Being Grateful...Happy Birthday to my Sister

After a really tough week, yes another tough week, I'm so very grateful.




If you have been following along with what's going on in my life, things have been falling apart around here; zippers, dryers, furnaces, and then on the weekend I broke a tooth while eating popcorn watching a movie. Yes, I'm doing the shift and let go dance every day, while remembering on my most difficult days that I often grow the most as a soul. I'm learning A LOT lately.

Tomorrow, is my sister C's birthday. As I was making up an email note for her this evening, I came across the most beautiful Grateful song I really wanted to share with my blog readers. Also, with many of my friends from the States celebrating their Thanksgiving tomorrow I thought it was very appropriate. While they are eating turkey and pumpkin pie this weekend, I will be counting my blessings and remembering how fortunate I am to have sisters, and blog sisters as well all over the world. What are you thankful for? The practice of writing down 5 things that you are grateful for really does generate more happiness into our lives. What are your top 5 things you are grateful for?

Today for me, I'm grateful for:

1. A wise and wonderful sister who inspires me to live my best life. (and two others who love me, too)

2. A son with a working zipper on his coat and a GREAT HAT.

3. A dryer that is working.

4. Two gas fireplaces that are working until the heating guy can repair our furnace

5. A wonderful dentist who can get me in next week to repair my tooth

.....and the list goes on and on, health, home, food, family, friends and as my beautiful son Harrison often says when I ask, "how are things?"  he says, "LG mom," translated to....life's GOOD!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear sister, C....and

Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. sisters.

Check out this Youtube video, Gratitude, a love song to the world...I hope it inspires you and brings you joy. (click on the hyper link if you can't see it below)

Until I see you again, may you be well, HAPPY and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope





















Tomorrow is my sister C's birthday and as I sent her an email greeting because my birthday card is not going to get to her in time, I

Living with Will and Gingersnaps

          

Oh the blessing of free will. Some may call it a curse. Some may call it a gift. Last week, I made a number of excellent choices and then some that, in hindsight, I wished I had not made. But then even as I write these words I know, even our worst choices bring insights and so it's all good.

As you probably recall from reading my last blog post called, "When Things Fall Apart," a number of things were breaking down in our household. Things did not improve as the week unfolded, despite my new mantra expecting only Marvelous things to occur.

On Thursday morning, again the house was very chilly when we awoke and when I went to turn on our gas powered furnace,  I didn't hear that warm hum. I cycled power and it worked for a bit and then stopped. Big problem. Direction? To call our furnace repair guy. Result. He's coming later in the afternoon.

Of course, he came exactly when I was due to pick up our University son from the bus and right after that I was due to take Grace to her piano lesson. Thankfully, D had agreed to come home, (his office is about a 5 minute drive away) which is a good thing since I don't understand the language of the skilled trades person. After they come to look at whatever it is that is not working, they try to explain what is wrong and how they plan to fix it and frankly, I'm always surprised that they don't notice my perplexed facial expression because they continue to talk, as if we are on the same page. Thank you D for coming to my rescue.

In the meantime, I was ready to bundle up the little girls into the van to go and collect Clark, but when I looked out at our drive-way, I see the repair man's truck is squarely in the path of my van. I decided to wait until D arrived home so I could leave the little ones with him and steal his little economical red Honda Fit. His treasured car I might add, which is really funny when I think of how times have changed. When I met him he had just sold his red Corvette and bought a Camaro. Again, it's interesting the roads we choose to travel as well as how we choose to travel them.

 

 


                                                                               


Anyway, I zoomed up the hill, picked up Clark, who had been waiting for awhile, and arrived home just as the school bus was dropping Grace and Will off. Since it was a cold day, the first thing I noticed when I saw Will come into our yard was, that his head was bare. As he was coming into the house I asked, "Where is your new hat Will?" He sloughed off his new coat, {remember the one in which I had to replace the zipper recently? And, further to that, the one that I'd bought because I had fallen in LOVE with the HAT which happened to go beautifully with the jacket) and said, "M, took it off." "What?" I said. He replied, "M took it while I was on the bus."

