Matt came home to pick up his phone. He walked through the kitchen to let the dog in through the back door. The dog was so excited he ran into the house, through the kitchen, slipped, slid into the dining room table and hit it so hard he moved the table a foot and knocked one of my new plates off it, which of course smashed into pieces.
Dumb dog.
Fortunately Gabe was upstairs in his room so he wasn't in danger of the millions of pieces of glass suddenly on the floor. After locking the dog in the kitchen I swept up all the glass (I hope) and walked it to the kitchen. I opened up the cupboard in which our garbage can is and started pushing the dust pan into the cupboard - but the door bounced back and instead I hit the dustpan right against the cupboard door... and knocked all the glass all over the kitchen floor.
Dumb me.
And that is an account of today's excitement so far.
It's actually been a pretty nice day so far. I spent a good chunk of time chatting on the phone with my sister this morning and plan to do a fair bit of cleaning this afternoon. Mostly though I'm going to study my bible. Study it, not read it. What's the difference? Well, when I read my bible I find I'm sometimes guilty of just trying to get to the end of the chapter. I take some of it in, but I rarely get the whole of it. There are lines that seem to just melt into other lines and never stand out to me unless they are pointed out to me, even if I've read it a ton of times. Now, what I mean by studying my bible is actually moreso scripture memorization. A chapter at a time. I did this a few months ago with James 1 and then James 2. I spent a couple weeks memorizing James 1 and then found myself going over it in my head while I was doing other things. I was able to think on the words without focusing on reading them and that made a world of difference for me. I think it took me a couple weeks after I had memorized it to finally be struck by the line, "For man's anger does not bring about the kind of righteous living that God desires." (James 1:20) By having this scripture embedded in my memory I was able to think on it and ponder it at different times, in different circumstances - not just when I sat down with my bible open. It actually opened my eyes to the whole meaning of some of these verses. Just last week I was struck again by the truth of that verse and convicted regarding it, but my conviction was rooted in my knowledge of the scripture. If I had never memorized that I wouldn't have realized that while I might have had a right to be angry in that circumstance, how I was feeding my anger wasn't right, so I was just as guilty as if I had been wrong in the first place. This deeper understanding isn't from my studying directly, but from God's grace, but I need to do my part and read and memorize the words God has given to us, and not just think that God will bestow wisdom on me if I'm not really trying for it. Again, in James 1 it talks about, "If anyone lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault." I've been asking God for wisdom and He's been leading me to His word. It would be arrogant for me to expect God to reveal things to me through some divine means like a dream or a sudden realization when He's already given these truths to me and I'm, unfortunately, neglecting to study them. It'd be laziness on my part.
Besides a deeper understanding, God calls us to arm ourselves with, "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Eph. 6:17) First comes understanding, then comes application. I'm foreseeing a hard time in my immediate future (not without good reason) and so I thought it would be wise of me to memorize a chapter in scripture that speaks the most on the subjects that are going to be brought up in my life over the next few weeks. Now, this chunk of scripture I'm memorizing I feel like I understand - in part through my own study, in part through submitting to my husband's authority as a spiritual leader and acknowledging his wisdom on the subject, in part through conviction by God and entirely through God's grace. So, now that I understand, is my job done? No! Like I said, I've got a potentially rough few weeks, maybe even months, ahead of me. But I'm arming myself. We're applying what we've learned and I'm ensuring that I know what the scriptures say on it so that when people ask me about it and question our decisions I can present the scriptures to them and justify my actions through God's word. But it's not really about me being right and others being wrong. It's about upholding the truths of the Word for the glory of God.
It's funny how people say that all religions are the same. That's a lie. A really big lie. Christianity is very different from all other religions. The majority of religions are about what you can attain and what you can achieve. It's all about earning your way to paradise by what you do (Judaism), ensuring that your spot in paradise is the biggest and best and you can maybe have your own planet that you're god of if you're good enough (Mormonism), or killing yourself and a bunch of unbelievers for the sake of 72 virgins (Extreme Islam). Christianity, true Christianity, is all about God's glory. You see parts in the bible that talk about storing up treasures in heaven. You know what you use those treasures for when you get to heaven? You lay them at the feet of Jesus as an offering to Him! You don't wear them and parade them around or buy a ferarri with them! It is all about giving glory to God! Our whole existence on earth is intended to give glory to God. The catechism goes, "What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever." Our whole existence after we die will be to glorify God - all of us, non-believers and believers. Every act and every pain and every tear and every victory will be used for God's glory because God is sovereign. Another difference - God loves us and has created us to glorify Him through our relationship with Him. That's the second part of the catechism. How do we glorify God? By enjoying Him forever. We aren't slaves. We aren't brainless zombies who follow in obedience... or else. We are joint heirs with Christ. Crazy eh? And when the new Jerusalem is established, we will live in fellowship with God and our relationship with Him will give Him glory. Oh, and we aren't in any way greater than God so that whole getting your own planet thing is just wrong to the enth degree.
