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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

March 14, update

Okay... I've recently realized I haven't updated you all on our lives recently.

The dogs - Riley continues to age, sometimes poorly, sometimes not. He slips and slides on the ice. Occasionally has diarrhea, is starting to smell "old dog", but still is soft mild-mannered dog, who tries to be good. he really tries. he enjoys treats for running away from Justin. :) Loves to go for long walks along the river.
- Sassy...become "FAT DOG" over the winter. She is currently under a lose weight regime, sorta like the other female in the house. :) Winter was hard on us that way. Hoping to get her into an agility trial in May.

The cat! LOVES Jim. Loves to sleep with Jim. Loves to run away from the boy (not that I blame him, I wouldn't appreciate a tail grabber either). Remains a nice cat.

The piggies - the four we have left are good pigs. Tanse had a cold recently, seems to be getting better though. Topper enjoys the stuffed fish he has for a cage mate. Helps him eat. Tasha and Itch continue to be good pigs though their dominance roles appear to be switching. Itch gets first dibs on everything lately.

Justin... ear surgery was a success. he talks more, and more clearly. Has more words to his vocabulary. He can sign please, more and milk- though not always appropriately. Goes through spells of favourite words, one week it was HAT. hat this, hat that. On hat, off hat. Has our coming in the house routines down pat. Coat off. Boots off. and will come after us if we leave any of the fore-a-mentioned on.

Jim. These past two weeks have had their challenges for him. Sometimes it's hard to be pastor. But it's had its good moments to. He had a lovely visit in Whitby with a pastor friend and his wife. He learned stuff at a workshop (he likes that!). He got a tool so he can properly fix the brake lines on his Sunrunner.

Me... well..life continues! I had a good visit this week with one of our shut-in ladies. Made a new meal that Justin and I like. The house is not looking like a tornado recently passed through, but does need a bit of work done. I had a good visit with my parents last week, and then good shopping and visiting in Kitchener. The weather is warmer so I'm able to get out more with Justin. AND my sprained foot is for the most part, feeling pretty good.

My brother-in-law Paul continues to heal from his recurrent illness, which helps my sister be less worried. Last word was that he wasn't better yet.

My dad is back to puzzling. their basement has been all fixed up. Looks pretty good. He still has pain, hates being shut in during the winter. They are looking to sell the farm this summer and move somewhere in town.

My neice from my middle brother is doing a project on Haiti that I can help her with IF I manage to get my Haiti stuff up to her before it is due. Kinda neat that I went to Haiti and therefore have some things she can use. :)

So I think that's about it. talk more next week! :)

Getting expensive.....

There was a preacher whose wife was expecting a baby so he went before the congregation and asked for a raise.

After much discussion, they passed a rule that whenever the preacher's family expanded, so would his paycheck.

After 6 children, this started to get expensive and the Congregation decided to hold another meeting to discuss the preacher's salary.

There was much yelling and bickering about how much the clergyman's additional children were costing the church.

Finally, the Preacher got up and spoke to the crowd, "Children are a gift from God," he said. Silence fell on the congregation.

In the back pew, a little old lady stood up and in her frail voice said, "Rain is also a gift from God, but when we get too much of it, we wear rubbers."

And the congregation said, "Amen."

A Little Old Lady

LITTLE OLD LADY
>
A little old lady is walking down the street, dragging two plastic garbage bags with her, one in each hand. There's a hole in one of the bags, and every once in a while a $20 bill is flying out of it onto the pavement.
>
Noticing this, a policeman stops her.... "Ma'am, there are $20 bills falling out of that bag."
>

"Damn!" says the little old lady....."I'd better go back and see if I can still find them. Thanks for the warning!"
>
"Well, now, not so fast," says the cop. "How did you get all that money? Did you steal it?"
>
"Oh, no", says the little old lady. "You see, my back yard backs up to the parking lot of the football stadium. Each time there's a game a lot of fans come and pee in the bushes, right into my flower beds!
>
So, I go and stand behind the bushes with a big hedge clipper, and each time someone sticks his little winkie through the bushes, I say, $20 or off it comes!"
>
"Hey, not a bad idea!" laughs the cop. "OK, good luck! By the way, what's in the other bag?"
>
"Well", says the little old lady, "Some of them don't believe me."

Headlines

THE YEAR'S BEST (actual) HEADLINES OF 2006

Most of the year's gone by, but they are pretty neat,so...enjoy!

Crack Found on Governor's Daughter
Imagine that!


Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
No, really?



Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
Now that's taking things a bit far!



Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
What a guy!


Miners Refuse to Work after Death
No-good-for-nothing' lazy so-and-sos!



Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
See if that works any better than a fair trial!


War Dims Hope for Peace
I can see where it might have that effect!



If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
You think?!



Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
Who would have thought!


Enfield Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
They may be on to something!


Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?!


Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
He probably IS the battery charge!


New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
Weren't they fat enough?!


Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
That's what he gets for eating those beans!

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
Taste like chicken?


Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
Chainsaw Massacre all over again!


Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
Boy, are they tall!


And the winner is....

Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
Did I read that right?

Blondes and Snow in Michigan

This just made me laugh! :)

One winter morning a husband and wife in northern Michigan were listening to the radio during breakfast. They heard the announcer say, "We are going to have 8 to 10 inches of snow today. You must park your car on the even-numbered side of the street, so the snowplows can get through." So the good wife went out and moved her car. A week later while they are eating breakfast again, the radio announcer said, "We are expecting 10 to 12 inches of snow today. You must park your car on the odd-numbered side of the street, so the snowplows can get through." The good wife went out and moved her car again. The next week they are again having breakfast, when the radio announcer says, "We are expecting 12 to 14 inches of snow today. You must park..." Then the electric power went out. The good wife was very upset, and with a worried look on her face she said, "Honey, I don't know what to do. Which side of the street do I need to park on so the snowplows can get through? "With the love and understanding in his voice that all men who are married to Blondes exhibit, the husband replied, "Why don't you just leave it in the garage this time?"

Life this week

Life has been....shall I say a challenge this week in our household.

Monday.. I see lights dancing, everything is blurry, I get dizzy, VERY freaking when one is driving a car on London roads. Pull over. AH safe. Go into pharmacy, watch self closely so don't fall over. Get back into car, Jim drives. YEAH!

MASSIVE HEADACHE! BLURRY VISION. I am NOT a happy camper.

I even take something because pain is bad. (I hate taking stuff)

Make doctor's appointment, go in Tuesday evening. Jim at meeting, Eva comes down to care for Justin.

Doc hems and haws. Threatens to send me to UH because wonders if I have brain bleed. But is not sure because some of my symptoms indicate migraine. Ends up making me promise that I will take myself in if I don't get better, or if I get worse, said he was 75-85% sure that it was a migraine, but a somewhat odd one.

The next day it's a wee bit better but I feel like I've been beaten over a head with a brick. Thursday I was just TIRED. Like just massively tired. Today (Friday) I'm fine. :)

Well...except for the fact that I tripped over a child gate and now have a badly sprained left foot. NOT FUN! Went to emerg...not broken, badly sprained, stay off it and elevate it. Take pain stuff if I need it.

And through it all, my hubbie, my sweet, generally patient hubbie, is fighting um...what shall I say here.... lack of being able to write sermons. It's Friday night, he's been working hard all week and has NOTHING (Well four pages) but basically nothing! FRUSTRATING!!!!! So not quite as patient.....

Makes him tired.
Makes me want to help and I generally end up not helping, and somehow I end up thinking that I make things worse.... ARGH!

And the old dog Riley has been battling diarrhea this week. Almost hit me with it this morning. I was unimpressed --- BUT very glad that I was smart enough to move quickly. :) he walks all sad and old looking. ARGH!!!! Now I can worry about the old dog too!

Do I sound like a whiney child yet? :)

So on a positive note
1. I made a brand new recipe for a meatloaf that Jim really likes! he does! it's too spicy for my taste...but he likes it! YEAH!!!! I like making him happy! :)
2. Justin ate good today!
3. I got the fridge cleaned out, the counter well cleaned
4. the boy was well-read too, fed, cleaned, pajama-ed, and bedded. :)
5. the dogs were walked...by Jim this afternoon (they had a good walk this morning).

So life isn't completely bad...just been a bit rough this week.....

Ear tubes in Place

So Justin's surgery went well.

He has tubes in his ears now.

He did have yet another ear infection so is on antibiotics again.

We have to watch for bleeding and such like. And he's not to play soccer or engage in other active behaviours for about a week (not that at 19 months he's into soccer). :)

Eva came up to assist since we're all rather bagged.

Thank you for your prayers.

Justin's surgery

So our boy Justin has his pre-admittance tests on February 12 at 215 p.m.

He then is booked for surgery on February 16, 2007 at 1115 a.m. This time line might change as they do the children in order of age. Youngest first and then up the line from there.

Night at the Museum

Jim and I saw this movie, Night at the Museum, yesterdaynafternoon. We were two of about 8 people in the theatre.

What a fun movie. It's been a while since we've done a movie together, so it was nice to just sit and watch a good movie together. Good laughs, not a whole lot of nasty stuff in it. I didn't even get scared... a wee bit alarmed perhaps first with the dinasour, but nothing too bad. :) Something I could see renting when Justin hits about 8 or so. :) Ben Stiller did a good job.

For other reviews of this movie, feel free to check out these here.

Update on Our Boy

My wife posted on her blog the following update:

The scoop so far

Okay,
on Tuesday our boy had another appointment with the ENT. We had thought
that perhaps he had another ear infection, turns out he didn't AND his
perforated ear is no longer perforated!!!!



Found out that they
have developed a new plan for doing the ear tube surgery, where if we
get everything done for pre-op, our boy might not have to wait until
March for his surgery, but could have it in as little as two weeks.
Pretty cool huh?!?!?!



