I'm so glad you could stop by. This is my personal blog of daily life and my journey through life. You will find a strong emphasis on family and friends as well as finding my ancestors through genealogy. Unlike my other blogs this blog is more of a catch-all so any topic is fair game.
Northbound I-75 in Michigan
August 5, 2013
On the morning of August 5, 2013 we left the comforts of our home on a six day adventure, four of those days were to be spent rustic camping. By rustic camping I mean in bear territory, in tents, no hydro, pump water to cart, outhouses or composting toilets for comfort stations, and no shower facilities. The weather forecast was rain, cold temperatures and more rain. It didn't matter! We were spending two days in the thumb of Michigan then meeting up with our kids and grandkids to camp just south of Tobermory, Ontario. And so the adventure began...
One of our local radio stations has a cute little jingle they play before announcing their tamed down version of the daily Darwin awards.
History is made by stupid people
So if you want to get in the history books
Do something stupid before you die!
Now if this jingle were true, I should be in a lot of history books! Apparently the trend towards doing stupid things started quite young in life despite being intellectually gifted. From experience, a high IQ does not mean you will not do stupid things. With that in mind I would like to take my noble place in the history books. So I am going to share a few stupid things I've done since being born. Believe me from the looks on my family's faces sometimes to their total speechlessness, I know I am still the queen of doing stupid things! There is seriously nothing better than getting that "I can't believe you did that" look for one of my kids but getting it from my husband is just priceless! I'm sure there will be more stupid things I do in the future so if the authors of the history books are reading, please add me to your biographies.
- flying - Yes I did attempt this off our back porch with a towel for a cape attached with a safety pin. The outcome was not as expected but did not deter me from trying again and again.
- horseback riding - Bicycles do not make good substitutes for horses and after going ass over johnny cake trying to use a rope for reins to steer the handlebars, you would have thought I would have learned my lesson. Nope, I did it again with a wooden wagon aka wagon train attached to the bike only to repeat the outcome but with the wagon landing on my head.
- Brussels sprouts - Sorry to inform those new mothers who do not know, Brussels sprouts are not good fodder for homemade baby food. The baby will turn into a giant green volcano! The spill-out will be everywhere for days. Thank goodness we had more than one kid as the first got a heavy dose of stupid things that I'm sure he kept on file to warn his unsuspecting sibs.
This past week has been rather hectic between my husband being in the hospital, trips back and forth to the hospital, trying to work home canning around that and life in general. I am beyond exhausted but so very pleased that my husband was discharged from the hospital earlier this week and is well on the way to a full recovery! What a wonderful blessing! Oh, and I did manage to home can chili sauce and tomato stock while he was in the hospital. The past couple of days, I canned salsa and seafood sauce with more tomato stock to be canned today. It is a blessing to be able to stock our pantry with delicious, additive free, home canned foods!
Blog posts have been rather hit or miss on this blog lately. I'm working on changing that so you should see more regular posts for the last quarter of 2012. The biggest change is I have changed from a text based blog signature to an image based one. It will take me a day or two to remove all the old text based signatures from older posts. I think the image signature looks a bit classier. Quite some time ago, I was going to eliminated the Blog Your Blessings Sunday posts. Most of the original members of the meme have moved on and are no longer participating. However, it is a good way to remind me to stop and count my blessings so I will likely continue those Sunday posts. I'm working on a few other changes for this blog just to help get my blogging mojo back as well. Here's to a strong blogging end for 2012!
