Wedding Update

I am so proud of my daughter and her organization regarding the wedding. Even though I have money set aside towards the wedding, the kids say they want to pay for it, are paying for it as they go along, so there will be no debt to start--they want me to keep the money I've saved for when they purchase a house--as soon as they can.

Around here, a good starter home will sell for about $300, 000+. For every $150,000 mortgage, the payments will be about $1000 per month (excluding taxes and utilities). So they need to come up with enough down payment to afford the house on one income, since they do want to have a family--my daughter is determined to stay home or work part time only while the children are small. (I love how she thinks). I have every confidence that they will carry out their plans--she has always been organized that way.

They are making their own invitations, the dress is ordered. They are planning to get married in my little country church, with the reception at the farm. I have booked the local hall as a back-up, and we can borrow their tables, chairs, and dishes. The only other rentals will be the tablecloths and wine glasses.

We have an excellent local caterer, who is all excited about trying some Indian dishes (tandoori chicken and saffron rice) as well as some fish dishes.

But the best news of all for me, is that they will have the ceremony in my church. I'm sure they decided that to please me, although the groom suggested it after the kids went to Midnight Mass with me last Christmas. That might change her plan of both her dad and I walking her down the aisle, since I'm not sure the aisle is wide enough for all three of us. But since she is keeping me informed/involved in the wedding plans, I can bow out and let Kubota Man walk her down the aisle.

They are having only one attendant each. Bridesmaid in deep red--sort of candy apple red. I haven't decided if I will wear plum, teal, or olive green. All these colors look good on me, and go with their fall colors of red, brown, orange and gold.

The guest list is growing a bit, but there will still be less than 100.

The pictures will be taken at the farm, and wouldn't you know it, she wants some pictures taken on the tractor. We're kind of keen on delivering the bride to the church in my other baby, the new Tundra Truck.

Weather or Not

We finally had a skiff of snow on Friday (about 1 inch--5 miles down the road there was 3 1/2 inches--I wasn't prepared to shovel snow on Saturday when I went to prepare the church for Sunday services). Now I'm in a town called Vegreville, babysitting (or rather, teen-sitting), and that means a lot of driving: to different jobs, to the dentist, to the city for a belated birthday shopping trip and dinner out with granny. Well, today it was pouring rain for most of the afternoon and evening. Wait till it freezes tonight. I'm glad I don't have to drive till tomorrow afternoon. I'm glad I figured out how to access my blog from away from home. But I didn't bring the camera. I can just taste everyone's turkey and other goodies. I'm getting my fill of home reno shows, since the kids have purchased more satellite channels than we do. What's interesting, is that the home renovators are frequently painting over solid oak kitchen cupboards just like my beauties, because they are "dated". In my mind, excellent quality wood in a classic style is timeless, never dated. Play with paint, play with tiles, stage all you want, but DON'T MESS WITH THE SOLID OAK!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends across the border.

10-day Hiatus

Some of my blog friends were worried about my drowning in a sea of paint. I am alive and well, and about to leave for a 10day trip to babysit my granddaughters while their parents go to Vegas. Will update everything immediately upon my return.

A TributeTo Our Heroes, just in time for Remembrance Day

I received this e-mail and just had to share it right away. I apologize for the unauthorized use of the photo (which I also received in another e-mail), but the message is so strong, I feel forgiven.

A lesson that should be taught in all schools . . And colleges

Back in September, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School, did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks.

'Ms.. Cothren, where're our desks?'

She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.'

They thought, 'Well, maybe it's our grades.'

'No,' she said.

'Maybe it's our behavior.'

She told them, 'No, it's not even your behavior.'

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom.

By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms.Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the deskless classroom, Martha Cothren said, 'Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.'

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it.

Twenty-seven (27) War Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall... By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned..

Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it.'

By the way, this is a true story.

Please consider passing this along so others won't forget that the freedoms we have in this great country were earned by War Veterans.

Plumbing and Wedding Dresses

Another 2 weeks+ has passed since I've talked to you. Lots of things going on. We've been shopping for wedding dresses. After 5 shops and probably 50 try-ons, we have the dress--but I'm not allowed to post it. So, I will show you one of the runners-up instead. The chosen dress will be in ivory, and it is very unique, but not in a weird way, in a beautiful way. We had almost chosen the dress (a Maggie Sottero in alabaster), when Nina saw a dress she liked in a bridal magazine. Going online, she found a local shop who carried that designer's dresses. She phoned to see if the dress was in stock--they said they would call her back if they had it--no callback. When we went to the shop to try other dresses, we found a nice one, then Nina went to another rack, and there it was! She tried it on, and it was truly her dress. Remember, these photos are not her dress.



















