Watch it 'Gain!

A Justin Moment

Sometimes I think I should not ask my boy child questions.

The other day we were in the basement and he was playing with this large toy train of his. It's one that loudly plays music. he'll often say it's singing when it's doing so.

Anyways, he was playing with it and calling it a Mommy train. It mommy train mommy. He kept telling me this.

So...I foolishly opened my mouth and said.... Why is it a mommy train Justin?

His response..... because it noisy!

I have to admit...I laughed.
I have to admit....so did Jim when I told him.
I have to admit.... so did the entire family when Jim rather graciously told them too!

What??????? I don't talk and sing that much!!!!!!!! Really!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Family Christmas Gathering

So yesterday, Jim's mom joined us as we went to my family Christmas gathering.

For the most part, we had a LOT of fun.
I was a bit of a forgetful person and didn't bring a change of clothing and diaper for the boy child, so after he had a rather long nap he had soaked through what he had brought so he ended up saying these wet clothes are uncomfortable and ran around pants-less. Ah well...he is just a wee lad. Led to a bit of a battle at the end of the day....Caroline had a forgotten GIRLS pull-up in her car, Justin did NOT want to wear it, he wanted his CARS (boys) pull-up and this minnie mouse was just not going to cut it. With some sweet talking and quiet time with mommy and then a good distraction from his oma we managed to get them on for the car ride home (I insisted because he hadn't pooped yet! and that was a mess I didn't want to deal with in the car) Turned out to be a wisely won battle. :)

For food we had lasagna, taco casserole, and egg/meat casserole that I brought. Jim also brought the leftovers of salad he made for our at home dinner. Mom provided desserts and buns. Jim's mom also brought a couple of desserts. The food was good. :) Conversation around the dinner table was good.

We read the Christmas story, mom read an interesting piece that she found in the paper, and Jim read a story with a Christmas theme he had found for the Church program.

We also had a gift exchange: mom gave us our amaryllis. this is a yearly tradition and one that I very much look forward too. :) This year she gave money to the Christian Blind Mission (I think I have the right mission) on our behalf as well. Thought that was rather cool. Justin gave out his jars of candy that he helped make. Most everyone thought that was rather cute. I think I had chosen well with the small gifts that I chose for everyone. They seemed happy none-the-less and all I aim for is a smile on people's faces.

Mine sister Judy gave me some new figures for my village. Justin got a Mighty Machines DVD and a whack of cars/trucks. Boy....did he have fun playing with those. took them all to bed with him too! :) Took him a while to wind down from a busy day having ALL his family together and new trucks and cars to play with.

Life was good.

Oh....can't forget the bunnies. Brother Fred and his family gave us their rabbits. These bunnies were purchased for the girls but weren't being appreciated (aka played with) anymore so Fred had asked back in November (I think) if we wanted them. He told me they were small bunnies so I expected bunnies the size of what we have here at home. WRONG! They might not be big meat rabbits....but they are definitely bigger than what we have here at home. :) They are currently housed in the garage until I can figure out where to put them next. I'm thinking I might put them outside in the bigger cage (it's well wind protected though not warm) and put the three smallest bunnies in the garage in my big cage...they'll have more room that way. I'd have to build them bigger nesting boxes though...... but no rush on that.

Must admit though, I am looking forward to having a nice quiet day at home today. :)

Merry Christmas to all

Yesterday Jim's mom came over.
We had a lovely dinner, followed by opening presents and just having a nice time together. Justin hadn't napped during the day so he went to bed at 730 p.m. We stayed up and watched a old movie with Cary Grant. Wasn't too bad. I kept waiting for something bad to happen and when it did I wasn't surprised. Wasn't thrilled with the ending, but over all not a bad movie.

Today we have a Christmas morning service at Church and then we're off to visit with my parents. I'm bringing along the salad Jim made yesterday...it's good! And also a casserole that I haven't made before. We'll have to see how that goes over. :)

Anyways, that's it. Talk more another day.

You all have a Merry Christmas now! :)

Justin wanted me to post this one!

and this one too!

This is YouTube Just for Justin

This Most Recent Weekend

So, This weekend was a busy one.... and yet a bit slower than expected.

Friday night...our open house. Boy was it ever fun! Lots of people showed up. Conversation, laughter, a couple of small presents for Justin, bundles of coats and lines of shoes on the floor. The fact that the cat was unimpressed being locked in the office, and the dog got cold locked in the garage were small prices to pay for such a nice evening. And next year I get to do it again! Oh what fun! :) People seemed to enjoy the baking that I had done, the house was nice and clean (thanks Jim's mom for helping!), and it was just very nice. :)

Saturday afternoon we headed up to visit Mom and Dad overnight because Jim had a classical appointment to preach in their church. The biggest snowstorm to hit Canada this December thought it would take the opportunity to hit us HARD! When I walked Sassy in town for her morning walk I thought hmm....the weather is drivable, but I wouldn't want to go too far. When I arrived home I learned that there were many road closures due to poor driving conditions. So we stayed put. We had hoped to go home later in the afternoon, but the roads didn't reopen until 630 pm. and having a boy that didn't nap, not having things packed to go, made returning home in the dark an undesired option. So we stayed over another night.

It was nice staying over. We played a couple of games. Ate some good food (my mom is great cook). Jim got mom's email straightened out a bit. Justin had fun playing trucks. It was odd not getting out to church, but safer to stay home. Most church services were canceled as well. Boy did we ever get a lot of snow!

Justin had a good nights sleep, we left around 930 Monday morning. got home 1114. Parked on the road because boy oh boy did we ever get a lot of snow. Justin and I waited until Daddy got a path blown out for us. I got the boy into the house, got some food out for him to nibble on while Jim got the driveway cleaned out, and blew out some paths in the backyard for Sassy dog and me to the composter and shed. Then I cared for the critters...boy where they hungry! But they all survived the storm and cold. My baby bunnies have grown and are getting hair. :) And the wee mice are old enough now to start exploring their surroundings. So they will be ready to ship out in another couple of weeks. :)

Once that was all cared for Jim wanted to head to London as per usual for Mondays. We surprised mom. She willingly cared for Justin though since he was all happy to see Grandma. Jim and I finished our Christmas shopping. :) We did make it an early return though. I was beat, Jim was sore from shoveling, and I thought it best not to overextend our welcome at gramma's. Justin fell asleep on the way home, so he went to bed right away. I walked Sassy, did my finances and then did my exercises while relaxing with Jim downstairs.

Overall a good weekend.

Open House Tomorrow Night

So our open house is on tomorrow night. Haven't gotten quite all the baking done that I intended, hopefully can rectify that today. Most of the house is cleaned and put together. Jim isn't happy with the tree yet. Some things we can't put up until the party because of a toddler lad. :)

Justin is feeling better. Jim was very achy starting Tuesday night and through yesterday. Hopefully he'll be feeling good today.

Yesterday Kathy called me up in the morning, wanted me to help her get a Turkey, so I told her to call Hayters and then we could run errands together. It was a fun time.

What else?

Oh yesterday afternoon we stopped into see Susan. She had surgery a while back and she's looking pretty good now. Her colour is good and she's able to do things more readily now. It was a nice visit. Justin had fun playing as well. It was fun watching him with the bird. they have a somewhat unfriendly cockatiel, Anyways,...this bird just LOVES children apparently. Justin had lots of fun talking with this bird, and having this bird sing back to him. Just fun. VERY loud, but fun. :)

That's it. Today I hope to get Justin to toddler time for an hour, then pick up some milk, sour cream and _____ Drawing a blank right now. And this afternoon I want to make some cookies, clean the book room a bit more and then say done with it! :) oh ...perhaps bring up some more tree decorations and tell my hubby to have at it. Perhaps the train too. :)

But right now, devotions sound good and then perhaps seeing if Justin wants to walk Sassy with me. So toodles for now! :)

He Made me Just hoot!

Okay, debated posting this, but I also don't want to forget it.

Yesterday, Justin feeling somewhat better, me feeling just whipped from whatever bug has been floating around our house.

Justin not really wanting to eat yet.
Me eating puffed rice because well...it's a comfort food, it's easy, and it keeps a tummy feeling happy.

Anyways, Justin sees me eating this.
He wants some because it's new and different.

The conversation went something like this:
"I eating head off" Justin showing me a puffed rice missing one pointy end.
me - "You are? Oh good boy, are you going to eat his tummy too?"
boy child carefully turning the puffed rice around and biting off other end "I eating penis!"

I cracked up. I just couldn't contain it. :)

Told Jim later.
his response.... I should have caught that on film...it would have be worth 10 grand through America's Funniest Videos. I cracked up again. :)

What can I say.....family humour. :)

December 5

Jim saw an Owl last night sitting on the window ledge outside the bathroom. Rather neat huh?

