Bluestone Vision Events

03/04/2022

26/09/2020

My feed is going to be dark for awhile.

As I’ve mentioned in MANY posts in the last while, this is the BUSIEST time of year for me.

I’m still here in the real world, and I will still answer any messages that come my way.

See you when my world calms down!

24/09/2020

With school starting up, so comes the season of homework.

My favourite assignment in high school was a research paper on a subject that I got to choose. I wrote an excellent 27 page paper on Music and it’s Effect on the Brain.

The book that I read for that (This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel Levitin), has been my favourite book by far ever since.

Did you have a favourite assignment in school? Or one that you really couldn’t stand?

23/09/2020

Time. You only get it once, and if you waste it, it’s gone. Everyone gets the same amount of hours in a day, but some people want to do more with them than others.

I do not like to waste time. Being efficient has become a necessary skill in my life, so here are a few tips.

1. When you are preparing something, make enough for the week (as appropriate).
For example, I have bins in my fridge for each kids “lunch stuff” for daycare. My 3yr old is supposed to have containers that she can open herself. She can’t open that many containers... so plastic bags it is. In her “lunch stuff bin”, I put whatever meat, cheese, yogurt, apple sauce whatever, prepped in appropriate containers ready to grab each evening.

2. Do as much in the evening to prep for the next day as reasonably possible.
I repack daycare and work bags, lunch kits, water bottles, set out clothes, and plan breakfast in the evening. It makes the morning so much smoother.

3. A little bit a day keeps the laundry (and dishes) monster away.
I do laundry every night. We usually turn on the dishwasher every night or every other night. This keeps dirty things from piling up and getting super gross - or it being super difficult to find clean clothes when you’re running late (ahem... Fridays... I see you).

4. Routines are your friend.
Whether at home or at school, I work on routine. We have a morning routine to get out of the house on time. I have a routine while I’m driving to make sure I drink enough water and finish my breakfast. We have routines in the classroom to keep everyone safe and as expectations for learning.

5. Meal Plan.
Honestly, this one is probably my most underused one - and simultaneously, most used?
For harvest time, there’s a plan, a 4-day rotation, that gets used whenever there are combines on the field. For when we’re not on the field, I have a few (3?) meals that we routinely go through (see the easy weekday meals post for more ideas on that). We make sure we stock those things and they’re freezer stable things (pizza, chicken nuggets and fries, meatballs, etc.).

What else would you add?

22/09/2020

Ah, one of the age old debates.

I work consistently on both - Mac at home and PC at work.

I gotta say, I’m team Mac.

What about you?

21/09/2020

There’s a lot going on in the world that is making it more difficult to be grateful than “normal”, but, I challenge you to be grateful anyways.

1. I’m grateful for my in-laws, who came down and helped out with canning and the kids so we could accomplish a lot more than a weekend would normally allow.

2. I’m grateful for the rights we have as Canadians (May have just spent the weekend researching and prepping lessons on Human Rights... among other things).

3. I’m grateful that we live in the middle of nowhere. Even when it’s so far and takes so much time to get places, it is so wonderful to live where we are.

What are you grateful for?

20/09/2020

September.
The second busiest time of the year.

Harvest + Start of School = busy enough (especially this year), but add a couple kids and trying to keep up with a couple businesses and I really just can’t do it all.

Thankfully, I have some incredibly supportive people in my life.

My in-laws have come out 2 of the last 3 weekends and done our grocery shopping on the way out so I can spend time catching up and keeping my head above water. Did I mention I’m teaching Grade 7 this year and not my normal Music/French gig?

The 3yr old feeds the animals (cats and dog), and I’m so blessed to have a couple EA’s working in my classroom this year, so I can outsource my photocopying, laminating and cutting.

What do you outsource?

19/09/2020

It’s Saturday. What am I up to?
ALL of the catch up from last week - think... laundry and dishes and general cleaning up...

And, prepping for school next week.

What are you up to today?

18/09/2020

It’s National Respect Day

17/09/2020

Throwback Thursday!

Here’s a pic from awhile ago (over 10 years 😳!)

Remember bell bottom jeans? I remember being on the bus and being so jealous of one of the older kids who had them.

What was your favourite style back in the day?

16/09/2020

September can be a rainy month (thankfully, it hasn’t been too bad so far), so brides... Check out the link in bio for some tips to keep your hair and make-up looking fresh for your special day.

15/09/2020

5 Easy meals for weeknights:

1. Baked Perogies + fried farmer sausage
2. Chicken Nuggets and Fries
3. Tacos/Burritos
4. Hamburgers/Hotdogs
5. Spaghetti/Sauce (meat sauce if you want - just fry up the meat ahead of time and it’s super fast)

What are your go-tos?

14/09/2020

.... Ice cream.... because ..it doesn’t like me...

But oh how good it tastes!

Fill in the blanks with your own answers

13/09/2020

Fall Suppers.
They’re a little bit like wedding socials - a Manitoba tradition that’s taken a beating in the covid-19 pandemic.

CTV Winnipeg wrote an article a couple weeks ago that covered how some small towns are shifting to accommodate the new regulations.

Some communities have made the difficult decision to cancel their Fall Supper, however, a lot of communities have made their Fall Suppers available for pick-up.

It’s unfortunate that this is how it has to be, as going to a Fall Supper is how people reconnect with people they haven’t seen in awhile.

Community centres and churches often rely on the funds raised at their Fall Supper to keep going throughout the year.
If you normally go to a Fall Supper, check out if they have pick-up as an option. If they don’t, consider donating the amount you would’ve spent (or more) to help them out.

