Donna's chitchat

National Chocolate Cake Day

2012-01-27T18:39:00.011-04:00

What a great way to bright a January week. Melinda showed me this little clip yesterday in one of those locally printed "read me" things you fine in restaurants, waiting rooms and gas stations. It said that Jan 27 is National Chocolate Cake Day. I was tempted right away to make "THAT" Chocolate Cake that I discovered the recipe for way back in September. I would have to bring it to work to share with 40 staff.. because I just couldn't have that in our house for the whole weekend... Lord... I would explode.

But, the community was a buzz about the weather and the possibility of a storm coming.. and also a possibility of school cancelations. My luck would be to waste a whole evening making this glorious cake.. and then have to eat it all myself. I decided not to bother... and sure enough... school cancelations, and a little snow/freezing rain to rain storm arrived, right on schedule.

Even worksites were cancelled by 10am.. and I spent the day home puttering around, catching up on laundry, dusting, de-fridging and putting away odds and sods.

Terry napped this afternoon and I puttered...

and then, I thought of it...... National Chocolate Cake Day... and remembering a very easy and extremely yummy recipe I got from my sister in law, Kelly, when I was making things for Lyndsey's baby shower. I just happened to have all the millions of ingredients in the cupboard (sarcasm here).. so I made tiny little chocolate cakes for Terry and I.

I don't even know what they are called.... but you take one package of Betty Crocker Cookie Mix (Kelly recommended the peanut butter cookie package, but I can't find it at either of our grocery stores, so I bought chocolate chunk) and one package of Reese's Minis.

You follow the directions on the package which is 1/3 cup oil, 1 egg, and 2 tablespoons of water. Mix it in a bowl with the stuff in the package, spoon into mini muffin tins... bake for 8-10 minutes. When you take them out of the oven, you pop a reese's mini into each little chocolate muffin cake..... and tada.....

Imagine.. how much we celebrated National Chocolate Cake day.. with these mini chocolate cakes of sorts....

A homemade treasure!

2012-01-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

A few years ago, I bought a fun little wooden frame from a discount bin for $5. It was a wide wooden frame with hearts in the corners. I really had no use for it, but I was intrigued by its simple design. This poor frame sat around my house for several years, hoping to have a purpose one day...

I was at a craft shop in Berwick one day and found a very sweet earring holder, made from an antique frame and chicken wire... and while it was a little to "rustic" for me... I did come up with an idea for my frame without a purpose. A bit of door screening, some fabric and fibrefill, some hooks and I made myself a pretty functional jewelry station in my bedroom.After success with my first one, I made one for my sister, one for my sister in law... both were fairly small like mine. But then my niece asked for one for Christmas but she wanted a BIG one. She said she had lots of jewelry and lots of wall space.. and she wanted it big.

Off I went to Michaels to look for a frame. Terry happened to come along with me and as we shopped through frames that were big enough, wooden and yet affordable, Terry found a clearance section and found a beautiful brown wooden frame for $8... can't get cheaper than that for a 22x20 frame. We were excited... and off we went to buy hooks from Grampie's Country Barn. I like these because they have that nice little hook at the end which makes them NON pointy and easier to hang necklaces off of.

With Terry's help, we covered wood with Fibrefill, then fabric and then door screening and stapled to the back.

popped it in the frame.....finished the back (which was way nicer than mine and my sisters!)

Then we hammered in the hooks along the bottom for necklaces and hooks along the sides for bracelets.

Terry put a pair of sturdy hooks on the back for hanging.. and it was done.

This Christmas, we decided to make one for Michelle for a Christmas gift.. and off to Michael's we went.. and again found a wonderful frame for $4. More screen, more fabric, more hooks... and

voila...

Michelle has a jewelry holder, nice and big to fill up a space on her wall and hold all her earrings, necklaces, bracelets... rings... whatever.

The Art of Blogging

2012-01-06T06:53:00.014-04:00

Why do people blog? I think about this question a lot. Why do I blog? Blogging is an art. It truly is, and I am amazed at how many blogs are out there, and the huge range of blog styles, and subject themes.

When Blogger first came out, I had already been blogging for 2 years through "My Space". I stopped for about 6 months, just like I did in 2011. Just couldn't blog for some reason.. blog block, you might say! When I started to use Blogger (the website I blog through), it was incredibly easy to use, and design to make you own, and it "manages" your blogs so well. I was totally hooked and happy to be blogging again.

Some little facts I have learned about my blog history. I have blogged 496 times since 2007 (not including My Space). I have had 29,123 page views in the past 4 years. In the past year (the year of the "not Blogging much"), I have 17 unfinished blogs. Each of those blogs are good and interesting blogs, but are off season, or out of sequence if I complete them. How does one deal with these. I have 5 great summer blogs about Grammie Camp, my garden, kayaking, camping and my kids. There are winter blogs about snow storms, curling events and holidays.

So here are my questions... do I finish these blogs... am I blogging for you?... or am I blogging for me.? I originally thought I might be blogging for me... a journal of sorts. A way to look back on my life with my family and friends. But, here's the kicker... I love to write about these things... for me... but I seem to worry more about what my readers will think if I blog about something that is out of season or that my blogs are boring for those reading them....

In trying to diagnose why I didn't blog much last year... I have come to some conclusions.... I lost my vision of why I blog. I am still not clear on it, actually, but in taking a break from it, I know I miss it, I realize I am blogging for me... and you guys are my bonus. Thank you for reading .... boring.. or not... your great friends.

Here's one little challenge with blogging.... pictures. I love taking pictures of mundane little events... things I want to remember. The problem is... I have so many cameras (big, little, iPhone, iPad) now, and they all take different methods to retrieve the pictures.. that I forget to down load them, or they download in the wrong place because the clock on the camera is wrong... or I just can't find a camera at the time.

I am trying to learn to manage this picture taking/retrieving thing a little better now, and I hope to wipe out THAT excuse for not blogging. That being said... here are a few things I DIDN'T take pictures of.. but are note worthy.

1. Our dishwasher broke on Dec 18th. I was home alone, and puttering in the kitchen when I started to smell burning rubber and the dishwasher sounded like it was grinding. I opened the door of the dishwasher to see what was stuck... and it kept running!!!! I freaked about a bit, and opened and shut the damn door 10 times before I figured out that I should unplug the stupid thing. Whew... my 10 year old workhorse of a Dishwasher is covered under my Sears Maintenance plan so I figured... call them.. they would be there with their superhero cape on to fix it before Xmas.... NOPE.... they couldn't even come to LOOK at it before December 28 and once he did, he determined it was the computer thingie in the door.. and "parts" needed to be ordered (that will be a couple of weeks)... Well, I was looking at a whole Christmas Season without a dishwasher.. When I whined about it on Facebook, I have several sympathizers, all boohooing with me. But my friend Kerry pointed out that she had several special memories of do dishes with all her family over Christmas and I got to thinking she was absolutely right. Washing dishes 3 to 5 times a day was sort like a drive in the car with your friends or one of your kids. You have them trapped for a bit, and you get talking and before you know it.. the dishes are done.. the kitchen is clean and you've heard all about a few things that there wouldn't have been time for telling if you were not trapped in the kitchen!!

One more noteworthy.. picture less event... I burned my face and inside my nose over

Xmas...How you wonder... you will never believe it!! My good friend "Pinterest" had this very simple but yummy looking sticky bun recipe on its website and I had been dying to try it. I waited until Boxing day to make it, because I had 8 staying for breakfast and I had Caleigh here, who loves to try this little projects with me. It required a bundt pan and I just happened to have one.. but its one of those spring form pan type things, and I figured it would be fine. We built this recipe without any problem and popped it in the oven and it was going to be ready in 30 minutes. Perfect timing to serve with all the other breakfast yummies I had put together.

5 minutes into the baking, Scott points out he can smell sugar burning, and I did too.. but I blew him off, saying its the sugar on the top of the buns. But after 10 minutes, it was getting stronger and stronger... and you know what I am going to say... right? The sugar leaked through the bundt pan edges on the bottom and was burning to the bottom of the oven. The stupid cake had like 20 more minutes to bake and the oven was FILLED with black smoke and every time I opened the oven, the house was blasted with smoke... I didn't want to ruin the cake... so I pour a few cups of water on the bottom of the oven to stop the burning put out any fire potential... I just needed 20 minutes. The water seemed to calm down the smoke and the smell for a few minutes. I waited another 10 minutes and when I opened the oven door to check on the cake... the STEAM from the water I pouring in... burst out the oven door and up my face, in my nose and across my lips and eyes too.

The searing pain was such a shock, I had no idea what just happened. I closed the oven door and stood there trying to assess what I had just done... and then the little nerves all over my face started to explode... PAIN PAIN PAIN... I quietly went to the bathroom and got a cold face cloth to put on my face and discretely fix the problem before anyone in the living room found out how stunned I just was...

When I looked in the mirror it was way too obvious I had burned my face... I looked like those people on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" who had one half of their face burned by the space ships flying by". Anyway, I survived (my nose and lips took 5 days to recover) but the cake didn't. Someone took it out of the oven 10 minutes before it would have been cooked because the smell and the smoke was just too much to handle. It would have been delicious.. except it was just too doughy in the middle for my liking. I will make it again, mind you.. it was simple and pretty.... but I will get a better pan first... If you would like to try this fun little sticky bun recipe.. click here... and of course I don't need to tell you what NOT to do.

moments don't always get a picture... but sometimes you don't need a picture to visualize... like Lucy getting into the little green bin while we were away.. and spread around or ate all the month old soggy cranberries, the veggie ends from supper, the coffee grounds, the banana peels, the supper scrapings... and old hard marshmallows

I had dumped in there from the summer!

And imagine the site when I found Apollo behind the washing machine... massacring the catnip I hung near the furnace to dry last fall. I thought he was trapped under the dryer or something, the amount of thrashing I was hearing... it was him rolling in bliss at this amazing FIND.!!! Who has a camera for these moments... but again.. who needs one!

Filling my days.....

2012-01-05T12:00:00.006-04:00

The last two weeks have been filled with family (and pets) and friends. I can't believe that Scott, Michelle and Jack have been at our house for just two weeks. Seems like they have always been here.. but then again, I can't believe that Christmas and New Years have come and gone either.

Its wonderful to sit around and snuggle with Jack, while spending time with the whole family. I can believe how much it brings me back to when I was a young mom and snuggled with my own little ones who are not 25 and 27. Geesh. One thing I remember from when they were babies.. is ... its never to early to start reading to your baby.

We thought the smile was just to please his mama who was taking his picture... but when he saw the big eyes on the Elephant ... his smile got even bigger...

We thought we might start him in is Bumbo... but maybe it is a little too early for that.. he was very confused by the whole thing... and didn't put up with this foreign position for very long.

Jack is two months old today.

He is smiling now, making eye contact, he is reaching for and grabbing his little mousie toy that his one of his best friends. He is following us with his eyes, standing up strong on his legs and cooing more and more each day. I am in awe of how much he is developing each day. He is awake and happy most of the day. He has lots of people to talk to and lots of people to be at his beck and call. Grampie's favourite thing is to tour him around the house, checking out lights, mirrors and windows.

Terry is constantly making farting noises with Jack.. which usually brings a big smile to his face.. or... he joins Terry in making those farting noises.. except out the other end!!

Scotts' grandparents in Trenton got a little Christmas chat in via Skype.. but Jack decided he had enough of being the centre of attention and promptly fell asleep during the conversation. They did get a good chat in the next day... so all was not lost!

Even Pika is enjoying all the sitting around.. because he loves a great lap to snuggle on, and he doesn't care if there is a baby already on that lap..

And if the baby can use the nursing pillow as a couch bed......

.. so can Pika (when Jack is not using it)!

Traditions.....

2012-01-03T12:00:00.000-04:00

Christmas Traditions are a funny thing. We all have them... whether they have come from our parents, or community, or we make them up ourselves. Traditions are made when you feel that you must do these same events each year. Sometimes we have traditions, we didn't even know we have until you stop doing them.

Now, the tough thing about traditions is..... things change from Christmas to Christmas. Your kids grow up, they move away, they come back, they bring babies... We have Christmas's through Skype and by phone. All these factors make Christmas traditions hard to keep going... and that's when your traditions start to become "memories" instead.

This Christmas, I found myself thinking a lot about my parents who laid a wonderful foundation for us kids, full of Christmas traditions and happy Christmas memories. Some of their traditions have long gone by the way side, but are fun memories. My mom cooked a big meal on Christmas Eve, usually AFTER midnight mass.. with some weird bird.. like duck, Cornish hens etc. Then a turkey on Christmas Day... what a pile of work, I didn't even appreciate what she did. We opened one gift on Christmas Eve and we selected it from the meagre spread of gifts under the tree, from the few relatives that sent us gifts... but there were no other gifts under the tree. But Christmas morning the tree would be fat with boxes and packages giving the illusion that Santa brought us all those gifts during the night. Eventually they had to change up their Christmas mornings when we all moved away, when we all had kids, when we started making our own traditions.

Last year, we spent Christmas in Fredericton with my whole family.... with my two girls and two son-in-laws... my sister and her whole family. This brand new experience was sprinkled with parts of our Christmas traditions, the Matheson's traditions and The Mitchell's. The joining of families also opens the door to new ideas.

This Christmas, Stephanie and Sean were in Korea, and Michelle and Scott, with baby Jack, came to our house.. and we spend Christmas here with a new baby. Stephanie's Christmas was 12 hours ahead of ours.. and that was fun through Skype.... We shared her Christmas and then 12 hours later.. she shared ours. So fun, but again... more changes. Somethings never change.. but almost everything else does!!

Traditions... like building a puzzle... new in the past few years.. but truly a fun one... carried on this Christmas.. This year... a CAT Puzzle... and the cats got into it... trouble makers!

Puzzles are an additive Christmas activity and no one can walk past it without trying to one or two pieces... and then before you know it... an hour has gone by.

Sometimes the colours and markings of the pieces all blur together and you need to change up your vantage point!!!

On several occasions we found on or more cats asleep on the puzzle and we also found a few pieces "mysteriously" scattered on the floor. Extra challenge..

But after 4 days of peck and search... it was done... and what a stunning puzzle it is.. it sits proudly on our coffee table covered in Plexiglas because no one has the heart to break it up yet.

We received a very cool Canada Flag puzzle as a Christmas gift from the Ottawa Mathesons. We are dying to break it open, but we are back to work .. and I am afraid it will have to wait until perhaps this weekend.!

The beginning.... 2012

2012-01-01T12:00:00.001-04:00

I love January 1. Its the ultimate beginning of all that to begin. When I discuss this whole concept with others, some nod their head in agreement, while others roll eyes, raise eyebrows or do that all knowing tilt of the head, as if to say... you are cracked! But, to each his own, right?

New Years in our house was sort of typical. We usually stay home, with family or friends and do something like watch a movie, or play a game. With Jack being exactly 8 weeks old and a little too young for a movie... we decided to stay home and crack open this new game we received from Stephanie and Sean for Christmas. Its called "Ticket to Ride". At first glance, I assumed it was a game about Beatles trivia, to which I instantly gave up any hope of enjoying.. since I live with Mr. Beatles (or any music) trivia king. But on further inspection, we realized its about trains.. and not one bit about the John, Paul, Ringo and George.

We were all sort of intimidated by the colours, the roads, the little pieces and the millions of cards... and it just seemed like it would be impossible to follow... but alas... it was simple, fun and secretive..

We had to take a mid game break for Jack to have a little evening feeding, and Michelle snapped a picture of the rest of us studying our game...

