Living ..

I sometimes wonder why I have a blog .. it's not like I have a lot of new and exciting things happening in my life.. haha.. I'm a mom pure and simple, like a lot of moms I have repetitive activities to do that ensure our lives stays sane and organized after a fashion. I can detail what I do but it's not really interesting or unique to the average blog reader.
Since I posted last my niece is now a new proud mama of a sweet baby boy, my mother in law has been diagnosed with breast cancer, I've been ferrying my neighbour back and forth from work as her transportation, we got a new van, my son got a new truck..
the show The sing-off is great, nice to hear ppl just using their voices to entertain us, no unnatural tweaks etc.. but I do like x-factor at times .. especially this year's Josh Krajcik.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux0lJx9gOnQ&feature=related he sang Something(Beatle's) it was a great performance of the song!!

Guest post from a Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY
Outside my window... a tree, partly cloudy sky and the porch wall

I am thinking... just planning the day ahead and thinking of my niece's new baby John

I am thankful... for God's many blessings, my husband and family, to be independent and alive

From the learning rooms...(if this applies) as homeschoolers we are gearing up for first day of school, at least I am, kids are desperately trying to ignore it!

In the kitchen... just fed the cats, probably will try and use the barbecue today or it'll be too warm in the kitchen

I am wearing... part of comfy cropped dark blue jeans and a brown tshirt with white trim

I am creating... a journal and a blog

I am going... to two birthday parties next week one for a baby and another for a friend

I am wondering... how my mom's move is going and if she will be happy in her new place

I am reading... Low Fat Express from Company's Coming, the St Paul Journal, and rereading Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart..

I am hoping... i will be able to get some part time work

I am looking forward to... baby John's baby shower in about 2 more weeks!

I am hearing... the computer hum, my keyboard taps, the refrigerator, and my daughter moving around in the living room

Around the house... everyone still sleeping even my son who works today (i'm an early riser at times)

I am pondering... if the London riots will stop soon.. terrible thing to watch

One of my favorite things... watching reruns of tv shows I watched as a child with my kids, brushing the neighbour's horses, reading the Bible with my daughter, listening to the rain in bed at night

A few plans for the rest of the week: weekend coming, maybe a picnic...

Here is picture for thought I am sharing... see above

From High School Homeschooler Blog--A Contest

Another Giveaway!

How would you like to win an autographed copy of the Duggars' new book? You've come to the right place! I am currently giving away a copy of A Love that Multiplies, personally signed by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar!

Keep reading to find out how to enter this giveaway...

TO ENTER

Post a comment answering the following question: When does school start for your family?

For optional extra entries, do one or more of the following. (Each option must be submitted as an individual comment in order to count as an additional entry):

1. Become a Google follower of the blog, and leave a comment letting me know. If you were already a follower, please leave a comment as well.
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3. Blog about this giveaway on your blog, and leave a comment on my blog, including the url of your post.
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RULES

To qualify for the giveaway, you must include your first name and last initial in each comment.

I need a way to contact the winner, so include your email address in each of your comments, or send your email address to DuggarFamilyBlog@gmail.com (along with your first name and last initial). If you are a winner, I will shoot you an email asking for your shipping address.

To qualify, all comments must be posted to this blog. They will not be accepted if they are posted to Facebook or Twitter.

Note: We are also advertising this giveaway on our other blog, the Duggar Family Blog. Entering on both blogs doubles your chances of winning!

books...

I've been sorting through my books and trying to pin down what makes a book a favourite of mine.. can't quite tell.. I do have a fondness for old books without jackets that look like someone has "gently used" it, because I feel connected to someone else who has loved it..
I think my favourite books have created a type of measuring stick to everything else i read i suppose that's a common situation.. I think that's true of my music and media experiences as well..

6 shows I try to catch regularly(not necessarily in order)

American/Canadian pickers
Murdoch Mysteries
19 kids & counting
reruns of Gilligan's Island
reruns of Walton's
Escape to the Country(BBC)

10 books that have influenced me(
my Bible
Frank Peretti's Prophet
Rebecca Brown's He Came to set Captives Free
Mary Stewart's Touch not the Cat
If I gained the world Linda Nichols
Tuesday with Morrie Mitch Albom
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
Abigail's Journey Judith Bronte
Meet the Austins Madeleine L'engle
The book of Hours T. Davis Bunn

Top 8 Fiction Authors

Mary Stewart.. pictured to the left.. my favourite book is probably Touch Not the Cat..

Judith Bronte--an online inspirational romance writer, she writes her stories one chapter/month at a time..

Betty Neels-the only Harlequin writer I've ever consistently read..

Linda Nichols-- If I gained the world is well worth your time..

