So, we're camping in Kamloops this weekend which is only a few days away, and I already feel like a chicken running around without its' head. Of course, between now and then, I only have two days off work and both are already busy days. Today was my first day off and not so busy as Thursday will be. I was at the school for slightly more than an hour for a performance. The performance was fantastic, but it was right in the middle of the day which I don't like very much. I dislike having my day chopped up. There was a mountain of laundry to tackle today including a team's worth of baseball uniforms that I want to return tonight. I also had a lot of running around to do today since I won't have much time for that on Thursday. The last day of school is Thursday and I booked it off to attend the assemblies and grade 6 graduation ceremony at the school. We have baseball every night this week which leaves me with little time to plan and pack for camping. I'll get it done though; what choice do I have.

We're thinking about letting Sam stay home on the weekend rather than be dragged along with us. He seems keen on the idea, but it will depend on how much weed pulling he gets done before then. It is hard to believe that he will be fourteen in a couple of weeks!! He wouldn't be home alone though as grandma and grandpa live with us, but he'd be "alone" enough to make him happy. He'd probably camp out in the living room with the Wii and TV.

Surprise, surprise! Abby made the Tadpole Selects team. She is very excited and has been pushing herself all week long. She is also extremely excited about going to Kamloops for a tournament this weekend. We're happy for her even if I don't feel overly excited.

Casey made the PeeWee 'A' team, but there is so much junk going on behind the scenes. It probably won't be the All-star season that the PeeWee 'A' players/parents were expecting, but hopefully it will still be a positive, educational and fun time. At this point in time, it looks as if Kane will be coaching even though he didn't want to coach All-stars. Too much to get into...

Shortly after 8:00 Saturday morning as I walked across the ball park, I rolled my ankle. My bad ankle. Yeah, I am really thrilled. What's a little more pain really? It has only been hurting and causing discomfort since October...this just punches it up a couple more notches.

And that's all I got. I want to cry but there isn't the time or the space to do it right. A punch to the gut would be better, I think.

Who's on First?

Abby played well this weekend just as she has all season. We noted a marked improvement in her play over the past couple of weeks. Back then, when her coach first had her as first baseman, she cowered and cringed. Today, when her coach put her on first base, she cheered! She even caught a throw to make an out at first and made good catches on other occasions to make a valiant effort. Abby even wants to try out for the Tadpole Select team on Wednesday night. I have no illusions of her making the team. Only 13 spots are available, and there are many players with much more skill than she has, but I am pleased as punch to see her enjoying the game so much that she wants to try out.

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Rain in Mudville

Kane was up early this morning to help prep the ball fields before Abby's 8:00am game in her year end tournament. The rain had begun yesterday afternoon and continued through the night creating lakes on the infield. Our game was delayed by about half an hour as a crew of parents worked to make the diamond suitable for a game. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take any photos during the work, so these shots were taken after most of the labour had taken place. The lakes were reduced to an occasional puddle before being obliterated by dirt and an absorbing product.

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He's Back...

Casey made it home safe and sound and ahead of schedule. To say that he was exhausted would be an understatement, but he was in a cooperative mood. He watched the rest of Abby's baseball game, had something to eat, gave us the highlights of his trip, and went to bed without too much fuss. He was awake at 8:00 this morning and spent at least half an hour giving me attitude about breakfast or the lack of "suitable" options. I offered fruit, cottage cheese, cereal or toast, but he was hoping for something more exotic like waffles or sugar cereal.

So much for the peace and quiet...

Home-coming

Casey is coming home tonight.

My alarm went off at 5:00am Wednesday morning leaving me with no choice but to get up. I woke Casey, and we were out the door about twenty minutes later. After a detour through Tim Horton's for breakfast, we were at the school waiting with an ever growing horde of mostly hyper grade six students. The grade six classes from Casey's school were heading to Vancouver and Victoria. The bus pulled out shortly after 6:00am, and I went home to my sleeping household. Wednesday was a very long day!

I am not a morning person. Once I had Sam and Abby out the door on their way to school, I set a timer for 75 minutes and had a nap at 8:00 in the morning. I could have stayed in bed all day but there were things to do. The most important thing was to go to Battery World to have the battery and alternator in my van tested as the warning light had come on a day or two before. The battery was fine but the alternator was most definitely not. I took it to our mechanic and had it replaced in a little more than an hour.

It has been quiet and peaceful around here since Casey left just as I knew that it would be. While I certainly am enjoying the quiet, I do miss Casey and will be glad to see his smiling face tonight. Remind me of that tomorrow when his good mood crashes and burns...

