Keeping up!

My sister told me today that she's sad I haven't been blogging regularly. I guess I feel like I need to make my blogs fancy and complicated, but she just wants to know whats going on in my everyday life!
So I am going to try my best to post, even though they're not as pretty as I would like them to be!
So what has been happening lately:

I had my sister-in-law and her husband come down for a few days. It was so much fun, they're a great couple!

I also went to the Ladies Bible Study kickoff potluck. It was lots of fun, full of chatting and great food. I'll be attending the bible study led by the pastors wife, who is a lovely woman.
We meet every Thursday and the third Thursday of every months is spent doing community work, like making a meal and dropping it off to families in the community who we know could use the food.

This weekend will be a busy one too! My friend Amy will be down for a week and we plan on taking a day trip to the Edmonton Mall and just catching up in general.
Today I received a wonderful gift in the mail - my sister sent me a "sister necklace" - it's a beautiful silver sparrow, courtesy of "Jeweled Blossoms" http://www.jeweledblossoms.com/

A card was included along with this poem:

Song Of My Heart

"Quietly humming along

like a sweet sparrow's song

the song of my Heart.

Every moment of every day

while she is away

I look to the sky and wonder why

it should ever be this way

I close my eyes and make a wish

exhale softly and let my thoughts adrift

to sail across the warm breeze

carrying to you a wish from my lips."

It was so sweet! My sister is so wonderful to me!

I'm also working on maybe painting the apartment - I'm thinking of some Indian boho colours. Like yellow golds and rich plumbs.
I'm also taking on a sewing project, I realized with my family over that if we have more then three people in the house we have no where to seat them! So I'm making some big "floor" pillows.

Nice cushy ones that people can sit comfortably on. I realized that it'll be cheaper to buy a big pillow at WalMart and re-cover them with material of my choice, rather then buy the batting for the pillows.

I was so excited! I was invited by a girl friend to an Organics party, everything from cleaners to candles but unfortunately it got moved to Sunday - the day I'm taking Amy to Edmonton, so I'm missing out on that. But I think she and I will still hang out Saturday and just go out for coffee.

She's a new stay at home mom, and she tells me she gets bored sometimes, so I think I'll start hanging out with her more. (her little one is absolutely adorable too!)

So that's what I've been up to lately! Lol!

God Bless!

~ Jenny

J'ai froid! (I'm cold!)

Amazing how the weather can swing from such heat to such cold! It's only a high of 7 degrees Celsius today! It was rainy, cold and windy! Jeremie and I went to church and came home to some nice hot home-made chicken noodle soup. It turned out pretty well, I think it needed more chicken flavouring, but it was still pretty good. I made a lot so it would serve as some lunches for Jeremie. He starts his final session of schooling on Tuesday, just 2 months and he's a full Red Seal Welder!
The apartment was chilly so we broke out the nice warm blankets, including the super warm comfy one my mother knitted me a few years ago!

I just started taking "lessons" on the jamba! It's a standing hand-drum like the bongo's....sorta. It's alot of fun and the young guy teaching me is one the worship team at church - he's a bachelor at the moment and agreed to exchange lessons for home cooked meals.
It works out well, he'll come over to our place for a lesson, stay for dinner then the three of us head out to college and careers at the church.
It's not that difficult, just takes practice. I was able to borrow this jamba to practice on, and Jeremie and I have been having a good time playing together. He'll start on his guitar and I join in!

I just finished my first week of training at the Library! I did get the job as a casual, the ladies there are wonderful! And I had a fairly interesting conversation, I was viewing the schedules and I noticed that the Library was open on Sunday, but only from 2-5.
"Oh good!" I said casually. "That leaves time for me to go to church and get here in time."
Susan, the woman interviewing me smiled. "Well as it turns out, all the women working here are Christians, so we all need Sunday mornings."

My jaw almost dropped - I had never worked anywhere where all the employees are Christians. The women all go to different local churches, but its still wonderful working in such an environment.

The weather looks like it'll be staying cool - between 7-18 degrees all this week. But I'm sure it'll be a good week.

God Bless,

~ Jenny

Mail Surprises!

I was picking up my mail at the local post office when I noticed I had a parcel stub - going over to the counter I was happily handed a mid-sized bubble envelope.
It was addressed to me, and so I assumed it was more of my families little gifts.
I was surprised when I saw that it was from Illinois! I stood there and thought for a moment: Who do I know from Illinois? Somebody from my DH's side of the family?? No...

Finally I remembered my mother's good friend Bren, who she had gone to visit during their road trip this summer.
Quickly I trotted home and tore into the parcel. My smile was huge as I read Bren's kind card and unfolded her lovely gifts.
A hand-quilted table runner:

And a beautifully made vintage apron: It's yellow terry (I believe) and has an embroidered honey-brown and gold honeycomb design.