So he had his physical today at the doctor's office.



His
lungs are clear, so we're not sure why the cough remains. Doctor says
he's looking pretty good other than his ears being fairly messy. So now
all we have to do is go through all the pre-admittance stuff which
hopefully will be next week and then we wait!



Hopefully it will happen quickly.

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Our Dogs

 

Our dogs

Going through some picture

As I was going through some pictures I stumbled upon this video of our boy eating pasta. As you can see, he likes his pasta a lot.



Here is a picture of what the results of this rather unorthodox way of eating pasta.


And here is an even better one.

Timeron has "crossed the bridge" that is "He died"

Yes, I know...I don't believe that animals cross a rainbow bridge... but it is a somewhat nice euphamism....unless of course you see different connotations in the whole "rainbow" part of the bridge...which apparently some people do. Weird.

Anyways, blogger was being stupid and not letting me post a pic so... let's try this from photobucket, not sure how it will work..but giving it a shot anyways. okay...that picture was just WAY too huge to share here... BUT my hubbie darling helped me out AND I learned something new....now to remember it! :)



Today my sweet old pig (correction --- our sweet old guinea pig) died.

He had turned from a sweet old pig into a rather crotchey old man with "issues".

He died just after lunch today, the boy was in bed.

Timeron was a good pig....sired several good looking youngsters. Brought us in some needed cash. :) He liked to nibble fingers ... not to hurt, just to check you out. Was calm for nail clippings. Liked to swim -- has a daughter the same way. He was for most of his life a good solid well-behaved pig.

I'm glad he lasted until after Christmas. :)

Nothing to look at here

A shocker t'is

Our boy owns this book.

It's a simple little book. Man wants an apple on April fool's day, man gets an apple from a man who wants to play an aprils fools joke on him, and the joke ends up being turned back on the original joker. It's actually quite intriguing to follow the story of what happens with this apple.

Anyways, our boy loves to look at this book while he's sitting on the potty. He'll sit there for 10 minutes just 'reading' away quite contented.

I was quite shocked when I went looking for a picture of this book so I could blog on it. The lowest price I found for it, and that was used, average quality, was $42. The highest was $70 and that was brand new. I"m SHOCKED!

We got this book free at a garage sale. No one wanted it and the lady just wanted it gone.

It's a simple little book. Technically a bit too advanced for his age level.

Written by an individual named Jan Loof. (scandanvian perhaps??)

As I told my hubbie, now I feel really bad that our boyo ripped a page in the book tonight as he was a bit too aggressive in finding the exact page that he wanted (where the apple falls on an old woman's head) Just loves that page for some reason. :)

So... a dilemma.... do I continue to let our boy look at this book over and over and over again, knowing that he might totally destroy it (or might not)? OR do I monitor his actions closely while letting him look at it, knowing that it might make him more pushy with it? OR do I hide it on him and see if I can sell it for $40?? :)

This Pastor Has Guts! - email mostly true

Here's the email that I received today.

This Pastor has guts!!

Thought you might enjoy this interesting prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate.

It seems prayer still upsets some people. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable . We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem . We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition . We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!"

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest!

In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa and Korea.

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, "The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.

With the Lord's help , may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called "one nation under God."

Here's is the link for the Truth of this tale.

This particular email isn't all that far from the total truth.

As the website says: one person did walk out, Paul Harvey did air it, and it was controversial. The prayer as written above does not appear to be same that was given. Please check out the website to learn more of the whole story.

He sits on the big toilet too!

So I must say, I am kinda enjoying this...the not having to change as many wet/dirty diapers deal.

He still wears them, but that's because mommy isn't always quick enough on the uptake to read his body language properly. Or mommy lets him get distracted when he's signalled he wants to go potty but decides that "thus and such along the way" is infinitely more attractive at the moment. Or we're going for a walk, or a car ride, or whatever where doing the quick bathroom break isn't an option.

BUT it is nice.

And it is funny to see his excitement at sitting on his potty on the big boy toilet too! Oh my. It's just too much sometimes for a little boy. :) I don't know how long it will last....

Daddy's thinking he'll build a step stool for Justin soon.

Nasty side-effect though. He's decided that everything should go in the toilet now too. His stuffies (unless mommy is too quick), his small toys, the toilet paper rolls, you name it, he's tried it. Calls for some quick thinking on the part of mommy and daddy.

Snow! We have TONS of snow!

You would NEVER believe how much snow we have gotten in the past 24 hours. It is just unbelievable! It's also really, really cool!

Sassy rolled and rolled and rolled on our walk this morning.

Riley slipped and fell and looked old, and then started to look happy.

I slipped and fell, felt old and tired, then met people and chatted with them about the snow and all was well again.