Track & Field

Casey had track & field on Wednesday. He was tripped up right off the start of the 800m race, the first event of the day. Funny thing was that I saw it happening in my mind as the runners lined up. I don't think he even noticed the teachers running over to check on him, he just picked himself up and took off down the track. He went from dead last to finishing 5th from last which is pretty good to me considering how far behind he was from the get go. The two jumping photos are from the triple jump. He did well. I always hated the triple jump and could never quite figure out the steps, but I was awesome at long jump!





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New Use for the Treadmill

Maggie is a very strange cat, or maybe she is just like every other cat in the world...she will sleep anywhere and everywhere, usually the stranger and more uncomfortable the better! I couldn't pass up this photo op though.



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Sam the Man

Sam loves to pitch, but he was only given opportunity to pitch one inning in last year's house season. His coach this year has been much more generous, and Sam is loving it! He isn't fast, but he throws a pretty accurate ball. In fact, he doesn't usually need to throw very many pitches to retire the inning.

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Casey the Umpire

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Catching up on photos

Two out of the dozen roses that Kane bought me almost a week after Mother's Day. The top one was red on the inside and a light pink on the outside. The bottom one was a very light purple colour. What would that be? Mauve? I don't know.





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You Don't Know What You've Got Til It's Gone

I am literally melting; it is so hot! Our air conditioner was disconnected last fall, because Kane wants to move it from one side of the house to the other. That was all fine and dandy in the fall. Winter months were coming and cold weather with them, but here we are on summer's doorstep and the a/c has yet to be actually moved and connected. And so we are sweltering.

I bought three fans this morning. We already have one teensy fan, but it simply isn't enough, not when three different people want to feel its' cool breeze as they fall asleep. I splurged a little. I bought one table top fan and two stand fans. The stand fans have remote controls! We're still melting though, and so are my chocolate chips.

Despite the heat, I baked a carrot cake. I've had some cream cheese in the fridge for a while and a hankering for carrot cake to go with it. I'm far too exhausted to bake at night, besides what is a little more heat in an already hot house! As I reached into the cupboard for the icing sugar, I had to move aside a bag of chocolate chips. It was a little squishy; they are now in the freezer.

I picked up my new eye glasses this morning from Sears. No one in my family even noticed the difference, but I can't blame them. The new glasses are very similar to my old pair. I was a little surprised by the call from Sears last night saying that my glasses were ready as I had just purchased them on Monday and had been told 10 days. It will be nice to watch TV without squinting.

Sam is camping this weekend with the junior high youth group. He was even willing to miss his baseball game in order to go camping. Thankfully, the weather is much improved on last year's camping trip weather. It poured rain the entire weekend last year, and Sam came home with everything he had soaking wet! No rain this weekend.

Casey had a friend sleep-over last night. They were up late, but we all slept in. There were a few moments earlier today when we thought that Casey might be "losing it", but he has managed to stay relatively agreeable and level-headed. So far.

Snow Day!

I have been reading through my old journals. It is something that I like to do from time to time. I'll curl up on my bed and sift through time and memories. So much has happened over the years. I'm not the same person that I was when I first started journalling, and it is exciting to see the journey. Here's an excerpt from December 28th, 1998:

Today I played with the boys. No orders. No rules. No discipline or correction. Just snowmen, snow angels and snow forts. We had a wonderful time enjoying each others company for the fun of it. It wasn't really a mother and sons moment as much as it was a time of three friends hanging out. We were equals. I wasn't standing in authority over them anticipating their every mistake. I was with them at their level. Playing. We worked together. I made little snowballs and passed them round to the boys, who then took the snowballs and did with them as they chose. At times, they rolled the snowballs in the sticky snow until they were too big and heavy for their little arms. That's when they would call for me to carry their burden. I'd lift that big ball of snow and place it atop the previous one. I'd used my mittened hands to shape and strengthen our snow creations. What had once been a blob of snow was now a regal looking snowman! The children didn't remember how heavy the balls were once they saw the finished work.
Several times Casey would take that small snowball and cast a sly glance. Casey would let it fly when Sam turned his back, but with all the layers of warmth secured on his body, Sam never noticed the feeble shot tossed his way.
I see many images of God in this day: a God who is always with us, not a God who is holding a checklist. Not a God who is off in the distance watching us, but a Father here in the presence of His children, interacting with them, laughing, encouraging, loving, and crying with them. I see people struggling to carry heavy burdens that are just too much for their feeble hands. I see people who refuse to give it up, forever straining to carry the load. I see people who humble themselves and cry for help. People who find their load easier, not because of luck or fate, but because Someone much stronger is carrying it for them. I see the Father's hands touching our hearts: pruning, shaping, prodding, mending. His hands strengthen us. They heal and mend. I see how, as children of the Father, we have protection from the enemy. The missiles and arrows of deceit can fall harmlessly to the ground when we remember that we are protected by spiritual armor.
At one point during our play, Casey fell in the snow and could not get up on his own. He sat there in the cold, deep snow and waited, remarkably patient. He merely lifted his arms to signal me that he needed help. Of course, I obliged him. How often I feel just like Casey! There are many times when I'd like to just sit and wait for someone to do the hard work for me. At the same time, how easy it is to forget that there is Someone like that: someone willing to reach down and pull out. He is right there waiting for me to hold my arms.

