Month: May 2012

Two Weeks!

I took my sewing machine to the fix-it shop today.  There have been a few little things that needed some attention since my Christmas sewing rush, but with some problem solving there are ways around a gimpy machine.  Then the hand wheel stopped moving the needle up and down; quite inconvenient but again I found a way around it.  I was sewing a backpack for “Mr T.’s” 2nd birthday when I got the needle jammed in several layers of blue jean and I couldn’t use the hand wheel to  raise the needle.  I had to take my machine apart to turn the belt by hand.  Needless to say I had to part with my machine.  When I dropped off my machine the repair man asked me if I could live without my machine for 2 weeks…TWO WEEKS!!!!  I guess I have to I said.  If only there weren’t so many things that I wanted to sew.

A Case of First Impressions

L had his first playdate at a school friend’s house yesterday.  He had a fabulous time and didn’t want to come home after.  This morning when I dropped L off at school that same friend came and gave him an enormous hug.  L with a big smile on his face hugged him back.  You wouldn’t believe it now, but that same boy was in L’s opinion the school bully at the beginning of the year.  L spent his first 6 months of school purposefully playing anywhere where that boy was not.  Turns out this boy is not mean spirited just enthusiastic.

Spring in Manitoba

The pictures don’t compare to spring in Massachusetts.  If fact my garden isn’t even glamorous for Manitoba, but it is my own little piece of green space.

However I have a rhubarb plant here in Manitoba.  In Massachusetts I had to pay $5.99/lb for those rhubarb stalks and I sometimes did.  Five days with rhubarb four different ways, that’s good.  Thanks to the Friesen clan for indulging me on one of those days.

We have been enjoying our backyard before the mosquitoes enjoy us.  Some days it has been a bit cool eating outside, but the deck is a nice extension of our house.

Our Wine Cellar

With my second batch of wine currently “in production,” the need for a place to store it (and the wine from my first batch) was becoming apparent.  There’s this thing about wine.  You need to keep it around for a while before it becomes all it can be.  We’ve been sampling the wine I made in January about every two or three weeks and we can tell how the taste is slowly changing (for the better).  It’s hard to stay patient.  Anyway, with all this wine around, we were needing a place to store it.  Yesterday, I went to the hardware store bought some materials and made some crude shelving.  I guess we now have a wine cellar in our basement.

ChChChChanges


I worked a day shift on Friday, which hadn’t happened since February.  Even then my day shifts had only been one Sunday out of 6 if that all winter long.  So Lowell had the kids for a whole weekday; he had the great idea of getting the bunk bed ready for L to sleep on top.  Which meant taking half the bed apart so that he could attach the ladder and railing.  Once L got over his initial fear of being so high he was thrilled with his new bed, K was feeling the short end of the stick so Saturday we went mattress shopping.  L got a new mattress which was also an upgrade in quality and K gets to sleep in a big girl bed.

Saturday night was a late night so when I carried her to her bed half asleep she did ask to sleep in her crib, but she so quickly fell asleep again that there were no more complaints.  I don’t think that she has figured out that she can get out of bed when she has been sleeping.  She crawls in and out all the time during the day, but she hasn’t yet gotten out of bed by herself in the morning.

Now we need to dismantle the crib and then maybe do a little rearranging.  This picture makes it look like the kids can’t sit up on the top bunk, they can, they are just being silly.  Although L has bumped his head a few times trying to get dressed in his bed.

Easter

Easter was a few weeks ago, but it’s maybe never too late to post some pictures.
The lead up to Easter is always a bit crazy.  Easter always falls at the end of the semester, so if you are involved with a church choir like I’ve often been, the many Holy Week services and the intense rehearsal period leading up to Holy Week always happen right during the most busy time of the entire academic year.  This year was no different and, in addition to the usual choir rehearsals, I decided to work my voice back into shape and sing an aria from Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion for the Good Friday  service.  The work of preparing for Holy Week is usually worth it, but there are many times in the weeks leading up to it that one feels somewhat overwhelmed.
There are grandchildren on both sides of the family now, so Easter usually involves egg hunts.  It was a particularly uncomfortable day at Grandpa and Grandma F’s this year, but the kids seemed rather oblivious to the howling wind.
Aunt I brought a colleague with her again this year.  This one hailed from Deutschland.  While in Manitoba, he was exposed to the wonderful game of “Knipsbrat” and offered some drum lessons (on Aunt K’s new drum) to L and his older cousins.