It's absolutely beautiful Bren, Thank you VERY much. What a wonderful gift! I know that both will be well used. :)

Today is a busy day - Jeremie had a long weekend this week and it spoiled me, having him home all day for three days, but today it's back to the real world!
I need to make my menu plan and do the grocery shopping for the week. I also am looking forward to my interview later on today with the local Public Library.
It's just casual, but that works perfectly for me. At first they offered if I'd be interested in a 2-3 year contract, which would include running the staff, planning the programs and helping start-up the volunteer center.
A job I would have loved, but I had to admit that I doubted Jeremie and I would be here past Spring. So, I turned down that offer, but they countered with a casual circulation work.
I really hope it works out - it would be a huge blessing to have some income coming in while Jeremie is in school for the next two months. God's timing is perfect!

Jeremie and I are constantly meeting new people through our Church, we met two other young couples and Jeremie hit it off immediately with one of the young men there who helps lead worship. Jeremie is pretty musically inclined himself and is a pretty good guitarist. We were talking about instruments and I have never been able to play them myself - but on Sunday during worship one of the young men was playing a bongo, after being introduced and chatting for a while I asked if it was difficult and if it would be possible for me to play it as well.

He shrugged and couldn't think of a reason why not, he said that I just needed to start playing around with one - apparently one doesn't really need lessons to be taught how to play.
He (Jared) suggested that Jeremie and I come over one evening this week and we could all play together. He'd show me the basics and he and Jeremie could play on some guitars.
I thought that was kind of him, and Jeremie thinks it could be pretty fun too. So we accepted but no date has been set yet, as the woman who is interviewing me this afternoon asked (if everything went well) if I could start training immediately.

So between interviews, possibly training, college and careers group as well as visiting and the car being in the garage - things have been keeping me jumping.
It's nice though and I am enjoying getting to know more of this community.

~ Jenny

Our Weekend

Jeremie and I had a good weekend, the weather continued to be scorching. Even today the high is 34 degrees Celsius.
I'd be lying if I didn't say that I am worried for Jeremie today, working in that hot shop where the temperature will be above 40 degrees.
I told him to come home at noon to hopefully catch a cold shower and cool down a bit.

We went to go see a movie and Jeremie happily spent his boot and tool allowance and invested in a new pair of work boots and a big red Mastercraft toolbox.
My big buy was a number "4" for the front of our door. Our poor friends kept getting confused about what apartment we were, as none of them seem to be numbered.

Right now I'm a "stay-at-home" wife, and enjoying it. However I had been praying that the Lord would point me in some direction so I could do more service work to Him.
Having only been here 3 months and still fairly new to the church, I don't know anyone that well; it also doesn't help that it's summer and the church family is scattered all over with vacations and trips.
But an opportunity did arise! I was driving my way into the next town to pick up my library books and drove past the church - I noticed that some of the youth as well as the Pastor and Youth Pastor were doing a "clean-up" of the church grounds. Mowing, weeding, raking etc.
I pulled over thinking: "Okay God, I've been asking for opportunity and here is some right in front of me...I'd be foolish to drive by it."
I turned around and pulled into the church parking lot - after a quick introduction of myself I volunteered to help and was quickly pulling weeds chatting with the youth Pastor.
He told me about the great College and Careers group at the church and invited Jeremie and I out to it, which we will be going to this Tuesday.
I also got to meet his wife, who after weeding, invited me to go Raspberry picking with her at a local farm.
She's a great woman, and we chatted easily for an hour or so until noon when we were to meet all the other helpers at a local restaurant for a "Thank you" lunch.

It was so wonderful being able to put everything else aside and just serve like that. I had no idea that the majority of my day would be spent talking and laughing with more of Christ's family and getting to know more of the community around me.

It's amazing how much you can learn by just pulling weeds.

This week so far the only thing we have planned is going grocery shopping on Monday and hitting the gym and pool for a few hours.
Hopefully we'll be able to get together with another couple and get a good game of Bocce Ball going too!

God Bless!

Tuesday Morning Round-Up

Hello! Sorry for my lack of posts, but things have been quite busy here at my little home.

The weather has been swinging back and forth like crazy! We had half a week of sweltering heat (32' C) then half a week where the high is only 19'C.
That duvet is so nice in the cool mornings - we keep the windows open all day, it helps air-circulation in our sub level apartment and keeps it nice and cool on the hot days.

Jeremie and I bought a great game this week: "The Farming Game"

It's a square board with different months posted around the board, a full year is once around the board. The game starts with you having inherited 20 acres of land from Grandpa and you want to farm it full-time, but unfortunately you can't afford it and so, also have a part-time job in town.
The point of the game is to have enough money to quit your town job and farm full time.
But you start off with only five-thousand dollars and another five-thousand in debt that you owe to the bank. You can choose to buy and harvest, grain, hay, fruits and beef. There also comes along options to buy a tractor or a harvester.
The game is looooog though! It can take you up to 7 years (7 times around the board) to make enough to quit your town-job (250, 000$) and if you call an audit too soon and don't have that much, you automatically lose.
Jeremie and I are addicted to this game - it's been living on my kitchen table set up like this for the past 3 days.
And I know my mom and especially my dad would love this game. And no you can't buy it. ;) I almost didn't mention it in this blog because I know you two will be tempted to buy it and try it.
I can probably bring it down in October when I visit...maybe ;) .
So! That's been a lot of fun - even though Jeremie /always/ wins. I seem to accumulate too much debt trying to boost my harvest income while he gets out of debt as soon as possible and wins in the long run.
Even in games he's good with his money - - what a wonderful husband!!