For those of you who have experienced "Settlers of Catan"...it has a lot of the same characteristics... but a little more secretive.. and some fun strategy styles emerged over the two games we played... and the second game was a little more competitive than the first.. with all 4 of us.. neck in neck at the end of the game (as you can see, three of us were tied and the blue guy (Terry) was in the lead by one. You think your winning...until the final scoring happened... and then... there was a CLEAR winner... by miles.. but you just don't know it until you finish the game..

We had a midnight Skype Chat with Stephanie (although it was noon the next day for her). We kept her posted on the thrills of our game all evening.. but by 12:05.. after a few sips of Champagne... we were all off to bed.

Some of us got to sleep faster than the rest of us... because he had a head start!

Strength comes in all forms....

2011-11-07T09:00:00.002-04:00

I always knew I would be with Michelle for the birth of her first baby, but I told myself it was ok not to be there, just in case I wasn't brave enough to do it. I told Michelle not to expect me, and she put no pressure on me to do so... but when push came to shove, there was no other place I could possibly be.. then right there with her.

As her mom, I worried about so many little things. I couldn't share

my worries with her, because I wanted Michelle to know that I had every

confidence that things would be perfect. But man she was big... she was sore in her ribs, she was overdue and tired. I worried about hours of labor, epidurals, c-section, birth problems... cord problems... I was Michelle's mommy first, and an expected Grandmother second.

Because she was overdue, big and sore... they planned to induce her on Saturday, Nov 5th, 7 days after her due date.. I know they arranged this because Saturday is my favourite day of the week.. as I may have mentioned before. They started the process around noon hour, which again, suited me perfect.. because I drove up Saturday morning, through black ice, snow squalls and a near empty gas tank (oops) arriving at 1:00 at their home. I followed Scott to the hospital and we arrive just as the first few labor pains began at 1:30.

There I sat, nervously, wondering how long would this take, and when should I leave... where should I sit, what should I do... We had the company of a nurse in the room to monitor the drug in her system that brings on labor. It felt like we should be on our best behaviour with her there... and we sat in silence for the first little while. But after just a few minutes, we all started chatting and it became a little more relaxed and it made the time go by a little faster for Michelle. Scott and I traded seats after a few minutes and he held her hand and I sat in the corner. My heavens, thing progressed very quickly and with in an hour Michelle was "blowing" through some fairly tough contractions. We took our cue from the nurse and started to talk her through these contracts and I blew through them all too. Its a wonder I didn't pass out with some of the blowing I was doing!!! Soon we were standing up beside her and Scott was the Kleenex holder, tear wiper, the hand holder, the sweet nothing whisperer and I was the facecloth wiper, the firm talker, the praise dropper. There was no time for talk of epidural, no talk of c-section, no time to even thinking about leaving. An hour and a half after I arrived, Michelle felt the need to push and everyone took their spot. Two nurses.. one for Michelle, one for the baby... the Doctor and Scott and I. We were instructed on what we were to do.. and we each held a leg, and Scott was the metronome counter.. he counted through the tears, the groans, the constant bantering of nurses and me. We all held on to every word he said, because he was like the time keeper, the taskmaster, the light at the end of the tunnel. After each count of 10, Michelle could take a break. Sometimes her body wouldn't let her take a break, but other times she could rest for a minute, talk about what was happening and even have a cheerful giggle at how close we were.

Now, I am not a blood and guts kind of person, although I deal with it at school all the time. But I am not one who can watch surgeries on TV, or even watch those childbirth stories. This was part of why I didn't want to be in with them when Jack arrived.... just afraid, really of the whole idea. But you know... when the doc started saying she could see the babies' head... I had to sneak a peek.... i didn't see a head... but after a push or two.. I did see something... a very tiny peeking head... Confused, I thought to my self that Jack's head was really small! But I didn't say anything.... another push... and more of the little tiny head... I whispered to Michelle that Jack had hair... and she giggled.. because she herself was as bald as a cue ball, when she was born! Another big push and the rest of his "not so small" head came out.... and it wasn't gross at all.. it was amazing. His big chubby face, and eyes were slammed shut.. wondering what the heck was happening... And then.... three more pushes and baby Jack was finally out.. and up on Michelle's body... looking big and bright and happy to be out with his mom and dad...

It was absolutely amazing to be a part of this whole miracle... This big and healthy, little boy was born just two and a half hours after I arrived in the room. We were all in awe... and I was full of wonder, as was Michelle and Scott. So fun to look in his little face and watch his eyes, his cheeks, his little mouth... We waited and wondered for months, who he would look like... and we all see lots of both parents in him. He is a perfect mix of both of them...

Jack Terrance Matheson

November 5th, 2011

3:49pm 9lb 11oz

I am a Grammie!

2011-11-05T09:18:00.000-03:00

There it was.. gone... September that is...

2011-10-02T13:54:00.010-03:00

For Andrew... who can't resist reading stories about those first few days of school when ... as a parent.. you are excited, terrified and some what relieved to have your kids back at school. As a staff member you have all those same feelings but for different reasons. Those first few days for me are mostly adrenaline filled, somewhat terrifying and with a hint of excitement and resentment!!!

Last years' challenges at the start of the year were mostly painful and embarrassing as we struggled through the implementation of a new computer system that allowed teachers to take more control of attendance, class lists, have access to the students demographics , etc... Sounds boring for most, but very exciting to teachers.. for sure. But the center of the nerve centre for this system was ~me~ and my coworker... with each of us holding the key to a different part of the system. With all the normal upheaval on the first few days.. we had the added stress of trying to make this system work with no experience and little training. We survived but it was painful and frustrating as mentioned before..

This year... was just as hectic, with 75 new four & five year olds starting school, plus 50 or so families new to our community and several new staff members. But the difference this year was a calmness through the staff, now far more experienced with our "new" system... a great partnership in the office, and the strongest of bonds in our administration. When you work as a team, you get so much more done... with far less effort and together we are an amazing team, with each one of us having weaknesses and strengths that compliment and offset the others.

How many people does it take to remove a splinter.... bahhaa....

Other September news....

Stephanie has a new job in Gwangju where she teaches students via video conferencing in small schools through out the city. She teachers many classes each day, in a variety of grade levels, as well as 10 minute "one on one" sessions with after-school groups each day. She has a new apartment, which she loves and coworkers who are from all corners of the world but all English speaking, dessert loving teachers. Stephanie is on video to the class, and they are on video to her.

She loves this new way of teaching for funny reasons like... she gets to bring her own lunch now... no more school cafeteria lunches of fish head stew, and kimchi.... she has her very own heater for her cubical... which... is a gift because they don't have heat in their schools.... ever! (Even when it is +5 outside ~ a Gwangju winter)

Sean is working very hard on his degree at UNB and is in his LAST semester and then will head to Korea to get back to Stephanie, their cat, his friends and his weird love of Korean food!!! His plans will be to teach once he gets back, but will have to wait for some paperwork stuff to be processed and hopefully it will all get done before the new school year begins in Gwangju, around April. I dropped in on his mom and dad's pottery display in September... at the Craft Festival.

Yet.. more September news...

Michelle is in her last 4 weeks of pregnancy and we spent early September in the baby's room getting things sorted out and arranged. She and Scott are well stocked, well read, well rested and well... ready for a baby boy to arrive.. sometime between Oct 11 (Full moon) and Oct 31 (Michelle's guess!). Our baby Jack is coming along very well, and Michelle is a real trooper with the whole pregnancy. She has enjoyed every minute of her extra large belly, the extreme mountain climbing that Jack seems to be involved in (inside of her) and her busy, fast-paced daycare job. Scott is working very hard on his PHD at UNB along with his Apple Rep stuff.... and with two cats, a nutty white dog and all his father to be chores like cooking and cleaning... he is in a non-stop whirlwind. Scott is hoping for a Thanksgiving baby but his money is on Nov 1st in our family bet on when Jack will finally arrive!

So, Andrew... September in and around a school is always hectic, and I know a part of you misses this time... but let me tell you... Some of us are envious of your retired lifestyle of self-inflicted busy as opposed to a September merry-go-round of unsolicited emergencies, problems, complaints, failures with a spattering of fun and funny moments!!!

Chocolate Cake...simple and delicious..

2011-10-01T19:41:00.007-03:00

So I mentioned to Chantal the other day that I really would like to have a KitchenAid Stand Mixer for Xmas and could she possibly lay some hints to my family to get me one. And then two days later I saw the Canadian Tire flyer with the exact one I wanted on the front page and it was 40% off. Did I cut out the flyer and tape it to the fridge with a big blinking arrow on it for Terry to go buy... for me.. for Xmas..... no.

I went out and bought it myself and un boxed it the minute I got home! I will be hinting for slippers for Xmas instead...

Terry laughed at me and said the first thing I need to bake is a chocolate cake. I have sort of been looking for a good chocolate cake recipe for a while since it happens to be Terry's favorite cake. I am not a fan of cake which sort of takes the fun out of baking one. This summer I found a recipe I thought I would like but it was too dense, too wet, too fussy. So, off to my favorite recipe site and searched the cakes.

I found this recipe called "That" chocolate cake and it was on a funny blog (found here). Sounded simple enough and away I went (after Terry made a run to the grocery store (twice) for ingredients.).

Not thinking it was "blog" worthy quite yet, I didn't take any pictures of the making of this cake.. but it was painfully simple.

That Chocolate Cake
3 cups (600 grams) sugar
scant 3 cups (425 grams) flour
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (135 grams) cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350F. I used a very large Bundt pan, but the original recipe (found here) was made using three 8" round cake pans. What ever you use, grease and flour your pan.
In a mixer bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk to combine.
In a separate bowl, combine the beaten eggs, vegetable oil, and milk. Stir to mix. Then, with the mixer on low, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix on low until evenly distributed. Pour the hot coffee into the batter and mix on medium low until smooth. The batter will be soupy.

Pour your batter in to your prepared pan (or pans). Bake for 35-50 minutes (depending on what size pan you used) When the cakes spring back when pressed lightly with a finger, or when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out cleanly, the cakes are done. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then invert the cake onto cooling racks to cool completely.

Frosting
1 3/4 cups (350 gr) sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
7 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a saucepan, bring the sugar and heavy cream to a boil over medium heat. Immediately reduce the heat to low and simmer the cream and sugar for six minutes. Be careful not to let the saucepan overflow.
Remove from heat and whisk in the chocolate and butter until they have completely melted. (At first, I just stirred it, but the chocolate refused to incorporate until I used a whisk, and then it took about two seconds.) Stir in the vanilla extract.

Let the frosting cool completely, whisking every now and then during cooling. (You can do this step in the refrigerator to speed up the process) Once completely cool at room temperature, the frosting will thicken to a spreadable consistency. Now, my frosting didn't turn out as well as the original post and I think it was because I used "Blend (10% cream) instead of heavy cream (35%). I sort of poured and spread my icing on the cake and then refrigerated it. It is still super delicious.

Enjoy

whose got time to blog in the summer.....

2011-08-26T09:00:00.000-03:00

...But the tough part is, I had such a great summer... its well worth blogging about, even if its for my own memoirs. I have thought about how to do this, and I will probably blog in order, and I will post them in order... and then repost them after a week or so, to the actual dates they happened so that I can keep good record.

One of the really fun part about my job working in a school is that I get seven weeks off during the summer. I enjoy those 7 weeks immensely and take advantage of every moment. The really hard part about that whole luxury is... for the last 2 weeks of my time off... I am fretting about wasting my whole summer and not getting stuff done that I had planned to do. I hum and haw, and plan, and make lists but still, I watch TV, I visit with friends, I garden and even sew. But then during my last two days before going back.. I cram so much stuff in that I really need to get back to work, just to get a rest!

Just a cute little note... at the very start of the summer, actually, before school was over.. Terry and I were called upon to do our grandparental duties and babysit Michelle and Scotts cats, Apollo and Sirius. We had a great two weeks with them and they often sat shoulder to shoulder, staring at the wilderness TV out our front window.When I snapped this picture I was reminded of them when they were little 3 month old kittens, home from university for Thanksgiving. They did the same thing, and it was so exciting for them to watch the birds and squirrels. Here they are..... at 3 months old!

Update:

I am just eating the Peach Ice Cream... Is it delicious?..... most certainly....... was it worth all the trouble?..... maybe..... would I make it again? .... most definitely NO. But oh my, its very good.

Peaches- what was I thinkin'?

2011-08-24T16:27:00.007-03:00

Its August in the Valley and the peaches are gorgeous this year. Why, when nothing else seems to be producing well.. are the peaches so pretty... who knows... but they sure sucked me in!

I stopped by Mr. Laffin's little road side market and picked up two bags of small ripe peaches to make some jam... Something, I have never made before... peach jam.

During one of my many evenings of Pinterest sailing, I found a wonderful looking recipe for peach ice cream as well and ideas and cravings started flowing... I can really kill two birds with one project... since I have to poach and peel peaches anyway... why not try peach ice cream too..

Why not indeed... I have made ice cream before, and its fairly time consuming but its usually vanilla with a few added fun things and maybe a flavoring or two. How hard could it be to make peach ice cream.

So, it began yesterday with blanching all my peaches which included a boiling pot of water, a sink full of ice and water.. a slotted spoon, a paring knife, several bowls (for for the skins & pits, one for the skinned peaches, one for the chopped peaches)... This was a fun project and without batteries in my camera! An hour and a half later, they were safely in the fridge for this mornings' project.

Bright and early today, I began my peach projects, and since I have made jam a million times.. I know exactly what the process is, and decided I should start on one of the ice cream stages first.. since the recipe seemed to call for a couple of steps. I was amazed at the number of steps I had to do, including.... finely chop the peaches, mix with sugar and something else (can't remember) and let sit for TWO HOURS (in a bowl)..... meanwhile I had to mix cream with whole milk and something else... and heat until there is steam.... stirring constantly.... and meanwhile I had to whisk 6 yolks with more sugar(in another bowl)... and then add one cup of milk to eggs..stirring constantly... and then eggs back into cream/milk stuff and stir constantly again.. until like it reached some ungodly temperature which meant I had to find my candy thermometer... and then I had to fill another bowl with ice, and put another bowl in the ice and then a strainer.. and then when the milk was a certain temp I had to strain the milk/cream/yolks in to the bowl and STIR CONSTANTLY until it reached room temperature... then I added vanilla.

Then in the fridge for 2 hours. After that horror... I then had to simmer the peaches that had been sitting for 2 hours in a pot.. (a different pot than the milk pot) for 10 minutes.. then cool to room temperature.. and then add peach snaps and refrigerate for 4 hours.... Geeeshhhhh. THEN I had to strain the peaches, and mix the juices from the peaches into the milk stuff.. and then I could actually put it in the ice cream maker..

After 45 minutes... it didn't look much different than when it went in.. but I had to stir in the drained peaches... and now..I have this tiny little container of peach ice cream and it has to freeze in the freakin freezer for like 12 hours!

In between all the constant stirring, the millions of dishes and bowls and pots... and measuring cups, stir things... oh, my ... I actually made Peach Jam... which was a "peach" of cake... hee hee.

So here it is. My last day of vacation.. and its been a peachy day. I haven't gotten to try the ice cream yet, but I will for dessert tomorrow. All I know is that it better be over the moondelicious because I don't think I will ever make it again!

Now, who am I trying to kid....

2011-06-21T20:57:00.000-03:00

I am not what you would call a stunning beauty... and I am totally ok with it all.. except as I get older I am amazed at the age spots, the lines, the droops. Over the last few years... some vanity in my looks started to kick in and I started going to a beautician to get my eyebrows waxed because my failing eye sight wouldn't allow me to get it done myself. I quite enjoyed going to Leah at Starks, and started branching out from eyebrow waxing to pedicures, and the odd facial.

After my hairdressing shop had their awful fire, it came to me that I would have to start doing my own eyebrows until they got back on their feet. How does one pluck their own eye brows when you need to wear your reading glasses to do it! Well... my solution was to get one of those big ass magnifier mirrors and my Mother in Law just happen to have one she didn't need!

