Monday, November 28, 2011

A weekend with Valour

So my nana turned 80 last week.  We had a party.
The adventure was not at the party, but on the way to the party.
Let me start at the beginning, because that is clearly where every great adventure starts.

Last week we received coupons for McCafe...two lattes for the price of one was a deal we could not pass up, so we tried to exercise some self control, and ordered only a large.  Their large is exactly that...LARGE, I thought it was delicious, but for someone who doesn't drink a lot of caffeine beverages, that was a lot of coffee!

Approximately half way through the beverage I am having problems controlling my incessant jabbering...which was also when I reached the 'U' in the alphabet game.  During this time I found it necessary to say "YOU!!!!" or "you..."  or "YYYYYOOOOOOUUUUUU"  over and over and over again.  Yes, I distracted the driver.

Let me explain my husband's car rule.  "If you are in the passenger seat, you are the navigator.  Therefore it is your fault if any wrong turns, or missed turns happen while you are on duty."

We went to the airport.  No, we were not taking any flights to get to our destination, but somehow my fascination with the many different ways, and tones that I could say "You", left us headed to Terminal #1.

After finding our way back to the highway, and after I found the letter "U', and was able to move onto "V" (which I might add is half and as fun to say, and two times more annoying), we ventured off the highway to find a McDonalds, again.  And no, I did not get an other latte, I was beginning to feel like my heart was going to pound right through my chest and land in someone's happy meal.

I failed... I was hoping my job as navigator would be revoked, but more and more responsibility kept getting tossed my way, like "We just passed AN OTHER exit for a McDonalds."  and "How do I turn around and go the opposite direction on the highway when there is no overpass??"  Geez.

Well, I finally concurred the challenge to navigate us to a happy meal, big mac wielding restaurant.

We were able to sit and eat our nuggets in peace, and tried to make a quick exit since all of our detours were beginning to make us a wee bit late.

My daughter, the two year-old, loves to clean up after herself, and this is an obsession I encourage because, well, I'd rather not clean up after her!  So she took her little drink, finished it off, and proceeded to the garbage can and as my husband shuffled her along she started wailing, "My ring, my ring!!!"

A quick scan of the floor led my deductive reasoning to the garbage can.

Yet an other side note.  My husband learned the word "Valour" this weekend. The dictionary describes valour as; Courage in the face of danger.  My husband later described my actions that followed as such...

I run to the garbage can, my son follows behind (I think he was eager to be the hero in this story).  We open it up and look down....full garbage can...gross.

On lookers were looking on, we unlatched the receptacle  and removed the bin, in went the hands and head, and after several minutes of searching, I found the ring!! (and my son ripped it out of my hands and said "Look what I got")  I went to the washroom and scrubbed my hands and face.

True story.

Sometimes we have wade through a lot of garbage for the people we love.  And I would willingly do it again and again.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

My redeeming thoughts on yesterdays post...

I looked over yesterdays post and it goes to prove the very first sentence I wrote, 'I am guilty of NEVER thinking things through.'

I read it an realized that it ended on a pretty sad note. What does that say if I am still not sure if it is worth it or not? Didn't I say I was looking on the bright side of my everyday life?

Here is the 'moral', if you will...
Life is like my battle with the wicker set.  I am frustrated, and bored, but determined to get it done.  My determination is going to get me the very colour I was looking for, the very colour my daughter loved, mostly just for the name.

In life, we go through difficult times, things that stretch us, and tempt us and pull us in every direction, but if we set our eyes on our goals (whether big or small), we will get the outcome we were looking for.  But wait - that is not always true.  Let me rephrase that, we will always get to where we are supposed to be.

I often take comfort in the thought that although this is not where I saw myself living, or what I saw myself doing, this is where God put me, the place God intended me to be in, and isn't that the best place to be??

Friday, November 25, 2011

A recent project. . .

I am guilty of NEVER thinking things through...

like the time my mom and I went on a 'diet', also known as a 'cleanse' or what I would rather call 'starvation'.  You could only eat this vegetable soup for several days, and then add bananas to the mix, but since I am allergic to bananas, I was left solely with soup. . .watery, tomatoey, vegetabley soup.  My confession: I came scarily close to pooping my pants on several occasions.

Or the time I decided to start doing the dishes at the SAME time I was pouring the kettle into the sink.  It was a week before my wedding, and yes, it was my left hand that suffered the consequence.

So when I got an old wicker set from my aunt, I thought to myself, 'I will just spruce it up with some paint!  We will be using it by next weekend.'  HA...  really, wicker vs. paint brush.  nah.

I took my daughters and my husband (while my son was at youth group) to Canadian Tire, chose a wonderful colour called Magic Carpet.  Fantastic!  I was so excited, I got right to work - it took me about 10 minutes to realize this was going to take FOREVER, and I should have got spray paint.

Not only do I never think things through, I also never give up.  So my husband peeked in at me, and saw the boredom/frustration on my face and said "It's not too late, you can still go get spray paint."

"No, I chose this colour, and I am going to do this!"

After approximately 8 hours of work, with a minimum of 2 more ahead of me, it is almost done.  Now all I need is to pick some fabric at the store to make a cover for the cushion.  I am getting exactly the colour I wanted... and all the sore shoulder and neck pain I never asked for.  I am still hoping the end result will be worth it.

This is me....

So I am a mom of 3, babysitter or more, and wife to one (thank goodness).
To start, I was born in Toronto, moved to the country, raised by loving parents, have 3 brothers....too much??
I thought so too.


After having my son, almost 10 years ago, I heard all about post-partum depression, and baby blues and thought to myself, "How could anyone be sad when they hold such an amazing miracle in their hands?"
Well, almost 6 months ago I gave birth to my second daughter, a beautiful baby who I loved with all my heart, but I hit a wall.  There I was, standing in my bathroom thinking, "I love this baby, I love my other 2 kids...what is wrong with me?  Why am I so sad?"


So there it was, call it what you will, 'baby blues' or 'post-partum depression'  I knew it wasn't me...in high school (yes, I know, long time ago, blah blah blah) I used to be so very full of energy, so carefree, and, well, HYPER!  For me to have ZERO energy, was pure craziness.  So I vowed to myself, to my kids and to my husband that I would always look on the bright side of life, see the good in everyday, and let God shed his light on everything I was doing.


Needless to say, 5 months of looking on the bright side has led me to want to share my thoughts, to put them out there in cyberspace, and hope that maybe someday, somehow, it will shed light on a passerby who is trying to do the same.