We have baby mice. I was shocked. Went out a bit more than a week ago, planning on killing the ladies as I was NOT going to bring them in the house for the winter. Anyways, they had babies! A whole whack of them. This morning I checked on them (as I do in the mornings to feed and water) and their eyes are opening. 10 days old they are now. :) Some very pretty ones in the mix too. not that is matters, ugly or pretty they bring in 75 cents each. But they are handling being outside just fine. So thinking I'll just keep the ladies and one male from the litter over the winter. In the spring I can get me a new male and keep babies from a litter or two and start all over again.

Bunnies are doing well over the winter too outside. They keep quite cozy. I'll breed them in February to hit the Easter crowd and that's good timing as they'll be able to go out on grass too in April so they won't get overcrowded.

What else...Sassy's old injury is bugging her again.

Jim had a couple of crazy busy week's but this week is a bit easier.
Justin got over one cold just to get another one. :( ah well..life of a toddler.
My foot is feeling a lot better, my back is stiff in the morning lately...not much I can do about that, just keep moving! :)

That's it!

Two Messes Cleaned

So Justin has been demonstrating interest in pouring 'water' out of my bleach containers and other such bottles so I thought I NEED to get them up and out of his reach. As in as soon as possible!

Therefore yesterday I undertook to clean out the walk in closet. Reorganized it a bit so that I could put the cleaners up high. Took a few things out, added a couple of things to help with storage. Then I put away the summer shoes, got out the winter boots and voila.. A safe area. :) Also a clean organized area. Won't drive me nuts anymore. :)

Then I thought...hmm...been wanting to tackle the linen closet, why don't I do that as well? Found the knee braces for my hubbie.....knew I had put them some place safe. :) Rearranged and fitted things around a bit better, today I'm hoping to get the rest of my table clothes in there as well.

So two big jobs done and in-between I played with the boy child, made supper, read for 1/2 hour, went to physio appointment, did up all the dishes, got 1/2 the table cleaned off and got all the laundry done. WooHoo! I had a productive day. :) Nice to have those days. :)

This Summer

Not sure if I ever posted these. Justin and I went to visit Teo and Sieka from church one day this summer. Jim was not with us, not sure anymore what he was doing. Anyways, Teo took these pictures of our boy child. Teo had sent these to me as a reminder of Justin on the lawn mower. :) Thanks again Teo! :)

His Sense of Humour is Developing

So last night I was doing dishes, Justin came in to "help". I asked him instead to let the dog in the house.

Off he toddled. I hear him at the back door (just like two steps away). Sassy coming? Sassy he yells. Then I hear the door open, then a giggle as the door shuts.
Sassy coming? He giggles. I hear the door open, I poke my head around the corner asking if he needs help only to see a boyo closing a door carefully just as Sassy tries to get in the house. He did this again. Sassy was being very patient.

I said "Justin are you teasing the dog?" He looked up at me and chortled.

I opened the door and let the dog in. :)

Told Jim about it. His response... He must have learned it from his mommy who likes teasing her animals too. :)

Our vacation - November 2007

Plain and simple.... we had fun.

We stayed with Jen and Mark. I got to know these people when I started to work with their son Matt. Matt is a great young man who has Cerebral Palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. Anyways, they moved off to the Greater Toronto Area, I got married and life somewhat changed. Anyways, Jen is one of my friends where it is easy to just pick up where we left off. Nice to have that.

Anyways, they were gracious enough to let us use their home as "home base". They have this HUGE dog named Bear (appropriately enough). Their daughter is off at University, and both boys are still at home. We arrived Monday night and just had a nice visit.

Tuesday and Wednesday we were off to the Royal Winter Fair. Justin slept in a bit late on the Tuesday so we got there a bit late. I had forgotten to pack his stroller so first off we picked up a cheapie one at Zellers. We made Tuesday Justin's day to just explore and play. We went through the various Children's exhibits -- the animals, the crafts, and the Hands on stuff. Justin had a blast. He saw pigs, chickens, lambs, cattle, goats, llamas and so forth. He tried very hard to climb into various exhibits.


I can climb up! Really I can!


Jim and I both thought it cute that Justin wanted to introduce his beloved Tagu to the various animals that he met.

The colouring was a huge hit as well. :) He had such fun organizing the crayons and markers and then choosing just the right picture to colour. The area that they did this in had all sorts of really nice posters that we could bring home as well. We spent a fair bit of time here. In the back part of this exhibit they had children painting horses. Justin wasn't quite old enough to do this and he probably would have wanted to just take everyone else's horses anyways. So we kept him away from that. :)

And then it was off to see some exhibits. Booths with food, free samples, interesting items and people. Just stuff to look at and sample, or in Justin's case...to play in. :) Here he's playing with farm equipment in a sandbox of canola seeds. While he played, Jim wandered booths and I chatted with the sales rep. Nice man, farms canola out in Alberta and is an elder in a Baptist church out there. He started to get tired 530 ish so we headed off 'home' again. It was a nice family day.

Day two. We got there fairly early in the day. Spent the morning walking through booths since we didn't see most of them the day before. Justin started off his day convincing his mommy that he really, really needed her to buy "Bertie". it was a bus at a british display....looked much like Bertie the bus from the Thomas the train show. A good day long amusement for a little boy.

I started getting a bit tired so we went over to the horse arena hoping to catch a show. We did! Justin enjoyed the horses...watched carefully until being a toddler caught up to him. He got away from me at one point -- crawled an entire row of seats and out the other end. I made people smile when I walked around the seats saying "looking for a toddler" and here he was little head grinning at me from under a seat. :) I took him up around the top so he had a good chance to run around like a crazy boy. Fun fun! we made four big loops until he started to walk a bit drunk like. So back down to our seats where I cuddled him in my lap and he promptly fell asleep. He had a good 2 hour nap.
And I got to watch a horse show in relative peace and quiet. :) We saw jumping, big horses pulling carriages, and carriage derby practice and much much more. Lots of fun.

Overall a very good day.

Home again, we all crashed after a visit with Jen and Mark.

Thursday we went to IKEA in the morning. had lunch there as well. Justin ate well, I was quite pleased. Home to our home to just relax a spell.

Friday off to London so Justin could visit gramma. We first stopped at the doctor because Justin's been saying owiee and crying and I wanted to know what was up with that. Plugged ears (too much ear wax) was the diagnosis. Not fun. So oil drops and see if it comes out. He missed our weekly gramma time so this was important to him. He had fun. Jim and I went out for a really nice dinner. Gramma brought Justin home for us so we could just take our time.

Saturday we had a nice supper at Judy and Henry's. Judy, my sister, is a good cook. Meatloaf with boiled egg in the middle, potatoes and various veggies. Becky was there but soon headed off with a friend to go shopping, and Shane had a friend over. Justin played with trucks and various small animals. A nice visit for all.

Sunday morning Justin was TIRED. He had a cold, and there was no way I was getting him out of the house. No, stay home day, stay home day? Was his plaintive request. So Daddy went to church. Mommy and Justin stayed home.

As An Aid to my Hubby

Jim told me that if he doesn't read and write it down he won't remember what Justin's chores are around the house.

1. Helps feed the fish ... does this twice a week or sometimes more often
2. Helps feed the baby bunnies
3. Helps to wash the cups (especially HIS sippy cups) while Mommy washes the dishes (or while he's playing in the sink)

So now my sweetheart has a ready and able list to go by. :)

Challies Contest

Jim, Camping with the Men

So Jim is an active part of the Pop Up Explorer group. Each year a bunch of men go camping up at Algonquin park the first weekend in November. A bunch of Canadians and Americans. They drink beer, burn Tiki huts, have conversations, and I'm assuming perhaps do some walking about.

Jim calls at least once a day to just say how things are going.
He's been rather disappointed by the "vileness" of some of the campers this year. Finds it discouraging. He's still having fun talking with some of the more "grown-up" of the men, and some of those men he is really enjoying getting to know better, but some of the rest overrides a bit. He is looking forward to coming home. :)

Our days are mostly outlined here and here and here. Go check them out if you desire.

What else did we do this week that I failed to mention?

1. Dug up my "not hardy for winter" bulbs. Planted daffodil bulbs leftover from Jim's mom.
2. Got the composter all dug out and our new garden all filled in.
3. Brought the baby bunnies inside to get tamed up a bit.
4. Cleaned the house, seemed like umpteen times, especially with a boy child following after..... I would like this house clean before we leave next week.
5. called Jen (a friend in Ontario), we can stay with her and the family next week. They are in Oakville which will make a daily drive into T.O. a bit shorter.

Basically managed to keep fairly busy. Good thing that.

