Island hopping, Cloths shopping, Dog popping

I had a brilliant weekend away on Pender Island visiting my girlfriend. J lost her mother to bone cancer in May (after only being diagnosed in February) so we cried together, laughed together, grieved together, had a general over all wonderful weekend. I actually felt a little rested and more relaxed when I got back. We never made it to the “Fall Fair”, but that was perfectly fine. Instead we did a little browsing in the few shops that Pender has. One of those places is amongst my favourites – the “Nu-to-Yu” – a second hand store. AND it was our lucky day - $5.00 for a bag of cloths. We shared the bag and I came away with a new blouse, blazer, Capri pants, and a possible dress to wear to my nieces wedding in October.

One of the other stops we made was at this WONDERFUL bead studio. We spent over an hour going over the beads and possibilities. Awesome!!! This little studio is way out in no-mans-land, and if you didn’t know it was there you’d never find it. The woman that runs it only has it because its her hobby. She certainly doesn’t make much, if any, money on her sales. I picked up two strings of fresh water pearls in lustrous earth tones for $10 a string, and another little stone to hang off the bottom of it. It will go beautifully with the dress I picked up too. Now I just need the time to string them all together properly. I’ve googled the instructions on how to string/tie pearls, there is a special technique involved ….. man, how do I get myself into these things?

Monday came and (for me) I knew that summer was over. Everything was moving into high gear at work. New ministries getting ready, planning for our annual ‘Open House’, end of the financial fiscal year – the fun never ends. But it’s all good, just a bit of an adjustment.

I want to take a moment and address some things that came out of my “don’t boil hot dogs” entry.

1) I don’t ‘love’ hot dogs, but I’ll eat them anyway they get cooked. Whatever is the fastest.
2) As a kid I ‘loved’ to eat them uncooked, but have since grown out of that.
3) I have absolutely no idea why my husband and his mother say “you CAN’T boil hot dogs”. I’ve asked them, and even they can’t give me a reason why other than – it’s simply not done. If they ever give me an answer – you’ll be the first to know.
4) When the husbands not looking, and we’re not BBQ’ing – I boil our hot dogs.

Random Thoughts

I’ve been a bad blogger lately. But I’m not going to beat myself up over it (much). I was even trying to encapsulate the last two weeks, and this is what I came up with.

1 - My 11-month freedom from migraines is over, and I had a 5 day low grade migraine last week. That takes a big chunk of out my functionality.

2 - We’ve had VBS (Vacation Bible School) for 100 kids here all week. After such a quiet summer, this has been a shock to my system. And proven to me another reason I don’t like being on reception.

3 – We went to a wedding last weekend. I actually thought I would have a chance to dance with my husband, but the music/dancing didn’t start until after 10pm - too late for an old fart like me. I have NEVER danced with my husband. We had an afternoon wedding. Maybe I’ll get my chance at my nieces wedding in October.

4 – I haven’t got much sleep lately. Pirate has a habit of wanting to ‘need’ me between the hours of 3 and 5 am. And by the word ‘need’ I mean crawling up on the bed and burrowing his little head into my neck and hair, and nuzzling me like he would his mother. This licking, sucking, burrowing, and paw needing all accompanied with a loud purrrrr. It is possible to be cute and annoying at the same time.

5 – I was awed and amazed at the response to entry on to boil or not to boil (a hotdog) that is the question. I never realized such a silly little topic could garner such varied, and plentiful responses. Thank you – that was fun stuff.

6 – I am woefully behind in my card making. I haven’t quite finished making the 6 cards I need to make to send off to Laura who won the “Great Summer Give Away”, but – under extreme pressure – I did manage to make the card needed for the wedding we attended. I need a ‘muse’. I must find a ‘muse’.

7 – I had a wicked 2 hour session with my psychologist last week - this may very well have prompted the migraine, but it also prompted some very deep introspection. How is it possible to love and hate something at the same time? Thankfully – God is with me every step of the way.

8 - As much as I’m a stubbornly clutching to the vestiges of summer, I’m looking forward to life/work coming back to a balance of normality. Whatever that looks like. With September comes a new ministry season for the church, and with that comes new challenges, energy, and excitement. I love my work, it has been, and continues to morph into something new for me. Learning how to balance what three people used to do in this office will be interesting to say the least. I’m up for it, but only time will tell if I will be able to manage it well. Even in this though – I know that God is with me, and promises to be faithful even when I falter and question.

**********
Well …. ? How’s that for random thoughts.

I’m off to Pender Island to visit my girlfriend. It’s Pender’s “Fall Fair” – what an oxymoron!!! Who has a ‘Fall Fair’ in August – only an islander!

