Cinquain Poem

Youngster

Lively, Vivacious

Shouting, Dashing, Playing

Intensely interested in learning

Wyatt

Season

Joyful, Peaceful

Praising, Singing, Praying

Best Gift Ever Given

Christmas

Chair

Overstuffed, Comfortable

Relaxing, Rocking, Reclining

Mother's place of honour

Président



A wedding and company and computer updates.

So, life happens.


We had a lovely holiday last week while our teachers went to school meeting. We went to Crooked Creek for Merv Toews and Sharon Wohlgemuth's wedding. We met so many dear old friends and family and crammed so much into our weekend. I'll just say it was good. So good.


And emotional.


Then, we travelled home on Monday and Cam & Luci and their six children came for night. It was so so good to connect with Luci again. Her and I taught school together in Hythe that year that everything happened. The year Gord and Adrian died. The year that ten of my friends got married, including her. Including Bren. Including being bridesmaid two times. Including much much much.


Anyway, it was just the best to be with Luci. And Luci is Sharon's older sister. And Char's older sister. And Char is one of my best friends. And Char was my almost-bridesmaid. We only had one attendant each but Char and Arnie were my front-bench-friends. Anyway, it was just so good to be together.


And then we had Mr. Barkman over Tuesday night and Pat had Villa meeting and Colby shot a deer and skinned, gutted and butchered it all by himself and I helped Colin with his Christmas art project.


And then, we got some more company Wednesday night. Darc & Marilee and their two girls came for night. They are old friends of ours, she's Pat's cousin and we hadn't touched base for a long, long time. It was just so good to be together. Pat's folks got home late Wednesday night from being gone two weeks and they came for breakfast with Darc's. And then we went to folks for supper with Jeffs.


And this morning I slept in. Like, seriously. I woke up when the bus drove on the yard to pick up Zach. And the boys were all still sleeping. I guess it just all caught up to us.


And this morning I finally had a moment to figure out the filter stuff on our computer and phones and all that good stuff. So ya. It is what it is.

Oct 31st - Heart of a Warrior

 I sat in my chair in the evening, my gums still bleeding and my mouth tender and went over my day. I certainly felt like a warrior but I'm not sure how my heart was, possibly a little chilled.




It started out good. I had arranged for mom to keep Wyatt because I knew two hours in the dentist's office would be a little trying for him. Mom needed to go to an appointment shortly after lunch and she wanted me back at her place as soon as possible.


There are a few things we aren't in control of, though. One of them is how long we spend in a dentist chair. I was very grateful for my careful dentist and how everything turned out but I did spend quite a bit of the almost-four hours rather tense and practicing my box-breathing. So when I finally was sitting in my vehicle, frozen and sore and bleeding and mom called and said she wanted to go to Steph, I asked if she would mind taking Wyatt with. There was no way I could make it to her place in half an hour and lunch seemed pretty high on my list right then.


I was supposed to wear my retainer right away but every time I put it in blood seeped down and around all my teeth. I looked a bit like a vampire, albeit a tired one. So each stop I made I pulled it out, mopped up the red and hoped for the best.


I stopped at Steph on my way home to pick up Wyatt and I ended up having coffee and fresh cookies that mom had baked with them.


Home at last, I put groceries away and made supper. I baked fish and fried potatoes and heated up one of my jars of canned carrots. Such a simple meal, but Pat thanked me a couple times. Possibly he was remembering a similar day last week when I served cereal and toast for supper. Who knows.


I sat sipping my tea, curled up in my chair. Really, everything went very well and my teeth looked so much better. I was so happy to be as far as I was on my braces journey.

Thoughts on Writing

I write to record our life, for our boys. I write because I have to express how I feel and see things.  I hope to someday put a little something together for my boys for memories. Another bonus is that writing is safe in this private little blog. It's not publishing everything on the housetops.


There are so very many things I want to write about.


