The Wanderings and Ponderings of a Brilliant Mind

2008-05-17T10:42:00.003-06:00

Greeting from small town Alberta, home of.....
well I'm not sure what it's the home of,
but this weekend,
it's the home away from home of sports boy and his drag along family.

The boy is attending ball camp, and currently dad is with him and I am
enjoying the peaceful existence of hotel living.
I'm really not an "away from home" person, but for short stretches,
it is pure heaven to be away from all external distractions.

So, scroll down to the last picture in my last post......

the broken window is in the master bedroom, a rather large, expensive window,
which became the latest victim of testosterone laden teenage boys who possess more energy and enthusiasm than forethought. It seems that despite living on 4 and a half acres, the best place for pitching practise is outside my bedroom window.
In the past couple of years, this trio of boys has put a boy sized hole in the downstairs playroom wall , broken two holiday trailer windows with golf balls, cracked the bottom half of two mirrored doors and shorted out the hot tub in mid winter.

So, it seems, my lessons and lectures on civilized behaviour are the thing of the past.

The plan is when the estimate for the window comes in, they will be using their boundless energy and enthusiasm around the acreage to work off every penny of their debt.

My gardens will be weedless this summer : )

2008-05-16T07:24:00.012-06:00

The picture is not blurred... it's my eyes

trying to keep up with the ever moving son

and his sports.........

but today I have just finished packing for a weekend trip up north.
3 days in a hotel with a spa, high speed, and room service.
While sports boy attends Baseball Camp, I will relax.
He's really excited about this opportunity, baseball pro's are coming from the States to work with them for the next 3 days..........

I hope his first lesson will be choosing the proper backstop for pitching practise.

2008-05-02T16:24:00.005-06:00

April has been a month of pressure for me, and as
tossed my last deadline project in the courier basket today
I did a mental dance of joy, being too physically tired to actually kick up my heels.
My desk is a disaster, because I work better with piles all around me, and all in all my office looks like a war zone, but I am caught up, in fact ,I am ahead of myself for a while.
All I have to do is remember how to breathe..................
One month has gone by since my last post and so , today I bring you
April's leftovers.............

April 08 is our first mortgage free month.... what am I doing with the extra cash??? Soccer registration 125.00, new soccer cleats 65.00, (I am praying he doesn't outgrow these mid season!!!!) BLUE socks ( who says boys don't do the matchy matchy thing?) 10.00. Baseball registration 120.00, ball transfer fee ( he's playing out of area) 25.00.... 100.00 ump fees, new ball cleats (soccer cleats aren't good enough for his level of ball and you can't wear metal cleats for soccer) 95.00, compression pants that hold a can ( I do want more grandchildren) 58.00, BLUE ball socks.... (soccer socks are not the same ) 2 at 8.50 each, ball pants, 35.00, gold ( cause his black one won't do) under armour shirt @ 55.00, 10 bucks for a belt , 30.00 to re lace his glove , 200.00 ball camp registration and 3 nights in a hotel for said ball camp 450.00 .... if he keeps going like this we may have to re mortgage. As well as soccer and ball, he has been playing doubles badminton, which gained them a silver medal and the opportunity to play in provincials. But not real silver... if it was we'd be melting the thing down to pay for his other sports.

my cyber friend mark took a longer blog break than I did, but is now posting at his typical manic rate. He posed a question, and I decided to answer it here. What ring tones do you have on you phone? My cell phone rings a lot, so I figured that rather than cringe everytime it rang, I'd have a little fun with it........., so here they are:

When my daughter , husband or son calls I hear Lou Rawlin's drawl out...."Ain't No Sunshine when she's gone......" because face it, when I'm gone, so is their sunshine. When my colleagues call, Bob Marley sings "Wonderful World, Beautiful people...." because I love love love my job. My friends let me know it's them with the instrumental "Give Peace a Chance", just because I love this song as much as I love them, and when I hear it, it lifts my spirit, again, just like them. Bureaucrats have been assigned "Take this job and shove it" (music only, but I sing the words in my head), because I do not like this part of my job. Blondie alerts me to unknown callers by belting out "Call me......" to which I answer back.... "later baby", and I do,...... if I want to.

