Can't keep it in - got to let it out...

I've been keeping a happy and surprising secret. You might remember that I won a CD at a concert this winter - wow - that was a big deal as I've hardly ever won anything. Well, at the Hearts for Hospice gala, which was a fundraiser after all, I bought a fifty dollar ticket to go fishing for a bottle (Message in a Bottle) in this pond. You can see there were many fisherpersons and the bottles are all gone. I got one of the last tickets for the pond.



I was given a long handled fishing net and carefully dredged up the bottle of my choice. Then a girl popped the cork out, poured out the sand and handed me this rolled up message.



Oh my goodness. The girls running the pond started jumping around and shouting - you won it!! Won what? I was just donating some money pretty much expecting a fun little token prize. Well now I saw I had won one of the grand prizes - but what were they? I was directed to a large poster where the grand prizes were listed, things like a golf bag and clubs, a stay at the Opus hotel in Vancouver, a stay at River Rock. I told my table that I liked the idea of staying at the River Rock Resort imagining a cabin on a river. The whole table got a laugh out of that one and they promptly told me that it was a casino - HA HA HA - so not me.

Well, dancing some time away I approached the MC at 10:30 as instructed. Ah but this would be delayed until 11:00. She wondered if I had a preference. Just curious I'm sure. Just making conversation because I now believe the row of 5's at the bottom revealed to her which prize I was getting. I tell you, I already felt giddy with excitement at winning something grand - another half hour wait - more dancing. Then at the right time all the grand prize winners were called to the front. Four men and me. One by one the happy fellows won an entertainment center, or the holidays, or the golf clubs. Then it was only me left - and I knew what the remaining and grandest of the grand prizes was. I WON A CRUISE.Yes indeed. I honestly don't know where the blood in my body was headed to but I wasn't my brain. I felt shock, happiness, surprise, faint - didn't faint. WOW. I was given an envelope with a certificate that explained I was rewarded a very generous number cruise dollars to be used on any cruise line any cruise. (I also had many offers of trade - hey you want to trade this large screen TV for the cruise - ah - how about no?) Many pictures were taken of me and my certificate but I don't know what will be done with them.

I teased LK wondering who of my many friends I should take. He refrained from hugging my legs and begging take me take me. I have chosen and booked an Alaskan cruise with fabulous rooms with balconies - blowing the whole wad! We go in the summer. Whhooo Hooo. And Praise the Lord. After going through the health traumas of the last half year I immediately felt this was a gift straight from my Father's hand. Oh and that he might give me health to go. It seems it will be so. Gratitude. It's wonderful to make long distance plans - life affirming.





OK so this is the time when people who have been on cruises send advice to this first timer. AND tips to prevent sea sickness - YIKES I have funny inner ears and am prone to dizziness and off kilter feelings on land so this is a little bit brave for me. It's also why I picked a cruse on an inside passage. It seems we are only on the big ocean for a bit better than a day as we are zooming to Vancouver.

How about that eh?

Visiting the Abrahams

 

We stayed two nights at Cara, Andy and Sarah's place. Too bad Cara was still feeling really under the weather but Andy was a great host. Nice guest room (you should ask if you can have a turn), great food and many tasty dishes at each meal, good visiting, lots of playtime with Sarah, and lots of beautiful wilderness to enjoy. I enjoyed visiting with Cara, watching her do some pretty great parenting from laying down, helping, and I enjoyed the veggie soup she made specially for me for lunch (even got to take some home for supper). The day we left for home was the sunniest and we went for a cross country loop on rather icy snow. My control deterorates when ever there aren't set tracks or at least some soft snow :) Cara joined her dad for one circuit - feeling better!

It was good to visit and it was good to come home just LK and I. We realize we're both longing for a good stretch of just the two of us time. That's a good thing - we wouldn't long for it if we didn't enjoy each other.

 

Grandpa playing Playmobile with Sarah. Us enjoying another great Abrahams' meal - these people do some serious cooking unlike ourselves who make really simple - not enough veggies fare. You see Andy in his shop by a very nifty table that he made for the saw.

