Home Life

Do you dare?

2012-01-01T13:37:00.001-08:00

I saw this on facebook and thought I would check it out. It's a challenge to read the entire standard works THIS YEAR!! 7 pages a day. Are you game? Check out her post first, it's inspiring: http://dailyclosertochrist.com/2011/12/15/hello-world/

Let me know.

Happy New Year!

Sleepy Conversations

2011-12-28T17:47:00.001-08:00

Allie just woke up to go to the bathroom. Her sleepy conversations crack me up. Tonight's:

A: I wish we had our own hamster. (We are hamster sitting right now)

M: Yes? What would you name it?

A: (In all seriousness) Bud.

Goodness I love that girl!

Erin's Goal Accomplished!

2011-07-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

That's right, Erin got her hair cut. 18 months ago she decided that she wanted to grow it long enough to donate it to make a wig. The summer weather, when it's actually been hot, has made her hair really bug her, she has been asking to get it cut for a couple of weeks. Today was the day!

First we washed, dried and brushed it. Here is her before picture.

Then we measured it. 9 inches able to be donated to Pantene Great Lengths.

Here's the cut!

No turning back now!

It's chopped off.

And after some finishing touches it's all done.

She loves it so much! It'll be way neater to keep and cooler for her if summer makes a return appearance.

I'm so proud of her. It was hard not to cry while cutting it. Not because of the length being gone, personally I am VERY grateful that it's gone. Less nagging to keep her hair neat. I cried because I am so proud of her. She sacrificed what she wanted to do with her hair for 18 months so someone else can have hair. No one asked her to do it. No one made her do it. It's something she came up with on her own and wanted to do it. It was her diligence and perseverance that helped her accomplish her goal. It was the most selfless act I've seen her come up with. I am so proud of her and wanted to share her goal with you. She'd be very embarrassed if she knew that I was posting it on here. She's hoping no one is going to notice her hair gone as she doesn't want questions asked of her.

Gosh I love this girl. Not only has she brought a smile to her face and mine, but I know that whoever gets a wig from this hair well be thrilled about her sacrifice. I know her Heavenly Father is so happy with what she did for another one of his children. I hope she remembers the feeling. I hope that it has planted a huge seed in her heart of helping others out.

I'm so grateful for her example to her siblings and to me.

I love you Erin!

Patrick and the Spelling Bee

2011-03-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

Have you watched the movie Akeelah and the Bee? Well, if so, our lives have been a small taste of that for the past couple of months.

Patrick loves to spell and read. For the past two years he has been participating in the school spelling bee and was always beat by a sixth grader. This year, being a sixth grader, he was worried that someone else was going to win, but... HE WON!

From that spelling bee he was moved ahead to the regional/provincial level to compete. The winner there was able to go to the National Spelling Bee in Toronto to represent Prince Edward Island.

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/photo/Postmedia-Canspell-spelling-bee-1381043

The studying began. He had over 1100 words in 14 languages that he was to learn to pronounce and spell. Plus all of the spelling tips for each of the 14 languages incase a curve ball was thrown to him. His best friend, Dylan, won the spelling bee from his school and so they were able to compete together. They spent time studying together and being a great support to each other. It was the first time to regionals for both of them and they were very excited. There were 19 contestants in total.

(Patrick and Dylan on the day of the regional meet)

The meet was to be in February, but was postponed due to a severe storm that was approaching on the day of the meet. Patrick was even more stressed after the announcement as it meant he had even more time to study. At this point he just wanted it over with. We told him to take a night off from studying (he had spent a lot of time both at home and at school studying), he wasn't sure what to do with himself. Patrick walked around aimlessly for a bit and just kept telling us how weird it felt not to study.

The day of the meet, his nerves were getting to him. He was reading over his words and the spelling tips and asked us to review German and French with him as those were the two that seemed to be troubling him the most.

We got to UPEI in the rain, on time, and met up with our friends and family there. They had cheering cards that you could write the name of the person that you were routing for. Our children had one for Dylan and one for Patrick. Everyone was excited.

I went into the "green room" to check on Patrick and get a picture of he and Dylan and couldn't find them at first as they were in a group of 7-8 boys. Here all of these boys were competing against each other, and there they were, reviewing words and tips and helping each other out. What a wonderful thing to see. How often is it that you see competitors helping each other out before a meet to give the opposition aid in getting better. What a lesson so many people could learn from this.

The troops all came out and had a seat. Dylan's family and ours just prayed that they wouldn't get out on the first round. There were three that were eliminated during that round and it was just heart wrenching knowing how much time they had put into it.

We were so pleased that after 4 rounds both the boys were still in! The first break took place and the boys were more relaxed as they had become more comfortable by this point.

(Patrick spelling one of the words)

We were worried how our three other children would do during the 4 expected hours that it would take for the bee. Church paid off! They were so quite and only had to go out on spelling breaks for a walk around. The Bee officials provided activity books and we had lots of quiet activities packed for them. Erin had heard so many of the words being reviewed that she was mouthing along with a lot of them. She gets to start competing next year.

(Allie, Ryan and Erin cheering on the contestants)

At the end of each round we would breathe a sigh of relief that Patrick had made it through and looked forward to the next word. It was a very tense spectator event.

After the last break, Patrick was in the top five. He came back to find the chairs moved to the front and a scary surprise. They were moving off of the study list! He said he had a pit of panic, but the boy sitting to his right really helped him through it. Matthew was the winner last year and leaned over to Patrick and said to him that this was why they were to study the spelling tips as well as the words. At the moment, Patrick said he was so grateful that he had listened to me to study them.

Patrick made it through several rounds during this part of the bee. He watched as two others were eliminated and was so excited to be in the top three. Then came his word. Permeate. He was out. He had spelled it P E R M I A T E. I was worried how he would be after this, but he was so amazed that he made it to third! The second place candidate was eliminated on the next round and then Matthew won on the last word BOULEVARD.

Patrick is looking forward to trying again next year and is hoping to be able to make it to regionals again, However, at the moment, he doesn't want to spell any words. Not even simple ones to help Ryan. He said that's all he's seeing in his mind are spelling words and wants to have his brain back.

Although, I did catch him playing scrabble on my ipod yesterday! He said he wants to keep the new words fresh in his brain.

We are so pleased with the exceptional job that he did and the dedication and knowledge that came from this experience. We went out to celebrate on Monday evening as the night right after the Bee, we were headed over to Ed and Cathy's for the weekend. It was a great way to spend Family Home Evening night.

Way to go Patrick!

Snowy Winter

2011-03-16T06:53:00.000-07:00

We have had the snowest winter here this year for the past several decades. As an example of the amount of snow that we've had, check out this pic:

http://www.dixonfarms.ca/farm-blog/category/*

Yes, that's a road sign at the top of the snowbank. Needless to say, it made a great winter for snowmobiling, coasting, and snowshoeing!

Allie on her first snowshoe excursion this year.

Ryan loves the snow!

Erin's action photo.

Big Man Patrick.

Rand and Ryan off to explore the woods.

Et c'est moi!

Surprise!

2011-03-16T06:19:00.001-07:00

Here I am! I know it's been awhile, but I am trying hard to be better at this. Bare with me and call me on it if you don't see me on here for a bit. It's easy to break a good habit, but hard to get one going again.

Liz

Shock! I posted!

2010-12-20T09:45:00.000-08:00

I know, you probably had to do a double take to see if it was really from me. I am trying to get back in to the swing of things. You see summer happened, and I was not inside much and couldn't post from my ipod and that is where I do most of my computer needs now. Then fall came, and routines happened again, but not this. And then I thought I would start up again and there were some bumps that come with life. Allis good again and I am going to try to get on the blogging wagon again. Here we go!

So here is the quick and dirty update to my life in pics since April. Be prepared. This is a LONG post with LOTS of pics!

Patrick moved on to provincials in our science fair with a project on Pinhole Cameras.

Cubs finally got started at Church and he is now a cub and working on lots of badges.

He made the under 12 team of soccer for the summer.

We had General Conference. In between sessions on Saturday our Children decided to dig a hole. You know what Brother Brigham use to say about having bored children, that if they're bored, they can dig a hole and fill it in. Better than being idle!

They did watch General Conference as well.

We had a garden and because of the tonne of manure in our garden, we had to get a tractor to till it instead of using a tiller. The little ones were amazed!

Our garden did really well with all of that manure. Look how tall the tomato plants were at the beginning of August!

We did some camping.

Told some ghost stories.

Did some hiking.

Spent Canada Day at our local community centre. Aren't we patriotic?

Three legged race for the little ones.

And the older ones.

Ryan is thrilled with his ribbons!

The older three were in swimming lessons this summer. Erin is still rather timid of the water, but will swim when no one is watching.

Patrick is like a fish! He loves the water.

Ryan is a great swimmer and only needs the life jacket for the deep end as his mother is still timid to let him express his lack of fear. He has no fear. At all. Not good.

Over the summer we made our annual trip to Shining Waters here on the Island. It's our favourite attraction to attend each year.

Allie turned Three this summer!

Erin turned eight! You know that's great great 'cause you get to be...

Baptized!

She also chose to get her ears pierced for her birthday. Beautiful!

Ryan turned 5 at the end of the summer. He had some of his new kindergarten friends over for a party.

Patrick turned the ripe old age of 11 this fall. One year left in primary!

Patrick with his new guitar that he wanted for his birthday.

He and Rand are learning to play the guitar together.

We had last days of school. Patrick ending grade five.

Erin ending grade 2.

We had first days of school. Patrick in grade six, Erin in grade 3, Ryan starting kindergarten, their friend Ellen starting grade 3 and poor Allie looking quite forlorn in the background about having to stay home with me.

On the first day of school they shared their adventures with CBC Island Morning Radio. Quite the adventure for them!

This year, our youngest learned to climb trees.

Ryan learned to swing from a Tarzan rope.

And increased his no fear factor!

We went to the Great Pumpkin Weigh Off!

Always knew they were pumpkin heads.

At Vesey's with little cuz and Aunt Kate.

Patrick found a filly!

Allie found a friend of her size and her fashion colours.

Amazing the likeness! Ryan found a friend to be funny with.

We also had a family trip to Fortress Louisburg in Cape Breton this fall.

The boys checking the map on the tour bus.

The first stop in the Fish Shack. Completely captivated that the settlers ate crunchy fish eyeballs for candy. Ugh. Some looked like they were going to throw up!

Outside the Fish Shack checking out the boats.

My little French soldiers defending the fort!

I tried to teach them not to play with guns.

Met up with a surprise visitor at the fort (Grampy!). Wonderful to spend the day with the family.

Throwing rocks while waiting for the bus to take us back to the visitor centre.

The girls were completely tuckered out at the hotel. It was too cute not to take their picture.

This year also brought lots of accidents for Miss Allie. In the summer she sliced the back of her ankle on almost right through the tendon on a divider curtain in our cultural hall at church. Then she fell out of bed with a scary dream and broke her collar bone this fall. Had to wear a sling for several weeks.

The sling didn't stop her from doing anything though. She also fell off a chair and smashed her face on the floor the night of our community Christmas party and had to have her skin by her eye glued back together.

To end the year with health issues, Ryan brought chicken pox home from kindergarten. Although they were vaccinated (to be around a friend that had leukaemia), all four ended up getting chicken pox over the past three weeks. Here's Ryan with his. However, it was the second to last day of having them and there were only 50 pox in total for him. Erin was next with over 200 spots, followed by Allie a few hours later who only had 40. Now Patrick has them, about 50 so far. So much for the 3-5% chance of getting them once vaccinated! Personally, I would rather they have them and get it over with while they are children. At least they will be over and done with before Christmas.

We also had some crazy weather this fall. Everything from a torrential downpour,

to first, and only thus far, snowfall! Right now it sure looks like we'll have a green Christmas. Here's hoping it changes soon!

Some cute pics for you to see to end with:

Best friends.

My boy that brings me tonnes of smiles!

The little ones digging a trench.

Allie trying for a makeover.

Ryan having to wear the surprise dress I was making for Erin's birthday. I needed someone to wear it while I hemmed it. He sure looks like he wants to help me, doesn't he?

Parable of the Doorknob

2010-04-01T17:54:00.000-07:00

Our home is still going through renovations. I know, I haven't posted pictures in a MILLION years, but I will when it's a little more done. You know how it goes when you are doing them yourself and still trying to get your normal work done. We learn a lot of lessons, mostly of what we would do if we had to do it again, but one lesson that won't be forgotten any time soon will be that of the parable of the doorknob.

We had a tricky doorknob in our old bathroom. It locked great. Kept the door shut wonderfully. Then, one day, it broke off - from the inside! Not great when you are stuck in there.

If you took your time, and twisted it just so, for the first day you could get out. As this happened on Saturday evening, my husband said that he was going to get a new doorknob that Monday and have it installed.

Well, as life does, Monday came and went. As did Tuesday. As did Wednesday. As did, well you get the point. It became a long week for those of us always at home. If you were home alone and had to go, you had to remember to leave the door open just to. You know you all close the door even when people aren't there. At least I do. Crazy I know.

We are a stubborn family and wouldn't just knock on the door to say that we needed help to get out of the bathroom. We would stay in there and fiddle with the doorknob, hoping to get everything matched up just so, so that we would be able to get out all on our own.

It became a game in our home to listen for someone trying to get out and to rush to the door and open it for them. The doorknob finally got to a point that no matter how you lined it up, you had to get someone to help you out.

Annoying, I know. Especially for company. However, throughout this, we learned to listen for service opportunities. We learned to listen for silent cries of help. We learned to rush to help someone out before they asked.

The littlest ones were the fastest with this service. It's almost as if they watched to see if someone would go in so that they could wait to help them out. They were there as soon as you touched the doorknob with a great big smile on their face and would just be thrilled that they were able to help you.

Isn't that how we should be with serving others? Shouldn't we always be aware of the silent cries for help that are all around us? Sure they can struggle and get out of the bathroom after awhile. Why should they have to wait? Why can't we just reach out to them?

Also, why do we have to be too stubborn to ask for help? Why can't we just knock and say that we need someone to open the door? Why do we constantly have to fight to maintain some sort of worldly pride?

The same thing goes for asking for help from our Saviour. We can't do it without Him. The doorknob is completely broken for us to get back to our Father in Heaven and He is the only one that can open the door for us to come home.

Why do we fight so hard against making the changes that we need to be able to return home again? Is it really worth the fight since we are all, I'm hoping, wanting to return home to him again?

Why is your doorknob broken? How are you going to get it fixed?

Our doorknob did get fixed. It doesn't have a lock, but I did find another doorknob that wasn't in use and put it on the bathroom door so that there is a semblance of privacy. We are getting to be very good knockers now. Although, we don't need help to get out of the bathroom, I have noticed that the children are looking for ways to help each other out more and are putting up less of a fight when they are asked to help someone out.

I don't want a broken doorknob again in the bathroom, and sure would love to have one that locked, but I am grateful for the lessons that were taught to our family from one broken doorknob.

Ever want to just scream?!

2010-03-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

AARRGGHH!!! Sometimes I just have to let it out.

I figure that there must be a great blessing coming because there are a lot of trials going on in my life. I feel like I am a plate spinner trying to get all of the plates to spin at the same time and the same speed. I won't get into details. I just needed to vent.

I think cloning for one's self wouldn't be such a bad idea at times. What do you think? Tell me, how do you deal with your problems? Vent them, bottle them up, confront the problem head on?

Me, I hate confrontation. Actually more scared of it. I bottle them up until they explode at times. Then I don't say the thing that I truly want to say and end up getting all flustered. I find writing a letter to the offending party and burning it works a lot for me, but I am trying to learn to let it go!

Thanks for letting my vent.

That said, I feel the need to report on some fantastic things that have happened recently: Patrick had a great report from his nephrologist on Friday. No blood this year and all protein and creatine levels are perfect! No appointments for a year!

This past weekend, I was down home and got to have a great visit with my Nan. I haven't been able to see her since November and although I have talked with her on the phone, I was surprised with the difference in her appearance. She is rather ill and several times we thought she was dying. I am so grateful that I was able to visit her on a good day and learn some lessons and share some humour with her.

I am grateful for my knowledge that there is life after death. I am so glad that I was able to feel the wonderful spirit while with her and have tonnes of happy memories with her.

