More Knots?

WE GOT THE HOUSE!

I think I'm excited about that. I'm pretty sure I am. I know that it eases a lot of stress to have a new address and Nick will be very excited. But then there come up so many other things to take care of now. It's crazy. I don't know how I'm going to handle it! But we have a new home to move into on August 1, 2006. One major hurdle jumped. Now we need to continue living without worry that God will provide the money to set up the utilities and all that jazz and to be able to continue to afford it. One day at a time.

In knots

So, in my move update yesterday I let you all know about a house we were hoping to get. I got some more info on it and while it doesn't sound totally ideal, (as in the white picket fence that I decorated straight out of Amanda Stewart), it's a house and with all the "affection" going on above us we are sooooooo tired of living in shared accomodations.

When I say not ideal it's small. There are 3 storeys to this place, but no basement. So floor one is your common areas with a 2 piece bath and kitchen, no dining room and living room. The second floor is the master bedroom with en suite 4 piece bath and the top floor is two more bedrooms with a large bathroom. Each floor is approximately 500 square feet, so slightly smaller than where we are living right now per floor. The price is good compared to what we're finding online. There is another person looking at it as well and it's basically going to come down to who has the better credit score as to who it will be rented to.

We do not have a good credit score. It is small, I'll probably feel cramped, but it's a HOUSE with my own front door and all that jazz. There is however no back yard just a little patio and then a common area for all the tenants in the townhouse complex.

So now I'm torn. I'm not sure what to do. Do we go ahead and put in our application and most likely get rejected. Or do we say 'you know what, this just isn't good enough'. And wait for something else?

All the other properties we looked at previously are no longer available, but do I go for it out of fear of not having something at all?

It's such a rollar coaster. And the thing is I'm not looking to buy this property just rent it for a year or two but I feel like I'm making the biggest decision of my life, the stres oh the stress.

I just don't know. I have to of course talk it over with Nick who will be calling me on his lunch break in the next little bit. I just don't know how to live the most victoriously. Go for it and trust that God will provide, (whether that means getting this place or not because there's something else), or taking my personal power to say it's not good enough for me. I'm just not sure.

Just a small update on the move front.

I finally heard back from the Church regarding Nick's hours/commitment to them/pay and the pastor was super apologetic for taking so long to reply. The Church is going through some of that "God must be working because people are shifting" kinda stuff, and while June is usually a dead month in Churches, it does not seem to be that way in Georgetown from my experience.

Anyway. There hasn't been that "knock you off your feet blessing" I was hoping for, but much good. In Church on sunday the sermon was on Prov 3:9,10 which says basically give your first fruits to God and he will overflow your storehouses, and a lot of pastor's use this passage to convict everyone to give their 10% faithfully or swift judgement will come upon your head. Our pastor didn't, which I'm thankful for because I don't agree with that....but I digress.

The main point of the sermon was to stop living a life of worry and instead to live a life of gratitude. Instead of saying "I only have enough money for groceries this month." change your attitude so you can say each night with total genuine honesty "Thank you for this food!". It was a great challenge, and God sent such a feeling of peace on both Nick and I we walked out of church awoken from our worry induced stress once again looking forward to our new lives.

The night before we found our ideal living situation on line, and we decided after church we were going to take it should the details work out regardless of what the church said. We were going to chose to live "victory in Christ" by thriving and not merely surviving. So I got in touch with the person looking after the renting, (the people are doing it through a real estate agency) and sat back to see what would happen.

Then we got the email from the Church. We will arrive the last week of July and Nick will work full time for August running a drop in center type program. This is awesome as we live in such a way right now that the money we make in July will pay our bills in August and the money we make in August will pay our bills in September, so this means no disruption in our income just a shift. Then Nick will be doing part time at the church, finding a second job to begin September 1. The salary from the church will be enough to pay our rent and car lease payment-OUR TWO BIGGEST EXPENSES! How amazing is that. We were able to crunch the numbers to figure out what Nick needs to make at Job #2 in order for my benefits to be just that, benefits. Enabling us to pay down debt and save up for a car when our lease is up in May. So that is encouraging.

