18 yrs Old

My marriage is 18 yrs old today. 18 yrs ago I was married on a stormy day in Newfoundland. I had to have the driveway shoveled out before we could go to the church and there is a picture of me with a pair of green rubber boots, and my white velvet dress and my red coat (which the mice have chewed holes in... it's out in the shed and yes I still have it) with a yellow snow plow in the background. Hubby and the best man shoveled the driveway while I hid in the house so that he wouldn't see me in my finery. The service was held at a chapel on campus where we had just finished our respective degrees. I did say obey.... though I don't always.

I can safely say that Hubby and I have had a good 18 yrs together. There have been ups and downs, but definitely more ups than downs. We're not as romantic as we used to be. He doesn't buy me flowers anymore (partially due to the fact that there is no florist in our town) and I don't always have supper waiting for him, but every now and again I will look across the room and catch him smiling as he watches me and I still think he has a cute toosh. : ) We still enjoy spending time with each other and sometimes find that the kids are a confining factor in our relationship. We've grown comfortable with each other and can predict (sometimes) what each other is going to say. Generally we are happy and that is a lot more than some can say after 18 months let alone 18 yrs.

It is funny how we mellow over the years. When I first met Hubby I felt like my whole world would fall apart if he wasn't with me. We pretty much would suck the life out of each other when we were together and then gasp for the air that we provided each other when we were apart. It is not a healthy way to live.... that kind of love has to mellow or you both just burn up in your own exhaust. I'm glad we've mellowed. I don't think I could still survive that kind of initial love, it would suffocate me I'm sure.

So here we sit... he reading, and me blogging in the quiet of the morning. Sharing a time to just be in the halo of each other's company. I just read this post to him and he snorted when I read him the bit about his toosh.... when I finished reading Hubby went back to reading his book and I went back to blogging. Later today we will go for a walk and probably hold hands if it is not too cold. I can't think of a better way to spend our anniversary. As long as we are together it doesn't matter what we are doing.

I'm glad I married him.

Sometimes!!! : )

A Quiet Christmas

Yesterday was a day of Harry Potter. Daughter#1 is a complete Harry Potter fan. She has read the books something like seven times, so Christmas morning when she opened the Harry Potter DVD set she was really excited. We promised her that Boxing Day would be a day to have a Harry Potter marathon. We waited for her to get up which didn't happen until 10:30 a.m. and we started in. Hubby can't do movies the way the rest of us can so we lost him from about 1:30 till 6 p.m. He went to haul hay for the sheep and the horse. But the Daughters and I sat and did Harry Potter movies all day. We never got to bed till 2 a.m. I'm Harry Pottered out. I even dreamed about Harry Potter.

I did, in between, make a pot of Cream of Turkey soup. It was delicious. Here's the recipe...

2-3 litres water in stock pot.
2 envelopes of chicken oxo
3 c. of finely chopped turkey from your leftover Christmas bird
2 stalks of celery chopped fairly finely
2 cups of peas (frozen are fine)
2 cups of red lentils
pepper to taste and onion powder to taste
one lg container of whipping cream

bring all ingredients except cream to a roiling boil and leave like this for 40 minutes or until lentils and celery are tender. Add cream and reduce heat simmer for 10 minutes.....
Pour into soup bowls and sprinkle with broken crackers.... it really is delicious....

I have company tonight, so we are cooking ham, and scalloped potatoes with pepper bake as a side dish and almond torte with summer fruit for desert.

But in the meantime I'm off to spin some more.... (yes on the jacket commission!)

Wham, Bam, Thank You M'am

Whoa.... what just happened... nothing extraordinary that's for sure. I'm still trying to think what all the hoopla is all about. Service went well.... check.... visiting friends went well... check... got to bed and a reasonable time... check..... had fun opening stockings.... check.... good Christmas morning breakfast..... check.... opened up lovely gifts.... check.... had a snooze after lunch... check..... had Christmas dinner at the folks place.... check.... Ok what was I making such a fuss about! Now I don't have to think about it for another ten whole months. And actually I'm starting to think about the first week of July.... woo hoo! Anyone who knows me knows that the first week of July is the best week of the year.... it takes waaaayyy more precedence than Christmas.

They'll soon be posting the courses!!! It'll soon be time to register!!! It'll soon be time to book a room in the apartments!!!! I can't wait. I wonder which courses they'll be offering??! I'm soooo excited! All that fleece.... all that spinning chat.... all that learning..... I'm totally addicted to Fibre Week!!!

In the meantime though it's boxing day and this is a day to relax. I don't know what I'm relaxing from since yesterday was pretty relaxing too. My parents cooked Christmas dinner and all I had to do was help clean up a little. Got to love that! We have a little turkey in our fridge too since they did up a doggie bag for us. I got lots of nice things, like an owl, who I've named Smore.... he sits with my other critters, on a shelf, in my spinning room. I also got sox..... loads of them.... some hand made and some store bought.... I don't have to worry about the Daughters stealing mine anymore. I got my cotton cards and some knitting needles, DPNs for fingers in gloves, and a beautiful poncho from Peru that's made from alpaca/llama/and wool. I also got some really lovely books... one called The Golden Mean which I really wanted ever since I heard the author interviewed on CBC. I also got a book called The Complete Idiot's Guide To T'ai Chi and QiGong. I'm determined to learn T'ai Chi this year. I also got the next book in the Diana Gabaldon series... I've been waiting for it to come out. It's a trashy read but then I love trashy reads too. I also got a lovely heirloom lace bookmark which I think was my most touching gift. A friend of mine called me a while back and told me she had inherited some really lovely heirloom lace from a family member and asked me if I wanted some. I had intended on taking another friend and going to see her collection of lace. We were talking about what she could use it for and, being a practical person, she wanted to use some of the pieces...(if it were me, I would just mount them and look at them).... but I suggested she make herself a bookmark... she thought the idea was great and so... I never heard anything else about it until Christmas morning when she gave me the bookmark... wow what a lovely gift. I got a knitting magazine in my stocking, and a new nightgown in the softest fluffiest flannelette. So all in all Christmas was quite nice. Still it does seem to be rather "Wham, Bam, Thank You M'am!"