Today I'm not sure where I"m going to church. Mom and Dad's anniversary as well. Have to pick up Justin. Part of me just wants to go to London now, find a church, then wait for Justin and Mom to come back from Woodstock and then come home, let Justin nap and wait for Jim to come home. But that doesn't seem efficient to me somehow ...and tempts me too much to do stuff on Sunday that I don't need to be doing. Anyways, first I have a dog to walk.

Boy.... is this house ever quiet...........

Rainy Day

So... our life.

1. We miss our Riley dog, but it's getting better. Justin noticed today. he walked around the house today saying "an riley too? riley hidin?" What do you say to that? All I could say was "No buddy, Riley is all gone now."

2. Jim was away at Classis all day. Left at 530, arrived back at 5 p.m. He's tired. Says it was a good meeting.

3. Our van, the bearings need to be replaced.

4. Jim leaves to go up north probably next Tuesday. He will be missed. He is not sure yet if he is taking Sassy with him or not. Pros and Cons both ways. He's going camping in the cold with a bunch of men.

5. Harry's boys will take care of our critters the week that we're away. I'll pay them $10 for their trouble. They are just old enough to do it now. :) Peter is excited about taking care of the mice. :)

6. Mom and Dad are moving. I go up Monday to help. Jim is hoping the van will be done early in the a.m so it's done and out of the way. Kinda needs it fixed so that he can take it up north.

7. Justin is for the most part, potty trained at home during the day, as long as he isn't wearing pants. Going away is harder, and we're still figuring that one out. Good thing as his cloth diapers don't fit very good anymore and we've kinda given up on them.

8. Justin's room has been "fall-cleaned". All reorganized. He was a bit scared to go to bed tonight as it all looked so different. I lay down with him for one minute talking about his room and how his crib is the same, and mommy sleeps in her own room and he's just fine in his room. and such like. He settled down nicely after that.

9. Justin struggles with me going to work on Fridays. Yesterday and today he kept asking...Mommy home now? Mommy stay home now? AH!!!!! Makes me wonder how women do it all the time. How can they leave their little ones behind to go to work? I don't figure it too well. These two days make me want to just chuck the job. But I won't. I know he's fine. He is with his father. Life is good. :) Helps me pay off my credit cards, helps me get stuff that we as a family need. But ah....just tugs at me old heart strings it does....

Anyways, that's it. I have a dog to amble. Rabbits to catch and dishes to get done. Tomorrow is Sunday! YEAH!!! We get to worship God as a corporate body. :) Life is good.

And he stopped crying

all I had to do was find this:

Canadian Thanksgiving

Much to the consternation of my American Friends, The Canadian Thanksgiving weekend comes early... and it's often a reminder to me to get Christmas cards ready to mail. I used to send them out too early until one day, one of them wrote and said HEY, stop sending the cards too early, we just got done OUR thanksgiving! So, I hesitate just a bit longer now. Still get them ready, but just don't send them. :)

Anyways, yesterday we had Thanksgiving with my side of the family.
It would figure on a day when we had to drive a fair piece, Justin would decide, on a rainy morning to sleep in. So we arrived at mom's, instead of the hour early for lunch that we had planned, just in time for the meal to start. :) Ah well, what can one do?

We sat and ate of course!

Justin ate well of pork and beef and applesauce with just a sprinkling of corn. The Jello and Ice cream went down really well too.

Mom cooked us up a nice feast. :) Thanks MOM! :)

We had good conversation around the table. Then Justin took off for the great outdoors and played on the swing with cousin Sierra for a while. It was hot outside so we soon headed back indoors. Justin played trucks (what else? :) ), and the rest of us sat and chatted while cousin Becky took a much needed nap.

Good time had. We all left for home again around 430 p.m.

Today Jim's mom for sure is coming up lunch. We're having turkey and other stuff (I haven't figured out all the "other stuff" yet. :) Which reminds me, I'd best get at it!

Oh... my folks and brother Bill were invited to come down spur of the moment. So we'll have to see what comes of that! :)

Nice surprise

So...that was a really nice surprise.

Tante Corrie (my dad's oldest sister) came up to church today. She arrived a bit late since she had a hard time finding our church, but she enjoyed the service.

She had brought a sandwich along, so we had a nice lunch together. I learned that uncle Dick is in hospital, will be there for a couple of weeks.

Her family is doing well.

AND that it bugs her when parents are so busy with their own lives that they can't care for their children themselves. Since it's an issue that bugs me too, we were able to have a friendly discussion about it.

Crowing a bit About Sassy

I need to crow a bit about my dog Sassy for a minute. :)

This past weekend, I went to an agility trial at Jumping for Joy in Maryhill with Jim and Sassy. We camped over Friday night in the trailer. We've in the past brought Riley with us as he's such a calm dog that nothing bothers him that it keeps Sassy all chilled out to. Like me, she's easily made tense. :) Funny how our dogs mimic who we are at times.

Anyways, Riley was NOT up to traveling. He was really, really not feeling well. Eva came over to care for Justin and Riley.

That left the problem of how do we make sure this trial is a GOOD thing for Sassy dog. Our problem-solving resulted in: making sure she ate her food...took me 20 minutes of coaxing with her favourite..CHICKEN! Found a ball for a toy (which ended up not needing too much as there were apple trees around and Sassy loves chasing apples and then eating them. During the day instead of tethering her out, she stayed inside with Jim as he did his work. She only came out for her runs and for exercise.

First run.... standard run. Contains all the different obstacles: tire, jumps, a-frame, teeter (seesaw), weave poles, tunnels and so forth. The run looked do-able. But since Sassy hasn't trialled in such a long time I thought she was capable of just doing a no-brainer and not listen OR choosing to grin at me and then do her own course or listen really well and do everything great. Forgot to factor in her handler...me... Run went great until we got the table were we had to stop for a five count. My back said OW... my brain went left-field somewhere and we got a two count refusal for the weave poles. Blanked out completely. So in this run it was "great dog, pity about the handler". :)

Second run: team. Team is HARD to get. You depend on two dogs and two handlers both being in good form on the same day on the right course. WE DID IT!!!!! Little old Dexter and middle-aged Sassy pulled it off. Two estactic handlers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Neither of which believed we had done it until we saw it on paper. WE DID IT!!!!!!!! Sassy and Dexter "q'd" ah...what a wonder. :) so pleased with both dogs listening and doing their stuff so very well.

Third run: Gamblers. This one I didn't worry about at all. Okay...wee bit of a lie, got nervous which I always do, but chilled out once we started running. I saw what the main gamble was and said to myself... Sassy can do this. She's done this type of gamble before in practice...about two years ago. This... she can do. So I thought I'd play around a bit with the stuff beforehand just to see what she would do. i.e. could she do the mini gamble? Could she do the big point obstacles despite my back just killing me by this point? She could!!!!! she could!!!!! WE WON THE CLASS!!! Totally cool! :) We beat out the competition by 2 points we did!!!!!!

Yeah for Sassy listening so well. For not getting all stressed out and only wanting to get her toy and to go home! Yeah for me holding my back together long enough to get through three runs!!!! yeah for Jim being patient and just sitting with her in the trailer when I had to do my volunteer stints. :)

It was just totally bonus today folks, just totally.
At the end of the day she got three first places for her class (specials). and two of the more important "q" ribbons for doing everything just the way she was supposed to in the time allowed for her to do it. Those two ribbons go toward a bigger title which hopefully we'll finish off next year. :)

And to think I went into this trial thinking we'd come home empty. thinking that after 8 months off she and I would be too rusty to get through anything well. HA! I say HA to that! My dog is TOO good for that! (imagine a very big grin) So yes... I think I can be proud of my girlie. Sometimes I do wonder what she'd have been like with a different, better handler ..... I think she'd be national/international quality I do! :)

Okay.... all done crowing now. :)

Weekly update - sept 20

Lifted the lawn mower wrong a couple of days agao..just a little thing. Sent my back into major spasm. VERY irritating. Just been a summer of irritation! :) develops character right? Side benefit though...JIM will wash the kitchen floor for me. I rather dislike our mop so I usually do a hands and knees thing, so the floor desperately needs a good cleaning so Jim has promised to give it a once over.

