MARY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Yes, you read it right. Today I heard a sermon that had this title. Don't you just love the way Mary was obedient and all that is written about her journey to obedience in Luke 1 and in Luke 2. I just love those two chapters and read them a few times over the year, but I think as we anticipate the celebration of Christs birth it becomes more special. I love the way she pondered it all and kept it in her heart. Just think how blessed she must have felt to be the chosen one to bring our Savior into the world. It must at times have been a bit scary, like when she had to tell her parents or Joseph and not knowing how they would react. It is amazing how God had already had a talk with Joseph. It reminds me just how awesome God is, in preparing things for us. It usually turns out that all the worrying and fretting we do is for naught as God has already prepared the way. I always look forward to re-hearing the journey through the old testament and how God had already prepared everything way back then. This year for the first time I realized Mary was a widow. If you notice, after a certain point in the New Testament, Joseph isn't mentioned and it is now believed that he was much older than Mary and had passed away. Isn't it awesome that our Lord became a carpenter so that he could support his mother and other family members? Even when he was at the cross, he thought of Mary and made sure someone was looking after her. That to me shows his love, not just for his earthly family, but for all of us.Feeree over at Widow's Christian Place has this video up today. If you are a widow, please start following her blog, it is awesome, so much help and ideas to help us through this stage of our lives.

Like Ferree, this too is my wish for you all at Christmas. Like you all, I will be busy over the next few days, so please make it your goal to observe, rejoice, and like Mary let us all ponder it all and keep it in our hearts.

Blessings to all. 

Jean

AN ANNIVERSARY OF SORTS

Today would have been Glenn's and my 36th wedding anniversary. To celebrate it, I dreamed of him all night. You know those dreams where he is there but doesn't talk and then all of a sudden he is gone and you wake up in a panic thinking he just left you. Too many of those dreams coming up to this day. I think they will go on for some time more as December is "The Month" for our family. His father passed away two days after our wedding. He was healthy when my mother-in-law left here to go to Calgary for the wedding and by the time she got home, he was gone. So my husband left for the funeral the next day (Tuesday) and arrived back on the Friday. I felt he had been through a lot during that week, so I arranged for him and I to spend the weekend at a local hotel. No sooner did we check in, than I called my sister to check on my two year old son, and low and behold, my sister-in-law had passed away. My brother came home from work to find her sitting on the couch where she had sat down to have a cup of tea and then died. So we chose to give up the weekend to help out as much as we could. They did not have any children and she was the love of his life so it hit him badly. On the Sunday, Glenn went back to work and had an accident. His forklift skidded on some ice and his hand got caught in between the forklift and some racking. So he was off work for a month. Things went smoothly for a few weeks then in January, I lost a baby. That was the beginning of our marriage a marriage blessed with fire. For those of you out there that think you can't possibly go through anything like that, well God says you can and you will and I am living proof of it. By the way, Glenn's sister introduced us on July 1st of that year and we married December 4th. No one can tell me that there is no such thing as love at first sight. God had it planned all along and I am so grateful for the husband he picked out for me. Glenn was kind, caring, gentle, a great father, grandfather, a hard worker and a thinker. I did not know of the influence he had here on earth for God until his passing and to this day, I am amazed at how God used a down to earth, quiet guy like my Glenn to further his kingdom. Thank you Lord!

The debacle of December did not end that year. Sure we had a few good Decembers, but a few years later my sister-in-law who lives in Texas, came home from work on Christmas Eve to find her husband and four month old son murdered. Of course as in a lot of investigations, the police thought she did it and had put her in jail until they checked out her story. In the meantime 3 other people in the same area were murdered that night. They realized they had a real killer on the loose and  kept her in jail over Christmas for her protection. That was a complete shock and still bothers us all to this day. I won't go into the details. She only vaguely knew this fellow.

Fast forward a few years and Glenn's mom goes to the hospital and they find gangrene in her. They bring her into a hospital in Winnipeg to investigate further. She has a problem with her gall bladder, but not bad enough for surgery. There is much prayer sent up on her behalf and when they investigate the gangrene further, they can find none. She starts feeling better and they decide the next day they will send her back to her local hospital. She  never made it through the night - it was her time.

That is our story of December and how precious Christmas is for us and how every year we are reminded in a real way just how much God gave to us by sending his son.

Blessings
Jean

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY.....

We had a batch of freezing rain go through long about 4:00 a.m.  Roscoe and I watched it for a minute before he decided he had to go bad enough to brave the rain. In my experience, most dogs do don't mind getting wet,dirty or stinky. Not Roscoe, he hates all of the above. So, when it is raining, I have to drag him down the block to get him to go. As I said before, he does the Pepe La Pew thing and dances down the street on his tip toes. Maybe I should enroll him in ballet classes, he certainly can get up real high on his toes.  I digress - back to the rain. Today most of the roads around here are closed or not recommended for travel, so the next best thing to do when the weather is like this is snowmobile. Yes, in spite of the the rain we still have lots of snow. In my neck of the woods, I am use to hearing the roar of the sleds as they make the trek to Co-op for gas. Usually though only a few drive up. The rest are on trailers going to parts farther north or east. Now, my town has recently opened a Tim Horten's (for US folk - sort of like Starbucks but much better). So today, it was funny to walk by Tim's and see the parking lot not full of cars and trucks, but snowmobiles. To funny. It will be interesting to see how the town handles that. I am sure Tim Horten's will not complain, as they are paying customers after all. I did not take my camera with me, but will try to get a shot of the snowmobile parking.

My oldest son and daughter-in-law became the proud owners of a new dining room suite a couple of weeks ago. Tonight is the big break-in. They are having the regular staff from my son's golf course over for their Christmas party. So only ten people, but eight of them are men. Should be an interesting night and I understand the food will be fabulous. My daughter-in-law is turning out to be a wonderful cook. I do wonder what is on for entertainment. My guess would be a re-run of what ever golf game is on today. By the way, they do have a party for all the staff, but it is usually held in the New Year, once all the courses are not so busy. They also do not have the party at their own course. The courses exchange their facilities for the parties. I think that is an awesome way to do things. That way, the kitchen staff get to attend also.

Meanwhile, my daughter has started her on-line University studies. She is going for a psychology degree. Her present position has made her very interested in this study and I believe she will do quite well working under that banner. To help pay for her endeavour, she has worked it out and will work one to three overtime shifts a month and within about a year she will have saved enough for the whole degree. I see your minds clicking and wondering how she can do that. Her shifts are 12 hour shifts and she is making in the vicinity of $70.00/hr per overtime shift, so you can see it isn't going to take many shift for her to have enough saved. Knowing her as I do, she will take a little longer than she thinks cause she usually gets the travel bug about once a year or so. That's okay though. You need some good downtime in your life also. While this is all going on, she is also renovating her house. Good thing she only lives with two cats - BooBoo and Marley. They don't complain too much when things are out of whack.