Isn't snow fun! :)

Rather Unpleasant Past Month

Those of you who check in here regularly may have noticed that we have not posted anything for a fairly long time. The reason for that is that for the past 4 weeks or so, at least one of us (often more than one) has been ill. It all started at the start of the second week of November with a stomach ailment that first Justin got, then Annette and finally myself. That lasted for two to three weeks. Just as we got over that and were feeling more ourselves, I came down with something else that made me feel absolutely horrible. That only lasted several days, but during that time Justin got a cold. Annette got it as well and lost her voice. Now I have the cold with a wonderful congested chest that results in lots of coughing at night. That means little sleep for myself and Annette who I keep awake. That is where we are now. Thankfully, Justin seems to be getting over it, and Annette has her voice back for the most part. I am hoping that my cold will go quickly as well.

All this has made Annette wonder if we have a mold problem in our house. I guess it is possible. When I moved in 8 years back there was a smell in the house. As the years went by I started to get colds and respitory infections more frequently that lasted longer than normal. Eventually we traced the culprit to the sub-floor in the basement which when pulled up had mold covering the whole bottom of it.

Once that was removed things got much better, but lately it seems things are getting worse. Justin seems to have colds all the time, especially now that the windows are closed because of the cold winter weather, and neither Annette nor myself are feeling that good either. I'm not sure if the house is infected with mold or not, but if this continues we will have to find out.

Now you know why we haven't posted for a while on our blog.

He learns new things

Justin still just loves watching the fish. he thinks they are just so cool. He climb up to visit them. Sit and watch them for minutes at a time. So to keep him out of the fish tank, we've given him a new job. he feeds the fish. every other day at night. That way we can say, "Justin, it's not time to feed the fish, we'll feed them later". It works! he's learning to keep his hands OUT of the aquariums. :)

He also helps his mommy feed the guinea pigs. He loves holding that carrot and bringing to the piggies.

He "helps" mommy make suppers too. Though I must admit, it does make getting the meals a bit harder since I have to watch out for little hands.

He helps mommy to water the plants. This is teaching him to leave them alone except when he holds the pots still so the plants don't run away while mommy waters them. :) what can I say...parenthood is teaching me creative thinking. :)

He's learning to clean up his toys (but that's hard!).

He helps mommy get the mail. His favourite part of the mail is peering diligently into the slot to see if mommy left anything behind. I must admit, Sassy dislikes him helping as it means she doesn't get too!

He helps mommy to go to the library almost every week as well. :)

he helps mommy to walk the dogs in the afternoon. he is starting now to hold Sassy's leash. he finds Riley's is just TOO heavy for him.

He's a great little helper.

I HATE THE FLU!

I know...what we had was probably NOT the "flu". You know that really nasty virus that affects your respiratory system and makes you feel totally ick? But what we had was NOT fun at all!!!!!!

First Justin got sick. NOT FUN. Jim was gone for the weekend. I got stressed and tired and just hated this sickness thing.

Then I got sick. While in Toronto visiting friends. Not fun. Shortly thereafter Jim got sick... really not fun at all! We returned home. No vacation this week!

Justin stayed sick until Saturday afternoon. He still is completely better BUT for the most part he is back to being a happy, into everything, let's play with this and that and help mommy with this and that normal little boy who is NOT into cuddling. He is still a wee bit of a cuddle monster, but not as bad as he was.

I got better Saturday as well, which is really cool.

Jim on the other hand is still under the weather a fair bit. He was up most of Saturday night visiting the local bathroom. He is TIRED! understandably so!

We're really hoping no one else gets it. I learned in church (went to exeter CRC) that the pastor there had it, and a few others have had it in their church as well. So...we're not isolated...just not appreciative of this particular side-affect of sin in the world. BUT we are thankful that God sustained us through this all.

And very much aware of the blessing of a helpful mom (Jim's mom) through it all.

Golf Clubs for Sale

I filled in a survey.

By doing so I entered a contest.

I won! Yes, me, who rarely wins anything. I won! It's my big news for the week!

They are Northwestern Golf 835 TS Ladies Graphite Club Set. 11 clubs, came in a box with no bag.

Set Includes:

* 8 irons (PW-3)
* 3 woods (1, 3 & 5)

* Woods feature forgiving clubhead which allow you to easily get the ball down the middle of the fairway
* Irons have forgiving cavity back clubhead that make even your miss-hits land on the green
* Comes fitted with the Ultimate ProFlex 88 Ladies Flex low torque graphite shaft

Kinda cool huh?

Now to sell them since I don't golf. Anyone want them? I will sell them to someone who wants to give me what they are worth. They originally retailed for $350 in an Ontario on-line store. That doesn't mean I want $350, but I'd take it, but give me a reasonable offer and they will be yours complete with a happy smile. :)

Life while Jim was away

While Jim was away I was able to get a lot of cleaning done in the house. It was good to get that done.

I also took Justin to baby group on Thursday morning. He's the only one who showed up which meant... NO SHARING of toys needed. Justin liked that. Long nap in afternoon.

Friday we went to toddler time at the library which is story and craft time. He liked that too. He liked playing with the stuffed dinasour. Long nap in afternoon.

