“At the end of the day, faith is a funny thing. It turns up when you don’t really expect it. It’s like one day you realize that the fairy tale is slightly different than your dream. The castle, well it may not be a castle. And it’s not so important that it’s happily ever after – just that it’s happy right now. See, once in a while, once in a blue moon, people will surprise you. And once in a while, people may even take your breath away.”
-Dr. Meredith Grey

I'm back...a week's gone by...and feeling good!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Our trip was so wonderful, 15 of us had a blast...lots to do in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, I had no idea. Lots of shopping (too much!) and lots of touristy stuff on the main drag. Had alot of fun, we took in a local dinner show called Hoot N Holler and so much fun was had when we all went to Olde Time Photos...we have the Madame's and the Floozies :-) the dressing room was a blast! I'm sure the paparazzi was in there..

the drive down was amazing, thought it was going to be long and tedious, actually it zipped by before we knew it...and the ride home was even faster..that's a first!

Thanks to all the ladies that joined us for the trip, the camaraderie was amazing, meals were fabulous and sleep was rare.

Next year, our third annual, we might try northern ontario :-) great photos at the end of september for sure....

I leave you with some evidence..

..

Only 4 more big sleeps!

and we've been counting down since the spring.

This Sunday, myself and 15 friends are headed to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a week of scrapbooking and sightseeing in the Smoky Mountains. All our plans are made, everything is organzied, except me! I haven't started packing my supplies yet :-(

We will be back next Sunday, Sept 30th, just in time for me to go to beggin' court on October 1st to try to get a speeding ticket reduced. Wish me luck!

Here are some pics of our 7 bedroom lodge we booked.

Habitat for Humanity - Waterloo

About 7 months ago I signed up at a Volunteer Fair to help with Habitat for Humanity when the Waterloo build was ready to start. I got the call last week and have started helping. I volunteered for Parking, Registration and Food, any of those three...right now I'm on Parking duty, it's an early start and I'm volunteering 3 days a week.

I couldn't believe the difference in the four houses from one day to the next. The first day there was only the cement foundation, day 2 each home had all the wood sticks attached! They are fast!!!

Each family that is picked to live in these homes have to contribute 500 hours (family combined) labour, if the family has a single parent they have to contribute 250 hours. Their mortgages are either interest free or very low interest and are amortized over a period the family can afford to repay. It's a great great organization and I feel honoured to be involved with it...

Sunday was Grandparents Day!

and we had no idea either! Bryan and Hiba invited us over for the day, we were looking forward to a nice visit...we were so surprised to find this on the door -

Hiba and I went for lunch and shopping in Stratford, clearly not enough time! Rick and Bryan were installing their garage door opener and watching over Layla. We had a wonderful dinner, a special dessert to compliment the special day.

Layla gave both Rick and I coffee mugs with her picture on them, they are so cute! Thanks honey!

Our new baby!

Well after many many months of admiring our baby on the store shelves, Rick took the plunge and made a big purchase. We are now proud parents to a Canon Rebel XTi, it's a digital SLR. I love it so much, it's a beautiful camera. We also got a telephoto lens. I can't wait to experiment with it. I played with it with the professional photographer at Eva's birthday party. He suggested I buy the National Geographic Field Guide to Photography...he said I'd never need another book on 'how tos'. So I have my Nikon Coolpix 5400 for sale with lots of extras. If anyone is interested please let me know.

Facebook or should I say Crackbook!

I finally broke down in the middle of August and registered with Facebook. I've added a few friends and hope to find many more...so if you are on there and we haven't connected, let me know ok? I spend alot of time on there. I've noticed I'm spending a little less time each day. I like getting growing and hatching gifts, am pretty good at Texas Hold 'Er and are ok with the TV trivia game I have. I always thought that Crackbook was for students but there are alot of us old folks on there. Even my brother Jimi is on there and he is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy old heehee!

There is a link on the left side of my blog, come around and visit.

Ricks Mom's 80th Birthday party in Fort McMurray, Alberta

yes another birthday party! Rick, Chris and Sandbox left Ontario on Tuesday eve, Aug 28th to drive across country to surprise his Mom on her 80th birthday. I flew out of Hamilton on the 30th. I got to Fort McMurray a day before Rick and the boys. I was with Chris's daughter Melissa, Rick's sister and niece Linda and Tammy. We had a good time getting all the fixin's for the party from decorations to food. We had a day of shopping and planning and before we knew it the party day was here. We made all the food and decorated the house. we all had time for an hour rest and a shower before the guests arrived. Eva was so surprised to see us and Linda and Tammy, we were the only ones that made it in from out of town for the surprise. There was a professional photographer on hand, can't wait to see the pictures. We finally gave Eva the Two Uteruses book!!!! yay!!! I handed it over after 4 years of working on it! it ended up being almost 10 lbs and 84 pages!!! definitely a coffee table book, it's a little heavy for your lap. Eva liked it alot and I'm sure she'll enjoy it more on her own time in the quiet of her own home. Rick I flew home on labour day, we got home after dinner and was totally zonked. All our visitors have gone and all our commitments are fulfilled. We are going to unwind for a few weeks!
the birthday hat sure does get around eh?

