Be Kind

 

"Be kind,

for everyone you meet

is fighting a hard battle."

Plato

Greek author and philosopher in Athens

427 BC - 347 BC

It's a Snow Day

 

Despite what many of you may think ...

Canada 

is NOT under a year-round

blanket of snow!

But today, my friends, my small corner of Canada is!

We have received about 3 - 4" of snow last night and today here in the Fraser Valley.

It's a good habit to leave the front gate ajar just in case

the snow accumulates enough and makes opening it an issue.

Looks like the grape vines took a beating today

 My family took four different vehicles in four different directions today to make it in to work.

Lucky me gets to stay safe at home.

The fields were pretty with untouched snow.

The dogs get spoiled on Snow Days as they are allowed to spend most of the day inside with us humans laying on the floor in front of the fireplace ... er ... the dogs lay in front of the fireplace ... not us!

Their favourite yellow ball will have to survive without them.

Lunch in Steveston

Oooops ... sorry.  

Major life happening lately and I haven't had a chance to post a ... well post.

Yesterday, Hubby and I actually had a snippet of time and headed out to Steveston for lunch.

Normally Steveston is known for its great fish and chips,

but being of that middle age group we try to avoid such

'messing with our arteries' kind of  food

... for the most part :o)

A few years back we found Cimona.

Good food, reasonable price, perfect!

 We climbed the icy exterior stairs

and found some yummy in our tummy.

 Then back home we went.

Short and yet so sweet to have those snippets of us time.

Persian Proverb

A drowning man is not troubled by rain.

Persian Proverb

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Storms of Life

Image: Mindy McGregor / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass ...

it's learning to dance in the rain

Laundry Room - Part 4

 

New base cabinet.  Ooooo so nice and clean.

 Upper cabinets in, and I am so anxious that I start to put in our office supplies before the doors

... yes we will have real doors ... get attached

 And what nice doors they are.

And across the room is another set of base and upper cabinets.

Hubby is putting in the last screws to help it hold together

Isn't it lovely?

Laundry Room - Part 3

 Dan the Man, (Dreamer's boyfriend) wanted in on the 'fun'

and starting cutting apart the counter tops, and ripping out the old.

Here he is pretending to help clean up the mess he made :o)

 Hubby is busy working on disconnecting the washer and the sink

And to think that I am not fretting in the least about these 'cuts' in my counter top

 

 Here comes another cut

Look at the saw dust ... a wonderful sign of progress!

 

New upper cabinets have already been installed.

Looking better all the time.

Two base cabinets have vanished from this side of the room

We wanted to keep the flooring as it is still in pretty good condition.

Because of this we had to keep the same cabinet layout.

The old cabinets have left the building.

Hubby packs away his tools for now, and I vacuum up the remains.

Laundry Room - Part 2

 First remove the cabinet doors ... no wait I haven't had them on for 15 years!

First remove all the junk worldly possessions from the cabinets.

 Then hubby begins to unscrew the base cabinet from the wall.

You know in these pictures the old stuff doesn't look too bad.

Ha I chuckle ... don't be fooled.  

 These 35 year old cupboards with their leafy countertops were crying to be replaced.

The person whom we purchased the house from some 15 years ago

obviously took advice from the selling realtor

and 'updated' the cabinets before putting the house on the market.

Nothing like a coat of white paint slapped on over

molded jam smears, strands of hair and untold grime to tidy the place up.

Believe me ... it was time for them to go.

 And away they went.

 Next the upper cabinets.

 Genius helped with the demolition.

One screw, two screw, three screw more ... and the cabinets came tumbling down!

Laundry Room - Part 1

Fifteen years ago we purchased our home.  It was a mess ... to say the very least. 

Since then we have done major renovations ...

so much so that the untrained eye is not aware that our home is 35 years old.

All new ... except ... I should add .... the laundry room

We reasoned years ago that we would get on to the laundry room renovation ...very soon.

Because of this fact wishful thinking we removed the cabinet doors.

This only added to the dust problem and the over all clutter, dump station problem.

If we needed to store it, IT went into the laundry room.  Ugh.

Ashanti Proverb

Rain beats a leopard's skin,

but it does not wash out the spots.

