So my friend, Steve Warburton has challenged me to write a blog with this title. I am 2 days late. This is because I have 2 toddlers and we recently transitioned one to a big girl bed and sleep has been lacking. As has an overall feeling of sanity.
Oh and our car was deemed unsafe.
All on the day this was due.
Bah!
Anyhow. Steve and I met so many years ago I can't even remember. Online, naturally. We met on a site called Christian Cafe. Its a dating site. I don't recommend it. Even though I met my amazing wonderful husband on it. Other than Josh and Steve, the other men I met were weird and creepy. Except for this one other very sweet guy who poured out his heart in his first ever message. Anyhow. The one time Steve and I met was at a pizza place called Tomasso's in Trenton Ontario. I was 45 minutes late due to many factors and he did not have a cell phone. I felt bad. I felt even worse how I greeted him when I arrived. I thre w my purse in the booth, apologized for my lateness and announced that I had to pee.
I make amazing first impressions.
The pizza was incredible. Steve did card tricks and taught me the real meaning behind "she bop" as it was playing and I was yammering on about it. He began to talk about Kurt Vonnegut and I was lost but glad that he wasn't talking about south park or some other related show.
Anyhow.
On my 23rd birthday I went to a restaurant with some friends to celebrate. During this celebration I was brough a piece of chocolate birthday cake. It was incredible...one might even say....."yummy" Somebody captured a picture of the cake and I and it became ( and, I believe, is currently) my MSN picture. Steve very much enjoyed this picture because I look so excited. I was actually quite depressed as my ex and I had broken up.
That night my friend Dan who had been missing for a while, making trips and around the continent had come. Wearing glasses that weren't his. It rained that night. He got into a car accident on his way to my house. In his parents car. I was pretty upset. Thankfully he was fine.
It was a fun night. My cousin Af cream pied me and I had to take a shower and leave all my friends to watch Lost in my living room with my mom.
Elisa turned one in January and discovered that she really liked cupcakes. Her grandma made a bunch and she and Josh decorated them. Elisa ate a cookie monster cupcake and thoroughly enjoyed it. Sophia doesn't really like cake. I'm sure she will come to love it in time though. If not, that is ok with me.
I made my grandma a cake from scratch when I was 12. It was terrible. Everyone pretended to like it. I was touched because I knew my grandpa would pretend to like it, but I didn't think grandma would.
The first birthday that Josh and I were together I made him a pie. I carted it from Peterborough, all the way to his school in Toronto, near Jane and Finch ( which incidentally, I visited when Sophia was about 10 months old and I was vastly pregnant with Elisa. I went to the mall there. I got a lot of weird stares. Until I got to dollarama. I was looking for headphones for my friend who was in the hospital near there. It was no scary. It was also 10am). This was a very long bus/subway/bus ride. It took me several hours to get there. I was there to watch the school concert. He was cranky with the students because they were being impertinent. One girl marched up to him and asked if he had eaten his lunch that day. He said yes. She looked thoughtful and walked away. I laughed heartily because he is often viciously cranky when he skips lunch, which is almost never now, thanks to moi. Once we finally got back to his apartment, the smile of the happy face I had drawn in the pie looked like it was drooling.
Our wedding cake had amazingly yummy icing. It was made by my best friends parents and sister. They made several cakes I was told. I unfortunately did not get to see this and paid them a ridiculously tiny amount of money. It was very pretty and I didn't get to finish my piece and was very very sad. We had a hunk left for our first anniversary though. It was a cream cheese icing. Mmmmmm.
Yummy, I Like Cake.
Saturday 5 July 2014
Saturday 3 May 2014
So I guess never got around to finishing writing about March break but oh well......
I forget now.
Other than the horrible snowstorm that inspird he title of the last march break blog.
Anyhow. Not much to write about in particular. Some highlights from the last month and a half
Josh and I went on a date night a few Saturdays ago. We ended up going to a store before having dinner. This place is a sort of grocery place. So we are walking around. W get to the back of the store where they're are freezers and such. So ok standing facing josh and we are discussing chicken or fish or something when suddenly this ancient air conditioner comes on (it was not hot btw) it was quite powerful considering its age and blew my hair straight out.
The closest ill ever come to modelling....
So naturally me being me, I begin to pretend( mildly however) that I'm on a vogue shoot or something and toss my head back and forth, laughing hysterically the whole time while josh looks on with amusement.
Then. I look to my right.
I see....much to my horror (initially that is)
A video camera,
It's he type of place that the boss probably does watch the cameras too. I pointed and showed josh and he Just shook his head. I laughed uproariously and then skewed addled.
Then we went on to dinner. This Indian restaurant that we love. W had saved up our points for it too, we usually get a dinner for two that is wonderful f and yummy this time we decided to do the he Buffett.
Mistake number 1
Now, when we do buffet's wits practically an art, I attribute this to my father in law. You stuff in as much as possible so yu you have to take long breaks between plates. Back in the day (aka before weight watchers) this took a very long time. Especially since I'd eat one plate and then a dessert plate and do josh would just be finishing plate one. So this was the first buffet since ww . Things we're initially going well but I made...
Mistake number 2
Naan.
Now a bit of back story, two weeks before I had decided to go hard after giving Up wheat. It seemed to be going well but I wasn't noticing a huge difference (it's mainly for my joint pain issues. Wheat seems to aggravate them). Well I ate naan. Then I ate too much buffet.
Mistake number 3
Sitting too long before getting buffet pserving#2
The waiters thought we we're leaving so hugely cleared the table. We returned to our table with no utensils, drinks or naan. It was.....humorous and embarrassing. .
By the end of huge dinner I was bloated and gassy and we were both mourning the fact that we had waivers from our usual choice and decided buffets are not a good choice.
The next THREE days I was bloated and gassy and mourning the fact that I had had naan.
TMI ALERT!!!!!!!!!! WARNING THIS MAY BE TOO DIFFICULT FOR SOME rEADERS TO READ
I had weighed in on our normal day, the day after the Indian food disaster and had gained 2lbs. Then was bloated and gassy. Then after the gas and bloat faded much bowel movements occurred. Then my pants felt loose so I weighed myself early.
I had crapped out 6lbs. Or at least that's my best assumption for having lost 6 lbs in 4 days.
TMI ALERT OVER
So the bottom line is, wheat and I are no longer friends. We are like star crossed forbidden lovers that I am choosing to avoid having affairs with.
Today I am at work. My client is sleeping soundly. On my way here, I was listening to armin van buuren and thinking about why amazing worship music he would write if he became a Christian.
Then I went through a red light. Pretty sure I did anyway. Oops.
Can't really think of anything else to mention at the moment. I need to do some serious editing when I'm on a desktop next. My iPad auto correct hates me as much as my phones auto correct does.
Xo
I forget now.
Other than the horrible snowstorm that inspird he title of the last march break blog.
Anyhow. Not much to write about in particular. Some highlights from the last month and a half
Josh and I went on a date night a few Saturdays ago. We ended up going to a store before having dinner. This place is a sort of grocery place. So we are walking around. W get to the back of the store where they're are freezers and such. So ok standing facing josh and we are discussing chicken or fish or something when suddenly this ancient air conditioner comes on (it was not hot btw) it was quite powerful considering its age and blew my hair straight out.
The closest ill ever come to modelling....
So naturally me being me, I begin to pretend( mildly however) that I'm on a vogue shoot or something and toss my head back and forth, laughing hysterically the whole time while josh looks on with amusement.
Then. I look to my right.
I see....much to my horror (initially that is)
A video camera,
It's he type of place that the boss probably does watch the cameras too. I pointed and showed josh and he Just shook his head. I laughed uproariously and then skewed addled.
Then we went on to dinner. This Indian restaurant that we love. W had saved up our points for it too, we usually get a dinner for two that is wonderful f and yummy this time we decided to do the he Buffett.
Mistake number 1
Now, when we do buffet's wits practically an art, I attribute this to my father in law. You stuff in as much as possible so yu you have to take long breaks between plates. Back in the day (aka before weight watchers) this took a very long time. Especially since I'd eat one plate and then a dessert plate and do josh would just be finishing plate one. So this was the first buffet since ww . Things we're initially going well but I made...
Mistake number 2
Naan.
Now a bit of back story, two weeks before I had decided to go hard after giving Up wheat. It seemed to be going well but I wasn't noticing a huge difference (it's mainly for my joint pain issues. Wheat seems to aggravate them). Well I ate naan. Then I ate too much buffet.
Mistake number 3
Sitting too long before getting buffet pserving#2
The waiters thought we we're leaving so hugely cleared the table. We returned to our table with no utensils, drinks or naan. It was.....humorous and embarrassing. .
By the end of huge dinner I was bloated and gassy and we were both mourning the fact that we had waivers from our usual choice and decided buffets are not a good choice.
The next THREE days I was bloated and gassy and mourning the fact that I had had naan.
TMI ALERT!!!!!!!!!! WARNING THIS MAY BE TOO DIFFICULT FOR SOME rEADERS TO READ
I had weighed in on our normal day, the day after the Indian food disaster and had gained 2lbs. Then was bloated and gassy. Then after the gas and bloat faded much bowel movements occurred. Then my pants felt loose so I weighed myself early.
I had crapped out 6lbs. Or at least that's my best assumption for having lost 6 lbs in 4 days.
TMI ALERT OVER
So the bottom line is, wheat and I are no longer friends. We are like star crossed forbidden lovers that I am choosing to avoid having affairs with.
Today I am at work. My client is sleeping soundly. On my way here, I was listening to armin van buuren and thinking about why amazing worship music he would write if he became a Christian.
Then I went through a red light. Pretty sure I did anyway. Oops.
Can't really think of anything else to mention at the moment. I need to do some serious editing when I'm on a desktop next. My iPad auto correct hates me as much as my phones auto correct does.
Xo
Thursday 27 March 2014
It's always winter, and never Christmas. Part 1
Freedom , freedom, march break hurrah!!!!!!
Can you tell this week has been march break?
So it all started last Friday. Because of the teacher deal and unpaid days, I got hubbie home for Friday. We decided to go on a date!
Oh lone star. Can you say deep fried avocados with some amazing "mystery sauce"
Oh. My. Goodness.
Über wow.
Side note: how cute! It automatically made the umlaut over my u!
We also went for glow in the dark mini golf. I managed to only be behind Josh by 8.
So. Since we were gone til 630, that meant the girls were being put down by the babysitter.
I'd just like to say that I love our babysitter. She is fabulous. For her safety sake, Im not stating her name. So she shall be called the babysitter. That sounds so cold and unrelational, but....yeah. Im not sure my mom would have been thrilled that someone was blogging about me babysitting when I was a teenager. Except people didnt blog so much then. I also didn't babysit so much then. Like maybe yearly. Usually because kids never listened to me.
Not much has changed since then.
Anyway, our babysitter, put Sophia to bed early.
Not half an hour early.
Not an hour early.
Not even an houor and a half early.
2 hours early.
Apparently she was falling asleep on her feet.
She woke up at 330 the next morning.
The plan was, that after I got home from work ( yes I was working that morning) that we would head to Peterborough to celebrate my birthday with my mom. I was getting, shall we say, ornery as the morning went on and was VERY, shall we say, ornery when I was leaving the house later than usual.
Then my phone rang.
It was buried in my purse so I considered not answering it, as it was a another barrier to me getting out of the house. Good thing I answered it because my shift was cancelled. Imagine how great that would've been to drive all the way to work only to find out there was no one there....hah!
So it was good to have the morning to prepare for travelling. The previous week had been the free mcdonalds coffees....we had gotten...many...and so had saved up our stickers to get free drinks. On the way we stopped at mcdonalds to get drinks. I asked if the free drink included the chai latte and they said no. I had originally wanted a smoothie, which I discussed with Josh in the car but didnt ask about.
So Josh ordered...some kind of coffee with chocolate and I ordered a hot chocolate with the toasted marshmallow on top. We got to the window and waited........and then the girl comes over and says they have no chocolate syrup and if we rea`lly want it, it will be a ten minute wait. So we had to order something else. Josh chose and I couldnt choose.....when I said I don't really like coffee that much, they said I could get whatever I wanted. Including a smoothie. The look Josh gave me was a mixture of hilarious and pitiful. I got a smoothie.
It
was
GIGANTIC.
I got another indescribable look from Josh. I got a flavour I thouoght he might enjoy so we could share it but he didnt end up wanting much LOL.
