WATER WATER EVERY WHERE AND NARY A DROP TO DRINK

Today's flood forecast has also included a small bit that said our two major rivers here would probably not peak until Labor Day weekend. That is September in case you forgot. This means that there will be no boating, no tubing, no walking on the river trail and no water taxi this summer. Earlier in the week they thought it might turn out to be the same as the 2009 flood. Not so! After having their meetings with there North, South Dakota and Minnesota counterparts, our flood forecast has been upgraded. Ours though still will not be as bad as Fargo North Dakota. They had already placed one million sandbags and this week they are placing another 500,000 or more. The one million would have covered a once in 400 year flood (same as the 1997 flood), but now they had to change everything. And thanks to the way God made the world all waters from those states as well as Saskatchewan flow into our great province. Guess when they settled this area they did not realize it was a huge lake bed. The lake at that time was call Lake Agassiz which slowly dried up and became two large lakes and many smaller ones. By the way all this water will eventually flow into James Bay and then on out to the Arctic Ocean. It actually is very interesting to watch a flood progress from all that snow, to water everywhere, to really full rivers, to nothing. As I said in a previous post, there are still a lot of people displaced from previous floods and now this will make even more have to give up their life long homes.

This week has certainly been a hard one for those in the US and I would like to remind you all to continue to pray for them all. I cannot imagine the trauma that those bombs caused and how those people were really enjoying the day and the race and then poof - life changed in an instant. It is hard to fathom in ways, but it is one of the many ways God uses us to remember to pray not just for ourselves and our family and small world, but to get out there and pray for everyone. Then with that fire and fireball in Texas. Those poor people in that area tomorrow will be remembering the Waco killings of years before and then now this. God really does use tragedy to bring beauty from ashes. I will look forward to seeing how his glory shines through the things all these people went through this week.

Had a wonderful afternoon out with my granddaughter last Saturday. It was the big 7th birthday. Her party with school friends is not until this weekend and our family get together was not held until this past Monday, I thought to myself what a perfect opportunity for us to have a tea party. Since she was less than 2 years old she has loved tea parties. I always put out all my fine china, my good linens, whatever flowers are around and of course the full nine yards for food - finger sandwiches, scones, goodies and tea. She would always sneak into the garage to invite granddad. Granddad loved food and so was delighted to attend the tea parties. Us gals always dress fro the occasion; dresses, jewelery and hats and along would come granddad in his grungiest jeans - the ones with the holes in the knees and thighs and his "outside" chore shirt. His shirt was a castoff golf shirt from golfer son. It has an array of paint, grease, sweat, grass stains and whatever else on it. He would show up in his finery and Dakota would feel mighty special that granddad came. This is the first tea party since Glenn passed away. I knew she would talk about him and I knew that I needed to do something special. I printed a picture of him at one of the previous tea parties where he was wearing all his finery. I also printed one off of Roscoe our Bichon that I had to put down just before Christmas. We went to a tea house in a town nearby and I had them set an extra place for granddad. We had sandwiches, soup for me, apples and chips for her. We were treated to the best Chai cheesecake I ever had. My tea was called Buckingham afternoon, and the little miss had granddad's favorite - Raspberry.  Dakota was so excited and in the end she declared it was the best birthday she had ever had. She is looking forward to our next adventure. I think I will call them our Tea Adventures and will maybe have to do a scrapbook for her. Of course there were presents involved which she loved. I did hold one gift back until the family party. It was a shrug sweater I knit. I can hardly wait to see her in it.\next week I have two grandsons birthdays which just happen to be on the same day. They are nine years apart. So, I need to come up with an adventure for a 12 year old who has Asberger's Syndrome and an adventure for a 4 year old. I will not do them on the same day as I think that each should have a special day.

Well, that is life this week. Hope you all are enjoying the new green grass, the birds singing, the early flowers and the smell of damp earth. I can hardly wait for my turn.

Blessings to you all

Jean

OVERLOAD

Not much blogging happening - way too much going on. Year end at work, computer issues at work, new equipment coming in at work, six feet of snow still outside and -25C windchill values, 5 birthdays this month with 2 grandsons from different parents on the same day then May will hit with about sixteen other birthdays, one wedding, a new baby due, still selling the house, son bought property, which will now change the areas I will be looking at - so new game plan....and on and on it goes. Next week should see a turn around in some things so am looking forward to that. Enjoyment in my life right now is actually planning a family reunion. I know, most people groan at that, but I am kind of enjoying it. Tomorrow should be the start of it being a bit warmer - at least we will be on the + side of zero. I think the last time we had winter for this long was first in 1979 when we got quite a significant flood and then one year when my aunt, my brother and I think his daughter came for Easter. They brought spring jackets and it turned out to be one of those years where the north winds were just a whipping off the two big lakes we had and it was soooo cold even if there was no snow. I am thinking that must have been early 80's. The mood disorders association compiled some statistics between the calls they have had, the doctors have had and the walk ins to the hospital seeking help for SAD (Seasonal Affect Disorder). Those who usually suffer with it, still have it and now they are saying that there is a 46% increase in people seeking help for it because of our late, late spring. It is so cold, that the drains on the street are all frozen, so when the snow starts to melt this weekend, there is going to be a lot of flooded streets. I am so thankful for the operation department that take their propane tank and torch and thaw the drains and also for all the pumps they have going. Working in that cold water and ice has got to be really rough. The other stat that came out is that the garden shops are seeing unprecedented numbers in their shops - but no one is buying, they all are there just to see something green growing. Anyway, I will quit boring you all with winter in Manitoba!  Hope you all have a good rest of the week. Hang in there Spring always comes followed by summer - better known as mosquito season.