My staff Christmas party is next Friday night. In the past, I have only attended about every second year. Something else usually came up. Last year I would have loved to go and was planning to attend. However, at 5:30 p.m. I was still waiting for the rest of my belongings to show up. I had chosen that day to move and thought "no problem, the moving van is coming at 8:00 a.m. so should get me into my new place by 2:00. Stash a few bits and bobs, get dressed and away I go. Great plans.....as the saying goes. I think maybe in a way I sabotaged myself. That would have been the first Christmas Party without Glenn. Anyway, this year, my daughter-in-law started her own business of renting out chair covers, sashes, table cloths etc. and doing set ups for weddings. She has a lot of stock in her basement "office". Our Christmas parties are usually pretty plain Jane low key affairs. We usually go to a restaurant and have a dinner and exchange a few inexpensive gifts. One year we did play some minute-to-win-it games, but that is the extent of our excitement. So, I thought we should glam up the spread a bit. She is doing the set up and I am doing the centerpieces and other decorating. Today, I have been working on the decorations. I will take a picture once we get the room set up on Friday. I think it should be a good evening. Good food, good camaraderie and good relaxation. This will now be my first Christmas Party without Glenn. I am a little anxious over it, but as with all the other firsts - the before is worse than the actual doing.

On the Christmas front. Most gifts are purchased. I need now to make the gift bags - funny how those walk out the door every year, figure out what all to eat on Christmas Eve, and try to fit in a visit with my oldest grandson, and my husband's sister and her family. I think with Corrie and family, we will do that after Christmas. As for seeing my Cobi, well it better be soon! It feels like forever since I saw him, and in a way it has been. It was around the middle of October when I last saw him. Time sure gets away these days.

Hoping you all have an awesome weekend.

Blessings

Jean

FAR FAR AWAY

It does feel like I've been to the ends of the earth and back lately. With the trip to Alberta to visit my brothers and one sister, getting the darn crud going around, then preparations for an open house - well I'll tell you I have been a bit played out. You would think that with getting the latest and greatest flu needle, I would not have gotten the "love flu" from my two little grandsons, but no. Obviously, they had the one flu that was not included in the shot this year. Oh well, now it is Auntie's turn to be down with the "love flu". If you are wondering why I call it the love flu, well it just makes sense tgo call it that after the littles have been hugging me while coughing in my face, touching me with nasal drippings on their tiny hands and of course in the case of the three year old - well maybe you don't need to hear that he ran his booger encrusted hands all over my clothes while telling me that he loves me. Now you see!

This week has been the start of Christmas around the place. First I did up my pots in the front of my garage with some greenery. Then I bought a big pot of poinsettia and put them in the living room. Next I got two wintery baskets. One for the coffee table and one for the entry way, and that is as far as I have gotten. No worries, lots of time till Christmas. The kids are going to help me put up a few lights outside once it warms up - maybe next July hahaha. We are sitting at -20C right now and that does not include the wind chill factor. We are going down to -25C tonight. Tomorrow and Tuesday will not be much better, but slowly the temperature will get warmer toward next weekend. Because of all the Christmas that is happening, we will have to do it on Sunday. When I was growing up, the only thing we had to look forward to in our community was the school Christmas concert and for the old folks the News Years do. As our kids grew up and over time it has gotten busier and busier. I often wonder why and have come to the conclusion that I think people don't want to spend time by themselves. I find that so sad. How can you get in touch with yourself and with God if you are always busy.

 Somewhere around December 16th, the grandkids and some wanna be grandkids will be coming over to decorate their trees. I have a small tree for each of them and they get to decorate it with the ornaments (one for each year) and whatever else I have on hand. Then the fun part comes. They get to pick what prominent spot their tree will have this year. So funny, once grandson puts all his decorations on only one half of the tree. His brother gives all his decorations to Dakota and tells her to do it. Meanwhile Dakota and Zack decorate to the nines. 

Yesterday, my granddaughter had a play date with 15 of her closest friends i.e. all the girls and a couple of boys in her class as well as some neighbourhood girls. They made cake pops. Nicole hasn't posted any pictures yet and no one has heard hide nor tail from them today. I am going to assume that it was a success and all are sleeping off the after effects of the sugar and all those kiddies. My daughter-in-law Nicole is a trooper. She will go to the ends of the earth for her husband and kids. She is great at planning and doing family things.

We got a "family" pop-up trailer this past summer to tide us over until we either find a cottage or I lunge head first into a motor home. I really do not think that trailer will sit for any length of time. She, the kids, aunty and uncle Gregg will be on the road all summer. I can hardly wait so see where all they go. We live in a province that has BIG lakes, as well as lots of forest with many, many, many campsites available. Oh, it is not all honey and roses here -- we are after all the mosquito capital of the world.

Today, I took time to work on an Angel for the top of someones tree. I am doing it in hardanger and when I am a bit further on into the cutting and stitching I will post pics. On my needles, I have a dress going for Dakota. I haven't worked in the round for so long I seem to have forgotten the rules etc., so said dress will not be ready for the Yule Tide season. Such is the life of a needleworker - we are never on time for anything!

Take care, stay warm and enjoy the week that leads up to the start of advent. Is anyone doing any special bible study for Advent. I am going to try. I am not sure though which one I will pull out to do.

Blessings

Jean

MY HOW TIME FLIES ---WHEN YOU ARE HAVING FUN

Like so many other bloggers, I intend to blog frequently, but life gets in the way and even though I think "this would make good blog fodder", I never seem to get around to it.

We have had lots of action in our family this fall. We had three new babies born, one in August and two in September. August's baby is a boy, the middle of September baby is a girl and the finally little one is a boy. Along with that, one month later my oldest grandson's mom had a baby girl. It will be wonderful to watch them all grow up together.

On a recent trip to my old stomping grounds - Alberta, two of my children and their family were able to come along. For the first few days, I took the Yelllow Head Route and went to Vegreville to see my oldest living brother. He is not doing to good and I needed to see him, so off I went. The rest of the family took the southern route the Trans Canada Highway and ended up in Calgary. I enjoyed my time in Vegreville seeing some Nieces and Nephews that I hadn't seen in a couple of years. Then I headed south on the Queen Elizabeth Highway between Edmonton and Calgary to join up with my kids. We had a hoot there, having many family gatherings over a four day period. They arrived in Calgary on Sunday afternoon and I followed on Tuesday. I am not sure what activities they did on Monday, but on Tuesday they went to the wave pool in Calgary with some of their smaller cousins and then went back to their hotel while I drove from Vegreville to Calgary. Love the speed out there 110 KM/hr and you can generally go 120 without getting a ticket. For dinner on Tuesday as many as could make it gathered at my sisters place for a chicken dinner. The place we get it from is a local company called Chicken On The Way. One time when I was out I had a hankering for it and now the tradition has sort of taken over. We had the chicken and corn fritters from there and supplemented it with home made coleslaw, spinach salad and dessert. It was good, and we had an awesome time visiting over food. The only thing is our calculations were out just a bit and I think we may have supplied 1/4 of Calgary with lunch the next day. Everyone got to take a big bag of food home. On Wednesday, my nephew put winter tires on my car and his co-workers graciously thanked me for their lunch lol.

Nieces and Nephew enjoying the chicken dinner

After the dinner a few of us who were left, started planning a party -- more to follow in a bit. On Wednesday, my kids along with some cousins went shopping to one of the newest shopping centers in the Calgary area called Cross Irons Mall. The kids wore their costumes and went trick or treating in the mall while the adults shopped - this went on simultaneously. They then went for dinner at my youngest brother's house and then went trick or treating with their other cousins or as my nephew use to say " my other kind of cousins". That is how he differentiated the families. All in all I do believe the kids had a good Halloween.