That's when it happened.... that when I actually saw the spots, the blemishes, the lines, the facial hair.. the "old" coming out of me.. oozing like a volcano .... ARRRGGGGH. What an eye opener.. and I instantly wondered how people could stand to be in a conversation with me, while looking at this face. After a bit though, I came to the realization that they were quite use to my face that they looked at each day... it was just me that was shocked that I wasn't the 20 year old beauty I use to be!

This began my new routine in the morning... pluck pluck, tweeze tweeze, squeeze squeeze... I bought foundation, and mascara... started wearing my one 4 year old tube of lipstick more regularly. But, as all routines go.. I did this for a month or soo.. and then it got lame. I put foundation on when I thought of it.. and suffered through trying to put mascara on, like once ever week or so.. and the lipstick.. well, I stuck with that pretty good.. but I only put it on once a day.. thinking it will last all day!

All that said, just to explain my morning routine this morning.... got dressed.. looked in the mirror.. and thought I looked particularly pale today.. so I gave my lips a swipe of this new lipstick that came in a sample pack that Jacquie got for free somewhere.. didn't really like the color but didn't have time to change it. I thought I would attempt the mascara today...
I am not great when it comes to eye stuff.. creeps me out totally.. so mascara is such a struggle for me... and sure enough... went in too deep with a big blob on the wand and touched my eye...
I immediately slammed my eye shut.. and voila...
After my laughter stopped, I thought I might.. first look for my camera, and second, look for eye makeup remover.. which I was pretty sure I bought when I bought all the other crap when I started my "new" routine! Got the picture... found the make up remover.. and spent a minute or two trying to get it all off... realized I forgot to brush my teeth.. so I did... smearing my new lipstick all over the toothbrush.. and my lips... removed that and went back in.. put on my old lipstick and went to work with mascara on just one eye!

PS.. don't look at my eyebrows.. that part of the routine wore off too!

Rhubarb, Anyone!

2011-06-20T18:07:00.010-03:00

*I originally wrote this blog last July and never finished it. I was about to write this very blog again, and had a feeling that I had already blogged my rhubarb... and when I did a search, I found this blog, only half written, and never published. Sadly.. nothing has changed, so the first paragraphs are the exact same as last years!

**I have grown Rhubarb for the past 20 years. The same rhubarb plants. I dug them up from my neighbor's yard over 20 years ago and planted it in my yard. She NEVER picked it... she was happy to get rid of it. The funny thing is... I don't really like rhubarb. I love watching it grow, I love that its the first thing up in the spring... and my plants are very large. I am not sure if its a large variety or I have a great spot for it.. but it grows gigantic every year.

Peeking out of the ground on March 15

6 weeks later-April 30th.

3 weeks later May 24

Every year... I pull some, chop it, freeze it. I pull and give away much of it, as well. But eventually, the stocks get woody because they don't get pulled fast enough, and then its done for the year.

There are only two recipes I make with rhubarb... and once I make those, I don't do another thing with it. This year... things will be different. My goal is to use every bit of it. Make things, give it away.... freeze it for winter use.**

So here it is, a year has gone by since I wrote the first two paragraphs.. and I suspect the reason I didn't publish my blog from last year, was that I never did a freakin' thing with my stupid rhubarb. But .. this year.. I will be! (oh, the pictures are from this year, I never got around to taking pictures last year!)

First off... I actually planted MORE rhubarb... even though I don't really like it... I wanted to try going the "strawberry rhubarb" kind...

you can see the little stocks of bright red planted next to the big one. Thanks Cynthia, for the gift of your dad's rhubarb, by the way! Once the little ones take hold and start growing next spring, I will be digging up the monster 'barb and bringing it to my sisters house for her to grow!

Back to the recipes... I make an incredibly yummy Rhubarb cake... so easy its embarrassing... and I also make a yummy Rhubarb muffin. That's about it.

As mentioned above.. I am going to use EVERY bit of my rhubarb this year... and this weekend I started using it up. Made the cake for dessert on Saturday and brought the rest to work today.

Tonight I made 30 Rhubarb muffins (recipe below) and I started them right after I made 30 banana chocolate muffins. Its the last week with students at school, and that always means we need a few little treats in the staff room.. so why not use up some of my dreaded rhubarb, as well as those nasty blackish bananas the kids won't eat in the snack bin.

Stunned moment.... I start the muffins, while baking supper, talking to Michelle on the phone, watching Jennifer Aniston on Oprah and tripping over the cats. There are several stages to the muffins.. and as I get to the last stage of sprinkling buttery brown sugar and cinnamon over them, before they go in the oven, I realize... I forgot to put the FLIPPING rhubarb in the batter!. They are now, in the tins, with brown sugar on them.. and there is NO RHUBARB in them.......ARRRRRRRGGG. So, I start poking the little chunks of rhubarb into the muffins... without disturbing the brown sugar too much... They cooked fine.. but I am telling you, each muffin doesn't have very much rhubarb in it... and as you can see, I hardly made a dent in my monster rhubarb plant!

A little butterfly visitor yesterday morning before the weird weather hit! After the big rainstorm, and thunder and lightning, we had a flood in the back yard. We have never seen so much water collect in the garden! It drained within minutes.. but geeesh! Sure flattened the rhubarb!

Rhubarb Muffins
(recipe given to me from Bertha Gubernt)

1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups diced rhubarb
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Combine sugar, oil, egg, vanilla and buttermilk.. beat well. Stir in Rhubarb. In separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until blended. Add dry ingredients to rhubarb mixture, mixing just until blended. Spoon batter into greased muffin cups, filling them 2/3 full. (Don't over fill) Scatter cinnamon topping over filled cups and press lightly into batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 24 minutes.

Cinnamon mixture
1 tbsp melted butter (or Marg)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

*note from experience- when the muffins come out of the oven, take a spoon and move the melted brown sugar that might have leaked onto the muffin tins back onto the muffins while soft. let the muffins sit for a few minutes in the pan before you take the muffins out. If you wait on the brown sugar thing.. it becomes like cement onto the muffin tin, and make a real mess of the muffin tops as you try to get the muffins out of the pan. All in all.. though.. so worth it!

How much fun can you have with a name?

2011-06-16T17:41:00.005-03:00

What do you think of when you hear the name "Jack"

Jumpin' Jack Flash..... Jack & Dianne....Captain Jack..... Jack & Jill... Jack and the Beanstalk.... Hit the road Jack..... the game of Jacks... Jack Daniels.....

When I hear the name Jack... I get this warm tingly feeling all over my body but mostly in my heart!

This is "my" Jack. He was unveiled today when Michelle and Scott went for their ultrasound. He is 12 ounces right now, and 20 cms long. While they were at the appt, the proud parents had the most amazing experience watching him roll, kick, fold, bend and lay still. He was totally showing off for them and allowed the technician to take lots of pictures and lots of measurements too. The due date is right where they thought... just before Halloween.

We have had lots of fun with planning baby things.. but it will be even more fun, now that we know who he really is.

on Demand...

2011-06-12T11:19:00.005-03:00

Being the parents of three cats... is not an easy task. The demands on the back door operation is getting out of hand. We have Paralax and her new found hunting skills. Then there's Pika and his 'need to be in, then out, then in, then out" and finally Tonks and her 'want' to be out, but her 'need' to have the door open at all times to feel safe. This spring has been a chore for Terry and I to keep them all happy. If Pika doesn't get what he wants... he usually tries to destroy things like our carpet by the door. Paralax lays a beating on Pika if she isn't let out when she requests... and Tonks, well, she is vocal about her needs, but far less destructive.
We felt it was going to be a long demanding summer... and we needed a solution! I bought this cat door a few years ago, mostly as a joke...and, sadly, I don't even remember the joke. But we decided the other day that it wasn't really a bad idea.. and on the spur of the moment, Terry got out his power tools and within 15 minutes.. we had a cat door.... This door has a magnetic latch at the bottom, it swings in and out.. and even has a lock on it for when we need to keep them in (or out). Now the trick was to teach them to use it. We decided to tie it open for a few days to let them know they have free reign to come in and out without having to wait for us to open the door, plus for Tonks' sake, it would always be open to allow her a quick escape when something spooked her. Pika was the first to figure it out, and enjoyed going in and out.. and Paralax caught on pretty quickly after Pika.

Tonks on the other hand.... just couldn't believe that the door wasn't WIDE open for her.. and therefore she hung around the little door for a very long time. This was something she would have to figure out on her own... because she wouldn't let us near her to guide her... she doesn't trust us. After the lure of cat treats, cat nip and jealousy (cat treat envy)... she popped through the door.. had a few treats and then slid back inside.
You know though, after that first little adventure for her... she tried it again.. and ventured farther out onto the deck and over to the catnip... always keeping her eyes on the little door. She would then tear over to it, and slam her way through it.. as noisily as a dog would. I think she would go into a mini panic before she got to the door, thinking it might shut before she got there... After a few days though, she was in and out, roaming the deck and the yard, for that matter. She seemed to get braver than we expected!!!Its been installed now for about a week, and we now have it closed but unlocked. Paralax has the whole concept figured out... being able to push the little door open just enough to get her head out and then she slips out quietly and effortlessly. Pika is not interested in trying.. and Tonks is pissed. We still have some work to do... but there is hope!

Cottage Heaven

2011-06-07T20:46:00.001-03:00

Cottage living is simply the best livin', really. There is always work to be done at the cottage, but somehow, it doesn't feel like work. Opening the cottage is a ton of work, especially for my sister and her hubby.. who drag an entire van full of stuff to the cottage each day for a couple of days, just to get it open. Bedding, towels, food, the TV, sewing stuff, cleaning stuff... etc. Gail spends the whole day making beds, vacuuming, hanging curtains, dusting and washing all the flat surfaces, stocking cupboards and the bathroom. Her hubby does repairs of winter damage, fools with the water and hoses, the pumps, the lawn furniture, the yard... etc

But finally, after a week or so, it is ready for the fun stuff.... my visit!!! Meanwhile, at my house, I am digging up plants, making suppers, finding my garden gloves and tools... and this year was no different.. I was soooooooo excited to hit the road and drive 6 hours for the cottage. I had plans of gardening, digging up stuff, yard work to clean up the lake damage! Spending time with my sister and my daughter were the bonuses to the weekend.

We arrived late Friday night after a long rainy drive... and went to bed shortly after we got there... all excited for a day of outside fun in the morning....

And it rained... rained all day.... cold.... windy... rain. There was no hope of doing any outside work, so we sat. We talked, we planned, we waited for Michelle and Scott. And we drank coffee... we sat... we talked....

One of the things we noticed was.... we had no Internet. When we talked about quilt plans... we couldn't search for the proper pattern. We planned some Grammie camp events... and we couldn't search for ideas.... We couldn't skype with Stephanie, or Patience..... we couldn't email Michelle and ask when she was coming... I couldn't show Gail Pinterest..... we couldn't check the weather forecast or find out information on movies coming up at the show. After a while, we seemed to be obsessed with how we could get the Internet at the cottage without it costing an arm and a leg! We couldn't wait for Scott to arrive, so he could tell us how to get it.... alas, when he came.. he had no good news on the subject. We said the entire morning, afternoon and evening... waiting for the rain to stop... And, finally... we went to bed.!

Sunday morning, arrived... cold and grey... but it wasn't raining. It didn't take long for the whole house to eat breakfast and get dressed and we were outside... in the chilly weather, and we started cleaning the yard and gardening.

The lake comes up pretty high every spring, and most of this flowerbed gets covered in water and eventually all the mulch floats away, along with loose soil. We usually have to rebury most of the plants, and top with more mulch. This year, even though the water was high, it didn't cover this garden!

After about 2 hours, and 6 of us working, we got everything pretty well looking great. We spent the rest of the day doing fun cottage stuff... the boys fished, and we worked inside the cottage, and on the deck. Michelle learned some great jewelry making lessons from Gail and got hooked on making bracelets.. She is now recruited for our Grammie camp to teach the kids a new craft!

Just before supper, Scott, Terry and I headed out on the kayaks and went for an hour's paddle. The water was so high, we had the opportunity to paddle through tree branches about 5 feet in the air! This was an adventure that Scott has always wanted to do, and he took a pretty intense shortcut through a pretty thick stand of trees and came out the other side soakin' wet. He had a few tricky spots to get through, but he loved it just the same! Boys will be boys!.

I always love the cottage.

A proud moment - a Cat Tail!

2011-05-30T18:01:00.000-03:00

As you may recall, Stephanie left us her two cats way back in 2009 to take care of while she was in Korea teaching. They are still with me and have survived their second winter and enjoying their second spring. These two little cats spent the first 5 years of their lives as indoor cats.. never having the freedom to roam the yard. We have gently exposed them to the great outdoors.

Tonks enjoys sitting on the deck and watching birds, June bugs and our neighbours. Paralax, on the other hand, is prowling the neighbourhood. She is in and out of the house as often as she can convince us to let her in and out.

Every night, Terry starts around 8pm trying to get her to come in for the night, and usually succeeds around 10.

Imagine our surprise when one evening this week, Terry opens the back door and finds Paralax sitting proudly on the deck, guarding her first kill. A teeny tiny shrew!

You could totally see the pride and sense of accomplishment in her face when she proudly lay beside her kill. She rolled and bath, then swat it, then roll again... a little more bathing....

She lay protectively beside her little critter, while Tonks gingerly inched her ways towards it to have a little sniff. Pika inspected it as well, and sort of turned away, not impressed.

Poor Paralax got a little possessive and hid it away under her paw. It was so small she totally covered it with her paw.

Terry and I chuckled all evening, just imagining the excitement and her pride.

Oprah

2011-05-25T17:20:00.005-03:00

The end of an era. She has been a part of my life and all my friends lives for the last 20 plus years.

She has never visited me ... she has never phoned me... she hasn't sent me any money or gifts. She hasn't surprised me with my "Ultimate Dream" or "my Wish Come True" or reunited me with long lost relatives. She has never given me a make over or arrange for me to go to a spa or all inclusive resort.

But Oprah has played a big part in my life and I can't imagine my life without her.

She has encouraged me through my weight issues. She has opened my eyes to issues like homosexuality, poverty, racism. She made me brave when it came to issues of sexual abuse, teaching me that it wasn't my fault. She made me proud of my "pay it forward" way of life. She taught me about how mean families can be to each other, and how we can't turn our backs on families who need help. She made reading, and reading diverse subjects easier to endure. She made me realize that all mothers in the world weren't as great as my mom for teaching me independence, equality in women .. but she taught all women and girls of their worthiness. I started a gratitude journal which opened my eyes to all the things I was so lucky to have in my life. I have enjoyed a few "aha" moments in my life and she made me recognize them. She has taught me about generosity and helping others. She has taught me about honesty and friendship.

We are so lucky to have had Oprah for the past 25 years in our lives. I am sad to see her go but understand she must move on.

Thank you Oprah

An Untraditional Easter for me

2011-05-10T18:06:00.000-03:00

Easter has traditionally been a celebration of church, spring, family and treasure hunting! It was always an opportunity to band together with Terry and his creative mind to challenge our kids with a different Easter Egg hunt each year. Last year... when we were faced with our first Easter without our entire family home (Korea gained one expert hunter that year), we turned the weekend into a Easter Egg hunt for my niece. She and her mom came for Easter and it was the first time Michelle was involved in the "planning" of the traditional hunt. It was a nice change and made it not so hard to deal with the absence of my oldest.

This year... Easter was as nontraditional as I have ever had, and it was a really fun change. This year, we took advantage of the 4 day weekend and hit the road....