snow has just melted.... again.... having had a week of blizzards a couple of weeks ago. Finally things are turning green, and in about three weeks we will be planting our gardens. I'm planning a smaller one closer to the house this year for an herb and kitchen garden. My soul aches to be in the garden again.

my husband bought a "sea can" ,a 8.5 x 45 foot aluminum box, to hold all the "stuff "that has cluttered the garage . I can hardly wait to get out of my car and walk a straight line into the house. By the end of the summer I hope to have an organized storage shed, and a car only garage!

Scout, the incredible growing dog, has learned how to jump off the deck this week, which means I have two choices when I leave him home alone. Leave him on the deck and worry about him getting out, or leaving him inside to party all day. Wednesday's decision to leave him inside didn't work out so well, so yesterday I made the decision to leave him on the deck. When I arrived home, I opened the slider to let him in..... no Scout.... I called him..... no galloping footsteps. I panicked and ran hysterically outside screaming his name at the top of my lungs. When I finally stopped screaming I heard a small, pitiful whimper. Running to the other side of the house I found him.

Apparently he jumped over the gate and after his escape antics, decided he wanted back on the deck..............

Hopefully he's learned his lesson. ;)

Now I know it was mean of me to grab the camera before the screwdriver, but it was a photo op I just couldn't miss. I seriously don't know how he managed to squeeze his fat head through the rails, but I had to unscrew it to free him. He was a very grateful pup.

I am not nearly done, but the Cree Princess has crawled up beside me and told me she loved me..... and well , priorities you know.

I'll be back........

continued tomorrow (after Sports Boy's first ball game)

ttfn

2008-03-31T15:37:00.003-06:00

I never thought this day would come,
when we sat in the lawyers office, years ago,
pen in hand, mind swimming , heart pounding,
as I tried to comprehend
what we had gotten ourselves into.
Throughout the years , I imagined this day,
dreamed of this day,
a day in the distant future.....
Perhaps I envisioned balloons released and
multi coloured confetti falling from the sky,
fireworks bursting above me,
angels bursting into songs of jubilation
with cheers and applause from the world at large.

So I feel a little let down.....

no balloons, fireworks or applause....

just the comforting knowledge that

this little piece of the world .......

is finally OURS...

we are MORTGAGE FREE.

2008-03-14T09:43:00.012-06:00

Friday's Leftovers.....

Spring is taking it's time to arrive,
as the snow recedes and the mud replaces it's crisp white blanket, our land is looking dismal. No more white, not yet green, that period of brown, highlighted only by the bright and shining sun.

Daylight savings time has made me sluggish this week, and despite the fact that it happened on Sunday, the boy was an hour late for school on Monday. All of the clocks had been changed, but my husband was gone and the boy and I listen to our bodies .Apparently our bodies said it was 7am, not 8. My body is still an hour behind.What used to be sluggish in the morning is now down right catatonic.

The incredible growing pup is a whopping 16.3 kg as of his vet visit yesterday, a 10 kg (22 pounds) increase since we got him the beginning of January. Mud and puppies , especially hairy puppies, mean that we have bathing him down to a fine art.

I was in a Tim Horton's Drive thru this week, when I took this picture......

I was going to label it,

"where's a cop when you need one?"

but instead, as of yesterday, I will label it " thank you for giving me a lecture instead of a speeding ticket when I lost my mind for a few seconds and forgot to set my cruise control, while grooving to Jimmy Cliff and enjoying the sunshine . You deserve a coffee break whenever you want."

My son is eating us out of house and home....

he was a preemie and I've always joked that he never got out of his 2 hour feeding schedule.

This is a typical school day breakfast.....

