I wanted to go for a walk.

And so we did.  A long one.  Carrying heavy bags to make it more of a work out.  And playing golf to work out our emotions.  Frustration got a lot of work.  I'm glad it was only 9 holes - I was done by 5, I think.  I made par on hole one and that was my last good hole.  Last summer I golfed twice; this summer I've been out 3 times in the last 3 weeks.  I got some good pictures, though!

My favorite part of golf might be watching this hottie.  (Yes, this hole is uphill.  No, he didn't miss the ball - this was just a practice swing while he was waiting for our turn.)

This was an unexpected treat - it was mostly sunny with a few spits, but up on top of the valley we saw this great rainbow.  M is pretty game to come along for the walk & she keeps score for us.

A Niece!

Nieces are nice.  We are happy to welcome Brianna Kaitlyn Ward to our collection of nieces and we can't wait to meet her.

Kevin and Jen welcomed her to the world at 5 am on Wednesday, May 26; she was a tiny (comparatively!) 7 pounds 8 ounces.  She is dainty little one with lots of dark hair and her sister Raelene loves her.

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M is away at a birthday sleep over tonight & we are shortly off to a movie; date nights are nice, too.

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I just finished reading Jane Eyre.  I do find myself thinking now in the same style of language as it was written, however, I am trying to keep it just in my thoughts; I am sure of the ridicule I would command from my immediate loved ones if I should speak in such words as their ears are unaccustomed.

Anyone care to comment on the similarities / differences between Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights?  I have it on my shelf and may open that one next.

Almost too much...

A couple of weeks ago I picked up this cupcake cookbook from the library.  We've been drooling over it (lots of pictures), but I hadn't made any until yesterday, when I happened upon some spare time when our soccer game got canceled.  I picked this yummy looking one, and I think they turned out ok - I think the one in the picture in the book is a half view because they do turn out funny looking.  Chocolate and peanut butter... yum.  These are so sweet though, I nibbled on mine all night before I finished it.

Zach

We had a great weekend in Winnipeg with family.  Got to meet this little guy, finally - what a great baby.  I also got to golf with my husband, brother and brother-in-law - 3 of my most favorite men ever.  And all so patient with a rookie golfer, too.  Another highlight was hanging out with Becky, my best friend from high school and meeting her 2nd child.  We've got so much history, so it was great to spend time together again.  And it was very cool to see Jess & Dave's pictures from Israel.  Lots of good stuff crammed into one weekend.

SIS is no more.

SIStv officially shut down on May 15th, 2010, 3 years after it started, and 2 years after I joined. 

It was a great place to post my scrapbooking layouts, and have other scrapbookers comment on them; the forums usually had some interesting stuff going on, and the style there inspired me more than any other scrapbooking community I've found online.  I don't even know if I'll look around for another one.  Maybe I'll just post them here for you and leave it at that.

I'm sad to see it go. 

Farewell, SIS.  It's been good. 

Kenyan Speed

This post was published yesterday on my other blog, the "churchy" blog.  I haven't posted much on there lately, but am starting to again, along with some of the others on our church staff.  We've got a new "staff blogs" button on the top menu bar if you want to check out the others.

I remembered something this week.  Something that's going to help me.

The weather warmed up, and I started wearing sandals again.  I haven't found any sandals that I like in the last few years that have a back-strap, so most of the ones I own now are slip-ons.  They never seem to stay on as well, but wearing them again made me remember being in Kenya.  While I was there, I wore a simple pair of flip-flops that I've had for ages (I bought them for Byron & Lori's wedding, actually) and found that I had no problem keeping them on.  The reason, I figured, was that we walked slower there.  Here, it seems I rush wherever I'm going - I have too much to get done to saunter along; don't want to waste my time.

But I also get headaches because I get tense in my shoulders and neck; I'm too focused on what I need to get done.  My rushing and busy-ness cause me stress and pain.  I need to slow down.  I need to recognize that my life is more important than the items on my to-do list.  They will wait for me.  They will get done.  And they will get done better, even if not sooner, if I am feeling better.  << sigh >>  This shouldn't be a hard lesson to learn, and yet, it's the one I'm facing again this week.  This season.  Patience.  Patience with others and with myself.  My God will be served much better when I slow down.

Every time I slip on my sandals, it will remind me.  Walk slower.  Be patient.

She Shoots, She Scores!!

Ezra, Evan, Evan, Madeline, Ezra, Quinton, Madeline, Zach, Evan.

That's who scored our 9 goals yesterday.  The other team got 3.  They had only 7 players, so we matched them and played 6 on 6 (plus goalies).  We had 13 there, so had a full line for subs.  The score may not have been quite so high if they weren't running tired, but we do have some great hustlers out there.  You know the ones; the kids that make it from one end of the field to the other while the others jog leisurely along...  

And did you notice MADELINE'S name in there TWICE?  Yep.  The most she's scored before is once in a season, I think.  I'm curious to see what this does to her confidence and perception of what she can do.  I'll keep you posted.  This blue is the colors of our jerseys, and our team name is the Thunder. So far in the season we're 2 wins, 1 loss, 1 tie. 

Craft Socials & Some Layouts

The way we scrapbook has morphed over time to suit our changing needs.  The latest incarnation has been to move from every Tuesday afternoon to once a month on Tuesday nights.  We've had around 10 out each of the three times we've met so far & I've done about two half pages each time.  That's more than what I've been doing at home.  This weekend M was in Moose Jaw for the Great Centennial Sleepover for Girl Guides and Sean was out golfing, so I just relaxed and enjoyed playing and finished most of those half pages.

