Over at my new place, (Oh, Baby!) I had an idea to blog my maiden name, Lauralea Hedman, to see if it comes up on a Google Search. "Lauralea" comes up, and this blog comes up, so I thought just for the heck of it I'd do the same here.

I have wondered, at times, if anyone else out there ever tries to "Google" somebody. I've done it with high school friends, band colleagues, teachers... just your every day run of the mill stalker, that's me!

I also thought, that since many of us have changed our names in the 25 years since high school (now don't you feel old!) that I'd publish my name for all the world to see, and if anyone ever tried to Google me, they'd find me!

So, Lauralea Hedman from College Heights Secondary School, graduation class of 1981, Band member extrordinaire, etc., etc., .... is alive and well on planet earth. I'm living in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan now, and am ever hopeful that I didn't leave any enemies with long grudges in my wake... who are now buying bus tickets and looking up my address in the phone book.

Pop over and check out my new digs, and then send me an email. I'm quite positive that I'd love to hear from you... whoever you are!

My Husband has been busy, redesigning my World.

Redefining my space.

I think he's quite a genius, actually.

When you consider that our first computer, nearly 20 years ago, was a little CC2 from Radio Shack...

Who remembers typing in code for 3 hours to play a little paddle game?!

So.

Lauralea's World has become lauralea.ca

I am passing from this World, to conquer my domain.

Are you coming along for the ride?

Oh, Baby,

Let's have some fun with this!

Epiphany!

I don't hate gardening.

I just hate afternoon gardening.

I like morning gardening.

I hate being hot.

I hate being sweaty.

I hate when my glasses slide down my nose, and my bra sticks to my body.

I don't hate digging holes and pulling weeds.

I like planting things.

I love being creative with the fruits of my labour.

I bought, yesterday, a black current bush, a red current bush, and a gooseberry bush.

Well, they're not bushes yet, but they will be.

Give them time.

I planted them this morning.

Before the shower, before the breakfast, before the blazing sun and crippling heat.

Spray on the Deep-Woods Off, throw on yesterday's shorts and top.

No one about, so you don't need the bra.

It was great.

Bushes/ sticks are planted, and I am optimistic that some day they will produce jelly, and pie, and jam, and wine.

So, gardening done, lovely cool shower to wash off the bug spray and get fresh again.

Nice.

A good start to the day.

On another note, when I came to the computer, BBC7 was playing, and the presenter that sounds like our friend Nigel was on. If you know Nigel, you have to check this out. You can check out BBC7, whether you know Nigel or not! If you like stories and drama, you will like this. We discovered it last year, and it's one of my favourite internet radio stations. In the morning (our morning- afternoon in Great Britain) you can hear the Little Toe Show and then The Big Toe Show. These are shows for kids, but they read and dramatize stories and books. It's very enjoyable. In the afternoon here (evening there!) there is the Crime and Thriller hour, and The Seventh Dimension (science fiction / space stories) and Comedy. From this BBC7 page, you can listen live, or click on "listen again" to find the Big Toe Show, (Jez/ Nige was on Sat., so scroll down and click on it) or any other show that tickles your fancy.

That's my plug for early morning gardening and BBC7.

Now it's off to see what the rest of the day holds.

It has been a good morning, so far.

I was sleeping before midnight, and up at 7:30.

Much improved over the past few days.

I was able to make a run to the church to do some photo-copying and fetch some baby food jars that I'm sharing with the Anglican church for a VBS craft.

It smelled like camp.

It was like being at the lake in the morning...

Fresh air, slight hint of rain (or lake water!), some kind of lake foliage happening somewhere, sunlight flickering through the leaves.

Very nice.

I fried up some leftover sliced, canned luncheon meat and then it smelled like camping!

So, breakfast has been had, and everyone is out....

I'm home alone.

Just Me and Micah.

Micah and Me?

Micah and I?

He and I?

Me and him?

I had breakfast with Harry, (Potter, that is) and enjoyed the quiet and the sunshine and the nice breeze.