Okay, so I had intended to write that first part about scripture memorization, but that last bit was an unintentional rant. I mean, it's still valid, but I hadn't planned on going that far with it.
I'm just feeling very convicted lately. I'm feeling attacked. I'm feeling challenged. I'm on the brink of feeling persecuted. It's amazing how these feelings can stir such passion in one. Those money matters I was worried about last week seem so trivial now. Sure money is a tough issue, but I've got bigger issues to deal with in my life and I trust that God will provide what I need. There, problem over!
I wish that it were good enough for the world, and good enough for the church even, to just say, "Because the bible says so," and that would be the end of the discussion. Why are we supposed to give 10% of our income to the church? Because the bible says so (Deut. 14:22, Mal. 3:10). How can you say that I don't need to worry about money and that I should just trust God? Because the bible says so (Prov. 3:10, Psalm 121). Why do you think that women should stay at home to raise their children and their household? Because the bible says so (Prov 31:10-27).
How can you say that you are right and the world is wrong? Because God has given us His very word; He has revealed truths to us beyond anything we can even imagine and He has given these truths to us in the form of His holy word, the Scriptures. Because the bible says so.
That's good enough for me.
Mrs. Vander Leek ;)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Aeroplan
Oh, Aeroplan Reward Miles, how I love you. I do, I really do.
In light of the recent takeover of Zellers by the much cooler Target, I decided it would be prudent to spend my saved up HBC Reward Points. I rarely shop at The Bay and if Zellers is gone I won't really have an opportunity to save up more points anyway, right? Well, I was quite excited to see what 56,000 points would buy. Turns out, nothing. Really. Nothing. I do, however, have the option to transfer them to AirMiles. I thought, "Sure, I collect AirMiles too." I went to see just how many AirMiles I had in hopes that it'd be a bit more impressive than my totally useless 56,000 HBC Reward Points. Nope. 335 AirMiles. Well, it's a bit more useful than the HBC points actually. I could maybe rent a car with it or pay for a night in a hotel. However, I've had my AirMiles card for a number of years now and I really thought I ought to be closer to something substantial. For a whole year of living in Calgary I got AirMiles every time I filled up my car, and I never forget to check to see if I place is an AirMiles partner. I suppose 335 is something though. So, next I went to check about my Aeroplan Miles. This, my friends, was a source of some happiness. We have enough for a flight! Two round-trip flights actually! Now, Aeroplan Miles expire every 6 years, but the majority of our points were earned in the past year, so that gives us a good 5 more years before we need to spend our points. That's 5 more years worth of saving! While our miles right now would pay for a short-haul flight, in 5 years time we could probably fly to Europe and back! Isn't that wonderful?? Oh Aeroplans, how quickly you accumulate!
I bought two ducks today. The dead and frozen variety of course. $8.50 apiece. Isn't that fantastic?? The last duck I bought was $17! It was cheaper to buy duck than chicken this week! I had to talk Matt down from buying the 1/4 section of hog for $25 but I barely fit the ducks in the freezer so it was for the best.
Last night a friend of ours sent some free hockey tickets our way so we took Gabe out to a WHL game. It was the second time we had taken him and we forgot just how transfixed he gets when he watches live hockey. He had an awesome time. Popcorn, ice cream and hockey. He even had his favorite stuffed animal puppy with him and his puppy had a whole seat to himself. We had a good time too. It was the first game I'd been to in a long, long time that our team won. Gabe was so excited when we got home that we had a bit of trouble getting him down to bed even though he was exhausted. He'd fall asleep and then jerk awake and yell, "Goal!" or "Hockey!" Not very helpful, but cute.
Mrs. Vander Leek ;)
In light of the recent takeover of Zellers by the much cooler Target, I decided it would be prudent to spend my saved up HBC Reward Points. I rarely shop at The Bay and if Zellers is gone I won't really have an opportunity to save up more points anyway, right? Well, I was quite excited to see what 56,000 points would buy. Turns out, nothing. Really. Nothing. I do, however, have the option to transfer them to AirMiles. I thought, "Sure, I collect AirMiles too." I went to see just how many AirMiles I had in hopes that it'd be a bit more impressive than my totally useless 56,000 HBC Reward Points. Nope. 335 AirMiles. Well, it's a bit more useful than the HBC points actually. I could maybe rent a car with it or pay for a night in a hotel. However, I've had my AirMiles card for a number of years now and I really thought I ought to be closer to something substantial. For a whole year of living in Calgary I got AirMiles every time I filled up my car, and I never forget to check to see if I place is an AirMiles partner. I suppose 335 is something though. So, next I went to check about my Aeroplan Miles. This, my friends, was a source of some happiness. We have enough for a flight! Two round-trip flights actually! Now, Aeroplan Miles expire every 6 years, but the majority of our points were earned in the past year, so that gives us a good 5 more years before we need to spend our points. That's 5 more years worth of saving! While our miles right now would pay for a short-haul flight, in 5 years time we could probably fly to Europe and back! Isn't that wonderful?? Oh Aeroplans, how quickly you accumulate!