I left the first two full size so you can click on them to enlarge and read the journalling.

New Little Friend

This little guy kept me company today on the windowsill in my office.

If I see him again, I'm going to name him.  Any suggestions?

Wonderful Lazy Sunday

Here's a nod to motherhood: 

This photographer, Nick Brandt, has stunning shots of East African animals - lots more to see here.

And here's a quote from Madeline from the other day:

"This is the best lunch I've had since yesterday.  I like sandwiches.  Especially the ones you make."

Happy Mother's Day to me!

the "later friday post"

Well I sure planned to come back and fill in the details...  Here is where we're at in our mainly uneventful lives.

November's sewer issues left us a mess in the front yard.  So far, since the snow has gone, we have watered and rototilled and watered the dirt mound in the front yard to help it settle and seeded the other side of the front yard.  In the back, we have seeded parts that were bad, dumped the nasty barrel planters that I've wanted to see gone for a decade, and started to pull apart the raised garden that grows better grass than the lawn.  It was a productive day today doing lots of that and ended with blizzards at DQ!

Soccer started this week.  Tuesday we met most of the players, handed out jerseys and schedules and played in the zero degree weather (and lost 5-1).  Thursdays game was cancelled because of the cold wet week and the state of the fields, and today's player's skill's clinic was postponed till next Saturday, when M is away and can't go.  I am already loving coaching with Sean, instead of by myself.

Oh, yeah, I was going to tell you about the 5 pairs of cleats: Madeline of course grew out of last year's soccer shoes, and we were running out of time to pick some up, so on Monday, I hit 3 stores and came home with 5 pairs that I thought would fit.  We did find the right ones and got the rest returned.  The reason I could pick shoes up for her?  (Other than the obvious, that I just got the right size number...)  I could TRY THEM ON for her.  Last year's pair that she grew out of?  Size 9.  Yes, my 10 year old wears size 10 women's shoes.  Same as I do.

Last weekend our church did something called Westhill Serves.  We had 12 service projects that 115 of our people got involved in, some even going to 2 or 3 events.  Not only did they jump at the opportunities to go and serve in the city (none were projects for our benefit; all were with community groups), but we had our people making new connections between them as they served together.  It was great, and if you'd like to do something like this at your church, give me a call and I'll let you know how we did it.

Girl Guides wrapped up this week; next weekend she is off to Moose Jaw for a camp.  There are supposed to be thousands of girls there for it, so watch the news for parade footage.  They've got a weekend camp in June, too.  That badge scarf of hers is getting pretty full!

I went to a digital media conference the day.  It was the pre-conference workshop of the Women Entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan conference, so geared to women in business, and full of information about helpful things.  Some tech stuff, some online tools, some 'how social media can work for you' info.  I'm glad I went, and I'll be processing some of that for a while, I'm sure.

And just for fun, here is the old cluster map that was on the side of the blog.  I've had it for a year, so they've rolled it over to a new one.  It is pretty cool to see where all my readers have come from.

Let the comments begin!  I will accept comments today about soccer or coaching or girl guides or yard work or digital media or where you would go if you could go anywhere in the world.

Early Friday Morning

Madeline has today off, so I'm going back to bed right away.  I only got up to send a message in to my work and to see Sean off to his work.  But now I find myself with a not pressing day, so here I am. 

I compose blog posts in my head all the time.  I wish there was some way I could mentally send them...  Watch the tweets on the side - I may update that way when I have a thought worth sharing and a minute to text twitter.

I will be back today with more, but here is a snapshot of what we're up to:

• waiting for the weather to warm so we can do yardwork
• coaching & playing soccer again - I'll tell you about our 5 pairs of cleats!
• I went to a digital media conference yesterday
• Westhill Serves
• Girl Guides windups and camps

Have a great day & check back soon for the stories behind those.

Wednesdays

 

This is what we do on Wednesday nights, usually.  We drop M off at Girl Guides and go for coffee.  The last few weeks have been Tim Hortons, Tim Hortons (no luck with rolling the rims) and then the Driving Range (to hit some golf balls, not for coffee)...

Tonight we went to Second Cup - I haven't been in there since the new owners made changes.  Looks nice.  We needed some new syrup, too.  Our vanilla is almost out; this time we got caramel.

auntie again!

I got a call from my brother at lunchtime, and Zachary Montague Theodore Schneider has made his arrival.  It was very much on his own time (one week overdue) and yes, he is big enough to handle that handle.  Twelve pounds, one ounce, 21 1/2 inches long.  I hope I got the spellings right - I didn't ask.  Montague is a Schneider family name, and Theodore is a special name in Jen's family.  It will be painful to wait a whole 26 days till we get to go see them.  Mom just sent me this (yes, they were here this morning and this was taken in Winnipeg this afternoon):

We now have 15 nephews & nieces - 7 boys, 8 girls, and one little one that will make an appearance in a few weeks.  Happy birthday to Levi (the second oldest of them all) who just turned 11 on Friday!  This is him on the gyroscope at the science center when he came to visit last summer.

