This-n-That

I am SO THRILLED that the clock has sprung forward. More daylight = a very happy Kate. Matthew doesn't seem to even notice that things are different - he just goes to bed when you tell him it's time. Even Jordan will still crash occasionally and it seems that this time change has been seamless.


It's Spring break this week and Sam & Julie are enjoying the much slower pace of things. Jordan is missing her friends a bit but always prefers to be wherever her big sister and brother are. I had booked today as a vacation day, but after a very difficult week at work last week, I decided to take Mon-Wed and trying to use that time to get my head together.


I'm currently drinking the worst cup of tea ever. I don't know why it is so challenging for me to make a decent cup of tea! It's water, a bag and some milk, not rocket science.


So, tonight was my first weigh-in at Weight Watchers and I was floored to learn I'd lost 6.8 lbs this week. I kind of scared the lady weighing me with my "SHUT UP WHAT!?"


Bless it.


I'll be honest with you... the first two days? I thought I was dying. Slowly dying to death from starvation. And diet pepsi withdrawal because I gave that up for Lent. But I managed to sort out this point counting business and successfully navigated a dinner out with friends on Saturday night.
Anyway, like I said last week, I don't want to talk about this Weight Watchers stuff. Except when I do.


Ian and I went out on a double date on Saturday night. We went to dinner first and then went bowling. BOWLING!! It was so much fun. Oh my gosh we laughed so much. I completely forgot every single stress in my life and just got caught up in the fun. I can't tell you how good that felt, or how badly I needed that.


On Sunday afternoon, Ian and I took the girls up to Orangeville to a fabric store I like. I've got the urge to sew again but I've misplaced my tote with all my supplies and fabric from our move. Yes, the move was almost 2 years ago... that tells you how long it's been since Sassy Susie and I whipped something up.  Ian assures me it's somewhere in the house or garage, we just don't know where it is yet.


I bought a metre of flannel with cute monsters on it to make pj pants for Mattie. Just typing that out makes me shake my head... monsters?? You have to see them... they're really cute. It was 50% off so it only cost me $4.50. As I was walking around I saw a beautiful pastel pink eyelet... so I bought a metre of that for $5.00. No idea what I will ever make with it but it's so pretty.


Today Ian took my car in for servicing. I really only wanted an oil change, emissions test and the clanking under the hood to be taken care of. One full day and they've replaced the brakes, fixed some things around the exhaust and replaced my two wiper blades.


HELLO. Oil change. Emissions test. Clanking under the hood.


Apparently both front and rear brakes were completely stripped, with the front brakes ready to go any time. Wow. We have to take it back on Wednesday to get the oil changed and the emissions test done, and I will need to find a buyer for my first born child in order to pay the bill.


As I sit here chatting with you and sipping my awful cup of tea, I have my bedroom window open and can smell the freshest breeze. I'm loving it. I'll sleep well tonight hopefully. Not like last night. For some dumb reason I decided to watch The Butterfly Effect right before bed and had nightmares all night long. Mercy.


Alright, that's a wrap.

Book Review: You're Going To Be Okay

If your life isn't perfect . . . 
If you've ever been disappointed . . .
If you feel stressed or tired . . . 
This is for you. 

You really are going to be okay. And it truly is possible to live with joy, resilience, and strength no matter what life brings. Yes, there will be hurt and hard times. But God wants to help you find ways to survive, grow stronger, and even thrive--no matter what happens. 

With her trademark positive encouragement and probing questions for self-reflection, bestselling author Holley Gerth encourages you to spend less of your life stressing or regretting and more of your life truly living.