I bought two ducks today. The dead and frozen variety of course. $8.50 apiece. Isn't that fantastic?? The last duck I bought was $17! It was cheaper to buy duck than chicken this week! I had to talk Matt down from buying the 1/4 section of hog for $25 but I barely fit the ducks in the freezer so it was for the best.
Last night a friend of ours sent some free hockey tickets our way so we took Gabe out to a WHL game. It was the second time we had taken him and we forgot just how transfixed he gets when he watches live hockey. He had an awesome time. Popcorn, ice cream and hockey. He even had his favorite stuffed animal puppy with him and his puppy had a whole seat to himself. We had a good time too. It was the first game I'd been to in a long, long time that our team won. Gabe was so excited when we got home that we had a bit of trouble getting him down to bed even though he was exhausted. He'd fall asleep and then jerk awake and yell, "Goal!" or "Hockey!" Not very helpful, but cute.
Mrs. Vander Leek ;)
Friday, January 28, 2011
Fancy Dinners
Duck is on sale for $1.49/lbs this weekend at a local grocery store! I'm so excited!!! The last time I bought a duck it was significantly more expensive! I can only get two at that price though, so I'll get them and maybe save them until summer or easter time. Unfortunately, the thought of eating duck right now isn't very appealing to me, so I'll have to wait to cook it until my tummy is a bit more predictable (hello third trimester).
I really want to make a special dinner for Matt and while duck seems like it would fit the bill I prefer cooking duck when we're having company over. That being said, I don't know when would even be the best time for me to make a fancy dinner for Matt. Valentines Day is coming up, but I doubt we'd be able to find a sitter that day and I don't know if the menu I was thinking of would sit well with Gabe. Also, it's a bit less romantic to have a candle lit dinner at home with a toddler yelling "ALL DONE!" every 5 minutes. So I think I'll just do a nice dessert for Valentines Day: Chocolate Pots de Creme. I've got a fantastic recipe for them that Matt really loves so I think I'll stick with the back massage plan that I mentioned in a previous post and the Pots de Creme will serve as a nice chocolatey extra.
Matt's birthday is also in February so maybe that's when I'll make this fantabulous dinner for him. It's mid-week so I'm sure we could get his parents to take Gabe for dinner and I'd have plenty of time to prepare. I haven't finalized the menu, but I'm thinking stuffed manicotti, crab legs, a fresh loaf of bread with some goat cheese, a nice salad (Matt loves salad) and a fresh pie for dessert. I know it sounds a bit more homey than fancy but it's alot more work to make all that up than to do a more gourmet meal. Mainly because it will all be from scratch - from the tomato sauce in the manicotti to the salad dressing. Plus, it includes some of Matt's favorite things: baked pasta, fresh bread, good cheese and pie. And while he does appreciate the occassional meal of lamb chops in a red wine sauce, I can do pasta and crab a heck of a lot cheaper than I can do lamb right now.
We're still on a kick right now about saving money so all of fancy meal costs will have to fit in to our regular monthly grocery budget - whereas some meals I've made for Matt have cost 1/5th of the whole budget. I always keep bread ingredients stocked, I've got loads of leftover chocolate from Christmas baking for the Pots de Creme, Crab legs go on sale every couple weeks if you know where to look for them and everything else would be fairly regular purchases that will serve for more than just one meal.
In keeping with our low cost life style, our Valentines Day outing will actually be taking place a day after Valentines Day at which point we will be going to the movies. Now, while going to the movies doesn't sound like a particularly cheap thing to do, we have coupons! Two admissions and two popcorns and pops. Sounds nice, eh? Things like that have been some of our favorite gifts lately - date night coupons and gift cards, I mean. We were given some gift cards to Earl's for Christmas and have had a nice dinner out with the whole fam and have enough left over for a quick dessert stop for Matt and I on date night. I actually really like getting gift cards for Christmas because even if you're trying to save money, you can still treat yourselves occassionally and not feel guilty that you didn't spend your Starbucks gift card elsewhere. We even got some prepaid Mastercards for Christmas that are going towards our Babymoon in March. Any gift that helps my husband and I spend more time together, is a good gift. I'm also a coupon hound so while everyone else throws their flyers away without a second glance, I always give them a good look through. We regularly get coupons for free appetizers at restaurants, discounts on golf games, and hey, I wouldn't have known about the duck on sale if I did read the flyers!
I'm in a hosting mood lately and it seems ages since I did any baking. Perhaps I ought to do something about that, hey?