The other interesting thing that happened while down home was that I was asked to give a talk! In my home ward! I must say that I don't usually get nervous about talks. Just a wee bit maybe but nothing horrible.

This was an experience let me tell you! My topic was trials and adversity in our lives. My knees were shaking so much that I really could hear them knocking! I couldn't believe that really happened. I tried to stop it by lifting my foot up, and my whole leg was shaking! It was terrible! Rand said that he offered up a prayer for me because I was stumbling over my words and talking really fast! I guess it worked. A couple of minutes later I was completely relaxed.

Anyway, you are never exempt from speaking in your home ward (especially when your father hands out the talk assignments!)

I know, long boring post, but I am trying to write more, especially because I gave a family home evening lesson on journal keeping last night.

Enjoy all!

Science Fair

2010-02-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

This year was our first Science Fair. At our elementary school they don't start fairs until grade four and then they alternate Heritage Fairs and Science Fairs each year. Last year Patrick did a project on "Camp X" for his Heritage Fair. It was about the Canadian Spy Training Camp and he won honourable mentions for his grade.

This year for his Science Fair, his subject was the Pinhole Camera. If you don't know what a pinhole camera is, it's basically where you get an old box, paint the inside black, cover the outside and tape up all the light, make a hole in the front the size of, you guessed it, a pin and place film paper inside. Then you go outside expose the paper to the subject and develop the film in a dark room. It's really cool.

Anyway, here is Patrick at the fair. My apologies for the blurriness, I had someone "helping" me take the picture. He did such a good job and answered a lot of the questions the judges were going to ask him after his speech in his speech! I was so proud of him and how hard he worked. I just prayed that he would do well.

See the boxes that are red and black? Those are his cameras. The pictures on his poster on the lefthand side are the actual pictures that HE DEVELOPED from his camera. He was able to see how a whole dark room worked and just loved it.

Speaking of which, I would be remiss if I didn't say a great big thank you to Holland College and instructor Alex Murchison and student Jeremy Griffin for all of their help and knowledge. Thank you so much! It's the only place around here that we could find that had a dark room for film paper. Talk about a dying art.

The next day he came home from school with his head all hung down and his hood covering his face. He just sauntered up the driveway like he was totally sad and everything. I knew then that he won something. I just didn't know what.

Patrick got second place for his grade and gets to move on to divisionals! He is so darn excited! He also won a $10 gift card to Indigo as well. He is thrilled beyond belief! He was not upset about not getting first place because he knew his friend Malleck (not sure on the spelling) would win as he made a working model of a magnetic train. It was totally cool. Patrick was really hoping his friend would win and was so darn happy for him. I'm really proud of him for that too.

CONGRATULATIONS PATRICK!!!!

What's Your Canadian Flag Knowledge?

2010-02-23T18:26:00.000-08:00

With all of the Olympics going on, I thought I would incorporate some of it into my sharing time on Sunday. We studied country flags and what their symbolism means., then the Title of Liberty in the Book of Mormon, then we made our own flags with symbols of things in our lives that represent Christ. It was really interesting to see what the children put on. Churches, temples, crosses, family, the world, CTR (choose the right), hearts, etc.

The part that really disappointed me was the lack of knowledge, not really from the junior primary, but the senior primary and the teachers of what our flag means. I remember being taught it in elementary school and am wondering if it's just the Island's educational system or if it's how our country is now as to whether people know what the flag means.

So do you know what it all stands for?

The Maple Leaf?

The red borders on either side?

The white?

(http://briansullivan.blogs.foxbusiness.com/files/2009/10/news_canadian-flag-6401.jpg)

The Maple Leaf stands for unity for Canada as there are maple leaves from one end of the country to the other. The points on the the leaf and stem count for all provinces and territories. Go ahead and count them out; 10 provinces and three territories, 13 points!

Red borders are the sea to sea (I don't know why we don't have red on the top to represent the third sea).

The white is the land that we have.

Did you already know this? Did you learn something different? I would love to know,

Have a good night. I am off to watch the last couple of minutes of Canada vs Germany in Men's Hockey. That's a whole other post.

Good night.

Signs of Spring

2010-02-20T14:50:00.000-08:00

It may be only February 20th, and be blowing and snowy outside right now, but I know spring is on it's way for sure! In the past two weeks I have seen eight (8) robins! That is one for sure sign that we are going to have an early spring. I can't believe it! I have never seen a robin in FEBRUARY!!!

(http://www.nps.gov/abli/naturescience/images/two-robins-at-abli(2).jpg)

Then, yesterday, I saw another new bird. I have never seen it before and was completely captivated by watching it and memorizing it's details so that I could figure what it was. It's called a Northern Yellow Flicker. I hope that it comes back and nests in our tree.

(http://www.surfbirds.com/namericanbirds/woodpecker.html)

I love birdhouses and have been looking around for some to have at our home. Here is what I have found that I am totally in love with. I hope I can find some patterns to make birdhouses here with the children.

(http://www.creativepartiesandgifts.com/shoppingcart/birdhouses/birdhouses.html)

(http://animalsandmore.net/wooden-bird-houses.php)

(http://www.sleddnursery.com/Bird%20Houses.htm)

(http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,1577706,00.html)

Aren't they just sweet? I feel warm and spring like just looking at them. I can't wait to find something with a little funk to put in our backyard.

Amazing how prayer works

2010-02-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

Friday morning, I was getting grumpy with Erin before school because once again, I had found wet mitts and hat in her backpack. I took everything out of it to make sure nothing else got wet. Unfortunately, I forgot to put the Valentines back in her back pack and did not discover it until AFTER she left for school.

I knew she would be absolutely devastated. Can you imagine how you would feel in second grade being the only one without your Valentines? I called several neighbours and friends that live near me that I know go to town at least once a day. NO ONE was going that day or had already been to town! I was just devastated, I had no way to get them to her.

At this point what else could I do but pray. Pray for help. Pray for comfort and strength for Erin. Pray again that some way, someone would be able to help me.

Less than a minute after saying amen, my friend Robin called me. She said that although she had already been to town, she would come and get the Valentines and take them to Erin's school. Bless her. I was so happy, I hung up and prayed again to give thanks.

I cut her a piece of cake to say thank you and waited at the door with the cake and Valentines. She was there in a minute and laughing. When I asked her what was so funny she told me that as she placed her hand in her pocket for her keys she felt a paper there. It was a permission slip for her daughter that was due at her daughter's school that day.

Had I not messed up with Erin's Valentines, her daughter would not have been able to get her permission slip in on time. One prayer helped two girls. It helps reconfirm to me that EVERYTHING happens for a reason, no matter how small the reason is.

Hygiene Kits for Haiti Update

2010-02-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you all know an update to our hygiene kits. Our primary compiled 179 hygiene kits to send off to Haiti! We had donations accumulated at LM Montgomery Elementary School, Parkdale School, York Women's Institute and the York United Church as well as members of our own branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They got sent on their way today.

I am so touched with how much was donated and the people that went WAY beyond what was called for and started thinking of what they would want. In addition to the toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, hand towels, and combs, we had razors, hair elastics, body wash, crayons, colouring books, deodorant, pads, pencils, erasers, bandages and first aid kits as well.

I am in awe of how generous people are. There were even notes in some of the packages to send down to them. Thank you to all who helped Mary have THE BEST sharing time ever as we got to share our love and service with our communities, our schools, other denominations, our donor of whom is ensuring that they get to Haiti, the children who realized how much a bar of soap can show the love that we have and most importantly, the people of Haiti that we get to share it all with. I know it won't take away all the devastation and make it all right, but it helps to know that we did something tangible.

Please keep praying for our Haitian brothers and sisters and helping them as much as you can.

Hygiene Kits for Haiti

2010-01-25T07:35:00.001-08:00

UPDATE!!!

We have the shipping covered. Yahoo!

If you still want to help us out, here is what is needed to make one hygiene kit:

1 bar of packaged soap

toothbrushes in package

toothpaste in package (no pumps)

Comb with no sharp handles

Hand Towel

Please contact me if you want to donate an item.

Thanks and enjoy your day!

Hello my blogger friends,

I am wondering if you can help me out. The Youth Sunday School (called The Primary) at my church are compiling hygiene kits for Haiti. They consist of combs, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap and hand towels. The great thing is that these can all be purchased at the dollar store. We have some elementary schools and another denomination collecting supplies for our kits.

Our problem, though, is that we missed the tractor trailer that was coming from Master Packaging and Cornerstone Baptist Church that was at Walmart. Do you, my readers, know of anyone that is shipping supplies down to Haiti that we can send our hygiene kits down with? Or do you know of anyone or any business that would like to offer shipping for us? Please contact me either through the comment form or email me at smile_zil at yahoo dot ca.

Thanks so much, and enjoy your day!

Tami's Inspiration and a nail in the foot!

2010-01-21T10:12:00.000-08:00

Kristi, do you see what you started?

I was reading on Tami's blog about her nail in the foot story that she was inspired to write from Kristi's child list and it got me thinking back to my nail in the foot story. I thought you could use a good laugh and so I am sharing it with you.

My friends and I were building a fort in the backyard of one of their houses in the woods. It was an awesome on the ground fort and the whole neighbourhood loved to come and help out with it.

One day, my family went to Hali for the day (I was about 9-10, what's with that age?). That was a really big deal as it was an hour away and rarely did we just go there. We bought new shoes for me and went to Mickey's there as there wasn't want down home. These are the highlights that I remember from the trip.

As soon as we arrived home, I had to venture back to show my friends my finds from the city. It was dark and I didn't have a flash light. As I was following the hammer sounds, I ended up stepping on a board that, you guessed it, had a nail facing up through it! What hurt worse was taking my foot off the nail then it going in. It went pretty deep in my child mind. My friends helped me get home where I was really worried about facing my mother as I had my new shoes on. I was more worried about the shoes than I was about my own foot. That was until my mother called the doctor at 8 o'clock at night. This was back when dr's still took house calls I am guessing. I can't imagine calling the dr at home now, or even getting through to the hospital to get an answer. They just don't help like they use to. He mentioned that I might have to go in for stitches and a tetnus needle. I started bawling like a baby! My shoes were ruined, I was going to have to get sewn up AND get a needle. Could this night get any worse?

Thankfully, mom is an RN. She examined the foot and checked to see when I had my last shot. Saved on both accounts. My mom knows what I wuss I am. She probably figured that it was better for me to suffer through the healing and get a scar then for her to have to pin me down while they attempted to sew me up. Safer for her. Safer for the emergency department.

Every day she applied polysporin on it and changed the bandages. I still have a small scar on the bottom of my foot from the whole ordeal, but it has always given me a reason to think about something else.

I remember thinking with the pain of the nail going in, and the pain of it coming out, what our Saviour must have felt as they drove the spikes through his hands and feet. How much incredible pain he must have been in. It gives me time to reflect whenever I find the little scar on my foot and the small amount of pain that it really caused me in comparison to the pain and suffering that He suffered on my behalf. I guess at least I learned some lessons from it all.

Don't walk in the dark without a light.

Don't wear new shoes out in the dark to a fort building event.

Be grateful for what my Saviour went through for me and for each one of us.

What's your story?

Kristi's Advice

2010-01-18T07:51:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

I thank you all for the advice that you gave me about this blog. I am going to take a lot of it. The major piece of advice that I am working with at this moment is Kristi's about taking my profile off of the other blog. That plus the other advice that you guys have given me and the info from the articles, I am going to stay public for a bit longer. I know, indecisive. Just bare with me. And love me still.

~your quirky friend

Going Private (again)

2010-01-15T07:20:00.000-08:00

I have debated whether to be public or private even after announcing that I was going to do this at the end of last month. Today is the last day of public blogging on this blog. This weekend, I go private. I read an interesting article here and here on it that confirmed my decision. Up to this point, I thought hmm, could it really matter?

Tell me, why are you public with your family blog and why are you private. What made you choose to go that way?

Movies

2010-01-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

I have just discovered this weekend that I really don't like going to the movies. Like the theatres. Just really don't like it.

On Saturday I went to see Avatar with Rand. We had some free tickets from Old Navy sales on Boxing Day and we had free babysitting from his parents, so off we went. I was excited to go as I haven't been to the theatre since Mamma Mia. I know a LONG time. I was excited because it was in 3-D and I had heard a lot of good things about the movie and I had never ever seen a movie in 3 -D in the theatre.

The movie was good. It had a good message to it that I hope doesn't get lost on anyone. The graphics were amazing. I guess the disappointing thing would be the natives' wardrobe, or mostly lack there of. I rationalized that they weren't real people, that it was like watching a national geographic movie, that the message was a good one. I know not good things to do and I really don't recommend the movie to anyone to watch. I should have left. Another reason that I love to watch movies at home instead on DVD as this gives me the opportunity to be able to view the review on screenit.com. If you get the main screen, just click no thanks to the subscription and carry on through.

While I was at the movie, though, I did learn some lessons about myself. I learned that I really like having my feet up to watch a movie and this avenue did not provide this opportunity. I did end up taking my shoes off and sitting cross-legged to be a tad more comfortable and even putting my feet tenderly on the seat in front of me. Yes, there was a person sitting there, I didn't touch their head though.

I learned that I really like the ability to be able to pause a movie to be able to go to the washroom, to get something to eat, or to rewind the movie to be able to catch something. Don't you enjoy that?

I also don't enjoy hearing other people's conversations around me in the theatre. People sure don't know how to whisper. And then there was the guy who sat behind me and kept on snorting his lovely snot back. YUM! Ugh. I thought I was going to hurl. Another person had horrible dill pickle seasoning on their popcorn. YUCK!!!

Needless to say, I am getting old. That's what my mother tells me. I just really enjoy watching it at home with my stereo system, my food and my ability to watch it when I want and how I want.

What about you? Do you love going to the theatre and why?

Changing Eyes

2010-01-08T14:36:00.000-08:00

Better than changing diapers in my opinion, but I do have VERY strange eyes. Not really eyes, but strange eyesight. For those of you that don't know, I have Lupus. It's not something that I always tell everyone, I kind of feel them out as I don't like the, "Oh, poor you" treatment.

Anyway, because of the way my lupus affects my body my eyesight is constantly changing. For some periods of time I am near sighted, other periods, far sighted. Sometimes I have perfect vision. Sometimes I have astigmatism in both eyes, sometimes only in one eye.

Lately, I have been having perfect vision. I love the fact that I haven't had to wear my glasses for almost a year. However, last evening, I noticed that my eyesight is changing yet again.

We were watching Julie and Julia (highly recommend it, fantastic movie), and as the credits came up the words looked like there were ghost words underneath them. You know like when you watch tv on an antennae and there is a storm happening where the show is coming from and you see two of the characters moving? Yep, just like that.

At first I was in denial again, because I really don't like wearing glasses and really don't have patience to deal with the care for contacts, nor do I like the thought of having something smothering my eyeball so that it can't breathe properly. I looked over to my husband and asked him if there was something wrong with the type on the screen. If they did some kind of effect there. Much to my dismay, he informed me that it was perfect.

I found my old glasses today and much to my disappointment, they really clear things up again. I, unfortunately, have to make an appointment to go in to my optometrist again to have my eyes tested. Until then, I may be stubborn enough to keep them off for most of the time.

Love it. Not. But it could be worse. I could be really sick with my Lupus. You see, this month is also an anniversary for me. 17 years ago, I had a serious flareup. I ended up haemorrhaging and loosing half of my blood. I know it doesn't sound pretty. It really wasn't. I don't think anyone really likes or looks forward to coming close to death. My blood pressure was down to 59/0. For anyone that doesn't know anything about blood pressure, that's pretty dang low. I won't get into details.

The treatment for this "wonderful" experience, was lovely steroids. I was grateful to have some really good friends to keep my company at this time in the hospital, but was very unhappy about the steroids.

You see, they made my appetite REALLY increase. I won't get into it, but let's just say that I gained a lot of weight that just wasn't cool for me in grade 12. Unfortunately, the steroids also had an everlasting effect on my body of causing me to get glasses. They had pushed my lupus to change my eyesight in a dramatic pendulum of degrees.

So as grateful as I am that I am alive, I don't like the fact that my eyesight constantly changes. I just don't want to ever lose it. I just need to grip for a moment before I go and don my glasses on so that I can drive to get my son at his friend's home.

