hmmm...date: March 16th, 2012
hmmm...date of last blog entry...?!
oops...guess I've been slack....or apathetic, or just plain busy.
Dalton woke at 3:30 with a coughing fit. I've been awake since then, and finally gave up tossing and turning, and got up to play on Facebook and Pinterest for awhile. Unfortunately, Dalton didn't stay in bed much longer, either. I heard him in the next room with the tv, so I went in and laid down too. I think we both finally drifted off during an episode of i-Carly, and then the phone rang at 5:45!!!!!AM!!!!!!!!!!!!! so NOT impressed.
At least Dalton is back asleep now.
Big day...We gave Dalton permission to skip out of last class today to play in the annual men's bonspiel...Spiel on the Rock. Philip needed an extra curler, and Dalton was willing. Normally I would not let him get out of school, but it is a pretty big deal...he'll get to curl with Camille Villenueve. He is from Quebec, and since Dalton is skipping French Class, I thought it might be excusable!
Camille is an 83 year old curler who has played around the world. His claim to fame is not on how many spiels he has won, but rather how many curling clubs he has played in. 700!! yes...SEVEN hundred!! wow. He is bringing with him  a collection of various curling memorabilia. I invite you drop by the rink this weekend and have a bowl of chowder, watch a game, and check out the goods!

any body out there??!

Yes, I fell off planet earth.
But I came back, and landed on both feet.
Today shall be my last day of going in to school and purging my office. I am so proud of myself! I have spent everyday of summer going in for at least one hour. If I had to be travelling for Dalton's appointments, I made up the hours when I returned.
I am happy to report I have two filing cabinet drawers left to go, so I should be able to finish this morning. I have enlisted Dalton's help for this last day...I have a milk crate left of private papers that I need to have shredded...a job he might be more excited about than me!
Now I have to think of a suitable reward. I tried a pan of fudge squares last night in anticipation, but alas, the recipe was an epic fail. Don't you hate it when that happens?? they looked so good on the website. Urgh!


Well, I shall report back when I am officially done the clean out...and can start my vacation! (yeah, I know, 5 weeks late!)

hello..it's been awhile!

Life got pretty crazy around here again. Dalton has been sick with cold/flu mess off an on for nearly two months now. Wish he could just shake it and get back on track. This past week he has been up repeatedly through the night, which means I haven't gotten much sleep. To top it off, Philip is coming down with it; only thing worse than a sick kid, is a sick man!
I am tired. Just flat out tired. Thankfully it has been exam week, so a little less pressure with class preparation, and not as many high school kids around with "problems". However, it has meant more marking,and course selection time. Go go go. I forced myself to get out with the girls this week and celebrate some scrappers birthdays, and a Tupperware party. I know, exciting life!

This morning, Philip left early for bonspiel. We won't see him until late Sunday. So I surprised Dalton with homemade waffles and wild berry smoothies for breakfast! Yummy!

Today, I feel like purging. Clutter has got to go! I am so overwhelmed with life, I know the piles around me are just adding to it. Or, I  could look at it another way...the purging could be a welcome distraction form the other stuff going on!

So, I am off with garbage bags...don't come looking for me until Wednesday...I teach a new course then, and the kids might miss me!

almost Happy New Year!

Here it is, Thursday morning. Christmas is done, now awaiting New Year's. We don't have any plans, and often do not; Dalton always enjoys home made pizza and games night. This week, he has had a bit of a cold coming on, so hopefully he'll feel better soon. It is hard, because we can't give him anything except cough drops.
We invited my parents down, but the winds haven't been very cooperative lately on Grand Manan for nice traveling.
We didn't get our tree up until the 23rd...quite late for me, but I want to keep it up most of the holidays, anyway. I may start putting gifts away today. I am so anxious to play with my new scrapping toys! I also bought some cute Christmas paper just before the big day to do up a few cards.
I am also late getting cards out; but that's ok, it's the thought that counts! Every day, I get a couple more out, hoping to get caught up. Several will have Dalton and Toby Keith in the card this year; it is such a great shot! I have taken a few pictures of Wilson sleeping under the tree...definitely NEXT years card pic!!
I'll post pics from my laptop a bit later.
News from a dear little friend form IWK this week...he was only 3 when we met him; and found out his cancer has come back. He had to spend Christmas in IWK. Prayers would be greatly appreciated, and ongoing for Malachi and Chelsea, Dalton's other IWK friends. I'm sure it is every parent's greatest fear to learn "it came back".
We have a little know on the ground, Monday's storm brought mostly rain. Week #4, storm #4. I wonder what next week will bring?!
.

Merry Christmas to one and all!

