Wilsonworld

Cat blogging Friday and sickness for everyone!

Yet another week comes to a close, and this week was probably one of the least productive I have had in months. Bug was sick Monday night, and decided that sickness is much better when it is savoured slowly..as in ALL WEEK. She is home again today, but thankfully her fever has not reappeared since midnight last night, so fingers are crossed. Man-Child on the other hand has been nursing his cough for a few weeks, which is normal with his asthma this time of year. That is until yesterday. The "bark" as we lovingly named his cough is worse. MUCH worse...and his inhalers are done. SO today, we are of to see our family doctor. We LOVE Dr. Jamie. I have been with her since she opened her practice-almost 20 yrs. She is warm, genuine and cares about her patients. She is also a Mom, and will listen to our Mom like intuitions. She never makes me feel like I am over reacting when it comes to my kids. I have never been told she is too busy, and she started evening office hours recently to help with the ever changing schedules of working parents.

So BOTH kids are home today. On a Friday. On a day that I was REALLY hoping to get some writing done. I had such a nice word buffer when Nanowrimo started, and this week dealing with a clingy sick Bug has seen that word buffer slip away... She is using my laptop to keep occupied, and to do her own Nano, which SHE has been able to keep up with. Perhaps when we are back from the doctor's today I will be able to pry my computer back for a bit. I am not behind, in the must-do-1667-words-a-day sense, but today unless I write I will be officially behind. I see a writing marathon in my future.

And to round up the title, here is Lord Stanley of Wilsonworld, taking part in our Halloween festivities. He normally hides that night, too many people for his liking, but when we were setting up the coffin, he thought it was a nice place to hang out and watch. Perhaps next year we can get him to dress up as a black cat?

 

Tuesday, I am so done with you.

After staying up last night to write, and get some help from a friend with Excel (Waves at MWT), I toddled off to bed. I knew that I would have lots of time to write in the morning, once everyone had left for work and school.

Yeah, like that was going to happen.

I woke up and found Bug curled up on the couch. She was sick and was staying home from school. Keith had called the school already and Bug went back to sleep. Headache and general ickiness, but no fever. That is until 5pm. Fever of 101.9, tired, and still icky. Guess who is staying home tomorrow too? By midnight the fever is gone, but I am taking no chances. I am really glad I had stockpiled those extra words, because I know I won't be doing much writing tomorrow either.

I made baked apples as a treat, and they just weren't as good as my Gramma used to make. I think I am missing that one ingredient..you know, the one they NEVER tell you, even though they swear they have given you the whole recipe? That or maybe they are yet another thing that you can only truly make once you are a grandmother. The apples were good, don't get me wrong, but they were just not the same.

SO to sum up...sick child, still no job, soggy apples and did I mention that it is cold...and I will not turn up the heat as it is really hard to pay for heat when you are not working? I think Bug won't be the only one curled up under the covers tomorrow...temps are supposed to drop. Lovely.

Just so as you don't think that I have nothing positive to share with you, i leave you with a picture from my very own special Graduation that wasn't. I may even show you two.

NaNoWriMo...and stuff.

Welcome to the busiest time of year here at Wilsonworld~November! It is the month of remembering, birthdays, and of course writing. I am once again doing NaNaWriMo, this being my 7th (?) year of joining the madness. I did stay up Halloween night to do a midnight start on my WIP09 and with one day in, I sit at a little over 4000 words. Not a bad start, now to keep that pace up!

Halloween has come and gone, and it was a little disappointing this year. Last year, we had 140 kids and trick-or-treating continued on till almost 10pm. This year, we had less than 100 kids and all was done by 8:30. It might have been the weather, it could have been the fact it was Saturday and there were parties to attend, or maybe the fear of the flu had parents keeping the kiddies home. 

For the first time, Bug did not go out as a pink something. She has in the past been a fairy, a princess, a butterfly..you get the idea? This year, she went out as a wizard, thanks to me keeping EVERY costume we have ever used. Six years ago Man-Child went out as Dumbledore and I had made him a long purple and black robe. It fit her well this year and of course, it was NOT pink! I had to do some adjustments on my own costume, since the temperatures were not costume friendly this year...thank goodness I have thermal underthings....yes, I know that Zombies don't feel the cold, but I hang out on the front porch and it was darn right chilly out there....the space heater we plugged in helped a whole lot!

Here we are, all dressed up with no place to go...

SO the fun is done here, and all that is left to do is remove all of the Halloween from the front yard, and start pulling out the Christmas stuff. And there is that little thing about writing 50,000 words in 30 days....Posting may be light, not that you would notice, given my track record lately, but I will try to make sure I pop on to let you know how the word count is going...

It is that time of year!!!

SO we have been a little busy around here, getting ready for our favourite time of year. Halloween is a family affair here in Wilsonworld, with all of us pitching in to get the house ready for the little ghouls and goblins who will be a visiting on Saturday.

We are late in starting this year so it has been full steam ahead these past few days..and I thought I would give you a peak at how things are going...

This is what you can do with a skull from your local dollar store, and a little bit of wax. It makes for a great family project.

Here he is close up. He was our first try and I decided that the second one should have the candle IN his skull, not just sitting on top. We already have had to reattach the candle to this one....

Now this one is a little more stable. I hacked a hole in the skull and carved the candle so it would be a tight fit. It is NOT going anywhere. I like this one better.

One of the smaller webs on the porch...we still need to add more spiders.