We had my birthday dinner at moms. She made this broccoli casserole that I actually loved as a child. At my request. SHe also made a humongous cherry cheesecake. We watched a movie and i ate half the piece of cake at the begining of the movie and the rest at the end. Phew. So good though. I got this awesome nail stamping kit with jewels and etc from mom. Its one of those things you apparently have to experiment with a bit because the stamp is a bit smooth and shiny. Ive done some research though and apparently nail filing it works ( it does) unfortunatly I havent had as much time as Id like to play around with it.
My birthday was sunday the next day. I got to have a soak in the tub in water that was actually hot ( our hot water tank kind of sucks. Im not complaining, because we do have hot water, but by the time our tub fills up the water is ice cold coming from the tap) and I got to facebook chat with my seester since it was sunday. My dad called a little later and the conversation went something like this:
(after singing happy birthday to me)
Dad: I wasn't sure if you were going to chapel or not so I thought I'd call before
Me: (glancing at clock: 10:15) uh...if we were going to church we'd have to leave now.....
Dad: its only 915!
Me: no...its 10:15, we had the time change last night
Dad: WHAT?! No, i think you are mistaken
Me: no seriously
Dad: I'll have to check on the tv.....*turns on tv* Oh...you are right! well.....
Heh.
We talked to Momma G and Jeremy as well. Later that night I went out for dinner with a few people and we had the restaurant to ourselves basically. It was nice to feel like Christina for a few hours. It was hilarious though because the waitress at one point changed the songs and "Closing Time " came on. We wondered if it was a hint. I laughed uproariously of course. The waitress realized shortly after we did and ran over to change it. She said it wasn't on purpose...but it actually was closing time LOL. I got a free apple crisp for supper which I tried to share but the crust was so hard that it just made everything ooze out everywhere.
Turning 30 wasn't so bad :)
The next day some family came to visit which was nice. They had some humongous cheesecake too. Then the girls napped and we headed home. They were getting a bit cabin feverish and my moms house, as a childless house should be, is not the most childproof.
I will end part one here.
Can you tell this week has been march break?
So it all started last Friday. Because of the teacher deal and unpaid days, I got hubbie home for Friday. We decided to go on a date!
Oh lone star. Can you say deep fried avocados with some amazing "mystery sauce"
Oh. My. Goodness.
Über wow.
Side note: how cute! It automatically made the umlaut over my u!
We also went for glow in the dark mini golf. I managed to only be behind Josh by 8.
So. Since we were gone til 630, that meant the girls were being put down by the babysitter.
I'd just like to say that I love our babysitter. She is fabulous. For her safety sake, Im not stating her name. So she shall be called the babysitter. That sounds so cold and unrelational, but....yeah. Im not sure my mom would have been thrilled that someone was blogging about me babysitting when I was a teenager. Except people didnt blog so much then. I also didn't babysit so much then. Like maybe yearly. Usually because kids never listened to me.
Not much has changed since then.
Anyway, our babysitter, put Sophia to bed early.
Not half an hour early.
Not an hour early.
Not even an houor and a half early.
2 hours early.
Apparently she was falling asleep on her feet.
She woke up at 330 the next morning.
The plan was, that after I got home from work ( yes I was working that morning) that we would head to Peterborough to celebrate my birthday with my mom. I was getting, shall we say, ornery as the morning went on and was VERY, shall we say, ornery when I was leaving the house later than usual.
Then my phone rang.
It was buried in my purse so I considered not answering it, as it was a another barrier to me getting out of the house. Good thing I answered it because my shift was cancelled. Imagine how great that would've been to drive all the way to work only to find out there was no one there....hah!
So it was good to have the morning to prepare for travelling. The previous week had been the free mcdonalds coffees....we had gotten...many...and so had saved up our stickers to get free drinks. On the way we stopped at mcdonalds to get drinks. I asked if the free drink included the chai latte and they said no. I had originally wanted a smoothie, which I discussed with Josh in the car but didnt ask about.
So Josh ordered...some kind of coffee with chocolate and I ordered a hot chocolate with the toasted marshmallow on top. We got to the window and waited........and then the girl comes over and says they have no chocolate syrup and if we rea`lly want it, it will be a ten minute wait. So we had to order something else. Josh chose and I couldnt choose.....when I said I don't really like coffee that much, they said I could get whatever I wanted. Including a smoothie. The look Josh gave me was a mixture of hilarious and pitiful. I got a smoothie.
It
was
GIGANTIC.
I got another indescribable look from Josh. I got a flavour I thouoght he might enjoy so we could share it but he didnt end up wanting much LOL.
We had my birthday dinner at moms. She made this broccoli casserole that I actually loved as a child. At my request. SHe also made a humongous cherry cheesecake. We watched a movie and i ate half the piece of cake at the begining of the movie and the rest at the end. Phew. So good though. I got this awesome nail stamping kit with jewels and etc from mom. Its one of those things you apparently have to experiment with a bit because the stamp is a bit smooth and shiny. Ive done some research though and apparently nail filing it works ( it does) unfortunatly I havent had as much time as Id like to play around with it.
My birthday was sunday the next day. I got to have a soak in the tub in water that was actually hot ( our hot water tank kind of sucks. Im not complaining, because we do have hot water, but by the time our tub fills up the water is ice cold coming from the tap) and I got to facebook chat with my seester since it was sunday. My dad called a little later and the conversation went something like this:
(after singing happy birthday to me)
Dad: I wasn't sure if you were going to chapel or not so I thought I'd call before
Me: (glancing at clock: 10:15) uh...if we were going to church we'd have to leave now.....
Dad: its only 915!
Me: no...its 10:15, we had the time change last night
Dad: WHAT?! No, i think you are mistaken
Me: no seriously
Dad: I'll have to check on the tv.....*turns on tv* Oh...you are right! well.....
Heh.
We talked to Momma G and Jeremy as well. Later that night I went out for dinner with a few people and we had the restaurant to ourselves basically. It was nice to feel like Christina for a few hours. It was hilarious though because the waitress at one point changed the songs and "Closing Time " came on. We wondered if it was a hint. I laughed uproariously of course. The waitress realized shortly after we did and ran over to change it. She said it wasn't on purpose...but it actually was closing time LOL. I got a free apple crisp for supper which I tried to share but the crust was so hard that it just made everything ooze out everywhere.
Turning 30 wasn't so bad :)
The next day some family came to visit which was nice. They had some humongous cheesecake too. Then the girls napped and we headed home. They were getting a bit cabin feverish and my moms house, as a childless house should be, is not the most childproof.
I will end part one here.
Wednesday 26 March 2014
Mini Getaway for the big 3-0
Im going to be a bit backward here.
Not in a bad way - in a confusing way. Which is just natural when it comes to me really.
Im a big fan of writing in chronological order. Actually I'm kind of an annoying stickler for it. But today Im going to veer from that a bit because this blog will be much shorter than the blog Im going to write about the march break.
So first of all, it was my 30th this year. Im not sure if this mini getaway was initiaed by my mother in law or hubbie and I, but regardless it was much needed.
I decided that I was going to be particular for once. I asked hubbie if I could be selfish and he said yes. My criteria for a place to stay was as follows:
- A jacuzzi ( or whiirlpool tub? I dont know the difference)
- A Fireplace
- A full english breakfast ( for hubbie mostly)
-A comfortable bed
We talked about a few possibilites and set upon Niagara on the lake.
So I searched and found a B&B that looked awesome ( it has a kitchenette as well!) and comfortable and had all of the musts on the above list. Very excited. It was nice to have that to look forward to as well.
Anyway, my inlaws arrived friday night so that we would be able to leave early on saturday and still get a bit of a visit. We tried to play it like Josh was leaving for a normal school day and I'd slip out after to minimize trauma.
Blessing #1 - There were no tears when we left ( that we heard anyway)
We ended up stopping for lunch at a mall i remember my grandma talking about shopping at back in the day. That was a little weird. I mean, obviously its likely totally completely different than back then but it was still a little weird. A little sad. A little neat though too.
WE had virtually zero traffic and arrived fairly quickly. We decided to go to Queenston because my history loving hubbie wanted to go see the monument.
OKAY
That thing is absolutely huge! Like I cannot believe how massive it is. How did they ever manage that?! If he were on the ground, I swear he'd be about three or four times the size of a real person! We took a picture but it totally did not do it justice. That was basically my entire contribution to that stop.
We also drove into the little town of Queenston where Laura Secords house is ( closed of course, like many things that aren't stores in the area) Seriously creepy experience. The old houses were really cool. Its obviously a lived in town...but there were no people outside, the school ( well one of them) was closed and boarded up and also kind of creepy looking. We saw one other car the whole time we were there, it came from the lake and not the town. It was just plain eerie.
Anyway, we had lots of time to browse the shops and just relax and meander. It was a cold, but beautiful and sunny afternoon.
There are so many cool shops. Honestly, the biggest pull to choosing Niagara on the lake was the scottish loft. My friend Lisa had found the thistle china pattern im in love with ( and discovered on our honeymoon in Scotland nearly 4 years ago) there last summer and told me about it. Ever since Ive been itching to go and get a teapot. During out time there we discovered that these chocolate biscuits I love, called penguins, have been banned from being imported to Canada.
Because the package states that they have added calcium.
But genetically modified, over sugared, over preserved, one ingredient away from being plastic crap we eat on a daily basis is totally acceptable.
Added Calcium. Seriously. Poor Canada.
Anyway, I also discovered there that the set has not been discontinued as I had read a while ago on a website so I can chill and easily collect the tea set I want without having to shell out money when we don't have it. As it was the teapot was 85$ plus tax but I had birthday money so it was perfect timing.
Some other note worthy shops ( Ooooh its like a travel blog!!!)
Taste - ( at least thats what I think it was called)
Excellent shop. They sell a bunch of sauces and specialty oils and etc. You can try absolutely everything they have in the store for free. Most of it is locally made too which is pretty cool. Unfortunately the pear glaze I loved was 15$ for maybe 200 mLs so we skipped that, but it was a really fun experience and the lady was so helpful and nice and when we left without buying anything she was still friendly when we thanked her and told her to have a nice day.
Cheese Secrets - ( this was neat because we both wanted to try to find a cheese shop. We ended up parking in a green P that had we not gone all the way the end to, would not have seen the cheese shop at all because it was tucked in behind the main street. Blessing #.....Ive lost count really)
They didnt have a huge selection but what they did have was varying (cow, sheep, goat milk) and they were generous with taste tests. We got a 2 yr old raw cows milk cheese from PEI and an aged gouda. Both very tasty.
A fudge shop.
I forget the name.
They had lots of homemade fudge, canadian maple syrup and dutch licorice. Unfortunately nothing fun for my mother in law who is half dutch. Im glad I was with Josh because I swore he said she liked dutch licorice candies and he was emphatic that she doesnt. So that was a good thing to avoid. They let us have taste tests as well. We got a chocolate peanut butter and cookies and cream fudge. My only problem with that place was they only sold by half bricks and full bricks when we wanted less, but oh well.
Another shop I forget the name of.
This place was full of sauces, jams, chutneys, dip additives etc etc etc. There were about 12 taste test areas for all sorts of different things. It was really cool. Again we didnt buy anything but it was a fun experience.
We stopped for a snack ( more like a meal) at the Irish tea room.
Oh
My
Gosh.
I had decided last week that I need to go back to avoiding gluten.
This place blew that resolve out of the water.
We had a GIGANTIC scone complete with strawberries, jam and clotted cream. We had to eat it with a fork and knife, very carefully, because it was so so huge.
But so. so. oh so good.
We also had tea of course and a shamrock shortbread cookie. It was a nice atmosphere and the people were really friendly. Our waiter was not Irish. He was from Manchester. But oh well.
After the tea room we went back to get my teapot and to the cheese shop. I began to feel.....funny. Tipsy. Like Id had a couple glasses of wine. Except I didn't. Gluten? Sugar? Hm.......It sort of sucked. I was dizzy for a good 2 hours. Me thinks I should get to a nutritionist or something of the sort.
Anyway, we then checked into our B&B - 627 on King.
Absolutely amazing. Totally blew my expectations out of the water.
The owner was so friendly ( and English interestingly enough) and we had a little kitchenette with a fridge, tons of tea, a kettle, french press ( which hubbie was ecstatic about :D ), snacks, a fruit plate, even dishes and a knife and cutting board ( perfect for our newly purchased cheese). We chilled before dinner since I was all dizzy and had a terrible time figuring out where to eat. Once we finally decided, I was starting to feel a bit better.
