I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. Being a list maker at heart, I used to make a list of things that I hoped to accomplish in each new year but I made the mistake of making these lists too long, biting off more than I could possibly hope to chew. As a result, I’d near the end of each year under a cloud of discouragement. The easy answer was to quit making these lists. No more self imposed guilt!

Though I no longer write my onerous annual lists, I believe that having life goals is a good thing. Faith Keith, a fitness competitor whose blog I recently began reading, posted a simple but wonderful list. I hope she doesn’t mind if I adapt it slightly and adopt it as my own. As the future unfolds, I would like

Twas the day before New Year’s and all through the house not a creature was stirring…

The last of our kids and grandkids left yesterday and the house seems very quiet this morning! It also seems a lot bigger than it did for the past week when our numbers swelled from two to ten. The playpen, the crib mattress and the baby gate have been put away and there’s no longer a basket of toys in the livingroom. The childproof latches are gone from the cupboards and there are no booster seats at the table. The refrigerator, which was bursting at the seams a few days ago, has space to spare and the washer and dryer have been working overtime taking care of all the additional bedding and towels. Gram and Grandpa are relaxing and revelling in Christmas memories.

I read a hilarious post earlier this week by a blogger who referred to what she called Unrealistic Holiday Expectations Syndrome (UHES). According to her post holiday quiz, ours was a definite success. Like any family get together, there were a few glitches, of course. I’m not sure how a suitcase can get lost on a direct flight from Vancouver to Edmonton but one of Matt and Robin’s did and wasn’t delivered until the following afternoon. Of greater concern was the fact that 2 year old, Drew, arrived from Calgary with croup and his 15 month old cousin, Sam, took it home to Vancouver with him. Not much fun for the little guys and definitely worrisome for the mommies and daddies.

Other than that, the week went well. I planned a menu in advance and made sure I had all the ingredients on hand so cooking for the crowd was easy. Matt and Robin took over the kitchen a couple of times making us yummy cinnamon buns for Christmas breakfast and a tasty Thai meal a few days later. Melaina and I had both done lots of baking so there was no shortage of goodies.

Drew on Christmas morn

La De Da, Clippity Clop

Once again, we were thoroughly spoiled with bulging stockings and loads of gifts under the tree on Christmas morning. Though Drew was feeling pretty rough that day, he loved his Lightning McQueen pyjamas, robe and slippers. Buzz Lightyear pyjamas were also a big hit and I spotted him playing with his tiny John Deere tractor several times. Sam was pleased with the tractor and farm animals that we gave him but his favourite gifts were quite obviously his very own umbrella and his broom! We had great fun watching 8 month old Jami-Lee enjoy her little rocking horse and I’m sure that its La De Da, Clippity Clop tune will be running through our heads for a long time!

Sam never has to bundle up like this in Vancouver!

Even the weather cooperated giving us a few warmer than average days so that we were able to get the little guys outside for a bit of fun in the snow. Nathan spent several hours out on the golf course breaking cross country ski trails. I really should have gone with him but I didn’t manage to tear myself away from the grandchildren! Now that life has quietened down, I’ll put the trails to good use though.

For the most part, we’re a game playing family. Many hours were spent gathered around the kitchen table playing Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, Apples to Apples and Ticket to Ride while the children were napping or after they went to bed at night.

Yes, all in all, it was a wonderful Christmas!

There’s that word again. Hope! It seems to keep cropping up these days. To see what I mean you’ll have to check the link.

Our alarm rang at 6:00 this morning and an hour later we were on the road to Edmonton with about a dozen others from our church. We were bound for Hope Mission where we prepared and served brunch to almost 300 of the city’s impoverished and homeless people.

In 1929, a young pastor with a heart for people struggling with life on the street at the onset of the Depression opened a soup kitchen. With the support of his wife and a concerned community, a simple meal was served to hundreds of people each day. Since that time the services provided by Hope Mission, a non profit Christian care agency, have grown to include basic and emergency care; shelter beds; counselling and referral services for men, women and youth; after school hot meal and recreation programs for children; summer camps for inner city children and youth; and faith based addiction treatment programs in addition to the hearty meals that are served three times a day during the week and twice a day on Saturdays and Sundays.

Under the capable direction of a cook who has been employed by the Mission for 18 years, we worked side by side with several men from the addiction recovery program to prepare a hearty meal of eggs, sausages, hash browns, toast, porridge and coffee. Muffins and fresh fruit were also available to anyone who wanted them.

I was amazed at how quickly and efficiently we were able to prepare such a large volume of food. We arrived at 10:00 a.m. and within minutes we’d all been given tasks to do. After helping load hundreds of eggs into large metal bins that fit into a big steamer, I helped fill tiny plastic serving containers with margarine. The doors opened at 11:00 and for the next hour, I loaded hash browns onto serving trays as the hungry men and a few women filed by to pick up their hot food. There was a steady flow of people but as we passed the trays down our line and loaded them with food, we had a few moments to offer each person a smile or a quick greeting. Some were quiet but many greeted us and thanked us graciously. A few joked with us or wished us a Merry Christmas. The doors closed at noon and when everyone had had time to eat, they were sent back into the cold and clean up began. Again, this was accomplished quickly and efficiently. In no time, we were sitting down with the fellows we’d cooked the meal with to enjoy some of the leftovers. We’d been so busy that we really hadn’t had time to realize that we’d worked up an appetite!