If there is a correlation between breakfast and learning, this boy should be on the honour roll

My husband is opening a new business, with two of his good friends/co workers. When they told their boss their plans, giving him two months notice, they were promptly fired. So now I have an unemployed husband. The upside is that he won't have money for garish gifts for a while. Oh yeah, to answer your question liz, yes 11 of the golden roses went back, ( he gave the other one to the Cree Princess who was mesmorized by them) He doesn't bother reading my blog, although it's no secret. Although with more time on his hands he may start checking in..... if that's the case, " I love you , hon, even if you are unemployed and have occasional lapses in taste ;)"

ttfn

2008-03-11T08:02:00.004-06:00

I've been watching Oprah's Big Give which started a couple of weeks ago.
It struck me as sad that on both shows they featured soldiers returning from Iraq,
young men with families who were desperately struggling to keep their heads above water.
Yesterday I found out that 6256 returning US soldiers
had committed suicide upon their return to civilian life.
In my youth, it was the Vietnam vets that came home to destroyed lives....
people associated anti war with anti solider....
Regardless of how we feel about this damn war,
or the corrupt administration behind it
please take some time today and each day after to
really and truly support these families.

2008-03-10T17:34:00.007-06:00

I am a mud puddle girl at heart....
and today my heart smiles :)

2008-02-15T12:03:00.004-07:00

Ever since I was a little girl,
I have never liked Valentines Day,
for a number of reasons.
And today, on the bloody morning after,
I join countless woman who are
wondering

why did I pick this man???

Please don't think I'm sexist here, I'm sure that the
unrealistic pressure of this stupid holiday impacts
our male half of the planet in equal or greater degrees.
But, I happen to be a woman. With hurt feelings.
I sit here today, wondering.....

does this man know me at all????

Has he even once paid attention to who I am, what makes me smile,
what warms my heart???
The fact that he bought my gift on the day, is typical.
And forgivable.
I would have been fine with no gift, a kiss and an "I love you."

Nope.... not my man.

My man heads for the jewelers and brings home a dozen of THESE
One would have been gawdy enough.
A dozen makes my stomach lurch.
Call me ungratful, unappreciative and a bitch.
These things are headed back to the store.

2008-02-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

Having been in the grips of bitchocity for the last few weeks, my son picked a very bad time to have a bout of male adolesent amnesia .
On Tuesday, waiting for his basketball game to start, I had my planner out, updating my week, when a mom, looking over my shoulder, noted that I didn't have the weekend basketball tourney penciled in.
My son had failed to mention it.
Wednesday was the last day of school this week, and when I asked last night for his schedule, he informed me that he forgot the schedule in his locker, along with his last known pair of gym shorts. Seeing as shorts aren't a big selling item when it's 30 below, I was forced to drive in semi blizzard conditions early this morning and shop at a sports store paying 49.99 for a pair of X small men's, as they didn't carry junior ( read , somewhat cheaper) sizes.
This was after I spent a half hour on the floor of the store, because they were all on the bottom rack, with the size tags tucked neatly inside each pair of shorts.
When I arrived home after two hours, following a sanding truck the whole way home, he proudly told me he got a hold of a team mate to fax us the schedule .Reading it I noticed a reminder to bring water bottles, tape and their jerseys...... it doesn't take much of a leap to assume that his jersey was no where to be found. His best guess was that it was somewhere in his locker, along with the schedule, the shorts, and various reminents of rotting lunches.
The past two days have been teachers convention, and the school was locked tightly up, but with a bit of ingenuity, I came up with the caretaker, who graciously met us at the school , and we retrived the jersey , shorts (14.99 non emergency price ) the missing schedule and headed on the 1/2 hour trip home.

Except it wasn't a half hour, it was three hours.

Flat tire.

28 C below.

It was my seething anger that kept us warm.

We had a half hour to get ready to head out on the hour long drive to the tourney venue, and as he headed for the shower, I listened to our voice mail.

The tournament was cancelled, due to the extreme weather.

I mean ,who in their right mind would be out on a day like today?

2008-02-06T14:19:00.001-07:00

or rather I am boring

I look around and feel complete

Usually, at this time of year the long winter has me a little crazy,but lately it's more than that......

is my new best friend.