Blessings to all

Jean

FED UP

I see from the blogs I follow, that not much posting is happening. I am going to assume that with this cold weather just truckin' on, everyone is kinda down in the dumps. Today for the first time I can see that some snow has melted. I am very thankful that they took all of last week and hauled snow off the empty lots and from around the individual houses in our complex. At least it gives us a glimpse of what is to come. We are to get "flurries" the next few days. Having said that though, North Dakota and Minnesota are to get walloped with a large rain storm that will start out as a Colorado Low. We are hoping to only get a passing glimpse of it, but all the same both those states and us here in Manitoba as well as Saskatchewan are really, really hoping it somehow fizzles out. The new flood forecast has us at a pretty full fledged flood and now they are hoping to keep it a bit below 1997 levels. All we can do is pray for no more moisture for the next six weeks.

These are both pictures from January last year. Now, imagine the grass standing up straight and it covering it totally. The grass stands about 4 feet tall. The picture of my rock and spruce tree - well the rock cannot be found this year and the snow is up to where the very top branch is and that is after what melting has taken place. They have now taken some of the snow away so today I can just see the very top of the rock (height of 3 feet) and the tree has only about 1/4 of height under snow now.  I haven't ventured to the provincial park for a walk as I understand there is no where to walk but on the road. All that snow water when it melts flows downhill to my son's old place. I don't know how many hours Glenn spent out there pumping water and driving around the area to see where the drainage pipes had not been opened and then opening them. During the flood of 1997 his basement was full to the rafters of water. I feel for the guy who bought it. Geoff was told later that, the RM had not wanted that land to be built on as if floods every year - but boy did they ever have green grass afterwards and then Glenn spent hours and hours every week mowing it. They had five acres and half was grass. Thank goodness the neighbours used half of it for their horses, otherwise Glenn would have had to retire just to look after their yard, never mind our own.

I have a showing on my house tomorrow. My place has been for sale since last July. It is in the country and so will take some time to sell. Now is the busy time of year so am hoping that soon there will be some action. As I mentioned before there are a couple of people wanting to put offers in, but they have to wait to sell their place. After a couple of years of living first in a larger town and then in the city, my son and daughter-in-law are on the move back to the country. They are planning to come back out this way just more east and on higher ground. They have found a place where a widow is selling her land and it can be subdivided. The smallest they would go is 2 acres. So they are thinking maybe 10 acres and then having my daughter build on part of it - good thinking as she is their main babysitter. She works 12 hour shifts, has much time that accounts for overtime as well as other time that accrues, so she has lots of time off - hence the amount of babysitting she does. She works 7 shifts out of a 2 week period. I was kind of hoping to get in on the action, but today I realized that I don't want to become the main babysitter. I lived with someone my whole life till Glenn died, and even though I am terribly lonely at times, I do enjoy being able to come and go as I please. I don't think I am quite ready to give up that freedom as yet. After all, I still haven't figured out what I want or what God wants me to do with this season of life. I always was a stay at home type person and so now I need to figure out "what my crowd is" as my daughter says. Yes, when I was younger, and up until Glenn died, I did help out a church which I enjoyed, but now I feel pulled somehow elsewhere. Time will tell.

All this talk of flooding reminds me of some TV show that was on a few years back where the grandparents came for a visit. All the grandfather did was watch the weather channel and teach the kids what all those squiggly lines and arrows meant. He was always telling them what great entertainment the weather channel was. Guess we will have a lot of folk watching the weather channel over the next few weeks. So I ask your prayers for them. Some people are still displaced from the flood of 2011 and this may certainly mean they may never get to go "home" again. I know what that feels like as where I grew up, we are not allowed in there at all. People who have homes or have childhood homes where they can go back to visit are so blessed. There are a whole lot of people in the world and not just third world countries who get displaced and it leaves a huge gap in your life. It like a big chunk has been torn from your heart.

So, please pray for all the displaced people this week. They really do need our prayers.

Hugs and blessings to you all.