I've also started my Christmas gifts. As a family we try to make gifts, especially when money is tight. I have received some lovely home-made gifts over the years, and I love making them for other people too.
I started this one only a few days ago:
I am almost done the frame for it - and I while I'm not sure who it's for yet, I couldn't say anyway. It's very difficult being secretive in a blog when your whole family reads it, isn't it?? ^.^
I love the design and I know the person I'm thinking of giving it to, will love it as well.

I've started reading a very interesting book: "Under The Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets Of America" ~ Mike Yankoski
It's a non-fiction book Mike wrote about his choice to live, willingly, as a homeless man. "He needed to know if his faith in God was real -if he could actually be the Christian he said he was apart from the comforts he'd always known." ~ Excerpt from back of book.
I've only just started it, but it seems very good so far - encouraging and challenging, but we'll see how it goes!

God Bless!

New Old Things

I love sewing - that being said I'm still just learning and more "fooling around" and having fun then really stressing over my skill level.

I prefer to do "subversive" sewing, rather than getting a pattern and paying for the fabric. Subversive sewing is just making something from something else. You'd be amazed what you can make out of second hand store clothing.

And not just women's clothing either! I have a top-pattern made from men's dress pants of all things - that I think would be neat! ^.^

In the picture above I had a pair of hole-y pants but I didn't want to throw them out just yet.

So I went to the local 2nd hand store and asked to buy their reject clothing (as I planned on just cutting it up and using the fabric) the lady gave me a garbage bag full of clothing that didn't quite make the cut - and refused to let me pay for it.

I shlepped it all home, washed the clothes and ripped open the inside seam of both legs of my jeans - giving me a flat piece of fabric to work with.

I then cut the fabric into patches and different shapes and sewed it right onto the front of the jeans using fun bright red and lime green threads.

I now love those jeans more then ever! :D

I also started making little plushies or toys, I suppose you would call them.

I found a book: "Cute Dolls" ~ Aranzi Aronzo

And loved the simple, adorable patterns. After making a few of his dolls - I started to see other little toys and could figure out how to make them from sight.

A few of my favourites are:

My little Onigiri plushies - I even have a little nori (seaweed) sewn on!

(onigiri is a rice ball snack common in Japan)

My little bunny
super soft from the flannel/polar fleece remnants I found.

My little Pocket Ninja
(I saw these at a popular toy store in the city and was shocked at the
$27.00 price tag. I decided to make my own ^^)

Today I was feeling rather creative as well, so I re-made some of my old t-shirts. I wasn't wearing them anyway so I might as well make them fun to wear again!

Sorry it's dark! I made some "iron-on transfers" and ironed them on! Nothing could be simpler. The first shirt I re-made was with this graphic. It's two lemons and one (with the medical hat and stethoscope) is yelling "Rescue! Rescue!" and the other lemon is in obvious distress.
Get the joke yet?? .....Lemon-Aid.. Ba dum ching! ....yeah corny I know. ^^

This one is onigiri again with different facial expressions. I wish I could tell you what the Japanese symbols mean - but I can't. Lol, I have no idea!

So that's what I've been working on today!
Now I guess I should work on some supper eh?

God Bless!

~ Jenny

Wonderful Surprise!

I walked to the post office to collect our mail, enjoying the nice sunny day - which got even better when I picked up a parcel sent to me from my mother.

I knew it was coming, but I had no idea what was in it! As I was walking I thought that maybe I should wait for Jeremie to be home before I opened it . . .but I was too impatient.

Eagerly I walked home and as soon as I could I ripped it open.

What a lovely surprise! Inside was a card from my mother, as well as a set of serving spoons, a magnetic pin holder and four beautiful place mats that she had found in Pennsylvania, and thought would look good with my dish set.

This really is such a handy package to get! Mom knew I hadn't any serving spoons yet, or place mats. Both I was looking for. And only last week I was in the local fabric store and contemplating getting a magnetic pincushion, I put it down though because it was 20.00$ and I didn't need it that badly!

Thank you so much mom and dad! I love the gifts very much!

I made buns and a loaf of bread today. The buns are for dinner tonight, and we needed bread in the house for Jeremie's lunches. Although lately I've been blessed enough to have him home for lunch, which is much more fun then eating alone, and I know he likes to relax at home before getting back to the sweltering work shop.

My mom taught me a great trick for separating the sticky dough into buns. I always had trouble pulling the dough away from the lump and trying to slice it away. But watching my mom, I learned that the easiest way, was to use scissors. It's cleaner, quicker and much easier then using a knife.

I've been writing letters to friends as well. I've always loved writing and I enjoy sending off letters or cards to my friends; and I know they enjoy receiving them. I wrote two last night and plan on writing more.
I have a love for stationary and own tons of different papers and card - and I really should start using them up I think.

Well it's about time to start that roast.

God Bless!