My Big Fat Family Reunion

It's that time of year again.....for the great big family reunion weekend. I cannot believe how fast the summer is passing. Well...I guess I can, since it always seems to fly by. Wonder why that is? Why does summer fly by and Winter drag on? Could it be that one lasts for two months and the other lasts for six? .....Yep, that's it. Anyway, last night we took our trailer over and set it up. Mom and Sherry did too. We're in a different place in the field this year, but I think it will be a nice change. The weather right now is calling for some rain, so I think it's good that we all have awnings, thinking they might come in handy.

It was very bizarre to be standing back in that field last night, feeding the horses. I kept staring over at Grammy's & Granddad's house, memories flooding my mind. Only now the memories are different. They are of last year, when all hell broke loose and we suddenly found ourselves living there. What a roller coaster ride last year was for my family. Sometimes it still takes me a few minutes to process it all. I am sure I will have my moments this weekend, when I will be thankful that I am wearing sunglasses. Only I won't be crying for the reasons you think, not out of sorrow or pity, etc.. Instead all tears will come from grace, from gratitude. Living there in that house helped me. It comforted me when I so needed comfort. There were times when I never wanted to move - ever. Not even into my brand new home, which was slowly making it's way to us. I would sit in Grammy's rocking chair and read by her lamp. I loved feeling the warmth of the fire that came from the stove in the kitchen. I grew accustomed to seeing the horses everyday, enjoyed the fact that they were getting to know me and I them. They were definitely part of the healing process. And perhaps one of the best things to come out of all this, is our relationship with my aunt & uncle. We've made friends in them. We visit them now and sit and have tea and talk for hours. I will always cherish those months when we were neighbors.

Now I must go and start doing the things that must be done before we leave tomorrow, laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc... Procrastination is a horrible thing that I do much too often.

Reunited...And It Feels So Good

Friday morning, before we left to go camping, a package finally came in the mail from Utah.

And then we had ourselves one happy camper. :)

Stainy Weather

This weather is getting ridiculous. Seriously. It is getting harder and harder not to complain about it ALL the time....and I like rain usually. But come on! Since Summer vacation officially started I don't think we've had one full day of sun. I'm wearing my knitted slippers and cardigan sweaters and it's not even Fall yet, it's barely mid July. I think I can even blame it for forming my recent tea drinking habit. I guess if one had to choose a Summer to have such sucky weather, it should be the one with no vacation plans. There's nothing like forking over money, waiting for months and then having it rain your entire trip. The only excursions we have planned are camping ones, that does not involve investing too much money.

We DO have plans though. Plans that involve bulldozing, topsoil, grass seed, cement tiles, building flower beds, etc... And this rain just isn't helping. Especially to someone who has no patience for waiting, such as myself. For days I waited to stain the porch. The label on the can reads "Do not use if rain is expected in the next 24 hours".

Gee.

Nice.

At this rate I could have been waiting for months.

Nope.

Couldn't do it.

I threw caution to the wind and stained anyway.



And it rained.


Damn.

No harm, no foul. The front steps just need a second coat now. :)

I've continued to stain now for days, weeks even. Any spare moment that I have when the sky does not look like it is about to fall, I've spent staining. I enjoy it. It's therapeutic somehow. It brings me joy. I've stained the railing of the porch white (2 coats), the kids play house white (2 coats), the back step railing white(2 coats) and the porch floor, steps and outer face a wood stain. I've also painted the kids playhouse door, and my rocking chair and table on the porch, a happy shade of yellow. Plus I put one coat of stain on an Adirondack chair.

I've been accused of being a little obsessed.

I still want to stain the floor and stairs of the back step, put one more coat of white on the kids playhouse and stain the floor of it's tiny porch, plus stain both of my Adirondack chairs. I'm also toying with the idea of staining my basement stairs the same as the porch floor.

They are supposed to come today(or yesterday) to bulldoze and bring topsoil. Then the real fun will begin. Kents is delivering my cement tiles for my walk and hemlock ties for my flowerbed tomorrow. That reminds me.....those wooden ties will require stain too. :)


Number of days cloud free - 0
Number of times I said the word "stain" - 12
Feeling I get while working outside - Priceless

Summer Sequel

As I've mentioned before, we are planning on putting Jason's old car in the Canada Day Parade. Yesterday morning, I had a genius idea. Since we're going to be driving through the community very slowly while everyone looks on....what better opportunity to thank said community for their support? Kinda make it into a Team Keenan float, if you will.

