this girl loves life (and starbucks)

change-a-roo

2011-06-24T21:12:00.002-04:00

So, as I'm sure you can tell by lack of postings.......I am pretty sick of this blog. And yet I don't want to delete it, because sometimes I enjoy rereading things from the past. But this blog also describes a life that I'm not quite living anymore. ;)

That being said, I am going to try to keep up a family blog. Funny to say that. A couple years ago, I didn't even dream of having a family........well, you know, kids and stuff. And now #2 will be here in a few weeks. I will try to be better at posting, if only for the sake of memories. I need to remember everything!!

Anyways, visit me here -- http://bron4-notquiteirish.blogspot.com. Or you can just click on my profile and find my new blog (called boy+girl=girl+boy).

I am getting it going!! If nothing else, there will probably be cute pics of my kids. KIDS!!! That's right, I still can't get over the plural thing. :) :)

...continued...

2011-01-19T23:19:00.003-05:00

So I was admitted to the hospital. I was a little scared, mostly because my house was a mess, and I didn't really want to come home to that after having a baby. :) :)

The nurse said, well, your water is definitely broken and you're having mild contractions. I was feeling nothing. Hurray. She said get a good night's sleep cuz you'll need it and we'll see if your body goes into labor on its own.

Well, funny thing.....it didn't. Of course. The doctor said I should walk around the hospital all morning to try to get things started. I did -- nothing happened, except I ran into everyone I knew and everyone screamed because I was finally having a baby. :) :) It's fun having your baby at the hospital you work at. By the afternoon, nothing was happening, and the doctor wanted to start the evil drip. Which meant I would no longer be free to run around. I had to be poked numerous times for an IV and then they strapped me to a monitor, which meant I couldn't get out of bed unless I asked permission. Frustrating!!

The inducing stuff started, little by little they turned it up. All was going well (I thought). Contractions were gradually starting to come. I guess also when you are being induced, you have to be watched by a nurse 24/7, so I had a very chatty person at my bedside. Fun fun. After 3-4 hours of being on the drip, suddenly my nurse starts going ballistic as she stared at the monitor screens. She pushed me onto my side, shoved an oxygen mask on my face, and started yelling for help. Unbeknownst to me, little unborn baby's heart rate had dipped dangerously low for a couple seconds. Or at least this is what she presumed (although it could have been my heart rate). Because of this, the drip was stopped. Temporarily. To be started again in a few hours.

Yay. I lay in bed (still strapped to the dumb monitor), watching my contractions slowly go away. Night shift nurses arrive and they decided to restart the drip around 8pm. The contractions start again -- fast!! And coming much harder. I squeezed Jamie's hand ridiculously hard during them. The nurses started talking about when I might want to get an epidural (if I wanted one). They were saying crazy things like, well, you don't want to wait too long or we'll have to call in an anesthesiologist and he won't like being woken up. I was thinking to myself -- I'll ask for it whenever I want it, this is why doctors are on call!! The nurse tells me to try to sleep between contractions. Ha ha. They were about every two minutes and lasting 30-45 seconds. The night nurses leave to let me get some sleep (again haha). They tell me to watch the monitor to see if the baby's heart rate dips again. I was thinking to myself -- ummm isn't that your job?? And how am I supposed to sleep if I'm watching the monitor?? I kept these thoughts to myself.

Sometime later that night (who knows what time), I watched the monitor as the heart rate seemed to be dipping again. I called the nurses who watched a bit and immediately became concerned. They did the whole freaking out and pushing me onto my side thing -- while I yelled at them that I did NOT want to be on my side because I was having a contraction and that was the worst position to be in!!! Jamie was sitting there watching, I think. I really have no recollection of him doing anything else at that time. :) :)

The doctor is called and they decide to stop the drip again for the night. And restart it in the morning. I wonder how many times we can do this. The doctor comes in to see me and checks my progress. I am at 2cm. Disappointing. She inserts an internal monitor to the baby's head so they can make sure that they're actually getting her accurate heart rate and not traces of mine. That was REAL comfortable. Yet another cord. The funnest thing was that every time I had a contraction, the baby would push down hard on my bladder and I would have that uncontrollable urge to pee. Like the painful urge. So I asked the nurse if I could get up. She reluctantly disconnected all my wires and let me walk to the bathroom. After I was settled back in bed, I needed to get up again ten minutes later. I asked again. She seemed annoyed. After that, I didn't want to ask anymore. So I resisted the urge and was in way more intense amounts of pain. Jamie was mad at this point (at them) and told me to call them whenever and they were supposed to help me seeing as that was their job and all.

Through the night, the contractions tapered off again (no drip), although the doctor hoped my body would continue without the medication. No such luck. It was decided the drip would be restarted at 7am, I believe. I told Jamie I didn't know if I could do this stopping and starting thing anymore. Since nothing had happened before, he decided to leave and go get breakfast. The drip was started and within 5 minutes, the baby's heart rate was again dangerously low. It was stopped altogether, and the doctor looked at me and said, I'm sorry but you're having a C-section.

Yikes.

Then she said words like, NOW -- going to the OR to squeeze you in before the morning's surgeries start -- I'm sorry -- are you ok with this? -- let's go. And all I could think was hurray, at least the baby will be here sometime soon!! And my other thought was.....Jamie's not here. :( :(

the arrival of Delaney Hope, part 1

2010-12-07T21:43:00.003-05:00

The last time I blogged, our family was waiting impatiently for the arrival of our baby girl. Obviously, since then, she has arrived, and I want to write down bits and pieces of her birth story so I don't forget. It seems to me that I could never forget any detail of everything that happened, but I am human after all. It was a crazy and overwhelming experience, and, without a doubt, one of the very best days of my whole life. :) :)

I had two due dates -- July 21 and July 23. I chose to stick with the earlier one, because, well, it was earlier. :) :) I remember going to the hardware store with Jamie on July 21 to pick up some garden stuff. The cashier looked at me sympathetically and asked when I was due. It was so fun to say "TODAY!!" Haha, she looked at me like 'get out of this store before you have that baby on the floor!!' Anyways, Jamie had to go to work at 4pm, so I decided to take a drive to pick up a dehumidifier that we desperately needed. It just so happens they were on sale for a great price at Canadian Tire, but the closest store that had one in stock was about an hour away. Jamie agreed that I should go get it. I was thinking to myself, I'm pretty sure that store is by a Burger King -- perhaps I can get a Whopper Jr for dinner. :) :) Hehe, pregnant ladies have one-track minds.

I couldn't find anyone in the store to help me lift the dehumidifier, so I decided to do it on my own. Why no one stopped to help a 9-months-pregnant-lady lift a very heavy and unwieldy box is beyond me. But so it was. I bought it and was on my way -- put it in the car by myself and everything. :) :) I decided to pass up Burger King and headed to the bookstore instead. I figured I would read and sip a cold Starbucks. It was hot!! Now, look at the title of my blog -- I normally LOVE Starbucks. But earlier this year, they decided to change the way they make their frappuccinos (to total grossness), and I could never figure out how to tell them to make it so I would love it again. So I basically went my whole pregnancy without a frappuccino!!! Insane, I know. But that night, I decided I NEEDED one and asked the girl to make me one that tasted like the old kind. She looked at my gigantic pregnant belly and said "yes ma'am!!"

I sat and read for a bit and then headed home. Jamie was working til 2am, so I thought maybe I'd stay up and watch TV until he got home. I turned on Gilmore Girls (fave show ever!!) and chilled. Just after midnight, I hoisted my gargantuan self off the sofa and headed for the bathroom. Only (yes, TMI, I know!!) I didn't quite make it. Or so I thought. I figured my bladder had had enough of this belly stretching and had let loose. Then I thought -- ahhhhhhhhhh!!! Maybe that's my water breaking!!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!!

***insert major freakout moment***

Like a good expectant mama, I googled it and figured out it probably was my water breaking. I called the hospital, and they said the only way to know for sure was to come in. I said can I please wait until 2am when my husband gets home from work?? :) :) Then I called Jamie and freaked HIM out. I guess we really WERE going to have a baby after all!! I spent the next hour and a half straightening up the house and running around trying to make sure I had everything. I had a slight aneurysm when I realized I had *still* neglected to pick up some nursing bras. Oh well, babies don't wait for things like that.... :) :)

Jamie came home kinda bleary-eyed and we were on our way. I was nervous, excited, and totally and completed scared out of my mind. He was just tired. Hehe. I had NO idea what the next 24-30 hours held. None at all.

To be continued.....

so I'm gonna try this blog thing again....

2010-12-07T21:35:00.003-05:00

I know what you're thinking......yeah yeah yeah. :) :)

It's true -- I kinda stink at blogging. But now that we have a kid (!!!), maybe I should give it a better try for the sake of preserving our memories. I mean, we've already had 4 1/2 months with her and what do I have to show for it?? Well, since you asked, I have a perfectly gorgeous baby girl, thankyouverymuch. :) :) Anyways, here's to trying again!!

picture post

2010-07-01T22:11:00.003-04:00

some of the clothes me and my mom bought for the baby in PA :) :)

our new truck

a beautiful hybrid rose in our garden

another lovely rose opening

and lastly, a 3D ultrasound pic of my baby girl :) :)

post of the month

2010-06-02T18:21:00.002-04:00

June already?!?!? We are in the sixth month of 2010, and I have just about no idea where the time has gone. And I didn't get around to posting anything in the month of May. Surprise surprise. :) :)

Anyways, today is 33 weeks pregnant, which means just seven weeks to go. Insane and amazing and scary. I am so excited to meet our little girl, but I'm pretty sure I have no clue how to be a mommy. I guess we will learn together. It's just intimidating, b/c I know full well being a good parent is more than providing for your child and dressing her up in cute clothes. What a responsibility we will have. I guess it's finally time for me and Jamie to grow up.

Not a lot has changed. We work, we play, we live our lives. My pregnancy has been very smooth and very uncomplicated, for which we are quite thankful. I have five weeks of work left, and then off for a good long time. Not looking forward to that AT ALL!! Ha! The weather has been sunny and delightful and starting to feel like summer. Jamie bought us a new truck (which I have yet to drive), and has planted us a beautiful garden in the front. I went to visit my parents in May, and we have now been in our house for over a year. God is so good to us!

two months later.....

2010-04-24T13:18:00.002-04:00

Well, I seem to be pretty incapable of keeping up this blog. Maybe I am busier. Maybe I am just lazy. Of course, THAT couldn't be it......... :) :) :)

Anyways, to revisit the last topic, we found out on April 1 (of all days!) that we are having a GIRL!!!! We are absolutely thrilled!!! All along, I thought it was probably a girl, but it was nice to have some confirmation. (For all you naysayers, it was confirmed again on April 15 that it is indeed a little princess). :) :) The day of the ultrasound, I started second-guessing myself and preparing myself for the moment they might tell me it's a boy. Of course, I would have been just as thrilled, so it matters not!! My little baby's closet is starting to fill up with pink and dresses and all things girly. We are very happy indeed!!!

update

2010-02-23T20:04:00.002-05:00

Well.

We have a modest little baby. He/she kept his/her legs crossed during the whole ultrasound. Even with lots of prodding. :) :)

So (for now) it remains a surprise. Not sure if we will get another one done or not, I guess it depends on what the doctor thinks. I saw the baby and the heartbeat, so that is the main thing, I guess.

But YES, I admit to being very disappointed. :( :( I wanted to run right out and buy a little pink outfit if it was a girl, or overalls or something for a boy. Now I have to be content to wait.

i guess i don't know how to blog (or capitalize)

2010-02-22T13:45:00.003-05:00

Sooooo........yeah, it's been a while. I'm always thinking of things to write, but very rarely actually writing/typing them out. Nothing super exciting going on here anyways. :) :)

I am going on 19 weeks pregnant already!! Some days I feel it is going ever so slowly, but really!! 19 weeks!! I feel like I just got the positive test(s)**, and that was over three months ago. Tomorrow, we are going for the BIG ultrasound. I suppose the purpose of said U/S is to look at all the baby's physical anatomy and make sure everything is in working order. We know the *real* purpose of said U/S is to determine pink or blue!!! :) :) Let's hope little baby B is in a cooperative (AKA immodest) mood. Everyone seems to have an opinion one way or another, but in my heart, I feel it is a girl. We will be thrilled with either!! And are mostly agreed on names.....

I guess I had better not wish away the time too fast. I am just about halfway there, and pretty much have nothing ready for a new little human to enter our home. Well, other than have two little outfits and a bassinet-not-yet-put-together. Oh, and a pack of little diapers. :) :) I haven't even told the cats, and they probably need time to get used to the idea. ;)

I am certainly getting larger, although I don't know about packing on the poundage. As of last visit with the doctor, I hadn't gained any weight yet. The doc says everything is great, so who am I to question?? Well, I guess I am somebody, b/c I know I worry way too much. Maybe tomorrow will change that a little bit.

In other news, we went to the Toronto Symphony last week -- heard Beethoven's 5th and some other pieces and had a $5 Haagen-Dazs dark chocolate ice cream bar. We've been working a lot. We go out every now and then. We watch the Olympics a lot (like a LOT). And we even found time to paint and organize our office/craft room. It's a lovely fuchsia color, makes me happy. Jamie put his computer in there, and I have almost all my craft stuff organized. Just waiting for a few more shelves to go on sale, and it will be done. Maybe even look nice enough to post pictures. That is, if I can find that darn camera cord........grrrrrr. :) :)

Anyways, I will post the happy news if we find out tomorrow!!! :) :)

** Yes, I took THREE tests. I'm a little OCD. :) :) And I took the first one in a very lovely public Canadian Tire restroom. Good memories. :) :)

thoughts

2010-01-15T18:28:00.002-05:00

I'm thinking a lot today about......

1. My grandma. Today would have been her birthday. And she has been gone from our lives for almost eight years now. :( :( I wrote a lot about her last year on her birthday -- see here. I still miss her.

2. A girl at work I know who lost her precious little baby boy at just 20 weeks. She went for her ultrasound and learned the baby's heart had stopped beating. My heart is breaking for her. Being pregnant myself, this bit of news hit me very hard and I feel indescribably sad for her. :( :(

3. My sweet sweet little baby growing inside of me. (I couldn't have them all sad, now, could I??) I am looking forward to the day when I get to start feeling him/her moving around. I went to the doctor on Friday and was able to hear that little heart beating ridiculously fast. A good fast. Baby sounds healthy, and I think my morning sickness is going away. Yay!! I am loving my little baby!!!

4. What Not to Wear. Okay, I wasn't really thinking about that a lot today, just thought I'd mention it since I'm half-watching it now. :) :) It's about a witch?!?

a slowwwww return :)

2010-01-06T17:44:00.004-05:00

Well, here it is a week later, and I only posted that one little thing. Or a BIG thing, depending on how you look at it. ;)

Today was my first ultrasound at the hospital, AKA my first chance to see that there is indeed a little moving person who is quite alive inside of me!!! It was lovely, and reassured me quite a bit -- and now I have a lovely grainy picture of our beautiful baby-to-be.

Highlights of the exam included:
1. Seeing that little heart flashing on the screen
2. Watching our baby move its hands around by its face
3. Finding out that everything is indeed okay and little baby looks good for its age!! I am so thankful!!

Low points of the exam included:
1. Being made to fill up my bladder an hour before the appointment time, and then having to wait an extra half hour before it even started. My little tiny bladder is still recovering -- owww!!
2. Having a pretty crabby and condescending ultrasound technician. However, she miraculously seemed to recover from her bad mood when she found out I worked at this hospital. :) :)
3. Jamie wasn't allowed to come in until the very end. What's up with that??

Anyways, I was so so happy to see our little baby. You don't even know how emotional it made me. I have to go get some blood drawn tomorrow, and then see the doctor on Friday to see how much weight I've gained this trimester (!!!), and hopefully to hear the baby's heartbeat.

I am soooooooooo excited!!!

Our little little baby's photographic debut:

bringing back the blog

2009-12-29T11:08:00.003-05:00

After a busy, difficult, and very stressful summer, life has begun to smooth out once again. I am so thankful. So I'm bringing back the blog. Not that anyone reads it anymore. But I still have lots to say. And while I'm thinking of some things, you can check out my new header. ;) ;)

moving drama

2009-04-24T20:32:00.002-04:00

So we had our final house inspection on Wednesday. And that is not the drama -- it went fine. A few minor things were noted, but everything seems to be in order. Well, except the garage door and the outside railings are not painted, but they are not going to paint them until it gets a little dryer......i.e. it's not raining or snowing every day. :-D And our driveway won't be paved until the fall at least, if not the spring. I guess the ground needs time to settle or something like that?? Anyways, it matters not -- the house is in good shape and will become officially ours on Monday!!