My grad yesterday was a nice surprise.  I do see the accomplishment we made; the future may hold more, but for now, this is something to celebrate.  It was nice to have my parents and Sean's parents here - I completely forgot that I wanted to get a good family picture, though...  Sigh.  So many cameras, and not one shot of the 3 or the 7 of us.  Speaking of cameras, Sean got me a Nikon for a grad present.  Yay!   I have  We have a great digital SLR that we got ourselves for Christmas a year and a half ago, but for a while now I've wanted a good little camera to carry around with me, since I don't usually carry the big camera case around unless I am planning on taking photos.  We've looked for a while, and he surprised me with a better one than I was hoping for.  I'm having fun with the touch screen and panorama assist and figuring out some of the other details.

Have a great Sunday - I hope you are able to take a sabbath and rest and be restored today.

Bits and Pieces

My brother and his wife are in the hospital having a baby.  I am waiting patiently for news but am very excited.  Nieces and nephews are so amazing.

When we moved the piano from one wall to the other in November, we heard a crack and it's now dreadfully out of tune.  I'm scared to call the tuner.

We are in paint mode around here.  Pictures to come when it's all done.

Sean made homemade burgers tonight for the first barbeque of the season.  Ten minutes and we'll be eating happy.

Madeline's into string figures and skipping.  So glad we've got all that fun stuff around the house.

I got a call this morning with an order for 15 magic bags.  I happened to have that many in stock & dropped them off on my way to work.  Nice to have a little sideline like that.

There is a thank you card on the phone table in the office that Madeline wrote right after Christmas that I haven't delivered yet.

I'm graduating on Saturday but I'm not really that excited about it.  It's a diploma.  I'm glad to be done, but feel like I'm quitting half way through.

I was asked to join a book club.  We're getting together on Thursday night to discuss A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews, and I'm halfway done.  It's well written, but strange and sad.  I sense there's a plot in there somewhere, but it's going to have to speak up if the book is going to get a 'good' at the end.

Please leave me a comment related to any of the above snippets of my life.  Or not related to anything at all.  That's okay too.

Grapefruit?

I've got a great 'she said what?' post for you today.

We were sitting at supper eating chicken fingers and fries, and M commented on the plum sauce for some reason.  Plum in french is prune, so the jar is labeled with both words.  I asked her if she knew what a prune was, and she said, "Plum - in french prune is the word for plum."  I asked her if she knew what prune meant in English, to which she replied, "Yep.  It's a dried grapefruit."

Some days she tries hard to make us laugh, and some days they come out of nowhere.  Sometimes she gets things wrong on purpose for a laugh, but with this one she was serious.  So funny.

I put prunes on the shopping list for tomorrow.

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In other news, I bought a new bag.  My last one only cost me $10 and has lasted a decent amount of time, but is falling apart, and needing badly to be replaced.  I've been keeping my eyes out for a while now, but I'm so not a pursey person, so it's been a bit of a challenge finding something 'me.'  Yesterday after wandering through the mall with Sean and Madeline (and two t shirts and a sweater later), I was pretty certain I'd never find anything.  Then, we walked into Spare Parts.  Up to the back wall, where they had bags.  "That one," I said.  We put it on hold and went home to check the price online (Sean is no stranger to ebay.  They're pretty good friends, actually.)  But nowhere online was it cheaper than the sale price locally, so today we went back to pick it up.  So nice not to have to shop for one anymore.  Mine is more of a chocolate brown; the main body is a woven vinyl, kind of canvassy, and the leather looking straps are a man made fabric, as well.  A vegetarian purse.  And the inside is a bright pink -I can't believe I bought it anyway.  At least no one else will see it...

First Bike of the Season

Sean got out our bikes after supper, filled the tires, and off we went along the bike paths (we have to go under the tracks and across a busy road, but then we're set for quite a ways.  While we were out we saw people playing at the playground and a wailing child who did not want to leave the playground; people walking their dogs and people letting their dogs run on the fields (including a beagle Daisy who tried to chase me down); kids on bikes (in t shirts and shorts - I was wearing my winter jacket, toque and gloves); a family playing with a Frisbee ring and kites; and mamas walking pushing strollers.  And we heard birds, and of course something funny out of M's mouth.  I came up behind her and said, "I'm coming!" to which she replied, "I'm going!" as she sped up.

Yay!  Spring is here!  The other two never even came in when we got back - Sean is out in the garage and M was sweeping off the deck to get it ready for the patio furniture.  Earlier today she said that if it was out, she'd go read in the backyard.  Soon.

Worth it?

Madeline asked if I would braid her hair tonight. Two french braids. She's got a piano recital tomorrow and wanted pretty wavy hair.

After five minutes of feeling her cringe with each pull of the comb, I said to her, "You don't ask for this until you've forgotten this part."  She didn't even miss a beat, and came back with, "Yeah, it's like cinnamon buns."

I got it right away - we love eating cinnamon buns, but the kneading is a painful process.  She took it to another level: "It's worth all the pain and suffering though, for the finished product."

Such a smart kid.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

These are yummy.  I got the recipe from my friend Candy after she brought them to one of our classes, and they've become one of our favorites.

LEMON POPPYSEED MUFFINS

2 cups biscuit / baking mix
1 pkg instant lemon pudding
1/4 cup poppy seeds
- mix all together

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
- mix together and add to first mix just until moistened

Fill 12 muffin cups 2/3 full.
Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Drizzle with icing made by mixing 3/4 cup icing sugar and 1 tbsp lemon juice.  (My family likes half lemon juice, half water so it's not quite so tangy.)