Jean

The Loveliest Couple

I met a couple today, through the sale of an item they purchased from me. They are of the Hutterite faith. I know very little of the people themselves within that faith base. I know some of how a colony works. I also know that within any group of people, you have the good eggs and the bad eggs. I was always taught that most Hutterites were of the bad egg ilk. Not so, people. This couple were the nicest and most down to earth people I have ever met. They had quite the sense of humour and it was such a blessing to see them interact as a couple. We spent about an hour and a half together. We shared many common interests. She is a great quilter, sewer, canner, gardener, just like I am. We shared some recipes for food and for healing oils and creams. She said her colony is just getting into more of the natural healing elements. They patiently explained about how their colony works - they each have their own home and look after that, they do their own families laundry and on occasion, they do their own cooking for their family. About the only things they do together is eat, the canning, gardening, the farm animals (in this case chickens and pigs), and the fields. They do have their own businesses - this couple have a cabinetry business that they share with two of their sons. She said that though they have teachers come in, the ladies over the age of 45 take turns teaching the kindergarten class and of course they share in looking after all the kids. They invited me to come visit whenever. I may take them up on it. We were able to share our faith, which when you think of it, there is no difference except what MAN has made of it. We will look for each other at the local Saskatoon farm. I truly hope I run into Mary and Levi again.

Today we have a melting pot - melting mud, melting snow, melting salt, melting snow. So nice except that I just washed my vehicle on Saturday. Oh, well I do have all those gift certificates for car washes to use up - so no worries. We will be into the plus side of temperatures by Wednesday and going further. That old Mr. Sun feels so wonderful on my winter dried out white skin. Maybe it will hit the magic +10C on the weekend. In which case, I will be sitting on my wicker chair, on the porch with a large glass of ice tea, watching the world go by. Oh joy! Life is good.

Nothing else new or newsworthy today. Did enjoy my dinner with my youngest son, my daughter and two of my grand kids. My middle grandson takes auntie out into the sun room and declares "Welcome to my summer home". He has such an imagination - gotta just love it. I wonder if he thinks he's moving in for the summer!

Take time to enjoy the weather and all that God has blessed you with.

Blessings to all

Jean

THE BIG NOTHING

Sorry, no posts this week. That stomach bug going around is to die for and I don't mean in a good way. I am told that some of us older folk will have lasting effects for a few weeks after. I thought I had protected myself pretty good. Wash hands - check, Use Hand Sanitizer - check, avoid people like the plague -- check --- NOT! My oldest son and family had it, I stayed away. They called for a babysitter, I thought they were over it until I got in their foyer and BOOOOOMMMM! Nicole says, Geoff got it back again this morning. I couldn't think of a polite way out of babysitting and by then I was in the contagious zone. Less than 24 hours later it was game over. I made it to work only one day last week. I still feel tired, and if I eat more than a few morsels at a time, my tummy gets quite bloated. I went to visit some friends yesterday and was so embarrassed as I could not quit burping. Enough sick talk.

Happy Palm Sunday. When I was small, some of the churches called it White Sunday and we all were to bring a tin of food. In those days we were told it would all go overseas to some needy country. Now, if churches still do that, I am certain it goes to the local food banks. I have always loved the story of Jesus riding a donkey. Was sort of disappointed this morning at church - no retelling of the Triumphant entry, no children waving palm branches and singing Hosanna. Just our regular service. Thinking about it, I think the little kids are too small and the medium size ones are too big now. If the parents took the little kids up front, there wouldn't be too many folk in the chairs. Yeah for growing churches. Now starts the march to Good Friday. I can hardly wait to read a bit every day this week, make notes and let the marvel of what God did for us sink in once again. This year I am working through a book by Kay Arthur called When The Hurt Runs Deep. It is one of the most awesome books I have ever studied.

We are going to get warmer temperatures this week - Yay - however, snow will accompany the warming trend three of the next four days. We really don't need more snow. As it is, the Weather guru's in the US have forecast another major flood for the Fargo ND area. If you live north of there you know that all rivers lead to Lake Winnipeg, then on out into James Bay. Needless to say all that water has to come our way and though a month ago, we had not a bad flood forecast, it will be interesting to hear what they say come the 1st of April. I really hope the folks in the western half of North Dakota won't have much flooding - they got hammered pretty good last year. I think it was Minot that most of the town was wiped out. It might be a good time to remind you all - DON'T BUILD WHERE IT USE TO BE A LAKE! Every year we get a bit of flooding. In the past it was usually a bit of over land flooding. It seems like the past 10 years or so, it is getting worse every year.

Back to church for a minute. We have a couple that if you didn't know they weren't related and married, you would think that they were brother and sister. They are married and have stair step boys. Six months, 1 1/2, 2 1/2, and 3 1/2. They all look identical. I don't know where she gets the outfits, but they all wear the same jeans, the same shirts and the same shoes - too cute. They are the best behaved little guys and such handsome little dudes. It will be interesting to watch them grow up. I think there may be quite a bit of mischief coming up. Mom is up to the challenge though.

Well, that was my week in a nut shell. Maybe some sewing or stitching may happen this week, if so good, if not well that will be okay too.

Enjoy the longer daylight hours, and the warmer temperatures. For you all in warmer climes that can be outside working in the yard - I am so jealous. Of course that jealousy will only last until the first couple of things I rake or dig and I realize just how out of shape I am.