Same web, but from a different angle.

This is the main web in front of the bay window. It travels down the front of the house and will eventually make its way across the lawn to attache itself to the no parking sign by the street. we tend to leave that web till last, since it is the one that people tend to walk into. On purpose. Darn kids.

We are still working on costumes, and for the first time i will not be going as a witch or some sort of evil dead. I used my perfect black costume for Odyssey this spring and it is no longer an option for Halloween wear. Bug is going as a wizard, using the purple and black robe I made for Man-Child many years ago. She is carrying a white owl and a wand, and I only need to come up with a beard for her and she is done. this will be the first year that one of us is not going out with her, as she is off with a group of kids and parents from her school.

This year we found one of the "stuff-it-yourself" lawn spiders, and we have stuffed him and mounted him on the roof. One small problem to over come, his legs keep falling down off the roof.  It is one of those things we have to fix, since I don't want any kids getting hurt by flying/falling body parts.

I found a beautiful old piece of burgundy velvet, which we are going to drape in the coffin, and of course the skulls will be on either side of it. We have yet to get our pumpkin (yes I did use the singular, cost cutting measures in effect so we can only have one), and I need to bake for Bug's class. Chocolate ghosts with vanilla frosting...

Are you ready for Halloween? DO you dress up to hand out candy, or go out with your kids?

The day that wasn't supposed to be, turned out to be the best one of all.

My story is about a village.

You know the old adage, it takes a village to raise a child? We go one further. We believe that it takes a village to raise a family, and I am lucky enough to belong to a pretty wonderful village. Many years ago, one of the village members started putting the bug in my ear about going back to school. She took me up to the University and helped me get the ball rolling...the first time. That time didn't work out, but it lead me to the second try, which by now you all know led to me going back to school and finishing my degree. That road was a long one, and the village was always there to help along the way, with ideas, supplies and general support. It made things so much easier for me, and the rest of the family, knowing that we had a support group like the village.

This weekend, was supposed to have been my convocation ceremony. I was supposed to, with thousands of others, be part of a long drawn out convocation, which if the truth be known, I was really looking forward to. But things get in the way, that is the way of life when you are an adult, with adult responsibilities. With a mortgage to pay, and food and clothing for the children and no job in sight, paying the 100+ dollars to apply to graduate, as well as the cost of the ceremony just was not in the cards for me. I told myself, and whoever asked, that it really wasn't important. That I had already done the important part, the achievement of the actual degree. I put my time in, passed my courses and could now say, after 22 years that I was a University graduate. The truth, however was a whole different story.

I wanted to go.

I wanted to sit with all of those other faceless, nameless others, who had also put in the time and sweat, and I wanted to be able to walk across that stage, if only for a moment. It was to have been my moment. One that I worked really long and hard to get to. And it did matter. To me. It didn't matter that Papa was not going to be there, or that neither of my parents seemed to show any interest in my achievement. I didn't do any of it for them. I did it for me, but once again, I was going to lose. This was something that I shared with no one.

But my village?

They knew.

They knew without me saying anything.

This afternoon, in the presence of that village, I had my convocation ceremony. I wore a cap, which had belonged to a village member, I carried flowers from another, and I was draped with a warm wool cape. I walked into the door to the sounds of Pomp and Circumstance playing on iTunes....and I took that walk...in front of and with those that make me who I am.

There was cake and presents, laughter and love.

Today I graduated.

Today I was reminded of what is really important. That it is the little things in life, and those you may not even be aware of that can really make a difference.

As I start this next journey in my life, I know that I can do anything I set my mind to, because of the village that I have standing with me.

Thank-you all.

The one where I get friendly with a wee poultry..and there is pie.

So up here it is Thanksgiving weekend, and we are all a flutter here at Wilsonworld, getting ready for the family who will be gathering here this afternoon to feast on a small unsuspecting bird, and her friend, Mr. Ham.

The house has been tidied, and last night I prepped the potatoes, sweet potatoes and the squash. I pulled out my Grandmother's old dishes, found the linen, washed the crystal and located the silver. This will be the first time that we have all gathered since Papa's death and I am hoping that it goes smoothly. Before I disappear into the kitchen for the next few hours, I wanted to take a moment to give thanks...

I am thankful for so many things, and I am trying to take the time out of each day to stop and be thankful for the things I do have, instead of spending my time thinking of the things I don't...

I am thankful for good friends. On this list there are many, in both "meat-space" and living in the shiny box. People like this one, and this group, who are some of the most caring people I have ever had the chance not to meet. I have friendships that have lasted for over 30 years...the ones that I can call at any time of day. I have my GSO group who once again are playing an important role in my life, after years of absence.

I am thankful for my family. I have a wonderful best friend, who I also happen to be married to..together we can weather any storm or test that gets thrown at us. I have beautiful children, who are polite, loving and more than I could have ever hoped for. They help me remember to stop each day and smell the roses..

or the turkey, as this day warrants. Dinner today is scaled down from previous years, but we have a roof over our head, clothes on our backs, our health and each other. SO many blessings....I am truly blessed.

Dinner this afternoon is at 6..

• turkey
• ham
• mashed potatoes
• sweet potatoes
• squash
• baked carrots
• surprise veggie...
• stuffing
• fresh rolls
• gravy (of course)
• cranberries and all of the other picky foods
• PUMPKIN PIE (lovingly prepared by my SIL)

If you are celebrating today, Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy this wonderful holiday...