Everyone has at least something freaky about themselves. Mine is me in totality. My eyes just represent how much change happens that I don't see.

The Sick and the Afflicted

2010-01-07T09:51:00.000-08:00

My two little ones are down ill with a chest cold and croup. So much fun. Poor Ryan has a fever today of 102 F. Yesterday they both slept all afternoon and were in bed early last night. Thankfully, Ryan didn't have any croup attacks through the night and only in the day time when it was more manageable. He would eat a bite of supper and then go to the door to cough and get cool air into him. Poor little guy. I think the window opened a crack, the essential oils and the 12 cough medicine really helped.

We are down to one diffuser in the house now, so Allie was the lucky one to get the oils the day before. It's amazing how much the pine and tea tree oils open up your nasal passages. I am so glad that this works for them and that they don't have to be on antibiotics.

We have only had one of our children on antibiotics once, and that was when Patrick was sick with HSP but they thought it was a staph infection. So not fun. I pray that they will never have to be on them. I will use probiotics and essential oils as long as I can.

Anyway, enough ranting, that's not why I am typing today. I wanted to share how unique each of my children are with sickness and comfort techniques. It really is quite humourous to see the differences.

Patrick, when he is coming down sick, starts with a headache. Every time without fail. Then when he is ill he is really good about letting his body rest and sleep. When he was littler, the only way he wanted to be comforted was to have his nose rubbed. Sometimes, he still likes to have it done. Don't tell him that I told you that.

Erin, when she is getting ill, gets EXTREMELY cranky and gets an earache. In goes the decongestant and tylenol and inevitably, the next day, she is ill. She loves to have the back of her head rubbed and has her whole life. She will let you do it until you get tired of it or until she falls asleep.

Ryan, on the other hand, spikes a fever and develops croup for EVERY illness! He always gets that barky cough and then the cold. Ryan LOVES to have his feet rubbed. If he has a nightmare or is scared or anything, he wants you to hold his feet. It's so cute, and would drive me absolutely crazy!

Allie is a souk when she is getting ill. She wants to be held and snuggled all day. Then she is sick the next day and still wanting to be snuggled. She loves having her neck, chin and back rubbed.

I think it's so funny how each of them have their telltale signs. The older two didn't believe me for the longest time, even when I would point it out when they were sick the next day. They're learning again though, that I KNOW BEST!

Allie is much better today, so hopefully, that means that Ryan will be almost back to normal tomorrow. Right now, though, I will enjoy the fact that they are both napping at the same time!

CONTEST for a recipe book.

2010-01-07T09:50:00.000-08:00

Come on over to Maritime Penny Pinchers and enter in the bread contest for a free cookbook. All you have do is see the bottom of the post on making bread.

A Crow's Eye?

2010-01-06T08:20:00.000-08:00

I know we all have heard of an Eagle's eye, but have you ever watched a crow? My goodness they are smart birds. I watched one yesterday mesmerized at the intelligence that it exemplified. I had some old bread in the house so I threw it out in the backyard for the birds to eat. When I tossed it outside, I took a look around to see if there were any noticeable birds in the area. None that I could see.

No more than a minute later, a crow appears in my tree, followed by a bluejay. The crow monitors the situation and slowly, methodically, comes down branch by branch watching all the time to see if it's a trap or if there are others that will try to get the food away from him.

It takes him about 10 minutes to get down on the ground close enough to the bread. He is still so cautious, checking over his shoulder constantly. I really don't think that the bluejay was going to be much of a challenge for this guy, but he kept watching nonetheless.

The bluejay flies away.

The crow picks up part of the bread, struts a distance with it and proceeds to break it apart and eat it. It was so fascinating to watch this bird use it's claws to hold the bread in place while it nibbled away at the morsel that it taken. Within 30 minutes it was all gone.

Birds are intelligent creatures. Watching this bird, I learned to appreciate this type even more as they must have to watch from the air constantly to be looking for food.

It makes me wonder, as human beings, if we didn't have supermarkets at our disposal, would we be able to scour the land for our own food? Would we know what we can and cannot eat? Would we know how to provide for ourselves?

(Photo Courtesy of http://www.nycgovparks.org/kids/LBimages/american_crow_library.jpg)

Falling Asleep

2009-12-31T08:33:00.001-08:00

Have you ever paid attention to how you fall asleep? I do at times. I did last night as I had insomnia I paid attention again. I start dreaming while being awake, does that make sense? I can feel the transition to dream land happen. If I pay attention to it and notice that I am going to sleep, I wake up again.

I always start falling asleep in the same position, on my stomach with one leg up. Then I end rolling over on my side when I am almost asleep. I like to have my feet elevated and like to stick them out of the covers when I get too hot.

I love lots of blankets and need them pulled right up around my neck. I need them tucked in around my back and I am in my cocoon.

I like to read until I can't keep my eyes open any more. It doesn't matter what I have to read. I'll read anything, but I like to read until I drift off. I love feeling the book falling from my hand as I am drifting off to slumberland.

So tell me, do you have a nighttime routine? Sweet dreams.

Problems with blogger

2009-12-31T08:13:00.000-08:00

Anyone else out there having problems with blogger losing data? I just noticed that the blogs that I read have disappeared - again! Here I go looking for all the stupid addresses. As much as I hate this, I at least now know why people become followers of blogs. Probably so that they can find their blogs when blogger does something.

So, once I find you my friends, I will become followers again. Please do not get insulted if I haven't been there in a bit, I probably can't find you. I rely on lists so much and not on my memory anymore. I forget too many things.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Shopping: Guys vs Gals

2009-12-23T03:43:00.000-08:00

I had to share this funny happening with you.

We took the older two Christmas shopping, well Rand did, I went off to do my thing. Anyway, I came back and spied on the children first. It was so interesting to see Erin going around with her list. She had written everyone's name down that she had to buy for and gift ideas for each person. Checking them off as she was done. Lots of thought and love poured into this. She was done rather quickly as she knew what she wanted.

Then I see Patrick shopping. He has the same amount of people to buy for, is frustrated because he doesn't want to be shopping at the dollar store and is walking aimlessly up and down each aisle. We are waiting for Patrick and end up having to get him to leave before he is done as we have to be a karate soon. He had the same amount of time and has to go back now.

I am wondering if this is a true guy/ girl thing or just these too. Tell me, who do you shop like?

Yahoo! Penny Pinching blog gets interviewed!

2009-12-17T09:32:00.000-08:00

Well my friends, I have to share this with you as only a few of people knew this was happening. A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed for the radio about my penny pinching blog that I write. Yesterday it aired! How exciting. I realized that I did end up tripping over a couple of facts after listening to it and hearing some comments cut and paste. You who they affect, will know what they were and my apologies for it. I was really nervous. If you would like to hear the interview and read about some of what happened behind the scenes, pop on over to my blog and read this post!

I have had a couple of people inquire about posting an ad or a giveaway on my blog, so that's what I have to figure out where this is actually going. I need some comments back about what new frugal series I can start in the new year.

Senior's Moment?

2009-12-09T17:39:00.000-08:00

I don't think that I am old enough for that, but man, this just shows you how much is going on in my little head.

Today my lovely inlaws took my two little ones again so that I could get some sewing done. While they were gone, I decided to go to the post office and mail my brother and his wife's Christmas present. Since it's only a couple of houses away, I decided that I wouldn't lock the door. Conscientiously made that choice as I was walking out the door without my keys. Realized a little too late, that as I was shutting the door, that I had indeed already LOCKED the door. I yelled, "NOOOO!" and tried to get to the door before it latched to no avail.

Yep. I locked myself out.

No one else home.

No neighbours home.

All by myself on my day to sew.

Fun.

Well, I went to the post office anyway and got that all done and then came home and tried every lower window to see if I could get in. Did you know that it is very hard to remove a screen from the outside? Yep. It is. Dang near impossible without ruining it.

Then, I noticed that the girls' window was open about 4 cms. I had it opened still from this morning from airing out the house and had neglected to remember to close it. Explains why it was colder in our home .

I climbed up on a bench and tried to get my arm through the crack to loosen the crank, but my arm was not that small. I tried to wiggle the window open little by little, but that wouldn't work.

Then, I noticed my neighbour's car home. Thankfully, they had a ladder as well. Yahoo! Now we were in business!

I climbed up to the window with a stick, and used it to push the crank around to get the window open wide enough for me to climb inside. What a feat. After an hour and a bit from the time I realized that I locked myself out, I got back inside.

Now through this whole story, you are probably asking why I didn't just go and get the spare key. Everyone has one right? Yep, we do as well, and I could see it sitting inside on top of my tv stand. The children had found it outside and were playing with it. I had to take it from them and brought it inside until I could think of a new place to put it. Because, what's the good of having a spare key if you don't know where it is? Or in my case today, being able to get at it OUTSIDE of your home when you are locked out!!

Well you can guess what the first thing I did when I got back inside- yep, put the spare key in a new place so when it happens again, I can get in.

Thankfully, I was able to get in. Otherwise, I would have had to wait another couple of hours until Rand got home from work.

Lovely day. Productive day. At least a laughing day.

(remember this blog is going private at the end of the month so if you want to be able to read it please email me at girlplaty at gmail dot com)

Going Private

2009-12-08T07:48:00.000-08:00

Hey all! I have decided to make this family blog a private blog by the end of December. If you would like to be on the read list, please send me an email at girlplaty at gmail dot com, with your email address in it. Thanks so much.

Liz

A Give Away!

2009-11-25T10:32:00.001-08:00

Check out Maritime Penny Pinchers for a neat little giveaway and a deal if you go to our farmer's market!

Shock and Fear Not Good to Wake Up to.

2009-11-20T04:56:00.000-08:00

One of the first things that I do in the morning, even before getting out of bed, is check the weather on my ipod. Even if I know the weather the night before I check because the weather can change so quickly here on the Island.

The night before it was calling for a sunny warm day and a high of 10! You can imagine my surprise when I checked in the morning and said the high was 2! Ugh. It got me fully awake. I couldn't believe that it was changing that much.

Then, to check the time of the posting I looked to the top of the page, where to much happiness I found out that I was NOT looking at the weather for Charlottetown, but was on a second page for God's Lake Narrows. My husband set up the weather pages for where all of our siblings that live away are so I can check out their weather. I am such a gommer eh Ang?

So I did get my sunny, warm, delightfully abnormal, mild November day and enjoyed it immensely. Unfortunately, my dear brother and sisterinlaw had a rather chilly day. Sorry Kristi, but glad it was you than me!

Off to enjoy another sunny warm day today!

HOW TO BE GRACIOUS

2009-11-18T09:31:00.000-08:00

Rand sent this to me today, and since I got a good laugh, I thought I would share it with you my friends:

Jennifer's wedding day was fast approaching.Nothing could dampen her excitement -- not even her parent's nasty divorce. Her mother had found the PERFECT dress to wear and would be the

best-dressed mother-of-the-bride ever!

A week later, Jennifer was horrified to learn that her father's new young wife had bought the exact same dress as

her mother! Jennifer asked her father's new young wife to exchange it, but she refused. 'Absolutely not,

I look like a million bucks in this dress, and I'm Wearing it,' she replied.

Jennifer told her mother who graciously said, 'Never mind sweetheart.

I'll get another dress. After all, it's your special day.'

A few days later, they went shopping and did find another gorgeous dress. When they stopped for lunch, Jennifer asked her mother, 'Aren't you going to return the other dress?

You really don't have another occasion where you could wear it.

Her mother just smiled and replied, 'Of course I do, dear…………

I'm wearing it to the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding.'

Tell me that doesn't totally just rock!

Christmas Shoebox

2009-11-17T05:51:00.000-08:00

Our family did Operation Christmas Child last night. If you would like to learn more about it, please check out their site or come on over to Martime Penny Pinchers and read today's Christmas Frugal post.

Wonderful tradition for EVERY family to do at Christmas. Try it out.

Ugh and totally disgusting and sick and gross

2009-11-17T04:38:00.000-08:00

So as mentioned in my post yesterday, today is my day. I can't wait for it to start here soon. But just in case I was still feeling at all guilty, Allie helped to relieve me of that this morning.

Just a minute or so before the bus comes for the olders, Allie goes off to poop telling me, "No potty Mama." Okay, whatever, need to get the kids going. She does her deed and we look out the window to make sure the children get on the bus okay. I mean a poopy diaper can wait a minute or two right?

Afterwards, Ryan gets the diaper and wipes so that we can get the show on the road and be ready for when Grammie and Grampy come for them. Allie goes and lays down on the couch and wants to be changed there, fine.

As I go to change her I see a crumbled oak leaf beside her and go to move it out of the way. As I reach my fingers around it, I find out that it is NOT a leaf, but actually some POOP!!!!

I started screaming, "Get me a bag! Get me a bag! Faster!"

Ryan replies, "Coming Mama, just don't throw up!"

I get everything cleaned up and now, I really don't feel all that guilty about having a day to myself.

Off I go now, to do MY thing!

Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow!

2009-11-16T15:55:00.000-08:00

Oh I am SO EXCITED for tomorrow! I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning!

What you ask, could have me just so DARN excited?!

Well,

have

the

best

parents in law

the

whole

darn

world!!

They, are taking Ryan and Allie to their house for the day tomorrow while my older two are in school so that I can have a day to accomplish the things that I want to accomplish!

Yahoo! Tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you're only a sleep away!

(I must say, that there is a small part of me that feels incredibly guilty about being so darn excited for this. I'll get over it, right? They get to bond with the grandparents and all that.)

A Give Away!

2009-11-12T08:56:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately not from me, but from my dear friend Tami. And really, I don't want you to go over and comment because I WANT TO WIN! I am posting a link to her site on here so I can get an extra entry. Sad eh? But, my mom raised me to be a good (ugh) sport, and to share, so here you go. The link to her sight :( Tell her I sent you that way. It won't do anything for me entrywise, or you even, but it will help me to feel better that I helped someone out.

Lest We Forget

2009-11-11T09:10:00.000-08:00

(http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/13223.jpg)

I started this post before I went to the Cenotaph today as I didn't want to forget those that have been in the wars representing our country. But upon return there are a couple of things of note that I wanted to share.

I was pleasantly surprised how many people of my generation were there. I always am. I think it's because we have not been involved in a war that has affected our lives so dramatically as those who lived through the World Wars. We aren't drafted. We don't have rations. We don't have the threat of an evil force extending across the ocean and threatening us.

I was sorry to see people just driving by the service without a care in the world. I was sorry to see that there were people that were taking this day for granted and using it as a holiday without remembering. I am sorry to know that the Capital City of our nation, and indeed that whole province, doesn't have it as a statutory holiday and that everything is opened and school is in. Not a great example to the rest of the country.

I was grateful for the cars that did drive by that slowed down considerably. There was one car that went so slow a person could have walked faster than they drove. I am grateful for that respect that was shown.

I was grateful that as I drove through town today, that the stores were all closed to honour those that serve. To see how quiet it was in our little city was very spiritual.

I am grateful that we don't have that type of war now, threatening our personal freedom. I am grateful for our troops that are fighting in Afghanistan for that country's freedom. That we are willing to sacrifice to stand up for what is right.

I don't like war. I don't agree with war. I thinks it's ironic that we teach our children not to fight with one another and to talk things out only for them to grow up and learn that adults fight differently and put other people's lives on the line. I don't like the leaders of the various countries where their decisions lead to war and lives lost.

I am grateful, though, that there are people out there that are so brave and strong in belief that they are willing to defend with their lives if necessary. I am grateful to live in a country that has freedom. To live in a country where there is a Cenotaph in many communities where we can honour those brave souls. To live in a country that I am not oppressed in. I am grateful that I was able to go with my family to Cenotaph today and ponder on these things and feel the Spirit that was there.

I am grateful for Remembrance Day.

Selfish Plug Here

2009-11-10T10:21:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I have a favour to ask of you. I have another blog that I do daily as well and I am wanting some feed back about the site. Would you take a look at it and then email me with any suggestions or post it back here or post it over there of what you would like to see or could be improved? Thanks I so need it. The site is maritimepennypinchers.blogspot.com. You can email me at girlplaty at gmail dot com.

