Tag Archives: learning

The Least of These (Part 2: Rats in the Cellar)

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Sorry for the delay… I promised part 2 a week ago… but we do things slowly here in the country! Nonetheless. Here we are! Back in the basement!

Remember this stain?
This is the after!

If you haven’t read part one of my basement reno, you can check it out here. It took a long time. After plenty of ducking and dodging crevices and spiders, the final coat of epoxy paint was on the floor – and then the hot water heater began trickling condensation. The paint wasn’t even dry yet and I had a puddle! Argh!! I pulled out the roller and spread that puddle around – mixing up my concrete paint with the slightly rusty tinge of puddle. Done.

Seriously?! Puddle extinguished.

And then we began the task of “moving in”. The cellar will be no more than storage and laundry and extra space for the zoo, but I was determined to make it nice. The dog is afraid of the steep basement steps so the cat food is stored down here with little chance of getting eaten up by the Labrador. The previous owner had stapled a large amount of fabric around the laundry tub – which I considered a valiant effort on prettying up a dismal space, so I embraced it. I ripped off the the fabric and decided there was enough to create curtains for the “windows” and decorate up the tub again. I still haven’t put the spare bedroom together but here I was sewing curtains for the basement. I guess this was how I roll. I made no attempt to put up floating shelves and funky laundry signs or fake succulents. My decorating skills for the basement only went so far.

Before
And after!
Crisp white walls!

Although the hubby was quite pleased with the folding table for laundry piles so we replaced the large wooden one with a plastic folding one we had stored at the previous house. I have a picture to put up. The hubby thinks that’s crazy – but we’ll see if it ever gets hung on the wall or simply sits on the ledge for the next 50 years.

After some debate and discussion, we agreed that our pet rats will start out in the basement. Yes, we have rats in the cellar! The creatures have been with us for several years and our youngest has started breeding them as her small side hustle. If you want to get in to a debate on keeping rats as pets, I’m happy to save that for another blog post! Anyway, despite the fact that there is no natural light down there we decided the rat cages would do well in the big open space. The barn would be too cold in winter and the fuzzies are a little stinky even though we housed them in the bedrooms at the old house.

So moving day for the rats was upon us. Trust me, this is no easy hamster wheel and hanging water bottle challenge. The youngest and I had to tackle this on our own as we needed the whole van to transport the two multilevel cages and all the equipment we house to host our little beasties. We packed, dismantled, cleaned and rearranged. We have four boys and eight girls. Two young girls were recently returned to us so we are in the process of making them a little tamer. Van is packed. Bigger boys in a carrier. Smaller girls caged for transport … until one of the young girls squeezes out from the bottom! Yup, escapee in a van load of endless hiding spaces!

We tried coaxing her out with a cracker… which she promptly snatched and stole away with. We waited as she snacked unawares in an unattainable corner. Forty five minutes and another cracker later, we were on the road for the hour long journey to the new house to unload, reassemble and unpack, again!

And so, the basement has been tackled. The first loads of laundry have been done. The rats seem happy and comfortable. The picture is still on the ledge. We are happy.

The Rats have moved in.

Do you ever wonder if all the time and effort you put in to seemingly “useless” tasks is worth it? Who cares about decorating non window windows for a bunch of rats? I’m learning that patience and following through is rewarding. I can sit back now and say – I did that and it looks good! The “ratty” people in our lives are worth the effort. For “the least of these” are children of God too, and He cares for each one of us. He is willing to wait while we munch away on our crackers under a pile of stuff, not knowing that our safety is in His best interest always.

The cellar of our century home is another reminder to me to not overlook the little things. To be patient and trust the process. To wait and not get frustrated, even if it means mixing up your paint with a little rusty water. In the end it’ll be worth it. I’m sure.

Building Blocks

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Greetings my friends! I’m still here! We’re packing, purging, and getting our current house ready to list. All the while I’m beginning to dream about the “farm”. I’ll be too late to plant the garden this year but will take on the pond this summer. And learning to appreciate sunsets from my wraparound porch. Still, my brain is currently occupied with boxes and shelving and storage and … stuff. I have way too many books. And crafting projects. And paper notebooks. However. The current bane of my existence is LEGO. Read about my first experiences here. I hate to say it but not much has changed since that post oh so long ago. In fact, it’s kinda funny that Lego was involved in blog changes then… and blog (okay whole life!) changes now.

Okay. So let’s recap the muse about Lego again. Denmark, 1916. Woodworker named Ole Kirk Christiansen is known as the “creator” of Lego. His original shop was building houses and furniture but the Great Depression caused the crew to focus on smaller projects like wooden toys. The term “Lego” is loosely translated to Danish for “play well” leg godt. In Latin “I put together”. The name stuck.

Photo by Rick Mason via unsplash

Fast forward through some tweaking and brick adjustment, and by 1958-60’s Ole’s son, Godfried had taken over the family business and began the big switch to plastic bricks over wooden ones. I was shocked to know that Lego Canada wasn’t fully established until the late 1980s. The bricks had made their way to North America sometime before, but Canada didn’t have its own branch until then. My childhood. I must be old. Now, of course, we have Lego amusement parks, online clubs, T.V.’s Lego Masters etc. etc. And no age limit to builders. AFOL is a thing: Adult Fans Of Lego. My grown son is one.