As far as the house we are now waiting on pins and needles to see if we can get it. It's a 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath townhouse in the nice end of town. It's renting for the same price per month as every other main floor suite which is so cool. We're just waiting for the actual listing to be posted at the Real Estate Agency as the agent wont go further until it is. But I am hopeful. All we need to know is if it has washer/dryer/fridge/stove as we don't own these things and can't afford to purchase them. If it has them, we're going to get it! There is one hiccup, at the moment the possession date is August 15th. So we're going to ask if it's possible to get it for August 1, and if not we may look into storage for two weeks, which could get tricky yada yada.

So thanks for the prayers and we love them to continue over this last huge bump. Then we start finding the small details like a new doctor and health insurance, you know the easy part of moving, oy. Lol.

Here's hoping that you too are living victoriously today!

My opinion on names.

"To Name or not to Name, that is the question!" It seems like every other blog I read these days has a woman in the midst of a struggle of what to name their child. If you are looking for suggestions, I found this list of suggestions of baby's names. It's a list of lists, so things like popular names, actor's baby's names yada yada. Should you choose a name of that list you can send your Thank you donation to me at.......just kidding I'm sure every possible name is on that list somewhere. But sometimes it takes finding out that Robert Redford named his third dog such and such to make a name click, you know?

I am going to take a bit of a different approach on the name game today. For those of us who already have names! I found this site a bit ago, and yes it's controversial. It's called the Kablarian Philosophy and if you go to the site click "name meanings" in the blue index bar. There are all kinds of services on this site, like it will help you find your ideal job based on your name yada yada, but you have to pay for all that. You can get the idea just by doing the name meaning search.

When I found this it was totally eerie how well it described me. Now I wont sign up to find out what diseases I am prone to since my name is Amanda, but I like that someone who knows me not from a hole in the ground came up with a philosophy that describes me so well.

Check it out and see if it does the same for you!

And speaking of the "what to name your baby", I'm just curious what people think of Old Testament names. Not the regular OT names like Rebecca and Sara but the authentically OT ones like Malachi and Nahum. Do you think they carry more weight if they come from the Bible or that they should stay in the OT times? I just had a discussion that made me curious what more people think.

The Mysterious Mind of Men

The other day Nick and Isabella were playing in her bedroom while I did some work on the computer. All of a sudden Nick comes dashing out of the bedroom; "Quick, quick I need the camera!". I hand him the camera and decide to follow assuming that Belle is doing something incredibly cute that I have to see in person.

Instead this is what was so important. Nick had built this tower while Belle was reading books and wanted a picture of it before she knocked it over.

Boys will be boys.

And apparently so will men.

Monday Mayhem

At some point on Sundays I realize that it's the weekend and I should be a bit lazy. I mean I do have a week coming up and my weeks are always full. Amanda often writes me emails on Fridays and they always have the same sentiment, "I cannot believe where the week has gone!". So I take some time to slow down, however I have not done enough to warrant this slow down and so Monday's become quite chaotic. We've had a busy busy day so far, but somehow my to-do list has yet to shrink. Here is some Manic Monday cuteness for ya! My new favorite time of day. Belle gets up about 2 1/2 hours after me and I put her in her chair with breakfast and about 45 minutes of Blues Clues while I finish up work and get ready to switch gears. (This is a pic from snack hence the juice, she usually has milk for breakfast).

She has a fabulous soft chair which she greatly enjoys, but she will only sit on it where it is placed right now, you can't move it for her so she can sit in it and watch tv or anything else. Instead she chooses to climb into her booster seat, which ideally would be at a kitchen table, in order to eat, watch tv and relax. Yesterday she sat there for an hour reading recipes to an invisible audience. Can we say Rachel Ray?

Nick found these "great" sunglasses while he was away last weekend. They ended up in the lost and found and no one would claim them, so he took them. This has become Belle's newest thrill, putting on pa pa's glasses.

Hope your Monday sets a good tone for the week! I know mine will be more busy than I have energy for, but little moments with this one make it all pass by in fun!