We chose a pub. We are so predictable. We had wanted to try some place nicer but any of the places had no selection on the menus and it was mostly things I wouldn't eat, naturally. So we went to the pub. "The Irish Harp" Excellent atmosphere, nice waitress, food was pretty good. The fries were nothing special at all. The Guinness mayo was though.
Oh
My
Gosh
I actually neglected the ketchup completely. I even considered dipping my fish in the Guinness mayo. It tasted nothing like Guinness to me....more like hickory and something else. Regardless it was fantastic. They had a taster beer menu that Josh totally didnt see before ordering his Guinness. Poor guy. I had a glass of a Jackson Triggs chardonay that was ridiculously good. I mention this because it comes in to play later.
After dinner we returned to the B&B and poured over the mitt full of wine tasting vouchers the owner gave us. We tried to pick the most reasonable ones distance wise and leave the rest for other people. He had a drawer full of them though. It was kind of funny. I passed out around 930 as per usual.
I woke up about 6 times before morning, but they were very brief wake ups. It was nice to be in bed for 8 hours straight. I was wide awake by 5 which sucked but at least I got to relax. We had ordered breakfast for 830 so we ate our fruit plate since we were both up by 630. It was so nice to just chill and talk and relax and take our time. Time by the way went by ridiculously slowly which was very nice.
Breakfast was awesome. He serves it in your room ( I forgot to mention the little dinette set). He also serves it on the small placemats that we saw all over the B&B's on our honeymoon which was fun for nostalgic sake. Our first part included porridge wtih maple syrup and cream. I dont think i have ever seen Josh eat so fast. Usually i suck back food like a vacuum and hes not even half finished. Our next course was the english breakfast ( without beans but thats just because whenever he puts them out people usually leave them) So so good. We talked with the owner for a while during breakfast and shortly after, at checkout time. Turns out he teaches part time at the university in York ( England) Apparently they are having issues with the students getting drunk, falling in the river and dying. 3 died last year. Its become a serious part of orientation. Crazy!
After checkout we went to walk around Fort Mississauga. There isnt much there so its open to the public. You have to walk through a golf course to get there. So even though the wind was bitter cold walking there, it was probably better to be there when balls weren't flying around. Honestly, I would have been hit or narrowly missed getting hit, had there been golfers there. Some kids have used parts of it to hang out and do who knows what. I found reading the plaques kind of interesting.
Then began our wine tasting experience.....
First we went to Peller Estates. Absolutely gigantic, beautiful building. Very classy atmosphere. We spent longer there probably than intended. The lady was very helpful and informative about the different wines and etc. I didnt realize how generous they are wtih these wine tastings. We each got to try three types of wine and shared an ice wine and an extra dessert wine.
For free.
The ice wine was....oh man. As was this other oak aged dessert wine that we tried. It was 60$. We left without buying anything, but it was a very enjoyable experience.
Next we went to Jackson Triggs which was in a weird looking warehouse, blasting country music. It felt kind of like going to a huge LCBO with wine tasting. The contrast between the two places was bizarre.
One of the reasons we went to Jackson Triggs was because I wanted to try to find the chardonnay I had had the night before. I tried the only two they had in store ( you see, they save the top stuff to sell at the winery and the rest goes to the LCBO....the lady running the testing guessed that they either had an older version or it was a special restaurant version because they didn't have the one the pub owner said it was.
Or something.
Regardless she didnt include my chardonnay tastings as the free tastes so that was nice. We bought a bottle of gewurztraminer and a small bottle of ice wine that tastes like strawberry jam.
After that we had lunch at swanky McDonalds and checked out a store beside it that sounded a lot more interesting than it was....and then went to a beer making place. I forget the name. its relatively new. They gave us a range of beers to try. A lot of beer. All of which I despised of course. Josh didnt like it too much either so we slipped out, leaving lots of beer behind feeling slightly bad. Friendly people and atmosphere but too bitter and Josh was disappointed that it was only 3 years old. He likes the super old reciped beer. Or something like that.
So anyway, that was our last stop home. We had very little traffic and I slept off and on on the way home. It was a very very nice relaxing weekend.
We got home and the kids exclaimed "daddy!" Mommy was totally an afterthought. But thats ok. :)
Momma G made me an enchillada lasanga of sorts with corn tortillas. Very. Very. Very good. Luckily there was some leftover for supper the next day too. Later on we had yummy carrot cake with cream cheese icing too and got to visit with my inlaws for a bit. They stayed for a bit on monday to babysit while I went to the doctors. Earlier in the day momma G suggested we try to take the girls out for a walk because they had been cooped up forever. It was cold. But Sophia walked the whole way to the park and neither girl wanted to get out of the swings. Can you say tempers? Seriously, in minus "who knows what" weather with freezing wind chill and they STILL want to swing.
They didn't get this from me. I had a scarf wrapped entirely around the majority of my head.
Anyhow, Sophia finally had a good nap for the first time in days.
Come Spring! Fast!!!
This only took me two days to write.
Thank you sesame street for being so entertaining.
xo
Not in a bad way - in a confusing way. Which is just natural when it comes to me really.
Im a big fan of writing in chronological order. Actually I'm kind of an annoying stickler for it. But today Im going to veer from that a bit because this blog will be much shorter than the blog Im going to write about the march break.
So first of all, it was my 30th this year. Im not sure if this mini getaway was initiaed by my mother in law or hubbie and I, but regardless it was much needed.
I decided that I was going to be particular for once. I asked hubbie if I could be selfish and he said yes. My criteria for a place to stay was as follows:
- A jacuzzi ( or whiirlpool tub? I dont know the difference)
- A Fireplace
- A full english breakfast ( for hubbie mostly)
-A comfortable bed
We talked about a few possibilites and set upon Niagara on the lake.
So I searched and found a B&B that looked awesome ( it has a kitchenette as well!) and comfortable and had all of the musts on the above list. Very excited. It was nice to have that to look forward to as well.
Anyway, my inlaws arrived friday night so that we would be able to leave early on saturday and still get a bit of a visit. We tried to play it like Josh was leaving for a normal school day and I'd slip out after to minimize trauma.
Blessing #1 - There were no tears when we left ( that we heard anyway)
We ended up stopping for lunch at a mall i remember my grandma talking about shopping at back in the day. That was a little weird. I mean, obviously its likely totally completely different than back then but it was still a little weird. A little sad. A little neat though too.
WE had virtually zero traffic and arrived fairly quickly. We decided to go to Queenston because my history loving hubbie wanted to go see the monument.
OKAY
That thing is absolutely huge! Like I cannot believe how massive it is. How did they ever manage that?! If he were on the ground, I swear he'd be about three or four times the size of a real person! We took a picture but it totally did not do it justice. That was basically my entire contribution to that stop.
We also drove into the little town of Queenston where Laura Secords house is ( closed of course, like many things that aren't stores in the area) Seriously creepy experience. The old houses were really cool. Its obviously a lived in town...but there were no people outside, the school ( well one of them) was closed and boarded up and also kind of creepy looking. We saw one other car the whole time we were there, it came from the lake and not the town. It was just plain eerie.
Anyway, we had lots of time to browse the shops and just relax and meander. It was a cold, but beautiful and sunny afternoon.
There are so many cool shops. Honestly, the biggest pull to choosing Niagara on the lake was the scottish loft. My friend Lisa had found the thistle china pattern im in love with ( and discovered on our honeymoon in Scotland nearly 4 years ago) there last summer and told me about it. Ever since Ive been itching to go and get a teapot. During out time there we discovered that these chocolate biscuits I love, called penguins, have been banned from being imported to Canada.
Because the package states that they have added calcium.
But genetically modified, over sugared, over preserved, one ingredient away from being plastic crap we eat on a daily basis is totally acceptable.
Added Calcium. Seriously. Poor Canada.
Anyway, I also discovered there that the set has not been discontinued as I had read a while ago on a website so I can chill and easily collect the tea set I want without having to shell out money when we don't have it. As it was the teapot was 85$ plus tax but I had birthday money so it was perfect timing.
Some other note worthy shops ( Ooooh its like a travel blog!!!)
Taste - ( at least thats what I think it was called)
Excellent shop. They sell a bunch of sauces and specialty oils and etc. You can try absolutely everything they have in the store for free. Most of it is locally made too which is pretty cool. Unfortunately the pear glaze I loved was 15$ for maybe 200 mLs so we skipped that, but it was a really fun experience and the lady was so helpful and nice and when we left without buying anything she was still friendly when we thanked her and told her to have a nice day.
Cheese Secrets - ( this was neat because we both wanted to try to find a cheese shop. We ended up parking in a green P that had we not gone all the way the end to, would not have seen the cheese shop at all because it was tucked in behind the main street. Blessing #.....Ive lost count really)
They didnt have a huge selection but what they did have was varying (cow, sheep, goat milk) and they were generous with taste tests. We got a 2 yr old raw cows milk cheese from PEI and an aged gouda. Both very tasty.
A fudge shop.
I forget the name.
They had lots of homemade fudge, canadian maple syrup and dutch licorice. Unfortunately nothing fun for my mother in law who is half dutch. Im glad I was with Josh because I swore he said she liked dutch licorice candies and he was emphatic that she doesnt. So that was a good thing to avoid. They let us have taste tests as well. We got a chocolate peanut butter and cookies and cream fudge. My only problem with that place was they only sold by half bricks and full bricks when we wanted less, but oh well.
Another shop I forget the name of.
This place was full of sauces, jams, chutneys, dip additives etc etc etc. There were about 12 taste test areas for all sorts of different things. It was really cool. Again we didnt buy anything but it was a fun experience.
We stopped for a snack ( more like a meal) at the Irish tea room.
Oh
My
Gosh.
I had decided last week that I need to go back to avoiding gluten.
This place blew that resolve out of the water.
We had a GIGANTIC scone complete with strawberries, jam and clotted cream. We had to eat it with a fork and knife, very carefully, because it was so so huge.
But so. so. oh so good.
We also had tea of course and a shamrock shortbread cookie. It was a nice atmosphere and the people were really friendly. Our waiter was not Irish. He was from Manchester. But oh well.
After the tea room we went back to get my teapot and to the cheese shop. I began to feel.....funny. Tipsy. Like Id had a couple glasses of wine. Except I didn't. Gluten? Sugar? Hm.......It sort of sucked. I was dizzy for a good 2 hours. Me thinks I should get to a nutritionist or something of the sort.
Anyway, we then checked into our B&B - 627 on King.
Absolutely amazing. Totally blew my expectations out of the water.
The owner was so friendly ( and English interestingly enough) and we had a little kitchenette with a fridge, tons of tea, a kettle, french press ( which hubbie was ecstatic about :D ), snacks, a fruit plate, even dishes and a knife and cutting board ( perfect for our newly purchased cheese). We chilled before dinner since I was all dizzy and had a terrible time figuring out where to eat. Once we finally decided, I was starting to feel a bit better.
We chose a pub. We are so predictable. We had wanted to try some place nicer but any of the places had no selection on the menus and it was mostly things I wouldn't eat, naturally. So we went to the pub. "The Irish Harp" Excellent atmosphere, nice waitress, food was pretty good. The fries were nothing special at all. The Guinness mayo was though.
Oh
My
Gosh
I actually neglected the ketchup completely. I even considered dipping my fish in the Guinness mayo. It tasted nothing like Guinness to me....more like hickory and something else. Regardless it was fantastic. They had a taster beer menu that Josh totally didnt see before ordering his Guinness. Poor guy. I had a glass of a Jackson Triggs chardonay that was ridiculously good. I mention this because it comes in to play later.
After dinner we returned to the B&B and poured over the mitt full of wine tasting vouchers the owner gave us. We tried to pick the most reasonable ones distance wise and leave the rest for other people. He had a drawer full of them though. It was kind of funny. I passed out around 930 as per usual.
I woke up about 6 times before morning, but they were very brief wake ups. It was nice to be in bed for 8 hours straight. I was wide awake by 5 which sucked but at least I got to relax. We had ordered breakfast for 830 so we ate our fruit plate since we were both up by 630. It was so nice to just chill and talk and relax and take our time. Time by the way went by ridiculously slowly which was very nice.
Breakfast was awesome. He serves it in your room ( I forgot to mention the little dinette set). He also serves it on the small placemats that we saw all over the B&B's on our honeymoon which was fun for nostalgic sake. Our first part included porridge wtih maple syrup and cream. I dont think i have ever seen Josh eat so fast. Usually i suck back food like a vacuum and hes not even half finished. Our next course was the english breakfast ( without beans but thats just because whenever he puts them out people usually leave them) So so good. We talked with the owner for a while during breakfast and shortly after, at checkout time. Turns out he teaches part time at the university in York ( England) Apparently they are having issues with the students getting drunk, falling in the river and dying. 3 died last year. Its become a serious part of orientation. Crazy!