In fact, the whole house is filled with Lego maniacs. Someone inevitably receives a box at Christmas. During the pandemic, weeks were spent building Hogwarts giant castle complete with minifigures and moving staircases. And so the conundrum of moving it all. No one is willing to part with it (even though I hear you can fetch $60 a kilo for the loose bricks). I have a large, I’m talking knee-deep, bin full of loose bits and bobs and teeny tiny pieces I painstakingly sorted from various shelves and jars. I’m still finding random bricks here and there. I was chastised for not keeping the kits together… but what’s a mom to do when there are sooo many? Plus I have built kits collecting dust on shelves. Any hints? At this point, I am open to all and every suggestion. Message me. Please.

I suppose I cannot complain. We have been blessed with the resources to give such creative projects to our kids (those kits aren’t cheap… even second-hand!) And I am thankful that this hobby is one the whole family can participate in. Skills are required and bricks are boredom-busting… at least for a little bit of time! I love Christmas afternoon. The little baggies are all over the dining room table and heads are bowed in brick worship and concentration of builder booklets. Even our girls.

So my muse takes me to Ole Christiansen again. Could he have built my soon-to-be new-to-me-century farmhouse back in 1900? Would he know his toy would become a worldwide phenomenon? Will I ever find a solution for how to pack, sort, and store all those tiny bricks? I need perspective. Hebrews 3:4 says:

 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.

I must remember that houses, Lego bricks, dishes, books and treasures I find are human things. Made by some factory and shipped from Amazon. Even the precious ones are created with human hands. God is the builder of our relationships. Our connections and our friendships. Our families. He orchestrates the timing in our lives of who arrives and who leaves our blips in time… and the whys of when they are there. I’m glad you all are out there. Connected to me in a weird way through my words on a page. I may not know you… and I may know you well. Your purpose in being here is real. I’m glad. And if you have an idea on how to organize Lego for moving: I’m very glad! Message me!

Pancakes

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I know I know… what a weird topic to blog about. Pancakes. Trust me, it gets even weirder from here. Why on earth was I thinking about pancakes? Here’s the story. It all started a few weeks ago when I was out grocery shopping. I started perusing the PC Insiders Holiday Report (no endorsements given here, I just happen to like their products… but if Galen Weston wants to hook me up… I’m here for it!). This is one of the current ads for their latest meal kit for the holidays:

Photo via PC insiders report online

So if you read the description… it clearly states the meal includes a “pancake”. And I mused: “A pancake?” This is not the fluffy, cake-like circle upon which I eat with syrup, chocolate chips and/or berries. Certainly, Peking duck does not a pancake make. And why is this a holiday thing? Green onion and red peppers? Apparently, I am very wrong. “Pancakes” are very diverse among a very vast and wide group of people. A little digging has opened me up to a whole new world of what constitutes a “pancake”. IHOP notwithstanding. (This Canadian girl learned that the American restaurant chain “IHOP” stands for International House of Pancakes… who knew?)

Some are thin and light… à la “crêpes”, and some are thicker like flatbreads or blinis. Dutch babies, bannock, Jonnie cake, flapjacks, toutons, crumpets, and my favourite-sounding name: crempogs (Welsh). And yes… China has a pancake version filled with savoury treats like Peking duck. I humbly apologize for my lack of foodie-ness. What did I know? Served at anytime or season. Holidays or lazy Sunday mornings.

And there are other pancake definitions as well! My sporty children tell me there is a move in volleyball called the pancake. The techies talk about the pancake bot… some kind of 3D printer thing… but does it make pancakes? I do not understand. And of course the adjective usage: flat as a pancake. You’ve got to love English. It lacks so much in descriptive ability. Flat cake made in a pan = pancake. My mind has so many questions.

“The Pancake move in volleyball”

So, my beloveds. How will I transition from all this talk of breakfast food to my “inspirational twist”? Diversity. I am fascinated that the Bible’s words can continue to be fresh and new each time you read them. Verses come alive every single time. Maybe diversity is not the right word. I want to say that scriptures can have different meanings depending on your perspective … like the thought of a “pancake” is different depending on where you live… but maybe that is not theologically sound. God’s Word doesn’t change. Yet, the mystery of it … is that it does. Do you see it? Have you felt this? Tell me you get it and that it is not just me! Verses you have heard time and time again suddenly leap off the page and “melt in your mouth” like a savoury pancake instead of syrupy sweet. A single phrase speaks to you in a way that it never has before. Just perfect for this moment in your life. This is the joy of reading ancient words inspired by God Himself.

Alive, diversified by the writer’s perspective, yet completely homogenous at the same time. Nowadays we have the added bonus of different versions of the Bible and concordances to enhance our studies even further. Like a kitchen full of ingredients ready to be added to make your perfect pancake. Yum! Taste and see that it is good.

Photo by Daniela Constantin