Last Minute Nerves

So I'll be leaving this house of mine in less than 5 hours, and thus will begin my 2 day trek to Utah. (Well, nearly 2 days... I'm taking a 4:15 bus to Buffalo which gets there at 7:40pm, then I'll sleep at the Desrosiers house, and leave with Shara in the morning so she's at work by 8am, and she'll drop me off at the airport on her way. Then I wait for my 11am flight, 4 hour layover in Kentucky, and I finally get into Utah at 6:30pm, which is 8:30pm my (eastern) time. I am going to be so tiiiiiiiiired when I get there.

Oh well, the nieces and nephews will wear me out and I'll sleep like a brick hit me Tuesday night for sure.

So, I think I've just about got everything. Aloha shirt for the Rehearsal Luau Dinner (I brought my two faves actually)... I've pretty much got everything else. I'm now wondering if I should bring another pair of crappy jeans, or just wait and go shopping there... (I'm easy with jeans, target or walmart works great for me.) I think I'm good wardrobe-wise. I brought a TON of makeup, both for selling to relatives, and to leave with my mom so she can mail them for me. See, with PayPal, I can pay for shipping here, email her the .pdf of the prepaid thingy, and she can stick it on a priority box, and I can schedule a pick-up for her even. SO much easier to ship stuff from the US than it is from Canada. (I shouldn't complain that much, its all this walking to the post office (nearly every day) since October that has dropped me a pants size. I'm a little afraid the size will come back if I get my car back.

...Uh oh... Hubby found my stash of makeup that I'm taking to my mom's house. Not good. I don't know if he'll let me take it all or not. We shall see. See, my plan is to take a TON of it, sell it, and if it doesn't sell, leave it there with instructions for my mom to ship it out there.

*sigh*

I still have laundry to do. I hope he'll let me just take it already. I don't need a fight right before I leave. I still feel like I'm forgetting something else though. :(

Now for the good news: My brother's family has made it to Utah safely. :) I'm not sure when Paula gets there, Jamie should be in a few hours later than me... And their husbands come at a later date because of work.

I'm really excited to see them again! I'll be so sad to leave them... We're a cute bunch.

December 19, 2005
Missing: Andy (Jamie's Husband, married March 2006), Baby Ella (born August 2006), and Baby Courtney (born June 2007), and of course my husband... He still hasn't met my parents...

The one getting married this Friday is next to me, "between"ish the bride and groom. Little bro Dave. I can hardly believe it. :) Congrats Dave!

My cute neice. :)

I figure next week I'll be gushing about my side of the family's cuteie pies... Right now, I'll gush about my neice Madison. Hubby's sister's new baby girl.

Brandi (my Sister-in-Law (SIL)) posted new pictures on her facebook, and I just wanted to share the cutest ones. :) She's so pinchable! I can't wait to get my car back here so I can go babysit this wee one! :)

These first two are my favorites, its a toss-up. I love the "cheerio" face, and I love how cute she looks wearing green!





These last two are total opposites, one she's dressed like a princess, the other looks like she's ready to watch some hockey with daddy on the leather sofa. She's little, but she's tough. ;)





She's so cute. Her dad is Portugese, so she's going to have that beautiful olive skin, with Brandi's blue eyes, and dark hair. I can't wait for her to grow up! I need to have a baby soon... Then I can use all of Brandi's baby equipment! lol hurrah! I don't think I can quite yet convince the hubby though. *sigh*

Don't mind me...

I'm just doing a little pre-flight freak out. No mail again, and I'm leaving Monday at noon, I'm afraid I won't be able to check the mail Monday (not like it'll come then either.) I need to scream or cry into a pillow!

I want to pack lightly, but I want to make sure I get everything I need. Both there (ie: makeup for mom to buy) and on the way back (books for Sarah from the land of LDS bounty). But I don't want to be over-burdened by any of it.

Hopefully I won't forget the essentials (Passport, cell phone/charger, sunglasses, car documents, I'm hoping the hubby will let me take our camera, mp3 player for boredom (i have a few audio books on it too), real books? Dunno, should I chance/risk taking library books to the states? What if I'm not able to come back? I suppose I could mail them back to Jon for him to return for me...) What else do I need?

See, there's too much to stress about.

I think I should pack a lunch too. I know I'll be hungry Tuesday. But I'm bussing it into Buffalo Monday night, staying with Dan & Shara, and then leave with her at 8am (she works near the airport), and then catch my 11:03 flight. Then I have a layover nearly 4 and a half hours long in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (wth?) UGH. I hate layovers. hate. Then I get into Utah around 6:30pm. I think mom said Amy was picking me up, she is visiting her grandma earlier that day, and hopefully she'll bring baby Ella. I miss that little girl. :)

Anyway, I also have to figure out what clothes I'll need. Something for the family picture, but I have NO nice clothes. The nice thing I do have is what I wore in the pic a year and a half ago! :( Maybe I'll have time to go shopping (hopefully with someone else's money ;) ;) ) Before Thursday. Maybe I'll just pack like 5 items of necessary clothing. Then I'll have to buy more stuff. :) (Sorry, just finished a Shopaholic book last night... er, this morning at 4am... Cute book, warning though, its got swearing in it.)

I'm so ornery and snippity today. I've already snapped at Jon like 4 times. (We're mailing out an eBay package we sold for $1225 today... its a high stress zone here. Sucks that all that money is spoken for. :( I'll have like no spending money while I'm there... another reason I'm hoping for a free haircut if I donate this rats nest to locks of love.) And I have a huge headache. AND my whole body is sore. We picked up trash for our Service project Wednesday, and I'm still so sore. :(

I was listening to Ben Folds - The Luckiest last night/this morning around 4:30am when I realized I wasn't falling asleep and I cried and cried. I don't know why. After which, I listened to "In-Flight French" a book teaching/telling me all these french sayings for travel... I might need these if I have to drive through Quebec to get home. :(

I'm a mess. I don't know why. Time for a shower. I have issues.



