The New Look...

Round Two

Paxton broke out with the chicken pox yesterday - two weeks to the day that Rory had them. And it looks like he's getting more of them. Poor guy! So this morning, Ladger and Rory went to church and Paxton and I watched cartoons. And I'm in serious need of a cartoon break so here I am.



I received two new books this Christmas - Max Lucado's "Cure for the Common Life" and Joanna Weaver's "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World". Few things are so exciting to me as a couple of new books to read. I just started reading Lucado's book and came across the quote I found on a decorative tile that's hanging right beside my sink.

"God sanctifies each day. He conducts holy business at all hours and in all
places. He uncommons the common by turning kitchen sinks into shrines, cafes
into convents, and nine-to-five workdays into spiritual adventures."

What a thought - today can be all about doing God's business as I care for my itchy, sometimes cranky three year old. I think I'm even ready to go sit in on a few more cartoons. *grin*

Color: One of Life's Richest Blessings!

It was so pretty yesterday! We had hoarfrost which formed lacy crystal ice on everything and the sky was the softest pink as the sun was heading down for the day. Pastel blues, pinks and white made it a beautiful view in every direction.
One of Ladger's gifts to me was a haircut and color. He watched the boys as I headed off to town by myself - that was a treat in itself. And then I went to a new hairdresser and enjoyed myself thoroughly. I now have blond highlights and a very new look. How fun!!
So today it's time to get those accounting books done and I'll be all set to enjoy the new year! 

Boxing Day

It's the day after Christmas and all through the house...all my creatures are stirring. Rory and Paxton were tiptoeing through the dark kitchen at 8 am. Yes, Ladger and I slept in. That is one thing about grain farming - we tend to rise with the sun. I know that cattle business is quite different because winter means chores. Anyhow, the sun doesn't really show up until closer to 9 am so the weeks around Christmas are lazy days for us.

Before we know it, the days will be longer and spring will be in the air. I wonder what will happen in the Maritimes where they haven't even had winter yet. Mom was telling me the grass was still green. Well on this side of the world we've had a white Christmas even though there isn't a terrible amount of snow. We've had some nasty weather though - several blizzards already along with plummeting temperatures at times.

So now that Christmas is over....I'm ready for spring!! In fact I should start thinking about what seedlings I want to start. Some need to start as early as February and I'd better get ready or I'll miss my window of opportunity with some of them.

But will my holidays be long and boring....Certainly not! It's year end for the farm which means I have to do some serious office time and get it done before my 'regular life' starts up again in January.

So have a great boxing day and stay out of the malls *grin* At least that's the last place I'd want to be!

Wrong season!

Most of the gifts under our tree this year have a bright orange pumpkin on them courtesy of Paxton who thought these really made the gifts special! And they do! 

New Furniture

We did a big switch in town (our car for our in-laws' half-ton) and were able to bring home our new furniture! Yesterday we set up the chair and ottoman and are enjoying it and we moved the big armchair that had been there to our bedroom (perfect for cuddling up with a good book). And today is the day we're going to get rid of the old bed and by tonight, our new bed - Hurray!

So I was in a big hurry this morning to topple Ladger out of bed so I could start washing up the sheets and get the mattress ready to go. I think I'm a little like my mom that way. Once I start a project - look out for things flying!

And today will also be the adventure of finding 'who knows what' that's been hiding under our bed for awhile. *grin*

I woke up at 6am this morning and not a creature was stirring. Aha! I could cozy up on the couch and do a little reading. But there on the couch I just about sat on my three year old. He's fast asleep, curled up in a ball. I hope he's feeling OK but I'm half expecting he could break out with chicken pox any day. I'm almost hoping he does before Christmas so we'll have a clear answer as to whether we ought to go to Ladger's parents place for part of the day as we usually do.

Rory's chicken pox is healing up nicely - I was happy with how it went. He didn't have too much discomfort and that was a blessing. Yesterday, Ladger stayed with the boys while I went to the school to give music lessons. It was the last full day of school for the kids and there was definitely excitment in the air.

Speaking of excitement - our order from IKEA just came in. We finally are upgrading to a queen size bed! I don't know why it took us so long but the double size was tolerable and we got used to it - but I can't wait for the extra room!!!! Plus a new leather chair and ottoman for either our bedroom or living room - depending on where it works out best.

Unfortunately, I think Ladger's parents are planning on going to town in the half ton today leaving us only the car. And this is the last day we can pick it up before Christmas. Oh well. We've been married for ten years - I guess we can manage for another few days.