Now the Plumbing: A couple of years ago, we replaced a rather small kitchen window over the sink with a 3-panel bay window. The framing carpenter who built the house was called to install the window, but I didn't trust him to do the finishing work inside. So, as is my style, better late than never, I finally am working on that window. One of the obstacles of this window installation was the vent stack--it was right beside the old window, and the new window is much wider, so they cut the vent stack, relocated it in the wall (they worked from the outside of the house), stuck the extra length up into the attic cavity, and, since none of the workers were thin enough to climb up into the attic opening, it was to be my job to reconnect to the roof vent. I have never done this kind of thing before. I had visions of falling through the ceiling, of impaling myself on the shingle nails, and of dying of allergies from the blown-in insulation.
Well, the only hitch was that I brought in the 6-ft ladder, and we needed the 8-ft, with which Kubota Man narrowly missed the hall light fixture. I had prepared myself a kit--lots of PVC fittings, glue, a hacksaw, sandpaper, utility knife, rags. In just about 30 min. it was done--I had contact glue all over my hands, and a supremely satisfied feeling in my heart. It took longer to set up and clean up than the job itself. All that day, as I was peeling glue from my hands, I had a re-run of the joyful feeling of accomplishment.
Renos update: In the laundry room, today I will change the electrical switches and outlets, re-cut 2 baseboards that I cut too short, put up the hat-rack, then I'm done there except for the crown mouldings which I haven't bought yet. The lumber store where I usually buy my building materials has changed the crown moulding profile to one I don't like, but Home Depot still has it, so I think I'd better buy the mouldings for the whole house at once, in case they change the profile again. But I do have the stipples removed where the crown moulding will be attached.

Also, the main bathroom--I have to put the crown moulding up there--all cut, may need some trimming--I'm using a smaller crown moulding there, since the room is smaller. Later I have to do some major electrical there, since my new light fixture is off-center--the original electrician appropriately centered the box on the wall, and then when we put in the long vanity with 2 sinks, we did not center this on the wall. So I think I'll have to cut open the drywall and block in a place for a new box, and move the wires over. That will be the last thing I do after the rest of the house is finished. In the meantime, I'll just feel kind of wonky when I visit the "Loo".

Dog Hair: Our son has a German Shepherd named Tundra. He commutes to work-about an hour each way--he works in the same town whre Daughter #2 lives. So, for 2 weeks he commutes, and Tundra stays at his home, then the other 2 weeks, he stays at his sister's to save money on gas, and Tundra stays at the farm. Since she is essentially a house dog, and we have no dog house for her, she is allowed to sleep in the house. Now there is dog hair all over, and with the painting and fixing, I haven't been too fastidious about housecleaning. Today I must clean--I can't stand pet hair.

Knitting: I have ordered the Jored Linvik patterns for the cat socks and mittens. But they are on next year's knitting list.
Have started the first clue for the November Mystery sock for the Ravelry group.
Am on the second sock of my nephew's kilt hose.

Till next time: I dont' have time to look up a good passage, so take care, stay healthy and happy, and smile at someone today. (Sigrun)

And it Turned out Nice Again After All

Fall is back again. Within 2 days the snow melted, the sun shone and shone, the trees knew they still had time to show their colors,













and my garden and flower bed weeds are calling me again.














The deck rails are all finished--big deck view.














North side view.














East side view, with Kubota Man.














I finished the alterations for a blog friend from Edmonton: total( not all done today) of 2 jackets to shorten the body and one of them, the sleeves, 3 skirts to shorten, and 1 pair of pants to take in and shorten. She'll be happy they're done.

Today we went on an annual "date" to the nearby village of Andrew, Alberta, about 70 miles NE of Edmonton, 13 miles from our place. This is significant for many reasons which I am about to reveal. I would guess the population of the village might, at best, be 300 people--if we include the agricultural trade area around the village, maybe 500 souls.














Andrew has one of very few remaining grain elevators. In the last 15 years almost all these Prairie Monuments to Agriculture have been demolished in favor of huge concrete silos to which farmers have to travel farther to deliver their grain. The Andrew Historical Society has purchased the elevator and is operating it as a museum.














Main Street of the bustling metropolis of Andrew, Alberta.














Andrew's symbol is the Mallard Duck. This is the largest mallard duck in the world.














Since the area around Andrew was first settled by Ukrainian and Romanian pioneers, and whose culinary arts depended heavily on garlic and other members of the allium family, there is an annual GARLIC FESTIVAL. This is an autumn celebration with a wonderful array of activities. We were welcomed to the arena by these citizens:




























There is a farmers' market, where we forget the "Sensible Eating Plan" and buy ourselves home-baked treats.














And a bench show, where Kubota Man, myself and another guest are the judges. The entries in the bench show have to be fall-oriented, and garlic has to be incorporated into each design.

The winner of the Novelty category, Junior level. That magazine in the side of the chair is a 1946 Eaton's Catalogue.














Scarecrow Category: Junior level.















Three Heads of Garlic-Seniors level. (I don't know what I did to activate the underline feature).















Novelty Category, senior level--this is a misshapen kohlrabi, with chains of garlic cloves connected for legs. That one got a lot of chuckles.















And the evening ended with a wonderful buffet of garlic-flavored and traditional Ukrainian dishes: Beets and mushrooms with garlic, Garlic Roast Beef, Garlic Meat Balls, Green beans with garlic, pickled garlic, Navy bean porridge with garlic (my favorite), Holubtsi (tiny sour cabbage rolls), Headcheese (laced with garlic), Nachynka (cornmeal porridge), salads, and a big bowl of crushed garlic to spread on the bread (I passed on this one, as I didn't want to sit by myself at church tomorrow), and for dessert: pumpkin cheesecake and lemon squares.














This wonderful meal was followed by a dance with a talented Ukrainian band. But, alas and alack, the only "downer" of the wonderful weekend is that Kubota Man does not like to dance, and for the first time we hardly knew anyone there so he couldn't visit, and I love to dance, but we went home early. So, in consolation, I went downstairs, uploaded pictures and blogged, which can sometimes be considered better than dancing--definitely better than moping about 44 years of dance-deprivation (that's my only major complaint about the old boy).

Till next time: Each day provides its own gifts. (Marshal)