Classic

My new fave is CBC Radio2 on the drive to work.  They play classical in the morning, and it's so nice on the ride in...

TV and the fall of creativity

I found this great post by Seth Godin on things to do other than watch TV.  He says he never watches TV.  Ever.  There are so many other things he'd rather be doing.  This list of other things you could be doing is from that post (but I do recommend you hop over and read the whole thing):

• Run a little store on eBay
• Write a daily blog
• Write a novel
• Start an online community about your favorite passion
• Go to meetups in your town
• Volunteer to tutor a kid, in person or online
• Learn a new language, verbal or programming
• Write hand written thank you notes each evening to people who helped you out or did a good job
• Produce small films and publish them online
• Listen to the one thousand most important operas
• Read a book or two every evening
• Play a game of Scrabble with your family

For my birthday, I got the entertainment package.  On TV.  The one that has the channels that play Criminal Minds, NCIS, House, Bones, CSI... All the shows that are pulling me the other way now.  Sigh.  Oh, well - some nights I am productive and creative and some nights I am relaxed and spending time with Sean in front of the TV.  It's all about balance.

Pizza & Movies - better in 3's?

Maybe not better in threes, but that describes my week!

Pizza - We had some pie Monday night at the McCalls for birthday supper (3 of us share a birthday, so it's tradition...)  Then Friday night I was too lazy to cook a real supper so we threw in some frozen pizza before I remembered that we had already eaten pizza this week.  Then today for lunch at church we had a newcomers luncheon where the staff, deacons and new families stay and eat together... and we ate pizza.  It was the best of three, I think.

Movies - Last Sunday night the church rented a theater for a showing of the Blind Side, which was good (the movie) and strange (knowing everybody in the theater!)  Friday night we went to the cheap theater for a family night out.  We saw the Princess and the Frog, which was good as far as Disney's effects, but not so great with all the voodoo and dark side stuff.  Madeline said she wished she had picked Planet 51, which was the other option.  Then last night M had a sleepover at a friend's house, so Sean and I picked ourselves off the couches after a lazy day and went out to another show, Cop Out.  It was some laughs, but lots of language and I don't think you'd miss out if you didn't see it.

What was the last movie you saw and would you recommend it?

Lists

We went out on another 'Triple-Date' last night with our friends - we've been doing the rounds of different dessert places in the city.  It was my birthday on Monday, so they surprised me with a gift (and picked up the bill... you guys!)  The gift was a book called "List It!  Your Past Present and Future in Lists"  It's got great illustrations and quotes and every page has the title of a list.  Today we're going to tackle this topic (and you're going to play along by leaving a comment!):


Things You're Saving Up to Buy

Landscaping for our sewer-hole damaged front yard
A new fence for the back yard
New flooring in the kitchen / hall / bathroom
A new kitchen
A trip to somewhere fun

There's my list.  What's yours?

Three for Saturday

ONE - We spent the day at Mission Ridge with the youth from the church.  I'm grateful that Byron takes them every year, because there are not many other times that M gets on skis or a snowboard!  She skied today, but said she'd ride next year.  Sean and I spent lots of our time hitting jumps and boxes.  Man we'd be good if we did this more!  (Meaning that in reality, a jump of a couple of inches without falling makes me happy.)

TWO - I joined zoo world on facebook.  Tonight I got levels 7, 8, 9 and 10.  I just bred an eagle.  Silly game.  :)

THREE - Three is the number of shops that are now selling my magic bags.  Yipee!  They were in two to start with, and the hospital gift shop down the street took some at first sight yesterday.  I took them to two places last week and three this week and am hoping to hear back from at least a couple that seemed pretty interested.    Wish me luck with the other places!  If they all say yes, I could be in 7 shops!

(I intended this to be "Six for Saturday," but ran out of things to say...)

It's in you to give.

I was rejected this morning.

My hemoglobin level was too low to donate blood today.  And you know what I learned?  You STILL have to wait 56 days before you can donate again.

Boy, you try to do a good thing...

Monthly Menu

The last day of February!!  That means March starts tomorrow and then my birthday is in one week!  I noticed looking at my fridge today that it also means I need to make a new menu.  For the first few years that Sean and I were married, I used a four week rotating menu; every Monday I'd pull out the next one and make my grocery list based on those meals.  I've gotten off that specific plan, but I'll still make a menu for the week every Monday, and look at the last few weeks to make sure I'm not repeating too many meals.  In February, because I was tired of making a menu every week, I sat down and made one for the whole month.  It's been nice to have that chore looked after; maybe I'll just re-use it for this next month...

Here is a copy of my menu for the month (click on it to enlarge); I hope some of you out there find this is helpful or maybe get some new meal ideas.  Of course, since I've scanned this instead of writing it out for you, you'll see that this is including all our nights out, too, and you'll notice that I made more and more switches as the month went on.  It's harder to project what things come up in a week when you're four weeks ahead.  When making my menus, I have to take in to consideration that I don't always get my groceries on Monday, so something I've already got on hand is safest.  Then Tuesdays, because of piano lessons (and often Wednesdays because of staff meetings), I have to plan something that doesn't need to bake for an hour.  These will be the quicker meals or the crock pot meals. 

Have a great last few hours of February!!  (And GO CANADA GO for one more Gold!)