Maybe I should do a giveaway or something over there to get some more readers (it's a secret why I am looking for more readers. You will find out one day. Ha Ha Ha). What would you do for a giveaway on a frugal site? I suppose just about anything as it would be free to them, but seriously, any ideas?

Thanks so much.

Do you remember 20 years ago today?

2009-11-09T04:41:00.001-08:00

I do. I was in shock. I cried and cried and couldn't understand why I was crying because it didn't affect me directly. I think I knew history was being made, that I got to witness it and I could feel what the people were feeling that it did affect. Do you know what event I am talking about?

The Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago today.

(http://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/img2/20091108/600_ap_wall_091108.jpg)

It caused heartache, distress, death, anxiety and fear. Just seeing the picture of it you can feel the fear that it imposed.

(http://berlin-wall.org/bilder/b_mur14.jpg)

To see the death strip and for the people on either side of the wall to be able to see the difference in life by looking out the window. To be grateful for their freedom, feel sorry for their brothers, or to feel the pain of seeing freedom so close and not be able to partake of it.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall)

Still today, it tugs at my heart strings when I see the pictures and remember what happened.

When it was announced that the citizens were free to travel back and forth, Annemarie Reffer and her daughter were the first people to cross. She did it just to see if she would be given any problems. She wasn't.

(http://www.news.de/fotostrecke/850690363/ein-stueck-geschichte-am-wegesrand/2/)

Can you imagine the feelings of families being reunited with their families, their freedom coming back to them, the fear of death taken away?

I remember seeing this on the news. The joy that was felt world wide, everyone talked about it. It was so world changing.

(http://europa.eu/abc/12lessons/images/content_berlin_wall.jpg)

So tell me, do you remember 20 years ago today? What do you remember?

Remembrance Week

2009-11-07T07:00:00.001-08:00

(from cbc.ca)

As Veterans' Affairs is asking this year, what will you do to remember? I couldn't wait until Remembrance Day to share this post that was emailed to me. I thought it would be good for us all to think about with the days leading up to Remembrance Day on Wednesday and maybe help us remember those that have fought or are fighting. I don't know where this originated from, but I am grateful to the author for offering this thoughtful insight.

In France, at a fairly large conference, Prime Minister Steven Harper was asked by a French cabinet minister if Canadian involvement in Afghanistan was just an example of "empire building."

Mr Harper answered by saying, 'Over the years, Canada has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

A Canadian Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the Canadian, US, English, Australian and French Navies.

At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks, but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, North Americans generally learn only English. He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?'

Without hesitating, the Canadian Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

When Robert Whiting, an elderly Canadian gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane at the French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.

'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer asked sarcastically.

Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. The official replied 'Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.'

The Canadian said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it.'

'Impossible, Monsieur. Canadians always have to show passports on arrival in France !'

The Canadian senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

Aprons! How I love them.

2009-11-06T06:06:00.000-08:00

It's true! I love aprons. I love them so much. I can't cook without one. Can't bath the children without one of them. Absolutely can't live without them.

So why am I going on about aprons today you ask? Well, I won an apron on a giveaway over at Short Fat Mormon Chick (check her out!) I am so excited! She emailed me to try to find out my style, size and what not. I thought I would post on here to show you some of the aprons that I totally adore!

To start with there's the chick that I totally love over at A Quilt and a Cake that makes really cute aprons and sells them in her Etsy shop. I would love to have one of each of these aprons. You so need to check her shop. She always has fun ideas going on. I know for certain that she is sewing like mad for Christmas.

Anyway, here are a couple of her aprons that I totally love:

Over at Overstock I love this one:

And how are these ones at Hostess Blog for fun?!

I love this clothespin apron from Retro Mama. It's just so fun and it would make even the most stubborn person want to hang their clothes out on the line.

And I REALLY love this one from Busy b aprons:

This one over at Mama's Pocketbook doesn't look like it would be too hard to make. I love it. Simple. Practical. Lovely.

Now this one has style! You could wear it almost as a cute skirt if the back was finished. I found it over at Mommies with Style:

Don't you just want to wear one? Are you an apron person? What's your type? I wish I had them all. Sick, I know. I can't help myself.

What was lost is found

2009-11-05T05:41:00.000-08:00

I THINK I have found all of my blogs and maybe a few new ones. What a problem to go through. Man.

I love the book Where the Wild Things Are. I found this really great tutorial on how to make some puppets for the book.

And here is another spot to check her's out:

I can't wait to see this movie. It's Allie's utmost favourite book and she can recite a fair amount of it when we read it together. I think this might be a good gift for her this year.

AGH!!! My Favourites are gone!

2009-11-04T14:51:00.001-08:00

I was messing around with my blog background and didn't save it, just previewed each time. Somehow, somewhere all of my favourite blogs have disappeared. My friends' blogs and other blogs that I love to read. I know this is where following a blog helps. Lessons learned.

Please help me, I have nothing. Can you comment on this post so that I can find all my blogs again? Thanks my blogging friends.

My Baby is 10!

2009-11-04T05:28:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that Patrick is 10! His birthday was Monday and I suck for posting.

Patrick had his party on Friday evening. A bunch of friends over to eat cake and ice cream, have tonnes of munchies and watch a movie from 7-10pm. Some were getting a little sleepy the closer it came to 10pm. Good group of kids and fun.

On Monday Patrick got to celebrate again. He got to pick what we ate for the entire day. Chocolate Chip Pancakes for breakfast, chicken noodle soup for lunch, and pizza and garlic fingers from Pizza Delight for supper. Plus carrot cake and ice cream.

He got his present from us finally after supper. He really wanted an ipod touch and made a deal with us to do it as a combo birthday/Christmas present with him contributing a little bit as well.

He was so sure that he was getting it and I didn't want to just hand it over to him, where's the fun in that? So I wrapped up a book that he wanted and he was happy to get it, but the look on his face questioned, "isn't there more?" We told him that the store was out of ipods and there wouldn't be any back in for several weeks. He was good about it but disappointed.

I told him that I had downloaded several apps for him and since we didn't have his ipod, I put them on mine and he could go and get it and try it out. As he went to get mine, he found his all wrapped up and on my night stand. He was so happy. It was so worth it.

I just can't believe he's 10! Wasn't he just born like a year or so ago?

Happy Birthday Baby.

Hallowe'en in MacKayland

2009-11-04T05:02:00.001-08:00

I realize as I publish this post, that I neglected to get a picture of me during the Primary activity when I was dressed up. I did the witch's kitchen with all the lovely brains and intestines and whatnot that make up a great stew.

Hallowe'en started the day before with Rand dressing up for work.

I made Allie watch him get his makeup on so that she wouldn't freak. Unfortunately, my niece was totally traumatized (she's two as well) when he came home from work still like this. Thankfully her mom arrived at the same time.

On Hallowe'en we had quite the costumes going on. Patrick really wanted to be Anikan Skywalker, but we were unfortunate in finding a costume on time. So he came up with being a pile of leaves. (The wind was already blowing and most of the leaves are behind him in this picture.)

I thought that was quite unique. I was lucky enough to get the leaf garland onsale at Michael's. Reg $8.49 a piece (please tell me who pays that much for this stuff?) on for $1.60. Might be worth about 75 cents. Anyway, cool costume for him and he kept blowing away the entire time we were out trick or treating.

Erin was going to be a cowgirl, and was for the church party, however, on the night of Hallowe'en she changed her mind and became Hermione.

Ryan was a mummy for the church party (I noticed that we sucked in getting pics for that party. Ugh.) and decided to be a cow for trick or treating. Much warmer.

Allie was Pebbles for the church party (see post about piggy tails) and then for trick or treating she was going to be a ballerina right up to the point where we were going to walk out the door. Then, she decided to be a dinosaur! She roared at everyone when they gave her a treat.

This was her first Hallwe'en to go out. She was a little petrified at the first two homes where they were all dressed up and had scary music and VERY spooky decorations. In fact, she was so scared she climbed right up me and hid her head in my neck.

She recuperated rather quickly and got the hang of it by the fourth door, pushing past the older children to hold her bag out and yell, "tick or teat!" She out lasted Ryan who half way around our loop asked Rand if he had to go to any more homes and if not could he please go to the car? Rand of course, took him to the car where he promptly fell asleep.

Rand kept asking Allie if she wanted to come to the car as well. She replied, "No Daddy, more houses, more CANDY!" She had this down pat! In fact, a couple of homes gave her double because she was too cute.

We had a whole 5 trick or treaters that came to our door. I wonder if I can freeze the candy for next year?

Hope you had a great Hallowe'en!

Piggy Tails

2009-11-04T04:50:00.000-08:00

This deserves it's own post! Our poor Allie has had so little hair for so long. Here she is two years old and people often say what a cute BOY she is because of the short hair. I can't bare to even cut the mullet off the back because it is the longest point and I am afraid if I cut it, the curls that she has will be gone.

She always brings an elastic to me and asks me for, "pretty hair pease Mama." I end up doing the Pebbles pony tail on the top of her head. The other day she brought me two elastics and wanted, "pretty hair pease Mama, like Erin," who happened to have piggy tails in.

I thought, ok, we'll try it. Here is my beautiful little princess with her first piggy tails.

Isn't she adorable? I can't wait for it to grow longer. I look at Kathy Nelson's little Georgia and am envious, especially because they are only a couple of months apart. Some day.

A million years later... and I am venting about H1N1

2009-10-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't been on here in forever, an update will come some day. I just really needed to vent for a moment about H1N1 vaccine choices. I know, it's being talked about everywhere and you may be sick of hearing about it and if so, then skip my post, but I am venting anyway.

I have been in such turmoil about getting the vaccine and if I get the vaccine, do I get the one with the adjuvant or without. Who do I listen to? The government or the others? It's worse than religion out there. Everyone claims that they have the truth! But really, who knows? I guess when it's all over and done with we will find out.

I have spent hours researching and praying about my decision and I AM NOT HERE TO PREACH TO YOU WHAT YOU SHOULD DO. I am here to say research and find out what works best for you and live with that choice.

I have a very dear friend and she and I agree differently on the whole vaccine issue, but NOT ONCE has she pushed her side on me, nor have I on her. We have come to an understanding and we are both doing what we feel is best for our families and we respect each other for that. I totally get her reasons that she has chosen not to vaccinate and I believe she understands mine and hey, we can still be friends!

Recently, however, I have seen a lot of posts on various friends' facebook status saying how stupid people are if they get this vaccine and that they can't think for themselves and pushing their opinion out there, which is of course, what your status update is for. However, it's not kind to say someone is stupid because they don't agree with your decision. It's rather immature. I wouldn't say that someone is stupid because they aren't getting the vaccine. I would assume that they must have done as much research as I have, more or less, and have made that decision for themselves and that's great for them.

Don't just jump on whatever bandwagon is going for other peoples' reasons. Find out for yourself as many sides to the story as you can and make an INFORMED decision. Whether you get immunized or not, I admire those that do their research and feel good about whatever decision they have made.

And please, whatever you decide, don't say that someone else is stupid because they decided differently then you, we aren't in elementary school after all. Respect each person's right for them to be able to choose for themselves and be grateful that we aren't being forced into getting vaccinated or not getting vaccinated. As I say to my children at least once a day, Be Nice to each other. And I would like to add, show more respect to everyone out there and don't think that people are all lemmings just because of whatever choice they make. Someone may have thought about that choice just as much as you did.

Once it was lost

2009-09-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

I was once an organized person. Really, I was. That was a LONG time ago. Like when Patrick was a baby long time ago. I used to be on a schedule, completely tied to it and found it hard to be spontaneous at all. My life was cleaning, scheduling, cooking and teaching my son.

Then a bump in the road came and I have been fighting to get back on track ever since. Every time I feel that I am getting closer another bump comes that sends me even further off course and in a whole new direction from where I was.

I know that the path is there. I know I CAN be organized. I have the desire, but the time is getting in the way. This last bump has been this wonderful project of renovation.

I justified the fact that my house is chaos from the renos that there isn't a point to be organized and keeping up as everything keeps getting moved around.

That is a horrible justification.

This past week I have been having the strong urge to get organized again and having been picking small projects to get myself going towards the right track again.

Weekend update on the renos

2009-09-08T17:59:00.001-07:00

I know short post, but we got so much done I had to show you.

New window installed and old siding ripped off:

Day one of siding going on, addition side done:

Day two done of siding, kitchen sides:

To see once again, what it looked like when we bought it and what it looked like when we started out, check this older post.

More reno updates

2009-09-02T16:17:00.000-07:00

View of it during priming from the addition to the old part of the house:

Patrick hard at work priming the old part of the kitchen:

Colour of the new room from the front window:

Looking at the front and side corner:

The current outside view:

My kitchen looks like a bomb went off...

2009-08-19T16:06:00.001-07:00

and that's no word of a lie. I know we all say that about our homes no matter how clean they are, admit it, you do. No matter who comes over we always tell them to excuse the mess. Well my friends, MY kitchen truly looks like a bomb went off and that's not even a tiniest bit of an exaggeration.

I am not like those people you see on shows like How Clean is Your House (which can I just say here and now, how does anyone let their home get that disgusting), I am a woman that has a home under construction. I know I haven't shown pics of it in a dog's age, then again I haven't posted in a long time either, but this is the recent part of the reno. Other updates from the past month will come someday.

The area where the basement stairs were has been knocked out, along with my pantry closet and my sewing cupboard, and the hole that went through for the addition. I will show more pics later, but here is what my kitchen looked like just a couple of days ago:

(after tearing out the walls from the closets and the stairs, I wish I had a before pic here)

(my kitchen)

(the earlier opening to the addition from where our back door use to be)

(I know it's dark, but the size of the current opening to the addition and the floor getting laid down)

Told you that my house looked like a bomb went off. Your home feels totally cleaner and more organized now eh? Gotta love renos. We aer almost in our new part of the home. We have been living over at my inlaws' home for the past week and a half while the dust from the drywall finishes getting sanded and the house gets cleaned up.

I was looking for a picture from our old kitchen so you could compare, but I didn't have any on any old blog posts. In fact, I learned that I don't put many pics up at all with my posts, something I am going to change. I will put some more pics up as I get them.

Go and enjoy your nice, clean kitchen. Really. I won't be hurt by it, I'll live vicariously through you and enjoy it.

Goal for the summer: 100 consecutive push ups

2009-07-06T04:17:00.000-07:00

Last September I started Karate and I totally love it! I went with the children once or twice a week and felt myself getting stronger and healthier. Rand is hoping to start back again in the winter session after his jaw surgery, but we had talked about one of us rotating through to be able to go to an adult class once every other week as well as well as one of us going to the family class with the children.

At the end of the spring session as I was talking to another adult in our family class, I found out something rather frightening about the adult class: at the end of the night Sensai gets everyone to do 100 pushups! Oh my heck! I thought that I was going to drop dead right there thinking of it.

A year ago I started practising to be able to get up to the 20 that are required from the family class. I could only do one at the time. I am talking real pushups, not these silly girl pushups with the knees bent. By the time karate started, I was up to 25 a day. I didn't want to get to class and fall on my face in front of everyone else.

Armed with the knowledge of having to do 100 pushups I was wondering how in the world was I ever going to be able to accomplish this task? September is not that far away. Well, then I was reading Jill's blog homemade by Jill, and low and behold she was starting a program to get to 100 pushups in 6 weeks! Guess what I started? I did the initial test last week and started the regime this morning. My initial test I achieved only 20 pushups as I have slacked off since karate ended. I know, not the best thing knowing that I was going to have to increase to 100 in the fall, but I am a procrastinator.

This morning my routine from the site said that I had to do 10 rest for a minute, 12, rest, 7, rest, 7, rest and then as many as you can after that (hopefully more than 9) I did 12 more! That's a total of 48 pushups! I am on my way! Yahoo!

Anyone else out there wanna try it? I highly recommend it. Think of the great arms you will have. Come on. You can do it.

Canada Day Celebrations

2009-07-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

I just love living on the Island. It has such a small town feel at so many times. This past week they have had the Charlottetown Festival of Lights going on daily. We went down to the waterfront to enjoy the festivities the day before Canada Day and were able to avoid the crowds. It was an opportunity to spend some time with our family enjoying some free rides, visits with the 2010 Vancouver Olympics Mascots, visit a petting zoo and have some cotton candy. Be warned, this post has a lot of pictures. It was so clean and there wasn't any obnoxious amusement park music going. What a wonderful gift to give to the community so that all were able to enjoy it.

