Night Shift

Recovering from working nights last night..... My brain just seems to work a little slower when I wake up at 1:00 in the afternoon, which is what I try to do. Get a few things done before the kids get home from school at 2:30. Somehow Ditto seems to know that I am home but not paying attention to him on these days when I am trying to sleep and so he drives Kevin mostly insane. This is what I woke up to today. Attention seeking much???





Kevin's office is the next house project to go. He and Erin traded rooms last summer and then we did the reno. on hers. His has remains of baby blue walls and pink curtains over the closet. Very masculine.

ABBA Mania (with one of the B's backwards)

How much fun can be had recalling the 70s and 80s with a bunch of girls who lived them? Well I shall tell you..... Last night 10 of us went to Abba Mania- no it is not the real ABBA, just people dressing up like them and singing their songs. They aren't really trying to be them, but just enjoying the fun of the old music.

Unfortunately we had to sit through the wanna be Rod Stewart before the real fun began. Some of the girls tried to enjoy it, but Elaine and I basically attempted to hide, pretend we weren't there and try not to be embarrassed. A little hard to do when your friend Carrie, who is the most extroverted person I have ever known, has to buy tickets front and center. At least the man could sing and did sound quite a bit like Rod Stewart, but that is about where it ended. When he came down to sit across our laps I had to cringe. I think he noticed by my obvious lack of eye contact. You know you are sitting too close when you can make frequent eye contact, or in my case, lack thereof with the singer on stage. Unfortunately a late 50s women also in the front row found him very entertaining and found herself dancing with him, and up on stage doing the kick line and we could all see her pantyhose. Fortunately, I don't know that she'll remember it in the morning.
OK... so then ABBA arrived and we sang our little hearts out to Voulez-Vous and Dancing Queen. Somehow my extremely extroverted friend found herself dancing on stage with a microphone in her hand. I think it had something to do with the gold "disco ball" shirt. The joy of it all is that I wished I could be so free, but knew myself well enough to know that I would have much more fun sitting exactly where I was enjoying watching her. I would probably feel like a fool once I got up there. Maybe when I'm in my late 50s and have had some wine.... maybe then I won't care so much.

Don't you just LOVE the boots! It just takes you back!


Carrie and Marie giving their all!

I was trying to determine whether it was if I cared what people thought of me, or if it is really that I am just a different personality and am not as free to throw up my arms and sing. I do care too much what people think and am training my thoughts this year to be concerned only for an audience of ONE. This society is definitely created for extroverts to succeed, and those who put themselves out there are valued and esteemed and do seem to get further in certain ways. It seems like society puts it out there that it is better to be outgoing and open, but what if that is just not the way you are? I am not a total introvert by any means, I tend to be more on the outgoing side sometimes, but I am married to one. I think the problem is that we are always comparing ourselves to each other. Wanting to be what we are not, wanting gifts other people are given, and then not using our own because we're stuck thinking ours are no good. So I am thankful for the strengths and gifts I see in different people. And I am thankful for my quiet, peaceful friends as much as I am for my wild and crazy ones. I think the wonderful qualities that I see, like Joy and Peacefulness, Contentment, Laughter, Contemplativeness, Humility are all parts of Jesus and how he displays them in His children and I want more of Him to fill me like that too!

I Know I am absent

Not that I did much of anything last week, probably why there is nothing to talk about on here. I have some good ones brewing in my mind... and some photos to come. Soon.

But for now I'll say 25 days til my girl's weekend in Savannah!!!!!!!!!!!

What Next?

So now I apparently have a tree climbing dog. Just when I think he can't do anything else..... He is actually using his paws like hands to reach for things!

There is a cow or deer leg in the tree (which we put there because he was dragging it around), but it did not stop Ditto the wonder dog. He does the same things for apples. I have a lot of worry about my garden next year. He already as a puppy last summer, would pick the peas off the vine, chew them and spit out the shell. He also ate raspberries right off the bush. I guess he's a bit of a vegetarian as well.

This photo makes me howl!

2 More Days

I think for once in my life I might be ready for the kids to go back to school on Monday. All the moms usually sigh these big sighs of relief that they can get rid of their children finally after whatever break they have just had. Usually I feel like we haven't had enough time, but with the winter days dragging on, how much more sledding and crafting can we do? I think the kids are ready for some structure again, structure I am not providing at the moment. I definitely know that Kevin is done with workplace interruptions this holiday! So 2 more days.

We have had such a great 2 weeks but are looking forward to what's ahead and what looks like some melting and warm days soon. A few more fun Christmas shots

Teaching line dancing or some sort of dance they are learning at school.