Jeff's Halloween Creativity - Jeff shown in picture above.

That day we did some more planning and purchasing of goods for the party. The party was actually a Breakfast Baby Shower for my Son and his Wife Nicole. We started planning on Tuesday night, gathered all the ingredients, pressies, etc. and called the invitees on Wednesday and at 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning we had the shower. Nicole was pleasantly surprised and we all had a great time eating, playing games, taking pictures, holding the babies and for them opening the gifts. Geoff, Nicole and family then took off home. Daughter Gabie and I stayed on till Saturday.  We hung around on Thursday visiting. Then Gabie and niece Christine took off to have some time together. In the evening I went to visit with my brother for an hour and then went out with a friend I went to school with many years ago. He still lives in the area we grew up in and has a couple of ranches in the area. He has an Outfitting Business and with that gets to take hunters all over the world. As well he has a hunting business in Mexico. An interesting life for sure. It was nice to see him. He certainly looks like his granddad. On Friday my daughter, my niece and I headed west from Calgary to Canmore ---taking the back roads. So after snow, rain and much fog we weren't sure if we would make it. Thanks to Jeff and my new tires we had a great time seeing scenery not seen in a very long time, seeing the sun and generally having a great time. Yes, Alberta along with the rest of the prairies has had about 5 sunny days since mid September. For the most part it has been either cloudy or foggy. In the case of that day, we had to drive very high into the mountains to get above the fog. It was so, so nice to see the sun. We then had dinner and did a bit of shopping in Canmore Alberta, then headed back to Calgary for the night. The next day we headed home to Manitoba and since then have been extremely busy.

The stitching side of life has been zero until today when I finished off a sweater for my new grandson. With it being a long weekend up here, I do intend to be very creative though, so will post as things happen. 

In the meantime - enjoy your day.

Blessings

Jean

PRODUCTIVITY

It is only 8:30 a.m. and I have already cleaned the kitchen, run the dishwasher, washed my windows, changed my bed, walked the dog, perused the news and made a list for the rest of today------gotta love getting up at 4:30. Normally I don't get up until 5:00. Don't ask why I get up at that unearthly hour, I have all my life. Guess I am truly a morning person. I have more energy, ambition and my mood is great. I think it is because I happen to love sunrise, the early morning smells and watching all the animals go by my window on their way to start their day. I get inspired by them and think how God would want me to be busy just like they are. So, I tend to do all my housework, etc. before I go to work in the morning. I don't have a long commute in length, but because of construction season, it sometimes takes me about an hour in the morning, so I leave just before 8:00 for a 9:00 start time. Conversely, I get off at 2:00 and am home by 2:30 or so. As, my husband would say, I still have half a day to do whatever I want. It works for me - probably doesn't work for some one else.

I do have great plans for my three day weekend. I will finish up some other chores, then I will be sewing and finishing up some items for my soon to be born grandson. I need to get his stuff done as he is due on October 1st. I'm thinking I better get my bum in gear as in just a couple of weeks I will get to meet him - finally! I can hardly wait to hold him and kiss his downy little head and smell those awesome baby smells. Oh what Joy!

I will post pictures as soon as I finish some of the items. So have a great weekend. Ours is going to be warm and wonderful.

Blessings

Jean

Gotta Love Fall

Earlier last week we were in the 34C with a humidex making it feel ike 43C now today we are at about 25C. It always seems to surprise me when that temperature change comes. I will not turn down the cooler nights. I love sleeping with the window open and hearing all the wildlife settle down for the night and then start their day. I wish I lived in the bush. I dislike plane, train and automobile noise. When I left the city behind, some of that is gone i.e. the plane noise. The train noise is till there, but at least there isn't a train going by every twenty minutes like in the city and it is kind of neat to hear it coming down the tracks in the middle of the night. As for automobiles well I guess they will almost always be around as everything from cars, trucks, quads etc. are always going somewhere. The first of the geese arrived about three weeks ago - much too early for here. Along with that, the last week of July I started seeing the leaves start turning a fall. I guess it is going to be an early winter here on the Prairies. I will however, be doing more walking to see the beauty of the colours.

As I have my condo up for sale, I haven't been too creative. I know, I always seem to have an excuse for not working on something. The last two years have been hectic and I came to realize that since Glenn passed away, I really haven't felt like being creative. He was my biggest supporter and I think that is why. I do have a new grandson on the way and a quilt is to be expected along with a few other things, so I best get busy. Christmas is a comin' also, and I usually like to have a few things done up for gifts.

This week I plan to get busy on these very things.

Have a good week.

Blessings
Jean

Short Post Today

We had some unexpected, unwanted excitement yesterday. DDIL is 34 weeks pregnant. She went to work and on her way into the building fell pretty hard. Four guys in a van witnessed it, but did not make a move to help her up, ask her if she needed help or ask if she was okay. It took her awhile to get up and then she went into labour. They took her to the nearest hospital, then had to transfer her to a different hospital. Nicole was in for the better part of the day. Good news is that they were able to stop the labour and she is now home resting. An interesting aside, is that she is still going camping today. They told her she is okay and is okay to go, so her, my daughter Gabie, and two of my grandchildren are off to a camp ground not too far away. She will be able to rest, sleep and in general relax for the next three days. Being able to rest, nap and relax are all things she probably would not do at home, so as old Martha says "This is a good thing".  Grandmom (me) has still got a whole lot of sewing to do for the new wee one---- so will I sew or will I do a few chores today? I am hoping I can squeeze in a bit of both.

My dog Roscoe follows me like he is my shadow. So, I am sitting on the sofa the other day having a cuppa. He is at the other end, sleeping away, not a care in the world - he rolls over and finds himself on the floor. Boy did he jump up fast! Then he looked at me as if to say "Why did you do that!". My friend Wes thinks maybe he was just so embarrassed that his eyes were actually shocked and he was saying "You really didn't see that --- right?"   Dogs are so much fun! Latest trick - bring in so much mud, I actually have mud balls on my floor! Gotta love living in a construction zone - a new kind of mess every day to clean up.

Going to be a gorgeous day today and this week. Back to the heat and I am hoping no humidity this time round. Enjoy this day of rest and have a great new week!

Blessings

Jean

Gone......

Summer appears to have left for the year. We are currently sitting at 15C I think that is about 60F or close to anyway. Finally we had rain and boy did it ever come down the last two days. From here on in we may have the odd 2 or 3 days together where it reaches 30 or more, but now we will start getting more 26 - 28 degree weather. Nice. Sad though, as the other day, I was driving down one of my favourite ways home and had to stop to take a second look - there was a nice row of poplar trees with all their leaves turned yellow and a nice pile laying under the trees. I am lead to believe that since we had 30C temperatures way back in March, and no rain to speak of this summer, that the trees have just had enough and want to have their winter siesta. I sure hope this doesn't mean that we will lose a whole lot of trees because of the freaky year. Manitoba already has a lot of trouble with Dutch Elm disease and we are losing a lot of 100 year old trees. By the way, the day I saw the trees was on July 30th - way to early. Normally you start seeing the odd few leaves start to turn around the end of August and the majority are around the end of September.

