Good Morning Company Girls!!
This is William.....he is my youngest grandchild....well, youngest that is born right now....his mommy is expecting a little brother for William to play with this August...and today...William is coming here..to nana and papa's house while mommy and daddy get a well deserved little getaway overnight! I have a funny feeling that papa and I wont be getting too much rest in the next 24 hours..but that's okay..we'll survive! This is my sister Adele, yesterday she was admitted into the hospital with a very resilient infection in her ear that is not responding to medications by mouth and so they want to get her them into her via intravenous. She was away last week in Florida and thinks she may have picked it up in the swimming pool where they were staying. She's been quite ill for over ten days now....I hope these I.V. meds will do the trick!

It's been quite the week...my days have been turned upside down, backwards and inside out....we had a snowstorm on Wednesday that closed the schools for the day....good grief..I just got the kids back to school from March Break! On Tuesday I had to miss quilt class when both Megan and Ben had dentist appointments in the morning and then in the afternoon I took my sister's place (she usually does the 'mom appointments').....and took my mom to the dentist....at least I got a lot of reading done in my book!

Yesterday I took Megan to the orthodontist and in the afternoon I had a much needed massage....the evening was spent with my sister and her hubby at the hospital while she was being admitted. Today is busy, busy, busy...have to get myself into high gear and tidy up the house to prepare for William coming...he's walking now so I imagine there's all sorts of things that I will be putting up to a much safer level! To find out more of what's been going on in our house please check out my previous post....any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Take care and have a great weekend!

What Would you do?

Emma....

So, last week I went and saw Emma's counselor...she thot we should touch base because Emma was cutting..again...she had stopped for a few weeks......she admitted to me that she was at a loss of what to do....she had tried everything to get Emma to want to change, to have a better life....but....Emma doesn't want to change...the counselor figures that she's very comfortable with the way things are...she has it made really....a place to live, food to eat, her very own bedroom, parents who have done for her...tried to help her in so many ways...but she just sits in her room....doing her hair and makeup...or sleeping....she's always sleeping....the 'experts' say that she's not depressed...just bored...she never does school work...sometimes she passes her school work and sometimes not...she doesn't really care...the only thing she cares about is her school friends.....when the counselor admitted to me that she was at a loss of what to do it reminded me of when I was taking Ben, my developmentally delayed 20 year old, to a social worker for anger management....she got to the point that she said that she had tried everything but because his comprehension level is so low that she couldn't think of anything to help him understand.....I came away from both meetings feeling the same way....discouraged.

Due to the damage done to them by unthinking, unknowing, and sometimes uncaring birth parents these kids and in turn, my husband and I, because we chose to adopt them, are stuck...stuck in a world where people don't know what to do...how they can be helped...and the older I get the harder it is to take...when you're in your 30's or 40's you have the energy to tackle things head on and have a 'can do' attitude. Not now...now I'm just weary.

The counselor said...come back in a few days...we'll talk again....so I did.....she suggested setting up things in our home like a group home....if she wants something she has to earn it..set out the guidelines and expectations....let her hang out with her bisexual friends with their black clothes and multiple facial piercings..because let's face it....Emma will be 18 this November and in another year she could possibly go off to college...where, as family history has presented itself in our family...the kids lead altogether different lifestyles than we (my husband and I) have brought them up with...we are a fairly conservative Christian home..when they leave they have to try everything..they are convinced that all those years we've kept them from having fun...having the good life....

So,..at first my thoughts were...absolutely not, no way....then the more I thought about it the more I thought....maybe, maybe we should consider this.....I thought some more...maybe if we let her do this now, cause just face it Marie, she's doing this lifestyle anyways...everyday, at school...when I can not do anything about it anyways....maybe if we do allow it now we can still have some input instead of waiting til she's on her own and she's completely away from any parental influences.....so, I convinced hubby...he thought I had lost my mind...maybe I have....

I set up the guidelines...they must be adhered to if she wants any privileges.....there are expectations...she must get a volunteer position..somewhere....every kid that graduates high school in Ontario must have 40 hours of volunteer work...so far Emma hasn't any.....she must do all her chores without being asked.....she must treat everyone in the family with kindness and respect. She must tell me where she's going and when she'll return.