Harper Lee--to Kill a mockingbird will always be one of my all time favourite books

Charlotte Bronte- JANE EYRE need I say more!!

Frank Peretti--my favourite is the Prophet..

dee henderson-- can't pick a favourite..

Pre-Grad

Sorry for not posting so far this week.. my children and I are attending a friend's graduation this week.. I spent the last few days assessing what we still needed to shop for, just making sure everyone had the clothes they needed.. think we're prepared now for this event..
I'm also working on one of those lists that you have to answer a lot of random questions.. hopefully I'll have that ready later on today or tomorrow.. I'm a letter writer so if you would like to pen pal with me just leave your address and I'll send you a letter..
would you believe that I presently have 3 children with learners/drivers licenses.. so coming back from the city(1 1/2 hour drive) we switched drivers quite a bit.. and my youngest daughter will be 14 this fall.. I'll have 4 in training drivers on my hands for a while!! yikes! the kids think I should be a new driver sign in the back window.. maybe I should also put a nervous momma sign as well LOL! oh well I survived every other stage I can survive this one too, right!?! haha
seriously though it's tough watching them all grow up so fast, knowing in 3-5 years I could be on my own again.. I already have in my head some of the benefits of being an empty nester but I know that it's still not as much fun as having the kids all in your house.. I'm seriously wondering if I should adopt or something.. anyway until later peeps!!! God bless you all!

I Love poetry

You're going to find that I love poetry.. not sure why though I guess I don't really need a reason for that...

Here's one by E Pauline Johnson a First Nation woman in Canada who lived about the turn of the century..

Penseroso

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Soulless is all humanity to me To-night. My keenest longing is to be Alone, alone with God's grey earth that seems Pulse of my pulse and consort of my dreams. To-night my soul desires no fellowship, Or fellow-being; crave I but to slip Thro' space on space, till flesh no more can bind, And I may quit for aye my fellow kind. Let me but feel athwart my cheek the lash Of whipping wind, but hear the torrent dash Adown the mountain steep, 'twere more my choice Than touch of human hand, than human voice. Let me but wander on the shore night-stilled, Drinking its darkness till my soul is filled; The breathing of the salt sea on my hair, My outstretched hands but grasping empty air. Let me but feel the pulse of Nature's soul Athrob on mine, let seas and thunders roll O'er night and me; sands whirl; winds, waters beat; For God's grey earth has no cheap counterfeit.

70 Questions

1. Graduated high school. Yes
2. Kissed someone. Yes
3. smoked a cigarette Yes unfortunately
4. Got so drunk you passed out -- fairly drunk but not quite
5. Rode every ride at an amusement park. (Not every, but most of them..)
6. Collected something stupid -- like the foil from the cigarette wrappers ?? yup!

7. Gone to a rock concert does an Elvis impersonator count??
8. Helped someone. Absolutely, and with no strings attached

9. Gone fishing yes

10. Watched six movies in one day. yes
11. Lied to someone. Unfortunately yes
12. Snorted cocaine NO!!!
13. Smoked weed yes.. these are unusually personal questions btw
14. Failed a subject umm.. not that I recall
15. Been in a car accident yes…
16. Been in a tornado . umm.. sorta..
17. Watched someone die. --Sat with someone almost until they died
18. Been to a funeral yes
19. Burned yourself who hasn’t (yup)
20. Run a marathon nope, would be cool though
21. Cried yourself to sleep. yes
22. Spent over 10,000 bucks in one day. Nope..
23. flown an an airplane . yes
24. Cheated on someone. Nope
25. Been cheated on. I hope not
26. written a 10 pg letter. at least 6?!
27. gone skiing . yes
28. Been sailing. Boating but not sailing

29. cut yourself . yes
30. Had a best friend. yes
31. Lost someone you loved. Miss you DAD
32. got in trouble for something you didn't do . probably but nothing comes to mind
33. stolen a book from a library . does not returning it count??

34. gone to a different country yes
35. Watched the Harry Potter movies never will

36. Had an online diary this is it!

Wow do these questions end??

37. Fired a gun. Just a pellet gun

38. gambled in a casino hope i never will..
39. Been in a school play yes, twice, they were musicals

40 been fired from a job yes, technically
41. taken a lie detector test no
42. swam with dolphins no, wow, what an experience though
43. voted for someone on a reality show . no, thought about it
44. Written poetry. yes

45. Read more than 20 books a year 2 per month, sure..
46. gone to Europe ( no)
47. Loved someone you shouldn’t have. Yes..
48. Used a colouring book over age 12. yes
49. Had a surgery. Only if dental surgery counts
50. had stitches yes
51. taken a taxi yes
52. Had more than 5 Gmail conversations going on at once. nope
53. Been in a fist fight. nope
54. Suffered any form of abuse. yes
55. had a pet had and have
56 petted a wild animal a snake once
57. had your own credit card and purchased something online with it yes
58. dyed your hair . yes
59. Got a tattoo...( no)
60. Had something pierced. yes
61. Got straight A’s. pretty close
62. Known someone personally with HIV or AIDS . no
63. Taken pictures with a webcam. I think so
64. Lost something expensive.( nothing comes to mind)
65. Gone to sleep with music on. Often..