With Christmas just around the corner, we’ve been reminded once again how very fortunate we are to have a warm home and more than enough to eat.

“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Jesus     Matthew 25:40

I don’t even remember getting my first pair of glasses as I was only two! I do remember that they were red. I must have been a gentle child as they lasted for several years. Obviously, I wasn’t perfect though. I do remember them going to work with my Dad a couple of times and coming home magically repaired. Eventually I outgrew them and had to get larger frames. The next couple of pairs didn’t fare as well. My baby brother pulled one pair off my face and rolled over on them and I ran over the next pair with the runner of a bob sleigh! How glad I am that none of my children had to wear glasses!

It’s amazing how eyeglass fashions have changed over the years. Believe it or not, I thought this pair was absolutely beautiful! As soon as I saw them, I just had to have them but they were quite expensive. My mother tried to talk me into settling for something a little less pricey but when she saw how badly I wanted them, she gave in. I remember them as a gift of love from a mother who recognized how important it was for her self conscious daughter to feel good about how she looked.

I was fortunate in my later teen years to be able to go without glasses for awhile. I used daily eye drops instead but this was an experimental drug and when studies began to show that prolonged use caused cysts, it was discontinued. How disappointing! It did get me through those vulnerable high school years though and I was fortunate not to suffer any negative side effects.

Later, I wore contacts for many years. Eventually bifocals were recommended but I was able to delay them for a period of time by wearing non prescription reading glasses over the contacts when I needed them! The day came, however, when one of my contacts was literally blown out of my eye and lost during a vicious snowstorm. I accepted the fact that the time had come to make the switch back to glasses. That’s when I got my first progressive lenses.

Over the years, I’ve had some truly ugly glasses. How could anyone ever have thought that these ones were attractive? Of course, it was the early 80s and in those days, all the stylish eyeglass wearers were bug eyed!

I hate buying new frames. Without corrective lenses, I can’t see well enough to know what the various options look like on me. For years, I’ve tried to choose glasses that didn’t stand out; ones that blended in with my natural colouring. For awhile that was easy as wire frames and gold tones were in fashion. Not anymore! Today’s trendy frames are bold, dark colours and meant to be noticed. I’ve been wearing a brand new pair for the past couple of days and I’m still surprised when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I’m really not sure if I like what I see. I’m afraid that they make me look older and grouchier but maybe that’s because I can see the wrinkles and frown lines more clearly through them!

Here’s the old look and the new. Be honest; what do you think?

I guess, in the long run, the main thing is that I can see, not what I look like!

97.11 miles

My blog will be three years old tomorrow so I decided that it’s time to give it a new look! WordPress offers over 100 different themes. I previewed lots of them before finally settling on this one. I love the colour, it has all the features I was looking for and the print is easy to read. Please let me know what you think.

I originally started the blog as a means of sharing our year in Japan with friends and family back home hence the Bible verse at the top and the header, a photo taken while touring the Imperial Palace gardens in Kyoto during our first visit to Japan in 2005. I didn’t actually plan to keep the blog going after our year was up but I’ve always loved writing and I enjoyed blogging so much that I decided to continue. The things I write about are a bit more random these days but there will lots more overseas content in the coming year. We’ll be spending the month of February back in Japan and then June/July as short term missionaries on the island of Saipan! Hope you’ll follow along!

86.98 miles

It’s that time of year again. Santa’s making his list and checking it twice. I’m a list maker too. In fact, my friends tease me about all my lists but I don’t think I could live without them! I’ve always enjoyed being super organized and it’s the lists that help keep me that way.

In my kitchen alone, there’s my daily to do list which I refer to many times throughout the day, a general list of things I need to do over the next little while, and a grocery list. There are lists in the living room too; the BBC Top 100 Book List (I’ve checked off 26 of them), a list of books to look for at the library, and a list of the contestants in my favourite TV show, Amazing Race, so that I can keep track of who’s eliminated each week. In my purse I carry a little notebook that’s chock full of lists. There’s a shopping list for my next trip to Camrose or Edmonton and a separate grocery list for items that I can’t get in our local Coop. Then there are the Christmas lists; lists of all the people I need to buy gifts for and ideas for each of them, a separate list of those I need to buy stocking stuffers for, and a list of suggested items to include in the shoebox that I send to our sponsored child in Haiti. Those lists are in my purse year round in hopes that I might actually shop for gifts throughout the year.

I love crossing things off my lists. It gives me such a feeling of accomplishment. There are some activities that appear on my to do list every day just so I can cross them off! I doubt I’d forget to make the bed or check my email but if they’re on the list, I can cross them off when they’re done. I’ve even been known to add something that I’ve already done to the list just so I can cross it off! I know, that’s a little over the top, maybe even a little bit crazy but hey, it makes me happy!