Summer has been great. I did not hit as many fairs as I had planned to, but I still have a month to go. I may go to a couple yet this weekend. For some of us in Canada, it is a long weekend. Why you say only some of us? Well, some have adopted the idea of a civic holiday. Most of the provinces decided way back that summer is way to short here in Canada and so within a few years, the holiday was born. But, alas not all provinces have picked it up yet. I think it is generally in the Maritimes as well as Newfoundland/Labrador, Quebec and Ontario that don't. Hope they catch up to the rest of the country soon. It is so nice to have a long weekend in the summer.

Summer has also seen me take my first lace making course. I quite enjoy it and hope to keep up with it. After all, my six year old granddaughter tells everyone she meets that Grandmom is learning to make lace and she is going to make all the lace for my wedding dress. Good thing I have a few years to go on that one! Summer has also taken me into the quilt world and a course with a teacher from the US. I was not impressed, so will leave out her name. She did not teach me anything I wasn't already doing, and she was very rude the first day and calling Canadians dumb. Well, if you are going to teach and go to other countries and to peolpe that have paid a lot of money to learn from you, well, you have no business calling anyone dumb, or making other rude comments that she did. This teacher does not like the new way of quilting - sending it out to a long arm quilter. In ways I can see why, but there are a lot of people out there whose forte is not quilting the quilt, it is more design or sewing. She also is against using one line of fabric to make quilts. She thinks that everyone should use fabric from multiple lines. My way of thinking is that if it gets people sewing and being creative, then what difference does it make. At some point these budding quilters are going to probably start to venture out of their comfort zone and learn colour, quilting either by hand or machine or whatever other aspect they find interesting.

We as a family have been looking at cottage/cabins and are now quite close to making a decision. We are interested in a remote area - 3 hour drive, dog sled in, boat in, or snowmobile in. We are very excited and both of the ones we are looking at means that I can quilt, stitch, knit, make lace or whatever looking out over the lake.

What have you all been up to this summer? I hope lots of fun things.

Blessings

Jean

So Hot!

We are starting to get our summer weather so temps. are in the 30C area. All Roscoe, Clawdeen and Dunphy want to do is sleep. Of course being dogs that's just part of doing dog stuff.

We all went to the big soccer game last night where a whopping four kids (all girls) showed up, so being the good looking gentleman the other coach was, he lent us his ringer, who just happened to have a brother on the same team who was almost as good. So, by doing that and all kids not taking any breaks the teams would have been even in size and scoring. However, like most six year olds, the mind wanders the heat makes them oh so hot and that cooler filled with freezies is so inviting. What's a six year old going to do? Take a long break every few minutes and pig out on freezies. Yeah!

Granddaughter has an "extra" cousin who happens to be five. Could the coach talk him into playing???? Not on your life. He can dance and sing in front of anyone, but put him on a field with a bunch of girls and you get one shy guy. Poor Callum all he heard was go get in there all evening. Bet he won't come watch any time soon.

By "extra" cousin - the story goes as such. My son at the ripe old age of 20 had a girlfriend who was 17 and she got pregnant. Of course with the two of them being so young, it didn't last. Now both are married or have a significant other and things go pretty smoothly between the two. She and her lovely man Jack have a son and now another one due in November. Long story short it is easier if little brother thinks the kids are his cousins, I am grandma Jen and My older kids are his aunts and uncle. It works quite well. Would it have worked a few years ago? Probably not as this grandma was too busy worrying about what others would think than just going with the flow. I would highly recommend to anyone out there in the same situation, let go, and just let things take the natural course (whatever that may be). This world has changed so much, and there are so many people out there who don't have a family, let alone a "regular" family that I feel it is very important to live by the old adage that it takes a village to raise a child. To that end, I will gladly accept any child who wants me to be their grandma with open arms, a loving heart, a gentle spirit and full of God's love for the child. It is so neat having a blended family. I can so see how God uses each and every one of us in these children's lives.

I am now off for my weekend. I only work five hours a day, four days a week. Yes, I am blessed. Now I need to plan what to do with those precious days off. I have so many things I want to do, so many things I should do and other things that are just there in my mind. Will be really interesting to see what this wonderful weekend will bring. For starters, I will be looking after my smallest grandson in the morning tomorrow. I think he will be very happy to have grandmom all to himself to play with. I see lots of outside time, digging in the dirt/sand and probably a bit of sprinkler time. Then, my daughter and I are going to look at more travel trailers. Yes, for the millionth time I have changed my mind. No I am not getting a cottage - too much work, or a motor home - gas too expensive, so now have decided to get just something small that we can all pull with our vehicles. Glad that's decided finally.

Creativity has been slow going. I have the carpal tunnel down to a slow roar, but the nerve damage in my hand is very slow to get better. So, just doing a bit here and there. I did decide on fabric for the border of my log cabin heart quilt. Now just to get it done.

My niece-in-law has just started a blog about her journey to lose weight. It is a good read and I think Maren will come up with some unique ideas/takes on on her journey. Please visit her at http://skinnygirlbreakout.blogspot.ca  The name of her blog is The Journey Begins.

Any way have a great weekend.

Blessings

Jean

It's fair season and I'm goin' travelling

Glenn and I in past years went almost every weekend to a different fair, rodeo etc. within a days drive of our home. We had a blast and saw stuff we ain't never seen before LOL. Today was the start of the Oakbank fair, so over I trotted to see the parade. It lasted about 45 minutes and was spectacular. In our neck of the woods, parade participants .......

throw candy at us to see if a) we are awake, b) see if we are watching and c) see if we can catch. If we successfully catch, then you go to the next step which is baseball....that starts in about an hour and guess who is gonna be there - yup me!

Some pics from our local yocals. One of the Sunova floats, actually the other one was a bus. The lady with her hand in the bucket is about to throw a handful of candy.

 Wouldn't be horse country without horses. I use the term horse country loosely. It isn't like Kentucky, and it definitely is like good old Alberta, but fo us this is as good as it gets.

The next pic is of one local realestate team----they sure don't look to me like they want to be in this parade.

This picture is of  a gentleman from the Dinner Theatre. They do one show a month from October until April. Looks interesting, will have to attend one.

Our local high school band. We don't have a marching band or all the other kind of bands, just plain old band. They played well though.

No parade is complete without vintage cars.

RM of Springfield's new toy. Can hardly wait to see what this baby can do to our roads!

Some of our local heros a.k.a. firefighters. They have really been put to the test this spring, but have come out shining. Gotta love those fireguys and gals.

Well, that in a nutshell was the parade. Now, I am off to a lacemaking day, then on to baseball and see what else the fair has to offer.Have a safe day and enjoy the afternoon - remember to take time for yourself.

