Renovations, Sick kids, Studying....what a week!

It has been a while since I got on here, but we have gotten our loan through for more renovations with the goal of selling this shack once it is done. We are hopefully going to be done or close to it by the end of the month.

I am sitting here in the living room with laptop on my knee watching in dismay as the fine white dust is seeping out under the plastic in my bdr doorway (bedroom is attached to the living room and was the former dining room and has no door on it yet)

I have been doing fairly well keeping up with the renovation mess and housework, but now, it is going to be getting messy and I am hoping I can continue to keep this place company ready. I finally broke down and ordered the flylady calendar, a rubbascrubba, and a duster. I am anxiously waiting for it to arrive. Perhaps today.

Derwin has been taping and mudding our bedroom every night, and besides that, has put up the new chandalier we got for the living room and a box light for the kitchen that matches my cupboards.

He also put up my cupboard that fell off the wall awhile back! Nice to have my counter back again.

Today, I have several sickies upstairs where I the mean mama who is determined to get the renovation work going, has banished them! I have a load of laundry in which is the August habit, although I have been doing fine with it lately, but keeping it up for a family this size is no easy feat let me tell ya and if anybody but me takes it on, they seem to fall down on the job. sigh.... SOMEONE has to learn how to do this for me!

oh boy.... there is a white puddle of dust heading out under the plastic dangerously close to my boxspring and mattress which are new as of this spring and I do not want them covered with dust!!!

Well... it is off to the washer I go....and to check on the kids.
I am determined to keep control over this mess AND have a good day. We dealt with Kyla-Dawn last night and hopefully got some things settled future wise. I certainly hope this is the beginning of the preparation for her to head out to bibleschool next fall.

Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays!!!

This week has been a blur. Viewing Greg's funeral pics, mourning him at night with hubby and then trying to be back in the real world all day for the kids, nightmares, regrets, memories, you name it, we have had it. Oh... add to that one sickness which has swept everyone in the family and has made its way to me now.

Tomorrow is Jenaya's 7th b-day and honestly? Nobody feels like doing anything for it but she will be disappointed if we do not. Mine is the day after and again, who cares this year. Not me although Derk and I had a Keg card and used that last week to go for a pre-birthday meal in Winnipeg. There was van repairs and other errands to be done as well, but we took time for our second annual pic taking on my b-day in Crescent Park. Something we started last summer when I was devastated over the betrayal of a friend. Long story there, but the pics helped and we decided it was something to continue.

A week from Sunday Kyla-Dawn turns 18 and then two more Sundays and then Joshua will be 16 so we have some very important milestone birthdays and no desire to celebrate them!

Today I am sick with this dumb bug, feverish, irritable (make that very irritable!!) and my feet are frozen for some reason. Dumb circulation issues I have. All the kids are sick, KD may be on the mend but is at work. In fact, I made her take the van over to get the new tie rod ends in and the tires balanced while she is at work cuz I felt so lousy and Derk said I had to do it. So she drove herself halfway to work anyhoo...

Michael has gone to Bigway for some chunky soup for me cuz that is what I am cravin.... hmmmm maybe its pregnant I am lol.

Derk should be calling on his lunch break soon. Feels like this day is in slow motion cuz all I am doing is lying around reading and talking about Greg to Josh who is normally my busy one but today is sick and laying around too! I hate it when BOTH of us get sick together!

This next few days, weeks, bring back memories of having my kids. Lots of memories lol.
Maybe one day i will get their birth stories on here.

The Sun is Shining again!

Wow has it been a week both in our lives, and weather wise. Dark, angry clouds whipping by with threats of tornados everywhere you look, rain, rain and more rain, and cold enough for the kids to say it feel like fall not July!

Hard to believe Jenaya will be 7 on Saturday and a week from today, I will turn 42. Time has flown by so fast!

Today we are baptizing Levi, which is really exciting. Can't wait!

Last night was a bad one for Derk. He was thinking about his brother and everything last night but we got through it and although I am sure there will be many more times like that, we will get through them all too.

The past year has been full of adventures for our family. I am writing again and that means a lot to me. Sure does help with all the junk one has thrown at them in life that is for sure.

Well this one is short cuz I need to do tons around here to get ready for church.

