Nicky gets a job

My oldest little one is growing up. Tim called the local paper last week, at Nick's request, to see if there was any openings for a delivery boy. The local paper, called the Oakville Beaver, comes three times a week. We haven't been getting it lately, now we know why. Nick is now been hired on as a paper boy. He will be delivering around 100 papers (our townhouse complex) three times a week, and is getting paid 50.00 a month for doing so. He is so excited! Tim and I had to laugh as he already has figured out what he want to buy, several times over. I was a little startled to find out this would be three times a week, and 100 papers at that, we have to insert the flyers and everything, but, it will be good for him, and Tim always worked from the age of 8 or so, first with paper routes, then at restaurants peeling potatoes and finally the gas station. He firmly believes in the responsibility little jobs like this create, and since he turned out so well, who am I to argue?

Nick and Abby also have had their Sat. chores increased, since I discovered that they are old enough to do some real cleaning. They have to clean their rooms Sat morning and now, Abby cleans the bathroom sink, Nick the bathtub. They did a really good job of it too! I just need to remember to put them in old clothes. I decked them out in gloves, but Abby still manged to destroy a favorite shirt (bleach cleaners and a five year old.... even with gloves up to her armpits she still got it on her sleeves!) At any rate, they are now really helping and boy how excited am I!

Anne

Anne of Green Gables. I remember really liking the movie when I was a kid. Tim recently got it for our kids on DVD and we have been watching it in bits and pieces. Abby loves it..... I mean LOVES it. I would have never dreamed a little five year old girl would been so into the dreamy silliness of Anne. She loves the balls, the weddings, the dresses and most of all Anne's imagination. We just passed the part where Anne turns down Gilbert's proposal and she was ever so upset. Just further proof that she is a girly girl at heart. Nick is so funny. He hates (much like me) watching anyone get into trouble, so... every time Anne gets into one of her scrapes he runs. Literally. You hear "uh oh"... and see his back vanishing rapidly into the kitchen! He must like it too though, as he is upstairs on Tim's laptop composing a story called , 'Amy of the blue lake or something"... we will have to teach him about plagiarism! It has been a busy weekend. I have ever so much ebay work to do... Shirley is going to kill me, as I have about 17 orders now in my inbox. I have no idea what is happening, but am looking forward to March when due to tax season, it usually slows down. We find out next week what is going to happen with the kids schools next year. I have a little girl who has not had a nap today, so it is going to be an interesting night!

What I want to say......

There is so much I want to write about, but I have had so little time!!! I honestly don't even know where to begin. I only have a couple of minutes before we start the bedtime routine, so this won't be long.... Tim is reading Narnia to the kids, Michaela bouncing from lap to lap sometimes listening.
If you haven't had a chance to check out Johanna's wisps of whimsy you need to take a look today. She has done these hand painted letters that are just adorable!

O.k. it is bedtime- so many thoughts so little time!

For the First one

The next conference had better be easier. It has been the longest four days that I've had in awhile.

Let me see he left on Thursday-

1) Thursday 1 hour before he leaves the toilet explodes and water comes pouring out of the base- the toilet backs up into the bathtub. I am left without a toilet upstairs and the possibility of no bathing for the kids.

2) Thursday night- Abby starts coughing and proceeds to cough for the next 48 hours straight- really- she pulls all the muscles in her stomach and is so sore she starts crying when she coughs. We both only get 2 hours of sleep that night.

3) I take Abby to the walk-in and find out it is viral (good I guess) but that means there is nothing they can do for her

4) Michaela starts coughing Friday night. And coughing, and coughing. Throws-up in bed twice due to the coughing. Abby continues to hack

4) I’m so tired I can barely see straight- Now Tim missed his connection and is due home 4 hours later. Doesn’t sound like much- but he was supposed to be home by 7 and that would have meant he could have bathed the kids and put them to bed. Just means my break isn’t going to happen tonight. And Michaela is starting to sound like Abby- she couldn’t nap she was coughing so much, so I’m worried about tonight.

Sound like fun? There are times when you know God is testing you, and this has been one of those times. I dropped Nick off at my Pastors house yesterday for a kids event, and he gave me a hug and asked how I was doing- "Good, it's been good" was my perky reply. I lied.

Now like all things in my life, I tend to over react, and I know I am in this case as well. Truly, in the grand scheme of things people are going through much worse. But life is so hard when you are worried about your kids and functioning on four hours of sleep, and have no help with the day to day stuff of the house. Lying awake listening to Abby at 12:30 in the morning after a scant hour of sleep I had one of my conversations with God.

"You aren't listening to me are you? She is still coughing and she sounds worse- What do you want from me???"

See right there is my problem- I am always content with God's will when it lines up with what I want, but as soon as there is a bump in the road I'm miserable and assume that He is working against me. Of course, this is particularly true when I'm tired.. Did I mention I've had four cokes today so I can function?

At any rate- it has been a long four days.....

Tired

I was up most of the night last night with Abby, who is really quite sick. The poor girlie just couldn't stop coughing despite my anti-coughing measures- (the poor child was slick with the vicks rub, had the humidifier on and cough med's but this cough just laughed and kept on tormenting!)