Ryan was completely smitten with the mascots. He just loves everyone and wanted to stay with these extra large moveable stuffed animals. I think that was his favourite part!

After we dragged them away from the mascots it was on to the rides. Erin was first up with wanting to go on the strawberry twirl ride. It seems that the boys enjoyed it also.

Poor Allie, she wanted to go on it, but her mean mother told her she was just too little. Luckily we found a blow up activity that was more up her alley (no pun intended!).

The older children, while they were somewhat entertained with that bouncy activity, they were more enthralled with the Pirate obstacle blowup course right next door. Unfortunately, I only seemed to have taken a picture of Ryan entering and not the whole thing.

On to the petting zoo! They were completely captivated to see all of the different animals and to be able to touch and watch them. And yes, we sanitized like mad when they were through touching and feeding them!

Back to the rides we go. Ryan was saddened because the giant slide was shut down for whatever reason. The older children got him to be happy again when they went on the scrambler. They thought that it totally rocked and wanted to keep going back on it.

The next day was actual Canada Day. We went down to our local community centre for the festivities. It was so much fun. It started out with a potluck and door prizes. I won some flip flops with the Canadian Flag on them.

Then the children were outside for all the relies. They had jump rope, hula hoop, tug of war, potato sack, wheel barrel (where Patrick ended up dragging Ryan on his back to the finish line because Ryan rolled over. Needless to say, they took first!), three lagged and nail hammering, pie eating and ended up with a candy toss. The children were broken up in their age groups and awarded ribbons and prizes. I shouldn't just say children, they had a good group of teens there and they were very helpful with the children and they had the adults in the races as well. So much fun.

Afterwards we all went back in to the Community Centre for cake and ice cream and more door prizes! Rand won some lovely grape ice cube molds and Allie and toy truck train. Ryan decided to grace the audience with a lovely rendition of the ABC's in to the microphone that someone left down and on. He even had his fist pounding in the air for others to join him and he ended it with a round of applause. So much for telling him that it wasn't appropriate. He certainly is our little monkey. I hadn't even seen him get up off his chair to go up and get the mic! Great mother eh?

Well, if you have endured this long in the post, I really appreciate it. I love living in Canada, the true north strong and free. I am so proud to be Canadian, for our freedom and for the wonderful life we have here. Hope you had a fantastic Canada Day wherever you were!

Oh Canada!

2009-07-01T06:08:00.001-07:00

(taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/imuttoo/2628589070/sizes/l/)

Happy Canada Day!! I couldn't find any Canada Day blog themes, so for the day we are red and white. Someone should make one - takers?

More to come after we are done celebrating. Here a couple of my favourite Canadian commercials. I know they're for beer, but I LOVE THEM!! Enjoy.

Wonder Allie!!

2009-06-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

I am totally in awe. Tonight as I was reading the Bible stories to the children, Allie points to the beginning of the next chapter where there is a capital W and says "W." Our mouths dropped and thought it was a fluke, until she pointed out A, O, T and S also. 5 out of 26 isn't bad. Oh, and she's only 23 months old!

Picture Window For Sale

2009-06-24T06:24:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I have a 3.5 year old picture window for sale. Measures from brick molding: 111.5 inches by 64.5 inches. 2 crank windows on sides and double size full window in the middle (see picture). Will remove from our home when you are ready to take it. Reason for selling: buying new window to match addition being built. Sells for $1080 new before taxes. If you know anyone who is looking for a new window. Please send them my way. Thanks!

Yet another conversation with my very funny Ryan.

2009-06-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

We were outside playing today when I mentioned it was time to go in to get lunch started. Amazingly, both of my children started crying at the same time, but for different reasons: Allie because she didn't want to get off the swing, Ryan because suddenly he was STARVING!!

As we got inside, Ryan is still going on about how hungry he was and begging me for an egg on toast. I told him it would take me a bit to get the egg done and that he would be fine with the cheese and grapes for now. To which he replied, "No Mama, my belly is empty! I am tellin' the truf (Ryan talk). Look!" Then he opens his mouth so I can see into his belly.

Unfortunately, at this point, I just cracked up and started laughing uncontrollably. Not the response he was looking for. He is still crying, Allie is crying, and I am laughing so hard that I am crying.

He continued on to turn my head several times to look at him and tries to show me again, by opening his mouth and repeating the problem. What else am I to do? I laugh, and laugh, and laugh some more. Allie finally stops crying because she is looking at me strangely, which doesn't help my laughter. Ryan starts speaking firmly to me and counting for me to stop laughing and look in his mouth because his belly is SO empty! What do I do? Try to look, but am shaking so hard with laughter, that it's pretty near impossible to see anything. Not that I would be able to see his belly anyway.

I quickly lift him off my lap, and make my way to the kitchen to get snack for the boy with the empty belly and try not to cut myself with the knife while I continue on laughing at his expense.

Needless to say, he probably still won't eat his supper tonight.

A walk with friends

2009-06-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

Last month we went on a great walk. I had the camera with me and took lots of pics, but then with getting the new computer I neglected to post anything with pics on it until I could find them. As I was looking through the pics I realized that I haven't posted ANY since before my birthday!

We; Ryan, Allie and I, headed out with our friends, Destiny and Harmony down the farm lane near our home to get to the walking trail. On this day Ryan had TONNES of energy, so he ran and ran and ran.

The cows that we pass on our walk. I love summer!

We stopped for a snack at the picnic table. Ryan ran the whole way here, about 1.5 kms. I thought for sure he would be done at this point, but he continued to run another 0.5 km after this! Look at those red cheeks.

While having snack, Ryan decided to make a move on Harmony. Thankfully I got a pic of it. Too cute.

The children loved the bridge that goes to the picnic table and just kept running back and forth on it.

That was until they discovered that they could jump off it and have even more fun!

No walk is complete without throwing rocks.

Finally Ryan got tuckered out around the 2 km mark; luckily for him there was a bench near by. By the time we got there he had his shirt already off and was going for the pants! We couldn't resist getting the three of them to pose.

I love going for walks and that was one of the reasons we bought the house we did, because it was close to the trail. It's a great spot to be able to just let your children run free and not have to worry about cars. We go raspberry picking along the trail in the summer, look for signs of growth in the spring, watch the Canadian Geese as we pass the wetlands, go snowshoeing in the winter and of course picnics!

Needless to say, the energy is burned off the children and they get to be outside away from everything. Got to love PEI!

Laundry, laundry and more laundry

2009-06-10T05:53:00.001-07:00

This is my post from the penny pincher blog that I thought I would share with you. Please feel free to check us out over there as well.

Does it ever seem like it's all you do? We are a family of 6 and it's amazing how much laundry is generated through a week. We are starting to look at the merits of a front loading washing machine to lower the cost of electricity, be more efficient and, of course, to be more environmentally conscience.

To lower my costs of laundry (I do about 15 loads a week), we wash in cold water and hang my clothes on the clothesline as much as possible. I buy laundry detergent on sale and try not to wash clothes just because (you know, those lovely clothes that the children put in the wash because they looked at them). I guess I am also blessed enough to have a washing machine that folds clothes during the wash cycle and even pairs socks together! I know, it's the children being lazy, but I wish that the machines had that option; then again, they probably wouldn't be folded the way that I would want and I would have to redo them all.

Where is this leading to? Well, lately there has been a lot of talk from the people around me about making your own laundry detergent. It equates to about 3 cents a load with this recipe. Since we love to pinch pennies, I am giving it to you:

Homemade Laundry Soap

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap (sunlight)

1/2 cup washing soda (arm and hammer makes this and it's in the laundry detergent aisle)

1/2 cup borax

6 cups water

4 cups hot water

1 gallon and 6 cups more water

You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallons in size

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for 24 hours and it will gel. Use 1/2 cup per load.

** Some people like a little extra cleaning boost to the recipe so they double the amount of borax and washing soda, this only very mildly effects the cost and may help if you feel you need it.

Here is my disclaimer- I have NEVER tried it. I have two buckets of it in the laundry room that have been given to me, but I have enough other detergent to go through before I get to that rotation. I stock up when it's on sale. I have no idea how well it works on Island dirt, but heard from a friend that she got grass stains out with it. I will update on this when I get to that part of my laundry storage.

Should you not want to or have the desire to make your own soap, and you aren't a diehard one type of soap user, there are some brands that are on sale this week. Sobeys has Xtra 2x Concentrated Liquid Laundry Detergent on for buy one get one free; 2/$9.99. It equates out to about 5 cents a load and you don't have to make it! Coop has ABC 2x liquid on for $3.00 (if you have a membership) for 42 loads. It equates out to 7 cents a load.

What do you use? Any laundry tips to share with the rest of us to lower our prices? I look forward to hearing from you. Happy laundering.

Technically left handed, but really more right handed

2009-06-06T16:49:00.000-07:00

In a world where most things are created for those that are right handed, I have been born left handed. That may not seem strange to any of you, however (and here I am dating myself) I can remember being in grade primary and having my teacher tell me to switch the pencil to my right hand so that I could write correctly.

My mother, sister and my oldest daughter are all left handed as well. In fact, I have a brother who thought all women were left handed until he met his wife and questioned her when he noticed that she was writing with her right hand. Allie, my youngest daughter, seems to be breaking the trend and uses her right hand. And yes, I have tried to get her to switch to the left to no avail.

Last fall I had a bicycle accident and hurt my left wrist. I realized then, just how little I actually do with that hand. I eat with my left hand and I write with my left hand, but that is it. My right hand is my dominate hand. I wonder why.

Today, I realized just how much I rely on my right hand. My wrist has been troubling me mostly since my fight with my old lawn mower and my power struggle to make it start (I won with the pull cord battle, it won with not cutting more than the front yard and has since gone to lawn mower heaven). Today Rand and I were carrying in the drywall for the addition and it started to slip out of my hands. I tried to re-grab it and heard a popping sound followed by a tearing sound in my wrist. Yes, you guessed it, I pulled the ligaments in my right wrist.

Needless to say, I got out of helping to bring the rest of the drywall in to the house. I also have learned just how much I rely on my right wrist as I kept reaching for things or trying to open things, or lift people, or whatever throughout the day. I had it wrapped, but would just forget until I did something and caused MORE pain.

Thankfully, I know the exercises to follow to make it better, but that doesn't take away the pain. It could be worse. It has just made me realize how much I owe my body and how I have to be kind with it.

In a right handed world, I am a lefty, who is almost a righty. So what does that really make me?

A million years later...

2009-06-04T16:25:00.000-07:00

And Liz comes back to the blogging world. It's been so nice outside that I couldn't bring myself to sit down and type. I have been planting more shrubs and flowers, creating a rock wall, going walking/running, feeding our neighbours cows and playing lots of games with the children. I LOVE this time of year so much. I don't want to be inside at all and have to drag myself in to get work done.

I finished the Twilight series. I must admit, that I grew to love Edward again, however, I am still a Jacob girl. I always have to go against the grain don't I? I am glad that you, my friends, encouraged me to perserver and finish the book.

To me, that's one of my favourite summer things to do: read books. My parents always went to the the spring library sale to acquire what we called "beach reads," you know, those books that are just a fun read that don't require much on your part? Well, that's what I have waiting on my shelf. I just finished Act of God and am starting Wednesday Letters. Amazing how I can always find time to read and not always get everything else done.

The house is moving along. We have the door in, the siding on that side and the plumbing and electrical roughed in. Hopefully, we will be getting the drywall up this weekend. I know, it's been forever since I have posted pics, but I don't want to post anything until it is just about done. We kind of hit a wall in getting our motivation going. Soon, I am hoping, we will be done!

I have been trying to get some freelancing going for proofreading. I have been doing some proofing for a friend of mine that's a photographer and have been helping out with the local karate dojo. The tough part is getting out there to sell myself. I don't have the confidence or the knowhow to go and find clients. Any suggestions? I really would like the help. So if you have any ideas how I should do it, what I should do, or know anyone that needs offsite proofreading please send them my way. I will give you a commission on any business you send my way.

Well, that's all really that's been happening my way. I had a few funny stories to share, but I wasn't near the computer to write them down. I will try my best to get back on track. Off to enjoy the rest of my evening.

Kids and Car Safety

2009-05-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

I was going to write about my feelings on kids without booster seats and sitting in the front seat the other day and never got around to it. Today, I saw that my friend posted the same feelings on her blog, so I am asking that if you truly want to know my feelings on this, just read her blog. It says it all.

Also, for those from the Maritimes wondering about our laws for these things, check it out here.

Menu Monday

2009-05-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

Still waiting on help: I was hoping to get some fantastic recipes to try out from all of you. Maybe this week?

Monday

Yakisoba (Japanese dish with grilled chicken, carrots, onion and cabbage over angel hair pasta!)

Tuesday

Shake and Bake Chicken with Potato Balls

Wednesday

Soft Shell Tacos

Thursday

Roast beef and roasted potatoes

Friday

Spaghetti, garlic bread and caesar salad

Saturday

Beef Stew and biscuits

Sunday

Sweet and sour meatballs

Twilight- a love/hate relationship

2009-05-11T17:24:00.000-07:00

I must write about Twilight. My lovely sister in law was the clincher to getting me to read this series and once I start a series I have to read it to the end. I know, I am a little OC.

I really enjoyed the first book, fell in love with Jacob in the second, by the end of the third I have totally decided that I am not loving Edward at all. Anyone else find him controlling? Man. I couldn't put up with that. Someone please tell me it gets better in the fourth. I was really hoping that she wouldn't marry him. I wanted her with Jacob so badly and now I can't want that. Morally, I mean. Unless of course, Edward died or left her!

Doesn't she see that Jacob is the better choice? Please tell me I will be happier by the end of the fourth. Either I will love Edward again, or I will be happy with Bella's relationship with Jacob.I don't want to read it. I was totally crying yesterday when she was saying goodbye to Jacob. Rand looked at me and asked me if someone died because I was so upset. Pathetic eh?

Should I read the fourth? I need to feel happy with them. I know, it's a story, but I become so involved in every book I read. They are part of my life. I love reading. I wonder about them when I am done the book; what's happening in their lives, how did the story continue, etc.

Votes please.

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T16:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, was THE best Mother's Day I have ever had. Yes honey, if you are reading this, I am indeed grateful. I woke up around 6am to find Ryan in our bed due him having a nightmare and coming to us with his "doodlebop" (megnadoodle), his blanket, Buella (his webkinz), and several other items.

I promptly snuck out of our bed with my book and headed off to sleep in his bed, or at least read until it was a more reasonable hour. It was Mother's day after all. I heard everyone else wake as I drifted in and out of sleep and reading, but was awakened to all the children coming in and yelling, "Happy Mother's Day!" and bringing with them (with Rand's help) my breakfast.

I had a wonderful cheese and pepper omelette, thick toast and a bowl of fruit with yogurt on it that the olders had helped to prepare. They got me to move back to my room, gave me wonderful presents: gardening decorations, seeds, cat statuettes, a bracelet (Erin and Patrick picked these out on their own and bought them with their own money, that's big!) and the movie Bride Wars. Then, they left me to eat in peace and read my book! Oh it was wonderful.

Rand got everyone mostly ready for church (I helped with Allie during crunch time) and off we went.

The primary children did a great job singing their songs of Love is Spoken Here and Mother I love you and sharing time went well. Not a bad day really. I had to reprimand my children a bit in Primary, but hey, everyone was chatty.

Back home, I had a great afternoon to lay on my bed and read my book and chat with Rand and snuggle with Ryan. Rand made super for the children and fed them while I continued to read and then he put the children to bed, while I continued to read and made a supper for us of yummy indian food that I know he is getting sick of, but that I just can't get enough of.

Overall a great day.

I will have to remember all of this for Father's Day. I think that's why they have Mother's day first; so that however good the mothers had it, the fathers will have it returned to them. That's just life according to me.

I hope everyone else had a great mother's day as well.

ARGH!!!

2009-05-02T13:43:00.000-07:00

I feel so, so, so - ARGH! I just am so cranky and frustrated and want to tear something apart. I feel like the lady in the quit smoking commercial. Although, I think it would be the perfect commercial for PMS medication. This is the only way I can explain how I feel inside today and I am doing ALL I can do to not let it out. Although, it did escape to some degree in little spurts today. For that, I apologize.