My husband's schedule for the past few months has been getting up at 4 AM and out the door a half hour later. After a very full day, we had dinner together while watching Coronation Street then were usually in bed before 8:30 PM. Needless to say, this has affected both of our sleep patterns. The past couple of weeks we have been moving back towards our normal schedule. This past week we adopted the rule of no alarm clock. It's rude waking to an alarm clock at best so we simply decided we would get up when we woke naturally. It has been a real blessing to indulge in a bit of extra sleep!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
Baily
March 14, 2012
Isn't she just adorable? Baily is a 6 week old mixed breed puppy one of our kids adopted. This little cutey loves to snuggle up close to the crook of the neck and she loves being held. Baily is quite small even though one of her parents was quite big so she is either the runt of the litter or inherited the smaller size genes. At any rate, we don't think she is going to get very big. She went for her first vet check-up and shot yesterday. The vet said she was too small for the shot but he gave her de-worming pills along with a clean bill of health. Baily came to visit us for the evening while our kid met another obligation and didn't want to leave her by herself. Snuggles from grand-puppies...priceless!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
Our Grandkids are absolutely precious! Oldest and youngest Grandkids stopped by for brunch with their parents today. Oldest Grandbaby who is now in Junior Kindergarten rides a bus to school so I asked her if she rode the short or long school bus. She said she rode the short bus but when more people get on the bus the bus gets longer. Well her reasoning is perfectly logical but it still was rather humorous. Not to be outdone, youngest Grandbaby who will be three this year went into the guest bedroom that is currently in the process of being painted. I asked him what he was doing and when he said "Fixing the switch Grandma" my feet hit the hall. Here he was with the switch plate and screw driver trying to replace the cover on the telephone jack. Thank goodness it wasn't on the electrical outlets that have the plates off. I had the door shut so didn't figure he would go in there. I was wrong :( Now the funny thing was he was very concerned that the toys were gone. I keep the toys for the Grandkids in the guest bedroom but moved them out for painting. He went running to Papa asking for help to find the toys, his little arms stretched out with an "Oh no Papa, toys gone!". Papa found the Lego bin so they were both content after brunch. What a wonderful way to spend a bit of time on a winter Sunday!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
Have you ever wondered why the word grand is used to describe Grandparents or Grandchildren? Well the bottom line is these relatives are grand in every sense of the word! The relationships themselves is almost magical, one feeding off of the other. After all you can't become and Grandparent without a Grandchild and yet you can be a Grandchild without ever knowing your Grandparents. The beauty of being a Grandparent with an intimate relationship with your Grandchild/Grandchildren is absolutely priceless!
Parents to oldest and youngest Grandchildren along with the little angels visited us today for brunch. They were down to visit the newest member of the family born on Saturday weighing in at 8 lb 6 oz. Our Grandchildren were beyond excited at the prospect of meeting their new little cousin! Papa made everyone grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for brunch while Grandma pulled out a can of home canned peaches to top the vanilla icecream. Oldest Grandchild spotted popcorn kernels in the pantry so Grandma got out the popcorn popper while the treasured magic popcorn bowl was carefully carried to the kitchen. Both Grandchildren pulled a chair to the counter to watch the popcorn pop. It's quite neat to watch. It is an electric version of the WhirlyPopper, ultra quiet, no spout and just gorgeous popped corn filling the bowl. With the popcorn filling the magic popcorn bowl, they contented snuggled up with Grandma and Papa on the couch. We chit chatted with the parents (aka our amazing kids) while the little ones munched on their treat and all was well. What a wonderful way to spend a bit of time on a Sunday!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
Today most of our kids and grandkids were home for Christmas. It was a house full to say the least but oh my gosh a house full in the very best of ways. Our kids are amazing and I really do mean that in every sense of the word but our grandkids take it to a new level. I love feeling the baby hugs around my neck and taking a chip dive for Grandma when Papa teases them. It was a wonderful day all around spent with amazing kids and the most adorable grandkids ever!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
We did a little Christmas shopping yesterday. My husband and I have two very different Christmas shopping styles. I like to spread the shopping out over the year, effectively avoiding the Christmas shopping hubba-ballo. He loves to do the main shopping somewhere between December 23rd and 24th, right in the midst of the Christmas chaos. The stores were not as busy as I thought they would be. We managed to find a couple of great deals. I was surprised to see gift bags, wrapping paper and bows already at 50% off! We stopped for lunch at a great little pub and grill where we enjoyed garlic butter jumbo chicken wings. They were quite tasty. Then we finished up the shopping and headed back to get dinner on. The house sure smelled delicious with the pot roast cooking for the rest of the afternoon.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
This is the time of year, nearing Christmas day that I get very sentimental. My Mom passed on to a better place on Christmas Day 1989. She was 59 when I came to live with her. She was not my biological mom but she was my Mom in every sense. My Mom was awesome with her amazing stories and sense of humour. She gave and demanded respect but it was always earned. She taught me the value of education and oh my good gosh I would never have dreamt of going home with less than an A on my report card! That just simply would not have been tolerated.