Emma's requests were to spend more time with her school friends after school, hanging out, sleeping over at their homes, being able to call them on the phone...she also wanted them to sleep over here.....we vetoed that particular one....I have Ben and Megan in the home...two very developmentally delayed kids in the house...they don't need that kind of exposure to Emma's friends in their own home....neither do I for that matter....

So far, Emma has been doing her chores, she has plans for getting volunteer positions but hasn't followed thru yet. Last night her friend, Kimma called....she used to go to Emma's school...in fact, I'm pretty sure that she's the one that introduced Emma to the whole bisexual world....apparently, according to Facebook....Kimma and Emma are 'in a relationship'...they are 'dating' now.....I feel a huge heaviness on my heart and soul...I feel sick inside....I want to take Emma's body and just shake it...(although since she's bigger and way stronger than me, that ain't going to happen)...good grief...don't call the cops on me.....I want to yell at her and say...'smarten up' 'what the pete do you think you're doing?' 'you're ruining your life'......when I see on Facebook, all her friends congratulating them and telling Emma how wonderful it is that she's with Kimma...well, it just makes me sick and I feel badly for the kids of today that their standards and morals are so screwed that they think that all this is just fabulous....am I a homophobic?...probably....I see it as a lifestyle that has a lot of sadness in it...a lot of society 'accepts' it on the outside but on the inside they're still going 'yuck'..'how can they do that!'....

I fear for Emma...she has turned to these kids because the other kids...the non-bisexuals have shunned her...they think she's weird, not because of the bisexualism but because that's just the way she acts....I think she scares them....she does act weird a lot of the time....you'd never dream that she was going to be 18 by the end of the year....

So...what's a mother to do...what would you do?

The Quilt Room!

Hello Company Girls!!!

Ta Da! The Quilt Room!

This is a small room, 8 x 10....the view standing in the doorway...I think I'll just put a little valance at the window....

This is my mom's old Singer sewing machine and cabinet....made in 1940! Cool huh?

Book shelf with all my quilting magazines and books.

Obviously, my sewing machine....the chair was in my dad's workshop...

Little ornament that I got down in Pennsylvania last Christmas when we went down for Sight 'N Sound theatre....cute huh?

Little ornament on the window sill...that I had to paint white cause the previous daughters had destroyed the window sill and hubby had to sand it...matching the stain to the rest of the window would have been next to impossible since it was done over 60 years ago!

Pressing area! The little table was also in my dad's shop....

Curtains covering the closet...the gold chair was my nana's...someday I'll get it recovered....but it's a nice spot to sit and contemplate life....

Curtains opened, displaying the fabric stash....

Another view.....

Cutting table.....the table was in an old office that hubby worked in over twenty years ago....when the weather gets warm I plan on taking it outside and painting it...maybe a nice white....

You can see the striping on the wall in this shot...turned out great and a little tip that Rachel gave me created nice clean edges....

Another view....love those walls...

And...there it is...something that I've dreamed about for years.....I've actually started a new quilt this week...and I can just leave everything laid out...don't have to pack anything up at the end of the day....fabulous...and the only expense was the paint for the walls...everything else I had in the house...now everything is in one room....before,...there was quilting stuff downstairs, in the dining room, the living room and my bedroom...I love having everything together!

So...what do you think......my hubby worked very hard and I think it's terrific.....Yes, I know...I am spoiled!!!



Happy Birthday to our son Ben who is twenty today!!!

The Weekend....

Good Afternoon Company Girls!

A little late today....I had to be out the door by 8:30 a.m. today and didn't have time to do a blog post before I left! What got me out the door at such an early hour...not to mention there happened to be a snow blizzard going on at the time...what else could do it but quilting!! (Although I was out even earlier on Tuesday to take Emma to a doctor's appointment) Not my usual class which is on Monday mornings but this was a different one at another church, a bit further away . I went to it because the teacher there was going to show us how to do applique. I've always been a little intimidated by applique but this teacher took the mystery out of it and made it quite simple, really...except I was a little disappointed when she says she doesn't usually do needle turn applique, which appeals to me, but, since she doesn't like doing it...guess I'll have to look up some videos on the computer. Anyways, it was interesting to learn something new...I liked it...it will take a few lessons to complete the little wall hanging but it looks like it will be a nice experience.

