Nights in Rodanthe.............

What on earth happened Mr Sparks???? I am still struggling to finish this book but I keep having to put it down because its just soooooo BAD........I'm a great fan of Nicholas Sparks.......his books have great storylines and often don't have a typical ending......they are all based in the4 beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina...the scenery he depicts is stunning........

But this book is awful........its as bad as a Mills and Boon/ Harlequin....the characters and storyline are so unreal and it is just far too sickly sweet.............

Has Sparks lost his touch or was this how he dealt with writers block and a deadline?

I'm so disappointed.....such terrible quality work coming from such a talent.

My Wednesday evening...........

Last night Lloyd and I drove Laurie into town as he slept over at his friends home...he's there all day today too.....after dropping him off we drove into Edmonton to the '4 Your Mind' Open House.......

4 Your Mind is a homeschooling supplies store and it was heavenly.......I set myself a budget of $100 but with Lloyds help I managed to go just over that and spent $104......but its money I get to claim back on homeschool funding :) I bought a spanish game, a math game thats a little like Yahtzee......several books for us to read together.......a Professor Noggins card game on Canadian History......some thermometers......and I picked Chris up a copy of the ESSENTIAL book 'The Teenage Liberation Handbook' by Grace Llewellyn......everyone should read this book......parents and teens!!!!

http://www.lowryhousepublishers.com/TeenageLiberationHandbook.htm

It was lovely to see Loralee, the store owner (and a friend from homeschool group!!!) and Trish from sports day and I had so much fun choosing supplies for the our new 'school' year!!!

After the open house we went out for dinner before heading home.........we spent the evening talking about my new business venture which has me very excited and very VERY nervous......I have emailed a friend asking for a little help and am kind of terrified but excited at the same time.............

Lloyd is so supportive...I swear if I said I wanted to be an astronaut he would go out today and buy me the text books and space suit and encourage me all the way! Is there anything he will not support me with?

Anyway.....watch this space :)

Bye bye garbage................

They came to get the dumpster this afternoon..................Sam and the girls enjoyed watching it out of the window........luckily it has a big cover to stop everything blowing out onto the highway............all that junk.................GONE!!!! :)

Sunflower power...............

Daisy, daisy, give me your answer do...................

I'm half crazy, over my love for you..............

Warm and cozy inside............

Its grey and dark outside and windy and rainy and only 11c .......so we have the heating on because its cold and its just so warm and cozy......

Hard to think it was 30c on Monday and will be 28c at the weekend again!

Laurie is sleeping at his friends home again tonight.............he'll miss having so many sleepovers once the twins go back to school....it will be back to just weekends lol! Maybe some of his homeschooling friends will want to sleepover here in the Fall.........

This heating is making me sleepy! Or maybe its because we've been so busy today and cleared out so much junk! I have two empty cupboards now! :)

Love and the mind......................

Love. It can be the most wonderful thing in the world...but it can also cause the most heartache and pain...............this has been on my mind a lot today. There were two news stories this morning that really spoke to me about how intense love can be.....how it can bring us to insanity.............

A lady was found in a house near Cochrane, AB ....she was lying next to the remains of her husband (who had died months ago) and the remains of her dogs.................she has been taken to a mental institution for help.

In another story, a seventysomething year old man went into hospital to visit his eighty year old wife.....while there he shot her dead and then turned the gun on himself....a murder-suicide.

I can't help but think that love brought these couples to this point......for the first lady....how could she let go of the man she loved? I know I would find it very hard to say goodbye to Lloyd.....I can quite see how someone could get to the point that they just hide in the home with the body, unable to leave it..............unable to let go......................

And with the man who shot his wife...................what was going through his mind? How he can't go on if she dies? How he can't see her in pain? How he wants them to go together? Maybe it's something they discussed through their years together...................I know LLoyd and I do.........

Lloyds Grandad is 90........his wife died several years ago and he is basically waiting (and wanting) to die.......he misses her...he doesn't want to go on living.......

I don't want Lloyd to be alone......but I also don't want to be alone..................I want us to go together...................always together..............the way we are in life.................

So yes, I can understand a little about what love can make you do.....................

Teeny tiny egg................

Our chickens have been laying for several weeks now...we get about 26 eggs a day on average..............when they start laying the eggs are tiny and then they get bigger as the chicken gets more practice (lol).......so most eggs are quite big now....but yesterday one of the chickens must have laid its first egg...rather delayed I guess lol.....and it is TINY compared to the average egg........ so in this picture you can see an average egg and next to it a tiny 'first' egg.

Again my flash isn't working so the picture isn't great................

Flying planes....................

Last night some of Lloyds friends came over to show the children their radio controlled planes......and to let the boys fly one of the ones on wire...................unfortunately the weather wasn't great...it stayed dry but after an hour or so it just got too windy and cold.........still, they managed to fix Lloyds RC Monster Truck...and they ahd a go at flying the plane......but by the time the 'action' started, it was beginning to get dark and my pictures are hopeless.............the flash on my Nikon is not working and they want to send it away for 8 WEEKS!!!!!! Which I can NOT do.....so Lloyd is buying a separate flash instead.................We have so much going on in the next 8 weeks that I just can't be without a camera..........anyway crappy pictures but a fun evening and it was really nice of Dave and Kevin to come over.........next time we are all meeting at the air field at Uncas to fly there which will be cool......Laurie can't wait until he's 12 because he wants to join the air cadets here...........................

The Take Apart Club!!!!

Its a rainy day here in Edmonton..........so we have taken advantage of it being cool and we have decluttered and organized all of the craft and 'school' cupboards........we threw out several sack-loads of garbage which was great because the county messed up and left the dumpster here two extra days at their expense...so we managed to throw it all into there.....I feel cleansed :)

While we were sorting out the cupboards we found two digital cameras and a clock that don't work......so the kids sat at the table with screwdrivers and hammers and took them apart, smashed them up and generally had a good look inside to see how they work............they saw a lot of micro chips and motherboard type things......and Laurie had great fun trying to fix the viewfinder on my camera....but no luck.......

It has kept them quiet for ages and they are helping each other and showing each other what they find!

This evenings treasures....................

A storm was coming in from the north west so the sunset seemed to vanish very quickly............but before it disappeared I caught the sunlight on the trees at the edge of our land.....this is where our moose live ;) or at least this is the woods we see them by the most........and the picture is taken from my little walking path Lloyd made for me................as I was stood there taking this picture a grouse got startled and flew up at me and into the woods...wow did I jump!!! We have a family of grouse in the woods here....they had babies this year :) they make wonderful noises :)

And coming back from the walk......

Off for a walk.......................

Sisters........friends........always..........

My Country Girl.........