And another Dang Twang...

ha ha ha !!! Rick's brother Chris, his son Sandbox, Rick and I went to Port Rowan on Saturday August 25th for a Bluegrass Jam. It started at 2 pm and was very low key. As it turns out it was in a very small campground and the campers were the bluegrass musicians. They were all really good and a Jam it was. Everyone one was walking around with beer, cept for us of course. Around 4 o'clock the guys went into the town to get beer...we had so much fun. We ended up leaving during the supper break and coming back for the evening part. The campers gave us beer and wouldn't take anything for it. We made lots of new friends, vowed to come back next year and camp. Chris said he'd come to Ontario next year, same time :-) We left around 10 pm so we could be back to Bryan's so Sandbox could watch the Ultimate Fighting match on the free satellite. I went straight to bed and the guys ordered pizza and watch the fights. I was a little sluggish the next day but that didn't stop us all from heading to London to see Shane and his truck in the Canadian Nationals Truck Show. It was darn hot! Shane was happy to see us, some of the trucks were pretty cool...

and another dang twang....

Rick's 50th Birthday BBQ

okay, this will be the last entry about rick's birthday, heehee! it's starting to feel like everyday's rick's birthday. We had an afternoon bbq on August 18th with as many of Rick's family that could attend along with a few close friends. We had a great time, played Hillbilly Golf, Washers and Holey Board. We had a campfire in the evening. We were happy to see everyone and Rick was at a loss for words, he felt so honoured that everyone came. We made some blender drinks, had lots to eat and lots of laughs....I'll leave you with some pictures of the last birthday party of the summer.....

Autumn Photo Challenge

I've joined a Photo Challenge with a group on Facebook. Here is a list of things to photograph, click here to see the photos I've taken.

1.apple
2.bare branch
3.basket
4.berries
5.birds flying south
6.black
7.black cat
8.blue
9.bounty
10.candy
11.costume
12.crunchy
13.cuddle
14.dancing leaves
15.delicious
16.dusk
17.family
18.fence
19.flame
20.friend
21.frost
22.green
23.happy
24.jack-o-lantern
25.jumping
26.moon
27.multi-colored leaf
28.orange
29.pie
30.puddle
31.pumpkin
32.purple
33.rake
34.red leaf
35.sad
36.scarecrow
37.scarf
38.schoolsupplies
39.sweater
40.teacher
41.temperature
42.thankful
43.tumbling
44.turkey
45.warmth
46.water
47.white
48.wild animal
49.yellow leaf
50.young (or young at heart)

Rick's 50th Birthday

his real birthday! although we've had numerous celebrations and parties, this is the real day. The 16th of August.

Rick's wish for his 50th birthday didn't come true, he wanted all his kids here for the week. Unfortunately Amanda and Richard and their families did not make the trip. Nancy and hubby Ian did and we were so happy to see them.

The family played together at Wonderland, we were all there. Bryan and Hiba, Shane and Jen, Nancy and Ian, Chris and Cody (Ashes and Sandbox), myself and Rick. the 10 of us wandered through the park all day. Everyone went on rides and had a blast! Rick and Sandbox vowed they were NOT going on rides, both of them went on lots of coasters and thrill rides. Ian and I stayed good to our word and fulfilled our duty as purse holder, drink holder and paparazzi...

After the power went out in the park and it didn't come back on for an hour we decided to head out for dinner. We went to Galaxy Diner in woodbridge for burgers, fries and milkshakes...

A great family day, it was a long day, we were all tired and we missed amanda and richy....

Flamboro Speedway

I pretended we were going here for the boys...Rick and Ian, our son in law...but really it was for me! I absolutely love the stock cars. the loud noise is so exciting!

I remember when rick, shane and bryan and I would go and see the stock car races at the ex every wednesday night. shane used to get admission tickets as a bonus from delivering his flyers. they eventually closed it down because of the noise and it being located so close to residential neighbourhoods.

at flamboro admission was $20 and what a great night that was!!!

African Children's Choir

wow, what a treat this was. I had heard of this group of kids, saw them on Oprah earlier in the year and also saw them on American Idol Gives Back. My neighbors mentioned that they were hosting this group at their church in St. Agatha in the middle of August. I was excited to hear that I could go and Rick's daughter and I were honoured to be their guests.