Snow Play

 

Here we are building a snow fort with ice chairs for Sarah. The snow had quite a crust on it which was great for making 'blocks'. The fort was not that professional and there was some discussion between LK and I what with our novice status, should we dare put on a roof? We did not. Sarah was impressed, maybe amazed, that when we sat on the ice chairs they did not break! She mentioned this a couple of times.

Recent Days

Hello blog reading friends. Taking up where I left off - the flu - Sarah began a recovery the next day but then Cara was hit -nauseous city and that was still the case days later. One fun event us girls had planned was a two grandma, mom and Sarah tea party at Starbucks. Alas mommy was not feeling up to tea at all so Sarah had a special two grandma tea party anyway, sans mommy. Sarah got a memory bear from Starbucks who she named Buddy right away.

This picture is out of order but it was optimistically from the night before when Cara was practicing some worship songs with LK hoping to play with him when he led worship in a church in Mission on Sunday. Sarah is playing along. Cute. She also plays rhythm and piano :) -with or without plasticine animals.





Sunday afternoon we drove Cara and Sarah home to Princeton. Yes that's Sarah's mommy in her penguin jammies. And those are our cross country skis you see in the background and we did use them under sunny blue skies. Nice.

Lastly - this is the first day of Lent. I bought some simple devotional books and remade my livingroom candle decoration with wire - crown of thorns theme, green leaves with purple berries (purple being the color of Lent), stones and a little cross Aimee gave me some time ago.

Faces of Yesterday

Let's take some pictures of thos pretty ponytails. Whoops - Mommy's looking tired and Sarah is doing the "No Upper Lip Society" smile that Auntie Aimee developed - We can all do it - you should give it a try - Now try talking.

OH - That's better - eyes WIDE open :)

My favorite shot of my fun girls.

In the morning, yesterday, we worked on Cara's quilt a little bit. Some frustrations because my sewing machine doesn't track as well as hers. Then in the afternoon I went to the grocery store, came home and made soup. We brought dinner over to my parents. Homemade bread, cookies, chips, bean dip, salmon salad, cheese - yum. Suddenly the mood shifted as Sarah began to throw up over and over again :( We washed clothes, ate quickly and came home. More throwing up. So in the last photo you see little Sarah, holding her bowl and sleepily enjoying late night stories in between feeling really crumby. Nothing stays down right now. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully healing comes in the night time.

Edit note: Today Sarah was a little warm but is keeping food down. Her mommy is achy. We're having a low key day here.

Thanks to everyone who is so interested in seeing my photos. Ya gotta be quick - I know they stayed up for an hour. Let's see how these do! Anyone want to post their version of a "No Upper Lip" photo? Aimee?

Japenese Garden

These lovely photos are of the Japenese garden below our window at Laural Point in Victoria. I really enjoyed looking at the garden and walking through it. The sound of water soothes me.

Hello from....

Victoria! Good guess Jennifer - but wrong answer. The view is from our very sweet deck. We stayed at Laurel Point - the same hotel that the bookfair was in. It was a general bookfair - not a Christian one. It struck LK, because he's usually the one going to all the conventions, that there should be MUCH more mingling and MUCH less separation between the groups. It was fun getting to know some new people and dining and dancing the night away with them.

The View and Us :)

Book fair ah relaxing. Those are our happy feet up on the marble coffee table :) Tomorrow the work begins - buying especially children's books. We welcome suggestions - I should have taken notes on the Abarbablog where good books are recommended all the time.

Yesterday Cara and I had lovely walk around the lake in the rare winter SUNSHINE. We also tried to find uncoated cookie sheets unsuccessfully - it's a new day. In the evening LK and I went to a community dance and fundraiser for Mexico youth trips - danced our little hearts out.

This am was youth service at church. Steve led most of the service with the band that leads jr. high youth. It was the best. So bright, God focused, creative. Both of us were super encouraged and lifted up. Courtney, Steve's special friend :), did a great job playing the drums.

Night all.