If you remember last year... Debbie and I along with each a daughter (who are childhood friends too) took off for our first ever adventure to the United States of America on an Outlet shopping excursion. (Click here and here to enjoy our many experiences while being "abroad" for the first time ever) We took advantage of a boring March Break last year, but this year's March Break was not good timing. Easter and its 4 day weekend were about the only time we could squeeze a shopping trip in! I feel, for me, it was perfect timing...

Because this was our second time doing the cross border shopping trip, we had a better idea of what we wanted to buy, where we wanted to go, and not go. I had Nike Sneakers in mind, maybe some yoga stuff, Lindor chocolates and anything that was a good bargain! Debbie had a similar list, and the girls had specific things to look for too.

Last year, we relied on "Gertie" the GPS to safely get us where we needed to go, but this year we had the luxury of a big screen GPS that we called Big Betty!

She was a blast, and a great help as well! We crossed the border at 8 am Good Friday morning (after a long rainy drive to Michelle's on Thursday night).. and we hit our first USA gas station about an hour later. I stocked up on some "foreign" chocolate bars like Peanut Butter Twix, Peanut Butter Snickers and Hershey's Milk Drops.!

Our first shopping stop was in Freeport where we hit Nike, Coach, Jockey, Maiden Form and Johnny Rocket. We avoided the cutsie gift shops, the ice cream hut and the winter coat stores. We searched for the Lindor store, and the Body Shoppe, as well as a Teacher store... and they were all closed! Very disappointing. But we hit the road and made our way to our Hotel in Portland and we totally unloaded the car to make room for our next shopping trip.

Our favorite shopping tool was ready and waiting for us at the door, I think our hosts knew we were coming.! After we unpacked, reorganized our purchases and had a little rest, we hit the road to go to the Christmas Tree Shoppe.

Now this store really compares to Bargain Harleys meets "Rewards" here in Canada but it was super fun and very cheap. Last year when we went, both Debbie and I were very excited about it but the girls seemed unimpressed and bought very little. But this year, Ashley exclaimed earlier in the day that she was going to take "the Christmas Tree shoppe" way more SERIOUSLY this year. That made us laugh all day long... and we certainly did take it serious!!

This was the back of the car.. after that one store!!!! We headed off to the Maine Mall after this picture was taken and that was Michelle's favourite stop of the day. She had a blast at the Motherhood store, trying on tops, pants and even several sweet little summer dresses. She posed with the pillow that simulates a later pregnancy to see how everything will fit when she was further on. She left that store with cords, jeans, 4 or 5 tops, Pajamas and 3 summer dresses! We browsed the Apple store (see sweet little baby belly on Michelle)

The Body Shoppe was next and then, Debbie and I parked our butts on the old lady couches and rested while the girls did some clothes shopping. We left the mall and piled more bags into the back of the car. We certainly laughed at the amount we bought, but really weren't too worried about the back of the car, until the next morning when we loaded up the car with ALL our belongings... and we still had a day of shopping to go!!

Supper at "On the Border" where we met a totally sincere and funny waitress who was a delight! We all have people we know who have pet names or pet sayings for others. This waitress said the phrase "You got it" so many times in the few conversations we had with her, that we were in fits of giggles the rest of the weekend when we managed to fit "You Got It!!!" into our own conversations!

The next day we left Portland with the car packed to the top with over stuffed luggage, shopping bags and shoes (not in their boxes) and the rains began the minute we left the hotel. Our day in Kittery was wet beyond belief but it didn't dampen our spirits!

Can you see the smiles on the girls faces when I got out at our LAST shopping stop, to readjust the back of the car and "unbox" several pairs of shoes and runners to make more room! When Debbie bought her golf shoes, I interrupted the sale and told the clerk not to give us the box... we had NO ROOM LEFT!!!

This year our time spent at Kittery was very organized and productive.

We knew exactly what we would enjoy and what we didn't need to bother looking at. Last year, we went in almost EVERY store in each pod of stores, but this year we avoided leather stores, kitchen stores, several shoe stores and several dude clothing stores too. Lindt was a productive stop for all of us and I personally left there with at least 5 lbs of Lindors in several amazing flavours!!! The Le Gourmet Chef was a fun store and the girls bulked up on samples while they waited for us to meet them there.. This is my Spork store.... for those of you who envy my Spork!

We hit the road for Bangor and drove the 2 hours in the pouring rain while we chatting about our bargains and then began to mentally tally up what our spending totals. We played a couple of car games (you know, "A" my name is Alice, my Hubby's name is Albert, we live in.....well, you know, you get it) and I think there was even a cat nap or two. Bangor welcomed us by not raining, at least long enough for us to unload our entire car into our room, which sadly took more than one trip, and we even had a trolley to use :(

We reorganized our bags, and we each took a corner of the room to pile our belongings and gather receipts. Shoes were a fun purchase for everyone, and I must say, I had two experts help me in my shoe shopping and I ended up with 5 pairs of shoes/sneakers/hikers and of course the practical "Uglies".

They were the most hideous waterproof sneakers you can imagine, but also the best bargain and the biggest necessity for me. a $90 pair of Sorel sneakers, and I got them for $12 and they kept my feet dry and even my pants dry. Well worth the $12, even though I felt I had to apologize to anyone who saw me in them... for how ugly they were. (you can see them in the middle of all the shoes, denim with the big white rubber bumper soles). Interestingly enough though, they sort of grew on all of us, and Michelle ended up claiming that she would get lots of use out of them for the wet walks she would take with all her students....

Our Math whizzes whipped out their iPhone calculators and started tallying our receipts and it got rather funny for a while. The news wasn't good for Debbie and I but suddenly our underwear receipts got flushed down the toilet, and our lovely daughters took on some of our purchases and all was right with the world.

Last year I promised to bring back some cool USA "Smokes" for Terry since they were so cheap. But I was rather greedy last year and didn't buy him not a ONE pack! This year, I totally promised to bring him back tons and tons of cigs! Sadly, not only did I run out of room on my "total" allotment of USA purchases, I also ran out of money, and energy to go get some.

But after some colorful receipt juggling, we found room in our total limits to buy him a couple of packs and to buy Ashley's Bryan some "cool" USA beer. So off we went to the biggest WALMART I have ever seen and went to liquor section first and chose a dozen beer purely by what the labels looked like, and off we went to check out #23 that is the only checkout to sell smokes. While waiting in the line up... I was excited to read a sign posted that said that anyone appearing to be under 45 years old would be asked to show ID. I was hopeful that my face washing and my night creme routine would prove to be working, and she would ask for my Identification.. proving that was indeed over 45. Well, I think I flustered her by asking for "menthol" cigarettes.... something "fun" looking. She sort of gave me the stink eye and waved her arm at all my choices. Geesh... I ended up picking 3 different brands and brought terry home a total of 80 smokes... its all we could afford!! She totally forgot to ask for my ID.

Early the next morning, we hit the road before 8:30 and was crossing the USA border by 10:30. The very nice customs lady asked if we had any cigarettes or liquor to claim, we proudly stated we had 12 beer and 80 cigs... and she raised her eyebrows at us and said "is that all?". We laughed and told her our total purchases and she asked a very knowing question "did any one individual go over the $400 limit?"... and then she smiled.... barely waiting for our answer before she told us to have a nice day... and let us drive off without a second glance!

The rest of the day went by pleasantly as we sailed across mountains and fields (according to our GPS Betty because she couldn't find the new highway in her data banks) and arrived at my sisters for a quick Easter Brunch with all her family and then we said good bye to Michelle, picked up Terry (who spent the weekend with Scott doing home improvements) and he drove us the rest of the way home! We are already planning our next trip and the new spots we definitely want to try as well as the favourites!

Thank you for reading this whole thing, if you made it this far.. Sorry, it is so long, but we found it very helpful to read last years blogs about this trip because we forgot a few of the highlights. This is almost a shopping reference for us next year too!!!!

Happy (Grand) Mother's Day

2011-05-08T21:05:00.017-03:00

I remember my very first Mother's Day. I was a mother for just about 13 days... and was right in the middle of that overwhelming, over tired, over stressed part of my new motherhood-dom. I had spent my first week, home alone, with a new baby, trying to figure out the miracle of breastfeeding. Terry would come home from work each day to find me in some sort of state of emergency... baby crying or me crying; baby soaking wet or me soaking wet; baby starving for food, me starving for food! My calm, cool and collected husband would immediately fix my problem... and send me off to the tub for 10 minutes of peace.

My first Mothers Day was spent in bed... After a special breakfast, and a wonderful Mother's Day gift of a Chocolate Goldfish (a real goldfish, not a chocolate one) I was sent off to spend the day in my room. Terry brought my brand new baby to me for feeding... and that was it. I kept the door shut to the bedroom and I slept for hours. Terry would come in with nibbles of food and drink and then shut the door. He took our new baby for walks, he cleaned the house and he made me supper.. all while he managed her squawking and endless chatter... her endless diaper changes, her tireless movements... That special day for me was the beginning of getting better at being a mom... I think getting tons of rest and having a clean house and a wonderful hubby gave me the drive to conquer this new challenge and it seemed sunny every day after that.

That was 27 years ago... and I celebrate today, not only as a mother but as a Grammie to be. I seem to be thinking a lot about when I was a new mom and all the wonder and the worry of a new baby.

Michelle and Scott are expecting a new arrival in 5 months. They are in their 16th week of pregnancy and we couldn't be more excited. From the moment I found out about our little treasure, I have thought non stop about my mom, my babies, my role as a grammie... and I look at other grammies so differently now. I can't believe how much it has made me think of the miracle of birth and the challenges of our world too. I am excited for Scott and Michelle, first and foremost, as they enter this new phase of their life together. I am so excited for Scott's parents as they join Terry and I in our new role as Grandparents to be... I am excited for Stephanie and Sean who will be Auntie and Uncle...

What will our new baby look like... well, here are a few baby pictures of the momma and dadda to be.... Michelle and her dad in Kingston Ontario. Scottie in his first snow suit. I think they are about the same age in these two picture.

Scott and his good friend. Michelle and her big sister. Scottie and a couple of buddies to hang with.. Michelle and her buddy, Alf. We thought it was hilarious that they both had an "Alf"!

Just being cute....

Showing his great driving skills....

Happy Mother's day
Happy Grandmother's Day
Happy Mother to be Day
to everyone

Blog block Buster~ The first day of May...

2011-05-01T18:15:00.001-03:00

May 1.... Margarita Day... my friend Lynn used to say! She use to have a Margarita party each year on May 1, and she said some years they sat on the deck of their house in sun hats and sandals. Other years they sat with Margaritas on the deck in mittens and mukluks! I always think of her on May 1, and this year I think its a mitten/mukluk year. Geesh. When I look back on other May blogs and we have had quite a variety.... 2008 was a bad flood in Fredericton, 2001 a snow storm (imagine daffodils growing in my garden, surrounded by 3 inches of snow!), 2006 was sunny, warm and my garden was all planted. 2009... St. FX graduation with sun and brisk cold winds...

My gardens call me, whether its rain or sun, cold or warmth... and today I really needed to spend some time getting rid of pesky little plants that shoot off of their mothers and plant themselves where ever they want. I untangled a large clump of purple bearded iris from my front garden (last weekend)

I started off just thinning it out, and the next think I knew, I had unburied all of it, and was
unbraiding the roots and throwing all the plants into a large white pail of warm water...

(last years picture of what they bloom like) This is what I replanted in the same spot. 4 nice clumps of iris...

lots of the babies got distributed as best I could and the rest sat in the pail for the week (minus the water)

So, today, I opened and washed 16 milk cartons, dug up some old plastic pots and headed out to my planting table outside. I potted up some of the iris, and then wandered around the yard pulling up little babies of all kinds of fun plants and re-potting them too... I ran out of pots so I only spent an hour and made hardly a difference in the iris bucket! Tomorrow, I will raid the cafeteria and get more milk containers and then I will finish the bucket of babies!

Spring? Is that you.

2011-03-20T12:24:00.001-03:00

Feb 2, Ground Hog Day. We had a small mountain of snow covering my little pond garden in the front yard.
March 2, the small mountain was still there. No February thaw.
March 17th.... all gone. We had a crazy two week melt! I love it.

Iris are poking their noses out of the ground. Imagine. Brave little souls!

Happy Spring

When will the snow go away?

2011-03-04T07:11:00.000-04:00

The sunshine last weekend and part of this weekend is giving my cats false hope that they will once again be roaming the yard, hunting and prancing amongst the grass and bugs. We pinned the door open for Tonks and she perched in the doorway enjoying the sun. She finally made her move and braved the pavement but was very intimated by the high snow banks along the sidewalk

Then it became all too much for her, and she bolted into the house and up onto the table at the top of the stairs... probably for a better look at the outside, but still well out of reach of any monsters that might drag her back outside (like Terry!)

Paralax was much more willing to try out the outside world. She has been out more and more each day but finds the snow and the melting snow (as in puddles) very limiting!!!

I am still waiting for the green ball of twigs to die. I am waiting so I can pull it apart and see how its made. It has some slight browning happening.

Fish Cakes... a Maritime Staple

2011-03-03T08:06:00.000-04:00

You know... I ate fish cakes a lot when I was a kid. Several of my uncles were fishermen, and they gave my mom tons of fish, mostly cod and salmon. Both of which we ate a lot of. I wasn't so keen on the salmon but I did love fish cakes. Mom made them with cod mostly. But you know, I haven't made them that many times in my married life. I bought them frozen a lot for my kids, but making them from scratch was not in my routine.

It really was Scottie who reminded me how yummy they are homemade, after he treated me to a pan full. He made them from scratch and it inspired me to make them too. I bought some nice dried Cod from Carol Robicheau, Seafood Express. She also gave me a nice recipe that I sort of followed. I omitted the green peppers, I only put in a quarter of the bacon, and I only added one egg, not two. It doesn't really say how many potatoes to use, so I cooked this many. How do you measure potatoes anyway. I used 5 BIG ones.They are so easy to make and I got 15 nice size fish cakes. I used an ice cream scoop to get them the same size. I decided to experiment with the actual cooking part of the fish cakes.
The recipe I have from the Robicheau family says to saute them for 4 to 5 minutes per side, without any dipping or coating. My mom (and I do believe Scott) dipped them in egg and then flour. When I "googled" it, some mentioned bread crumbs both on the inside of the fish cakes and the outside. So... I tried 2 of each technique. 2 plain, 2 dipped in egg and then flour, and 2 dipped in egg and rolled in bread crumbs.
As far as handling the fish cakes, I put them in the fridge for 30 minutes while I cleaned up. The one down fall to making fish cakes from scratch... the amount of dishes you use. The dipping of the egg went fine, and the rolling in breadcrumbs were truly a piece of cake. The rolling in flour version was gooy, clumpy and messy. Not a winner so far. Lets see how they fry up.
The palest fish cakes in the frying pan are the flour coated ones. Believe it or not, the plain, untreated (naked) fish cakes cooked up very nice. The breadcrumb ones did too. Still not many good things about the flour coated ones!The taste test was fun too. Three fishcakes was way too many for me... man, I was stuffed! But I had to try one of each, right? So, the breadcrumbs was the best, but the "naked" ones were a very close second. Flour coated... no bonus to them, what so ever! Don't bother!. More observations about our fishcakes. I cut the bacon down to a quarter of what they called, mainly for the calorie save. Well, we didn't taste any bacon, really, so, why bother with the extra fat. I would rather use the extra fat in the frying pan to get a nice golden coat. Also, I would use the second egg in the actual fish cakes, because I found them a little dry without the second egg.

I left a little of each of my fish cakes for the kitties, and they had nothing to say about any of them. They just cleaned my plate and walked away.. not even a thank you.
The Recipe... by permission of Sarah Robicheau

Seafood Express Maritime Fish Cakes

1 lb salt cod or salt pollock
(soak overnight in water, change water several times)
In the morning, change water and bring to a boil, then simmer about 15 minutes.