My Mom lived a very hard life. As a child of farmers she had daily chores and she quit school before she finished grade 3. She helped her parents on the farm and worked as a cleaning lady occasionally in town. When she married the love of her life they settled down into a small house on the water in town, the very same one I grew up in. Sadly she never had any children of her own but she had an abundance of love for children so worked as an emergency intake worker for the local Children's Aid Society. Some of this was to get over the pain of losing her husband when I was an infant but I really think she would have done it anyway. They had adopted two children before he died and she tried to adopt me but my natural grandparents put a stop to that idea. She likely babysat every kid in our small town at one time or the other. Everyone knew her!
Christmas was a festive time for us. She would get that bowl of oranges and the special nut bowl out. Aunt C and her family lived in New Brunswick so she would wait by the phone for a call Christmas day. Uncle L and his family usually just called as well but I can remember a couple of times when they visited over Christmas. Over the Christmas holidays she would put on her finest apron to help out at the legion.
I am so very blessed to have had a Mom like her. I so wish my kids could have got to know what a wonderful person she was but sadly Alzheimer's robbed us of that. I also wish the two she adopted had appreciated her as a mother. It was so sad seeing her wait for even a tidbit of affection from either of them. I just miss her so much! I am the person I am today because of her. Today I'm sending hugs and kisses to heaven to someone I love so much...
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
My Mom had a way of making Christmas magical. It wasn't about the gifts, it was about the bonding and memories formed. I loved hearing her talk about Christmas oranges and hitching up the buggy to go into town to visit family and friends. I loved watching her smile as she filled the nut bowl.
When she was young they heated with coal. Her job was to stoke the fire every morning. One day she cut her thumb on the cast iron stove and it got badly infected resulting in an abscess. To save her life, the doctor removed part of her first metacarpal and drained the abscess. She was a very, very sick gal for quite some time resulting in her missing a year of school. When she went back to school they put her back with what she called the baby class so she quit. My Mom never did get more than a third grade education but honestly she was one of the smartest women I have ever known. She instilled the value of an education and always striving to succeed.
My Mom insisted on blue Christmas lights. I think it was in memory of her husband, somewhat playing tribute to I'll Have a Blue Christmas Without You. I'm not sure and even at a young age despite the wonderful stories she shared, there was something about the blue lights she would not share. A neighbour came over every year to string the blue lights around the outside of the house, all the way around. These were the old fashioned paint bulbs that had to be eons old, left from the last time her husband hung the bulbs. The wires were old, cloth covered and fraying in spots yet she still insisted on using them. There's no doubt they were a fire hazard but she still hung them every year until I married and she moved into an apartment building. She kept those strings of blue lights though as we found out after she passed on.
I fell asleep every Christmas Eve seeing the glow of those blue bulbs. We lived on the water when I was growing up. The basement had a dirt floor and that's where my Mom kept root vegetables, apples and home canned foods. My job was to bring any need food from the basement to the kitchen and oh how I hated that job. I can't tell you how many times mice ran over my hands and feet! One day I turned on the basement light and it was one of my Mom's blue bulbs that came on. Nothing had been said it just appeared. A few days later a night light with a blue bulb appeared in my bedroom. I had been laying awake all night listening to mice in the attic beside my bedroom. Again nothing was said but the magic of those two precious blue bulb sure helped though the rest of the year I got to see the house lit up in the magical blue lights of Christmas.
To this day, I have a couple of blue night lights in our home. They are energy efficient LED night lights but they still remind me of the love of a mother and the magical blue lights.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
We were teenagers when we became newlyweds with the odds stacked against us but we had faith that with enough love everything would fall into place. Our love for each other has never waivered, growing stronger every day. We've been blessed with amazing children who have gone onto higher education and then start their own families, blessing us with the most adorable grandchildren you have ever seen. We have been blessed in establishing a business that supports our lifestyle nicely while affording the opportunity for us to enjoy the freedom from working for others creating the flexibility we want to be able to take the time off to enjoy our family and friends as we see fit. I have been particularly blessed to have enjoyed the opportunity for higher education, having earned three pot-graduate degrees and one diploma in honours standing while having the extreme priveledge of meeting some of the world's top notch scientists. We have absolutely wonderful family and friends that never let us down, always there through the good and bad times, never waivering in their support. We have never gone hungry, always had a roof over our heads as well as the skills and knowledge to provide for ourselves.
