The Photos Are Here!!

Finally the photos are here. How many months has it been? :)

I was about to walk in the door the other day when my brother in-law drove up with his camera. My sister had sent him to take photos of our new deck. Wow, sisters sure know what our blogs need don't they? While he was at it, I asked him to take a few of the gardens too.

I designed the deck, and a friend built it for us. We have a high basement with large windows, so it was tricky as we had to either stay above or below them. We still want to close the bottom of the deck in with fence boards.

Please bear in mind that this was an awfully busy week, and I hadn't weeded in days!

Without further ado...welcome to my garden--our family's labour of love:

Evan Almighty

Last night Brendan (my 15 year old) and I went to Evan Almighty. I loved it! I struggle with the idea of a man playing the role of God for some reason. Perhaps it's because I've got this vision of God wearing long robes and a flowing white beard. Truth is, I don't know what God looks like, so aside from that, I thought the movie was awesome.

Basically it was a modern day Noah's Ark, it was about a man's faith being tested even when he was ridiculed and the world was against him. It was less offensive than Bruce Almighty, and it had some great visuals, so families of all ages would enjoy it.

Turns out that it was cheap night at the good theatres. We got a movie and popcorn and drink for $8.25. Bonus!!

On a totally different topic...I joined Face Book this week. I joined about two months ago, and asked myself, what is this? It didn't seem to be too interesting, so I quit. In the meantime, everyone has been talking about it. It's booming like blogging did way back in the day. All of the moms at school were talking about it, and everyone in my family is on from the young to the old. So I took another kick at the can and joined again!

Basically it's like blogging without the posts--and a yearbook with comments. I was able to set up a group for CWO on there as well as a page of my own. If you don't join, you don't see all of the stuff that those who are members can see. In essence, you can't read the comments that they leave on "the wall"

If you want to see what it's all about, you can easily join facebook here: www.facebook.com My page can be searched there by my name "Darlene Schacht"

On Again--Off Again

I feel a need to express myself. Why? I have no idea! :) I get the guilties when I don't blog. Do other bloggers get this too? I feel like I'm dating all of you, and if I don't phone every day you'll break up with me. lol

This blogging relationship has been on again--off again for about three years now, and lately it's been off again, but I'm still here.

We're finally getting some warm weather, so the kids are getting invitations like crazy--pool parties, field trips, and birthdays. I want to enjoy these moments with them, but I'm still around.

Nathaniel has a full day off of school, so he's watching Dora right now, and has asked if it's lunchtime yet about 20 times. I passed him a bag of munchie mix, and made a date to go to a pool today--hopefully that will suffice.

If I start typing "I'm a map, I'm a map" or "Go Diego go," you'll understand why as it's hard to concentrate with Dora in one ear. Ok, a penguin just said, "I can't wait to see my baby"--too cute.

I know one day I'll have more time to blog, but then I'll miss being a mommy...

Lilac Tree? Yes--tree.

On my last post, Diane left a comment which read "lilac...tree? And the answer is, yes, I did mean tree--isn't that cool? It's only this year that I noticed a few people have these amazing trees that are full of lilacs, but they aren't bushes--they're actual trees. So I went to the nursery and asked the guy if they had any. What I was able to get is this really cool tree that I'm so in love with.

How they grow it is that they take a trunk from a regular young tree, and they graphed a lilac bush into the top of it, so it's like a bush on a tree trunk. How cool!! Mine will only grow 10 to 15 feet, which is a nice size for the front yard. My neighbours also have burning bush trees, so I guess this bush on a stick thing is becoming rather popular--or should I say "poplar" :)

Thankful Thursday - Yard Traffic

I'm thankful for a yard full of love. Last night our grass graced the souls of many visitors as people kept coming and going. There wasn't anything in particular going on, it was just friends coming and going through the evening. (It was a good chance to show of the garden, which by the way is coming along very nicely!) My mom was here twice, my sister was here twice, my brother-in-law once, and some friends and their children stopped in as well.

I enjoy the visits of friends. It's just another one of those gifts that God sends my way, and I'm thankful for that. Thanks God!

Ok, I can't close this post without telling you what happened to the garden. ~sigh~ Yes, this is Thankfull Thursday, but this information is serious... The habiscus tree died. Apparently it was wind-whipped. Imagine taking the little tree on a ride to the beach with the top down on a hot day, and then whacking it like a piniata for 20 minutes--get the picture? Poor thing. Thankfully it has been permenantly replaced by a lilac tree which I don't have to bring in for the winter. Yay!! I'm thankful.

Visit Iris at Sting My Heart to read her post, and to find more Thankful Thursday participants.

Benefits of Motherhood

I found a list scribbled by the hand of a seven year old yesterday, complete with pencilled images of items such as lips, teeth, a hair brush, and a triangle sandwich. The list went like this:

Things to do when you wake up:

1. Get out of bed
2. Get dresst
3. Eat brekfast
4. Brush teeth
5. Brush haar
6. Pack lunck
7. Hug mom
8. Kiss mom
9. Tell mom you lov her
10. Say goodbye to mom

Oh, the benefits of motherhood are endless... :)

All Decked Out

We're getting a deck built at the back of our house, and it should be finished by Saturday if the weather continues to be warm. I'm funny about things like renovations, in fact I'm just like a little kid. I can't wait to stand on the deck. That's all I want. Right now we have the posts and the beams in place, but as soon as the decking starts going on, I want to stand on it and survey the neighbourhood. :)

It's quite high, so if you live in Japan, I just might see the roof of your house. lol.