Cute shirt eh? hehe!

My New Recipe Blog

Hey y'all. I've just created a new blog. It's My Recipe Box. Conveniently located here: http://shelleysrecipebox.blogspot.com/

Mostly I created it out of boredom, and also because the Sandra Lee cookbook I borrowed from the library is due back on Monday, and I hardly got the chance to look at it, so I scanned in my hopeful favorites, and wanted to share them.

My husband laughs that I actually *need* a recipe... but whatever. I'm not talented like him. :-Þ

There's also a link to it to the right under "Blogs I Read". No promises as to how often I'll be updating it. None. But feel free to comment. Also, if you have a recipe you'd think I'd enjoy, or would like to see it on that blog, send it to me.

That is all. :) Now I'm hungry.

No mail again.

Ok, so this mail has less than a week to get here. Or else.

I'll most likely be bussing it out of here on Monday night, and staying with Shara & Dan (amazing people watching my jeep) for the night. So, heaven help me, if it doesn't get here by then, who knows what is going to happen August 6th when I try to get back into Canada. Those pages are like my ticket back in! ugh.

I'm also planning on packing SUPER LIGHT. Like one pair of jeans (I know I'll buy another there, cuz clothes are cheaper in the US, and the US Dollar is hurtin', which means I spend less Canadian dollars)... An aloha shirt, my skirt that travels and doesn't wrinkle (yay polyester) and something to wear for the family pictures... Maybe I'll buy that too. I don't want to be bringing a ton of stuff down there, because if I do, they'll question my moving up to Canada on the way back in. I don't want that. If I have to, I'll ship stuff from Utah on up.

I'm so freaked out about being able to come back home. You have no idea. I'm leaving Dan & Shara's address with the hubby, so if it arrives while I'm gone, he can fedex it.

In the same breath though, I want my bike back, and my rubbermaid tote with my crafty stuff in it (I've been dyin' without it!), and my makeup... It's a plastick 7 drawyer thing with wheels. Hey, you can't sell makeup and not totally fall in love with it. Speaking of... I'm thinking of becomming an Avon rep when I get my car back. It's all under the table, and I can do it legally in Canada, without having a SIN number (Social Insurance, like an SSN in the states). THEN maybe I'll look into getting a health card. That's a ways away thoguh.

This is such a random post. I apologize

I don't really have a ton planned for my trip... I get in Tuesday night, Thursday is the rehearsal dinner, Friday is the wedding, and I leave Monday. I have to squeeze in a visit with my old roommies Hayley and Jessica, and get my hair cut (seriously, the hair is almost down to my waist. Granted, I'm short waisted, but this is the longest my hair has ever EVER been, and the fact that it hasn't been colored ever is a freak out too. I'm so donating it to locks of love), got to find a place to do that in Provs. Then I need to go shopping. And Our YW President, Sarah wants me to take her credit card (dangerous) and buy her all kinds of books at the distribution center. Fun fun.

I'll be there in one week! kind of exciting. :)

What else is on my mind... hmmm

Honestly, not much. :) I should go read my book. Night!

I finished another book!

It's like a new world record for me. Since I posted that first reading one... I believe it was just one month ago... I've now finished 3 of those Sisterchicks books.

I'd really LOVE to recommend them to everyone. They're awesome. You seasoned readers out there, will zip right through them in just a few hours, I swear. (I mean heck, If I can do it, you all surely could.)

The one I just finished reading was Sisterchicks On the Loose! - Robin Jones Gunn, it's a story about two gals (aka: sisterchicks) that visit Finland, to visit one of their long lost aunt and family. I grew up 2 houses down from a part Finnish family, their dad was from Finland, and mom was from Utah I think. I'm not sure, but I was good friends with their daughter. She only taught me two words in Finnish. Lintu, means bird, and I'll spare you the other one. Its colorful, but not a swear word. lol

Anyway, the reason for this post, is because in the back of the Sisterchicks on the Loose book, there are recommendations for other books, that may be of use to a few of you in the near future.

The first, I think would be awesome for Brianna (even though you may not want her to grow up... she will), and maybe even Hannah... It's Gentle Passages: Guiding Your Daughter into Womanhood Here's what they say about the book:
"Every woman who has an adolescent daughter recognizes her own forgotten questions and insecurities mirrored in those bright young eyes. How can she let her know that she understands these changes, too strange and intimate for her daughter to mention? How can she make the passage into womanhood not a shameful, unpleasant experience but a harmonious and joyful one -- an invitation to a treasured role in God's eyes? Robin Jones Gunn shares stories of how this uncertain transition can become the loveliest time in the life of a mother and daughter, inspiring women with special traditions to carry on for generations to come."


I kinda wish I'd had this book what... 15 years ago?

There's another one that I'd like to have once I finally do have kids too... It's Mothering By Heart. Synopsis:
"Focusing upon the special bond between a mother and child, this unique gift book offers lilting poetry, poignant prose, spiritual insights, romantic photographic images, inspiring quotations, and heart-warming journal entries. A delightful companion to women of every age and background celebrating the vast and myriad joys of motherhood!"


I now adore Robin Jones Gunn, and I really hope to read all her other books, especially the Glenbrooke Series I'm going to try Sophie Kinsella next though. The "Shopaholic & Sister" book is next up for me. I just really can't believe I'm *this* excited about books. I always figured I was a teensy bit dyslexic, my eyes would always jump around when I read, and it was always super hard for me. Maybe its just with these Robin Jones Gunn books... It really doesn't seem that hard anymore. We'll see how I do with the Shopaholic books though, before I start screaming on the rooftops that my partial dyslexia has been cured.