Mrs. Vander Leek ;)
I really want to make a special dinner for Matt and while duck seems like it would fit the bill I prefer cooking duck when we're having company over. That being said, I don't know when would even be the best time for me to make a fancy dinner for Matt. Valentines Day is coming up, but I doubt we'd be able to find a sitter that day and I don't know if the menu I was thinking of would sit well with Gabe. Also, it's a bit less romantic to have a candle lit dinner at home with a toddler yelling "ALL DONE!" every 5 minutes. So I think I'll just do a nice dessert for Valentines Day: Chocolate Pots de Creme. I've got a fantastic recipe for them that Matt really loves so I think I'll stick with the back massage plan that I mentioned in a previous post and the Pots de Creme will serve as a nice chocolatey extra.
Matt's birthday is also in February so maybe that's when I'll make this fantabulous dinner for him. It's mid-week so I'm sure we could get his parents to take Gabe for dinner and I'd have plenty of time to prepare. I haven't finalized the menu, but I'm thinking stuffed manicotti, crab legs, a fresh loaf of bread with some goat cheese, a nice salad (Matt loves salad) and a fresh pie for dessert. I know it sounds a bit more homey than fancy but it's alot more work to make all that up than to do a more gourmet meal. Mainly because it will all be from scratch - from the tomato sauce in the manicotti to the salad dressing. Plus, it includes some of Matt's favorite things: baked pasta, fresh bread, good cheese and pie. And while he does appreciate the occassional meal of lamb chops in a red wine sauce, I can do pasta and crab a heck of a lot cheaper than I can do lamb right now.
We're still on a kick right now about saving money so all of fancy meal costs will have to fit in to our regular monthly grocery budget - whereas some meals I've made for Matt have cost 1/5th of the whole budget. I always keep bread ingredients stocked, I've got loads of leftover chocolate from Christmas baking for the Pots de Creme, Crab legs go on sale every couple weeks if you know where to look for them and everything else would be fairly regular purchases that will serve for more than just one meal.
In keeping with our low cost life style, our Valentines Day outing will actually be taking place a day after Valentines Day at which point we will be going to the movies. Now, while going to the movies doesn't sound like a particularly cheap thing to do, we have coupons! Two admissions and two popcorns and pops. Sounds nice, eh? Things like that have been some of our favorite gifts lately - date night coupons and gift cards, I mean. We were given some gift cards to Earl's for Christmas and have had a nice dinner out with the whole fam and have enough left over for a quick dessert stop for Matt and I on date night. I actually really like getting gift cards for Christmas because even if you're trying to save money, you can still treat yourselves occassionally and not feel guilty that you didn't spend your Starbucks gift card elsewhere. We even got some prepaid Mastercards for Christmas that are going towards our Babymoon in March. Any gift that helps my husband and I spend more time together, is a good gift. I'm also a coupon hound so while everyone else throws their flyers away without a second glance, I always give them a good look through. We regularly get coupons for free appetizers at restaurants, discounts on golf games, and hey, I wouldn't have known about the duck on sale if I did read the flyers!
I'm in a hosting mood lately and it seems ages since I did any baking. Perhaps I ought to do something about that, hey?
Mrs. Vander Leek ;)
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
I love my Husband
There are a couple of things coming up that my husband would love to do or go to, and I would love to be able to treat him to those things, but alas, it's not to be. Not right now at any rate.
I have one particular wish for my husband and that's to send him to a conference in Orlando in March. I only found out about the conference tonight however and considering we have Valentines Day, his birthday, skiing and a family vacation between now and then, it's not going to happen. But perhaps I'm looking at this wrong. Perhaps I'm being too short-sighted and not romantic enough.
Example: instead of lamenting that I can't send him this year, maybe I take the next year and plan how I could send him in style. I could arrange a buddy to go with him, scrape up some money, plan their whole trip and let him know a month in advance so that he has time to be excited about it. And maybe instead of lamenting the fact that things like Valentines Day are getting in the way of bigger and better goals, I should be making better plans for our V-Day celebration so that I can get excited for those. I remember one year when we were dating I made this luscious Chocolate Anise cake, borrowed a cafe table and chairs from the cafe I was working at and set it up in my living room with a rose, candles, glasses of wine and a menu. This menu, however, did not contain options for food, but options for the evening. It included back rubs, a movie, board games, a walk, a night out or any combination therein. I took a picture of it because it was just so cute! But I've already done that so maybe I could make a special dinner for him and when Gabe goes to sleep show him into the office where I could have the futon laid out with white linen and rose petals all over and soft music and give him the supreme massage that would put any masseuse to shame, complete with oils, heated towels and chocolate (he loves chocolate). Or maybe I could have the entire house clean for him :) He'd love that just as much I'm sure.
