Finding the Right Books

My Mom was/is a huge reader. She was always reading to us, sharing her love of books with us. When we would take trips, she would have books about the areas we were visiting and read them to us while we were driving there (no TVs while we were traveling). During the summer months we were all expected to read at least 30min a day. I remember hating it. I am sure my Mom remembers the struggle it was to get me to read.

Then I remember going to the Library and my Mom asking me what I wanted to read. What books were interesting to me. I started with stories about horses. My Friend Flicka was one of my favorite books to read and it just grew from there. My love of reading began.

Here is the next generation of book readers. Again, my Mom (who takes my kids to the Library every week) asks Micah what books he would like to read. He picks out Star Wars and his love of books has begun. He has been reading every night before he goes to sleep and he has been taking the books downstairs to read during the day as well. He has a goal to read all four Star Wars books before Library day. He even keeps a bookmark in his book to mark his place.

I am so excited that he is discovering the joy of reading!

Blessings!!

Rustic Garden

Thought I would share with you my very first garden. I fought hard for this garden. First, we "didn't have any room" for a garden (even though we have a huge yard). Second, I wasn't going to get any help building a garden. Third, I wasn't going to get any help maintaining a garden. Basically, the garden was my idea, and as such it was completely my responsibility. OK, I can deal with that, but every suggested "place" for my garden was shot down by the head commander. FINALLY, we agreed on a place for it...I got right to work.

I am doing a Lasagna garden. Basically, I make a bunch of organic layers that I plant my seeds/plants in. You layer wet newspaper on your grass and then start building your garden on top of the newspaper. As I was building my layers, I needed a way to contain all my "organic matter" so I used what I had on hand and didn't have to do any "building" with. Firewood has become the framework to my garden.

I have walkways between my planting beds that are made out of mulch. Kind of rustic looking, but I really kind of like it.

I have planted carrots, radish, spinach, cucumber (few types), green beans, tomatoes, musk melon, and zucchini (I think that is it). In between some of my plants I also planted marigolds. Those help keep some "predators" away. Our family is not a huge tomato eater. As a matter of fact, we don't eat any plain tomatoes. So why am I planting tomatoes? I hope to make my own tomato sauce (and can it), tomato paste, salsa and any other form of tomato somethings I feel like making. So if you have any good tomato sauce recipes let me know, I would love to try them out!

Last but not least, a picture of my cilantro. Tim has hooked me on this stuff, so I decided to grow it. That way I have it on hand to use at my whim. I have been throwing it into all kinds of stuff.

So there you have it. My beautiful rustic garden, that I am proud of. It was a lot of hard work, but I think it will be so exciting when I can feed my family fresh veggies that I have grown.

Blessings!

Color My World

On a day that I saw mostly white dust, I thought it would be great to look at pictures of my beauties painting their masterpieces. Today was the final day of drywall and for those of you who know...it's the dirtiest day. If I could have covered EVERYTHING in plastic, I would have. I did take a picture of what my living room looked like, I will have to share it with you when I get it uploaded. After the "guys" left I spent the rest of the day and evening cleaning up the mess. I am so excited that this stage is done and we can move on to less dirty changes.

On a different note. We received a call from our Insurance Company that our trailer will NOT be covered by our policy. I don't want to go into all the details. But it is really absurd for the Insurance adjuster to say that he was shocked to see how great of condition our trailer was in...and how clean it was and then to say that our Insurance Claim would not be covered due to "Lack of Maintenance". As my Friend would say..."ARE YOU KIDDING ME??"

I took the call from the Insurance Company...called Kevin all upset...Kevin tells me "don't give up yet, I am on my way home and I will call our agent". (hearing the beating of the horse hoofs pounding on the road as my knight comes racing home to save the day.....) 20 minutes and a phone call to our agent later (who also happens to be "family"), we are hopefully a step closer to getting our trailer fixed. Our agent, said he would call the Service Dept Manager (who was with the Insurance Adjuster when he said our trailer was in such good condition) and the Insurance Adjuster..and call us back tomorrow. Kevin let him know that the outcome as it stands today is NOT OK with us.