Although I knew I had to be out the door shortly to take Grace to piano, I tried to clarify where his hat was since I KNOW from experience, the longer something goes missing, the chance of getting it back are slim. Amber Alert starts to flash in my mind. As it turned out, based on both Grace and Will's statements, Will had his new hat when he got on the bus and while he was looking out the window, " M", who was sitting beside him, took it off. Will asked for his hat back but she was looking away, when he asked again, she didn't respond. She got off the bus before him and he didn't get his hat back.

Well, even though I was conscious, EXTREMELY, consciously aware of my feelings, anger, starting to bubble up from an unknown source, anger and frustration that another child should remove our son's hat, I still made the "choice" to continue down this path. In fact, I became even more livid as I tried to find M's phone number but there are like 50 people with her last name in our phone book. And remember, this is a small town! I tried calling a few who live in our area but each time it was the wrong number. Glancing at my watch, it was time to take Grace to her piano lesson. I grabbed an apple, an orange, some crackers and cheese and threw them on a plate for the children's after school snack, Grace snatched a bit of everything and we were out the door.

                                         

Thank heavens, our older son was home to keep an eye on the little ones. On the way out of our sub-division we stopped off at the cul-de-sac, where Grace thought the M girl lived on. She had seen her get off the bus with her younger sister and she was pretty sure she knew which house they lived in. M is Grace's age. Actually, in the same grade but in a different class and so she is familiar with her. We stopped at the house where she thought she lived and I rang the bell. No answer. We continued to piano.

Although I like to stay for her 3/4 hour lesson, that day I had to run and pick up Harrison after his jazz band practice.  On my way back to our area, I decided to stop once again at M's house. This time a teenage boy answers and said, "No, she didn't live there, but there are two girls next door." Quickly, keeping an eye on the time, I ran next door and rang the bell. A young, Filipino woman came to the door. I explained nicely to her that our kindergarten son was sitting beside M on the bus earlier and he said, she had taken his hat. I wanted to know if she knew anything about it.
 
The woman looked shocked and while she was apologetically saying, "oh my, I'm sorry, what does it look like?" as she was rummaging around a backpack at the door, I told her that it was black with a red stripe and cool brim. She shook her head no and said it wasn't in M's back pack. She further said, M was at her dance class but she would talk to her when she picked her up. I assumed she was the nanny, as she referenced her employer a few times. Before I left, I mentioned that I was surprised M was sitting with Will at all, since I understood the older children were suppose to sit at the back of the bus. My older daughter doesn't even sit with him. She just looked at me blankly, like she didn't know what the rules were, so I gave her my phone number and said, "thanks."

I was still pretty annoyed at this point. I was thinking back to a time when my oldest son got off the bus without his rather expensive ski gloves we had purchased for him. He always had cold hands so we made sure to get a really warm pair this particular winter. He said one of the kids grabbed them and threw them to the back of the bus and for awhile all the kids were throwing them around. This was a Friday and our family was going skiing that weekend. We never got those gloves back.


Ever since our children were small, we have taught them to take care of their things, to appreciate what they have and to understand it takes effort to provide nice things for them. While some may feel that this is putting too much emphasize on stuff, I believe it teaches them to respect belongings. Theirs and other people's. While I understand we all choose different parenting philosophies, at the very least, respecting other people's space and their, "things." is in my opinion, a really important lesson in life.

I got to the high school and Harrison didn't come out. I shut off the car engine, text him but he didn't respond. I raced into the school, knowing Grace's piano lesson was going to end soon, and stopped outside of the band room. Teens were flying out and thankfully, one asked who I was looking for and I told him. He replied that Harrison wasn't there that day. The band teacher, Mr. M. must have seen me at the door, as he came over and said Harrison hadn't shown up after school. Was there a Dr.'s appointment or something? I just shook my head, smiled and decided to check out the gym. I continued down the hall and who do I see shooting hoops with a few other boys? Harrison.




When he saw me, he quickly collected his belongings and came out rather sheepishly. I asked him why he wasn't at his jazz band practice and he mumbled something about, not wanting to go.. He perked up and said, "oh Mom, I'm number one on the list posted for the basketball team." I nodded my acknowledgement, but I didn't let the first part slide. As we walked down the hall, I asked him why he didn't go to band and he said he wanted to play basketball instead after school. By this time we were outside the band room, so I told him that he better go and apologize to his band teacher.

