Saturday - morning

Its 6 am. Hubby set the alarm for 5:30 to get up and go fishing. Upon seeing that it is still DARK at that unholy hour he decided that maybe he'd sleep some more. I, however, can't get back to sleep. With everybody still asleep in the trailers, I have come out to the front porch to blog.

The plan for this morning is Ken and my dad (when they can manage to rouse themselves, lol) are going fishing. Apparently dad has learned the location of a secret fishing hole. How secret this "hole" can be on Lake Erie I don't know. Maybe fishing "spot" is a better way to describe it. In any case, I'm sure hoping for some fresh pickerel for lunch!

Mom and the girls and I are going to go in to town this morning and pick up a few groceries and get some corn from a roadside vendor. Its now peak corn season. Fresh corn and pickerel...ah, bliss!

Other than that we don't have a whole lot planned for the morning. My dad has promised us a boat ride. Danielle is really looking forward to that as she's never been in a small watercraft before. I grew up around boats and learned how to drive them at around age 12. I am not able to drive them anymore though because I don't have my boat license. (Its a new thing that just came in about 5 yrs ago.). Ken has his license so I've never bothered to get mine. I am content to let Ken or my dad do the driving.

I'm taking lots of pictures but I can't figure out how to post them from the handheld. (Actually, I'm not even sure you can. May have to wait until I get back home to put them up.). Ta ta for now!

I am on vacation

Here we are at Big Otter Marina in Port Burwell. We are staying with my mom and dad who have a trailer here. This weekend - the Civic Holiday weekend - is the busiest weekend of the year here in Port Burwell. It was pretty quiet tonight but there's a lot going on tomorrow and Sunday.

Alli is with us and she brought along a friend, Danielle. The girls went to a dance tonight. They said it was "ok" (affecting nonchalance). Oh to be 15 and "cool" again *eyes rolling*

We (me, Ken and my folks) went to a campfire but got rained out after about 30 minutes. I was getting tired anyways. My dad gave me a beer and a shot of brandy. The beer was good but the brandy made me tired.

Off to bed. More adventures tomorrow.

I am outside on the back porch listening to it rain. Its coming down pretty steady. Ever since I've been little I have liked to be out under shelter while its raining. I don't know what it is exactly but there is something about it that makes me feel cozy and safe.

Its been storming for a couple of hours now. We had some real scary winds earlier as well as thunder and lightening but its just raining now. We are still under a severe thunderstorm/tornado warning though I think the worst is over. For now it is cool and less humid out - a welcome respite.

I have the lights down low so as not to attract insects here where I am sitting. There's a couple of big, hairy moths (shudder!) hanging around the door, attracted to the light inside I suppose.

I'm just about ready to head up to bed. Don't laugh (Sara!). I don't actually go to sleep this early. It takes me a few minutes to get my jamas on and brush my teeth etc. Then I either read my bible (currently reading Acts - in my NKJV study bible) or sometimes I read commentary material. Or, if I'm in the middle of a particularly good novel I read that *grin* but - try not to do that too often. I like reading the bible, but its also a habit...a discipline if you will - and one I'm thankful for so I try to nurture it and not let something else replace it.

Anyways, I read for about half an hour and then I fluff up my pillows, put my earplugs in, turn out the lights ans lie down to pray. Now THAT is a bad habit that I wish I hadn't developed because I often drift off to sleep while I am in prayer! (But I must admit that the reason that I find it a hard habit to break is that I find it peaceful falling asleep while praying. My thoughts are serene, focussed on God's goodness and mercy and off I go...)

Well, speaking of which, its time I headed up. The cat is meowing loudly at me to let me know that its past bedtime. I am not the only creature of habit around here! G'night, all.

At the laundrmat

**I'm blogging in real-time from the laundromat!**

Our washing machine crapped out last week and the repairman can't come until Tuesday. So here I am at the laundromat. I am a huge embarassment to Alli I'm sure, for its been so long since I've been to to the laundromat that I no longer know what to do. The machines are all different and not at all like I remember. Thankfully the man who works here has taken pity on me and showed me how they work. They are huge front loaders and you can cram a lot of clothes into them. He saved me a lot of money by showing me that - I wouldn't have known otherwise.