Makes me think about life as the children leave home.

I think I will like it.

I will definitely need to either have Micah or my sewing "room" moved upstairs so that as the teenaged Micah sleeps in til noon I can putter around without disturbing the quietness. There's nothing worse, on a beautiful spring or summer morning, than to be bombarded by the rantings of a prematurely awakened adolescent. I think I'll take an upstairs bedroom... the small one in the back that gets all the sunshine. That will be nice.

Ah yes.

Micah is now up and on his way out to mow his half of the lawn. The bonus for him, in having Thomas away at a friend's for night, is that he (Micah) gets to choose which half of the lawn he mows!

And so, it's 10:00, and the day marches on.

Left, right, left, right, march, march, march, march...

I don't know what you've been told.....

I don't know what you've been told.....

42's not very old...

42's not very old...

Stand up straight, you're in your prime....

Stand up straight, you're in your prime....

Getting better all the time....

Getting better all the time....

This has to end.

When I was young, I stayed up all night.

I could sleep in late.

I was able, in short, to match my lifestyle to my young husband's.

He's still much more the night owl.

Then came the children.

The first several years the children didn't change us too much.

They were good sleepers.

They could sleep twelve hours at a stretch.

If we set their twelve hours from 9:30 pm - 9:30 am, so what?!

We could still stay up later, and sleep in a bit longer.

Then came school.

Now it had to be 7:00 - 7:00, at the very latest 8:15 - 8:15.

Now Someone had to get up with the children.

Someone had to get them out of their warm, cozy little beds.

Someone had to make sure they had a nutritious start to their little days.

Guess who?

Now, 12 years later, my internal clock has changed so that I am awake in the morning.

Usually.

Someone's husband still prefers the night hours.

Someone's children have become youth who are able to stay up half the night and sleep til noon without a thought.

Someone finds herself burning the candle at both ends.

Far too often.

So, once again we were up til after midnight last night.

Granted, it was for a good cause... we were doing the Saskatoon thing, had a good meeting with some friends. Didn't leave the city til almost 10:00, so, with the hour and a half drive home, of course we're going to be late getting to bed.

But enough is enough.

I'm not as young as I used to be. Sleep deprivation is catching up with me.

I still like morning the best.

Especially early summer mornings.

MOST especially autumn mornings.

But, functioning after only 7 hours of sleep is, to state the obvious, fatiguing!

So.

That's it.

I mean, that's REALLY it.

No more late, late nights.

If the children want to stay up all night and be crabby (IN YOUR ROOM) all day, fine by me.

I will go to bed at a good and proper time.

I will get up at a fresh and crisp smelling time.

I will enjoy most of my day before my lay-about children put their feet to the floor.






Well, I'll sure try.

I come from a long line of klutzes.

None of us have ever been really good at sports.

I think some of us are good swimmers, and we can ride a bike, but real sports, like baseball and basketball and volleyball...

Nope.

Don't worry, there is more to life than being a great athlete.

Your Auntie once gave herself a black eye doing a forward roll in Gym class.

And then there's my family

Only my kid.

I take some laundry down to the washer.

Just one load.

But, the Son has unplugged the washer to plug in something else.

He uses the dryer as one of his personal workspaces.

He uses the workbench

And the top of the freezer

And the top of the dryer

Once he forgot to re-plug the freezer.

But only once.

He frequently unplugs the washer.

I can't reach the bottom of the freezer.

I can't reach across the washer/dryer to plug in the appliances.

I told him, get up off the couch and plug that in for me please.

I set the washer and pulled it on so that when he plugged it in it would start.

A few minutes later I heard a thump and a cry.

He got up too fast

Felt light headed

Fell flat on his face

Gave himself a bloody nose

Put a hole in his lip.

Only my kid.

His little brother plugged in the washer for me.

Even Jr. can reach across the washer now.

(His nose stopped bleeding. I don't think it's broken.)

He said I can post this.

Key Lime Zest.

I was just about to blog about how quiet and lovely it was

And then Thomas started to drum on his emaciated frontal region...

