The No-Whine Countdown

In just over 2 weeks, we will have lived in Ottawa for 2 years!! Amazing! I can't believe it. In one way it's gone fast, yet in another its gone so slow. Some days feel alone and sad, while others buzz by with contentment and satisfaction. My heart can feel so full some days, and ache on others.

My Mom was here for 5 days and just left yesterday. As we were driving through our neighborhood, I couldn't help thinking "I like living here." I was so thankful to be in this lovely city. There are just so many blessings, and God has been SO faithful to us! Yes...there are still many times of grieving a lifetime of roots now gone, but there are so many blessings as well. Re-establishing a tree in a new place takes time. Roots take time.

Jason told me that as of August 1, we as a family are no longer permitted to whine about how hard it is to live here relationally. No more complaints. No more saying "Ottawa sucks". Instead, we should say things like "Ottawa is an adventure!" Jason says that it's like cursing ourselves every time we reinforce a negative feeling by consistently verbalizing the negative over and over again. I told him that was dumb. Just kidding. I think he's probably right.

Not sure if I can swear off whining completely....but I've made this promise to myself.

No more crying. No more spilling tears. No more repeatedly asking some to please please please invite us over. The fact is, sometimes you feel a connection with people...and you desire to pursue relationship. If you (or they!) don't feel that 'click', you don't feel as inclined to pursue. I understand that completely....as I am very relational, but I need to FEEL a click or connection with people. I'm assuming that others may just not feel that with us as well. You just can't make people be, or do what you desperately desire. It is what it is, and all I can do is open the doors of my home, throw out the invitation to relationship...and if it's returned...rejoice! If it isn't....to move on to those other relationships to which we feel a drawing.

Jason has made some great friends...and I have made some too. We haven't found a family that pursues relationship with us, as we do with them...where both spouses connect, and our kids do too. But I am so so so thankful for the wonderful buds of relationship I'm finding...and even more thankful for Jason's friendships. Jason has never had consistency in friendship like this in his life. What a gift! If Winnipeg was my Mecca for relationship, Ottawa is Jason's Friendship Mecca. And that is the most wonderful gift to us!

Funnily...just after I finished writing this, a couple that we have tried to pursue for a number of months called to invite us over!! Maybe there is something to be said for simply 'letting go'!! : )

July

I can't believe it's already July!! Well...tomorrow that is.

I've been sick for the last few days. Who gets a cold in June? Weird...and it's my second cold in just a couple weeks. I feel wiped...sleeping alot...coughing alot. I wonder if my body is just saying "okay...we're done...it's summer...lets crash!"

Jason gets time off during the summer, so its not as difficult to have the girls home all day. I, however, still have to work. I often feel like I'm neglecting them, but having Jason here to tag-team parent during the day is so awesome. Thankfully, in the last 2 weeks that I've been sick...my work days have been slow. I still have to do a couple hours work, but not full days. I'm so thankful for that!

Jason and I leave on our trip in just 20 days! I've never been so excited!! Since we did not have much of a honeymoon, we decided to go on a trip for our 15th wedding anniversary. We leave for Holland on the 20th of July. I can't wait to make this trip with Jason. I went in 2000, with Rhonda, when I found out I was pregnant with Anneka. Then I went with my mom a couple years later. Now I get to go with Jason...and I'm just looking forward to it so much!!! Sometimes I lay awake in bed, thinking about walking through Haarlem (the town my parents grew up in)...the sights, the smells, the people etc...and I get this silly smile on my face, and feel butterflies in my stomach. The anticipation of the trip is a huge part of the fun!

In other news, I've lost around 12 pounds in the last couple months. Just getting back to my healthy routine....and trying to finish up my weight loss journey (that has been almost 4 years now!) by losing the last 30 pounds. Its the hardest to lose...but slow and steady wins the race!! :)

I'm including a picture of me and Jason because we finally bought a new camera. (Our old one was a big stupid dinosaur!) We're so happy to have a small, lightweight camera that takes great pictures!! I took about 10 pictures in a row, and we were laughing so hard by the end, because we just kept getting sillier and sillier. I love this picture because it captures the joy we have in our lives right now. We are in love, happy, and so thankful to God for his mercy.