What a week!!!

Today, I feel as light as a feather. This week has been a heavy one for me. Let me share my week with you. Our worship team was going to be on Dec 17 and so I chose seven songs and did up lead sheets for each of them - rearranging the chording on most of them to update them a little - mostly Christmas carols. And then I wrote out parts for two saxophones, a flute and violin for all the songs. I figured that each song took about an hour and a half to complete. And when have I found that time? I was up late almost every evening finding that my best time was after the kids and Ladger went to bed so that I would have uninterrupted time to be creative.

And then our practice was set for Saturday and I had to adjust the time to work around a wedding and the reception that was taking place at the church. And then the worry kicked in as Friday we had freezing rain and then on Saturday was calling for a blizzard! I was on the road Friday and it was like a skating rink - any little bump on the road and the car started heading for the ditch and it wasn't easy keeping it on the road.

Thankfully, most of that melted away and dried up during the day because the next day was calling for snow and a lot of wind. And it was just like they said - white-out conditions.

I would have cancelled the practice but Rory's musical was supposed to be going to a senior's apartment that afternoon as well and they didn't cancel that. So Ladger agreed to drive us in and I was thankful to at least be able to set up all the microphones and gear and then realized the reception was set up and we wouldn't have access to some things. So we did the best we could do with what we could find and I was thankful that we were able to do that much but it was still not totally ready for Sunday morning. Plus less than half our team made it to the practice. Not only that but I was part of three numbers for Sunday evening's concert and we were also supposed to practice Saturday - and we only got to practice one of those and the other two hadn't come together yet and were definitely needing work.

The long and short of it was: knowing we weren't prepared and not knowing how the weather would be Sunday and how many or who would make it to church is not something I enjoy.

And then, I noticed Sunday morning I noticed a couple of spots on Rory and didn't think much of it.

We got to church - managed to switch around gear and finish setting up, and quickly run through the music in 40 min. And then, I sat down with Rory and noticed the spots had increased.... Chicken Pox!! Ladger was nowhere to be found and when I finally located him found out that he was sick too - a stomach flu!

Well we got through it all and finally got home.

Ladger was not doing well but I had no choice but to leave the boys with him while I went to the evening concert. I left as soon as my part in it was finished. Meanwhile I knew I was quickly coming down with the same flu Ladger had. And so I didn't eat any supper. And I was feeling nauseous half the night.

So why am I feeling so great today? Physically I feel fine - and that's a blessing! Ladger's also back on his feet. The worship team did a great job and many people were blessed by it! And I knew every second I invested in writing those parts out to involve those precious young people was well worth a little less sleep *grin* Rory's spirits are good and he is handling the chicken pox well - hasn't even had a fever yet. The sun is shining and the storm is over. It's a good day and we are blessed! Plus now we are living with a self-imposed quarantine this week which means we're staying home right up 'til Christmas! So I'll clean up the house...make some chocolate amaretto cheesecake and in between oatmeal baths and calamine lotion, we'll do as many fun things as we can with the boys. Truly, we are blessed!

Rory brought home his classroom friend the other day - a furry little bear called Mozart. He drew a picture and I took these pictures when he took him to AWANA. 

Back Home!

Here are a couple of pictures that Rory took on our trip. The first is at the Royal Tyrell museum in Drumheller. We all really enjoyed our day there yesterday! The boys got to see lots of dinosaur bones and even watched the short documentary films a couple of times each. They're doing lots of work this winter opening up some new exhibits and we definitely plan to include it in our travels another time.

Rory took lots of pictures of the mountains. It was really fun to see them through his eyes. He was asking if they were as big as Egyptian pyramids before we got there. We told him that they were a lot bigger. He kept calling the mountains 'pyramids' for the rest of the days there. This is one of our favorites - Cascade Mountain. He was quite impressed that God made bigger pyramids than the Egyptians did.


And then as we drove into our home town, Rory sighed with contentment "Back in Canada". I'm glad he was happy to be home but I guess we need to work on geography - we never left Canada. *grin* 

Family Trip

Just dropping a note from the front lobby of the hotel we're staying at in Banff which also happens to be the hotel I worked at for four years before I was married. My former boss and his wife are gone and it's a little strange without them (or any of the former staff) but it's been a real treat to be here. We bought a portable DVD player for the trip not really thinking of how handy it is to plug into any TV to play DVD's. So tonight we're doing a family movie night in our room with some movies we rented this afternoon. - Cool! Tomorrow we head to Drumheller and the dinosaur museum there.