Anyway, I can't recommend them enough. :) Go. Read. Love.

PS: No mail again today, and I'm leaving in a week! ack! I NEED it. :(

Beautiful Disaster

I've resigned myself to not ever getting that letter from my mom. I'm stopping watching the pot of boiling water. Now I've got to find a ride to Buffalo for next Tuesday the 31st, then when I come back, I should be able to come in with my jeep. If not, I have a "worst case scenerio" plan. I drive to CT, get new plates, and drive up through Quebec. They're like a whole other country... almost. They'r enot run by the same laws as the rest of Canada, for some reason. I'll have to learn french real quick to help me get by. But that's the plan... for now. :)

Hayley just introduced me to Jon McLaughlin. I likey. Although, I'm afraid the term "Beautiful Disaster" has long ago carved out a spot in my heart. LONG ago. LONG people.

In August of 1997 (In my opinion, the height of my music lovin') 311 put out their Transistor album. I fell in love. 311 isn't for the weak... and probably shouldn't be for the LDS either... but I love 'em. It's a weakness I guess. But ever since I've heard this song, I've loved 311, thought I was *THE* beautiful disaster, and I'd say this song is definitely in my top 5 faves of all time. :) Here's the music video, although I won't be offended if you no likey. Lyrics are below the video, but these are my favorite lyrics:
"you're a butterfly in the wind without a care, a pretty train crash to me and I can't care, I do I don't whatever."

I'd like to think I'm a pretty train crash too.

311 - Beautiful Disaster

Today seems like a good day
to burn a bridge or two
the one with my old wood creaking
that would burn away right on cue
I try to be not like that
'cuz some people really suck
some people need to get the axing
chalk it up to bad luck

I know a drugstore cowgirl
so afraid of getting bored
she's always running from something
so many things ignored
I might do that stuff if
it didn't make me feel like
I'm on some old reality tip
so many trips in it

Beautiful disaster
flyin' down the street again
I tried to keep up
you wore me out and left me ate up
now I wish you all the luck
you're a butterfly in the wind without a care
a pretty train crash to me and I can't care
I do I don't whatever

I know a drugstore cowgirl
so afraid of getting bored
she's always running from something
so many things ignored
I try to be not like this
but I thought it'd make a good song
there's nothing to see shows over
people just move along

Beautiful disaster
flyin' down the street again
I tried to keep up
you wore me out and left me ate up
now I wish you all the luck
you're a butterfly in the wind without a care
a pretty train crash to me and I can't care
I do I don't whatever

:)
Plus, the lead singer is cute:

The End.


Added Monday July 23, 2007 12:09PM
I edited out the swear word... I didn't realize it had one (sorry Amy), the version I listen to has it edited out. But then I realized the video doesn't edit it, so I just took it out. ;) See... Pretty train crash.

7 things about me...

Hayley, Holly, and a few of their friends have posted 7 things others may not know about them. So, I figure, rather than fret about mail I haven't received, and rather than play Desktop Tower Defense, or play with my fishies, I'll post *my* 7 little things... just as soon as I can think of them all.

1) I had eczema on my feet as a child. like really bad. They would crack and peel, I'd have to soak them nearly nightly, put some kind of cream on them (My favorite was this stuff called "Happy Feet" which we seemed to only be able to get from my dad's dad, Gramps.) And then put socks on, which would explain why it's hard for me to go to bed without wearing socks. For some reason, when I was in college, it seemed to clear up completely, for the first time, I had smooth feet, and it was awesome. :) In fact, a friend that had been in my elementary school classes, asked me if I was allergic to the rubber slippers worn in Hawaii, because he noticed my feet were always dry, peeling, and cracking. Later I found out he had a HUGE crush on me and would notice something grodie like that. I was such a nerd in 3rd grade. see?

This pic is actually 2nd grade, no idea where my 3rd grade picture is. look at that dorky hair cut. lol ...anyway...

2. I often wonder why I don't have diabetes. I am a sweet FREAK. I like NEED to have sugar. I think I'd die without it. It's insane. I used to eat sugar cubes, sugar packets, whatever... Now I just buy candy and hide it. I'm also amazed I'm not 800 lbs. While I am a little heavier than I'd like, all this walking I've been doing without my car, has allowed me to lose at least a pants size. And I can take my jeans off and pull them on without undoing the snap. Yes, I need new jeans. Maybe I'll get some in Utah in 2 weeks (or less!). If I had to give up sugar, I think I'd die.

3. I've recently learned that I can't handle being a hostess to more than 4 other people at a time. My husband was planning a HUGE BBQ for Canada Day, and kept inviting people over. more and more and MORE. At one point we had 10 people PLUS us invited over, and the worst thing was, he said "You bring the fireworks, I'll provide the beer." These are like, his parents' friends from the bar... while they're good people, they'd drink us out of house and home. This in a month where our rent was 10 days late. ANYWAY, I had a HUGE anxiety attack the Thursday before Canada Day, and I could not handle the stress of it all. It was ugly. I totally freaked out. The BBQ was cancelled, my husband was disappointed (in me mostly), but we've moved on, and I'm back to "normal" now. But I hate being a hostess. I'm terrible at it. bleh!

4. I didn't have a first boyfriend (if you could call him that) till I was 18. And like the Bon Jovi song says... Our very first kiss WAS our first kiss goodbye... he kind of stopped calling me as much, and we hung out WAY less than we did the 5 months before that... I still wrote to him on his mission and kept in touch for 2 years... when he came back he married my neighbor. Not that I was expecting him to marry me, I just didn't think she was his type. :| Yes, I have deep-seeded issues. Many issues. Also, like Holly, the number of guys I've kissed fits on 1 hand. And I shouldn't have kissed 2 of them. lol moving on...