This weekend hubby plans on working on my quilt room...last weekend he got the walls prepped and the ceiling painted....this weekend the walls! I'm actually giving him a little extra work because I saw on this other blog...I think it's called the lettered cottage....they put these wide, about 12" wide, horizontal strips around the wall...I thought that would add some interest to a small room...it's only 8' x 10'...but of course it's extra work. I went to Home Depot and got a paint chip card that had three shades of yellow on it...so the lightest is on the ceiling and the medium will go on the walls and the darkest will be the horizontal stripes! I can't wait!!! I'm hoping that by next week I'll be able to set it up the way I want it to look....I've already been drawing out a floor plan....I have never had anything like this before!!! Very exciting!

On Sunday we have an important lunch meeting after morning service...I'm kind of apprehensive about it. Eldest daughter and I handed in our resignations from leading the Sunday school program at our church. We've done it for the last three years. We're tired out.
Unfortunately,..and I imagine it's like this at a lot of churches, we can't get the parents to contribute to helping out with the program....we've begged, we've pleaded....everybody has an excuse....I've even joked that Sunday school should be run as a co-op! The trouble is there's a lot of parents that just wouldn't bring their kids if that was the protocol. I know...sad but true. They'll do anything to get their child to a hockey practice but not to Sunday school...not just picking on hockey...but anything else that kids are involved in. It would seem that if parents have to pay for it than they make it a priority. Anyways, the meeting is to let all the parents, (who have been specifically invited) to inform them that we are no longer doing the program as of June and to find out from them just what they're willing to do to have the program continue under new leadership. Even though daughter and I are not leading this meeting, I'm not really comfortable with it...I'm not a person that cares for confrontation. We have been assured that the leaders will keep a tight reign that it's not going to have a lot of negativity...I hope not. We shall see.

So, that's my weekend...what about yours...great things planned?

It's a Beautiful Day in the neighborhood.....

Of course when will I ever learn to load the pics in backwards order!! This is Maya and the other two girls on the team of ten young people that went down to Costa Rica....this pic was actually taken when they were coming home..... Here's Maya and one of the many friends that she made in Costa Rica....

One of many beautiful sunset pictures she took...they even have a specific 'sunset time' on the schedule where they all gather at a certain spot and sing praise choruses and pray..every day...neat eh?

The cabins that the team stayed in...

...and this is a very scared Maya getting ready for take off on her very first plane ride....

Good Morning Company Girls!

Well, it's a beautiful, sunny in Southern Ontario...when the kids left for school it was a whole 8 degrees Celsius...which is about 46 Fahrenheit....I know not overly warm but a lot nicer than some of the frigid ones we've had lately....according to my little weather thingy on my sidebar, we're actually warmer than Seattle right now!...but then again they're three hours behind us so they will probably catch up!

So, that's the weather covered...what else...well, it's a long weekend here....some parts of Canada celebrate Family Day...that's a holiday that government felt we needed in the middle of February to help get us through our looooooooong winter! You are suppose to do family type things on Monday...I think this is like the third or fourth year for it...last year hubby didn't even get it off because his company decided to give us an extra day at the July 1st holiday...Canada Day....yeah I know the Americans celebrate on the 4th....anyways, sufficient to say we really didn't do anything and this year we have nothing planned...probably just working around the house...hey...that can be a family thing right?

Saw a great status on Facebook yesterday....I think it was on commenter LydiaCate's....she was repeating something she heard on a radio program....one of those things that stop and give you pause....'Are you courageous enough to let God write the testimony of your child's life'? Ya...makes you stop and think doesn't it.....my second oldest son is still in jail...he grew up in our family...learned about God just as all the kids have...accepted Jesus into his heart..just like all the kids have.....but...yet...he's in jail...for the third time.....he's twenty-seven years old....there are some kids that I will admit that it's harder to let God write their testimony.....you want to step in...you want to fix it....you can't.

Today is hubby's Friday off....maybe we'll mosey on down to Niagara-on-the-Lake for awhile...maybe have tea in the Irish shoppe...like to connect with my Irish roots every now and then...it's the closest I'll ever get to Ireland to be sure! Of course, if it's hubby's Friday off, it must be grocery day....good grief..means buying food again.....my kids at home are already all taller than me...you'd think I could stop feeding them now! Maybe we'll be able to get the paint for my quilt room today...now, that is shopping to look forward to!