He's too skinny by half.

It has been very quiet the past few days.

Hillary has been working.

Micah has been abducted by aliens.

Well, his out-of-town friend Ryan, and Ryan's Aunt and Uncle.

Johanna has been evacuated these three days.

Just my old man and me.

And Thomas.

And Thomas' stomach-drum.

I gotta say I'm liking the quiet.

And Thomas is passing to and fro, and every time he stops and sees "quiet"

He drums on his stomach.

What a pest.

Mr. Big Cheesy Grin is on his way to the shower, so I'll have a few minutes peace from the stomach slapping sounds.

I'm on my way to the kitchen to make

KEY LIME PIE.

Randall's been eyeing them in the stores for several weeks now.

I will give it a try for our company tomorrow.

I am VERY excited because I had a brilliant brain wave.

And it didn't even hurt.

Not much.

I am going to attempt a diabetic Key Lime Pie.

If it works, well, let's just say life will never be the same.

It'll be much more limey.

That's what we had for supper today.

Basically a flour, egg and milk dough rolled into strips and deep fried. Not unlike a fritter I suppose.

I made one batch with regular white flour, and then half a batch with whole wheat flour.

I have a sneaking suspicion, though, that watermelon is on the "do not eat" list for those on diabetic alert.

It's just about the right time, (about an hour and a half since supper) and I'm feeling it.

Woo hoo.

Too much sweet watermelon, and too many roll kuchen-even if they were whole wheat!

Good thing it's the evening and I don't have to do any heavy thinking tonight.

I think I'll go wash the dishes for Thomas or something, to get moving...

Or it could just be "good night Irene" for this type 2 diabetic!

If Micah were to be assigned Johanna's chores, and should he conclude that as each sibling took their leave he would be the one picking up the slack...

Are there any "phobias" that he might be in danger of developing?

I googled "phobia" and found this list.

Intriguing.

We could, theoretically, bring about:

Eleutherophobia....................Fear of freedom.

Ergophobia....................Fear of work.

Hypengyophobia or Hypegiaphobia....................Fear of Responsibility.

Metathesiophobia....................Fear of changes.

Oikophobia....................Fear of home surroundings, house.

Ponophobia....................Fear of overworking or of pain.



I didn't know there were names for so many fears.

Does putting "phobia" on the end of your fear legitimize it?

Some of them made me chuckle:

Zemmiphobia: Fear of the great mole rat. (for even more fascination, google "great mole rat"!)

Phobophobia: Fear of phobias.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia....


Fear of long words.

So, next time you need a chuckle, or a "reason" on your absentee form, an excuse to skip that family gathering, or a justification for your dislike of housework, check out the phobia list. It could be just what the doctor ordered!

Well

She's gone.

She caught the 7:15 bus to Minnedosa via Yorkton via Watson.

I'm still in a 5:3o alarm induced fog.

Micah's biggest concern?

Who will do Johanna's chores?

That, and if Johanna's bed is better than mine....

We could assign her Saturday chores to him.

Then she would most assuredly be missed!

I know the closet was my idea.

I still think it's a good idea.

I just need to keep my feet in line.

We moved the computer into the front closet.

Works well.

We have easy access to our internet radio, but we can close the door when company comes.

However...

It is MOST annoying



When you've just written a BRILLIANT post



To have your foot accidentally hit the power bar's off switch



And to hear the sickening sound



Of the computer decompressing



Into silence



Knowing that everything you've just written



Is lost.



AAARG!!!

I give you The Dress.

She did well.

I'm not sure about the whole "Grand March" thing though.

Kind of like a beauty pageant for academics.

And not so academics.

I thought they should have also had the swim suit competition.

Would have gone well with the hypnotist!

(I almost typed "hypnotits".

Must be time for bed, because I thought that was funny!)

So now the girl's off to the After Grad Drunk Fest.

We wouldn't buy her any alcohol tickets, much to her annoyance.

I told her we're responsible parents.

And the legal drinking age here is 19.