If you want to join my pity party

On second thought, don't,

then I'd have to get out of my pajamas.

2008-01-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

We've been on a breeders waiting list for 2 years, and finally,
I'm happy to introduce "Scout".
Scout is a 9 week old ,6.5 kg Bouvier des Flandres.
Our other Bouvier, Molly, died of old age ,8 years ago.
Ever since, we knew that someday we would love to have another as a member of our family.
This is a fabulous bred of dog.
They are big:
Their weight ranges from 80 to 125 pounds or 36 to 56 kilograms; they are powerfully built, with a thick double coat which can be fawn, black, grey brindle, or "pepper and salt" in color.
Country/Region of Origin: Belgium
They are strong, fearless companions:
In World War I, the French used Bouviers de Flandres, they pulled the wounded from the battlefields and carried messages, through the gunfire and shelling. The U.S. military had a greater number of Bouviers serving as sentries than any other breed.
By the end of the war, there were few Bouviers de Flandres left. A group of Belgians revived the Bouviers de Flandres breed.
And they are instinctively smart:
In World War II, the Bouvier again faced extinction, but not because they were being used in war. Adolf Hitler was deciding on a breed of guard dog for the Third Reich to use. Having heard of the Bouvier's strengths and abilities, Hitler requested to meet this dog. When Hitler reached out his hand, the Bouvier snapped at him, biting his hand. Hitler decreed that all Bouviers were to be killed on sight. Again, it was the people of Belgium who successfully re-established the breed.

These dogs are wonderful companions, considering their family to be their herd. Although large, they make great house pets. They are at ease when the house is quiet, and ready to play when you are. They are gentle with children Despite the " biting" incident described above, which I believe is just an intuitive knowledge of people, we've never had any type of aggression from this breed. They take a fierce and aggressive stance between strangers and their family, and are extremely protective. There were many times I would be walking alone on the river bank and come upon a group of fishermen. Molly would position herself between me and them , front legs apart, broad chest, high alert. When they asked if she bit, I would say, "not unless I give the command". Although I never had a "command", it felt empowering to say it.. because of their size and protective stance, most people assume correctly that that they would be taken down if they were percieved as a threat. We never had a stranger get out of their car when Molly was outside.
We didn't get him as a guard dog however. the breed is very loving, smart and playful. They never stray, staying within the property, always wanting to be close to their family. Although they are always close by, they are never underfoot.

We've had some sleepless nights as Scout wails from his kennel, hating to be away from his herd, and are going through the trials of house training.

But it was worth the wait.

ps: liz, the other night when I was still awake at 3am listening to his mournful wails I remembered you had a dog named Scout.
Our Scout was named because his mom's name was Rumor.

So here's the trivia question:
Bruce Willis and Demi Moore named their daughters Rumor and Scout.
Which classic novel did these names come from?

2008-01-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year !!!!.......

I'm baaaaaaaaack...........,
and Dorothy was right,

there's no place like home....
the land of Tim Horton's and coloured money.

I promise to post some pictures, but for the time being the camera is MIA,
somewhere in piles of Mouse Ears, souvenir tee shirts and dirty laundry.
With ten days at Disneyland, Universal Studios and Sea World,
I have no doubt my highlight was meeting gina...
I adore gina, I have since the first time visited her blog,
and meeting her in the flesh affirmed what I've felt all along about this whole blogging thing, there are some fabulous people out here in this big world that I am just dying to meet.

What can I say about gina.... that those of you who read her blog don't already know ????
I could have spent the whole day with gina, she's the real deal, funny, smart, informed and unlike her blog picture she actually has a brilliant smile that draws you in and keeps you there. She's everything I thought she would be and more, much more.

gina, you can kidnap me anytime.

At the Denver airport, they announced free tickets anywhere in North America to those who would give up their seats. I tried to talk my family into doing this so I could then take their freebies and visit my blogroll, but at 2am they weren't going to be swayed and told me I would have to find my own way home from Calgary if I chose to stay.
I considered it, but then decided it might be a whole lot easier to invite you all up here.