5. Holly's braces post reminded me of my horrid past with my teeth. When I was 22 or 12, the dentist figured that I needed to have 2 teeth pulled, otherwise I'd end up with a snaggle tooth (thank HEAVEN he realized that! I hate snaggle teeth!) Anyway, the one on the right side of me found the airport, and grew in as it should... the other one... not so much. That single tooth has caused me SO much pain, anguish, and tears in my life. yes, tears. I've had oral surgery on it at least 3 times... They had to go up into my gums (where the new tooth was) wrap a wire around it, and leave the end hanging down like a hook. They put braces on me, and gently (ok, not so gently) tightened it weekly, and over the course of a year and a half or so, they had pulled that sucker into place. I think I ate a LOT of milkshakes those years. I could barely bite anything on that side of my mouth. BUT my teeth are straight now, No idea where my retainer is though. I remember I cracked it once, and they had to fix it. it was hideous, and thick after that. I think its in Utah.

Oh, and last year, I had to get a root canal on that darn tooth. My poor kids. They're going to have the same teeth issues, AND a big huge gap (like my husband has, and like I had before the braces... My dad and brother have it too.) They'll be like David Letterman kids. *sigh* I need a trust fund set up just for their teeth issues i think.

6. I don't like pickles. Vinegar is gross. I use it as a cleaning product, not something to eat. I had the same aversion to Mustard too, but that is slowly going away. Odd, because when I was a kid, I used to get a pickle on a fork and eat it. I loved relish too. Hotdogs weren't complete without relish. Now, I don't like it. My husband's "cure all" for every illness is what he calls "ACV". "Drink some ACV Shelley, you'll be fine." I have. I nearly horked. ACV = Apple Cider Vinegar. Lemme tell ya, it tastes NOTHING like Apple Cider. bleh!

7. I adored cats/kittens when I was a kid. I had posters, wall calenders, stickers, you name it. I finally conned my mom into letting me have a kitten, and we got one. She was an all black cat, we named her Panther. (At least, I think she was a she). She was a garage/outside cat. I don't think I had my allergies yet... and even if I did, a cat dander allergy wasn't at the top of the list. Anyway, she couldn't have been older than 12 weeks, when a neighbor across the street said she thought she found out kitten, dead, on the side of the road in front of her house. I remember it vividly. My dad got the shovel, scooped her up, and solemnly took her to the back yard to bury her. It was so sad. I shouldn't have looked, but I did, and I remember it so vividly. Horrible.

Then in High School, I put a cat out of its misery. The car in front of me had hit it first, and it came spinning out from behind their car, and I heard a thud when it got near my muffler area. I knew it was dead. It was at night, we had a study session at the school, and of course, it happened right in front of the school. I told one or two people, they asked why I was so shaken up at the study group. The next day, they had nicknamed my car "anikill" the Animal Killer. horrible. Since then, it seems, by no fault of my own, that animals seem to flock to my car like magnets. With that same car, I'd hit a mongoose, and a bird. With other cars, there have been issues with another bird, and an opossum. Its horrible. I honestly can't help it. I don't do it on purpose either. Issues. That's only the surface of the issues.

I guess it'd be unfair to put an 8th thing, but doing these reminds me of a good quote. From the original Psycho. Norman Bates says "We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?" Yeah huh! I'm a little mad a lot of times, actually. It's kind of appropriate for these 7 things.

The end.

No mail

The saying "No news is good news" does not apply in this scenerio. I'm still waiting for the mail from my mom. Thursday will be 3 weeks since she sent it. I'm beginning to feel it was lost in the mail.

The one piece of important mail I've ever needed or wanted in my life... lost in the mail. How typical. How depressing.

Anyway, church is going well. Our Young Women's group has now grown to 10 total. I'm so excited. Before, we had maybe 6 active YW. We had 7 go to camp with us. One of our girls invited her 2 non member friends, and her aunt (who is barely 2 years older than her. :) ) so we had a good sized group with us. After our border changes, we've gained 4 more girls! Very exciting. I believe I still only have 2 Beehives to look after, but they're good girls, I like them.

Tomorrow we're making Journal Jars for our activity. Each of the girls gets to make, and decorate her own. I'm excited about it. Back in May, I taught a Journal lesson, and the girls LOVED it. It was probably the best lesson I've ever taught. I totally felt the spirit, I was MORE than passionate about the subject, and the girls were really into it! Especially since for New Beginnings in April, we gave them Journals as a gift. It was supposed to go along with the "Let virtue garnish thy thoughts" theme for the year. They were adorable little journals my mom found for like 3 bucks in Utah. Even after shipping, they were TONS cheaper than anything I found up here!

So, now the girls get to make their own jar, with the journal jar questions I had found for my lesson. So there's something to look forward to this week... even if I don't get my mail, and eventually my car back so my husband can get a job. *sigh*

Anticipation

I can not tell you how much it is killing me... anticipating getting this letter in the mail from my mom that says I've got a file number. I really REALLY wish I had been able to talk to her before she sent it off to me. I would have had her send it to the people watching my jeep in Buffalo... With delivery confirmation.

I mean seriously, she sent it 2 weeks ago. Thursday, June 28th. It's retarded how long this is taking to get here.

Meanwhile, I got my brother Dave and his fiancée Logan's wedding invitation, which was post marked on June 28th. I don't know when it got here, because I was at camp when it arrived. AT CAMP! I've been home from camp almost a week! How is it possible that my mom's letter, which was mailed on the SAME day from the SAME town (Provo) hasn't gotten to me yet, and the wedding invitation (which is freaking cute btw) did get to me... probably a week ago!

Such a pet peeve of mine. I hate how unpredictable the mail can be, its just Canada... its not like we're Cuba people.