Yes, life has dealt us some rather nasty blows, likely more than many will ever have to deal with but at the same time not as bad as some have to deal with either. Though it all we have the blessing of each other, knowing we can depend on each other and we have the blessing of our family and friends. That makes us the richest people on earth!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
My husband has been away for a week at hunt camp meaning I had a whole week to myself in our new home. We hadn't had a lot of time together in our new home before he left so there was a bit of apprehension but the week went well on both ends. I was so very happy to see him yesterday and him to see me! I made a special meal then after a hot bath for his aching muscles, we went to bed at 8:30 PM. He was totally exhausted! I let him sleep this morning and in total he slept a little over 15 hours. It was a quiet day spent bonding, sipping coffee and spending time with a good friend. I am so very happy to have him safe and sound on the home side!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
My husband and I were full of anticipation waiting for the keys to our new house on September 1. Now legally the house is not in our name until September 15 but we took an early possession because at this point everything is merely a formality now. We put the word out that we were starting the move on the first and taking up to the fifteenth to finish. In reality we will be fully moved by the sixth with nothing more to do at the old house other than do any necessary cleaning. Friends and family were right there ready to help! We are so very, very blessed to have such a strong support system in our family and friends. They are absolutely amazing!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
Wow, what an absolutely wonderful week spent with family and friends! We had a chance to visit with all three grandkids and their parents this past week. Our grandkids are the sweetest blessings ever. I thought being blessed with kids was amazing, watching them grow to become the wonderful adults they are even more amazing but oh my gosh grandkids are the icing on the cake!
And then there's our friends. They are some of best folks you could ever meet. They would not hesitate to give you the shirt of their back. They are always there for us, never wavering in good times and even stronger in bad times. Believe me we are so blessed to have such true friends that are always there, that we can rely on anytime and you know are just wonderful people about as close to family as you can get!
It was a wonderful week!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
We have been married over 30 years. There are times I really have issues with my husband and quite frankly there are things he does that seriously annoy me. It's hard living with another person something I think anyone who has been in a long term relationship will attest to. There are some things that he does simply amazes me! Yesterday was one of those days.
We have been dealing with my husband's unexpected health issues since May 14, during the 18 hour break between Las Vegas and Florida. Since then he has been poked, prodded, hospitalized and undergone a variety of medical tests. Yet he was determined to participate in two community events yesterday. The first was the Jail & Bail to raise funds in support of Crime Stoppers. He was 'arrested' for having 'too sharp of a pencil' and successfully raised his bail money to get out of jail. This was a well worth fundraiser that gives back to the community. Thanks so much to all who supported him in this fundraiser. He raised a little over $300 to help make our community a safer place to live for all.
The second community event yesterday started at 7 PM. It was the Community Relay for Life in support of survivors of cancer and remembering those who did not survive. I went along to take pictures and honestly this was a very moving and emotional event. As I looked through the crowd, every single person there had been affected by cancer on one or more levels. At 8 PM my husband had his beautiful hair shaved off stopping only briefly to honour a generous $50 donation (thanks!) for the mohawk shot. Then his moustache was shaved off. This is the second time that has been off in well over 30 years! But it did not end there. Thanks to another very generous donation of $100 his eyebrows were shaved off. Oh my gosh does he ever look different! Not only did he have monetary support, family and friends as well as clients showed up to give emotional support. I do have to brag a bit as he raised almost $1,400 for this very worthwhile fundraiser in support of the Canadian Cancer Society.
At 9:30 PM there was the Luminary Ceremony and like everyone there, we had purchased luminaries to remember family members who did not survive cancer. Sadly we lit a luminary for my husband's Mom and Dad as well as one for our DIL's sister. Yet we should have lit a lot more :( My DIL, middle grandchild who wants to know when they will put the hair back on Papa, and I left around 10 PM. My husband camped out with his team, continuing the relay until 7 AM Saturday morning.