Jim thinks he has caught what Justin and I fought with over the weekend. Gave Justin a day of vomiting and diarrhea. me...If I ate I felt icky, but if I didn't I felt worse somehow. Jim has a general feeling of malise going on right now. Hopefully it will pass over him quickly. Changed his plans to go visiting an elderly lady of our church tonight. she's like... 98 or something like that. Lives in assisted living now. Just finished battling an illness so Jim's not real keen on helping her battle something else. :) Go figure eh! :)

Sassy is entering her first trial in almost 8 months this weekend. I've dropped her down a height level because I don't like how she won't do everything high that I ask, but otherwise seems fine. But she's full of zip again so I figure.. it's a small trial, let's see how she does. :)

What else.....I could just be really chatty and tell you EVERYTHING that I've done this week... do you want me to be that chatty though??? that's always the question. :)

Tuesday... laundry (ALL the laundry done!). Lawn mowed. Killed three bunnies to make into dog food. Rearranged all the critters to make fit the pens that we have constructed. Groomed Riley. Practiced agility with Sassy. Played with the boy child. Cooked three healthy meals! Even got most of the kitchen clean except for dishes..my back said enough is enough by the end of the day.

Yesterday... gardening. Have to admit, I asked Jim to help me with dig the potatoes loose. Justin helped me pull the onions. Learned a new thing... Had onions left from last year that had "hidden" themselves. Figured I'd just let them stay in the garden and see what happened with them over the course of the year. one... they flowered. SOME of them grew onions out of the flower head (like Egyptian walking onions do) Others just grew seeds out of the seed head, and some also grew babies like tulips do. Totally amazed me to see the differences in them as they were apparently all the same variety of red onion. Rather neat.

Also hmmm... Oh..processed all the free meat I got for the dogs off freecycle. Getting that ready to make my dog food next week sometime for them. it was funny. Had this HUGE roast that just daunted me to make into ever so many smaller pieces. Decided to whack it in half in give it to the dogs. Note... this was probably a 12 pound roast. VERY solid. Anyways, wanted to see if ever hungry Riley would still be hungry if he ate half of it. AND if Sassy could even manage to finish it. They both succeeded. Then they sate some ribs from a rib roast I could barely cut through. To make it meal sized would have required more work than I wanted to put into them. so Riley got two ribs, and Sassy got one and a bit. But Sassy... VERY rotund. No desire for supper. No desire for a walk...just let me sleep and digest please is her attitude. Riley.... Hey...where's supper now? Hey...food is good? Hey dumb human... I think you forgot something!!!!!!
Dumb irritating dog! You've had enough food for 2 days dog! actually enough for 4 days!!!! Ah well...he's old and semi-senile...what can one expect? Makes me laugh even if he is irritating. :)

Update on the dogs this morning: Sassy VERY eager and happy to go for a walk. Chased bunnies and squirrels, said hi to our regular morning walk people, with two normal poops. Riley, walked slowly, not a lot of interest in things, but walked nicely, one not so good poop which is normal for him if I change things on him. He's still hungry! Silly dog. no breakfast this morning for you! Your tummy is still full!

What else...not a whole lot. Justin went to bed well last night. Woke up during the night talking and playing, so now when I want to go to toddler time with him he's sleeping in! Silly lad. Jim slept fairly well last night and he isn't feeling as perky as he'd like, but better than last night. Hopefully he can do the visiting today that he wants to get done.

Western Fair

Today Jim, Justin and I are are heading out to the Western Fair.

Not the biggest fair around, the CNE is larger. But a nice fair none-the-less. We go every year. :) I'm looking forward to watching dockdogs perform today at 3 or 6 p.m. Fun fun! :)

Justin will be coming with us for the first bit --- 1100 til just after 100 and then Jim's mom will come to get him. Justin will play and nap at gramma's for the afternoon.

Should be fun. I'll give an update later on.

All Okay

So Justin had his latest ear checkup.

Passed his hearing test with Flying colours.

His tubes are still in place.

I had my x-ray and CT scan done. Will go in next week to see if we have any results to that.
I didn't have to go head into the CT tube for which I am grateful, wasn't looking forward to that idea at all. All I had to do was wear rather unfashionable pants and lie very still for five minutes.

that's it!

Some Justin Videos

As Justin grows up, he does more and more silly things. Here are a couple of videos.

Monday At The Splash Pad

On Monday we headed to London to pick up some free stuff. After that we went looking for a park with a play area for Justin. I thought that Gibbon's Park might have something, so we headed there.

When we arrived we were happily surprised that not only is there are quite extensive play area, but there is also a splash pad. We did not have bathing suits, but enjoyed it none the less.

Here are some pictures:

Starting our Camping Vacation Updates

So.....the last two weeks have been busy for us. Just so you know. I will be dividing these vacation updates between between my two main blogs. This one and Fish and Cans. This is so that I don't overload one blog with too many pictures.

We've been away camping and doing day trips.

One of the things we chose to do before leaving was to pick up a special traveling toy for our son Justin.

What can I say? Take along Thomas was a HUGE hit. He played with it everyday. He took the trains to bed with him. He had so much fun it was worth it.

One of the other things that we were thrilled with was that Justin didn't need the playpen to sleep in anymore. A bed rail and drawn curtains kept him safely confined to bed.

We tended all to go to bed at the same time, and it was funny. Most nights we would hear "hi! hi!" emanating from behind the curtains. We would respond with "good night Justin, time for bed". Silence, rustling, you would think he had settled down then would come "hi! hi!" with an accompanying giggle. "night night" Justin we would say. This would repeat up to ten times before he would finally settle down.

Most nights he would sleep well until 730 a.m.

Naps were harder. He was having too much fun to settle for naps. We often ended up going for after lunch drives so that he could at sleep in the van. Then we could be guaranteed at least a one hour nap. Makes for a much happier boy.

Updates and Vacation Plans

For those wanting an update on my boyo's Birthday, well... go to my blog over here.

For those who might be curious about a rant, or a Meme well then follow those links over too. :)

Yes, I'm being a bit lazy in just referring you over, but it saves the copying and pasting and such like. :)

So we're off today to go camping.

Jim preaches in Kingsville this Sunday so we'll be at Weatherly (i think that's the right spelling) park for 3 nights, then home to London (Eva's place) for one night and camping at Fanshawe Conservation Area. Feel free to come and visit us there! :)

Friday - Sunday there is the folk festival in London that Jim would like to spend some time at. More information on that can be found here.

Hours of festival
Friday July 20 - 6-11 p.m.
Sat July 21 - 12 noon - 11 p.m.
Sunday July 22 - 12 noon - 10:30 p.m.

Children's Area
Saturday and Sunday 12 noon - 5 p.m.

Open Stage
Saturday and Sunday 12 noon - 5 p.m.

Home County Folk Festival 2007 Artist Roster

Andy Sheppard, Andrea Beaton & Troy McGillivray, Andrea Koziol, Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, Creaking Tree String Quartet, Dala, Duane Andrews, Dixie Flyers, Dennis Pendrith, Mike Ford, Mitch Lewis, Manitoba Hal, Mae Moore, Mark Reeves, Pete Denomme, Paul Langille, Paul Mills, Rezonators, Sara Burnell, Sam Turton, Sirens, Slugfest, Treasa Levasseur, Tanglefoot, Tannis Slimmon & Lewis Melville, Jackie Washington, Jowi Taylor and the Six String Nation Guitar, Twilight Hotel, Valdy, Youssouf Camera

ScienceHack

Here is a handy search engine for science videos.  They are all screened by scientists to verify accuracy, although if one disagrees with things such a intelligent design versus evolution, there may be some where that would be an issue.

Check out ScienceHack.

Mom's Birthday

So we got together as a whole clan to celebrate my mom's 70th birthday.

yes, this grand lady is 70 years young. :) Turned that way at the beginning of the month.

We celebrated late because we had hoped that my brother and this family from Ottawa could get out here to help, but that was not to be be.

Ate out at Crossroads restaurant in Elmira. They have a decent buffet. Jim's mom joined us, which was so nice. As mom says "you're family too!"

Justin was good, even ate a bit.

Afterwards we stopped at mom and dad's place for coffee and conversation. Good times had by all. Sierra rode back with us. Justin likes his 7 year old cousin. She's "fun" even if she does tease him by stealing his "tagu" (also known as tiger)

We'll all be getting together again this coming Saturday to celebrate Justin's 2nd b-day. What fun. A boy turns 2!

We've been rated

Our anniversary

If you all want to know how our anniversary went, go here.

Talked with Mom and Dad who wished us a happy anniversary. Nice to chat with them for a bit.

Received these greetings from brother Fred

Happy Anniversary to you and Jim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey, it's been 5 years already! Think about the changes God has brought into your life in the last 5 years, both the joys and the sorrows! All opportunities for growth and being better able to love those around us. We pray God will guide and sustain the 3 of you with wisdom and understanding as you begin yet another year together!

Okay, so it was fun

So... Mom reminded me that I hadn't talk you all how the shopping trip went.

IT WAS FUN!