Anyway, I've been stewing... I had a ride to buffalo all set up for Tuesday, expecting this letter already. My bishop goes there weekly for business. Turns out this week he went on Tuesday AND today... so because I don't have those papers, I don't get to go yet again.

AND, because I'm bored, and I think my brother and his fiancée are SO cute together, I'm posting their wedding announcement, because I actually received it in the mail.

This is the front, and it opens from right to left... not up and down... if that makes sense. Isn't it cool? I absolutely love it. They have great taste. They're not having a "typical" reception either, just a small open house... I think. Anyway, here's the inside, they're such a gorgeous couple. :) Welcome to the family Logan!



Anyway, here's hoping I get MORE mail tomorrow, because otherwise I'm waiting till next week (as there's no mail delivery in Canada on Saturdays), and I'm already saddened enough by not having my car back by now. :(

Got blood?

So, last week while I was at camp, apparently the Canadian Blood Bank called for me. I didn't bother calling them back when I got home.

Last night around 7:30pm they call again, and say they're going to be at Jackson Square (the "mall" downtown where I do shipping every day) tomorrow, and asked me if I could make it to donate blood. Before I hung up the phone and confirm my appointment, I was upstairs taking two iron pills. See, I'm not entirely anemic, its never been diagnosed by a doctor anyway, but I've been denied to give blood before because the level isn't quite what they require for blood donation.


Well, I was denied again today. :( My red blood/iron level was 118, and they require 125... I think in the states, they use a different measure, because I was always told it had to be 12.5... and I have always been 11.9 or somewhere around there. So I don't quite know if I'm anemic or what, but maybe I'll be able to donate blood another time. *sigh*

It's a little after noon, and I still haven't gotten any mail. I saw the mail man up the street (did you know the mail people in Canada walk EVERYWHERE? no little mail trucks! And mail boxes up here are near each house's front door, so they have to walk up the stairs... it seems like such a work out!) Anyway, I saw him up the street when I left for my appointment just before 11 this morning, but we still have an empty mailbox. :( I'm so jonesin' to get my jeep back. I so miss it! Say a little prayer that I get that mail from my momma soon! That's all I'm waiting for now! :)

Thank heaven for my husband!

Words can NOT express how thankful I am for my husband right now. He is awesome. I love, Love, LOVE that man. The temperature has risen...


That is now 107.6°F.

The reason I so love my hubby right now, is that he heard the ice cream man, knew I was miserable and slowly melting into a puddle of goopy goop, so he ran out there, and got me a chocolate dipped ice cream cone. Unbeknownst to him, I took his picture because I wanted to remember how sweet he really is, and how much I take that for granted.


He is just so precious. I don't think I'd run (not in this heat) out and get him an ice cream cone. :) Let alone, one dipped in chocolate!

The letter from mom didn't come, so it looks like I won't be going to Buffalo tomorrow. :( sucks.

I'm spoiled. Now I can go shower and see if I can finish the laundry before I leave for the post office in 25 minutes. :) That cone was JUST what I needed. Totally hit the spot. Thank you Jon! I Love You!

Its another heat wave

I think its worse this time though.

That "Feels Like" temperature of 40 Celcius is 104°F. I have no AC. I only have two fans, and my husband keeps turning them off, because he says "they're just blowing hot air around"... so? its better than stifled no air blowing around.

We have GOT to invest in some AC... even if its just for Jon's office (where the expensive computer is...) I don't care... its too hot to live!

Its so hot, that I'm only wearing my Hawaiian lava lava/sarong/pareo thing (undies too). Its wrapped in the classic dress style, but I twisted the "straps" in front before putting them behind my neck to tie them.

Its days like this that make me want to take a razor to my hair and just get rid of it ALL. Maybe I'll go fill the bathtub up with icy cold water. :)

Other than that I don't have much else to report. We haven't yet gotten the mail today (and if we did, nothing arrived). My Bishop is going to the states tomorrow, so if I don't get my letters from mom today, I'll have to wait another week. Not good... Maybe the folks watching my car & stuff (Dan and Shara) will be coming up this weekend? I'll have to check. I hope it comes today though!

Girl's Camp!

I forgot how much fun, drama, tears, and joy Girls Camp was. The last time I went was probably 12 years ago. And lemme tell ya, camp in Hawaii is soooo much different than it is up here in Canada. Kind of a scary picture of me, but whatever, I'm campin'!

Our theme for Girls Camp this year was "Believe" simple, yet pretty much all encompassing.

I did take *a* camera, but it was our old junky 2.0mp Toshiba camera that gives every picture a blue hue. :( Very upsetting. I'll do my best with the crappy photo editing software we have here (not my strong suit), but I can make no promises. I just really hope I'm able to extract a few good pictures here. :( Or I'll be super upset.

I "stole" our laminated copy of the schedule. I figure no one else wants it, why not? So here's that scanned in...


As you can see, we had a very jam-packed week. We arrived on Tuesday July 3rd at about 10:30. It was held at the Byng Island Conservation Area camp grounds (you pronounce that like Chandler Bing ;)). Which is about an hour or so south of Hamilton. The camp grounds had been so dry lately that there was a fire ban, and so we couldn't have a campfire. :( Very upsetting. But, we were all set-up by noon or 1pm or so, which was lovely. We all made "crowns" and wore them to dinner provided by the stake. We had turkey, ham, corn, rolls, baked potatoes, it was quite the "Royal Feast", which goes along with our "Daughter of a King" theme for the year. After our royal dinner, we had an activity complete with archery, croquet, and a relay game too. I didn't get pictures of these events. I was too busy shooting an arrow 50 feet past the target and losing it in the forest. Don't worry though, I found it the next morning on my way to the WLM (Ward Leader Meeting - which I pronounced almost like "William" Wull-um, all week long). After dinner and the activities, we had a great devotional where we talked about the creation, and I saw my first firefly! Justine invited her two friends Alysha and Kelsi to come camping with us. They're not members, and I think it was a really great experience for them. After that we all went to bed without too much trouble and "shhhhhhhhhhhhh"shing.