We had an appointment with the attorney's office this afternoon. About four hours before the appointment, the secretary decided to call us with the amount we owed them. Well, let's just say that the amount was considerably higher than we had expected. Not only that, we didn't know they expected the money today. And they expected it in the form of a certified check or bank draft. Suffice it to say, that was going to be impossible to get this afternoon. Our banks requires just a little more notice than that. So it became a bit of a freak-out moment. How do we get them the (huge sum of) money??

The lawyer's office decided that a money order would be okay too, so we decided to go that route. After contacting the bank to allow us to withdraw a considerable amount of money (more than our daily limit), I was finally able to get six money orders that totaled the amount the attorney wished to receive. SIX. They limit the amount you put on one, so I had to get six separate ones. Grrrrr. With about an hour to spare, we got the money and then met with the attorney, where we basically signed our lives away. I'm pretty sure that James and I BOTH belong to the bank now, along with our new house. :-)

All along this process of building a new house, every. single. person. we encountered assured us that we did not have to pay the normally required land transfer tax since we are first-time homebuyers and own no land or property. Well, pardon me, but that was a load of crap. We may not have our own home, but there is still a transfer tax for the homebuilder to transfer it to US. There IS a tax credit for first-time buyers, but it definitely doesn't cover the entire amount. So that was a nice little surprise for us. Plus, a few other fees were added that we weren't informed about, and that wasn't too fun to find out.

Oh well, it is done. All the money has changed hands that needs to at this point, and we are just waiting for the phone call on Monday that says everything has been approved and we can pick up our keys!! Until then, I will rush about in a mad frenzy, trying to pack everything. I'm slowly but surely getting there.

Next time I am hiring professional movers. Seriously. And I'm also going to hire somebody to talk to the attorney and mortgage brokers, so we can actually understand what they're doing. :-D

final house inspection TODAY

2009-04-22T07:49:00.003-04:00

We are FIVE days from closing, so today we are going for the final inspection/walk-thru to make sure everything is A-OK. And I really hope it is. I'll try to take some pics, b/c this time the house should be beautifully cleaned, and that may be the only time ever that it will be that clean. :P

We are so excited about our new house!!! The packing-up-our-entire-life-thing, not so much. But it will be amazing to have our own place. We are so thankful for God's hand of provision in our lives.

ah Sunday

2009-04-19T08:17:00.002-04:00

So it's Sunday again already. Where does the time go?? I guess that means we'll be closing on our brand new house in EIGHT short days. !!! And I do mean short. There is so much to be done!! However, I AM starting to feel a little more motivated, so I suppose that's a good thing.

So what did I do this week?? Hmmmmm.....

1. Well, I got my new computer. She's pictured below. And I don't why I call it a "she." Perhaps that will change. :)

2. I worked one evening shift, and three way-too-early shifts. Yippee for days that start at 5 am. :S Oh, and I almost forgot. I worked two night shifts as well.......how did I forget that when I just got home from one an hour ago?? Losing it.....

3. I forgot to give blood at the drive on Wednesday. I don't know why, I just forgot. And now I feel kinda bad....

4. I went bowling with my friends on Thursday night. I definitely didn't do nearly as well as last time, and I also ended up falling on the floor. Just a little embarrassing. And yes, everyone laughed, and no, no one thought to make sure I was ok before doing so. Haha. Oh well, if it had been someone else, I probably would have laughed too. :P I'm sure it was really funny to watch. But now I have a lovely large bruise on my right knee.

5. I got to give a lot of shots. Yay -- I like my job!! :)

6. I bought new scrubs on Friday after work. That's always fun. I prefer to wait until they go on sale since the regular prices are NOT cheap. And I'm trying to find more girly ones instead of the unisex ones that fit, well, unisexly. I'll have to post a pic of me in my cute scrubs.

7. Jamie and I went through all our paperwork last night, and shredded what seemed like (and probably was) thousands of pages. The shredder got a mini workout. But we were able to condense three large drawers and a bunch of stuff from the coffee table into one file box that is organized AND neatly labeled. And since we were sitting on the floor up to our ears (almost quite literally) in bills and forms and certificates and letters, we ordered pizza to come straight to our door. Yippee for delivery people!!

I guess that's it. Well, the highlights anyways. I slept a few hours, cooked awesome chicken bruschetta bake, ate a few meals, did a bunch of driving, tried to pack a few boxes, etc etc etc. But who wants to hear about THAT?? :)

Now it's Sunday and time to get ready for church. I have three days of orientation for NEW JOB this week, and two night shifts. Then I have the entire weekend free to ~~relax~~ finish packing and hopefully not freak out!! Too much craziness at one time. !!! Soon it will be time to relax though.......I'm flying down to PA on May 13 to see my awesome parents. Oh, and Rita too. Can't leave her out........ ;)

changes

2009-04-14T21:50:00.002-04:00

Well, I officially broke it off and started a new relationship. :) My old Dell has been tucked away, never to breathe another day, and I have a new love -- my red Dell. We're still getting to know each other, but I think it's gonna be a good fit. I have high hopes anyways.....

HAPPY EASTER!!!

2009-04-12T14:04:00.002-04:00

Or, a more appropriate title might be Happy Resurrection Day!!! I am so glad I serve a risen Saviour!! "He is not here, for HE IS RISEN, as He said."

In honour of the holiday, I thought I would post the video to this song that I love. I think I cry every time I watch this video or even hear the song. Such an amazing account of the crucifixion of Christ. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

P.S. YES, I have heard the latest news about Ray Boltz. Please don't attack me for posting this song anyways. While I find his situation sad, I don't believe what is going on in his personal life changes the message of the song.

busy busy

2009-04-11T21:55:00.002-04:00

So, today was a pretty busy-busy type of day. The day after Good Friday and the day before Easter -- I totally forget every year just what kind of craziness goes on on this day. Yesterday I planned on going to Michael's........not thinking it was Good Friday. I had a coupon that said it was good only on April 10. Yesterday. So it didn't even occur to me that it might not be open. So I hopped in the car and drove the 40 minutes to the nearest Michael's. It starts dawning on me after I pass empty parking lot after empty parking lot. Oh well, I thought, maybe just Michael's is open. There's a coupon after all! And Michael's was open on Thanksgiving, so Good Friday is not that much of a stretch. However, I pull up to the very empty parking lot, refusing to believe that it is closed until I see the sign for myself.

Sigh.

Back to busy-busy.

Because everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is closed on Good Friday here (an adjustment for this American), and a lot of stuff is closed on Easter as well, what I affectionately refer to as Easter Saturday is madness.

I first experienced the madness at the grocery store. I walked down to the local Price Chopper to pick up a few items. As soon as I walked in, I was sucked into a huge crowd of people, all mulling over what kind of apples to get, or perhaps white or whole wheat bread. I am not normally a claustrophobic person, but I started to feel a bit ~~under attack~~ closed in, so I ~~ran around~~ navigated the mess and haphazardly threw many items into my bag. Yep, I am eco-friendly, so I have my own bag. It's easy being green!! :) Anyways, I finally got in a line, and after 10 minutes of waiting, the ever-polite woman in front of me decided to inform me that it was a cash-only line. Oh.how.wonderful. I moved to another (long) line and glared at the previous one. I finally made it through the line and exited the store $43 poorer. I guess they weren't chopping too many prices today. :)

I spent the early afternoon volunteering at a local retirement home. I try to do that when I have time; unfortunately free time has been rather scarce lately. But I know a lady who works there, and she recruited me to come in and play the piano for the residents this afternoon. It's great for me -- I love playing the piano and I don't have one here at home. So I get to practice and play all I want, and the residents of the home get to enjoy it too.

After that was done, I decided to try the long drive to Michael's again. I KNEW it was open today. And NO, I didn't learn anything from my morning experience at the grocery store. What can I say -- I'm a sucker for Michael's. The drive to and from wasn't bad, but once I hit the city, I hit major major traffic. Yippee. It took me 15 minutes to go less than a mile. :) But Michael's was good to me as always, and then I stopped in Bulk Barn to get stuff for an Easter basket for Jamie. Of course I'm not really sure what I was thinking going in a candy store the day before Easter. More madness ensued. I don't really think I look like a Bulk Barn employee, but I did get asked more than once if I knew where the marshmallow bunnies were. :)

It was good to get home. Jamie ended up working late, so I used the next hour to mix up cupcake, cookie, and muffin batter. I'm supposed to take dessert to church tomorrow, and I couldn't decide what to make. So I made three things. Or at least mixed them up. I'm in the process of baking as-I-type. :) Add that to the mock peanut brittle I made this afternoon for the retirement home, and I think you'll have to agree that I'm a regular Suzy Homemaker. Oh yes I am. ;)

Now I am winding down and finishing up the cookies. So anyone up for some carrot muffins, cream cheese cupcakes, or chocolate raspberry chip cookies, come on over!!

P.S. I got an e-mail today that says my new computer has been shipped!! I can't wait to be using a laptop again....

good GREAT Friday!!

2009-04-10T07:59:00.002-04:00

Yes, today is Good Friday. Hmmm, I've always wondered about why it's called that. Let me Wikipedia that...... It seems to me that the day that people use as the date for the crucifixion of Jesus would not be considered a good day at all. I guess it is Catholic in nature. Me, I don't "celebrate" or really observe Good Friday in any way. I suppose this is because 1) it is a Catholic holiday, and 2) Jesus did not die on a Friday. I'm not going to get into semantics or arguments over this, but the Bible says Jesus lay in the grave for three days, and it also very clearly says that He arose from the grave on a Sunday morning. Therefore, Jesus quite obviously was not crucified on a Friday. But I digress...... Easter is the important holiday, perhaps the most important holiday we celebrate!! It is the day we remember and celebrate the resurrection of our Saviour, the One who died to give salvation to all who will receive it!!! So Easter, YES. Good Friday, not so much.

Anyways, I think it's a great Friday!!! The weather is supposed to be absolutely beautiful today and this weekend, and I don't have to go to work until Monday at 2:30pm!! So whatever shall I do with this freedom??

I think the "right" answer is to, ya know, clean up the house, do some laundry, and keep packing boxes for the big move. And maybe I will get around to some of that later today. But for now, there's a big sale at Michael's calling my name. And when Michael's calls, I come, usually running. :-)

look what I got!!!

2009-04-08T18:41:00.003-04:00

In honor of me becoming an RN here in Canada, I bought myself a stethoscope. A Littmann stethoscope, which are pretty much the best around. And in celebration of all things girly, I got myself a pretty pretty pink one. The nurse will see you now........ :) :) :)

P.S. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I got that other job today!!!!

April showers blizzard??

2009-04-07T00:33:00.002-04:00

Well, I haven't been blogging in a while.......

I haven't really had the time (started a new job) or the means (my computer bit the dust a few days ago). So now my computer time is relegated to when I'm home (rarely), when I'm awake (every now and then), and when my husband isn't using his computer (never). All this adds up to no blogging.

So I thought I would write a quick little post after he has gone to bed.

Yesterday was a gorgeous spring day. It was sunny and about 50 degrees or so -- perfect April weather. This morning, we woke up to blankets of white. My favorite precipitation had once again graced us with its presence. Quite apparently, spring has not sprung. At least not for good. It had to figure that there would be one more storm before winter could leave us for good. I just didn't expect it to this magnitude. I'm not sure how much snow we got all total, but I'm thinking it was at least six inches. Yippee. It just seems like you ESPECIALLY can't enjoy it when you thought it was gone for good. Ok, ok, who am I kidding?? I've never really enjoyed snow.....but much much much less so when it has already been "spring" for a good two and a half weeks. Thankfully, we hadn't gotten our snow tires taken off yet..... The coolest thing is that today was opening night for the Toronto Blue Jays. Too bad they have a retractable roof on their stadium or they might have gotten to play in the snow. :-) We're going to see them play tomorrow night, and I'm pretty sure it will be the first (and hopefully last) time I have to wear a snow suit to watch a baseball game.

In other news, I have started my new job, and I think I am really going to like it. Check back in six months, but I don't think I'll change my mind. The month of April is filled with more orientation shifts, working at my other job, and getting ready to move. Stick in a couple hours of volunteering here, and various frivolity there......it makes for a pretty busy month. But all is well.

As I mentioned earlier, my computer died the other day. As in, ceased to exist any longer. I guess we had a good run -- it was about 6 1/2 years old. It lived through 2 1/2 years of college, all our years of marriage up to this point, and a very nasty and debilitating liquid NyQuil spill that may or may not have been my fault. :-D She did good. I knew it was going to happen sometime soon, but I wasn't really prepared.......as in, I had none of my documents or music saved to external devices. At least I had most of my pics uploaded onto an external USB, so those are safe. I also wasn't prepared for Jamie to want to buy me a new computer right away. But apparently the idea of me using his computer for any length of time didn't sit well with him, so I am having a brand new laptop shipped to me sometime this month. Yay!!! It was an unanticipated expense for sure, but thankfully we were afforded an extra pay check this month which was able to cover it. Let's just make sure to keep the liquid cold medications away from my new baby. Which will be cherry RED, for those of you who were wondering........... :) :) :)

And so goes the life. I'll update on how the snowy baseball game goes. And I just happen to be off the entire Easter weekend, so here's to hoping the weather gets a lot sunnier and a lot less snowy!! I'll keep dreaming........

more job/interview drama

2009-03-26T20:15:00.002-04:00

For someone who hates interviews so much, I sure seem to be going on a lot of them. And they don't seem to be getting any easier really. Oh well, I guess it's good experience. At least that's what everyone says. And "everyone" is always right, right?? :)

I don't really know what to think of this interview. I would love to get the position, but only God knows. I'd say my chances are about 50/50, and it probably depends a lot on the candidates they are interviewing next week. I would have to say that this was by far the most challenging interview yet. They asked lots of tough questions and wrote down pretty much every word I said. I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed by the questions, and pretty stupid really. I mean, come on, I'm a nurse -- I should know these things!!! I felt like crying, but willed myself not to. The interviewers told me to relax and that I was doing fine, but it just didn't seem like it at the time.

On the way home, I analyzed (over-analyzed?) everything I had said in my mind, and thought of about a bazillion other things I COULD have said and yet didn't. I beat myself up mentally for a while, and then decided it's out of my hands now. They said they would call towards the end of next week. And they are going to call either way, so at least I don't have to make myself sick over wondering whether the phone is going to ring.

Hmmmm, I just reread this post, and I sound like such a mental basket case. :-) And I guess that would be a pretty fair assessment.

Hopefully this will be the last interview for a while......

proud of us!!

2009-03-20T01:53:00.002-04:00

God has blessed us so much financially. Many times, I am ungrateful -- thinking we don't have enough money for this or that -- but the truth is we have way more than we can use, and much more than we need. Honestly, we aren't the most frugal of people. Sure, I'll use coupons here and there when I can, and I always take advantage of good sales, but when I see how frugally some people (have to) live, it almost makes me feel wasteful.

Anyways, even with our not-quite-frugal/not-quite-spendthrift lifestyle, we have managed to save quite a bit of money during the time we have been married. During the last 3 1/2 years, these are our major financial milestones:

Paid off about $12,000 in debt (basically from my college tuition)
Paid off about $2,500 worth of dental bills from when we didn't have dental insurance
Bought a car, which we are currently making payments on
Saved over $20,000 toward the purchase of our new home
Consistently given 10% plus of our income to God's work at our church

When I think of how much income we have earned over the past few years, I am impressed with the amount of money we were able to save, and I am so proud of us!! But I think it is the last point that is the kicker -- giving back to God. I confess that many times I am so tempted to let that slide. Skipping one week of giving probably wouldn't hurt, right?? And I could sure use that $200 elsewhere -- maybe pay the cable bill or the car insurance. But then I slap myself and remind myself that it is the least we can do to give some of our earnings back to God. He has never failed us -- not once -- and He's not about to start now. And I firmly believe that God blesses those who give back to Him.

Now, after living in a small apartment for the last three years, God has blessed us with the means to purchase our own home. We both have good jobs. We also have two cars that are insured, and we always have money to buy gas for them. We always have food in our refrigerator and in our pantry, and there are more than enough clothes in our closet. We have nice furniture, two computers, a TV, and a ridiculous amount of "extras." Thank you, God, for consistently taking care of us!!

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto HIM be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."

oh the trials of life.....

2009-03-18T22:48:00.002-04:00

So, last week (or whenever) I was whining (yes, whining) about a situation. A situation that I interpreted as bad, long before it even had an opportunity to manifest itself. In short, I cried (a lot) about not being able to get a job after TWO interviews. Poor little me.