 As it turned out Harrison was not in Mr. M's good books anyway. At the band concert, the night before, he had apparently been talking and laughed briefly, during  the 5 minute Bach flute solo. Mr. M had had words with him and the other boy involved after the concert. In addition, he was annoyed when he told the jazz band to make some "noise," while warming up and Harrison had done just that, TOO much, in Mr. M's estimation. Harrison later told me it was a GREAT fill! (Harrison plays the drums by the way)  D and I were at the back of the concert room so we never heard anything but we were not looking for poor behavior. He played really well as far as we were concerned (you can always hear your child when they play drums) but he had clearly made some bad choices during the concert for sure.

Harrison right before his band concert last Wednesday night

He apologized to Mr. M over his prior night's behavior and not attending his band practice and we were back in the van to pick up Grace, with me talking, Harrison would say, lecturing, about the choices we make in life and the results we desire. Ownership and being respectful, being the theme. We arrived 5 minutes late to pick up Grace, who was getting cold as it was getting dark by this point. The rest of the night went off without a hitch, dinner, clean up, bath, stories, bed. It was when I was making children's lunches for the next day that I received a phone call.

It was M's mom calling about my query over Will's hat. She was absolutely spitting mad and told me that under no circumstances should I have come to her door, upsetting her nanny, and accusing her daughter of taking Will's hat. She further went on to say that her child was kind hearted and would NEVER take someone's hat. I tried to explain that this was blown WAY out of proportion but she had made up her mind as to my intentions. I told her that I was simply wanting to get his hat back and I started on the trail of the missing hat based on where Will thought it was. She basically said, I shouldn't listen to something a kindergarten aged child said and I should look around our house for the lost hat which will most likely turn up.

Near the end of our conversation, she threw this out, "It is JUST a HAT." As if I were being ridiculous and out of line. I explained that we do have 8 children to cloth and it isn't just a hat to us but the principal of teaching our children to be responsible with their things. She then, quite condescendingly said, "we probably can find a few hats lying around here if you really need one." At that point, I knew we weren't getting anywhere. I apologized if her nanny was upset by my appearance and before we said goodbye, I mentioned that I had called the school, left a message with the principal as I wanted to discuss bus seating policy and the incident.

I didn't sleep that night. I kept thinking about the choices I had made with regards to the actions of the missing hat. Was it just a hat or was it the principal of other people being disrespectful towards our belongings? Also, on my mind was my beautiful teenage son, who was making his own choices. Sometimes not the best ones. I went to sleep finally, thinking about hats, drum sticks, and conversations  all playing out in my mind.

                                        



Things always look better in the morning. The house was warm as the furnace had been repaired. The little girls had a lovely morning at preschool and when we arrived home at lunch time, I received a phone call from D. He said that the principal, Mr. S. had apparently tried to contact me but I was having tea with an old friend  and I hadn't been checking my messages. D said that Mr. S had taken the steps of having all the people involved in the hat fiasco, into his office. As it turns out, a girl by the name of, get this, HOPE, had taken Will's hat off his head. She had been sitting behind him on the bus and when she got up to get off at her stop, she had dropped it behind his back. She thought he would have noticed but he didn't. Apparently, this time Hope was the culprit but she told Mr. S that other children had been doing it as well, namely, M and her younger sister, D.  M admitted that yes, she had done it before. It was unclear whether M was aware this time that Hope had taken Will's hat although she had been the one to say Hope should also be included in the meeting. The Principal told them both that he had zero tolerance for hat removal, or any touching of other people's belongings whatsoever. They were being warned that if he hears about this again, they will be off the bus.

Was I feeling vindicated? Well, sort of. But then, crazy me, I try to think about it from the other person's perspective and I see that I could have handled it differently. First I could have stayed in my Zen place. I could have let the incident go totally and just bought Will a new hat. Although, saying that, I have to qualify that by saying, this hat was PERFECT. Also, as you know, I'm careful with our money and gee, did I really have to buy a new hat when we had a perfectly good hat "somewhere." So yeah, I was unresolved even after all of this was hashed out. The right choice is not always clear and we never know what the outcome will be when we go down  a certain path.







