Some things never change and then some do

Some of you might remember back in June in this post I mentioned how every time my son comes home, like the queen flying the flag when she's in residence, his tradition is to somehow mix up my pictures.  It states "Jeremy is in residence".  And in true fashion, this time was no different.  The usual trio of picks got his touch, but this time he was sneaky.  He also changed up a large picture I have on display in living room over the cabinet.  Again it took me a while to notice.  How could I has missed this one for so long?

Because I don't have a mantle anymore this is my little corner I like to decorate throughout the year.  My tastes are getting simpler but I kinda like a cozy feel.  I think I achieve that quite nicely with the fall colors.

 Jeremy's handiwork (ignore the jar and lid of whatever that is that I didn't notice until after I took the picture):

He is definitely spreading his wings.  Makes me wonder what on earth is going to change up when he next visits.  You'll be happy to know that he took his painting with him when he left.  I just could not make whatever star wars ships those are work with my decor tastes.

Vacation 2016

I am now into day 2 of work after a 10 day off vacation.  And I'm still getting into the groove.  Love vacations but boy, it's hard to get back to routine.  This year was different for hubby and I as it was the first year that none of our now adult children were not with us.  That was a bit of life change that took getting used to.  We were so used to planning our holidays around what we thought mostly they would enjoy.   We hummed and hawwed forever and a day in trying to decide what to do and where to go.  A couple of weeks before our actual holiday time, our friends invited us to join them in Spokane, Washington.  They were going for a couple of nights.  It sounded like fun so we joined them (though, oyvay, the exchange rate just about made us pass out!)

What a lovely experience it was for us.  We loved the hotel we stayed at, Red Lion at the Park.    (BTW, this link shows just a small section of this huge hotel! )  Even though the hotel was under major renovations while we were there, I have to say it was still a great experience staying there.   All staff we dealt with and all the construction workers were super friendly and super helpful.  Our room was upgraded from a regular king room to a king corporate suite....for free!  What a blessing that was!  Definitely will stay there again.

A huge downtown park where they held the '74 Expo is where the hotel is so there was lots of wonderful paths along the river that runs through town and we were within walking distance of downtown and tons of stores, restaurants, and a big mall.  (Hello my first experience at Nordstrom's and their Anniversary Sale).  My friend knows all the stores in Spokane and is designer savvy and knows good prices.  She is power shopper extraordinaire so it was lots of fun going with her!

Carousel in the park.

There was also a small ferris wheel and carnival rides...very family friendly

And the pool was wonderful.  Have to say I spent all of our 3 mornings out there reading and swimming.  Yes, it was already hot enough by 9:30 to be out sunning and swimming.  One of the most favorite parts of my holiday.  I finished 2 books.  I have to say this was one of the most relaxed vacations I've ever had.  Even though hubby is not a pool lounger or a swimmer he let me spend as much time as I wanted down there.  A real gift!  Every once in awhile him and the dog would show up in the window and wave to me.  :D

view from our room

But as with every holiday of eating well, staying up late, sleeping in and generally not running on any schedule whatsoever, I am easing very slowly into this week.  Yikes.  6:15 comes mighty early.  I'm always amazed at how easy it is to lose routine even when only off of it for 10 days.  But get into it I must.  So I've dug out the extra large cup of coffee and I'm motoring on!

Drumroll please!

Yeah this just happened!

And once my Kimberly makes up her mind, why wait, she says?  The wedding is at Easter!   As in Easter of 2016!  

Now that I've absorbed that...  Let's get this party started!  Welcome to the family, Mitch!

#thosecrazykids     #breathesusannebreath     #weddingherewecome

The Sounds of Silence

I am hearing the crickets chirping.  At least in the evenings and especially at supper time.  It is so quiet around here with everyone gone.  With Son up north for a round of shifts and Youngest girl now dropped off at bible college, it is entirely more, how shall I put it, mellow around here.  Sigh.

