You know you are a knitter when.....your five year old looks over at the desk and says, "What is it that you are making with that yellow yarn over there, mom." "Mittens for Sarah, why?" "Oh, I thought it was something else." What that something else was he never said.

Read this on Ann Voskamp's blog, Holy Experience

Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and a antiseptic.

~John Henry Jowett~

Love her blog, always find food for thought and encouragement.

The Royal Winter Fair

Sorry No pictures.....I took my camera and it stayed in my bag the whole day....not sure why because there was plenty to take pictures of.

We had a great day.

We saw the Superdogs. They were great but both my sister and I cried. I never thought of it before we went in and sat down but some of the best (fastest) Superdogs are Border Collies and our beloved Baillie was a Border Collie

Remberance Day Servies

John and his dad at the Remembrance Day services. John doesn't remember seeing his dad in his 'monkey suit' as we like to call it. Michael only wears it a few times a year and I guess in the last year or so not much at all. John really liked it that it was his dad that every one wanted their picture take with.

Michael and his colleague laying the wreath for the RCMP in remembrance.

The boys in red lining up in the distance....they led the colour guard on....not a task they were told about before hand but they didn't seem to mind.

Well we are off to the Royal Winter Fair today with my sister....got the Garmin, got the car seat, got the sunglasses....not I just need to pack our lunch and get the kids up so we are ready when she gets here.

Tuesday on Wednesday.....

We had our life group (small group Bible study) last night so I didn't take the time to write when we got home. It is a new life group with only two families right now, but even with just the 2 families there are 7 boys 12 and under. Wallace falls right between the 2 oldest and John is just older than the younger 3, they really seem to be enjoying themselves and is a great way for them to make friends while mom and dad are studying the Bible.

Yesterday wasn't much better as far as getting things done. I have trouble getting my head around the chaos, today will be better as I am turning this machine off after this entry and starting to work.

Yesterday's list was:
1. unpack Wallace's room
2. unpack John's room
3. unpack our room
4. unpack family room
5. make cookies (for small group)
6. unpack linen closet

Today's list is:
1. unpack John's room
2. unpack our room
3. unpack family room
4. clean master bathroom
5.
6.

Added to that list but not really apart of it is keeping up with laundry and meals, which seem to be taking up a lot more time in my new kitchen. I'd also like to get some schooling done, although I am going to concentrate on helping the boys catch up on their Olympians work for their meeting tonight.

I have to mention that unpacking is more than just pulling things out of boxes and putting them in drawers or on shelves. I have about 1/10 of the storage space that I had in our previous house so I am pulling things out of boxes, deciding if we need it and if not deciding if it goes to the second hand shop or garbage. Another challenge is that I am finding many things in the house broken and in need of repair before we put our stuff away.....of course the mice infestation is taking a lot of our time and focus away form getting the task at hand done. We haven't caught any for 2 days but we still see clues that they are still around. Mice are cute when they are in a cage or in the wide but I do not like them in my house.....especially my kitchen.

Monday

Today I felt as if I was spinning my wheels. I had set out to get things accomplished and at every turn my efforts were thwarted. I need to learn to work around interruptions and the chores of a normal day. I also need to remember that every little bit helps like the sayings go; Rome wasn't built in a day or How do you eat an elephant....one bite at a time. So what was on my list of things to do for today was.....

1. clean the powder room

2. change the bedding on all the bed and put the heated mattress pad on our bed

3. unpack our room

4. unpack Wallace's room

5. unpack John's room

6. unpack the family room

What actually got done to completion?

1. clean the powder room

2. change the bedding and put the heated mattress pad on

and I also did 2 other loads of laundry and some school with Wallace.

Michael on the other had...he had the day off....got done.

1. put up the new closet system in our closet. (it looks great and is far more functional than the decrepit (non repairable, he tried) one that was there.

2. did errands...butcher, mouse poison pellets, furnace filter

3. started organizing the garage.

My dad even came over and raked the back yard and the side yard...it looks great.

Wallace, did a little school, he is still not feeling well. He is on day 5 of what looks like H1N1, so he is on the recovery mode.

John, did nothing but whine and mope. He is on day 3 of the same. We get his fever down just to have it go back up when the medicine wears off. Poor little guy, he wanted to to a lot of snuggling.

I did use the oven for the first time since we moved in....did Crusty Mexican Bean Bake out of the More with Less cookbook. It was quick and tasty. I am still adjusting to my new kitchen so it probably took me longer than it should have. Mom came over to pick up Dad on her way home from work so they stayed for supper. Then I had a chiropractor appointment. All in all a busy day....I just didn't seem to get the things done that I wanted.

We are in but not settled

We took possession of the house a week ago Friday. We got all of our worldly possessions a week ago tomorrow. We are not settled. I never really paid much attention to Murphy as in Murphy's Law but he has definitely had his hand in this move. NOTHING, yes I know I am shouting and it isn't very polite but its true, NOTHING has gone right. We've cleaned, repaired and replaced way more than thought we would have to. The roof has been replaced, thankfully not by us, the kitchen and bathrooms cleaned, the walls washed, the carpets shampooed, the washing machine replaced, with a front loader, and Micheal is working on replacing the closet rod and shelf in our master closet. The house was lived in for 20 years and little if any up keep was done, some of the things we knew about, like the roof but others were carefully hidden by the previous owners and since we didn't feel like we should move every cloth or nick-knack we didn't see it. I guess this is legally allowable if not morally right. So we move on, each day will get better as I get my life out of boxes and things put away into its new home. The second hand store is going to be very blessed in the next couple of weeks with all the donations that I have for them.
It is great to be living back in my hometown. I haven't lived here for 20 years and in some ways it has changed a great deal but in others not much at all. I love being close to my mom and dad and my sister. I have much to be thankful for and must keep my eyes on that and not on the things that are going wrong. God is good and I will praise him. I will praise Him in the good times and in the bad times.