And now for a laugh, because I wanted to share this video I had to go online for some help to know how to embed it. Because of that, I realized that there is a compose mode to this where you can edit your text better and use different fonts and all. DUH! I just never paid attention to what was on the top tabs. There, I feel a bit more *sheepish*.

Free Superstore Green Bin

2009-04-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

For those of you that haven't been over to http://maritimepennypinchers.blogspot.com/ yet, here is what you are missing out on:For this week only for a free green bin at Atlantic Superstore when you spend $60. It ends tonight April 30th. If you are planning on shopping today or tonight here is the coupon for you. One per household, don't forget honesty!

Swine Flu

2009-04-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else out there worried? What are your worries?

Is it near you?

Anyone else planning what to do if it goes to level 6? We are already at 5.

The first person to be sick with the swine flu and hasn't been to Mexico was just reported from the UK. 114 cases outside Mexico. Not that I am trying to be a pessimist by any stretch of the imagination, I am just voicing my fears and being WAY more of a germaphobe then I ever was.

Thoughts?

Rand and I already talked about it and said we would be pulling the children from school if it hit the Island and started to spread.

I feel so sorry for the Mexican people and what they are going through in their country right now and for those that are suffering around the world.

Must think of something lovely.

Menu Monday Needs Help

2009-04-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

It doesn't matter if you know me personally, kind of read this blog once in a blue moon, or stumbled across me on here: I NEED help.

Last week I totally spaced and didn't get a menu ready at all and it was harry kerry here all week! I never knew what I was cooking and was totally messed up. This week, the power was out here for 10.5 hrs and I haven't got on here to post.

Here's where you come in: I would like each and every one of you who reads this blog from wherever you are, to not leave here without posting me yours or your family's favourite meal. I need new recipes. I am in a rut. PLEASE HELP ME!!!!

That said, here is the bland menu for the week:

Monday (power out day)
Indian food for Rand and I; hotdogs for the children (I don't usually cook two meals)

Tuesday
Grilled Chicken and salad

Wendesday
Meatloaf

Thursday
Curry Penne Pasta

Friday
Salsa Chicken

Saturday
Steak and potatoes (maybe even on the bbq!)

Sunday
Italian Chicken

New site

2009-04-26T11:04:00.001-07:00

Calling all penny pinchers—Lesley and I have created a new site just for you: Maritime Penny Pinchers. Everyone is welcome to stop by; even if you don't live here in the Maritimes, the deals may apply elsewhere. We invite you to let us know about any deals you hear about no matter where you are.

Check us out! We love to save money!

Kashi Granola Bars

2009-04-25T18:36:00.001-07:00

I know it's been forever almost since I have blogged, but I just seem to run out of time to come on here and write. Plus three of my fingers are cracked from being so dry with the weather change, that it's agony to type. Polysporin and bandaids are my friends.

I am writing about the Kashi challenge. I am all for free samples and great deals, so when I heard about this deal of getting free bars and if enough people don't like them, the guy will eat the box, I sent away for my coupon and once I received it, I finally remembered to take it into the store to get my free bars. I was so excited to try out this new health bar and bite into a nice chewy snack.

Ah, no! I bit into a HARD cardboard tasting bar! So glad it was free and that I didn't waste my money, but I do feel bad about the amount of packaging that is getting wasted. I'll put them into the 72 hour kits.

Maybe it's the type I tried. I did the almond ones above. They do have other types: Seven Whole Grains & Almonds (the one I tried), Peanut Peanut Butter, Cherry Dark Chocolate, and new Trail Mix.

The peanut butter ones and the trail mix ones weren't available at the store that I shop at, and since I can't have chocolate, it left me the almond one. Now I love almonds and I love granola bars. They are a weakness for me. But not these ones.

I am curious if anyone else out there has tried them and what there thoughts are on them. And yes, I did vote for him to eat the box. http://www.kashi.ca/

My favourite bars are Nature Valley Salty and Sweet Almond Bars. Yum. I could eat so many of those a day, but I don't. I limit myself now to one a day. These are great bars.

So Kashi man, I hope you have to eat your cardboard box because I won't be eating your bars again!

You know you have watched to many crime shows when...

2009-04-14T09:06:00.001-07:00

I live in a quiet somewhat rural community. I have great neighbours, wonderful views and at night it's very quiet as not much goes on in this neck of the woods. These are many of the reasons that we wanted to raise our family on the Island and why we purchased this house.

Sunday night we were getting ready to go to bed and shutting down the house for the night; making sure lights were off and doors were locked (doors are ALWAYS locked at my house), when we noticed a pickup truck stopped across the street in front of the church. At first I didn't think too much of it as cars usually stop there as it's a safer spot to stop for a phone call or whatever. There have been several cars there recently for driver training or other various reasons, so I didn't give it too much thought, until it was still there when I came back to put something in the kitchen a couple of minutes later.

That's when my suspicions started to be aroused. I could see two guys sitting in the car without any exterior or interior lights on. Why would they just be sitting there? If they were waiting for someone, why wouldn't they just pull into the church parking lot so that they were off the road?

My nosey ancestry came out in me as I peaked out the blinds to see what was going on. No movement. At all. I got Rand involved and we sat there speculating about what was happening. Then, one of the guys gets out of the truck, which now has turned on it's hazard lights. Another vehicle approaches and pulls in behind the parked truck. The guy goes up to truck and hands something to him, receives something from him and away the vehicle goes. Drugs. I am sure of it. First truck stays parked there, hazard lights go off and guy gets in truck. Still no movement.

I was freaking out. This is all happening over about a 30 minute period. I did NOT feel comfortable. I debated whether to call the police or not. I didn't want them to come to my house afterwards to tell me what was going on because if these were bad guys, I didn't want them to know I was the snitch and then come after me.

See? I have watched too many crime shows.

I almost had Rand convinced to call the police from his cell so we could find out what was going on. I mean, if it's something illegal, don't we want it stopped? Just when I had about all I could handle, I decided to make a call... to my brother Matt. He could tell me what to do, right? He's in law enforcement after all.

So I call him and he says that I can call the police anonymously. He asks me what's going on now. I keep the covert operation going, but my heart is pounding so loud that I am sure they can hear it in their truck. I have no idea how Matt does it. Even when we were children and we played hide and seek, I am sure that my heart always gave away my hiding place. I can't deal with it.

The hazard lights go on again and the guy gets out of the truck. I know this means a car is coming to meet up with him. This time I am ready to write down details of vehicles so I can report it. I figured if these guys stay after this drop happens, that I have to call the police and get this nipped in the bud. I like my neighbourhood to be safe.

Down the road comes a vehicle; it pulls in for the stop, but it stays! Another guy gets out of the vehicle and passes something to first guy. What could it be? Maybe it's the head drug dealer bringing in more supplies. Boy do I wish that I went to bed just a little earlier so I wouldn't have to see all of this transpire, but maybe this is the reason that I stayed up later than usual.

I peek out of the curtains a little bit more to see what's going on. He handed him......

a jerry can of gas!

Yep, all this covertness and imagination running, was for a truck that ran out of gas. Don't I feel like a dolt. At least I got to chat with my brother out of the whole thing and you get a good laugh!

Menu Monday

2009-04-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

Monday
Potato and Ham Soup with biscuits

Tuesday
Goulash (request of Ryan)
Salad

Wednesday
Peach Glazed Chicken
Pasta

Thursday
Steak and peppers
Baked Potato

Friday
Italian Chicken

Saturday
Baked Haddock
Asparagus
Mashed potato

Sunday
Minestrone Soup

Some of the recipes:

Potato and Ham Soup (from the Company's Coming The Rookie Cook)

5 medium potatoes peeled and cut up
1 cup chopped onions
2 tsp finely chopped celery leaves
Water to cover

Cover and bring to a boil on medium. Cook until tender. Do not drain and let cool slightly. Transfer in batches to blender and process until pureed. Set aside.

1 tbsp hard butter
1 tbsp flour
2-3 tsp parsley flakes
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 cups milk
Melt margarine in large saucepan on med-low heat. Mix in flour, parsley, salt and pepper until smooth. Add milk. Heat and stir for about 10 mins until boiling and slightly thickened. Add potato mixture.

Sprinkle cheese and chives over individual servings.

Peach Glazed Chicken

4 chicken pieces
2 tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c peach jam
1/4 c ketchup
1 tbsp mustard
1/4 tsp pepper
1 clove crushed garlic

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line a pan with tin foil. Arrange chicken, skin side up in pan if you are having skin on your chicken.

Combine remaining ingredients in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring well. Allow to cool slightly; brush over chicken. Bake for 30-35 mins, or until done, basting every 10 mins.

Minestrone Soup (from cooks.com)

2 tbsp. olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lg. diced onion
2 c. diced potatoes
1 c. diced celery
1 c. sliced zucchini
1 c. green beans
2 c. shredded cabbage
4 c. beef or chicken broth
2 c. peeled tomatoes
1 can cannellini or northern beans
1/2 lb. sm. shell pasta
Chopped parsley & basil
Fresh ground pepper
Saute garlic and onion. Add potatoes, celery, carrots and stir a few minutes. Add broth and 2 cups of water, bring to boil then add peeled tomatoes. Cook for about 10 minutes, then add zucchini, green beans and cabbage, bring to boil. Add parsley, basil and beans, let simmer until vegetables are almost ready. Bring to boil, add pepper and salt to taste. Add dried shell pasta. Cook 8 to 10 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle grated cheese on each serving. Makes 6 servings.

Humour Me

2009-04-14T08:43:00.001-07:00

If you see an offensive ad on here, can you please let me know? I don't see all that they put on here, and have a filter to keep those out, but I won't know if it's working unless you tell me. Thanks.

Menu Monday

2009-04-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

Man, I get later each week!

Monday
Cathy's Chicken

Tuesday
Sweet and Sour stir fry

Wednesday
Chili Con Carne

Thursday
Meatloaf

Friday
Junk/Date night

Saturday
Baked Beans (yummy!)

Sunday
Ham Dinner/ Easter

Freelancing to work from home.

2009-04-05T17:27:00.000-07:00

I am just putting this out to the universe to see what can happen here. I have been doing proofreading pro bono for a couple of different projects and have been helping some people out with this. Now I have decided to move on to hire myself out for freelancing offsite proofreading.

This is a passion of mine. I am not so great with my own text, but sure love correcting others! I now have one client on board that has sought me out. Since word of mouth is the best advertising, I am putting this out for all to know and to mention; if you know anyone needing proofreading please send them my way. They can email me at lizmackay{at}yahoo.com

This way I get to put my education, hobbies and passions all in one spot. I don't have to meet with them face to face, thus opening up a whole world to work from and can still be at home. It never ceases to amaze me how many people have typos, use the wrong synonym or aren't sure on the punctuation to use or the proper grammar rule.

Please pass my name around if you know anyone needing this service; students, work place, bloggers, schools, businesses whomever. I am really hoping to find several contracts, and am going to be looking for clients in Asia as well, where they are translating to english, but their translation doesn't make complete sense afterwards.

Any advice, or contacts, or whatever you've got that you can send my way, please let me know. You can post a comment on here or email me at the aforementioned address. Thanks blogger friends.

One Little Phrase

2009-04-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

That's all it took to put my parenting, my life, my everything into question.

Friday afternoon was an afternoon needless to say of me crying and trying to explain to my children what was wrong.

Let's start at the beginning.

We have been having trouble in our home with children eating their supper. A long time ago, a child, came up with the consequence for not eating their supper and that was having to eat their supper for their next meal; breakfast, lunch, whatever. It's worked well with the children and has only had to be instituted a few times over the years.

We also have a rule in our home that if you aren't ready for school (getting dressed, had breakfast, brushed teeth and hair) by the time the bus comes, they miss school and have to stay home and help with my work for a good part of the morning.

Wednesday, Erin didn't eat her supper. Thursday she had to eat if for breakfast. However, she still fought about getting everything else done for school and didn't make it on time. She stayed at home and dried some dishes, folded some laundry and cleaned her room.

I told Patrick to tell Erin's teacher that she didn't make it on time and to get her homework. I said to him not to mention the supper thing and not to tell her friends that she was dillydallying again as it embarrased Erin. Needless to say, he didn't tell the teacher.

Instead the teacher came to him to find out where Erin was. He told her that she was home but that he couldn't tell her why, "because it's a secret." That one phrase ruined everything that I have been trying to do for the past 9 1/2 years. Warning flags went up for the teacher -as they would for any adult, me included, if you heard a child say that.

The next day, Erin was able to make it to school. The teacher took her aside to find out why she wasn't there and all about this "secret". All Erin could remember about it at the end of school was that her teacher wanted to talk to her privately about why she wasn't there the day before.

After this conversation I called the teacher, didn't get the usual engaging conversation, but a short "good" when asked how she was. I then proceeded to tell her what the children had told me, or could remember and told her that I saw red flags with it. She agreed that she was concerned as well. If Erin hadn't been there on Friday she was going to look more into it.

I told her what happened, in detail, to which she replied that Erin had told her the same thing. She was wondering why Patrick said it was a secret. When I explained that I told him not to tell his friends and her friends that she missed the bus because of dillydallying, that it would embarrass her, he took that as a secret. I told her that we didn't have any secrets in our home and that she was welcome to come by any time unannounced or call at any time if she has any concerns. Ugh.

The teacher, after about 20 mins, started to relax in the conversation and see how it was innocent. Thankfully, Erin is quite the dilly-dallier at school and has to be prodded to get ready in time for the bus, so she understood our reasoning for keeping her home.

The problem is, I know I am going to be watched, the children are going to be watched, impeccably for the next while. I had a long talk with Patrick about the effects of his one little phrase. About the consequences that COULD come from it. About what kind of secrets are good to keep -surprises, gifts, etc. - and what ones are not allowed to be kept -abuse, hurting yourself, etc.

How easy it is to break something good. How hard it is to repair it. I have never had my parenting called into question before. I have never had to answer to anyone about what I do with my children before. What a nightmare. How scary it was for me the whole afternoon. I kept waiting for Social Services to show up at my door to conduct a thorough investigation.

As the children went out the door in a panic rush this morning (we overslept) and I said my usual goodbye greeting to them, I reminded them again about what it means to represent our family and offered a very fervent prayer that all would be well at school today.

Here's hoping that they come full of good reports.

General Conference Weekend

2009-04-01T14:26:00.000-07:00

Another conference weekend is coming up. How do you watch it? Any traditions that you have that you would like to share? What do you do for your children?

For those of you not of my faith you may be asking what General Conference is. It's when the leaders of our church speak to us through several live sessions from the conference centre in Utah. Anyone is welcome to listen to the broadcasts either at church or online at lds.org or byu.edu It takes place over 2 days with 2 main sessions each day. Times are 1pm and 5 pm Atlantic Time. There is also a priesthood session Saturday night at 9pm, but that is only available to be viewed at the local church.

Conference weekend here, means slow cooker meals, early suppers, long breakfasts and a walk on Sunday morning while waiting for the conference to start at one (we are three hours ahead of Utah time). Because conference is during nap times and supper times, we watch it at home online. That way Allie can sleep and we can eat between sessions. I don't make the children listen to all four sessions, but I encourage them to be around during them. They are required to listen to the Sunday session actively though.

Usually we do Conference Bingo, however, this year I found some interesting things on Sugar Doodle. They have a whole package ready for you to print off for children about ages 6-12 years old. The depth of the answers would be very different between the ages I would think.

There are also some other interesting pages with ideas and what not located here and here and here if you are looking for something. Here is another for primary ages. This one is for youth.

I wonder if they have ones for adults, worth a shot. If you find one, let me know. I bet this would help out many people.

Dessert for today

2009-03-31T06:59:00.000-07:00

There you go Carolyn, it's fixed. I always had a hard time with desert, dessert and deseret. Thanks for catching the typo, how I hate them!

This looked so yummy I just had to make it, and since it looked that divine, I had to share it with you. I get the Kraft What's Cooking magazine delivered every so often, and this was in their magazine. It's a free recipe book that they send out quarterly. Sign up for it by calling 1.800.325.9165. Great recipes and even some coupons.