Hearts for Hospice Photos

Half of the tables had these tall arrangements - the other half had short ones with shells and sand. Very Beautiful.

Cutie in a Basket.

We continue to have fun fun more fun now that mommy has returned. Daddy was here too -briefly - before going back to camp. Today we had a trip to London Drug, tea party at Starbucks, and a walk through the pet store where the most interesting thing I saw was a black and white polkadotted fish with orange lips that swam sideways. Yup - free fun. Tomorrow we grown up girls plan to work on Cara's quilt and maybe shop for good cookie sheets. I had terrible cookie sheets until my mom bought me some great stainless steal ones. My girls both have coated ones they're not fond of. Hey, it's a mom thing in our family - the moms buy their daughters good cookie sheets. A generational blessing (one of the smaller ones :).

I need to get a passport. With all the camping we do in Washington I've got to work on this quickly. This brings up the whole question of whether to say American or become Canadian. To many this would seem a no-brainer but I've been thinking that being a citizen is like being born into a family - for better or worse - you do what you can to make it work - to maybe make it better as much as it depends on you. Your allegiance to the country is by birth.

To choose a country seems a different matter - do I want to pledge my allegiance to this country? Do I agree with the things it does and the things it stands for? I'm not saying I nearly agree with all the States does and stands for. I am so Canadianized after all these 31 years since immigrating from Minnesota - I pretty much belong here. I've made my contributions to the communities I've lived in - especially public and private school boards and committees. I'm pretty happy here. Not so happy with the socialist health care and ICBC car insurance plan - although I'm not shocked like I was when I first moved here - WHAT no choices??

It makes me sad that a portion of my tax dollars has been funding free abortions. I so compasssionately belive this hurts women and their babies. How can I claim complete innocence of that? Would it be possible to figure out how to withhold a portion and redirect it to programs that support women through organizations like birthright? Educate and support - that's something I could align myself with.

So you see the tip of the ice burg here. First things first - got to have the American passport before getting the permanent resident card (I have very old notebook size paper document in fragile condition) then I can choose - Canadian - American - or perhaps both. Hey - did you know that in Canada you only have to take the citizen test up to 55 - I'll be 55 in September :) - No exam for me. But what's the deal - older people can't do it?

Things That Go Missing

Socks - but everyone knows that.

Spoons - teaspoons - I'm down to half of my everyday set. Where do they go?? I know once, years ago, I gathered up a handful of spoons and napkins after a dinner party and, best I can figure out, threw them all away. This is a newer set of cutlery and I have no memory of doing that again.

Photos from blogs - ya so I'm still working on that. Thanks for all the help and ideas. I am a determined woman :)

Playing Around

A forest of pens. And making the plasticine animals dance on the piano keys. I know - no pianist would let these messy guys on their keys - but hey it was funny.

Play Play Play

"Grandma play with Sarah now?" "Grandma play with Sarah now." "What's that called?" "Where's mommy right now?" "Where's mommy and daddy right now?" Words from Sarah.

So if all I'm doing is playing - why do I get so tired? I must have used up my energy when I was little. Today we went to visit my parents. Sarah was feeling pretty shy but we did it anyway. Soon enough she was enjoying some cheesey crackers that Grandpa W. had that were shaped like sea creatures. She liked them A LOT and he sent the box home with her. When we got back to Grandma Kathy's house we popped in a DVD and had a quiet time. I laid on the couch and Sarah saw me with my eyes closed and said with a smile, "Grandma Kaffy's sleeping already." Already indeed. Later she admitted that she closed her eyes too.

Grandpa LK came home early and took Sarah to the park. I had a rest and went off to single mom's group, came home for snack time, jammy time, puzzle time, story time and talk about the day time, and more talk about the day time.

It's so fun that Sarah talks so much now - she can chat up a storm - and she has a great giggle. Only one more sleep til mom and dad come back.

One more Sarah fact - Sarah likes V8 juice. How many other kids her age like that? (Low sodium version of course)

Looking forward to another pretty good night of sleep.

Peace out.