Mr. S, the Principal, did track down Will's hat. It was left on the bus and he has given instructions for the bus people to return it to Will today. The bus should be dropping the kids off shortly and it will all be resolved. Until the next time that is.

I know this is just one incident in my life, one week of choices, but the real point here is, when we have the will power to choose which direction we are going to take, in every aspect of our life, the choices we make always impact more than ourselves and no matter which way we go, if we are open to it, we learn our biggest lessons in life and we teach as well. Yes, I could have taken the higher road and let the hat go. We would have ALL lived in peace and harmony, EXCEPT, until the next time one of the kids on the bus (or in life) thinks nothing of messing around with other people's things. Isn't it part of our job as a community to teach identify moral lessons? It's part of living in a peaceful society.




Also, another big lesson I want my children to learn is that stuff isn't important. I know, I know, this is a contradiction of what I have been talking about but the a particular piece in the scripture has always stayed with me from my childhood Sunday school lessons and that is, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6) This bible verse has always resonated with me and I'd like to believe I'm not materialistic.

Everything we have been given of material goods, is to bring us joy on the earth, make life easier and being grateful for those things is an important lesson too. I hope our children learn a few lessons from this whole experience, all of our children, Will, Grace, Harrison, etc...that respect is an important part of living on this earth, and choosing to be kind. Always kind. When we take that path, we are never wrong.

 

Well, I must close but before I do, I want to give you the recipe for my ginger snap cookies which I think are the perfect choice to go with late fall/early winter weather. I have a full cookie jar with these cookies right now thanks to my dear, DEAREST, son Harrison. While D and I were out doing our Christmas shopping for his oldest sister Alyssa yesterday, (who will NOT be home this Christmas and we want to send her a package soon) he had made a huge batch of these for the family. (Alyssa would love these too...they are her fav) I came home to a hot cup of tea and a plate of cookies. I showed him how to sprinkle an icing sugar star on top. They were so delicious that I thought I would add them to this blog post today. Thank you Harrison. I respect your excellent baking skills.

I hope you enjoy them too, if you want to make them more festive, simply make a stencil of a star or whatever...maybe I should have put a hat on our cookies. Whatever choices you make on this earth, I hope the lessons that result are gentle,

and your cookie jar is ALWAYS full!

Harrison's Ginger Snaps

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup of margarine or butter, softened
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
21/4 cups all purpose flour (Harrison used whole wheat yesterday and it was great)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar

In a large bowl, beat 1 cup sugar, margarine, molasses and egg until light and fluffy. Stir in remaining ingredients except 1/4 cup sugar, mix well. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 hour for easier handling. (You don't have to do this last step...Harrison didn't yesterday and they were great)

Heat oven to 350 degree F. Shape dough into 1 inch balls; roll in 1/4 cup sugar. Space 2 inches apart on un-greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degree F. For 8 to 12 minutes or until set. (Cookies will puff up and then flatten during baking.) Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely.

Yields 3-4 dozen

We double the recipe for our large family so they last the week.

Will just came home and look what is on his head!

Looking at the above picture, it reminds me me of a story Dr. Wayne Dyer tells, of a woman who was walking on the beach with her small son. Suddenly, a huge wave washes upon the shore and pulls her son into the ocean. She gets down on her hands and knees and cries, "Oh God, please, please, bring my son back to me!" On the next wave her son reappears, none the worse for wear. She looks him over from top to bottom and says, "but he was wearing a HAT" 

                                               



Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Light and Fluffy Waffles and Snow

This was a shot from our deck at 7:30 this morning...our first snowfall of 2014

To put you in the mood as you read this blog post, play the following YouTube video clip. It's from one of my favourite Christmas movie's called, "White Christmas." It's called, "Snow." (click on the hyper-link if you can't view below)

Snow, white and fluffy, reminding me of the ivory snow flakes I put into my homemade laundry soap, softly drifted down from the heavens last night. I felt the possibilities of such in my bones, as I went to pick up the children from school yesterday. At the time, only heavy wet rain drops were plopping on my windshield but later, when I had to take Grace to her Christmas choir rehearsal, it had changed to the white stuff. Oh the first snowfall of the year is glorious.