Cook and Mash potatoes
1 lb bacon, fried lightly
2 onion, fried lightly
1 green pepper, fried lightly
Summer savory (a heavy sprinkle)
2 eggs
pepper

Mix all together in a big bowl. Let sit a little while to bind together.
Scoop up with ice-cream scoop. Pat down lightly with a fork. Saute about 3-4 minutes per side.

Korea Anyone?

2011-03-01T07:00:00.002-04:00

Stephanie has been in Korea since August 2009 and Sean was there at the same time until this Christmas. He is staying in Canada to finish a couple of semesters at UNB to finish his degree. Stephanie has always been a fan of travel and foreign countries. She doesn't get that from neither her mom or dad.. as we are not that adventurous. Stephanie has had the privilege of foreign travel since she was 13. Her first experience was to spend a month in Japan during the summer with a host family, then, two years later at 15, she spent two months in Japan, both going to school and living in a rural community. Michelle also travelled to Tokyo for two months.. staying with host families and going to school. Stephanie spent a month in Belize, living in a camp in the jungle, digging with an archeology group, as well as spending a month in Mexico and Guatemala travelling the small villages and communities, studying the textiles of the people and their craft.

Korea was totally foreign to her, though, more than she expected. Being very familiar with Japan and its ways, we all expected Korea to be some what similar in customs, habits, living conditions, etc. Not so much!

As I have mentioned before, through the wonders of Skype, we have stayed connected to Stephanie and Sean, just like they were down the street. The biggest difference is they are always 12-13 hours ahead of us. When I am starting my morning at 6am, Stephanie has completed her work day and is making supper, when I am eating my breakfast.

With Stephanie's first contract, she was given a one room apartment on the ground floor of a "not very secure" building.

Above, you will see, her whole apartment, with patio doors that lead to her washing machine, but do not go outside. She stood in her entry way, which is also the kitchen, to take this picture. She and Sean endured the year there, but when it was time to sign for a second contract, she insisted on a better apartment in a better area, with more security. The theory behind this was that with Sean going, and it would be safer for Stephanie. Well, her company came through with a new place, that was luxurious compared to her old one.

This new apartment, is on the second floor of a three floored building, with secure entry. It has two rooms, not just one. This is her living room, dining room, along with a very useful closet. Sean took over the closet, and set it up as an office!

This is from the front door, and shows all the way to the end of the apt. To the left, in the picture is the kitchen, which also is the laundry room. The apartment comes with a washer. The drying racks for clothes are hooked to the ceiling of the kitchen.

there are no ovens in Korean homes, and the fridge is located in the living room, as there is no room in the kitchen. But the flooring is warm, the walls are straight, the woodwork is beautiful and it has lovely sliding doors between the bedroom, the kitchen, bathroom and main room. Very efficient design features for small spaces. While this place is huge compared to her first home, below you will see the two designs she just put together, to use for moving her furniture around for better planning. In my world... that is still tiny. But she loves it, and I can understand why. She owns very little, and everything she owns is little. Her bathroom, which you can't see, is ahead of the kitchen. In Korea, as with lots of other Asian countries, the shower, sink and toilet are all in one tiny room.

This is the design she plans on, when she gets a normal size bed. The bed she and Sean have been sleeping in for the past 18 months was a semi single. 45 inch bed. She plans on a Double to Queen bed purchase soon!

Something I would have a huge problem with in Korea, is the food. Stephanie, although very adventurous when it comes to food, is getting tired of it all. Spending time this Christmas at home got her in touch with K-Dinner again, and bread... cheese, raw veggies and meat. Sean, on the other hand, is here in Canada and missing the Korean food terribly!!! Below, you will see what a lunch in a restaurant sometimes entails.

You are brought all these little dishes, you pick and chose your "eats" and the hostess will come by and refill your little buffet of items that are depleted. Not too much I would try, I am afraid! Again, not adventurous! Stephanie's biggest problem with the food, is her school lunches, which she is obligated to eat. It is expected, and she never quite knows what she is eating! She plans on doing a series of blogs to highlight her lunch time adventures! There are good days and some really bad days!

Its an amazing experience for all of us. I am so proud of Stephanie for her bravery and sense of adventure!

Just Checking In

2011-02-27T08:30:00.014-04:00

When I go through extended lengths of time without blogging, several things happen. First off, I panic a little. Why.?.. don't know. Second, I lose my desire to blog..... why?... don't know. Thirdly, I get overwhelmed at how far behind I am in blogging... and I freeze up. All that said, I am blogging today, so none of that happens!

Its been a slow week. Nothing exciting in my life... and regular life is a little too simple to blog about. But, then again, maybe not. Here's the week....

My Tuesday night Curling was cancelled due to flu issues on the team, and no spares available. In some sort of sick way, I was totally excited to be home unexpectedly on a Tuesday night. What did I do on my bonus night home..... put on my PJ's and did NOTHING. How is that for a waste of a bonus night! Wednesday night was curling as well, so I did get a game in this week. Terry skipped the game which was a first for me.. and I harassed him all night. Of course, that was no different than any other night, I usually harass my skip, but it's usually Mr. Doug, my regular skip, and he is so deadpan serious, that I work very hard every night to get a slight grin or eye roll from him!!! Its my nightly goal! Terry was easier to harass, he is so used to it.. and, sadly, he gives it right back!

School was somewhat uneventful, with no broken bones (we had a broken nose, last week). The flu is in the community but our school has been relatively un scathed so far. Speaking of the flu, I am not sure, but I believe I have a touch of the flu but not a puky kind. I actually left work on Friday afternoon, to go home and sleep. My night and early morning was fitful with many visits to the bathroom, and long periods of no sleep. Friday, at work, I felt like I was walking on thin ice, in the morning, and finally gave in and left after the busy lunch hour was over.

My Friday evening was fitful as well, with stomach pains but not nausea. More like I did hundreds of sit ups. But The Scotties was on (Women's Curling) and so there was always something on TV and I rested most of Saturday. I really am not 100% now, but way better than Friday.. so if that was the flu I had to get, I am grateful it was minor.

My newest project ... building a "leftover" rag quilt. I made Sean a rag quilt for Xmas made of all the funky flannel plaids that our fabric store had. ( I didn't take one picture, not one, can you believe it). I cut ever inch of the fabric into blocks, both 8 inch and 6 inch, to use every scrap.

After I finished Sean's gift, I had about 30 squares left over. So, this weekend I started using them up. I have to figure out how to incorporate the 6 inch blocks into the 8 inch blocks.

The little square are at the bottom of the picture, and shuffled along the top of the squares. I think if I sew 8 little ones together, they will be the same length as 6 big ones... who knows. I will try it this afternoon. I will post a finished picture of my leftover rag quilt!

And now, as Reba cleans my house, I am off to church to make door hangers with a nice little "Thank You" poem on it with the kids at church.

I taught them everything they know!

2011-02-19T17:41:00.000-04:00

My mother was extremely creative. She had the energy of 10 people and the ability to make or do anything. She included my sister and I in her projects from a very young age. We were sewing buttons and snaps on barbie clothes before we were 10, and we both could use a sewing machine before that time. Ironically, it was my sister who taught me to actually sew from a pattern, when I was 17. I made jumpers and dresses for her 18 month old daughter, Patience. It was also my sister who taught me to make knotted blankets using flannel and binding when I was early 20's, and she taught me to make real life quilts when I was in my thirties.

My mom was a master sewer (often designing her own gowns) and crocheter, she painted and a couple of years before she died, she started quilting. My sister was a quilter at that point, and she was an inspiration to my mom. The one thing my mom didn't do, mostly because she didn't read a pattern well, was knit. She knit little projects like miniature mitts and booties. But I don't remember much else. She never taught either of us to knit. My mother in law and Terry taught me to knit when I was in my twenties. But, I never really enjoyed it. I have made some energetic attempts at afghans and sweaters but they always ended in miserable disaster.

Imagine my surprise when Stephanie picked up knitting needles in her late teens and began knitting. I think Terry's mom might have taught her, or I may have showed her the basics but from there, she developed a love for knitting and a drive for challenging projects. Then, Michelle decided she wanted to make mitts for her friends for Xmas one year, and she learned to knit a week before Christmas. It wasn't pretty, actually... I sort of taught her, painfully so, since I am left handed and a terrible knitter, but.. she worked at it and produced a couple of pair of sad looking mitts for her friends. She never stopped knitting, she plugged away, and mastered making mitts and expanded from there...

I would like to share my projects... and theirs. This is what I started at Christmas for the fun of it... yes, its a dishcloth. You will see that the ball of yarn is a mess, because I tore out a mistake that was so bad, I couldn't continue.. yes, on a dishcloth!

This is the project I started last March Break. The wool sitting next to my sock is what is needed to do the second sock. Except, I can't start the second sock until I get the toe grafted on the first sock. Can't do that myself!!!!

Now, this is a few projects belonging to my kids.... A funky mitt, that has another mitt attached to it.. for hand holding... Michelle did this out of her head, because she saw one somewhere..

Stephanie has been working on this particular lace shawl for a while. Yes, this is knitted. Geesh... its 5 feet, 4 inches long. 3 feet wide!!!

A lacy sweater that Stephanie made last year in Korea for chilly winter days...

A funky sweater shawl that Michelle made (and has made a second one since)

A few more fun projects of Stephanie's

A few fun little projects of Michelles' (since Christmas, no less)

I am both amazed by and proud of their natural ability and their love of knitting.

Not so thrilling any more...... Shovelling

2011-02-17T13:05:00.000-04:00

That is what this picture says to me... enough is enough.But what you don't see, is that he is on our roof. That is a lot of snow and a big job.
Nuff said.

Staff Appreciation Week

2011-02-15T09:34:00.000-04:00

I have worked at the same location for almost 20 years. I work with a diverse and varied staff. We are predominately women, but the men who work with us are a perfect fit for a mostly woman staff. Their sense of humor, keen understanding of women and their respect make them a perfect addition to our staff. All the people I work with are first and foremost nurturers.. They are working in this environment by choice. All of my staff planned their lives around this outcome. To work with children.... first to teach them the basic educational needs.. writing, reading and about our world. But it doesn't end there.. they give themselves to all of the children in their charge, be it in the classroom, one on one, on the playground. The people I work with think, plan, organize and live their lives around what their students need. I work with Teachers, Educational Assistants, Administration, cafeteria staff and building caretakers.

Our staff care about every one of them. I see little things every day... simple actions, statements and interactions showing me how much we all care about each other and our charges. I am the luckiest person in the world to be surrounded by these people through the good times and the bad.

This week is Staff Appreciation week and I can't even begin to share how much I appreciate the people I work with each day... past and present included.

It's the little things that say "I Love You"

2011-02-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

About once a month, Kay and I get together at her house to plan the whole month of crafts for Children's Liturgy. This gives me a month ahead to search for clipart, find paper colors, create drawings, print them, cut them out, find and copy coloring or activity sheets.

Sounds all good... but do I do that? Nope, not usually. Usually, I am scrambling each week, starting off with good intentions but usually I am scrapping things together on Saturday, Saturday night and Sunday morning. There isn't a weekend that goes by that Terry doesn't ask
"what are we cutting this weekend?".

So when I say its the little things that say "I love you"... its this. Terry cuts the millions of little parts to my projects each week for the past 18 or so years, and this weekend was no different. The day before Valentines Day, our craft for the kids was heart related. We started with a big heart, which Kay cut out.. and she added a string that hangs down in the middle.
In the center of the heart, hanging from the string is a bigger red heart that says God Shows us Love, pass it on. Then we had to glue the millions of little hearts all around the outside of the heart, with the names of people we pass love on to. You know~~Mother, Father, Sister Brother, neighbours, friends, Grandparents.. etc.
Terry cut out all those hearts.... but with a heart punch. This is a vast improvement from the ole days when we didn't have a heart punch!Our day starts off with Kay reading two readings while the kids stand and listen. She walks around the center of the circle, usually holding the hand of Gwen who feels that this is what Kay is suppose to do each week. Months ago, before (under 3 year old) Gwen knew the routine, Kay held her hand to stop her from running around the room, or touching the candle in the center of the table. Now, its part of the whole routine... Gwen automatically stands up and walks around with kay. Its so adorable each week.After the readings, a couple of questions, a little pep talk and some how to instructions, the kids head off to their work stations (brown paper on the floor) and they begin to create...

Not one creation is the same as the next guy, and there is usually enough glue or tape on a project that is pretty obvious to the receiving parents that they get very little creative stifling!

We line up just before going back into church, sing a quick round of Skidamarink and off we go to show off our beautiful artwork and they are hopefully filled with some positive spirit!
Without Terry's unending patience and dedication to my Church craft each week... each Sunday would be filled with square things to glue... or coloring sheets only. Thanks to my guy who tells me he loves me... each Sunday morning..... snip snip snip!!

Boys Weekend-Surprise!

2011-02-11T17:11:00.020-04:00

I would like to blame it on the lack of sun, the lack of warmth, too much snow, or maybe some sort of illness.... but.... nope... just laziness, really.

Last Wednesday, we had a snow day... one of those beautiful, cold sunny days that also had treacherous roads.. and therefore warranted a Storm Day decision. In honour of the beautiful but treacherous day... I decided I was taking the day.. and stay home. After setting my 6:00AM "Storm Day" message on the school answering machine.. and calling my co-worker who has no radio to give her the good news, I crawled back in bed. and tossed and turned for like 15 minutes.. before I decided to get up. I spent an hour drinking coffee... making a list of stupid piddly things that needed to get done, and were going to get done today.... Once Terry was up, showered, coffee-d and out the door, I began my routine, with laundry and a little paper cutting & ribbon threading for a Staff Appreciation project for next week. Then the phone rings... Terry... apologizing profusely that he messed up really bad on some important dates. In my mind.. I was thinking, what could be so important.... really... that he feels so bad about messing up some dates.

Well, the bonspiel he was involved with "next" week..... was really today... So, I think.. not so bad.. really.... except, I forgot the part about the 3 extra men who are coming to stay with us for 4 day... starting TODAY!

So, here is where my laziness has raised up to bite me in the ass. I have 3 spare bedrooms... and two bathrooms. A family room with a big TV... perfect for guests to watch hockey games and relax in between games. BUT..... I haven't vacuumed downstairs in like a month, and all three spare bedrooms are filled with items.... like one bedroom.. full of computer parts from Terry rebuilding our family computer.... one bedroom is nicely set up for Christmas wrapping... yes, Christmas wrapping! The third bedroom has a whole year of bills sorted all over the bed, ready for filing or shredding... None of the beds are made up... bathrooms have been neglected for weeks... and not a stitch of snack foods or liquor in the house... magazines, newspapers, Wii games, sneakers, socks and water bottles litter my family room... and cat hair is evenly distributed throughout the house!

The rest of my Storm day was spent hauling a vacuum up and down the stairs, dusting (oh my GOD, I don't remember when I dusted last!!), moving all the crap from each bedroom, scrubbing bathrooms and fluffy up all the towels. I washed all the couch blankets. You know, those beloved blankets you throw on you when your curled up on the couch!! Well, my cats love them too. Never once was I annoyed with Terry over his mistake.... but I was annoyed with myself that I have let the whole "housework" thing get so far behind. I guess I figured that if "Reba" the Roomba was vacuuming upstairs every day, the rest of the house would take care of itself too!... geesh.

The boys arrived, and when they weren't curling, they were home here playing dice. What a blast. The shit chuckin' and ranting, hollering and laughing was fun and contagious. I had to step in for part of a game or two when one of the boys were too "tired" to continue. God help you if you made a weanie decision during the game.. out came the "Blonde" wig... Best $10 I ever spent, was my Marilyn Monroe wig!

The weekend for them is over, and I still have my Saturday and Sunday, and the house is somewhat clean. yipee!!

