(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

I finally found time to make a hankie.

Seems a shame I'm going to blow my nose into it, doesn't it?

Jada's Orange Ball

Henry's note the other day mentioned feeding Jada her ball and CurtissAnn wondered what he meant by that.

Here is Jada's favorite way to eat her kibble.

You fill the ball with the proper amount of kibble which drop out randomly as she chases the ball around the house.

They are great for dogs who need jobs. (Jada is a Belgian Shepard cross and has a strong herding drive which we try to satisfy with Frisbee and her ball.)

And yes CurtissAnn, I not only got to hold the baby (when I was giving home help to a new mom), I also got to feed her.

At just over 5 pounds she is the smallest baby I have ever held!

It was wonderful.

Quiet Sundays

photo Colin Puchala

Love

I've hardly been home this week, running in and out for field trips, church meetings, giving home help to a new mom, picking Jesse up from basketball practice and driving Jesse to school one morning after he missed his bus.

And I had just been there! You know dropping the kids on my bus off!

All this running around had Henry deciding he should feed Jada breakfast this morning,

Here's how he let me know about it. . .

How sweet is he?!

This is how he has signed every note he has ever written. Often he adds a long string of x's and o's.

I am a lucky woman.

Wordless Wendsday

What Do You Do On A Day Off?

We have today off, for family day. I also had Friday off but was still not feeling well and got very little accomplished.

Saturday, Jesse was playing basket ball in a tournament out of town' so Henry and I made the drive out to cheer on his team.

Once we got home, picked up the essentials and had dinner, the day was pretty much done.

Sunday is our day of rest and you will find us either at church, visiting family and friends or just hanging out at home reading and playing games.

So here it is. . . one last free day. What to do with it?

Henry, Jesse and Jada choose to spend it at Mr. and Mrs. P's cabin.

Morgan and Crystal are sleeping in and hope to spend at least part of the day with their new girlfriend and boyfriend (It's getting busy around here!)

Holly of course has moved to Manitoba and while I'm not sure what she'll be up to today' I am happy to report that she has found a job at Second cup and begins this week.

Whoo Hoo!

As for me. . .

The plan had been to plant seeds today. I've been looking forward to it all week. Unfortunately I just realized that I left the bale of seed starting mix in the garage and our plunging temperatures mean that it will be frozen solid!

So, for some alternate fun I'll been cleaning (because I didn't get to it on Saturday), baking and sewing some flannel hankies.

"Flannel hankies?!" you ask.

Ever since I read Brin's post (http://messythrillinglife.blogspot.com/2008/11/thrifty-nifty-napkins.html) on making hankies out of her very cute worn out pyjamas,I've been wanting to make hankies as well.

Walking Jada in the winter pretty much guarantees I will have a drippy nose, so hankies make sense.

However it is cold here for most of the winter, and to me, a warm cozy flannel hankie was more appealing than a thin one.

All I have is a piece of leftover white flannel, so they won't be as cute as Brin's but maybe sewing them with a pretty thread will dress them up a bit.

I've just checked the time and, if I'm quick I can sneak in one last cup of tea and a piece of coffee cake before I get to work.

So. . .Tell me. What do you do on your day off?

Quiet Sundays

photo Colin Puchala

I'm Still Here

I got a call from my sister Tamara last night wondering if I was okay.

" Because, well. . . you haven't been blogging that much and I wondered if everything was okay. . .?"

I must admit that I've been struggling with a couple of health issues in the last few weeks.

One of them is pain in my right hip which has flared up quite badly and the ache really wears me out sometimes.

I have to pay close attention to how I drive my bus or it gets worse and I haven't been doing that lately.

Ev and I have also been working on 'The Plan' (details coming very soon) and that has been taking up a fair bit of time as well. (more so for Ev than for me right now though!)

Things are getting better slowly and I had a little fun playing with a free photo editing program.

Here's a few pictures I took in the garden last summer, after they were edited. . .

Happy Friday everyone!

Wordless Wendsday

Looking Back

I am in need of a flower pick me up today, so I thought I'd share them with you as well.

Enjoy!

The Good Life

Henry was given a gift certificate to a very good steakhouse at Christmas time.

We've been saving it for a special occasion.

Yesterday he phoned me on his way home from work and asked if I wanted to go out for dinner,

He hadn't even known how bad my day had been!

Of course I thought it was a great idea so we enjoyed prime rib for dinner.

Now I have a rather small appetite and so I generally take the leftovers home to have for lunch the next day.

The only thing left this time was a chunk of prime rib.

I took it home figuring one of the boys might appreciate having it for dinner the next day.

Morgan spent the night throwing up, and Jesse had supper before I even got home from work.

Henry, not wanting to waste food, told me he though Jada should have it for supper. (Jesse's going to a basketball tournament this weekend or he would have inhaled it for supper tomorrow)

"Prime Rib?!"

"Henry, she's a dog!"

"So???"

"Oh alright. . . "

" Don't forget to warm it up." says he.

?!!

Has he seen the things she digs up and gobbles down while on a walk?

"I'm sure she'll enjoy it more if it's warmed up."

He insists she savored every bite. . .

One of Those Days

I'm having one of those days.

One of those days when life's aggravations have me wishing I could have a good old fashioned two year-old temper tantrum, with lots of foot stomping, fist clenching and high pitched shrieks.

Aggravations like finding the toilet paper roll empty again! (stomp!!), a piece of dog kibble falling on the floor while filling her bowl (clench!) and realizing that, far from removing the huge pile of snow and ice in from in front of your house, the grader is making the pile twice as high as it was before!! (Shriek!!)

Sigh. .

My hormones are on the rampage again.

The thing is, I am tired of letting my hormones control the way I feel and behave.

A few months ago I resolved to get through days like this with Dignity, Grace and Humor.

So I pray. A lot. On a day like today, when I can hardly stand to be around myself, I am so thankful that, no matter how many times I call out, God is there. Right beside me.

I should have left well enough alone.

I should not, when that immense puddle came into view, have even considered giving myself a bit of joy by swerving my bus just a little to create an exciting puddle splash.

The resulting deluge of muddy water had me frantically searching for high on the windshield washer button.

Dignity and grace are obviously long gone. . .

After a Long Wait. . .

I finally have my files back!

Whoo Hooo!

Can you believe I have over 3,000 pictures on file! (and those are only 2008!)

And that none of them are organized!

I've been plugging away at them for a while and realized it's almost time for work.

I'll leave you with a few from the album I've been working on. . .

Tamara and I in China. . .

View from our hotel room.

An unknown weed. (hmmmm. . . . I probably should have cropped this one. Oh well, too late now!!)