I LOVE snow. A peaceful feeling and memories of childhood envelope me, as I'm in awe over our first snowfall. One of my favourite memories from childhood, was being bundled into my red one piece snow suit and going outside with my family to play in the snow. This was when we lived in Hope, B.C., back when my Dad was still alive. We made a massive snowman, taller than my dad and he even had a lap for me to sit on. Pictures of me with my three older sisters and Dad, and of course our snowman, are treasured photos now.

The smell of crisp, cold winter days also fill me with joy, as I remember the times when my step Dad, Bud and I would go and feed our horses. As our green Ford truck would come into view, our horses would lift up their heads and snorts of mist would puff from their noses, as they sauntered over to meet us at the gate. My horse, Blondie's velvet nose would push me in the tummy, and she would nuzzle me until I gave her the carrot or apple in my pocket. Knowing she was as happy to see me, as I was to see her, made those cold, snowy days, magical moments. She of course is long gone, along with my father, and my step father but as snow falls, my thoughts of them bring them alive once more.

Last night, the little ones had a hot tub before going to bed. As we lifted the hot tub cover, steam rolled up into the night sky. Safely, under the cover of our upper deck, the children floated around and their excited voices echoed into the blanketed white. "Can we go and play in it"? They asked? "Sure," I said, so they climbed out wearing nothing but their birthday suits. They ran to the edge of our deck, gingerly touching their naked toes on the white ground, and then they ran back to the hot tub, giggling, filled with glee. My step Dad, Bud would have looked at me and said, "making memories."

At bedtime, all warm in their fleece jammies, we read a story called, "Big Snow" by Jonathan Bean. It was about a little boy who while "helping" his mother do some holiday cleaning, was antsy as he kept a watchful eye on the progress of the winter snowfall. He was hoping for a big snow. Inside, he is underfoot, turning  white sheet changing and tub scrubbing into imaginary whiteouts. I love when his father comes home early from work and the whole family goes out for a walk in the deep snow.




    

It was the perfect book to read to our children on our first night of snow. I hope they have magical memories of this special time of year.

This Saturday morning, I had to get up early and take D to the hospital where he was undergoing a colonoscopy. Groan! Yes, I know, not the most fun procedure in the world and certainly not delightful to prepare for. I felt truly bad for him as he was up most of the night. I've just returned from dropping him off at our local hospital and also taking our oldest son, Clark to his job at the Science Centre. There was a sleepover there last night and Clark is on the first shift this morning, getting the kids their breakfast, making flubber, etc. I'm sure they will be talking about snow and perhaps looking at snowflakes through a microscope, exploring the marvelous world of science. Serious fun!

I'm going to make a quick batch of my light and fluffy waffles for the kids. Harrison was at a birthday party last night. Do you call it that when teens are turning 16? It was suppose to be a sleepover but at 10:30 he appeared home and as he poured himself a bowl of cereal, he said they had done everything he had wanted to and he knew his Dad was going to the hospital in the morning and I may need him. Yes, there were moments this week when I had to shake my head at some of his teenage judgement calls, but then he rises to the occasion, like last night and I think, "okay, maybe he will be ready to learn to drive soon." He turns 16 next month. I have a month to ponder that.

So I'm making waffles this morning and realized I haven't put a breakfast recipe on my blog yet. Do you want a great waffle recipe? This one has a few extra steps than the basic waffle recipe but it results in light and fluffy waffles. Waffles your family will remember as being the best they have ever eaten! So make up a batch for your family, serve them near a window, so they can eat and enjoy the magic going on outside, no matter where you live in the world. Making Memories!


Hope's Light and Fluffy Waffles

• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1¾ cups whole milk
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 2 oz (½ stick) whole butter
• ½ tsp pure vanilla extract (optional)

Directions

1. Pre-heat your waffle iron to its hottest setting.


2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.


3. Separate the eggs. Put the whites in a glass bowl and the yolks in another.


4. Melt the butter over a low heat, then remove it and let it cool


5. Beat the yolks thoroughly. Whisk in the milk, oil and melted butter.


6. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff. Then add the sugar and continue mixing until you get nice stiff peaks. (This makes the waffles fluffy)


7. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and mix gently until combined.


