A Whole Lot Of Seriousness About Travelling Abroad

We had a lovely evening with very good friends last evening. S & G have been good friends for a few years now and one of the things that made us enjoy their company so much was that they have a really great sense of adventure and have done a lot in their lives. They have been in some wonderfully interesting places. They've lived in the North (the far North) and they have taken kids to Africa several summers in a row and now they have just come back from a trip to Europe. It is their kind of life that makes me so wish that things were a little different for Teapot and I.

It all started a long time ago... when I was 14 years of age that I developed a deep interest in traveling.  I was on the verge of a terrible year of surgery and body casts and lying on the flat of my back for many months and then rehab, rehab, rehab. My Mom and Dad knew it was coming and so decided to take me on the vacation of a lifetime. My older sister, who was in University at the time, was excluded from this trip and my grand parents came to stay with her as she was writing her first year exams.  My mother, father and I jetted off to England, passports in hand, to stay with my Father's cousin in Old Harlow just outside of London.  I won't go into details because it would take too long to talk about all the wonderful experiences that once-in-a-lifetime-trip would afford me. What I will say is that it initiated in me a love of traveling that has never really been fulfilled.

Later in my teens and early adulthood, I had the good fortune to date a fellow whose parents were loaded and would take me on wonderful trips jetting to Toronto and Florida to stay in condominiums and time shares. I also went into Travel Counseling after high school with the thought that I would travel all over the world.... this never happened although as part of my course I had a wonderful trip to New York city where I got to see all the normal touristy things including the World Trade Towers. Then I met and married Teapot and we travelled across Canada in a two seater convertible twice which also turned out to be wonderful trips. Then we had our children and other things became our priorities. Our travelling years and in particular mine.... came to a resounding end. The reason? Money....

Teapot and I were almost thirty when we met and we were no where near career oriented... we had wasted many years in University floundering around trying to figure out what we wanted to do with our lives... (and if truth be told we still don't know what we want to do with our lives). So when Teapot got the opportunity to work in north western Ontario on an native reservation, we jumped at the chance. The job was a normal paying job commensurate with any starting wage in the teaching profession, but there was no pension at all and we had huge student loans between the two of us which we knew would have to be paid off first before we could go forward with our lives. But even before we paid them off we knew that we wanted a family and so children came into the picture.  All the while I held out hope that some day we would be able to afford opportunities to travel all over the world... but as the years have gone by, that has not panned out.

Now that is not to say that I am unhappy (or Teapot either for that matter) with what life has offered us... absolutely not. We are very happy and thank God for all the wealth we have both monetary and otherwise.  We both look at our lives and feel relatively satisfied with all that we have done.... but always we have regretted not being able to travel... especially home.... the girls have no knowledge of Newfoundland and have no interest in it at all.

So it was that we went to our friend's house last evening and looked at their photos with envy and awe. They had traveled to Boston, Amsterdam, Switzerland, Italy, back to Switzerland, back to Amsterdam, on to Poland, and then on into the Netherlands. Their pictures are wonderful... their pictures make me want to cry... how is it that I am now in my 40s (almost 50s) and travel is not likely to happen for Teapot and I any time soon?  Teapot has 12 and a half years till retirement... I can't see anything on the horizon for us any time soon.

Teapot missed his chance to go to Australia this summer with the Rangers because he did not get his passport in enough time....but he has had opportunities to travel within BC. Daughter #1 has had opportunities to travel with the Junior Canadian Rangers within BC and Alberta too. I even get to drive to Olds once a year and that is a wonderful trip.... but Daughter #2 goes nowhere (and that bothers me more than anything).  Each year we hope that we will be able to go on a little trip all of us together but it never seems to pan out.

And so I sat in the dark last night watching our friends pictures roll through the slideshow presentation that they had put together and I drooled and wished that the Daughters could have that kind of worldly exposure.... that Teapot and I would not go through this life with a limited view of the world. That new cultures and interesting places would capture our imaginations and lead is to a higher understanding of this planet we live on.

So to show you why this is so important to me I will tell you a little about the trip our friends took and how it set me on fire for something other than my own corner of this planet. Stay tuned for the next post.

Been There... Done That

I have to face it some time and I think I'm at the point where I have no choice anymore. I've tried really hard to ignore it but sometimes reality rears it's ugly head and one can't live with your head in the sand forever... or you're liable to get a good swift kick in the arse.

Christmas....

The almighty and most fake of all times of the year.

Where's God in all this.... aren't we supposed to remember that at this time of the year that we have been given the miraculous gift of life....  what I want to know is, what does tinsel have to do with it?  Why am I spending hours looking for knitted hat patterns that I can knit for Christmas, (which probably won't get finished in time)? Why am I starting to have heart palpatations each time I realize that there are only 2 (OMG ***** : \) paychecks left before I have to be ready.... ?