But maybe you should wait til summer...............

2007-12-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

so, in assessing my blog postings... i suck.
not only do i suck in posting,
i suck in catching up with you all.
in my head, i talk to you all the time.

how excited can i be about blogging when
every other post is an excuse for not blogging.
truth is, i can't seem to get my cyber sh*t together.

why can't you all just come over for coffee!!!!!
or maybe even a good old pajama party.

the good news is, in my real life, i rock.
seriously rock.

only 13 more sleeps til the happy place,
i am so pumped about getting away from the cold,
with my family.
and a million other people.

i might not be back in cyber world before christmas,
but i want to wish you all, above all,
peace.

2007-11-28T08:20:00.001-07:00

Just call me a big fat liar.
Today I am pretending to be sick.
I set the stage yesterday as I left work,
when I pretended to have a sore throat,
knowing full well that when I woke up in the morning,
my sore throat would have evolved into a pounding head ache,
sore aching muscles, and a low grade fever.
Faking the fever wasn't hard,
cause my family won't come within 10 meters of me when I'm sick.
Which is the whole reason for my charade.
And now I am alone. In a quiet house.
My office manager has been informed I am sick.
She will put out fires today.
My husband will do my in town errands,
and do all the chauffeuring of sports boy.
And I will lay propped up, in the middle of the bed,
with the remote, coffee, my current book and my laptop
all within arms reach.
From my cozy lair, I can see the snow covered yard, and know,
that while the whole rest of the world struggles through "hump day",
I will recharge.

2007-11-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

It is obvious by the last post that my love for my children and chosen grandaughter bring out some qualities that I am not particularily proud of. Words paired with anger tend to not deal with the issue at hand, but drag with them past pain, hurts and slights. Which is why I am glad I chose the option of my blog. Thank you all for your understanding and thoughts.
Last night was a rough one for me, sleep would not come, and I realized that although I thought I had forgiven and moved on, I haven't.
I fell in love with my husband all over again as I heard him talk to his mother on the phone last night, making it very ,very clear that the Cree Princess was and always would be , our family. I almost ( but not quite) felt sorry for her with his unrelenting condemnation of her behaviour.
Forgiveness is a tough concept for me, the thing that I struggle with I guess is the letting go. I wrote a comment to liz saying that hating her hurts my heart, and it's true. While MIL went on her merry way, I spent the last day rehearsing the speech I was going to give her and planning my own passive aggresive revenge, (which ,if truth be told ,was rather entertaining for a while) but ended up with a pounding headache, red swollen eyes and a rage that made my stomach hurt. What a waste of time.
So I've got some work to do, not for her benefit, but my own.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
If we practice and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the wholeworld will be blind and toothless.
Mahatma Ghandi

peace, and hugs, right back at ya.

2007-11-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

I need to do something with my rage and as I sit here, tears flow, my body shakes and I can literally feel my blood running through my veins. I have picked up the phone many times this morning, and even got in my car once to drive to confront you face to face... but I cannot trust that I would not lose it and bitch slap an 80 year old woman.
Consider yourself lucky.
Instead I will lay this down, once and for all ,here, and I am done with you.
An open letter to my Mother in Law:
Ever since I married your precious, oldest son, you have not accepted me, for in your mind, I am the reason he left your "church". You ignore the fact that as soon as he left the confines of your home he left the "church". I tried to understand your religion, and the questions I asked were taken as insults. I tried to attend on occasion, but was always met with .... "it's so nice to see you here... too bad you don't come regularly"or, "it breaks my heart to know that your children are not being brought up in the church, we will pray for them"
Throughout the years I have put up with a tremendous amount of crap from your pious daughters, keeping my mouth shut to keep the peace, until finally I didn't care and told them both to shove it. I , of course, was the bad guy. But what do you expect from someone outside of the "church"? I have pasted a smile on at the huge family events, biting my tongue with the better and holier than thou attitude that is prevalent in your extended family gatherings. I didn't even bring up the fact that your "religious prophet", Ms White, is a plagiarist and a fraud.
All because I love my husband.
But today you made my husband cry... and now the gloves are off.
It has been 5 years since the Cree Princess came into our family, and you still can't (won't) pronounce her name properly. You come up with so many excuses not to attend her birthdays, dance recitals etc that the invitations weren't extended this year.
But today is the final straw. You proudly deliver gifts to all your grandchildren and great grand children from your latest trip abroad, and there is nothing for her. My husband brought home the gift for my son and said, "I'll go buy the Cree Princess something so M doesn't know" But my daughter does know that you do not accept her beautiful , chosen child and it has hurt her deeply, and for that I hate you. Seriously hate you.
I want to scream from the roof tops that you are a bigoted ,hateful , mean spirited, passive -aggressive bitch.
My saving grace is that while you may fool the community that holds you in such high regard, you can't fool God.
He knows your heart.

