Proud mama alert!

If you dislike reading stories where moms gush about their brilliant children, turn away now. Just for today. There are plenty of blogs I could recommend, although many are equally proud of their children and may also tend to talk about them. Check out Mrs. G. over at Derfwad Manor for her "Heart of the Home" post where she is sharing today her favourite room in the house. She's also posted links to other bloggers who are also sharing. I may take a look myself shortly.

The above photo was taken yesterday before Lizzie went to a friend's birthday tea party. We curled her hair for sort of a retro glamour look. Clip-on rhinestone earrings & sparkly necklace and bracelet complementing the summery halter dress she wore to the grand event. It was the first of TWO birthday parties yesterday. Isn't she lovely?

Today is the last day of school here. Just half a day. Mostly assembly where final awards are handed out and the kids get their report cards. I should premise this by telling you that we moved her to a new school this past fall. It was a last minute decision to enroll her in private Christian school away from public. She started grade 4 with a whole bunch of new kids, a few of which she knew casually. Plus a whole different type of curriculum, adding bible study & worship in addition to the 3 'R's. We were worried that she might struggle a bit, especially since the workload seemed to increase so much. But she absolutely rose to the challenges and blew us away with her achievement.

Can I just say that my Lizzie is a Miss Smarty Pants? She got an award for Math & French, plus the the award for overall academic achievement. I'm so proud of this child. She's kind & generous, just the sweetest little thing, with the biggest heart. 

This is the "last day of school picture". She's wearing a little shrug that I made for her. Just proof that I still occasionally take a few minutes to do some crafting. It's not all about school, you know.

This is something else I made just last night. A bib as part of the present for her teacher. Today was his last day at our school. He & his wife are moving to the coast & having their first baby in July, hence the bib (it's not because he drools or anything like that). It's not a perfect gift but I hope he (hmm-hmm - his wife) will like it. We package it up with a little board book. Because we all know...from now on it's all about the baby.

Lizzie is off to play with friends now, and I really must make a dent in cleaning this awfully dirty house. Bye for now, friends!

Saucy's virtual wedding party

One of my favourite bloggers and the inspiration for starting my own blog, dear Saucy has been sharing photos & stories from her wedding all month. Today, she's invited us all to celebrate our own wedding celebrations. Stop by and visit Saucy today for links to some other wedding stories, but now it's on to my own stories.

It was September 1990 and the sun was hot. Apparently I was not too happy to be participating in my cousin's wedding. Was it the fumes from the other girl's hairspray, or perhaps it was the teal-blue polyester gown? How about those dropped shoulders? Never a flattering look when your postures not very nice. I think if you peeked under the hem of my gown you might spy dyed-to-match satin pumps. And I'm pretty sure my eyeliner matched too! The highlight of the evening was definitely my mother puking in the parking lot. Aah, the memories.

Fast forward 11 or so years to my own wedding. Much more elegant I think. I had no attendants, just my sweet little Lizzie as the flower girl. Our wedding was very small, just our parents, my grandmother, & Javier's sisters. And it was perfect. I love that she's making a "kissy-face" as we shared our own kiss.

Oh we had problems. Our photographers wanted us to change our wedding time so "the light was better". The JP changed our wedding vows minutes before the wedding and forgot the special part at the end where Javier promised to always be a great daddy to Lizzie & gave her a little locket. I still don't know what I said in my vows. But, oh well. Thinking back it was like a dream. And I got to marry the man of my dreams!

We married in Victoria, BC (Canada) in a little B&B, a lovely Italianate mansion, near the ocean. It rained nearly all weekend, so we planned the ceremony indoors. But, miracle of miracles...the sun came out a mere 2 hours before the wedding and dried everything out. The sun shined down on us as we became man & wife, and continued until we took the last photo. Then it was a down pour! 

We celebrated a month later at a local Calgary pub with all of our friends & plenty of alcohol, but we forgot our camera and in the end had no photos of that event. Oh well, at least we have the memories!

I missed Father's Day

Actually I should clarify, I called my father on this special day, but I didn't have access to a computer onto which I could blog about him.

This is my dad circa 1972. I think this is such a cool picture of him, standing in front of his rig. I'm digging the side burns. He was 24 years old in this picture. I wonder what he was thinking?

This is my dad circa 2008 at 60 years old. Did he imagine he'd sit here with his sweet granddaughter on his knee?

32. Reconcile with my father

We have a lot of work to do to repair a badly damaged relationship, but he came to visit for the first time in my married life in May. It's the first step to what I hope will be a more healthy relationship in the future. What can I say...he's my dad, and every girl needs their daddy once in a while.

Let the sunshine in

Couldn't resist.

I love the Flintstones. Especially when they added Pebbies & Bam-Bam.

Have a 'sunshine' day.

Number 17

17. Set foot in Saskatchewan

Yes, I've finally gone and done it - I've been to Saskatchewan and lived to tell the tale. Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park to be exact. And I camped! Or rather my family and I camped.

There was plenty of scenery to be admired. I discovered to my wonder & delight that SK really does have hills and trees. I always suspected they might be there. Plus I didn't need a passport to cross the border. My sweet Lizzie inquired quite innocently as we crossed the border when we would be stopping at customs (seriously). 

Butterflies to get up close to. So pretty.

Squirrels to go "aaawww" over. Photo credit to Javier, darn it. 