Take last night for example. We were all in bed when suddenly Colby came running up to our room and whispered, Dad, come quick! Well, if Colby runs and if Colby says come quick, it's something to check out. We ran down with the boys to check out the big red fox on our deck. It had cornered Tattoo and Pinklepur. They were each clinging to a brace of a post of the deck, way up there. The fox was traipsing back and forth, eyeing the cats. Colby had his gun and shells ready and needed Pat to open the door real quick. It didn't happen quick enough. The fox got away. I grabbed the cats and cuddled and held them inside. They hearts were pounding. Needless to say, they spent the night in the garage. It would take Colby to find the fox. He'd seen the tracks on the deck earlier. He told me a fox or a coyote had been right by our front door and I didn't believe him.


These are the things I want to remember.


I think sometimes it would be fun to look back over other things. Like Wyatt explaining something at supper. It was zilch. Nothing. We all laughed.


Or my days. Today I bused and helped wash church windows in the morning and had an impromptu Villa board ladies meeting to plan Christmas supper. We ended up only eating lunch at 1pm. And then I talked to Char about the wedding next weekend and did laundry and had to fly out the door to bus again. Pat wanted me in the shop yet after school and I had no idea what supper was gonna be. I grabbed steaks out of the freezer and thawed them while I worked outside. Supper wasn't even cleaned up and Wyatt was asking for a program. I helped him plan it and as soon as all the lunches were made it commenced. Wyatt sang Jesus Loves Me as a solo. He was also chairman. Zach sat and rolled his eyes, his one leg draped nonchalantly over the armrest of the couch. (You know I'm not exactly proud of this behaviour.) Colby and Pat had a duet, There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea, only Colby didn't sing and Pat laughed. I read a chapter of Little House on the Prairie. It's worth remembering.


Some facts:

• I want to learn to write better.
• I don't have time to edit.
• I don't really have time for anything these days.
• I'm not keeping up with basic cooking and cleaning and how do I validate writing?
• I want to learn to write the in proper tenses. It's very important to me to use the right to/two/too and their/they're and write/right.
• One of the biggest things I learned in my writing class with Dena was about writing in the passive or aggressive voice.

I have a question. Is it better to write something that's badly written or write nothing at all?

Oct 30th - A project you're working on.

Well, here’s the thing. One project I’ve been working on has morphed into quite a few projects. It all started with thinking about my mom coming for Christmas. If my mom came for Christmas I would really like to get the bed frame back in my guest room so that mom doesn’t have to sleep on the floor. I mean, if we have the bed frame, why not.

And if I’m going to set up the bed frame it just does not make sense that I wouldn’t paint it first. So, I hauled the pieces out to the shop and gave the bed frame three coats of Annie Sloan chalk paint. Next, I’m going to clear coat it.

But in the mean time, I got to thinking, that if per chance we would actually be putting the bed back together in the guest room and this ginormous bed frame is probably not going to be moving for a long time, I would need to finish the trim first and put it up.

So, out to the shop with the trim and I gave it all three coats of shiny white trim paint. And in the midst of it all, my mind a whirling, I got to thinking about putting the trim up and the gouges and places where the paint pulled off in the guest room when everything was wet and flooded this summer.

So, I hauled out the paint pails and the mud and spatula and sander and started filling holes. It doesn’t take much when a person gets going and I’ll admit, I went a little wild with hole filling.

At the end of the day, Pat came in to mud spots in the dining room, all the way down the stairs and the main full wall of the basement. He seemed a little surprised and not exactly interested in the whole process, a little afraid, I think, that he would be roped in to help. But do not worry, midnight is my hour.

And today, at this point in my life, my dining room and basement look nice and new and put together. I need to get a little tin of paint to touch up the lighter stripes in the guest room - White Truffle by Behr. And today I hope to clear coat the bed and staple in trim.

And perhaps this is why my projects seem to take forever.

The end.

Oct 28th - Bible Verse

Oct 27th - 50 Words To Describe Your Day

sunshine

maple bugs

babysitting Keziah

baked oatmeal and

baked eggs for lunch

jumping on the tramp

Lego everywhere

reading stories

word-of-the-week

people opting out

preparing for

Villa pizza night 

barbecue chicken pizza

apple crisp and ice cream

red disposable cups

song books and games

clean the bathroom

vacuum floors

coffee

Oct 26th - Words of Wisdom {when times get tough}

Hmm. I don't know if I have any wisdom at all but I've had a tough time or two in my life. Seems like the older I get the less wisdom I have! One thing that my mom used to say when we were little was It'll all feel better in the morning. Isn't that the truth?