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
by Dr. Suess

Every Who
Down in Who-ville
Liked Christmas a lot...

But the Grinch,
Who lived just North of Who-ville,
Did NOT!

The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be that his head wasn't screwed on quite right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

But,
Whatever the reason,
His heart or his shoes,
He stood there on Christmas Eve, hating the Whos,
Staring down from his cave with a sour, Grinchy frown
At the warm lighted windows below in their town.
For he knew every Who down in Who-ville beneath
Was busy now, hanging a mistleoe wreath.

"And they're hanging their stockings!" he snarled with a sneer.
"Tomorrow is Christmas! It's practically here!"
Then he growled, with his grinch fingers nervously drumming,
"I MUST find a way to keep Christmas from coming!"
For, tomorrow, he knew...

...All the Who girls and boys
Would wake up bright and early. They'd rush for their toys!
And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!

Then the Whos, young and old, would sit down to a feast.
And they'd feast! And they'd feast!
And they'd FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!
They would start on Who-pudding, and rare Who-roast-beast
Which was something the Grinch couldn't stand in the least!

And THEN
They'd do something he liked least of all!
Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Would stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing.
They'd stand hand-in-hand. And the Whos would start singing!

They'd sing! And they'd sing!
AND they'd SING! SING! SING! SING!
And the more the Grinch thought of the Who-Christmas-Sing
The more the Grinch thought, "I must stop this whole thing!
"Why for fifty-three years I've put up with it now!
I MUST stop Christmas from coming!
...But HOW?"

Then he got an idea!
An awful idea!
THE GRINCH
GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!

"I know just what to do!" The Grinch Laughed in his throat.
And he made a quick Santy Claus hat and a coat.
And he chuckled, and clucked, "What a great Grinchy trick!
"With this coat and this hat, I'll look just like Saint Nick!"

"All I need is a reindeer..."
The Grinch looked around.
But since reindeer are scarce, there was none to be found.
Did that stop the old Grinch...?
No! The Grinch simply said,
"If I can't find a reindeer, I'll make one instead!"
So he called his dog Max. Then he took some red thread
And he tied a big horn on top of his head.

THEN
He loaded some bags
And some old empty sacks
On a ramshakle sleigh
And he hitched up old Max.

Then the Grinch said, "Giddyap!"
And the sleigh started down
Toward the homes where the Whos
Lay a-snooze in their town.

All their windows were dark. Quiet snow filled the air.
All the Whos were all dreaming sweet dreams without care
When he came to the first house in the square.
"This is stop number one," The old Grinchy Claus hissed
And he climbed to the roof, empty bags in his fist.

Then he slid down the chimney. A rather tight pinch.
But if Santa could do it, then so could the Grinch.
He got stuck only once, for a moment or two.
Then he stuck his head out of the fireplace flue
Where the little Who stockings all hung in a row.
"These stockings," he grinned, "are the first things to go!"

Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant,
Around the whole room, and he took every present!
Pop guns! And bicycles! Roller skates! Drums!
Checkerboards! Tricycles! Popcorn! And plums!
And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, very nimbly,
Stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney!

Then he slunk to the icebox. He took the Whos' feast!
He took the Who-pudding! He took the roast beast!
He cleaned out that icebox as quick as a flash.
Why, that Grinch even took their last can of Who-hash!

Then he stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee.
"And NOW!" grinned the Grinch, "I will stuff up the tree!"

And the Grinch grabbed the tree, and he started to shove
When he heard a small sound like the coo of a dove.
He turned around fast, and he saw a small Who!
Little Cindy-Lou Who, who was not more than two.

The Grinch had been caught by this little Who daughter
Who'd got out of bed for a cup of cold water.
She stared at the Grinch and said, "Santy Claus, why,
"Why are you taking our Christmas tree? WHY?"

But, you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick
He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick!
"Why, my sweet little tot," the fake Santy Claus lied,
"There's a light on this tree that won't light on one side.
"So I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear.
"I'll fix it up there. Then I'll bring it back here."

And his fib fooled the child. Then he patted her head
And he got her a drink and he sent he to bed.
And when Cindy-Lou Who went to bed with her cup,
HE went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up!

Then the last thing he took
Was the log for their fire.
Then he went up the chimney himself, the old liar.
On their walls he left nothing but hooks, and some wire.

And the one speck of food
The he left in the house
Was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse.


Then
He did the same thing
To the other Whos' houses

Leaving crumbs
Much too small
For the other Whos' mouses!

It was quarter past dawn...
All the Whos, still a-bed
All the Whos, still a-snooze
When he packed up his sled,
Packed it up with their presents! The ribbons! The wrappings!
The tags! And the tinsel! The trimmings! The trappings!

Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mount Crumpit,
He rode to the tiptop to dump it!
"Pooh-pooh to the Whos!" he was grinch-ish-ly humming.
"They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming!
"They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do!
"Their mouths will hang open a minute or two
"The all the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry BOO-HOO!"

"That's a noise," grinned the Grinch,
"That I simply must hear!"
So he paused. And the Grinch put a hand to his ear.
And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.
It started in low. Then it started to grow...

But the sound wasn't sad!
Why, this sound sounded merry!
It couldn't be so!
But it WAS merry! VERY!

He stared down at Who-ville!
The Grinch popped his eyes!
Then he shook!
What he saw was a shocking surprise!

Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any presents at all!
He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming!
IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"
And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

And what happened then...?
Well...in Who-ville they say
That the Grinch's small heart
Grew three sizes that day!
And the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight,
He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light
And he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast!
And he...

...HE HIMSELF...!
The Grinch carved the roast beast!

Christmas Market day!

Well, we made it back from Halifax; Dalton did well with his chemo and spinal tap a gain, and the doctor on  duty was one he hasn't seen since last summer. Dr. Price had gone on Maternity Leave, so it was nice to see her back. She had a young resident with her, and was overjoyed to see how well Dalton was doing, explaining to him about his Summer when he first came to IWK... and being the textbook case of everything-that-could-go-wrong-did kid!
He is always a bit grumpy and unsure of examinations down there, but when you consider he's always cut of food when they see him, I guess he has good reason to be grumpy! Thankfully, a great visit from Buddington the clown cheered  him up.
We checked out the Halifax Citadel on this visit...it was freezing cold up there! and we went to the Freaky Lunchbox...a little shop we were told about that specializes in retro-candy and odd practical jokes. Right up Dalton's alley!  Of course, we went to IMAX and saw the new Harry Potter movie. Dalton loved it...kind of sad the one next summer will be the last one in the series. Dalton has grown up on Harry Potter and his friends; and end of an era in his childhood for sure. How sad!

Dalton's pal Malachi went in for his next lung surgery Thursday, and appears to be doing well. He is such a strong kid, but I have learned all these kids are incredibly brave in their own way.
Sara got her wish granted this week! Pretty exciting! She'll be headed to Jamaica next spring.

Now off to get ready for Christmas Market.Dalton has been busily getting things ready...chocolate lobster suckers, reindeer candy canes and he'll have some craft kits ready to go for the kids. I'll have lots of Close To my Heart deals for you, and many, many stocking stuffer treats!
Hope to see you there!

Simplify

I had a great conversation yesterday with our librarian about life, and ways to SIMPLIFY.
I got thinking about it, not for the first time, but reminded, shall we say, last year while living at my aunt's. She is such a great believer in this, and I even bought her one of those country folk signs for her entry way with just that...SIMPLIFY.
So what does that mean? I think it means to slow down some. I'm not sure yet if I think it means do less. My mother in law has always jokingly said "Heather has more hours in her days", as if to suggest I am doing way too much.
When I sit back (hahaha...that meaning on my drive to work in the morning...all of five minutes, since we live so close to school) and take the time to take stock of life, I try and decide what needs to give. But in the run of an average day, I am not sure what that is. Seems to me, we get up in the morning, check email, pack lunches,get breakfast, get Dalton's pills ready, and then head out the door for school. Of course that is non stop! As a guidance counsellor, I don't give myself "prep periods", because that quite literally is my whole day...preparing for someone else, or the next school wide activity.
So I can't simplify there, unless I step back from the job. I have tried leaving the schoolwork in my office at the end of the day...which I am getting better at.But it is Midterm and report card week. So much for that! 
Then we get home by 4:30-5 pm. After stopping a the store for whatever errand needed to be done, so it's more like 5 or 5:30pm.
Mom, what's for supper?
I am slowly trying to  a better grip on supper and teach Dalton some of that responsibility. Not that we have glorious meals every night, but I am also much more conscious of nutritional value, and trying to cut back on the processed foods. Of course that often means more preparation time.
Once we get that done, there seem to be only two or three choices for the evening...What time does Dalton have to be at his next activity (because HE sure ain't slowing down!) Do we have enough clean clothes to get us through one more day? and WAIT! I still can't find the craft room.
At least the last one is improving. But only because I am trying to squeeze in extra hours for Christmas market preparation.
Now to get this Christmas Card class under way.
Simplify.
Yes, I will only do one class.
maybe two. but that would mean I would have to take some time to look at my calendar for five minutes and find a suitable date! good luck with that. It's much SIMPLER to go back to Facebook and see how everyone else is wasting their time!!
good grief!