The Case of the Missing Stacking Donuts

Family times around here, until just recently, have been an "all or nothing" experience. They come .. sleep, eat, play for a week or two and then they are gone  . . . leaving a trail of little hair clips, single socks and trash cans full of diapers. Every room feels the loss of life . . .  giggles, goodnight kisses and requests for another drink at night, the bedroom door banging open against the wall and feet pitter patting to the side of our bed in the morning, breakfasts and lunches served all day long, interspersed with trips to the grocery store.
It was after one such family time last Christmas, that I could not find two stacking rings. I was putting everything back in it's place . . . you do that when the visits are far and in between. Usually I find every part of every toy and put it back in it's appropriate toy box.  I return the tiniest Russian Matryoshka doll to it's nest, the missing piece of every puzzle, the dolls to their cribs, tea cups and plates to the tiny china cabinet, and put the tools in their spot. It's like needing to bring order into the part of my life that I am able to control, and ends up being rather therapeutic while I listen to the laughter in the walls.

When I had put things back, I vacuumed . . . thinking that I'd find them under one couch or another. I have to confess . . . it was a puzzle to this housekeeper who thinks she knows what's where. What hiding place . . . what nook or cranny was there that did I not know about?
Then one day, when least expected, as we were pulling the china cabinet off to prime the walls . . .

there they were! Behind one of the heaviest pieces of furniture, a cabinet pressed up as close to the wall as possible. I wonder how a little mind thought to squeeze them behind there.
After almost a year gone by, it made me smile. Maybe because it was not an accidental loss, but a deliberate hiding spot.

 

I put the rings back in their place, bringing wholeness back to this 30 year old stacking toy.
And, with that, I close a certain memory and chapter of my life . . . that of the detailed clean up when the grands go home.

On the News

On Saturday, if you live in BC and watch the news in the middle of the day, you  may have caught the little cooking segment at the end of the news.  This is not something I'd ever thought I'd be doing, but it's been good to be challenged and venture out of my comfort zone somewhat. The people at Global were all so nice and it was a great experience.  I really do enjoy the teaching/sharing part of cooking.
For a detailed account of our time there you can see Lovella's post today.

I see she mentioned how I had to quickly go backstage to beat the eggwhites. I think the producer was getting a bit nervous and, upon my return, he exclaimed "I did not know you could beat eggs in 2 minutes!" It actually was less. No problem.

As for the news closer to home  . . . infact, right at home . . . we've been working on a living room make-over.

Our home is based on an old-fashioned plan that includes a formal living room along with a family room.  Although the family room is really all that we use most of the time, the living room is a bonus room for when we have a larger party or gathering. Over the years I've worked with the colors of the old furniture when choosing paint or accessories, but it has been becoming more difficult as shades do change.

We finally decided to go for a new start. It began by ordering new furniture. The colors are a little off on the photos, but you get the idea. The striped material is a chair we already have and the two sample materials are samples of the new couches and chair. Once we had the material down, we chose the paint.

Just another view with the painting and cushions we already had. It looks like we'll still be able to use the same curtains as well as a lot of the same accessories. So that is good.




One of the drawbacks of trying to work with new colors in the room has been the paper that's been up for 24 years. It is vinyl paper that we put up without using primer. You could not talk me into trying to remove it. So we opted for something that we have not done before. It is called paint-able paper.

So, sometime during these past two weeks, we lost all sight of this wallpaper.

As we covered it with a primer and then paint-able wallpaper.

The window frames and baseboards will not be re-painted so I took care of that. Looks bad, but it's fun to see the results when you peel it back. The chair rail got changed to the color of the baseboard and window trim, while the whole wall (above and below the chair rail) got painted one of the colors on the palette above. I like samples that give you the range within the same tones, but sometimes it makes it hard to choose . . . they all match . . . it's just a matter of how deep you want to go. 

As I write, it's all done! We are just waiting on the furniture to arrive. I hope it's on the next truck.

Calling it Puppy Love

In the car, while taking the kids back home, Natalie pointed out a church on the corner and said, "That is where Oma and Opa got married!" I agreed that, yes, that was the church. She was quiet and suddenly asked, "When are Oma and Opa going to have a baby?" Smiling, I told her they were probably not going to have a baby. (I do not know why I said probably) She asked, "Why not?" I told her that they are too old. "Then why did they get married?" she wanted to know.

I wondered what I was getting into now. I told her that they wanted to live together and to live together they should get married. She thought about that and must have remembered another discussion on marriage. She told me that her mom had told her that she cannot marry her cousin or brother or anyone like that. Her mom said that it has to be another friend or someone she meets. I agreed. I told her she would meet many friends yet.

"But I already know who I'm going to marry," she said, and added, "They have three boys, and his name is Owen." I asked her about where he lived and such and then she said, almost to herself, "Oh . . . and there is Neil. Maybe I should marry Neil. They look the same."

In the meantime she also made some suggestions for Landon and he came to a final decision, a final answer. He would marry Annie.

I drove down one more street. And then they were home  . . . barely in the door, throwing down their stuff, showing off their leaf raking wages from Papa and, I assume, more stories behind closed doors.''

When I Get Where I'm Going

For a moment today, I sat in a pew, taking time to sit with a grieving family and friends. She was so young, barely fifty.   I know there was a time when I would have thought this age to be old, but being where I am now, I realize how much of life I still want to see . . . and how the "me" does not feel old.
It makes me wonder whether the soul of a person ever gets old. Is it a tiny taste of eternity?