Yes, I, Annette, had fun shopping for clothes with my mother! Don't all fall over in shock now. :)

First we headed to the tile place so we could pick out good tile and carpet for their new place. It was actually quite funny. We had narrowed down the tile selections to five of them. We stood there looking at them, and simultaneously, with no planning, mom and I touched the same one with "I like this one best" on our lips. We laughed. It made the choice so very easy. :)

Carpet was a fore-gone conclusion. Mom knew what she liked. Had kinda picked it out at home. Looked fine to me so hey... it's works. :)

Justin had fun running around the store. We made sure he didn't hurt himself while doing so.

Then off to pick up lunch and to drop Justin off at Eva's.

Mom and I sent clothes shopping. First off for sandals since mine had broken the week before and my pinkies were "unacceptable" to mom. :) We found some decent ones on sale at marks' work wear house.

I felt spoiled by my mother. But it was fun. I even learned the brown is NOT a bad colour for me. Go figure. Something to keep in mind for the fall.

What did we end up getting?
dress pants - navy blue, they feel really nice on.
blue jean shorts, navy blue shorts - way better than some current clothing
Three no sleeved shirts - red, multi-coloured tank that will go with Sunday skirt, orangey sweater type - no I don't know what it is officially called, to me it's a shirt, very soft and comfortable.
one pair blue jean capris'
oh.. almost forgot, one very nice light light green sorta dressy no sleeve shirt/blouse. very pretty and different than what I would normally look for.

My mom has good taste.

So, it was a nice, very fun day out. Mom and I talked and laughed alot.
She spoiled me and it was good.

Justin had a good day at gramma's too.

We were all tired by the end of the day.

He said Pee! :)

So I know, no huge biggie for folks.

But I"m a first time mom. I can be thrilled when my boy, at 23 months, pulls at his diaper and says pee AND THEN holds it until we have said diaper off and he sits on the potty.

Good Boy! :)

Shopping

I have to admit, I am NOT a person who enjoys shopping for clothes. I"m not. I'll wear whatever fits until the cows come home.

BUT my mom is coming up today.

We're going shopping together. She'd like me to have some new clothes.

I have to admit, I'm actually looking forward to it.

Justin is coming in the morning. He'll help Oma and I pick out new tiles/carpeting for the new house Oma and Papa are building. We'll have lunch and then Justin will go to Grandma's for a nap in the afternoon. And mom and I will hang out together.

Should be a nice day.

News for this week

One of our girl mice had a litter of 8 babies. hard to tell which momma as they all seem to huddle around the babies and bothering mice with a new litter isn't always the wisest of things to do.

We have a new rabbit. Very tame. Justin says "bun-bun". So we might stick with that name. We got him from a lady in London who just didn't have time for him anymore.

It was funny. I went to the doc yesterday to find out why certain things in life were uncomfortable. Discovered I have a bladder infection --- and no, that's not the funny part. Anyways, a couple weekends ago, I had a lot of fun at the AAC Regionals and I had seen the doc there. So we spent as much time talking agility as we did actually discussing my health. I"m going to email her with some trainers as she has an active Border Collie she wants to train further. So that was a lot of fun just chatting. Anyways, you can read how that weekend went here.

Day Two of Jim being gone

Plan was to have a relaxing day after being busy, so busy yesterday with doctor's appointment, visiting, gramma over and mommy going out. That was our plan.

We walked the dogs, discovered that it was better if Brutis came over for a visit rather than us walking him. So he came over. That meant a short walk, instead of leisurely, and a quick removal of bunnies from backyard as Brutis (Boo) likes to chase and kill living things.

Once Boo settled down Justin and I headed out to Rona to see about getting some quick crete for the front bed. Gabby was on, gave us a 10% discount on the materials. Since I only had the car, Gabby offered ever so graciously to bring them to my place on his lunch break. :) Thanks Gabby! :)

Home.. realized that all the branches the deacons cut down were piled on top of the composter so thought I would clean that up. Took a while with a little boy helping. Cut what I could up for firewood, put the rest into a pile for later burning in our hopefully soon to be built fire pit.

Started to clean out the trailer. Justin decided it was a good time to go back into the house and wanted/asked/no demanded that mommy come with him. So that task ended.

Ended up watching Thomas the train for a while. Had lunch while watching Berenstain bears (it was a hit!). Justin laid down for a nap, I finished up the tree branches, did some weeding, moved the bunnies around, and then Jim called and we chatted for a bit. When he left to go to his meeting, I attempted to pump up tire on wheelbarrow. 15 minutes later I realized that wasn't working! ARGH!!!!! Chatted with Audrey for a moment about it all.

Can't work on front garden!!!! I'm frustrated just a tad.

So worked on computer a bit.

Did something else.. oh..hung out the sleeping bags on the line. :)

When Justin got up we took Sassy for a walk. Stopped at the park to play a while. Justin was hesitant about coming home, but came along well enough when he saw mommy had a bottle of juice for him. Half way home I hear "supper, supper" coming out of his mouth... think he was getting hungry?

YES! he ate pork roast (slow-cooked) and applesauce and peas and french fries. He then had LOADS of fun helping mommy do the dishes. He was just too cute.

I gave him a dish to wash. He scrubbed it diligently. Would pick it up look at it, I would ask him if it was clean "mope" would be the response and he would plunge it back into the water and diligently scrub it again. Our dishes have never been so clean! :) Mind you..that's only our light weight plastics that I gave him. I'm not silly enough to give him glass (well..not anymore!) :)

he went to bed late... 1015! ARGH! not my idea of fun, but he had a great snack before bed so hopefully will sleep well and not be starving in the morning. :) Anyways, time for me to head off as well.

My boy

Today Justin and I took his height and weight.

He is at 33 lbs and 35.5 inches tall.

He seems to keep growing! :)

Oh, What to Update?

Went out for supper last night with a couple who are involved with the video ministry from another church. Boy...did we ever have a good time. Good food, good conversation and laughter. Justin ate meat! :) What can I say, he's not a huge meat eater so I like it when he does that. Lida is a good cook. (well, except for pie which she says never turns out for her so she buys it) We had apple pie for dessert, roast beef, potatoes, broccoli, salad and carrots. Good meal. So it was a good time out. Anyways, Lida reminded me that I haven't updated the View for a bit so... here I am updating. :)

Afterwards Jim had a meeting, and then Justin and I took the dogs for a walk to the park. Justin now knows how to open the front door by himself. NOT REAL THRILLED by this. We live on a busy street. So we'll have to keep the screen door locked I think for the next while until he learns to be a bit safer. Scares a mother's heart to hear the front door slam while hearing "Park, Park". Fortunately I also heard "stoller, stoller" as he ran to the garage to try to get his stroller out. yeah for strollers! :) Justin had a lot of fun at the park, we actually went to the school playground as the rec. centre play ground was jam packed with children from the baseball families. Anyways, he had fun playing with a little boy Griffin. 3.5 years, wanting to play with Justin's trains, but Justin doesn't know how to share yet (he's still at the MINE-stage) But they had fun together going down the slide and playing trains.

What else.... had a great yard sale on May 19th. Mom and Dad came up from Teviotdale to help out. Mom brought a few things with her to sell as well. Jim's mom was here, she was going to help with the sale as well, but Justin wanted to play in the sandbox so she helped him with that instead. Proved to be a huge help! :) It was SO much fun. Chatting with family, chatting with people who stopped by, making wheeling and dealing. Ah I LOVE IT! :)

Then I got to clean up and I actually like that too.... the picking and choosing about what to give away at the curb, deciding what to bring to which thrift place, deciding what I should keep (Jim's mom is having a garage in August so I'm giving her a few things to sell). Anyways, it was fun. :) Someday I get to do this again! OH.. made over $300. Some of which was spoken for, 30$ (approx) to Cheryl for rabbits, 50$ to pay Jim back for Sassy's clippers, 30$ devoted for dog food (from sale of rabbits) and the rest is mine to play with!

I'll use the change to outfit (hopefully) Justin this weekend at the Hensall town-wide garage sale. Hopefully for the rest of the year, depends if people had boy children born the year before Justin or not. We'll have to wait and see.

Had some of my joy stolen away from me Sunday morning by unkind comments made. I need to deal with at some point this week. Just have to figure out a good time and so forth.

What else, oh.. finished the front bed and ended up redoing the back corner bed. Nancy gave me so many plants from her garden so she's been a real boon to me in this. Got some plants I don't have which is always nice. I've managed to finish planting my veggie gardens, will have to replant my cucumbers as the hard frost we had this week seemed to hit them. All I have left to do of the hard spring work is weeding and digging out a bit the privacy fence/window garden. The creeping charlie is having a field day there.