2007-10-21T12:15:00.000-06:00

Ok all of you left brain thinkers, I need your help.....
my husband is going away for the week, and the boy has math homework galore.
I don't need to impress him, I just don't want to confuse him... I could do a lot of damage in 5 days.
So I got to thinking, if someone could just simply take me through the process, I could take him through the process, and then, come Friday, dump all knowledge of mathemical stuff out of my brain.
Just like I did upon graduation.
So here's a sample problem......

About 5/6 of the class ( I wonder how come they all didn't participate, were they absent? apathetic?... that's sad, at that age they should be all pumped up about getting out and having fun. I wonder if more boys than girls participated... what about chubby kids, did they exclude themselves? man, we really need to get a handle on childhood obesity........participated in a walk a thon. (I wonder what charity it was, cancer probably, Terry Fox was such a remarkable young man, now THAT"S a role model.... I need to remember to send my pledge to Breast Cancer this week, I wonder how D did on her walk, I really should do the walk next year....maybe get a team together.....About 2/5 0f these people (2/5 of 5/6 ??? warning, warning, trick question coming, all brain cells on high alert.... speaking of brain cells, I wonder how many I have left, I'm pretty sure i killed a few between graduation and serious adulthood, hmmm speaking of graduation, I wonder when our next reunion is??? raised over a 100 dollars each ( how about that canadian dollar, climbing, climbing, kind of like jack's beanstalk, weaving it's way through the clouds, luscious green leaves, leading to unknown territory, would i have the courage to climb a beanstalk????....What fraction of the class raised over a hundred dollars?OMG are they serious, how the heck can anyone know that, why would they care, am I wasting my tax dollars educating children to totally useless things, maybe i should run for office, perhaps premier, maybe queen of the land... there would be no math if i was queen of the land, if I was ........
help.
seriously....
and simply.

2007-10-18T13:37:00.000-06:00

Well, I must say I am impressed with Passport Canada. Really impressed. And for me, that's saying a lot. I have a very low tolerance for bureaucracy. Everyone I spoke to prior to going to the Passport Canada office was polite, helpful and knowledgeable. * see disclaimer . I took the day off, left at 6am, ready for a frustrating day of waiting and more waiting. Instead I was home by 10 15 am, my entire time from start to finish, 4 1/2 hours, including grabbing coffee, gassing up, the 3 hour drive and parking. Incredible...... no frustration, great people and the whole rest of the day to collect, Fridays Leftovers..