Spillin' my guts

Today started around 2 am with the brightest whitest lightening you ever did see. It was flashing like someone taking a pic in your face and then the bright, white fork lightening that was interspersed with it, was thick and just hurtling down on the earth like you would not believe. Morris often gets violent summer storms and of course one of my fears is tornadoes since the night I was in the church in Regina in 1991 and my baby girl Kyla-Dawn was at my parents' place with my parents while we were recording music with our singing group at the church. That night the sky turned green and everyone began running down the aisles for the basement. I did too, but then turned around and went back to shut all the power off the recording equipment and my electronic piano because the lightening could mess it up. I got a huge shock doing that and then ran down the aisle to where Derk was waiting for me. Everyone else was down by the basement stairs or already gone but as I hit mid church, the entire building sucked in and it threw me on the floor. I was obviously terrified, got up and tried to run again and it happened the second time. By the time I got to the basement I was totally flipped out, had two skinned knees and it took forever to stop shaking. So that is why I do not like storms anymore!

Derk is at work today and seems to be doing better both in the work department and the grief department. It has been a long hard week around here. Surprisingly enough, times like this bring out my better side as far as wanting to accomplish things. Suddenly, I no longer procrastinate. I am writing in my blog, and journal again, as well as some other writing projects, plus I am actually working on my accounting again too.

We did not finish school in June as we school year round to make our regular days shorter and prevent boredom in the summer months sooooo I have been trying to get the kids back into it after our camp last week. Of course with the death in the family and the new job for Derk, life has not been nice to us this week and did I mention all the littles had colds, and 6 of the 8 kids had needles this week as well? Everything at once around here. Seems to be the way things go.

Well, Josh is making lunch for everybody and the rest of the kids are finishing chores while I switch from Canadian Accounting to Business Math (YUCK!!!) and then I will hopefully read from TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD as that is the book the boys are currently studying. Funny... I never read that book in highschool or even after it. It never appealed to me either till I had to read it aloud to the boys because in Sonlight curriculum that is what one does. Josh is reading now so well!!!! Amazing that you take a boy not reading well who hates books and switch his curriculum to one totally based on books and he thrives!!! GO FIGURE! He hates baby books though and so he is enjoying the REAL stories we are reading. Whatever works! I love this curriculum too. I am adding the girls in it this year.

Time to check on the mail which Michael just picked up from the post office for me, and then hit the math books again!

My Brother In Law is Dead!

I cannot believe the news although I felt it yesterday when Derwin's middle brother called that something was wrong. I was sure it ws his mom or her husband, but no it was his youngest brother Greg and he is dead! Just like that. Fine one night and the next he had hung himself! The grief in my husband's voice and actions scared me so badly. I finally got him to call a friend to talk for a bit and that helped some I guess but it was a rough night. Greg was my friend too and I guess we knew each other for half of our lives cuz we are the same age. It was hard telling our children and the youngest had never seen him cuz he lived in BC and we live in MB, but Kyla-Dawn especially would have remembered him and she always called him her favorite uncle although she did not know him well because he was always nice to her. Now.... he is gone leaving behind two little kids the ages of two of my younger ones. I am sick and numb and mad and you name it. Doesnt matter though does it? Nothing will change what is done. You just have to pick up th epieces and go from there and hope it does not hurt forever.

I guess I am kinda down today. Kyla-Dawn and Derwin are working so I do not know how they are doing, but I am extremely worried about my husband who is alone where he is and hates his job after only 3 days. It is back breaking work and while we knew it would be rough on him till he started getting used to it and losing some weight, he is in so much pain and fell twice yesterday, once down stairs on the outside of the building four stories high. Apparently they have had tons of explosions there lately and where he has to be shovelling that junk, they had one the day before he started! I am praying he stays safe and that this job will soon be done. I do think after a week or two, he will start realizing he is losing weight and is stronger. But until then? OHHHHHH boy! Poor guy.

Well, I have tons to do and wanted to have some school today too as we school year round remember? Once that is done, and chores then the kids can go outside or something and I can get to all my OTHER work.

Day 3 and Hubby already detests his job!

Today hubby called me and he absolutely hates his new job. I feel bad for him, but God has him there for a reason and whatever that reason is, will be played out and he will be out of there. Until then, I guess we just endure whatever we have to because there is no other income without his job.

I am trying to stay in good spirits. The kids have needles this afternoon (all except Jenaya and Zachary) and so we will have to leave in a couple of hours for that. I typed out 20 missions today and divided them among the 5 oldest kids. So far, within an hour, I have received half of them back again done! Yes!!! They think it is a fun way to do their chores and this week is the Kitchen Zone on flylady so that is where most of them are taking place. Works for me!!!