On the weekend we dropped her and all her paraphernalia off.  I'm telling ya, trying to decide what she could live without during the school year was a chore of epic proportions akin to decisions made in the hallowed halls of government!  At least in her eyes.  But finally her closet was narrowed down to half and packed into the suitcases, and her dresser loaded into the van and off we were like a herd of turtles.  Whew.  We've lovingly held the title of the "Living to Tell" family Gong Show when trying to get out the door for trips for many a year now.  Apparently getting off to college is no different.

Once there though, she settled in nicely.  All is unpacked and she's even got herself a job already.  School starts next week so she has a week to adjust and explore the new city, learn her route to school and relax.  Once school starts it's going to be busy with a capital "B".

And me?  I'm adjusting to the silence, the not having the "kid's" presence in the hourse,  not having to share the bathroom in the daytimes, not having her there to help play with the dayhome kids and most hard of all; learning to cook for two.  Unless of course, I want to eat the same meal for 3 days in a row.

Well, I've been back since late Sunday.  I have no excuse for not posting except to say I've been lazy.  Extremely lazy.  Apparently the older I get the more I realize I need a vacation to recover from the vacation.  Or at least to recover from the marathon 11 hour jaunt in the car to get home.  Man that drive home, while beautiful, is brutal.  We once again hit the Okanagon Valley for holidays.  Man I love that place.  The sunshine wasn't as co-operative for us this year, lots of cloud cover and some rain, but we still had a wonderful holiday.  We did some beaching, some reading (I finished this one...review tomorrow)

and got a good start on this one

We did some of this...

and lots of eating.  Lots and lots of eating.  Who can resist all those orchards and the delicious fruit stands everywhere?

Anyway, I'll do a better post at a later time.  Right now I'm trying to get back to work mode.  It's not going so well I must admit.  My heart and mindset is still back in Kelowna. 

The long weekend in February usually finds us itching to see our girl a province away.  It probably has to do with it being her birthday a few days after the holiday Monday.  I really, really miss her on her birthday.  And I think her Dad does too, because it's usually his idea to jump in the car and go.  Weather permitting, of course.  The thing with her living a province away is the weather might be permitting here in Southern Alberta but it may be a whole other story over there.  It tends to be colder over her way, and unlike us who enjoy the chinook winds to clear the snow, once the snow comes over there it stays until spring.  But it looked like a promising weather report so off we went.

It's a long, long drive, around 6 1/2 hours providing one only gases up once and includes a bathroom break in with it.  But hubby likes to take it easy and not be rushed.  So our trip usually runs a bit longer.  I mean, what would a road trip be without a Starbuck's fill up here and there, and of course, the dog needs to do his thing occasionally, and then we need to pull off so I can take over the driving so hubby can "rest his eyes".  All in all though, I'm excited to get there and see my girl.  The roads were good and not too terribly busy and I got some good reading done.

After a really nice couple day visit which included taking her shopping for her birthday gift and lots of good eating, we headed back Monday morning.  To be met with the worst road conditions we have ever in our lives driven on!  We knew there was blowing snow warnings the night before but never in our wildest dreams did we think we would be met with roads that weren't roads at all but literally skating rinks for hours on end.   White knuckle, going 60 kph in a 120 highway and still feeling that was too fast, semi-trucks, trailers and car upon car in the ditches, kind of road.  Tense doesn't even begin to describe it.  Well, for Hubby and I anyway.  Younger daughter slept through the whole thing in the backseat.  Thank the Lord, it wasn't snowing on top it and we at least had visibility.  I didn't even think to take any pictures to show you 'cause I was too busy praying and watching for what might be up ahead aways.  And thank God after a scary 3 1/2 hours as we got closer to the Alberta border it was back to nice dry roads with sunshine peeking through.  Yikes.  It definitely called for a Starbuck's stop after that!

But we are now home safe and sound and, ironically, watching the snow lightly falling today.

And just like that another one leaves the nest.

The employer contacted him yesterday and today he is packing the car to be out of town by noon.

I'm so thrilled for him that he got a job where he wanted at the moment.

I'm so sad it's up north.