Saturday we popped in to Sola Scriptura to their book sale. Picked up a couple of books for me, and a few for Justin. None for Jim since I don't know what he needs yet. :)

Saturday Justin was fussy all day. learned why in the evening. He got the flu! (okay..as Jim would say...not the flu...just a tummy upset) No fever last night, that came Sunday morning. But he tossed his cookies quite a few times. Didn't settle to bed until midnight, up at 200 because was thirsty...gave him just a wee bit of warm water just to see if it would stay down. It did, so 20 minutes later I gave him more to drink. He sort of settled but not really, at 330 I gave him a bottle of tang and that seemed to do the trick. He slept until 930 a.m.

Had a wee bit for breakfast and back to bed at 1130. Tired boy. Running a fever today. Gave some advil to help settle his tummy. Called a lady from church to do me the immense favour of picking up some more advil for him. Not so nice to be a sick little boy.

My hubbie called!!!! Jim is on his way home. He had a wonderful time!

I have decided that I really, really, really strongly dislike Jim being away when Justin is sick. BUT I am thankful for helpful ladies in church and for Jim having a great time away. God is good.

Our plans for the next two weeks

Jim is on holidays for the next two weeks...ah..whatever shall we do with such freedom? :)

1. Clean and empty the trailer and put it to bed for the winter. That is both good and bad. It means no more camping, but it also means another job done.
2. Jim wants to build a tv stand then....
3. We can rearrange the living room -- I like it!
   
4. Help his mom tear out her kitchen floor and the bottom cabinets
5. Clean this house and get ready to leave for a week starting Monday
6. I go to coffeebreak Wednesday morning with Justin. and the library Friday morning.
   
7. Jim changes the oil in Quinn (the van) in prep for going to Algonquin for FYBO.
8. I need to decide if I'm going to try to attend part of a weekend conference. Hard to decide because Justin is still not well, and there's a scrapping thing in Kitchener which is free, and I'd like to meet Kim and she'll probably be at the conference - but not sure if doing the Friday night is a good idea since I'm tired this week and night driving isn't such a good idea and.....Oh...I just don't know. I'd also like to do some more rearranging here at home of stuff....that I can do best if Jim ain't around.... There's just too many decisions to make!
   
9. Give Sassy dog a good bath and brush-out (not in that order)
10. Pack food for Jim and Sassy.
    
11. Jim goes to FYBO this coming weekend. He leaves Thursday a.m. comes back Sunday p.m. He takes the Sassy dog with him.
    
12. Pack bags for our mutual vacation week.
    
13. Next week we go to Toronto where
1. We stay at a good friends house.
2. Go the Royal.
3. Have a dinner and movie night.
4. Leave Justin with Eva (Jim's mom) for three days.
5. Meet Eva somewhere between Toronto and London to exhange Justin.
   
6. Have Justin with us Wednesday to Friday morning.
7. Bum around Toronto taking in various sites and attractions.
   
8. Leave Justin with Judy (Friday morning to Saturday evening).
14. And we'll return on Sunday.
    

Hopefully we'll have a good time away. If not, well...that will really suck, but we'll survive.

Hallowe'en at the Pinery

So we came back a bit early.

We went up on Friday night to Pinery Provincial Park to do a wee bit of camping. The Pinery has a hallowe'en weekend every year which we discovered last year was a lot of fun. A whole whack of people from the MFCC were there as well. We arrived shortly after lunch, got all set up, did a bit of visiting, and had supper out at the Colonial in Grand Bend... by the way, I do not recommend eating there... although the staff are friendly, the food.. leaves a wee bit to be desired. Jim had a classis meeting in Ancaster on Saturday so he went home to sleep so that he didn't need to arise so early in the morning on Saturday.

We both ended up missing the potluck...Jim because of the meeting, me because Justin was sleeping. Well.... I did get a hotdog! :) Erik (an MFCCer) was a real doll - he and his son David, and another lad (Lewis) split our wood for us so I could build a nice fire. I had hoped to surprise Jim with a nice warm fire to sit by... that plan didn't quite materialize due to inclement weather and a power outage.

We had intended to stay until Sunday afternoon, but while Jim was at his meeting, the power went out early afternoon. That meant...a COLD trailer. Not fun. It was actually warmer outside than inside for a while --- so we went visiting, Justin played, got soaked, got changed, and thought to go out again...but then the wind picked up. Since he is still battling an ear ache I thought a strong wind and a little boy were not a good mix. Ever try amusing a 15 month old in a trailer that is cold for 3 hours unassisted? With two largish dogs who wanted to be in as well? Not my idea of fun. We did problem solve though.... the boyo played on the the table (it was flattened to bunk size) and the dogs stayed by the sink. Then it was time to go trick or treating which was a good deal of fun. Met lots of nice folks too.

Justin dressed up at "baby Mickey and his toys" which is one of his favourite books. He'll do that again on Tuesday in the neighbourhood.