What a beautiful sight!! Men doing dishes in my kitchen. Kevin must have gotten off easy.

A little evening entertainment

Who can't just kiss those cheeks? Looks SO much like my
girl when she was this small, but he's a boy

I

2008 Here I Come!

Happy New Year!!! I think the start of a new year is kind of exciting. We didn't do anything exciting to bring in 2008, the kids complained that they had to go to bed at 10. We ordered Chinese food with Kevin's parents who were still visiting and played a few games and sent everyone off to bed, but I went off to work, sniffling as I went. The 4 of us nurses stopped at 12 to bring in the New year with a toast of sparking cider and way too many goodies and then most definitely worked our butts off all night- it was a busy one! Tonight we did do chocolate fondue and I am hoping to not regret it once bedtime comes and the kids have chocolate coursing through their veins.

My friend Randi had a list of 100 things she wanted to do with her life- a momentous list- on her blog and I thought maybe I could do that to start off my New Year. I don't really make resolutions, I am much more into setting some attainable goals. So my list....things I want to do, hope to be, want to see, can't all be in 2008, but definitely can start on them. Of course some of hers were so good I had to steal them. So here I go... My 100 things:

1. Visit all the continents
2. See my children get married to loving, caring, godly spouses
3. Get a Master's degree- not sure in what yet
4. See Angel Falls
5. Go back to Africa to work in a mission hospital
6. Start a nurses training school in a 3rd world country
7. Sleep in
8. Grow old with Kevin
9. Learn Spanish
10. Go to New Zealand
11. Own a horse, or probably 2, so I can ride with a friend
12. Have a property
13. Take up endurance racing
14. Save a child's life
15. Finds some friends who like backpacking and camping
16. Drive across Canada - W to E
17. Lead Oprah to Jesus
18. Ride bareback on the beach
19. Eat GOOD chocolate
20. Go on the Amazing Race with Kevin
21. Make a difference in the world
22. Get in shape
23. Take my girl to France
24. Go to seminary
25. See the Northern Lights in NWT
26. Write a Bible study with Beth Moore
27. Have a big organic garden
28. Start on my quilt for the living room
29. See the Grand Canyon
30. Do God's will for my life
31. Train my dog to be come when called
32. Be a better listener
33. Be better at asking good questions
34. Make every person I am with feel significant
35. Take a trip with every girlfriend that turns 40
36. Respect and love Kevin every day
37. Hold my grandchild
38. Live next door to a good friend
39. Ride in a hot air balloon ( a safe one)
40. Deliver a baby (not my own)
41. Drive a Ferrari
42. Go to Italy and Spain- OK anywhere!
43. Live in another country
44. Be real
45. Become more vulnerable with people
46. Place people before tasks
47. Make my children feel LOVED everyday
48. Let people know how much I love them- without scaring them away
49. Be the kind of Mom that my kids need
50. Read through the Bible every year
51. Go on a bike trip around an island with our family
52. Go whale watching
53. Write a song
54. Have Paul Brandt for dinner
55. Sleep in a lighthouse on the East coast
56. End child pornography and prostitution
57. Ride a camel
58. Dance on the beach and not care who's watching
59. Lay in bed with my kids and dream together more nights
60. See a sunrise over the Saskatchewan prairie again
61. Climb Mukinge hill
62. Do a 10 km run without stopping
63. Have my kids as preschoolers again for a day
64. Fly a helicopter (without having to do all the training)
65. See the Kentucky Derby
66. Know Jesus more
67. Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary with a big party with all our friends over the years
68. I want to wear my wedding dress again for a whole day (but in a thinner body)
69. Be more free with my words and my hugs
70. Tell my children everything they'll ever need to know
71. Be friends with my children when they are grown
72. Be friends with my daughter when she's a teenager
73. Go on a cattle drive
74. Sleep in a teepee
75. Feed starving children
76. Love orphans
77. Try parasailing
78. Go to Hawaii every spring break
79. Have a big wrap around veranda with a porch swing and a view of...
80. Look through an old attic
81. Visit my Opa's childhood home
82. Have my Dad around for one more day to meet my children and hug them
83. Live in the the woods in a log cabin for awhile
84. Find some new things to do with vegetables
85. Play the cello- again without all the practicing
86. Skate the canals in Holland in comfortable skates
87. Holiday in a beach house with blowy, cotton, white curtains breezing in the veranda off the bedroom
88. Not feel tired every morning when I wake up- I don't quite think I want to BE a morning person, but a little more would be good.
89. Be like Jesus to someone every day
90. Love the Lord my God with all my heart and soul and mind and strength
91. Take my kids to Kevin's family camp in Montana one summer
92.


You'll have to come back later for more, when I think of them....