I'm trying not to cry that he won't be here for Christmas.

I was dreading the day one of my fledglings would say they won't be home for Christmas and now it is upon me.

But spread their wings they must.  Jump out of the nest they must.

Did it have to happen so fast, though?  Could they not have given him, and me, a little warning?  Like say, a month or three?  Sigh.

Had I known, we could have done a family dinner and given him all his gifts but as it is nothing is even wrapped.  In a hurry, I wrapped the one gift I wanted him to open and that was an emergency road kit.  Yes, the gift that makes Mom feel better.

Sigh, Congratulations Son!  I really am incredibly happy for you!

So yesterday was my Mom's 80th birthday.  I can hardly believe that.  Because that means I'm, oh well, never mind, that's not the story I want to tell.  Anyhoo, we were all sad that my K., my oldest could not be with us to celebrate.  Her and my Mom have a special bond.  She was my Mom's first grandchild.  But she sent her Grandma a beautiful bouquet with a very touching note, both of which made my Mom cry.  But we all had a good laugh, when the delivery person handed my Mom another note.  One which was meant for the delivery driver's eyes only, instructions on the delivery..  Why he gave it to her, we can only guess. But it did make us laugh.  It read as follows:

"80 years old.  Slow.  Give a her few minutes to get to the door.

If she doesn't answer, check the backyard."

**Just a note to add that my Mom thought it was so funny she's keeping the driver's notes for a good chuckle.

Decisions, Decisions

I learned something about myself this weekend.  I learned I am so not a party planner.  It is not enjoyment for me, it is work.  And confusion.  Actually I think I already knew this from my children's birthday party years.   But it all came to light again as my Sis and I went looking for decorations for my Mom's 80th birthday open house.

Have I mentioned I am notorious at not being able to make a decision when it comes to stuff like that?  Well, I am.  So this little trip to the dollar store left me exhausted and with brain ache.  What to get?  What colors?  Her favorite is green.  But everything can't be green. So what should the co-ordinating color be?  I like the purple and yellow best.  But she likes green.  So what goes good with green?  We finally made a decision on the napkins but then there weren't enough of the pattern we knew she'd love, so we had to choose a couple of packages of another pattern.  Colored forks or clear?  What on earth should we do about center pieces for the tables.  We were going to do single stem roses (a favorite of hers)  but the napkins have geraniums (another favorite of hers).  So now what?  We finally settled on these pretty votive candle holders instead.  But then we had to decide if we wanted a mirror under it.   Oh, do we want round or square mirrors?   And did I mention this is an open house so we have no idea how many are coming?  Two and a half hours and 3 dollar stores later I think we finished at least that part.  Cha-ching!

That is until I went to a garden store and realized we probably should have some kind of flower on the cake and beverage table for a centerpiece.  Of course it had to be a geranium.  But should I get a few little tiny pots or a bigger pot with other flowers in it too so she could take it home?  Will the things even be blooming at her open house or will I end up plunking a pot of greenery on the table come the day?    I liked the idea of a bunch of little pots lining the center of the table.  But will they last the two weeks till the open house.  They were looking a little sad as it was.   And what was the color in those napkins again?  And what was our budget again?  Did we have one?  See?   I'm enough to drive my self batty!  The queen of indecision, I am.

Gulp!


Welcome to my insanity.  Oh, and shhhh, it's all a surprise. 

Photo courtesy of  Clker.com

Mother's Day '12

Along with the craziness and business of high school graduation, we managed to get in a totally great Mother's Day.  My request this year was for a picnic at the river bottom.  (That's what we call the park that is by the river.  I think the "bottom" comes from having to drive down into the valley floor.  The river runs at the bottom of coulees that rise up on both sides of it.)  Anyway, a good 'ole hot dog roast with homemade macaroni salad and marshmallows to toast was my desire.  And my wonderful family pulled through beautifully.  It was a gorgeous day, we took my mom and met up with my sis and her family.  And it was perfection.  We even managed to find a speck of shade to all share and have a fire without burning the place down.