Jim returned at 6 p.m. to a trailer with the awning up. He wanted to know what happened with that, I didn't know as I'd been out with Justin treating. But Oz and Us said a couple of people were at the trailer working with the awning. I told Jim that my best guess was that the awning came loose yet again in the wind and that the neighbours were helpful. :) I mentioned the power was out and that we were cold that perhaps going home would be an option as having a cold trailer and earachy boy didn't seem a good plan. He agreed. I stayed with the boy in Oz and Us' trailer (it was warm...ah the beauty of a hard side with propane heaters ... mmmm.....) Yes, I may convert to the 'darkside'. The power stayed out until 730 pm, by which time the trailer was basically packed up.

We were home by 820, put the boy to bed, put the trailer up again, and relaxed. :) I recalled what my Sunday School lesson would be, hubbie did something else and the boyo slept. And now it's Sunday morning, Sassy's been walked....Riley well...he didn't come and I didn't think to look in the living room (he ALWAYS sleeps in the Kitchen) and since I couldn't find him I just walked Sassy so they're out in the backward and he'll have to wait till after church for a walk.

Enjoy your day all!

Applesauce

Last week our family went out to get some more apples. We had gone out earlier with Gramma to pick apples at Farmer Jacks and Justin had a blast.

He had so much fun getting two apples and then putting them in the bright red buckets we had been loaned for picking.

Sassy (in the back ground) enjoyed chasing and eating some of those apples.

BUT, I didn't have enough for just doing apples up. The ones we picked were nice eating apples for the winter. They store lovely in our cold cellar. So we went back to get some cheapies : empires and macintosh.




Yesterday while Justin was napping I decided to make applesauce. It was going well, and then he woke up. Of course he immediately thought that helping his mommy was just the thing to do!

He had a hoot! :)

He stirred, he mixed, he got his fingers into jars. He had so much fun....

Mommy learned a valuable lesson....DON'T dress the boy in white if you think he might want to help! Just don't do it!

What do you think, does he like it?
Do you think he got messy enough? :)

A couple of updates

1. My Aunt's (Annie (Jan's wife) from in holland) surgery went well. They'll know in a few days if the growth was cancerous or not.

2. My mom-in-law got us an appointment with a doctor that she knows. He is hoping to get us in with a doctor in Ilderton who is bringing in a couple of new doctors. Would be nice for Justin to have a family doctor. He noted that Justin's ear has not healed over completely, and wants to see him again in two weeks to see how he is doing. He was a VERY nice doctor. If I could have a nice doctor like him for our family, it would be really nice. :) But time will tell. If the ear hasn't healed in two weeks he may refer us to a ear, nose, and throat specialist.

3. My dad is slowly continuing to improve. Bad weather makes his joints feel worse. But overall he is thinking more clearly, and walking more upright. He is taking less meds as well which is a good thing. It will still be a long road to complete recovery. He continues to have a lot of muscle spasms.

October 11

My mom and sister and sister-in-law have this yearly tradition. Each year they spend one day out shopping for clothes together. I've tended not to go along. I can't say I'm real keen on clothes shopping. I do the minimum and now that I'm married, my hubbie takes care of that for me a lot. I tell him I need new stuff, and he keeps his eye out. He has more of a knack for it than I do. :) Who would have expected that as a good side-benefit of being married!

But yesterday Justin and I chose to go out with them. My aunt is visiting from Holland so it made for a nice day out. I went up the night before and it was really cool.. my aunt showed me all the pictures of her grandchildren (my cousins and their kids). It was fun to get to know them a wee bit. :) My mom wanted to get a new Sunday outfit for the fall/winter as she needed a new outfit.

Since I HATE shopping for clothes I said I'd go for the morning only, besides the fact that staying all day would be too hard for Justin to do. But thought it would be fun to get out with the ladies. It was!

Justin and I took breaks and went to the disney store where he climbed up this mountain of stuffies. He tried hard to convince me that he needed not one but TWO winnie the pooh stuffies. at $25 I said...I THINK NOT! He cried but...ah well, a boy needs to learn he can't have EVERYTHING he wants. :)

Mom didn't have success before lunch. We ate at Subway in the food court. Justin loved the kids toy that came with lunch. Then off to the pet store to enjoy the critters there. Justin just LOVED the mice. Just absolutely fascinated by them. :) We had fun, but then off to the car while Justin napped as I drove home. I went home a different way, called Jim when I wasn't sure where to turn and got home in two hours. It was a good day away and I'm glad I went along this year. :)

He's learning.....

My boy Justin is learning to eat with a spoon.

This mornings breakfast was "applesauce breakie". It is a mix of applesauce and cottage cheese.

He gets stuff on the spoon, and then as he brings it to his mouth it somehow gets turned upside down so half lands on the table top or his shirt, and the other half in his mouth.

I helped him finish. :)

Perforated Ear Drum

That's what my boyo Justin has. It's not fun.

Apparantly he had an ear infection that went unnoticed. Go figure that.

