This Busy Life

Wow! I can't believe that it's August already. July was such a busy month for us. Here are just a few of the things that kept us going all month long.

First, as you've already seen from previous blogs, we went to two Highland games. The first was in Athena and the second was in Enumclaw. Eventhough we have a lot of fun, they are still a lot of work and it takes a few days for us to recoup afterwards.

Second, Moira developed a very strange skin condition. Neither her pediatrician or the determatologist could figure it out. Basically several layers of her skin got extremely dry and would crack. It eventually started flaking of in huge clumps. It started on her neck, the insides of her elbows and her armpits. It spread out and on to her back and torso. It's now gone, but the new skin has no pigment to it so it's very pale, especially next to her tanned skin. In the end, the dermatologist thinks that it might have been a virus so there was nothing we could do but wait it out.

I sold three of my ear cuffs on Etsy this past month. I was so excited. I've been trying hard to work on it some more and have posted a few more items. I still have a few more to add on as soon as I get some spare time.

Moira started grade two in July as well. I can't believe it. I'm still a bit in shock. I went to her classroom last night and got to see her desk and meet her teacher. I have so many memories of my third year of school. My teacher's name was Miss Dong. We even had a little rhyme about her that went:

Miss Ding Dong
played ping pong

with King Kong

in Hong Kong

She will forever be etched in my mind because of that little ditty. We learned how to tell time and add up two digit numbers - stuff Moira learned last year and some in kindergarten. School has changed a lot since I went. They are learning a lot more and at a younger age. There is so much more out there now to learn.

Our book club read "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte. It was such a great book. I really enjoyed it. Our newest one is "Midwives" by Chris Bohjalian. I'm also almost finished reading another book called "The Golden Spruce" by John Vaillant. It is a true story that combines two of my interests - First Nations history and culture and the forest industry. Throw in some sunspense and have it set in my home province and you have a truly great read. Thanks, Nana, for sending me this book!

A friend and member of the book club, Amanda, has left us for Utah. For our book club meeting we decided to go out for dinner and surprised her with a bunch of her friends for a going away party. I decorated a book-shaped box and the book club members wrote out quotes from their favourite authors and wound them around wooden spools. I made the divisions inside the box and put other things in it, too, like a sachet with dried lavender from our garden, a wooden butterfly, silk flowers and large faceted "chrystal". I was pretty happy with the way it turned out.

In amongst all these goings on, I've still been trying to get boxes unpacked and figuring out where I should put things. We want to do some painting so, before we start putting things up on the walls, we want to add or change the colours of the rooms first. It's slowly getting there, though.

July was a busy month for us. I can only hope that August will be a little bit calmer.