I have managed to wash my mop of hair myself and it is drying slowly hanging down my back. Nice and cool though! Ember seems to be getting sick now like Zachary was on the weekend. Hopefully not the gasping part! That makes me think asthma like Derk and I both have.

Tonight, Josh is going driving in the city with his instructor. Kyla-Dawn is being trained to waitress instead of wash dishes at the local Chinese resturant and I imagine Michael will want to go hang out with Levi, so guess Derk and I are staying home for the evening. Good thing cuz the car is on E and we do not have a gas card from his job anymore either.

I am trying to keep on trusting God and believing that he has us in the palm of his hand. I know that whatever goes on in the next year, we will survive and come out happier and better off having followed God's leading in our lives. I realize the disappointments and discouragement will come again, and that somedays my posts will not be uplifting and more of a whine lol, but maybe when I come back and reread this one, it will remind me of God's promises and the wonderful friends he has put in our lives when we are discouraged.

More Random Thoughts

Well here we go again, another adventure as if we have not had enough in our lives! This time, hubby has a job he does not really like but I think it will be good for him weight-loss wise anyway. He was not so thrilled to hear that one lol. I just know that he is way to busy to lose the extra pounds put on over the years due to his sleep apnea and other things. Hopefully this will work. He said he felt like he had not had to work that hard in years and he has worked hard at his last job, so here goes right?

Me? Well, I have been struggling with some issues from my past. It is time to bring them into the forefront and deal with things so that is kind of scary. I also am dreading starting to work on this house again. It just seems like we get the last mess cleaned up and the room or rooms functional again then we need to work hard at something else. It is really hard too when you never have any time off to DO anything. Derk's old job never let him have any time off unless he had a replacement which we could not just find all the time. Last summer was awesome because our friend took the route for a week while we went to a bible camp in Alberta. We had not had a real vacation like that for 3 years. This summer, because of Derk having to change jobs, we took last week off between the two ending and beginning and went to our church camp here in town. Everyone else comes here, stays in motels with maid service, but we do not get that luxury or that expense because we live here. So the good and the bad points kind of cancel each other out!

Next year, Derk will get a regular vacation. He also will be paid for holidays off too! He was not paid for regular holidays off at the last job so this will help.

We are trying to decide next year and what we will do in other areas of our lives. I want to get this house finished so we can sell it and get a bigger home!

We school year round now, because we find it works better to keep the kids focused and disciplined. Not as hard in the summer months of course, but still some structure to prevent the MOMMMMMM I am BOORED thing from happening.

Lately I have so many things to do, but just feel like writing and writing some more. How come it is, you always want to do what you do not have time for? Derk has been begging me for years to take an hour a day at least and try but i always put it off. Maybe I will listen to him and start. After all, that was how I studied my Royal Conservatory piano and theory having gone back to lessons at 26!! Playing by ear since age 10 in church was great, but I wanted more. Now, I quit last year because of my arms again and some other issues, and was at grade 9 level. There are only 10 grades and it is too bad I had to stop, but I did not have the 4-5 hours of practice time needed per day to be good at it and I really do not use it outside of lessons anyway. It is classical and I love playing more southern gospel/blues music anyhoo.

Well.... we all slept in today except Derk who had to work and left me a cute little note telling me he loved me and to have a good day so I am going to try! hee hee.

I need to get these kids moving though or nothing will get done.

Random thoughts

Wow what an excellent week we had for camp. Sun sun sun and no rain in sight the entire week. Sure do wish it was that way this week! It is raining here today, inside as well as outside! Who knew our shingles have gone missing off our bathroom roof!!!!! Our house is a 13/4 story and the bathroom is called a loft according the the appraisal we had done. It is one of those things that sticks out the side of the house like an extra box added on afterwards. We have to step up to get into it as well which can be really annoying when you are 9 months pregnant and have just climbed all 16 stairs (no landing) to get there and find one more step to kill your back and knees. NO I am not pregnant! I was refering to Zachary although.... the rumor flying around camp was that I am hee hee. Ahhhhhh I love rumors. Actually, though, we are planning on more. Since I was healed of my disease (being allergic to hubbykins in layman's terms, pemphigis in med terminology.) after baby #3, we had to try again right? How else would I know if I was really healed or not? Well it worked, I am still alive, baby was fine and we tried again and well.... we now are letting the Lord plan our family size. Sorry if that offends your beliefs, I am not trying to make anybody who does not believe the same way as we do, feel bad, but we feel this way and it really has nothing to do with our religion, but our personal convictions.

