At last, the sun shines again

The sun has shone upon us again, and with it comes melting snow and lifting spirits.  We have survived the "weather bomb" of 2010, and frankly, it wasn't so bad for me.  I just had to stay home and be comfy.  Murray took his parents, both aged 85, to Regina to a doctors appointment during the peak of the "bomb".  He was able to sneak through, with the roads being closed right after him.  Coming home, Hwy 1 was closed at Peavy Mart, and the "north way" was closed at Pilot Butte.  He came home through Zehner on the back roads.  I am not sure how his parents felt about it all, but at least they got home safely.

Michelle got storm stayed at her mothers place in Balcarres.  She brought Declan by on Thursday, and went to do some errands/shopping in town.  I kept the little man, who screamed mightily the entire time except for a couple of 2 minute breaks when he cried himself to sleep.  When he starts to wake up, he is just too cute.  His little face gets all crooked, one eye and then the other opens, he has a few huge yawns, looks around, and decides to cry in protest for another 10 minutes.  He is only two weeks old, but already he reminds me so much of Murray and Brad.  Serves you right, Bradley. Anyway, hopefully he starts to get a little more accustomed to the universe and settles down a bit for his poor tired mother soon.

Murray was forced to take a couple of days off, but happily he is able to be back at doing stuff today.   He has friends and customers lined up like dominoes to give him a hand at each stop, one forgotten promise and the whole thing collapses down. 

I am working at the United Church Fall Supper tonight, instead of going to the Abernethy Fall supper with Bonnie and Wade, or attending the jewellry making class with Dianne.  I am confident that the good Lord knows my sacrifice and I will be rewarded accordingly.  

/bye

Mrs. Griswold has the sniffles.

On October 17, last Sunday, we went in to see the new baby and his family, and Holly and Cory and the girls were there too.  Michelle had optimistically purchased tickets for the Wiggles back in the summer, and now realized that she couldn't go - she couldn't leave the baby or sit that long.  So, with the extra ticket, Brad was elected to take Kaida and Owen to the Wiggles.

 We decided we would meet at Brad's at 5:00 and order supper in.  Murray took off in the tractor at 12:30 to do a couple of little jobs and would be back in 2 hours.  If you add 2 hours to 12:30 in Murray time, what time do you get?  Twenty to freaking five and he only stopped then because I went apoplectic on his butt!! Got him home, got him changed, got him in the car, got on the road and took several deep calming breaths. 

I took my blanket, and my camera, thinking I would take pics of Declan in his blanket, Owen holding Declan in his blanket, Kenzie and Kaida and Declan in his blanket...you get the drift.  Anyway,  I was soon dissuaded from the idea as I opened the door and three kids were pinging off the walls like deranged pinballs.

 Michelle's jaw was clenched in a tight little smile and her knuckles white, Holly was snorting fire.  I looked to Cory, who has been around the Griswold's long enough that he has built up some tolerance to the nonsense and  gave him the "whats up?"  look.  He smiled slightly and said "Brad's not here".  Apparently after the Wiggles Brad dropped the kids off and then headed out for some "alone time".   Holly was hunting him down on the cell phone when we got there, furiously texting insults like "MURRAY" and eventually Brad showed his sorry face back at the house.  He had had some work to do.  We ordered the food and while we waited we had some time to play with the kids, hold the baby and have a drink.  Things calmed down and we were able to enjoy a nice meal together. 


I was tired at work on Monday, but thought little of it.  When I got home I went straight to bed, woke up at 3:00 am with a sore throat and realized that I was sick.  I stayed home Tuesday and recovered pretty well so that I could go to work Weds.  Which was good as we had tickets to Johnny Reid.  However, I wasn't really recovered, work sucked, Johnny Reid is full of Blarney and talked more than he sang.  I was really sick.  Really Sick.  And I hated the opening act too.  (The Stellas).  Murray's day did not go nearly as well.  His super jock hockey player employee was startled by the sight of a shovel and galloped off the job site like a frightened doe.  Go Fort Knox.

Thursday I was really laid low, but had nothing to do but lay around and get better.  Which I did.  I am really very good at lying around and getting better given the chance.  As he hasn't found another employee I spent Friday morning helping Murray, and Friday afternoon recovering. 

Today is Saturday.  It sort of summarizes my week when I say that the best thing that has happened to me so far is my head congestion has "loosened". 

/bye

His name is Declan!!! The blanket is finished!!





Mom and baby are finally home and the name is Declan Andrew.  Like everything else around this wee guys arrival, it was a bit of a struggle for mom to settle on a name.  It was clinched when Owen got wind of it and started to call him Declan in the hospital.  I think it is a wonderful name for a wonderful baby.

And, TA DA, here is the aforementioned, and mentioned, and discussed some more, blanket.  Each stitch had wee Declan in mind, although he wasn't even around yet.  All the positive vibes I could muster are put in the blankets I create for little ones - and doubly so for my little grandson.  A little creepy maybe, but with much love and affection. 

Tonight we are off to the Edenwold Fowl Supper, because we are a fun couple and know how to have a blowout good time! 

/bye

He's here! He's here!

Happy Family

 My little man arrived Monday night around 7:30.  He weighed in at 8lb 4oz, so quite a big baby.  Michelle had a difficult delivery, and she will need some time to rest and recover, but otherwise everyone is healthy, happy and doing just fine.  These pictures are from Monday night, when he was just 2 hours old.

Gramma and her new grandson!!

Auntie Holly's turn

So sweet!!

I hope they are thinking about names.

I will definately keep you posted, you can be sure of that.  This will likely be a topic of discussion for some time to come - so be warned.  Right now I have to go finish that blanket!

/bye

No blanket - no baby.

Well I went off half cocked last night and decided to add edging to the baby blanket, which means I did not finish it.  And there is still no baby.  Perhaps there is a connection here? 

I am planning a Thanksgiving meal with Bev, Ashley and George, Brad, Michelle, Owen and maybe Holly and Cory will stop in after Momma Mia.  This ought to bring on a baby don't you think?  After she gets driven down our lovely, winding, tree lined pot holes the little one will certainly be shook up some.  Let it be known, that I am doing MY best (except for the blanket thingie) to help out an overdue Mom.

This edging is off the internet free pattern site, is pretty simple but is 7 rows to complete.  The blanket isn't huge but when you are doing all four sides it does take time.  Plus, my darling husband doesn't see the value in crochet.  He thinks it is something I should do once I have completed all of his little tasks, and have made sure he gets his bedtime snack and tucked in.  Between the hours of  midnight and 6:00 am for instance.  Anyway, I did get around once and it wasn't really tedious, so if I get a chance I will give it a go again this afternoon. 

I am going to bag up the lawn once more today - probably the last time this year. We don't have a lot of trees so there isn't a lot of leaves but just enough to be a nuisance.  I love mowing the grass.  You can see the entire task before you, where you have been, how much you need to do to finish.  The lawn mower is not conducive to people yelling "come give me a hand".  Can't answer the phone on the lawn mower.  Can't do dishes, vacuum, laundry or any of the other crap that goes with housework.  Can't buy groceries on the lawn mower.  I love the lawn mower.  I am actually entering a bit of a stage of grief now that I realize that this will likely be the last time this year I can be on the lawn mower. 

/bye

Craft-a-holic

I have added a blog to my list called the Enthusiastic Crochetaholic.  The aholic part really caught my eye in the first place, because that is how I feel about my crafts.  My paper crafting is devoted to an entire room and a half in my home.  My knitting/crocheting takes up residence beside my chair in the living room or in the bedroom where I watch good/fun TV while Murray alternates between gore and educational programming.  Did you see Gray's Anatomy last night - poor Little Grey - she can't catch a break can she.  Now how did I get on this topic???? Flight of thoughts is one of the things Mental Health Therapists watch for in their intake appointments - I know this from work.  Work is going fine.  I like to crochet with fine yarn.  Oh yeah, the enthusiastic crochetaholic also has recently had a knee replacement - so I feel that she is a soul sister of some sort.

I will miss my watercolor class today to attend Larry Barkway's funeral.  That family has had such a bad summer - it makes me ashamed to think of how lucky I am and yet I find things to complain about.  Although they are not children, his boys are still very young to be going through this. 

Holly and Bev are going with me, and in typical Griswald fashion, I have mucked up the travel arrangements.  Fortunately a phone call last night got it straightened out.  I think.  I won't really be sure until the car is on the road with the appropriate number of passengers. 

There is still no baby yet!!  Holly says if I finish that blanket perhaps the baby would come.  I have two more rows to go.  I will finish tonight, I swear.  I will then post a pic to my Enthusiastic Crochetaholic.  I am getting so good at this blogging.

/bye

Bookwork - bah!!

I have nothing fun planned today.  Kaida is in pre-k, Kenzie needs to recoup today, and there is no one stepping up to make my Thursdays educational or recreational to the point of requiring oxygen.  So, I have no option but to dig into this pile of paperwork which has collected on my desk.  Murray has lost a cheque he got from a customer, and he is blaming my desk.  I am offended and find it hurtful, and to be honest he might be right which is even worse.  Anyway, my special gift is to find something to fill in the time so that I don't have to actually get busy and do it, right away.  So...I will blog, followed by a walk maybe, maybe I will do a load of laundry (just to mix it up a bit), I could phone somebody...busy busy busy. 

My road trip with Kaida yesterday didn't turn out to be a stellar success.  I took her up to Barry and Kim's where Murray is working, however Murray had just left for Regina.  No Grampa.  The dog I knew she would love didn't go up to the job site yesterday.  The other dog I though she would like leaped at her and licked her face.  When you are only tall enough to be face to face with a crazy banshee of a dog licking and leaping, well, you just don't respond the same as when the dog is only up to your knee.  I carried a frightened and peeved little girl back to her car seat and moved on.  Well, we could go to the pet store instead.  Yaaaaay.  The pet store is closed on Wed.  We ended up coming back to my house, eating Popsicles in disgust and watching tree house.  Eventually got some quality time on the trampoline - WITHOUT KENZIE AND GRAMPA - to practise our high jumping and bum drops.  For lunch she asked for noodles (those compressed styrofoam things with the flavor packs - ichee ban??) and for variety would I also make spaghetti.  Of course I would.  She was tired after lunch so I found a cozy blanket and we went for a drive.  About 5 miles into the drive she remembered she needed a stuffed rabbit from my house, and was madder than blazes when I refused to turn back and get it.  She screamed and cried, but I persevered and she did fall asleep.  However, she woke up when I tried to get her out of the car seat and into her bed in her house.  Failing in my objective once again, I left in disgust, although Holly was completely sympathetic as she, too, has been there.

Holly is also my exercise police.  She forced me to go into aquacize after all.  (There was some mix up in which days were cancelled as the instructor is going to China, and I was to baby sit, and it is all very complicated...)  I am so glad, as it was wonderful.  I can kick a** in the pool, move much better than I do in my easy does it class.  I still manage to pant and gasp and wheeze my way through it all which, of course means, this must be good for me.

/bye

Indian Summer

I suppose that is politically incorrect and should be "First Nations" summer or something.  Anyway, I am referring to this wonderful weather we are enjoying.  Our miserable summer has made me truly appreciate the warmth, the dry, the glorious sunshine and beautiful colours of this season.  And knowing that my farmer friends will have something in the bins this fall is also good. 

I have reached the final stage of the baby blanket I am working on for Michelle and Brad's baby - if it ever gets here!! Two days overdue as of this morning.  I will likely finish tonight, if all goes as planned. (The blanket - I have nothing to do with the arrival of the actual baby).

The Easy Does It class has worked its magic on me again this week, and I can hardly move a muscle without being reminded that I attended.  Pat Lee is a wonderful trainer - and I am enjoying sweating like a hog while I plug away like a mule at her circuit stations.  However, my body knows that I am not 20 years younger and punishes me mercilessly for the next couple of days.  This has to be good for me.

I have been working on school lists this week again - speaking of circuit stations.  There are several families that have a Wynyard address, two kids in Raymore, two kids in Punnichy and one living with auntie in Fort QuAppelle.  They must attend school like it was a circuit station - a month here, move on, a month there, move on, back to the first one for a month...with a few weeks off in between to rest up for the next sprint.  Sad really, and aren't there laws???

Well, just had a call from Holly and Kaida and I are going on a little road trip to see Grampa at a job site. Better get on my horse and ride - this kid is not known for her patience.

/bye

Self Improvement

It would seem that without a plan or even a conscious thought I have embarked upon a regimen of self-improvement/self awareness.  It started out simply enough - I usually aquacize once the classes begin again in the fall, so I signed up.  Then, I had signed up months ago to attend a weekend Rubber Stamp Event (RSE).  What a wonderful concept - an entire 16 hours creating cards with a group of like minded individuals.  How could I say no?? 

In the meantime, an exercise class called "Easy Does It" came up.  It sounded fine - a stretching/strengthening/easing into exercise program for people who are just starting out or starting back into an exercise routine.  Yes, Easy Does It sounded just like what I needed.  It turns out that it is indeed exactly what I need, but tragically, it is seriously misnamed.  I realized that after the first "warm up" exercises when, gasping for air, I discovered that even my earlobes were sweaty.  I would have verbalized that to the instructor, but my vocal chords could not compete with the thunderous pounding of my heart.  And then, I signed up for water coloring classes.  I was more than ready for them, after watching two seasons of Painting Wild Places on PBS each Thursday. 

I had my first watercolor class today, having missed the first one for the RSE, and to my utter delight, I am not really awful!  I am just almost pretty good.  I was behind, and I caught up.  Of course we were just making brushstrokes, curved, arched, straight, fluid....but I made pretty good curved arched etc brushstrokes and was just so pleased not to need oxygen once I was done.  Exploring my artistic side is something that I have left undone for too many years, so finally getting around to it has to be good for me.  Good for my Mental Health.  And not a single sweaty earlobe the entire afternoon.  Hmm, food for thought, can something that enjoyable REALLY be good for me?? 

/bye