It is quite expensive too! One load is five dollars, but they are supposed to be triple capacity. (I think they're closer to double.). Still they are very fast...I've got four loads going and it takes 30 minutes for them to wash and another 30 to dry. Even including folding time we should be out of here very quickly.

Ooo, now they're spinning! They go so fast; just about time to put them in the dryer.
Ah, here's Alli with my coffee. There's a Tim Horton's in the plaza - convenient, no?

Back in a minute...have to throw the clothes into a dryer.

Back. I have three dryers going and about 30 minutes to wait. Alli and I are debating whether we should do our folding here or take it home and do it there. I think we should do it here because there's lots of room to spread out and fold but Alli is threatening to wave my "mom-pants" (aka my underpants) around to embarass me. She is an evil child.

There were only two other patrons whe we got here but another half dozen or so folks have come in since then. It's noticably warmer in here now, from all the machines that are going I suppose.

I notice that they also offer laundry service here as well. They will wash fold and dry your laundry for $1.00 per pound. I think I would trust the man here to do that. He has been very helpful - not just to me but to everyone here - he obviously takes his work seriously. I admire that. Let's face it, working in a landromat is not exactly the most glamourous job ever, but this man does it with dignity and obviously takes pride in doing the best job he can. I don't know if he is a Christian but he is a fine example of Colossians 3:?? (Sorry don't know the exact verse or the exact words): "Whatever you do, do it all in the name of the Lord, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

Well, I took a break to fold the laundry - can't do that and type at the same time - so I'm off to go home now. Thanks for passing the time with me. Pictures to follow!

Keep cool

Isn't it hot?

We have central air in this house, so we are able to escape the heat if we need to, but I remember the days when we didn't have air conditioning. If we had a heat wave it could get unbearable. We had to come up with some novel ways to keep cool...

Like most people, we kept the curtains drawn and the lights off as much as possible. We kept the windows closed during the heat of the day and only opened them when it was cooler outside than inside. I'd usually open up the front and back doors in the early morning hours and get a nice cross breeze going. If you could get the house a few degrees cooler in the morning then it would stay bearable until about dinner time.

I tried to prepare meals that didn't require using the stove, and never the oven! I had a little hotplate that I used outside to cook whatever couldn't be done on the barbeque. Actually, I still use that hotplate and cook outside when it's hot as well as a little toaster oven. The back porch is right off the kitchen so it's handy.

After dinner we'd head down to the basement where it was coolest, but even down there it would get uncomfortable after a few hours. We had a couple of standing fans that we moved from room to room with us and we'd put them on oscillate so we'd have a breeze. If it got really bad, we kept little spray bottles of ice water handy and misted ourselves down. I can remember lying on the couch with a fan in front, trying not to move too much and misting myself nearly constantly!

Our ace-in-the-hole was our kiddy pool. We had a little one in the back yard that you could get about 8 inches of water in and after it got dark (so nobody could see us!) we'd go out and get in. We'd lie there in the water for half an hour or so until we were almost chilly and then head off to bed. Being in the pool seemed to bring our skin temperature down quite a bit and it made it easier to get to sleep.

Even though we have a/c now, we still do a lot of those things we used to do in order to keep the hydro bill down. We use one of those timer thingies to turn the thermostat up at night and when we're out of the house and down again when we are home. This summer has been a bit cooler than usual so we haven't had to run it too much of the time anyways. I'm thankful for that because our hydro went up in March to almost double what we were paying before. And I somehow doubt that the price is ever going to come back down, *grin*.

Been a while since I meme'd

Thursday's Child tagged me for this probably a week ago. I'm really awful for remembering when I've been tagged and sure enough I forgot about this one until I saw another blogger who remembered and it reminded me.