Can I go to sleep now and wake up on the 1st of January....?

Hmmmm.... I think I just felt someone's foot on my arse....

To all our American friends.... I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving this week.

Now shopping starts in earnest....

Blah!

Hand Held Devices

I like hand held devices... now get your mind out of the gutter (which is where Teapot's is... he keeps waggling his eyebrows at me.) The only thing I don't like is this tiny wee keyboard. My pinky struggles to hit the right key. I can only imagine how hard it would be to type if you have particularly large digits. I have been having a great time in the last two weeks with my new iPhone. I have downloaded Audiobooks, regular books, games, (I've become quite the Sodoku and Angry Birds expert!) I listen to music whenever I want, and texting Teapot regularly leaves us roaring with laughter as we try to get used to auto-correct. So yes in this busy life, things just get busier... and more complicated especially when you have to get your fix of this hand held device. (Now I sound like a hooker with a drug problem.) Please excuse any typos/spelling mistakes... just blame them on auto-correct

Have a great day...

As Changeable As The Day Is Long

Simplify....
I wanted to simplify since I found that the look of my blog was too overpowering... too busy... too .... well,... much!  Thus, I have this new look.
I also wanted to change some things that hadn't been changed in over a year so all the links to the right have different pictures. I like it...it's me. At least for now.

About this time of the year each year I get this urge to play around with how things look. Most of the time it is the house... I want my house to look great for Christmas so I start pushing and pulling furniture around in an effort to clean up and make things neater.  Well I just did that about three weeks ago so I'm not really in the mood to do it again.... (though the computer really would be better over in the corner of the living room and the TV really would be best under the steps.... and my chair....  well, I'll think about that later.)  Teapot says he will stop coming home if I move the furniture between now and Christmas. So.... I then thought about my hair.... But last year I cut it and though I liked it for a day or two.... well... a day or two just isn't long enough... (I've spent the whole year regretting that change.)

So what on this God almighty earth could I change that would feed my need for change.... "Ahhh," says I.... "the blog." I went to work straight away and this is what I came up with.

In the process it took me several tries to upload the new pictures that you see above and to the right and at first Blogger wouldn't allow me to do it... (they said that I had reached my photo storage limit) but I figured out that if I re-sized my photos that are in storage (all the ones that I've posted since 2008)  then everything would be ok.  I spent two hours doing that. I only got 200 photos re-sized... there's still another 800 or so to go. So I stopped for today.  I really do want to get some of my level 5 homework done. But I really like the look of the blog.... it's different... at least for me.  No photo.. just black and white drawings.... It suits my mood which seems to be grey... the weather is grey... the skies are dark... and I spend approximately 15 hours out of every 24 in the dark. A little blue to perk things up (even though blue is cool) and I'm happy.

In actuality, all this explaining something I can't explain is dumb.... let's just say I'm fickle and be done with it...
I'm likely to change everything back again tomorrow... or not... 

Mmmm....

Orange Juice...
Old Cheddar Cheese....
Popcorn with no butter....

Fat Free chocolate Pudding....
Lunch with dessert..

Om, nom, nom....Yum!

What are you havin'?

Wherrrrre Arrrrrre Youuuuuu Honeydewwwwww

Our Llama Honeydew moved onto her new farm a month ago and along with her went the sheep. Teapot and I spent a full afternoon trying to get them ready for their new digs... we wanted them to have a healthy start to living in a new place.  The gentleman who bought them gave me some misgivings since I didn't feel entirely sure that he knew what he was getting himself into.... but then I didn't know anything at all about sheep when I started shepherding and they and I ended up no worse for the wear. So it came as quite a shock on Remembrance day when Teapot came home from the Cenotaph and said, "you know those people by the name of F-------? Well they have Honeydew and the sheep!"

Oh yes, I knew who he was talking about. They were one of the only families who had sheep in my vicinity when I first moved here 14 years ago.... but they had retired and stopped having sheep about 8 or 9 years ago.  Evidently while Teapot was having coffee and cookies and meeting with the people who stayed behind after the service at the ceremony the wife of the F------- couple came up to him and told him that they had purchased our sheep.... (I wonder if the guy we sold our sheep to turned a profit! : \ Hmmm....). To say that we were surprised that they had changed hands once again would be putting it mildly. But we are easy going people and took it all in our stride.

With all that has been going on I have wondered why we have not been contacted regarding the ram. The guy that we sold them to was supposed to come pick up the ram ages ago.  The ram is still languishing (he's missing his girls for sure) here in our yard. It is breeding season. For Pete's sake (I wish I knew who Pete was.... but I digress) what the heck is happening... people can't seem to get it together.  But finally I think that we have a plan in place.  The lady came and spoke to me at the Remembrance day dinner in the evening and told me that she would come and get the ram in a couple of weeks as they were still trying to get things set up to take the ram.... she told me about how Honeydew had moved in and was taking good care of the sheep and that she was settling in and that they had even managed to get a halter on her. (That's more than we were able to do in all the years that she lived with us.) I guess they had to coax her with lots of grain but the sheep were happy to follow her in and out of the trailer... she is now getting used to their dog and is spending her days watching for threats in her new digs.