Anyway, off the soap box for now and back to normal life which for today means, hubby is gone to his new job where he cannot receive personal calls. I am used to checking in on him all day long due to his life-threatening sleep apnea and so I am feeling quite alone and the whole day has been wierd. I know he is not looking forward to this job, but I am. The fear I felt on a daily basis for him being on the highways with his sleeping at the wheel and the accidents etc, is gone today and once I get used to not being able to talk to him as often, I will be just fine. I also prayed his next job would be more physical as his weight gain is caused by the sleep apnea and also by his desk jobs as graphic artist and IT Tech before the courier job that had him sitting and driving over 600 km per day.

So bins on the bathroom floor are catching the drips, one could take a shower while using the facilities if you took the soap with ya! GRRRR

Zachary is doing much better today after his cold that turned into what I think may have been an asthma attack. Having it myself, I did for him what I would do for myself if I did not want my meds and it helped him. I sure hope he does not have it though! He is not his usual sunny self though and has cried alot today. Poor little dude!

Ember had a wood tick on her yesterday. I was really proud of myself for not freaking out! Maybe I am finally getting over that fear too!

Joshua's garden is coming along and right now he is cooking a special supper for his dad's first day of work. Hard to believe he will be 16 next month!

Kyla-Dawn will be 18 on the 27th, Jenaya 7 on the 19th and I will be 42 on the 20th. How time flies!

The twins are ready for kindergarten now so the pre-school screening said. They call it HIGH school though and said they wanted it right then! Of course we homeschool, but I am not quite THAT ready to start schooling them too! I bet Zachary will learn right along with them because he is really smart and extremely mature for his age.

Michael wants me to teach him piano again. He took a bit with an outside teacher while I was pregnant with the twinners, but never showed any more interest. I guess it is time to get back in the saddle there too! He is 13 and still remembers what he learned way back then!

Larissa 10 is starting to mature somewhat if the other older ones are not around. Mostly, she is still a kid who wants to play play play.

Jenaya is mature and very blunt. She just comes out there with whatever she wants to tell you and woe unto you if it is not what you wanted to hear lol.

Derwin and I have been married almost 19 years! It is hard to believe it has been that long! Seems like yesterday in a way. I always told everyone if we made it to 10 we would stay married cuz of friends and family who did not make the 10 yr mark. Guess I was right eh?

Wow am I in a writing mood today! Must be the weather!!

This year at camp, there were a lot of emotional/spiritual changes in my life and although they are not finished yet, God has really been doing things with me, all for the better of course! I am hoping also with some of the kids.

Levi from our youth, received the holyghost too the last night of camp. That was really exciting!
I am still dreaming and praying for my HOUSE. The one I want and am claiming by faith. It is impossible to get that right now, unless God intervenes so we shall see. If it is the one for us, it will happen right?

Well time to get to work on my accounting course and see what the kids are up to again. Hopefully those rooms are finished being cleaned or there will be some pretty unhappy kids when they find out no outside later!!! OOOOOOH mom is being SOOOO mean hee hee.

Larissa is 10!!

Wow does time fly or what? Hard to believe everything that has gone on in our lives since that evening 10 years ago, when Larissa Amber-Skye came into the world at 6:18 pm! How she has changed us. She is a tiny version of Derwin's daughter Jade who had left us to return to her mother just prior to us finding out Larissa was coming along.

Today, Larissa turns 10 and is a cheerful energetic child who is in grade 4 and is homeschooled. She is smart and cute and pixie-like most of the time although that ol temper is there too!

In OUR lives lately? Well we had a boarder for almost 3 months who thankfully has moved out again last week giving us back our home and much needed peace. Anyone who has a family as large as we do, should never accept a boarder because it turns your world upside down especially a homeschooling family.

This weekend, we tore apart the pink room upstairs, celebreated Larissa's birthday and we still have walls and ceilings to tear down and haul to the curb in order to get it all hauled away for spring clean-up around here.