Our neighbor who is an agent for another insurance company walked through our trailer and told Kev that her company would cover it....Hmmmm, we will see tomorrow what happens. I will keep you updated.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have some good news to share.

Blessings!

Trailer

When my parents had the kids camping, they notice a small puddle on the floor in the bunk house (room in the back of trailer where the kids bunks are). We thought the window is leaking.

On Saturday, my Dad and I removed the window and found out the inside of the wall was soaked. Then on Monday, Kevin started to take the wall out and discovered the whole wall was only being held together with the wall paper that was on the wall and there was black mold everywhere. The water had been there awhile.

Tues, Kevin decided to see how far it went....well we haven't found the end of it. It is all the way into the main part of the coach above the slider. We stopped looking. We called the dealership and they told us to call our Insurance company. Hopefully, insurance will see that this leak isn't caused by lack of maintenance...then they will cover this.

Some quick facts.
Our trailer is 4 years old
We bought it new (so we know that we have taken care of it)
The manufacturer went bankrupt last year (yeah, nice...)

I haven't taken any pictures, I am not sure yet if I want to remember this. If I do (which will probably happen), I will share them with you. But as of right now....the inside of my trailer is down to the studs (thankfully they are aluminum) and the "wood" that is the on the outside of the studs, that the fiberglass is glued too, is all black with mold.

So there you have it. My summer home is not livable and I have camping scheduled for next week. This really stinks!

Missing in the Mess

It's been a week since I last blog (sorry Aunt Carol). It has been crazy busy around here, and it's only going to get worse, before it gets better.



To start with, our remodel is in full swing. Kevin finished framing in all the new walls and getting all the electrical stuff done. Then the drywallers came to hang the board and this week we will be in the finishing stages of drywall. It is a dusty mess over here. Plus, Kev had to remove my "home base" cabinetry for the drywall to be done, so I living on the fly right now.
TV wall...before and after..
My home base is the place that I work from all day, it is where my phone is and calender, also anything that needs to get done that day usually sits on the counter staring at me until I get it done. I am truly at a loss without this work area and can't wait until I get my "spot" back.


Since I have drywall being done, cabinets being removed, cabinets being installed and everything in between, my kitchen is a disaster. I know that I only have to live through this for a short time, but it is killing me. Kevin and all his neat-nick ways must have rubbed off on me in the last 12 years, because I am having a harder time with all the chaos than he is.


Case in point...I took two pictures of my kitchen the other night to prove to you all the mess that I am dealing with right now. It was actually Kevin's idea to take the pictures. He said some people would not believe the mess we had. The next picture is of the kitchen counter. The backpack is FULL of books from the homeschooling used book sale, all the books are STILL in the bag, just relocated to the basement. I figure I will have to go through and log them when my house isn't so crazy.

Here is the biggy, this in my table....the horror of posting this picture, you all realize this is a humbling experience for me.....here is goes.....**GASP** I know this in NOT like me (or Kevin), one of the cabinets Kev removed held all my pots and pans and Tupperware stuff. Hence why it is all on my table.

One of the changes we are making is closing the opening between the kitchen and living room, slightly. Like 6in. BUT we are making the opening an arch instead of the boring old box. Yes, we are trying to add character too our home (although, Tyler adds enough character for 10 homes). The next picture shows the arch before drywall.

On the corners of the arch, we are doing a "bull nose" application, I will have to show you pictures (except I haven't taken any yet), it is too hard to explain. It looks so cool though!! Anyway, we had to cut the drywall and wood to get the arch ready for the bull nose stuff. The next two pictures are of Kevin cutting and I (of course) desperately trying to vacuum up as much of the mess as possible.Notice the very hip eye protection. I was getting pelted with all kinds of messy stuff and it was getting into my eyes, so I grabbed the first thing I could think of to keep my eyes safe. Nerf eyeglasses. Yes, these are what my boys wear when they are in a Nerf battle with their guns. I look great though, don't I?? Yeah, right, it was quite a messy deal. But thanks to my father-in-law who was watching the fiasco, you get to see these pictures of me at my best.