Well, soon after I cried about it, I received a phone call in which I was offered one of the jobs from said interviews. Yippee for me!! Regarding the other interview, I also whined (only a little) about how I wished they would call me even if they didn't want to hire me. I didn't mind that I didn't get the job -- just that I didn't KNOW.

Well, God has a sense of humor.

Today, I received another phone call. I got the other job!!! Wowee, now what to do?? Both are casual positions, and as far as I can see, that does not entail any set number of hours. I could very possibly accept both positions, but it depends on a number of factors. First, I have to attend orientation at position #1 to find out the particulars of the job. That will be on March 31. Then I will have to call position #2 back and see if their schedule could possibly mesh with my new one. Position #2 seems very understanding about the other position and told me to call them back when I had more of an idea about hours and such. Complicating matters further is the presence of my current job. While NOT my dream job and not really what I went to school for, I feel some sort of attachment to it, as I have been there 2 1/2 years. I don't really want to give it up entirely just yet, as I may need to pick up a few shifts here and there while I learn the ins and outs of casual work. It's a job where I basically schedule myself, so there's that bonus.

Other factors are (of course) money and location. We are relocating to another town in about six weeks. Position #1 will be about 5 minutes from our new house. Position #2 will be about 40 minutes from our new house. And my current job will be about 25 minutes from our new house. I, quite obviously, am keeping the casual position #1, as its location is supremely ideal. I don't know yet if position #2 will offer enough hours to make the drive worth it. And about the money -- positions #1 and #2 are similar, if not identical, in salary. My current job earns me SIGNIFICANTLY less than either of these other two would. Its only "perks" are its familiarity, my attachment to the elderly lady and her daughter, and its consistency. My schedule rarely changes unless I want it to, and the hours are dependable.

So therein lies the irony. Instead of crying about not getting jobs, I am now wondering what is the best route to take now that I essentially have three jobs in my lap. Take one new position?? Well, that's a given -- I've already accepted one. Take both new positions?? Quite possibly. Keep my current job or leave it?? Still undecided. And I can't really decide anything until orientation starts at the end of the month.

Oh well. I'd much rather be in this "predicament" than sit by the phone crying about my apparent lack of interview skills. Oh yes, I am the woman!! :) :) Time will sort this one out, and it will happen quite soon, I think.

to rock or not to rock

2009-03-14T11:44:00.003-04:00

I have many thoughts today. For your convenience, I shall put them in a numbered list. :-)

Yoplait yogurt -- cranberry-raspberry crumble variety: This stuff rocks!! I am so in love with this flavor. Unfortunately, the only way I seem to be able to buy it is in a 16-pack with three other flavors (4 of each flavor). While the other flavors are okay, I find myself just dutifully slurping them down in anticipation of the cranberry stuff. I hope I can find it soon in its own individual pack, or in a big tub, or something.
RRRoll up the RRRim contest: This stuff does NOT rock. I guess one could make the case that we go through the drive-thru at Timmy's an awful lot. I probably wouldn't contest that fact. Even more so during February and March, when they have the (in)famous RRRoll up the RRRim contest. It's just like it sounds -- after you're done drinking your coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or whatever, you roll up the rim to see if you've won a prize. Prizes range from gift cards to money to new cars to computers. However, free coffee and donuts from Timmy's is supposed to be the easiest prize to win -- after all, they're only giving away 31 MILLION food prizes. I remember from last year winning a donut almost every time I rolled up the rim. Not so this year. We. have. not. won. ANYTHING. You would think this might be enough to make us stop buying our favorite beverages. Again, not so. Apparently, we're suckers for punishment.
The hair-dying saga: This stuff does NOT rock. I decided in a LAST effort to try the hair dye my sister recommended. If it didn't work, then I was done and stuck with the wonderful color God gave me. :) Well, let me tell you -- this dye is potent stuff. My eyes were watering and I was feeling a bit faint as I combed it through my hair. James said he was getting a headache from it, and he wasn't anywhere near me when I was doing it. Ah, I thought, this is the stuff. Anything this powerful has to be clinging to (and chemically destroying) every single strand of my hair. It said to leave it on for 10 minutes, so due to my hair's non-compliance in the past, I left it on for 30 minutes. Work, baby, work!! Well, I have to say I *think* it worked. Immediately after, my hair was dark. Really dark. I did it on a Saturday night, and I got LOADS of comments about it at church the next day. But!! There's always a but!! Even though it's supposed to be a permanent dye, I believe it is slowly washing out every time I wash my hair. It's still darker than normal, but it's definitely lighter than the first day. And from day two, my lather of shampoo ends up with a purplish tinge to it. That's ok though -- after all this trouble I've been through, I don't even think I liked it dark, although everyone else sure seemed to. I think I'm gonna stick with my dark dark blonde. Although I would love to add some pink or purple streaks -- anyone got any advice on that??? :) :)
Job interviews: this stuff does NOT rock. Honestly, the mere mention of an interview sends my stomach into spasms and me into a nearly full-blown nervous breakdown. Usually when I get to the interview, I am completely fine and able to be polite, outgoing, and maybe even charming. I had an interview last week Wednesday, and it seemed to go okay. She said someone would be contacting me soon. It's been a week and a half, and no one has called. I'm guessing that means they passed on me. Totally fine, but I almost wish they would call and say so, so my stomach doesn't have to be in knots all the time wondering. The second interview was this past Tuesday. There were three of us, and only one job available. Part of it was a group interview, and part of it was individual. I had the last individual interview, and honestly, I thought it went GREAT. I felt like I really clicked with the two interviewers, and it left me with a very happy feeling. She said they would be making a decision by the end of the week. Yikes. The next three days were anxiety-ridden. I couldn't even sleep at night due to feeling ill, and when I finally would fall asleep, I would dream that they had called me. Then I would frantically wake up, grab the phone, and realize they hadn't. All day yesterday, I assumed I would hear something. The phone did not ring. Instead of feeling sick, I now started to feel upset that I probably hadn't gotten the job. I did all this worst-case scenario stuff in my mind, and then ended up sobbing about how I was never going to get a job. You would NOT have wanted to be at my house yesterday. Finally, I let it go (with a lot of prodding from Jamie). I thought, maybe they're making a decision today and then calling everyone on Monday. Yeah, that's it. Job interviews and waiting are definitely not for me!!!
Getting a job: now this stuff totally rocks!!! After all my whining and woe-is-me-ing (great word I just made up, hey?) that I did on Friday, the director called me very late Friday afternoon and said "would you like a job?" Ah, music to my anxiety-laden ears!! It felt amazing to have my hard work finally pay off. And it made me feel a lot better about my interviewing skills -- maybe it really had gone as well as I thought. I don't know all the details yet, but she is going to call me back Monday and tell me more. When I see her again, I will have to give her a huge hug for letting me know before the weekend so I wouldn't have to be sick about it. Then again, that might not be the best way to impress a new employer. So I'll just be happy about it here!!! Thank you, God.

And so concludes my list of thoughts for now. :)

P.S. Is it just me, or has the standard of dress for interviews gone WAY down?? I've always thought it was appropriate to look professional, clean, and well-polished for an interview, even if you're applying to be a cashier at a supermarket (I did that, so I know!!). I usually dress up (not ridiculously so -- no ball gowns or anything lol). I figure if you are trying to sell yourself to a company, it's important to look your best. In these group interviews, however, I get to see how other people are dressing, and let me tell you, it's scary sometimes. In this last one, a not-very-skinny woman was wearing a very ill-fitting blue suit that looked about a hundred years old. And she paired with that white athletic socks and very casual shoes. Hmmmmm. That may or may not be as bad as the last group interview I had last year. There were nine of us, all female. Three of the nine were wearing jeans!! And two were wearing shirts/blouses that left an awful lot of them hanging out and not an awful lot left to the imagination. Another was wearing scrubs -- I guess maybe she had just come from work?? Still, take the time to change!! Maybe employers just have to take what they can get these days. If I'm ever in the position to do the hiring (not very likely), I would certainly not hire someone who couldn't even bother to look appropriate for ONE day.

Sorry, pet peeve...... :) :)

swag bucks

2009-03-05T22:20:00.002-05:00

Now I'm certainly not an expert on these sorts of things, but this one seems pretty good to me. It reminds me a little of Mypoints, but so far it's been easier to get points (bucks) and it looks like the rewards are cheaper.

What am I talking about??? Swagbucks.com. It's a search engine that pulls results from Google and Ask.com and brings them to you in one convenient place. Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, here is the best part! You can also earn "Swagbucks" while searching the web, and redeem them for prizes in the Swag Store. Prizes range from $5 gift cards to Amazon.com all the way up to iPhones and electric guitars! So you are not only getting two of the best search engines pulled into one, but you are also earning Swagbucks for doing it. You don't find Swagbucks every time you search, but you never know when you will!! Usually, you will get 2 Swagbucks just for your first search.

There are other ways to win Swagbucks -- like shopping through their site, finding hidden codes on various websites, trading in other merchandise -- but so far I'm only using the search option. I made Swagbucks my default search engine, and so far I have earned 26 Swagbucks just doing normal every-day searches. 45 Swagbucks will buy you a $5 gift card, so I'm not doing too badly, since I've only had my account for less than a week.

So here's where you come in. I want you to sign up for Swagbucks too!! You can get free stuff, and if you use my referral link, you will help me earn more Swagbucks. It's not a scam, and all you have to do is use their search engine to win a buck or two here and there. Who doesn't Google every day anyways??

So SIGN UP USING THIS LINK, or click the banner above!! Hopefully, you (and I) will be earning lots of Swagbucks soon. :) :)

P.S. If you're interested in joining Mypoints, let me know and I'll send you a referral link.

empty your purse!!

2009-02-26T17:57:00.003-05:00

No, seriously.....

I saw this on a million blogs, and maybe it was a million years ago. But I'm just getting around to it now. Or maybe I'm just finally brave enough to go through the depths (and I do mean depths) of my bag. Or maybe I just need something to post. :) :)

Whatever the case, it's pretty easy. Just empty out your purse or bag or whatever you carry with you and take a pic of the contents. Oh yeah, also take a pic of your bag so everyone can see how ~~boring~~ stylish you are.

Here is my bag. It's a pink and black striped designer knockoff that I picked up at a flea market in PA. Yay flea markets!! Anyways, I love it -- it's roomy and it's really unique. People either really like it or really hate it. Jamie doesn't care for it much, he says it looks like a "hooker bag," whatever that means. And how would he even know what a hooker bag looks like?? It doesn't matter, I ♥ it!

And all -- ALL -- the junk in it. :) :) You can click to make it larger and see all my garbage.

Here's a list of everything I found in the depths of there (starting on the left):

a bunch of pens, mascara tubes, lip glosses, etc
my glasses case (with glasses inside!!) -- I'm supposed (note SUPPOSED) to wear them for driving
a pack of gel pens that I won at a Christmas party
a pack of cinnamon gum
a few (ahem) feminine products
a stack of receipts
a bottle of trusty Aleve (my drug of choice :)
my CG compact
three clothespins -- one is broken, two are from Korea
a ticket from the Raptors game we went to on Dec 31
three wet wipes from Chick-Fil-A
one of the lenses from my broken sunglasses
floss from my last visit to the dentist
a nearly empty bottle of Dove hair spray
a spoon?!? :)
a little thing of bubbles from a wedding in September
my wallet
two adapter cords -- one for my cell and one for my DS
a package of Kleenex (thanks Mom)
my pink cell phone
my check book
an envelope of pictures from Walmart
Valentine's Day tissue paper -- really don't know how THAT got in there :)
keys!!
my iPod shuffle -- still has Christmas music on it, I need to remedy that --Rudolph and Frosty are getting a little tired :)
a book -- I usually keep one in there to read at work, or if I'm going to have to wait somewhere
my Nintendo DS in its super cute designer bag that my super cool sister gave me

And that's it. Actually, that's quite a lot for a girl who never really liked purses or wanted to carry a bag. Now I have way too many. Now that I have this one empty, I think I'll switch to a different one -- something spring-like, maybe it'll hurry up the warmer weather!! :) :)

If you feel like emptying your bag, consider yourself tagged!!

cars

2009-02-26T07:57:00.003-05:00

Well, the automobiles have both been fixed/serviced, and the total cost for both cars came in way under the dealer's estimate of $461 for ONE car. Even with a couple extra things added on the Saturn that we didn't know needed to be fixed.

Take THAT, Volkswagen!! :) :)

long time no post

2009-02-24T15:44:00.003-05:00

I guess I really haven't had anything to post about. So I didn't. :) However, life is good on the homefront, other than both cars needing repairs (VW) and some maintenance (Saturn). Actually, maybe they're both maintenance -- is replacing worn-out brakes considered maintenance?? All I know is it's not covered by the warranty. Oh well, it didn't stop us from making a little pit stop at Starbucks on the way home from the mechanic. :) :)

We also stopped at the new house after taking the VW in. Oh yeah, a side note on that -- $461 to fix the brakes at the dealer, and $250 to do it at our mechanic. Can we say the dealer is into a little bit of highway robbery?? I know their hourly labor rate is more expensive, but it shouldn't be more than $200 more!!

Anyways, the house...... It's looking great!! I haven't posted any updated pictures here in a while, so maybe I'll add one or two to this post. It's come along so far. All the dry wall is done, first layer of painting is done, and all the tiles are now in too!! I can't wait for all the cabinets and the rest of the flooring. Only about nine weeks now til closing!!

Hmmmm, what else?? I watched the Oscars on Sunday night at work. I know, I know, I'm pathetic. I also read gossip magazines on occasion -- so what?? :) :) However, on Sunday, I must have an extra-high dose of monthly hormones, b/c I even cried at one part. Yes, I know I'm admitting I'm even more pathetic. Anyways, Heath Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for his work in The Dark Knight. No, I didn't cry because he won (I was never exactly a huge fan of his). I also didn't cry because he died (yes, it's sad, but he overdosed -- he probably could have prevented that). I cried when his family came up to accept the award without him. They looked very upset, and I cry when other people are visibly sad. So there I sat, watching the Academy Awards, with tears rolling down my face. Complete dork-dom at its finest. :) :)

Oops, I forgot to mention that I was more than a little annoyed at Sean Penn's speech after he won his award. I fully understand that people have different views and beliefs on certain issues, but I don't think the time to push these causes is when you're supposed to be making an acceptance speech. Of course, what else could I expect when he had just won an award for his "excellence" in portraying a gay man.

(steps down from soapbox)

Ok, here's a couple pics of the house. Doesn't it look great??

♥ valentines ♥

2009-02-14T00:12:00.003-05:00

It's Valentine's Day!!

The day of love!!

And I am so blessed to be one of those people who are in love. February 14 marks six years that Jamie and I have been together -- the six best years of my life. We started dating on Valentine's Day 2003, and it's been quite a ride. Although sometimes I feel as if I miss the more carefree days of dating, I LOVE being married. It definitely changes your relationship, but I feel we have grown so much together as a couple, and our love has gotten deeper, better, and stronger. So that is the message I tried to convey on the card I made Jamie. Here's a look.

the front

the inside

This last picture is of the other valentine I made for Jamie. I used the decoupage technique my sister described on her blog. 25 years, and I'm still learning things from her. :) :)

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!!! ♥ ♥ ♥

we need your help!!

2009-02-11T07:58:00.003-05:00

My 3-year-old niece Gabi has been selected as a finalist in the Horsing Around Photo Contest over at 5 Minutes for Mom.

And she needs lots of votes!! I think she's currently in 5th or 6th position out of 20. Not good enough!!!

Voting is easy. Just click here for the contest page!! When it comes up, scroll down to the bottom of the page to get to the voting section. Gabi's photo is #19!! Just click on the little circle beside #19 and hit vote!! Oh yeah, I guess you can look at the pictures first if you want. :) :) There ARE some pretty cute ones.

So please vote. It only takes three clicks!! Three winners will receive gift certificates to this cuter-than-cute website. If Gabi wins one of the prizes, my sister is going to give her prize away to a lesser-fortunate family. Now that is a great reason for Gabi to win, wouldn't you agree??

GO VOTE for number 19!!!

valentine project

2009-02-10T01:17:00.004-05:00

My wonderful big sister kind of inspired me over at her craft blog to make something valentine-y. I've pretty much grown out of handing out valentines to my friends, and I don't have kids yet to do that with. So I had to think of something else. And now I'm feeling all crafty. I can't wait until I have my own space to do all my creative things.

Anyways, once a month, I go with my church to a nursing home, where we hold a small church service with the residents. I've been doing this for about three years, and have really grown to love the people there. I've made them Easter crafts before, and at Christmas, we gave them little bags of candy and cookies and all kinds of Christmas goodies. You can't imagine just how excited they get just to receive some sort of small gift. This month, our day happens to fall on the day after Valentine's Day, so I decided to make them a little Valentine that can be used as a bookmark or whatever. Some of them really don't have much family, and I want them to know that we love them, and more importantly, God loves them.