Derk and I are in the process of some family changes around our home. We have seen somethings that we want to change in the way our home is run, having our boarder has helped us to see even more things that we did not like going on here, and so we are endeavoring to change things. Now that Derk is home early each day, we can resume some things that we had to shelve before due to him being gone so long. Our supper hour is one thing that is changing, to an earlier hour. Bedtimes, chores, just everything really is getting an evaluation and an overhaul. Running a family our size is hard work and it usually falls on mom. Dad now, is going to be more involved and I cannot wait!

Well my time on here is up. Josh is in from his gardening and doing another online learners test to practice for his real one tomorrow. He is getting 17/20 so far... but has 35 questions to do.
Michael has disappeared again, probably reading on his bed again, and the girls have finished their chores so I need to assign more things for them to do. That is... if they ever want to get outside today lol.

Spring is here .... finally!!

Wow it has been forever since I have updated things on here. Time has just simply flown by and with a family of 10, and a boarder, things get pretty hectic around here!

Kyla-Dawn got her license finally after 5 tries (due to her amblyopia and depth perception issues) on the 16th of April and oh my that was cause for rejoicing around this place! She also graduated on April 5th, our first child to be homeschooled start to finish and I must say she turned out rather well. I am SO proud of her! AND ME TOO hee hee!!! So much for my mother's "you never finish anything you start" mantra I heard all too often in my life. I've finished THIS one!

Joshua starts driver's ed tonight at 6pm and at 8pm his dad and I need to go over there and get the spiel they give to parents now that the program has changed. Yipee!!

Today I got Derk's waistband on his pants sewed. Took me 45 minutes instead of the 5 or 10 it should have but the kids had tinkered with my machine, removed all the bobbin thread and lost the spool of thread on top too so I had to hunt all that down and well.... remember we are under renovations around here soooooo.....

When I came home from Ladies' Retreat on Saturday, I had three walls of a new bedroom in my old dining room to sleep in. My old bedroom is now the new dining room and has been opened up so it's all open from kitchen to living room. I am going to love it when it is finally done. Gives a large family much more room to eat in, two tables and all, and also it will be better when we put it on the market because some other woman will appreciate the fact that the dining room is BY the kitchen not across the doorway and stairs as it was before!

I have my piano in the dining room now and it looks nice there. Gives our smaller living room more room to have the piano out of there. Derk keeps asking me if I want to sell it but its about 80 yrs old now and I do not want to sell.

My Roland RD500 is at the church and is on it's last legs I think. The keys are all breaking on me these days. Used to be just one at a time but now, we had 3 go within a few days time!!! It is 14 yrs old now I think and needs replacing.

Jenaya threw up again this morning but other than that, it looks like we are all finally on the mend. The fevers are down and attitudes are improving once more. THANK GOODNESS!

We had special services a week ago with the Wards from Fort Frances and wow were they excellent! Then this past weekend was Ladies' Retreat. I did not realize how exhausted I really was. I spent the entire weekend laughing my fool head off something I do not do very often...and had a ball!

Now I am back in the saddle so to speak and getting things worked out or ON... for the spring and summer in our church, home, and our schoolroom.

Zachary is "WORKING" on mama's piano at the moment by lifting the front up and twanging the strings. He loves to play but is only 2 and a half right now.

Well Derk is home so I had better scoot and check on my supper. Ummmm Fluffy rice and chicken!!

Friday's Here again... Still Cold

It's been a long and yet extremely short week this time around. Long because of the freezing weather, sick little Zachary and the van issues. Right now, I'm sitting here at my almost completely cleaned, rearranged living room and computer room and the laundry is almost done. Josh has cleaned the kitchen, and working on the back hall which seems to get messy faster than any other room even though all that's back there is the door and laundry go figure! My room's all neat and tidy and the kids' rooms are almost done too. Too bad it couldn't stay this neat and tidy all weekend but somehow getting ready for Sunday seems to make things haywire around this place and then Monday we have tons of work to do.

I'm listening to Focus on the Family with Kevin Leaman and it's really great! Good parenting pep talk lol.

On Tuesday I wrote out my prayer on paper. I was desperate. Then the very next day, we started getting answers to our prayers from the night before.

I need to do year end and book keeping work this weekend, plus we are having friends over so there's tons of things to do.