So, have a great weekend...take care!

Our House...part two...

It's been an interesting time in our household these last few weeks. Emotions have been up and down....Maya was thousands of miles away, working in a camp....wasn't sure deep down how I felt about that...some kids are harder to let go more than others...there's a certain kind of vulnerability about Maya that makes you apprehensive for her....that makes you concerned about the people out there set on taking advantage of her....when there were about 4-5 days that I did not have any communication from her, while she was thousands of miles away, that I did a little panic...deep down inside me....the kind that only hubby sees....and God. She was fine...just on a little camping trip to experience waterfalls, volcanoes and rainforests....but I didn't know that at the time.
.....now our thoughts travel to what she will do in the fall...her internship is done the end of April, she hopes to work the summer at one of the camps she's at now....but the fall....then what....

We finally got Ben's room done...looks pretty good and he loves it...with moving him back in his room..well then we were ready for the big shuffle......there are three bedrooms downstairs..all in various sizes....the medium size one was for older son Paul but also a guest room since he was already in the army when it was completed and so wasn't home too often. When he resigned from the army and moved back home, he acquired a girlfriend(well, actually he had the girlfriend for awhile.....so even though he was home...he really wasn't. So, after a year, we asked if we could put some of his stuff into storage...we needed the space...he agreed. When we started on Ben's room well he went to stay in Paul's room for what I hoped was a couple of weeks...turned out to be a couple of months.....in Paul's room, the one that Ben was staying was a double size bed....passed on when an aunt died....so it's Aunt Edith's bed...that's what we call it....double was good for when Ryan and Jenn came visiting....but then Ryan and Jenn grew, they already had a big dog but then they had Sweet William and now we are eagerly looking forward to another grandbaby in August...changes had to be made....medium size room was not big enough for two adults, a toddler in a playpen and a large dog....so....when Ben moved back to his room last Saturday, to his brand new double bed I might add,....we decided to move Aunt Edith's bed into the largest room...which is Emma's...at first she didn't like the idea...but after it was set up and she had the bed made up looking ever so nice,..she admitted that she really did like it.
Now Emma's old twin size bed was in better condition then Megan's bed (which was upstairs in Megan's room, the room next to ours) So..we moved Emma's old bed into the medium size room.....by then it was after 11 p.m. and we were done in.

The next afternoon, I spoke to Megan.....she had been moping around, wondering when something was going to be done in her room.....so, I said to her..."Megan...you know how Ben just got this nice new room done....'ya'....and Emma just got the flooring done in her room and the double bed put in there....'ya'.....well,...how would you like a different room too? " Well, her eyes lit up, she clapped her hands 'yes. yes, yes'!! We could move your stuff down to Paul's room if you like...more squeals...more yeses!! So, we did.

All this to say...it's very different in our house now...the atmosphere is different...it's like hubby and I have claimed back our house...weird eh? I wasn't anticipating that feeling at all...and I'm sure it'll change once again when Maya finishes her internship and comes home in April..but for now...it's different.

Oh...and if Paul still needs a place to lay his head the odd night that he's not at the girlfriend's family house...well, there will be room....we haven't forgotten him....but..he's not the homebody anymore...the guy that didn't leave his computer for days on end...he's out and about, he has a life...just as it should be for a grown man...another change in this mother's heart....letting them go...one of the hardest things....but you put on your game face and you forge ahead....sometimes they get upset when you make these plans without them...but, as mom you have to....in their mind, they want to move on but they don't seem to like it too much when you do....they don't like seeing you make changes that don't include them..they feel you are shutting them out...you're not....but just as they are moving on, so must you...it's the circle of life....everything is in motion, and you go with the flow....

...all for now, from this old house.....and this old mom.....

My house....it's a very, very fine house..with...

Good Morning Company Girls!