Oh.. Sassy definitely has herding breed in her somewhere. I have 4 bunnies leftover that I haven't sold yet. ONE of them (littlest white) has learned if he wiggles when I want him to waggle he can get away from me. Hopping bunnies are hard to catch. SASSY HERDS him back to me. It's quite a distinctive herding behaviour. Much different than her WILD BUNNY must CHASE attitude. This is a "I'm bringing this critter back to where it belongs" behaviour. Very helpful. Makes me think she's a very smart dog. Certainly saves me a lot of leg work. I need to figure out a more fool proof way of moving these bunnies about.

Mother's Day

So yesterday was Mother's Day.

Jim's mom joined us for the day. She arrived shortly before the morning service and stayed until just after the evening service.

As it was mother's day, all the ladies in the church received a flower. Justin thought he should try to beat mine up. :)

He was too excited yesterday to stay in church very long. He went to the nursery by the time of the second song which is a bit unusual for him lately.

We had a nice day.

Found out after church that a young lady from church is looking for a new male rabbit for her herd of rabbits so told her she could have our bun-bun. We had gotten a rabbit this week that was destined for the dog food pot but Justin and Jim well....they fell in love with him. Anyways, he is a bit too "friendly" shall we say, so I couldn't let Justin play with him. So Cheryl will take bun-bun and I will get some young bunnies from Cheryl. I will try to sell some of these wee bunnies at my upcoming garage sale and the rest will stick around for a wee while. :) If we get enough of them, hopefully neither Jim or Justin will like them too much. :)

We had mac and cheese goulash for lunch, followed by mom's lovely lemon pie. :)

Justin was having a hard time containing his excitement at "mamer" being over and was SO tired that we took a nice walk so that he could settle down and have a nap. That gave Jim time to relax for a while as well as he did not join us for a walk.

So Justin napped in the stroller while mom and I visited outside for a while. Mom thinks I did a good job on my big window garden too! YEAH! :)

We now have three baby birds in our nest. Two more to hatch!

Justin was so unhappy that gramma and daddy had to go to church, that I took him for a walk outside. We ended up at the neighbours house where Nancy's boy Owen was jumping on the trampoline. Justin naturally had to join him. :) Then Justin discovered that Owen has a tractor! wow!!!!! it moves fast when you stand on the pedals! WOW!!!! what fun for a wee boy. I think I know where this wee boyo will like visiting!

Anyways, that was our day in the life of "mother's day".

Justin and Grape hyacinth's

Would you never believe this boyo of mine.

He is just a bad, bad boy. Makes me smile though cause he's so cute when he does it.

Yes I know, bad mommy.

He goes into my flower garden looking for ONE thing only....a grape hyacinth to destroy. He plucks off the whole flower and then ever so carefully takes all the individual flowers off. He tends puts them in a nice, neat little circle in front of him.

Then he smiles this little smile of his as he looks for another one to decimate.

I know...sheer silliness

So.. Eric and Danielle won the amazing race. This was actually the amazing race all stars. Viewing it was a weekly event for Jim and I. Now that it's done...whatever shall we watch as we relax on Sunday evenings? :)

I have to admit, of the final three teams... These are the ones I wanted to win. They became a better couple as the race progressed. Both "grew up" a little. Danielle showed her grit. Eric actually seemed to really appreciate her. So ...it's good

I would have liked the "little person" and her cousin (Charla and Mirna) to have come in second just because I didn't much like the blondes, but that's neither here nor there.

But Eric and Danielle won.

Wouldn't it be totally cool if they would turn to the Lord and use that million dollars for good? :)

Well, it's built :)

So our new form of income and dog food has now been housed a bit more properly and they are OUTSIDE! Yes! No more male mice smell in our house! YEAH!!!! :)

I built a pen! yes me! Jim helped a bit with some cutting and suggestions and drilled holes, but for the most part I built it my own self! :) It's not perfect, but that's okay.

Wooden box for our mice to live in, in the great outdoors. Protected all around with metal to prevent errant chewing and escaping. Three houses in one box. They may eventually chew their way between houses, but I'll cross that bridge when (and if) I get there.

The only thing I forgot to do was add handles, that I'm not to sure how to add. So for now moving it will be a bit of a challenge. Since it's only 3 feet long and 15 inches wide, it isn't too heavy to just lug about though.

Only one grouping of mice is not outside yet, but that is due to the litter they are currently rearing. They will go outside in about 4 weeks. :) Hopefully one of those wee ones will be a boy and we can use him as a breeder. Even if we sell the babies for $1 a piece they will help provision our dogs with food. More then they would provide themselves! YEAH! Wouldn't that be nice? :)

I'll be keeping the field mice for another couple of weeks yet to see if any of them get "with child" if they don't... then I'll kill them as I'll need the cage soon anyways to raise wee boyo's.

Just happened

We have six babies in our lives.

Just born in the last half hour.

Sugar had 6 babies. She's a slimmed down girlie now. :)

Hopefully they will all survive.

Dad's Birthday Party

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stupid computer..... Now I have the fun of doing this all over again!!!!!!!! Stupid computer crashing after I had just inputted the WHOLE DAY!!! ARGH!!!!

Okay, rant over now. :)

Did you know my dad is now 72 years old? Isn't that a great reason to have a b-day party? yes, he did. He invited all us local family members over for dinner and visit.

Our family had the audacity to arrive first!!! Can you believe it? We NEVER arrive first for family stuff ever! When we got there, we actually wondered if we somehow got the date wrong. :)

Anyways, turned out well, Justin had napped before we got there so he was alert and ran eagerly for the toy closet (funny how quick they learn where that is). Hauled out all the cars he could get his little hands on and was off having fun. We had a nice visit.

Fred and his girls arrived (Caroline at coffeebreak rally) around 1230ish, mom started dinner. We had roast beef, mashed taters, green beans, peas and slightly frozen applesauce (my fav). Bill arrived just as we were starting to eat (great timing). it was so easy making more room for him. It was good food! Justin had started a wee bit early which turned out nice for me, I got to eat MOST of meal while it was warm (instead of having to help him eat). I still had to help him, but not as fast. :) We all ate too much I think. :)

We had a fruit bowl for dessert.

After lunch we spread out a bit. Sierra and I went to the basement, played a rousing game of multi-puck air hockey. Then used the blackboard for a while. Justin joined us for a great scribbling contest. Sierra won! :)

Justin played with big trucks while I loaded the van with garage sale items from mom's basement.

Just as we were about to leave (due to tired Justin) Judy, son Shane and hubbie Henry arrived. So we visited outside with them for a while. Mom announced cake, icecream and strawberries just before we wanted to head off again, so.... we stayed a bit longer. Still think we all ate too much! BUT mmmm.....cake, ice cream.....Strawberries...YUM!

Nancy our newest neighbour, was outside when we got home so Justin and I visited for a bit. Turns out Owen (her son) is 9 years old now and was celebrating that achievement in life. She gave Justin a left over goodie bag. :)

Transferred garage sale stuff to basement, walked the boy and the dogs, and then relaxed with Thomas the train. Justin just LOVES thomas.... :) tain tain is a frequent cry in our household these days.

And that was our day. I'm tired, yes, I really should do those dishes...all 8 of them....but I'm really bagged and my bed is calling loudly to me. :) Good night!

Sunday Afternoon

So it's Sunday afternoon, I"m sitting here waiting for Justin to wake up and thought hmmm... should probably update the View! So here I am.

Our life for past week or so....

Easter Sunday we went up to visit Mom and Dad. We left right after church, Justin slept, Jim relaxed and I drove. We arrived, Justin stayed sleeping, Jim and I went in and enjoyed soup with my parents. We had a nice visit over our meal. After lunch I checked on Justin who had just woken up. So mom and dad were able to enjoy their grandson for a while too. :)

We needed to leave after a couple of hours because Ina was in hospital (lady from church). She was having some trouble breathing. We had a short visit with her. Then Justin and I left to stretch out little boy legs while Jim visited longer. Justin had a chance to talk with the nurses and enjoy a juice and cookie. Lucky boy! :)

Then this week Jim had a cold so our Monday day away became a Monday stay at home so he could rest up a bit. He was a bit better on Tuesday so we slipped up to London to run a couple of errands. Tuesday afternoon, and all day Wednesday I spent (with Justin) reorganizing the basement. Jim needed to get at the network thing and all my garage sale stuff was in the way, plus we were getting tired of having wood shavings all over the house, so the purchase of three inexpensive shelving units at Wal-mart went a long way to helping get things in better shape. Now Justin can play in the same room I am in while I do laundry or fuss around in the basement. Jim's weight stuff will be kept more sawdust free and therefore more useable. AND Jim can fiddle around with the network thingey to his hearts content.

Thursday afternoon I went fishing while Justin napped.