Blessings

Jean

Pain Pain Go Away, Don't Come Back Another Day

For the past 15 to 20 years, I have had trouble with carpel tunnel in both wrists. I have been able to manage it quite well by stopping activities that aggravate it, icing and exercising the wrists. Now, in the past few months, it has worsened. I believe it is because I do not generally have anyone to help me and so am having to do lots of things I did not have to in the past. On Wednesday, I will be going to the hospital for nerve testing and then hopefully at some near date in the future ,will be set up with a surgeon and have this issue taken care of. This latest bout has been aggravated by the fact that the pinkie and ring finger as well has half my hand are numb all the time. This is not a symptom of carpel tunnel. My neck and shoulder have also been bugging me. I asked around and looked into things here and there. The consensus is a nerve is trapped and it is a nerve that relates to the feeling in my hand. This can take up to eight weeks or so to heal. In the meantime, I am icing like crazy and have given up almost all kinds of activity except walking and reading. I am also hoping that this does not affect the nerve testing for the carpel tunnel. Tomorrow, I go see the doctor regarding the bone scan on my foot and should find out if it was broken for sure. If not, I hope he has some other ideas as to why my toes hurt like crazy and the ligament on the side of my foot doesn't heal up. Boy, I sound like a basket case - but I am very thankful that these are all things I can live with and am trying to learn not to whine so much. I try to think of others who I may or may not know that have so much more pain to live with. We are all blessed immeasurably no matter what pain we go through - whether it is physical pain, mental pain, relationship pain, God is with us through it all and he desires for us to be set free. He has desires for us.That may mean a healing, or an attitude adjustment or it may mean he desires us to learn something.What we learn through experiences, God uses by giving opportunity to understand and help others.  The pastor this morning said "This is our training ground for what is to come". Some of what is to come is here on earth, but all will be revealed in heaven.  We tend to think our reward is IN heaven, but our reward IS heaven. Think of how glorious that will be - heaven will be ours.  We won't leave this world till we pass all God's tests for us. Isn't that great? How much does our heavenly father love us to keep desiring us to learn and keep on learning until he has perfected us. He lovingly does not give up on us. We already are amazing in his sight and just think what we will be when he is finished with us. It is so hard for me to comprehend something so magnificent as that! This pastor mentioned that one of his desires would be to see God's "test sheet" for him, so he could see what all he has "passed" (learned) and what all God still has in store for him. After 50 years of being a Christian, he figures he still has a fair way to go. I am not sure if I would want to see me test paper. I too have an awful long way to go. It was a powerful sermon today - very meat and potatoes, down to earth. I know I will be reviewing my notes more than once.

Along the stitchy side of me, I have no update for the UFO over at Sue's blog at http://www.blackberrycreek.typepad.com . As I take this time to deal with pain, to relax and to plan, I will be planning the border on the log cabin quilt, looking through my UFOs to see what is next, as well as the continued planning of my sewing area. Oh, yes I will also be planning what to make for my new grandson to be (October).

Have a great week you all!

Blessings
Jean

Is it spring or winter?

After having +30C in March we are now hovering anywhere between +5C and +18C. Guess it really is not too bad, but as all the animals, trees and plants think it is mid to late May, why oh why can't we humans get adjusted this year. I was watching The Weather Network yesterday and Chris St. Clair had an interesting take on things. He says that with it being so warm in March, our psychological side cannot cope with the frequent changes. Wonder if that is true. However, for the most part, the geese have left for the Northern part of the province. That is generally a sign that the weather is going to get hot. Thankfully the Robins haven't left yet. I love their singing and talking early in the morning before the sun comes up. As of yet we haven't had too many nights where we can leave the window open. When I lived in Winnipeg, we had a bird in the neighbourhood that snored. I jokingly called him the snoring bird and always had a good chuckle when I heard him. He would start about 2:00 a.m. and go till about 4:00 a.m. Well, low and behold, one of my "birder" friends told me that is actually what he is. So who knew. Shows what kind of humour God has.

Thank you for your comments on the log cabin quilt. I have decided I will take a trek over to the quilt store (some 30 miles away) and see what she has in stock. If not, I will be hitting some of the on-line shops to see what they have. I have a confession regarding that quilt. There are two blocks where for the life of me I could not sew straight. A couple of the strips are a bit narrower than the rest. But, the block still squared up okay. This error has bothered me for a couple of years - hence that is why it is not finished. But as of this weekend and having looked at it from all angles, I have decided that it will stay the way it is. This will probably never go to a show and tell and it won't be entered into any quilt shows. I am not that confident of my sewing skills to ever do that.

Had some of the kids and grands here today for lunch after Church. I actually got up at 4:30 this morning. Couldn't sleep and then thought I should make some meals ahead for the kids. She Who Must Be Obeyed (dd), is working an extra shift this week. Miss Dakocanut (dgd) has two soccer games and because she is only 6 they play at 6:00 p.m. and have to be at the field at 5:45. The Golfer does not get home till 5:00 and Mrs. Prego golfer is not feeling very good with the new little mister golfer. Anyway, I made Manicotti filled with a cheese mixture, lasagna rolls, healthy chicken strips, stuffing, a lovely spinach, strawberry, broccoli, avocado and macadamia nut salad, and for dessert I made what I originally thought would be a salad. It has rice, fruit cocktail, cool whip and for variety I put in little coloured marshmallows. So they all ate on the feast here, then they took home the leftovers and will add it to whatever they have. Glad I could help, but sure needed a nap after they all left. The two littles were wild today - is it a full moon perhaps?

I spent the weekend knitting. I worked on the middle little golfer's sweater, and on a scarf.

I need to finish the one front panel and the two sleeves. I am hoping to have that done this week. Two soccer games is good for knitting adventures.

The scarf uses Alpaca Fingering weight and has eight colours in it. The scarf has 68 rows and it is all done in garter stitch. Easy peasy!

Right now it is as my English side use to say - blowing a hoolie out there and I better go see what needs to be tied down. With the sounds of things someone in Toto land might end up with my new porch set. I would not be happy though I am sure someone in Kansas would be. LOL

Have a great start to the week!

Blessings
Jean

A UFO update.....Finally

Over the winter I got into a funk. I would sit there in my stiching chair and think about the UFOs I should be working on. That's the crux - all I did was sit and think. My sister Marilyn thinks that we should all go out and get one of those daylight lamps. I think that anyone north of South Dakota should be automatically given one at birth as a gift from the government. I think I may just get one for next year. Up here in Canada the Mood Disorders Association has them to rent, or loan if you can't afford one, or you can buy one. I live in a small condo complex and most of my neighbours go to Texas for the winter. I have friends who go to Florida and I have cousins who go to Arizona. Actually when you stop and think about it, how can Canada function in the winter with so many people leaving for sunny destinations. I bet if some country were to get wind of all these people gone, well they just might up and take us over and no one would know the difference until Easter when everyone returns. Hey, maybe no one has clued into this cause they all disguise themselves as Canada geese when they go south. When you Americans have Canada Goose day - you know that day when it is open season on Canada Geese, you better take a better look to see if it isn't someone just dressed up as a goose. I jest of course. I just notice how much more traffic there is in my town since Easter. There is actually a traffic jam at the Co-op.

Anyhoo - I pulled out the quilt that Roscoe (aka the quilting dog) made. Actually, I sewed  it, but with his big nose (Bichon's have big noses), he picked out which piece of fabric I would sew next. Since then, he always has his big nose in on my sewing. Yes he has his own chair right beside me, and no it is not the comfy one - though he would be very happy if I let him have the comfy chair. Back to the quilt. I laid it out on my Big Girl King Size bed and at 108 inches x 108 inches you would think it would be big enough, but noooo not even close. I need to either make some more blocks or I need to put a border on it. If I make more blocks, I will probably have to rip-it so that the new material isn't all around the edges. In my haste (darn you Susan!) to use up and get my UFOs done, I used the rest of the fabric for my 2fer. You know - those quilts that you get two for the price of one out of all that fabric that yo bought that went together, but you only needed half of. Will have to think on it for a day and go through my neverending stash. That movie the NeverEnding Story really should have been about quilters stash you know. Anyway, here is some pictures of the quilt.