This and That

Well, I've got the blog back in order. I was just obsessed about it and I think I figured out the major problem MYSELF which is amazing. I had a post error back on Jan. 27 - it looked OK to me so I ignored it. After that the sidebar started wandering about. Hmmm...so I deleted that post and immediately things were in order again. Wow - it's like the body -all parts are connected - when one part hurts all parts are affected. I've read about that in the Bible - yes. No posts are missing, in case you're wondering - I re posted fresh and replaced the one.

Well, we had an empty nest for ONE day then Cara, Andy and Sarah came! Sarah is now staying with us for three nights and then Cara comes back to town for about a week sharing her time between here and the Abrahams'. Steve has been by pretty much every day as one might expect when one is still collecting bits and pieces. Yesterday it was to take some things out of his old van - things that were installed - a job requiring light and tools.

Today I went to the dentist while Sarah went to Judy's. I think Sarah and Judy had more fun, but I was OK for today. I did find out I'm going to be crowned - one of my molars that is - golden! I also apparently grind, so there is probably a mouth guard in my future.

A fun thing for me today was getting a new cozy housecoat. I must be particular because although I've been looking for over a year I only found one today that I truly liked - it's lavender chenille - with a really nice cut. Maybe picture later.

I'm starting to exercise again. I don't know why I stopped - well for a while I didn't feel good and I'm still tired out but I'm giving it a shot at an easy pace - back to the gym.

About the hospice gala. I have always thought that hospice was an incredible concept and needed provision for some folks at the end of their lives. In our town I don't think we have beds - if so not more than two which seems way too few. What we do have is a house, a day program and lots of counselling type services for those who are dying and for their families - even children. I imagine the fund raising would be heading them towards more residential services. Across the river, connected to a local hospital there is a hospice wing which I've been told is very special. Marsha, I'm so glad your friend had this comfort and care at life's end. One thing LK noted is that our hospice society seems to be very faith neutral - or absent. What could be more important at life's end and yet God works where he will - so I'm sure he's busy regardless of the exact societal views.

Steve's Truck

The night shot is when Steve first pulled up at home with his new truck - Friday night. The next is Saturday morning - moving day.

Frustrated

I think only Demara saw my last posts. Thanks D for the comments. I've been so frustrated with posting pictures. Thinking I've got it figured out and then no. Tonight I blogged posted 7 photos all good and bam - all the photos are gone. Then the side bar jumped to the bottom under the posts and by rechoosing the same template I got the sidebar back up but too far out. This is making me frustrated and irritable. It's the new blogger. I like how it's supposed to work - even suceeded in changing up some colors and adding links. I thought - I'm going to like this. Yikes. I need help.

Point form no pictures. Like the 6th try.

Steve got a truck - it's big, black and loud. Dodge. Imagine cute picture of him and LK in the front yard just after Steve got home with it. That was Friday. Saturday Steve moved out. I'm caught up in the excitement of being happy for him.

Saturday night LK and I went to a lavish and exceptionally beautiful benifit gala for a hospice. Friends gave us the tickets that had been given to them. We had a lovely lovely time. Imagine picutre of us all dressed up infront of an ice sculpture of sea horses. LKs eyes are almost closed he's smiling so big. Imagine flower arrangements in four foot high cylinder vases and all nautical theme. Imagine a live orchestra to dance to. Imagine me winning a big prize.

Tonight Andy, Cara and Sarah came over for a late night soup supper. I made vegtable rice soup with chilli paste in it - wowie - spicy - poor Sarah had to eat something else. Tomorrow Sarah comes to say with us for three nights. LK's going to take off some time during the day so I can get some rest - especially if Sarah does not nap.

Does anyone know how I could move my blog content to another - perhaps another type. Or how could I repair this one - ie get the sidebar back. I was liking the simple changes I made to it. And now I'm just frustrated, and tired.

Better get some sleep - I need my Grandma energy running on high.

For Meredith

Eva enjoys an morning read - still in her blanket. She's reading Usborne book - That's Not my Dolly - from one of Erin's boys (Nicko?).