After checkout we went to walk around Fort Mississauga. There isnt much there so its open to the public. You have to walk through a golf course to get there. So even though the wind was bitter cold walking there, it was probably better to be there when balls weren't flying around. Honestly, I would have been hit or narrowly missed getting hit, had there been golfers there. Some kids have used parts of it to hang out and do who knows what. I found reading the plaques kind of interesting.
Then began our wine tasting experience.....
First we went to Peller Estates. Absolutely gigantic, beautiful building. Very classy atmosphere. We spent longer there probably than intended. The lady was very helpful and informative about the different wines and etc. I didnt realize how generous they are wtih these wine tastings. We each got to try three types of wine and shared an ice wine and an extra dessert wine.
For free.
The ice wine was....oh man. As was this other oak aged dessert wine that we tried. It was 60$. We left without buying anything, but it was a very enjoyable experience.
Next we went to Jackson Triggs which was in a weird looking warehouse, blasting country music. It felt kind of like going to a huge LCBO with wine tasting. The contrast between the two places was bizarre.
One of the reasons we went to Jackson Triggs was because I wanted to try to find the chardonnay I had had the night before. I tried the only two they had in store ( you see, they save the top stuff to sell at the winery and the rest goes to the LCBO....the lady running the testing guessed that they either had an older version or it was a special restaurant version because they didn't have the one the pub owner said it was.
Or something.
Regardless she didnt include my chardonnay tastings as the free tastes so that was nice. We bought a bottle of gewurztraminer and a small bottle of ice wine that tastes like strawberry jam.
After that we had lunch at swanky McDonalds and checked out a store beside it that sounded a lot more interesting than it was....and then went to a beer making place. I forget the name. its relatively new. They gave us a range of beers to try. A lot of beer. All of which I despised of course. Josh didnt like it too much either so we slipped out, leaving lots of beer behind feeling slightly bad. Friendly people and atmosphere but too bitter and Josh was disappointed that it was only 3 years old. He likes the super old reciped beer. Or something like that.
So anyway, that was our last stop home. We had very little traffic and I slept off and on on the way home. It was a very very nice relaxing weekend.
We got home and the kids exclaimed "daddy!" Mommy was totally an afterthought. But thats ok. :)
Momma G made me an enchillada lasanga of sorts with corn tortillas. Very. Very. Very good. Luckily there was some leftover for supper the next day too. Later on we had yummy carrot cake with cream cheese icing too and got to visit with my inlaws for a bit. They stayed for a bit on monday to babysit while I went to the doctors. Earlier in the day momma G suggested we try to take the girls out for a walk because they had been cooped up forever. It was cold. But Sophia walked the whole way to the park and neither girl wanted to get out of the swings. Can you say tempers? Seriously, in minus "who knows what" weather with freezing wind chill and they STILL want to swing.
They didn't get this from me. I had a scarf wrapped entirely around the majority of my head.
Anyhow, Sophia finally had a good nap for the first time in days.
Come Spring! Fast!!!
This only took me two days to write.
Thank you sesame street for being so entertaining.
xo
Wednesday 5 March 2014
Goodbye facebook...its been nice
Alright. Folks. Here we go.
So I have been thinking about, and praying about what to give up for lent this year. Usually I give up chocolate or desserts. You know yummy things. Partially because the last two years Ive been trying to lose pregnancy weight at that point and because its kind of a sacrifice. I enjoy these things for sure. This year I decided that really, yummy food isn't the biggest sacrifice I could make.
Facebook.
I am on it way too much. It distracts from my children, husband and God too. I mean really there are things I read on facebook that send me into a flying rage, and not for good reasons. Sometimes because I am indignant over in justices but sometimes because things people say that just really frustrate and upset me. So I have decided that aside from a once a week check ( sundays....being the off days) will be all I do.
Pray for me because this will be difficult. I do a lot of communicating through facebook.
Not only will I be giving up facebook, but because of that, I will giving up on some of my coupon opportunities. I started couponing earlier in 2013. I really enjoy it. At one point I realized though that I was actually trusting the coupons more to save us money than trusting God to provide for us. Sounds silly? Well we all have something right? :) Anyway, I am mostly beyond that though lately God has been teaching me more and more to trust Him more and more with everything. So the past week or two as I have been wondering what to give up, facebook kept popping up in my mind. Its a greater sacrifice than chocolate.
Why am I participating in lent? Traditionally this has been a catholic tradition and I am not catholic.
The truth is that many christians participate in lent now. One description (im sure it varies)is as follows:
Lent is a time when many Christians prepare for Easter by observing a period of fasting,repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline. The purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ - his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial and resurrection.
Now while I don't believe that participating in lent is in anyway a means of obtaining some kind of special observance by God that has anything to do with my salvation or standing with God, I think this is an excellent opportunity to throw off things that hinder our relationship and developing intimacy with our saviour. This is why I choose to observe it. This year I feel prompted to be more intentional about giving up something difficult. Example : God has called me, at this time in my life, to primarily be a wife and mom ( NOT ditching my career, but at this point FB doesnt interfere with that). So when I could be spending time pouring into my babies' lives and my husband's life but am wasting chunks of time on my phone facebooking for whatever reason, im neglecting, in a sense that calling.
Now friends don't get all up in arms. Facebook isnt evil. I am just spending way too much time on it. So really, why shouldn't a follower or Jesus, regardless of denomination embrace Lent if they so choose?
Today would have been my grandpa's 95th birthday. I can't believe that it has been 6 years since he passed away. I miss him, and my grandmother very much.
Then the children choose to both wake up at the same time shrieking.
The end...you may see me more often for the next few weeks.
So I have been thinking about, and praying about what to give up for lent this year. Usually I give up chocolate or desserts. You know yummy things. Partially because the last two years Ive been trying to lose pregnancy weight at that point and because its kind of a sacrifice. I enjoy these things for sure. This year I decided that really, yummy food isn't the biggest sacrifice I could make.
Facebook.
I am on it way too much. It distracts from my children, husband and God too. I mean really there are things I read on facebook that send me into a flying rage, and not for good reasons. Sometimes because I am indignant over in justices but sometimes because things people say that just really frustrate and upset me. So I have decided that aside from a once a week check ( sundays....being the off days) will be all I do.
Pray for me because this will be difficult. I do a lot of communicating through facebook.
Not only will I be giving up facebook, but because of that, I will giving up on some of my coupon opportunities. I started couponing earlier in 2013. I really enjoy it. At one point I realized though that I was actually trusting the coupons more to save us money than trusting God to provide for us. Sounds silly? Well we all have something right? :) Anyway, I am mostly beyond that though lately God has been teaching me more and more to trust Him more and more with everything. So the past week or two as I have been wondering what to give up, facebook kept popping up in my mind. Its a greater sacrifice than chocolate.
Why am I participating in lent? Traditionally this has been a catholic tradition and I am not catholic.
The truth is that many christians participate in lent now. One description (im sure it varies)is as follows:
Lent is a time when many Christians prepare for Easter by observing a period of fasting,repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline. The purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ - his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial and resurrection.
Now while I don't believe that participating in lent is in anyway a means of obtaining some kind of special observance by God that has anything to do with my salvation or standing with God, I think this is an excellent opportunity to throw off things that hinder our relationship and developing intimacy with our saviour. This is why I choose to observe it. This year I feel prompted to be more intentional about giving up something difficult. Example : God has called me, at this time in my life, to primarily be a wife and mom ( NOT ditching my career, but at this point FB doesnt interfere with that). So when I could be spending time pouring into my babies' lives and my husband's life but am wasting chunks of time on my phone facebooking for whatever reason, im neglecting, in a sense that calling.
Now friends don't get all up in arms. Facebook isnt evil. I am just spending way too much time on it. So really, why shouldn't a follower or Jesus, regardless of denomination embrace Lent if they so choose?
Today would have been my grandpa's 95th birthday. I can't believe that it has been 6 years since he passed away. I miss him, and my grandmother very much.
Then the children choose to both wake up at the same time shrieking.
The end...you may see me more often for the next few weeks.
Thursday 13 February 2014
Ode to figure skating.
Oh the winter olympics.
No other sports broadcast gives me such chills and a sense of anticipation.
Why this year especially have I been so excited?
I will tell you.
1. This year they decided to make DOUBLE the figure skating. I had no idea the team event was happening and when I realized that there would be extra figure skating, I was over the moon
2. Full event replay. Cuz I have no time to sit and be engrossed in figure skating at 10am when both babies are awake and demanding things like....clean bums, food and love and attention.
3. Evgeny Plushenko.
I had an evening to myself last week to watch figure skating. When I saw him I understood the girls in old footage from beatles concerts. You know the ones where the girls are just beside themselves, screaming and trying to put lipstick on but it ends up all over their forehead because they are shaking so bad?
Inside, last thursday night, I had a beatles girl inside.
I firmly told myself that a adult married woman should not be wanting to shriek over the presence of a cocky brat figure skater.
Hehehe.
Esther, one of my oldest and dearest friends used to call him bird man. Because of his nose. But I didnt care about his looks. I just cared that he beat Alexei Yagudin ( I came to love his skating a short time later. When he stopped giving interviews about how he was the best. And learned more english so he didnt sound so stuck up).
Its just nice to see someone from the old days....you know? Except when they talk about his age. Then I remember Im not 17 anymore.
Anyway. Super excited to see the individual competitions. I got to see some pairs last night. Totally sad for the canadians who bombed, and totally happy for the canadians that didnt. Hoping theres a "magic" performance for someone at some point. I just love those moments....Like Jamie and David's love story in salt lake city.
Yes Im a geek.
Meema woke up and woke up the children in the process and now shes going back to sleep. Hmph.
Well at least it shut up my pathetic ode to figure skating. Yes thats what I shall call this.
xo
No other sports broadcast gives me such chills and a sense of anticipation.
Why this year especially have I been so excited?
I will tell you.
1. This year they decided to make DOUBLE the figure skating. I had no idea the team event was happening and when I realized that there would be extra figure skating, I was over the moon
2. Full event replay. Cuz I have no time to sit and be engrossed in figure skating at 10am when both babies are awake and demanding things like....clean bums, food and love and attention.
3. Evgeny Plushenko.
I had an evening to myself last week to watch figure skating. When I saw him I understood the girls in old footage from beatles concerts. You know the ones where the girls are just beside themselves, screaming and trying to put lipstick on but it ends up all over their forehead because they are shaking so bad?
Inside, last thursday night, I had a beatles girl inside.
I firmly told myself that a adult married woman should not be wanting to shriek over the presence of a cocky brat figure skater.
Hehehe.
Esther, one of my oldest and dearest friends used to call him bird man. Because of his nose. But I didnt care about his looks. I just cared that he beat Alexei Yagudin ( I came to love his skating a short time later. When he stopped giving interviews about how he was the best. And learned more english so he didnt sound so stuck up).
Its just nice to see someone from the old days....you know? Except when they talk about his age. Then I remember Im not 17 anymore.
Anyway. Super excited to see the individual competitions. I got to see some pairs last night. Totally sad for the canadians who bombed, and totally happy for the canadians that didnt. Hoping theres a "magic" performance for someone at some point. I just love those moments....Like Jamie and David's love story in salt lake city.
Yes Im a geek.
Meema woke up and woke up the children in the process and now shes going back to sleep. Hmph.
Well at least it shut up my pathetic ode to figure skating. Yes thats what I shall call this.
xo
The grand adventure of a mom who is normally cooped up all the time. woot woot
Today we went on a mother daughter adventure.
It began at 630, when Josh gently woke me from my slumber.
Then I fell back asleep. SO really it began at 645 when I shot up and stared at the clock and realized I had 15 minutes to get ready.
Thank God my husband is so patient.
I raced to get ready and realized Josh had done everything INCLUDING make me eggs ( score hubbie!!!)
I scarfed them down while my poor mother tried to wake up in the corner of the living room. She came to watch E while S and I went on a trip.
We loaded in the car and hubbie and i made sure each other was ok ( im ok if you are ok.....oh...well im ok if you are ok. YES we do roll like that. YES you can barf over that. Are you done? ok I shall continue)
Hubbie dropped us off at the subway station near his school and off we went. I told S we were going on a "like train - subway" For the first 5 stops she kept pointing to the dark walls outside and yelling " TRAIN!" with such glee and beauty that I was grinning the whole time too. Man I love it when shes expressing wonder. It just makes my heart want to burst.
