Blog As I Go....

I was sitting here setting up, thinking of all the things I wanted to tell you about my fun night. SO I have the sketch this card website in one window and my blog in another window so I can share as I go along tonight.

I set up the table and went through all my envelopes and searched out all my card stock to set off on new colour adventures. My little 2'x4' table is on my right. I opened Ray's desk drawer and put paper on it, and I set up my little round bistro table with my paper cutter on it. There are now surfaces all around me and I am sitting on the office swivel chair and can swivel to the area I need. I just need my wine and I'll be all set....

I'd take a picture but Ray brought the camera... he left a note saying thanks for helping him pack, and I'm a great friend. That's about the sweetest thing EVER! GREAT! Now I miss all those guys....but I have been enjoying always finding the seat down!

6:33 Okay...now I'm all set...bring on the disco (I'm listening to an old old Newsboys tape called Lovelibertydisco..it's really bad and probably NOT available on Limewire...besides it's a cassette...that might be before your time...) I'm wearing my turqoise crocs.(That's your audio and visual cue!)

I'm doing sketch #2, from Sketch This. First stroke of creativity....

6:41 Just checked the towels in the dryer...they need a few more minutes...BTW that is the only tape I have, so I HAVE to listen to it. I might just have to switch to a CD but then I have to use a different radio and I'll definitely have to sacrifice sound quality for REPEAT(I have to switch the tape every fifteen and eighteen minutes....it gets a little tedious) I pressed play for the CD, thinking I would get something Celtic...but instead...I found my Christ Tomlin CD. How cool is that! I didn't know where it had gotten to...

7:13 towels done...next load loaded and running, think I might need chips.

Anyone who doesn't know me might diagnose me with ADD right about now, since it seems I cannot stay on task. BUT...I'd be able to stay on task if there weren't so many other tasks to get done.

7:15 I'm about to finish my first card. Yeay!

7:37 Two copies of that card finished too. You just put them in the copier...no I'm kidding...I cut enough pieces to make three of these.

Now I'm going to try sketch 32.

I ordered a couple of supplies the other day at my friend's party. One of the items is flocking....no that's not a scrapping swear word. I thought that might be fun to try....just wanted to keep you in my thought loop tonight. I was also thinking that "borrelnootjes" are the perfect scrapbooking food because first of all, you usually have a "borrel" and second...they don't make your fingers all covered with stuff....think cheesies. That's a big no-no.

7:42 Card two...underway. But am being seriously hindered by the rumbly in my tumbly....

7:59 Wanna know something funny. Right now all across town, there are mothers of cadets pretending they are not home. Not available. Not answering their phones for the sake of a day of piece and quiet. We are not together in one place celebrating womanhood or solidarity , no, we are home alone. Enjoying the absence of sounds, needs....quiet.

Maybe I DO have ADD. They're actually Joe's crocs but he thinks he doesn't like them anymore so....Did I mention that Eddy was up at 5am packing? Yeah, I think he was so excited he couldn't sleep anymore....I suggested he go back to bed....scary sight...me and my Medusa hair all squinty at 5am.

8:26 another one done!! Just one this time....but I feel the mojo comin' on. I do a couple of sketches and then I'm ready to do some original work. One or two of those and I shall have to fold some of those 6 loads that went through the machine today and yesterday.

Okay now read with a little Josh Groban in the background....last night at the Extravaganza we listened to Andrea Bocelli, it was all very Italian.

9:00 I finished an original. I must say that I enjoyed that a little more than using a template to create a card. I think I takes just as long but you're not going back and forth to check if you are doing it right. You just keep trying different things until it is JUST right.

I think I'm going to have to leave it at that...fetch that deep fried stuff that is calling my name from the cupboard and fold laundry while I watch a show.

It's been fun...and not lonesome at all with all of you keeping me company. Love ya!

All About Me

Okay....my day off officially starts....NOW! I cleaned the church this morning because we had our annual Pasta-Extravaganza/Council-cake-decorating-contest-and-silent-auction. It was a fun evening and the food was soooo great. As a parent of a youth I set up the fellowship hall for the event and sat with our speakers at super time. Brian and Angela Richardson, a Christian counselling couple that we know well, spoke on Spiritual Warfare. It was really interesting and it was great to touch base with them again.

I'm not going to blog about the rest of the week because then I'M going to be tired! It was one of those weeks where you have to jot down what has to be done on each day just so you don't forget anything. I should be doing some canvassing in my neighborhood for the Cancer Society but will do it next week. My canvassing book was dropped off last week and will be picked up next Sunday.

I am setting up a scrapbooking station at the computer with the little fold up table so I can look up card ideas and just whip them off. If they turn out really well I can scan a copy right away and put it in my binder. I'm so excited...

I've been listening to Casting Crowns ALL week, the Lifesong album. I borrowed it from the church library and it is so awesome!!! Any Casting Crowns fans out there???? Right now, at this instant.... I'm listening to Lovelibertydisco by the Newsboys....a really bad disco album....but I LOVE IT...

