As many will recall Wayne is a bus driver for the St. Anne's Catholic School, since school is set to begin a week earlier than usual his bus came back earlier too. Just in the nick of time too, he ended up calling the Clinton office as the bus still hadn't arrived by 2:00 pm today and school is scheduled to begin tomorrow. whew!
This is my first year in ..... um... 17 years (i think) that I will have no-one riding the bus to school. The first day of school will be quite different at our house with only Wayne heading back to school with his bus.
ok, here it is.......I LOVE to read! One of my favourite websites is Huron County Library a place where I can peruse the new books by my favourite author(s), find out about new authors and with a membership I can reserve those books that catch my attention. I'm notorious for judging a book by it's cover or title. gasp!
I've found many new authors whom I love to read, James Patterson, Julia Widdows, Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown, Kristin Hannah, Nicholas Sparks to name only a few. On days like today I find myself curled up under a blanket, with a cup of tea ~ reading. I know I should probably be cleaning, or doing laundry, getting caught up with my bookwork, even baking, but no, I find myself lost in another world with reading. I find that I get totally absorbed with the storyline, falling in love with the characters and all their quirks, in fact at the end of one such book, I was in tears when the main character died. >.<
Usually I'll have two or three books on the go, quite often in different genres since my mood usually determine what I want to read. I read alot of fiction, but I try to toss in a few biographies, some non-fiction and even some self help books.
Currently I'm reading 'Angels & Demons' by Dan Brown, 'Gone Tomorrow' by Lee Child, and my non-fiction read is 'Be Happy without Being Perfect' (how appropriate) by Alice Domar. Don't worry though, I am quite adept at keeping the story lines separate. In fact, I've amazed a few of my friends at my ability to remember and recount books that I've read over the many years.
We moved Krystle back to school today :( She is taking a module course this week, and they were gracious to let her move in a week earlier. Normally the RA's (Resident's Assistants) move in one week prior to orientation week to have their week of training.
It's always a bittersweet time for me. I'm excited for her and the new opportunites she'll have, but I'm sad for me as this is another step towards independance. You would think that I'd be used to this by now; after all, this is her 4th year at Heritage.
Each year, moving all her stuff gets a little easier and this year it was tremendously helpful that my dad was able to borrow a cube van from work making this move the easiest thus far. With Mom & Dad, Wayne, Gerard, Krystle & I, moving was done in record time and we even got most of it put away, helping to de-stress the rest of the week for Krystle.
We started to reflect that this will be her last time moving into dorm, her last year at school, even her last year at being single (Krystle & Gerard are getting married June 26, 2010). While I want to celebrate this 'last time' for too often we only celebrate and remember 'firsts', it does make me a little sad knowng this will be a season of 'lasts'.
In Eccleciastes 3:1 it says
What a great reminder! Even though there is times of sadness or hurt there is also time to laugh, dance & sing. God is so good!
Today was bring your daughter to work day at the office. Ironically these days happen on the most busiest of days ^.^ I am so thankful for Krystle's willingness to lend a hand today, as Fridays are always a busy day and today was even more so since we had a funeral at the church.
I am tremendously blessed to have her in my life. We have become such good friends in the last couple years. I always enjoy spending time together and even though her schedule is getting crazy busy she's still willing to make time for me. Whether it's spent sitting together at Starbucks, chatting on MSN, or a simple phone call asking me for advice, (see her blog - posted August 16) it's good to know that I'm needed. With her upbeat personality, her infectious laughter, and a little bit of silliness are just a few of the reasons that she is a joy to be around. *sigh*
Today Krystle decided that the 'man room' needed a makeover - it was needed too! This little front room of our house has probably been the most changed room. It started out (when Wayne & I were first married) as a spare bedroom that changed into a playroom for our growing family. As the kids got older and they required more personal space, it became Kyle's bedroom. A few years later Krystle & Kyle switched rooms and after Krystle left for college we made it into a den of sorts which has been named the 'man room'. The boys call it the man room for several reasons: the most common one is that they can leave it messy cause it's their room. >.< They even get a little frustrated with me when I start to clean it up.