He did all of this while not feeling well himself. He unselfishly raised funds to help the community, giving back to the community. He's a very community minded person but what he did Friday is quite amazing if you ask me. Kudos to my husband. I am so very, very proud of him!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
Death never comes at an opportune time for those left behind. See life gets in the way and those dealing with the death have to disrupt their schedules or plans, find babysitters and make travel arrangements. If they are anything like us they may even have to buy funeral clothes. We got the news of the passing of my husband's Grandma today. This is really a funeral there are no excuses for not attending so it means we will be doing a bit of juggling but it is important for us to be there. See my husband is the oldest grandchild, son of her oldest son who passed away a few years ago. He is the keeper of his father's family so he has that responsibility. It's more than responsibility though. Her and Grandpa fully supported us when we decided to marry as teenagers. They were the epitome of marital strength celebrating their 70th Wedding Anniversary. He passed away shortly after that celebration. She celebrated her 100th birthday in February. We were unable to attend. Sadly we will be make one final trip to celebrate a life well lived. And what a life it was!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
I was up bright and early at 5 AM this morning but in a very foul pissy mood. The reason I was in a pissy mood is because I went to bed in a pissy mood. The reason I went to bed in a pissy mood all relates to comment spam on my blogs. I work hard to put out good content on a regular basis. I pay to advertise my blogs so when a member from one of the blog advertising networks that I pay money to decides to spam my blogs I more than get pissy. I talked with one of our kids last night, formulated a game plan as to how to deal with the situation then acted. That did not stop me from being in a pissy mood.
Here's the thing. This is Easter weekend and three of the most gorgeous grandkids will be visiting us today. I don't have time for a pissy mood, thank-you very much. As you may know I play CityVille on Facebook. So in my pissiness with coffee in hand I sat down to check my city. All of a sudden I was in tears of laughter! Here one of our kids went on, set me a bunch of stuff and is going hog wild on a game that was not quite to their liking but that appears to have changed. I'm seriously busting myself laughing at the antics! This one has always been able to make me laugh and good gosh what perfect timing! And let the Easter celebrations begin. Oh and to add to the fun our traditional Easter dinner is ham, scallop potatoes, and the fixings. By request this year today we are having homemade pizza with the grandkids topping their own slice. What the heck :) We will have our traditional Easter dinner tomorrow night but for tonight we shall party hardy with the grandkids leading the way!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
Over the weekend we were blessed in sharing the birthdays of two very special little sweethearts. I'm telling you kids are a true blessing then they give you grandkids that are just the icing on the cake. Being able to enjoy your grandkids is one of the greatest blessings their is! Oh what an absolutely gorgeous way to spend a bit of quality time...
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
I hope you are enjoying all the pictures from our vacation. There's lots more to come but I thought I would take a break to announce one of our kids' new websites, MysteryPile. This is not a blog but rather a website that is very much mind provoking website complete with a forum for active interaction. As part of the mission statement "We crave to know and crave to learn the ways of our ancestors and how their trials built the foundations we live upon today." So if you have a minute or two drop by and say hello. Say hi from the Garden Gnome :)
It's funny sometimes looking back to see how you got to this point. I can remember the excitement at spending hours and I do mean hours of watching code as the little one leaped for joy when a little white dot danced across the screen. This meant the code so carefully and painstakingly entered worked. Well Mom and Dad were well behind the little one but we finally splurged and bought our first computer in 1989. It came with Internet in a Box and oh my gosh I was hooked! It wasn't long before I set up my very first website, very much blog style. At that time is wasn't as easy as using a blog host though as every thing was done via html. One day, I was so frustrated I asked the little one how to do it. With a characteristic grin, the reply was "I could do it for you or you would learn more figuring it out yourself". Well there you go, a chip off the old block and definitely something I would have said myself. So I learned html and every once in awhile when the going is a bit tough with coding, those words come back and they serve me well. Kids have a wisdom that you can learn from if you are open minded enough to listen.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
