19 degrees C

(that's 66 degrees F) here on The Rock today!

Unbelievable for this time of year --- in this part of the country (so much for the 15' year-round snow banks we were warned we'd encounter here). As you can see, Larry enjoyed sitting outside on the deck. The kids enjoyed riding their bikes without heavy coats and I even had shorts on. It's been a couple of great days. I'm ummm....hoping...this will continue on and on into the Spring. I somehow kind of doubt it, but hey, I can always hope, right??

My chocolate didn't think too much of the warmer temps though. The warmer weather makes it difficult for it to set up properly. I always get nervous when warmer temps are forecast and I have a sale coming up. Fortunately, I was able to work today's batch ok. It was tense there for awhile...but all is well.

Party at our House

We hosted the youth group of our church on Saturday night. It was an interesting evening. There were 10 kids, five leaders, one visitor, Larry and I..... all in our house!

They'd picked this weekend to come to our place and since it coincided with Brittney's birthday, we got her another cake and turned it into a regular meeting/birthday party for her. They had their usual meeting, devotion, small group, snacks (and boy did they ever have good snacks!.....I'm wondering if *I* could pass for a youth), games etc.

We lit a fire in the wood stove (and not only did I get it going, it was very warm in here....I hope I didn't cook them!) and after the formal part of the evening we had the cake. Everyone sang Happy Birthday to Brittney, she was blushing somewhat lol. After that, we all had a piece of her cake. As the cake was handed out, there were about 15 people in our kitchen....our little kitchen....all at the same time. I'm surprised we all fit in there at the same time ....but we did! (I'll have to remember that next time the five of us feel cramped at supper time.)

After cake and snacks, some of the young people (what do you call this age group...they're not kids, they're not adults hmmm....young adults maybe...I'm not sure) and not so young people (the adults lol) headed outside to play a game of spot light. It's similar to hide 'n seek, only played in the dark with flashlights. Many of them were in awe at how well they could see the stars. It was a clear night and the show is quite breath taking. With no lights of the city combined with the clear air, it is an impressive sight!

Some stayed inside and sat around the fire, talking and laughing. Jake cozied up to a couple of the leaders and told them his life story (whether they wanted to hear it or not), complete with all the pictures of his life.

I must say, they were a great group of young people ..... polite, friendly and all around well behaved. Brittney was somewhat surprised by her cake and I think all in all it was a good night!

Now....I just have to work on getting them to believe *I* am a youth so I can attend these meetings, join in on the fun and eat all the snacks.

I know...I know....good luck.

Another Birthday

Oreo Cake!



Brittney at approx. age 2



Brittney at 14



Brittney turned 14 today.

We had a family day today.....We went to Jungle Jim's for lunch, followed by Brittney and Jake's swimming lessons. After a couple of other stops in town, we headed back home for cake and presents.

All in all, a good day. Still more to come......stay tuned ;0)

Update to yesterday's post...

(from my comments on yesterday's post)

And the winner is .......

BECKY!!! We will be glad to send you all of our snow....when (and if it comes....like armywife_gnr said....I'm also hoping we won't get any snow but I'm probably dreaming) So....if we get any, I'll package it all up and send it via mail to your place....I hope the mailman won't mind the odd soggy box lol ;0) )

Arnywife_gnr --- I'm with you....here's hoping we get no snow (although I spoke to my Dad and Brother last night, both are in Ontario, and they said they were getting snow....eeekkk....I hope they keep it there)

Linda -- Yes, there is just something about a nice fire, isn't there? It makes things seem so cozy.

Cathy --- Thanks for stopping by and saying hi! Glad you enjoy reading. Wow, all the way from Australia! Linda's from there as well....I've always had a fascination with Australia....I really want to visit there some day.

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It *was* quite the storm last night and it's still windy now....the wind howled all night long. Jake slept with us.....the wind scared him too much. And....we had lots of rain...lots and lots. However....it was better than snow (not much but a bit). Parts of Ontario had snow...some northern areas had accumulation too....so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

I hope our shingles, shed etc. are all still in tact....it's too dark yet and I can't see out. Here's hoping.

Newfoundland Storm

A few pictures taken in our yard this morning. It was raining but not storming. Most of the trees around here are evergreen, but we have three Maples in our yard. We don't have the vibrant colours we were used of in Ontario, but the trees in our yard are quite bright compared to all of the 'green' that dots the landscape

These yellows are really bright....the camera doesn't do it any justice. They almost look like they are glowing and these are out in our front yard.

Click pictures to enlarge




This one is at the side of our house....it's still mostly green but the tops and outer leaves are starting to turn bright red.