Easy Autumn Pear Cake from the Kraft Canada site

Prep Time: 15 min Total Time: 55 min Makes: 24
What You Need
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
125 g (1/2 of 250-g pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Brick Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
7 Tbsp. butter, melted, divided
1 can (14 fl oz/398 mL) pear halves, drained, sliced into 1/2-inch slices
1 pkg. (85 g) JELL-O Lemon Jelly Powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Make It

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Beat egg, sour cream, cream cheese and cake mix in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until cake mix is moistened, scraping side of bowl often. Blend in 1/4 cup of the butter. Beat on medium speed 2 min. (batter will be thick).

SPREAD batter into lightly greased 13x9-inch baking pan. Arrange pear slices evenly on batter, pressing lightly into batter. Sprinkle evenly with dry jelly powder mix and cinnamon. Drizzle evenly with remaining 3 Tbsp. butter; sprinkle with walnuts.

BAKE 40 to 45 min. or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature. Cut into 24 pieces. Cover and refrigerate leftover cake.

Kraft Kitchens Tips
SubstituteUse lemon cake mix or spice cake mix instead of the yellow cake mix

Menu Monday

2009-03-31T06:51:00.000-07:00

A day late again. It's going to be an easy meal week as there is lots going on with meetings, construction, general conference, karate and whatnot.

Monday

Spaghetti

Tuesday

Stewed Japanese Curry

Wednesday

Teriyaki Stirfry

Thursday

Ginger Chicken

Friday

Stuffed chicken breasts and aspargus

Saturday

Salad
Ribs
Twice Baked Potatoes

Sunday

Beef Barley Soup

First signs of spring!

2009-03-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

I was outside today enjoying the beautiful weather before the nasty storm comes tomorrow and thought that I would take a gander in my front garden to see if anything is starting to grow. Lo and behold I found my oriental poppy starting to pop out of the ground! What a wonderful surprise. Just thought that I would share it with you.

Now I am hoping it will survive the storm that they are calling for tomorrow. Hopefully it won't hit us.

Earth Hour

2009-03-28T16:21:00.000-07:00

Here I sit typing away with only 10 minutes left before the lights go out for earth hour. What is it you might ask? It's where everyone turns off all lights and non essential electronics from 8:30-9:30pm YOUR local time.

See this guy's blog for some interesting pics of older earth hours.

Are you participating tonight? What are you doing to help the hour go by? I, am folding laundry and reading a book by candlelight. Kinda sounds a little more romantic that way eh? Except, I will be all alone as Rand is in Montague on church business. I wonder if they are turning out the lights there for it?

Here is what our world looks like from space with Australia already in Earth Hour I believe. See what we could change?

Take a look at what Sydney Australia did a year or so ago and the difference it made:

Anyway, to learn more about earth hour go here. Enjoy your hour of quiet. Let me know if you participated or not, why or why not and what you did.

Menu Monday

2009-03-24T05:34:00.000-07:00

It's a day late, but this is something that I have been wanting to do. I use to have a menu planned for each week and it made grocery shopping and supper time much easier. I have been slowly getting back into it, but have thought over the past couple of weeks that if I was actually held responsible to someone about it, it might help with my goal. Then I thought maybe I should post it every week and that may help me and maybe others would even give me some ideas of foods to try. So here we go. Let me know if you want any of the recipes and I will post them.

Monday:

Maple Pecan Chicken
Mashed potatoes
carrots and peas

Tuesday:

Beef stew and biscuits

Wednesday:

Stuffed porkchops
Lemon Pepper pasta

Thursday:

Goulash

Friday:

Date night so it's Indian this week

Saturday:

Yakisoba

Sunday:

Slow cooker Salsa chicken
Rice
Salad

Crispy Maple Dijion Pecan Chicken

2009-03-23T16:42:00.001-07:00

I made this for supper tonight and it was fantastic. I had some ask for the recipe so here you go, super easy!

1/3c pecans
1/3c dry bread crumbs
1/2 tsp each dried thyme, paprika and salt
1/4c honey dijion mustard
1/4c maple syrup
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

In resealable bag crush pecans with rolling pin. In small bowl combine: pecans, crumbs, thyme, paprika and salt and set aside.
In small bowl, blend 1 tbsp of mustard with maple syrup. Set aside for dipping sauce. Place remaining mustard in shallow dish add chicken turning to coat all over. Press chicken into bread crumb mixture, turning to coat. Place on well greased baking dish turning to lightly grease both sides. Bake in 400F oven for about 20mins or until golden and no longer pink. Serve with sauce.

Enjoy!

A thought

2009-03-23T08:49:00.001-07:00

I am thinking of putting google ads on here. I have toyed with the idea off and on and before I do this, I am curious what are your thoughts on this? Good or bad. Just wondering. Help me with this debate.

Kids Thoughts About Mom ...

2009-03-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

My friend Carolyn tagged me in this on facebook and I thought I would share it here as well. Needless to say, you will be able to tell from Ryan's answers that we are working on him eating all of his supper every night. I must also say that I asked them individually so that they wouldn't be influenced by each other's answers. It was a cute exercise to do.

P=Patrick E=Erin R=Ryan

1. What is something mom always says to you?
P- Stop being silly- but I'm not silly
E- Be good, be safe, have fun, and remember who you represent. Work hard, work fast, and be kind.
R- Eat your supper.

2. What makes mom happy?
P- When I help the kids.
E- Playing.
R- Eating your supper.

3. What makes mom sad?
P- When we don't listen the first time.
E- Not listening.
R- Not listening.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
P- By tickling me and being funny.
E- Tickling.
R- With playing.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
P- A kid that didn't have tv.
E- I don't know! A hard worker?
R- Play with Allie's toys.

6. How old is your mom?
P- Young.
E- 34
R- 3

7. How tall is your mom?
P- Tall.
E- I don't know! 30 feet tall!
R- (arms spread wide) This tall.

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
P- Be with her family.
E- Play games.
R- Wash the floors.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
P- Good question. Works?
E- Work.
R- Work outside.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
P- Being awesome.
E- Rock star.
R- Playing on the computer.

11. What is your mom really good at?
P- Being my mom.
E- Karate.
R- Washing the sheets.

12. What is your mom not very good at?
P- Being mean.
E- Hurting others.
R- Nothing.

13. What does your mom do for her job?
P- Stay home.
E- Stay home and work.
R- Cleans up.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
P- Good question, Thai food?
E- I have no idea, hotdogs?
R- Bananas

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
P- Everything.
E- Tickling me.
R- Eating my supper.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
P- I don't know many cartoon characters, but she would be a good one.
E- Hannah Montana!
R- A missionary.

17. What do you and your mom do together?
P- Have fun, or have a long discussion.
E- Go get the mail.
R- Play a game.

18. How are you and your mom the same?
P- We are both MacKays and we are both humans and we both love each other.
E- We both have brown eyes.
R- Talking

19. How are you and your mom different?
P- She has brown hair, I have blond. She is female, I am male. I am preteen, she is adult.
E- Uh, we never wear the same shirts.
R- Playing.

20. How does your mom show you that she loves you?
P- By being nice and by everything she does.
E- Kiss and hug.
R- With playing.

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
P- Ah, home?????
E- Restaurant, to see the gypsies, and see her friend Meaghan sing!
R- To the park.

Lost Keys Found

2009-03-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

Remember when I lost my keys? Or rather, when Allie hid my keys? Like several months ago? I purchased new keys for our car ($35) and new house keys ($5) and never replaced my oil vile.

The other day Allie comes out holding my old set of keys in her hand! I was in shock! I had turned our house inside and out trying to find them. I searched everywhere that I could possibly think of, so when she came with the keys I was dumbfounded.

I asked her where did she get the keys. She responded by taking my hand and taking my to the subwoofer by the computer and showing me the hole on the side of it. She had them hidden in there. I NEVER thought of looking there! But there they were, my keys, returned to me.

So now, whenever something goes missing guess where I look first? Of course nothing is ever there any more.

The Parable of the Shamrock Plant

2009-03-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

For those that don't know, I love to garden. Flower gardens, vegetable gardens, plants around the home, all of it. I love watching things grow and having a helping hand in that. I have two very special houseplants among my collection; my aspargus fern and my shamrock plant. My asparagus fern use to be my neigbour's and she was getting rid of it because it wouldn't grow for her. I adopted it and now it has grown into a thick plant that loves my shady house.

My shamrock plant I bought in our first year of marriage (it's now 12 years old) and have enjoyed seeing it grow from a few little leaves to a fantastic looking plant. That all ended when we moved in to this home. It slowly stopped producing and then it died this past fall. It became a pot just filled with soil.

(picture from http://i.ehow.com/images/ehows/steps/plantbulbsstep4_L.jpg)

I was tempted to throw it out, but loved the plant so much that I kept the pot of soil to remind me of what was once there. It had been watered and fed regularly, talked to and cleaned. Still, after all I could do, it died.

Even though it was a pot of soil, I kept watering it every so often, just in case something would come. I hadn't given up entire hope. I would be thrilled with just a weed if nothing else.

Last month I brought it into the kitchen where the nice warm sun is just starting to shine a little longer than in the rest of the home. I still kept giving it just little tastes of water and examining it for even the slightest hint of green poking out of the soil.

Then, one day while I was doing the dishes, I noticed a tiny little something poking out of the soil. I gave it a little more water and placed it right by my sink for the best sunlight.

The one little stem, poked up nice and strong and kept on growing! It even produced it's three leaves that it is so known for. It wasn't big by any stretch of the imagination, but it was there and a testament that there was still something happening in the soil.

Day after day I checked and coaxed and talked and rotated and watered the plant. The one stem did end up dying, but more started appearing. Now, my pot is half full of shamrock leaves in one month, and more are appearing daily. There are even the little white flowers appearing now telling me that it really is progressing and is alive and is healthy. I am so grateful.

(picture from http://www.motherearthsgarden.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/istock_000004862976xsmall.jpg)

Now I know that they go through a period of dormancy in the winter, but to have the plant completely appear to have died off has never occurred to me, ever!

I felt so overjoyed to see the progress that this little plant was making. As I sat there cleaning it's precious leaves, it made me think about how we view ourselves or even how we view others. That we can't go on, that things will never change, there is nothing we can do, no one can help us, no one believes in us, why bother trying. We are just a pot of soil with no potential.

Thankfully, the Great Gardener doesn't see us this way. He knows that buried under that soil is a tuber, a root system, a potential plant. He knows how to get that plant to grow and He knows that the pot of soil with a little guidance and nourishment can turn into a beautiful plant with beautiful flowers bringing happiness to all around and providing substance for someone else to survive off of.

He gently places us in a sunny spot, whether it's with friends, coworkers, visiting teachers, a calling, a neighbourhood, an organization, or just a person passing in the store. Someone that has the sunshine that we need to be able to grow. He talks to us daily and as we listen, as we return the conversation through prayer, our root systems become alive and we feel a ray of hope. As He tenderly waters us, rotates us and sees the first stem poke out of the ground, we become stronger.

The closer we draw to Him, whatever our faith/religion may be, the stronger we become wherever we are. We find new ways of being able to reach out and hold on, new ways of being supported and little by little we grow stronger and closer. We then in turn reach out and help another "plant" with our root system to become alive and healthy and help them to feel the nourishment from the Gardener. The flowers start to grow and we are completely alive wherever we may be, whatever our situation is. Like Job in the Old Testament of the Bible, who even after he had everything taken away, praised God and grew from there.

We need to remember that we are more than just a pot of soil and discover the plant we can become.

Mother/daughter date

2009-03-05T10:32:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night Erin and I went out on a mother/daughter date to see the Dhoad Gypsies at the Confederation Centre. We got downtown early and went out for desert at Mavor's Bistro. Erin had a turtle cheesecake and I had the blueberry bread pudding with white chocolate sauce on it.

Erin was in awe of going to a grown up restaurant and loved how quiet it was. She was amazed with the linen napkins being folded in the cups and the tea light in the little dish. Erin said she would remember that for the next time she was on setting the table.

Erin got to colour a picture first and then got to enjoy her cheesecake.

We sat and talked about things going on in her world and things that she had heard in the news and wonderings of what the gypsies would do that night.

When we were finished we went up to the library to check on some books and the bald eagle they have on display. She was surprised to see it switched to a coyote. On our travels, we looked at some art exhibits, sculptures, and a model of a boat. It was nice to see my daughter appreciating the different forms of art.

We got back to our seats and read her book until the show started.

Unfortunately, there wasn't that great of a showing -about 200-300 people. It made it more intimate for the audience, but I am sure the performers were disappointed.

The Dhoad Gypsies started with some singing and chanting. Erin was a little overwhelmed at the beginning with the different Indian music, but quickly fell into step with it and was clapping and dancing in her seat.

They engaged us well with learning the word, "Nebula" and it's meaning, "lemon". Then they got us to echo sing it back to them each time they did. There was also a beautiful dancer with a very colourful costume on dancing around. That's when Erin decided that she would like to be a dancer when she grows up. She had a blast.

I thought one of the funny parts was watching people take pictures and the ushers running around trying to catch everyone and get them to put their cameras away. I gave into Erin pressure and snatched a photo myself which I won't post as it turned out poorly. But I did find some from their site that I will post on here.

After intermission, the dancing started with a gentleman placing a water jug full of water on a cup and balancing it on his head as he danced around. What a strong neck he must have!

Then he danced with it on his head on a bed of nails and on the sharp side of swords. Then he smashed glasses with his bare feet while he was dancing around with this on his head. It was just amazing!

The lady came out dancing again and did some interesting bends to pick up her rings. Ah, what yoga can do for the body! They were great performers and I would gladly go see them again.

Poor Erin didn't know what to do with herself afterwards. She was exhausted. She is usually in bed at 7:30 and asleep very shortly there after. Here it was 9:20pm when the show got out on a school night (I know, bad mom!) and she could barely walk to the car! Erin totally collapsed when we got home, but wasn't too tired to go to school the next day. It was all she talked about and she kept singing, "Nebula!" I am so glad that we had a great date.

Sunday Happenings

2009-03-05T10:16:00.000-08:00

On Sunday at church, Ryan had a very interesting feat happen. It was during his sharing time and he was bending through the opening in the chair to pick up something for another little boy. The problem was he got his head and arm stuck in the chair and not able to come out. It looked kind of like this one, but the opening was a bit bigger:

Anyway, needless to say they had to carry him out of primary like that. I was in the hallway dealing with two escapees during this and my husband was in the clerk's office. We heard his scream and both ran. Try as we might, we could not get him out. We tried pushing him one way and then the other. We tried using the head first and then the arm first. We tried using his sweater to go between his head and his seat to slide him out. Nothing worked. I thought for sure we were going to have to call the fire department for them to extract him.

The poor boy was freaking out. I remember someone saying, "Well he had to get out of a small place to get into this world, he should be able to do this." Gee, if only we had an obstetrician in our branch, we might have been okay.

I kept getting him to look at me and breathe, it seemed to help. During all of the chaos, I said to Ryan that we needed to pray. I said a prayer asking for help and direction, then he did.

Immediately, I thought we had to rotate him and get his elbow out first. So as I supported his head, his father and I think someone else (I can't remember who all was there, Heather, Tammy and Kate I believe), rotated him. Then we had to push really hard to get his elbow out first and then his head came out just fine. He was great and giggly once he got out and got a piece of gum from his Aunt to help cheer him up.

What an eventful sharing time! It brought a whole new meaning to the roles that fathers provide in the family (the theme for the sharing time that day). Ryan said that he will never put his head through that opening again -until the next time!

You must watch this video

2009-03-05T04:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I saw this on a friend of mine's facebook page and was totally touched by it. It's a 12 year old girl speaking to the UN in 1992 about the environment and poverty. I can't post it here from youtube (if you know how I can, please let me know), but you must click on the link and watch this. It's phenomenal! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGHzK6BxCF8

The flu was in our home

2009-02-27T16:10:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the past week and a half is not one that I really want to live over again in so many different ways. The flu hit us a week ago Tuesday night with Ryan throwing up at 10:30pm. Why is it that children never start getting sick when it's convenient? And of course he didn't make it to the bathroom, but his bed. So that was fine; we got it all cleaned up and what not. The next day was still the same until noon. Then he was good.

Little did we know that he was just saving it up for the nighttime. Once again, Ryan threw up. Unfortunately, we didn't hear him and Rand discovered it when he went to kiss him goodnight before we went to bed. He had direct contact with it! Poor man.