I'm quite annoyed with myself because I just realized that I forgot to get Maya's Costa Rica pics put on my computer so I could show you some! Next Week For Sure! Some of the pics are quite good...she got better at photography as time went on....she has some amazing sunset pics ....they have incredible sunsets there in Costa Rica...in fact, the camp program has a definite activity each day...entitle 'sunset'...everyone gathers in one area, watches the sunset and sings praise choruses...neat eh? Maya had a wonderful time and would have loved to have stayed longer...she wasn't minding the temps in the high 70's, low 80's at all! It took her forever to get home though....it would seem that Houston was having some problems with ice....and since they don't get that very often they struggled with getting their planes off the ground...Maya's travel route was thru Houston..so, the the morning of departure they left camp at 5 a.m. to catch a 7:30am flight out of San Jose.....which meant of course they were up by 4:30am....when they got to the airport they found that their flight had been cancelled from Houston's standpoint...they sat at the airport all day and got on a 4 pm flight...landed in Houston just after 7pm.....then waited til 8am the following morning for their flight to Detroit! Maya found that the floor at Houston airport isn't really conducive to very much sleep! They landed in Detroit about 11am and then started the long drive home...she should have been in our area about 4:30pm for pick up but due to snow and highway conditions, didn't arrive til 7:30pm...then it took us a whole hour to get home from the pick up! All in all, she was travelling for 39 hours! ....and she still had a smile on her face...that's our Maya!

So, this week we're putting the finishing touches on Ben's room...it's taken forever...we moved the guy out into another room sometime in November....but hubby only has so many hours in the day..when you add in his day job, his teaching job and doing the churches 'books'....well, I think he's done pretty well at getting it all done....we just have to get Ben a new mattress and boxspring...he now has a double size bed instead of a twin...and he should be able to move back in! I'm in the middle of painting the logo for the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team on one wall...Ben is a big fan and especially asked for it....it wont be of the same caliber as Rachels work but Ben likes it, so I guess that's all that matters!

We had a tiny bit of money left from our deck project, the deck that didn't happen.....quick recap...since we put on the additions on our house almost five years ago I've wanted to enlarge the deck..right now it's just 12' x 12' and when you put up the table and chairs..well, there isn't room for anything else...I wanted some sitting/lounging area...so last year out income tax refund was larger than usual and we set aside some of it to do just that...well, summer came and went and the job didn't get done (see last paragraph indicating hubby's busy timetable)..then in the fall...both vehicles needed new tires....8 tires are a ton of money...didn't know what to do...you have to be safe...so...I quickly weighed safety over lounging and safety won...there went the deck money! When we did Ben's room, which is in the basement, it, of course, has a concrete floor....I was going to paint it but the guy at Home Depot described this complicated procedure for 'pargeing' the floor before you paint...it sounded very intense..the guy must have seen the panic look in my eyes because he took me to the flooring area and showed me some vinyl flooring..you put it down similar to a laminate..and it's good for moist conditions...it does look really nice on Ben's floor..we opted for a non-wood look...kind of a dark grey with bits of blue in it....he loves it!

Well, in this great bedroom turnaround ...that we haven't explained to the kids yet....Emma's room...which is also in the basement....will become Emma's/guest room...we are moving a double size bed into her room (that is now in a smaller room..which is too small for when Jenn and Ryan and baby and doggie visit)....so, I said to hubby last weekend...'is there any money left in the deck account?'...he said 'a little'...I said, 'enough to put that vinyl flooring in Emma's/guest room?' he thought so...yea!...So yesterday, I purchased the required product and hopefully this Saturday hubby will get a good start on it! Once he gets started it really doesn't take a long time to get down......then...the great bedroom shuffle will begin! I am thrilled to my toes!!!! You see...we have a small bungalow, built about 60 years ago with three small bedrooms on the main floor.....as our family grew we worked on the basement unfinished space and put in 2 bedrooms and a 3 piece bath....then, when we put on the additions, we dug out the foundation also....under one addition we put another bedroom (the other is just a storage room)...so...that gives us three up and three down.....the bedrooms on the main floor are ours, Megan and Maya's.....well, unbeknownst to Megan...she will be moving to the new bedroom downstairs...aka Paul's/guest room, that Ben is using right now (it has the old double bed).....but that double bed will be going into Emma's room...which is a larger bedroom, to become the Emma's/guest bedroom...with me so far?....then Megan's room will become my quilting room!!!! Now do you see why I'm thrilled to my toes....yes!!! I haven't explained all this to the girls yet....it'll just start 50 million questions that I prefer to delay for as long as possible....

So, ya..that's what's going on at my house...how's things at yours?