. It’s bugging me. It’s ah mystery.

Great Family Time and Dead Mice

2007-04-25T08:10:00.000-06:00

The sun is here for now and we’re enjoying it. We’ve been going for plenty of bike rides and my butt doesn’t even hurt anymore. We’ve also been playing a lot of badminton. The kids came home one day talking about how much they enjoyed playing badminton in gym. I went out and got some rackets and we’ve been playing it ever since. All four of us. I just love love love doing stuff like that together as a family. At one point, the children ran off to watch Max catch a mouse (sadists, I know!) and Adrian and I just played together. We laughed and talked. I’ll say it again. Great times.

Yesterday I went out and spent some money on outdoor toys for the kids...and us. I got four more badminton rackets (Adrian broke a couple because he likes to spike the birdy so darn hard), these huge Frisbee things, a couple of colourful bouncy balls, baseball gloves, and (of course) baseballs. We haven't played baseball with the kids yet. Adrian is totally against baseball. He thinks it's ridiculous to teach them to be wimpy and use gloves. Crazy Englishman. I said to him: Too bad! I loved playing baseball as a kid and MY kids are gonna learn!! They live in CANADA not England! (I'm sure this conversation isn't over yet.)

Then, on the topic of Max and catching mice - is he ever a good mouse hunter! I have had the lucky pleasure (insert sarcastic tone) of cleaning up about a dozen dead mice in the last couple of weeks. I am very happy that he’s catching mice; I just wish he’d leave them off in the trees somewhere and not on the deck or in the middle of the yard where we play. Dd has no fear of picking them up. She’ll come walking up to me holding one by the tail and laugh her head off when my face morphs into a person who looks like they just ate dog poo. Picture one of those people from the movie “Total Recall” that fell out onto the planet Mars and got the air sucked out of them. I also suddenly sound like I’m being strangled. “Eeeahhhehhh! Go wash your hands!! Don’t touch it!!” Crazy kid. It gives me the heebee geebies just thinkin’ about it now.

Silly Me

2007-04-25T07:56:00.000-06:00

So, I'm a bit obsessive. And I'm a perfectionist in that if I can't do it "right" or perfect I tend to not do it or, at least, put if off.

Those silly interview questions have been on my mind the last couple of days. What can I ask that is both provocative and fun? I even thought about it as I was going to sleep the other night! These women (that agreed to be interviewed) are actually women that I'd really like to get to know better, but I had a difficult time coming up with the "perfect" questions. You don't have to comment and tell me I'm being ridiculous. I KNOW I am!!

Ah well. These traits add to my charm...right? ;)

Through the Eyes of an 8 Year Old

2007-04-23T12:31:00.000-06:00

My son uses my camera once in awhile and I find them when I'm downloading pictures. Sometimes they're pretty cute like the one below.

An Interview...

2007-04-22T19:20:00.000-06:00

This interview thing had been going around, and it looked fun. So, I decided to play.

My4Kids sent the following questions to me for an interview.

"Okay so here are your questions. I tried to think of some questions that would make you think and reveal some things about you that I don't know. "

1. I know you are a homeschooling mom (which I think is awesome by the way). What made you decide to homeschool your children?

There is a long answer and a short one. The long one would take quite awhile so I'll go with the short one. I met a homeschooling mom when my son was 4 yrs old. She was teaching her 5 kids, and I just loved everything she had to say about her experience. I was intrigued enough to know that if I never tried it I would always regret it. Of course, since then I have collected more reasons. There's more one on one attention, healthier socialization, customizing my teaching to their learning styles, and so on.

Just recently, at our part time school program, I noticed that my daughter, when she is copying from the board, gets flustered and confused if there are too many words written. When the other kids are nearly finished she has barely begun. All year I just thought she was dawdling. This is something that would likely have been missed in the traditional school setting where there are twenty kids in a class. She might have been pegged a trouble maker or some other label. Now that I've caught it I can teach her some different techniques. This confirms my choice.

The homeschooling journey, for me, has been tumultuous but I love it and I'm so happy that we decided to go this route.

2. How did you meet your husband and did you know you wanted to marry him right away?

I met Adrian at the gas station where I was working as a cashier. As an electrician, he was there doing some upgrades to the gas pumps. I saw and talked to him ever day for the week he was there. I didn't know that I wanted to marry him, but I did know that I could listen to that English accent all day long. That and his blue eyes...whoo heee...he had me at hello! Sappy, but true.

3. If you could change anything about yourself what would you change? And it can't be anything physical like looks or weight.

I wish I didn't procrastinate. There's a lot of stuff in my life that doesn't get accomplished because of this trait of mine. Now - this is not new info but it's good to hear stuff over and over: I heard on my Oprah and Friends radio station that through the Law of Attraction (or God, the Universal Power, karma, or whatever else you want to call it) we bring to us that which we give our energy to. Just my very words: "I wish I didn't PROCRASTINATE" brings me more procrastination! Doesn't THAT suck?! On the radio show she had a guy (forget his name) who wrote a book (forget the name of the book) who said, "Instead of saying what you DON'T want, say what you DO want. And since most people don't know what they want, start with a list of "don't wants". Then switch them around." In this case, for me, I don't want to procrastinate can be switched to....hmmmmm. I will do things on time. I will be a do-er. Action! is my middle name. He said that's just the first step. Unfortunately they didn't have to time to get to the next ones. Ha! Tune in Thursday, when he will be on again.

4. When you were a little girl what was your dream job? why did you like that job?

I wanted to be an actress. I just thought that it'd be fun and exciting. When I read books, I often read them aloud to myself, giving the characters different voices. In elementary school, I enjoyed being in the theatre productions. I remember when I was about ten I told my dad and he didn't like the idea because he said I'd never make any money at it. It's not his fault, though. :) Just because he didn't like it doesn't mean that he would've stopped me. In high school I didn't join the drama class because I wanted a spare instead. So, there was me not being a do-er again. Ah well. I will join a theatre group at some point. I'm looking forward to it.

5. What superpower would you most like to have? and how would you use it?

I used to want to be invisible. Not anymore. Flying would be awesome, too. Reading people's mind would also be useful. I think these days, however, I would like to be able to beam myself anywhere I want in an instant. No more being late! No more rushing. Gotta be at riding lessons at 2:30? No problem. Beammmmmmmm. And I'm there.

If you wanna play, here’s what you do.
1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” If I don’t have your email address, leave it for me in the comments.
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.(Insert, "Muwahahahaahah!")
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

It's Back...Again :)

2007-04-20T08:26:00.000-06:00

I'm not complaining! I'm sure it'll melt soon...yup. It's okay. So what that I was enjoying the spring weather? I'm totally fine with the snow. Jusssst fine....yup.

First Letter

2007-04-18T12:30:00.000-06:00

Ds decided that he wanted to write his friend a letter today. He usually complains when I ask him to write something so you can imagine my surprise and excitement that he initiated this task. He was quite thrilled with the whole process of mailing his first letter. It even took us out in the rain for a rainy day walk.

Reflections

2007-04-18T12:28:00.000-06:00

Green Boots

2007-04-18T12:26:00.000-06:00

A Rainy Walk

2007-04-18T12:16:00.000-06:00

Pretty in Pink

2007-04-18T08:39:00.000-06:00

I call this one...Red Sticks

2007-04-18T08:24:00.000-06:00

What can I say? I liked the colour of the branches...
I need to take a photography course. ;)

The Next Generation of...

2007-04-18T07:56:00.000-06:00

AC/DC fans!!

"You've been....THUNDERSTRUCK!"