Good deed person number 1 was met on the second train. The busier train. I was literally in the middle of the train with the stroller, praying I wouldn't end up flat on my face or something. Good deed man informed me that the door he was standing against wouldnt be opening again and I could go stand there. Because of his initiative, the other people moved and therefore we were out of the way. He was very kind and smilied at S but she began crying so he stopped.
We arrived at our stop and good deed lady 2 tried to help carrying the stroller upstairs but lacked strength, good deed lady 3, instructed me to change position to a more effective manner, good deed man child 4 offered to carry the entire thing but we worked together.
Then I met my Afernee.
Afernee is my cousin. We have known each other since his birth in 1989. He made my life misery for several years. He often wanted to be me. He forced me to play games such as matilda, sabrina, shrieky/beastly and baby. He was always the girl. I was always the boy or the lesser cool girl. Except when we played baby. I got to be the mother. I liked that game cuz he sat sit and mad happy baby noises and asked for water.
I was somehow surprised when he came out. Imagine.
Anyway, now we are best of friends. We have had many adventures together. He ran into a recycling boz with his car when I told him I had a boyfriend ( when I met Josh)
Now he lives in the big city and I live in Ajax and we do not see each often but there is always fun ( and getting lost) when we are together.
So together we dashed to sick kids hospital. Thankfully he knew where he was going because i was a little nervous about being late and kind of just started walking briskly. We found a man who directed us to the eye clinic and naturally the waiting room was full and we had to wait for nearly half an hour.
Af supplied starbucks. He tried to convince me to add espresso to my frappucino. I refused.
It was really cool watching the doctor with S. She was very patient and had lots of neat toys and methods. When Dora sudenly appeared on tv across the room it was just perfect. S stopped moving and, as the doctor said, was "in a trance"
Oh Dora. As much as my husband hates you, you have such great purpose.
S did amazingly well. She cried a little maybe once, told the doctor to stop once and at the end had clearly had enough but she was so so good. The doctor was impressed. At the end of it all S wanted back up on the chair and was making nice with the doctor. Silly child.
Af and I got to have a snack and some talk time before we went to a grocery store to try to find kraft dinner ( for him) and baby pouches ( for me).
We found neither.
Guess the cool people of toronto dont eat kraft dinner and dont have babies
( I know neither supposition is true. Im just being......um. I want to say facetious but im pretty sure thats not the correct word)
We sadly parted and returned to the "train" S ate her lunch, got it all over her ( peanut butter, or in her language, pee pee boo). We arrived at the mall near Joshs school and then walked. Well I naturally chose the wrong way to get back to the street. I came to three flights of stairs that i KNEW were there. i figured I could make it. Luckily good deed person number 6 (?) came and helped me. He was deaf so I hope he realized my gratitude cuz I was yammering while he wasnt looking at me. Then we walked to Joshs school.
Holy poor sidewalk plowing. My body hurts. I noticed a lot of people walking with canes and had great empathy and concern for them. It was only about a ten minute walk so I was fine. We got to go into school and see Josh and his guitar ensemble. S was a huge distraction. She wanted everyones guitars. So I took her into the hall where a group of girls were dancing to some arabic sounding music and S was delighted and went and joined them and danced for....well....quite a while. She kept running away and going back to them. It was really cute. They were so nice to her.
The few times Ive gotten to see Josh teach is always a cool experience. SInce I never see him in that roll its almost like I dont recognize him.
He is SOCUTE.
If he'd been my teacher i'd have had a mad crush on him.
His kids are good. Im glad I got to hear them. I never get to go to any concerts or performances anymore so the bit I heard was good. He is a good teacher.
He's at work late tonight so I was glad S got to see her daddy cuz shes a total daddys girl and well, I was glad to see him too.
Anyway, Im home now. Both girls are sleeping and mom is snoring in the next room. My poor mother isnt used to all of this. I shall have to think of a surprise way to thank her. I thought foot rub but she'd just laugh hysterically, I might get kicked inadvertantly in the face and then her knees would be really sore.
I really wish I could blog more often. So much has been happening lately. SO much. Good things. A lot of cool God things. Feeling very blessed at the moment.
I guess I should maybe go do some cleaning?
Oh psh. Theres always tomorrow.
xo
It began at 630, when Josh gently woke me from my slumber.
Then I fell back asleep. SO really it began at 645 when I shot up and stared at the clock and realized I had 15 minutes to get ready.
Thank God my husband is so patient.
I raced to get ready and realized Josh had done everything INCLUDING make me eggs ( score hubbie!!!)
I scarfed them down while my poor mother tried to wake up in the corner of the living room. She came to watch E while S and I went on a trip.
We loaded in the car and hubbie and i made sure each other was ok ( im ok if you are ok.....oh...well im ok if you are ok. YES we do roll like that. YES you can barf over that. Are you done? ok I shall continue)
Hubbie dropped us off at the subway station near his school and off we went. I told S we were going on a "like train - subway" For the first 5 stops she kept pointing to the dark walls outside and yelling " TRAIN!" with such glee and beauty that I was grinning the whole time too. Man I love it when shes expressing wonder. It just makes my heart want to burst.
Good deed person number 1 was met on the second train. The busier train. I was literally in the middle of the train with the stroller, praying I wouldn't end up flat on my face or something. Good deed man informed me that the door he was standing against wouldnt be opening again and I could go stand there. Because of his initiative, the other people moved and therefore we were out of the way. He was very kind and smilied at S but she began crying so he stopped.
We arrived at our stop and good deed lady 2 tried to help carrying the stroller upstairs but lacked strength, good deed lady 3, instructed me to change position to a more effective manner, good deed man child 4 offered to carry the entire thing but we worked together.
Then I met my Afernee.
Afernee is my cousin. We have known each other since his birth in 1989. He made my life misery for several years. He often wanted to be me. He forced me to play games such as matilda, sabrina, shrieky/beastly and baby. He was always the girl. I was always the boy or the lesser cool girl. Except when we played baby. I got to be the mother. I liked that game cuz he sat sit and mad happy baby noises and asked for water.
I was somehow surprised when he came out. Imagine.
Anyway, now we are best of friends. We have had many adventures together. He ran into a recycling boz with his car when I told him I had a boyfriend ( when I met Josh)
Now he lives in the big city and I live in Ajax and we do not see each often but there is always fun ( and getting lost) when we are together.
So together we dashed to sick kids hospital. Thankfully he knew where he was going because i was a little nervous about being late and kind of just started walking briskly. We found a man who directed us to the eye clinic and naturally the waiting room was full and we had to wait for nearly half an hour.
Af supplied starbucks. He tried to convince me to add espresso to my frappucino. I refused.
It was really cool watching the doctor with S. She was very patient and had lots of neat toys and methods. When Dora sudenly appeared on tv across the room it was just perfect. S stopped moving and, as the doctor said, was "in a trance"
Oh Dora. As much as my husband hates you, you have such great purpose.
S did amazingly well. She cried a little maybe once, told the doctor to stop once and at the end had clearly had enough but she was so so good. The doctor was impressed. At the end of it all S wanted back up on the chair and was making nice with the doctor. Silly child.
Af and I got to have a snack and some talk time before we went to a grocery store to try to find kraft dinner ( for him) and baby pouches ( for me).
We found neither.
Guess the cool people of toronto dont eat kraft dinner and dont have babies
( I know neither supposition is true. Im just being......um. I want to say facetious but im pretty sure thats not the correct word)
We sadly parted and returned to the "train" S ate her lunch, got it all over her ( peanut butter, or in her language, pee pee boo). We arrived at the mall near Joshs school and then walked. Well I naturally chose the wrong way to get back to the street. I came to three flights of stairs that i KNEW were there. i figured I could make it. Luckily good deed person number 6 (?) came and helped me. He was deaf so I hope he realized my gratitude cuz I was yammering while he wasnt looking at me. Then we walked to Joshs school.
Holy poor sidewalk plowing. My body hurts. I noticed a lot of people walking with canes and had great empathy and concern for them. It was only about a ten minute walk so I was fine. We got to go into school and see Josh and his guitar ensemble. S was a huge distraction. She wanted everyones guitars. So I took her into the hall where a group of girls were dancing to some arabic sounding music and S was delighted and went and joined them and danced for....well....quite a while. She kept running away and going back to them. It was really cute. They were so nice to her.
The few times Ive gotten to see Josh teach is always a cool experience. SInce I never see him in that roll its almost like I dont recognize him.
He is SOCUTE.
If he'd been my teacher i'd have had a mad crush on him.
His kids are good. Im glad I got to hear them. I never get to go to any concerts or performances anymore so the bit I heard was good. He is a good teacher.
He's at work late tonight so I was glad S got to see her daddy cuz shes a total daddys girl and well, I was glad to see him too.
Anyway, Im home now. Both girls are sleeping and mom is snoring in the next room. My poor mother isnt used to all of this. I shall have to think of a surprise way to thank her. I thought foot rub but she'd just laugh hysterically, I might get kicked inadvertantly in the face and then her knees would be really sore.
I really wish I could blog more often. So much has been happening lately. SO much. Good things. A lot of cool God things. Feeling very blessed at the moment.
I guess I should maybe go do some cleaning?
Oh psh. Theres always tomorrow.
xo
Thursday 30 January 2014
Basically life has been cold.
Really cold.
Seriously, more homeless shelters need to be opened and busses going around picking up homeless people to take them to those places cuz its freaking cold.
And I have a house. With working heat. And the ability to turn up that heat if I so choose.
I would like new windows. Or at least new insulation around those windows.
But I have heat.
Hubbie and I recently put the heating pad on the bed ( wedding gift from auntie Patsy....really really appreciating it this year). Now its almost like a race to see who can get to turn the pad on first. I turn it on when he wakes up in the morning and go back to sleep. When I get up first, he usually wakes up at some point, turns it on, and when i come in to wake him up its on. We had breakfast in bed the other morning ( with one child in bed and the other gabbing at herself in the mirror) with the heating pad on.
Guess its obvious how much we love that thing?
Anyway. Since I last posted, both of my babies have had their birthdays. I can't believe that E is a year old already. Time has gone by so fast. She is such a happy baby. Except when teething, but frankly, I remember my wisdom teeth trying to come in when I was 17 and I was NOT happy. Anyhow. I remember how terrified I was when I found out I was pregnant with her. How would I look after both kids and give them what they needed when I was barely getting through with one...etc etc.....
I wouldnt have it any other way. She is such a joy.
Except when Im trying to potty train Sophia. Then shes a bit challenging. What is it with kids wanting to desperately grab toilet seats and shove their hands in the toilet water?!
Hehe.
We had their birthday party on the 18th. We had quite a full house. Im still gathering up pictures to send out. Both our phones died so we only got decor pictures basically. My mother in law sent some, and a friend but there are more out there I know. It was a sesame street theme. Momma G and Josh decorated the cupcakes/cakes as I was at work when they arrived. So cute. I was really pleased. I will post a picture of those below.
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Cute eh???
Anyway, we had a good time. It was nice to see family and friends and be together. Some family couldn't make it so that was sad...its hard when we are all so scattered around. I think the girls enjoyed themselves. Sophia didn't really get it again. I think she thought it was mostly for Elisa. She threw her cupcake around. Elisa shoved hers in her face. Not surprised. Sophia likes the salty and spicy and Elisa likes sweet. I was stunned by all the gifts they got. Id forgotten what kids parties are like lol.
I managed to not sob my face off this year when the girls had their birthdays. Im also not pregnant this year so maybe that helped.
We took the girls for their checkup yesterday.
Ya awesome mother for booking E's checkup for her actual birthday.
She got three shots. Loudly protested for a bit and then recovered quite quickly. She is a trooper for sure.
S got the doctor truly laughing by showing off her language skills ( with a bit of prompting. The doctor causes her to have a bit of a meltdown so I used key words to get her to calm down)
These key words were:
mommy's wrinkle cream
and
hot diggity dog.
If he'd been drinking, the wall would've worn whatever it was.
My brief break is now drawing to a close. The children are muttering and whining and thumping which indicates they are waking up. I get to be alone today til 9pm. Yipee! Im also sick AGAIN! Honestly! Immune system of the crappiest sort.
Monday 13 January 2014
Thoughts sprouting from lackage of sleep
Well for those of you who are into this sort of thing you may think Im a little bonkers. If you know me however, chances are you already think Im a little bonkers so whatever.