The boys and Ray are all camping this weekend so I have a day or so to myself. SO the rest of the day is going to be devoted to papercrafting....my mojo should peak around 10pm tonight. I just popped a frozen quiche in the toaster oven and have a special bottle of wine that I've been saving for a special occasion. I would say today is special!! On that note...I'm off to surf and see if I can find some card ideas to stir the imagination.....

PS-Eddy has gone camping before so it is not new....but the weather is going to be so weird today. The lows overnight will be 6 or 8 degrees but right now it is in the 20's with rain off and on but lovely hot sun. I have sent wintercoats with toques and mitts, but also shorts. AND I think they'll actually end up wearing the whole assortment at one time or another! They are plannning to do some fishing too. Eddy really loves playing board games....I think they have played EVERY SINGLE board game we own.

A Funny Thing Happened to Me....

...while I was on the way to Joe's room putting the laundry away. I noticed there was no one sitting at the computer!! Ray said just this morning, when was the last time I updated my blog!!! As in...you should let people know what's going on!

We had a great week so far. Eddy is adjusting very well, and right now he is writing his weekly letter to his mom and dad. The supervisor Joy will take a picture of it and send it to the principal in Korea who will send it to his folks. He is to have no email or telephone contact with them for the whole 10 weeks, in the name of forging independence.... (Shoot I just noticed I lost my favourite earring again, 3rd time...always found it back before....hope I find it again!) Anyway....Eddy is doing well....the shell was shed a loooooong time ago and yes...it is almost like having two Joe's. The two are very similar and can be equally silly, and pokey, no sense of urgency. A very different child than the one who arrived on Saturday and that is really great.

Eddy goes to our school, he is in Joe's class, and sits beside him in class. Yesterday Joe got a study hall for not finishing his homework. Eddy had taken his home and finished it and coloured it and everything. Joe dismissed the importance of this project and left it at school. Hmmmm. Hope he takes a cue from Eddy! Last night we had a social at the school with all the Keystone kids and the homestay families. It was a lot of fun. It was nice to get together with families that you otherwise might not have that much in common with. The supervisor came too, she was at our house for supper. At the social, most of the Keystone (That's the name of the school the school they are affiliated with...) students hung out together and spoke in their native tongue. They acted like they were right at home on their own school yard. Playing, running, laughing and having fun. The kids don't necessarily know each other, since the Keystone program is an afterschool program that you can choose to attend, and there are different streams within the program that you can choose from. They go to regular school until about 2:30, and then they attend an afterschool-school. Very intense education wise. Eddy is an only child, adored by all his family. His paternal grandparents come over 4 times a week to spend time with him, he is the center of their universe. He is very upbeat, positive, polite, humourous, quick, open to new things, outgoing...he hangs out with the Canadian kids more than the Korean kids since he is just as familiar with them. Because of his attitude he is well liked. He is a good candidate in the program, it is designed to foster independence and leadership. In the future he hopes to become some sort of diplomat. I think it would be right up his alley.

Today the boys are at Cadets. Craig went to the Reach For the Top, they did so-so. So I had Eddy all to myself. My friend Janice's boys were both at Cadets too and her Keystone student, Joseph was home alone too. We went to the Asian food market in London to shop. The students each get a $10/week allowance. Eddy bought some candy for him and the boys, and some shrimp crackers, noodle bowls, and he showed me his favourite marinade! He MUST spend some time in the kitchen to know that! We also bought a jar of kimchi which is a pickled cabbage type dish that is eaten with every meal.... quite involved to make so it was nice to find it in a jar. I also ate a noodle bowl for lunch....with CHOPSTICKS! It was funny to see Joseph and Eddy point to stuff that they liked and what they didn't like....there was a type of canned kimchi on the shelf too and they said they didn't like that kind.

Yesterday afternoon the supervisor came off the bus to visit with us and have supper. She sat and chatted with me and watched me cook, even took pictures of it, to send to the family back home...so they can see what I am feeding him. We had mashed potatoes and hamburger sauce with french cut beans. Nice simple food, and I suppose peasant food if you had to qualify it. But ooh so good. The supervisor loves the school and how and what we learn...how involved the Christian perspective is.... She hasn't ever experienced it to this extent. Christian school in Australia is much different . Those are neat things to hear. I mentioned that Eddy is signed up to play baseball with Joe and she said she loves to cheer so it will be fun to invite her to a game. She is really thankful for the openness and level of inclusion she is feeling among the families for the students and herself.

So that's an update...

So the week was great. Very busy but that's not new. Work really got in the way of my free time this week but...next Saturday I have a whole day to myself...I'm sooo excited. I might pretend I'm not home! So it was a busy week butI'm so thrilled that I had time to do all the things that popped up. So nice to have the flexibility to move things around to get them done in a timely manner. Ray is also busy this weekend, but is getting everything accomplished ...
eventually. Work is going well, training is still rather bland but must be done. One of the gents at his work set the combination lock on his laptop and then forgot what the code was...it took days to get it open. So there are funny things that happen too.

Ray ran a road race last week and came in third in his age group. He was excited and pleased with that. His next excitement is a canoe race that is coming up.