Layouts

I forgot to post these last week!  

 

On this one I made a screen shot of a post which you can read here,

and then printed it out to use as my journalling.

And this one came from a little picture I had printed out of a on-the-road shot.  I noticed that we were all wearing colors that matched our eyes, and it made them all stand out.  I've had it around for a while, but got playing with my latte glimmer mist and some big Heidi Swapp ghost letters that I used as masks and found a home for the shot.  I stamped 'dressed to match' and outlined the letters in green / blue / brown using artist markers I got for Christmas over a year ago and haven't started playing with yet.  They worked for this!

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And on another note, I came across this site a couple of days ago called The One-Minute Writer.  I forget where I saw it - probably a button on someone else's blog...  I just purged a bunch of stuff out of the house and have a new-again (half gone) notebook on the shelf, so I decided to jump in.  Today's writing prompt was this: "What is the biggest question in your life that you'd like to have answered?"

This is what I wrote:

The biggest question in my life is "Do you love me?"  I already know the answer; I am confident in the answer.  But I still like to hear the answer over and over .  Without the question even being asked. 

(Wow.  Two lines.  In my notebook it was 5 1/2.)

Have a great night!!

something to try

There are lots of blogs out there that have a narrower focus on scrapbooking or recipes or crafty stuff, but I've chosen to make mine an extension of who I am, and so you'll find stories here from our lives, funny stuff that M says (like this morning when I woke her up: "Is it Saturday yet?"), my scrapbooking layouts, spiritual stuff, and creative stuff.

That said, I like to try to keep this worth reading, so I was browsing on StumbleUpon yesterday to find something cool to post for you, and found this:



I made one and didn't show M, but sent it out the door with her to play with on the bus...  A fun start to both our days.  The longest part is drawing it out on the paper and cutting - the taping is simple, and in just a few minutes you've got this fun crazy paper thing that you made yourself!  (Let me know if you make one, too!)

PS - Jess and Dave got home safely from Israel - I'm looking forward to hearing all about their trip.

A New Favorite Cookie!

Wow.  My friend Christine made these cookies (I think she said she got the recipe from Jennifer...)  I was there Tuesday and sampled one, got the recipe, and made them that night.

The rush was partly because M needed a dozen goodies for a thing at school the next day and 2 dozen things for Guides the next night, and partly because I just wanted to eat more of them!

Crispies Cookies

1c butter
1c brown sugar
1c sugar
2 eggs
1t vanilla
1 3/4 c flour
1t baking powder
1t baking soda
2c oatmeal
1c coconut
2c Rice Krispies
chocolate chips (optional)

350* 10-12 min
makes 3 doz large

I made 4 doz med sized cookies with the choc chips.  SO GOOD!!!  Enjoy!

Self - Punishment

The night before last, Sean and I woke up at 1:30 AM to an alarm - I go in to Madeline's room to turn off her alarm, since it wasn't either of ours, and of course can't do that in the dark, so I pull the plug.  The wrong one, then the right one, and the alarm is still going off.  

"It's her watch," Sean calls.  

"Where the heck is it?" I ask, blind in the dark.

"Try by my hair stuff," Madeline says, awakened by the alarm or me, I'm not sure which.  I find it, and by now it has stopped, but I take it down two floors in case it goes off again.

Back to bed, and Sean says, "It took me SO long to fall asleep..."  Oops - somebody's going to be in big trouble.  He's off to work before she comes down in the mornings, so he was going to deal with it at supper.  He goes easy on her, just saying that she can have her watch back ONLY IF SHE DOESN'T TOUCH ANY BUTTONS.

So this morning I go in to wake up Madeline, and see that her clock is wrong.  "I'd better change that," I say, "so you're not late for breakfast."

"What time is it?" she asks, and when she finds out that it's actually 7:20, not 7:40 like her clock says, she does the math incredibly fast and realizes that she was in bed with the lights out 20 minutes before she had to be last night.

That's pretty funny, I think.

Snow Fort Making

 

We've got a huge pile of snow at the church from the parking lots being cleared, and Darren and Byron had the great idea to have a snow fort making day today since it was family day - there were over a dozen families there, and we stayed for 3 hours!  The whether was perfect; -10 with no wind.  Warm enough to not get chased inside, but cold enough that you didn't overheat when you were going hard at it with the shovels.  There were lots of caves built, one three part tunnel, and some snow block forts, too.  What a great day.

news.

Sad news - Dick Francis died.  One of my favorite authors.

Happy news - My first cousin once removed (we pride ourselves in running an accurate blog here) had a baby boy today.  Congrats Sherri and Anson and welcome baby Darian!

Informative news - thanks to Megan Fox and body double rumors surrounding her Superbowl ad, I now know that my short stubby thumb is called Brachydactyly type D (BDD).  I still prefer "Grandma Brown Thumb."  My great grandmother had thumbs like that, two of my aunts also did, and one cousin and I each got one.  I admit, I used to hide it in junior high, but in junior high doesn't everyone want to be completely normal?  And think that everyone else notices everything about you? 