Stuck at work

I am quite literally stuck at work right now. It's 11:30 and I do have a zillion things to do at home, I am finished all work related tasks so there is no reason for me to still be here, but I cannot leave. They are having a farewell lunch for me and two other ladies today. Since I'm one of the "guests of honor" I have to stay put. I do however have to leave by 12:00 so that Nick can get to work on time, so hopefully the greasy pizza gets here soon.

Farewell lunches are so funny to me. People in this office don't even know who I am but they've all signed a card wishing me the best. And we'll sit around and eat and no one who doesn't know me will talk to me, it's just awkward. 20 people crammed in a lunch room for 5, lips smacking away, augh. I can't wait for lunch to be over.

Speaking of lunch, thanks for the suggestions. I ate yesterday and although I had a longer nap than intended when I woke up I felt ready to go again! It's so funny how many people said "egg salad sandwiches" just because I was thinking about them and how long it's been since I had one and how I don't actually know what goes in "egg salad" besides egg. I'll have to figure that out and play around.

Okay, enough hiding in the office, here's hoping the pizza is here already so I can get chowing and get home.

ORDERS UP

So the last few days I have crashed at about 2:00 each afternoon and had a struggle to get out of bed before 5:00. This is not good as my oh-so-accomodating daugther will play in her bed for the three hours, but I'm sure 'playing' is becoming a plot to seek revenge for this captivity once she is free from the play yard! I was thinking if it was truly pregnancy exhaustion, and should be brought up with the doctor, or just laziness.

Then it dawned on me. I forget to eat lunch! I feed Isabella so it sticks in my mind that food has been served, but while she's chowing and confined to her chair I do other things that little hands do not help with. Oh my, no wonder I crash I have run out of fuel!

The idea of sitting down to a daily sandwich lost it's appeal to me in about the 9th grade. So here's today question of the day (nice little trend wouldn't you say?) WHAT DO YOU EAT FOR LUNCH?

I'm looking for quick ideas or perhaps a bunch of things I can make on Sundays and store in the fridge for the week. Share people, share away, comment once, comment often, this girl is HUNGRY.

Recovery

Yesterday was probably one of the most awful days I have ever had, and I don't want to revisit it so I'm not going to tell you about it! Let's just say a big HALLELUJAH to the fact that Belle is now enjoying entire episodes of Blues Clues.

But today I am determined to have a better day. To start off, I am not wearing pants. I've been awake since about 5:30, and after my shower I got my self all moisturized and decided I did not feel like wearing pants. And so I'm not. And I wont put any on until Belle wakes up. Nick is out of town until tomorrow, so I don't need to worry about him getting the wrong idea, and I will enjoy my pantless freedom!

I have a huge to do list today, and I hope to get much accomplished, but I first have to go to a stupid staff meeting at stupid work, with Isabella in tow. Then we have to go to the doctor's which is nice, (yay for heartbeats!), but again Belle will be in tow. Then I have a zillion chores, a tonne of work and I would like to hit the grocery store, spend some time home spaaing tonight and be in bed by 10:00. We'll see if I can actually do any of that or if I end up on my couch with bon bons and Blues Clues.

But whilst trying to will myself to sleep last night my mind did some awandering and I have two random questions for the masses:

I'm trying to set up some bed time and morning routines. What do you do that you find essential to a good night's sleep and a good start to the day?

I'm also trying to find a way to "reconnect" with my husband. Yep I'm willing to let go of all my evening tv time so we can do something together each night. But what the heck do you do? Nick gets home from work about 6:30, walks in the door beelines for Isabella, plays with her until his stomach growls too loud, eats, grabs remote and spends the evening with his first wife. I am not cool with this. But Belle is in bed by 7:00-7:30 so we can't exactly head out for a walk or that sort of thing, what do boring married people do? Or does every wife sit around wondering the same thing?

Well, I am off to start my day. So much to do and so little time, or is it energy, hmmmm, we'll go with time it makes it sound like it's not my fault when nothing gets done!!

Full Swing.