What was I doing ten years ago?
Oh my. Why do they have to ask the hard question first? Hmm. Ten years ago was 1998, so I was at home with the kids. It would have just been Alli at home with me for half days because she would have been in kindergarten. The boys would have been in school all day. I remember I listened to a lot of talk radio during that time, Dr. Laura in particular. I didn't know about Issues back then. *grin*

5 Things on my to-do list:
#1 Call the repairman to fix the washing machine
#2 Take Alli to get her Social Insurance Number
#3 Menu planning and grocery shopping
#4 Take a few loads of laundry to the laundromat
#5 Clean the pool, then swim

What would I do if I were a billionaire?
Well, honestly, the first thing I would probably do is move. Or at least, I'd buy a second home somewhere warm and live there for the winter. I'm leaning towards North Carolina. I have really fallen in love with it! It's really a beautiful state. (Plus they have the coolest accent there. And, of course, Debbie and her family are there! )

Places I have lived:
I have only ever lived in Kitchener-Waterloo. First with my parents, then with my husband. I've never lived on my own though.

Jobs I've Had:
I've worked as a restaurant manager at Burger King, Pizza Hut, my in-law's restaurant and finally I bought my own place, called "Betty...Pick Up!" My best friend and I bought it together and we named it after an episode of Laverne and Shirley where the girls go work in a diner. Shirley is waitressing and Laverne is short-ordering and every time Laverne puts an order up, she calls out "Betty, pick up!" to Shirley, which of course drives Shirley nuts. I'll let you guess whether I was Laverne or Shirley.)

I've done temp work as a secretary/receptionist etc.

I've worked in the QA department at NCR, testing the software and hardware in bank machines. Not ATMs but the big, long cheque readers/sorters that they use in the bank clearing houses.

Later I worked for a company that wrote the software for those bank machines, but it was utterly coincidental. I didn't even know that's what they did until after I got the job. I was hired as an administrative assistant, but because I had experience in QA, they let me help with that sometimes too.

Now I work for an IT services company. I was hired to do admin, but because I've been around the tech industry for a while I've been able to help out in a (limited) tech support capacity too. Now I administer our antispam/mail hosting service and I handle all the software licensing issues. It's been interesting to learn how to do all that stuff. When you work for a small company you tend to wear a lot of hats, which I like. Most of all though, I consider my primary function to be making my boss's life easier.

6 people I'm tagging:
Oh, I don't know...would you be mad if I copped out and made it an open tag? I hate putting people on the spot...

It's here!!

My new Bible, compliments of A Soldier's Wife. Once again, thank you SO much!!

Show Your Cow Spirit

If you are a cow lover (and let's be honest, who isn't?) then tomorrow your big day.

It just so happens that tomorrow, Friday July 11th, is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A. And no one is more excited about it than Family Murphy.

The Murphy clan will be enthusiastic partipants tomorrow: dressing like cows; getting free chicken. Free chicken, people!

Alas, there are no Chick-Fil-A's in Canada so no free chicken for me. However, I will be with you in spirit, embracing my inner cow.

If you should have a hankering for chicken tomorrow (or just a hankering to dress up like a cow), then be a sport and get some pics, ok? And if you were inclined to share those pics on your blog, well then be sure to stop by the Family Murphy blog and and add your post to the Mr. Linky you'll find there. I'm hoping for lots of pictures, personally.

Now, I don't know if you guys have this in the US, but in Canada, tomorrow is Free Slurpee Day at 7-11. (On July 11, get it?) They're giving away 1000 Slurpees at each store. Plus, you don't have to dress up like a cow to get one. Free Slurpees, people!

Since we DO have 7-11 around here, tomorrow free sweet Slurpee goodness shall be mine! If we had a Chick-Fil-A around here, I could hit them both on the way home from work and I wouldn't have to do anything for dinner. That would be really sweet.

Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

Go CPH!

Finally got around to getting one of these and it is FAB-u-lous!