Valentine news - We dropped Madeline off at KBK for winter camp on Friday night, (and when we got back to town we checked out the new Walmart Supercenter and stocked up on munchies for Saturday.)  Saturday we drove to Manitoba to go snowboarding at Asessippi for the day.  It was a very good day.  We stopped at the farm and had supper with Sean's parents on the way back, which was also good.  This morning church was good (because church is what you bring to it, not what you get out of it, right?), and now Sean is off golfing.  I'm sitting here writing and enjoying the sun and in about 5 minutes will head off to pick up Madeline.  Then we'll all head out to have dessert with our small group.  A good weekend all around so far, and because tomorrow is the Family Day holiday here, there is lots more good to come, I'm sure!

Please leave a comment with some happy, sad, informative, Valentine or random news of your own.

20/15

This was our day today:

Breakfast (me)
Treadmill (45 minutes walking and reading)
Breakfast (Madeline)
Out for groceries
Back home to make sandwiches
Out to Sean's work to take him a sandwich (we found better things to do last night than me getting lunch food)
Then to the Bible bookstore to put something from work on the bulletin board
Then to the Girl Guides store to get M a new uniform because she outgrew the old one
Then to the Legislative building to check out the gift shop (to see my wares up for sale and to check out their purses) - but we didn't go in because there was no parking and a demonstration in progress on the front steps.  We'll try again later.
Then to Fabricland
Then to the hospital to visit the Grandma
Then to the car wash
Then to the library (you can only take magazines out for one week now!)
Then to the eye doctors for M's appointment.  She has 20/15 vision, which is better than perfect.
And now we're home.

If I knew when I made her appointment that she had no school today, I wouldn't have made it for 3:45 and made us stay out all day.  Half of those things would have gotten cut! 
Supper is in the oven and I'm crashing relaxing.
She's done piano and is packing her overnight bag to stay at Grandpa's while we go out for dessert with our friends.  And next she'll do the dishes.

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My sister and her husband left today for Israel.  I hope they have an AMAZING trip.

you can tell it's Monday...

...by the spoons in the drainboard.

My usual Monday to Friday routine includes doing the dishes in the morning while Madeline is practicing piano before school.  I let them air dry and put them away later while I cook supper.  Tonight as I was putting them away, I grabbed the silverware and thought, "I can tell it's Monday!"  I can tell that because there was one fork, a few knives, and the rest were spoons.  We use spoons for our breakfast cereal and Sunday lunch after church is always soup and bagels; usually on the weekends we're out for Saturday brunch or visiting somewhere or have finger food meals like pizza or chicken fingers and fries... and Monday's dishes show predominantly more spoons than any other day of the week. 

layouts and a new 'do

M wanted a cut - this will be easier for her to look after, being quite a bit shorter and thinned out.  She still managed to have it in a ponytail for church today, though. Another view:

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I don't think I've done any 'real' scrapbooking - one page, rather than a whole project - since the retreat in October.  But that's what I took Tuesday to hang out with the girls (and found out another one is booked for this year's October retreat!  I think that makes three times the number of us that went last year - good times!)

I started a couple of pages there, and finished them last night.  I've been having a good time down in my studio lately, rearranging and getting inspired again.

RETAIL !

One bad and one good for today:

The bad is that M's Grandma McCall took a spill yesterday and broke her collarbone.  She's in the hospital for a while, until a spot is available in an extendicare facility.  This is a sad day, but one we all knew was coming eventually.  We're just glad that it was just a collarbone and not something more serious.

The good is that my magic bags are going to be sold in the gift shops at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and the Saskatchewan Legislative Building!  Very exciting!  When I got a bulk order before Christmas from a girl who wanted to sell them in her massage studio, I started thinking about retail.  Carla does the books for the Museum and she suggested I try there, since they are all about Saskatchewan made stuff.  So this morning I went down with a letter and a sample for the lady that runs both those shops and she said absolutely.  She's taking half a dozen for each shop now and will double that for the tourist season later in the spring.  I'm going to have to get sewing!  And start thinking 'tourists' in my fabric choices.  (Oh, and I named them 'Perfect Heat' since magic bag is a registered name already.  Don't want to break any copyright laws, you know!)

And speaking of sewing, Kadence got her birthday apron in the mail today.  I forgot to take pictures before I sent it, but they'll send me some of her in it and I'll post them for you.  She's so cute you may not notice the apron, though...

Please leave me a comment with what kind of magic bag you have and your favorite use for it.  :)  Mine has been living in Madeline's bed lately.

Comments??

I was just informed by my mom that she has been commenting and they haven't been showing up.  Help me test this and see if I can't get it sorted...  leave me a comment with something in the last day or so that made you smile.

I'll go first -

ABIDE

My word for the year this year is ABIDE.  I was reminded of that pretty strongly this morning after a week of being out of routine: We were snowed in Monday and M had Friday off school, so the middle three days I drove her to school, went to work then picked her up.  I didn't have one day last week that was normal in the sense that I saw Sean off to work and M off to school and then had me time to sit by the window with my Bible, to just be quiet and pray.  Honestly, some days the Bible doesn't even get opened; some days I even just fall asleep.  But that little bit of quiet, and the sense that I am taking time to relax with God is like vegetables.  I need it to be healthy.  It's also like chocolate - so sweet and something I enjoy.  Hm... chocolate vegetables.  Not sure about that.  The best of both worlds, maybe.

Anyway, I was pretty low and this morning just sat wrapped up in the warm blanket by the one sunny window in the back of the house.  I wrote in my journal, thought about someone other than me, read my Bible, and remembered that the reason I chose abide to be my word was because I need it.  I need the time to just BE with God.  My TNIV translates it "remain in me."  I also chose it because of the lack of doing - it's not something to add to a to do list, it's not a task; it's simply to be aware of God, to talk to him, to be with him.  To remember that he is right there and to be aware of that.  To be more aware of him.