That night it started raining... and raining... and raining. It didn't stop.

Even though it was raining cats and buckets... er dogs... and the tents were all wet, the girls were able to do a service project. They made some adorable Autism awareness ribbons for the Autism society of Niagara Falls. They made 752 ribbons. Last year they made 500, so I guess the rain was a motivating factor in this, there wasn't really much else to do! Our amazing Craft Princess, Maxine Elliot, (LOVE HER!) said these ribbons would be sold to raise money and given to supporters of Autism in the area. She also said we made enough ribbons to sustain them for the next 10 months. Simply amazing.

Our canoe-ing was cancelled for Wednesday, so our girls got ingenious and made a slip-n-slide out of about 5 big black garbage bags and duct tape. It was awesome. So awesome, that other girls from other wards followed suit, and they wanted to play too. THEN the stake activities people pulled out a big fancy slip-n-slide that you could race with (it had two lanes for racing). Everyone who slipped and slid had a good time. Even a leader did it! And I think she was in her fifties!

Here area few pictures. The blue hue is annoying, so I'm putting up black and white pics for now. :)

Justine slipping on the garbage bag slide. Dorina off to the left. Our other girls Heather, Alysha, Kelsi, and Laura are in the background with Sarah, our YW President.


It was held in with tent pegs, and wasn't too safe. The stake brought out their fancy one and even more girls had fun in the rain. I was safe under my umbrella.



I'm so glad they were able to see an up-side to all the rain. They sure kept my spirits up!

Later that night, it stopped raining long enough for us to watch a movie. They brought in a huge screen, and all kinds of technology and we watched the 3rd Work and the Glory movie. I was totally lost. I haven't seen the first two, nor have I read the books... yet? I can't quite get into them right now.

For dinner Wednesday night, we ate enchilada pie. No idea which recipe we actually used, but it was a white sauce thing, with cream of mushroom soup. Which would have tasted AMAZING if we hadn't used so much lighter fluid on the top of our dutch oven coals. Everyone who ate the top cheese layer felt ill, and said they could taste the lighter fluid. I tried to make the best of it and joke around that I liked lighter fluid for dinner... some giggled, others thought I was really serious, funny stuff.


Sarah, our fearless leader with the lighter fluid.


I thought it tasted amazing, except for a slight chemical taste. I don't think anyone was too horribly sick as a result. Alessandra was ill the next evening, but I don't think it was related to this. This was our first meal gone awry.

While the enchilada pie was being made, we had a mini hair salon in the food tent. Heather gave me two french braids. After that, everyone around camp started walking around with french braids. Girls are fun. :) I likey.



Thursday we woke up at 6am to start a fire for the backpack chicken. Thankfully it had stopepd raining long enough for us to start a fire and heat up the rocks. We didn't realize the fire ban was still on... OH WELL! Unfortunatly, the rocks weren't hot enough and our chickens didn't cook. What a sad waste. :( After that, we were all a little sad and depressed that it didn't work out. Next time (should we do this next time) we're putting the rocks IN THE FIRE instead of around the fire pit. Second meal ruined.

Thankfully we had a backup. Dorina's Taco Potatoes! I was so looking forward to them. Unfortunatly again, she said her mom bought the wrong kind of potatoes (You need white baking potatoes, we got yellow/gold type ones... and it didn't quite work, but if you ask me, it tasted awesome none the less.) Since it was raining, we couldnt' cook the potatoes in a fire. Anyway, I'm getting the recipe for the meat, although I'm sure you could just cook a taco-night meat of your choice, and put the toppings on a scraped-out baked potato. :) We had meat, cheese, lettuce, sour cream, tomatos, salsa, and crushed up tostitos on top. So very yummy. I definitely think I'll try and make this at home some day. Our potatoes weren't done all the way, so we couldn't scrape them out, but they were mostly done enough to have a mashed (almsot) potato/taco salad type thing. Everyone was full. Definitely a good thing, even though Dornia said it was our 3rd failed meal.

Friday we had bacon and eggs for breakfast. Something we will NEVER again do at camp. The bacon was a disaster. we cooked it on our grill thingy, and the grease got EVERYWHERE. THEN The pan wasn't cleaned until I started to clean it for our Grilled Cheese lunch at noon! Next year, no playtime without cleaning up the kitchen FIRST. We had girls go tube-ing on the lake/river whatever it was before the breakfast dishes were done. I was not amused. This was right after our WLM/testimony meeting too. Totally ruined my spiritual high. :(

By this time, we were all a little frazzled, some more than others. Our YW president had a PMS related crying break-down and thought she had failed us all. Our 1st counselor Lisa had a depression break-down and she almost went home. I felt like I had to keep it happy and light, otherwise, I think the hatchet would have ended up bloody. Seriously. Next year, we'll be better off. It didn't help matters that our ward apparently (every year) breaks camp early, and sleeps outside on the last night. So Friday we had to take down all our tents, and we had a few murmurings amongst the girls until I told them about Sarah crying, then they seemed to chip in for the next hour or so, which was good. :)

The tents weren't quite fitting into the bags so well, so I steam-rollered them so they would. Lisa snapped a photo of me rolling around. Kinda funny.



