Happy New Year!!

On Dec 21st, twenty-one brave souls gathered in our 12 x 20' living room to celebrate the Proulx/Allison/Barnes Christmas!  There was much noise...much fun...and great food!  How wonderful to see my family all together!

Our family grew by one in 2013...  We welcomed a little boy into our flock in June, and next June we will welcome another grand baby bringing the count to nine!!

2013 was fraught with challenges, but less than most have to deal with, for sure.  All in all, I feel fortunate.

Below is the gang...posing (without much argument) for the compulsory family picture.  Hubby insists, and at times it is challenging to get everyone to cooperate, but I'm so glad to have these memories to look back upon.

I have been searching for a word to use as my focus in 2014.  I debated on several but I have chosen "simplify."  What does that word mean to you?  To me, "simplifying" involves "purging and prioritizing".  What will be your focus this year?

I want to thank all my blogging friends as I leave 2013 behind.  We have never met in person, but you occupy a very special place in my heart!

I also would like to thank three special people who read my blog and often comment privately.  Mary, Susan S, and dad...  I am your biggest fan!

Happy New Year everyone!  Best wishes for Good health, Happiness and a Peaceful heart in 2014!

She Loved it!

Missing Someone?

Make this your own...  Substitute "mother" for whatever comforting word you need.  Is it  "Father" "Wife" or "husband?"  You know what you need....  

Virtual hugs for all those who are missing someone this Christmas....

Your Mother is always with you.

She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street.

She's the smell of certain foods you remember, flowers you pick and

perfume that she wore.

She's the cool hand on your brow when you're not feeling well.

She's your breath in the air on a cold winter's day.

She is the sound of the rain that lulls you to sleep, the colors of a

rainbow. She is Christmas morning.

Your Mother lives inside your laughter.

She's crystallized in every teardrop.

A mother shows every emotion .......... happiness, sadness, fear,

jealousy, love, hate, anger, helplessness, excitement, joy, 

sorrow... and all the while, hoping and praying you will only know the good

feelings in life. She's the place you came from, your first home, and she's 

the map you follow with every step you take.

She's your first love; your first friend, even your first enemy, but

nothing on earth can separate you. Not time, not space...not 

even death!

 Author: unknown

I have been busy!

I hope the Littles like them!

I really REALLY have been trying NOT to hate this winter.  I have listened to my dad hate winter FOREVER.  I haven't...up until now.  What changed??

It might be that I am feeling the cold more.  I've moved my chair to the stove where the floor is warm, but this house has many cold spots.  Our bedroom has windows that seem to breathe warm air out and cold air in.  As someone who lIkes to sleep with one hand under my face, that can present challenges when the air is frosty.  I can't sleep when...try as I might...I can't take my mind off that cold thing on my cheek. I have woken wondering if I have passed on when I realize, that that cold appendage is mine!  

Do you remember licking a cold fence post dead winter and how your tongue stuck to the metal?  We'll...I have news, folks.  It works in the same way when drool meets frozen hair.

Yes.  We do have electric baseboards in our room, and yes, I have recently caved.  I wouldn't turn the baseboards on because I did not want to heat Brechin...but I WON'T be cold.

Perhaps I am exaggerating a little.  Perhaps the November blues don't know it is December.  Perhaps once the days start getting longer I might give my attitude a shake...but (wah! wah!) it's hard spending 90% of my waking hours in darkness.  I come home from work in the dark, and I go to work when it is dark.  HOW do they do this is the far north???

Anyway, I have much to be thankful for...a husband that religiously drives me to work each and every shift....my pellet stove....indoor hobbies and thermal underwear....baseboard heaters...my pellet stove.

I have to admit though....the snow is really pretty....

RIP Mandiba

"Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished."

"Do not judge me by my successes.  Judge me by how many times I fell down and got up again."

"I learnt that courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it."

"If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy.  Then he becomes your partner."

"Social equality is the only basis of human happiness."

"While poverty persists,there is no true freedom."

"For to be free is not merely to cast off ones chains, but to live in a way the respects and enhances the freedom of others."