the days have been beautiful here, an Indian Summer at it's finest. A true gift. While people in the city work endlessly to rake leaves, we have the freedom to leave them blow where they may. When I was a child, Autumn was my favorite season, with Spring a close second. These days, I have the memories and hardships of cold winters that follow to dampen my former love of the season. So I try to reach back and enjoy the smells, and sights of the warm, crisp and earthy air with childhood perspective and enthusiasm.
*disclaimer When I said all my passport stuff was great, I do not include the passport photo. My son and I headed to AMA to get our photos, but on that day the camera was broken so I was faced with the dilemma, go to the only other open place, or herd my son into town another day and hope the camera was fixed. The dilemma.... the other place was Walmart.So debating Walmart or future unhappy son, I choose Walmart. And ended up with an unhappy, embarrassed son, who has another reason to not to want to go into town with me. There was 1 customer standing at the counter when we came in to the photo studio, and the photographer/receptionist/cashier/salesman, was busy selling some packages, people lined up behind me, and after 10 minutes or so, she the / person served the lady in front of me. Just as it was my turn to speak to her, the person behind me stepped in front of me. Despite my protests, she stated she worked there and would only be a moment. At 1 minute intervals, I objected with glares, and hateful thoughts, but her moment took 10 minutes more, telling me she had phone messages for the photo studio. At the point where the manager returned, I was ticked and spoke to him. His tone was so patronizing and monotone I felt my blood pressure and voice rising. Fortunately I glanced over to the waiting room, and saw my son, peeking out from under a magazine, a pleading look in his eyes... a "please, do not make a scene, and whatever you do don't sit beside me" look. So I let the managers monotone and canned apology lull me into a zombie like calm, sitting across the waiting room from my son for another hour. Unfortunately, my photo says it all... despite the call for no facial expression, a "get me the hell out of here" glare is clear in my eyes. My "I hate Walmart" glare.
and the reason for getting our passports? Despite me objecting to new border requirements, there is a border between us and Disneyland. The 6 of us are heading to California at Christmas. We were last there when our son was 3 before the Cree Princess and N joined our family. So tell me, what are the must sees while we are there???? I am an itinerary person, not so rigid that things are planned to the hour, but when I'm on a sightseeing holiday, I hate spending half the morning deciding what we are going to do. I've passed this on to my daughter, who used to make fun of me, but now is planning the whole trip... I shall attend and enjoy, and carry nothing for no one.
and finally........

"Gramma......did you water your garden today?", the Cree princess asks when I answer the phone.
"Honey, the garden is done for the year" , I remind her of the potatoes and carrots we dug this past weekend.
"No gramma, not that garden ", she says...." your other garden"
"ahh... the other garden......"

I'd like you to meet Marshmallow, a tiny blue hippo, and a citizen of Webkinz World.
Marshmallow was gifted to me by my beloved granddaughter for my birthday, named and chosen especially for me. If you don't have kids you may not know about this clever capital endeavour by Ganz..... a childhood version of Second Life. My granddaughter loves them, and she seems to love taking charge of making sure I am a good Webkinz owner. But I have to run, apparently Marshmallow is under the weather and needs to see Dr Quack.....

enjoy your weekend.....

2007-10-05T21:55:00.000-06:00

Unlike gina, who thought it was Wednesday today,
I woke up knowing it was Saturday.
When I read her blog this morning, I thought I was reading her previous days blog.
I knew it was Saturday, because no one woke me up this morning to say goodbye
on the way to work and school. I woke up, stretched, lounged around while the boys played outside and finally ,when the phone rang at 10 to confirm a lunch date. ... I came to the realization it was Friday. ....today was the first day of our Thanksgiving weekend,
there was no school, but indeed, I had work.
Days like today throw me for a loop.
All I could do was deal with stuff,
never gaining balance or momentum.
But that is today past.......in itself a huge thing to be thankful for.
And however it came about, I am thankful that I could be given 2 hours
on a busy Friday morning to be oblivious to the demands of my job.
My thankfulness continues in Friday's leftovers.

with yard cards on her lawn, singing balloons delivered to her school, and a sparkler birthday cake at St Kate's cozy dinner with her husband, we made sure everyone around her knew she was 50 .......I am thankful for forever friends who will grow old with me.

as we've been doing our "get ready for winter" chores, (which seem endless in the country), my husband and I were discussing at what point in our lives we will choose live somewhere warm during these long cold winters. It seems we have a lot more talking to do. He'd like nothing more than a condo on a golf course somewhere in the southern US. I'd like nothing less. I would rather stick out snow, and freezing temperatures than do that. I could not bear to live by and among golfers. I want small home with a big shade tree, a hammock and a garden somewhere in the Mediterranean. With generous plane fare for my kids and grandkids......I am thankful for dreams, opportunities and choices.