We have no baseball today! This is the third baseball-free day we've had since April 23rd!!

I tried to sleep in and in a way succeeded; anything past 7am is sleeping in these days. However, I didn't sleep well. A siren woke me deep sleep around 3:45am and it took a very long time to get back to sleep. How much traffic would be on the road at that time of the morning? Was a long, loud siren really necessary?

Today has been uneventful. The kids did only as much housework and yard work as was minimally required. The last load of laundry is in the wash. I took a trip to Wal-Mart to find a new pair of shoes for work. I am hoping that new shoes might help the ankle problem; at this point I am willing to do almost anything. I bought an elastic kind of support last week which I wear while working and occasionally at home, but I'm not sure that it has made much of a difference. The boys were asked to go golfing with one of Casey's team-mates. I'm sure that Sam was thrilled at the opportunity to do some golfing as it has been a while since he last went. Casey hasn't actually golfed before, so this will be a new adventure for him. He enjoyed his lessons and time spent at the driving range, but an actual round of golf is quite different. Abby is currently on a walk with Grandma. Kane has taken a load of yard waste to the dump. I am at home.

Tonight, Kane and I are going out, although I would hardly call it a "fun" evening by my standards. Our baseball association is having a Pub Night fundraiser. While Kane enjoys a beer now and then, I hate the taste of beer, really don't like the taste of wine, and might have a cooler once or twice a year. This isn't really our scene. I'm hoping that the food will be good; the choices didn't thrill me.

Tomorrow, we have two ball practices. One for Casey and one for Abby. I am off on Monday which will be nice. Someone is coming to test our water quality Monday morning. We have been having water issues since last Monday. There is a strong chlorine smell and taste to our water which we haven't had before. When I called about it, the receptionist tried to tell me that the levels were normal and well within acceptable limits and some people are just highly sensitive to the smell of chlorine. All well and good but we have never had this problem before and we always drink our tap water. Taking a sip of water that tastes like it came from a pool is rather disgusting.

Last week, I bought two 10" planters filled with flowers/plants. They look lovely and the price was right. I just hope that I can keep them alive through the summer. My thumb is notoriously black and all my gardening good intentions wither under the summer sun.

Kane brought me roses last week! They were lovely then, not so lovely now. There were red ones, yellow ones, white ones, a lilacy coloured one, a couple of coral coloured, and some two-toned red ones. I love roses.

Just over two weeks until Casey heads to Vancouver and Victoria with the rest of the grade 6 students from his school. When this trip was first mentioned back in September, Casey was adamant about NOT going. Even just a couple of months ago, he would get quite angry and upset every time we mentioned the trip. He did not want to go! Now, he seems to be looking forward to it. I know that he'll have a good time. He's only ever a monster for us, never for anyone else.

I guess I have a lot to catch up on but lack the time and motivation to take it all from thought to cohesive sentences...soon. In the meantime, I've been collecting a bunch of quotes and will share...


To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world.
- Anon.


"In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer."
- Albert Camus


"Nothing is so strong as gentleness and nothing is so gentle as real strength."
- Ralph W. Sockman


"The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave."
- James A. LaFond-Lewis, November 11, 1999


"A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort."
- Sydney Smith


Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy if anything can.
- Thomas Merton


"We are all cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out."
- Ray Bradbury


Feeling without judgement is a washy draught indeed; but judgement untempered by feeling is too bitter and husky a morsel for human deglutition.
- Charlotte Bronte, "Jane Eyre"


Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results.
- Anon.


You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor
without having victims.
-- Harriet Woods (1927-) American Politician


When you come to the end of all the light you know, and it's time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: Either you will be given something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly.
- Edward Teller

Mother's Day Weekend

It has been busy the past few days and it is becoming increasingly difficult to crawl out of bed each morning...for all of us! I am off work today, tomorrow and Thursday! It is a weird schedule for me, but I'll gladly take it.