66. enjoyed a church service often

67. gone on a kiddie ride while older than 16 yes!

68. gone on a ferry yes

69. visted an art gallery yes

70 played a prank on a stranger yes

Charlie Brooker - How To Report The News

JULY!

I live in a very small community which means that it is almost impossible to stay out of people's lives even when you really don't want to know something, sometimes you end up being a mediator between two people when you had no intention of getting involved at all.. this situation that has come up is maybe the most stressful one I've ever known as far as how far apart the two ppl are.. problem is I'm having a hard time staying unbiased, I have too much history with one side of this..
anyway, I hope it'll all blow over, usually we all get along pretty well..

on a more positive note my niece is expecting in about a month .. she has things well in hand and I think I will be buying her a diaper bag.. if moms today use such a thing I think they do..

so far I've spent a fair amount of time catching up what I couldn't get to during the school year, but yes... I actually have just gone to the lake with the kids and spent the time doing nothing, just watching them and observing any birdlife etc.. great de stresser for me except when its too hot for comfort..

had a lot of things on my mind but thinking they can wait for another time..

take care

Top 5 Websites that I visit..

might just start a set of top 5 lists on and off.. could give me some topics to write about..

oh, and these may not exactly be in order, they are just my present 5 favourite non social media websites/blogs to visit

(1) Judithbronte.com-- this website is maintained by an online inspirational romance writer. She has been publishing her stories here for the last 12 years or so.. one chapter at a time.. *be warned--if you ever start reading her stories you'll be hooked for life.. my #1 time splurge on the net, and well worth every second I spend reading ..

(2)Neatorama-- one of those people who just knows what other people are interested in reading about or looking at on the 'net.. always new stuff to check out and think about

(3) Justpiper.. always a thoughtful perspective and apparently someone who cares enough to try to make a difference..

(4)urbanghosts.com.. maybe it's just me but I love the photography and historical aspect of old abandoned objects..

(5)rebelliousarabgirl.. maybe just because it's a completely different perspective from mine, but I find this girl to be refreshingly honest....

take care
peeps..

Tribute to Dad con't(3)

Con't of Favourite Memories..

(5) after we moved into our new house, I had a basement room downstairs.. I can still hear the sound of Dad's feet hitting the floor at 7 am sharp, him walking down the hallway to the top of the stairs. He would call, "Myra, you awake?" which I always was somehow.. he would make us porridge usually, leaving Mom to sleep a bit.. and be out of the house by 7:30..

(6) Dad had a strange sense of humour I guess most dads do-- we were at my Uncle Irvin's once, and I was following Dad & Irvin around while they looked at the farm yard --just talking guy talk I guess.. and I got bored and decided to go visit the horses in their corral.. and I decided to take a short cut through a corral instead of going around it.. somehow the fact that it had a big fence didn't really register with me.. I was basically a town kid in a lot of ways.. halfway across I heard a snorting. I turned my head to see s abull on the other end of the corral.. I have never run so fast and got over a fence as fast as I did that day.. to find Dad & Uncle Irvin laughing ...
... :)

My tribute to Dad con't(2)

MY FAVOURITE memories of my DAD

(1) My first memory is of holding my Dad's hand while walking down the stairs into our basement suite. I wasn't more than 2 yrs old at the time

(2) I remember Mom & Dad taking us to a buffalo jump once, I was probably5 or 6, I guess. I was sitting on the edge of the bank swinging my foot and I guess my shoe was loose because it suddenly dropped off and fell maybe about 7 feet down the bank. My older brother was immediately disgusted with me, and I guess I thought I was in trouble, but Dad without a word climbed down the bank and quietly gave me my shoe back. For some reason it was a hero worship moment for me that I always think about and smile to myself over.. :)

(3) The times Dad would go hunting with Granpa or Uncle Reuben or someone and I would wake up to see a deer hanging to cool in a tree.. Dad was a good provider.

(4) Dad loved animals, especially dogs, he always had a dog, and the two most memorable dogs were Scamp and Sheba.. Scamp was more us kids' dog, but Sheba was Dad's!! He found her tangled by her rope in a ditch while he was walking.. I don't think that dog ever forgot how Dad rescued her, she would have done anything for Dad..