~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~
Oh friends, this book. THIS BOOK. Thought provoking. Encouraging. Uplifting. Filled with precious truth that we all need so desperately to hear and to allow to just soak right in to our hearts.  This life is hard. It really is. I can't think of a single person who has an "easy" life. We are all struggling in our own ways and it's easy to think that we are just going to walk around in despair until we fall apart.  To be honest, I was pretty full of despair when this book arrived on my doorstep a few weeks ago.  Just reading the introduction caused a wave of tears and I had to set the book aside for another day. But when I picked it up again I couldn't put it down. It felt as though Holley was sitting right there with me, whispering the reassurance I so desperately needed to hear.  Holley's writing style is so familiar, so friendly and warm. She has been in the dirt, she has been heartbroken, she doesn't talk into your pain like she knows how you're feeling - because only you know how you are feeling - but she can relate to what it feels like to be hurting so deeply.  She shares her personal journey in this book, and lots of funny asides that allow the reader to really get a feel for her personality. I kind of want to find her and make her my new best friend.   My copy is a mess! I have little folds in some corners for pages that spoke to me, and really big folds for the parts that I know I will be reading again and again for those moments I need extra truth and encouragement that I really will be ok. And then there's the page with all the tears: I want to whisper, "I know this isn't easy." You've made it this far, and that tells me so much about you - that you are a brave, beautiful, faithful woman. You are trying to trust even when you're not sure what's ahead. You're persevering when I know it would be easier to give up. I don't know what you future holds, but I know who holds you. I pray he shows you more of who he is and more of who you are in ways you never expected...and beyond what you've even dared to hope. The news ticker of your life still reads, "Good things coming."
See? The book is filled with love like that excerpt above.  And if that isn't enough, at the end of the book there is a going deeper guide that would be perfect to work through on your own or in a bible study with other women just like you. I cannot recommend this book enough. I've been talking about it to all of my girlfriends and urged them to buy a copy because everyone needs to read this. I enjoy a lot of books, but I don't LOVE a lot of them. This one? LOVE. ~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~
"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group". 

Haircuts & Stuff

I was really looking forward to spending some time with my Littles this weekend, and to take them out to give Ian a bit of a quiet Saturday morning. He's always looking for ways to serve me, and I wanted it to be his turn for a change.

The agenda? Haircuts and then donuts and milk. Pretty easy morning, right?

Yeah. It wasn't.

I documented our morning in pictures but for some reason blogger won't let me upload them. It's making me very cross, actually.

Never mind the pictures, what I wish I had was the audio because well,  you just really needed to be there.


As soon as Mattie realized he had to sit in the chair he started crying and trying to get down. I am not one of those moms that can just shake off a child's fit like "oh well". I get very embarrassed. I offered to sit with him on my lap thinking it would help but it sure didn't and I think he caused me some kind of brain trauma because he kept head butting me to avoid her scissors. After fifteen minutes of trying to wrangle this child I called a time-out. He was crying and we were both panting and sweating, and there was this grody mixture of tears and snot on my arms... what a mess.

Eventually I became so embarrassed I just told the stylist that would have to be good enough and we'd try another day.


Jordan hopped up in to the chair pleased as punch as she talked ever so sweetly to the stylist, describing how she wanted her hair cut. I was busy trying to settle Mattie down that she could have requested a brush cut and I wouldn't have noticed. Or cared to be frank.

I called Ian to tell him how it went and to make a long (read: lame and embarrassing) story short, he ended up coming to the salon to help finish Mattie's haircut while I sat near the door mumbling my apologies to customers as they left.

Eventually this lovely experience ended and Ian headed off and I took the children to Tim Hortons for donuts and milk. Thankfully that trip was completely uneventful and sweet. Mattie was drinking his milk with a straw right from the carton and I think it was like he was at Disney World or something. He was chattering away and gesturing to the carton and in my mind I was all eat your dang timbit so we can leave you've been looking at it for 27 minutes now dang...

BUT!!

I rolled up the rim on my steeped tea and won a free coffee/tea! It was like the Lord stopped laughing at me for a few minutes and threw me a bone. YEEHAW!


So much for Ian's quiet, kid-free Saturday morning. I guess we'll just have to try again next weekend.

Minus the haircuts, of course.

I'm not going to lie... I needed a nap after all that. I don't know who napped longer ... Mattie or me!
I took the girls to the Mandarin for dinner since the guys just wanted to stay home. Julie and I have been there before, but Jordan hadn't. From the revolving door to the ceiling painted like the sky, to the shark tank to the unlimited iced teas and dessert... Jordan was completely enthralled.

We ended up skipping church today. Ian had fallen on the ice yesterday after rescuing me at the hair salon, and cut up his hands and twisted his back and shoulder. Jordan woke up with a very croupy cough and I just felt lazy so we stayed home.

Later in the afternoon Ian and I went grocery shopping and I picked up some salads and fruit because I'm joining Weight Watchers tomorrow which I don't want to talk about. Well maybe we can talk about it sometime. I have a friend who is on the program now who is ready to support me and another who will be doing the program online. I don't know. Dieting makes me so crabby.

Well, that's about it. I'm going to finish my tea, roll up the rim and hopefully win the car, and then head to bed.

Blessings on you, my friends.