Summer

During June I am dreaming of long, lazy days spent basking in the sun. Warm skin, cool drinks and the shrieks of happy kids playing. I am dreaming of doing nothing and having to go nowhere. Yet summer is over in a blink of an eye. The end of summer is looming ahead of us and the back to school shopping and preparing will soon begin.

My summer days passed with not a whole lot to show for them. I have totally put aside all goals of learning for easy reading historical romance books, all the while doing the bare minimum around the house, which is basically laundry and dishes, and I don't remember the last time I went to bed before midnight or got up before 10. But that is what summer is - a break from all the mundane, everyday tasks, chores and demands that occupies my time during the school year, yet, I have to admit that I am a bit ashamed that I am not using my time a bit more effectively.

Over the next three weeks my Jesse and Tia's days will be filled with back to school prep (Justin is away for all of August). Tia will be have two weeks dedicated to getting ready for fall dance classes and will spend most of her days at the dance studio preparing for fall exams. Tia's final week will be spent in a volleyball camp getting ready for fall tryouts. Jesse on the other hand will fill his final summer days with First Aid and lifeguard training, with some extra time spent lane swimming as he wants to increase his strength and speed. Plus, Jesse wants to prepare for his driving learners test and do a bit of driving training - hmmm, we will have to see about that one.

With two of my kids buckling down and ready to work hard towards their goals, I too will resume working on goals from my Ten Year Plan. The first thing I am going to re-focus on is studying sign language. I know I will want to use it during volleyball season with Tia, so I need to study hard and then practice with Tia so that she will have some practice too (although she reattains it far better then I seem to).

I will also clean my house on Monday - I mean REALLY clean my house. The kids will be out of the house all day and I am going to do both my weekly and monthly clean jobs - both of which have been largely neglected as of late. I will then move on to the yard work. Jesse, Justin and I have been keeping up with the yard work, but I think that some extra time spent weeding and fertilizing may be needed. Plus, it seems like a endless pile of flip flops and runners is growing on my front porch and balls seem to be laying everywhere - soccer balls, volleyballs, basketballs, and kick balls. So before the rain hits - and it will - all those balls will need to be picked up and put back into the bin in the garage. All in all - I think my cleaning will take me all day Monday and some of Tuesday.

Summer is coming to a close and days filled with nothingness is definitely over...but it was nice while it lasted!

Christine

Just Had to Share...

So I was doing some random reading and I came acrross this:



“A lifetime can be well spent correcting and improving one’s own faults without bothering about others.”
-- Edward Weston


I have no idea who this person is, but as soon as I read this it hit me hard. How often do I focus on what I see as other peoples faults? Far too often...maybe I should change my focus...

Rain, Rain, Go Away!!

We are in the middle of torrential downpours! Here in Alberta we sometimes have wet springs, but more or less dry summers. We are known to be quite a dry climate overall...

Well sump pumps have been working over time for the amount of rain we have gotten in the last two days! It has been raining...and raining...and raining...and hmmmm...raining some more!

I have decided I don't like rain - NOT AT ALL! Rain is cold and wet, it makes my hair frizzy and makes me want to hide inside and drink tea and eat yummy baked goods. So I broke down today and whipped up a strawberry-rhubarb pudding cake. You know the kind of cakes, the batter rises to the top and the fruit pudding is hot and gooey on the bottom. The kind of cake that goes perfect with a dollop of whipped cream on top and a cup of tea on the side.

So I am going to sit down with my frizzy hair and try not to scowl at anyone and eat my cake and drink tea.

Hope everyone else's summer is warmer :(

Christine

So Bored...

Are you ever just bored with your life and no amount of planning, vacationing or even warm weather (after a very long winter – or so it seemed) seems to pull you out of your funk?

It seems like I have had a hard year. Nothing major happened that I can point to; it was just all the little things that were the same this year as they were last year, and the year before that, and the year before that…well you see my point. It is not that I don’t like what I am doing per say, it just is a lot of sameness and fringed with a lot of small disappointments.