Blessings

Jean

LUNCH

Taking a break and decided to make Hoisin Rolls for lunch. Very good, very healthy, and very low in calories, sugar, sodium, fat and the fiber you can make it as much as you wish. The calorie content is 16 each. Today I used 1/2 cup each celery, onion, red pepper, 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce, 2 tablespoons of either sweet chili cause or the hot one, some garlic powder, ginger powder, left over roast beef, and butter lettuce leaves. With me using left over roast beef, the calorie count on each one went up to 20 calories. I made 5 for my lunch and I will be satisfied for the rest of the afternoon. My total lunch calories = 100.

Big doings today. Started my spring house cleaning. It is amazing how many places you find dust, that you were certain you cleaned. Oh, well. Some of my walls are red. Don't get me wrong, I grew up with a lot of red clothing so my parents could find me in the bush. In most of my other houses I have incorporated a bit of red. In the short time I had to look for my present abode, I decided no more red. So, what did I end up with? Four red walls. The thing I really dislike about red walls is that every speck of dust you will see on them. I do dust the walls about every month to six weeks, but after today's dust, me thinks I need to do them once a week. I use to take and wash all the walls, ceilings, take everything out of the cupboards, drawers, linen cupboards and wash everything. Now I try to do it as soon as I seen something that looks a bit grimy. As for the walls, I learned that if you dust them regularly, then are diligent with wiping the fingerprints etc., then tada no major clean job to be done. I am still out on the ceilings. I usually go over them every couple of months with a mop that looks like the ones the hospitals use. Mine is a Vileda (sp). I like it as I can easily change heads mid job if it becomes too grimy. Also it swivels, so can usually get the baseboards and corners of the walls and ceilings very well. I am not one to use commercially available cleaning products. Good old vinegar, baking soda, dish soap, laundry soda and borax are it for me. All very inexpensive ways to clean and work like gangbusters. I did learn a trick last week about cleaning mattresses or whatever have gotten kind of smelly. First wet the area with white vinegar - I used 1/4 cup. Then over that I spread baking soda and rubbed it in. I let it sit for about 15 minutes, then I added 1/4 cup of hydrogen peroxide (3%), and let it sit. Then I took my Little Green Machine carpet/upholstery cleaner and sucked it all up. Then I neutralized it with a bit of water and sucked it up again. I went over it a few times. Then I used my hair blower to dry it a bit faster. You could also use a fan on it. Smells wonderful now. I would test an area first. This will work on anything, mattresses, carpets, upholstery,car upholstery, but because you are using hydrogen peroxide - test first. I want to get my big cleaning out of the way before it gets nice. After it gets nice, I probably won't spend too much time inside. My last chore will be the windows, but have learned that those micro fiber cloths really are worth their weight in gold as far as cleaning any glass, mirrors etc. I haven't tested the Norwex ones that have silver in them. I wonder if they can make the silver fine enough so that they don't scratch, and then if they make the silver fine enough, how would it stay in the cloths. Must be an answer, but I am more than satisfied with what I do now. Do wish I had a man about the house though, some of the furniture is very heavy to move.

In a bit I am off to #1 son's to babysit. Everyone there has been sick for about three weeks. This past week it has been the stomach bug. Daughter-in-law is in a wedding party later this summer and the social is tonight, so she is off to help set up and then help run it. Son #1 will be home around 4:30 but has asked if I will stay and help until little P goes to bed. I am almost certain they are not contagious anymore, so will take the chance. They tend to eat very healthy, so will bring some of my Hoisin Rolls along to add to whatever else I will be making for supper. For those of you who have no idea what a Social is it is an evening where you buy tickets for the event. With your ticket you will get music, food and silent auction prizes. There is usually a bar and so much partying going on. The money collected from the social is used by the couple getting married to help pay for their wedding, honeymoon or help with a down payment on a house. Couples usually get anywhere from $7000 to upwards of $15000. Manitoba and a couple of other provinces are the only ones allow socials. Social season generally runs from the beginning of November until Mid April at which it turns into Cottage season and no one is around to attend socials. Just about every young person and some older ones also go to one or two socials a weekend. Good cheap fun, and you can get some wonderful prizes. For my #1 son's his boss donated a cruise as a prize, and a furniture manufacturer donated a recliner chair, so you can see where the majority of the money comes from. For the silent auction you buy tickets - by the arms length. So, you will probably pay $5.00 for a set of tickets and end up with three or four arms length of tickets. Most people set aside $20 for tickets. The food is the other big thing. Certain nationalities put on fabulous spreads, others use the standard "Social Food". This would be Kielbasa sausage, Rye Bread, Cheese, Pickles and lots and lots of pretzels. Some people go all out and will almost do a three course meal. Those socials are always really popular. Mommas sometimes use it to practice for the wedding or shower food.

Anyway, I better run. We are to get a mini blizzard today and tomorrow with up to 20cm (8 inches) of snow. Hope I get home for #1's before it starts.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Blessings to all

Jean

WILL ... IT ... EVER....END?

Our blasted winter will not give up. We are to get snow yet again and the temps. are back down in the -25C area again. I see though that Alberta has it much worse, so guess I should not grumble. A friend put on his Facebook page that he had started his tomatoes, peppers etc. I told him he had a lot of faith. Wes came back with "Jean, it is only eight weeks till planting season". Guess I better bite my tongue. Here in Manitoba, we can have snow banks so high you can't see across the road and the next week it will be flooding and you really cannot tell there is land under that sea. Like when I first came to Manitoba and all I could see was water, water every where water. But I still moved here. Must have been nuts - nuts in love with my hubby. Though I am sure that if I had of really wanted to stay in Alberta my Glenn would have said okay.