Now while I have put them out of my head, I have occasionally looked out into our yard and wondered what's happening with Honeydew and the sheep. So I am glad to know they have moved to a place where shepherding is familiar and where they will care for them the way they should be.  I might even be able to buy a scattered fleece from them... It's all good, and hopefully... just hopefully we will see the end of the ram (Ipwitch) soon too.

After A Long Weekend

While some began their week with the letter C yesterday, I am beginning my week this morning with the number 5. I love the number 5. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. (That was an evil Count Countula laugh in case you didn't know... did anyone hear thunder and lightning?) I have had a couple of days off as this little family has enjoyed a nice 4 day long weekend. This being the 5th day, with everyone heading back to school.... and me working on level 5 homework and having 5 questions done that now need to be written up... (actually I have more than 5 questions done but these are the ones not in my book yet), and having 5 animals sitting at my feet as I work, I guess it is as good a theme for the day as any.  On top of that there are 5 weeks and 5 days left before Christmas.... so this really is a Hallmark day for the number 5.

So to start.... I have all the first section finished and ready to go in my book... I know I said that before but honestly I had a look at one of my samples and was completely dissatisfied with it so decided to redo it.  I had spun a blend of Rayon, wool, and cashmere and while it turned out quite nicely, I felt that the blend was not an appropriate choice and so redid it using rayon and alpaca at a 50/50 percent. It came off the wheel heavily overspun (to the tune of 6 twists in the skein!) but I washed it in a nice soft warm water bath with a little soap, gave it a few good wacks, and voila..... perfect. Now I am completely happy with that section. I will write it up today and get it into my book. Then onto the next section which is partially done and partially in my book.

So the five animals is the next topic... yes we have finally come to terms with the fact that on September 16th when Squeeky (the Whore) went streaking out between Teapot's feet after being in the house for three weeks, that was the end of her.... She has not been home since and we haven't even seen a hide nor hair of her. I think she was so completely besotted with the idea of sex, that she headed for the nearest male without a backward glance. We think that she has either found a new family to live with... or the coyotes that have been extremely active in the last three months, have gotten her. Either way, she is not likely to be coming home again... We thought we would see her again when the snow came... but it has been snowing for the last few days so we have given up, I think, (Daughter #1 is still holding out hope)... We still have the wee kitten (which we have named Little Monster) here living with us. She has turned into a lovely wee kitten... though she loves to eat. And while she is short in the body, she makes up for it in girth.  She has begun to look like a sweet and chunky little thing and oozes attitude. She attacks a dog bum with little or no notice... It is fun to watch, because as she does this you can watch her planning where she will run to hide as the dog of choice (usually Narmin), will turn and give chase only to lose her behind or under some piece of furniture.  Now that both Narmin and Little Monster are getting bigger and finally coming into their adult skin,

Narmin still has a puppy ish look to his face.

they are both getting too big to go into some places and that is hilarious to see, since when they try to get in and can't. The expressions on their faces are hilarious. It's hard to believe that they are both six months old now.

Little Monster has a look of eveil-ness in her face in this picture.... all attitude is this wee kitty.

Over the weekend Teapot surprised me. I had asked for him to put up the rest of the wood-burned tiles I had finished for the ceiling in the sunroom and he did it...!!

We are making progress with this project. 7 tiles went up this time.

Which is awesome... but then he totally surprised me and put up the paneling in the upstairs bathroom...

I'll finally be able to hang my towel racks. I will have to paint this since some of the wood paneling has discoloured...

so now after three years the bathroom upstairs has more than tuck tape and plastic sheeting covering the exterior wall...  I do need to paint the wall though since we had decided last winter to paint two walls in our bedroom and leave the other two natural...but now the bathroom looks odd because it is all plain. So I will paint the wall tomorrow after Teapot brings home a paintbrush this evening.  Then I will put the vinyl flooring on the bathroom  (maybe on the weekend) and a few pieces of trim around the window... It will look awesome. Still there are a few electrical things that need to be done. There are a few more outlets to finish and a light fixture that needs to go into the bathroom. Then there is a closet that needs cedar siding and there is no door to the bathroom yet but these things will come I'm sure. We just have to tackle each job as we can.  (Maybe by the time I'm 90!!! ; D)

So there you have it... a weekend update brought to you by the number 5.... Ahhh, there's the lightning now.... Count Countula would be very happy indeed! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Ha ha ha ha ha I love the number 5.

Hope your having a good day...