We relaxed

We ate till we were stuffed

The only thing missing was Older Girl.  That would have been the icing on the cake.

The Last One

It is done.  My last baby has donned the gown and thrown the hat.  I can't even describe my feelings as I type that.  They are all over the board.  Excitement for her, sadness for me, very proud and bursting at the seams, on the verge of tears all day.   But mostly I just feel old.

It was such a busy weekend with not a chance to catch our breath for even a minute over two days.  And that was just the grad, it didn't count Mother's Day.  It's taken me this long to just feel like I'm functioning and can write something.

 I always find the timing of the graduation so odd.  They really still have at least a month of school and then finals before they are truly done school.  But it is what it is, and celebrate they did.  I wrote a bit about the way we celebrate graduation here.

One of my favorite parts was taking her all dressed up and taking some pictures of her.  The night before grad we tried the dress on, I tacked on the sash (which for a non-sew-er like me was total stress city), and took a couple of pics outside.  You have no idea the stab in my heart these pictures of her on the swing set brought to my heart.  In my present eyes, there she was, beautiful, all dressed up and grown up, but in my mind's eye I saw the little girl who spent hours swinging, climbing and giggling on this very swing set.  Sigh.  Choke.

On grad day after the convocation and the hair appointment, we went to a more scenic spot and I tried to take as many as I could before she melted down.  

We didn't realize until we got home we had forgotten her jewelry.  Oh well, such is life.  

And life is also about enjoying each moment, each stage of life, drawing from each moment every ounce of love and of letting them go to spread their own wings.   And of wearing clashing patterns with your Mother, apparently.

Dinner Fail, Weekend Success

Well, it's back to work and the normal everyday.  It was a lovely Easter holiday.  Four wonderful, glorious days off from work and with nothing to do but enjoy family.  I basked in every minute.  It was a weekend of lovely weather, good company, lots of food and relaxation.

 I hosted the Easter dinner as my sis works for a accounting office and this is their insane time.  If we are having true confessions, I have to admit it was the worst dinner I ever served on a holiday.  Nothing seemed to go right.  The goose was undercooked, the asparagus was overcooked, and the scalloped potatoes while tasty, were not soft and tender but still had crunch to them.  Sigh.  I'm not sure what went wrong.  Maybe I was thrown for a loop because I actually made the decision to go to Easter Service instead of staying home to cook.  My timing and groove was definitely off, that's for sure.  Good thing BIL made a ham and it was delicious! Though everyone ate lots of everything and were nothing but complimentary, I know it wasn't the best.  And, I have found, that really, really bothers me.   I'll have to rework my timing for next year because I liked going to Easter Service and don't want to miss it anymore.

Having all my kids together again was a joy.  It does my heart good to hear them laughing together and enjoying one another. It's especially fun listening to Older daughter and Son bantering back and forth about anatomy, which courses they both take for their degrees in Paramedic and Kiniseology.  Those big words seem so weird in regular conversation, but it makes for hilarious conversation with those others of us who call body parts by their "normal" names.   It's going to be tough again on Thursday to say goodbye again to my Older daughter when she heads back to her home in another province.  But school, work and dance call and won't be put off.

Youngest was on cloud nine all weekend having purchased herself a car.  A cute, little red smart car.  It's new to her but she is thrilled.   She'll need one of us with her to drive it as she cannot go for her full license until October, but it's not a hardship going for a drive in that little thing.  It is fun!  And get this, 80 miles per gallon, $20 to fill the tank!  Oy, puts my vehicle to shame in the environmentally good category.

I finished "Anne Of Green Gables".  What a joy that was to read.  I'm so glad I finally did and now wonder what took me so long.  I'm now onto the "life, on the line", the autobiography of Alinea founder Grant Achatz, who just before he was reaching incredible success in his culinary career was diagnosed with tongue cancer.  Doctors wanted to remove his tongue but he decided to go for an alternative treatment of chemo and radiation, but in the process lost his sense of taste. Can you imagine?  But he focused and rallied and trained his chefs to mimic his palate and retaught himself to cook with his other senses.  I'm on chapter 9 and so far it's been very, very interesting reading how his career started.  A few f-bombs are scattered around so far, but I sort of expected that.  I'm just glad that up to now, it hasn't been prolific with the swearing.