Life is changing for me. I'm not sure where it will go right now, but I have a job interview next Wednesday for a secretarial job and have also applied for an accounting job as well. It looks like Derk is going to have to take time off. Everything from his vehicle problems to health issues is saying loud and clear that we are going to switch roles and we have done this very rarely in our 18 years of marriage and only when it has become necessary for us to switch roles. One thing, we agree on, is that one of us needs to be home if the other is not going to be for awhile. At least this time, we have older kids as well as the little ones and that helps us out so much.

Church is going well and is growing. It's so exciting! Life is on the move one way or the other... lol

Wacky Wednesday's wacky tales

Well here it is, another Wednesday and it's just as wacky as ever! First Michael went to the store without taking out the garbage and they just came. Josh and Larissa raced it and got everything out in the nick of time.

Our pipes froze three days ago and burst in one spot and so this morning's school is how to fix the pipes again. My boys are pretty smart and have had to do this before so hopefully they can do it once more!

I'm trying to get this show on the road, but Zachary is sick with a fever and so it's making him want to cling to mommy which is normally fine, but today, I need to get so much done! sigh...

Tomorrow is biblestudy and tonight is free so I wanted to get going with all my year end things and get some of this stuff finished with and off my back. Guess not... unless he will nap later. He's just sick enough to want to snuggle and be a bit demanding and it'd be wonderful to just enjoy some time with him. He's growing soooo fast! Hard to believe he's barely two when he acts and talks as mature and sometimes more so than his 4 yr old sisters!

Right now, he's demanding "MOM! Make a game!" wanting me to play Luxor again because that's what I did last night when he was sicker and everyone was gone to prayer without us. He just laid there and enjoyed watching me play my game.

Well Michael has just showed up with my stuff, put orange garbage bags on over his shoes and up his legs held in place with many elastics. He looks funny but it should work. It's wet and dirty down there so this should protect his shoes and clothes at least.

I'm a Fly Baby again...

It's been awhile since I've felt the need for the regular emails of Flylady in my life, but lately with all the crazy happenings around here, I think it's time again. I signed up yesterday. I also managed to get school done, laundry done and put away to the tune of 8 loads of it, and kept my bedroom absolutely spotless despite the laundry going in there, and schooling the boys in there later on because we were doing school later and hubby was home earlier which meant he needed the puter in the living room.

It worked. It's really nice to have the boys, especially Josh begging me to read more. Josh is starting his second book today. He finally got through the first and this one is shorter so I'm hoping it will boost his confidence to finish it faster.

Derwin is at work, I've driven KD to work and she's finished and home already! Michael has gone for the mail and Josh is cleaning after starting bread and getting the littles their cereal this morning. I've had my morning coffee and the second load of laundry is in the washer, one is in the dryer and one folded waiting to be taken to the proper places. not bad since I woke up late at 8:09 to KD telling me she had to work, and it's only 10:22 now.

Our van situation is that the mechanics are supposed to change the entire drive train as well as the motor. Derk assures me that this okay, but it freaks me out and I see dollars floating out the windows!

Tomorrow my kids are supposed to go snowboarding for the first time and that also is scaring me to death, but I'm praying all will go well and Josh won't break his arms again!

It's time for school and chores and all that wonderful stuff so I'd better get off of here and get moving. I don't want to lose my momentum today. Maybe I can scrapbook tonight after youth is over. Probably will be too tired lol.

Back To School

Well today we start back at it hard here in our homeschool. Yesterday, I still wasn't feeling that great and our house looked like a cyclone had swept through it after trying to get everyone out the door an hour earlier than normal on Sunday so we could take Morden's service. Now even at church, we're back to normal as well and that too will be a relief. No more Christmas Concert practicing or baking or shopping for awhile lol. At least our concert turned out well!

The Lock-in on Friday night was great. I did really well and was numbered as part of a team so had to participate lol. We made a human snowman, sang Joy To The World, to the tune of Silent Night in OPERA! We did other things too but those two were the most fun I think.

We left at 5, two hours early because KD had to work. When I finally sat on my bed I realized how tired I was. I slept for 3.5 hours and then got up. I am not a person who can just sleep away the day no matter how sick I am usually. The only time I ever could do that, was after BOTT last year when we got home and I got deathly ill. So sick, Derk was thinking hospital but I pulled out of it. THANK GOD! Then I slept and slept and slept for a week practically.

Our kids have been sick on and off since CHristmas Eve and so that made our celebration a bit subdued at times, and we helped friends move, and did some unusual things for us to do during Christmas, but we had fun and that's more important than tradition! We even had to completely revamp our meal because of not having time to get the remainder of the groceries we needed and then discovering the stores closed early! sigh... that was a new one too!