She was a woman who gave all of herself, lived adventurously, took chances, loved dearly and made the most of the time she had. I think everyone should attend a memorial service once in a while. In the busyness of everything going on, it was good to sit and realize what it all comes down to. What really matters.

I'm reminded of what I read a few days ago about joy and pain living side by side. In this world, those who allow joy into their lives are bound to experience pain. Even knowing this, we keep looking for joy that we hope will never go away. God has put that longing into our hearts and I believe He is also able to fulfill that desire.

Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) So, while we are here, we do not understand all the whys and hows . . . we pray and wonder about God's selective hearing. In the book of Job we read that God speaks to us in different ways and dare I say that sometimes He speaks louder in our pain than in our joy?

Ann Voskamp tells us that to read God's message in" the moments" we need to know His passion for the world.  When I can't understand His hand, I can trust His heart, because "Only the Word is the answer to reading the world, because the Word has nail-scarred hands that cup our face close, wipe away the tears running down . . . and whispers, "I know, I know."

Yeah when I get where I'm going,
there'll be only happy tears.
I will shed the sins and struggles,
I have carried all these years.
And I'll leave my heart wide open,
I will love and have no fear.
Yeah when I get where I'm going,
Don't cry for me down here.

Brad Paisley

The Little Black Purse

Someone, who was there when I bought it, asked if I'd taken it on the cruise. It was one of three things I splurged on, the weekend at the West Coast Women's Show. For three days in a row, I sat in the Wink's booth noticing  their beautiful wares . . . and this is what I came home with. A purse, a scarf and a bracelet. (It's a good thing I do not work there.)  I asked my H if he wanted to wrap part of it up for Christmas, and he said to go ahead and wear it already.

The little purse is just the right size to fit my camera and lipstick. That's about all a blogging girl needs when going for dinner on a cruise. For closer to home, a phone and some small personal necessities . . . and it comes with a removable strap. I like the feel of just the clutch, with my fingers digging into the flower, like on the first photo.

Oh... and you have to peek at the lining . . . it's polka dot. No further explanation necessary.

Cabo San Lucas

We passed Cabo San Lucas, situated off the southern tip of Baja, CA on our way down and stopped just long enough to allow someone who needed medical help to get off. Sitting by the window, having lunch, I hurried to our stateroom to get my camera before we moved on.

On our way back from Puerta Vallerta, this was our scheduled second port of call.  At this port the cruise ships have to stay away from the shore, so the distance to the dock from where we set anchor had to be covered with tenders. Our ship let down some of it's lifeboats in order to facilitate so many passengers getting off.

Once the lifeboats were lowered, we walked on from a lower deck.

Each boat holds over 100 passengers. The pilot has a window above him that he can use when he stands up to get a better view of his surroundings. In this photo you can see the ship still beside us.

We got off on the dock at Cabo San Lucas, a very pretty harbor.

 

We spent some time walking the marina,

taking photos to capture the feel of the place.

Along the marina there are beautiful hotels and restaurants adorned with tropical vegetation and fountains.

We did not do any shopping here, but it would have been fun. I love the architecture!

As we continued on our quest for a hotel, for a possible future trip, we came upon this beach. From here the ship looks like it's not even that far away. I think it looks quite majestic sitting there. We asked about how to get to the rock formations that we had seen coming in ...

and before too long, we were on a glass bottom boat, heading there. It was actually good not to have pre-booked any excursions. This way we could do what we wanted to do on the spur of the moment and it was not costly at all.

Passengers had a choice of being dropped off on the beaches surrounding the rock formations. We left that for a possible future date.

Like I said, the boat had a window we could look through to the ocean beneath us. I looked, but was happy to see only small fish.
Sea lions sunned themselves on some of the lower cliffs and wild birds of prey claimed other rocks. We were surrounded by snorkelers and scuba divers and rightly so, as this area boasts of over 800 varieties of fish.

 

Tourists find many different ways to enjoy this scenic creation.

As for my favorite spot. Here it is. We were told that, at times, the water is low enough that one can walk through that arch, but obviously going through it now, by boat, would have been dangerous.

Our pilot offered to take a photo. We were all smiles!

I tried to capture a pelican flying past us, but had to settle for a photo of one sitting still, right beside our boat.

It was a worthwhile tour to take. A beautiful place! And rather than being taken back to the far side of the beach that we had meandered to before, we got dropped off at the dock where the tender would come and pick us up again. And back to the ship we went.

On deck, we watched the last of the lifeboats being lifted and hung around to watch another sunset.

Puerta Vallerta

Our first port of call was Puerta Vallerta, a small city nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains along the edge of Banderas Bay. We walked off the gangway to be greeted by a barrage of taxi drivers wating to take us places, but we managed to make our way through them to see a bit of the town and then to the beach.



After several days on board, it felt great to walk on solid ground,

 even that of shifting sand and feeling the swirl in the rush of the changing ebb and flow of the tide.

We walked a long stretch of the beach ...



enjoying the crash of waves on rocks jutting out . . .

and traces of footprints washed away to leave a blanket of perfect sand once again.

We peeked into some of the hotels with their beautiful beachfront amenities . . .

such as day beds, complete with sheer curtains,

an arbor inviting guests to an outdoor massage parlor,

parasailing opportunities to view the scene from above

and sailing expeditions on the ocean.

It was a peek into another world. I loved it . . . just the looking . . . and then getting back to our floating hotel to eat from menus without prices, to  enjoy musicals and comedy shows without tickets and finally to be gently rocked to sleep at night.