I bought some white Bristol board to make signs. Haven't quite decided how to word it yet, but it will be something along the lines of "Team Keenan thanks you for supporting us in the Walk for the Cure". We're all going to wear our JDRF t-shirts and we've already purchased a flag kit for the car. I also bought some sticky-back magnet strips for attaching the signs to the car, so as not to hurt the paint. Very important you know. :)

I told the kids and Jules got very excited. All of this has been very beneficial to her, I think. The story in the paper, the support at the yard sale, participating in the Walk.....it has shown her that people out there really do care. I've never been one to enjoy the limelight...or the spot light...or anything that would draw attention to myself. LOL. But all of that goes out the window when it comes to this. I would never want my little hang ups get in the way. I guess that's just one of the many blessings that has come out of all this....helping me to let go of some of my issues.

Good news! Samuel has decided to join us after all. Of course, only after we promised him candy. LOL. It's all about the food for him, you know. We're still planning on going camping Friday and Saturday night. So far the weather is looking alright. I hope it holds out.

Yesterday Jason and I had the rare opportunity of being in town without the kids. So we grabbed some Dixie Lee Chicken(hadn't eaten there in ages!) and headed over to the Richie Wharf and ate it outside by the water. Lovely! Sitting there under the pagoda(as God is my witness I WILL have one someday!) with the breeze blowing, I was reminded of the island. Oh, how I want to go back there someday! It felt so like Summer. I commented to Jason that it felt like July. You know how July has a feeling? And then, of course, I was reminded of last July.

The last time we were at the Richie Wharf was two days before Jules' diagnosis. Jason's brother was home visiting from Ontario. We had just received our official floor plan of our new house. Life was grand. My stomach turned a little. It's like my reflex is to start mourning all over again. And then I have to remind myself that she's ok. Abby's ok. We're ok. All of this happens in my mind, in the time span of 3 seconds. Then more enjoying the sun, and the breeze and quality time with my husband. Then I spot a tour boat sailing into view. I'm reminded again of that fateful day when Jason's parents and brother and his family took a tour of the river while we waited for them to return. Stomach turns......mourning......we're ok.

I think this will happen a lot to me, and with greater frequency, until the anniversary comes and goes. Last Summer seemed like it was stolen from us. It's like Christmas. You look so forward to it, counting down the days til it's arrival and then it finally comes......and it sucks! You're shocked. You want a do-over. You can't believe you have to wait a whole year til it comes again. This Summer is like our "do-over". We've gone through the ups of downs, trials and tribulations of a whole year with Diabetes, and now we've been rewarded with Summer's arrival. And we're fine. No, better than fine. We're strong.

And life is grand.

Night Shift

One of the only benefits to Jason working nights this week is that I will not have to get up at 3am to check the girls' sugars. I've had to get up Sunday thru Saturday. I getting a wee bit played out. Last night I didn't get up until well after 4am, and then it seems so hard to get back to sleep again. The joys of diabetes.

Another plus to the night shift is that it gives Jason a four day weekend. Woo-hoo! He'll sleep in Friday until 11am or so and then he's not required to work until Tuesday morning. We were thinking of going camping but are torn, considering all the Canada day festivities. We could leave at dinner time on Friday, and come home early Sunday morning, so that we wouldn't miss the parade and annual party at my Aunt's house. But this would mean we would miss the fireworks on Saturday night. Hmmm. We're supposed to gather at Kel's house for the Rock n' Roll fireworks the next week. So maybe the kids wouldn't mind. I guess it will all depend on the weather.

We're planning on being in the parade this year, with all of us in Jason's old car. I figure we might as well, considering we found ourselves in the parade last year. LOL(see archives). Samuel is not at all interested in participating. He would much rather be catching candy then throwing it. Go figure.

The whole family spent the day in town yesterday. Had a detour with Jules at the hospital. Nothing serious, she's fine. I bought Dad his late Father's Day gift, and got myself an Adirondack chair. It's wooden, unstained and lovely! I plan to stain it yellow, so it will stand out on my porch. I still need to finish staining the porch itself but the rain won't let up. I hope to have the white part all done by Canada day.

We ran into a couple we know in Walmart. They pulled us aside to ask us questions about our new house; if we liked it, etc... They also said they had heard how beautiful our house was inside. Wow! It was so bizarre to be on the other end of that conversation. Don't know if I'll ever get used to it.