And yet maybe, just maybe, I'm still looking at this wrong. Maybe instead of looking at these big things so longingly, maybe I ought to be focusing more on making his everyday experiences better and showing him day to day how much I love him. I could be getting up before him and making breakfast, having his lunch ready and making sure his morning runs smoothly. And I could be making his home an "en gedi" for him to come home to every day. En Gedi is mentioned in Song of Solomon and it refers to an oasis; Mark Driscoll talks in his sermon series "The Peasant Princess" about how a man's home should be his En Gedi - a place that he desires and that he feels blessed and relaxed in and not a place that causes him stress or frustrates him. FYI, every married couple should watch the Peasant Princess series. But anyway, while I may not be wrong in wanting to send my husband to some far off destination so he can attend a conference he wants to go to, and while I may not be wrong in planning special events for us, I would be more right to focus on showing my husband daily that I adore him and I want to make our home a haven for him. And when I've adapted some of those things I'll happily relook my situation and see whether or not I can send my husband to Orlando - or maybe at that point I'll be aware of more day to day things that I can do for him.
Mrs. Vander Leek ;)
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Trip to Edmonton
Oh, what a busy 24 hours! Lots of fun things to recount today!
To begin, Matt, Gabe and I did a trip to Edmonton yesterday to return the dog we had been sitting. While initially we had thought about just dropping the dog off and turning around to head home that night, we were offered a room at Matt's sister's house and a promise of entertainment the next day and decided to take them up on it. So we hit Edmonton around 4 and after a bit of running around, key picking up and dog dropping off we drove to IKEA by about 6. Matt's sister and her husband were getting home from a vacation that night and we said we'd pick them up at the airport at 8 so we only had 2 hours to spend at IKEA, however, I had made a list in advance of things that I really needed so I thought it would be a pretty quick trip. Well, it wasn't. It was very productive however. IKEA is awesome for pointing out things that you never knew you needed :) For example, I didn't know that I needed that 17 piece set of food storage containers until I saw it there for $4.99. I also didn't know that Gabe needed a bug shaped lamp that hangs on his wall but apparently he did. We did however know that we needed new dishes - that's been quite apparent to us for a while given the obvious nearing of the life expectancy of our current dishes which have taken to breaking for the oddest reasons. So we bought a new 6 place setting set of dishes for $29.99. I also did know that we ought to have a duvet cover for our gorgeous white duvet so when we saw a cute one for $13.99 we decided that was a good idea. We found lamps for our bedroom which mean that I can actually see what I'm reading at night, some new bibs and utensils for Gabe, a new cloth food set for him and a new dresser that we're going to convert into a change table for the nursery. All in all, it was very productive.
As I alluded to above, however, it was also very long. With stopping to feed Gabe supper half way through the shopping trip we were about half an hour late for picking up Matt's sister. Fortunately they were a bit delayed with some luggage issues so it all worked out... until we had to all try and fit into our van with their luggage and our IKEA purchases. But we managed.
This morning we all slept in, except for Gabe, we had a quick breakfast, packed our van back up and went to West Ed for the afternoon. Matt's sister and her husband took Gabe to the water park as a bit of a treat for us and so Matt and I got to go shopping with Matt's other sister. That was awesome. I found a whole new side to shopping at West Ed that I had never discovered before: T&T Supermarket. It's the asian grocery store down the Chinatown wing and they had stuff that I had never even heard of before. They had a super extensive produce section (we only walked through the fruit, not even all the veggies) where we found things like rambutan, kumquats and lychee nuts, but we also found this thing called a rose apple which looked like a normal apple that shrivelled from the top down. We then walked over to the live seafood section where they had not only lobsters, crabs and tilapia but conches and geoducks! I'd never seen a geoduck (pronounced goo-ey-duck) in real life! And I had never even seen a conch with anything in it! It was awesome - and might I say, so was my restraint. Being pregnant helped with the restraint I think. It was the only time in my life I wanted to live in Edmonton, just to have access to all the awesome culinary potential. Having said that, our monthly food budget would at least triple.
Besides T&T we also had some great bubble tea from the Dream Tea hut and we found a maternity swimsuit for me! Which is something I was beginning to despair of. After Gabe had finished swimming with Auntie and Uncle we had lunch at the Spaghetti Factory and then headed home. Nice hey? So tonight already we've started washing our new dishes, installed our new lamps and set up one of my organizational tools I picked up.
What a nice 24 hours!
Mrs. Vander Leek ;)
To begin, Matt, Gabe and I did a trip to Edmonton yesterday to return the dog we had been sitting. While initially we had thought about just dropping the dog off and turning around to head home that night, we were offered a room at Matt's sister's house and a promise of entertainment the next day and decided to take them up on it. So we hit Edmonton around 4 and after a bit of running around, key picking up and dog dropping off we drove to IKEA by about 6. Matt's sister and her husband were getting home from a vacation that night and we said we'd pick them up at the airport at 8 so we only had 2 hours to spend at IKEA, however, I had made a list in advance of things that I really needed so I thought it would be a pretty quick trip. Well, it wasn't. It was very productive however. IKEA is awesome for pointing out things that you never knew you needed :) For example, I didn't know that I needed that 17 piece set of food storage containers until I saw it there for $4.99. I also didn't know that Gabe needed a bug shaped lamp that hangs on his wall but apparently he did. We did however know that we needed new dishes - that's been quite apparent to us for a while given the obvious nearing of the life expectancy of our current dishes which have taken to breaking for the oddest reasons. So we bought a new 6 place setting set of dishes for $29.99. I also did know that we ought to have a duvet cover for our gorgeous white duvet so when we saw a cute one for $13.99 we decided that was a good idea. We found lamps for our bedroom which mean that I can actually see what I'm reading at night, some new bibs and utensils for Gabe, a new cloth food set for him and a new dresser that we're going to convert into a change table for the nursery. All in all, it was very productive.