Today I woke up for my normal 4:00am pee, only this time I could not fall back asleep. Nick could not sleep either and so we were up at 5:00am together. Isabella woke up at 6:ooam and although we've left her quietly playing in her crib, she is definitely not sleeping.

Now I know that I will have to be up until the Stanley Cup game is over tonight so I'm looking at being awake for about 18 hours today, oy.

I tried to do some work, but the storms from this weekend seem to have knocked the server for work down and I cannot. So I've been thinking and twidling, trying to get my day off to a slow start so I don't burn out right after lunch.

And I have a question! I've been reading in some child care books about the importance of not introducing new things before big life changes. Like not starting potty training the week before a new baby is due to arrive or switching to a toddler bed before a big move. And I'm just wondering if that is sage advice. I think that Belle is ready for some "growing up" and I haven't been gung ho about doing anything about it. Partly because life is so hectic setting up a routine and the safety of a routine is going to be impossible over the next bit, but also because I'm not sure of the ramifications of not following the above mentioned advice.

She isn't ready for huge changes right now, I'm mainly seeing that she's ready to start being challenged to eat with utensils, (as opposed to letting her have a go at it when it suits me), and I think it's about time to throw out that sippy cup and move on to big girl glasses, (but then we'd revert back while we spend three days in a car so is it worth it?).

But we're pretty intent on setting her up in a big girl bed in about September. It would be one month after our move, so we'll have a routine and all but in 4-8 weeks after that the baby will arrive and I'm just not sure. I know that so many things in baby books are just "guidelines", like age appropriate toys, but is there emotional consequences to transition within transition to a child?

I wonder because I know the stress of change on adults, but children bounce back so much faster and are so much more pliable, I am not sure if this caution is a guideline like the speed limit, or a guideline like 'children under age 2 should not watch more than 1/2 hour of tv per week'.

Any thoughts?

Holiness

I grew up thinking that holy was a synonym for perfect. I think it came from that Bible verse where Jesus says "Be holy as I am holy." and since the only thing that Jesus is that no other human is, is perfect I equated the two. Lately God has been challenging me to change my perspective and see holy as a synonym for real.

It began back in January when I was at church and there was a different kind of sermon. Instead of the pastor preaching there was a couple on stage and they were asked to share their story interview style. The couple sharing is in leadership of a different church, and the interviewer was our pastor. They began to share their struggle with infertility and they talked about how they lived life joyfully, truly enjoying the babies of others and their work and their schooling and were looking forward to becoming pastors, but in those moments when they were naked before God they weren't afraid to say things like, "Man I'm jealous." or "You know what I really wish it was me this time.". They didn't put their heart on their sleeves and weep to everyone who would pretend to listen, but when they were with God who truly cares about their sad times and asks that we bring them to Him they were real.

That challenged me a lot. I had it in my mind that being perfect meant never being mad, never putting myself first, never being selfish. And hearing these godly people share about having those emotions I began to see Jesus in a different way. I began to actually see the stories where he has to get away from the crowd. I began to actually hear the part of his prayer where he says "Is there any other way?".

Now I'm not so good at being real. I have two extremes, I either bottle it all up inside and don't tell a soul anything, or I spill it all constantly until people want to avoid me I'm sure. I know that coming to true holiness will be finding a balance of the two.

It's weird to me that God is teaching me these lessons and that I'm getting them, because I cannot remember the last time I felt God. I have lost that passion that gets you goosebumpy when you read the Psalms and since I don't feel anything, I haven't exactly been spending time trying to find that feeling. Last night I couldn't sleep and I picked up my Bible and began to read Hosea again. I love that book. I do get kind of lost in the language, (meaning lost as in what the? not in the poetic sense), but I know the story. Of the way a man in love will wait for his woman to smarten up and forgive her over and over, the same way God waits for me while I try everything else to get what only He can give, and he waits patiently for me to come back always forgiving.

And while that doesn't give me goosebumps right now, it gives me peace that one day it will again.

Whining.