This group of children ranged in age from 10 to 12 years old. The kids usually tour for two years and then go back to Africa to school. They go to school 7 days a week and consider it a grand privilege. There were 22 in the choir and were amazing, they all introduced themselves and told us what they wanted to be when they grew up, it was so interesting, brought tears to your eyes.

thanks nikki and mark for the invite, a memorable evening for sure...

I'm updating...can you believe it?

It's late and I have started to update my blog so I must finish :-) I have had a very busy August with company here since August 1st! Three sets of company actually with some overlapping. Lots of family, lots of parties, and lots of meals to prepare! Grab a coffee and take a break!

Rick's Family BBQ

another family gathering, another great day! Rick, Bryan, Hiba, Layla, Nancy (Rick's daughter visiting from Truro, Nova Scotia) and her husband Ian and I were invited to Rick's niece's. Rick's sister was there along with his niece Tammy and hubby Brent, along with their four children. His nephew, wife and three kids came too. It was so great to see everyone, some I've not met before. Tammy's husband Brent is such a nice guy and they both have the coolest temperment of any other person I've ever met.

It rained, go figure, on the day we planned the bbq and the pool party! We swam in the rain anyway and had a great time.

Thanks Tammy and Brent, you guys are awesome!

Our Family Reunion

Or the MalFam Reunion as Kasey called it. We were up north last weekend with my family. We were only missing 5 people, 22 attended so that's darn good considering, I guess. My sister arrived from Sidney, BC on Thursday morning, Rick, myself and my sister headed up north to Magnetawan on Saturday morning early, we were up at 5 am. We met my two sons in Mississauga to form our caravan. Shane brought walkie talkies for our vehicles, we had a good time on those during our 4 hour drive, it made the time go by fast and it was tons of fun.

When we arrived at the cottage, we got settled and put up the Caldwell Cottage (the tent trailer). We sat around in a group and played Movie Trivia, I was clearly winning or so I said I was but Hiba was the real winner, she knows so many movie things! Everyone was swimming, playing games or sitting around chatting...it was great.

Some of the highlights over the weekend were a grand spectacular firework show in honour of Rick's 50th birthday and my sister, Budgie's 49th birthday. My sister and I made Lemon cupcakes and we had those on Sunday night around the campfire...we thought those would be better than a cake, easier to bring up and less trouble serving them. We played a Family Trivia game around the campfire on Sunday night too. Prior to going to the cottage I asked everyone to send me a little known fact about themselves. with each fact I mentioned at the campfire, everyone tried to guess who it might be. It was fun and we learned alot of things about each other...just when you thought you knew your own family.

The highlight of Sunday was the Pie Eating Contest! No one knew I was going to do that :-) I set up 6 cream pies around the picnic table, conned my participants and called them to the table where their pie and fork were waiting. Once they all got in position, I said "on your mark, get set.....wait" and I walked around the table and picked up all the forks...those were there just to entice the participants, hands behind your back...and then I said "on your mark, get set.....wait" and I proceeded to cover each pie with about 4" of whip cream...they were hysterical and it was a blast. "On your mark, get set...go!" Mark and Kiearra tied for first place, talk about hoovers! and their faces were a mess! No one was sick :-)

Monday we headed out around 9.30 a.m. while most of the kids left earlier. A long drive home but well worth it. Looking forward to the Mallen party next year.

Bryan created a photo album where we have all uploaded pictures, if you want to see them, send me a note and I'll send you the keys to get in.

Thanks Jimi for all the prep work you did an for hosting such a special weekend. And I was pissed when I remembered I forgot to sign the wall....

Tis the night before.....my sister arrives :-)

it's been 7 months since I've seen her, it was Christmas. I'm so excited. While we only have a day or two together, just the two of us, the whole week will be amazing, I'm sure. I've planned a trip to the St. Jacob's Market and then the rest of the day shopping in Stratford, perhaps lunch by the Avon River. Friday we are going to be busy making food and getting ready for our family reunion this weekend up at my brother's cottage near Magnetawan. I hope it doesn't rain. We will also be celebrating my sister's birthday along with Rick's 50th this weekend. I've got a surprise for everyone Saturday night :-)

Not much has been going on in the last couple of weeks as you can tell, I haven't posted much. We've had the last two weekends to spend with friends and drink a little too much but great fun was had by all.

I'll leave you with a few interesting photos.....call me crazy!

Science 101...or should I call it Photography 101 ??

Will ya look at these shots! Rick watched a birds nest on our deck all spring and took pictures throughout their stay. These turned out fanTAStic, didn't they? It's interesting how there are two different types of eggs in the same nest. Be sure to double click on these pictures so you can see the babies waiting for food, how cute! One guy's arm/fingers looks like Edward Scissorhands.