Schools Out For Summer....Well Almost

Today is the last day that Abby and I will be waiting and watching for the kids to come home from school and get off the bus. Yes there is still school tomorrow, but Abby has a full day of preschool while Jules and Samuel only have a half day. So this is it. Next year it will be just me waiting for the three of them to come home. Very weird and somewhat sad. I'd like to think that I'm not as neurotic as I was when Jules and Samuel started kindergarten....but only Summer will tell. It's hard not to get sad when you know how fast they are growing up.

I am really looking forward to Summer this year, perhaps more than I ever have. Which is strange, considering this is the first year in a long time that Jason has no vacation and we have no plans to travel anywhere. No PEI. No Fundy. We'll be very lucky if we go camping in Moncton. Even luckier to go camping more than twice. Money is beyond tight right now. But still the excitement contentment for Summer is there.

As anyone who has not been living under a rock already knows, we had a hard Summer last year. Very hard. And it had nothing to do with the fact that we weren't going anywhere on vacation. This year the expectations are not as high as previous years. While other Summers were filled with planning trips and scheduled fun family time, this year the only expectation or hope can be described in one word. Calm.

This year I will drink in every minute of this Summer and be grateful for the calmness. The lack of excitement. We had enough excitement last year, thank you.

You Are My Sunshine....

Yesterday the weather was beautiful. It's about time! Abby and I sat out on the porch to watch the kids get on the bus and even that early in the morning, there was no chill in the air. Love it!

We put the tent trailer up, which is always exciting. But this year it was a bit more emotional. The last time it had been up was when Abby got diagnosed. We had been camping in Daigle and had to pack up quickly to get to the hospital. I'm usually really good with having it all clean and ready to set for the winter, but under the circumstances, I never got around to it. So when we walked into it, I was sad to see the condition it was in. Needless to say I have my work cut out for me. I think once I have it all clean, then I will be ok. It's so silly, but just knowing where that dirt came from bothers me. I'm suddenly taken back to that day. It is August 12th. Jason is gone to find a local drugstore to buy urine strips. We know we have to dip Abby's urine to see if there is any sugar in it. It is a gorgeous sunny morning. I sit on the picnic table and take pictures of the kids playing in the playground. I know. I don't want it to be true, but inside I know it is. I stare at Abby as she smiles at me and laughs. She has no idea.

Yes. I need to clean the trailer out. To wash away the past and start fresh. It will be a good summer this year. Full of camping trips and swimming pools and sunny days. Maybe we'll even make it to Fundy. I had all intention of cleaning it out today, since it is supposed to be nice again. But I just got called to go into work. So now it will be my project for the weekend, I guess.

Oh Happy Day!

Something wonderful has happened. I've been meaning to blog about it but I've been too busy and quite frankly, too happy to take the time to write a post about it.

Jason got a job!

Today was his first day working in the Doaktown mill.

Woo-hoo!

He had responded to their want ad a month or so ago. Since then he has gone for testing, an interview and a pre-employment medical. And then Thursday, the very day that our medical benefits ran out, they called to ask him to start on Monday morning. Thank you God!

So in three months we should have medical benefits again. Plus they don't usually run their mill on the weekends, so that means Jason should have every weekend off! I think they usually work a week of days and a week of nights. Monday-Friday and Sunday night-Thursday night. But I think their night shift actually ends at something like 3am, so it's not even a full night. So in the summer when we want to go camping, we could still go if Jason was working nights. In fact it might even be better, because we could leave so much earlier on Friday. I think they even close for holidays, I'm not sure. If they did, they would be amazing! I definitely know they close down for Christmas. That was always a concern at Weyerhaeuser, the whole working Christmas thing. Jason had to do that one year and it really sucked.

This whole Monday to Friday mentality is new to us. He always worked 4 on/4off. We were lucky enough that he didn't have to work nights, just the odd time covering for someone. It was nice having him off some days during the week, for doctors appointments, etc... But it was also sucky that sometimes when everyone else was off (ie/ long weekends, holidays, etc.) that he had to go to work. I'm excited that now our whole family will be on the same schedule, since the kids are in school and when I work it's at the school. Weekends will mean so much more to us now.

Right now his job is on a "call-in" basis. But they told him that everyone else who is on call-in is working full time hours. So I pray that he can work full-time too. He is keeping his EI claim open just in case. That way if he only gets two days work one week, he may be able to get EI to cover the other three days.

I hope he is having a good first day. I know it is silly, but I miss him. He's been home since the middle of February, so we got used to having him here with us everyday.