There is a Newfoundland storm happening here today. The winds are just starting to pick up. The above pictures were taken this morning and although it was raining, there was no wind.

The weather report called for upward of 70 mm of rain and high winds. I've heard several reports --- all with varying wind speeds. Some say 50 - 70 kmh and others say up to 100 kmh. Eeekkk. That's a lot of rain and wind....no matter which report is correct.

I was a little out of sorts when I heard of the impending weather, that was until the reporter mentioned if this was December or January, the 70 mm of rain would be 50 cm of snow.....hmmmm.....we'll keep the rain thank you very much. 50 cm of snow???.......I have some on-line friends who live in much warmer climates than ours....perhaps we could send them some of our snow???

Any takers?

In the meantime, I'm going down to light a fire in the wood stove. Nothing like sitting around a crackling fire when the weather outside isn't all that welcoming.

Chocolate Sale

From this......55 lbs of chocolate



To this. Larry and Jake pricing chocolate









I decided to take part in a Farmer's Market today in St, John's.

As most spaces at the market are pre booked, remaining spaces are available on a week to week basis only. This leaves a bit shorter notice than I'd like. I make my items fresh and the short notice means a lot of work in a short period of time. But....I made it!

Events like this are not really Tyler's cup of tea. He opted to stay at home. Brittney wanted to come --- not only to help but also to look around at the other vendors' booths as well (read: to shop). Larry likes to be 'out in front' too whereas I prefer making the chocolate items (hmmm wonder who Tyler takes after?).

That leaves Jake. For those of you who know him, you know which position in our family business *he* prefers. Yep, you guessed it.....salesman. As soon as he found out I was going in the sale and that he could come, he was over.the.top with excitement. This is putting it mildly too...the last few days have been a challenge for me keeping my cool while I helped him keep himself calm. He loves people and when I asked him what he thought of selling, he replied, "Are you kidding me??? I love it.....it's exciting.....it's unique.....it's awesome!!!"

This excitement soon earned him the title of Chief Salesman...and I must say, he lived up to that title. He was up at 6:00 a.m., dressed, had breakfast and ready to go, long before the rest of us. When we arrived there, he helped set up and wrote out name tags for each of us to wear. His of course, had his first and last name as well as both middle names.

When the sale started, he promoted, explained and sold a lot of chocolate. I mostly stood back and watched. He calculated total purchases in his head and did pretty well with the change. Larry was there to oversee, and while Jake needed some help calculating change, he did very well figuring out total amounts of each purchase.

Brittney did well too, explaining about the chocolate....the different types, the fillings etc. She enjoys working with/meeting/talking to people too and also does well with this skill. There were a couple of tense moments though when she accepted some money from a customer......Jake saw this as his job and his job alone. He didn't like her intruding on *his* territory, he was not impressed and let her know too. I'm pretty sure others could tell as well.....Oh my...

It was a good day though. We enjoyed some time working together. I feel they learn so much from these events and I count them highly in our homeschooling experience. Math, handling money, social skills, working as part of a team, operating a business, communication/language skills ........the list goes on.

At the end of the day, I was going to pay them ....in chocolate (what else). They both said no, they didn't expect anything because they wanted to come along and really enjoyed the day. Jake went on to say I needed to make a profit and it wouldn't help if I gave chocolate away for free. So....back and forth we went trying to figure something out. I wanted them to have something for free, he wanted to pay and I didn't want to do that. Eventually, we were able to work out a deal that he thought was acceptable....he chose something he liked....I gave him a discount and he paid the rest. At first I suggested he could have it half price....he thought 25% would be best.

He drives a tough bargain, eh? ;0)

We've been hit...

with that nasty bug which has been making it's rounds.

Jake was the first to get it, although he's been on the mend for a few days now. He passed it on to Brittney and of course, she shared with Tyler. The usual --- sore throat, fever, coughing and all that good stuff.

I haven't had the bug (yet anyway), but am still dealing with my own on going health issues. That, plus looking after sick kids and trying to get ready ready for a chocolate sale, it's all taking it's toll.

We haven't been very happy campers around here this week. Whoever has the most energy at the time, does the task which needs to be done. Only the necessities are being done and not a whole lot of school work. I know when Tyler doesn't do any school work for two days, he's really sick (well he's done his French, but nothing else).

So far Larry has been spared...good thing....somebody has to be healthy. Although apparently, Jake feels *he* is healthy. After returning from the library today, he wanted to know where his Dad was. When I said he'd gone to work, Jake responded with,

"I'm not sure why Dad would go off and leave me home with three sick people."