Let me explain
So I have said for a long time now that Im pretty sure God gave me children to change me. I don't think anyone can argue that having children is life changing right? Well its definitely caused an awful lot of character revealing and refining in my life for sure.
Lately my littlest precious hasn't been sleeping.Really in comparison to a lot of other people I know, I have nothing to complain about. Again, if you know me, you know my love affair with sleep and the deterioration of our relationship since having children. Also, when I have many nights of interrupted, unfulfilled sleep, my suspected fibromyalgia flares up with a vengeance and makes me even more tired, thus creating a continuous cycle. Thanks to my self chosen lack of sleep the last few days of christmas vacation and the crack of dawn mornings inflicted on by littlest angel, I have been in one of those flare ups ( though it is getting better slowly but surely now) The last few days she has been sleeping terribly. Even Josh, who sleeps through everything, has had his share of being up later than usual since she keeps waking just as he wants to go to bed. This morning on her third or fourth wake up, at 316, I angrily stomped downstairs and let her play alone while I stewed inside and growled at nothing in particular and gave God the stink eye. Trust me, giving God the stink eye at 3 am is one of my nicer reactions.
Time out - yes. I get nasty and cranky. I remember a time in my life where I could honestly say I'd never been angry at God. Then I had children. I have had frequent angry words with God. Our relationship is actually stronger with increasing honesty. Not that I feel its a proper reaction. Just saying. I don't do fake. Not anymore. It causes mental breakdowns and relationship problems.
So, I went and griped, summararily ( yep I also make up words. I know at least one of you reading this is sobbing. Yes, Im talking to you :D ) that is. People left encouragement and prayers for me. I definitely felt these. I tell you there is definitely power in prayer. I can almost physically feel it some days. Anyway, I got an email from a friend who was talking about "meditating on a certain verse" and summaraily describing the context in which she was doing so.
and then it hit me
HA! Thats what meditating is.
Now, don't laugh. Obviously there are other ways to meditate than "OM" I knew that thinking about something in your mind as you go about your day is also meditating. For some reason though it didnt click. Until like an hour ago. Suddenly. So thanks Kimberly :)
Then I managed to get to have some bible time. Didn't think that was going to happen. The kids are just miserable, not settling, then settling, then taking turns not settling etc ( which is why im writing blogs....i can't focus when Im constantly interrupted) I decided to read a Stormie Omartian devotional. She was talking about how she used to pray that God would change everyone else, then learned to pray "Change me, God" At the end, she includes a prayer with scripture from psalm 51:
Lord, create in me a clean heart and a right spirit before You. Give me a new, positive, joyful, loving, and forgiving attitude toward others. Where there is anything that needs to change in me, I pray You would enable that change to happen. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
In another translation spirit is attitude. So I began to think....WHY do I get so viciously angry with lack of sleep? Because I feel like I won't get enough and won't be able to make it through the next day. Well, that hasn't proven to be true. The early morning was rough for sure...sitting there trying to play with the girls and nodding off, but after an hour or so that went away. Clearly an attitude change for me would not just benefit me and my relationship with God, but my children and husband too. So Ive decided to meditate on this verse: :
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Short, sweet and to the point and easy to remember. Lets see how tonight goes. I hope better. I very much dislike being crusty at God. Its so awesome that even when we are frustrated and angry and can't see what he is doing, he is still loving and merciful to us even when we give the stink eye. If you pray, please pray for me and let me know what I can pray for you. Some people say God can't move unless we pray, others that our prayers change nothing but teach us to depend on him. I say its somewhere in the middle. I can definitely tell when others are holding me up in prayer. I would like to expand on this thought but the littlest one has been whining for a bit and im expecting a blow up soon and would like to finish this.
Let me explain
So I have said for a long time now that Im pretty sure God gave me children to change me. I don't think anyone can argue that having children is life changing right? Well its definitely caused an awful lot of character revealing and refining in my life for sure.
Lately my littlest precious hasn't been sleeping.Really in comparison to a lot of other people I know, I have nothing to complain about. Again, if you know me, you know my love affair with sleep and the deterioration of our relationship since having children. Also, when I have many nights of interrupted, unfulfilled sleep, my suspected fibromyalgia flares up with a vengeance and makes me even more tired, thus creating a continuous cycle. Thanks to my self chosen lack of sleep the last few days of christmas vacation and the crack of dawn mornings inflicted on by littlest angel, I have been in one of those flare ups ( though it is getting better slowly but surely now) The last few days she has been sleeping terribly. Even Josh, who sleeps through everything, has had his share of being up later than usual since she keeps waking just as he wants to go to bed. This morning on her third or fourth wake up, at 316, I angrily stomped downstairs and let her play alone while I stewed inside and growled at nothing in particular and gave God the stink eye. Trust me, giving God the stink eye at 3 am is one of my nicer reactions.
Time out - yes. I get nasty and cranky. I remember a time in my life where I could honestly say I'd never been angry at God. Then I had children. I have had frequent angry words with God. Our relationship is actually stronger with increasing honesty. Not that I feel its a proper reaction. Just saying. I don't do fake. Not anymore. It causes mental breakdowns and relationship problems.
So, I went and griped, summararily ( yep I also make up words. I know at least one of you reading this is sobbing. Yes, Im talking to you :D ) that is. People left encouragement and prayers for me. I definitely felt these. I tell you there is definitely power in prayer. I can almost physically feel it some days. Anyway, I got an email from a friend who was talking about "meditating on a certain verse" and summaraily describing the context in which she was doing so.
and then it hit me
HA! Thats what meditating is.
Now, don't laugh. Obviously there are other ways to meditate than "OM" I knew that thinking about something in your mind as you go about your day is also meditating. For some reason though it didnt click. Until like an hour ago. Suddenly. So thanks Kimberly :)
Then I managed to get to have some bible time. Didn't think that was going to happen. The kids are just miserable, not settling, then settling, then taking turns not settling etc ( which is why im writing blogs....i can't focus when Im constantly interrupted) I decided to read a Stormie Omartian devotional. She was talking about how she used to pray that God would change everyone else, then learned to pray "Change me, God" At the end, she includes a prayer with scripture from psalm 51:
Lord, create in me a clean heart and a right spirit before You. Give me a new, positive, joyful, loving, and forgiving attitude toward others. Where there is anything that needs to change in me, I pray You would enable that change to happen. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
In another translation spirit is attitude. So I began to think....WHY do I get so viciously angry with lack of sleep? Because I feel like I won't get enough and won't be able to make it through the next day. Well, that hasn't proven to be true. The early morning was rough for sure...sitting there trying to play with the girls and nodding off, but after an hour or so that went away. Clearly an attitude change for me would not just benefit me and my relationship with God, but my children and husband too. So Ive decided to meditate on this verse: :
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Short, sweet and to the point and easy to remember. Lets see how tonight goes. I hope better. I very much dislike being crusty at God. Its so awesome that even when we are frustrated and angry and can't see what he is doing, he is still loving and merciful to us even when we give the stink eye. If you pray, please pray for me and let me know what I can pray for you. Some people say God can't move unless we pray, others that our prayers change nothing but teach us to depend on him. I say its somewhere in the middle. I can definitely tell when others are holding me up in prayer. I would like to expand on this thought but the littlest one has been whining for a bit and im expecting a blow up soon and would like to finish this.
Arabian nights....and bellydancing evenings?
Slowly but surely I am catching up.
The christmas holidays flew by way way too quickly. I miss them. But lets not dwell on that shall we?
Today Im going to talk about the christmas present I referred to in my last blog - the gift from Seester.
I just have to say Im so glad that I purchased the many avon nail polishes I have on a very good discount. They take an eternity to dry. It took me an hour and a half to get ready simply because I ended up having to fix my stupid nails three times. Gar!
We ( that would be Seester, momma G, the mother and sister in law of Seester and her friend Heather) All met downtown toronto. For this to happen I had to take....
THE SUBWAY *followed by epic deep voiced echos*
I love the subway. I have learned to bring a book and under no circumstances should eye contact be made. Ever. This has protected me from the creepy people that I used to be a magnet for - that is until I got schooled by experience after experience. Since I was deeply immersed in the land of Katniss Everdeen this was an excellent opportunity to continue immersing myself in that land, uninterrupted. Ah Bliss. Anyhow, I love the subeay because I can read and not feel like puking and it gets you downtown so much faster than a car.
We met up at the mall ( the mall...haha. Anyone from here knows what Im likely talking about. )and their food court is all high class now. Plastic cutlery? I think not!!!! I am impressed with it though. I got a free sample of butter chicken sauce mmm mmm.
WE then made our way to a theatre and watched Aladdin. It was very good. Im pretty sure the genie acts exactly the same in real life. I had to pee towards the end and the usher wouldn't let me back in. I was very distraught but I found a slab of cement to sit on and at least I could still see the show.
We then took some pictures in a park on the way to our restaurant. Poor Seesters plans of having a photo shoot were dampened a little by ice and the reticence of all the people except me. So we had some fun with that.
The sultans tent was an awesome restaurant. We sat in a section that was basically designed to look like a tent. The open areas were closed off with sheets and the decor was all funky middle eastern. Later, at night when they do the bellydancing shows, they open up the tents so you can see the dancers.
The food was.....mmmm. I was especially fond of the maftoul, this meat in spices wrapped in phylo pastry. SO FREAKING GOOD. The waiter had informed us that people usually dont share them. I knew why as soon as I took one bite. I ate a ton of couscous. Bad. Bad idea. But so so good. Unfortunately poor Heather did not have good luck with her salmon. It was raw. Twice. The third time is wasn't, but by then she was full of basically nothing but rice and asked for it to be picked up. It was kind of hilarious and really sad all at the same time. After dinner they served us really sweet mint tea. Apparently you are supposed to pour it from way up high because...um...because.....um. Something to do with messing wtih the flavour if you dont? My dessert was a rice pudding type dessert, only with couscous. I couldnt stomach much of it since I'd already had a butt load of the stuff. Momma G gave me her amazing flourless chocolate cake because after half of it you just can't eat anymore.
Anyway, the bellydancers started. That was pretty cool. Then they invited us to join them. I was wanting to but feeling really shy cuz Id have no clue what to do. Then Jenn launched herself across me and demanded I stand up because we were going together.
hehe
Well to my relief the girl told us what to do. To my horror EVERYONE ELSE had a camera out, with video or snapping pictures. Hmph. It was a lot of fun though and Id totally do it again.
The night ended and off I went back to ...
THE SUBWAY *followed by epic deep voiced echos*
and immersing myself in the world of Katniss Everdeen.
The christmas holidays flew by way way too quickly. I miss them. But lets not dwell on that shall we?
Today Im going to talk about the christmas present I referred to in my last blog - the gift from Seester.
I just have to say Im so glad that I purchased the many avon nail polishes I have on a very good discount. They take an eternity to dry. It took me an hour and a half to get ready simply because I ended up having to fix my stupid nails three times. Gar!
We ( that would be Seester, momma G, the mother and sister in law of Seester and her friend Heather) All met downtown toronto. For this to happen I had to take....
THE SUBWAY *followed by epic deep voiced echos*
I love the subway. I have learned to bring a book and under no circumstances should eye contact be made. Ever. This has protected me from the creepy people that I used to be a magnet for - that is until I got schooled by experience after experience. Since I was deeply immersed in the land of Katniss Everdeen this was an excellent opportunity to continue immersing myself in that land, uninterrupted. Ah Bliss. Anyhow, I love the subeay because I can read and not feel like puking and it gets you downtown so much faster than a car.
We met up at the mall ( the mall...haha. Anyone from here knows what Im likely talking about. )and their food court is all high class now. Plastic cutlery? I think not!!!! I am impressed with it though. I got a free sample of butter chicken sauce mmm mmm.
WE then made our way to a theatre and watched Aladdin. It was very good. Im pretty sure the genie acts exactly the same in real life. I had to pee towards the end and the usher wouldn't let me back in. I was very distraught but I found a slab of cement to sit on and at least I could still see the show.
We then took some pictures in a park on the way to our restaurant. Poor Seesters plans of having a photo shoot were dampened a little by ice and the reticence of all the people except me. So we had some fun with that.
The sultans tent was an awesome restaurant. We sat in a section that was basically designed to look like a tent. The open areas were closed off with sheets and the decor was all funky middle eastern. Later, at night when they do the bellydancing shows, they open up the tents so you can see the dancers.