You can check out their article here: https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/manitoba-communities-working-to-keep-fall-supper-tradition-alive-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-1.5087898

12/09/2020

Fall is a very special time in my life.
I was born in Fall... so was my son.
I grew up helping on the farm in Fall (well, calendrically, late summer). It started with riding along in the combine with my grandfather, the grain truck with my grandmother, or the other combine with my dad, and also helping my mother package up suppers for the people on the field. Then I became one of the people on the field - either swathing (my more favourite) or sometimes (rarely) combining.

Now, I’m the mom. I’m the one who is making the harvest meals and my daughter is helping me - and she’s actually really helpful! She pulls the grapes off and puts them in the container for “the guys”, and she knows who “the guys” are (Papa, Grandpa, and Uncle Jeff).

Last year was a bit of a gong show with the random October storm we had, mixed with being pregnant and then having a newborn and it being such a wet year... I’m praying for less gong show this year.

Do you have family fall traditions?

11/09/2020

9/11 was the first time an event happened that we were told that we’d remember where we were when we heard about it.

I don’t.

I kind of do. I have “the memory” of being in the corner of the gym at school when our gym teacher came in and told us about it. It was the first period after lunch. The problem with this memory is that I KNOW that I knew before that. I remember who told us first (it was a classmate who’d gone home for lunch and was back).
Going home, the only thing on TV was anything and everything relating to 9/11.

I didn’t understand it completely then.

Since then, I’ve had the honour of visiting the memorial located at the a few times. If you are anywhere near there, I recommend it (granted, I’m not sure if it’s still there, so don’t quote me on that).

10/09/2020

Hey https://www.facebook.com/GraphicHausCo/!
Just wanted to check in and make sure you’re still surviving this crazy world.

Stay safe and stay sane! I’ve been thinking about you.

09/09/2020

I have never gone for a drive to specifically look at the changing leaves in Fall.
That said, I live with them.
On my way to work I have to go through “the valley” every day - there’s no logical way around it.

I 💗 watching the leaves change colour on a daily basis - it’s quite beautiful.

So, if you live somewhere where you don’t have the chance to see the leaves change on a massive scale (like in a city or something), I *highly recommend* going for a drive this September and seeing what it looks like. It’s absolutely beautiful... pictures never quite do it justice.

08/09/2020

As students go back to school, let’s learn some things about each other.

My favourite subjects were French and Math... and I’m pretty sure it was because of the teacher.

What was your favourite subject (Recess isn’t a subject ;))?

07/09/2020

06/09/2020

Fight Procrastination Day
Procrastination is my worst enemy... but also my best friend.

We have a weird relationship.

I ❤️ the feeling of having the crappy jobs done, but I really don’t like doing them.

I also procrastinate on big, overwhelming tasks.
Once I break down the big task into small pieces, usually by making a list, I can start attacking it and stop procrastinating.

How do you fight procrastination?

05/09/2020

International Day of Charity

My friend Leanne and her family are heading to Italy with GEM to be long-term missionaries as soon as they’re fully-funded.
They’re doing a Norwex fundraiser to help get fully funded.

Originally, they were going to do an Italian dinner, but covid put a dent in those plans :(.

If you need anything from Norwex, the order is going in tonight at 10pm CST. Message me and I’ll get it all sorted!

They’d like to be fully funded before the end of the year.

If you’d like more information on where they’re going and what they’re doing, check it out here: https://goingtothenations.wixsite.com/teammb/italy

04/09/2020

Fill in the blanks:
I was so proud of my __Husband ()__ when he __ canned over 65L of applesauce for the kids.

No word of a lie, the goal was 1L a week for a year. We made it!

Your turn!!

03/09/2020

We have high hopes of combining... but we’ll see what the weather brings.

We might also have to take the pool down... it’s always a gong show trying to figure out when to do that.

What are your long weekend plans?

02/09/2020

I read an entire book!

Ok, without context, that’s not really a big deal.

If you haven’t been part of my life for the last 8 years, you don’t know that I went snowboarding about 8 years ago that kickstarted my excruciatingly long journey down concussion recovery road - complete with being concussed a further 7 or so times.

Since the first few concussions - ones that took me out of University for a semester - I have struggled the most with concentration and reading. My adaptation was to skim for important sections and then piece the thing together to get the information.

For the first time in 8 years, I finally finished a book! I read every single word.

01/09/2020

Wow. September already...
Are you getting back into a “normal” routine after the madness that was this Spring/Summer?

I start work tomorrow, so I’ll start up my part of the new routine then.
The kids... I’m not sure what that routine is going to look like.

What about you? Have you started your “new normal” routine for September?

28/08/2020

Shoutout to Roxanne over at: https://www.facebook.com/roxyrollerssalon/
“Miss Roxy” is about the only person who can elicit this big of a smile while my daughter gets her hair WASHED.

She’s a super sensitive kid - no water in her ears or on her face (like her mama), and Roxy is amazing.

We love going and getting our hair cut there. She’s not currently accepting new hair patients, but I believe she’s accepting clients for piercings, sugaring, and waxing.

27/08/2020

There are about 3 apps that I use almost every single day for creating and recording things.
Google Docs, Google Sheets, and this one: Canva.

I always loved the desktop version - it had so much flexibility and was easier to create with... but now they’ve taken that and made the mobile version essentially the same!

It’s so much more seamless to use now.

Do you have any tried and true apps to help you in your work or personal life?

24/08/2020

Waffles 🧇!!!!

Love them or hate them?!

What do you like to put on them?