bits and pieces

There is always something that needs doing. So much of it sadly mundane, however.

I spent a portion of my morning trying to clean up my inbox. Boring, and sometimes confusing, it’s like a reminder of what I may not have gotten around to yet! My friend had commented to me yesterday, that since joining the ballet committee, she has received a lot of emails. I always wondered how she could be so prompt in her email communication, and now I realize… she wasn’t getting any!

I’m getting emails from three church committees, about five related to all things Scandinavian, and then there’s the kids stuff from school, baseball, friends and family. There’s email from my husband regarding work, fun and house. And then of course, the emails that I signed up for, from other businesses about those “great deals.”

Just recently I realized the iPad doesn’t keep all emails on your screen. I have to reload them or erase others to get back to the ones I received a while ago. Not a bad thing, as it’s encouraging me to deal with things a little faster, before I forget those, too.

The mundane can be lovely and fun, like all that knitting and baking. It can be unexpected, like the other night when I rounded up the kids and we all did the dishes together. (Can it be wonderful and mundane at the same time? It was!). There’s also those mundane errands that get you out of the house with teeth brushed and hopefully matching socks, just in case you run into someone you know. Then there is the mundane of always being busy on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights, while trying to remember that I’m out of dish soap so that I can pick some up on the way home.

So where am I now? In the middle of a few knitting projects, and baking pans; and on my way out the door for errands that include bread and mail and the chocolate chips that I didn’t know I was out of.

It is mundane at its best, I think!

the doggy “brother”

He’s turning eight soon. We know this, because when we bought him from the breeder, he came with a birth certificate. It listed his mom and dad, and date of birth. He was born one day after Sonja’s birthday, and I took that as a sign; that and the fact that when we went to pick out a puppy, he was the only one out of the litter that stood still to observe us.

There has been so many wonderful moments with him, and some we actually manage to catch on camera. He’s really cute when he wakes up from his five hour morning nap, too.

the dog food incident

Last weekend was great, busy and fun. Funny, too, if you’ve ever wondered what dog food and washing machines have in common…

We had just come back from a day at my dad’s, and I decided to run downstairs for dog food to feed the dog. The dog food is right beside the washing machine, so I had the thought to put a load of wash on. I loaded the washer, turned on the water, and threw in the dog food instead of soap.

When Chadd came downstairs to put away the bike rack, he found me practically head-first into the washing machine digging out wet dog kibble. Ah, well, at least I had thought to stop the washer before it got too full!

I love the few days every year that we spend at my dad’s. He is still on the acreage where we lived when I was growing up, and I think part of my soul is still lodged there. Maybe buried under a rock or tangled in some plum tree roots in the scrub brush, because that would help explain why I love wandering the paths in the bush so much.

The dog and the camera kept me company on my trek, and we left the bush after a while to walk back home along the edge of the field. Elena found us, and we spent a bit of time collecting pine cones. Pine cones are great fire-starters, so we took turns throwing them into the fire that Grandpa had started earlier. At one point, I took charge of the burgers on the fire pit grill. Or, more accurately, ended up with up with the burger flipper in my hand. Fortunately, no one seemed to mind the char broiling that I gave them. (Except for…ahem! One who shall remain nameless!)

We usually pull up a few chairs around the fire, but the wind wasn’t cooperating with us. That, and the frogs were so loud (you wouldn’t think one little ditch could make so much noise!) that we spent the rest of the evening inside, admiring the ice-shredding capability of my dad’s brand new margarita maker.

Which directly contributed (I do believe!) to the dog food/washing machine incident. Do not operate heavy machinery after consuming a piña colada, people! You just don’t know what craziness might ensue!

having disappeared

We have a bit of a strange arrangement, my husband and I. I could neglect housework if I had a blog post to show for it at the end of the day. But somehow, a week has gone by, and I still have a messy house and no blog post.

I have a swatch for a sweater, one almost finished mitten, five packages of tea, and the completed paperwork for the taxes. I’ve also been working at the garden centre, and figuring out my iPad the rest of the time.

I also have a funny story…so here’s the blog post.

Yesterday, I took Sonja to the YMCA for her fitness orientation. She wanted to be able to use the gym equipment at the “Y”, and an orientation is required if you are under the age of eighteen. So, while she was touring the gym and the equipment, I sat in the lobby and knit. On those mitts.

There I was, knitting along, five needles going, two colours of yarn (one carried in each hand), finished the Estonian braid and now following a straightforward but complicated chart for the colourwork. Busily concentrating, when a lady stops beside me to watch for a moment.

“Oh my,” she says, “I could never do that!”

She pauses for a moment, then finishes her thought, “It looks so boring!”

i am having an outside day

An amazingly beautiful day.

Strolling along the bike path.

Reminding my niece to stop at the street and look both ways.

Finding treasures.

Looking up. How can it be that blue?

doing the switch

I’m trying to make the switch to the (wonderful, brand-new, beautiful!) iPad for all my computer stuff, but it’s currently a work in progress.  The tech-savy daughter found a WordPress app, but it is significantly different from doing it on the computer from the WordPress site.  Not able to view pictures while you’re composing a post, for example.  And, I still have to input all my bookmarks and lovely blogs to the iPad (because they look so much better there!) but it’ll all get done in the end.  The relic that I’m typing on will be seeing much less of me!

warm and warmer

 

Fun facts for Friday, March 16th:

Current temperature 10:30 a.m.: 7*C

Projected daytime high: 22*C

Normal high for March 16th: -3*C

Record high in 1981: 12.4*C

Record low in 1984: -27.4*C