Excuse My Rant

I've been seeing this "inspirational" quote all over the place lately.

And every time I see it, it makes me mad. I don't see what is so inspirational about it. It really seems like a put down, a negative outlook on the human race. I won't deny that there are SOME people who this quote rings true, but, and this is just me and my own experiences, I find this to not generally be true. I have people thank me regularly for the ordinary things that I do, whether at the school, in church or at home. I feel like this quote is all about "Me" vs "Them". Like putting the blame on everyone else. Are we including ourselves in the "Them" group? Do "We" notice the things that "They" are doing for us? I like to think that I try pretty hard to acknowledge others for their ordinary efforts. However, I don't expect recognition for every little thing that I do, does the rest of the world expect a "thank-you" every time they do something for somebody else? If so...I think maybe you need to get off your high horse and start looking for all the things that are done for you by all the people you think aren't noticing what you are doing for them. Just saying.

End rant, thanks for listening. Continue on with your day.

Heartbreak, a hard painful lesson.

I was sitting at the computer desk this morning, still in my pajamas and folding a paper airplane for James when the phone rings. The caller ID said it was Kathryn's school calling. I thought it would be Kathryn asking me to bring her something she forgot. But it was one of her teachers, first letting me know that Kathryn was alright, which immediately made me start to panic, then she let me know that one of Kathryn's classmates had passed away the night before, and Kathryn had asked her to call me. Then Kathryn got on the phone, she was sobbing and my heart broke to pieces. Of course Daniel and I immediately got dressed and headed down to the school.

Kathryn's grade six class consists of 9 kids, 4 girls and 5 boys. It is a close knit group, because they have no choice but to be that way. They don't all like each other, but they know each other so very well. My dear Kathryn is everyone's friend and is always the peacemaker, the go to girl when a kid needs some one on one time, the class room relationship fixer upper, and likely the kid with the biggest heart. She cares deeply for everyone and is always the one to take the kid left out under her wing and make them her best friend for the day. This tragedy sucks. It sucks big time. It's no way to end the year, with only one week left of the school year, I worry about how some of these kids are going to cope through the summer. So many of them come from broken homes, and don't have very much family around. And with some, the family that is around...isn't really around much. These kids are going to get one week of supporting each other and the support of the school...and then they'll be left to fend for themselves for the summer. Oh it's just not fair.

It's events like this that will stick in a kids memory for years to come. For some it might be a turning point. I hope and pray that it's not a turn down a dark and lonely road but rather a chance to learn an important life lesson. I hope that these kids will be able to learn form all of this is to be kind to everyone, because you just never know when it'll be the last time you see them. Kathryn remembers seeing Ryan at his bike on the last day he was at school and teasing him about seeing him with pink hair (there had been a bet that if he could stay out of the principals office for the rest of the year then the teacher would have to dye her hair pink, but if didn't then he would have to dye his hair pink...he didn't even make it two days). He told her to be quiet, she laughed and she said "see ya tomorrow!" and that was that. The next day he wasn't at school, and the kids all laughed because they thought he didn't want to have to dye his hair pink. He wasn't at school the next day either. And then this morning, the news came that he had passed away the night before.

The scary thing is he was just sick. He had been at home for the past two days with a fever, and then last night a turn for the worse and he was gone. So far that's all we know. The school will let us know if there is a health concern when all the tests and stuff are done. But until then, all we know is to watch for a fever and vomiting and to take them in right away to the doctor.

My heart breaks for Ryan's family. For his friends. For the Grade 6 class. For the community.

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My poor poor Kathryn. She has a little black cloud hanging over her head and I just don't know what to say or do. I want to just hold her tight, wave a magic wand and make it all better. I've never experienced such a loss, so I don't even know what she is feeling. How can I ease the pain of something I don't completely understand? Aren't mom's supposed to be able to fix anything? I feel so helpless. This really sucks.

Funny things the boy says...again

I was reading scriptures to the kids tonight, and James wanted a turn. He said "I want to say 'And it came to pass...'. " So I said alright and started reading a verse for him to repeat after me, but there wasn't a verse with "And it came to pass". So before we would repeat what I was saying he first had to say "And it came to pass." Seems as though he is listening...at least to the first few words.

