June 23/10

So, here is my progress on the amaryllis:

I have finished most of the full and half stitches, but have stopped working on the project because 1. a group of us are going in on a gift certificate for the couple I had thought about giving this to for their wedding and 2. I got way laid by making this ornament:

I am making this for Elsa, a young mom that I met at the Guatemalan orphanage in May. My friend who organized the mission is taking another team in August and when asked, she said that she would make sure that Elsa and Luis get the parcel I am putting together. I have also bought the cutest little booties for Luis that have little hearts on them. There is a strength and a deep sadness about Elsa that makes me want to reach out to her. No matter what happens to her, I want her to know that a lady from Canada cares what happens to her. The ornament is a Joan Elliot stitched over 1 on a 28 count Lugana scrap that I purchased last week at Because You Count in Moncton. Part of the reason that I chose this particular pattern is that I met Elsa at an orphanage called Rosa de Amor so I decided that the rose theme was fitting, plus I wanted Elsa to have something beautiful to call her own.

A little thinking was going on while I was out walking in the heat yesterday. The other night, a friend's neighbour called me a saint for all of the volunteer stuff I do and that really embarrassed me. I do these things because it is my honour and privilege to go to El Salvador and Guatemala and wherever. I am fortunate as a woman and a person to live in a country where I can be free personally, emotionally, politically and financially. Working alongside the people who I meet along the way is very humbling because they live in very challenging circumstances and yet they make the best of it and have such incredible spirit. I gain so much more personally than I give because my heart and my eyes are widened a little more each time.

The planning has begun for my next Habitat trip which is tentatively slated to be in November 2010......

July 2/07

Life has been busy with work and family so not much stitching although I am working on my first biscornu called Protection from Periphaeria Designs. Stitching over one thread has been a challenge and is slowing me down because I am having to adjust where I place my needle and how far to swing my hand as I stitch. The end result will be cool, I am sure!

My El Salvador trip has been confirmed for March 1-9, 2008 and I have a trip code which has not yet been posted on the Habitat site to accept donations. Now, I just have to finish building the team!

Yesterday was Canada Day here in Canada so I went to watch the town fireworks last night with my family. My nephew managed to stay awake until the end, but I would bet that he is rather bear-like this morning! He loved the little Army helmet that I bought for him at the Citadel in Quebec City because now he looks "just like Daddy!".

April 24/07

My fingers have been flying on my first Christmas stocking (only 6 to do in total!) and I will post a WIP sometime this week. I am getting a little impatient that the order my LNS is waiting for is still AWOL in the postal system. I did not expect to have almost completed the stocking I am making for myself before even starting the one for my mom. My wish is to finish my mom's first because that just seems like the most respectful order to do them in. My mom should be the first person to receive one. Anyhoo, not every variable can be easily controlled in life, can it?!

The Christmas ornament SAL weekend is fast approaching. My schedule will probably not allow me to get much done because I am scheduled to work, there is a farewell dinner for a co-worker on Sunday, one of my El Salvador trip mates is in town to visit his grandkids, and my Rotary club has a major fundraiser next week that sucks up alot of my time during the week of. Plus, there is a doctor's appointment in there and I have to go to Moncton on May 5th for a Rotary youth exchange seminar. Oh well! Once I get to the 6th, life goes back to normal....Hang on! I was wrong about that since I fly to Toronto on the 11th for a Habitat for Humanity leader training weekend and then another pharmacist at work is away to England for 2 weeks so I will be working lots of hours so once I make it to May 28th, life goes back to normal. Yeah, so what is normal?!

The weather forecast just said showers for the rest of the day so I guess that I will not bike to work today. Besides, I skinned my knee when I missed the bottom step at my trainers home gym today so perhaps I should give my knee a rest. Gas prices are up to $1.08/litre which is considered expensive here in Canada, plus I cringe when I turn on the car because I always think of the pollution and I need the exercise so I am starting to bike more now. My plan is to lead by example since over the years, at least one other co-worker started biking as well in the summer. The guy across the street bikes into town year round because he does not have a car and I give him alot of credit because this little wimp with a car would not bike on a snowy road in -30C! There is only so much that I will do for environmental sustainability!

Speaking of which, it was quite discouraging to look in the brook to see what garbage has grown there as a result of the flooding last week. Once the water levels go down low enough for me to walk through the brook, I will be back down there to pick out more garbage.

On Saturday, I cleaned up my flower beds and made plans to plant more bird and bee friendly flowers. There have been news reports recently about the decimation of commercial hives because of a syndrome called "Hive collapse" and something to do with a mite so I figure that it can not hurt to plant some more bee balm and echinacea in the yard. I had a thought about planting some out on my property in Bloomfield to encourage the bees to establish themselves around my apple orchard. I have some awesome photos of butterflies on my garden flowers from last summer and I really enjoyed all of the hummingbirds who buzzed around my yard last year. Note to the wasps: you are not welcome to nest in my shed this year. It bloody well hurt when you stung me on the end of my nose last summer so please find another place to build your nest.

Mar 18/07

Tonight, I talked with the board of directors of one of the local service groups and they have committed $1 000 towards my El Salvador project! To say that I am a little excited is an understatement because I was initially quite worried about how I was going to fundraise $5 000 so that I would not take away from any of the worthy commitments that my Rotary club already has on the books. My fundraising campaign so far has consisted of talking to anyone that will listen and so far it is paying off as I have an invitation to speak to one of the local Lions clubs as well. This club often partners with my Rotary club on projects so the house in ES may be the next one in our partnership.