How sympathetic of him, isn't it? Especially, since he was the one who brought first brought it home. How soon he forgets. ;0)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Fall is definitely in the air here. Tyler, Jake and I went for a walk tonight. The air was crisp and clear. We walked into the downtown core of Pouch Cove (*grin*) and stood by the bridge watching and listening to the ocean. It was absolutely roaring.....such power as the waves crashed in against the rocks. It sounded much like a freight train was coming....such power.

This time of year, the ocean seems louder to us. Not sure if this is actually true, or just in our imaginations (we'll need to check this out with people who've been here longer than us), but last fall we loved being in our house and listening to the ocean. We could hear and feel it vibrating in the house as we lay awake in bed...such a wonderful sound.

Brittney and Jake are the only lucky ones of our family to have seen a moose so far this year. Last year, we were treated to seeing two in our back yard. One of our first evenings here, I looked out a back window to see a moose eating off one of our trees! I immediately ran out on the deck to see him....he just stood there looking at me while I looked at him. He seemed to find me as interesting as I found him. He watched me, I watched him and eventually, when he'd had enough....he moved on.

Another time, I was talking on the phone to my Dad. I happened to look out the front window in time to see one walking down our driveway. Amazing! Hopefully, we'll be able to see some more this year too.

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

New Hobby

Brittney has decided she likes doing laundry.

Yes....you heard me right....she *likes* to do laundry.

And....that's absolutely all right with me. Almost every day she looks around to see if there is enough laundry to do. She gets frustrated with me when I try to explain why we don't do laundry every day.

When laundry day does roll around (and laundry day is determined by when there are enough clothes to wash and when the weather outside is nice enough to hang the clothes), she excitedly gathers the items, lugs them upstairs and outside, hangs them on the line and then returns them to their owner once dry. She said to me, "It's kind of like a new hobby."

So...for now anyways....it appears I've lost one of my jobs and as I mentioned...that's absolutely o.k. with me.

1/2 hour later in Newfoundland

Our maple trees.....still mostly green




Brittney's pea plants....still flowering and producing pods



I remember, many moons ago, the tv announcer saying those words. I never understood *why* he said them, but he always did.

We've noticed many things here in Newfoundland seem to happen later than what we were used of while living in Ontario.

The winter and cold weather start later. (Hopefully the snow will too!) I don't think we've had any frosts yet. Our days are still in the teens, with nights getting down to around 5 (Celsius). Last Friday morning, the radio weather guy said it was 16 degrees out....and that was at 6:00 a.m.!

The Spring and Summer start later, although this year we didn't really have any Spring. The local people claimed, it was *my* icebergs (scroll down to see all of them) that caused the weather to stay so cool. They never seemed to share in my exuberance while talking about the icebergs....in fact many of them looked downright horrified at my display of excitement. Well....what can I say....my only defence is I'm a mainlander....and we don't see too many icebergs.

The grass was much later getting green. We didn't cut our grass for the first time until June. In Ontario it was always early May and one year April 29. The trees were later coming out.

Vegetables and Fruit ripen later. We were picking strawberries well in to August. Our pea plants are *still* producing flowers and pods.

The trees haven't really started to change colour yet. Granted, most of the trees here are evergreens, but we do have three Maples in our yard. With the exception of a very small patch on one tree, they are all still quite green.

It's interesting to see and experience all of these differences. Things we took for granted to happen at a certain time, don't and we have now have to adjust our thinking. Not easy when we've only been used of doing things a certain way and at a certain time.

Hmmmm.....I wonder if this is what that tv announcer meant by "1/2 hour later in Newfoundland" ? *wink*

I do have some

pictures of me. Here's some, they're a few months old but they are some nonetheless. Jake and I were experimenting with the webcam and these are some of the pictures we took. He made lots of ummmm....interesting faces, but thought perhaps some of them were best left unposted lol.

(I'm still working on this Jacqueline ;0)

I've been tagged!

Here is a book meme from Yofed.


Here's the rules:
Grab the nearest book.
Open the book to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your journal/blog along with these instructions.
Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.
Tag five other people to do the same.

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okey dokey. Me, being the interesting person that I am lol (insert rolling-eye smiley here) find the closest book to me at the moment to be a homeschooling resource recently received from Veterans Affairs Canada. It is called Canada and The Great War 1914 - 1918 A Nation Born

Page 56, These sentences read:

"Others portrayed them as brutal and evil: for example, in a comic published in July 1915 there is the line: "Everywhere he looked he could see nothing but scowling, hideous visages of pallid Germans." Many comics carried collectors' items such as coloured pictures of the uniforms of Allied armies."

Cool Meme...

I'm not going to tag anyone but if you're so inclined to play along, then consider yourself tagged! Don't forget to let me know if you've chosen to play along.