Oh, Canada!

Well, it's about time, right? I can't keep putting this off. I need to get into the habit of blogging again. Today is the day to start the habit.

As most of you know, the Stephens' family has moved to Canada! What an adventure this is! I am learning all kinds of new things. I'm learning how to get out of supporting the Canada Post system by figuring out how to pay some bills electronically. I have many bills that I pay online, and have for several years. However, there are some that I have still written checks for and mailed them through the USPS. I was informed at the Canada Post that it is $1 to mail things to the US. WHAT!?!?! You've got to be kidding me! And, it's $0.57 per stamp to mail within Canada. So no more complaining amongst you Americans about the postage going up! Here in Canada we don't even get door-to-door mail delivery service! Because Scott's paycheck is in American dollars, we had to keep our American Bank Center chequing (learning a new way to spell too!) account open as DU is unable to direct deposit his "cheques" into a Canadian account. With our chequing account, we have a free service and can write electronic checks (I'm not going to get used to spelling words the Canada way!) and the bank will mail them to the address that I enter. So far, that is working swell. So, I will contiue to boycott the Canada Post for as long as possible! (Well, at least for mailing bills to the US) I can't completely boycott them, as I do enjoy getting mail. Even though it's much more sparse than usual at this point.

Another thing I am learning, is that they just don't have all of the choices in the grocery stores here, as we had in the states. I am not much of an adventurer, when it comes to the kitchen, so this is going to be hard to get used to. One thing that I cannot seem to find here, so far, are Great Northern Beans. At least not in the can. I've never used raw beans before, but I suppose it's time I figured out how to do that. If we want to continue having white chili, the way we are used to it. They don't have all the bean choices I want for regular chili either. :(

I figured Gage and Emma would be the only ones learning French. Well, I am also learning some french, by default. Everything in the grocery store, with labels, has English and French writing. We'll see how much French I can pick up in this manner.

The weather here isn't much different than what we're used to in North Dakota. We are still seeing lots of snow and bitter cold temps. Although, I can't really tell you what the exact temperature is, because it's recorded in Celsius here. I have finally figured out how to convert Celsius to Farenheit, and discovered how important that is to know when you need to read your thermostat and decide if your furnace has quit working or not! The math to do that; however, is about too much for my little brain. Maybe I'll figure it out. Maybe I won't? Time will tell.

Skype has become my communication of choice. It's free! However, I am going to have to get my hair cut soon, as it's looking pretty awful. Who'd ever think you would have to fix your hair in order to have a conversation with someone long distance!?

Vent

I haven't posted on here in quite awhile. I'm wanting to use this posting as a venting session, but it probably isn't appropriate. Instead, maybe I'll just type and see where it leads.

There has been alot of worry going on in my life these days. Scott has asked me not to post it on facebook, so I haven't. I haven't decided if I should post it on here or not. We'll see where it leads.

Scott and Gage are camping this weekend at Eagles Park, north of Bismarck. It is called Webelos Woods and it is basically a fun thing to get the Cub Scouts at the Webelos level to start thinking about wanting to join Boy Scouts. Of course, I don't know if Gage will be able to continue on into Boy Scouts or not. Hmmm.........it seems that just about every topic I have come up with so far is leading me to where it probably shouldn't! It will be a chilly night in the tent, so I hope Gage will stay warm in Scott's super warm sleeping bag!

This is Emma's and my 2nd Girl's Weekend in a row. We attended a Girl Scout event last Saturday called "Girls Rock the Park". This was our third year of attending. It is the same every year and I would say it's a bit boring after 3 years. They need to change it up a bit and get new girls interested in joining Girl Scouts.

We have been working on our basement, trying to get it finished up. We started finishing it off in August. We are getting close to the end. We ordered carpet to be installed this next week. I've been staining woodwork getting ready for the finishing details. This morning I discovered a bit of a problem in one of the new doors we bought. The cat door was cut into the wrong end. I don't think Grus can jump high enough to use it? Frustrating stuff! I should probably get back to some of that work!

Rained out

The kids' baseball games were rained out yesterday, so that made a much easier and less hectic evening for Scott.

I attended the Camp Ocankusa Leader Training Meeting last night. What a great camp that is! They are very organized and have a bunch of fun things planned for the girls. I'm praying for nice weather. Last year, the day I volunteered to help, was the hottest day of the entire summer. It made for a very tiring day! I could handle 70-80 degree weather next Tuesday, just fine!

I didn't realize, until last night, that the high winds the previous night knocked a fairly decent sized branch out of our tree! Thank goodness it didn't land on the neighbors' roof.......or ours for that matter. It might not have been big enough to do any damage, but I'm sure it would have been big enough to scare the heck out of them since the tree is right over their bedroom window! I also noticed that there was another branch hanging in the tree, and I don't know if we can get it out, or if we'll need to find another person to do it?