Part of me is feeling like I'm a really bad mom to not have noticed. He played, he laughed, he talked, he had a couple of nights of being REALLY tired, but otherwise he acted like himself.

No pulling of the ear, no running a temp for a few days, just a quiet normal little boy.

All we had for signs was a high temp on Wednesday night, not wanting to sleep or lay down. Made for a hard night for mommy. Then Thursday I saw stuff coming out of his ear. Took him to emerg (without a hospital card!) so hopefully we won't be billed. Discovered that his temperature had a reason for being...and his ear drum is perforated. (from the ear infection).

He was put on meds and advised to take motrin for pain. Hopefully the meds will work really well.

The advice is to get a family doctor so that we can get a referral to an ear, nose and throat specialist. Generally ear drums heal quite nicely. The concern is that it might affect his hearing from fluid build-up. Getting a family doctor is tough so... Jim's mom knows a doctor who MIGHT be able to get us a referral to the appropriated specialist. :) Hope so! :)

Meanwhile, we'll put ourselves on a list to see if we can get ourselves a family doctor.

Just Give me Jesus

I am going to the Just Give Me Jesus conference this coming weekend. You can find more information on that here.

I'm not entirely sure why I want to go. I'm not a huge one for wanting to go to these types of things. I've been "burned" too many times by bad teaching, or weird charismatic type stuff, but I saw this announced and I immediately thought to myself... I want to go.

I even have things competing with it.
1. A scrapbooking show RIGHT HERE IN LONDON. Yes I know...I'm one of those strange people, I like scrapbooking. I do. And it looks like it would be a nice and FUN show. Not going.
2. Connect 06. It's a teachers thing that our denomination is promoting. Not going.
3. something else that I can't think of right now.
4. Means I"m skipping out on teaching Sunday School this weekend, which means my student will miss out as well.

And for some reason...I still want to go.

Jim worked hard this week, despite his miserable cold (which I know is miserable because I'm still getting completely over it). BUT he was unable to fix my car (Jamie) so that means I have to drive the van (Quinn) to Toronto...and I'd rather have my own car...and I'm still wanting to go. Go figure that eh?

So...I'll go. I'll stay at a friends house so I don't have as far to drive. I'll figure out how to get there. AHH!!!!

I'll leave our son at my mom and dad's for the weekend. That should be fun for them.

Jim will stay home and get better and take care of the dogs and work and be all alone. He's not looking forward to that but he still says... GO. And then he adds... It will be good for you.

So ...will it be good for me? Will I learn more of the great God that I serve? Hope so. :)

And The Boy Surpised me

Today Justin surprised me. We were getting ready to go for a walk and I asked him if he was going to bring black cat or Collie. And from the door I heard "col-col". And off he trotted to get his beloved collie. I hadn't expected an answer...I just expected him to go get whatever he wanted. So it was kinda cool. :)

It was cute. We went to the Pet Store today. A new one opened up downtown so we just had to go check it out. They had the usual hamsters, fish etc. And at the back of the store was this fluffy young Himalayan kitten. :) OH BOY!!!! Was the look on Justin's face. Off he trotted. This kitten just made his day, because Justin stuck a finger through the bars and this kitten rubbed back and forth along that finger. Justin was just delighted! A cat that likes him! :)

And I surprised Justin. While Justin was napping I took the opportunity to clean the fish out and then move them around. Justin woke up just as I was almost done. So I brought him downstairs so he could observe me while I finished. But oh no!!! Mommy moved MIDAS!!!!! Talk, talk, talk, talk and point point point. This little boy was so taken aback at the nerve I had! I MOVED HIS FISH!!!!!!!! Justin just couldn't get over it. Even when I brought the bright gold fish in from outside and put them in Midas' old tank, Justin was just pointing and talking about Midas being moved! That boy....has a real love-hate relationship with that fish. :)

Update on Feeding our Dogs

As you know, our dogs are being fed a B.A.R.F. diet.

It's going well.

Riley, our senior dog, has the most trouble adapting to this diet. We learned with him, that he needs his food frozen so that he would scarf it down without chewing! We learned that he needs beer in order to keep his tummy working well. Three times a week he gets 1/3 to 1/4 can of beer.

Sassy likes her food in small pieces. She is VERY particular about her food. She learned that fruit is once again something to be enjoyed! Now if only I can keep her OUT of the raspberry bushes!

They get fed twice a day. Between 8-10 a.m. and between 630-830 p.m.

Morning meal: Riley gets 1/3 cup heaping of organ meats. Sassy gets 1/3 cup even of organ meats. Twice a week they each get a half cup. With this they get a 1/2 cup of schlump.

Schlump is a ground up mix of all types of veggies: carrots with their tops, turnips, lettuce, swiss chard, tomato (sparingly), cucumber, zucchini, bell pepper, beets or whatever I have on hand. Generally speaking 1/2 is leafy veggie, and the rest a mix of whatever I have. More above ground veggie than below. I also throw in 1-2 apples (depending on size) or a banana. SOMETIMES they are lucky (at least in Sassy's mind) because I'll give them cut up melon. I also put in all the egg shells from the week and have recently started adding some oil as I think they need something just a bit more, I'm hoping to add cod liver oil for the winter months (just need to find in bulk).