Once again, Ryan didn't make it to the washroom, nor did he make to the bucket that we placed beside his bed "just in case." No, he turned the other way, all over the wall and etc. I will spare you the details.

My loving husband, who knows that I don't deal well with vomit, cleaned up everything and I mean EVERYTHING so I wouldn't have to stomach it. No pun intended.

Then Ryan was great. Nothing Thursday, nothing Friday. Rand's mom came to watch the children so we could go to see the Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean and added bonus got to see Meaghan Smith and Matt Andersen perform. We figured we were safe to go as it bad been almost 2 days without any incident and we had bought the tickets back in November. Wonderful, wonderful night. Great story telling, fantastic music by Meaghan (I am so glad you were feeling well enough to come and sing) and I got introduced to a new artist -Matt Andersen. LOVE his music! I am getting some new cds needless to say.

Well, we got home late, only to find out that Ryan had made a repeat performance in the living room. My poor mother in law! We lined everything with buckets and he was good. No more shows from him that night.

The trouble really starts the next day. Rand woke up and within an hour was sick, and I mean SICK!!!!! Patrick followed an hour after him. Those two joined Ryan who was quarantined again, to make sure this was the end of it. Not a great day in the house.

Needless to say, I slept on the couch that night. Rand volunteered to, but it would have meant more laundry as I would have to change the sheets and disinfect the room before I could sleep in there. I know- nice loving wife after all he did for me.

Sunday everyone was feeling honky dory. Rand and Patrick were still quarantined and I took the three younger ones to church. I figured for sure there was no way Ryan could still be sick.

Erin lost the battle at church. I got to disinfect most of the bathroom there. My first part in dealing with this for cleaning since the beginning. I know lucky me. We got her home and quarantined to her room.

From there it gets a little spotty for me. I am not sure who fell ill next. Allie lost it at 10:30 that night. What is with 10:30 and my children? Ryan, I think, just before her again!!! All over the back of his bed and wall.

Here is where my husband turns from the fantastic husband that he is, to the most incredible husband that is out there. He took care of both of the messes -ALL OF IT! I just had to hold Allie and pray that she wouldn't touch my face.

Not only did he do that, he took Allie and made a bed on the floor in our room for the two of them to sleep in. He figured for sure she would throw up again. Can I just say how much I love this man? I am so blessed. I slept on the couch again needless to say.

Well Monday came and they were all in their beds needless to say. I prayed so hard that I wouldn't fall ill. I said tonnes of positive affirmations that I would stay healthy. I thought tonnes of positive thoughts. I cleaned everything. And I wore a mask. One of those ones that is good for pandemics and whatnot. I figured that it was the safest thing I could do because I couldn't leave. Who would look after all of them? I could never be a nurse. I really admire them.

So there hasn't been any vomiting now in 5 days. I think, I THINK, we are out of the woods. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father, that I didn't fall with this flu. I am so grateful for a wonderful husband that cleaned so much for me so that I wouldn't get sick -either by the germs or by being grossed out. I know he helped to save me from this flu.

Now that the illness is out of the home, there is MAJOR disinfecting going on. I cleaned all blankets, sheets, mattress pads, stuffies, walls, hard surfaces and whatever else was around in the bedrooms and bathroom yesterday. You see, I made the mistake of wanting to get started on my spring cleaning a little earlier this year. Well, I am a head of schedule and have a good portion done already. I guess, in a backhanded way, I am grateful for illnesses -not that I want to do that again by any stretch of the imagination.

Another joke from my dad

2009-02-21T16:04:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this is funny. Goes right up there with the germaphobe in me. Tell me you didn't laugh when you read this and I will tell you that you are a liar!

Lipstick in School (Priceless!)

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick, they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Every night the maintenance man would remove them, and the next day the girls would put them back.Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night (you can just imagine the yawns from the little princesses).

To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.

He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.

Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers .. and then there are educators...

3 posts in one day!

2009-02-19T15:37:00.000-08:00

Okay so I was on one of the blogs that I follow a couple of moments ago called a quilt is nice and she was posting about mountain baby blankets from a blog she follows. This Rachel chick is getting blankets ready for babies from the Christian Appalachian Project. So since so many of you, my friends, are crafty, I thought you may be interested in helping out with this project. This is all I know. Please check her blog out and let's all help out!

Update to the posters

2009-02-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

So I got this email sent to me and thought I would share it with you. They are going to do Bible Posters and have included a preview of three of them. Enjoy!

Liz,
This should answer your questions. Steve is in the process of designing art from other standard works right now. Here's a newsletter we just sent out to update you about what is going on. Thanks for your interest. Please spread the word!

Christine

February 2009 Newsletter

Book of Mormon Real Hero Posters Introductory price ends Monday Feb 23rd.
Spread the Word! Forward this email to all your contacts!

We just wanted our customers to know our current introductory pricing for Real Hero Posters will be ending on Monday, Feb. 23rd. We recognize that much of the success from these posters has come from this great low introductory offer. The new price for the posters is undetermined at this time, however we plan on keeping the new price as low as possible.

Click here to order at the introductory price

Thanks to all you Real Hero Poster Fans
We, at Real Hero Posters, want to thank you for making our posters such a huge success! We have been pleased with the amazing response we have received from all over the world. Thanks to you and this huge response we have received, we will be moving forward with the creation of more images of heroes we can all look up to!

Bible Heroes In the Works!
Due to overwhelming demand, the artist, Steve Nethercott, is currently working on launching a new series of Bible heroes. He has a few "sketched out" and they are amazing (see the thumbnails to the right). He also is planning other real hero posters using church history, early American, and community heroes. Let us know if you have any ideas.

Retail Placement
We are currently negotiating with a variety of retail locations. We are placing them only in locations that will honor our low pricing. Please check the web site in the next couple of months for a listing of locations.

Please Forward on this Email!
Again, we appreciate your support and business, and wanted to give you a 'heads up' for the upcoming price change. Please let all your family and friends know as well!

Contact Us
website: www.realheroposters.com
email: sales@realheroposters.com
phone: 435-363-0555

Sneak Peaks:

02/17/2009
Below is a small sampling of 3 new Bible hero images in the works. Keep in mind these are only preliminary sketches. There will be various modifications before the final release.

Esther

David

Ruth

Real Hero Posters | phone: 435.363.0555 | email: sales@realheroposters.com

Totally Cool Book of Mormon Posters

2009-02-19T08:49:00.000-08:00

So I search the Sugar Doodle site every once in awhile and today I found these really cool Book of Mormon posters. Check them out. You can get them here, and they are on sale until Monday. I don't know the shipping to Canada or anything. But man, totally cool.

Fought the fight and lost.

2009-02-17T04:58:00.000-08:00

For any of you that don't know me well, I am a germaphobe. I admit it and am not embarrassed by it. In fact, I think we would all be a healthier society if people were more germaphobic then they currently are.

I am such a germaphobe, that I rarely shake hands anymore. If I do HAVE to shake someone's hand, I hand sanitize right away and then go and scrub my hands with normal soap. No antibacterial products in my home. I need those good germs, they are my friends.

Some people have been insulted that I won't shake hands and others just plain make fun of me. That's fine. I can handle that. It's so bad though, that at Church on Sunday, my husband went to hold my hand during sacrament meeting and I had to ask him if he shook hands with anyone else. His reply was that he had, but not with that hand. However, hands touch each other. I had to hand sanitize right away and couldn't even hold his hand until I knew it was clean. Seeing the problem? I know, I need help. But I don't want it.

It has carried over to my children. Come the winter, I don't care how cute or small you are, you DO NOT get to touch my face! One of the very first things my children have to do when they walk in the door from anywhere, is to wash their hands while singing their ABC's, because it's not just important to wash your hands, but to wash them properly so you limit your chances of getting sick. I have taught my children to sneeze into their arms and not on their hands, and to not touch their faces, especially when there are illnesses going around. I know that this won't stop me from getting sick forever, but it will limit how often we do get sick.

I don't get why people do sneeze on their hands. They aren't doing anyone any favours. They are just condensing their germs so that they can place them on EVERYTHING THEY TOUCH to infect more people! Come on people, use your arm and stop the germs!

I also have a problem with people going to work, church, school or anywhere when they are ill. Stay at home and rest. Use your sick days. If you rest the first bit, it won't last as long and you are sparing the rest of us from having to endure the same thing. Make the sacrifice.

Now all that venting aside, and besides the fact that no one apparently likes or wants to be sick, I must offer a small explanation for my being like this, besides genetics. I have Lupus. The smallest cold or flu has the ability to really knock me out of commission for an extended period of time. And I, like the rest of you, do not have a week to lay in bed to fight a simple virus that only affects any normal person for a day or so.

Also, I am not in the thinking that I, nor my household, will be spared. I know that I have four young children and they are FAR from perfect. They still touch their faces,and some are small enough that they still put everything in their mouths, much to my dismay. So between all this imperfectness and children being children and adults being adults, I know illness will enter my home.

There have been two illnesses going around up here; a horrible cold and the flu with all the lovely throwing up and everything that goes with it. We are almost to the end of the flu season and I was very hopeful that we wouldn't have it in our home. I have been constantly disinfecting, getting the children to wash their hands and staying away from those that I know are ill. But alas, with all of the fighting that I have done, the flu bug entered my home and got it's first victim at 4am this morning.

Poor little Ryan came into my room with an upset stomach. I heard the infamous burp and just jumped out of bed and ran with him to the bathtub. We mostly made it. Poor Rand had to clean up the parts that didn't make it while Ryan finished throwing up there.

I like so many others, do not do well with throw up. I am grateful that Heavenly Father has only had it that I have had to deal with throw up three times in my 9 years of parenting. I think that this coming week I will see a lot more than I have ever seen if this infiltrates the rest of the family.

I have always told my children if they ever feel like they have to throw up to do it in the tub. You may think that's weird, but I don't want them leaning over the toilet, having to touch the seat and all that. The tub has a wider area to catch throw up and should I have more than one sick at once, more can hit that area at once.

Poor Ryan feels great this morning and doesn't understand why he is in bed with a bucket beside him. He thought he was fine, until the next round hit him. Now we are on the two bucket regime. One to throw up in and sitting on his bed, the other on the floor so when I have to empty the first there is a second already there for something to go in should he have to before I get back.

Can I just say that I am very proud of my little 3 1/2 year old boy? He only had one miss this morning first thing. How impressive is that? He knows his body's cues now and is ready with the bucket.

I know he is starting to feel better, because he is getting hungry. Not that I am giving him anything to eat at this point, nor am I for the next couple of hours until I can ensure that his stomach is not going to throw out whatever I put in. Then it will be the lovely BRAT diet (Bananas, rice, applesauce, toast), plus some yogurt for the next 12 hours.

The other cold virus has hit my poor little Erin. Her head is booming, she has a slight fever and her nose is running like mad. She is just laying so still and just resting. The diffuser is pumping lovely tea tree, lavender, peppermint and pine oils throughout my home to help everyone fight this.

I must tell you something funny though through all of this. Yesterday was a very productive day. I mean VERY productive. Doesn't usually happen like that. As the day was progressing I commented on it to my friend Ang, that something must be going to happen because things are going so well. Look Ang, I can read the future!

I hope that this will pass quickly and not claim any more victims. I know no one likes to be sick, and no one wants this in their home. I just can't wait for spring! I wonder if the cold and flu viruses are as prominent in warm climates like New Zealand?

Stay well, and don't touch your face and cover your mouth with your arm when you sneeze.

Are you one of the Lucky 5?

2009-02-16T14:07:00.000-08:00

Lucky you!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (Though I hope you will!)

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It'll be done this year {might be a little while}

4. You get no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or maybe even some creation I haven't even invented yet. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer to do the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

PS Please leave your address in case your surprise finds you via snail mail:) You can email it to me or facebook me if you like.

A funny story my dad sent me.

2009-02-16T08:50:00.000-08:00

Grandpa's IRS Audit

The IRS decides to audit Grandpa, and summons him to the IRS office. The IRS auditor was not surprised when Grandpa showed up with his attorney. The auditor said, "Well, sir, you have an extravagant lifestyle and no full-time employment, which you explain by saying that you win money gambling. I'm not sure the IRS finds that believable."

"I'm a great gambler, and I can prove it," says Grandpa. "How about a demonstration?"

The auditor thinks for a moment and said, "Okay. Go ahead."

Grandpa says, "I'll bet you a thousand dollars that I can bite my own eye."

The auditor thinks a moment and says, "It's a bet." Grandpa removes his glass eye and bites it. The auditor's jaw drops.

Grandpa says, "Now, I'll bet you two thousand dollars that I can bite my other eye." Now the auditor can tell Grandpa isn't blind, so he takes the bet. Grandpa removes his dentures and bites his good eye. The stunned auditor now realizes he has wagered and lost three grand, with Grandpa's attorney as a witness. He starts to get nervous.

"Want to go double or nothing?" Grandpa asks. "I'll bet you six thousand dollars that I can stand on one side of your desk, and pee into that wastebasket on the other side, and never get a drop anywhere in between."

The auditor, twice burned, is cautious now, but he looks carefully and decides there's no way this old guy could possibly manage that stunt, so he agrees again.

Grandpa stands beside the desk and unzips his pants, but although he strains mightily, he can't make the stream reach the wastebasket on the other side, so he pretty much urinates all over the auditor's desk.

The auditor leaps with joy, realizing that he has just turned a major loss into a huge win. But Grandpa's attorney moans and puts his head in his hands.

"Are you okay?" the auditor asks.

"Not really," says the attorney. "This morning, when Grandpa told me he'd been summoned for an audit, he bet me twenty-five thousand dollars that he could come in here and pee all over your desk and that you'd be happy about it."

I've been tagged!

2009-02-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

I have been caught so many times now for blogs and facebook that I figured it was time that I got caught up. So family first. This one is from Kristi and Carolyn.

Rules: Write 6 random things about myself, link the person who tagged you & post the rules. Tag some people. Let them know they have been tagged.

1. I knew that I would marry Rand the very first time I saw him walking across the catwalk at Saint Mary's University. As he walked by I thought, "I know him from somewhere." Then this little voice in my head told me I was going to marry him as he walked by. I had no clue who he was or where I knew him from. I was 18 at the time and thought, "Ya, whatever, I am too young." We became friends the next year, started dating the year after that, and married, finally, the year after that.

2. I write Children's books. I think of stories all the time and have about 7-8 stories written down and ready to send them to a publisher SOMEDAY. Right now I only share them with my immediate family.

3. I have come VERY close to death at least twice in my life, one time actually with no pulse and me viewing my body and all that was happening, but not being in it. I think that's pretty cool.

4. I think everyone has a little OCD. Here are some of mine in brief:
I have to buy everything in even numbers. (Hey even my children are even numbers: boy, girl, boy, girl!) I can't function if they aren't. Rand tried to mess me up once and put 5 of something on the belt; I gave one back to the cashier because I physically couldn't bring it home.
I have to have my towels and facecloths folded a certain way. If someone folds them wrong, and yes they are wrong, I will unfold them and refold them to have them the right way. I have taught the children the correct way to fold a towel.
I have to have my groceries packed a certain way or I will unpack them. I have gone so far as to instruct the cashier on how to pack groceries properly; meat and produce DO NOT go in the same bag! I don't care how long you worked at the store. DUH!

5. I have lots of fears. They used to run my life a lot, but I am trying to become stronger than them. I am scared of the dark, well not the dark, but what's in the dark. I am scared of water that is too deep. I am constantly looking and planning emergency routes wherever I am. I am scared of getting fat (serious self image issues here). I am scared of heights so much so, that last summer I had to ask the Ferris wheel operator to stop the ride so I could get off while my brave 8 year old stayed on! LOSER! I won't continue here because I will end up loosing friends due to the amount of fears I have.

6. I do have a secret desire to move to other countries. I had this before I met Rand back when I thought I would teach English in foreign lands. Now my brain is mixed up because half of me wants to stay put and have roots and plant fruit trees and actually live here to get fruit from them; the other part of me wants to live in different countries every couple of years.

That is it. Man, I hope I still have friends after this. If I do, I am trying to tag those that I haven't seen tagged yet so: Ang, Tammy M., Jenn K and Keah O.