So that's my weekend in a nutshell.  How was your Easter?

There are things every day that I see to admire in my kids.  Well, if you are new here, my kids aren't really kids anymore.  At 22, 20 and 17, I think it's safe to say they have moved out of the "kid" category but I'm not sure what to call them because no matter how big they get or how old they become they will be forever be my, well, kids.  Anywhoo, I see things in them at their age that I wish I would have had way back then.  And I wonder where my life would be if I had displayed some of the qualities they already show in their lives.

One of those qualities is a courageousness to experience life and new things that I never had at their age.  Oh I wanted to do all sorts of stuff,  dreamed of doing wonderful things, but never had the courage to grab ahold and go for it.  I didn't move away to go to school, I didn't travel the world the way I wanted, I didn't even live on my own before getting married. I think in a sense, I let my parents practicality, sensibleness (is that a word?) and fears and worries direct me quite a lot.  My mom is the queen of worry and she is quite good at thinking of all the stuff that could go wrong and letting it keep her up at night.  We never attended a camp, didn't sleep over at friend's houses, didn't go on the Greyhound anywhere on our own.  Which is all really ironic because it is my parents who, when they were young marrieds, left their family and friends and everything they knew and fled Hungary in the '56 revolution amidst gun fire and threat to their lives, traveled on land, boarded a boat and came to Canada.  Not knowing anyone, the language, where they would end up in Canada or the life that they would have.  They hoped for something better. And it spurred them on.  Now that is courage if I ever heard of it.  But then they settled in, worked hard and made a good, safe life.  And I somehow didn't make that grabbing ahold of your dreams and go for it courage my own.

So now in a way, I live vicariously through the courage of my, uhm, kids.  My oldest right out of high school moved to another province to pursue bible school and dance and is still there living her dreams.  Away from home.  My son is pursuing his dream of being a paramedic and will probably be moving to northern Alberta soon to get better experience. Not knowing a soul or what to expect.   Pursuing his dreams.  And my youngest jumps right in to things she wants to do at the drop of a hat full of courage.  Case in point.  On Saturday we went to the theatre to see a movie together as a family.  While buying our tickets, we learned that they were also auditioning at the theatre for a movie they will be shooting here in town.  After getting our popcorn and drinks and settling comfortably into our seats, she excuses herself and off she goes and auditions for a part in the movie.  And she wasn't even nervous.   Now bear in mind, she's been in a couple of plays at school, but no major parts, the usual Sunday school stuff but that is the extent of her stage experience.  She's taken drama at school and enjoys it.  And then on the spur of the moment, she auditions for a movie.  Wow.  I am in awe.

And don't take me wrong.  Some of the things they grab ahold of scare the daylights out of me.  But I've always determined I would try to support them to the best of my ability, not letting my fears hold them down.  Not that we didn't say "no" to them when we really felt they shouldn't engage in something.  But for the most part, we tried to be supportive.  And I think the difference is I have something I can do with my fears.  I have a knowledge that my kids are really not my own but they belong to the King of Kings, the Creator of this world and themselves, that it is He who directs their lives, has a plan for them and has given them their gifts.  And it is this same caring God who asks me to "be anxious for nothing....but by prayer let my requests be made know to Him...and His peace will guard my heart" (Phil 4:6-7 my paraphrase) and this same mighty God who says that we, and that includes my kids no matter their age they are " ... indelibly imprinted (tatooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands..." (Isaiah 49:16 Amplified Bible).  And that brings this Mama comfort and peace (even though fear trys to take me over) and allows me to let them be courageous.  


Which leads me to say maybe one day I just might be blogging to say to watch my youngest "coming to a theatre near you".