Anyway, now that all the hoopla is over, the house is reasonably tidy and I am feeling better and more clear headed, it's time for year end books and getting back to school around here so I'll just be busy in a different way.

Church is doing well, our people are excited for Jesus and they show it. That's what we love to see. One lady in our church brought me a bread maker yesterday and it didn't have a manual or anything so Josh expirimented with it and made bread which I'm eating this morning! YEAH!

My hubby knowing I'd had a really rough weekend, brought me home a book, scrapbook so I can start one for the church, kitkat bar, and 14 ivory roses! That's almost one for every year of our 18 years of marriage lol. I carried ivory roses on a bible on our wedding day and so these are pretty special to me. Besides, being one of my favorite flowers but ones that are expensive and die easily, we'd made a decision somewhere along the way that he ususally wouldn't buy me roses but more often than not, I'd get carnations or daisies. It doesn't matter what he buys me... I love em all.

Well, our start will be later this morning than I would normally like, but I've done my sit-ups already, checked facebook, email and have updated my blog. My room is tidy, I've "smelled the roses" and now I will be working on our schedule to get the bugs out of it and perfect it some more.

Time to get crackin! Maybe I can do a second page in my scrapbook today too! (Maybe some of MY accounting course as well)

ttyl

My PDA should arrive today!!!

Well it's been a tough few days, but so far anyway, nobody is barfing this morning although it's freezing upstairs. We've got to put plastic on the windows in the kids' rooms where we put in the new windows because we didn't get it insulated and finished off before the cold weather hit sigh... always SO much to do and sure as shooting, we just get going on a project and there's a rally somewhere that we really needed to be at. We've just had to up and miss parts or sometimes the whole thing sometimes but we don't like to be doing that. We enjoy them so much.

I'm glad Christmas is over and done with. I thought there for awhile I wasn't going to survive it with everything else going on, but we did. Now, we've got one more service to take for our friends and then I guess life will sort of go back to hum drum for a bit and good thing too lol!

I'm not starting the kids in school again till next week because they've been sick anyway and we have a bunch of catch up on laundry and housecleaning that was ruined with a bunch of kids who couldn't do their chores or were sick everywhere sigh... that's the part I hate about sick kids!

Derk's driving his friend's van still and the heater went in it yesterday so he froze. Today's warmer and so not as bad but still it's not pleasant. At least he only has 20 stops and not much driving today.

I guess I need to go to the bank yet today. I had to put it off until the new year because one of our cheques wasn't dated till then so now I HAVE to go.

Tomorrow night's the lock in which I am relieved has more things in it than the skating I was told about. Funny how people don't give you the entire information you ask for isn't it? Anyway, I did get it last night and that looks much better. We are going till about midnight and then coming home because KD has to work in the morning. Or at least is on call. Soooooooo not good to stay up all night.

Well I'd better get cracking here and get some of MY work done. It's funny how every time I get all ready to get moving, something crops up and I can't get started sigh...

New Year... New Friends...

We spent New Year's Eve helping some friends move into their new home and enjoying a fun filled hilarious evening. Then we came home to find we had some sickies for children waiting. It went from there to more sickies on New Year's Day and today Josh and I aren't feeling so hot nor is Kyla-Dawn. I dunno....hope this clears out FAST! It's like a 24 hour thing I think.

Today the dumb snow plows came and plowed me in so badly (well not my van cuz I'd moved it, but my walk way) that Michael had to come shovel me out. It was about three feet high or more. Should take pics. After we'd kicked and shovelled through mostly enough so we could get me into the yard, and I'd fallen getting one bare hand in the freezing cold snow.... THEN they came and cleared it out once we'd gone inside. They are the worst in snow removal around this place than anywhere else I've ever lived and we don't have a driveway cuz the former owners filled it in with grass so it's absolutely miserable for us all winter. I honestly wake up in terror in the middle of the night thinking they're coming to plow me in because they will right up the exhaust pipes and they are protected by the by-law too! sigh.... Anyway, at least it's cleared out for Derk when he gets home later. Everyone else isn't as bad because of their driveway which the plows respect and clear but we of course don't have that option!

I'm not liking 2008 so much so far...sickness, cold and snow and hefty bills for driver's licenses because of Derk's accident.... so I sure hope things change asap!