What is pretty remarkable is that two of the boys have never never never curled before, and Tom curls once a year. Terry is the heavy weight, 'cause he curls once a week!!!

By the fourth game, the virgin curling boys were looking pretty professional when they remembered to sweep!!!

The Team in action!! I think there will be some pretty sore boys tomorrow!

The winners of B division of the Wing C & E Bonspiel. (I think, thats what its called)!!

See you in June for the annual Golf Tournament!

Antojitos-you gotta try them...

2011-02-06T18:01:00.008-04:00

This summer, as soon as we announced our trip to Ottawa, my sister law sprang in to action and started planning fun things to make for supper.. and desserts to bake and try....

One of the ideas she came up with was to try and re create these yummy Antojitos that she had tried in a restaurant. She played around with the recipe and came up with these yummy morsels.. Like I already said... You gotta try them!

2 pkgs cream cheese (softened but not room temp)

· 2 skinless boneless full chicken breasts cooked and shredded

· ¼ cup green pepper finely diced

· ¼ cup red pepper finely diced

· 1 can (127 ml) of Old El Paso chopped green chilies

· ¼ cup green onion sliced thin

· 10 tortilla shells

· 1½ cup cheddar cheese grated

· Mix cream cheese with peppers, onions and chilis in a food processor (or by hand). Fold in shredded chicken.

· Spread mixture over tortilla shell evenly. Sprinkle cheddar over top and roll up tightly.

Wrap rolls in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before slicing into 1 to 2 inch pieces.

· Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Yum..... Of course, if you like spicy, you can add some hot peppers... and you can add a little dish of salsa to dip them in, if you like... or spicy chutney.. or what ever kind of sauce you want.

Whistle while she works!

2011-02-05T09:05:00.009-04:00

You know it a slow News day in the house when I am taking pictures of the vacuum and the cat!!!!

This Christmas, our children gave us a wonderful gift... The Roomba! With 3 cats and hardwood floors.... it was an awesome idea.

We lovingly name her Reba... and she is programmed to come on each day at 9 am. She cleans our upstairs floors daily, except when she gets caught on something.

Its always an adventure to find her when we come home and she is not at her dock. She sometimes is sitting in the bathroom, hung up on the bath mat if she has flip it on one of her runs... and we have found her behind the couch (with an electric cord holding her up in the air), under our bed (with a sock in her mouth), in my closet (sitting on top of a table leg or rogue shoe). We always wonder where we will find her, or what happened during her hour long run through the house. When she is cleaned out each day, we have found paper clips, twist ties, paper balls, candy wrappers, beads, string and even a sock.

So, here it is, today, Saturday, my favourite day.... and as I sit here blogging, she is buzzing around the house, getting her chores done. What is hilarious about today is that Pika is quite struck with her. He must be bored out of his mind because he spent the first few minutes of her routine... stocking her... then waiting for Reba to come after him....

Its coming... closer... buzzing...rolling... buzzing.....zz.z..zzzzz...

How long can I stay before I run away..... how brave am I!! watch my toes!!!

Hey, how dare you go RIGHT BY ME...... bugger...wait... its coming back...

Hey.. didn't even come near me this time..... wimp!!!!

What a great way to sip my coffee on a quiet (except for the buzzing!) Saturday morning. The pictures I didn't get were of Pika taking swats at it, as it went by, and then the flipping over of his whole body to watch it go by again, upside down. My little digital doesn't do RAPID fire! You're just going to have to imagine it!

Is it Spring yet?

2011-02-04T06:40:00.002-04:00

When I got home from work yesterday, the sun was beating down on the doorstep with such warmth, I thought it would be a nice treat for the cats. I left the door wide open and they sat in the door for quiet a while. And this is what they saw while sitting in the sunshine. Tonks even ventured out on the step but not for long. Paralax looks like she was going to tattle on her...

Ground Hog Day - Snow Storm 2011

2011-02-02T20:28:00.007-04:00

Talk of this storm has been brewing since last weekend with forecasts ranging from Weather Bomb to flurries.... some stations said two weather systems converging on Nova Scotia, while others said we would only get the tail end of the big Texas weather event...

I know that NOBODY was talking about the weather yesterday at school. Its the Jinx thing... Facebook was eerily quiet about the storm, with just a few "ritual" practices being talked about that would for sure bring on a snow day... you know... making tomorrow's lunches, or laying out the kids clothes... or getting supper all made for tomorrow... My kids always threw ice cubes over the deck railing to ensure there would be a school cancellation! I haven't a clue where that came from, but it was pretty darn accurate! Doesn't help that Terry is a weather expert when it comes to predictions and he would advise the kids on when it was necessary for the ice cube ritual!

Well, the storm hit around lunchtime but schools were canceled first thing this morning. That was exciting for everyone! Both Terry and I went into work, until noon and then headed home for an afternoon of snow shoveling and TV watching.
Terry LOVES this kind of weather... he loves watching the weather network; he loves shoveling our driveway, sidewalks and kitty paths.
I even got into it this evening... since its fun snow to shovel. Not too wet.. nice and light.Our front flower bed is totally buried with snow... and its kind of amazing how much snow we have had. I love it, really. Its way better than rain, thats for sure.!~
Dad's bench is a little buried!
This is a really cool evergreen ball that my mother in law bought in Halifax, from a guy on the side of the highway. Its a real evergreen ball that hangs outside. She bought it way before Christmas, and gave it to me afterwards. Its been hanging out in the elements ever since and it looks so fresh and lush. I can't wait to see how the person selling them made it!!!

A perfect weekend of social and exercise..

2011-01-30T19:32:00.013-04:00

....... this is the motto of our curling team. We curl together for social enrichment and a little bit of exercise. We are not a "die hard" competitive team although we do try to improve our own skill at the game. The end result of a game is not a priority.

The ultimate display of our motto was never more evident as it was this weekend at the Yarmouth Curling Club. I spent the weekend with my DREAM TEAM as well as with another great team from our Greenwood club.

The weekend was perfect in every way... with 6 end games (exercise, but not too long); we had the "bi" on Friday night, which meant no curling on Friday night when we arrive... just the social part! Perfection on Saturday with a 9:30AM game (the usual start on a Saturday is 8AM!!!)... two games, both very close games... but we won them both!!!

Yummy home cooked meals for all our eating needs.... home made seafood chowder, chicken veggie soup (ok.. not all perfect... there was peas in the veggie soup). Supper was home made spagetti sauces... 4 different kinds to chose from.... Ceasar Salad... cakes and fudge!!!

The theme of the bonspiel was "BC - The Stone Age" and the decorations and skits were geared towards "The Flintstones". In preparing for the weekend, we all organized our food situation for our hotel stay, and car trip there, (me bringing the coffee, tea, etc, someone brought fruit, others brought sandwiches..etc). The sad part is we just couldn't come up with a costume idea. Our accompanying team always dresses up in AMAZING costumes... and we just felt we would never measure up to their quality. But once we got there, and got the creative juices flowing... we came up with our own version of the "Stone Age". We hit the dollar store after our second game and filled a shopping cart with tons of items for our costumes which included shirts, safety pins, scarves, paper, tape, markers, funky glasses and moss... yes, moss. I will show you our costumes... which were fun, and funny... and then treat you to the other teams take on the Stone Age!!

Presenting

Patsy, Cricket, Debbie & Donna

STONED AGE....

If you look close, you will see, pinned to our shirts, what we needed the paper and moss for.. as well as the safety pins. We spent an hour in our hotel room, 4 middle age women, trying to roll joints using note paper and decorative moss!!! We laughed at the foolishness of it... and we giggled all the way to the curling supper.... wondering what the reaction of the ladies at the club would be.

"CURLERS DO IT STONED"

And now let me present to you... the mega talented Greenwood Team of Sandra, Deena, Lisa and Caroline! We had a fabulous weekend with this group.. and our final game.. A Division play offs... were against this nutty group. It was a nice close game which ended in them beating us by one rock, or should I just say we were "Stoned" by them~!

This team is always the hit of the party and you can see why. The costumes were perfection, with even the small details taken care of... like the hairy armpits and chest hair... the accessories like purses, jewelry and weapons were all well thought out!!! What a blast to spend the evening with these fools! You should have seen them trying to eat spagetti with all that hair! Bahhaaaaa

Another small "perfection" about the weekend was that we travelled 2 hours there, 2 hours back, spent the whole weekend there... and the weather was perfect. Imagine... January, no less.

A great weekend Yarmouth... can't wait til April when Greenwood Curling Club will be hosting....

1970 Disco bonspiel!!!.

Snow Day

2011-01-27T15:41:00.002-04:00

I am so happy to be home today during this snowy weather. The anticipation was almost painful.... no one was talking about it on Facebook (most of my facebook friends are employed by schools) and both Terry and I were even scared to talk about it. But, we both stayed up way too late... and woke up a few times during the night.. to weather watch.

Our morning was spent doing some light cleaning, some reading and computer work.... Terry stood in the window at least 20 times, watching the weather....

A great day.... I must say.

The book that wasn't a movie.

2011-01-24T16:45:00.000-04:00

Terry never asks for anything for Christmas. I am usually left to my own imagination. But this year, he asked for two books. He had read a review, or saw a link, or heard from someone... I can't remember... that "The Last Templar" was a great book. Terry loves history, especially archeology history. This book was a archaeological mystery book. The second book was by the same author.

I bought both books and wrapped them up and he opened them for Christmas. I hate giving gifts that people know what they are.. but, it was cool to give Terry something he actually wanted for a change too.

After all the Christmas/New Years celebrations were over and life returned to quiet, Terry was scanning the TV guide one evening, and discovered the "Last Templar" book was also a movie. He set the DVR to record the 2 part movie (2 hours each) and he set a goal to have the books read by the time the movie was recorded.

He raced through the first book... reading for hours each night. He loved every minute of it and couldn't wait to watch the movie. One of Terry's favorite movies was the National Treasure and he hoped that it would be somewhat along the same lines. I had my doubts about it, being a non-fan of suspense and adventure.... but Terry reassured me it wouldn't scare me. Besides, he bribed me with popcorn and M&Ms. What could I do.

It was a dark and snowy night when we snuggled into bed, with large bowls of snacks and the movie began. In the book, the hero or main character of the book is a woman who use to be an archaeologist, but gave it up to stay home with her young daughter. Her father was a famous archaeologist who specialized in religious and Roman history but he had died 6 months before.

In the movie, all this was the same. But that was it. The movie began with the heroin chatting with some guy at an art gallery, and all of a sudden 4 masked "Templars" break in on horseback and steal some of the artifacts. She breaks into a hero's run, grabs some sort of secular sword and attacks one of the thieves. She leaps onto one of the horses, rides out of the art gallery and follows, catches and beats up a second thief. All while wearing a party dress and expensive shoes.

After she is accosted by a police "investigator", she reams him out, complains profusely about how she ruined her shoes doing the polices' job and demands that the police replace her shoes.

You can now see smatterings of romance beginning between hero girl and nasty police man. But the deal is sealed when he shows up at her house the next day with a new pair of shoes. Fancy and expensive shoes show up

in a few spots in the movie, and with each appearance of new shoes... the movie gets cheesier and cheesier. Terry begins to more and more disgusted by the movie, and begins to explain all the differences between the book and the movie. After 4 hours (minus the millions of minutes of commercials ~ thank you DVR) the movie ends. It was a non believable, poorly acted excuse for a movie and it was more entertaining watching Terry's reaction.

His final quote....

Its like they turned the DiVinci Code into a episode of Moonlighting.

Home Grown

2011-01-20T21:48:00.006-04:00

We had breakfast for supper the other night and it was a home grown meal. I buy my eggs from two different families who have chickens who are producing eggs. I love getting farm fresh eggs with their bright yellow yolks and they varied sizes and colors! It was particularly funny to open this carton of eggs when they arrived at my office!!!

We had home grown eggs, home made bread from Kay and ham from Meadowbrook Meat Market outside of Berwick.

Breakfast for supper... yum.

Drawing the line in the sand- well, maybe snow

2011-01-18T08:25:00.000-04:00

As you are probably aware, one of Stephanie's cats, Tonks, has discovered the wonderful world of being outside. She spent hours on the deck this summer, watching the birds, bees, squirrels and houseflies. Outside... is a wonderful place. Exciting, wild and at its best, when it is night time.

Tonks loves being outside, on the deck when its dark. We rarely let her out then, because she is mostly black, and all it would take if for her to slip under the deck rails and we would lose her to the night... but this being said, she tried to sneak out as often as possible when it was dark.

She has noticed over the past few months that its cold and uninviting outside, and even though we have left the door wide open for her to go out, she is most certainly a fair weather kitty, and stays way back from the door, just in case we try to push her outside (which is slightly tempting).

Just after New Years though, the temptation consumed her, or she just lost her mind.. because, during one snowy but not cold evening, she forgot herself and bolted out the back door to make her night escape when she was stopped dead by the white line drawn on the deck.

We do believe that this is Tonks' first encounter with snow. She sat for the longest time watching the light snow flakes coming down and was tempted to chase a couple that dropped close to her.

After about a minute, Paralax became curious and sat in the doorway, watching Tonks. All was going well, with Tonks concentrating so hard on the dropping snow, she didn't notice Paralax. Paralax couldn't leave things so peaceful and decided to sneak up on her. Well, Tonks freaked and broke into a run, in the wrong direction and TOUCHED the snow....

After a few steps she realized what she did, and turned around and bolted into the house (leaving a tell tale skid mark in the snow) and ran down the basement... we didn't see her for the rest of the night. She hasn't attempted to go outside since!

Side note.... Pika, in the best cat toy ever... A Wicker Emporium bag. They all take turned getting into it.. This was the first turn. The bag is now shredded and in the garbage but not before several days of hide and seek. We had to throw it out when we found the handle of the bag snugly wrapped around Tonks body, with no bag attached. Bahhhhaaaaaaaa

Bean bags

2011-01-16T15:28:00.005-04:00

This is how I get myself into trouble! Just before Christmas, the music teacher from my school was flipping through catalogues at my desk looking for things like bean bags and dancing ribbons. She said she was going to order some beanbags for fun music games in her class.

I helped her locate some to buy in the catalog and they were a whopping $25 for 12. That is nuts, for a big of fabric and beans. Sooooo.... big mouth .. me.. said "Oh, you can make them so much cheaper... really!". She said "Oh, I can't do that, I don't sew". I offered to make them, and we bantered back and forth, "oh, no, I can't ask you to do that"... "oh for heaven's sake, they are so easy to make, and I have tons of scrap fabric". Back and forth we went, and I practically bullied her into letting me make them. She finally agreed, and we talked about size.. and then her final statement was.. "oh, ok, so then... I will need 60 of them!!"...

Bahahhhaaaaa. Joke was on me... but honestly, I loved making them.. what a blast to cut out a ton of little squares with my rotary cutter using all kinds of spare fabric. I just kept stacking up squares and having fun choosing silly prints.

I just kept pulling out little bits from my scrap pile and remembering what I made with the fabric originally. After I sewed all the little squares, turned them, snipped the corners and loose threads, it was Terry's turn to iron them flat and fill them with rice.

He pinned them shut for me and I started sewing up the final seam.

Terry sort of mentioned that I had a few more than 60 in my pile. I knew that too, but I was having so much fun cutting those little squares, I didn't bother counting them!

In the end... 106 bean bags have been stacked on my sewing table.... oops... that was too much fun!

My 2011 Project

2011-01-03T08:30:00.000-04:00

Have you ever sat around the table with family or friends and start trying to remember how old one of your pets are, or what Christmas it was that you had the big snow. Being a military family, we could usually connect what happened to where you were living. There are certain markers in ones life that you go back to when you are trying to date things... you know, before the kids were born, or when we had the "Cordorba".... or when we lived in a certain city.