With Christmas only a month away, I’ve just printed off my Christmas to do list and posted it on the front of the fridge. Like Santa, I’ve got lots of getting ready to do. After all, all the kids and grandkids will be home this year so I don’t want to forget anything!

81.32 miles

What would it be like to wake up and find an RCMP officer standing in your bedroom in the middle of the night? Apparently, according to my father, it wasn’t as disconcerting as I would have thought.

Yesterday was my parents’ 62nd wedding anniversary. Early in the evening, I phoned to extend our congratulations. When no one answered, I was delighted. Mom rarely leaves the apartment and I thought that Dad must have convinced her to go out for a celebratory dinner. As the evening wore on, however, and call after call went unanswered, delight turned to concern. When you live a province away, you can’t simply jump in the car and truck on over to make sure that everything’s okay. What can you do in a situation like this? What should you do? I’d never really thought about it before.

I tried calling my sister and brother, who also live in Alberta, to see if either of them had talked to Mom and Dad but neither had. Now I had them worried too! The only place we could think of that Mom might have agreed to go for a full evening was the home that our older brother shares with two other disabled gentlemen so I phoned there. Now I had the caregiver who has known our family for many, many years worrying too! Unable to leave the men in her care to set off across the city and check on Mom and Dad, she urged me to check their local hospital and to phone the police if I had to. Don’t be afraid to create a scene, she told me.

Not wanting to overreact and realizing that their phone might be out of order, I tried to contact Telus to see if there was any way to find that out. Their automated speech recognition system which is annoying at the best of times was even more so as my frustration mounted. No, I didn’t want to check my account balance or make a payment. I wanted to know if my parents were okay! After pushing numerous keys and trying out various verbal responses, I finally got a recording telling me that all offices were closed and that I should try calling back during business hours! I finally found a real person by calling directory assistance but he wasn’t able to help me either. I learned today when I did call the business office that privacy issues prevent the company from releasing any information about another customer’s phone line. It seems to me that they’re carrying privacy a little too far when lives could be at stake.

Directory assistance did give me the phone number for the Burnaby Hospital and the receptionist there was kind, efficient and very helpful. After a very quick check, she was able to assure me that neither parent had been admitted to the hospital or seen in emergency. I supposed that that was good news but it still didn’t tell me why no one was answering their phone.

The hour was getting late. I could have called our oldest son who lives about half an hour away but I realized that the entry intercom is tied into the phone line and without a fob and a key, he wouldn’t be able to get into the building or up to the 25th storey apartment.

That’s when I decided to phone the police. I really didn’t know what to expect but the receptionist assured me that my concern was valid and told me that she’d have an officer swing by the apartment then phone me to let me know what he found. Thus began the long wait. Finally, at 2:00 a.m. the phone rang and a very kind officer gave me the good news that I’d been praying for! Everything was okay! Everything except the phone, that is. It’s supposed to be fixed tomorrow.

Apparently, by the time the officer arrived at the apartment, Mom and Dad were sound asleep and didn’t hear him knocking. He had to get someone from building security to let him in. I’m sure he was as relieved as I was to find that the occupants were okay. As a family, we’re very impressed by the concern shown by the RCMP and their willingness to take our fears seriously.

Needless to say, it was an anniversary to remember! I wonder what they’ll do for their 63rd?

62.73 miles

Last Halloween I blogged about the ‘haunted house‘ across the street from us. One year later, there it sits a little worse for the weather but otherwise unchanged. I don’t like to be a complainer but I’m tired of looking at this eyesore day in, day out.

Back in early February, I wrote a letter to the town asking for “a reduction in our property taxes for the current year due to loss of property value resulting from the unsightly construction across the street from our home.” I quoted section 35.2 of Land Use Bylaw #461 which states that “The exterior finish of a building in all residential districts shall be completed by October 31st of the year following the year  in which the development permit is issued unless otherwise stipulated in the development permit.” In spite of the fact that the deadline had long since passed, I didn’t really expect our taxes to be lowered. I simply wanted to lodge a complaint in a way that might be paid attention to.

It took the town almost two months to respond and when they did we were told that “the detrimental appearance of a neighbouring property is classed as a non-permanent situation and cannot be taken into account for the calculation of the annual assessment value.” We were also assured that the town was working with the property owners and was confident that the problems would soon be resolved.

Five months passed and nothing changed. Then we received written notice from the town that the property owners had applied for a new building permit. Apparently adjacent property owners were being notified because the proposed construction would be built closer to the property line than is normally allowed. We were given 30 days to comment and responded by visiting the town office. We told them that we thought it was ludicrous for them to send out a notice that ignored the fact that the building in question was already half built but also assured them that we just wanted to see the house finished.

According to the new permit application, the proposed completion date was Dec. 31, 2010. We were hopeful, almost excited. Perhaps finally something was about to happen! That was early in September and other than a bit of leveling of the ground around the house, not one thing has changed! The wood continues to deteriorate and the pigeons that have been living in the house for well over a year continue to come and go.

I really don’t want to spend another year looking out on such an ugly view but what choice do I have? According to the bylaw, it would appear that they have until one year from today to finish the exterior!