Happy Friday everyone.

P.S. I finished Harry Potter book 7 last weekend. Now I'm on to "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman. Yummmmm - good reading!

Pirate is A Star!

I can't believe how quickly time has flown by since I last posted. I merely blinked!

But on a cool note - if any of you have ever looked over my blogroll you may or may not have noticed a link I have to a site called Cute With Chris. This is a quirky little site that I enjoy visiting because "Chris" has a great sense of humour, is Canadian (living in the states working on being in TV or movies), and posts cute pictures of kittens and puppies. So, on a lark I sent in a picture of Pirate for a weekly posting of Chris' "Cutedown". Please go check it out, and vote for my boy Pirate!!

I'll write more soon, but at the moment I've off to the dentist chair and that seems like a lovely respite from the Vacation Bible School running at this moment here at the church!

Blessings,
LJ

Never boil hot dogs??

My husband tells me that you should never boil hot dogs.

Which is not to say that you shouldn't have boiled hot dogs, just that you should not cook your hot dogs 'in' boiling water. His mom tells me that you are supposed boil up your water, then pop in the dogs and turn the burner off, and let them sit to cook.

I've always brought the water to boil, popped the dogs and and let them cook in the 'boiling' water. Mom-in-law says that,s bad!

Have any of you ever heard such a thing? I've never.

What say you? How do you cook your hot dogs (veggie or meat)?

I love Chinese food

My Fortune Cookie told me: Those shoes were a mistake. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

Reunion of sorts

Time is flowing all to quickly. It's the end of a Tuesday work day after a long weekend and I'm oh, so ready to go home. But I'm not complaining - I love my job.

On a very cool note - for me - my big brother and his wife arrived this afternoon (another reason I want to get home). In all my 22 years of living in this city, this is the first time they have ever stayed with me - AND for a couple of days. I can hardly stand myself!!!

As a family its been quite the year, so these opportunities to visit are so wonderful. So I've been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks now.

The weather has taken a turn to the cooler, of which I am not impressed. But life is like that sometimes. I'm sure it will turn nice just as they're leaving us.

On that note - I'm off to enjoy my brother and his Mrs. and a fine whine wine for an evening.

War Wounds

I understand more than ever why people get their cats declawed.

I pray this phase doesn't last much long, my legs can't handle it.

Paper cuts hurt less

I believe I'm turning into a human pin-cushion.

For some reason our new kitten 'Pirate' has taken a particular liking to my right leg - top to bottom many tiny little paper-cut style wounds decorate my body parts. My hands are both equally dinged. And for some unknown, uncatagorical reason my nose is of immense interest to him, yet he has been extremely gentle with this apendage (if I can call it that).

Digit is still very jealous, and I think so is my husband, although he'd never admit to it. Pirate seems to have taken to me big time. Which is not really wanted to happen, but am not disappointed either. How can you resist a kitten that follows you EVERYWHERE!!

I had hoped that Pirate could be more of Hubby's cat, since Digit is mine.

Oh well .... deal with it!

It's going to be a lovely long weekend and I'm very much looking forward to it. We have no big plans, and thats perfectly fine too. Although - I am on the hunt for a dress to wear to a wedding in two weeks, and my nieces in October. I'd like to find something that I can wear to both, but we are talking two very different climates. We'll see.

Later Gang and have a very blessed long weekend (if you have one)

A very quiet week - too quiet!

I know I'm not supposed to admit this .... but .... I am bored senseless at work today. I pretty much caught up on the entire weeks worth by Tuesday. And one can only clean and tidy so much before its all done.

Our office has been terrifically quiet this summer, but I know that this is the calm before the storm. Come mid August the entire planet erupts around here as a mad frenzy of planning ensues for the fall and winter.

To keep myself occupied I've been sneaking in reads of Harry Potter book 7, but only when the boss is out of the office, or its coffee break and there's no one to talk too. I've also been catching up on my blog and internet reading - usually reserved for the evenings when I'm at home.

Next week should be more exciting. There's a change up in vacationers around here, some coming back and other beginning. And my big brother is coming to visit for a couple of days. He's the one holding me in the picture on the right. He and his lovely Mrs' should be arriving on Tuesday, and staying for a couple of days.

My brother is very allergic to cats, so we've set up a cat-free zone for them (humans) to sleep in. Hubby and I purchased a Screen House and a queen size blow up bed. I've still got to figure out how to hang some sheets on a couple of the sides to give them privacy, but for all intents and purposes - this should be a good fix for them.

Well, this has managed to take up all of 20 minutes of my morning, and I've got an hour before I can take lunch. Oh La ....