Well, we now live at a residence that we have lived at for the past 20 plus years, so the "where we lived thing" is not as useful as it once was. There are other markers we refer to for remembering, but its getting harder and harder!

While working on some of my memory book scrapbooking events for other people I have thought about, talked about, planned out how to do a Family Memory book.... and this is the year to do it. Terry and I will be married 30 years this summer and I think its a good time to work on a 30 page memory book. One page per year... filled with facts and pictures... cars, houses, kids, pets, etc... not a lot of journalling, some though.

I have worked on some time line facts over the past month, enlisting the help and memories of relatives and friends. It is amazing the things people remember.... What cars we had, how Christmas's went... what renovations we did.... what trips we made...what pets we had and when the came and when they left....

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T17:53:00.012-04:00

The first day of 2011. A beautiful, somewhat warm, somewhat bright day. My entire immediate family has been here for approx 24 hours. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have my two lovable daughters home, and my two wonderful borrowed sons. You know, the sons I now own, but didn't have to raise! hee hee...

In the past 24 hours we have had nibbles of shrimp, bacony water chestnut thingies, and bread dippie stuff. We have eaten luscious strip loins on the BBQ and tenderly cooked lobster.

Champagne at midnight, along with 2 rowdy games of dice.....

We have vegged on the couch, with wine, making lists of everything under the sun..... things for Stephanie to bring back to Korea. We recorded dates and events in a long "timeline" list. This particular event will help me in my new 2011 project. Our Rock and Roll puzzle has been a constant center of attention for everyone for about 12 hours....

7:00pm on New Years Eve...

7:00pm on Jan 1, 2011

Meanwhile.......

After lunch the family took a walk to our beloved trail by the river to try and pull together some family portrait shots.... everyone had a camera in hand... and the pictures were a blast.....

A great day... with lots of laughs... and some really awesome pictures..

How lucky am I. Happy New Year 2011

And so it begins......

2010-12-30T20:13:00.004-04:00

The end of 2010. The beginning of thinking and talking about a new year, new goals, new promises... new energy to face the winter. Someone said to me how much they hate January. I don't remember ever hating January.... January is always my good month... with lots of willpower and resolution...

**we won't even talk about February... quite yet!**

On their way home!

2010-12-22T07:37:00.002-04:00

at 7:40 this morning, they are over the Pacific Ocean.....

Ah... Duke... its ok... its. ok.....

2010-12-02T23:04:00.004-04:00

So.. its been a hectic two weeks.. can't even begin to explain to those who do not work in an elementary school. But imagine 450 kids, 50 staff... and its report card season, and a new (frustrating) computer program for doing reports... well, for doing everything in the school regarding students... and its Christmas concert practice season, its turkey dinner season, its flu season, and there is stress all around us.

Today... turkey dinner for 500. Today.... reports go home, but not before several final reprints of several sets of reports. Today... training a new working partner.... Today... a heart warming conversation over my walkie talkie which all began with a student coming in, out of breath from the playground.

"There's a dog"... "he's on the playground"... "he's tied to a tree".... "its all wrapped around him"...

The phones are ringing, the dinner is still going on, and I have to print last minute report cards. What do I do with a dog, tied to a tree, on the playground and there are over 400 kids on the playground... can you picture this. I can't think.... the noise and interruptions are almost unbearable... and then I hear Chantal come over the walkie talkie.

"Donna".. I see a dog in the woods... he is all wrapped up in a bush." " I am going to go see what is going on", she says. I send the girl off to class, and I wait to hear from Chantal.

"ohhhhhh, hes a puppy, ohhhh, he is all wrapped up in a chain... I think he's a Rottweiler"... "ooooh, he is all shaky". "I can't get to him".

So, I am now thinking, its a vicious dog that someone doesn't want and they have chained to a tree. "Don't go near him Chantal, I am calling the RCMP". "Ohhhh, he looks sooo scared," she whines. "Don't go near him.... just wait."...

"OK".... she says.. and leaves her walkie on.... I hear... "its ok, puppy"... its ok"... "oooh, he is so tangled he can't even sit down".......oh, its ok.. little puppy.

The RCMP give me the animal control number, and the animal control people answer, and I explain and she said she will call the Dog Catcher... Thinking about a conversation I had with a boy earlier in the morning, who said he heard branches breaking in the woods, and thought there was a man sitting in the woods.. I now realize that this dog has been there for a least 4 hours. I asked how long she might be, and she said at least an hour.

Just as I hang up the phone... I hear on the walkie " Donna, I can see his tag.... he's name is Duke.. and there is a phone number...... As I right down the number, I hear "its ok Duke, its ok buddy"......

And I call..... "Hello"... I explain who I am and ask if he has a dog. He says yes, and I have been looking for him for a while. I tell him about Duke, about Chantal and then I am in the middle of conversation between Buddy on his cellphone and Chantal on the walkie, and he can hear her and he is giddy on the phone as he drives closer to the location... and he laughs when she asks on the walkie " ask him if I can touch the dog, will he hurt me". He laughs and re assures her and then she is giddy, and unwrapping Duke from his chain while buddy is driving up to her.

Duke was freed, and Chantal comes back to school... and I called the dog catcher to cancel the call, to which she lectures me about a dog with no county tag on would cost the owner $225 to get him back... geesh....

Later in the afternoon, one of our youngest teachers comes to me, with tears in her eyes and says "what happened to the dog"... and I explained about Duke, the owner and Chantal.. I answered several questions all afternoon, from big hearted students and teachers who were worried about duke...

A happy ending, and a heart warming moment to a very hectic day.

Thanks Chantal.. you are a hero!

Well, so far... I suck at NaNoWriMo...

2010-11-23T06:30:00.001-04:00

I will get back on track... really... tonight.. hee hee. Thanks for the pic, Jill, by the way.

It is time.... to say thank you

2010-11-14T11:00:00.000-04:00

I have been doing Children's Liturgy at Church for about 16 years.. I think. I have always worked with Kay, who is the mom of 5 children, mother in law to their 5 spouses and Grandmother to their 8 grandchildren. But when I first met Kay... she was supermom.. to 4 girls and one boy. Not only do I work with her on a weekly basis at Church, but I get to see her often at school where she is a super mom to 400 kids outside on duty most days of the week.

Kay and I get together at least once a month to go over the readings for each Sunday of that particular month. We then have to gear our talks and crafts to the 4, 5 and 6 year old kids, and make them relate to the readings. Kay is an expert at it. I have learned so much from her about what all these mystery readings mean, what they stand for, and how we learn from them. She has given me a deeper faith, and confidence to teach this to others... That is the bonus of knowing her.. the real meat and potatoes of Kay is her patience, her knowledge, her wisdom on how to be a good mom and gramma.

In every one of our "meetings" we not only dream up crafts and invent "how Jesus and folded jumping frogs" relate to the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary time (for example).... Kay also guides me through some of my parenting heartaches, my fears, my challenges and my celebrations. With 5 children of her own, and 4 of them girls... she certainly has lots of ideas, successes to share and failures for me to learn from. And I always leave Kay's home with a fresh and sometimes still warm loaf of homemade bread...

Ok... that is the history... this is the reality. When ever Kay is globe trotting around the country visiting her family, I do Sunday Morning lessons with the kids on my own. We each have a Church bag.. filled with story books, magnets, scissors, bells, paper projects and "the books" we do the readings from. When Kay leaves for a couple of weeks, I get her bag, because she carries all the story books, the action story scribblers and the hard covered book that the Father hands to the kids.

I just couldn't stand to drag that decrepit bag around any more. It was made of thin cotton, with ripped handles, torn in several spots and way to flimsy to be carrying all the heavy books that are treasured by both of us..

Now, Kay went away two weeks ago, and I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to make a replacement for her ugly bag... I got my sister and her awesome sewing machine to make a couple of "Kay" patches and she sent them down with Michelle. With no pattern to follow except experience, I designed a sturdy bag, with heavy duty handles, and lots of space for her books and a row of pockets inside to hold the magnets, ribbon, pencils, scissors and even the gold bells I found at the bottom of her old bag! I choose funky and modern flowered fabric to accent the canvas and to make the lining....

Thank you Kay, for all you have taught me, shared with me, talked me through, and laughed with me. I love you and your whole family.... but I hated "the Ugly bag"! It was time for it to go! Hope you enjoy the new one....

Its time to Remember

2010-11-11T10:41:00.003-04:00

I am so proud to be a Canadian and I haven't even travelled anywhere to get the foreigner's prospective on Canadians. But my children have, and lots of my friends. I don't have that flag waving, heart thumping, in your face pride... I have that "look straight in your eyes.... know that I am a Canadian" pride.

Remembrance Day is one of those things that I am proud of. We remember. Even if we don't remember the war, even if we don't have family who were in the war, even if we don't associate with the Military at all, due to where we live, or what we do for a living..... we remember.

I was raised in a Military family, in Military communities, married into the Military, who was raised in a Military family, and lived in Military communities. When I was a kid, I thought it was only the Military who remembered. When I moved out of the military environment, and into small town communities... I realized that everyone remembers.

Our schools honor and teach it... our businesses do as well. In Nova Scotia, there is no school for anyone, and all businesses are closed. I am not sure why, but I like it. Wait, I know why, because its Remembrance Day, and we get the whole day off. But, what I meant was, why are we so lucky to get the whole day off... I like it, anyway. Therefore, at school, the Remembrance Day ceremonies are attended by all students, staff and community members, on the day before Remembrance Day. Thats ok... it gives kids a great sense of the day, and then they get to have the whole next day off.

In Ontario, and many other provinces, children are in school all day and most businesses are open at noon. Government workers, Military and Civilian, are off all day too. You know, some people say that is not right, that schools and businesses are open on this day... but... I am ok with this. In every school, the children take part in a ceremony that teaches Remembrance. They do the exact same thing as we do in Nova Scotia, but on the proper day. Businesses remain closed until noon, in respect for the 11th hour. The moments of Silence... where we can all reflect, even if we only have a moment to reflect, its at 11:00.

I feel we are lucky in NS to have the whole day, and I wouldn't ever want that to change, but I don't think that the other provinces are wrong in what they do. I appreciate that schools and businesses respect the day. I appreciate that we have the FREEDOM to do what ever we want on this day because of the wonderful men and women of the past who served our country and allowed us this freedom.

Don't worry, if the schools keep doing what they do... and businesses do what they should... we will always Remember.

Rain Rain.. go away..

2010-11-07T17:32:00.001-04:00

There is no other topic for today other than RAIN. It would be impossible to even blog today except about our weather. We had warning that it was coming... rain rain rain rain.. in the forecast but man, I don't remember ever getting 3 full days of constant, never stopping rain. Sometimes hard, sometimes soft.. but nothing but rain. I worried all Friday night for Michelle's drive home, because of this darn rain, and add to that, high winds... and here it is, the end of the weekend and its still raining.

Of course, a few at church this morning were thankful and relieved that all this rain wasn't really SNOW.. which we did get, this very weekend, in 2002.

I remember, because we had a storm day at school on Nov 7th, and Natsumi, our Japanese Exchange student, and Michelle... made an incredibly cute snowman, in the driveway.. no less.

It was Natts very first snowman. She was full of adrenaline and excitement, working diligently on her project.

She was so warm while working, she took her coat off.. as it wasn't very cold for a snow day.. She lost her luster for snow, by Xmas, that year... which.. of course we all do.

So, people, I guess we can live with the rain.. for now. But I am worried about all this water. I am seeing giant puddles where I have never seen water before... Our river, behind the house, in the summer is calm and quiet during a normal summer day.

But it doesn't take long for it to fill with rain water, after a day or two of rain. But today, it is a raging torrent of water... with a potential of flooding the houses in the neighbourhood.

We have giant puddles in our yard too.... well, not as many in MY yard, as there are in my neighbour's yards. These puddles are a little concerning... Rob brought his rake over and pulled leaves from our ditch so the draining system throughout our little knot of houses, runs good.

We can usually gage the disaster level in the community by how high "Lake Sometimes" is.. and I drove over today to snap some pictures of the results. I am surprised that I only think to take pictures of the Here and then gone Lake we have on Bridge Street, when the water is high. I need a pic or two of when its a sea of green grass, dandelions and Willows.

Our village pond and wooded fitness trail has a whole new look to it today.

The forecast said the rains will let up by noon today... except its now 5:30.. and its still raining. Michelle called me from the Mammoth and its dry and cloudy there.. no rain.. I am glad for her, I hate to think of her driving in this again!

Pajama Saturday

2010-11-06T19:23:00.005-03:00

Have I told you that I love Saturdays. Well, I do. Michelle arrived home late last night, after a 6 hour drive from Fredericton. I fretted all week about her driving here, and made her call me at every kind of check point. The Irving, the Pass, The Mammoth, Windsor.... It was extremely windy, pounding rain, and pitch black out... my nerves.

Anyway, she arrived at 12:30... and we sat up for half an hour and chatted, and then we crawled into my bed and went to sleep.

Saturday morning was spend sitting with a big pot of coffee, and skype with Stephanie who had spend her Saturday at her school for a 2 hour concert sort of performance of all the students in her "little" school. She teaches English at two schools.. one is little, one is... you got it.. BIG. She and Sean read the introductions at the beginning of the concert (as her contribution to the performance) and then she helped with costumes and lineups. These are her grade 1's performing. She has promised to send more pictures and possibly a video.

So the entire morning was the three of us, just like the old days... chatting, laughing, showing each other our cats, planning out NoMoWriMo themes... and planning for their Xmas visit. Stephanie has a list compiled on her computer of the things she is going to eat when she gets back to Canada. First few on her list... corn chowder... lasagna...Kraft dinner!

Because Michelle has had a career choice change and is now working at a daycare in Fredericton, she really needed to get some ideas and plans from some of my friends. Debbie came over after lunch and it is AMAZING how much she knows, and can do. She explained the amazingly useful game of Rock Paper Scissors.. and how this decision making game is a miracle in her classroom for solving debates as to who starts first, who plays with what... etc. Action Uno game.. Centers.. word play, parachutes...

After a yummy lunch at Pizza Delight, we went off to Sears for a little Xmas shopping and then to met Chantal in her classroom. Again... pocket walls, white boards, projector games, weather... clothes pins... surveys... oh my.... my head is swimming-I can't imagine how Michelle feels. She is so excited to make shopping lists, and planning plans.. with her co-worker Kelly.

She is off visiting with a friend, and I am snuggled on the couch with my little grandpup... and a cup of tea...

I love Saturdays....

An adventure for Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-05T22:35:00.000-03:00

Thanksgiving this year, was very different than any other Thanksgiving in the past. Last year, was my first year without Stephanie being home. Therefore, we changed everything about the weekend so we wouldn't notice all the traditions were gone!

This Thanksgiving was the first holiday without either of my kids, or their spouses. Originally, I wanted to go away somewhere for the weekend... like Cape Breton, or Yarmouth. But Terry wasn't really up for it, and actually once the weekend drew closer, I was really looking forward to being home for 3 days.

Saturday was filled with yard work, errands and a bit of housework. We did groceries in preparation for making Salsa. Sunday was Salsa day, as well as Church, in which we made a very cool Thanksgiving Grace house shaped thing for hanging on your fridge. It was covered in seeds and glue .. and the kids really enjoyed this fun and messy craft. The rest of Sunday was chopping, simmering, etc.. which I wrote about already. During the chopping process, we discussed what we would do on Thanksgiving Monday. I was not cooking a turkey... just didn't feel like doing all the work for 2 of us... and I wanted to go on a little drive. The weather was amazing.... and looked really great for Monday. Terry said he has something in mind, but he wouldn't tell me. He did say, he was going to take me out to lunch at a place I had never eaten at!