8. Carefully fold in the beaten egg whites to the batter, don't over mix.


9. Spray both surfaces of your waffle iron with cooking spray.


10. Pour ½ to ¾ cup (depending on your waffle iron) batter onto the iron and close it.


11. Cook until the waffle iron's indicator light shows that cooking is complete, or until no more steam comes out. The finished waffle should be golden brown and crispy.


12. Lift the waffle out of the iron with a pair of tongs and either serve right away or transfer it to the oven to keep warm.

I add some fruit, some syrup and sprinkle it with icing sugar and serve it to the girls.

The little girls have been wearing their bear hats all week...Bears love waffles!

Me yelling, "Harrison" come and get it....I really have to start using a bell at mealtime

My older kids love weekends when we make waffles etc and take time for breakfast

Grace is always up for a smoothie

Add a fruit smoothie to the breakfast and you've given your family a healthy start to the day along with memories of icing sugar sprinkled waffles on snow covered mornings.

Fruit Smoothie

This is the one I make most often as all my children love it.

Add some crushed ice to the bottom of your blender...I use about 1- 2 cups.

Then I fill 1/2 of my blender, about 4-6 cups with whatever milk we have on hand....almond, rice, or cow's milk...let your taste be your guide

I then add 1 - 1 1/2 cups of yogurt...strawberry or blueberry is our choice

Add a banana and then frozen fruit...we like blueberries and strawberries. The more you add the fruitier the smoothie...also my girls like more strawberries for a pink colour smoothie ....but lots of blueberries looks great too...not to mention loaded with antioxidents.

Blend it until everything is well combined and serve.

(Note...I like to add some ground flax seeds for extra fibre for my smoothie but some kids don't like it) 


Well, blog readers, I hate to leave you mid blog but the hospital just called and it's time to pick up D and bring him home. I'm going to add some scrambled eggs to his breakfast when he gets home. He must so hungry since he hasn't eaten since Thursday night!

While I'm off, I'm going to leave the little ones home with Harrison and Grace. I've promised them a special video to watch while I'm gone. Have you ever watched the "Snowman" movie? I'm adding a link below and maybe you can watch it with your family on the next wintery day. (unless you live in Florida like my good friend, K)

The music is hauntingly beautiful and reminds me of when my older children were playing their violins and cello, with our local Carriage House String Orchestra.  Alyssa also, played it on the piano and I wonder if Grace, who is now taking voice lessons, will sing it in the future. Tingles cover my arms as I listen, knowing angels are listening to it with me. Wrap yourself up with warm memories and know, each moment you are making more magic in the world.

Okay, I've got to run but I hope you enjoy this movie and the music as well. Here's the YouTube video of "The Snowman."...for young and old. (click on the hyper link if you can't view below)

 

 Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

When Things Fall Apart

 

My dryer is broken.

My Ruby red LG dryer--broken dryer

You may remember reading last week about my belief in Murphy's law, coinciding with D's business trips. Something ALWAYS happens when he goes out of town. Of course, if I truly believe in the law of attraction, which I do, I will start reciting this mantra, "something marvelous always occurs when D is working out of town."

But last week, I had no such insight.

D has since returned, delved into the dryer's malfunction (did I mention he is handy?) and has ordered a new circuit board. Of course, just finding a place that would provide, said part was an ordeal. I get SO frustrated when we find a part in our cousin country, (the U.S.) but for WHATEVER reason, things can't always be shipped to Canada. (Free trade stinks at times) Anyway, don't get me started, we did finally find the part but of course, it is NOW on order.

Until then, I've threatened the children within an inch of their life, to NOT put anything but socks and underwear in the wash. To hang up their towels after use and under no circumstances are they to put their sheets in the laundry basket. Even the little kids know the drill and they carefully strip down, laying the approved items for the wash aside and putting their other clothes back in their drawers/closet.

Even under these strict rules, with 8 people living in our home, there is still wash to do each day and each day I pray for good weather so I can set it out on our deck to dry.

First thing I do every morning is assess the drying weather

 Now for some strange reason, when it is MY choice to dry our clothes on the deck it's okay. I feel really empowered by the whole concept of saving energy and using wind and solar power to dry our clothes but when I have no choice, I feel like a victim to the appliance manufacturers, who can't seem to construct machines that will last more than 5 years.