This is just half of our crazy past few days. The other half, I almost don't even want to write about, it makes my stomach sick just thinking about it. But this posting is long enough, I will write part 2 tomorrow.

Caught Ya!

When your wife is a photographer and her camera is usually in hand, you would think that you would be used to the lens pointing your way. Not so with my Hubby. For some reason he tries to avoid me at all costs. I am not sure why, he is very handsome and photogenic.

While sitting and talking I tried to take a picture of Kev and this is what I got....

Nice one Honey....use the cup to avoid me...So what did I do??? I lowered my camera and shot from the hip, he didn't know what I was doing until the last picture...hehe

See Honey...You look good!!

Blessings!!

Weekend Fun Part 2

Swing Jumping Contest....

Aunt Melissa was swinging with the kids and she decided to show Micah how to jump from the swing. You decide who executed the jump the best.



The Jump.......





The Landing........

Then came the double swinging with Jillian........More pictures to come

Blessings!!

Weekend Fun.

Continuing on with our weekend....Saturday night we had an awesome time at a Whitecaps game with Aunt Kerri, Poppop, and Ama.

Aunt Kerri received tickets from work which included all you could eat dinner. It was so fun to watch a real baseball team play. You can bet that I was saying things like.. "Micah, do you see how these guys stand when the pitcher is pitching the ball?" "Micah, did you see the outfielder catch that ball?" "Micah, did you notice that these men AREN'T PLAYING IN THE SAND AND THROWING ROCKS??" After the game we watched fireworks. It was really a special night. Aunt Kerri and Ama took lots of pictures, but I didn't bring my camera **gasp**I know, it's just that even my "small" camera is big and there are times that I just don't want to lug it around all night.

Sunday my family got together to spend sometime with my brother and his wife Melissa while they were in town.

Tim came over early to help get things ready (prepare all the food, cuz he is SOOOO good at that and actually LIKES to do it). Side note, all our food was grilled (chicken, asparagus, and corn on the cob) Kevin grilled it all!! Should have gotten a picture of that!

Of course Paul and Nadia's little boy was just screaming at me to take his picture, and I of course obliged...Aunt Laurie was swinging him to sleep. It was his first time on a swing and he seemed to love it.After Donal fell asleep, Uncle Timmy took over..so of course I took more pictures.

Love sleeping baby pictures. Especially of my nephew.

More pictures coming of our picnic...

Blessings!

One More Time

I promise that I will get back to happy things after this post (mainly because Micah doesn't have another game until next week).



Pathetic is the word for the game tonight. Our team looked ridiculous. The other team....was awesome. The kids listened to their coach, paid attention when in the field and when at bat, they all sat on the bench.



So I know that you are all wondering how I did tonight... I tried as hard as I could to keep my mouth shut...I think I lasted 2 innings. I didn't yell at the kids out in the field...I went to the bench and started telling kids to sit down and be quiet. I had to tell kids to stop hitting each other (hard, causing tears sometimes) I told kids to stop climbing on the fence, I told kids to stop filling their hats with dirt and keep to it on their heads. I suggested to the coach to put them in batting order, so that the kids know when they are going to bat...that seemed to help some. But as soon as I walked away the kids were all over the place again.



I am at the point of writing a email to the coach and offering my services as a bench manager, letting him know that we can not keep playing games looking like idiots and if someone organized the team and kept them under control, we might play a more efficient game. I seriously don't care about winning or runs. We don't even keep score in this league, but I do care about playing a good game. One that you can be proud of. I have yet to see a game that this team could be proud of. There as been moments of greatness...but they have been few and far between. I am however very proud of Micah and how he plays.

So that is it, I am done with my griping, I will let this issue rest for a few days.....probably until the next game:-) I will get onto my happy blogs posted with pictures of smiling faces. Mrs Grumpy Pants will go away...at least for a little while...