Life often makes me feel like I am a hamster on a wheel, always running and never getting anywhere. I am ready for a change, that is certain…and I have to say that I am a girl that typically does not relish change.

Maybe I just want to feel noticed. Do you ever feel like you go about your day completely invisible to everyone – well until supper is suppose to be on the table or someone needs a drive somewhere? But honestly, even when I go shopping now I will typically just go through a self-checkout counter, in and out totally unnoticed. Most days I seem to spend more time talking to my dogs then humans. Some time days will go by where the only people I have spoken to are my kids, which I guess the kids are an upgrade to the dogs, but with teenagers sometimes I have to wonder if the dogs are smarter! Well less hormonal for sure! And does arguing count for a conversation?

Today I was so bored that I ran my cart down a Costco isle and jumped on the back – my son Jesse just rolled his eyes and said, “really mom, everyone is going to think you are high”. As I said before – teenagers are a special breed. All the other bored moms watching me probably just thought I feel off my rocker, that the stress of Costco finally made me snap.

Since some of you know, I am an emotional cooker and eater, I am going lace up my shoes, and go for a quick run before I whip myself up some comfort food tonight – actually a comfort drink. I am leaning towards something cold and sweet, something frothy with just a twist of hmmm…rum??? I even have little umbrellas that I can put in it if I want to. So I will sit on my front porch and watch the world go by while drinking my umbrella drink while dreaming that I am really on some fabulous island, watching a breathtaking sunset over the ocean, with a party all around me!

Hope your evening is even more exciting...

Christine

Home Renovations and Such

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I despise messes, so home renovations seriously stress me out! When we moved into this house just over two years ago I was relieved that no serious renovations were needed - the house was painted and updated, and although not necessarily to my exact tastes, it was nice and nothing needed to be done. The previous house we had was bought with the intention to fix it us and sell for a profit, so renovations seemed to be constant and I was happy that our new house was move in ready.

About a year ago, I decided that I should paint my daughters room (well, she decided and I conceded). About 6 months after that, my middle son's joined in that they did not enjoy the bright blue paint and astronaut wallpaper boarder (come on I argued - what teenage boy wouldn't love the astronauts, but they stood firm!). So again, I conceded and painted their room.

I don't know what got into me the other day, but I was just sitting there looking around my house when I decided that not another minute could go by, that I must paint immediately. I was never fond of the red paint in the family room. It was one of those colors that you thought was okay at first, but after some time you realize that is sort of off, maybe the tone wasn't quite right, I am not sure, but all I know is that the time had come for it to go. I had put off this task due to disagreements with what color to put up and the fact that it has very high ceilings, so it would be difficult to paint.

Regardless, once my mind has been made up, the primer came out, tape went up and baseboards were pulled off before my husband could shout "NOOO"! And before he could charge after me up the stairs I had the burgundy wall in our bedroom painted as well.

With each stroke of paint I felt better and I have to say the rooms look fantastic (I will post a picture later today - my camera is dead - sorry)! I wish that I could show you some before pictures, but in my hurry to make the change I did not even think about it! Although we need to buy some new curtains and a couple of pictures for the walls, the hard work of painting and rearranging furniture is complete (big sigh of relief!).

Have a happy Monday!
Christine

Burn Fat – Not Oil

I saw that on some guy’s shirt the other day and thought that it pretty much described my life right now and it made me giggle.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that we were having vehicle trouble. My poor van is not doing so well, it has high kilometers and things are just breaking down. Even if my husband had time to fix what is wrong with it, it would still cost more to fix it than what the van is ultimately worth (fixed). With registration and insurance due, we decided to park the van for the summer and try and figure out what to do in August for the school year. We looked at lots of vehicles, but never really found a great deal, or the perfect vehicle, nor did we really ever have any peace over any of the purchases we were considering, so in hopes of saving money over the summer, we decided the best thing to do was wait.

So the kids and I (Brandon - 16, Jesse - 14, Justin - 14, and Tia - 11) will need to burn fat, not oil, if we want to get somewhere!