The food was.....mmmm. I was especially fond of the maftoul, this meat in spices wrapped in phylo pastry. SO FREAKING GOOD. The waiter had informed us that people usually dont share them. I knew why as soon as I took one bite. I ate a ton of couscous. Bad. Bad idea. But so so good. Unfortunately poor Heather did not have good luck with her salmon. It was raw. Twice. The third time is wasn't, but by then she was full of basically nothing but rice and asked for it to be picked up. It was kind of hilarious and really sad all at the same time. After dinner they served us really sweet mint tea. Apparently you are supposed to pour it from way up high because...um...because.....um. Something to do with messing wtih the flavour if you dont? My dessert was a rice pudding type dessert, only with couscous. I couldnt stomach much of it since I'd already had a butt load of the stuff. Momma G gave me her amazing flourless chocolate cake because after half of it you just can't eat anymore.
Anyway, the bellydancers started. That was pretty cool. Then they invited us to join them. I was wanting to but feeling really shy cuz Id have no clue what to do. Then Jenn launched herself across me and demanded I stand up because we were going together.
hehe
Well to my relief the girl told us what to do. To my horror EVERYONE ELSE had a camera out, with video or snapping pictures. Hmph. It was a lot of fun though and Id totally do it again.
The night ended and off I went back to ...
THE SUBWAY *followed by epic deep voiced echos*
and immersing myself in the world of Katniss Everdeen.
Tuesday 7 January 2014
Its the most wonderful time of the year
There was supposed to be a big storm the first weekend of christmas vacation.
There wasn't really. We travelled to London that day, with fairly decent weather. We went to a family gathering of sorts. My mother in laws aunt's family. Her aunt had many children. Her aunt is very Dutch. She still has her accent. She is entertaining. I sat next to her at my seester Jenn's wedding shower and she kept mumbling hilarious things to me about other people's presents. She was trying to be discreet but she was a little loud. We showed her my children and I told her she was brave for having 8 cuz I can abrely handle having 2 and she looked stunned and said "oh! I don't feel brave"
Bless her.
The family rents a school and theres a gym for the kids to play in. Sophia had a fantastic time running after balls. Elisa had a fantastic time crawling after balls. Her pink pants were no longer pink.
They also had a photo booth type area where one of the cousins took pictures. You could put hats and fun stuff on but since we were in a hurry we just wanted to try to get a nice family picture to send with christmas cards ( ha! christmas cards. didnt get sent).
We succeeded. Or rather he succeeded in photographing us all - neither josh nor i looking drugged, both girls looking; maybe not smiling but looking. I am waiting for that photo to be sent to me so I can send it out to people with "christmas cards"
We went to A&W and had supper. The girls did surprisingly well. That was the first time we ate at a restaurant with both girls without Elisa being a comatose newborn. We then drove around to look at the more fun houses with christmas lights. My father in law is a bus driver and hes all over the city so he knew of a few places. That was cool. Its been a long time since we went out looking at christmas lights.
Since I am writing about two weeks ago my memory is foggy. So I will go with what I remember.
December 22 was to be the arrival of seester and Alex - alex is seester's husband. Seester is Josh's sister. We call each other Seester.
Anyway, we had flight details, but all was chaos at Pearson. We were watching the flight tracker on united's site. At one point it said their flight had left Boston ( or washington I cant remember which) My father in law and Josh were very eager to get on their way and they left.
Then we discovered taht their flight number had changed, not left, and was delayed.
Then it was delayed again.
and again.
Josh and father in law decided to wait it out at our house. Except we had no power and according to the neighbours, hadn't since that morning at 2am.
Then the flight was cancelled so they drove back to London and got home around 930.
Sophia had not taken well to daddy not being there for bedtime -and in a place that wasn't home. It was actually really sad.
The next day they took off again, this time to Detroit, as that was the only place they could get a flight to before Christmas day. Josh didn't have his passport. Just lisence and birth certificate. So that presented a challenge as Dave didn't want to go alone ( and didnt know how to use our phone with the app we were using to communicate with Jenn and Alex) We were all a little antsy about what was going to happen, but he got through just fine ( Thank you Lord AGAIN!). Thankfully this flight actually arrived and landed on time and we actually got to have christmas together. Too short of a time, but they arrived safe and we had a delicious dinner, fun games ( a scavenger hunt for Sue, my mother in law and I, so we could discover where we were going for our christmas present from Jenn - which will be spoken of later) and present time.
My father in law got a screwdriver that was about 4 feet long. His expression was hysterical.
The next day we had to leave....headed for home to meet up with mom at our houose. Our friends who are usually on the same power grid as us got power back monday night. Great! we thouoght. Just in time! We thought.
We made it to Mississauga and mom texts me that we have no power and the house is freezing.
Awesome.
As Id had two nights in a row of terrible sleep I began to cry. All I wanted was my bed. Lol. I cried and apologized to Josh and cried more. Then I began to have a process. We are going to Peterborough....this could be nice.....then i said to Josh, maybe Emily will come visit. Then I cried, realizing how much I missed her because I hadnt seen her in months. Then I was happy because she was excited. Then I cried because I felt sorry for the people who had no where to go....and on and on for about 20 kms. It was very hormonal. In hindsight kind of funny.
We got home, dropped off presents, picked up the rest that were at home and prepared to leave.
It was seriously so cold.
The girls were in their car seats for 2 1/2 hours by then. it would be another 1 - 1 1/2 hours to Peterborough. You better believe we were praying for a bearable trip. We started out by singing and then...miraculously...the children passed out.
By the time we reached Peterborough I was feeling much more optomistic. A little melancoly because of nostalgia and people no longer there that I wish were, but mostly optimistic.
My sweet mother let us sleep in her room and she slept in a cot in the living room. That made me cry too because I was so desperate for sleep and knew I wouldn't get it on the couch. She insisted and that was probably, honestly the best christmas present she's ever given me.
We have this tradition on christmas eve where we get Chinese food. Hello yummy!!! I also got to see my Emily.
Christmas day I made a huge breakfast. WE opened our gifts. S actually opened presents this year. She said "rip!" alot and thoroughly enjoyed it. More than she enjoyed her actual gifts. E ate the paper. Naturally I took pictures before taking it away cuz im an awesome mom like that.
Hubbie blew me away this year. He got me a variety of wonderful things. But....he got me the hunger games trilogy. I was....so pleased. As I began to read it I became even more pleased. I became like I was in teh old days, when I lived in books. Walking around, head in the clouds....living in the book and managing to still perform my duties and etc. Oh boy it was crazy. Every chance I got I read.
I finished all three in less than a week. And took care of the children. And didnt ( well maybe a little) ignore my husband. I will just say that the final movie better be a little more positive than the book. That book nearly killed me emotionally. it took a few days to get over the abuse my heart took.
Heres another "God provision"
So....our power was out right? It continued to be out. All the while I secretly worried about the pipes bursting but didnt say anything because I dont really know about these things and figured since no one else mentioned it, it probably wasn't valid. Then mom brough it up. Then JOsh worried. and worried. He was going to go back home to check it out, but we found ourneighbours phone number to call and see if power had been restored. It hadn't.....but...they had a key from when the old owner lived here.
We have been wanting to change our locks for a while. Not to mention change the STUPID doorknob that is ridiculously hard to turn to open the door ( which in the summer wasnt such a pain, but, with biting cold winter with a vengance, its been HORRIBLE) We hadn't changed the locks thouogh and that turned out to be a good thing, because they were able to come in, bleed the lines and turn off the water. Josh got to stay with us :) They kept checking back for us for the power ( theirs came on a lot sooner than ours) and boxing day afternoon it was back.
IN the meantime mom and I got to go shopping together for her christmas present, we got to visit some friends and just spend time chilling and hanging out with mom.
This was probably the best christmas I've had in a long time. I missed my dad waking me up saying " wake up! Santa was here"
I hope you all had a wonderful christmas with your loved ones :D
.
There wasn't really. We travelled to London that day, with fairly decent weather. We went to a family gathering of sorts. My mother in laws aunt's family. Her aunt had many children. Her aunt is very Dutch. She still has her accent. She is entertaining. I sat next to her at my seester Jenn's wedding shower and she kept mumbling hilarious things to me about other people's presents. She was trying to be discreet but she was a little loud. We showed her my children and I told her she was brave for having 8 cuz I can abrely handle having 2 and she looked stunned and said "oh! I don't feel brave"
Bless her.
The family rents a school and theres a gym for the kids to play in. Sophia had a fantastic time running after balls. Elisa had a fantastic time crawling after balls. Her pink pants were no longer pink.
They also had a photo booth type area where one of the cousins took pictures. You could put hats and fun stuff on but since we were in a hurry we just wanted to try to get a nice family picture to send with christmas cards ( ha! christmas cards. didnt get sent).
We succeeded. Or rather he succeeded in photographing us all - neither josh nor i looking drugged, both girls looking; maybe not smiling but looking. I am waiting for that photo to be sent to me so I can send it out to people with "christmas cards"
We went to A&W and had supper. The girls did surprisingly well. That was the first time we ate at a restaurant with both girls without Elisa being a comatose newborn. We then drove around to look at the more fun houses with christmas lights. My father in law is a bus driver and hes all over the city so he knew of a few places. That was cool. Its been a long time since we went out looking at christmas lights.
Since I am writing about two weeks ago my memory is foggy. So I will go with what I remember.
December 22 was to be the arrival of seester and Alex - alex is seester's husband. Seester is Josh's sister. We call each other Seester.
Anyway, we had flight details, but all was chaos at Pearson. We were watching the flight tracker on united's site. At one point it said their flight had left Boston ( or washington I cant remember which) My father in law and Josh were very eager to get on their way and they left.
Then we discovered taht their flight number had changed, not left, and was delayed.
Then it was delayed again.
and again.
Josh and father in law decided to wait it out at our house. Except we had no power and according to the neighbours, hadn't since that morning at 2am.
Then the flight was cancelled so they drove back to London and got home around 930.
Sophia had not taken well to daddy not being there for bedtime -and in a place that wasn't home. It was actually really sad.
The next day they took off again, this time to Detroit, as that was the only place they could get a flight to before Christmas day. Josh didn't have his passport. Just lisence and birth certificate. So that presented a challenge as Dave didn't want to go alone ( and didnt know how to use our phone with the app we were using to communicate with Jenn and Alex) We were all a little antsy about what was going to happen, but he got through just fine ( Thank you Lord AGAIN!). Thankfully this flight actually arrived and landed on time and we actually got to have christmas together. Too short of a time, but they arrived safe and we had a delicious dinner, fun games ( a scavenger hunt for Sue, my mother in law and I, so we could discover where we were going for our christmas present from Jenn - which will be spoken of later) and present time.
My father in law got a screwdriver that was about 4 feet long. His expression was hysterical.
The next day we had to leave....headed for home to meet up with mom at our houose. Our friends who are usually on the same power grid as us got power back monday night. Great! we thouoght. Just in time! We thought.
We made it to Mississauga and mom texts me that we have no power and the house is freezing.
Awesome.
As Id had two nights in a row of terrible sleep I began to cry. All I wanted was my bed. Lol. I cried and apologized to Josh and cried more. Then I began to have a process. We are going to Peterborough....this could be nice.....then i said to Josh, maybe Emily will come visit. Then I cried, realizing how much I missed her because I hadnt seen her in months. Then I was happy because she was excited. Then I cried because I felt sorry for the people who had no where to go....and on and on for about 20 kms. It was very hormonal. In hindsight kind of funny.
We got home, dropped off presents, picked up the rest that were at home and prepared to leave.
It was seriously so cold.
The girls were in their car seats for 2 1/2 hours by then. it would be another 1 - 1 1/2 hours to Peterborough. You better believe we were praying for a bearable trip. We started out by singing and then...miraculously...the children passed out.
By the time we reached Peterborough I was feeling much more optomistic. A little melancoly because of nostalgia and people no longer there that I wish were, but mostly optimistic.
My sweet mother let us sleep in her room and she slept in a cot in the living room. That made me cry too because I was so desperate for sleep and knew I wouldn't get it on the couch. She insisted and that was probably, honestly the best christmas present she's ever given me.
We have this tradition on christmas eve where we get Chinese food. Hello yummy!!! I also got to see my Emily.
Christmas day I made a huge breakfast. WE opened our gifts. S actually opened presents this year. She said "rip!" alot and thoroughly enjoyed it. More than she enjoyed her actual gifts. E ate the paper. Naturally I took pictures before taking it away cuz im an awesome mom like that.
