AAaaaahh....it's been way to long since I've posted here. I knew this would happen.

So here's my latest thing - and I'm posting here publically so that you'll keep me accountable.

Our church is talking Lent these days. We, traditionally, don't do much with Lent but there's a lot to be said for taking something out of your life for awhile to make you stop and think about the Easter season and what's been done for you.

Anyway....I thought about giving up coffee but realized, I'm not addicted or anything - it's purely a social thing for me and I probably wouldn't even miss it. So....what would be a good thing for me to give up?

I'm already starting to get into a habit of waking up at 6:30am to read my Bible and do devos and God & I have this understanding so far that if I do it, He'll let the dog, and therefore, the children, sleep in. Seems to be working. The thing is....6:30am is not my best time of the day. So, for Lent....that's what I'm giving up....my BEST time of the day. Usually that means around 8:45 - 9:15 or so. The babysitting kids are playing, the school kids are off to school and I'm sitting down with coffee or breakfast in peace & quiet. Normally I fill this time up with news, or internet, or email, or scrapbooking....but for Lent, I'm going to FIRST spend some time praying or re-reading what I read through squinty sleep-encrusted eyes 2 hours earlier. That's it. My time.

5 Foods...


OK...to get us blogging - the challenge is 5 foods you hate and 5 foods you love. The picture is my tomato crop last year (or about a 6th of it) that made about 88 jars of tomato sauce for our homemade pasta sauces and pizzas!!

HATE:
Sweet & Sour Weiners/Rice/veggies meal. It's become my kids fav and I make it when I have to leave them with a sitter 'cause I know she'll have no trouble getting them to eat but Blecha!!

Restaurant Pizza: Sorry, just spoiled by our home-made varieties I think...although once in a blue moon, I get a craving for greasy Pizza Hut. Usually if I close my eyes it goes away.

Dry Roast Beef: Not any roast beef, but the "so-dry-you-can't-choke-it-down-and-no-amount-of-ketchup
-or-gravy-is-doing-the-trick" kind of roast beef.

Instant Vanilla pudding: Another fav of DH's and at least 2 of my kids. It's the quickest, easiest dessert to make and I can practically make it with my eyes closed but...eeewww.

Unsweetened Iced Tea: Technically not a food I know, but since most of my readers are from the US where this is the norm....you need to know there is better stuff out there!! Sweetened. GoodHost, Nestea, all good!

And
LOVE:

Almost all vegetables (prepared correctly): I think I must have been a rabbit in some past life.

A good, juicy, med-rare chunk of Filet Mignon: Although I love veggies - there is absolutely no mistaking me for a Vegetarian. Take me to The Keg and I'm yours.

Ice Cream: I'm a chocolate or vanilla person at heart but I also will accept Choc. Chip Mint, Black Raspberry Cheesecake, Praelines & Cream, or the frozen custard from Culver's.

Chocolate: OK, I'm a chocoholic....I'll admit it. I try to limit what I eat of it, 'cause I know the whole health thing but if it were healthy for you....it might dominate my diet.

Potatoes: I like 'em mashed, fried, baked (loaded of course), french fried, made into potato chips (which we do ourselves in our deep fryer), creamed with garlic and cream cheese and sour cream, covered in gravy, wedges.....OK....I love potatoes. Rice, not so much. But potatoes...mmmm.

Can't wait to see your lists.....tell me here if you took up the challenge.

Nyquil rules!

I have absolutely nothing to say this weekend except that I'm half asleep from they Nyquil already and I could really, really use a full-night's sleep. Wish me luck. It's been that kind of weekend.

Cathy

11 Random facts about me...


It's been a few days...sorry....I'm back. And I'm trying to be a faithful blogger.

It's been a crazy week or two and it's so cold here that I've been staying inside and not doing too much blog-worthy. Here's my picture. I heard from someone the other day that picture-less blog entries are boring so....here's my picture. This is what I'd rather be doing. I'd rather be sitting on a lawn chair, with my feet up, sipping iced tea (Canadian Iced Tea - not that unsweetened crap), watching my dog and my kids play in the sun.


But, I'm not. It's only -10 today which is pretty nice, considering it's almost Feb. so I'll be thankful that the -30 snap is over and I'll dream of summer days tonight.


A challenge was put out to list 11 random facts about me so....here goes:

1. I feel like my age stopped at 25 or so and that all my friends are all 25, just like me. It always surprises me when I remember I'm 35.