And she's not even 18 til September.

Safe Grad.

Don't get me started.

On a positive note, my husband bought me a .ca

Should that be said "dotka", or "dot-cee-ay"?

I like "dotka".

I don't know where "lauralea.ca" will come into play, but I'm it!

Ciao.

Finished.

Finished.

Finished.

Can you tell I'm relieved that the grad dress is done?

Husband asked How many times have you made that thing?

At least three.

But it's done.

The skirt is not the way she envisioned it.

But the Back is.

I'm encouraging myself that her strongest vision was for this particular style of back.

So, if nothing else, we nailed the back.

She will look beautiful.

I understand how she feels, at her lowest moments, though....

Seems like all her friends are getting their hair done, and their nails done, and will show up in $400 dresses.

On many levels it makes you feel less elegant to think of doing your own hair, and to have your own nails, and don't even think about a "homemade" dress!

She'll not be the only one in a custom designed dress, though. And I doubt any of the $400 dresses will look any better than hers.

I could remind her that at a fair rate for labour, her dress has probably become a dress worth in excess of $400. Probably closer to $500 or $600. (I don't think it took me any less than 50 hours to do it.)

Somewhere, probably on my husband's website, there WILL be a picture of this beautiful girl in that gorgeous dress. It's a sophisticated, svelte style in a highly complimentary shade of dark blue chiffon. Did I already say "Beautiful"?

And so the first of my chicks flexes her wings and gets ready to take a dive.

Out of the nest.

Into the great blue yonder.

Fly high, my love.

Fly far.

Fly home again, often.

I just took a message from the library for my husband.

It seems one of Thomas' friends has applied for a job there, and a character reference is required.

The boy has applied to be a "Page".

At the library.

I wonder if the first promotion is to "Chapter".

Maybe "Index".

It's Father's Day.

In church today we were to think about our Dad, and write down something that we appreciate about him.

I wrote

My Dad loves me.

My Dad grew up with an alcoholic father. I've never heard his whole story, but the bits I've been able to piece together indicate that he didn't have a great example of fatherly love. I don't think he ever learned how to express his love.

At least in words.

My Dad was always a hard worker.

He loved us by providing for us.

I don't think I've ever heard my Dad say I Love You.

The closest he's come, when I say, I love you, is Same here.

But, he says I love you with his eyes.

He says I love you with his hug.

He says I love you when he makes Mom phone to make sure we got home alright.

So, Happy Father's Day, Dad.

Thank you for giving me your ears.

Thank you for giving me your forehead and nose.

Thank you for giving me your sense of humour.

Thank you for giving me your love.

I love you back.

Ooh... that got your attention!

We were at a lovely wedding reception yesterday afternoon.

Two beautiful young people, head-over-heels in love.

A great way to spend a Saturday.

We were able to sit at a table with friends, which is always nice when you know the newly weds, but not their relatives!

At one point in the proceedings a couple of fellows at our table burst into a spontaneous rendition of "Afternoon Delight". (if you didn't grow up in the 70's, just look it up. Let me totally date myself by admitting that this was one of my favourite songs on the juke box in the common room when I was in grade 8. )

I gave Randall a poke and said... Hey, they're singing our song!

I was then able to share some matronly advice.

You see, L.T., one of the singers, is getting married in about 6 weeks, and his lovely bride- to- be is a young widow with 2 boys.

I joked that "Afternoon Delight" is a good thing- sometimes that's the only delight you can get! With older children, you have to grab the moments as they come... like when the kids are at school.

If you have to work during those delightful hours in the afternoon you should go with the "after dinner nap".

Now, the bride is half Mennonite, so her boys should be used to "meta schlope" (dinner nap, for the Menno-challenged)

You have to tell your kids that "we're really tired, and we're going to have a nap. We'll be REALLY annoyed if you wake us up."

Set them up with a movie, or their favourite show, or a long game...

Works every time.

(Just make sure the door is locked and the curtains are drawn, because they're bound to want to check if you're still "sleeping"!)