It's the whole picture that really tells the story

The other day I figured it was time to go through the camera and sort through the pictures, make some room on the memory card.  I found this picture of my cute furball I forgot I had taken.  (The same cute furball who chewed up the bottom of my coffee table right under our noses with his chewy 1 foot away.   He's just lucky he's so dang cute).

Anyway, as I was looking at this picture with a critical eye trying to decide if it was a keeper or not.  Whether a cropping would make it better.  A boost or a frame.   It's not a bad pic.  A nice memory keeper of a cutie.  Nothing wrong with the pic.

Upon closer examination, I noticed there was something a little unusual.  It totally slipped by me at first.  But it shouldn't have been surprising as this kind of thing regularly seems to show up in our photos.  So I tried to bring in a bit of contrast and color changing.

Hmmm, still something just unusual.  So then I tried a little special effects but the pixalating was a little strong.

But wait!  There it was.  The thing that was trying to shout out at me.  The thing that didn't belong in the picture.  The unusual that isn't so unusual around here.  With a little cropping and sharpening and clarity it brought it into focus.

Welcome to my photography world.

This post brought to you by the wonders of Picnik.  Which is closing it's virtual doors in April.  The thought of which has sent me into a state of grieving and near hyperventilating  panic.  I do not handle change well.  I had gotten know this site so well and could navigate it like nobody's business.  It was set up perfectly for the tecnologically unadvanced such as myself.   Anyone got any ideas of another photo editing site that is as easy to use as Picnik?  I will miss my editing friend dearly.  It made my pictures look good without stressing me out.  Why do the good ones always go way too early?  Sigh.

Friday's Fave Five #154

Hi Everyone!  Thanks for excusing me my lack of a post last week.  I didn't have my computer because I was on holidays and I was unplugging.  I borrowed hubby's laptop but couldn't get to my buttons or anything.  Oh well.  It still looked like a great number of you carried it for me and played along.  Thanks for that!

Like I said, last week we were on vacation.  In the beautiful, sunny, wine country of Okanagon.  So beautiful. I've got my heart thinking I'd love to retire there.  Better start saving my shekels.  But anyway, in that vein my faves are going to be about the vacation.

1.  Family Time all wrapped up in a getaway.  I'm so thankful to still go on a holiday with this great bunch of people who have my heart.

I'm under no illusions that this is a great blessing.  The chance to get away as a whole family is something I greatly appreciate.  I know many "kids" 21 and 19, and sometimes even 16, don't want to go with Mom and Dad on a holiday.  My kids still want to be with us and for that, I am so thankful.


2.  Guts.  Yes, the guts to knock this little activity off my bucket list.

 I've been wanting to do it for, about 28 years.  And I finally did.

It was worth the wait.  And I'd do it again in a minute.  So smooth and peaceful and not scary at all.

3.  Fruit in Abundance.  One thing that makes the Okanagan valley so amazing is all the fruit orchards.  Miles and miles of them.  Fruit stands everywhere.  And what we really enjoy doing together is picking our own fruit.  This time we picked peaches.  There is nothing like fruit that you picked yourself.  Fun and yummy.

4.  Mountains and being in the midst of them.  Though the drive home was an 11 hour affair done in one stint, it took us through the amazing Canadian Rocky Mountains.  There are breathtaking.  They are big, and rocky and majestic.  I just can't stop taking pictures of them.  Even though I'm doing in a car that's whipping on down the highway.

5.  Relax Time.  Plenty of down time.  Swimming in the motel pool.  Reading in the pool chairs.  Sitting on several of the many beaches in the Okanagan Valley.  Reading on my towel.  Swimming in the lakes. Reading in the car.   Eating more cherries than any sane person would do at any time except on vacation in the orchards.  Trying new restaurants.  Taking walks.  Exploring streams.  Sitting in the hot springs.  Sigh.  One week was not near enough.  But I'm so thankful for that one week!

Our family doesn't go on a big getaway every year but I'm so thankful this was one year that we did.  What were your favorites from this last week?  Share in a post and don't forget to link on up so we can visit.  If you're new, please read the guidelines first and then jump right in and join us!