Our clothes drying outside...underwear and socks are inside

For the first 15 years of our marriage we had the same washing machine pair and since then we have had to replace them every 5 years like clockwork, which is ridiculous in my books. Yes, sure, we have a larger than average family and for the last 5 years our family is very large but still, this new LG was purchased after Will was born 5 years ago. You would think it could make it until he was in grade 1 before breaking down.

Okay, enough venting about my dryer, except to say, I actually would dry everything outside,(and sneer at the dryer manufactures) if there was a way of drying clothes outside without everything, like towels, feeling scratchy boards. Send me a comment if you have a solution In the spring, I may even ask D to construct a clothesline, although our neighbours may protest over us airing our "clean" laundry to dry. Sigh.

I actually thought I was doing really well with D out of town last week, dealing with the day to day drama until Will came home from school on Thursday with a broken zipper on his new coat. His NEW coat. He had only worn it for a week and the little metal thingy on the bottom of the zipper broke off so the zipper slide wouldn't stay attached.

The metal piece on the right..broke off

I was livid! BUT again, Murphy's law prevailed (D was still away at this point) and wouldn't you know I had just thrown out the store receipt, along with the price tags, etc in the garbage on Tuesday. I wasn't exactly sure it went in the Tuesday garbage, but just to be sure, I went through the garbage we had accumulated since Tuesday, reviewing each item carefully. It was Friday morning at this point and surprisingly we had a lot of garbage. Yuck!

Have you ever done a garbage inspection? It was amazing what I found. PERFECTLY GOOD STUFF! A bag full of nuts, dried fruit and yogurt covered bits, (expensive nuts, I might add), an apple, a perfectly good pencil, an unopened juice box with straw still attached, cat food cans that still had food in them, (the children feed the cats) and then what really surprised me were things that could be recycled, for instance toilet paper rolls, and quite a bit of potential compost material...like apple cores, banana peels, etc. Very insightful.

Suffice it to say, garbage inspections will continue, (as gross and stinky as they are) regularly since the goal of being less wasteful is high on my priority list. And perhaps I will have to get the children to do some research on garbage waste in our country and we can enjoy a field trip to the dump, which really should have a new name, something like "precious land." Okay, again I got sidetracked...where was I?

Oh YES, since I must have thrown out the store receipt (which yes, when I think of it, should have been recycled too...in which case we would still have them in our recycling bin) I had to come up with a solution to Will's broken zipper. What to do? Well, after the garbage inspection, I pulled out our yellow pages and called every single tailor and seamstress listed. Three. There are probably more but I don't have any connections in the sewing industry which I think is a lost art by the way. And again, Murphy's law, every one of them said they could do it but not for 3 weeks. That was the magic time frame for all of them. I told them my son would freeze by then but thanked them for their time.

Then I decided to google how to repair a zipper but sadly this didn't appear to be easily manuvered, so I decided as ridiculous as it is to repair a brand new coat, I had to walk my talk and not only be frugal but sustainable. I would have to do it myself. On Sunday, I warned all the kids that the big repair job was being conducted and they were to keep themselves busy so I could focus on ripping out the broken zipper and reattach the new one we had purchased at Fabricland on Saturday.

Well, at first I couldn't see how to even begin and I was so worried I was going to put a hole in the nylon material but after about 1/2 hour I finally made a tiny opening and things progressed from there. Once the zipper was removed, I carefully pinned the new one to the coat, being conscious to place the zipper bottom, at the bottom of the jacket. Believe me, I have done some funny things over the years when I sew. Harrison, our 15 year old, must have inherited my lack of sewing perception, as his Home Ec teacher told him not to become a bridge builder when he grows up, as he had sewed the legs shut to the boxer shorts he was making last year.

Sewing the zipper was really easy and quick or so I thought. When I went to zip up the jacket, the zipper got stuck on the material since I had sewed the zipper too close to the edges of the jacket. So, with teeth clenched and screams to the children, "do not BUG me," I ripped out the zipper again and re-sewed it. This time, being careful to ensure the material had some clearance to allow the zipper to flow along the teeth without any blockages. Voila! Not the prettiest job but it got the job done and Will would not freeze this winter.