My family will be having a reunion this year - nothing big only about 65 people. It will be a practice run for the Big One that is next year. I hear tell it is our branch of the family that is to host that one - may be interesting, if we choose to take it on. However, here I was sitting in my snowdrift, writing a newsletter regarding our reunion for July. Quite the feat to do when you cannot fathom warm weather or that there will be a day when there isn't an eight foot snowdrift blocking your view. Did get it done and in the mail. Yes, I used snail mail. Everyone changes providers so fast, it it hard to keep up with all the email addresses, but I did put out a call for them as it would be so much easier sending it with a push of the computer button instead of the push of the copier button, then push of the debit card button as I mail them off. I don't mind really, I myself am rather addicted to paper print rather than e-print. Though I do appreciate both. Will be fun. The date is set, but not the location. I do have some ideas even if it rains. My parents lived all over the place in Alberta, will be interesting to see what other people think. I have so many ideas going through my head, I am sure I could fill two or three notebooks. Since I don't need that many ideas, I will write them down and at some future date they may be used. One thing for sure - after the day is done - the cousins will be having the "After Party". I have an idea of a place for it, but I am almost certain it will end up being at Dave and Michelle's as they host wonderful get togethers. They have a New Years Eve party each year and this last one went till 6:00 a.m. They sure can sit and tell stories, play cards and other games and generally have a great time. My kids missed the party this year and consensus was - Not Ever Again. They put all the kids down to sleep in one or two rooms . The kids love sleeping together and don't mind sleeping on the floor. An adventure to be had - for sure.

My house still has not sold and even though now is the time for "hot markets", in the country, not so much. I figure it will be a couple more months before I get an offer. In the country, it all gets backed up. I put my house up, someone puts an offer in, but then it is conditional to theirs being sold, then they get an offer and yup you guessed it another conditional offer. We might as well put our houses all in a draw and change place every two years, but continue to own our own. Would be cheaper and we would get a change of scenery and not have to wait.

I do have a stitching finish for this week. See below. I almost had two, but then found I had used the wrong colour in a very large area. Now I am deciding to just scrap it or take it out and re-stitch. It is one of those beads and buttons ones that is done on paper. If it was done on fabric, certainly I would have taken it out, but paper is so much cheaper.

.

Small piece only about 12 inches long and seven wide

Up close of the satin stitches

The hardanger section.

 

 

 This week was boring - just work, household chores, sleep and my family having first the cold then the stomach bug. Went to their house today and my daughter was right all you smell is sickness everywhere. They hope to feel well enough to do a major house clean this weekend. Yes, I offered, but as it is till an ongoing issue - no sense for a day or two. My son's administrative assistant said her class had 11 kids missing on Thursday with it. Good thing it is report card week and hardly anyone had school today. I really hope it doesn't hit the hospitals or the nursing homes.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Blessings to all

Jean

WEEK OF MARCH 4TH TO 10TH

I am going to try an idea that Ilene over at www.the sunroseandthewindblue.wordpress.com does. She write on her blog all week then posts it near the end of the week. I think I will join her. She actually has two blogs now. This one will more detail about their move to Oklahoma and the changes they are making to the house they bought. The other blog www.rockwhisperersgarden.wordpress.com is about the challenges of gardening in what I would assume is much like we have up here in parts of Manitoba sort of a desserty/hardpan/rocky type soil with lots and lots of wind. Hey that could also be like the place I grew up in.

When I was younger, I would think about God's creation and I imagined that each area of the earth would be different and within each country each area would be different. By different I mean that each area would be extremely different - guess I had a wild imagination. God did do that to some extent, but he in his infinite wisdom has areas around the world that are similar. I now understand it has to be this way because of the jet stream, weather patterns etc. I also have experienced many weather pattern changes over the years I have been alive and for a short period of time I fell for the Climate Change idea. Now, I see it fits in with all the other things; wars, disturbances etc. I now believe it is another way God is using to get our attention. I am not knocking the Climate Change thing, but I do firmly believe that God made this earth and because he knows the beginning to the end, he would have taken into account all that human's were going to do to the earth. I firmly believe that if God chooses for the earth to be here for another 1000 years, he is going to be taking care of it and all of our needs and we don't need to worry so much and fight so much over who is wrecking earth. God Is Good - All The Time! I do believe though that to show respect to my wonderful creator, I must take care of my little area and be mindful of what may or may not be a good thing. As he chooses to provide for me, I need to be aware and provide and look after what he has given me. So, if I was living on a farm I would certainly do the grain farming etc, but I would first take a good long look at what God put there and needs to be protected the most. I think that as the world got settled in that those people did this otherwise how would we see and know about all the beautiful flowers, streams, grasses. Yes, some are gone and that totally is human fault. I think we can get back to living in a more down to earth friendly way. Didn't mean to rant about climate change - sorry.