I took her off to the walk in this morning, as her poor little body was hurting from the constant onslaught of the last two days. There is nothing they could do as it is just a viral infection. She is better now- much better in that she is coughing way less- but Michaela seems to be getting it now- oh, no rest for the weary! I hate this time of year- but we only are a few weeks away from March and then on to April and warmer weather and less germs!

I'm functioning on auto-pilot today. Poor Nick got sent to the bus stop and I asked Tammi to watch him get on the bus as I needed to get Abby to the clinic before it opened so we wouldn't be there for two hours. (as it turned out I was fifteen minutes early and it still took over an hour to be seen- there was already five people inline waiting before me and other 6 showed up before the doors opened!) Nick, of course, had a fit. He NEEDS for me to see him get on the bus, it wasn't enough that I was dropping him off only 5 minutes early. He wanted me to come and see him at school after the doctors, when I said no, he was even more upset. In tears he asked me to write a note to put in his lunch. He felt a little better after that, but was still whimpering when I dropped him off!

I'm off to do a craft with with Abby! I end these things so abruptly, but that is when the kids call!

Snow Day

I can't remember the last time we had two snow days in one week. And then they are forecasting more snow for Sat. Tim's conference season is getting off to an interesting start. He leaves tomorrow for the first one. We are praying he is able to get out, since they are forecasting a further 10 cm of snow tonight (on top of the 10 cm we got today with a nice layer of freezing rain). Then we are praying he can get back on Sunday, since apparently there is another storm brewing . But that is days away yet, and goodness knows they are terrible at predicting these things!

We have one conference a month until May, when there is two that month. I'm not dreading the conference season as much (although Abby seems to have come down with yet another cold and is coughing non-stop today...) This may have something to do with the fact that Tim is not going to the Shepards conference this year. That was always the hard one as he was gone for 6 days and was on a different time zone so phone calls were difficult. It is always hard when he is away, as I seem to count time from phone call to phone call (once in the morning and once at night is what i demand..... that way I know he is o.k....) But when he does call most often he really isn't there. It takes a lot of energy and concentration to blog these things, and I find he is a little 'out of it' whenever I talk to him. That is hard. At any rate, I stocked up today on paper plates and plastic glasses! I really find that is the key to survival for me!

I'm a little nervous this time around about night. I miss Tiazzi the most when Tim is away. I slept better knowing she was around. Early warning system! Jen's car was broken into last week, and Barb (our next door neighbor) has had bikes stolen out of her backyard a couple of times now.... which I think is lending to my nerves. We live in a good neighborhood, but it is surprising what still lurks around! I may 'borrow' Josie (Jen's dog) for a couple of nights.. just to help me sleep- although.. if there is a thunderstorm I'll be in trouble as she has to be drugged (sedated) every time there is a hint of a storm!

Well, I'm off to make dinner...one of of those nights where I don't feel like cooking!

Long Morning

But a good one. I set out this morning to cook. I had spent the better part of yesterday cleaning the house after the weekend. It seems no matter what I do, the house is hanging upside down come Monday. Small house, five people I guess it makes sense. At any rate, I was feeling quite a sense of accomplishment yesterday, and decided that today would be a good day to get some meals done. I was asked to provide a meal for a girl in our church who just had a baby, and was told about a neighbour who had a nasty accident, (more on that in a sec) and so thought I would combine resources and make a couple of meals up to give away. On the way to school this morning, I mentioned to Jen that I was thinking of getting Abby's hair cut. Next thing I know, I had company for the hair cut, (Jen got her little one's hair cut too) and then we stopped by the grocery store for a few supplies. It was close to 11:00 before we got home and I had to hurry to get the cooking done!

The neighbor is an interesting story, he used to be our landlord, recently divorced and moved into our old rental house which he owns. He is our age. On the weekend, a bunch of the neighbor hood guys were out at a house party of sorts, and well, they all were very inebriated. Very. Which is quite typical for this group. Apparently somehow, this guy fell on some glass, (he may have fallen on his beer bottle..) and managed to cut his arm from his wrist to elbow to the bone. Thankfully, there was one sober guy there who called 911 and they rushed him off to the hospital where he was told he was lucky as he almost lost his arm. Needless to say he is in a fair amount of pain etc. On one hand it is hard to feel too sorry for the ding dong. I mean really, but he is ,for the most part, (when he is sober!) a nice enough guy who has gone through some tough stuff lately. Since I'm making the meals up anyway, it isn't too much hardship to send one his way.

Paul did an excellent sermon on work on the weekend. It was a good reminder that we are made to work, and our discontent with work only started with the fall. I have been feeling the winter blah's lately and it was good to be reminded that the job I have been called to is caring for my family, and in serving them, I am also serving God.

On days that I am really busy I seem to get a ton done, on days where I have little planned, I never seem to accomplish anything? Hmmmm... is there a lesson here? Ebay exploded on me yesterday again (is there something with Feb 4th?) and I sold 9 units yesterday alone. I have a lot of work to do, so I'll sign off, make lunch and put Michaela down for a nap. Take care everyone- may God grant you a blessed day!