So, I am beginning to feel like my recent posts have all been whining about the upcoming move, and that just isn't cool with me. So I'm going to take a topic hiatus. I have no more information than I did a week ago as far as what we can afford, and at this rate we'll be moving to Georgetown sans address and just praying that we have a place to put our stuff when it has to come off the truck on August 1. I will for sure let everyone know when we do have a home, but for now I'm just not going to talk about it, cuz I sure don't like being a whiner.

Hopefully I'll have other things to blog about.....

Cut Off

Tonight we went to Ikea and I have been officially cut off. We went to return a bed we bought Isabella as the more we looked at it the less we liked it and to pick up a few picture frames for puzzles so pieces wouldn't get lost in the move.

We came home with the frames and the bed returned. But we also came home with this (see picture sorta). Once again in the As Is section we found glorious treasures. I have wanted the Malm bed for quite some time. It's perfect because the headboard is tall, but the footboard does not come up over the mattress so Nick at 6'5" can finallly stop laying diagonally across our bed and cutting me off at the knees! We found the bed and the side tables that attach right to the headboard for, (are you ready), 50% of the total cost, and we even bought one piece new! Sweet deal. Our mattresses will fit into it, but we have to buy their slats for the base or a piece of plywood. We aren't going to set it up until we move, so hopefully we have a home to put it in then.

While we were looking at stuff Isabella was being her cute self in the cart. Oohing and aahing at all the things and suddenly shrieking in excitement for reasons we could not discern. But in a quiet moment she put her hands on my belly, (which is now big enough to look pregnant and not just fat) and said what I think she says for 'baby'. It might be dolly as it's the same thing she calls her dolly but we usually call her dolly, baby. Anyway, I didn't even dream that she would catch on that there is a baby in there, even though we tell her often. I just assumed she was too young, but it looks like she might be catching on, and that warmed my heart.

Speaking of the baby, we still need a change table to go with the crib we got last time, as if I'm cut off from As Is. Just cut off until we get settled again.

The Saga Continues.

So before I email the guy back to try and talk him into holding this house for us until August 1, I decided it would probably be a good idea to talk to the church and make sure we can afford it. I emailed the one paster we talk to, who forwarded it on to another pastor and both responded.

The Sr. Pastor said that he would be talking with the treasurer and hopefully have some figures for us tomorrow. Then he says, (and I quote) "Lets keep praying that something will come up that will be nice for you and your family Amanda but also not too expensive." and then gives me an option to continue to look into for a particular apartment building. Now what am I to make of that? Are they simply preparing me for the cost of Ontario, or slyfully saying 'yeah that's out of your price range'?

The other pastor responds with, (and again I quote), "$1200 plus utilities is a little high, but, that’s G’Town. You may be able to find something around 12 including utilities" and points me in the direction of the same apartment building to look. Is it expensive cuz it's Ontario or too expensive for me? And then he adds: "We are also looking for a place for you and have a few pokers in the fire.". Now do these pokers mean I should stop spending five hours a day searching and they remember to tell me if a place falls into place? And if a place does fall into place is it going to be some lesson in 'living sacrifically' where we can supposedly cram all four of us into a one bedroom basement suite cuz it's cheap? Because I can tell you right now that's not a lesson I need to learn.

Finally the email ended with some contact info for Nick to get in touch with the guy to look into the second job possibility, which we thought was already a shoe in and there would just be some formal stuff to go through once we arrived, but now we're not even sure Nick has that job.

So, I'm not sure what tomorrow will hold. But I can tell you I'm not so much enjoying this rollar coaster anymore. I stressed to the pastors what our search had indicated so far, ($1200 a month is the cheap end of 3 bedrooms and everything listed as 2 bedrooms is too small for a family of four) and tried to end with some humor about the hormones of the pregnant.

Sorry Jen, it doesn't look like it's falling into place yet.

Small Update

I got a call back about the house we're interested in. It's a 3 bdrm duplex with country kitchen, and it just sounds so great, exactly what we want! I have to check on appliances as we don't have any. The only downfall is that he wants to fill it immediately and I am not sure he'll hold onto it for August 1! Here's hoping! I'm also going to email the church to see if we can get some answers as far as the details of Nick's work there, we still haven't heard. Here's hoping we can get some pieces of this puzzle in place!