Here's what I came up with (click to enlarge). I have seen the John 3:16 idea for valentines before, and I just love it. What greater love is there, than to have God send His only Son to die for us?? It's the perfect valentine.

for those who care.....

2009-02-05T18:50:00.004-05:00

Here are a couple pics of my new hair. The length in the back hasn't changed that much, but the front is much shorter. Like three inches shorter. It's kind of weird getting used to it, I'm not really all that fond of it yet. I want my long hair back!!! Anyways, I tried to dye it darker twice with little success. It might be a smidge darker, but still basically the same. Oh well, it will eventually grow out and then I'll be complaining about THAT lol. So, for now, it's short. Enjoy!!

RN!!

2009-01-30T20:01:00.001-05:00

sweetness

2009-01-29T17:53:00.003-05:00

As I walked in the house after getting off work this morning, my husband met me at the door with a steaming mug of hot apple cider. Then later in the afternoon, after I got out of bed, he greeted me with a cup of tea. Yummy. Don't I have such a sweet guy?? :)

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to mention that he even cleaned off my car for me last night before I went to work!! I ♥ him.

we have a roof!!

2009-01-28T14:08:00.003-05:00

So, here is the latest updated picture of our house. We are only thirteen weeks away from the closing date!! Yesterday, we did the framing walk-through to make sure everything is right before they start putting up the walls. And let me tell you, it looks awesome!! We are so impressed with this builder, and will definitely recommend them to anyone that lives up here.

the hair chronicles

2009-01-26T16:07:00.002-05:00

I'm still not really sure if I like my new haircut. Oh well, it will grow out in time, it always does. :)

I came home from work this morning and *tried* to dye my hair. I say TRIED, because one box of hair dye later, I still appear to have the same exact hair color as I did last night. Soooooo frustrating!!! I don't know what it is with my hair. In my freshman year of college, my roommate Liz dyed my hair red, but all it did to my hair was give it a faint strawberry hue. At the time, I thought it was because my hair was overly bleached and wouldn't hold the dye.

But now my hair hasn't had an ounce of dye in it for over four years, and still no luck. Does anyone have any ideas why my hair won't hold color?? Are there any tips or tricks I can try to get it to work?? The box said to leave it in for 25 minutes, or if you have "particularly resistant" hair, then for 35 minutes. I left it in for about 35 minutes, and I'm still my dark blonde self. Maybe I need to lighten it first and then try to darken it?? I don't know, I'm so confused!!

the hair has come off......again

2009-01-24T14:48:00.002-05:00

Well, remember my haircut from six months ago??

Yeah, it was cute and all, and for a very worthy cause. But.....all the cuteness took a certain amount of upkeep that I was getting tired of. Also, I hadn't kept up with the trims, and it was starting to look like a crooked haircut instead of a "style."

So my aim was to get most of the hair the same length again. I didn't exactly get the cut I was expecting, and I'm not even sure if I like it yet. I certainly didn't like it when I walked out of the cutting place, b/c the stylist had it poofed up like I was straight out of the 80's. Decidedly uncool. I got home and was able to flatten it a bit, and thought maybe it would work after all. Jamie says he likes it, so at least one person is on board. :) I still have to come around.

I did buy a box of hair dye to go along with my new cut. Maybe I'll be brave enough to try it. And if I am, maybe I'll be brave enough to post a pic. Maybe. :)

250

2009-01-22T23:51:00.002-05:00

250 is an interesting number.

It can be extremely exciting, if, say, you have 250 dollars to spend at your favorite store.

It can be depressing if 250 is the number showing when you hop on the scale.

It can be inspiring if 250 is the number showing on the scale when you previously weighed 300.

It can be overwhelming if 250 is the number of things on your to-do list.

It can be heart-warming if 250 is the number of people you count as true friends.

It can be saddening if 250 is the number of days left until vacation.

It can be ridiculous if 250 is the number of Christmas cards you have to send out because you have so many true friends.

And on and on and on...... Yep, see, I told you -- interesting. :-) Actually, this sort of list would probably work with any number you want.

I just picked 250 because this is my 250th post. And I couldn't think of anything else to write. Because my life is boring like that. And now you know. Yay 250!!

P.S. I got an extremely cute little purse for my sister-in-law today for $2.50. Coincidence?? I think not. :-)

customer service woes

2009-01-20T20:36:00.002-05:00

Moving to a different country doesn't exactly do great things for your credit history. In fact, you pretty much have to start over. And trying to get various organizations to understand that you have a new married name is sometimes next to impossible. And it's hard to even get the process started when they won't even recognize you as an individual until you become a resident -- a process that took about 16 months. So, for a while there, I was a non-person living completely dependent on my husband. Not that that's a BAD thing, necessarily, except for, you know, the NON-PERSON part. :-)

Anyways, I have been trying to establish/re-establish credit here in my name. Since we're buying a house in both of our names, it would be helpful for interest rates and mortgage payments and such if I had a decent credit rating.

On to the woes. We have a joint credit card, but it still had my maiden name on the account. When we got it, it was because I didn't have any ID yet with my married name. It doesn't really cause too much of a problem, except it looks like there is nobody named Melissa B--- in all of Canada. I called to find out how I could get my name changed on the account, and they said I needed to fax in a request along with a copy of my marriage certificate. Not a problem -- our marriage certificate is pretty worn from all the photo-copying it has been through in its short life.

I faxed in the request November 21. Last week, I realized I had never heard back about it. So I called to inquire about the status. The ever-helpful rep said they had received the fax on December 17 (??) -- interesting four week delay, even though I was pretty sure faxes go through immediately. Anyways, they said the fax was missing the copy of the marriage certificate, and therefore the request could not be processed. I knew I had sent it, and asked why they hadn't contacted me when they realized it was missing. All I got was an uh, um, uh, not sure...... I agreed to fax in the request again, and said I would call in a few days to make sure they had gotten it.

I didn't get around to faxing it until yesterday. We had to fax a couple other things as well. When we got home from Staples, I picked up the mail. In the mail, there was an envelope from the credit card company. Hmmmm. Inside the envelope was a new credit card with my MARRIED name on it!!! What?!?!? I thought they couldn't process the request! Did they suddenly find the marriage certificate??

Oh, and of course this happens right after I fax in ANOTHER request. I wonder what will happen now -- maybe I'll get another new card in a couple months. One thing is sure -- they won't be calling me to find out what's up. Because apparently, they don't do that. Good old customer service.

Speaking of stellar customer service, the organization that oversees the licensing of nurses in Ontario is perhaps one of the most unprofessional organizations I have ever worked with. Even grocery stores and Walmart far exceed them in professional and courteous service. Maybe I will get my license eventually -- they say 2-3 weeks yet. I do have to say for a country that is supposedly so desperate for nurses, they sure don't make the process easy.

Grandma

2009-01-15T08:45:00.005-05:00

So today is January 15. I guess that means it's a holiday for some in the US. I never really thought about it, but I guess we don't celebrate the birth of the "great" MLK here. And somehow the world keeps revolving. How we manage without that holiday, I'll never know. :-) January 15 has always been important to our family for another reason though -- it is the day my late grandma was born. If she was still here with us, she would be 68 years old today. Hmmmm, I wonder if she would want me broadcasting that fact if she were here?? :)

I loved my grandma. Lung cancer took her at much too early of an age (61). I wasn't close to my grandma all my life, we visited now and then when we were kids. I don't really know how or why that changed, but my brother Matt and I started doing lots of things with my grandparents when we were probably 12 and 13. They would take us to fairs and malls and carnivals and it was so great to have that time with them. In the next couple years, when they started getting sicker, I would tag along to their doctor's appointments. I was 16 when my grandpa died in 1999. By that time, my grandma wasn't in that great of health herself, so my parents and Matt and I moved in with her in March 2000. Those two years were full of learning -- they say you really get to know someone when you live with them. Good and bad, you see it all. Through the good times and the hard times, I think we were able to grow closer as a family. Now that I look back, I think we were incredibly blessed to have that time with her before she passed away.

I wasn't home in PA when she died -- I was in my second semester of freshman year at PCC. I didn't know it would happen so soon. We (Andy, Jeanette, and I) had just been home in January and she seemed weaker but nothing that made me think she would die soon. My mom took care of her at home until the very end. She passed away February 17, 2002. I remember when my brother and sister and I got the news at college -- I cried and cried and cried. I wasn't there, and I wanted to be. We couldn't really afford plane tickets home, so the three of us missed her funeral. It still makes me sad to think I couldn't be there.

Here we are, almost seven years later. It hardly seems it has been that long. There are so many memories, and we still laugh about them together as a family. Certain things always remind me of her -- lighthouses, golden retrievers, smiley faces, All My Children..... She really was the best grandma!!

Here are some things I love to remember about my grandma.

1. She always sent me little cards and packages at school to let me know she was thinking about me. I still have most of the cards.

2. She was so proud of the fact that I was going to be a nurse. Whenever she went for her chemo treatments, she would tell everyone there that I was studying to be a nurse. Now I am, although she didn't get to see that.

3. SHE comforted ME when my grandpa died. I remember crying and crying, and she put her arm around me and told me that my grandpa had loved me and everything was going to be ok. Even when she was grieving herself, she took the time to make sure I was all right.

4. We lived at her house during the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire phenomenon. Every night it was on, she and I would watch it together. It was so fun trying to answer the questions and yelling at the dumb contestants.

5. We used to have a football pool at our house every year. Every week, we all would pick what teams we thought would win their game that week. When we moved in with my grandma, we kept up the tradition and she joined right in. It was so much fun to watch her check the scores every week to see how she did.

6. Every Thanksgiving, we had a huge meal, played lots of games, and watched football and the Macy's parade. I have such great memories of Thanksgiving at Grandma's house.

7. She knew how to stand up for herself!! Even though she wasn't very big, she made sure people (usually waitresses or customer service people) knew when she wasn't happy about something. This caused embarrassment to us on several occasions, but now it's just a funny memory. There was this one time when she had to take up some issue with the neighbor (over stealing wayward trash cans, I believe), and she just marched over there and confronted him. (I think my sister probably remembers this -- remember the Mickey Mouse jumper?? :)

8. I collected Beanie Babies back in the day (still have most of them), and one time she took me and my aunt to a Beanie Baby convention at some hotel in the area. I couldn't believe it -- it was like a little heaven of stuffed toys. She patiently helped me find the ones I wanted for my collection.

There are so many things I could write about my grandma. I just thought I would share a few since today is her birthday. Here are a couple of pictures. They're pretty poor quality (scans), but they're the only ones I have on my computer. The first is of Matt, my grandma, and me around Christmas, 1999, I believe. The second one is of me and my grandma on the day of my high school graduation (June 2000). I wish she could have stayed around to watch me graduate from college, and see me get married. But it wasn't to be. Happy Birthday, Grandma!! I love you and miss you very much.

house update

2009-01-12T08:23:00.004-05:00

For those of you who are not Facebook junkies (not me, of course!!), I will post some pics of our ever-evolving house on here, too. Just yesterday, we stopped by after church and took a quick walk-through. It's so neat to be able to see where every room will be in real life, and not just on an architect's plan. The builders we are working with are great about letting you come whenever you want -- walk around, take pics, ask questions, whatever.

I'm thinking the visible progress on the house is going to come to a halt here shortly. I'm pretty sure the next things on the to-do list involve wiring and plumbing. Boring. Necessary, yes, but that's not exactly something I can take a picture of to put in the scrapbook. Oh well, closing day is coming soon, sometimes I can't believe just how soon. 108 days!! I think I'm going to start trying to organize things around here and clean as much as I can, so it won't be such a HUGE thing when we move. We'll see -- my ambitions have been lofty before. :-) Here are the pics. You can click them to make them bigger.

the foundation, December 5, 2008

framing started, January 2, 2009

more framing completed, January 6, 2009

the front of the house and first visit from the police, January 8, 2009 :-)

You can see a bunch more pics of the progress here on my Facebook page!!

sister tag

2009-01-08T15:21:00.004-05:00

Well, I was gonna post anyways, since I've been slacking off again. And my wonderful sister just happened to give me a "topic" to blog about, so yay. You get to see a random picture from my computer files. And no, it is NOT of one of my cats.

Here are the rules, as I ~~understand~~ copy and paste them.

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store pictures on your computer.
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag four people to do the same.
5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

Well now. The folder just happens to be Christmas 2006. For one who is as unorganized as I, I actually have all my pictures sorted, in proper folders, and alphabetized. :-) Impressive, eh?? Just don't look in my kitchen.

Anyways, here's the pic. It's of me, fluffing the branches of our tree. Okay, well, I guess fluffing really isn't the word for it -- it IS artificial, after all. Anyways, I obviously dressed up for the occasion. Note the ripped PJ pants. :-) And I'm pretty sure the neon pink hat is to cover up nasty unwashed hair..... Good times indeed.

And I tag.....
Anne of From my Perspective
Abbi of Dear Abbi
Kristi of Thimble Thoughts
Kay of It's All Under an Eclipse

Although I fully expect no one to do it. Exceed my expectations, people!!! :) :)

and now.........2009!!!

2009-01-01T04:31:00.002-05:00

Well, I didn't do so hot at posting in the last week of 2008. It seems like we are always doing something. And even when we're not, I don't feel like blogging. :-)

But here we are -- 2009, a brand new year. We had somewhat of an unceremonious start to the new year. No loud parties (a la Vasel style). No shrimp cocktail. No firecrackers. But we did have a very nice night, and I still haven't gone to bed. We were originally going to go to a party/get-together thing at church, but then at the last minute decided to go to a Toronto Raptors game with James' brothers instead. We can't say no to free tickets and food that is found only at sporting event concession stands. :-) So we rode the subway into downtown Toronto and watched the Raptors lose to the Nuggets. It was kinda fun and very non-stressful to go to a game where I didn't care who won or lost.

We got home around 11:30, and the boys decided to stay for a while. We watched the ball drop in Times Square (on TV, of course -- no quick commute to NYC this time :), and then played cards til about 3:30. On a side note, did you know that the ball that drops cost 5 MILLION DOLLARS?!?!?!? What a resourceful and budget-friendly way to spend money in these days of financial woe. Oh the priorities.

So it was fun and very low-key. Lots of laughing, and it's always nice to be with family. Someone said tonight (don't remember who) that family is over-rated. And I really don't think that's true. At least not for me. Family are the people who are always going to be there, good or bad. You're kinda stuck with them. And while you can't choose them, they can certainly be the best friends you ever know. I can't thank God enough for the wonderful family He has blessed me with. Also, I got a pretty great in-law family when I married Jamie. :-)

New year -- new things to come. At least one big change is in store -- we will be moving into our new house!!! Maybe a new job for me, and maybe other changes coming as well, who knows?? I am excited to see what this year holds. I am excited to be at this time in my life. I am excited that God has granted us another year, and excited to see what He will do in 2009.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

P.S. Resolutions, anyone??? I'm not sure I'll be cutting 10 inches off my hair again -- for the simple reason that I no longer have 10 inches to cut!!! Maybe by next year........ :-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-24T14:08:00.002-05:00

The stockings are filled.......
The presents are all wrapped and under the tree......
The tree is brightly lit and decorated......
The candles are lit on the mantle......
Cards and packages have arrived from far away with more to come.......
Snow is on the ground.......
Christmas music is playing on iTunes.......

Yes, Christmas is definitely here. However, none of the items mentioned above are the reason or meaning behind this most special of days. We, as Christians, are blessed above everyone to realize that the reason for Christmas -- our wonderful baby Saviour Jesus Christ -- became the man who would die on the cross and take all our sins away. I can't even wrap my mind around that -- that He would love us ME enough to be born into this world, only to die. Thank you, Jesus.

May you be blessed as you celebrate Christmas this year, remembering in awe the birth of Emmanuel -- God WITH us. But please remember -- the baby in the manger became the Christ of the cross. Without that, the Christmas story is incomplete.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!

snow and other such winter happenings

2008-12-22T20:18:00.002-05:00

Well, I guess this is a record year for snow. And all over the place too -- not just in the northeast!! Even though I become quite annoyed with snow at times, I do have to admit it wouldn't quite seem like Christmas without all the snow. However, that being said, it would be pretty great if it would all just disappear by the end of 2008. :)

I think it snowed pretty much all day Friday. Fortunately, we were both off, so we just stayed inside by the fireplace all day. There was no snow on Saturday, but the temps were beyond frigid. Probably the coldest I've felt this winter so far. Brrrrrrr. We record our temps in Celsius here, but it worked out to about 1 or 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Pretty bone chilling.