John 15:1-5 - "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful... Remain in me as I also remain in you.   No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Photos of our week.

Here's my new ride...  I was waiting to show you until I could get a better picture than this, but this will do for now because my dad wants to see it!  It's quite nice to drive - smaller and easier to maneuver than the van, but still roomy and practical.  It still has the same 'I'm up high and can see everything' feel, but way more sporty.

 

This was our Monday.  M getting her first look at all the snow that had us stuck at home.

 

Outside playing in it.

We shoveled the walks as part of our 'game' - we survived a plane crash and had to go look for other people or roads... It was very long and involved forts and sos's on top of the race trailer...

This was pre-shoveling, obviously, and by the time we got to the front to do this part, the neighbor had done it with his snowblower.  :)

This was the third time in 3 days that we shoveled the walks.

A little Wii after the snow, with some happy results.

The school buses didn't run all week, and today (Friday) is a day off, so I drove the kid to school Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, and then me into work until it was time to pick her up again.  Being in the office for 6 1/2 hours instead of 4 sure had more of a full time feel, but with Monday and Friday at home, I'm still pretty spoiled.  There are definitely perks to working a flexible part time.

In other happy news, on Wednesday night I sent in the last paper for my last class for the program I was in through Carey Theological College.  I will graduate with everyone else here in the Regina satellite campus this spring, and then I'm planning on taking at least a year off before I decide whether I want to pursue the full masters or not.  I've got 13 courses under my belt now, so if I were to continue with the Masters of Pastoral Ministry program I initially signed on for, I would have 5 or 6 courses left.  If I upgraded to their new Masters of Divinity program, I'd be about half done now.  So we'll see in a year or so what I'm feeling like doing!

 

And this is Christine's house, where I went last night for a 'Sew Whatever' party.  How fun!  Heidi, Kari, Jenn, Karen, Jill and Suzanne were all there, too, and that's Christine in the blue in front.  I won't tell you what I was sewing, cause that might spoil the surprises in the mail... but Jen, if you want to send me a picture of it on her when it gets there, I'd love to have one!

SNOW DAY!!!

The schools are open, but the buses are not running.  The funny thing is I was planning on driving her today anyway, because I was going to go on a field trip cross country skiing with her class today.  But if the buses aren't running, then there's no trip either, so we stayed home.  No point braving the roads and other stuck drivers if we don't have to.  I called work and Henry was the only one there... with M having a day off on Friday, I guess I'll be working 3 full days this week.

So far we have:

• done the dishes
• gone over math times tables
• practiced piano
•  had cinnamon buns for a morning snack

Now we're going out to play in the snow (and shovel).  I'll be back later to update this post with the other adventures in our snow day!

Part 2

We were outside for an hour or so - Madeline said her favorite part was that I made the chores be part of our game.  When she first said let's play that we were in a plane crash and we have to figure out how to survive in the wilderness and all we have is..., I thought it makes me feel old that I'd rather just get the shoveling done than use my imagination and play in the snow with my kid.  How sad.  But I did make the right choice, people.  We used 'pieces of the plane's wing' to clear a path to the area where we thought we heard some other people, Madeline made us a fort to sleep in while I made a big SOS (clearing the snow off the top of the trailer), and then we explored to see if we could make it to that big road or runway over there...  It was fun, and good to be out in the fresh air.  When we got to the front to shovel the last bit, the neighbor had already attacked our front walk with his snowblower! 

I worked a little bit while lunch was making itself on a couple of projects - can't check anything off our list for that, but, like a puzzle, they are a couple steps closer.

Now, it's room cleaning time for her and paper time for me.  Pray for FOCUS!

<< contented sigh >>

What a good day.

We were up early to take M out to Dallas Valley Ranch Camp for the Girl Guides camp, and the new vehicle stood up to the challenges of slick streets, lots of new snow and rural driving.  Sean and I went out for brunch and browsed around at a couple of stores (including picking up some stuff to make for supper, making later easier!) and were home by noon.  Normally after sleeping in on a Saturday and doing all that, the day is half over!

When we got home, there was a call from our hair salon advising us that we'd need to change our appointments since Treena was in an accident and would be out for a few weeks.  What??  Treena is a good friend, so I followed up and sure enough, she fell on the ice and broke her leg and was in the hospital.  :(  That's obviously not what made it a good day, but it was so nice to have the time and freedom to drive down and have a visit.

Funny story from there - another friend had knee replacement surgery on Thursday, so I thought I'd find out if she was in the same hospital and pop in to see her, too.  Not only the same hospital, but the same ward, and next door!  Treena and Rose had their heads up against the same wall!!  What a funny coincidence.  And so I got to visit with Rose, too.

At home I got a few chores done, work prepped for tomorrow morning, and a good hour in on my paper, along with taking a big chunk of time to sit and read.  That's why it's such a good day - still hours to do stuff, but so much accomplished and so much relaxing done already.  Nice.

Here are some pictures for you:

This is M all prettied up for dress up day at school.  I picked up a new top and shoes for her (she had 0 pairs of dress shoes and was lacking in the dressy top catagory, too...) and with her sweet pants, new headband and sparkling necklace from the Friesens and earrings, she was beautiful.