2. I cry like a baby at sappy movies - any sweet love stories, any untimely death stories, any missing children stories, and especially sad animal moments (like Charlotte's death in Charlotte's Web, etc). I also cry when watching a baby being born, human or animal - the miracle of birth never, ever ceases to amaze me.

3. One of my biggest pet peeves is typos and grammatical errors in officially published documents. I used to work for a man who would write his advertisements the way his brain translated them - directly from Dutch to English - without asking someone who actually spoke the language to edit/double check.....aaaarrg!

4. I had my first baby in the front seat of our Dodge Neon. Not exactly what those cars were designed for by the way.

5. I played (past tense) piano. I was studying my Grade 9 Royal Conservatory when I finished high school....but I haven't played much or used it since and so even though I got a piano for Mother's Day a few years ago, I'm really rusty and don't play much.

6. When I was in Grade 12, I went on a band tour to Europe for a couple of weeks - we saw The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and France. And at the end of the tour, our last concert was in Grand Forks, North Dakota and my friend and I were so tired of wearing pantyhose (eeeewww) that we ducked into a supply closet right after our last concert and ditched ours there.

7. With my first pregnancy I had a craving for oranges. I once ate a 5 lb bag of oranges in 2 days - as well as drinking OJ for breakfast. And, stranger yet... I love to read - read every single day - but with my 2nd pregnancy I had an aversion to reading. For several months I couldn't concentrate on a book and didn't even like to read, despite the fact that I was in the middle of a series by my favourite author at the time. A couple days after my DS was born, I came home and devoured the whole series.

8. Trev & I were friends for a couple of years but we only dated long distance for 2 months and in the same city for 1 month before getting engaged. When I called some friends to tell them I was engaged, their reaction was, "...to who??" Our first date was to a dinky-small-town theatre to see "Wayne's World" (still love that movie!)

9. I had serious doubts and even mocked people who felt they had met 'good friends' online through the internet/chat rooms/websites....and now I'm one of those who feels like I belong to some great, great, great groups of women!

10. My greatest desire is to know God and recognize his voice when He speaks to me. My second greatest desire is to love and be loved by Trev.

11. I kill houseplants. Really - I can't keep them alive to save my own life. I don't even know really why I try. I can barely keep plants alive outside where I have the sun and the rain to help me.


Don't know if those are random enough - or if any of them are actually news to you, but that's me! Take it or leave it.

Cathy

Scrappy Giraffe January Kit!!!


Could this kit be more beautiful....doesn't it make you wanna run to your scraproom?? Kat continues to amaze me and out-do herself with the coordinating lines of paper/embellishments and the ribbon kits from LilyCricket....yummy! Check them out here - Scrappy Giraffe!!

Blog #2 and Why

This is going to be a blog dedicated just to scrapbooking (mine, in particular) and this is where I'm going to post my newest Layouts, cards and altered items. I'm hoping that someday this site will be full of "Removed for Publication" signs but....well...we'll see. In the mean time, enjoy. Hope some of these inspire you to create!

Cathy

Baby, it's COOOOLD outside...

School was cancelled today for our kids. With the windchill, the temp is supposed to be -43 today. Is that even a number?? Even the dog doesn't wanna play outside today and that's saying A Lot. So, this morning I broke the news to the kids and got 3 very distinct and different reactions - in my opinion, they correspond directly to the number of years the children have been in school. When I told Mica this morning (Grade 3) she said, "Yesssss!" with the fist-pump and everything. When I told Cale, he said, "What?" with a look of shock and disbelief on his face. And When Egan heard the news, there was a moment of stunned silence, and then he burst into tears. Real, live, sobbing, wailing, tears. I think the biggest issue for him was that it was supposed to be HAT day at school today and he was pretty excited to wear a hat to school.

I was supposed to be in school today too - I'm testing the Kindergarten kids on their alphabets (what fun!!). Funniest thing - Yesterday when I was testing I asked one of the boys in the class "What's this letter?" and he said correctly, "P." And then, "What does this letter say?" and he answered correctly again with the ppp sound. So my third question is, "Can you tell me a word that starts with this letter?" and he says, "P"...so I re-state the question, and he says, "P" again. I ask him, "Do you mean Pea, like the green vegetable?" and he says, really shyly, "No, the other kind...." What a hoot 5-year-olds are.

So instead, I'll clean house, do laundry and maybe get to my scraproom. Mica's down there right now making Friendship pins - remember those from the 80's? Yeah, she's going to single-handedly bring them back!!

Happy Day to you, cold weather or not!