Friday morning Justin had book club. Boy..all the kids were wild! :) Made me think a storm was coming. I had book club as well. We read "The 100 Secret Senses" by Amy Tan. Some of us liked the book, some of us well....didn't. I read the start, a piece in the middle and the ending. I found it a hard book to get into, the end of the book though made me think I should have stuck it through. I might pick it up again one day.

oh I almost forgot. On Friday night we all had a lovely meal with the pastor from the CRC church in town. They hosted. It was fun and the food was good! :)

Saturday Justin and I left Jim at home and drove three ladies from Church to the RCW ladies conference. It was held at Drayton RCA this year. Mary Clark was the speaker. She heads up women's ministries within the RCA.

Her Topic was "God's hospitality". I found her hard to listen to, not because of her, but due to the fact that she had to keep pausing for the translator. I probably lost the first 10 minutes while I adapted to the listen, wait, listen, wait routine. Most of the women I talked with struggled with the same issue. Although I appreciated the need for a translator, I really wish that there hadn't needed to be one. Her topic was a one that women in our classis needed to hear and probably didn't really hear because of the whole listen and wait routine.

Mary's whole point was the use the gift of hospitality that God has given to each of us, and use it to advance the kingdom of God. Hospitality is the giving of ourselves to others. Once I understood that this was her definition of hospitality it all made sense...but it took me a while to get there.

You see MY definition of hospitality is someone who makes you feel comfortable from the moment you get in their door and who LOVES having people over for dinner or tea or whatever. I DO NOT see myself as having the gift of hospitality at all. NOT saying I don't like having people over but I find it a whole heap of work and I worry about this that and the other thing and AHH. Just fills me with horrors most of the time. What if I can't get the house clean enough or what if I serve the wrong food or what if the cat or the dog or the _____ does something it aught not to. and ... it just goes on and on.

AND THE BIGGEST THING???? What if my guest does something that freaks me out and makes my house feel unsafe to me.???? What if???? STUPID I know. After all...GOD LOVES ME! He won't let anything happen to me that I can't handle without his help. I can trust his promises. I can. See...it's taken me years to realize that! (sometimes slow on the uptake)

Anyways, back to Mary's talk. Hospitality...giving of ourselves to others. This doesn't mean as a church that we need to start new programs. What it means is us, as individual people, stopping to take 30 minutes there, 1.5 hours there just to sit and see the people around us. See what their needs are and just go out and meet those needs. Simple, straight-forward meeting the needs of people. Showing them Jesus through our actions. She kept telling us.. STOP. Think outside box. Think outside the walls of your church. Do it differently.

For instance... we could see a struggling young mom and offer to help her do her shopping. We could do someone's laundry for them. We could offer a cup of tea. Different needs, different ways of helping. We just need to stop and look for those ways of helping/showing/teaching.

Overall, it was a good message.

In the afternoon we watched a skit "what kind of tater are you". one of the ladies from Drayton put on a skit about different types of taters "agi-tator" "peace-tator" "spec-tator" and so forth. It was not bad at all. it was actually fun to watch these ladies be different taters. :)

There were quilts hung all over the church. Made more than one woman wonder out loud what was with all the quilts. Turns out Drayton church, for the Mennonite Central Committee, makes quilts. These quilts are distributed world wide to people in need of well.. quilts to keep warm. They gave them out in Equador, Africa, and other places. Wherever there has been a disaster (God or Human made) and there are people in need. That was way cool to see. This year Drayton made 63 quilts over the winter. Good to see that in action.

I enjoyed the fact that there was a babysit. Justin had a blast. He even napped! :) He ate a bit, didn't drink as much as I'd like, but he had fun. He had a good sleep last night. He was a happy boy, well, at least until he learned that no, he couldn't bring that lovely airplane home with him. :)

I enjoyed the book table. Even picked up a couple of things. One a book that I think will be helpful with homeschooling in the future, some scrapbooking stuff and something else that I can't recall right now. Spent less than $25. (I had a personal limit of 40 so I did well).

So what didn't I like?
1. The agenda pushing... we have a women's conference coming up in Chicago... boy was attendance at this event being pushed. yes, I would like to go. Will I go? No... not at 149$ hotel bill per night and paying daily parking PLUS $350 (about that) for the conference itself. Cannot afford it. WILL NOT ask my church to foot the bill for it. A conference like this should be able to be held elsewhere for a lot less. Also many of the topics seem like "fluff" to me. Denomination wide conferences I do believe should offer more than "fluff".
2. the "tolerance" stuff. We have to tolerate. I agree that we have to tolerate people over things like building structure, clothing, taste in music and such like. Over such things, the overwhelming concern should be .... how do we reach people for Christ and teach them well. I do not agree that we should tolerate bad doctrine. I don't think that evangelism outside the church is more important then having people that will hold to the truth of the gospel. There must be room for both. I think that once bad doctrine is allowed a strong foothold, what is to stop it from becoming more prevalent?

so how does one resist this?

Justin's been learning new words lately.
Today he surprised me with Here it is (when I asked him to get his boots). Eat! at breakfast (when he wouldn't eat.... I think I was supposed to or something).

And then here we are at wal-mart....needed to get something there... anyways, walking through the toy section just to see if there are any good deals (sometimes we find amazing deals there). not today though...but what do I hear from my boyo toys! toys! (very excited commentary from this 21 month old lad). followed by a mournful toys...toys... as we move further away from said toys (6 six trucks in a box). Daddy distracted him with a push toy which was kinda interesting but not a keeper (but got us away from the trucks).

Then came tain tain! Tain tain!

Thomas the train caught his eye...

How does one shut out mournful tain tain noises from a boy child?

One realizes that thomas the train sells for outrageous amounts of money is how! :)
Doesn't make it any easier though..... such a mournful little voice.....

We settled for a couple of dinky cars on sale for 82 cents a piece...way better than one TAIN TAIN for 7.49 a piece! Even if one has to deal with a mad boy throwing a truck because it's not a tain tain!

He is VERY happy with the truck now though. :)

The week before Easter

Snow...that's what I can say... SNOW! We have in excess of five inches of snow on the ground.

It's supposed to be spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice thing about our walk this morning, I could just let Sassy run because no one else was up. Somehow fresh snow brings out the lagging behind abilities in Riley so we didn't quite make as good a time as I wanted, ah well, snow can be fun! We broke a fresh trail for almost the whole walk. We did meet a lovely Kelpie/Cattle Dog on the way back. She had a most excellent recall! I complimented her owners on that. And then we talked a bit about a raw food diet. They seem interested.

What has this past week been like?
Justin has a cold and is breaking two molars in at the back (I'm fairly sure) hard to check since he likes to bite down and those teeth of his are sharp!

Jim had a crazy week with meetings almost all day Tuesday, Bible study on Wednesday and so he had Thursday to try to get a sermon done for Friday, plus two more due for Sunday. He worked hard and got them done.

As for me, I had Coffee-break on Wednesday, it was a weird meeting to me. Started off sloppy but ended up with some good discussion where you could tell that people were thinking. Rather neat that part. I did dislike that they forewent the prayer share time in order to start the lesson after a lengthy announcement time. So that didn't help my feelings of dissatisfaction when the study commenced, so my guess is that the start of the study may not have been sloppy but more that I needed to get my head in the right frame of mind.

Justin and I had fun at toddler time on Thursday even though we got there late. :)

Good Friday sermon was well-done. People seemed to like it. Justin napped in the nursery (shocked me to hear that). Jim's mom came up for the service and for lunch.

Oh, and I got my order in to William Dam for seeds. So nice that they have their on-line ordering all set up now. VERY convenient, and saves a stamp too! I just ordered a bunch of different veggies.

March 29, day away

Yesterday Justin and I spent the day away from home.

First we stopped off at Jo-Anne's house. She's a cousin, Justin is learning to call her Aunt Jo-Anne though since Jo and I go way back and it somehow seems wrong to me for him to call her just Jo-Anne, so... anyways, we had a nice visit. She's in the middle of year end stuff for work and has oodles of reports to get done, life is a bit hectic for her a the moment. We'll stop in again for a visit again I think. :)

Then we went to the market to check things out there. Picked up some Maple Syrup. Used $20 of the money I got for selling the golf clubs.

Off then to see "kat" about some chicken she promised us for the dogs. She did a no show. Rather frustrating that. Ah well....

Visited with Jacky for a short while at her job as well. Brought her the puzzle that I found for her oh.... too long ago. So glad that she liked it! Justin almost lost his favourite "Ta-gu" (also known to the rest of the speaking world as "tiger" to Jacky's tablemate, but Jacky rescued him for Justin. :)

Had a short visit with Barry at his job. Totally surprised him! :) Didn't stay too long as Justin found everything there just fascinating, he was tired, I was tired, and well... Barry had to work!

