Weekend Wrap-up/Monday Morning Gossip

Linking up with Join this Gossip for

This past weekend was ok..I felt that all I did was work, and sleep. Oh well...it is nice to be/feel busy.

Friday, I had to work, which was great. I worked until 9, and I came home and I watched some TV, did some FB'ing and went to bed. I know...such a crazy life I lead.

Saturday, I woke up and was relaxing when work called and asked me to work the night shift. I was debating about going back to bed, but then my neighbour called and asked if I wanted to go to the Farmers' Market with her. Since we haven't done much in awhile, and I knew that the FM was about to be over for the year, I decided to go.

After a couple of quick stops (which may or may not have included a trip to/through Tim Horton's), off to the market we went. It was a beautiful day, and I even managed to score some lettuce and carrots.

 We are having a civil election right now...so the candidates were having a forum.

                                                 A waffle on a stick. I NEED this in my life.

                                               And yes, there was also some produce. Yum!

We also took a walk down to the yarn store, then to the dog park, and then came home. I had a nap (or rather tried to) for a few hours, and then had supper while watching the Lightning at Canucks. We lost..boo! (well, I actually was only able to watch the first half at home, then I had to go to work) I went to to the store, and then to work. The shift went really well, and it was really relaxed. I came home just after 10 and I had a nap.

Anker wasn't (and still isn't) feeling well, as he caught the family cold. I decided to go to my brother and SILs church (which is held at our church bldng), and it was a wonderful service. It left me feeling really sad, though, as it was about family; in particular, marriage. I came home and a while later, my SIL called and I told her that I was feeling sad and blue and she just encouraged me, which was sweet. I think I watched some TV and chatted with Anker and went to bed. So that was my (our) wknd.

Five on Friday/Oh, Hey, Friday!

Five on Friday's Back!!!
Linking up with Darci (along with the other girls that host the link up) for Five on Friday!

Linking up with The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday!

[ONE]

TV Shows.

I am seriously have become a TV addict. Along my many other TV shows that I watch, I also have gotten into 2 Broke Girls & Saving Hope. Seriously am loving these shows. I will also watch Forever if hubby is watching it.

[TWO]

Funky Music.

I all about Taylor's new (ish) song "Shake it Off", and I am also loving Meghan Trainor's "All About the Bass". I heard the latter on DWTS, and I had no clue as to who sang it. I finally Googled it, and it was that was what it was.

[THREE]

Return To Zero

We don't get Lifetime, so I was very sad that I wasn't able to watch it when it came out in May. I FINALLY found it on You Tube the other day. I actually haven't watched the movie in it's entirety, but I have watched most of it.I actually watched it on two different days, some of it being yesterday (YT keeps deleting it, so I had to find one with Spanish subtitles..hey, whatever works!)  Minnie Driver and Paul Adelstein do an amazing job. MD also favoured my tweet about it when I watched part of it a week ago...so that was pretty cool.

[FOUR]

Lipton White Mango and Peach Tea (ok, I guess technically, this should go on THIS wks Friday's link ups, since this happened yesterday..but hey, it's my blog so I can do whatever)

I tried this at work last night...YUM! It was sooo good!! I have about as much tea as I do make up (but I use much less of it...lol). But I do love teas (especially this time of year), so I think I am going to grab some next time we go shopping.

[FIVE]

My (new) Infertile Group on FB.

I have started a new Infertility group on FB, since after some drama in my last group, and they basically ditched me (after I gave the reigns over to another person), so I decided to create another group. There are less people (under 30 compared to over 600 in my last one), but much less drama.

That's all for this week!

Scenes from a Weekend

Yes, I am just a few posts behind. Never fear....I will catch up-eventually!

So, before I do FOF/Weekend Wrap up, etc, I wanted to do an update on/of LAST wknd!

Here goes...(be prepared for a butt-load of pictures!)

In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated in October (which I like better, btw). It is always celebrated on the second wknd, and it almost always falls on our around by brother's bday. I secretly thinks he like this; turkey and family get togethers are a win-win for him, I am sure.

So, last Friday, October 10th, hubby and I chose to stay home, and leave the next day. We just relaxed and watched tv, and I am actually glad that we didn't try to go out that night.