FATHER'S DAY!!!!!!

To start off with, let me wish a most Happy Father's Day to all you Dad's out there!!! and especially to my own special guy, with whom I have the privilege of being parents of 6 special kids.... Love you all!!

My own dear dad is gone and has been for 4 years now.. I miss him terribly, especially for the big days like Father's Day, his and my birthday, and the holidays.. my dad was big on phoning me for all the important days, and even normally I think I usually spoke to him about 2 or 3 times a month no matter how far apart we were...

I thought I would make a mini tribute to him here in this blog and if I run out of time I'll continue the story on a later post... so here goes for the record....

My dad was born in 1929 in a little place called Oungre, Saskatchewan. His parents, Iver and Anna Nyland were recent(1923) immigrants to Canada from Norway, where they intended to homestead and raise a family.
My dad was the 3rd youngest of 6 children. Alice(actually born in Norway), Astrid, and Mabel(deceased @ 19 due to appendicitis) were older, and Bessie and Gerald were younger. They spoke Norwegian at home and my dad always said they were grateful that their first teachers understood Norwegian.
The 30's put my granparent's plans on hold as they were forced to relocate to Weldon, Saskatchewan, where they again became farmers, and where they would live their whole lives.
My dad spent a majority of his youth outdoors whenever he was not in school or doing chores. He was an avid hunter, fisherman, and sports enthusiast his whole life. At home, he played hockey, cross countried ski-ied, fished, hunted, and curled.
The war broke out when my dad was 15 years old, and was the reason he dropped out of school while in his teens. He and uncle Gerald were needed to help with the farm work. Many of his underage chums lied about their age in order to join the war effort, but Dad wasn't interested in becoming a soldier, I guess he knew the army needed all the produce and grain Saskatchewan's farms could produce. I know he always said how relieved he was that the war ended approx. 2 months before his 18th birthday, July 29, 1945.
After the war, he seemed to have an ambition to see Western Canada, finding jobs in logging, the oil fields, even building grain elevators. It was a fall from a grain elevator that gave him the slight limp that would last the rest of his life. Apparently, he was home in approx. '62, '63 long enough to attend some dances in Domremy or Bellevue where he met an 18 year old French Metis girl named Anne, whom he married in fall of 1963. Together, my parents raised 6 children, 4 boys, and 2 girls.
Early in their marriage, Dad did some things that impress me now: (1) he quit smoking(hard to imagine him doing so) for the sake of us kids (2) he returned to school, attending night school in order to get his GED and going on to become a journeyman carpenter. How he managed to work fulltime, attend school at night and cope with the demands of a young family I'll never know!!!! kudos to you, DAD!!!
He worked for the City of Prince Albert for many, many years and for all my adult life he was an avid participant in Victory Baptist Church.
We lost my Dad to Alzheimer's in 2005.. will always Love you DAD...

just stuff1..

we watched the Stanley Cup Final last night, disappointing loss for Vancouver to the Boston Bruins, but they did prove to be the better team in the end.. the Conn Smythe trophy went to the above pictured Tim Thomas.. I think his little girl asked her mom if they would be allowed to take the trophy home, touching to watch how proud she was of her dad..
my oldest son apparently refused to watch the game, he is a diehard Colorado fan.. but I think I tend to watch out of nostalgia.. my dad and I used to watch maybe not every game but a big game like last night would have been important..
sad that some people turned to rioting, doesn't help, people!!!

summer seems to be here but the temperatures seem to me to be cooler than normal, I haven't had to take too many measures to keep the house from becoming an oven.. and I have woken up to rain for the last 2 or 3 mornings... I always sleep with the window open at least a little bit, don't know how anyone can sleep without the air stirring around them slightly..

speaking of my oldest son, we were able to get together at my niece's wedding at the beginning of June.. he brought his girlfriend along..

running out of time.. my school day is starting soon.. catch up with you later??

Prolonged Absence??

Call me a complete idiot who doesn't remember things very well.. well, I intend to be back at least once a week here so I hope you will start checking in to see what I'm up to. I'm a homeschool mom of 6, so chances are that I will be fairly consistent during the summer and not so consistent during the school terms..
I like poetry, music, consider myself a mild political activist, I read as avidly as possible and prefer radio to tv almost always, I love a good predictable movie.. some of my favourites are Shadowland, Jane Eyre, Sabrina(1993), Last Chance Harvey, A Walk to Remember, Bed of Roses, Remember the Titans...
Had a great school year, but man does time ever fly.. seems like the work never ended but hopefully I can have a quiet summer of just looking after the flowers, blogging, maybe some small renos..