To this morning mix they also get all of Justin's leftovers from the day before. Yum Yum!

At night they get raw meat. As mentioned earlier...Riley's comes frozen. 8-10 oz. Sassy's is nicely in smallish chunks 10-12 oz.

They are both at a good weight. Sassy could stand to loose another couple of pounds. Riley shouldn't lose any more SO... twice a week Riley gets Sassy's portion and vice versa.

They have both nicely blown out their coats. They look shinier and nicer than ever!

We took canned fish out of their diets as they both consistently had diarrhea with it. And I figured I did NOT want to deal with that (and figured they didn't want to either).

What the dogs don't like is
1. empty food bowls! Riley grew up ALWAYS having food available, now it's not.
2. Sundays. They only get one meal. At night. And it's just a larger portion of their morning meal with yogurt and oatmeal added. All they get in the morning is ONE LOUSY dog cookie!
3. they have to SIT before I feed them, and
4. they are tied up to eat. Sassy doesn't mind, Riley hates it since he eats faster and likes to steal Sassy's food.

So what do I like about this diet?
1. Dogs are healthier
2. Sassy LIKES to eat now.
3. Easy to adjust if dog is a bit over or under weight or going to work hard (i.e. Sassy at a trial gets more the night before/morning of)
4. Costs about the same as feeding mid-range kibble
5. Riley occasionally plays again
6. Easy to vary what goes into diet to avoid allergy issues.

What don't I like?
1. more labour intensive with meal prep, clean up etc.
2. harder to travel with
3. hubbie dislikes feeding it himself, BUT likes that they are on it.

So that's our update on our dogs and their new eating patterns.

1, 2, 3, 4 .......

So how many teeth do you think a 14 month old boy should have?

1? 6? perhaps even..... 8?

Well, let me tell you...this boy of mine thinks that having TEN teeth is a really good idea!

6 on top
4 below.

AND THEY ARE SHARP LITTLE TALONS TOO!

He got them September 7, 2006.

Recently Read books

"Life of Pi," by Yann Martel

This book was interesting to read. I"m part of a book club at the local library. Not that I've ever been able to attend a meeting yet, but I'm at least a reading member. This book had some funny lines, some very questionable theology, and I left wondering if Pi made up the whole story, OR if things really happened as people at the end of the book. Not entirely sure. Here's a review of it that I found on-line. It's not a bad read. Check it out.


Kit's Law by Donna Morrissey.

This overview sums up this book fairly well

Overview:
Kit Pitman is fourteen and lives in a ramshackle cottage on the outer banks of Newfoundland, where isolation is all she knows. The only visitors are fogbound fishermen and an occasional young man brought ashore to keep the bloodlines clean. But Kit's isolation is compounded by the mystery that surrounds her family and her illegitimate birth. Her mother, Josie, is mentally retarded and often runs wild among the clapboard houses that dot the shore. Meanwhile, her grandmother Lizzie staunchly guards them both from the disapproving glances pious townsfolk cast their way. But when Lizzie dies suddenly, Kit and her childlike mother are left vulnerable to life's harsh realities and to unexpected dangers that repeatedly threaten to break them apart.

It's not the type of book that I normally read. I found it fascinating to follow Kit's growth as she matured. She found a "peace" of sorts by the end of the book. Unfortunately, it wasn't a peace found in God, in fact, religion was seen in a fairly negative light in this book. But somehow her story was fascinating.


Outgrowing the Ingrown Church by C. John Miller
Now this book is a GOOD book. Talks about how people (primarily pastors) can change what they are doing, and what their focus is, and influence their congregations for the glory of God. How pastors can put the gospel message into everything they do.

I'll write more on this book at another time, in a separate post as it deserves to be properly chatted about. :) In the meantime, here's one review and another review and one last one here.

Justin has a cold

So our boyo Justin has yet another cold. This I think makes cold number one in about 2 (maybe 3) months... he had at least four over the winter.

No, I'm not particularly surprised since we were out and about a lot when we went camping and he is at that stage where EVERYTHING has to be mouth-tested.

This one is NOT a fun cold. Lots of mucous and irritable tempers and so forth.

On the good side, when he sleeps, he sleeps good.
On the bad side, when he coughs...he coughs hard and wakes up. Which makes the sleeping a bit more of a challenge when the Dimetapp wears off.

AND even more good news..... JIM HAS CAUGHT JUSTIN'S COLD!

No... not good news...just scratchy throat news and hopes that it's not going to affect his preaching in the morning AND his sleep tonight!

JUSTIN WITH THE SEALS

Here is some video of Justin with the seals during out trip to the Toronto Zoo.

Vacation Report

If you want to read about our vacation, I blogged it over here.

If you want to know about two books that Jim has recently read you can find that here.

Cheers!