Will checking out the new zipper

Also, I learned a few valuable lessons. In the future, when we purchase anything that costs over say $50.00 dollars (and this coat was much higher than that) I will retain the receipts and tags in an envelope for safe keeping. We do this with appliances...however isn't it interesting that the unit always breaks down exactly one day after any warranty expires?

Well my dryer still isn't fixed but D assures me that the part will be here soon, fingers crossed that this is the magic part. Will went to school on Monday with a working zipper and all was going okay until I woke up yesterday to a freezing house. D had already left for work very early, at 6:45 to take Harrison to jazz band and Clark to the University bus. He didn't notice how chilly the house was but one hour later when the kids were going out the door the house still wasn't heating up.

D came home at lunch, per my frozen request and cycled the power (I think that was the correct term he used) and geesh, I could have done that. It seemed to get our furnace working but again this morning, it didn't kick in. So now we have another ISSUE to deal with.

Our gas fireplace kept us warm

Add some concerns we have over our daughter in the U.K. and her teaching profession and our out of town University son, finding a comfort zone to marinade in while away from home and things in my life, to a degree seem to be falling apart. Do you ever wonder why things seem to go wrong. And in threes too? There is that old wives tale anyway.

I don't think they really go wrong in threes, they go wrong in a series of threes, a life time of threes. Life is just full of things falling apart. And that is the essence of life. Unless, UNLESS, you shift your perspective AND learn the fine art of surrender.

I often say that "letting go" is my major life lesson. It seems to be in the theme of EVERYTHING I experience in life. Something falls apart, I notice it, I react....sometimes I OVER REACT, and thankfully as I'm growing wiser, I then shift and let go and then I'm back into the well being stage. UNTIL the next thing. Which at times can be moments later. It feels like a delicate dance I do on this earth school.

Then last night, as I was at my meditation meeting, things became clearer. Things fall apart in order to teach me the lessons I need to learn. To enforce the understanding that we are impermanent and things are ALWAYS changing. Then I laughed and wondered if once I became proficient at this life dance, if in the future I wouldn't even be aware when things go awry because I will smoothly waltz past any obstacles. My awareness will be that everything is perfect and things are not broken at all.

In this light, and maybe as a result of my attraction expectation, instead of things falling apart, things will be coming together. Like a beautiful dance, where at first you are just learning the steps and finally after a lot of practice, it artfully flows together with the music.

For instance on Sunday when I was sewing Will's zipper in place. Grace took the time to host a tea party for the three little ones. She made some "Mother's Helper Tea" that my sister B had given me and filled a plate full of cookies we picked up from her school's Christmas Fair Market. She made the afternoon fun for the little ones as I tried to repair the jacket. She reminded me that things do come together with the smallest effort. My children have been the best teachers in my life. They are CONSTANTLY changing and growing and with such ease and grace. They live in the moment and enjoy each experience.

Grace brought up her Beatrix Potter tea set and her fairies to join the party

Invite some friends to the party

Kate, Grace, Will and Victoria enjoy their Mother's Helper Tea and Cookies

Would you care for another biscuit, Kathryn? Yes, thank you.

 Check out this YouTube video, it's one of my fav artists from when I was young, Cat Stevens singing, Oh Very Young....reminds me of how quickly life unfolds and reminds me also, not to stress when things fall apart...we are impermanent and life is short. Our children are truly are best teachers. Even though they are changing and growing every day, they live happily in the moment.

 The lyrics to Oh Very Young

Oh very young
What will you leave us this time
You're only dancing on this earth for a short while
And though your dreams may toss and turn you now
They will vanish away like your daddy's best jeans
Denim Blue fading up to the sky
And though you want him to last forever
You know he never will
(You know he never will)
And the patches make the goodbye harder still

Oh very young
What will you leave us this time
There'll never be a better chance to change your mind
And if you want this world to see a better day
Will you carry the words of love with you
Will you ride the great white bird into heaven
And though you want to last forever
You know you never will
(You know you never will)
And the goodbye makes the journey harder still

Oh very young
What will you leave us this time
You're only dancing on this earth for a short while
Oh very young
What will you leave us this time



Hmmmm....good lessons to learn when things fall apart.

What do you do when things fall apart? Watch your reaction the next time and notice how you dance to the music.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope