Simple Woman's Daybook

Outside My Window...
There is a monstrous back hoe, a couple construction guys and a dump truck. They are all working to expose the top of the University’s tunnel system for repair.

I am thinking...
About going to Winnipeg tomorrow for my best friend’s wedding. I can’t believe it’s already this weekend! I’m excited and nervous, especially about flying alone even though I’ve done it tons of times.

I am thankful for...
Being able to get the time off work to go to Winnipeg and relax a little when I get back.

From the kitchen...
We’re having leftover salmon burgers and steamed broccoli for dinner.

I am wearing...
Summer tan pans, flip flops, a brown and white vest/blouse combo and cute clip in my hair!I am creating...Hmmm … not big on the whole creating thing but I am working on crocheting a cozy blanket for our living room.

I am going…
To Winnipeg.

I am reading...
The Source by James A. Michener. About the history of Isreal as told archeologically.

I am hoping...
For coolish weather and sunny skies for Lorien and Chad’s wedding. Also for no turbulence on my flights.

I am hearing...
Paint being rolled on, a generator, moving of furniture on the floor above, voices of my co-workers…

Around the house...
I wish I was at home right now to answer this.

One of my favorite things…
Seeing Reuben’s phone numbers appear on my Called ID when the phone rings.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...
Fly to Winnipeg … but I think you already knew that! Get a manicure! Be as helpful and selfless as possible on the Wedding Day.

Biker chick

Guess what? I finally bought a helmet and riding jacket! Now I can hop on the back of my husband's Vespa and experience the joys of motorbiking or ... scootering, as it were!

Reuben has had his Vespa for just over 3 months now and he hasn't even remotely gotten tired of it. And after spending a lot of the weekend on the back, I can see why he feels that way.

I did not think I would like riding quite as much as I do. Although, the seat of the sporty model he got is not designed for 2 people, we both fit and the Vespa handles the extra weight (not that it's too much extra weight ;)) just fine.

After riding out to our friends' place yesterday for 25 min, it was like getting off of a horse. My legs were stiff and sore and so was my back as there is nothing for me to lean on. But I think, as time goes on, my body will get more used to it.

I'll try to post a picture soon!

Ride on!

New Post

Well, dear friends, I think I'll just ramble on a bit about things for now. I don't have a lot of pictures to add to this post as I am at work and don't have them with me.

Last weekend, was another busy weekend for us. We traveled down to Waterdown and stayed with Reuben's parents. On Friday, we celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary as well as Jared's 22nd birthday by having a photographer take some family photos and then having dinner at the West Plains Bistro. Very scrumptious!

On Saturday, we attended the wedding of Melissa Bremer and Gerald Alkema. Between the ceremony and the reception we went to a birthday party for my Oma N. Mostly all of the Nyenhuis children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were there.

Sunday was a quieter day but since we had church at 11am and left for home by 3:30pm, it was a very short day.

On the drive home, we drove through Toronto (unfortunately, you can't get around that) during a torrential rainstorm. I was driving. Past Toronto the rain died down so Reuben put the pedal to the metal and we made it home by 9pm. Woohoo!

After the weekend, we have not had any energy to do anything this week. I must confess that we spent some unnecessary hours just watching T.V. this week. We hate 2 out of 4 dinners in front of the T.V. Although, on Monday night, our gardener(my dad) came over and I did do some weeding, dead-heading and cutting back of a vine (which is going to take over our house if we don't watch it). So, I am satisfied that we got something accomplished this week. I also got one load of laundry done ... woohoo!

Last night, we had a birthday party for 2 ladies from our church. It was a small gathering but quite nice. It's nice to catch up on how everyone is doing and what's happening in their lives as I don't often manage to do this on Sunday especially when we are gone so much.

5 more sleeps until I hop on a plane to Winnipeg for my best friend's wedding. I'm already getting nervous about it. Partly because flying makes me nervous and partly because Reuben isn't come with me and I think I will be really lonely, especially at night. I'll have to bring some Hardy Boy books along to help lull me to sleep. (That's what I do at home when I can't sleep.)

Our Front Patio

Our patio is almost completed. It's not quite what I envisioned when we first started (see photo on right side panel) but still looks awesome and is 100 times better than what was there.

Before After

Our plan is to extend the garden to follow the "curve" of the patio as well as add a bistro set so we can sit out there in the evening. It's much quieter than on our back deck because we back onto a very busy road. We are also thinking of putting out some nice big flower pots.

5 of my most Favourite People

Left to right: Hadassah(18 months), Mom(years), Elyssa(8 months), Dad(years), Nethaneil(3 days).

I am back from a whirlwind trip to see the newest member of our family, my nephew, Nethaneil. He is beautiful and snuggable and of coures, lovable! My father, Karin, Elyssa and I hopped into my parents' brand new Subaru after work on Monday and made the long trek to Fergus (no more Arthur, the Broersma's have moved to the big city!:)). We hit some construction on the highway so our drive was more eventful than we would have liked. But we made it none the less and it was all worth it once we got to snuggle with our newest family member. Only 3 days old, he did a lot of sleeping. Apparently, he's calmer during the day than at night, so far, so we didn't hear a lot of crying. After a good night's sleep, we all went for breakfast at the local family restaurant. Everyone there was amazed that Diana was out and about after giving birth only on Saturday! She's a trooper.

I remember a year and a half ago when we went out for breakfast at the same restaurant just after Hadassah was born. She was already a couple of weeks old then.

After breakfast, we just hung out at Diana and Mike's new house all day. We didn't do much. Mostly just stared at Nethaneil and tried to keep cool! It was a scorcher of a day! Hadassah and Elyssa got along well.

Nethaneil slept.

Woke up.

And slept some more.

Around 3:30pm we decided to hit the road for the long trip home again. It was also a long trip due to construction and Elyssa needing to be fed but it was good and we made it home safely.

Good News

Check it out!

Baby Broersma

Diana has not had her baby yet. Please keep her, Mike and Hadassah in your prayers as they continue to wait on the little one and also as they are moving into a new house this week.

Babysitting Elyssa

I babysat Elyssa last night. She'll be 8 months old next week. She has 6 teeth, can sit and inch forward but isn't quite crawling yet. She loves being in the bathtub, playing peek-a-boo and making kissy noises with her mouth. We had lots of fun!

Maybe too much fun! I guess I tuckered her out. She fell over reaching for a toy and was quite content on her belly. Then I started rubbing her feet and she was out like a light.

Isn't her outfit cute?!!

Awww ... so sweet!

Update on the Garden

Lovely Evening Primrose.

New Guinea Impatiens, Spyrea, "Big" Seedum, Serviceberry bush.
My handsome, smart, wonderful, loving husband.
Rhubarb ... the second round.

I harvested 3 cups worth last night and made wonderful rhubarb muffins.

Rose bush ... with no roses. We really pruned it back in the spring so I'm not sure if it's going to flower this year. Along with our lilies and daylilies. I'm not sure they liked the transplant so much.

I'm not sure what this is ... but it looks like weed ... no, not weeds ... WEED. Get it. I got it from the Schriemers. hmmmm .... The small stuff near the front looks similar but it's the lovage plant which can be used as seasoning similar to Maggi. It's growing like crazy!

What a weekend!

Ok, so that was one of the most busy weekends we've had in a long time. And I think the most driving we've done in a long time. From 7pm Thursday to 9pm Sunday, we drove a total of 1500 kms!!! On Thursday night we dropped by the Wedgewood and took some pictures. It is a retirement residence that Reuben's firm designed. It was pretty nice! I would retire there, if I had a choice. And if I was at the retiring age:) We decided to stay in Brockville for dinner at the Brockberry Cafe. It was really scrumptious! I had a schrimp crepe with a bowl of swiss mushroom soup.

And Reuben had the New Zealand rack of lamb.

After this, we headed on to Napanee where we spent the night at the Hampton Inn. It was really nice. The bathroom decor was really modern. Only trouble was that I wanted a bath after a long day and they only had a shower stall. I guess most people don't take baths at hotels so they thought this was a better option.

On Friday morning, we headed on to Reuben's parents place and then quickly got ready for a wedding. Andre Schutten and Karyn Vandooren. The wedding was beautiful. Especially the music for the signing. It was "The Lord's Prayer" by Malotte. Two professional singers sang it and it was so beautiful, it moved us all to tears.

The bride and her father.My sister-in-law, Karin and I.

On Saturday, Reuben and I drove up to Midland for the funeral of my cousin, Ryan. Ryan died tragically in an accident. He was only 27 years old. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to get to know him too well. I was thankful we had the chance to be at the funeral for the sake of my aunt and uncle and other family. It was a 2 hr drive up to Midland. Afterwards, we drove Diana and Mike back to their place, where we stayed for the night. On the drive, we stopped in at the Creemore Springs brewery. Cute little place.

My sister and Mike. She is due in 4 days. Come, baby, come!!That night we went to the house of one of Reuben's friends from college. Him and his wife and daughter live in Fergus. Another friend of their's and his fiancee were there, as well. It was neat getting to know them better and Reuben had a great time reminiscing with his friends.

On Sunday morning we finally got to see our niece. Here are all the lovely pictures of Hadassah that we took. She is walking and saying "mommy, daddy, ossie (for their cat, Oscar)" and she can put shaped blocks in their correct holes. She's a smart little cookie!! And soooo adorable.