Treasure Hunting in our own yard

Tonight we had a wiener roast in our back yard, Tansley had some friends over, and they were playing in their favourite climbing tree. They've climbed this tree a million times over the years.

There has always been this funny glob of duct tape way up in the tree, and I've always wondered why someone would use duct tape to hold a branch in place. Over the years as the duct tape has deteriorated, I have thought about just pulling it all down. Usually that thought comes while the girls who actually climb up in that tree are at school and I don't have anyone to climb up and pull it down. Tonight, while enjoying this beautiful May evening, Tansley and her friends saw something sticking out of the tape and started to pull it down, and low and behold, it wasn't holding a branch together at all. It was holding a ziploc bag with some notes written by a girl named Robyn, her brother(whose name we couldn't read) and her sister Kayli. The notes were written in August of 2006, and year and a half before we bought this house. The notes were wet and a little moldy, but for the most part we could read them. The kids think this is a great discovery.

The first thing I did was search for them on Facebook. They left us their last name too and enough information to narrow the search. And I'm pretty sure I've found them and have sent them a message letting them know that we have found their notes. I hope we hear back from them so that we can share with them the story on how we found their notes, and why it took us 6 years. I hope this isn't the end of this story. I hope there will be more to share in the near future.

Gardening in Stages

I've began making changes to our garden this year. First I made this new composter:

Now I've began working on transitioning to all raised beds. I had enough cinder block hanging around our yard to make one of the raised beds. We then headed to Lethbridge in a borrowed truck to bring home 2 cubic yards of topsoil and garden mix to fill it.

Now I've bought some pvc pipe and plastic sheeting to create a green house in hopes of having more successful tomatoes and finally cucumbers! I've just never been able to get cucumbers to grow well here in Milk River. We are even trying out some watermelon and a small little patch of pumpkins, and one zucchini plant.  We'll see how it all goes this year.

Next year I hope to add to the raised beds and maybe even finish them the way I want. Here is a sketch of the ideal finished garden.

Oh how I love playing in the dirt and growing my own veggies. It brings me so much joy and satisfaction. Here's hoping for a great gardening year!

The Change Up

So these past few days, Ella has been changing things up a bit. She's been napping earlier and for a shorter period of time in the mornings. And then unbearable in the late afternoon/evening which leads to a late nap. And that late nap leads to NOT going to bed at a reasonable time. Tonight at 6:30 she was sitting on my lap, whimpering. I couldn't get her to settle down. She hadn't had an afternoon nap, but I didn't really want to lay her down just yet. So I just held her...but then she started to drift off. So I thought I'd better get her in her jamas and put her down for the night. But I won't be surprised if she is up at 9 or so to play for awhile. Because she's a turkey, and that is what turkeys do.

I don't know why she's changing things up. We had a good thing going. I new what to expect. I had this thing down pat. And now we're going to have to figure it all out again.

Hmm...didn't even make it to 9, she's crying already, and it's not even 8pm.

Channeling my inner Teen

So last night I did something I have only done once before in my life...and that first time just happened on Friday. Last night I attended a boy band concert, again, but this time it was larger than life. Daniel's boss John Mcfadden gifted us some tickets to the Backstreet Boys concert, tickets for both Daniel and I and for the three oldest girls. It was really such an amazing gift. And we had an absolute blast. The funny thing is that I was never into the boy band craze when I was a teenager. I never really listened to the Backstreet Boys until I married Daniel. Now we listen to them all of the time in the van. The girls all love the music and sing along with Dad when we are driving.

The show was phenomenal. It was exciting and entertaining. At one point they began to sing Kymberly's favourite song "I want it that way" and then they stopped and made a joke about not being allowed to sing that song, and went on to sing other songs. It left Kymberly heartbroken. I could tell something was wrong because she got really quiet and I could tell she was trying not to cry. She was sitting way over on the other side of Dad, who thought she was just tired. I tried to pass a message along to tell her not to worry because they were still going to sing her favourite song, but it was just too loud and nobody could understand what I was trying to say. Finally when everyone was standing, I pulled Kymberly over to sit on my lap so I could talk in her ear and tell her that I could promise that they would sing her favourite song. Once she understood that, she perked up and could enjoy the concert until the moment came for them to sing "I want it that way". And when they did, she flipped out. It was awesome. The girls will be making a thank-you card or poster for John. It was really an awesome thing he did for them.