Saturday, we left around 11, and got there around 1. Luke (the brother below me) and his wife, Amanda, and their little one N made the trek all the way from the Island. It was SO great to see them!! N never did fully warm up to me, but we did have some special moments. She loved that I brought some bubbles...and the next morning, the first thing she said to me was "bubbles?" It was cute. She and H got along famously (for the most part). Both them being only children made things a bit interesting at times!!

All of we siblings were there, except for Vienna. We all greatly missed her, and plan to photo shop her in all the pictures that we took!

So, Saturday, when we arrived, we just relaxed and visited with each other. Our friends Matt and Jill (sans kids) came to visit with Luke and Amanda. We all went for a walk, on our property, and H joined us, which always made things interesting.

I took some pictures of our lovely Autumn weather; I love Autumn; especially on our ranch.

                                                 I couldn't resist a Holiday Wknd Selfie.

                                              Yes, we have our own personal Riverbank.

                                                          We had a lovely walk.

We came back and got ready for dinner. We had our hot meal Saturday night. Can I just say "yum"?

                  Mom, Dad and the little ones had found us each a rock that they felt represented us.

For dessert, we also had Pumpkin Squares. If you haven't ever tried them, I suggest you should. My aunty makes them, and they are SO good!! She didn't have any gingersnaps, so she made them. Again, they were very good. I didn't take any pictures (yes, they were THAT good!), and I don't have her recipe, but I think these squares would be a similar recipe to what she used.

We also celebrated Luke's Bday. The kids and Mom had decorated cupcakes earlier in the day. They had a hoot. I helped them put candles in the cupcakes. They had fun doing that, too.

We usually go for a walk after our dinner, but since it was at night, and some of us already had gone for a walk, we just sat around and visited. My brother read out a funny book (well, funny to some people), and we visited, and played Password. We were all in bed by around 10 or so (well tend to go to bed early on the farm..lol).

Since the B&B was taken, and L and A were in the guest room, Seth graciously offered up his bed. We slept ok, but not great.

Sunday, we got ready for church, and I helped Mom get a few things ready for that night (I also did a salad the day before). Church was great, and I even got to look after H and N in the nursery. So fun!

Sunday afternoon was when we had our cold meal with just the parents and siblings.

 I loved our centre pieces. Our SIL was at a wedding the day before, and these were the flowers.

                                                Pretzel Salad. It's heaven in a bowl.

                                                 We had cold turkey, salad, veggies, etc.

The dinner was delish, and the company was even better. After our dinner, we went for a walk.

                                            Nothing like a walk to walk off all that turkey!

                             N wanted to meet the lamb...but she didn't want to get too close.

                                                           I love the fall colours!

                                                    I love this cute little family!

                                               The family that walks together stays together!!

                                                  H and N. They got along so well.

                                                                I love my family!

                                                      Photo Courtesy of Karen Moilliet

 We spent Sunday night relaxing and hanging out with each other...and enjoying the babies. After they went to bed, we watched Divergent. I had brought a few movies with me that I got from the library. I didn't know if and when we would watch them, but when I mentioned that I had some, and I showed them the movie, they all jumped on/at that. I did not. But I watched it anyway. What an odd movie. After the movie, we had a late night bun-wich of turkey and fixings. Because we could.

Monday, we had a lovely pancake breakfast before L and A left. I took the little ones for a walk before they left.

 I was able to get a few pics of them playing in/with the leaves.

                                                      Not the greatest, but I tried...lol

                                                         I love these two!

After they left, we cleaned up, relaxed (we do a lot of relaxing when we are together!), had lunch (we also like to eat a lot!); yes, left over Turkey Dinner..yum..and watched Bobby, which was totally different than what I thought it would be. Went on a short drive with one of our SILs to the store, and left around 5. We stopped at my aunts on the way home, as we hadn't seen them all weekend. The trip home was a bit scary, and stressful, but we made it home in on piece.

All in all it was a great wknd. We had lots of little visits, and I had fun playing with the kids. Uncle Anker even read them a story!!

 I always pause and dwell on all my blessings; and I was very thankful for family!!!

 I hope all of my Canadian friends/bloggers had a great TG wknd as well!

Just a Quick Update/Throwback Thursday

Can't do a long blog post today, but I am still alive! I really haven't felt the blogging bug lately (even with reading all the blogs), so I just am taking a bit of a blogging break. We are doing ok...a lot of financial stress lately, among other things.