Ashanti Proverb

Image: Bernie Condon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Smile and Wave

Recently I attended a funeral of a man that I didn't know.

His name was Jakob.

He was born in the Ukraine in 1921 and he passed into glory via Abbotsford, British Columbia.

 

Image: federico stevanin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My dear friend, MaJa had the privilege of being his daughter-in-law.

I went to be there for her.

It was said that Jakob lead an amazing life.  Wounded in the war, captured while on his way to receive medical help, and as a prisoner was used by the Germans as an interpreter as Jakob was fluent in both German and Russian.

He outlived one wife, and was married to his second until his death.

The preacher commented on the fact that it was lucky for Jakob that God has promised us mansions in heaven as Jakob had so many children, grand-children and great-grand-children that will follow him there one day.

What a glorious thought

 At 89 years old, Jakob was fraile and laboured to breath during his last days here on earth.

We were told that just before he died, his countenance changed ... one said that he looked 20 years younger ... he then smiled, waved and was gone.

This account gives me goose pimples ...

he was smiling and waving not at those at his bedside,

but to those that came to greet him on the other side.

Image: Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

2 Corinthians 5:8

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body,

and to be present with the Lord

Fall Day in November

 The leaves are falling and many have been dried by the sun already.  Hubby used his fancy machine and blew them into what wildly resembles neat piles.  The piles go far in helping in the relative ease of picking them up ... one day.

 Here is a great shot of my lens cover ... and some leaves all in a row

 This tree was given to us a few years ago.  Not sure what kind of tree it is, but its bark peels away as it grows.  I rather like it.

 Another friend gave us these three maple trees years and years ago when they were just twigs.  I  L-O-V-E how they display this brilliant colour variation every year.

 Amongst the beauty always lurks some villainous bramble.  I'll have to remember to scale it back with shears before it takes over.

 Mattie, one of our dogs, must have dug under the fence in search of some furry creature living in the ditch.   I wonder if she was successful in her attempt in finding him.

And finally the first barrel of fallen leaves.  Lots of work, but the rewards are rich compost in the spring.

Storage Room - Untouched

Half a dozen times a day I enter our food 'storage room' and then it dawned on me ... I don't think that I have shown you around in there.  If I have, please forgive me.

 No, this is not the remains of our Y2K storage.  In fact I didn't really add much when the year 2000 was about to roll around.  I have always 'stocked' up.  I watch sales, use Costco, and well, it works for me to have food on hand.  You never know when a crowd it going to stay for a meal.

 I do can a bit ... that's Concord Grape Juice in the jars ... but don't have much time to do what I used to. I didn't take any pictures of my appliances ... they are white and large ... but I have a box freezer, upright freezer and second refrigerator in my storage room as well.

 As you see by the disarray of 'stuff', I didn't PLAN on showing you my storage room today.  No tidying up done here ... forgive the mess.

 These chrome shelves from Costco were a bit of an investment shock to purchase, but they are well worth their weight in gold.  Great looking, on lockable wheels, and easy to clean.

 Canned  goods are purchased generally in bulk.  I love the boxes that some items come in.  The cans roll down as the supply is depleted.

 I arrange my cereal boxes in order of purchase.  My family has long been trained to 'take from the left' ... like reading a book ... and NOT to take out of order to get at their favourite type.

 I use ice cream buckets from a local dairy to store  some items ... hair cutting supplies, clothes pins etc ... and save yogurt containers for a variety of uses.

Ice cream buckets line up on a shelf for easy display of lunch add-ons.  Notice the Halloween candy purchased November 1st at half price ... SCORE.

My new enameled Kitchen Aid cast iron casserole.  Also microwave popcorn packets fit nicely in dollar store plastic bins.

Costo spices lined in a row.

Small Rubbermaid totes store the kids toys.  Although not played with now ... my youngest is 19 for crying out loud ... one day I WILL have grand kids!

And finally, one of the most important tips that I can give.  Invest in a Shapie felt pen and label each can, box or bag that crosses your food storage room threshold.  Many items don't have a visable expiry date and yet your own date with stand out to remind you when to use by.

Happy organizing