WTH?????

So last night Nick and I got home and passed out while Belle ate her dinner, yay for not choking on macaronni and cheese while her parents were MIA. And after our nap we decided to rent a movie and just spend some time together. While Nick was out getting the movie and the necessary slurpees I finished up the laundry and decided to pack my trunk for the move. I do not own a dresser, but a trunk of my great grandmothers when she came over from England, and so I took everything off the hangers, removed my maternity wardrobe and packed that thing. Yay for an accomplishment. Nick came home and decided to get in the action, so he downsized his closet, (we both got rid of our rag tag items) and he shrunk his t-shirt collection by 50% I'm sure. We loaded four big black garbage bags of clothes and sheets and such into the car. It felt good to have that done.

Then we came out to watch the movie. But Belle had terrorized the house and all sorts of papers were everywhere. So we gathered up all the loose papers in our "office" piled them on the coffee table and began to sort through them while watching the movie, (which by the way was Waiting starring Ryan Reynolds and I wouldn't recommend it to a soul). We managed to downsize all of our office clutter into about 3 boxes, which is impressive.

The movie ended and we both had a minor heart attack, 12:30am! Why are we still up we both have to work! But we were both wide awake. That led to some general tidying up and then we needed a snack. Nick promptly inhaled his food and passed out on the couch. I however remained awake until 5:30am at which point my mind was still functioning but my body began to tremble. Despite trying to will myself not to I took my body to bed.

I did not make it into the office this morning, that is a mess up! Luckily I have a gal on the inside who can fix this mistake for me. I also did not do as much calling for my contract job as I had hoped to so I have a busy day again tomorrow. I have no idea why I get so much energy in the late evening. I usually make myself go to bed and toss and turn until about 4:00am. It's so not fun, and I can't figure out how to fix it, (sidenote, it's not the caffeine in the slurpee I am officially immune).

So, I still have some chores to do and tomorrow and Friday will be busy fixing my mess ups, but the house is so tidy that while Nick is away from Friday to next Thursday I can spend all my free time scrapbooking! Yay.

But I really would like to sleep like a normal person!

Fetishes

*I don't actually know the definition of fetish, but it sounds mischevious and so I chose to use it as the title, perhaps compulsion might have been a more accurate choice but it makes me sound commitable and so I did not chose it, ah artistic rights.

When I went to college there was a wall of mailboxes just before you entered the cafeteria and being that it was bridal college we all ate together all the time, (how else are you supposed to find a mate?), and so if you got mail everyone knew about it. There was the infamous "pink slip" which signaled that you had a package. More often than not those with "special someones" back home got a lot of pink slips, (and those with mother's having a hard time letting go), mail was a highlight in the day. It's true that some people would leave things in their mailbox like granola bars so that at each meal they would get something from their mailbox. It could be a piece of lint, but if your box contained something you were the envy of everyone else. My therapist made a lot of money off of me dealing with the mail wall.

I still check my mailbox just before lunch, and then every hour on the hour after that until mail arrives. I'm a loser baby. What would I do if my mailbox was at the end of a long driveway? Exercise?? I know that as a grown up 99.9% of mail is bills or people offering you a credit card that will change your life, but I still check and get little butterflies everytime I open the lid and the same sinking feeling when there's nothing there.

Now I don't get mail often, most of my friendships are maintained online and there really isn't any reason to send me anything, but I still crave it. So I got myself a magazine subscription for my birthday. When Nick rolled his eyes I just explained "honey I have needs. Which he can't argue with, unless he wants to lose that line in his arsenal.

But last winter we refused to shovel our walk. We live in a fourplex and we're the only ones who do any kind of maintenance and so we refused. We refused until we got a letter stating "Due to the dangerous condition of your walk you will no longer be receiving your mail.". No joke, they called our bluff. Minutes later we bought a bag of ice melt and I spent many many hours outside during Belle's afternoon nap trying to break up three feet of snow with a PLASTIC shovel. Eventually we got that walk cleaned and our mail delivery resumed. I could breath again and Nick stopped working on the padded room.