We had a nice Thanksgiving Wknd with my family (I will try and blog about that soon), and it was great to see all my family again. We all get along so well (for the most part!), and we always enjoy each others' company. We ate. A lot.

A few weeks back Anker and I were invited by his support group to celebrate one of their founders' birthdays. We went to Hotel 540 for the party, and it was a nice afternoon. They had a buffet of lunch fare; and it was very good. I may have eaten too much. Maybe. The cake was good, too. After, we wandered around the local thrift stores, and bought a few things. So, that was our date for the week.

Yesterday was Anker's birthday. It was bit of an interesting day (financial worries, and running around), but in the end it was actually a nice day. I made a spice cake, which sadly didn't turn out that well. It was very dry. Grr. The icing, however, was amazing. We watched a movie of his choice, and he chose X-Men: Days of Future Past (insert MAJOR snore fest here), and no, I don't watch those types of shows (which is partly why I like TBBT; they are all so different than me), so I thought it was boring..HOWEVER, my man, Hugh is in it, so that was one redeeming quality. Another good thing about the movie was that it was partially set in the 60's (cue MAJOR glamour here). And hubby said I could Facebook during it, so ya, it wasn't too bad.

As you can see, I am not doing many daily (weekly) updates anymore, b/c they are kind of boring...I continue to do highlights, and I will try to do weekend updates.

In honour of #TBT, here is a picture of little old me back in grade 1 (it's not "First/Second/Third, etc Grade in Canada).

Weekend Update...from LAST Weekend

Hi. I am April. I used to have a blog. Anyway, moving on.

I thought I would quickly do an update on last weekend. Clearly, I haven't been in the blogging mood/mode. But I still want to do updates once in awhile.

LAST week was kind of boring...I only worked one shift, and I had a staff meeting (or was that the week b4? I can't remember). And I also looked after H twice, so that was fun. He is so sweet. I heart him.

So, last Friday, I went to the church to pick up a form that I had asked them to fill out for hubby. I ended up staying for (after getting invited to) a mom's Bible Study. They were doing an Elisa Morgan Study on Women of the Bible. It was nice to hang out and relax and be with people. I grabbed some Tim Hortons (a belated breakfast) and read some magazines, and then I went to the mall. I wandered around, which was really nice. I visited my friend, and her sister, who was also there, which was really fun. We had a lovely time...complete with tea and ginger cookies. Oh, did I mention that I broke into her house; made my self at home, made tea and got their WiFI PW? Ok, not really, as her husband was outside and told me that I could go inside. I left around 5 or so, and then came home for a bit. Hubby was having a bit of a tough day, so I left for a bit, and grabbed some supper at DQ for us. Actually, I ate mine in the restaurant and read magazines again. Came home; had a bath and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Saturday, I woke up early and went with my aunt to walk the dog. We got breakfast at McD's, and after the park, we went to her house to do some packing. They are moving to a small town about 2 hours away. It was a bit of a last minute move, which was why she went crazy the last few days. I came home and relaxed for the rest of the day. We watched some TV that we had PVR'd; Grey's Anatomy, among other things. I think I had a nap. Not sure what we did in the evening. Sunday, I went to church, and grabbed a snack at McD's and came home and had a nap, and slept until 6 or so. I had supper, and went to work.

So, that was last weekend. What did you do?

Oceans

***This post was started September 29, 2014***

This blog title comes courtesy of Brantley's blog. I read about her Ocean (s) back in January, and when I wanted write about what we've been going through the last bit (mainly this past couple of weeks, especially this past weekend), and I was thinking of blog titles, I remembered this. Actually, yesterday, Aunty Shelley and I went to a church (that my friends go to) that we had never been to before. Her friends were trying it out, and asked her to come along with her. They sang Oceans, and that made me remember this this post.

 {Oceans by Hillsong}

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You’ve never failed and You won’t start now

So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior



*****This rest of this post was written on October 5, 2014****


This was one of the posts that I wanted to finish. I had started it on Monday, and due to my lack of blogging this week, I hadn't been able to finish it, so here it is.

So, like I said earlier, the song and the blog that I referred to above inspired the title of this blog post, along with actually my inspired me to write this. Ok, now I am rambling...

Right now, for the last couple of weeks, we have been going through some tough times. Finances have been really frustrating, Anker hasn't been feeling well, and is going through a bit of a tough time, too. We haven't been spending as much time together as we (or I) would like, and I am not really sure where God wants me to be right now, career-wise. I love my job, and a lot of time I think I know that I am supposed to be there, but there are other times, when I often wonder. I think that is normal, right?