On Saturday evening, we went to a Christmas party with some of the people where James works. I didn't really know most of the people, but I had a really good time anyways. Lots of laughing and lots and lots of GREAT food. James thought we might get home by 10pm, but I think we pulled into our driveway about 1:30am. And it was just starting to snow. Again. We got several more inches overnight. Although thankfully, I was tucked away snug in my bed for the duration of that.

Sunday morning (well, at least the daylight hours of the morning) came much too quickly, and then I tried to figure out if it would be wise to drive to church in the lovely conditions. We drive about 30 or so minutes one way to church. After cleaning a mountain of snow off the car and looking at our uncleared street, I thought maybe it would be okay. After all, it was the last Sunday before Christmas, and we were supposed to have a Christmas service at the nursing home that afternoon. So I decked out in winter gear -- including my extremely stylish snow boots -- and drove reallllllllllly slowly to church. It took a bit longer than normal, but I didn't slip or slide and I safely arrived in one piece.

The rest of the happenings of the day will have to wait for another time, bc I have to go to work now (boo). :) Let's just say I didn't exactly make it home Sunday night......

P.S. I just wanted to congratulate myself on a major achievement. I was making banana ripple cake (a great recipe of my mom's) to take to the party on Saturday night. One of the steps in the recipe requires beating a couple of egg whites to meringue-y perfection. Well, I have really only tried this on my own one other time in my life (last week) and it was pretty much a disaster. Well, the whites didn't stiffen AT ALL and just became a foamy white milky substance. And being the amazing chef I am, I added them to the batter anyways, just bc I didn't have any eggs left and I thought it would be okay. And essentially, it was -- the cake just wasn't as fluffy and light as it could have been. Anyways.......off the rabbit trail.......I beat the egg whites on Saturday afternoon, and I beat them to amazing PERFECTION. I was soooooo impressed with myself and soooooo proud. I kept showing them to Jamie (he thought they were great too). It was just such a shame that they had to get folded into the cake batter instead of being put on display, as all PERFECT things should be. Haha. I'm sure it will never happen again......shoulda taken a picture.

snowmageddon??

2008-12-18T20:46:00.002-05:00

Kind of a dumb term in my opinion. But that is what they are forecasting here in our part of Canada for the next several days, starting tomorrow. It's going to start snowing in the morning and not quit until evening. Then perhaps a day of no precipitation before it snows EVERY DAY next week. I guess that means a white Christmas. :) That's something some people only get to dream about, so I'll be thankful for that!! And I'm also thankful we don't have to work this weekend, so we can stay inside and veg by the fireplace (and listen to the neighbor snow blow the driveway and sidewalks for us!!).

Ah snow. The substance of winter.

P.S. I'm talking real snow here, people. With accumulation and everything. Unlike the dusting my sister in Oregon got and dared to call snow. Hahaha. :) :)

i'm a simple girl, really.....

2008-12-15T16:37:00.002-05:00

This is the life, I thought to myself on Saturday night. What was I doing, you ask?? Dining on caviar and brie at an upscale party at the finest hotel in Toronto, wearing an elegant evening gown and diamonds galore??

Haha no. Never in a million years.

I was drinking apple cider and eating peanut M&M's. I was working on a new cross stitch pattern. And I was watching Anne of Green Gables. Quite possibly one of the best movies ever. Ah, this IS the life.

See, I told you -- a simple girl.

P.S. I was also at work and therefore getting paid for my entertainment. :) :)

funny funny

2008-12-12T00:52:00.002-05:00

Well, I think I finished most of my Christmas shopping. All that's really left is my dad and the rest of Jamie's stuff. And I've spent the past couple of days wrapping the gifts and getting most of them in boxes ready for the post office. Yuck. I hate living far away from everyone and having to mail gifts. On the other hand, I love GETTING gifts in the mail!! :)

Anyways, I'm tired and I need to go to bed, but I thought I'd post this video. It makes me laugh hysterically every. single. time. I watch it. And I watch it a lot. Like at least once a week, and sometimes every day. It's pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen. Watch it and see -- make sure to turn my music on the sidebar off first. :)

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bgcolor="#F4F4F4"
src="http://www.thefunnystuff.net/FunniestStuffPlayer.swf"
FlashVars="videoFile=http%3A%2F%2Fvideos.funnieststuff.net%2Fcontent%2F2008%2F05%2F22%2F1%2Ftalkingdogs.flv&videoTitle=Talking%20dogs.&autoPlay=false&fullScreenScriptURL=http://www.thefunnystuff.net/scripts/funniestStuffPlayerFullScreen.js">

snow sky

2008-12-09T07:52:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure it will ever be dark again. Even at two in the morning anymore, our sky is not dark -- it is what I call a snow sky. Kinda white-ish, like snow is just hanging there, waiting to fall. Oh snow. I can't say I missed THAT while we were gone to PA. For all those interested, we got another truckload of snow dumped on our little town last night. Yippee. Maybe I should stop writing all my blog posts right after I finish shoveling........it might make them sound less bitter. :-)

Sooooooo I am feeling better. Mostly all the way. Last night, I was even able to fall asleep without having an hour-long coughing fit first. And I finally feel like I can function during the day without falling over, I had some serious TIRED issues for a while there. Yep, I'm getting there. Thanks for thinking of me. I did decide to skip going to the dentist yesterday though -- too afraid I would sneeze all over the place or accidentally bite the hygienist while trying to suppress a cough. Oh well, I'm not tooooooo disappointed about that, even though I love going to the dentist so much (eye roll). :)

Anyways, we had a wonderful trip. It was busy, but relaxing at the same time. It was great to see my parents, and my brother and his family. My nieces are getting so big -- Madelyn is already 8 months old!! All of us spent Thanksgiving and Black Friday at Andrew's house, and it was so so nice to have a Vasel Thanksgiving once again. Certain things like the stuffing and the salad with bacon dressing cannot really be duplicated anywhere else in the world. :-) The last time I had Thanksgiving at home was in the year 2000, if you can believe that. Definitely long overdue. Watching football (yay!) and playing many many LOUD rounds of Last Word filled up the day. We have such a competitive family, and there was some serious ~~arguing~~ catfighting going on. Hehe.

And because we can't really go a day without retail therapy, we actually went shopping on Thanksgiving Day. I know, I know, some people think we're sacrilegious. But Michael's (ah bliss) was open 6-9 pm, and we just had to take advantage of the great deals!!! Seriously, I think it would have been a sin not to. :-) Then, on Black Friday, my mom, Grace, and I braved the cold and the crowds and left the house at 3:45 am. We had been contemplating starting at midnight, since that's when one of the outlet malls opened, but we were just too tired. So I think we hit Penney's, Macy's, Boscov's, other stores in the mall, Kohl's, Walmart, and JoAnn's by the time we were done. I seriously could not wake up until maybe 5 am or so.......I was just walking around the mall in a bit of a daze. But once I became conscious, I had so much fun. We all did. And we all got a lot of Christmas shopping done!!! Judge us if you like, but we accomplished a lot in the eight hours we were out. Good thing it's only once a year though, I really think I'm STILL catching up on the sleep I missed. :-)

Anyways, it was a great time spent with my family. I love all of them so much. I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families.

home

2008-12-05T13:18:00.002-05:00

Yep. I'm home.

And home is still cold and snowy -- unlike the practically balmy weather they were having in PA.

I also don't feel very well, so this is going to be short, and I will post later about all the details of our fun and exhausting trip.

But I just wanted to say I am alive.

going home

2008-11-25T20:25:00.003-05:00

So I'll be leaving for a little while. We're going home (well, home for me) to the fine state of Pennsylvania to eat lots of turkey and visit what family is left there. Too bad Rita's won't be open, but I guess I'll live. :-)

Anyways, we're leaving sometime tomorrow morning, and will be back the following Thursday sometime. I have to come back by that day, b/c I'm attending and helping out with a ladies' Christmas dinner thing at church. Then, on Friday (Dec 5), Jamie and I are going to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra live in concert!! So excited about that.......

I'll be back........eventually.......

P.S. I just came home from seeing the Twilight movie!! Aside from the fact that I had to watch it with about 300 or so giggly teenagers, I enjoyed it a lot. But, I have to say, the book was probably at least 1000 times better. But that seems to be the way it always is (for me, anyways). I'm working on New Moon now......

new moon

2008-11-24T15:45:00.002-05:00

So I'm finally getting the second Twilight book today!! Patience and being cheap have paid off. Maybe if I like all the books, I'll ask for the whole set for Christmas. We'll see. :-)

I really need to be cleaning up the house in anticipation of our trip instead of sitting here and blogging. Thankfully, the house is pretty clean already, and I just have to finish up a few dishes and do the packing. Oh, and I also have to remove most everything from the bathroom b/c it is getting ~~demolished~~ remodeled while we're away. I hope it is all done by the time we get home, b/c I hate living in a mess. We've already been living for three plus months with no carpet or tile on the floor and a big hole under the sink. I really can't wait until we move.

The Packers are playing tonight, so I'll definitely be watching that at work. James seems to think they're gonna lose. I can't wait to text him when they win!!!

Off to finish the housework.......

P.S. It's snowing like crazy here........again.......sigh........

missed a day :)

2008-11-23T23:47:00.003-05:00

Well, I just noticed that I actually posted seven or eight days in a row. And then I had to go and mess that up by not posting yesterday. And I'm not actually sure if this will post on Sunday or Monday, seeing as it's pretty close to midnight.

Oh well -- not much has happened. We had a lazy Saturday and a busy Sunday -- just the way I like it. Tomorrow (today?) is back to work for both of us, except it's only for two days and then we are on vacation!!! Which is our reward for working hard all year. Too bad the exchange rate is so terrible right now. AT least gas prices are pretty manageable for a road trip.

It doesn't really matter -- as long as we get to be with family, it will be a ~~good~~ great Thanksgiving.

(OOPS, just remembered......family isn't the ONLY important thing. We also need stuffing. Lots and lots of stuffing!!!)

spoke too soon??

2008-11-21T21:58:00.002-05:00

Well, I complained in my post yesterday. And lucky me, the CNO just happened to be reading my blog, and sent the results to me straightaway!!

Haha, well, not really. They didn't really read my blog.

But I did get the results, and..........I PASSED!!!! Yippee!!!! I was a little nervous to open the envelope, but in the end, I just tore it open and then kinda peeked inside until I knew it was okay. And it was more than okay!!! It said something like, "we are pleased to inform you that your attempt at the examination was successful" or some fluffy garbage like that. :-)

But it's all good. Still need to do a little paperwork to make it official, but there will be no more studying exam questions and no more freaking out. Well, no more studying anyways -- I'll work on the freaking out thing. And now I get to sell my study guide on eBay, hopefully someone else will get as much use out of it as I did.

Anyways, all that aside, we had a really nice day. James and I are both off for the next three days, so it's always nice to have that time together. We went out and got the rest of the stuff we need for Christmas decorating and finished that up when we came home. I know, I KNOW, it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but we like our Christmas and we like our Christmas stuff and we like it up for a long time. So now the mantle and fireplace and doors and windows are all decorated, and it looks so so pretty.

Oh, and we also got to go out for a nice dinner to celebrate my (ahem) accomplishment. Just had to throw that in there again, in case you missed the first part of the post. Hahahaha...... :-)

On a side note and totally off topic, I took my cat to the vet today for her annual checkup and rabies vaccine. She has been eating ~~diet~~ overweight management food for a while now, and I didn't really think it was making much difference. I mean, she still felt like a ton of bricks when she would unceremoniously plant herself on the middle of my back while I was lying in bed. But, apparently, the food is doing the trick -- she weighed 17.5 pounds (I KNOW!) in March, and today she weighed 15.1 pounds. Yay!!! Just like that, in 8 months, she dropped 14% of her body weight. Ahhhh, if only I could do the same........

(Note to self -- eat 1/3 cup of nasty dry pellets two times a day for 8 months -- yeah, that actually probably WOULD do the trick.......)

I'm starting to get a little impatient......

2008-11-20T17:13:00.003-05:00

My test results have STILL not arrived. You know, from the test I took forever ago.

The CNO promised me results in 4-6 weeks. As in not before four weeks' time is up, and certainly not after six weeks had passed.

Well, the 6-week-mark was YESTERDAY, and I am still in the dark about whether I passed. Which, of course, I did, right?? Right.

And I certainly don't go out and check the mail every 10 minutes between 11am and 1pm (our normal window of mail time). Nope. Not me.

More like every five minutes. :-)

WW, part three

2008-11-19T12:57:00.002-05:00

Ahem.

I totally forgot about the next part. :) Remember the huge chunks of ice in the driveway??

Well, my relief arrived in the morning bright and early. I had thought I should probably start warming up my car and cleaning it off BEFORE she got there, so I could leave semi-on-time. Well, thanks to a little early-morning nap, I kinda didn't do that and awoke to the sound of her trying to get in the locked door. Haha. Anyways, after filling her in on the wonderful events of the night, I suited up and went outside to start the car. I started blasting the heat and defroster (and my wonderful seat warmers) and then got to work on the outside of the car.

Can I say YUCK? The snow was sooooo icy and therefore, unbrushable. No powdery white stuff here. Just 2+ inches of icy white hardness all over my car. Well, it had to get done, so I chipped away at it, and by the time I was done 15 minutes later, my car was toasty and warm.

Except I couldn't get in it yet. Because I was blocked in the driveway by ~~chunks~~ boulders of ice that the snow plow had shoved at the end. Sigh. It's one thing to clean off an icy car with a scraper, but quite another to try to shovel boulders. :) I started chipping away at it, except they didn't really go anywhere. Come to find out later, they were actually super-glued in place..........haha, just kidding. I got a little piece here and a little piece there whacked away, but nothing notable. I thought of the possibilities of doing this for an hour. I also thought of just walking home. :) Or maybe going back inside V's house and making myself a cup of tea.

Just then, a car drove by, and the man driving it waved at me. I'm like, um, ok, nice of you to wave at me when you're DRIVING and I'm standing here looking at boulders I would like moved. :) He pulled off to the side of the road and got out. I started reaching for my cell phone and the 911 on speed dial. I wasn't really looking at him, but I heard him say, "here, I'll help you with that." And I immediately felt bad for my previous thoughts. :) Then I actually looked at him and realized it was V's son-in-law who lives around the corner!! I gladly handed over my shovel and thanked him at least 14 times for saving me. Meanwhile, he was apologizing to me for not coming sooner!! Of course, he put me to shame in the shoveling department -- he finished clearing the boulders in a matter of minutes, and I was left wondering if I should start doing upper arm exercises lol. :) After approximately 33 more thank-yous, I was on my way.

Yippee! I warmed my tushie and fervently wished that our driveway would be clear when I got home. Or at least have no huge unmanageable BOULDERS. I mean, I wouldn't want to have to drag V's son-in-law all across town to help me again, now, would I?? :)

Thankfully, our driveway was fine. Thanks, baby!

a couple pictures

2008-11-18T16:12:00.002-05:00

my two babies :)

okay, okay, the snow is pretty!! :)

snow, branches, and berries

our pretty pretty Christmas tree

WW, part two

2008-11-17T16:41:00.002-05:00

When I got to work on Saturday night, I got warm and determined to forget about the snow and just deal with the aftermath in the morning. So much for determination.

V was sleeping (yay!), pretty soundly too. I checked on her every now and then, but there wasn't much else to do. I watched a little TV, read a little, texted friends, etc. The lights flickered on and off around midnight, but I wasn't too worried. I carried on in my lonely little world, and V kept sleeping.

But an hour later, the power went OFF. Completely off. Like, I was in total darkness. Ahhhh!! I was in the living room at the time, and quite suddenly I could see absolutely nothing. I picked up my phone (yay for cell phone lights -- no matter how small they are, they are a BIG help in total blackness) and stumbled around looking for a flashlight. I found one in the kitchen; the light wasn't very bright but a little better. I thought I'd better go check on V b/c I heard a very LOUD beeping coming from her room. Her room was the darkest -- the window was covered for sleeping-during-the-day purposes, so I walked around, bumping into things, trying to determine the source of the beeping. I finally figured out it was her bed/mattress. She has one of those hospital-type beds that move up and down with an inflatable mattress. Well, as soon as the power went out, the mattress deflated (!!) and quite obviously the bed couldn't go up and down anymore. I turned off the beeping and wondered what to do. I didn't want to call her daughter, b/c then she would freak out that something was really wrong with her mom (which it wasn't).