This week was a week of looking back and forward. God has been having me go through a very hard season for the past six months or so. I love Widow's Christian Place and how so often God uses the daily post. Usually they speak to me about whatever God has on my heart. So comforting to know that he uses others in this way and the magical part for me is that these people write these bits sometimes months in advance and don't even know who their writing will touch or how it will work, but as they write and pray God knows who will be touched by their words. God Is Good --All The Time.

I heard a sermon about a month ago speaking on how God works though our layers. These layers will be all the things he wants to either remove or change in our lives. Before I heard this sermon, I couldn't quite figure out why God would touch on one thing and then in rapid succession touch on so many others. After the sermon I realized that he is working on my layers. These layers for me often hinge on the next level and so it just seems like everything is all wrong. I was beginning to doubt God and my faith. That also is a place I did not want to go. However, I prayed that he would continue to work through the layers no matter how much I squirmed. One of the layers is family and how ours seems to not be doing so well. God has brought me to realize a couple of things. One is that we pussy-foot around how Glenn was the buffer in our family. My kids are much like me in ways and we rub each other the wrong way. We need to learn to talk things out and so we are starting to do that. With this we also need to forgive. Saying "Sorry" is not the same as forgiveness and we are slowly learning the difference. Praise God for his mercies. We will be whole again. Another thing is that I had given up on all my dreams. Dreams Glenn and I had together. God allowed me to make some decisions, that I thought were important because they were ones Glenn and I shared. Then everything went wrong - way wrong and I chose to give up. This week there was an awesome post on dreams and goals and not giving up - but allowing God to change them into what he wants. He does have plans for everyone of us. When I look back on our dreams, they just need an adjustment and that is what God is showing me. The journey will go on and it will be good.

This week was also Glenn's birthday. What to do - so we all did nothing, choosing instead to reflect on him and his life. At some point we will all come together with our stories and it will be a wonderful time of sharing.

Back in mid December, I had to put my little buddy down. Roscoe had been with us for 13 years, but his kidneys were failing and he wasn't able to hold it very long. It was time. It was hard. It was a Glenn thing. We all remember him walking the dog, playing catch with him and on occasion taking him for rides. The biggest one was him walking Roscoe and taking the littles to the park. Such hard memories but so gentle at the same time. Fast forward to about six weeks ago, when I decided to get another dog - a puppy. A cute little Shi tzu cross Sheltie. Duncan is a wonderful little dog, so playful, so smart, so good. I was really hoping his fur would be hair and not fur. He got the Sheltie fur-not good for me. I starting getting the allergies right away and kept thinking, I will adjust. But I didn't, so then I took more asthma meds, more nasal spray, more eye drops then added the Reactine. By this last Wednesday, I felt pretty bad and by Friday I knew something was wrong besides the obvious. I checked my blood pressure and it was through the roof and my throat was feeling thick. So, it became my health or the dog. Yesterday, I gave him to his new forever family and I know they will love him to bits. I on the other hand will miss him, but have learned an important lesson and that is listen to what the spirit is saying and God was really telling me to not get a dog. Today I am starting to feel better. This week will be better and hard just as each week has been since Glenn went to his new abode in heaven. I need to remember God Is Good -- All The Time.

May God Bless you all this week.

Jean

I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME

get this blogging thing down to every day or every week. I think I would be satisfied if it was twice a month, but this every few month thing has got to stop.

I am so, so tired of winter. Here in the peg, we have finally reached the point where the residential roads are melting and today I heard some hot bye byes as my darling daughter use to say to her daddy. Hot bye byes are hot cars. There is still far too much snow to hear the motorcycles out just yet. Motorcycle licenses don't take into effect till the end of this month. The way it works is that you pay a bazillion dollars to be able to ride from April 1st till the end of October. If the weather is good before that or after October, then I believe you pay an extra premium, from there you still pay insurance, but it is cut down somewhat cause the machines are in "storage" for the winter. These guys and gals pay a very high price for their insurance. Manitoba Public Insurance says it is because the amount of motorcycle accidents, but I am sure there are far fewer bike accidents than car accidents in Manitoba and I feel it is unfair to penalize them for the choice of transportation.

Birds - we don't have any yet, mind you the magpies were making some nests today as were the crows. In addition to those birds the majority of over winter birds are chickadees and sparrows. They tell us there are some thirty species that over winter - in my neck of the woods I do get to see the odd cedar wax wing and blue jays but that is it. As I live in a new condo development, we will not be getting very many birds here for a few years. There is bush near by, but they like some shelter and our trees aren't very big yet. I do love to hear the meadow larks, the Robins and the other birds sing and so end up going for a long walk to the older area of my community or to the provincial park that is only a couple of miles away.

Tonight though it is to go down to -20C with a windchill of -27C. For you in the US that is a bit colder than your 0F.  It won't stay like that only for the night and tomorrow and then we will get back up to -4 or -5C. Up until a few years ago, we usually got one day in March where we would reach the magic number +10C - 50F and then that meant that we wouldn't get temps. like we will have tonight. Now it is usually middle April or so before we get that high. The sun is warm though and I have been able to sit in my three-season sun room since the beginning of February - but only if it is sunny out.