In the one above you can see where it doesn't quit cover the duvet underneath. In this next picture it shows a representing of the fabric I used.

I started out wanting to create a totally neutral quilt. The intention was to use a variety of lights and mediums with variations in between. I soon found that to be very dull and changed it to the more white, cream, beige, brown, grey, black and everything inbetween quilt. I am very pleased with how it turned out. I hope to get the solution to my problem worked out this weekend and hopefully in the search for fabric I will come across the foot and plug for my new Phaff I got last summer and only used twice cause I got the bug to move.

By the looks of the writing in this post, I must have had some silliness rub of on me this morning while I visited the two littles. Well, I do feel silly today and so it stays.

Have a great weekend everyone - Happy Spring!

Blessing

Jean

THE WONDERS OF NEW LIFE

Today was wonderfully warm......for awhile and then the blasted wind came up again. There is an old farmers tale that says if it is windy on Good Friday, then it will be windy for the next 40 days. I have been monitoring this for the past few years and it seems to be true. Mind you when you live on the flat bald headed prairie even a little breeze can seem like a big windstorm. Ah, summer will come and I will be desperate to feel a breeze. Funny thing human nature - we always want something we can't have at that moment.

Today was an exciting day for the extended family. We got to all go see the ultrasound of the new baby. Some were happy, others not so much. Granddaughter desperately wants a baby sister and yup she's getting another brother. What she doesn't realize is that she is six years older than the new one and she won't be able to play with him for a couple of years. Of course by that time she will just think of the two brothers as the pests who won't stay out of her room! She has fond memories of dressing her little brother in all her girly girl clothing and I think she looked forward to doing that again. Brother was more than happy to accomodate her, but now he is the ripe old age of three - don't think that's going to happen again any time soon. We do have some really cute photos of him that will be saved to be shown at some other more appropriate times - you know the ones - first girlfriend, wedding and of course to his children.LOL

Now as creative grandmom I get to make the quilt set. For granddaughter I made one in blues, yellows and creams. For her brother I made one with lions and tigers in blacks, bright greens and a bit of toffee colour. I was at a quilt show last week and could not pass up some fabric for the new wee one. So now all I have to do is decide what the pattern will be. For both of the other kids, I designed my own and I don't see anything changing with this one. I really like that everything is retro these days. I am also happy that I have kept most of my patterns, so let the sewing and stitiching begin!

On more of a stitchy note I have found a couple of new (to me) magazines. Both are French and I have ordered some Blefast Linen in a Victorian Red so that I can replicate some of the ideas presented in said magazines.  Now you say, how are you going to replicate them if everything is in French? Well, when I was in Junior and Senior High school, I excelled in French. I managed to pull off 100% in it. Could it be that the teacher thought I should date her handsome son who by the way, went on to be one of the best Kidney doctors in the world, or was it truly my abilities? After school I did not get to use it at all either spoken or written. Fast forward 40 years and I end up with a position working with the military. I had to communicate with the bases in Quebec and Quebecers are just as stuborn as the "english" people in Canada so it was sink or swim. I managed quite well for the years I had that position. So it will once again come to my rescue and it sure helps that the directions are in drawn picture form. For those that do hardanger you will know what I mean. By the way the two magazines are: Broiderie Tradition and Creation Point de Croix. Now, normally I DO NOT DO cross stitch, but they sure have some cute designs.

No pictures today. Keep forgetting to charge the camera up.

Enjoy your day!

Blessings
Jean

An Ode to Nike

My son and his family had to put their beloved dog to sleep today. Nike was 11 and had gone blind, had bladder and kidney troubles, arthritis and was at times becoming disoriented. We all loved Nike, but probably not to the extent that my daughter and youngest grandson did. There were tears today and I am sure there will be tears for a while.

Nike

When Nike came into our lives, my son and daughter-in-law lived in "the little house on the prairie". Within a few short months of living there, they obtained two dogs. Cassie, the first acquisition was a rescue dog from way up north. Cassie occupation would be to chase the ball for hours on end. Cassie was a bit territorial and if she didn't hear you coming, the situation could get a bit dicey. When she was probably 9 or 10, they decided it wasn't safe and had her put down. Nike had come from another pet rescue place. Both dogs were a little big for a 900 sq. ft. house so hours everyday would be spent outside.

Nike was a bit challenged when it came to learning to play with toys but my how she could run and run she did. You did not let her out of your site for a second or we would be running down the road often for miles to catch her and bring her back home. When she got home she would be smiling like she'd just won the dogie marathon! Her second occupation was digging. They put in a beautiful dog run which lasted all of about two weeks. No, the dogs didn't destroy it, Nike dug her way out so many times that there was no use in keeping the two of them in it any longer. So, what was the alternative - the horse barn. The dogs loved it in there. It was cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It had a dutch door and weather permitting, Nike could hang her head over the bottom part and watch the world go by. Thankfully, she never did get the notion that if she jumped, she could get out. From there they moved into a town and Nike's days changed. They had a yard that was fenced and Nike never did figure out how to get out. Her next occupation became goose chaser. My son runs a golf course and the players do not take kindly to having goose droppings all over the course. A few times a week my son would take Nike to the course. She loved her new job and took it seriously. Those poor geese never knew what hit them when Nike was on patrol.

When the two kids were born, they each had a favourite dog. Granddaughter's was Cassie and Grandson's was Nike, though he would never let on that he even liked Nike. However, if you took a glimpse around the corner more than likely grandson would be curled up next to Nike having a snooze. Already grandson is asking when Nike is coming home to cuddle with him - he's almost 3 and is having a hard time understanding. We have suggested to him that Nike is with granddad and that granddad is taking Nike to do a job with him. You see, grandson's favourite thing was to "do a job" with granddad. They would fix things and Glenn always had the patience and took the time to teach little grandson, so if he has the visual in his head of Granddad taking Nike to do a job with him, it might help him feel better about loosing his best friend.

As for my daughter, she took very good care of Nike when she was visiting with them and yes, she too will have many tears for Nike today. Even though she is in her 30s, I believe she hopes God has a special place for all the pets in heaven!

And so ends another day. I am thankful how this dog has made us all stop and pnder life today. My hope is that through the process of losing a pet, we will become softer hearted people. Not just towards animals, but towards people and relationships, as everything that happens in life is an opportunity for us to grow and become more Christ like.

Blessings

Jean

Moving In

Back to getting my stashes organized in my basement. Problem though - only two walls are finished, so not sure how far I will get in getting everything done. I did learn something today. Don't put all your threads in a bag or case with the present "I love it- going to take a week to do" project. That project takes much longer than a week, then I get sick of working on it and low and behold two years later it surfaces and guess what? Now I have triplicates of most threads - whether they be stitching threads or sewing threads. Guess I won't need new threads for a while. I got a brain wave this morning. I haven't got it all worked out in my head yet, but the jest is that I will have bins - sort of like the angled ones you see in produce markets - only different. They will have all my fabric lined up. So first all my quilting stuff on bolts, then my stitching fabric on bolts, then all my threads of course by manufacturer and of course this will all be colors together. So, red fabric, stitching fabric that is suitable for red stitching, then all my reds, pinks etc. of stitching threads, and sewing threads. So taking into account that if you use a not to detailed color wheel, it should work out fairly well. Of course the blacks will probably be mixed with greys and the whites will also be categorized. This is probably in a dream world, but right now I think it may be doable.