So I thought, well, if the power's not back on in an hour, I'll call someone (again, yay for cell phones). I perched on the little sofa outside her room, cell phone and flashlight at my side. I'm not a big fan of being alone in her house at night anyways -- sometimes the little noises creep me out. Well, let me tell you it's about a thousand times worse when there is no light. I prayed for God to turn the lights back on. Then I remembered I had brought my Nintendo DS, so I got that out and started playing with it -- that provided a little more light.

About 1:45am, the lights came back on.......and stayed on!!! Yippee!! I didn't have to call anyone, and it was light years less scary having some light and the dull roar of the TV in the background. V's bed started working again and her mattress reinflated, so all was well. She even slept through it all. Well, I mean she slept through it as best she could, in spite of me shining a dim flashlight in her face every few minutes to make sure she was still breathing. :-)

P.S. When I came to work the next night, someone kindly pointed out there was a much more powerful flashlight on V''s bedside table. Haha. YOU try finding a hidden flashlight in pitch blackness.

winter wonderland??

2008-11-16T08:35:00.003-05:00

Well, the snow season is upon us. I knew it was coming, but refused to accept it until the white stuff was falling all around.

Here's the thing -- I think snow is pretty. I really do. I don't mind snow on trees, snow banks, snowballs, snowmen, snow angels -- I like all of those. Snow on the street and in my driveway and on my car are entirely different things!!

Yesterday, the forecast changed so much. First, it said we would be getting 2-4 inches in the evening, and then 4-6 inches overnight. Yuck. Later in the afternoon (as it poured down rain), the forecast changed to rain/snow mix, as it wasn't supposed to get cold enough to snow. I had to go to work last night, so around 8pm, I turned on the weather channel, and it said it was raining. Yippee. I'll take it. Anything but the white stuff. I decided to walk outside -- we live in a basement and can't really see outside enough to know what the weather is like. And what do I find -- SNOW is ~~falling prettily~~ swirling around me from all sides, pelting me in the face, and covering EVERYTHING. It was icy snow too, not the easy-to-clean powdery stuff. And it was coming down at an insane rate.

I cleaned off the car at 8:30, trying to give myself enough time. I left the car to warm up for a bit, came back outside about 10 minutes later, and the car looked like I had never even touched it. And you wonder why I hate snow! After a little more shoveling and brushing (courtesy of my husband), I was on my way and driving very very slowly to work. None of the streets had been cleared -- because (DUH) according to the weather channel, it was RAINING. :-) So I kind of just drifted along, maybe 10km/hr. A normally 4-minute drive took about 15, but at least I arrived safely. The poor lady I was replacing at work hadn't even brought a coat with her because she hadn't expected it to snow. AND the weather channel said it was RAINING. :-)

Oh the winter fun has only begun. Now that it's started, it won't stop until March at least, or if we're REALLY lucky, maybe April. :)

Stay tuned for part two -- the blackout in the middle of the night and HUGE chunks of ice blocking me in the driveway in the morning.

Oh how I ~~love~~ ~~hate~~ ~~loathe~~ ~~like~~ tolerate snow. :-)

verse of the week

2008-11-15T08:25:00.003-05:00

My memory verse for the week is Colossians 4:11. I guess the pastor has been putting the book of Colossians in the bulletin for us to memorize, and we are at the last few verses. I wonder what book or topic will be next. Anyways, I have been working on it, and should be able to say it word perfect tomorrow!!

"And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me."

There, that wasn't so hard, was it?? The great part is that these are probably verses I never would have picked out to memorize. So I get to delve into God's Word a little deeper.

pretty exciting news!!!

2008-11-14T12:23:00.004-05:00

Well, I guess since we have told most of our family and some of our friends, it's okay to post it on here too. :-) And if it's not, well.......too bad.

Come spring, James and I will be the proud owners of our very own brand new home!!! It will be so. amazingly. glorious. to have more space!! And closets!! And a (much) bigger kitchen!! And, well, you know, our. OWN. place.

And we are so excited to be able to build our own, as opposed to buying something already on the market. We have chosen the floor plan we liked best, and tweaked it a little with the help of an architect. And we get to pick absolutely everything that goes into it -- we had our decor appointment yesterday, and sat down and picked everything from the carpet to the color of the hardwood to the handles on the cabinets to the grout between the tiles!! It is truly an overwhelming experience, and I hope the finished product is as amazing as I think it will be. We have heard nothing but great things from this builder, so here's to hoping all continues well. I started to have a bit of a freakout moment yesterday -- what if I don't want a gray garage door in 5 months?? And what if I hate my counters when I see them all laid out instead of as a little sample piece?? Thankfully, the design crew was there to keep us in order and tell us if something would look majorly tacky or stupid, as interior decorating is not exactly my forte. :-)

House specs -- for those interested in these types of things :)

Area -- just under 2000 square feet
Garage -- two-car
Bedrooms -- three
Bathrooms -- two and a half
Basement -- unfinished
Laundry -- on second floor

There is a gas fireplace in the living room. The living room and dining room will be hardwood; the kitchen, foyer, half bath, and breakfast nook are all ceramic tile. The entire upstairs is carpeted. We got a lot of extras thrown in, such as the fireplace and hardwood, as well as a cool front door, a glass shower and soaker tub in the ensuite bath, a mission style railing, and a conservation lot.

Hopefully, I will be posting pics as the house progresses!! For now, here is a pic of the piece of land where our new home will be built.

a cool deal

2008-11-12T22:03:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure where I found this, but it's a pretty sweet deal.

Make a FREE 20-page 8 1/2 x 11 photo book at Snapfish and just pay shipping. The value of the book is $29.99, and the shipping you have to pay is maybe 6 or 7 dollars.

And the books are beautiful. And they make amazing Christmas gifts.

So click here and start making your book!!!

Scripture memorization

2008-11-09T21:24:00.002-05:00

There are a lot of verses in the Bible about the importance of reading God's Word and storing it away in our brains.

"Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee." Psalm 119:105

"Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life." John 5:39

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." I Peter 3:15

Honestly, I can't think of any better manual to help us in our lives than one written by God Himself. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness -- that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."

I heard it explained like this last week.
DOCTRINE = what is right
REPROOF = what is NOT right
CORRECTION = how to make it right
INSTRUCTION = how to keep it right

I really believe that we can find answers to all our questions and problems in the Bible. Sure, it doesn't address every specific issue that we might face today. Does the Bible say we should not smoke? No, but it says we should take care of our bodies. Does the Bible say women should wear skirts and dresses only? No, but it says we are to dress modestly. Some issues, the Bible has VERY CLEAR statements for or against them. For instance, obedience to parents is a command and not optional. The Bible says murder is wrong. EVERY TIME. Even if it's an unborn baby. Certain things may not be as clearly laid out, but we can look to the Bible every time for principles that will guide us in the right direction.

I am really thankful that I went to two schools growing up, and later college, that put a special emphasis on memorizing Scripture. I grew up memorizing at least one verse a week for Sunday school. Also, we were required for school to memorize passages of Scripture every few weeks. One year, we memorized quite a few verses from the book of Proverbs. In third grade, I memorized the entire chapter of Hebrews 11 (40 verses!). In high school, we had a new passage every week, and we had to write them out from memory and be graded on it. In college, every Bible class/elective required a few verses a week for memorization.

I tell you all this not to boast about the number of verses I have memorized in my life. Frankly, memorizing Scripture really does nothing for you if you do not believe the words you are memorizing. It means nothing if you are not gleaning from the verses you have learned and applying them to your life. I could memorize long passages from great classic novels, and what good would it do me?? Knowing every verse of Jingle Bells might be entertaining for some, but not exactly worth anything. However, taking God's Word -- written directly to us and for us -- and tucking it away in our memory helps us to live as we should.

In all honesty, I really haven't memorized any verses in a while. At least not any new ones. The other day, I decided to see how many Psalms I could remember that I have memorized in the past. I was pleasantly surprised to see just how many I could write out. While my brain is still young, I want to continue to fill it with good things -- Scripture that is profitable! Every week, there is a memory verse in our church bulletin. I never really paid attention to it before, but I think I am going to start taking those verses, writing them out on cards, and trying my best to memorize them throughout the week.

After all, knowing the entire dialogue from Napoleon Dynamite probably isn't going to make a big difference in how I live my life. It's not something I can quote to someone and help them learn how they can go to Heaven. It's not going to help me know what is right and wrong. It's not going to help me encourage or help someone. It's not going to help me stand up to the devil. It's not going to help me study the Scriptures more effectively.

The Bible can do all these things and more. I am so glad God wrote down His Word for us, and we have it so readily available to us. I'll let you know how the memorizing goes.

so much for posting every day :)

2008-11-08T15:00:00.006-05:00

Well, what can I say?? I've been a little busy with, well, you know, LIFE.

On Tuesday night, I went to work and watched the election returns all night. Well, not really all night -- I was kinda hoping it would be a close race so I could watch it long into the night and maybe then my shift would go by faster. Instead I was watching Obama give his victory speech just shortly after midnight or so. Obviously, he was not the candidate I wanted to win, but he did and that's the end of it. I don't really have a speech about it. Except maybe to say -- check out the link to FOCA in my sidebar. And please please please sign the petition against this horrid piece of legislation.

On Wednesday, I took my 15-year-old sister-in-law T shopping. It was her birthday in, um, July, and so I finally decided to buy her something. :) The weather this week has been absolutely gorgeous, and I quite enjoyed our time together. And I'm pretty sure she did too. Good convos, good food, good weather, and new clothes = one fun afternoon. We headed back to their place around 4pm, and I stayed for a birthday supper for Opa. Then back to work around 8:30pm. And yes, by this time I was realllllly tired -- it was quite a struggle to stay awake at work.

Thursday morning, I came home and was planning on sleeping, but I didn't. I had just gotten the first Twilight book from the library the day before, and I only have 10 days with it, sooooooooo I read instead. And read and read and read. Because, unfortunately, it's one of those books you just can't put down. I finally decided maybe I should sleep a LITTLE, since I had plans for the evening. I curled up on the sofa and napped a little, but mostly just lay there, my head full of Twilight-y thoughts. Turns out I didn't need ten days after all -- I'm done after a day and a half. :) And I want so badly to start reading the next one, but I'm cheap and going to wait until I can get it from the library, hopefully in the next week or two when my name comes up on the list.

Thursday afternoon, I went and picked up my friend A and we went to Michael's!! If you know anything about me at all, you know this is my one little heaven on earth here in Canada. I only wish they had Joann's!! They were having quite a sale on all their fall stuff -- mostly Halloween, but I managed to find some awesome autumn paper from K & Company at 80% off. Plus a Thanksgiving flag for my mama and Halloween Kinder Eggs.

Off to Taco Bell for dinner, and then we (actually) managed to find the bowling alley we were supposed to meet other friends at (with guy-given directions!!). Sadly, the bowling place was JAMMED and they said we would have to wait like 1 1/2 hrs for a lane. No one really wanted to do that, soooooooo instead we drove all the way across town to go glow-in-the-dark mini golfing. Which was pretty fun, even though I was pretty bad at it. Okay, maybe not BAD, just inconsistent. I would do great on one hole, only to mess up the next one terribly. Needless to say, I didn't win (worst out of 5), but I had lots of fun anyways. On the way home, I cranked up Alvin and the Chipmunks, and me and A cracked ourselves up singing along with all their silly songs.

Yesterday was a bit of a nothing day, except that James finally got home from his trip and we went out for dinner. To Montana's!!! We've kind of been obsessed with their newest appetizer lately. The meal that James got came with a coupon for a free order of buffalo potato wedges (seriously to die for), so I'm sure we'll be going back again soon. :) James' meal also happened to be FREE -- a nice surprise!! James ordered his steak well-done, and it came out pretty medium-rare looking. Perfect for me, but he pretty much detests the sight of any pink or red in his meat. So he sent it back. The waitress brought it out a few minutes later, and needless to say, it was still quite pink. He was not impressed -- neither was the waitress -- I'm sure she had a few things to say to the person who was cooking. Apparently, she decided to tell the manager as well, who thought that the non-cooking of the meat was unacceptable and took the entire amount of his meal off our bill. Not a bad deal. But our waitress was so good and nice and kind about it all, and did a lot of running around, so we gave her a pretty healthy tip based on the full amount we would have paid. I'm sure that made her happy. :)

Now we are both off for quite a few days, so either we'll be really productive or really lazy. I've spent today making breakfast and lunch, and working on making Christmas cards. James has been playing xBox for about 5 hours. I'm sure you can figure out who is the productive one and who is the lazy one. :) :) :)

P.S. Yes, I know I linked to like a MILLION things in this post. I was bored. :-)

P.S. #2 If you don't do ANYTHING else today, at least please go over to the Fight FOCA website and sign the petition!!! It is so important!

I interrupt this very important election day.......

2008-11-04T12:48:00.002-05:00

......to add my two cents. Two words, really.

GO MCCAIN!!!!

oh yeah......

2008-11-03T19:45:00.002-05:00

How are the gas prices where you are??

Ours have really dropped, but I think they're holding steady now around $3.40 a gallon. That would be in Canadian dollars though -- since the exchange rate is sooooo different now, that equals about $2.89/gallon in US funds. So overall not too bad in the scheme of things. I think that's pretty much the average price in the States right now.

Hey, I'll take it!! Especially since we were paying over $5 a gallon not too long ago.......

trying to keep up

2008-11-03T19:25:00.002-05:00

So I'm not so good at the blog thing. Not really a surprise. The only thing I've really been able to keep up with in my life is my love of the Green Bay Packers. :-) Oh, and also my marriage -- that's a big one though!!

Sometimes I wonder about these people who post on their blogs daily, if not more often than that. I say kudos to them, since I certainly enjoy reading about their lives. But what fantastic time management skills they must have, something I have not yet learned. That's probably what my mom was trying to teach me as I holed up in my room reading and listening to music and wasting time as a teenager. :-)

James is still away, so I have even less motivation to do ANYTHING. Hence the reason it's 7:30pm, and here I sit in my PJ's and ponytailed, unwashed hair. But I AM doing laundry.....

Enough about my laziness.

Are we officially in the Christmas season?? Just when does that start anyways?? We've been listening to Christmas music in our house and in our cars for weeks now. It's kind of an obsession of ours -- never can really have enough!! And I think we're going to set up our tree soon!! That'll make our little space here seem much more homey. Hopefully next year, we'll have our own house with much more space to decorate as we please!! I didn't even put up a tree last year, since James was away for most of November and December, and we ended up going to PA to celebrate Christmas. One of our cats (the evil one) has never seen a Christmas tree, and I can only imagine the climbing and wickedness (and consequent disciplining) that will be coming once we put it up. Our other cat was around for one tree (2006) and she quite promptly claimed the tree skirt as her own personal blanket and mourned for days after we took it down. Cats.....

Election Day is tomorrow -- not really a big thing up here in Canada. Canada had their election a few weeks ago, without all the pomp and circumstance of the ridiculousness going on in the USA. I am definitely praying for all the goings-on of tomorrow. America needs God's help more than ever, no matter which of the candidates takes office (and I have a feeling it will not be the one I hope it will be). Thankfully, our God is bigger than the election, and He already knows exactly what will happen. No matter how scary things seem at times, it's really comforting to know everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) is under His control.

I'll try to be a bit better about posting -- let's see if I can post every day this week!! Now that would be.....well, let's face it.....a MIRACLE. :-)

gorgeous fall pics

2008-10-28T07:23:00.003-04:00

More of my pictures can be seen here!!!!

life is a whirlwind

2008-10-26T23:53:00.003-04:00

Or so it sometimes seems. Before I know it, 2008 will be gone -- Jamie said today this has been the fastest year ever. But we probably say that every year. I think the solution is to stop sleeping so much. Either that, or maybe we could petition to lengthen the days or months or something. Not that it would help -- we would just start dying at earlier ages. :)

I'm still waiting on results of my RN exam. In the meantime, I am hoping to secure a job sometime in the very near future so I will be able to work just as soon as they say I have passed (because I have, right??). Playing the waiting game has never been one of my strong points. :)

We just took a mini weekend trip into the US last weekend to see my little brother get married. We drove through Michigan to get to Indiana where he lives, and the fall colors were AMAZING. I think we were driving through there on the perfect weekend. I will have to make a separate post with all the pretty pictures I took. Anyways, Matt got married on October 17, and now I have a new sister-in-law Lauren -- yay!! Although we probably won't get to see them much -- boo! :( We WILL get to see some more family come the end of November, b/c we are going to PA for American Thanksgiving!! It will be our second Thanksgiving this year. Also, maybe I can do a little post-Thanksgiving shopping a la American tradition. So I really need to start hoping/praying that the exchange rate improves for such things. :-) Here's a pic of Lauren and Matt.

