My Long Weekend.....

So, it was a very busy weekend...on Friday night the kids had youth group at the church and at supper I accidently broke a piece off one of my molars...annoying...but the dentist was closed.... so we dropped them off at the church and then hubby and I went for a stroll through the local mall...I usually avoid malls but I'll spend time with my hubby anywhere, especially without the kids....malls aren't too bad when you don't have someone whining for something that you can't afford! On Saturday morning we just had to get to the grocery store...payday was the previous day and by the time that day rolls around the pantry is fairly bare! Then in the afternoon we worked on my hubby's latest project...the basement...about a month ago hubby declared that he'd like to have all the excess out of the basement by the end of October....well, it's coming up and so far we hadn't got to it.....so, for the afternoon, we sorted and threw out and made a pretty good dent! The part I like is around the laundry area.....I don't have one of those lovely laundry rooms that you see in the magazines, our laundry 'area' is in the basement and when the piles of dirty laundry pile up..well, it isn't pretty....you don't even want to do the laundry...in fact I can usually find any excuse not to go down there! Well....you should see the 'area' now since we got rid of a lot of 'stuff'...you can actually walk around it, without stepping on laundry spread everywhere! I could even feel encouraged to do more laundry......well, let's not get too carried away.......I had to keep reminding hubby that we were going out in the evening..we had been invited to go to a coffee house at the church and they were going to have a ton of yummy desserts..now that point is very important....because while we were having a bite to eat before we left......part of one of my other molar's broke off!!! Unfortunately this is an annoying recurrence for me.....in fact it occurs much more than I want it too. You see, when I was a young kid there wasn't a high priority on brushing your teeth....now, I know that sounds just gross...also.... there wasn't fluoride in the tap water.....so that resulted in a lot of cavities and a lot of fillings....a lot of fillings.....and now I'm paying the price of my reckless youth....broken teeth! This molar, though had a very sharp edge that keeps cutting my tongue! It hurts to swallow, eat, talk and drink!
I left a frantic message(s) on my dentist's answering machine and then I called this morning, just begging to be fit in.

Meanwhile, this morning I had to go with eldest daughter and her four kiddies to the hospital to meet with a doctor in regards to some genetic research. (You see, both myself and my oldest grandchild were born with a disability that comes under a similar umbrella, so...they want to do a study on us and all of the grandchildren so that they could see why oldest grandson and not the other grandaughters). When it was my turn to meet with the doctor she casually mentioned about everyone getting blood work done! WHAT! Bloodwork!!!!! Bloodwork for me is a very painful process..over the years they've exhausted all the veins in my arms and now the always have to get it from my foot! I wasn't impressed and the doctor knew it but I dutifully complied....and then we got to the blood lab.........I say to the lab tech.....you have to take it from my foot and please use a butterfly needle...she says...we can't take it from the foot without a note from the doctor...I said..well, there's the requisition.......she says...no, a separate note...so, she says...look, we're professionals, I take blood from little newborns with tiny veins...I'm sure I can get it from you.....well , yes, she did....but, it came out so slowly and so sporadically that after one tube, she was suppose to get three...she gave up and said...well, that's all they're going to get!
Later on in the afternoon I took Maya to her after school basketball game(they lost..). I came home and Emma had made some brownies...nice, soft brownies......well, you guessed it ..more of the first molar broke off......I had soup for supper.....
The dentist can finally see me tomorrow afternoon........I just hope he can fix it (them) this time.....good grief!

Thanksgiving.......family and food...

Thanksgiving was at eldest daughter's house this year and I got hubby to put the pictures on last night so I thought I'd post a sampling. The pic above is part of the table...there were 18 of us...the food was good....always tastes better when you don't have to cook it...right?

This is Honour, 5 years old and eldest grandaughter......

This is Jairus, eldest grandson...he's seven...we weren't sure just how much turkey he'd eat since he ate most of the yummy appetizers....
This is Baby Afton, just 5 months...too little for turkey yet...but I'm positive it wont be long til she's copying her big sister Verity....you'll see her down below...
This is second eldest daughter, Lauren and her beau Ryan, along with Verity, Corey and Megan in the background....