Stitching- I have a few things almost finished, but started back at my bobbin lace class, so for the next eight weeks that will take all my free time. There are actually only two stitches in bobbin lace, but there is a myriad of ways to put the stitches together. It is very easy to get lost and this is only my third piece and the first time where I am using a cloth stitch, a whole stitch with twist and a half stitch. The half stitch is just half of the cloth stitch so not considered a stitch on its own. I need much practice. I need to take frequent breaks, not just for my eyes but also for my concentration. I concentrate so hard that I forget what I am doing and end up having to backtrack a lot. I am told this is the hardest lesson of all and after this it will get easier. I hope so, I have loved lace all my life - even if I don't wear it much, and I would like to be able to learn as many different kinds as I can.

Well I just wanted you all to know that I am still stitching and life goes on. I hope you all have a great weekend.

Blessings

Jean

AND A HAPPY WEEKEND TO YOU ALL

Yesterday, I had the privilege of looking after my two youngest grandsons, which was very a very enjoyable way to spend the day. Little P at four months has learned to put his soother in his mouth albeit upside down. He also is growing so fast, that a bit of cereal came into the mix this past week. Lunch was banana and rice cereal. The first few minutes were filled with odd facial expressions, then it clicked in his little mind and away we went. He is so filled with smiles, chuckles and belly laughs these days. When he goes down for a nap, well he just does it. Not like his siblings who fought sleep to the bitter end. Little Z and I had some fun playing on the IPad and doing some other quiet type things. At three he already knows that most of the games he wants to play on the IPad cost money. Mom and Dad have explained to him that the free ones are fine and they will not be spending any money for any more games. This makes the rest of us fair game in his eyes, so almost the first words out of his mouth was "Grandmom do you have any money today"? I did not cave and am very happy to see that my grandchildren are being brought up to understand that they will not get everything they ask for, that money does not grow on trees, how to break down their allowance into giving, saving, and then using a bit of it for their needs. Thank you Gail Van-Oxlade for your wonderful show that has taught all of us so much.

Today's mission is to find a child size Hawaiian shirt - in the middle of the prairies, in the dead of winter. At the best of times I have not seen any even in the Op. shops. I do have some fabric that will pass for a Hawaiian print, so may end up sewing one. I also need to get her sunglasses and a lei. Mom and Dad are away on their honeymoon - ten years later. It may be dicey trying to claw her from the clutches of her two most favourite care givers -- her aunty and her nanny. We'll see, it may be just grandmom doing all the running around.

This weekend I plan to continue my quest to get all my stitchy, quilty stuff organized. I have been working on this for a couple of years now. Some quilt fabric has been sitting on a table for a few months and I need to figure that out. Some of it, I have bundled it into how I will use it for quilts. The rest I just haven't got that far yet. On the stitching side. At one point I had the patterns, the fabric and the threads all together in project bags. That did not work as then when I needed the thread for some other project, I could never find it. Hence lots of doubles. Last year when Coni at Spinster Stitcher showed pictures of her studio, I kind of liked some of the ideas she had. Well, I high tailed it too Michael's and bought one of those things that has drawers and open cubbies to store items and a twirly round gizmo on top where you use those little clips with the S hook at the top to clip to the thread cards and then the thread hangs down. Nice to look at, not nice when most of the thread I have is too long to hang and thereby the hooks fall off all the time. In the past I used over the door clothing hooks. I put the thread cards on rings and then hung them on the hooks. For me that works the best and I will go back to that for some threads. I will use Coni's system for some of my silk threads that come in hanks instead of on cards. My issue was all that DMC floss. I don't understand why I have so much, especially when I am not a big fan of cross stitch. Can't stand all the thread changes. I am more of a hardanger, canvaswork type person. However, I do like mixed media type work so think that is why the floss collection grows. Anyway, I have gone to the stitchbow system where the thread is put in the bows, then in a plastic sleeve then into a binder. I have some 3" binders that Glenn had used for his hockey that I have re-purposed for the floss. All the perle cotton is safely inside some of those Martha Stewart paper holders that have lids. Works like a charm. I also use those for my Krenicke, Trebizond, etc. I am almost to the point where I feel I can actually allow myself to get back into working on the actual projects.

The day is slipping away so I best finish this post and get on with today's life. 

Blessings

Jean

 

GOODNESS, GRACIOUS ME.......