Our little church is in a transition period right now. Our pastor (a missionary church planter) is planning to leave and start another church in another area. So we are working through finding another pastor -- who knew that was such a job?? We had a guest preacher and his family in today, campaigning for the position. Okay, so campaigning is not really the right word -- just visiting and preaching and getting to know the people and seeing if it's a good fit for both him and us. Hopefully, everything will work out and we will get a new pastor who can continue to lead the ministry in our young church. Also, we are helping to get another new church started in the area, so that has been exciting. Their opening services are this week, and a bunch of us are going to go over and be a part of that.

I have really come to love the people at our church. Granted, everywhere you go, there will be a few "oddballs" or people you don't quite line up with. But mostly, our church has an amazing camaraderie and such a genuine friendship among the members. Jamie and I have both made some great friends there, even in our church "small enough to know everyone's middle name." :-) Eventually, we will be moving a little further north, and that will most likely move us to another church. It makes me a little sad to know that we won't have these friends so close at hand anymore. But the distance won't be too great, and I know we will make more friends. Hopefully the times we share together now and later won't be TOO few and far between. Sometimes it's really hard to coordinate everyone's hectic schedules (okay, pretty much all the time)!! But....friends are friends FOREVER if the Lord's the Lord of them. And for now, we are trying to make the most of the times we can actually get together. Of course, it doesn't help when certain people are moving to the other side of the country for 3+ months.........you know who you are!!! Hahaha.....

Will life ever slow down?? I doubt it. Do we want it to??

Well.........sometimes. :-)

yikes

2008-10-09T14:45:00.002-04:00

Has it really been almost three weeks???

Well, the past few weeks have kept me pretty busy, mostly consumed with studying for the dreaded Canadian RN exam. However, as of yesterday, I am DONE with that and hopefully will be an RN here in Ontario before too long. I just have to wait 4-6 weeks for the results. Ugh, I hate waiting. Which might explain why I didn't do so well on the trip home yesterday from Toronto during rush hour. Lots of sitting still and crawling and people changing lanes like idiots. DEFINITELY glad I'm not a commuter!!

The exam itself wasn't too terrifying, and I think I did okay. I hope at least okay enough to pass. Haha, isn't that encouraging to hear a nurse say that -- someone who will be taking care of individuals and their very lives?!?!? There's a different standard for each exam as to what percent will pass, as they deem some versions harder than others.

So I took the test at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre along with 229 other hopeful candidates. And being in Toronto (or Ontario for that matter) I was in a significant white minority. Oh well. It was almost like going back to kindergarten. We had to keep proving who we were in order to enter the test room. We got neon pink bracelets with our seat number -- so they could tell who we were AND so we could remember where to go. :-) If we had to use the bathroom during the exam, we had to raise our hand at which point we would be personally taken there by an escort. (NO, they did not go in the stalls, just outside -- I know you were thinking that!) And we all got to hear about the rules for taking a Scantron (AGAIN! Didn't I take a million bazillion of those in college??). Don't make an X or a check mark, fill in the complete oval. Erase completely any stray marks. Yadda yadda yadda.

Ah well, I'll find out the results in 4-6 weeks. If they are positive, they will be gloriously posted here. If, for some reason, the outcome is, uh, not-so-favorable, I'll probably be dropping off the face of the earth and deleting this blog altogether. Hahaha. My coworkers already bought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers just for taking the exam, so hopefully there'll be a monetary gift of some sort involved when I tell them I actually passed. LOL just kidding, the flowers are beautiful and I certainly wasn't expecting them. It's nice to know the people you work with actually care about you a little (or else they're excited I'll be leaving soon and are sucking up to me to see if they can take my hours). :-) What a life.

a beautiful day

2008-09-20T20:22:00.002-04:00

Today, I was able to attend a wedding for Tiffany and Sebastian, a young couple in our church. Of course, being a girl, I love weddings and all the pretty things that go along with them. And it was really beautiful and sweet and everything a wedding should be. I would post a picture, but I really don't know if they want their mugs pasted all over the web, so I'll refrain. But it was a great time, and I'm glad I got to go. :)

The weather is absolutely gorgeous, and I am one happy girl -- Jamie was away for a week and came home last night. I really hate when he has to go away, so I'm excited that he's home!! I love him. :) Going to the wedding today reminded me of our own wedding three years ago, and that was fun, b/c those are some of my sweetest memories.

woes

2008-09-19T07:54:00.002-04:00

As irony would have it, gas prices have dropped substantially in the past few days. Of course, it just happened that both of our cars needed to be filled up on the day the prices were sky high. Now when the prices are somewhat manageable, neither of the cars need gas!! And I have this (very) funny feeling that they will somehow go up by the time we need to fill up again. Because that's just the story of my life. :) Ah well.....

FYI, instead of the ridiculous $5.17 per gallon from the other day, most stations were selling it for $4.27 per gallon this morning. Quite a drop. And I have already done the handy dandy conversion math for you, since most of you probably don't buy your gas in liters like we do!!

If I really felt like doing some more complaining, I could point out the fact that (almost) everyone in the USA is paying lower prices than us right now, even with our "lowered" prices. But I won't -- point that out OR complain. :) :)

thank you, hurricane Ike.....

2008-09-15T17:27:00.002-04:00

......for the oh-so-wonderful gas prices you have brought our way. Overnight, the prices went from $4.61 per gallon to $5.17 per gallon. There really needs to be some law against that ridiculous of an increase. And it just so happened that I had to fill up both of the cars too -- I would much rather have spent that $112 on something FUN. :) :)

a few pics from Niagara Falls

2008-09-13T21:15:00.002-04:00

little trip

2008-09-13T21:02:00.002-04:00

A couple weeks ago, James and I both had a little time off, so we decided to go on a mini vacation, just the two of us. I really think we need to do this more often!! Usually when we go away, it is to visit family or for some holiday or whatever, but this time, it was just us doing whatever we wanted with relatively no time constraints. That's what makes it truly relaxing, in my opinion.

We just went away overnight, but it was very refreshing. We spent Thursday at Niagara Falls. If you have never visited Niagara Falls, you are definitely missing something amazing. We've been three or four other times ourselves (and James probably countless times beyond that), but we enjoy it so much every time we go. It kinda felt like we were on our honeymoon. :) The day was overcast, so no bright blue skies, but the weather was very ideal for walking around. (Walking around NF is great exercise too!!) The forecast said 50% chance of rain, and it did decide to rain a little bit right when we were getting up around the main falls. Coupled with the wind that was blowing the mist from the falls all across the road, we ended up getting SOAKED. Well, at least our back sides -- our fronts were completely dry. :) We ran across the street into a souvenir shop (loaded with a billion other people trying to avoid the wetness) and bought ponchos with Canada stamped all over them. Well, they were really $2 trash bags with hoods. :) What can you do when you're in tourist land?? After that little shower, there really wasn't any more rain for the rest of the day. We took tons of pics of each other and the falls, and then spent the rest of the day on Clifton Hill (aka Expensive Tourist Land). We try to do something different every time we go, so this time we went to one of the wax museums and the Ripley's moving theater. We also rode the Sky Wheel, a big ferris wheel that overlooks the falls, and ate dinner at the most expensive TGIF's I've ever been in. All in all, a wonderful day.

Oh yeah -- on the way back to the car (pretty long walk cuz we're cheap and don't like to pay for parking), the mist/rain soaked us on the front this time. At least we had dry butts to sit on in the car. :) :)

I stand corrected!

2008-09-03T11:06:00.002-04:00

A little birdie told me some of the answers were wrong on my little husband questionnaire thingie, so I guess I need to publicly acknowledge the correct answers!! :)

4. Steak and ribs are right, but he says chicken wouldn't be his first choice (although I have personally seen him order chicken on numerous occasions!)

8. Scratch the ham/roast beef and just stick with the grilled cheese.

9. He loves potato chips but doesn't know if he could eat them EVERY day (rolls eyes :)

15. He says he loves when I ask him lots of questions, which I know to be a complete lie. (lol!)

19. Apparently, even though he was home-schooled, he managed to play volleyball -- not like on a real team -- but with his oodles of siblings. :)

I hope I got everything straight now. I love you babe!!

hmmmmm

2008-08-30T21:26:00.003-04:00

I am so thankful for my family and for my husband. They are the ones who will always be there for me, always love me, always support me, always always always. They make me laugh and they never intentionally hurt me or make me cry. I can say what I'm thinking or feeling without worrying they are going to laugh at me or think I'm weird (they already KNOW I'm weird lol). :)

I have had a couple experiences lately that really just made me value my family and husband even more. People can claim to be your friend and then turn around and do something really hurtful. I realize this is because they are humans, and the only one who will never let me down is Jesus Christ. I also realize that my family or husband can let me down -- I think the difference is they are willing to fix it and try to make it right. It bothers me when "friends" just let things like that go and don't seem to care if they've hurt you or not.

I don't know if this even makes any sense. I was just really upset by something that happened a couple weeks ago.........

how well do I know Jamie?

2008-08-27T07:57:00.002-04:00

So I totally stole this from Arlene's blog. :) And I didn't really have anything else to post. So this is what you get.

How well do I know my husband???

1. Your spouse is watching TV. What is he watching?
wellllll, football if it's on -- otherwise the Simpsons, Mythbusters, American Chopper, etc etc etc

2. You're out to eat. What kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
ranch every time b/c he doesn't want to try anything else

3. What's one food this person doesn't like?
almost every vegetable

4. You go out to a restaurant. He orders...
steak or chicken or ribs

5 .Where did he go to high school?
at his mama's house :)

6. What size shoe does he wear?
12

7. If this person were to collect anything, it would be...
die-cast model fire engines and police cars

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
grilled cheese or ham/roast beef

9.This person could eat __________ everyday.
potato chips

10.Favorite cereal?
Oatmeal Crisp

11. This person wouldn't be caught dead wearing..
pink or purple, tight jeans, etc etc

12.Favorite sports team?
Toronto Blue Jays for baseball and Buffalo Bills for football

13. Who will he vote for?
we live in Canada, so whenever there's an election, he votes conservative

14.What is his sign?
Leo, same as me

15. What is something you do that he wishes you didn't?
ask him lots and lots of questions!!

16. How many states has he lived in?
none really, except for college -- he has lived in Ontario his whole life

17. What is his heritage?
Dutch, Dutch, and a little more Dutch!

18. Did you bake him a cake for his birthday?
nope I didn't, but I bought him one ;)

19. Did he play sports in high school?
uh probably not, see question 5

20. This person could spend hours...
playing xBox 360, talking about police stuff, working on his models

why is it.....

2008-08-24T13:34:00.001-04:00

.....that my frappuccino cup is empty long before I am ready to stop enjoying it???

Yep. Life is unfair.

foot reconditioning

2008-08-24T07:37:00.002-04:00

So, last night, I wore a pair of sneakers. Pretty amazing stuff I do, isn't it? :) Haha. Anyways, it was the first time since the beginning of APRIL that I had worn closed-in shoes, and with socks. BTW, I hate socks. And I am beginning to remember why.......

Oh the pain......I guess my feet have forgotten how to be enclosed instead of free and open in flip flops. I hope they remember soon, like say before snow starts to fall in the next month or two. :)

it pays to speak up!!

2008-08-22T00:29:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday evening after James got home from work, we (well just me really) decided to go out for dinner. I didn't really feel like cooking, and we hadn't been out in a while, so I decided on East Side Mario's. I doubt that anyone in the States has heard of this place, although it looks very American, what with its huge Statue of Liberty replica. :) Very homey.

Anyways, we ordered our food, and when James got his burger, he noticed there wasn't bacon or cheese on it. He thought perhaps he hadn't said he wanted these items, so he decided not to say anything. When we got the bill, James just paid it without looking at it (always a mistake....). When I got the receipt back, I looked at it and saw we had been charged $2 for the bacon and cheese. James said oh well, it's just $2. And I said, it's $2!!!! I am very passionate about making sure I am charged the appropriate amount for the service I receive! And in case you were wondering, I am also very diligent about giving things back that do not belong to me, aka too much change, etc etc. So I asked the server about it, and she said she had written it down to have bacon and cheese on it, but the guy in the kitchen must have forgotten. When she went back to find out, the guy in the kitchen admitted he had forgotten to put it on. Because they didn't want to go through the hassle of refunding us a couple dollars, the manager decided to give us a coupon for a free entree next time we visit, up to $25 value. !!!!! I certainly hadn't expected that, I just wanted my two dollars back. So I guess we'll have to go back..... :) :)

P.S. It doesn't always pay to speak up. Tonight, James and I went to a Jays/Yankees game with Ryan, a friend of ours. Before we went, I talked a bunch of trash to them about how the Yanks were gonna win big time, and the Jays were losers, and so on. And yep, you guessed it -- I spoke a little too soon. The Yankees were embarrassed to death by the Jays, the final score ended up being 14-3. Yikes. It was fun times anyways, but I STILL haven't seen the Yankees win in person.

new nephew!!!

2008-08-15T15:54:00.002-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, I became the proud bearer of one of my favorite titles -- AUNT! :) I am now the happy aunt of ten (yep, TEN) little nieces and nephews.

My sister gave birth to a new little guy at 4:03 pm yesterday. They named him Michael James, and he weighed in at 8 lb, 11 oz and measured 20 3/4 inches long.

New life is amazing!! I can't wait to see him in October!

Congratulations to Jeanette and Chris! Pictures will follow, I'm sure. :)

today I am thankful for.....

2008-08-08T15:50:00.002-04:00

a place to call home
always having everything (and more!) that we need
a forgiving Heavenly Father
all my new scrapbooking supplies!!
the overwhelming love and generosity of others
Coca Cola! :)
a happy marriage with a great hubby
FAMILY
spools and spools of beautiful ribbon
keeping up with the laundry for once!
my iPod shuffle -- music on the go!

P.S. I'm listing my "thankful things" because Terry at Ornaments of Grace told me to!! :) :) And I'm such a good listener.....

as promised....

2008-08-06T23:41:00.005-04:00

(or at least part of the promise)

You may remember that I posted about an early New Year's resolution last December -- to cut my hair and donate it. Last December!! And I said I was going to accomplish it by February at the latest. :) :) Well well, here we are five months after that and I have finally gotten around to it. In all fairness to me, I really DID need to wait until now -- I was just overly ambitious/hopeful before and really didn't have enough hair.

I have had enough hair probably since June, but I kept putting it off and putting it off, but I finally scheduled myself an appointment for July 22, just 2 days before my birthday. In the week or so before, I kept looking at myself in the mirror and thinking how attached I had become to my long hair. I really couldn't imagine myself without it. However, I HAVE had short hair before, so I knew it couldn't be that big of a deal. And it really wasn't. After the stylist unceremoniously chopped off a 10-inch long braid, there was no turning back.

I loved it the first day, hated it the second day, and got back around to liking it pretty well on the third day. Really, I don't think guys can relate to the bond we girls develop with our hair -- how much it is part of who we really are. But I'm still me, just with short hair.

However, adjusting to short hair is not the main thing. The main thing was donating my hair to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths p rogram. My hair will be used along with other people's to create free wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments. The ultimate reason behind it all was in support of my mom. Although she has not lost her hair, she has been fighting this war again breast cancer since early 2006. And she's still fighting.

A couple months ago, my dad's company decreased all their health benefits, and now my mom has to pay to visit the doctor and to have any tests done. Also, she is pursuing additional treatments that insurance does not cover at all.

My parents aren't rich -- they don't exactly have the kind of money it takes to do this. Who does really? So I decided to try to get people to pledge money to sponsor me -- all the money would go to help my mom with her medical bills. At first, I thought I could get a few hundred dollars, but God worked in people's hearts in an amazing way and I was able to collect many times over that to give to my mom. I am so thankful to everyone who opened their hearts in love and support of my mom. It is just so incredible to me that people would give so generously, and mostly to an individual they had never met. Eternal rewards will be reaped for sure for these people. Thank you, everyone -- you are amazing.

P.S. Have you ever thought of donating your hair?? Your own hair grows back, and in the meantime, you could be giving such a meaningful gift to another person. Find the link above, or click on the graphic below for more information!!

new look!!!

2008-08-05T18:27:00.003-04:00

I've been playing around with a few things, and this is what's sticking for now. But I'll probably change it tomorrow..... :) :)

We just went to PA for a few days and had the best time!!! Well, at least I did, b/c it was kinda my birthday trip and all. I will have to update later with all the fun stuff we did, plus stay tuned for news about me keeping my new year's resolution.

Enjoy my new look!

does it work today???

2008-07-15T18:12:00.001-04:00

Let me try this again.....