We decided to keep the deck high because our patio doors are up at about 4 feet. So the stairs take up so much room. The deck will be 23 feet long, and 12 feet wide, with half of it bowing out to 15 feet.

My husband has fancy smancy scanners at work because he's a printer, but I don't have a single scanner at home, so I can't scan the plans for you. :( You'll just have to imagine, ok?

We have white pvc railing all around which I think will look nice around the part that juts out. and on one side we have a 10 x 10 pergola that will sit ontop, where we'll dine underneath. We've been really working in the yard this year.

I have yet to get photos for you--perhaps Michael will take some on the weekend.

Thankful Thursday - Friends

I have to quickly squeeze in here today before Thankful Thursday is over. Sunday was a gloomy day. It was one of those ugly-cry days when you close yourself in with God while He accepts an invitation to your pity party of one. "I have no friends!" gulp, sniff, choke... This went on for a little while, but thankfully I was wise enough to take it to God in prayer, and leave it at His feet.

The truth is I do have friends--lots of them, but on days like this, you can't see the roses for the thorns. Know what I mean, ladies?

The next morning I went out for breakfast with a new "friend," and as we were driving home she pointed to the west and said, "There's my old church, where I grew up."

"What? That's my church!" (instant connection)

Two days later we were at McDonalds with the kids enjoying each others company over lunch.

I'm thankfull for friends, both online and off, but mostly I'm thankful for a God who cares about me to attend my pity party of one, and to take my sorrow to heart.

Thanks God!

Visit Iris at Sting My Heart to read her post, and to find more Thankful Thursday participants.

The Ins and Outs of Humanity

My kids have been giving me lots to blog about lately. So, if you don't like kids, you've probably realized by now that you came to the wrong blog.

Madison loves her dad so much that she vowed to never trade him in today, saying, "Dad is so great, I'm going to tell him that I'll never trade him in."

"Actually," Graham says from the backseat, "you probably don't know this, Maddy, but you can't trade him in, he's your dad."

"Well, I love him," she says not caring that she knows or doesn't know the ins and outs of humanity.

"The only way you can trade him in," he starts up again, "is if mom decides to divorce him, and she gets us to vote."

Does it get any cuter?

Does is get any cuter than this? Graham is a saver if I ever saw one. He gets five dollars/week allowance, and most weeks doesn't spend a dime until he saves enough to buy the big things he wants like a video game. Last week he earned $10.00 by saving his allowance for 10 weeks--it was a deal I made him.

This morning he decided that he'd save enough money for lumber so Dad could build him a church in our back yard. I told Michael that wasn't such a bad idea since gas is quite expensive these days :) Well, if that wasn't enough, Graham also informed us that he plans to buy his own pastor. Too cute!

So we go to Tim Horton's and I'm standing in line waiting for my iced cappucino, and Graham says, "Mom, can you buy me a drink?"

I reminded him that we'd be going to 7-11 next and that he could buy himself a drink there.

"No, Mom," he says, "remember? I'm saving up to buy a pastor!"

"Why don't you just be the pastor?" I asked, "You'd save yourself a lot of money."

His adorable little eyes looked up to explain, "No, mom. I haven't read the whole Bible yet, so I can't."

Fat Rant

I'm blogging twice in one day! Can you believe it? I can't.

I have food issues or perhaps it's classified more as weight issues. If I started confessing them all, I might be here all day, but what it boils down to is that I struggle with self image, and unrealistic expectations for myself.

Just two years ago, I was able to puchase clothing in the girls section at walmart--size 16 (we're talking little kids 16--not ladies), and I hated the fact that I was still fat. I was down to about a 1/2 sandwich/day, which was difficult to maintain, and I couldn't.

This year I've been coming out of this mindset, but it's still a struggle that I need to work on. I found this video, and this girl rocks! (warning there are a few spots where the language is a bit rough)

Kids say the Weirdest Things

My five year old son just asked me how big the baby was in his tummy. I explained to him that he has seeds in his body and girls have eggs in their bodies.

"How does the baby get in the tummy?" he asked, pulling the crust from his sandwich.

"When a mommmy and daddy get married, the egg and the seed go together, and it makes a baby in the mom's tummy," I answered, using the vaguest terms I could gather :)

"I don't want to get married," he said, shaking is head.

"Why not?" I asked, wondering if perhaps he knew more about reproduction than he was letting on. After all, I know how he feels about the fact that mommy and daddy lock lips now and then. It doesn't go over well with the boys--yuck!

Of course, that wasn't the case, in fact it had nothing at all to do with affection. I should have known that this guy would give a manly man's answer. And he did.

"Because I don't like the song!" he said. Then he got back to munching his lunch.

___________________________________________

Then there's my daughter, Maddy. She's nine years old, but more times than not she acts like my mom. It was her mission yesterday to ensure that we all ate healthy food. In fact I had to go shopping with her to restock the fridge. I wanted chips and some chocolate, but NOOOO, she wouldn't hear of it. I had to buy apples, bannanas, cheeze, and green peppers. Argh!!

So we get home, unpack the groceries, and we're standing together at the cupboard chopping the vegetables we just bought.

"Do you think I have grey hair yet?" I ask.

She looks over at me, very lovingly and answers, "No, but pretty soon you will, and then you'll be my sweet little Grandmamaw."

I went to bed last night wondering when she'd be coming up to tuck me in. It didn't happen, so I guess I have to wait till the grey hair sets in for that, huh?