As I alluded to above, however, it was also very long. With stopping to feed Gabe supper half way through the shopping trip we were about half an hour late for picking up Matt's sister. Fortunately they were a bit delayed with some luggage issues so it all worked out... until we had to all try and fit into our van with their luggage and our IKEA purchases. But we managed.
This morning we all slept in, except for Gabe, we had a quick breakfast, packed our van back up and went to West Ed for the afternoon. Matt's sister and her husband took Gabe to the water park as a bit of a treat for us and so Matt and I got to go shopping with Matt's other sister. That was awesome. I found a whole new side to shopping at West Ed that I had never discovered before: T&T Supermarket. It's the asian grocery store down the Chinatown wing and they had stuff that I had never even heard of before. They had a super extensive produce section (we only walked through the fruit, not even all the veggies) where we found things like rambutan, kumquats and lychee nuts, but we also found this thing called a rose apple which looked like a normal apple that shrivelled from the top down. We then walked over to the live seafood section where they had not only lobsters, crabs and tilapia but conches and geoducks! I'd never seen a geoduck (pronounced goo-ey-duck) in real life! And I had never even seen a conch with anything in it! It was awesome - and might I say, so was my restraint. Being pregnant helped with the restraint I think. It was the only time in my life I wanted to live in Edmonton, just to have access to all the awesome culinary potential. Having said that, our monthly food budget would at least triple.
Besides T&T we also had some great bubble tea from the Dream Tea hut and we found a maternity swimsuit for me! Which is something I was beginning to despair of. After Gabe had finished swimming with Auntie and Uncle we had lunch at the Spaghetti Factory and then headed home. Nice hey? So tonight already we've started washing our new dishes, installed our new lamps and set up one of my organizational tools I picked up.
What a nice 24 hours!
Mrs. Vander Leek ;)
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Current Events
I managed to get a 20 minute nap in after my first post of the day and that definitely was advantageous. When I got up I got my son settled in with some lunch, I cleaned my living room (dusting, sweeping and honest to goodness organizing included), did some dishes up, started dinner and brushed the dog. It was a really nice change having the living room clean since it hadn't been so since Matt got sick. We had company over this evening; a couple that we haven't gotten together with since the beginning of my pregnancy, and it was really good to see them again. Now the living room is still clean, the dogs are in bed and I'm feeling the need to write on current events and world news - which I haven't done in a rather long time.
First off, I'd like to observe how interesting it is that they have to teach current events in high school to make sure that students stay informed on what's going on in the world. Even moreso, I find it interesting that there was a time when I could hardly remember who was Prime Minister of Canada (this was just after Jean Chretien was out so granted, it was a new thing for me to have to remember a name other than his since he'd been Prime Minister since I was in middle school). Now, probably a joint cause of personal growth, maturity, be less self-absorbed and the internet, I make a point of it every day to get plugged into some sort of a news sorce. My preferred is the internet, mainly msn.ca and msn.com (yes, I read the American page), next in line is radio, then TV and finally newspapers. If I have a sick day or for some reason I haven't got around to hearing any news stories that day, I feel oddly disconnected. I think it's an important thing for everyone to stay informed on events around the globe for many reasons, the least reason of which would be for conversation's sake. Greater reasons would be to make yourself a better citizen and more informed voter and to make yourself a better person by being well rounded, having opinions and having empathy and prayers for matters bigger than yourself.
Now, on to my own opinions on the news.
Firstly, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is making amazing progress according to the latest reports. She's shown considerable progress in physical responses, has stood with assistance and has opened her eyes more frequently following reconstructive surgery to her right eye socket. I'm praying for her - I really, really am. I want this lady to heal; I want her to overcome what challenges are before her and I want her to recover to a point where she will be able to continue in politics. Why? Mostly because I want the shooter to have failed. He wanted to kill her and he succeeded in killing 6 other people and injuring 11 others, but I want him to have failed in his actual goal. He doesn't deserve the satisfaction of success. Also, I want her to overcome this because Rep. Gabby Giffords has become a visible rallying point around all the well wishers for all the other victims. Naturally the media would follow a congresswoman's progress, but it doesn't make the world less concerned for the wellbeing of the other 11 injured people. Particularly I feel concern for the senior man who tried to shield his wife and even though he was shot, she was still killed. I pray for that man. I want him to be alright and to not blame himself. Somehow I feel that if Rep. Gabby Giffords can overcome what has happened to her that her fate is tied with every other individual affected by the shooting. I can't get daily reports on their progress though, so I'll continue to follow the reports on the congresswoman, and at the same time earnestly pray for recovery and healing for her.