Here is that cool picture that I promised yesterday (or early this morning, I can't remember). :)

playing with my camera

2008-07-15T00:43:00.002-04:00

Soooo, I was playing around with the different settings on my camera, and I thought this pic turned out really cool. It is of my engagement and wedding rings (in case you couldn't tell lol). :) :)

Okay, okay, I guess I'm not posting any pictures right now, because Blogger is not accepting anything I do. So I'll have to try again later. I'll be kinda surprised if this post even publishes.

Have a wonderful day!!!

July....

2008-07-10T11:29:00.002-04:00

....is a busy month. It seems every day that we aren't working, we have plans elsewhere. Which is why today is July 10 and I haven't even changed the calendars yet. :) I wonder if I should even bother now, or just wait until August.

James has been working a few overtime shifts lately, which is good for the extra money, but not so great for spending time together. July birthdays and holidays have kinda taken over our free time. But we did have a few hours this past Saturday, so we went to the lake and relaxed for a few hours. It was a pretty nice day to spend outside, and we were able to read and talk and toss around a football. I was going to venture into the lake, but it smelled and looked so dirty that I quickly changed my mind. :) The day passed with no major occurrences -- except maybe my very sprained right pinky finger, or James' blotchy sunburn from wiping off patches of sunscreen. :) I also have a very interesting sunburn pattern around my neckline.

Tonight, we shall spend with several siblings and James' grandparents -- Tuesday was Oma's birthday, and we are celebrating that tonight. Definitely one of my favorite in-law relatives.

We are fixing to head to PA at the end of July, and as usual, I am so excited about that. (!!!) As long as my mom is feeling okay, she and I are going to attend CKC in Valley Forge. We went in 2006 and had the best time! It didn't work out to go last year, but this year, we signed up for four classes and are going to spend the rest of the time shopping and oohing and aahing over all things scrapbooking. I wish it was today!! And I pretty much say that every day....

Well, there's a little update for now -- may not get back for a while due to lots of working and lots of celebrating. I'm definitely okay with the celebrating, but it can get costly. Beth and I are going to Vaughan Mills on Monday night for our birthdays. They are only four days apart, so we like to try and do something together. This year, we are going to Build-a-Bear, just like little kids!! :) I'll try to get pictures of our dorkiness. :)

Canada Day

2008-07-01T15:07:00.004-04:00

Happy Canada Day, everyone!!

I'm headed over to the in-laws in an hour or so -- to celebrate Canada Day, I guess, but mainly to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday. Happy 13th birthday, David!!!

P.S. This is my third Canada Day since moving here in 2005, and I have yet to see Canada Day fireworks!!! And I won't see them this year either, maybe I'll be able to hear them from work. We did see the Canada Day fireworks over Niagara Falls in 2005, but that was about three weeks before we got married, so I don't know if that counts. :)

random photography

2008-06-30T09:46:00.006-04:00

I usually like taking pictures. I'm still kinda learning all the ins and outs of my camera though, so they don't always come out so pretty. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it one of these days. :)

So last week sometime, I saw (very randomly) on the news that the moon was supposed to be bright and full and appear to be very large. In short, it was supposed to look amazing. I had to work that night, but I toted my camera to work with me in hopes that I might catch a glimpse. I kept going outside (and leaving my client alone, bad me), but there seemed to be a heavy cloud cover that night. Finally, around 10:45 pm, the clouds parted and I managed to see the moon. Yes, it was bright, and yes, it was full, but I failed to see why it had made it onto the evening news. Nothing spectacular, I tell ya. But I was there, with camera in hand, so I snapped this. Is it just me, or does it look pretty much the same size as normal???

Okay, so after that incredibly wonderful picture, I will insert a picture of a rainbow. I love rainbows, they make me happy. Anyways, it started pouring the other evening (like it has pretty much every day for the last 22 or so), and the sun was shining, so I knew there would be a rainbow somewhere. And it showed up right in front of our house. I don't think any picture does a rainbow justice -- this one was so beautiful, and I couldn't even manage to get the whole thing in the viewfinder, seeing as I was way too close. I just wanted to reach out and touch it -- and grab the pot of gold lol. :-D Anyways, here is my best attempt.

Something else that makes me happy is shopping!!! There were Old Navy ads plastered all over TV all week, and something that caught my eye was the one-day sale on Saturday. They were offering all their classic flip flops for just $1!!!! I know a bargain when I see one! I was quite pleased with the haul, paying just $4 for four pairs of flip flops that would normally cost $20. The limit was five pairs. I was going to get five pairs for myself, but I had one generous bone in my body, and bought a pair for James as well. However, after seeing how ungrateful he was, I think I should have stuck with five pairs for me. How sad I had to leave the green ones behind.... :(

And last but not least, is my ever-willing photo subject Spencer in her ever-lazy pose. :)

overheard in the drive-thru

2008-06-28T20:23:00.002-04:00

"Welcome to McDonald's, may I take your order?"

"Yes, I'd like a junior chicken sandwich and a double cheeseburger, please."

"Okay, so, a junior chicken combo?"

"No, just the sandwich, and also a double cheeseburger."

"A junior chicken sandwich?"

"Yes, and also a double cheeseburger." (sigh!)

(silence)

After a minute.....

"Welcome to McDonald's, may I take your order?"

uh, hello?

"Um, I just placed an order, did you get that?"

"Oh. I guess it didn't go through, do you want to order again?" (as if I have a choice, now that I'm stuck in the middle of the drive-thru)

"I'll have a junior chicken sandwich and a double cheeseburger please!"

"A McChicken combo?"

ARGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

"A JUNIOR CHICKEN SANDWICH!" (said in a very loud voice) "and a double cheeseburger too!"

"Okay, so, just the sandwiches?"

"YES!"

"Please pull ahead for your total."

"Thanks." (or not)

adventures of our cats

2008-06-24T13:01:00.003-04:00

Our ~~children~~ cats are named Spencer and Harry. And before you ask, no, we DON'T have an obsession with Princess Diana. We just picked those names because we like them.

Anyways, on to the tale.....

Last Saturday, I was trying to relax after coming home from work at 7am. We were supposed to head over to James' parents house around 11am, so I wanted to be as rested as possible. In the past few days, we had noticed the apartment had an interesting odor hanging in the air. I figured this was just because the litter boxes needed a good deep cleaning, and we were out of air freshener. Little did I know it was much worse. I went to tackle the litter boxes and realized there really wasn't much to clean out of them. Which was weird, seeing as I hadn't done it in a few days. So therein lies the problem -- I can smell it, so I know it's there, so WHERE IS IT???

I didn't feel like doing anything else, so after freshening up the litter boxes, I settled on the sofa to rest a little. Spencer was running around and crying -- didn't really know why, didn't really care. :) She started pawing in one corner so I yelled at her to stop. She ran over by James' toolbox and started scratching around there. Again I yelled at her, and was very annoyed that she should disturb me in such a fashion. After that, she squatted not far from where I was sitting and made an ENORMOUS mess on the carpet.

By this time, I was livid. I yelled at her some more, picked her up, and carried her to the bathroom, where she was to remain a prisoner. :) James had been sleeping, but was now very much awake due to the commotion. Harry was looking on with interest, trying his hardest to be good so I would not turn my wrath on him. As I was cleaning up the mess, I began to smell that wonderful smell again, and not just because of what I was doing. It was in the vicinity. So I looked in the areas Spencer had been scratching around in this morning, and found another huge mess, all over James' winter coat. Plus, she had taken it upon herself to pee all over a large box of scrapbooking supplies I had stashed in the corner. Now this is where I draw the line -- do NOT mess with my scrapbooking stuff!!!

Needless to say, I did NOT get any rest that morning, as we spent most of it cleaning up the house and running to Walmart to get stain and odor removing cleaners. I guess the problem was the humidity in the house had made the litter in their boxes damp and it wasn't clumping properly. Spencer wasn't fond of this, so she decided to take her business elsewhere. Luckily, Harry did not decide the same thing. :) We fixed the problem with a dehumidifier and brand new clean litter, and all has been well ever since.

I have always been the one to defend the cats when James gets mad at them or wants to get rid of them. But let me say, I was THIS close to leaving Spencer out on the street when she decided to pee on my patterned paper. And my alphabet stickers. And my rub-ons. And all the rest of my stuff. That is just an area too close to my heart (no pun intended). But she remains, as the princess of the house (for now).

P.S. I got her back today -- I gave her a nice long bath, and by the time it was over, she was mad and has gone into a corner to sulk for the rest of the day. Hopefully, she won't pee in that corner lol. :-D

spoiling ourselves :)

2008-06-20T09:13:00.012-04:00

We work hard!

We earn our own money!

We deserve to buy ourselves nice things once in a while!!

That being prefaced, we went out shopping yesterday and bought a couple things. Not-very-cheap things. Pretty expensive things. :) James has been wanting a video game system for a while now. And while I'm not big on war games and the like, I do enjoy other fun games and games that make me think.

So, before we could talk ourselves out of it, we came home with.....

The xBox 360, of course, being for James, (left), and the Nintendo DS Lite for me (below). I had to go to work last night, but I would venture to say that James probably stayed up half the night playing Splinter Cell. :)

confessions of a mall addict :)

2008-06-18T19:45:00.002-04:00

My name is Melissa, and I like shopping. Okay, I love shopping. And most of all, I love shopping all by my lonesome self. Don't get me wrong, I like shopping with my sisters-in-law and my sister (when I get to see her), and I definitely like shopping with my mom, but there's just something about strolling along in the mall all by yourself -- taking your sweet time, spending an hour in one store, and maybe 2 minutes in another, because I want to and I don't have to worry if the other person is getting bored or wants to look at stuff I don't want to!! Basically, what it means is I'm selfish lol. :)

As a little side note -- I have never had my wallet stolen or lost my credit/debit cards when I'm shopping by myself, so there's another pro to add to the list. (And yes, that has happened more than once.....)

So I set off this afternoon to a mall about 40 minutes away. Our tiny town has NO good shopping, and I'm not even exaggerating. We have Walmart, Zellers (kinda like Target), a few old lady clothing stores, drugstores, dollar stores, and yeah, that's pretty much it. Fortunately, we live in a pretty central location -- drive 30-40 minutes in any direction and hit great shopping. So I kinda rotate through all the good malls.

Before I left, I went to the Salvation Army and donated a huge bag of clothing, and tons of books. Getting rid of some stuff beforehand made me feel better about the money I might spend lol. :-D

Anyways, it was a very therapeutic 3 1/2 hours -- I got a bunch of great (inexpensive) shirts and a few other things. Plus a piece of pizza and a Frappuccino. :)

Pretty much the perfect day. The only thing that could possibly have made it better was if there had been a great scrapbooking store to shop at too. :) Oh, and unlimited money would be nice.......

this and that

2008-06-17T11:41:00.002-04:00

I have certainly been neglecting this blog again, as per usual. I'm always thinking, I should put this on my blog, and then I never do! So I think what it boils down to is I have a blog in my head, if anyone is interested in reading it. :) :)

My mom had surgery on June 12 to remove the cancerous cells. They also removed several lymph nodes so they can try to determine whether the cancer has spread. The surgeon was looking for a particular lymph node but couldn't find it, so hopefully they have taken ones that will be a good indicator, as she definitely doesn't want more surgery. She also had a drain put in this time, which annoyed her to no end, but that was removed yesterday and she is recovering at home. She was even able to attend church on Sunday AND sing in the choir. I don't believe there's anything my mother cannot do!

James and I have been pretty busy lately. We finished up our Missions Conference at church on June 8, and that was a great time of fellowship and learning. Going to church five times in one week certainly put a drain on our gas money. It is rather unfortunate that the closest good Bible-believing independent Baptist church is about 30 minutes away, but we believe in being faithful no matter the cost, and we believe this is the best possible church for us right now. One day, we hope to move closer to a Godly local church.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to a Jays game in Toronto. We always love to do that -- ride the subway into downtown Toronto and watch a baseball game from the upper decks. The tickets are fairly inexpensive, and I got to try out the amazing zoom on my new camera. Some of the pictures I got look so close-up, and we were sitting on the top level! I'm going to have to get some pictures of the Yankees when we go in August. The only bummer to the day was it was probably the hottest day of the summer so far. :) Not that I mind the heat, but the sun was out in full force, and there we were with our bared, sunscreen-free shoulders. Haha, yeah, I was in pain for almost a week after........that'll teach me.......

James seems to have done something to his shoulder. On Thursday, he was in so much pain he was practically crying, but he wouldn't let me take him to the emergency room. He went to the doctor on Friday, who thinks it's a torn muscle of some sort. He loaded him up on pain meds and scheduled an x-ray and ultrasound for later this week. Yesterday, James said his shoulder is feeling so good, only a twinge here and there, and he wants to go back to regular duty at work. :) I say let's wait until the test results -- he might be feeling good as a result of taking all that pain medication around the clock. Hopefully, it was only something minor to begin with, and has already started to heal.

Hmmmmm.......anything else? Oh yeah, I was able to quit one of my jobs and I am so happy about it! I worked at a nursing home every other weekend, and it was really draining me. I loved all the old people, but unfortunately, that was the only thing I loved about the place. This particular home had such an uninviting atmosphere, and staff who would rather gossip and argue among themselves than take care of the residents. In the last few months, I ended up having to work BOTH of my jobs on the same weekend, which meant working 46 hours in the space of only 58. Let me tell you -- a few months of that equals total exhaustion!!! I am very thankful that it was only an extra job, and not necessary to our financial situation, so out the window it went! I am sending in my application to register for the RN exam sometime this week, so I am working on perfecting my resume and a cover letter to send out to area hospitals. I thought this day would never come.

And there you have it -- my incredibly newsy post.

up and up and up

2008-06-03T13:42:00.003-04:00

Just a note on this fine rainy day that should make EVERYONE happy they don't live in Canada.

And that is.....

Gas is $4.84 a gallon here.

That's right -- rejoice and be thankful for the $4 or so you're paying.

Cuz now you know -- it could be a lot worse.

an AMAZING answer to prayer

2008-05-28T22:49:00.002-04:00

In case anyone has been keeping up with how my mom is doing, I thought I would share some news I heard today!

My mom has been having oodles of tests done over the past couple weeks -- all very tedious and some quite painful. They did discover quite early on that the larger lump found was indeed cancerous. However, most cause for concern were the lumps under her arm, indicating that the cancer may have spread to the lymph nodes (not good). After all the other tests, they concluded the tests were inconclusive (ironic), and decided they needed to do biopsies on the lumps under her arm. Those biopsies were scheduled for today. So my mom went in for her appointment and did NOT have the biopsies done......because the lumps were GONE!!!! The radiologist said this happens sometimes, but we know it was ALL God. What a wonderful God we have to give us what we so desperately want but know we do not deserve!

Now, that being said -- the cancer is not all gone, but the prognosis looks much better. She is scheduling surgery to have the other lump removed, and then will have six weeks of radiation, but this is one of the best-case scenarios for her situation.

I am so grateful to God for hearing the prayers of His children and seeing fit to work in a wonderful way. And I am also very grateful to those people who have been fervent and faithful in their prayers for my dear mama.

how long has it been? :)

2008-05-20T19:51:00.003-04:00

Well, I haven't written anything in a long time. And I can't even think of anything I even want to write. I went to visit my parents last week and had such a great time. Maybe I'll write about that sometime soon. I guess I'm just feeling lazy right now.....

Anyways, please keep praying for my mom -- she's still going through tests so the doctors can decide what they might want to do next. Here's a pic of me and my mama. :)

praising Him in this storm

2008-05-05T15:01:00.002-04:00

My daddy called Saturday afternoon. I wasn't home. He left a message that said "your mom is sick." My heart dropped to the tip of my toes. And I thought, NOT AGAIN. Why is this happening? Cancer is evil, and my mom does NOT deserve it. When I called him back, and he explained what was happening, I cried and cried and cried -- and now I'm crying again.

I can't help but wonder why. But my dad reminded me on the phone "all things work together for good to them that LOVE GOD." Jesus, the Master of the sea, is right here with us, holding us close during this storm. Sometimes we doubt, but He is always there. Sometimes I can't hear His reassuring voice through all my worrying and crying. He will never ever leave my side, and I must praise Him, my God who knows better than I.

This says it better than I ever could:

I was sure by now
That You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away,
Stepped in and saved the day,
But once again, I say "amen,"
And it's STILL raining;

As the thunder rolls,
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
"I am with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God
Who gives and takes away.

I'll praise you in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are Who You are;
No matter where I am
Every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You've never left my side
And though my heart is torn,
I will praise you in this storm.
Lyrics courtesy of Mac Hall and Casting Crowns