Monday was gorgeous and we hit the road about 10am and headed in the direction of Digby. I was thinking... hum Annapolis Royal... Keji?, Digby... Clare... Yarmouth. It was no use guessing, because Terry wouldn't even give me a clue...

Once we got to Digby, I was confused by the turns we were taking... having never been in the direction we were heading. I soon realized we were heading to Brier Island.! If you don't know where that is, please look on the map below. You will see it, at the very tip of the long skinny finger beyond Digby. You can read "Freeport" on the map.... its just past there.

This was so fun, as it was uncharted Territory for us... and it involved two ferries and some pretty cool island views along the way. The first ferry was fairly small, holding about 20 cars. The second ferry, even smaller, holding no more than 12 cars. What a blast. It reminded me so much of the old days when I was little and we had to cross the St. John River near Burton, on the Ferry.

We arrived at Brier Island around 1:15.. and decided, before we explored the island we would have a nice lunch. This sweet little island has a total of one restaurant ... and it was closed. We drove the entire length of "town" and found the corner store. We took all the side roads (2 of them) and found nothing.... so, back to the corner store.... where we were told that all eating establishments were closed for the season.! So... we bought a large bag of chips... two bottles of drink, some tootsie rolls and off we went exploring. The island is shown below. To give you an idea of the size of the island.. the red road running though the island.. is 2 km long.

We drove that and found the most western end of Nova Scotia.. and the lighthouse that marks this.. below.

We drove to the most eastern part of the island, and found another lighthouse... not nearly as fun looking but the view was spectacular. We were up on a cliff... at eye height to several soaring seagulls.

This light house was in another corner of the island... and had tons of communication equipment, satellite things and a big building behind it.. with offices. Very cool.

This last light house was at the mouth of Grand Passage which is the churning waters between Long Island and Brier Island.

Waiting for the return ferry.... we fed the seagulls some chips....

The rocks on this island were very unique.. not something I have ever seen before... very very cool.

What a great day, and a great Thanksgiving weekend. I knew it would be different, and I enjoyed every minute...

Here we go again...

2010-11-02T22:06:00.010-03:00

So, this time last year... for those who have been reading me that long, will remember that Terry was going away hunting in Ontario for 10 days. I was a tad excited about spending time here alone... for the first time EVER.

To review, Terry went hunting quite often, almost every year in early November for 10 days. It was never really a big deal.. just common practice... normal. But last year when he went, was the first time in all our years that when he went away, I would be all alone. I had always had kids home, or my dad. The first year, after Dad died, Terry didn't go away and I was glad he didn't. But last year, I was looking forward to the 10 days. So was he. You can read just how excited I was and what all my big plans were for when he was gone...in my last year's blog.

This year is not as exciting to me. I still am excited to be on my own, but I don't have as many rules set, on how I will enjoy it.

Last year.. I swore I wasn't cooking one meal, not one. I also said I wasn't doing the garbage... because... its against my beliefs. Well, I still don't plan on cooking.. but if I have to I will. The garbage will not get done this year ... because I still don't "do" garbage. Last year, Scott arrived from Halifax in time to put it out... but this year... it will sit in the garage... its no sweat off my butt!.

Terry left today. I had left overs for supper.. and ate in front of the TV. Imagine.... it was law in my house... since Stephanie was born. We have never had a TV within hearing distance of our dining room table, let alone within watching distance. But today, I grabbed my plate of leftovers and moved into the bedroom and watched Oprah camping in Yosemite... what a friggin hoot. I am going to go there some day!

The time Terry is gone will go by fast, because I have a list a mile long of chores and projects I need to get done. I also need to take care of all the pets.... you know.. feed them... let them in, let them out... let them in, let them out. I usually don't do that.. Terry does. He feeds them, combs them, talks baby talk to them.... ugh... they are demanding.

Pika is now curled up around my hips, squeezed between me and the armchair. ugh.. they are demanding! Terry never minds that... me.... drives me nuts. Tonks is missing Terry already... she keeps staring at me, and I can't figure out what I have forgotten to do for her. I am sure I will figure it out soon.

The harvest continues -Salsa....

2010-11-02T17:00:00.000-03:00

Quite a few years ago, our family got on a kick of making and eating salsa by the gallon... literally. For one whole fall, we picked, skinned and stewed several buckets of tomatoes, and tried several internet salsa recipes, along with friends salsa recipes. Some kinds were too spicy, and others too runny. Each time we came up with a recipe to try, we planned a day and everyone took on a job. Stephanie was the pepper chopper, Michelle was the tomato peeler, Terry did the hot peppers and I did the onions. I also did the actually cooking of the salsa, preserving it with whatever method was called for.

That winter, after all the kinds of salsa were made, and tested... and extra tomatoes were picked and frozen whole... Terry and the girls tried them all, one right after the other and determined what they liked and didn't like about each kind.

From that process... Terry came up with a recipe of his own, using good parts of all the salsa batches we had already done.

My favorite recipe belonged to a coworker from years ago, named Julie Lavigne. It was sweet (from using as many apples in it as tomatoes) and it was quite spicy as well. I loved it just the way it was, and didn't need to change anything. Armed with Terry's new recipe, we made a final batch using the frozen tomatoes.

It was perfect.. and became our "Family's Salsa". We called it Terry's Salsa. You would think we could come up with a better name... but hey, some names just happen.!

Every year after that we grew Roma tomatoes and bought all the rest of the stuff. We made several batches of Terry's salsa and one batch of my favorite...

Making Salsa became tradition in house, as much as decorating the Christmas tree. But just like decorating a Christmas tree, once the kids weren't around to help with it, it just wasn't as fun anymore.

We sort of skipped a year, then another and before we knew it, 5 years had gone by since we made any........ but this year we had a terrific batch of roma tomatoes growing, plus Vivian's garden was full of Romas as well. It was time to brew a batch or two.

Michelle's job... which I did...

Terry's job.... the hot peppers....

Stephanie's job... the green, yellow and red peppers.... Terry did those... and he did all the onions.... yipee. We made a triple batch of "Terry's Salsa"... and we never got around to making my Salsa (yet)...

Success... 18 bottles of Terry's Salsa. Not nearly as spicy as we thought it would be.. with all the hot peppers that went in it... but still very enjoyable...

National Novel Writing Month

2010-11-01T17:04:00.006-03:00

Yup... again. Although, I called it National November Writing Month last year. . But the proper name is NaNoWriMo. What is NaNoWriMo..... this is one explanation . There are lots of versions of it... a facebook version, a blogger version... and even a word count version. I attempted it last year and got 25 out of 30 days done. I was going good until I got sick with H1N1.

Stephanie writes 750 words a day... not just in November... I don't even know what 750 words looks like... but I am pretty sure, I don't have that much to say. She has been journaling since she was very young... and I have been too. I can remember keeping notes on a calendar since I was 16.. and the day I got lice I was so embarrassed I couldn't even write the words.. I just drew pictures on my calendar. I don't have those calendars anymore and I am mad at myself for throwing them out at some point. I wrote small snippets through the kids baby hood times, and on and off during the toddler years. I have kept gratitude journals... I have written journals to get me through some teenage years... mostly full of questions and observations, not very positive ones either. I threw those out a few years ago.. who needs to remember those days.

I began blogging about 5 years ago... in My Space... I only blogged there for a year, and then stopped. I didn't start this one until late 2006 thanks to Jill. She started on Blogger and I got the bug.. and have been going strong (ish) every since. This blog has become a resource for me to look back and see what we did and when it happened. I have looked up the White Juan, the year we had a snow storm for Easter... when pets died... and who went where for what vacation. I write this blog for me, for my family and those friends who care to pop in and see whats happening in my life.

Welcome to National Novel (ok, blog) Writing Month.

Happy Trick or Treat Day

2010-10-31T14:23:00.007-03:00

Those days are gone. The days of hyper anticipation. The days of creating costumes, carving pumpkins with the family..... decorating the outside of the house to scare our many trick'r treaters...

Now a days, Halloween is about roasting pumpkin seeds, admiring the creativity of parents and kids, as their little ones make it to our door, two or three at a time. All my years of kids and Halloween, I was always the one to walk the neighbourhood with our kids. I never got to stay home and hand out treats. That was daddy's job. He spent the entire day of Halloween putting up a cave, with creepy webs and eery lights, haunting sounds.. so, it just made sense that he would stay home and scare the crap out of the neighbourhood kids.

This Halloween is no different. We cleaned out the pumpkins last night (ok, the picture shows that Terry did that),

but I roasted the seeds. Out of 4 nice sized pumpkins, I got 4 cups of seeds. I like leaving the little bits of pumpkin on them.

I use to wash them off, but it made the seeds quite soggy, and by leaving the little bits on , they seem to absorb more of the butter and garlic and roast very nicely.

This time, I used left over garlic butter, and didn't add as much garlic powder to my recipe.. and they were particularly yummy. Even Terry tried them and said they were pretty good and he doesn't generally like them.

Below, you will find an oddity. In all our years of gutting pumpkins.. this was a first. There was a seed taking sprout inside the pumpkin. Very cool. Actually, Suzanne and I found a leaf spouting in an apple once too... very cool.

Another fun part of Halloween is buying the treats. I finally figured out a few years ago that there is no need to buy the treats in early Oct. They just get eaten by the pre Halloween treat testers. I now feel that I can confidently buy treats either the day of the day before Halloween. There will be lots of treats somewhere to buy. We headed out to Zellers buy my favorite treat to give out.. and that is microwave popcorn in little bags, and when you pop it, it comes out orange. We got a box of chocolate bars too, but Terry said we are not giving them out unless we really NEED to. When we were unwrapping our boxes of popcorn, Terry read on the box "Diacetyl Free". We weren't sure what that was, but it must be a good thing. Its the next thing we need to avoid I figure... if only I knew how to say it.

Wouldn't be halloween, either, without dressing someone like a lady bug. I couldn't catch Tonks... so Paralax wore it... not for very long though!

Happy Halloween Everyone..

Signs of Fall-The harvest begins

2010-10-26T06:25:00.001-03:00

Well, our apple adventure was so profitable, we ended up with three large bins of "drops" for the cafeteria. Those poor ladies just don't need to be peeling apples day in and day out.... so I decided that I could peel and freeze at least one bin of them. I love peeling apples... and potatoes for that matter... I like peeling boiled eggs, too. Could it be that it is mindless, sitting around the table with family... kind of work. I like to think that, anyway.

I am only half way through one bin! I have about 100 cups of apples peeled, sliced, "lemoned" and frozen. Geesh... its a slow process... but I still love it.

The other big harvest at this time is My Scarlett Runners. They bring me joy each year. Watching them pop out of the soil in June...

race up the strings in July...and reach the top of the strings... and then start blooming those tasty orange blooms... well, I haven't really tried them but the hummingbirds think they are top notch!

They provide shade and bugs for birds and kitty cats in August and September while growing giant beans.

Watching them die and dry in October.

Ripping them all down and pulling all the bean pods off of the vines....

and finally harvesting their big purple beans, to get all ready for next year.

Apples anyone!

2010-10-23T09:40:00.001-03:00

The fall is so amazing in the Annapolis Valley. The golden glow of the dried corn standing in perfect rows makes everything look and feel warm and toasty. When one is driving down the 101, the rows stretch along and up over the hills and around little islands of Maple, Ash and Oaks trees that are located in weird little clusters throughout the fields. I am not sure why those clusters of trees have been allowed to stay where they are, because they must be annoying to the farmers... perhaps they are left there to break up a boring job of plowing and planting in straight lines. I am not sure why, but I am pleased they are there... they add beautiful color in the spring and fall...

Apple trees that line the highway have either weighed down limbs dotted with bright red apples, ready for picking.... or.... limbs that are springing in the winds... finally free of their heavy burden.

The colors are spectacular throughout the valley and today's winds and yesterday's rains are starting to do their job in blowing those colors all over the yards, driveways and fields... the deflowering of fall has finally arrived.

A couple of Saturday's ago, the weather was predicted as sunny and cool. A perfect day for a few staff members, friends and family to head up to this wonderful apple orchard on South Mountain. This orchard is a family run operation called Stonehenge Farms. Their marketing scheme is unique and wonderful. This family have hundreds of trees in many varieties. They run an "Adopt a Tree" program, where you can pay them to adopt a tree in the spring (or anytime, really). This tree is yours all spring, summer and fall... offering the opportunity for you to visit your tree with family... maybe have a picnic... take family pictures.... whatever you might like. Then in the fall, when your tree is ready for picking... you own all the apples on your tree. Its a fun idea and very reasonable priced as well, and he guarantees you at least 200 lbs of apples!

This particular Saturday (3 weeks ago, now) started off pretty dull and cloudy but since the weather man said sunny... we felt it was just a matter of time... til the clouds broke.

They indeed broke open but it wasn't sunshine that spilled out of them... but rain... as we drove to the orchard. When we arrived, Debbie and Ashley were sitting in their car, waiting for us, and the rains to stop. You know, the rains never really stopped, they turned to drizzle.. but once we toughened up and decided to pick anyway, we barely noticed the rain. We had a great time.

We were there to pick two trees full of McIntosh apples to give to Kingston School's Breakfast & Snack Program. Debbie and her family generously donated the trees to our program as well as provided all the bins to fill, and came to pick! Hows that for awesome. We all started off with all the lowest branches where the picking was easy.

Our two smallest brave pickers, Abby and Micheal were essential in picking up the "drops" from the ground. Once an apple drops (naturally or victim of over zealous pickers!) they aren't classed as eating apples as they bruise so easily. We donated those to our cafeteria who has been making apple sauce, apple crisp and cakes from them. Once the low branches were cleaned off, the reaching began.

Even though we had several very tall people (Chantal, Ashley and Heather (sort of)), we couldn't get to the top of the trees... and the ladders got dragged over.

The apple baskets also came out, thanks to Debbie and her apple orchard connections! Chantal modeled they're beauty and usefulness. Kerry took a turn too, and Terry finished off the day with one.

We didn't get all the apples picked because we didn't have enough bins. Imagine. We filled the back of three vans with bins and delivered them to the cold room at the school. In all, including a large bin of drops, we picked about 600 lbs of apples. We went back at the end of the week with a couple more bins but by then, all the high up apples had dropped and we filled two more large bins with drops for the cafeteria.

A great day with family and friends. Thanks Debbie and Brian for your generosity!

Thanks everyone else for coming out on a rainy day to pick!

Blogger Block

2010-10-18T19:08:00.004-03:00

Did you know that I love blogging? I write a new blog every day.... in my head. There isn't a day that I don't organize something in my head, and take a picture, either physically or mentally.

So why is it, I can't write it. Its not that I don't have time. I do. Its not that I don't have any ideas... because every day, I find interesting things that I want to share.

Why, just yesterday, I was watching a TV show downstairs, and Terry came down to join me. He brought down two apple monitors... both broken. One had a major split line down the middle, and the other had nothing but a blue screen. While we sat and watched the TV show, he crouched on the floor, and spread several tools around the carpet and proceeded to take both monitors apart. He had no less than 10 little screwdrivers, several screws, metal flat pieces, plastic black strips, some sort of film thingie... and all the cases spread out. He was determined to make one good monitor out of both of them. He grunted, mumbled and moaned at these two useless pieces of junk and he puttered with them for an hour.

I totally ignored him... more interested in the TV show (which I don't even remember now) and when it was over, he was totally surrounded by bare computer boards looking rather intimidating to me.

I thought... wow, that is one pile of computer parts.... and thought I would go upstairs and grab my camera so I could take a picture of Terry at working, doing something he loves to tinker at.

By the time I got back downstairs, 1o minutes later.... he had both monitors put back together.........and both working!

The picture wasn't there... because all the parts were put back together.... geesh!

Now, was that worth blogging... no, not really... but its a start...