Hubbie blew me away this year. He got me a variety of wonderful things. But....he got me the hunger games trilogy. I was....so pleased. As I began to read it I became even more pleased. I became like I was in teh old days, when I lived in books. Walking around, head in the clouds....living in the book and managing to still perform my duties and etc. Oh boy it was crazy. Every chance I got I read.
I finished all three in less than a week. And took care of the children. And didnt ( well maybe a little) ignore my husband. I will just say that the final movie better be a little more positive than the book. That book nearly killed me emotionally. it took a few days to get over the abuse my heart took.
Heres another "God provision"
So....our power was out right? It continued to be out. All the while I secretly worried about the pipes bursting but didnt say anything because I dont really know about these things and figured since no one else mentioned it, it probably wasn't valid. Then mom brough it up. Then JOsh worried. and worried. He was going to go back home to check it out, but we found ourneighbours phone number to call and see if power had been restored. It hadn't.....but...they had a key from when the old owner lived here.
We have been wanting to change our locks for a while. Not to mention change the STUPID doorknob that is ridiculously hard to turn to open the door ( which in the summer wasnt such a pain, but, with biting cold winter with a vengance, its been HORRIBLE) We hadn't changed the locks thouogh and that turned out to be a good thing, because they were able to come in, bleed the lines and turn off the water. Josh got to stay with us :) They kept checking back for us for the power ( theirs came on a lot sooner than ours) and boxing day afternoon it was back.
IN the meantime mom and I got to go shopping together for her christmas present, we got to visit some friends and just spend time chilling and hanging out with mom.
This was probably the best christmas I've had in a long time. I missed my dad waking me up saying " wake up! Santa was here"
I hope you all had a wonderful christmas with your loved ones :D
.
Its the most wonderful time of the year : Prologue
Dec 13th
I awoke feeling like I had been run over by a truck, my chest with stabbing pain, difficulty breathing....all the signs of yet another cold.
We had finally been a sick free home. For about 4 days.
My chest had been hurting for two days and I thouoght it was just from dry air or something. Now I knew. It was the begining of the flu from hell.
I dragged myself around, happy that we had already planned that I was going to take Josh to school. Id had a feeling the night before I was coming down with something and had no more ventolin ( I have asthma and when im sick it flares up) so a trip to the pharmacy was in order.
To make a long story short, the not one, but two pharmacies that I thought had a perscription did not. That meant to the walk in clinic for me. Since I had to work that night....I would need to go during the day. Hardly able to breathe. With two children.
I was so desperate I even posted on facebook for help. At first it looked hopeless. I sat on the kitchen floor and sobbed, waiting for one of my friends to text me back. S came over to me with her favourite stuffed bunny, said "whats wrong" and made bunny kiss me.
talk about heart melting?
Anyway, thankfully, aforementioned friend was having her first day off in a month ( eek!) and when she heard of my plight, came to save me. Armed with a roast beef, potatoes and veggies as well. I almost cried again. Especially since she probably would have preferred to stay in bed and eat bon bons or go to the spa and get a massage. This is one of those situations in which I was previously speaking about in my last post about feeling showered with blessings. In this case a blatantly intentional provision. Not to mention a dinner.
I'll spare you the boring parts. I got my medication, tried to get the night off, failed, and off to work I went.
Thankfully the parents were out. I did as little as possible and explained to my client that I was so sorry but I couldnt read him any stories as I was feeling horrendous. So I played music for us both, huddled underneath my coat and shivered for a while.
Then I began to have 1....and then 2 of my shaking all over episodes. I discovered that when I have them sitting up, if I completely relax, my head goes round in circles.....creepy no? I had a third shortly before leaving, this time in front of his mom. She wanted to drive me home. Kind of glad it did happen in front of her cuz I called in sick for the next day when I got home and I have no idea if they got saturday covered.
I basically slept all day saturday. I couldn't stop sleeping. I was convinced I had pneumonia, but my chest was clear ( well...i listened as best as you can when an 11 month old keeps trying to steal your stethoscope. I was feeling very puzzled. Finally the pain went away and i began to breathe a little better. Then Sophia came down with it monday morning. And Elisa. The last week of school before the holidays and Josh ended up coming home early because when he called to check up on us the girls were screaming like crazy and I was barely functional.
Then It got to him. Tuesday he woke up feeling awful. Spent all day wednesday sleeping. He is never sick like that. Oddly Sophia bounced back quickest. She had a fever for two days, slept alot the first day then was back to herself. Elisa was snotty for a few days. It really got mommy and Daddy. Ugh.
We were able to go out for dinner on Josh's birthday. If you go to Caseys you get a free meal up to 14.99. So that was fun. We couldnt really taste it but.....still.
Thankfully we were able to do christmas as planned.....well...sort of.....thats another blog in itself.
I awoke feeling like I had been run over by a truck, my chest with stabbing pain, difficulty breathing....all the signs of yet another cold.
We had finally been a sick free home. For about 4 days.
My chest had been hurting for two days and I thouoght it was just from dry air or something. Now I knew. It was the begining of the flu from hell.
I dragged myself around, happy that we had already planned that I was going to take Josh to school. Id had a feeling the night before I was coming down with something and had no more ventolin ( I have asthma and when im sick it flares up) so a trip to the pharmacy was in order.
To make a long story short, the not one, but two pharmacies that I thought had a perscription did not. That meant to the walk in clinic for me. Since I had to work that night....I would need to go during the day. Hardly able to breathe. With two children.
I was so desperate I even posted on facebook for help. At first it looked hopeless. I sat on the kitchen floor and sobbed, waiting for one of my friends to text me back. S came over to me with her favourite stuffed bunny, said "whats wrong" and made bunny kiss me.
talk about heart melting?
Anyway, thankfully, aforementioned friend was having her first day off in a month ( eek!) and when she heard of my plight, came to save me. Armed with a roast beef, potatoes and veggies as well. I almost cried again. Especially since she probably would have preferred to stay in bed and eat bon bons or go to the spa and get a massage. This is one of those situations in which I was previously speaking about in my last post about feeling showered with blessings. In this case a blatantly intentional provision. Not to mention a dinner.
I'll spare you the boring parts. I got my medication, tried to get the night off, failed, and off to work I went.
Thankfully the parents were out. I did as little as possible and explained to my client that I was so sorry but I couldnt read him any stories as I was feeling horrendous. So I played music for us both, huddled underneath my coat and shivered for a while.
Then I began to have 1....and then 2 of my shaking all over episodes. I discovered that when I have them sitting up, if I completely relax, my head goes round in circles.....creepy no? I had a third shortly before leaving, this time in front of his mom. She wanted to drive me home. Kind of glad it did happen in front of her cuz I called in sick for the next day when I got home and I have no idea if they got saturday covered.
I basically slept all day saturday. I couldn't stop sleeping. I was convinced I had pneumonia, but my chest was clear ( well...i listened as best as you can when an 11 month old keeps trying to steal your stethoscope. I was feeling very puzzled. Finally the pain went away and i began to breathe a little better. Then Sophia came down with it monday morning. And Elisa. The last week of school before the holidays and Josh ended up coming home early because when he called to check up on us the girls were screaming like crazy and I was barely functional.
Then It got to him. Tuesday he woke up feeling awful. Spent all day wednesday sleeping. He is never sick like that. Oddly Sophia bounced back quickest. She had a fever for two days, slept alot the first day then was back to herself. Elisa was snotty for a few days. It really got mommy and Daddy. Ugh.
We were able to go out for dinner on Josh's birthday. If you go to Caseys you get a free meal up to 14.99. So that was fun. We couldnt really taste it but.....still.
Thankfully we were able to do christmas as planned.....well...sort of.....thats another blog in itself.
So many things to say....so little time.....
Well now it has been a while hasnt it?
I have blogged so many times in my head. Beginning lines as follows: ( well the ones I remember)
You know you are a mom when you can fall asleep while getting an MRI
Its impossible to not feel alive when you have a biting wind freezing your face ( and the rest of your body) off
I would like to being chronologically because thats how I roll. The fact that Im not, is actually driving me crazy and as I write this I am having an internal battle about it.
Maybe I will just write a couple of blogs. To keep you, the reader, from losing interest and therefore really wasting my time and yours.
Lately I have been having some emotional issues regarding a decision we made. Its not super personal or anything I just don't want to throw out any fodder for gossip, and frankly the issue isn't what I want to draw attention to. The issue is the catalyst for what I want to share.
Explanation:
This issue came to a head on new years eve of all times. I began to question a decision we made. Did God REALLY tell us to do this? The smart part of me answered almost immediately, "Yes Christina, you know its true. Look at all the circumstances that screamed yes to you" -and for me, God speaks largely with circumstances and his word. ANyhow. I went to bed ( passed out actually sort of but thats another story for another blog) and the next morning woke up at the CRACK of DAWN ( thanks baby E) feeling downcast and lonely and emotional.
As always, I began to browse my facebook newsfeed in an exhausted stupor while baby E proceeded to play with an unfair amount of energy. I came across a friend's post from the bible gateway verse of the day:
Isaiah 43:18-19
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
I read it and started to cry. I recalled having read this verse at another point in my life - couldn't remember when though. Whenever a verse touches me at a desperate time in my life ( or happy time) I write teh date down beside it. Never the circumstance, just the date. Anyway, today I finally went and looked it up in my paper bible and see that I marked it ten years ago. Around that time I was ridiculously depressed and having a hard time with my parents seperation and the crap that went along with that. I was very angry and frustrated and that verse helped me hold on in that moment. It took a while but God definitely did a new thing and changed the situation 180 degrees. To me this has said that while things are difficult and it feels sometimes like nothing is happening....it may take 5, 10, 20 years but something IS going on. In this case I dont think it will take that long. Im already starting to see more proof that the decision we made ( and when I say that I mean to follow what God asked us to do and to trust him) was correct. Its so hard sometimes for me to trust God - but not just trust that he is in control, but to trust that he actually has good things planned for me. ( I have no problem believing he has good things for my family...just me) The past year has been so interesting to me. Either God has been showering me with goodness or I'm just finally able to see all the good things he has provided. Maybe its both?
and now.....I will attempt to blog about our crazy christmas and etc. ......
I have blogged so many times in my head. Beginning lines as follows: ( well the ones I remember)
You know you are a mom when you can fall asleep while getting an MRI
Its impossible to not feel alive when you have a biting wind freezing your face ( and the rest of your body) off
I would like to being chronologically because thats how I roll. The fact that Im not, is actually driving me crazy and as I write this I am having an internal battle about it.
Maybe I will just write a couple of blogs. To keep you, the reader, from losing interest and therefore really wasting my time and yours.
Lately I have been having some emotional issues regarding a decision we made. Its not super personal or anything I just don't want to throw out any fodder for gossip, and frankly the issue isn't what I want to draw attention to. The issue is the catalyst for what I want to share.
Explanation:
This issue came to a head on new years eve of all times. I began to question a decision we made. Did God REALLY tell us to do this? The smart part of me answered almost immediately, "Yes Christina, you know its true. Look at all the circumstances that screamed yes to you" -and for me, God speaks largely with circumstances and his word. ANyhow. I went to bed ( passed out actually sort of but thats another story for another blog) and the next morning woke up at the CRACK of DAWN ( thanks baby E) feeling downcast and lonely and emotional.
As always, I began to browse my facebook newsfeed in an exhausted stupor while baby E proceeded to play with an unfair amount of energy. I came across a friend's post from the bible gateway verse of the day:
Isaiah 43:18-19
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
I read it and started to cry. I recalled having read this verse at another point in my life - couldn't remember when though. Whenever a verse touches me at a desperate time in my life ( or happy time) I write teh date down beside it. Never the circumstance, just the date. Anyway, today I finally went and looked it up in my paper bible and see that I marked it ten years ago. Around that time I was ridiculously depressed and having a hard time with my parents seperation and the crap that went along with that. I was very angry and frustrated and that verse helped me hold on in that moment. It took a while but God definitely did a new thing and changed the situation 180 degrees. To me this has said that while things are difficult and it feels sometimes like nothing is happening....it may take 5, 10, 20 years but something IS going on. In this case I dont think it will take that long. Im already starting to see more proof that the decision we made ( and when I say that I mean to follow what God asked us to do and to trust him) was correct. Its so hard sometimes for me to trust God - but not just trust that he is in control, but to trust that he actually has good things planned for me. ( I have no problem believing he has good things for my family...just me) The past year has been so interesting to me. Either God has been showering me with goodness or I'm just finally able to see all the good things he has provided. Maybe its both?
and now.....I will attempt to blog about our crazy christmas and etc. ......
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