I also pray for justice for the shooter and while I know it will come in this life I pray for mercy and healing in time for the next.
Next, over 100 suspected mafia members in the states were arrested today. Good. And I'm glad they were smart enough to get them all at the same time and not leave any credible people left lingering who have the manpower and the authority to get back at any prosecutors, judges or arresting officers. I'm praying for them and their families tonight though, just in case.
Right now you could not pay me enough money to go to Mexico. Now, if any of you are planning trips there soon, please skip this paragraph, and have fun! Some of the latest stories coming out about violence in Mexico are focused in Mazatlan, Playa del Carmen and similar tourist destinations and resort towns. Previously it had only been places in the interior really, and non-tourist locations that were being affected by the drug war and the violence, but it's spilling over and I'm sure moreso than we realize. I only really hear the stories about Canadians being raped, beaten and shot. And that's just this week.
In bigger news, George Clooney just got malaria. It must be bigger news, it was higher up on the news page than all these other stories.
And lastly, a UofC student wore the same pair of jeans nearly every day for 15 months without washing them all in the name of science - and fashion. I don't care what it's in the name of, that's disgusting.
Mrs. Vander Leek ;)
First off, I'd like to observe how interesting it is that they have to teach current events in high school to make sure that students stay informed on what's going on in the world. Even moreso, I find it interesting that there was a time when I could hardly remember who was Prime Minister of Canada (this was just after Jean Chretien was out so granted, it was a new thing for me to have to remember a name other than his since he'd been Prime Minister since I was in middle school). Now, probably a joint cause of personal growth, maturity, be less self-absorbed and the internet, I make a point of it every day to get plugged into some sort of a news sorce. My preferred is the internet, mainly msn.ca and msn.com (yes, I read the American page), next in line is radio, then TV and finally newspapers. If I have a sick day or for some reason I haven't got around to hearing any news stories that day, I feel oddly disconnected. I think it's an important thing for everyone to stay informed on events around the globe for many reasons, the least reason of which would be for conversation's sake. Greater reasons would be to make yourself a better citizen and more informed voter and to make yourself a better person by being well rounded, having opinions and having empathy and prayers for matters bigger than yourself.
Now, on to my own opinions on the news.
Firstly, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is making amazing progress according to the latest reports. She's shown considerable progress in physical responses, has stood with assistance and has opened her eyes more frequently following reconstructive surgery to her right eye socket. I'm praying for her - I really, really am. I want this lady to heal; I want her to overcome what challenges are before her and I want her to recover to a point where she will be able to continue in politics. Why? Mostly because I want the shooter to have failed. He wanted to kill her and he succeeded in killing 6 other people and injuring 11 others, but I want him to have failed in his actual goal. He doesn't deserve the satisfaction of success. Also, I want her to overcome this because Rep. Gabby Giffords has become a visible rallying point around all the well wishers for all the other victims. Naturally the media would follow a congresswoman's progress, but it doesn't make the world less concerned for the wellbeing of the other 11 injured people. Particularly I feel concern for the senior man who tried to shield his wife and even though he was shot, she was still killed. I pray for that man. I want him to be alright and to not blame himself. Somehow I feel that if Rep. Gabby Giffords can overcome what has happened to her that her fate is tied with every other individual affected by the shooting. I can't get daily reports on their progress though, so I'll continue to follow the reports on the congresswoman, and at the same time earnestly pray for recovery and healing for her.
I also pray for justice for the shooter and while I know it will come in this life I pray for mercy and healing in time for the next.
Next, over 100 suspected mafia members in the states were arrested today. Good. And I'm glad they were smart enough to get them all at the same time and not leave any credible people left lingering who have the manpower and the authority to get back at any prosecutors, judges or arresting officers. I'm praying for them and their families tonight though, just in case.
Right now you could not pay me enough money to go to Mexico. Now, if any of you are planning trips there soon, please skip this paragraph, and have fun! Some of the latest stories coming out about violence in Mexico are focused in Mazatlan, Playa del Carmen and similar tourist destinations and resort towns. Previously it had only been places in the interior really, and non-tourist locations that were being affected by the drug war and the violence, but it's spilling over and I'm sure moreso than we realize. I only really hear the stories about Canadians being raped, beaten and shot. And that's just this week.
In bigger news, George Clooney just got malaria. It must be bigger news, it was higher up on the news page than all these other stories.
And lastly, a UofC student wore the same pair of jeans nearly every day for 15 months without washing them all in the name of science - and fashion. I don't care what it's in the name of, that's disgusting.
Mrs. Vander Leek ;)
Kind of Procrastinating
What I'm doing right now would be classified as procrastinating if I felt physically capable of doing anything else. May I just say that pizza was a bad idea?