I certainly did not think it had been so long since I blogged. Sigh! Lets see. Had a great Christmas and New Years. Had loads of family time, met up with old friends and had a blast. Had 18 days off over Christmas and first week of January. So technically now I am well rested and can go through the next few months with flying colours. Did have a visit to my GP just before Christmas, which of course included the yearly blood tests, stool tests etc. Turns out that my iron is way low. Now normally women my age should not have a problem with low iron, but since my iron has never, never, never been even remotely near normal, they don't worry about it. So back on a course or two of iron pills. I think, like most people, that I start feeling way more spunky and then I go off them. Of course I am still not anywhere near normal so then my body adjust to that level, I start feeling blah and tired again and it is time to move it up to the next level. I am not losing iron, I have just never got where I am supposed to be. When I had my first child, it was so low, I was taking eight iron pills a day. Boy did that wreck havouc with my stomach, so after that pregnancy, for the following pregnancies I opted to eat liver 3 times a week. Turns out my family really liked liver so it worked well. In today's world, that may not be an option as doctors are so concerned about cholesterol --- of which that is not a problem for me. The other thing found is that my sodium levels are low. Prescription for that?  Well, a big glass of V8 juice and a glass of warm milk each day. The V8 juice I like, milk I cannot do as I am lactose intolerant. I have never cooked with, nor do I add any salt to my food, so I only get what is naturally occurring in foods. People don't realize that most foods we eat naturally have sodium in them because of the salts in the earth. Then you add what some farmers put in to the mix, then what the processing adds and then you have a mixture that is not good for man nor beast. I tend to eat fairly clean, meaning I eat fresh (or as fresh can be in winter) fruits and vegetables. I don't eat processed meat very often. In fact I am becoming more of a fish person than a meat person. I also tend to use way more dried beans as added protein. So, I thought I was getting enough sodium in my diet - turned out not so. Now I have to be more conscious of what I eat. Enough of this old lady health crud.

January has been January in Manitoba. Meaning we are back to the coldest of the cold. Actually, it hasn't been too bad. Not like last year though when winter was cancelled. We did not have one day of -30C weather. This year it is slightly colder where we had lots of -30C weather before Christmas, then the January thaw that lasted a bit longer this year and now for the past two or three weeks we have been in the cold. They tell us that January 21st is usually the coldest day in Canada. This year it was yesterday for us. I think the mean temperature was -25C but with the windchill if felt as though it was -44C. The fourteen day trend is for it to slowly get warmer - yeah right. From experience, it is generally really cold until Valentines week, then we start having fewer consecutive days of colder weather. Meaning Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be unbearable, then Thursday and Friday will be warmer, then Saturday will be colder then Sunday and Monday will be warmer --- well you get the picture.

Oh, the other news. I ended up putting leetle Roscoe down on December 17th. His kidney function first showed low in some blood work last March. Since that time there would be more pee accidents. In October he had more blood work and same thing. They offered to do a scan or a biopsy of his kidneys - more money in their pockets - I opted not to, because there wouldn't be too much they could do anyway. He was also having periods which only lasted split seconds where you could tell there was nothing there. So his mind was starting to go a bit. He was a Bichon Frise and was 13. When we went on our trip out west, he only had a couple of accidents, however when we came back, it just got worse. Then he started pooping in the house and I knew it was time. The last weekend he was alive I washed my bedding four times, shampooed my mattress four times, shampooed the carpets three times, shampooed the couch a couple of times and washed the floor I don't know how many times. I did not want him to spend 23 hours a day in his kennel and it must have been hard and embarrassing for him. That was a hard day. I am still  grieving Glenn and now add Roscoe to the mix. I thought with him being "just a dog" that I would be sad for a couple of days then would be okay. I have since discovered just how much he meant to me and also how he was linked to Glenn in my mind. Will I get another dog? In my heart I very much want another one, but is it feasible? Time will tell.

With the cold weather, I have had more time to stitch. So I have been working on a cross stitch pattern from mill hill. It is the Cafe O Lait  one from a few years ago. I have it's mate done, but never did this one as originally they were both going to go in my kitchen. Since moving, I do not have walls in my kitchen that are conducive to hanging anything. Only two walls - open area - you get the drift. But now I have my house up for sale. I realized I am not a condo type person and so hopefully will move in the spring. So back to finishing it. I also have had a tree top angel that I have been working on for about five years. I only stitch on it in December and we all know how busy we all are that month, so have decided that it stays out and I am working on it in rotation with a few other things. There will not be pictures of that until it is done as white on white doesn't photograph very well. I also have been knitting a shrug sweater for my granddaughter, and have pulled out some quilts that need to be quilted and bound. I think my creative side is slowly coming back. After Glenn died, it took me about a year and a half to get back to being able to cook. It has taken somewhat longer for the creative side as he was my biggest supporter and he actually had a very good design eye - much to my chagrin at times. Now in hindsight I wonder how I will do without his input. I am hoping that his thoughts and input will come back to me and I will put them to good use.

Along with everyone else in Canada, I am looking forward to gardening again. So now is the time to figure out what to grow and what needs to be started in pots soon. We cannot generally put in too much in the garden before May 24th. Peas, onions, spinach, lettuce yes - tomatoes, and other hot type plants may not even go in till mid June some years. We do have a lot of heat here in Manitoba, but it is usually only from Mid June until mid September, so short hot growing season. Because it gets so dry and hot in the summer and less sun, September isn't too good of a growing month. It is more of a finishing off month and a "hope the tomatoes ripen" month. We do use the cardboard box with newspaper layers to ripen tomatoes though so usually can still have fresh tomatoes till around November. Wonder if my new place will have a garden - not to worry, I can still use my daughters garden.

Happy weekend and Happy stitching to all.

Blessings

Jean

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