So, after the tents were put away, we went down to the Grand River and watched the canoes and tubing activities. The girls convinced me to go tubing with them. President Glandfield (in the Stake Presidency) has a boat and was pulling 2 girls at a time behind the boat like a water ski. I went out with Dorina and Justine. We sat on the front nose of the little boat, and I totally enjoyed going over the waves we were making. It was super fun, until the two girls (he took 6 out at a time on the boat, and 2 at a time on the tube) right in front of us lost their crocs. Who the heck wears crocs while tubing? It's quite beyond me why they didn't leave them in the boat. Really. I think they also fell off the tube, and we had to pick them up. Annoying. That took like 5 minutes alone. THEN began the search for the crocs. We spotted them, and told Cap'n Glanfield where about it was. He pulled up as close as he could to it, and ended up getting a little too close. So much drama. The propeller ended up getting bent, and so he couldn't get too close to the shore anymore. BOO. Our tubing adventure was ruined. BUT I saved the croc, whoop-id-dee-doo. Why am I not happy? Well, because I got a hideous bruise as a result. I rested my leg where I possibly shouldn't have. On the silver round thingy next to the rope tie-off thing (its called a cleat, I looked it up. yay me!). Anyway, it looks like this one I found just now. Only the boat I was on ONLY had the round thing and the cleat (where the rope is tied in the figure 8 way).


So the first layer of skin or so went with it. The cleat bruised me a tiny bit too. I documented it for blogging purposes with the good camera just now. I woke up today with a very sore leg, and I'm sure it will be quite sore all week too.

Pretty huh? Pretty disgusting!


Let's see, where was I? Oh yes. Friday afternoon at the boat. SO, we didn't get to go tubing, but President Glandfield said he'd invite us to go some other time. I suppose there's always next year!

This is the longest post ever. lol

Friday the bishopric came up for a visit. It was SO fun having them. They brought desserts! But firstly we had our dinner. We cooked spaghetti and meatballs. We decided months ago to do a "Monk's Meal" for the dinner where the bishopric came. The idea, is that you eat like a monk. In total silence. If you don't, you lose a utensil. First the fork, then the spoon, then the knife, then you lose your hands, then you lose your seat and have to sit on the ground and eat. I didn't lose anything, but Kelsi, Dorina, and Alysha all lost their drinks. We had juice boxes with it, and Kelsi ended up poking her straw into a meatball to eat it... which was also confiscated.

Here are a few pictures of the madness.

Sarah Confiscating a Spoon.



Alysha, sitting on the ground, eating off of the seat. Hey, at least she still had a plate! I suppose it could have been worse!



Kelsi, Alysha, and Dorina eating outside of the tent, on the ground. I'm not sure if they finished eating or not. Poor sister Gao, she's from northern China and I think she's part mongolian... She didn't have a clue what was going on. She's super green, and she was baptized about a year and a half ago. She's a rock though, she and her mom wake up at 3am on Sundays to attend church at 5am, its a 2 hour drive! She didn't lose any utensils, but she rarely talks, so she was safe. :)


After all the madness at dinner, the bishopric brought out drumsticks! No, not a turkey drumstick, ICE CREAM! It was awesome. It totally hit the spot after the week we've had. They brought like 32 of them, so we each indulged in two of them.

We then went to devotional, awards, and testimony meeting. Here's a funny-ish group shot as we were getting ready for it to start.

Back L to R: Laura, Sarah, Kelsi, Me, Heather. Front L to R: Justine, Dorina, Sister Gao, Alysha, and Sister Sylvester. Our sister missionaries got special permission to come to girls camp, I'm guessing it was because of Kelsi and Alysha, our two non-member gals.


At the testimony meeting, I'm happy to say that 6 of our girls bore their testimonies. Only Alessandra didnt' get up there, she doesn't like public speaking. But I was so happy when each of them got up. We were about 30 minutes in to our 45 minute testimony meeting and no one had gone up. I was so close to crying, feeling like a failure, so I said a prayer. I knew that if Justine went up, everyone else would. She got up first, then Kelsi did, then Alysha. When Dorina got up, she totally made me cry. She talked about how excited I was to see my first firefly, and how she'll never look at a firefly the same way again. I was totally bawling. I don't know why I was so excited, but those bugs are so cool! I almost wish all bugs were so cool-looking... but if they were, I wouldn't be as excited. :) Anwyay, Heather and Laura also got up. Alessandra said they ran out of time. Maybe she'll get up tomorrow and give a recap. :) The testimony meeting was great. We had a fire all ready to go after the testimony meeting, and Sister Sylvester shared a few Idaho Girls Camp songs with us. So fun.

This is the "baby shark" song. I think they're doing Grandpa shark right now. See, no teeth. :)


After THAT, we had some cake! A girl who recently graduated from Young Women's (Jen Schulke) made us a cake, it is ADORABLE!

See? totally cute. VERY tasty too.


THEN we set up our tarps, and slept on the ground. I didn't get too many good pictures, because 1) my camera sucks (except in the dark for some reason... what's up with that?) and 2) I was trying to be stealthy. It was 5:45am when I woke up and took these pics!

Everybody!


The Lamb/Cow, Justine, & Dorina.


Alessandra & Heather.


Kelsi & Alysha.

I have more pictures ones I took, of me with each of the girls, but I want them fixed up before posting them. It's been a long, long, week. And this post has seriously taken me the last 3 hours to do. Thank heaven for autosave! Its now 9:03pm... it says I posted it at 5:46pm, which, of course, is the time I clicked "new post" not the actual "publish post" time.

Anyway... I hope you enjoyed my camp experience. :) I did for the most part too. I was just super glad to come home and shower, and take a little nap in my own bed. :)

PS, While I was gone, Sasha got a litter box, catnip/toy, food, and a collar. lol All she does is sleep all day long. Sounds like me actually. :) I guess we have a pet cat.

Bye till Saturday!

I'm off to camp, my ride will be here in like 2 minutes.

:)

I'll miss you all this week! Ta ta!

The cat is still here...