Father's Day etc

This past weekend was interesting. Reuben went to Nova Scotia ... by car ....for the weekend. He's crazy but I wish I could've gone. He went with his friend, Andrew, who had a wedding to attend. Reuben has an aunt and uncle and cousins in Halifax, so he got to visit with them. I have only had one teeny tiny phone msg from him so I have no idea how things are going but at least I know he's still alive. I worry.
It's been far too quiet in our house. I am hoping he'll be home tonight before midnight but I have no guarantees so I will wait. I'm just glad Evelyn didn't call me last night. If she goes into labour in the middle of the night we've agreed to run over and watch the kids for them. I was so worried it would happen last night that I couldn't fall asleep. Silly me!
I planted New Guinea Impatiens and some other purple flowers in our garden to brighten things up. They look great! But I don't have pictures. You'll have to stop by to see them. Gardening is good exercise!
Yesterday was Father's Day. Here are some pictures.

We got him a GPS for the car.

Elyssa (7 months old)

Before and After

Finally, I've managed to snap a picture of our finished bathroom. Here's the before ... well, after we'd started a bit of construction but you can see the horrible bottom paint color, the awful sink and horrendous taps. And here's the "new" bathroom .... TADA....

Barcelona

I met up with an acquantaince yesterday. One of my dad's students that showed us around Barcelona one year and 5 days ago. Now I'm daydreaming about Barcelona. About Montserrat, Parc Guell, Sagrada Familia, tapas, Santa Maria del Mar, windy tour buses, Gaudi and two of my favourite anglo-spanish words ....

Siesta and Sangria.

Lesson Learned

It is far better to give than to receive.

Ideas for our lamppost flowerbed

Clockwise from top-left: creeping rose bush, spirea, miscanthus(ornamental grass), baby's breath and perennial geranium.

Busy

Wow, our life has been busy. Over the weekend, we had company for Sat. night so I spent all day Saturday catching up on housework. I just don't have time to keep things up during the week so Saturday is always a big chore day. This includes grocery shopping which I always leave to the last possible moment because making that list is such a challenge. I can't do my shopping without a list. I'm just frozen and I end up buying really weird stuff just because it's on sale. While I was doing house chores, Reuben spent all day at the manse with some other guys from our church (and one lady) getting it ready for our new/ex pastor, his wife and son who are moving in in August.
So, we didn't get much done on our own house as far as projects go. On Monday night and last night, Reuben didn't come home until 11:30pm. He worked late on Monday and yesterday he went, with his co-workers, to the opening ceremonies of a Retirement Home they designed up in Pembroke. I was invited too but was recuperating from a cold so I didn't want to go.
Tonight, we are babysitting our neice, Elyssa, while her parents sail their boat in a race at the Sailing Club.
Then, on Friday, we are heading down to southern Ontario for a wedding. Our friends, Erica and Brian are getting married. I'm pretty excited because the reception will be at the Warplane Museum and we all know how much I love airplanes!:) Should be hectic but good. Hopefully, we'll get to see a little bit of Hadassah while we are there as Diana and Mike will be at the wedding, as well. My parents will be in town too, for a different reason and will be taking Hadassah with them for the day.

That's our life in a nutshell. No time for the house at the moment. While Reuben's parents were here, Reuben's dad installed our new sink and tap .... I will post before/after pictures soon!!!

More Gardening News

So, we didn't know when we bought the house but we actually have a gardener on retention. He pops by once and awhile to see how things are going. Sometimes, we'll come home from work and all our plants will have moved around. Doesn't this look nice?! The tall, spindly thing is a Serviceberry bush. It'll grow to 7 metres and have a 3 metre diameter. It's going to look really nice, once it has a chance to grow some. The other low bushes are transplanted from beside our garage. We're planning to expand our front walk into a patio.

This is what the corner looked like just after we moved in. Improvement, non?
By the way, our gardener is my Dad.

Nieces in Comparison

Nieces are wonderful things. I got to hang out with Elyssa a bit last night and she has started to "talk" saying "ahdahdahdah" instead of just screeches. I thought, I wonder what Hadassah was doing at the same age? So I watched some videos of the two of them and it is remarkable the similarities in their growth and range of motions. Both are/were starting to squirm across the ground, reaching for things, rolling over, playing with fingers and toes in their mouths and "talking". Here are some pictures of comparison.

Hadassah - 6 months old - June 2007 Elyssa - 6 months old - May 2008

Elyssa is now doing this cute waving thing as well. She's starting to communicate more and more and it's pretty awesome! At the end of next month, Diana and Mike will have another little one and the process will start all over again. Here is a picture of what Hadassah looks like now.