Life is good.

Fun Tips

Thanks for Vikki for sending this to me!

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Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze
mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and for-get about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.


No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! .. static is gone.

Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Our Very Own Prince

Today Jason had a business appointment that called for a suit and tie. Usually, he wears a golf shirt and nice pants etc....so we haven't seen him in a suit for a while.

Well, Jason came down in the suit, and the girls both gasped.

Anneka: Oh Daddy, you look so handsome!

At the bus stop with me, they continued to chat about how nice Daddy had looked.

Anneka: Didn't Daddy look handsome in his suit, Aila?
Aila: *swooning* Oh yes!! He looked like a handsome PRINCE!!

It was so sweet!

Product Rave

FRESHBOOKS

Okay...all you business people out there. If you have a small business of anykind, you've gotta see this!! FRESHBOOKS is an online invoicing/book-keeping program that not only helps you create, send, and track invoices and payments, but keeps track of your time too! And best of all...it's free. The free account has a couple limitations, but I used it for over a year on the free plan. Now that I have more active clients, I upgraded my account, but it's sooo amazing...and totally worth it.

You can email your professional-looking invoices, or even snail-mail them! (snail mail has a small fee) Then your clients simply log-in (just by clicking on the invoice) and can then have the option to pay you right there...by using their visa card (via Paypal) or any form of payment you like.

To feel, or not to feel

Phew! It's been a busy couple weeks!!

I've been flooded with work lately. It's such a great thing...and I really enjoy it.

A couple months ago I mentioned a possible new large contract, and last week it became official. It will really boost my income, which is such a blessing!! We're aware though, that work like mine isn't always guaranteed. It's not a steady paycheque. You gain clients, and you can easily lose them too. But we are sooo thankful to God for this, and are going to enjoy it (and pay down debt) as long as it keeps comin'!

Yes...I really love my job. Sometimes I think it's almost silly to be paid to sit and 'fiddle' with Photoshop for hours. It feels more like 'play' than 'work'. I'm so blessed....and I'm thankful every single day for it! It's long hours sometimes...and it does make for a tiring week quite often. So, I'm working on dealing with stress in a more healthy way.

I always thought of stress as negative, but have learned in the past 3 years, that there is also positive stress. Extremes of any kind can put stress on your body...even happy things, exciting things. Anything 'out of the ordinary'. I used to deal with all stress with food. (I'd eat when I was sad, or mad, or celebrating, or scared, or happy...you name it) Now that I can't do that anymore, i find myself unsure of how to deal with all these feelings. I once asked a wise friend "What am I supposed to do NOW when I feel all this stuff going on inside of me?" She had a brilliant response. "Nothing..just sit there and feel it!" Easier said than done!

When you've medicated for so long...that simple task is tricky. Sometimes I wish there was something I could do to just distract me from a stressful situation. But the healthy response is not to run to something that helps you avoid the feeling...it's to just feel it! (And then ask God to work though it with you) So instead of avoiding it by eating (or running, or watching tv, or working) I'm getting used to being alone with my thoughts.

I considered going to Starbucks alone with my journal, and just writing. But...err...that's kinda scary! No one to talk to? Feelings spilling out all over the paper...yikes! I know that a good purge is helpful...but sometimes I don't know what to do with the aftermath. Sometimes the act of writing can bring up all kinds of hidden things you didn't know were there. And then you need to work through them. Now THAT sounds like hard work!

So yes...things are good. Complicated, but good. And I'm growing up through it all.

Aila Loves Brigitte

Aila said this about my little french friend Brigitte this morning:

"Mommy...did you know that Brigitte is an awesome French-speaker?? I mean...she's the AWESOMEST, most frenchest ever!! She's BRILLIANT!!"