Stopped in at Wal-mart on the way home and actually found some rubber boots for Justin to wear. Only one pair fit him (other than some yellow ones that Justin wouldn't put on) so he has some "cars" rain boots. They should stay on him a bit better than the other ones even though these are still a bit big for him. Needs growing room though.

Then home. Thought about surprising MaryLou but since Justin was so tired I thought that might not be the best idea, so we just headed home. Justin fell asleep just before we got home so I kept driving since that way I knew he could get a 45 minute nap in.

Tried to go out for Dinner with Jim at the Malibu but service was very off tonight. Justin ended up losing it so we left. We ended up having dinner at McD's. Quite the let down after thinking.... Pickerel dinner with salad bar, but hey...what do you do?

So that was our day. Jim's day wasn't quite as productive, but he did okay. Today on the other hand, he'll be gone all day to London. First for a meeting with another pastor, then to work at mom's until he can visit with some parishoners later in the day. Justin and I will go to the Library, he'll have a nap this afternoon and I'll find something to do around the house (other than read a book). Probably clean the upstairs of the house. :)

Today's jobs done!

So today was such a nice sunny day outside..... I couldn't stay inside for the life of me. Fortunately, my boyo agreed with me.

So...after breakfast I did the dishes, had a shower, got a load of laundry in, and then off to the dentist. Justin stayed with Daddy. On the way home I stopped and purchased some postage stamps.

When I got home Justin said ENOUGH WITH BEING INSIDE. he wanted to go "side". So...out we went. I learned quickly that cleaning out the old stinky pool was a really good idea! Boy fell in. Ooh...what a stink! Took his shirt off, and then cleaned the pool. Took him inside (a battle) to get cleaned up a bit and redressed.

After he finished getting mad at me for not letting him make a complete mess of the bathroom with Daddy having a nice bath! We went outside to do some flower bed cleanup. Justin also was good at helping me take a break by helping him climb Sassy's aframe. I also took breaks by working Sassy on her agility.

YEAH FOR SASSY...she's finally figured out how to go around something and still get the right entrance to the weaves! YEAH!!!!

Suddenly I realized I had a red-cheeked boy AND it was 1 p.m.! Boy where did the time fly???

So inside for lunch. Justin wasn't terribly hungry but a banana got downed quickly.

Off to bed with bottle (he was SO TIRED). and yes, I know..not a good practice but hey... sometimes yah gotta do what yah gotta do.

While he napped first got another load of laundry in then..... I got the meat done for the dogs. Seemed to take forever to get done. I got enough meals made for 45 days...which usually turns into bit more since occasionally I don't feed the dogs a meal. Woohoo! I won't have to do dog food next month at all! YEAH!!!!

Did some more laundry, opened the boy's door up, got louder in the house as I really wanted him to start waking up as it was 500 p.m. afterall!

While waiting for him to wake up I cleaned out the guinea pigs.

Justin up for 515, we sat and read a while, then out to walk the dogs at 530ish. Jim came with! yeah! We like daddy coming with us.

Justin ate supper while we walked, I had supper when we got back, Jim wasn't crazy about what was on the menu so he had soup later in the evening.

After our walk Justin and I were outside again. He was VERY insistent upon this. So I raked and took "over the aframe" breaks with Justin (I think he thinks it's a slide). Once again, Sassy worked for her ball. :) Justin is trying to figure out how to convince Sassy to take a ball that he throws. Sassy won't though....looks at me, and then runs to get a "safe" ball. :) A good thing I think at this moment for the two of them. It is good though to see Justin trying, and for Sassy to double-check with me. It's what I want from them.

In house, Justin had a cup of yogurt, a bottle of milk and then he grabbed "Ralph" and brought him upstairs. Put Ralph to bed and wanted to go to bed himself. Got mad when I had to "get him" ready for bed. Ah wee ones! :) He settled quickly though.

I got the dishes done. Got my bed remade and then sat and watch "house" with Jim.

it was a good productive day. Tomorrow I will finish the laundry and have another hopefully "outside" day with Justin. I want to start turning over my gardens.......

Sister's Birthday

This is a picture of my sister when we went shopping for a day with Tante Annie from Holland.

So Judy, my younger sister, is 40 years old... just so you know... I was nice and didn't pull a lot of 40 year old jokes on her. I tried very hard to be nice to her.

Anyways, she celebrated it yesterday by having an open house at her place. We got there just as my parents were leaving so our timing was perfect. Caroline had neglected I think to tell mom and dad that we were bringing stuff there for Marisa. Anyways, Marisa (they weren't there due to her illness), now has, or is at least close to having, my keepsakes from my summer in Haiti. This will help her with her project.

It was funny. Mom and Dad said that the house was filled with young people. I went in expecting to see hordes of teens, and it was mostly people my own age. It was funny. :) Differences in ages I suppose. :)

Anyways, Judy, as usual, had a nice feast laid out for us. All types of goodies, a nice looking house, and a bunch of people enjoying each other's company. Sometimes she amazes me, makes it all look so effortless. Justin had fun playing with cars, Jim had a nice visit with Henry, and I chatted with Becky (when she got home from work) and a couple other folks. We were only there for an hour as Jim needed to get back for preaching the evening service.

I'm glad we went. :)

Our weekend

So this past weekend Jim had a pastoral assignment in Kingsville for preaching. We thought to save time so we headed up to Mom's for the weekend. It saved us an additional 40 minutes driving and meant that Justin could sleep longer in the morning.

Justin spent Sunday with Mom while Jim and I drove the 2.5 hours to the other church.

Jim preached the same sermon he did the Sunday before and I found it just as interesting the second time around. He can really change sermons! :)

We had a lovely visit at Flo and George's house. Flo did this really nice cave painting that I told her if she ever wanted to do another...she was more than welcome to give it to me. They served PECAN pie!!!! boy...what a nice way to make my man smile! :) AND they had almond fingers which I really like as well...hmm.....think someone told them our favourites? Buns and cheese for lunch and then we headed back to London.

Monday we brought in some of our old books to used book stores. Gained around $80 in cash and trade-in value. Can't complain too much about that! One store even took books I didn't expect them to, and thought I would have a hard time selling so that was just bonus. :)

Did our shopping, visited with Mom and then headed home.

Was a good weekend (other than Tanse dying that is).

Tansy Died

We lost our Tansy this weekend.

We picked her up at an over-crowded pet store. VERY fortunate that as a wee young one that she wasn't pregnant at the time. She needed some growing and maturing time.

She was never a strong pig, but she was gentle. VERY timid, but a nice little pig. Long-haired. Had a funny head....more pointy than our other ladies.

She absolutely LOVED green peppers....it's the only time we would find her standing up for herself. Anything else was ...ah... whatever...but green peppers...she would push to the front of the pack every time. :)

She had one litter, almost died from it, of the six born, one survived, who became a lovely boar. Her health demanded that she never be bred again.

She caught a cold about 10 days ago. Not sure how, just kinda crept up on her. We thought she rallied on us, and well....she didn't.

She was a good pig in her own quiet way.

Toronto Sportsmen Show

We had fun. This is where we went.

We met a couple people from church while we were there, chatted just long enough to say hi.

Lots of good booths, lots of friendly people, many booth people were happy to rock the stroller for Justin while Jim and I filled out ballots.

Fascinating some of the pictures of fishing resorts. Also saw some of the biggest fish (sturgeons) and people catching them. Wow... big fish. Can't imagine bringing them in.

Seeing things with the eyes of a toddler. BO! he said very excited as he saw the taxidermy birds. MOO! to the moose.

And boy oh boy.... the fun of climbing on ATV's, boats, canoes and so on. The life for a wee boyo. Fun Fun!

We had hoped that Justin would fall asleep early afternoon, but although he was very tired that didn't happen until later on. Made for lots of slow walking and quiet areas as we tried to help him sleep so he could cope with the rest of the day.

I enjoyed the Golden Whistle Retriever trials. Was unable to see them all due to a very busy boy running ALL over the place (even while wearing a harness) who suddenly decided he had had enough! (the trials were the last event of the day that we were staying for). So he had enough, I had enough and so we left. :) But we did see dogs hesitate at the water pond. One dog did everything it could NOT to get wet... rather funny that. I don't think the handler ever got it to go into the water. One older (looked female from the build) dog that did a wonderful job on a blind send. Straight through the water and back. Nice line just like you want to see. We also saw a fake duck take out a fake goose. That was funny. AND one fake duck tried hard to take out one of the black labs.....dodged quickly that dog did! :)

Justin was TIRED! Long day for a 20 month old. He fell asleep on the way home, I took a wee bit of shut eye and Jim got us home safely. :)

Got home at 11 p.m. to a very poopy kitchen. OLD DOGS>>> ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!