After spending the morning dealing with a sleepy and needy little boy, I finally got him down for a nap and figured I'd eat a quick lunch before I set out to clean the house for company that is coming over tonight. And lo, there was pizza. I was craving fruit but I can hardly eat fruit thanks to pregnancy allergies, so I figured I'd settle for the pizza. Stupid me. I at least had the sense to not try and finish it but my tummy is not happy.
I'm actually in a culinary land-lock right now. My stomach will barely tolerate anything more than toast or fruit lately but my fruit options are severly limited right now, even more so because it's winter, so every morning I've been making a fruit smoothie and having toast for lunch. My smoothie this morning was a little lacking. It was a peach and cantaloupe smoothie, as opposed to my normal strawberry and banana one. The cantaloupe flavour was too strong and the overall flavor was crying out for some passion fruit. Where exactly am I supposed to get passion fruit right now??? Ah well, I know for next time I guess.
Last night was a rather odd night. Odd in the sense that it was fairly productive, but the joy of that was overshadowed by the fact that it took three hours to get Gabe to go to bed. Why was it productive? Well, I set out to clean out the bottom of our closet in our bedroom, which I had long attested was 'organized'... just in 6 or 7 different bags that were thrown on the bottom of the floor... Matt had a spare underbed storage bin that I used to store all of the things I wanted to keep from those bags (they were mostly excess cosmetics, soaps and bath products). I then moved on to finally getting rid of all my clothes from high school that I've held on to thinking, "I'll fit into these again." Yah, I probably will, but between now and then I'm having another baby. I might as well buy new clothes when the time comes that I'm back to "normal". After all that purging was done I had two garbage bags of donations and two garbage bags of garbage (including all my old jeans that had holes in the crotch). Now, our closet organizer actually organizes things and the bottom of the closet is clean! Well, shortly after this we tried to put Gabe down for bed when we realized that his soother was torn and he had bit through it in the course of the day. That was the second one he had done that to that day. He's taken to biting on the nipple and pulling the soother back which makes a great nose when it finally pops out but rips the nipple obviously. So we decided now was a good time to ween him off his soother. And by ween I mean cold turkey. Gabe, unfortunately, disagreed. There were moments of hysterical tears and moments of over-tired giddiness. Finally we broke down at midnight and I found a new soother for him and within two minutes he was asleep. I, however, did not have such luck.
Ah well, we'll start him off easier with no soother except for at night time for bed and then go from there.
Well, I'd better have a quick nap to help put my stomach right before Gabe wakes up!
Mrs. Vander Leek ;)
After spending the morning dealing with a sleepy and needy little boy, I finally got him down for a nap and figured I'd eat a quick lunch before I set out to clean the house for company that is coming over tonight. And lo, there was pizza. I was craving fruit but I can hardly eat fruit thanks to pregnancy allergies, so I figured I'd settle for the pizza. Stupid me. I at least had the sense to not try and finish it but my tummy is not happy.
I'm actually in a culinary land-lock right now. My stomach will barely tolerate anything more than toast or fruit lately but my fruit options are severly limited right now, even more so because it's winter, so every morning I've been making a fruit smoothie and having toast for lunch. My smoothie this morning was a little lacking. It was a peach and cantaloupe smoothie, as opposed to my normal strawberry and banana one. The cantaloupe flavour was too strong and the overall flavor was crying out for some passion fruit. Where exactly am I supposed to get passion fruit right now??? Ah well, I know for next time I guess.
Last night was a rather odd night. Odd in the sense that it was fairly productive, but the joy of that was overshadowed by the fact that it took three hours to get Gabe to go to bed. Why was it productive? Well, I set out to clean out the bottom of our closet in our bedroom, which I had long attested was 'organized'... just in 6 or 7 different bags that were thrown on the bottom of the floor... Matt had a spare underbed storage bin that I used to store all of the things I wanted to keep from those bags (they were mostly excess cosmetics, soaps and bath products). I then moved on to finally getting rid of all my clothes from high school that I've held on to thinking, "I'll fit into these again." Yah, I probably will, but between now and then I'm having another baby. I might as well buy new clothes when the time comes that I'm back to "normal". After all that purging was done I had two garbage bags of donations and two garbage bags of garbage (including all my old jeans that had holes in the crotch). Now, our closet organizer actually organizes things and the bottom of the closet is clean! Well, shortly after this we tried to put Gabe down for bed when we realized that his soother was torn and he had bit through it in the course of the day. That was the second one he had done that to that day. He's taken to biting on the nipple and pulling the soother back which makes a great nose when it finally pops out but rips the nipple obviously. So we decided now was a good time to ween him off his soother. And by ween I mean cold turkey. Gabe, unfortunately, disagreed. There were moments of hysterical tears and moments of over-tired giddiness. Finally we broke down at midnight and I found a new soother for him and within two minutes he was asleep. I, however, did not have such luck.
Ah well, we'll start him off easier with no soother except for at night time for bed and then go from there.
Well, I'd better have a quick nap to help put my stomach right before Gabe wakes up!
Mrs. Vander Leek ;)
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