Side note: Medicine Hat has no squirrels. Whatever did they do to make all the squirrels go away. I love squirrels.

Wildflower bouquets to pick.

Relaxing to be done, though I suspect Lizzie outgrew her kiddie chair 

from last year. Time to go shopping, I guess.

Books to be read. Goldilocks has found a better fitting chair.

Marshmallows to toast & even better? 'smores!  Yum.

Cartoons to watch? Wait a minute....

Oh yeah, the IPOD. Technology follows us even camping.

Forts to build.

Softballs,  footballs & frisbees to throw and catch

And a moose to photograph as we left the park.

I was just slightly resistant to the idea of camping, poor Javier. I love camping, especially now that we have a trailer. No more tenting for spoiled little me. However, I felt I really needed to stay home and get my home organized. Yes, my priorities were in serious need of reordering I think! But, you know what? It was a wonderful little getaway. I feel refreshed and ready to tackle that new load of laundry waiting for me downstairs. It was nice to spend some quality family time without a three-hour roadtrip looming on the horizon.

Thank you Javier for planning & organizing (& shopping & packing for) our mini-holiday.

H-O-R-S-E

Finally I'm back! No more 3 hours drives away from my family. At least not for a while anyway. I came home night before last and walked around in a daze most of the day reorienting myself to my home and doing the mountain of laundry that miraculously accumulated in my absence. Oh but it's glorious to be home. Just look at this lovely face I got to see yesterday morning.

Last night the three of us went over to a local school to shoot some hoops. Sounds impressive doesn't it? I am so NON-athletic that it's just sad. Me in my flip-flops struggling across the pavement trying to get the ball away from Javier. I lost the game of H-O-R-S-E, but Lizzie and I kicked butt on the 2-on-1 game against Javier, despite trying to call a time-out to catch our breaths from laughing so hard and at least one drooling foul (not me I swear). I haven't laughed that much in a long time. Great family bonding. I missed these guys so much!

With being so busy I haven't had much opportunity to craft very much, though I managed to pull off my toadstool for The Toadstool Swap. I just have to pop it in the mail to my  partner. Hopefully today. My toadstool is made of linen and is very loosely based on the pattern offered by LucyKate Crafts. Loosely, because I left the pattern at home and didn't have my laptop available to go & "borrow" internet from the nearby hotel. So I had to rely on my slightly faulty memory. However, it still turned out pretty cute I think. I hope my partner likes it.

This is a photo of the top. I embroidered some spots and added a fabric patch. Not the most beautiful work but still cute I hope.

Well, I've still got one assignment on the go which will take a bit of time, but just a few more days and I'll be on holidays for real! Woo-hoo!

Thank you for your kind comments on my last post. It really helps to know that I've got this whole cheering squad behind me. It was such a great experience and though I'm glad to be home, I'm missing the work itself. I felt like a "real" nurse for a month.

Home for a rest

This is a bit how I feel today. A little wobbly, slightly off-centre. I came home last night for a day and a half. It was heaven to sleep in my own bed last night, even if I did have nasty dreams. The down side to having such a comfy bed is that I never feel that I get a good night's rest when I'm away. Not even on holiday, when you expect to get some sleep. Oh well, I spend more nights on this bed than any other, so I guess it's good that I'm comfortable.

It feels so good to come home. I'm loving the nursing that I'm doing, but I feel like I'm missing out when I'm away from home. I miss my afternoons with Lizzie after I pick her up from school. I miss cooking in my kitchen. I miss my kitties' purrs. I miss hanging out with Javier. I just miss...

Work is wonderful, though I'm exhausted at the end of everyday and on days off. Rural nursing is like no other. We care for the whole range across the life spectrum, from the newly born to the palliative patients. I've watched a baby's birth, prepared deceased patient for the morgue, inserted many catheters and IV, given more antibiotics that I remember, distributed lots of medications, removed stitches, dressed burns, changed diapers (both big & small), and too many other things to list. I've learned more in the past few weeks than I have in the past three years. The work never seems to stop and priorities change in a heartbeat (literally).

It's about a three hour drive between PC and home. I keep myself awake by listening to audiobooks on my ipod, through the radio of course, not earphones!

Last night I had the added joy of seeing a few rainbows. My camera picked up just the faintest rainbow between these two telephone poles, just above the horizon.

This one was barely noticeable, Just at the horizon, by the building between the poles.

The last one was quite large and stayed with me for a while. While I'm wishing for more sunny weather, the rain is certainly making the countryside nice & green. By mid-summer, everything will be dried out and golden.

I really appreciate all the comments. I'm going to get back out there soon and do some serious visiting, because I've been lax, but will you all forgive me in the meantime? I just have a few more shifts to get through and it's summer holidays for me!  

I suspect I may have a problem

How do you know that computers are ruling your world? When you are sitting in the parking lot of a hotel tapping into their wireless internet on your laptop on a rainy Saturday evening!

I do have an excuse, honest. I really, really had to send out an assignment and I couldn't figure out any other way to do it...and, of course, I just had to take the opportunity to update my blog. Go figure!

It's very cold, windy and rainy. Never the best combination. Apparently there are many many campers heading into the local Walmart to stock up on blankets, sweaters, and coats. People are talking about snow! Ridiculous.

I hope the weather is better in your part of the world. Enjoy the remainder of your weekend.