This is how my hubby finished off the day.....in fact, you'll often see him like this.....he works hard providing for us all.......

and this is sweet little Verity, she's three...and she decided to try the drumstick this year....don't let that charming smile fool you.....she's a going concern......I think Afton will be just like her...oh my!

The Budget

So, a few weeks ago I decided to get involved with our budget...I've tried to do this before..but haven't really persevered. You see, with having so many kids my hubby and I have kind of divided up things....kind of traditionalist, but never the less...he looks after the financial end and I look after the kids....I do the inside and he does the outside of the house...but I'm afraid that over the years that has changed somewhat....my hubby does a lot in the house, I am very fortunate. Since a few friends have died over this last year and left spouses floundering in not knowing how to handle the areas in the household and family that they weren't accustomed to....I decided that I needed to get a little more involved in the finances. Now there are good things about that and there are bad things.....very bad things.....like finding out that just running to the grocery store for a little something to go with supper, after you've already done the grocery shopping for the next two weeks..really cuts into you next pays grocery budget.....or when you have Thanksgiving dinner, and it comes out of your regular grocery shopping budget that it takes a huge chunk! Or when you all of a sudden have a birthday spring up or a shower gift to buy...where does that money come from when you have an extremely tight budget with no room for extras like that.....I think they call it robbing Peter to pay Paul.......
So the good things are that I really get to see where the money is going, I get to know what bills have to be paid and when, I have become more conscious of impulse spending....especially when I realize there isn't any impulse spending category and I become more responsible in the regular, necessary spending that I have to do.
The bad side is that it stresses me out...when it's three days til payday, and laundry to be done and I have no fabric softener left, when my son says that the one dog we have is almost out of dog food, which is $50, three days before pay...when all my eggs were used up at Thanksgiving and I have none for the week.....before, I just let hubby carry the load...I'd just go out and get the stuff, cause after all, I needed them and let him figure out how the money was going to cover it...I really did him an injustice, that was very wrong of me.
So, for the good and bad.....hopefully this was a good move for me, I think it was...even though I've always told my hubby that he has to die first cause I don't want to bury him......we really have no control over that....but God is in control and that is reassuring...and after all He looks after the lilies so Iknow he looks after us......if you need something to read that puts it better than go to www.cindybeall.com. She does have a way with words.

The Quiet

It's nine o'clock and the church bells are ringing...yes church bells....I live in a very small community and the local Anglican church has church bells set to go off at 9 and 3 and 6........I love hearing the bells....I'm really quite surprised that someone hasn't complained.....you know...infringing on their religious rights or something......I promised myself that I'd get up at nine....I've been awake...the kids left for school over an hour ago....I've been savouring the quiet...reading blogs......you see Megan has one day per week at school...and Friday is the day.....Hallelujah and Praise the Lord! It's been an interesting week...a week where I found myself Wednesday evening saying....no, I will not take you with me to the drug store...I want to go kidless, somewhere...anywhere.....but come on now..the drugstore!!! Do you hear desperation here???......So here it is Friday....it's a gorgeous day...promises to be a gorgeous weekend...we're finally suppose to get to the trailer tomorrow to do the final closing before winter sets in...a lot of people will be there doing the same thing and celebrating Thanksgiving!
It makes me think...well, what am I thankful for......great husband, kids (that drive me insane) but something has to....anyways,grandkids....family, God and having him in my life.....and the quiet....I love the quiet......

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

A Friend

For over thirty years I have had this particular friend....in the early years it was on and off but in the last fifteen our relationship has been pretty good. We would visit when we could and talk on the phone everyday. Until this past summer.......a really terrible thing happened to my friend, nothing that I can blog about but it has had a very negative effect on our relationship. At first, we communicated several times a day...my friend was devastated and I did what I could to help. After a few weeks, out of the blue my friend hurled an accusation at me.....you see, in one of those degrees of separation situations, I had been affected by what happened to her also. My friend had started the healing process in her situation but I had not......I had been so busy helping her and being concerned about her that I had not stopped to consider doing anything about my feelings.
Our relationship is strained and I am in despair.

I have been working on my feelings, praying, discussing with my hubby and friends. I have come quite a ways ....... but the damage has been done to our friendship and I really am saddened that it will never be the same. It was a good friendship......and I miss it.

Or.......was it really a good relationship/friendship in the first place.......or was it just in my imagination.........I feel such a terrible weight on me.......

Just call me stupid!

Two days into homeschooling Megan.......yesterday she went to quilt class with me...I decided to draw a simple picture on a piece of felt and then I spent an hour teaching her how to sew buttons on the outline. It was rather tiring....for both of us......then she did some colouring and looking at books til the end of class. She was very excited and keeps calling her piece of felt 'a quilt'. By the time we returned home, after having lunch with my sister and her husband, it was time for the highschoolers to come home. Maya had a game at the school and Megan wanted to join me but I told her she needed to spend some time on other activities.....(I didn't tell her that I needed a break too).....it's tiring always working (and living) with a teenager that has the comprehension level of a four year old!
Today, I had my weekly bible study at a local church....we're doing a Beth Moore study (by video) and I thought she'd at least be able to find it easy to watch the video......and she did, but she also sat there and fidgeted constantly, so lesson learned...next week I'll take some quiet work for her to do......
After Lunch, at home...I got out all the workbooks I have that has reading comprehension and math facts and she spent about an hour doing a page or two in each. Then it was story time....and before you knew it the highschoolers were walking in the door again. They aren't too thrilled with me homeschooling Megan....they think it's a royal ripoff......they think that I should be homeschooling them too......well, just open up the door to the loony bin and reserve me a bed!

The Weekend...

Well, it was a lovely fall (autumn) weekend here in our neck of the woods. Hubby and I were suppose to go up north on Friday but he had been feeling under the weather all week and unfortunately it came to a head Friday morning and we were both very disappointed. We had been looking forward to a good visit with friends of ours for months, they used to be the ministers at our church and when they retired they moved about four hours away from here. All day long we were lamenting that it would have been a beautiful day for a drive. Praise the Lord though, hubby is finally feeling better...I was starting to get concerned....my husband is one of those that hardly ever gets sick and when he does he doesn't get his shirt in a knot over it....I teased him that he is the most self sufficient sick person that I know.
Yesterday. we had a church shower for a young couple who are leading our teen class in Sunday school...it was a brunch....how lovely is that! Then I took Emma and Maya to the mall....me at the mall is not a good thing!...I hate shopping (and the Christmas season is coming up very quickly).......sigh...anyways,...Maya needed dress shoes for church.....she was convinced if she got black running shoes that they could pass as dress shoes....it took some convincing and then Emma started in...she just had to have new shoes...which was kind of true cause she was still wearing flip flops...which would be fine if we lived in San Antonio, where it's 79 degrees, right now, 10:13 pm....but hey, we're in Canada, eh......cold, you know...not freezing but definitely not flip flop weather...but I was standing firm....only one pair of shoes could be afforded! It was her lucky day because PayLess had buy one, second half off...so, I relented and Emma lucked out!
When I finally got home...hubby was feeling better finally and we were foodless.....so off to the grocery store.......oh joy, what bliss!

On to Sunday....busy, busy morning.....Leslie and I are leading the Sunday school program and it's very high energy non-stop from the time I get there at 9:30am till it ends at 12:30pm....I know 3 hours doesn't seem very long....but have I mentioned lately just how old I am!!!!!??

Then we came home and all I wanted was to rest ...but....you see, I started a stew yesterday and the vegetables had to be prepared and put in with the meat and broth that I started cooking yesterday. .....So, supper is done, the kids are in bed.....another weekend is done......and in a few hours it will be Monday.....and it starts all over again.......