I also love sending mail. Last night I packed up a baby package and it's sitting on my desk just waiting to be taken to the post office, which I'm delaying because the baby isn't born yet and I don't want to seem too eager to have my gift enjoyed. I write letters when I don't need to and I actually mail in some of my bills instead of paying them online! Annual Christmas letters are one of my favorite parts of the season, and I think I might just keep having kids so I can continue making baby announcements and thank you notes........I really should harness this crazed need and energy into something productive.

But now you know about my mail fetish.

Sporadic

Life is feeling sporadic today, so here are some sporadic thoughts!

-I called about the house again and again and now the voicemail box is FULL and I can no longer leave messages so I'm not sure what will happen!

-I am doing two jobs both with a lot of time requirements, and this week I'm so TIRED. I hope I can make it 5 more weeks!

-In all seriousness all I want to do is make baby announcements! I found a design I'm in love with and I just want to go at it so all I have to do post baby is take and add a great picture! I loved doing it for Isabella and can't wait to do it again!

-I am soooooooooooo hungry today, what's up with that?

-I hate "This is Daniel Cook" I just hate it. And he's a millionaire at age 5. Ugh.

-I have gotten one piece of mail in the last month, (thanks Jen the pic of Abby is adorable!), I haven't even gotten regular junk mail, is my mail carrier on vacation?

-I think we should pack up all of our possessions right this minute because I am tired of picking them up off the ground!

-How does one get pen ink out of a shirt? I just can't figure it out. It's probably permanent marker, but it's ruining two shirts and driving me nuts!

-I think I want some cottage cheese, no wait I NEED some cottage cheese. Must go get cottage cheese.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today is my 26th Birthday so I'm going to try and do something fun, to tell you more about me and how special I am, (lol) .

26-Years I've been alive.
25-The age I was when my first child was born.
24-The number of cookies I could eat in one sitting.
23-Number of times I check my email everyday, (okay so this is an estimate, and probably much lower than reality!).
22-The age I was when I got married and graduated from college.
21-I would like to read 21 books this year.
20-The year I met Nick.
19-The year I started college.
18-The year I graduated high school.
17- The age I was when I got my drivers licence.
16-The age I was when I went to camp for the first time.
15-I'm at a loss here.
14-I might be wrong but I believe I was 14 when my braces came off.
13-I thought about washing my floor 13 times today, THOUGHT being the key word.
12-The day of June I was born on!
11-Combined years of post secondary schooling between Nick and I. (I have 4 he has 7)
10-I have ten fingers and ten toes!
9-This times 3 is the number of days of work I have left before we move!
8-I would love to get 8 hours of sleep in a night.
7-I've thought about having this many careers; Inn owner (think Gilmore Girls), hairstylist, interior decorator, banquet department manager, wedding planner, scrapbooking consultant, columnist for a magazine.
6-I predict the Stanley Cup finals will be over in 6 games.
5-The number of times I've moved since being a "grown up".
4-The number of children I want to have.
3-The number of times I've been pregnant.
2-The number of children I have, (or will have before my next birthday depending on your point of view).
1-The number of people you'll find just like me!!

Where does the time go?

Today I wrote an email to my aunt and signed off saying "see you in 45 days". My aunt lives in Brampton, which is right next to Georgetown which means that in 45 days our move will have been over and done with and we will be living in Ontario. It feels like just yesterday we had months before this would happen. Where does the time go?

We found an ad today for a HOUSE for the same rent as the main floor deal we had been informed about before. I am going to call for a few more details tomorrow, and have my fingers crossed it's still available. Then hopefully we can get in touch with the church and make sure we can afford it and we'll have an address! That would be sweet. So say a prayer if you think of it!

Other than that our weekend has been pretty humdrum, just being lazy at home. I might not be doing too many entries this week as I'm trying to get all these recipes online, and my fingers get sore from typing! I am finding a zillion things I can't wait to try though, I love new recipes, (or should I say old recipes I've just never bothered to read??)