Slippers that I had bought from my friend Tracy.

We drove by her in Dauphin...go figure!

Riding Mountain

Bike built for 4 in Riding Mountain

Home, safe and maybe not quite so sound

We got home Thursday night. We had lunch in The Pas with my old, long ago, (30 years ago) friend, Tracy Schell. It was good to see her again. I bought a pair of moccasins from her. She makes such wonderful things. I'll have to post some of her picures of the things she has made. Soon...

The drive home was a long one. I don't know if I'm crazier for going the long way home or coming home at all...
It doesn't feel like home anymore. So foreign. So alien. So temporary. Hopefully.

We went to Selkirk Sunday last. What a beautiful little town. I think Selkirk has turned into our second choice. Portage La Prairie is just like Thompson...Brandon was interesting. We didn't make it to Neepawa. We did go to Riding Mountain though. That was so peaceful and tranquil. So many people walking, holding hands, riding bikes (there were a lot of bikes build for 4,) people walking with their children, people walking their dogs, people relaxing on the beach, on the bridge, on the water, boating. The only dramma to be seen or heard was perhaps a dog barking at another dog. During our drive out we saw a family riding a horse drawn carriage. ...In no way did Dauphin compare. We have friends who are planning on moving to Dauphin. We, however, didn't share the same desire...too far away from Winnipeg and North Western Ontario.

Mike has to go back to work next week. I have another month off...as long as they don't rope me into working at the museum...I've started another wild and crazy project that'll help us with all of our plans...I'll tell you about it as soon as it's finalized.

Depending on the weather, we're going fishing tomorrow. It's been raining today but we really need the rain.

So many forks in the road...

I wish I had had time to write in the last couple of months. It would be evident to anyone who might read this that I am truly certifiable...keep reading and I think you'll agree.

I've been getting way over my head with future plans and my new big dream. Like always, I want so much and I want it right now...I keep thinking, 'I should slow down, learn more, plan better, investigate, research, do some marketing and...breathe.'

A few months ago we were planning to move to Ontario. We were all excited and afraid. We were hoping to buy a book store..."crazy right?" We'd like a book store as a family business. A book store is my big dream. I've been wanting to do this for years. "Is this the worst idea anyone ever came up with? Especially right now?"

Years ago I was wondering, 'What would be a good job for all of us (the boys and I?) I had been a single mom for many years. Will, Scott and I are physically disabled. Certain jobs aren't even an option for us. Will (21) doesn't drive. I don't think he'll ever be able to. Scott (17) doesn't drive either. Hopefully he will someday. I had thought a book store would be a great business for all of us. We could publish our own books. We could enjoy being surrounded by books. Physically we could all run a book store. It seemed like a good idea at the time...

I'm not taking a business class, maybe I should. If I have time, I'll take a class this fall. I have two manuals on how to open and run a book store. I'm reading them now. Hopefully the books will be a big help.

What if now is not a good time to have a book store? What if someday people stop buying real books? What if ebooks and the internet is all anyone ever wants/needs? I hope books don't became extinct! That would be so sad...Kindles, Sony Readers, Ipads and such sound cool and I like using the internet for a lot of things but...no real books at all? I wouldn't want that.

It's summer now. I'm in Ontario. We haven't moved yet...we decided to wait another year. Where we want to move (in the North-West part of Ontario) is not doing so well, economically. It looks promising that things will get better. We just have to wait awhile. We're also debating on what or where to go if our ideal spot doesn't pan out. We've been researching and visiting other places that might be a suitable home and a great place to have a book store. Perhaps Selkirk. Maybe Portage La Prairie. Brandon (I think they're opening a Cole's book store soon.) Neepawa. Dauphin. We'll see what we can do...

Almost 4 years ago

Almost 4 years ago, just weeks before my website was online, my computer crashed. I just took my second course in Microsoft Front Page, while I was on holidays for the summer. I was planning on, finally, putting my site online. After so much work and mistakes I made, which forced me to redo so much work and typing. (I often learn things the hard way.I'll get there eventually, I hope!) During those few weeks without my computer my plans were put on hold. One night I couldn't sleep. The idea of a novel ran through my head until 4 in the morning. I never wrote a novel before. I spent more time in my early 20s writing children's stories and articles but not novels. I hadn't even planned on writing a novel but the idea kept running through my head, and it ran like a movie. 'How fortunate for me,' You might think, but I'm sure writing a novel is going to be much more work than I can even imagine. It's a paranormal story...I don't read those kinds of novels nor do I watch those kinds of movies. So, why was this film projecting in front of my eyes...or in my brain, I just don't know! My older son, Will, writes paranormal comics. I decided that I would need Will's help if I chose to write this book. My younger son, Scott, writes romances. He didn't write them back then but he's my very logical son. I thought I would need both of their help. I spoke to them about it the next day and they just loved the idea. Writing a novel together sounded like fun. I was thinking of what quality time we'd have together while writing together. It would be fun, published or not. We decided to write this book. 'Forever Ends.' Will and Scott helped me with the characters and the names' of the characters. That took a very long time and we kept changing our minds...One of the male character's name was changed 4 times, his career as well. I finally picked a log cabin builder for Ryan, the male character. At the time, at the museum, we were planning on offering log cabin building workshops for the people in Northern Manitoba. The instructor wanted to teach people how to build cabins. It sounded exciting and I planned to take part, observe and take notes for my book. It sounded like a good idea at the time. The instructor moved to another province a few months before the workshops began. I'll have to do research another way, I thought. I know a log cabin builder in Wabowden, 1 1/2 hours away from Thompson. Perhaps I'll talk to him. I knew I couldn't write this book without Will and Scott help...and now even Mike's help. Will has this idea of a second book, written by him and a third, written by Scott. I've always thought that that would be so cool to accomplish. However, I slowed down with my writing as well as my website since I got married, a year and half ago. There's still another dream though, an even more important dream. A dream for my family's future. Again, I'll write about that one later. I was planning on waiting until 2011 before writing again because I felt I'd be too busy with this really big dream...Can I do everything at once? The website, extra baking and cooking, the novel, this big dream? I think I'm losing my mind! I've always given myself too many projects all at once. Maybe the website and the novel will help with my big dream...or will it slow everything down and I won't work as hard on my big dream. Maybe I'm trying to self sabotage....maybe I've always done this? I'm going to have to try and balance everything out. I'm not good at balancing things.

The Geocache I'm putting on hold, at least! I thought of a Geocache to advertize my site, but the big dream involves moving out of the province. So I'll wait until after the move before I do the Geocache. At least that's one less crazy idea that I'll fulfilling now.

More on that later...