Last weekend I had the urge to tear off more wallpaper in the house. I'm glad the mood struck, because I was able to get all of the wallpaper from the upstairs and downstairs hallways and stairways. I've been looking at paint colors and I am thinking about going with a burnt orange color. I may head to Lowe's today to pick up the paint and attempt to put some on the wall this weekend. I may test the color out in the lower bathroom to make sure I like it first? We'll see. Scott has to work again this Saturday, so I need to find something to keep myself occupied.....not that Gage and Emma won't do that for me!!

Fireproof

It was a rainy/dreary morning this morning. My favorite kind. I don't know why I like those kind of days, but I do. After the kids headed off for Camp Ed, I decided to watch one of the Netflix movies I have (not that I don't have anything productive to do)! Fireproof is the name of the movie. It was a very good show. I made a trip to Barnes & Noble to get The Love Dare book that is highlighted in the movie. I'm excited about it.

Tonight is a busy night for the Stephens' family. Emma has baseball at 5:45, Gage has Taekwondo at 7 and baseball at 7:30. The unfortunate thing, for Scott, that is, is that I have to attend a Girl Scout Camp Leader Training Meeting in Mandan tonight at 7, so he will be pretty much on his own in getting the kids to and from their activities. Both of the kids have Scout Day Camps next week, so it will be a busy week as well.

We're having a quiet afternoon. Yesterday the kids had a couple of friends over to play and I'm thankful for the quiet time today. Gage is reading (surprise, surprise) and Emma is glued to the television (surprise, surprise!). I am going to finish this post up and go read myself. I have been reading alot, when I get the chance, and have had some really good books. "At First Sight" by Nicholas Sparks is calling my name right now!

Have a good day!

My little singer

I just do not know how Emma has the courage to stand up in front of the congregation at church and sing!! This is her third time, but her first time to do it alone. She did such a great job and I couldn't be more proud.

I like that our good friend, Juanita Hocking, is also in the video accompanying Emma on the piano. That just makes it all that more special to me.

Activities

Our summer is well underway!! We have many activities in the planner to keep us busy. This summer Gage is involved in Camp Edventure, Taekwondo and baseball, as well as several Cub Scout Day Camp and camp-outs. Emma is involved in Camp Edventure, T-ball and many Girl Scout Day Camps.

Camp Edventure started this week and the kids sure are enjoying it. In fact, Emma was upset to miss the 2nd day because of a Girl Scout Day Camp. I had to take her out for about an hour this morning for an appointment at the orthodontist. When I got to the school to pick her up when camp was over she started chewing me out because in the hour she was gone "they got to use shaving cream in their art project MOM!" SORRY EMMA! I also get to be the Camp Edventure Librarian, so that is exciting for me. I will get to work 11 hours in June and 9 hours in July, so it only amounts to about 1 day a week. That's enough though, with all of the other things we have going on.

Emma's first trip to the orthodontist was today. They took pictures and x-rays and the plan is to hold off another 6 months. He said she is in the "moderate to severe" category. She has very little room with alot of crowding going on and several of her teeth will be coming in crooked, according to the x-ray. He said early detection and treatment is the key and this will be a several step process, going on into her teen years. They should give a discount for the 3rd family member, I think!

Emma will also be singing her first "real solo" at church on Sunday. Her name is listed in the bulletin now, so there's no backing out for her! She's been wanting to sing by herself since her first couple of times singing with 2 other older girls at church. She will get her chance this Sunday and I'm anxious to see how it goes. She will be singing "All Night, All Day" or a.k.a. "Angels Watching Over Me".

It's looking like we could get some rain today. Both Gage and Emma have baseball games tonight along with Taekwondo practice for Gage. I'm never upset about rainouts. ;-)

This is hopefully the first of many "regular" postings for me. I'm trying my hardest to get back into the swing of blogging.

Until next time...............

Last Week of School

I cannot believe how FAST this school year has flown by! This last week is bittersweet. The kids are very excited for all of the activities going on at school, but we sure are going to miss our favorite teacher, Mrs. Fleming. Emma has had a wonderful school year, and I owe it to her teacher, Mrs. Fleming. This is going to be her last year too, as she is retiring. I have never had a teacher quite like her. She really is unbelievable. She has called our home at least a dozen times just wanting to "check in" and see how things are going. She will be dearly missed!

Last week I subbed in the library all week as 2 of the library staff were gone.........one to Hawaii and one to Ireland! Maybe if I keep helping out like this, I will get to go on an amazing vacation like that! It certainly helps add to the stash we have been saving to go to Disneyworld! We've almost saved up half of our total goal!

Our summer days are looking busy already. The kids (and maybe even me) will be attending Camp Edventure from 8a-12n. I will possibly be working in the library for Camp Ed. Not sure of all the details on that yet. Gage has baseball and taekwondo and Emma will be busy with t-ball. They both are signed up for Girl Scout and Cub Scout camps as well. We will be traveling to Iowa over the 4th and then my sister, Kim, and her husband, J.L., will be coming to visit us here in North Dakota the week of July 12! I am very excited about that! This will be their first trip to North Dakota. We plan to take them to Medora where they will golf Bully Pulpit and then we will attend the Pitchfork Fondue and Medora Musical. We are VERY excited!

My goal is to get better at blogging. I want to set aside time each day to get back in the habit.