I have an older Tappert edition of the Book of Concord, but the language in it is much more difficult. The editors of this one have done a wonderful job making the language accessible. It's packed full of historical and background info that help the reader understand the context of the various documents. I can't say enough good about it. I you've ever wanted to learn more about what Lutherans believe and why they believe it, this is the book.

Bit of trivia: this edition was edited by Pastor Paul McCain of Concordia Publishing House, whose blog Cyberbrethren I frequently lurk at. You won't find me commenting there though...people who hang out there are waaay smarter than me. I'd be in over my head *grin*. However, I may just leave him a comment to express my appreciation for the tremendous job he and the other editors have done in putting this book together.

Anita and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I had a bad day today. Not at home - at work. It was so rotten I really don't even want to blog about it. I feel all weepy and mopey and I just wish I had my mommy right now. You ever have one of those days?

Sometimes, when I read about other women who have quiet time (or devotions, or whatever you want to call it) and how close they feel to the Lord during those times, I feel a bit jealous...and a bit like maybe there's something wrong with me. That closeness, that sense that Jesus is present - that doesn't happen for me. Times like this, when I'm feeling down and really discouraged, I wish I could go to my Bible, or into prayer, and really feel like Jesus is right there with me.

When I spend time in the Word, it's more of an intellectual thing for me. It's almost...well, work. That is not to say that there are not times when the Word speaks comfort to me, or that I can't find beauty in the Scriptures. But when I read God's Word, I'm looking, working, digging for something. I must concentrate and it takes effort. I might find meaning, deeper understanding, or relevance, but I've never had an experience where it felt like I was spending time alone with Jesus.

I am not a great pray-er. I must say - thankfully, joyfully - that this is an area where I have seen God's grace at work over the years. Praying comes easier than it used to and I do feel something approaching closeness when I am in prayer...but in truth, there is still a part of me that feels disconnected. As if my prayers must cross a great distance. I have never had a feeling like Jesus is right next to me and we're just talking.

I don't want to make it sound like I'm putting my trust in a feeling. I know, whether it feels like it or not, that Jesus is present. And I don't mean to imply that because I don't have a strong emotional response to being in prayer or in the Word that somehow my faith is not authentic.

It's just that I long for contact. Sometimes I wish that Jesus was right here and that he'd give me a hug. (And how dumb is that? I mean, the Creator of the universe - for the sake of a miserable sinner like me - came down from his throne in heaven, suffered the indignity of becoming a helpless child, lived a blameless life in my place and suffered a horrible and unrighteous death so that I might be reconciled to God...and I'm complaining that I want a hug??)

But isn't that what we all want? Some contact? A friendly voice to comfort us? (Beth, is it any wonder that I picked tonight to call??) Something tangible to hang onto in the midst of pain and confusion? And you know what? I think God knows this about us and understands. More, He provided for this very real need that we have - the need to touch and hold onto something solid - by becoming a man and walking with us.

And I think it's also why (or at least part of the reason why) he comes to us bodily in the Eucharist. Because he knows how fragile we are, and how much we need to be able to hold onto Him, not just in a spiritual sense, but in a real, physical way.

I wish I could describe to you exactly what it is like for me when I receive the Body and Blood of the Lord - the very Presence of God - in the Sacrament. I'm not sure that you can understand what that Presence is like any more than I can understand the closeness that some have in prayer and Bible study. I can only tell you that it is real. And not in a subjective way, not a "feeling" that I have (although I do experience it as a feeling too, if you get what I mean).

I believe that the True Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist is an objective thing. I believe it because Christ himself - in his last will and testament before his disciples - says so. I believe He really meant it. When He comes to me in, with and under the bread and the wine, He strengthens me. He comes to me because He knows how much I need what only He has to offer. Forgiveness of sins. Comfort for my hurting soul. Strengthened and renewed faith in His promises. So He comes in a way that I can grab hold of tangibly, so that I may have no doubt whatsoever of His presence.

This went in a way different direction than I thought it would when I first started this post. The Holy Spirit is like that sometimes - the words just come tumbling out of my fingers. I think I've said enough for now.