I realized some things very quickly:

1. That my husbands jeep that seats 5 does not fit 6 people, no matter how hard you try push them in!

2. Jesse can get even hungrier than he already was.

3. Jesse can actually eat more than he already was!

4. That the likelihood of actually saving any money is slim, I am just using all of the saved money to feed Jesse!

5. Tia can bike slower than she can walk, so slow in fact that I can barely keep my bike upright.

6. Walking in runners after my daughter used them and stretched them out causes blisters.

7. That if I don’t want my daughter to “borrow” my shoes I must hid them.

8. That when your water bottle leaks, just be thankful that you were not carrying it and that your son looks like he wet his pants, not you (sorry Jes).

9. That Brandon can actually walk faster than everyone else and when he has a designation in mind he is very capable of walking there.

10. Tia has less energy walking somewhere than she does walking home afterwards - after walking over 10 kms she seems to complain less!

11. That peaceful walking requires earplugs or music to drown out the children’s bickering, complaining and questioning.

12. That so far (since July 1st) we have walked, biked or roller bladed: 46 kms (or 20.9 miles)

13. That this may be a very long summer!!!

For more Frugal summer tips check out Frugal Friday!

Christine

When it Rain it Pours

Here in sunny Alberta we go through long periods of no rain. The sun shines brightly, winter or summer, and you can spend hours just basking in the glory of Gods beautiful sun. Being that I have lived here since I have been 5, I am use to our dryer climate and nothing feels better to me than the hot sun on a summer’s day baking my skin (no steaming allowed!!). It makes me feel comforted, almost like God Himself is wrapping His arms around me, making me feel safe and well cared for.

But sometimes the rain comes.

I don’t like the rain, it is cold and wet and it makes the dogs and boys smell, it gets my house and van dirty and it makes my hair frizzy. There is nothing to really like about the rain, but yet after a good rainfall things seem to look better. The grass is greener, flowers seem brighter and all the dirt and dust have been washed away.

So is this true in life too?

Lately I feel like I have been dealing with a constant dribble of rain, which has recently turned into a downpour. At every turn things are going wrong, in the last week we have decided to retire our van and go to one vehicle over the summer (van is old and payments on a new vehicle is just not in the budget), our washing machine broke, our lawn mower stopped working and we noticed that something was leaking in our main upstairs bathroom so we are going to have to open the wall to fully diagnose it and fix it, to top it all off we received an unexpected bill in the mail and I received a speeding ticket. Once you add in the typical marriage, kids, school, and jobs my hair is not the only thing lift frizzy!

My prayer is that after this down pour things will look greener, brighter, and all of the dirt and mess of life has been washed away.

Summer Time

Well time seems to be flying by in rapid motion, with end of year trips and special events around every turn. Long evenings outside, first trips to the beach and picnics in the sun. I always enjoy this time of year, so much happening, lots of fun going on, the promise of long and lazy summer days are so close. The sun warming your skin, the sand beneath your toes and the smell of sunscreen filling your nose becomes more than some far away fantasy, but instead these fun filled days are so close that you can just taste it. The deep and satisfying pull of summer settles deep within your soul, somewhere where God meets you and calls out to you to leave all schedules and appointments behind and in its place calls out to you to just lay back and enjoy your family and His creation. There is something almost magical about summer, something that soothes my soul and eases all the stress from a too busy school year. And as we move into my eldest son’s last year of high school before graduation (Gr 12), my middle boys last year of middle school (Gr 9), and my daughters first year of middle school (Gr 7), I feel like this summer is definitely one to be savored as big changes are on there way.

Yesterday morning my daughter and I went to our local farmers market, Tia was on the lookout for mini donuts and homemade soap (she’s hooked and can’t go back to what she calls “regular soap” – what a drama queen!) and I was on the look out for some local produce and I wanted to see what was new at the market this year. It seems like every year it just gets bigger and bigger and much to my delight the produce spread out everywhere was fabulous and ended up having a very hard time deciding what to get. We like a lot of leafy greens, and beets are a total treat, but lets just say that any vegetable cooked on the bbq will be eaten in a hurry!

