I Sing for Joy at the Works of Your Hands!

Friday morning I decided, "Enough is enough! I HAVE to get those flower beds done!"

So by 8:00am I was dressed, had breakfast, had Lisa off to work, and headed out the door. The children were either still sleeping or in some form of semi-conscious state lying on the couch. Yes, that's an EARLY start around here!

Mark had done the edging to the beds several weeks ago, so there were many dried clumps of grass that needed to be shaken and tossed. I had attacked most of the weeds on previous outings, but there were many new ones that needed pulling. As I worked, I was serenaded by a BEAUTIFUL song. A new one to me. By 8:30 I had the half of the bed done, and called my parents. Once Mom knew I was talking to Dad, she picked up the other phone (as she often does, makes me feel like Superman!) I whistled the bird's song to them and they said, "Oh, that's your Baltimore Oriole."

The orioles had built a nest in Mom and Dad's maple tree last year, so there was some discussion as to whether it was MY oriole, or THEIR oriole, and whether in fact we each had one. How do you know? I was just very pleased to have him around, and even caught a very close up view of him later on. Gorgeous orange colour!

A few weeks ago the children had discovered a robin's nest; on a lamp on our deck. An amazing engineering accomplishment. I told the kids that one day I was going to give them a pile of grass, dead weeds, a bit of mud and a few scraps of string and see what they could do. (I'd even let them use all their fingers!) Simply amazing! The robin had even tied a few of the stronger strings and grasses around the post as an anchor to hold it on top of the light!

Back to the garden! As I pulled and dug and moved around, the robin happily followed me, grabbing the now easy to find worms.

The boys eventually came out, and I gave them each a clipboard and a pile of worksheets and suggested they do their school work on the deck where we could call out questions and answers to each other. Homeschooling at its finest!

Mom came over and we did a walk through of what should go where, and she helped me out a bit, until she realized she should go home and work on her own beds. She's an amazing gardener. Don't know what I'd do without her!

I spent the rest of the day pulling out invasive ground cover, and other plants I've decided I don't like, and replacing them with others, from a bed I'm getting rid of altogether. Now I know why they say gardening is good exercise!

As the day progressed, I kept saying, "I'll just do this one, and then I'll go make supper." "Well, maybe one more." Finally it was 6:00pm and nothing was made or even defrosted. I was completely exhausted and felt I was about the best night to call for pizza delivery!

But that's not even why I started this post...

On MONDAY, I went back and continued some moving and splitting, and the mother robin was back gathering worms. But this time she was bringing them to her babies. (I guess I'm kind of assuming it was the mother that feeds her young...). I went inside, grabbed the camera, and sat and enjoyed a nice break while she got up the nerve to come and feed again, with me sitting there with a strange black object. The fruit of my labour...

First an overall view so you can get a feel for the surroundings...our front porch. The nest is on top of the light...(and yes, those flower boxes are now full...)


Then, momma arrives and suddenly three long necks emerge. So fun to watch!!!!



Feeding all done, a proud mom calms her young, (and a close up shot of the anchor job). I just LOVE how God can turn a day of pulling weeds, into a time of marvel, worship and praise!

The day I saved a BUNDLE!!!!

Today I stopped at Shopper's Drug Mart, on my way to visit a friend, to pick up some razor blades for Mark.

He still has a Gillette Atra, which uses a double blade, and they are getting harder and harder to find, with the influx of triple, quad and more on the market. At triple, quad and more prices, we've resisted the urge to keep up with the Jones' (those poor guys get blamed for everything!) and just stuck with the 'original.' Today was our payday!

I found the blades he needed, sighed at the $16.99 price (but still rejoiced in that they were cheaper than the others on the shelf), grabbed a few other things we needed and headed to the cash. There was a very friendly lady working the cash (felt it important to include that note, since friendly cashier's are so hard to find these days). We chatted about the beautiful sun, while the boys informed me that they sold Wii's there and that they are ONLY $299.99 (another Jones issue we've resisted).

I paid for the purchases, and proceed to fold my receipt to stick it in my purse. As I glanced at the receipt, only to make sure that I was folding it neatly, I noticed $1.00 in the cost column. I knew that I hadn't purchased anything for $1.00 so I investigated further. It was the razor blades. Hmmm. I asked the cashier if that was the correct price, since I hadn't seen a sale sticker on the shelf. She said it was, and assumed that they were being cleared out because they weren't making them any more because nobody uses them...except us, apparently.

"Come on kids, we gotta go back to the shaving aisle! We found a deal!"

Notice the quotation marks. Yes, that's exactly what I said. Out loud.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were several packages left on the shelf. I took 5, then started to calculate how long they would last, and wondered if Mark's razor handle would last that long. There were 3 packages left on the shelf. I threw caution to the wind and decided that with all the money I was saving, what would it hurt to spend another $3.00. I emptied the shelf.

We headed back to the friendly cashier, who rang up our purchase, and was giggling almost as much as we were.

My total expenditures: $ 11.26. My total savings: $162.61!!!!

It's time to get going with my day, ie get off the computer. Stay tuned for all the financial and theological questions and lessons that are flooding my mind from such a 'minor daily occurance.'

A Day to Celebrate

April 18, 2009, my Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Peter celebrated 50 years of marriage! Throughout the evening it became very evident that they are an exceptional couple that not only has played a special role in our lives, but in the lives of many others as well. Their strong devotion to God is manifested in their giving of themselves, and their dedication to their family, near and far. We love them dearly.

Unfortunately, no picture of them, but here's one of Mark and I all dressed up for the occasion (I cropped off the children who weren't impressed that we interrupted their play time with a photo opp...)Prior to the party we took advantage of the sun and +24C weather and went for a walk along the Niagara gorge. The kids had a fantastic time climbing all the rocks! (The Habs fan is my cousin's son)


We only had time for a drive by the falls, but we drove REALLY slow, and turned around and went back for a 2nd look. Brent was quite impressed that we were actually seeing THE Niagara Falls, and informed us that 1000 bathtubs full of water go over the falls every second.