And apparently Jon has named it Sasha. I don't think that cat is going anywhere, anytime soon. Kinda sucks though, we're both a little allergic to it. I've already taken 2 Claritins within the past 48 hours, and my eyes feel a little puffy.

I'm guessing though, unless there's some big reward for this little thing, it'll be staying right here. Hubby was talking about getting her spayed, shots, flea bath just in case, etc... I don't know if that was supposed to be a deterrent for me, or him. I think he likes the cat more than I do. He brushes her, talks to her, hand-feeds her. Its kind of cute. I didn't think he had that side to him at all. lol


It seems the cuts on her ear have been re-oppened, I'm assuming she was scratching the scab because it got itchy. So I put some neosporin (wait, it was polysporin... they don't sell neosporin in Canada) on her ears, and she cried and tried to scratch me. Hopefully now she's a little better taken care of, and she'll let herself heal now.

Hubby gets to take care of the kitty this week. I'm leaving for camp early tomorrow morning, 8am or so. I still have to pack, and I don't really have a clue what I'm bringing. So I've really got to go pack. :) I may post again before I leave. :)

Bawled like a baby!

Happy Canada Day!


Ok, so today was fast sunday. I was the first one to get up (something that has NEVER happened before) to bear my testimony. This crazy American just wanted to share the good news of having a file number for Immigration! I also cried and cried. I just really love Canada. :) A few people told me they appreciated my testimony, and that it made them feel special. :)

THEN for the closing prayer, we sang "O, Canada" I bawled my head off. Sniffling, shaking, quivering... I don't know why, the water-works were like Niagara Falls people. It's SUCH a powerful song. I guess I just really felt God's presence there with me. Margie Schultz (adorable mid 50's lady with short greying curly hair) put her arm around me for the durration of the song, and by the 3rd verse, I was able to sing most of it. I'm so glad I had a tissue with me!

Here are the lyrics of the song. Even if you don't appreciate Canada as much as I do, you should be able to appreciate God's creation, and know that the Americas (ALL of them) are a part of God's Choice land.

1)
O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land, Glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee;
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

2)
O Canada! Where pines and maples grow,
Great prairies spread and Lordly rivers flow!
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From East to Western sea!
The land of hope for all who toil,
The true North strong and free!
God keep our land, glorious and free.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!

3)
O Canada! Beneath thy shining skies,
May Stalwart sons, and gentle maidens rise.
To keep thee steadfast thro' the years,
From East to Western sea.
Our own beloved native land,
Our true North strong and free!
God keep our land, glorious and free.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!

4)
Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our Dominion, in thy loving care.
Help us to find, O God, in thee,
A lasting rich reward.
As waiting for the better day,
We ever stand on guard.
God keep our land, glorious and free.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!

I have been so blessed in my life. I'm so thankful that I'm able to see God's divine creation on this earth, and know that no matter where I live, He will always have a hand in my life.

Hopefully you can feel that power in your lives as well. :)

Cake & a Kitty!

I made my cake!

My hubby surprised me and said we could get the pound cake, jello, cool whip and strawberries for my cake! (I so know it doesn't look like the picture... food *I* make never does. :( ) For those of you who don't get my facination with this cake, I love all things Canada, I love to bake, even if its just pretend (I didn't even bake the pound cake for this thing!), and currently our financial situation is not good. Not even sure if we'll make rent on time. So this is a MAJOR splurge for us. :) Do you like how it turned out? (I'm not thrilled with it, but I'm no artist, and I knew the maple leaf would give me issues. DH so happily pointed out that its not even centered. lol I tried man! I really did!)



I even got a self-portriat of me with it. Hubby took one too, but the dirty dishes are in the background, so that picture will be destroyed/deleted. :)

This picture just makes me really want to 1) eat it (I suppose we're saving it for tomorrow) and 2) pluck my eyebrows. yikes!

Anyway, so my dear husband invited his brother Christian over for a day of BBQing, xbox, and beer (it's ok... he's not LDS) Saturday, and during our BBQ, we had a little visitor.

A little tiny kitten who looked a little lost came into our back yard and started meowing. Maybe she liked our green grass? Not sure, but as some of you may know, a cat lover, I am NOT. This poor little thing is adorable though. She's a himalayan, and she has a really high-pitched meow, more of a mew, really, so I'm thinking she's just a kitten still.

Anyway, She looks like she was in a fight recently, and she's got no collar. We fed her a can of tuna fish, which she just ate right up, so she was definitely hungry. Then she went exploring in our house, which quite frankly, I didn't mind. There are other mangey cats/strays in the neighborhood that come in our house quite frequently (there's no screen on our back door, so they just climb right in when its too hot to have the wood door closed). I normally chase them things right out. This one though, I let her explore. I don't know why. It's possible that I'm allergic even, but she's adorable. This coming from a supposed cat-hater! Look at her though, she's pretty!



I don't think she quite knows what to make of our house... and she's a little scared still, but she ate, and then started purring. Thankfully my husband knows how to handle cats, he used to have a few. (Which I always made fun of him for having till now. lol)

Kitty keeps crying, which is why I'm posting at 2:30am instead of sleeping. Sucks, I have to teach tomorrow, and I'm only like 50% prepared. We definitely had a busy day... All that whilest being addicted to that desktop fighter game. I'm surprised we got prepared enough to eat anything.

I think we'll have a tiny bbq tomorrow, after I get back from church, so we can eat the cake, and potato salad I almost made (left out the mayo... no idea why... I got tired maybe?) And I'll more than likely take a nap too, especially after finding out its good for me, I can now do it guilt-free. :) hurrah! It's now 10 to 3am... I should try to sleep a little. I tried letting the cat out, but she didn't wanna leave. *sigh* She'd better hush up, or I won't get any sleep! Goodnight!