This is one of my favorite shots from the last month - sledding in the valley by the farm on boxing day.

And M and cousin K.  The hand-me-downs we took at Christmas will take a while for her to grow into, but she was pretty thrilled to get them, I think, and it was really cute to see her in this one!

Black Clouds & Silver Linings

My van is done.  Head Gasket.  It's a sad day - not because I love my van, just because it costs so much to replace!!  It was having problems early last week, and Sean tried a couple of things, then it was still acting up, so I had it towed from my place into my mechanic, who ruled out the lesser gasket problems and said, at 5 to 5 on Friday that it was the big bad one. 

I think Sean's going to call him tomorrow morning and say not to even bother fixing it - we won't even get as much on it as a trade in as it would take to fix it...  We'll see on that one.  Bottom line, I'm getting a different vehicle.  We went shopping all afternoon and have it narrowed down pretty good.  Sean's been online and tonight and already found a better price for the same vehicle we were looking at, so hopefully tomorrow evening we can pick that up and make it mine - amazing how fast something like this can go.

Yuck, car payments.  Yay, new car!  Of course by new I mean new to me.  The one we're thinking of is a 2009, though, which is pretty new in my books!

I'm going to go get on the treadmill to try to improve my mood.  This, rather than chocolate, is my new method.  (Let's see how long I last...)

Helping Haiti through Compassion

We sponsor children through Compassion, and while neither of ours is in Haiti, there are many children in the Compassion programs there.  This is what they have to say about the earthquake that happened there this week:

The catastrophic earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12 has resulted in unfathomable chaos and devastation for hundreds of thousands of children and families.

 

Compassion sponsors and donors serve more than 65,000 children in Haiti. At least a third of them live in the areas that were hardest hit.

Compassion International is working rapidly to assess the situation and determine the full extent of damage:
• Sadly, we anticipate there will be many deaths.
• We anticipate thousands of children and families will have lost everything.
• We anticipate many of our church-based child development centers will have been destroyed.

Without a doubt, the children we serve in Haiti are in shock and face immediate needs for food, water, medical care, shelter and counseling. We have teams prepared to respond, and we are deeply committed to helping each child.
 

We need your help immediately. Please reach out in the name of Jesus to bring relief, comfort, love and restoration to precious children and families whose lives have been devastated by this crisis.
 

If you want to make a donation to help Haiti and the families affected by this earthquake, go to Compassion's Disaster Relief Donation page.

Thank you for helping Compassion International help Haiti.

 

(Haiti Earthquake)

Spring in January and the Molympics

Yesterday it was +6 degrees!!!  Today I only saw it go to 2 above, but wow, what crazy January weather!

That's partly why M was outside playing after school yesterday for so long.  When I went out to check on her, she said, "Mom!  Come out and see the sports I made up for the Molympics!" (That's pronounced moe - lympics.)

The first one was sliding down the pile of snow on the back deck to the grass, on her back, head first.  She had crafted a nice little curve at the bottom, and said this event was for speed.  The next one was a two-step-and-flip-over-your-head move from the sidewalk to the snow pile on the side of the walk.  I wasn't about to try either one, because I wasn't dressed for the snow... But I did try the third one, and walked away in my Sorels with a Gold Medal in the long jump off the deck.  I had her by a foot.

Tonight M is off to Girl Guides, Sean is off to play shinney with a bunch of guys, and I think I'll start on my last paper...  The tree came down last night and as soon as the box is gone from the living room, Christmas will be over for another year.  While I was doing that, M was laying on the couch doing homework and Sean was being Mr. Fixit, installing weather stripping stuff around the doors and doing other odd jobs.  A productive night all around!

My friend from the office next door is in the hospital with appendix issues.  He's been in almost a week, and he's got a ways to go before he's fully healthy again.  If you're a pray-er, lift one up for Byron and his family.  He's the youth pastor, and his sponsors are doing a great job carrying things along.  (Since he was away and Henry was at a retreat and David was at a course and Janet's in Hawaii, Darren and Elizabeth and I had staff meeting at Roca House today...  :) )

Snow People and Torches!!

The big paper is done and in and I feel wonderful!
One more and I'm DONE.

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In more important news, we got to be part of the fun of the Olympic Torch Relay today, as well as the Ice & Fire Carnival.  Here's some shots of the day:

Most of the kids in the group.

 The Olympic Mascots!!

Look at that video camera in her face!

Here's the group in action...

and M in action.

Check out the snow sculpture in the background of kids

(they're fake - it's just clothes!) and the giant snowball.

M and Sean after the performance.

The Olympic Party in Regina...

and the torch right in front of us!

The Ice & Fire Carnival continues tomorrow, so if you're around, M's dancing in the processional at 3 and then performing again at 4:30 and 5:30 at the circle stage.  (This is all at the Rider practice field between the Mosaic Stadium and the Lawson Aquatic Center.)

Aarrgghh...

Can't blog now... writing a paper... why is this so hard???

But I will be here soon with my word for the year, with some holiday photos, and maybe a story or two from the trips to see our families.  So stay tuned!

Oh, and so sad that the US beat Canada in the World Juniors - there's nothing like going to a game to get you in the spirit of the tournament.  Nothing like having it in your back yard to make going to a game possible!  (I was writing my paper, not watching, but I did catch a few of the replays after things erupted in the living room...)