This a before of my area to be:

So as you can see a blank slate. Now all I need is a pattern and some of my tools back. May be a nice gentleman or two would be nice. Maybe I will be fortunate and Chris and Megan will come for a visit and he will take pity on me and help me put up a couple of walls - nothing like a working vacation for him. Guess, I would have to think of something spectacular to bribe him with. Of course "She Who Must Be Obeyed" has first dibs on his time. Guess it's time her or I got into dating and find a man who will build for us. That's not going to happen any time soon. She is sensing God calling her back to missions and this time she feels a tug to long term.

Not going to do too much inside today. It is so beautiful out, it may mean a trip over to the park and a long walk, or at least as long as my hip holds out. This time of year is hard on the old joints! That DD - Roscoe - has been staring at me for awhile. No he doesn't have brown eyes - already did that run, but he certainly enjoys his new abode and enjoys the jaunts to the park. Loves the smell of the deer, rabbits etc. Will have to see if I can convince some one to come and we will do a hot dog, marshmallow roast over the open fire pit. Ah, Sunday bliss - worship, rest and enjoyment in the great outdoors.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and for those of you with a long weekend - GET OUT AND DO SOMETHING!

Blessings

Jean

Spring is on the Way

Yesterday, was a beautiful day here and it was one of those days where the snow gets that spring feel. You can feel the difference in the air and in sights around you. Even though we have had virtually no winter, I am so excited to have spring start making an appearance.

Hope you all had a great Valentine's day. I spent mine with my daughter, daughter-in-law and some of the littles. My daughter-in-laws parents came also. We dined on Chinese food, watched a bit of Big Bang Theory, talked and laughed and generally had a ball. My granddaughter is big into celebrations, so she dressed in a fancy pink dress with hearts adorning it during the day and in the evening put on red pjs. So neat to have a girly-girl in the family. Of course I didn't take my camera, hence no pics. Food was really good.

This week so far, I have worked on a hardanger piece that I started a couple of years ago and a knitting project for an upcoming birthday. I need to get it done as someone else would also like something knitted for their birthday. Back to the hardanger piece. I just love hand work whether it be embroidery of some time, sewing, knitting or whatever. So, it is hard for me to fathom why I start a piece and then it goes by the wayside for a while. I guess it is because there is so much inspiration out there, whether it is on the web, in magazines, at quilt or stitching shows or what someone has in their house or are wearing. Don't you just love the way God made everyone talented in some way? I love that for every person in the world, they are given a gift and to see how people use their gifts in so many talented ways is a blessing to us. Thank you Lord for all the gifts available and thank you that people share them and bless us by using their gifts.

Today, I plan on taking Mr. Dog to the provincial park that is close by. He needs a good long walk. He has been getting into mischief while I am work - nuff said! Then I am going to get a head start on household chores so I can truly enjoy the upcoming long weekend.

Take time to slow down today and enjoy this beautiful day God has given us.

Blessings
Jean

Rainy days and Mondays always make me blue

Is that how that song goes?  I was visiting another blog and she used Snowy days and Mondays and it got me to thinking what was that line anyway. It was a good line - it really makes you stop and think about what affects the way a person thinks or perceives life. This blog at http//www.cozylittlehouse.com has a great blurb today, yesterday and Saturday also regarding depression. As it is Mental Illness Month, go on over and see what she and her followers have to say, or visit your local Mood Disorder Association. We really do need to get the work out that Mental Illness is a Disease and not some old label that was given it a few hundred years ago. The stigma has gone on long enough and a lot of individuals are suffering needlessly because of "what people might think".

She who must be obeyed was over yesterday. She challenged me in ways that I didn't think were possible. She suggested that I may be getting rid of my husband so to speak so that I don't have to face the hurt. We discussed it and as I mulled the discussion over in my mind and through prayer. I realized that after Glenn died, we all had made a pact or commitment to keep Glenn alive for the littles and for ourselves. That we would talk open and freely share whatever we remembered. In my fog, the looking for a new abode, the move, and everything else that went on in the past year, she was right. There wasn't much out on display to remind everyone of him and I think they all felt like they had to pussy foot around me when sharing their stories. So, the stories get shared just not with me. Today was a bad "Glenn" day as I realized that because I let life and my quest for what I am supposed to be now, get in the way, I had neglected to think about them and their needs. They need to see reminders of dad and granddad and I had let them down. You see, I had Glenn in my mind, in my heart and in a few private pictures - you know the ones. Pictures from when you first met, when your children were born, a favorite picture of you and him and of course the last picture of him. But I did not share them and that is not good. So in the next few days Glenn will be reappearing in my house in a lot bigger way than what he has been in the past couple of months. I hope that some of these pictures, items etc. will trigger discussion and we can return to healing as a family and not just trying to do it on our own. Isn't God faithful. He took something that troubled G. and at just the right time, presented it, not to open the grief again, but to bring a new dynamic to our healing. Now, I look forward to this challenge. I would like to challenge every widow(er) out there to share the stories. Most of us are not writers, but even a few lines here or there would be greatly appreciated by our children, grandchildren great grandchildren etc. Or how about this - tape the stories. Stories are very important to families. Future off-spring need to know that Granddad was short, had the dreamiest blond hair and had a mustache that tickled just so when he kissed grandma. Tomorrow is Valentines day - how about starting there. What were your valentines day like? What was the most memorable? For me I liked the days where I would come home from work and there would be a Kit Kat on the table - for no reason other than he loved me and appreciated me. If it bring tears, they are healing tears - let them fall!

Happy Valentines day everyone!


Blessings
Jean

Little Green Quilter Friday update

Yay! I finally have an update for all of you. This past week I started feeling somewhat normal again, so hence, housework is getting caught up, cooked an evening meal every night this week .... and it wasn't soup! However, today I will be making potato leek soup. I may even make some ww buns to go with. But first I have a long list of things to do on this my first day off of the week.
Clean Kitchen - check
Make Bed - check
Clean Bathrooms - check
Take pictures - check
Work on a project for one of the littles - check

This all done before 7:00 a.m.  The rest of the day, I plan on getting my dusting done. New house + construction zone out side +dog = lots of dust. I will also vacuum and am debating whether I will wash the floors or wait till tomorrow. The two littles are coming this afternoon as mom has a meeting at work. I then plan to work on some other projects.I have been observing other people who have blogs out there and how they accomplish getting their projects done. Some, work till they finish one, then go onto the next. Some, designate a project to each day of the week. These people usually have bar graphs on their blogs showing how much to go till each project is finished. This way it takes longer to finish a project, but at least that way, you get a few done. Then there are those who vow not to start anything new until all other projects are done. Two things wrong with this to my way of thinking is 1. there is probably a reason why these projects aren't done (not what we expected, become bored with it, the intended purpose has passed/changed). 2. With all the stash I have, all I have to do is take a peek and my mind goes to all the things I want to make. The trouble with "taking a peek" for me is that I get overwhelmed and discouraged over how much stuff I have and how long it will be before I get to use it.