You know, working away at this and spreading the word about El Salvador has kept me motivated in moments when I can feel quite defeated. For example, right now I am staring at 2 property tax bills, a car insurance bill, a VISA bill, my line of credit and a ticket for an expired inspection sticker. There is definitely more month at the end of the money as I balance the payments going out and the pay cheques coming in. Just when I think that a lottery winning may be in order, I remind myself that these things will sort themselves out in good time and that I have the good fortune to own 2 properties and a car. Even though my family was poor, I could still get a university education. Being born in Canada has sure made me a winner in the geographic department and thinking about the shanty town in Panchimalco and all of the people who touched my life there has made me appreciate the life I have.

Mar 10/07

So, here I sit waiting for a snowstorm or whatever is supposed to heading our way. A fitting way to end a week that found me speaking at a Rotary club about my El Salvador trip, getting a ticket because my car inspection sticker expired in MAY 2006, my curling teams won on Thursday and Friday night (if you have ever seen me curl, you would understand why that is noteworthy) and my brother is coming home for a break during his course at CFB Kingston. There is a special talent to living my life and by golly, I would love to master it!

The Christmas stocking project is slowly making progress. The needle that came with this kit wore 2 holes in the end of my middle finger on my right hand so I had to switch to the larger needle that I usually use to cross stitch because using a thimble was slowing me down too much. Here is an update:

Feb 25/07

Just a little update on the El Salvador Habitat trip. I will be flying to Toronto in May to do the Habitat for Humanity leadership training so that I will have a clue as to what I am supposed to do. Rotary-wise, a committee is going to be struck at the next Rotary club executive meeting and I am going to speak to a neighbouring Rotary club on Mar. 5/07 to tell them my story and to encourage them to become involved. My boss approached me the other day and told me that he wants to make a contribution to this project. My article in the NB Pharmacists Association newsletter has been read by my colleagues around the province as evidenced by the comments I have received when chitchatting with them. My approach is to create awareness and hope that the money and materiel will follow.

Buenas dias!

Jan 8/07

My day could not have been any better. One of my colleagues is out sick for 2 weeks as the doctors struggle to figure out what is going on with her. Fortunately, we had a storm today so a normally hectic day was a decent pace instead since we were short staffed. A bullet dodged, for today anyway!

My mail box revealed a parcel from an eBayer that contained DMC holiday light effects and the DMC 100th anniversary floss pack! Yay! I can not wait to try out the holiday light effects on some of the Christmas ornaments that I am planning to make. I can not say enough about the deals I get through eBay on my cross stitch supplies. So far, they are the only things I feel confident about buying on eBay because they are about the only things I know what price I will and will not pay for them!

At the monthly Rotary club executive meeting this evening, I made my pitch for having the club sponsor a house in El Salvador, partnering with Habitat for Humanity. The executive gave me the go-ahead to propose it to the club at the general meeting which immediately followed the executive meeting. The club is informally good to go on the project and is waiting for my formal motion once I get all of the ducks in order in terms of the exact dollar amount, when we will do the build and who will be traveling to ES to do the build. I have 2 other Rotarians on board for the build for sure and another one asked alot of money questions so I know that he is thinking about budgeting and how long he can afford to be away from his business. As a stroke of good luck, there is a meeting on Wednesday night of the club presidents for the 4 clubs in this region. The host of that meeting, the regional assistant deputy governor, just happened to stop into our club meeting tonight so I am on the agenda to pitch it to the other clubs!

The funny thing for me is that I can not believe that I convinced them to do this! I know that they keep telling me that my enthusiasm and passion is infectious, but "l'il ole me" is firing up the club to do this. It's kind of freaky. When did I become this person who is grown up, qualified and knowledgeable about something like this? Where did I get the ability to touch people's lives and convince them to follow me on such a project? I had the answers regarding the sustainability of this type of project (employment spin offs, dignity through adequate shelter), one of the other club members actually quoted some of the numbers from my Dec 18th presentation to the club, I covered all of the bases from fundraising to logistics and they said yes! One member has already written out and given the club treasurer a cheque for $200 US to start the fundraising. **happy dance**

Dec 13/06

This week has been a whirlwind. I spoke to my Rotary Club on Monday about my trip to El Salvador and now there are some plans underway for my next trip to El Salvador in 2007 as 4 Rotarians stepped forward after the meeting to ask that I take them with me on my next trip. My mom came to hear my talk which was great because she is always a great supporter of my travels even though sometimes I really have to convince her that is a great idea for me to backpack around New Zealand on my own or to go to El Salvador to build houses. Mom has had quite a week, too, as my sister graduated from her course last week and one of my brothers is now sporting his iron engineering ring. Go team!

In between emailing everyone that I can think of to set in motion a team of Rotarians for El Salvador and sponsorships for some houses there, I am also stitching like mad because I have realized that I am 2 Christmas cards short for gift giving. My eyes are about to fall out of my head since I am splitting my spare time between stitching and writing up Christmas cards which will be arriving a little late this year or early in 2007! Somehow I doubt that Canada Post will be able to get a Christmas card from here to North Queensland in 7 business days, but if it does occur, I will be buying a lotto ticket!

Well, words are starting to fail me at this late hour so off to bed I go.