Over the weekend, we had two baseball tournaments: one for Casey and one for Abby. On Saturday, I was at the ball park with Abby by 7:30am. Except for about 45 minutes, I wasn't home again until nearly 8:00pm! I watched Abby's game in the morning followed by Sam's practice. After the practice, we hurried from Rutland to the Kelowna ball park close to our home for Casey's first tournament game. After that game, we were able to "rest" for a brief time at home before splitting up to head to two different ball parks for games.

Sunday was a little easier. We didn't have to rush out the door quite so early, so I was treated to breakfast in bed for Mother's Day. Though I do have to wonder if that would have happened had I not purchased the necessary supplies late the night before as we had one of Casey's teammates sleeping over. I doubt it. That was the extent of my Mother's Day. The boys had to be coerced into even saying the words to me. We watched Abby's final tournament game, came home for lunch and went to Casey's semi-final game. If we lost we were finished, if we won we went to the final. It was a close game, but we lost 7-5. By that time it was supper, but Kane, Abby, Casey and the teammate wanted to stay to watch the final game. Sam and I came home. Kane picked up McDonald's and dropped some off for Sam and I before heading back to the ball park. Happy Mother's Day to me!

It has been eight years of having baseball on Mother's Day, and it isn't just one game but tournaments! This might be the last year. Abby will move up to Mosquito next year, and their tournament is the May long weekend. We'll have moved beyond the mini-tad/tadpole Mother's Day and Father's Day tournaments. I am soooo glad. I need these three days off just to recover.

PeeWee 'A' Tournament

Casey pitching.

Mighty Casey at the bat, realizing that he swung at a bad pitch.

MVP in our semi-final loss to Vernon.

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Tadpole Tournament

Abby running the bases during the Skills Competition. Her team won the base-running event!

Scoring a run during a game.

Miss Most Sportsmanlike

Goofing off in the dugout.

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Random Photos

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:o(

I'm home on a day off work just kind of moping. I attacked the house with a vengeance first thing this morning, because things will be crazy once the kids are done school and I wanted to run to the doctor.

So, I went to the doctor to follow up on the x-ray of my ankle that was taken a few weeks ago...my ankle has continued to be sore and painful. I waited close to half an hour in the waiting room before being shown into an exam room. Once there, I waited about one minute before the doctor came in. He began by telling me that my ankle wasn't broken (which I didn't think it was!) and that I should know that it can take up to six weeks for a sprain to heal (thanks for making me feel stupid!). I replied that I've been having this pain for six MONTHS to which he expressed a small sound of surprise but didn't waiver from his position that it was simply sprained. Then I was shuffled out the door...it had only been a minute, if that! I walked out feeling so stupid and frustrated and I still feel that way even as I am hobbling painfully around the house. I didn't sprain my ankle six weeks ago or six months ago. I know what it feels like to sprain an ankle; I've done it many times as a youth, but I have not sprained it since I've been married. I feel dismissed. I feel as if the doctor views me as a hypochondriac who has nothing better to do than waste his time. So not me! I hate going to the doctor. I will delay going to the doctor simply because I don't feel as if my problem is serious enough. So, if I do go to the doctor, it is because I am in real pain or really sick! I didn't even go to the doctor about my ankle for several months for that very reason. I kept hoping that it would just go away on its' own, but it didn't and six months seems like an excessively long time to be having pain in one's ankle from a sprain (especially when there is no recollection of such sprain ever happening!).

It is amazing how that sixty second exam managed to snuff the joy out of me. My ankle has been especially painful for the past four or five days. A couple nights ago after Sam's ball game, I was walking from the diamond to our van, less than a 100 yards. The pain increased with every step until I was limping so badly. I'm sure that anyone watching was wondering what on earth I was doing as I had been walking just fine before the game ended, but that's just the way this pain has been. My ankle has felt continuously "off" but the pain varies in intensity and in how it affects my ability to walk. Sometimes I walk normally while other times I can barely walk and worry that my ankle won't hold my weight. Right now, it is killing me and I'm just sitting. So, I'm slipping into a funk because the doctor just brushed it off and he wasted my time as much as I "wasted" his. And just how long do I need to suffer before this "sprain" finally heals? And when did I sprain my ankle? It must have been when I was sleeping, because I think I would have noticed if I was awake. But that's just my opinion...and I don't have years of medical school to give me medical wisdom.