Well true to winter in Manitoba, the coldest week of winter is also the one that breaks the back of winter. For us it is the latter part of this week and into the middle/end of next week. One time my sister-in-law came for a valentine visit and she could not believe how anyone could live here! Today the mean temp. is -28C with a windchill making it feel like -42C. That is close to -40F. Love it! It cleans all the viruses out and from here on in we know spring is a comin'. We have had such a mild winter that I really do hope this is it for winter this year. The last few winters have bee rather long, so I think we deserve a short one.

I have come upon a few blogs out there that have become really fun to read and I wish to share them with you. The first is Coni over at http://spinstersticher.blogspot.com . Her blog is mostly about stitching, but her dog Stewy often hijacks the blog to give his take on things. He calls her Mo-ther and has an Aunt Chrissy. Coni has a great imagination, so please go visit her.

Another blog I visit on a daily basis is written by Faree. It is at http://widowschristianplace.com It is a blog dedicated to being a widow(er). Every day she has a different subject i.e. Fridays are fun days. She comes up with a good clean joke, picture or some other thing that will make the cockles of your heart smile. She has guests some days. So please if you are struggling with being a widow- please go there.

Now on to the pictures.  These are my updates for the week. The first is from some left overs I had from a quilt someone commissioned me to do. I have taken a few ideas and am integrating them together using only the left overs and maybe a bit of other stash if needed. I like these quilts. I call them 2fers.

Yes, I use a plastic tablecloth for a design wall. The stripes on the front don't usually show that much, but maybe I will be looking for one with a lighter front this year.

This is more of what the middle will look like.

The other little piece on the left in the first picture is one of many I have made - just can't find the rest just yet.

I have been still making the little hats and so an update on that. The one on the left needs something at the crown, just not sure what. I love the boat hat on the right.

I will be doing some sewing as well

Out of this

Will come this

And out of these two fabrics:

Will come this:

So that's what I'm doing. Go on over to Sue's blog and see what the rest of us are doing.
http://www/blackberrycreek.typepad.com

Have a GREEAAT Day! (Yes, I loved Tony the Tiger too!)

Blessings
Jean

In A Fog.....

You may thing that with being a widow of a year, that I am still in THAT fog, but alas, no, we have living in fog for the past week. This is no ordinary fog - it is the real pea soup kind where you can't see your hand in front of your face. It was funny earlier in the week. There was a forklift right in front of my house. That DD (darn dog) and I went to set out for our morning walkie. I couldn't see it, he couldn't see it, we couldn't even see his flashing light, but he was there, we could hear him. Roscoe sure wasn't sure about that and looked at me with his puzzled you've got to be kidding - if I can't see it - I'm certainly not walking THAT WAY! Well, walking that way was the safer so I darn near had to carry him past the obstacle until he felt safe enough to get down and get into smelling everything.

Though a dense fog like that throws all your senses out, it sure is beautiful and quiet. This morning as we were walking, the fog had lifted just enough that I could look a bit into the bush and see the fog swirling through the trees, but still dense enough that you could not see the tops of the trees. Ah, God's world, what majesty. Today, my daughter, the dd and myself will be going to the nearby provincial park for a walk. She had done a number on her foot about three months ago. She fell off her bottom step going into her basement. All stairs are not equal in older houses. Anyway she tore all her ligaments, all her tendons and may have broken her foot. One X-ray showed it broken, but future ones did not, probably because her foot was so swollen. She went to the doctor yesterday and he said no go. No work! No play! Just sit and elevate it. He says it has improved somewhat, so in her mind she is determined to get it moving. So today she will join me and my pint size friend for a walk. It will be interesting to see how far she can go. Then we will go to my #1 son's to take care of the wee ones. I will provide dinner dear. It will be Thai coconut chicken, Jasmine rice and asparagus. For the wee one's I am not sure what we will add. They are 5 and 2 so every day is an adventure if they will eat any given food on any given day. Don't you just love how they develop their taste buds and preferences - soo fun to watch.

I have been out of action for the past three weeks. Came down with Bronchitis, probably from all the up and down weather we have had. In Manitoba you can always count on it hitting at least -40C or -40F at least for a few days in January, which means that usually Christmas is already cold. Our first break in the cold usually comes just after Valentine's day and then we get into snow season, where you don't go anywhere without checking three different weather reports. No one wants to get stuck in a blizzard. I digress, when it gets so cold, all the viruses, germs and whatever freeze and usually very few get sick in the middle of winter. This year not so, we have been in the +1 (32F) to about +5 (40F) for the past few weeks. Real treat in some ways - not so for the travel agents. Ya win some, ya lose some. I will not be complainin' I love the warmer weather.

While I was sick, I did not, I ah say - did not - are ya listen boy (loved that cartoon) do any sewing, stitching, blogging or anything else of interest. It sapped me of any strength and interest. I am now back at doing what I do best and am looking forward to this weekend to work on what I want when I want. So onto the pictures .....

The first two pics are during the fog and finally the last two are of God's beautiful handiwork left after the fog cleared. Hope you all have a great day!

Blessings
Jean

UFO Update and pictures

Today is our day to post our progress for the UFO challenge over at Blackberry Creek Home Arts hostessed by Sue. I am so thankful that Sue has once again allowed me to take up the challenge for 2012. I was a bad bad UFOer last year and finished maybe two items. I think she understood why as just a couple of years ago she too lost her husband. So thank you Sue for hosting the challenge. My goals for this year are along the same lines as last year - to finish off all, some, hopefully more than one item this year. I have three quilts that need to be layered and quilted, I have one that I am working on the hand quilting and I have about ten or more embroidery projects that I would like to finish. Along with this, I am also challenging myself to use up some of my mounds and mounds of yarn. To that end, I have finished three little baby hats.

I originally am from the Calgary/Banff Alberta area and one of my nieces works at the Canmore hospital. My sister has been knitting small hats for the newborns and the preemie babies for a few years. The hospital now has opened a new section and is expecting 500+ babies to be born durng 2012. Quite a few of these babies will come from the Stoney Nakota reserve which is actually where I am from. Before I was born, there was a coal tipple (processing and loading) station on the reserve which serviced a mine that was in the Kananaskis region. The mine closed down before I was born. There was still coal to be shipped, cleanup to be done and disposal of equipment and buildings. My dad stayed on to do all that and to keep an eye on both the mine area and the tipple area. So these babies are related to the aboriginals that we knew and in some cases hung out with when we were young. The reserve is in not good shape these days (as are most of the reserves in Canada), and so I am so proud of my sister M. for taking up this challenge given her by her daughter. I have decided it is a good way to use up the extra bits of yarn.

All three

The Beanie

The Squash

The skier

I am not sure how long I will do the hats, guess it depends on the amount of yarn I find hidden.

Now a few pics of the new abode. I now live in a small town just outside of Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is quiet and it is new - so nothing to breakdown in the near future. I do miss the character of the older homes, but for now this is my choice. I need to regroup and rest from the last few years of struggle. 

The dining "room" and kitchen eating area.

I haven't found a small table for the kitchen eating area yet, so am using my sewing machine table.

My kitchen

The "living" room

The house has the great room concept.

I will add the rest of the pictures in tomorrow as when I went through them, well they just need to be redone.

Have a great day!

Blessings

Jean