You could say we have been slugging through life. I hate that term. But I don't know what other term to use, so slugging seems like the best term that fits, and I am tired of it. I try to be positive about things, and try to have a positive outlook on things, but then something happens, or I do (or don't) do something, and then I get depressed and /or about our life.

I am not gonna lie; being broke sucks. We try to find ways to do things without money (and I/we have), but it gets tiring not being able to spend money; even on things that you need. It is kind of like being/going on a diet. You can do it for so long, then you get tired of not eating your favourite foods, and you flip out and pig out on the weekends.

We did get our GST cheque on Friday, which helped, and I did go and get a few things that we needed (I even put back a pair of PJ pants that I kind of needed, as I don't think we can afford that). I also grabbed a coffee and a snack or two this weekend, and we did grab fast food for dinner on Friday, but that was it.

As far as trying to get more money, well, I even put some stuff on some local "garage sale" groups on FB, in hopes of getting a few more bucks, but only one things has sold, and it has almost been a week. I am looking after H once in awhile, which helps, but I haven't been doing it much. I am starting to wonder when things will start to be turned off.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am exhausted, and not just about being broke all the time. When Anker gets really depressed or down, he goes into a dark place, and I try to encourage and be there for him, but I don't know on how else I can help. He also likes to be alone, and he doesn't go out a lot, which means I go out alone a lot of the time. He doesn't even want to see people. I am tired of I am tired of our small place. We did clean it up this week, which does help things. I try to relax and do things for myself (be good to myself), every day; even if it just relaxing and binge-watching a tv show, but still I feel weary, and weak.

I don't know why God is allowing us to go through this. Does He want me/us to grow closer to him? I am asking God all the time what He wants me to do. I wonder where God is in all this?  I am tired. I am beaten. I am done.I know that in our weakness, God is made stronger, but I don't see it.

Our life is kind of like an ocean. Vast, wide and deep. I hope I/we see land soon. Cause I am getting tired of sailing.

Sunday Social

Hi everyone! Yes, I am still alive!! I have a bunch of posts that I have started, but I need to finish, and Five on Friday is back (along with Oh Hey Friday), which I didn't even link up with (but still may), and there are two more link ups this month....

Remember Blog-Tember that was going on last month (which I never participated in)? Well, now they have Blog-Tober (I wonder if they have Blog-Vember, and Blog-Cember?), which I will try to do a few posts for this month. Plus my regular (alone/non-link up) posts to do. Sheesh! This is turning into a full time job!! :)

Even though I haven't been working (yay for time off/lots of watching TV/DVDs, reading, etc, boo to no money), I seem to not have the blogging bug lately. I have just been blah, and not really into documenting stuff. But, hopefully I can do a few posts here today, in the next few days.

So, on to SS :)

Linking up with Ashley again.

1. What is your favorite month and why?
My birthday month, duh!! LOL I guess that would make it June. I also love September and October. I do not like January (though two of our family members' birthdays are in January, so that makes it fun, and depressing, bc we never have any money)


2. What is your favorite holiday and why?
My birthday! LOL Actually, I love Thanksgivng. In Canada, it's in October. I love that. The roads are still good enough to travel, you get to see family and friends, you still get to eat a nice dinner, but you don't have to worry about buying gifts. I do love Christmas, though.

3. Are you getting the new iPhone, or are you more of an Android person?
No. Android all the way. I think it's stupid for people to buy technology items just because it's new. 

4. What is the most thoughtful gift you’ve ever received from someone? 
No clue. I remember my dad making me a doll house for Christmas when I was about 5 or so. Loved it. This last birthday, Anker bought me a photo frame with the letters L-O-V-E and a place to put a picture. I thought that was very sweet. 

5. What is something you can’t wait to splurge on?
Umm...a new car?  Some fluffy winter PJ's. Yup, I am simple like that.

 It kind of sounds like this will be the last Sunday Social ever by/from the way she worded it, which makes me sad...here are next weeks questions.


1. How did you come up with your blog name?
2. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
3. What is one thing you have discovered because of blogging and now can’t live without?
4. Facebook or Twitter? Why?
5. If one celeb read your blog, who would you want it to be?
6. What is something you want people to know about your blog?