So what did I decide? After much humming and hawing we finally decided on a tomatoes, a cucumber, beets, jalapeno peppers and strawberries - plus some cinnamon honey for a treat (it is soooo good). So last nights menu will included grilled chicken, grilled jalapeno peppers, red peppers, onions and tomatoes and baked potatoes loaded with sour cream and chives. This morning my husband and I had strawberries, yogurt and granola – which is my personal favorite

Since I spent all afternoon and evening doing yard work, then topped off the day with a game of tennis, lets just say that today will be quieter and slower (as my aching muscles demand it!)! My husband and boys have taken off to play some paint ball, which means my daughter and I will have the whole house to ourselves all day long and it will be early in bed tonight for everyone’s early start tomorrow, which will kick off a very busy week.

So here is to all you Canadian’s that are anxiously waiting for school to be over and all the lounging and playing to begin – just two more weeks :)

Blessings,
Christine

What happens to dogs hair when they play on the trampoline!

My dog Rex LOVES our trampoline, we catch him on it almost every time he goes out into the yard. He naps on it, runs on it, jumps on it - he is on the trampoline more than the children are!

He loves to go onto his back and rub his head and back all over with his feet in the air, when he gets up - poof - up goes his hair!

This is not the wind blowing his hair!!!

Silly dog - can you tell that he is the BOYS dog???

What I did this weekend...

Friday morning the younger three kids and I packed up our stuff, took the dogs and went to spend the weekend at the lake. It wasn't really swimming weather yet (as the last of the ice just melted off the lake a mere two weeks ago), but we still found lots to do.

It was rough, I have to say - all the lounging and napping in between - but what can I say, this weekend God was gracious and provided me with a much needed rest!

Hope your weekend was just as blessed,

Christine

When only chocolate will do!!!

You know those times were only chocolate will due??? Well tonight was one of those nights!

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and no amount of coffee seemed to fix my mood, all the kids argued with me and with each other this morning, traffic was bad while I was driving them to school and road rage seemed to be rearing its ugly head, I got home to find out that one of my dogs threw up on the carpet - twice, cleaned it up to have the other dog start throwing up…super great, fiddled my morning away doing nothing productive other than receiving yet ANOTHER dog who promptly lifted his leg and peed on the side of my chair (thanks mom and dad!...have a nice trip...by yourself...with room service...and no barfing dogs), left to go do lunch room and got told it was going to be an OUTDOOR recess (well it is only -22C with the wind chill, so come on, OF COURSE it is not too cold to be outside!), came home and found my eldest sitting at the computer doing NOTHING productive (oops, forgot he a half-day at school), told him that I needed to go upstairs and be by myself for a bit and try and do some work, dogs barked continuously...at each other...at my son, at people/dogs outside...at the wind moving the trees, went to go get the younger three from school and praise the Lord all three boys left the minute we got home to have dinner with Granny (proof the Lord is merciful!)...so I did the only thing I could do - MAKE COOKIES!!!

My closest friends know that I make alot of cookies (and therefore eat alot of cookies), but I especially feel the desire to make cookies when celebrating special occasions, like the kids first day of school in the fall, or on those days where nothing goes right and having a warm cookie (okay, cookies) is the only fix. There is something therapeutic for me in the mixing and measuring, the smells that fill my entire house, and finally that first bite...like a little gift from heaven!

So tonight, after my day, I needed some serious chocolate and made Double Chocolate Espresso Fudge cookies…yum…do we need any further proof that God IS good!

Christine

Double Chocolate Espresso Fudge Cookies:

1 ¼ cup Margarine
2 cups Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 ½ tbsp Instant Espresso powder

¾ cup Cocoa powder, sifted
2 cups Flour
1 tsp Baking soda
½ tsp Salt
1 – 2 cups Semi-sweet chocolate chips (depending on your preference)

Cream margarine and sugar together, add vanilla, eggs and espresso and blend till smooth and fluffy. Add dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake at 375F for 7 – 8 minutes or until outsides are done but the middle is still gooey. Eat. Enjoy.