And something that always comes back to me is what Arnie & Mel's Grandma Klassen used to say. Drink lots of water and rest and get fresh air. Isn't that just a good way to calm down and smell the roses?


I think we all pray and sing and read the bible and have devotions and those are wonderful things. Another good thing to do is write down things I'm thankful for, specific things that bring joy or are beautiful.


And it all depends what kind of tough we're going through, but I believe that our physical, spiritual and mental health is all intertwined and a good multi vitamin is always a safe helpful thing.


Be happy. Laugh. Read something humorous. Dance with the little kids. Sing loudly in the shower. Learn a new skill. Think of others. Give your time to a good cause. Take a nap. Have a bubble bath. Give in. Exercise. Time yourself and do the dirty work - ten minutes does wonders. Let out the bad in a safe place and let it go.


In acceptance there is peace.

Oct 25th - Cleaning

So cleaning isn't my most favourite thing to do but I must admit that I am a little bit particular in this area. I don't ever do a huge fall or spring cleaning and clean my house in a week. For many years I've done, like, one or two rooms a week and tried to get through my house in a month. I spot clean and dust and clean bathrooms and vacuum daily.


But I never feel like I'm on top of the world for cleaning. My dear mother-in-law is the world's cleanest lady and I never measure up. She never makes me feel that way, it's my own interpretation. But when she came over to help me set up for a Christmas business party one year she came in with stuff to spot clean my carpet. And I was just thinking about enough food and chairs at that stage of the game. That just tells you how different we all are.


Sometimes I come home and see my house through different eyes and usually I think, Hey, it's not too bad in here! I think my biggest thing that makes me feel like things are messy and dirty is disorganization. Little piles of this and that sitting around drive me completely batty. I do definitely have zones that get hit bad but there's nothing quite like the feeling of totally cleaned off countertops and a place for everything and everything in it's place.


I am fiercely choleric and a lot of melancholy on this subject. I would nine times out of ten do a quick job and not necessarily a perfect job of cleaning. Also, I would almost always choose a way that to me looks appealing and spend a little bit more time on looks than making sure every crack and crevice is spotless. One thing I do love is clean windows and I'll do many quick window cleanings during summer on my front windows and my main lived in rooms. But I'm doing good to get my bedroom windows cleaned twice a year, partly because they're way up and hard to reach.


I obsess about cleaning garbage up off the yard and making sure the grass stays green and edging beds and trees and spraying weeds. And parking things in rows and lining things up and stuff. Now doesn't that sound almost like an obsessive compulsive confession? And I'm tremendously bossy and get all my men to help me with it all. But really, Pat is always supportive of the tidying and cleaning and the boys helping. I think we've both thought that everyone is happier if they help out. And Pat himself is fiercely particular about looks and cleanliness and so is his family. And perhaps, that is partly why it's important to me too. Whew.


So many confessions. Who would've guessed that was all waiting to escape the pen?


I'm not going back to edit. All I ask is that you'll still be my friend! ;)

Oct 24th - Favourite Person/People to Call for a Mood Lift

First I call my mither-mother

Then I call my sister B

Next I call my sister Karen

Then I call my sis Penny

 

After that I call to Jodi

Ruby, Viv and Lana too

Char and Lisa, Pam and Kim

Talk to Pat for change of view

 

Then I call my neighbour Heather

Melanie Miranda Am

Maybe I should talk to Cindy

Just depends how busy I am

 

Prob’ly time to whatsapp school friends

Arnie, Mel, Lur, Lila, Eif

Rose and Jane, Ters, Sharon, Marva

Bev n Allison, It’s the life!

 

But most of all my time spent talking

Is focused on a certain few

It’s my family, Colb, Zach, Wyatt

Pat’s the favourite in view.

 

Along the way, I’ve learned to curb it

Somewhat keep the thoughts subdued.

But if I really need to dump it

Guess Who hears me through and through?