....Jen, I guess I still am "one of those parents", it's in my blood, nothing I can do about it. I care too much for my son to sit and watch the folly that happens game after game.

Blessing!!

Quick Therapy

I am taking a momentary break from blogging about my weekend...to have a therapy session here on my blog. It is free and completely able to handle my furry.

So tonight was another of Micah's baseball games. It is so frustrating to watch a group of boys totally disrespect adult authority. It is frustrating that my son has to be on a team of misfit boys who don't care and who's parents don't care. It is frustrating that Kevin and I seem to be the only parents who CARE that their son learns how to play the game of baseball. I hate hearing "they are only 7/8yr olds". That is a line of bull (I know my words are getting a bit strong). If my son can play Chess and know what each player does and how they move and can play the game so well that he can beat Kevin...then he can learn how to play each position in baseball. Children learn more than what you think they can.

Let me give you a picture of what a game looks like.....

You have 5 boys in the outfield. 3 of the 5 are sitting down playing in the dirt and throwing stones. The "pitcher" (the coach is the one who actually pitches the ball) is standing with his back to the batter talking to the second base player about the dirt. When the ball is hit...it is a grounder that goes right passed the said pitcher (with his back towards the batter), flies by second base because he is too busy talking to the pitcher, into right center field by one of the sitting outfielders. You have the right fielder, left center and shortstop all to the ball before the right center fielder stands up to try and get the ball. Then you have four boys (one of whom is holding the ball) stand there looking at each other wondering what they were going to do with this little white circular thing that we call a BALL.

It was after that play that I decided that if the coach wasn't going to get on these kids then I was. I walked myself out into the outfield and positioned myself between the two worst offenders (one of them being one of the coaches sons). Yes, I believe that I mentioned in my last post that I was "one of those parents". I will not deny it. I am sure that the other parents dislike me strongly. I am sure the coaches even shutter when they see me coming. I even tried to have a conversation with one of the coaches tonight about the boys sitting on the bench when it is our turn to bat, instead of throwing dirt, climbing the fence, wrestling, dumping dirt in other boys water bottles. The coach did not say one word to me...he looked at his very important clipboard told one of the kids to put on a helmet and walked away. Did I say I was FRUSTRATED!!

When I was out in the outfield, I told "O" (the coaches son) to stop throwing rocks at people and pay attention. He looked at me picked up another rock and threw it further out into the outfield. I said "I told you to stop throwing rocks, you are going to hurt someone". He said "no I'm not, I threw it back there". HELLO can you say disrespectful. If my son EVER said that to an adult.....

Here is my opinion.....

Most of the boys are allowed to be completely disrespectful at home, therefore they don't respect other adults. The parents just don't care. It is not their job to teach their boys how to play, it is the coaches job and therefore, adopt the attitude of "it's not my problem my child is sitting down and not paying attention, it's the coaches problem". The parents also think that the children can't comprehend the WHOLE game of baseball, therefore don't overload them with information about the game. Let them continue to think that every ball they field needs to get thrown to first base...even though they are the third baseman and there is a runner running to their base.

OH, I could go on and on...I would love to take Micah off the team and be done with all this frustration. But is that fair to him?? Is that what I want to teach him...when the going gets tough, move on?? I am sure his future wife would not appreciate that. So what do you do? He has another game tomorrow and I am going to take another approach. I am going to sit in my chair and keep my mouth shut. I am going to encourage my son, I am going to "coach" him and let him know what each position he plays does. Heck, I might even be out on that field and shadow him as he plays, instructing him in the game of baseball...since his coaches aren't doing it. But then I guess I won't be sitting in my chair then will I... Anyway, I am going to let all the other kids look like the misfit boys they are. Our team looks like a bunch of monkey's compared to the other teams.

I just feel so sorry for Micah, he deserves a better team than this. He is a hardworking respectful little boy who wants to do his best...and this team just doesn't allow him to do his best.