I wonder if that is a sign of old age..... !

Well I'm off today to make amends with my jacket commission whick is languoring in my spinning room. I might even put the handles on my new cotton cards and have a go with them .... aaaahhhhh! I love Boxing Day!

Merry Christmas

Here are some pics of our home in it's finished Christmas finery to look at.......

Christmas Is In The Air

Christmas is almost upon me.... do I scream in agony?!.... no I do not.... I face it resolutely, knowing that I can't be any more prepared than I am. The outdoor lights are up, the tree is up and decorated, the living room is cleaned up... well at least better than it was, house looks as Christmassy as it can, carols have been playing for days, all gifts are done or bought and wrapped, the groceries are bought and put away.... (and you can hardly notice the $700.00 worth that I bought! I'm disgusted).... the Christmas email/poem that I write each year is done and sent.... I think I'm done. Now I can sit and knit or spin.... yeah!

We've ordered a wardrobe for Daughter #2's bedroom. It has nothing to do with Christmas. It was supposed to arrive on the 28th of December.... it showed up yesterday. Hubby was off with the truck so today we will be picking it up and setting it up. This is an unexpected chore. But we want to get it done instead of having it hanging over us.

Hubby is in the kitchen making bagels and lox. He smoked the lox last night and the dough for the bagels is in the bread maker. Today he will boil the bagels dip them in sesame seeds and then pop them into the smoker before baking them.... yum.... I love Montreal style bagels and cream cheese with lox.... normally we have on Christmas morning either raisin molasses bread or cranberry bread that I make.... but Hubby took the initiative this year and made homemade bagels. I can't wait to try them.

For another tip on getting in the Christmas mood.... drink tea with your Hubby... (you need a Hubby like mine).... laughing with your Daughters.... (you need Daughters like mine)..... listening to Christmas music.... but not too much.... and generally being happy.

My best tip for the Christmas spirit.... go to your nearest church for a Christmas Eve service, join your voice to the voices of others and sing old familiar carols, listen to the readings, think about that oh so profound night 2000 years ago, pray, think of world wide peace, listen to the church bells, wish people a Merry Christmas, visit friends, head home to put all your secrets under the tree, chuckle lots, get your cozy pjs on and say a prayer for me... I'll being praying for you....

Merry Christmas

Christmas Nuthouse

I can safely say that the way to lose any budding Christmas spirit you might be starting to feel is to go shopping anytime in the last four days before Christmas.... you will feel like you just had a bowel movement on your own head.... then wonder how that happened!

Holy Crap There's Only Two Days Left?

I got it into my head to make pinecone wreaths for two of our friends and I'm down to the wire.... two days to go... but at least the service is done for Christmas Eve. I'm presiding over the Christmas Eve service since our minister retired last winter and this is no small thing let me tell you. Hubby and I are headed to town to finish the grocery shopping and take the ill fated stupid artificial tree back to the creeps at the upscale store I told you about.... really they're not that bad.... I think it was a dud tree.... a lemon.... Anyway I have a few stocking stuffers to pick up and I need to get some embellishments for the two wreaths.... and I'm done. Tomorrow Hubby and the girls are going to a friends house for sliding but I will stay home and finish printing the bulletins for the Christmas eve service, wrap the last of the gifts and straighten candles for the candle light service..... (they've been stored in a box in the basement of the church hall for a year and so I will have to clean them up a little). I am hoping to have Christmas Eve day just for fun with the Daughters and Hubby.

Hubby and I have made a decision to walk two kilometres every day unless it is below -30 degrees, then we will stay home and think about it. : ) It is just too frigid for me when it gets below -30.

I have the decorating done for Christmas here at Nicholsville farm but the clean up is not done so I'm hoping to post pictures tomorrow of the job we've done once again in our little log home. We even did a little work in the kitchen and finished the breakfast bar though I need an electrical fix in order to plug in my toaster, bread maker and coffee perk.... other than that it looks great. The door is still not on my pantry.... but I have lots of storage.... mind you if I had tons of storage I'd still find a way to fill it and want more.... there never seems to be enough storage.

Today I will give you tip #2 on how to get the Christmas feeling. If your spouse and family are sleepers in, it bodes well to wake a little early and in the quiet of the morning come to your living space that contains your tree, turn on the lights and just sit in the dark with JUST the tree lights and listen to the silence...... Christmas is there in the silence. That's what Mary and Joseph heard when they were in that stable, that is what the shepherds heard after the angels left. The quiet of the night gives you ample time to hear Christmas in your soul.

Merry Christmas.