Before she began:
This is after a day of cleaning and re-organizing.
I had been thinking of re-arranging the room and giving it a good cleaning, what a wonderful surprise to have her do it for me. luv 'ya Krys
We enjoyed probably one the best meals I have ever made. BBQ'd sausage, baked potatoes, stir-fry vegetable medley (green peppers, onions & banana peppers), corn on the cob, and tomatoes, which all but the meat, came directly from our garden. 'taters, peppers and maters oh my!
Our conversations are never dull at the table either. Those boys of mine come up with interesting thoughts, ideas, and quite often will say some random line from a movie.
Like tonight, Kyle says in a sing-song voice "we represent the lolly-pop guild" to which Darcy replies "if I represented the lolly-pop guild, there'd be some serious changes." ~ omigosh I laughed so hard
This then led into a discussion of the movie ~ The Wizard of OZ. We noted that the movie was made in 1939 and it was it black & white and in technicolour which for the time was quite an accomplishmemt. For a musical-fantasy film it captured the hearts of the young and the young at heart. As the story follows Dorothy living on a Kansas farm with her Aunt Uncle, she dreams of a better place "somewhere over the rainbow." She ends up in the colourful Land of OZ after being struck unconscious during a tornado. Once there she meets the Good Witch of the North, Glinda, who advises Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City and meet the Wizard of Oz, who can return her to Kansas. During her journey, she meets a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion, who join her, hoping too that the Wizard can give them what they need (a brain, a heart and courage). All of this is done while also trying to avoid the Wicked Witch of the West and her attempt to get her sister's ruby slippers from Dorothy, who received them from Glinda. I always wanted a pair of ruby slippers, I loved that they were sparkly and magical. (maybe that's where my shoe fetish comes from ^.^)
This movie is one of my all time favourites and I remember watching it annually on TV. Now though, I usually end up watching it alone since Krystle is away, Kyle is afraid of the munchkins, Darcy thinks musicals are senseless and Wayne just ends up falling asleep. I think I'll go get my own copy, then I won't have to wait until it's on TV to watch it again.
There's nothing quite like fresh produce and even better when you grow it yourself. Again this year Wayne & I planted a garden which has a nice variety, and we've finally been able to start eating those fresh veggies. mmhm, mhmm, good
Banana Peppers Strawberry Plants Butternut Squash Corn This video sure puts having a garden of your own into perspective.
Today my mom & I washed, cut-up, cooked, and strained about 5.5 bushels of Harvest Apples and turned them into some yummy applesauce. Looking at all those bushels of apples, the task ahead of us looked quite daunting. I'm so thankful that my mom was able to come and help me. It made it alot easier making applesauce with someone or I would probably still be at it. Plus it gave us a great opportunity to spend some time together catching up.
As a child we would visit my Schwartzentruber grandparents on their farm and I remember going into their dairy barn with my nose plugged closed so I would not have to smell that fresh "county" air. How ironic is it that I married a dairy farmer. You'll recall we lost our dairy barn in 1998 (see post 'Remembering ~ July 17, 2009) and decided that even though we couldn't milk cows we would continue on the farm and become a cash cropper. For those who are unfamiliar with 'farm-talk' that means we grow a variety of crops (corn, soy beans, wheat etc.) for cash.
Yesterday we've begun to take the wheat off and for some of it, it's being stored in our grain bin.
Farmer in the Dell The farmer in the dell, the farmer in the dell Hi-ho the dairy-o, the farmer in the dell. The farmer takes a wife, the farmer takes a wife Hi-ho the dairy-o, the farmer takes a wife.
One of the things I've learned during both planting and harvesting is that it's very important to stay out of the farmer's way during this time and just let him do his thing. It used to be a stressful time for me when the kids were younger, because Daddy was very busy and parenting our kids would become mostly my responsibilty. Now though it's much easier to cope with the long work days and the stress he faces relying on the weather for getting the crops off.
In Ecclesiastes 3:1 it reminds me There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: knowing this helps me to put the busyness into perpective and to know that this is not forever. I wonder..... shouldn't there be a support group for us. ^.^