My son brought home his interim report card... 47% in math....... because he hasn't handed in most of his assignments. I am thankful his dad can tutor him. Grade eight math gives me headaches.

When we were married , we had no money for luxuries like diamonds,

I am thankful my husband saw a program about Canadian Diamonds, just before my birthday.

my daughter finally talked me into setting up a facebook page, and within the week I had gathered all my godkids and family of the heart, under one neat little roof. I am thankful that my kids , my husband and I have solid, loving family and friend connections.

We are going on a Christmas Vacation this year, my husband, son, daughter, N and the Cree Princess. I am thankful the Canadian dollar is on par with it's American counterpart ,now our dollar is not only prettier, it will have much more value at the happiest place on earth.

and seeing as it my satellite high speed went down last night, I am thankful it truly is Saturday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.........

2007-10-04T17:12:00.000-06:00

A Mom's Life.........

2007-10-01T14:12:00.000-06:00

An excerpt...

Sept 29th / 07

If there is a movie about my life, this moment will be the opening scene, me, sprawled out in the backseat, wrapped in my blankie, journal in my lap, and a smile on my face.

The latest of many ya ya road trips.

Dianne Keaton will portray me. I've been compared to her, perhaps because of a slight physical resemblance, but primarily because they say I was the inspiration for Annie Hall's wardrobe. It usually isn't a compliment, but not being a fashion diva, I always took it as one to annoy them.

We are on the way to surprise St Kate for her 50th birthday. The youngest of the ya ya's will not be surprised that we will somehow make a big fuss about her birthday, so we will have to surprise her with timing. A pajama party at midnight should do the trick. Seeing as we are in our pajamas at the moment, I hope that we are not pulled over.Actually, when I think about it , a car full of ya ya's on the lonely Saskatchewan highway might just brighten some lonely cop's night.

There is a lull in the laughter and conversation, and as kilometer after kilometer passes my mind wonders from memory to memory, the joys, successes, failures and tears of 30 years of friendship.

My sisters of the heart. It is with this group of women I am me. Hope. Not a mother, or a wife, a daughter, sister or a boss.

I am simply, Hope.

More than any other thing, their energy and spirit renew me..........

2007-09-27T23:53:00.000-06:00

If not now, when?.....
I'm not sure.
All is well, but busy,
as we madly get ready for winter.
I'll catch up soon.
But right now I'm so behind,
I think I'm first.

2007-09-17T18:01:00.000-06:00

A couple of posts back I showed some of our gardens bounty

and w3 kindly gave me a recipe for

"Fried Green Tomatoes "

The verdict.......???????

" Well yall, them shurrrre were good" .........seriously good.

Now can I be an honourary

good ole gal????

2007-09-16T15:53:00.000-06:00

So I spent today trying to catch up on work,
but when I tried to access my office e mail,
it kept coming back, non existent address.
After about half a dozen frustrating attempts,
I realized I had been typing in

**************@ hottub.com.

My sub conscience speaks.

2007-09-14T17:51:00.000-06:00

My summers mantra of, "it can wait til September",
has bit me in the butt,
and September has come in like a lion.
My 27th annual,

" First day of School Dance of Joy",

only lasted til after the Labour day weekend ...
alas, I have been worked to death.....
but is of my own device,
so.........sit back, catch up as I serve up

September brings almost every kind of weather here,
and we've had a bit of everything so far.........

The Cree Princess left her favourite toy ever out in the hail....
so I made a daring rescue........
after being cuddled in a towel for an hour he made a full recovery.

Then.......we had our first heavy frost this week,
so it was a rush to get in the delicate stuff from the garden.....

Our garden was prolific this year, I've been doubly blessed,
first with the opportunity to play in the garden all summer,
then to enjoy it's bounty throughout the winter.

We made apple juice from our own tree,
still leaving lots of fruit for the birds over the winter

It rained, it poured, it thundered and left lovely puddles to quad through....
( this picture is for you amelia ;) )

and today, the sun shone, and I was again,
grateful.