the outcome of my labour

mondays. i love mondays. i don't work and most people do, which means that it isn't as busy in the stores and traffic isn't as hectic during working hours. today i felt super lazy. i lounged around the house watching tv, reading blogs, answering emails....etc etc. i finally decided (at 1pm) that i needed to do something with my day. so i ventured out to get groceries. when i got home i decided i wanted to make cookies. i need a clean and organized work space. i don't do clutter and chaos. i can't work in a kitchen that has piles of dishes. i can't work at a desk on top of other papers. things need to be organized in order for me to not lose my mind. what started as just emptying the dishwasher and reloading it turned into a full blown cleaning session of my kitchen. i wiped everything. i reorganized my tupperware, i put spices into little tupperware spice containers (thanks mona by the way), i threw out a bunch of stuff in my baking cupboard that i haven't used in a long time, i made room in a cupboard for my bread (since it often sits on the counter) and i decluttered my counter top. the problem with my kitchen is that it doesn't have a ton of cupboards. i was super spoiled in our last place because we had a HUGE pantry. when you have more space you accumulate more 'stuff'....therefore i have a lot of kitchen 'stuff'. i always hated that the top of my counters were lined with 'stuff'. i have my spice rack, my knife block, my huge mixer (which doesn't fit in the cupboards), my flour/sugar container thingies, my cooking oil bottle, salt and pepper, paper towel, toaster, kettle, lunch bags, napkin holder, note pad, and the infamous pile of papers that hadn't made their way to the filing cabinet yet. today i was DONE with the clutter. some things need to stay on the counter. as much as i wished i could have stowed everything away out of sight it wasn't practical. some of the 'stuff' i use too often and therefore it needs to stay out. i worked long and hard to get the kitchen to the state it is in now (hopefully this will motivate steve and me to keep it tidy and organized). after it was up to par i made my cookies. man it felt nice to bake in that kitchen today!! (oh, the green tupperware container is full of my freshly made chocolate chip cookies.)

p.s. if this still looks cluttered to you than i think you have a problem. :D

a pet or no pet? that is the question

some days i feel like i really want a pet. i like cats but i hate when there is hair all over everything including my clothes. also certain cats make me sneeze and have itchy eyes. don't suggest to me that we get a hairless cat because they are super ugly and i think that someone messed with their genetics in order for there to be such a thing as a hairless cat....it doesn't seem natural. i really enjoy dogs, especially puppies. we don't want a large dog in our house because it's a townhouse and it wouldn't be fair to the dog. i am also a generally lazy person. i won't want to take the dog out to go to the bathroom and i won't want to walk the dog everyday (particularly if it's raining or snowy). i hate the smell of wet dog and i don't like bathing dogs. so i don't think they are the right pet for us right now. i don't want anything that needs to be in an aquarium. i don't wast to clean an aquarium. i don't like washing things that are wet (example, i HATE cleaning showers.....the thought makes me want to barf. i also hate going to indoor pools because you have to walk on the wet surface and it just grosses me out big time). so that leaves me with very few pet options. one pet that i often feel like would enjoy is a bird. they are cute, they don't need a ton of care, their cage isn't wet (hehe) and they seem so happy. having said that they sometimes make crazy loud chirps that echo....i don't like that. AHHHHHH what to do. any suggestions? has anyone had a bird and had a good or bad experience? what are the pros and cons?

going public

i hate my middle name. it's not the kind of hate that is used loosely. this is an insane hate. i despise my middle name. thankfully my mother also hates it and thinks my father was crazy to want this ugly name for me. she fought to have it as a middle name and not a first name. (i am not all that fond of my fist name either because no one can pronounce it unless they have asked me about 5 times how to say it and it can't be shortened. oh and people never know how to spell it either. i was ladel for a long time by one teacher....that was fun. i do have to say that i get a lot of compliments on my name and that is a big plus!) i don't like telling people my middle name but i have decided to go public so that i can tell this story.

this past week the grade 2 class that i work in learned the meanings of some names from the Bible. the teacher also looked up all of the student's names and told them what the meaning is. i also decided to find all of the meanings to the names of the students who are in the social skills group i co-teach for their scrapbooks. this reminded me of a conversation i had with my father-in-law a few years back.

at a dyck family function i mentioned that i am not fond of my middle name. my father-in-law said to me "you know what lael, it probably has a really great meaning. you should look it up. it might change how you feel about it." so i immediately went to the computer and looked up the meaning to my nasty middle name, beverly.....and the meaning that i found was "beaver".......awesome!!!! :P that increased my loathing a few notches. well i looked it up again yesterday and the meaning i found this time was "beaver field"....both terrible options.

the real deal

thank you laurie for sending me this pic. it is my exact mug! :D

wacky tacky

this evening we had out staff christmas party (yes we are aware that it is January and christmas is over, but we don't care. people always have more time now then they do before christmas). we had a big dinner (and I mean BIG), yummy desserts and a gift exchange. people all had to bring things in from home (i believe the term used was 'wacky tacky' and boy the majority of gifts were just that). i brought in a photo album that we got as a wedding gift and never used (don't judge me for regifting....you ALL do it!)...it's very weddingy....ie. ugly and cliche. when my number was called i open up a gift (since there wasn't anything good to steal) and it was a lavender bath set. for those of you who know me i am usually warm, actually that's an understatement, i am usually HOT, boiling, on fire. because of my heat issues i rarely takes baths, plus lavender is not a scent i really enjoy. i acted like it was a great gift and showcased it around. i knew that someone else would love it, it just wasn't for me. well my plan worked, it was stolen a few times. i ended up with a lovely starbucks mug. I LOVE IT!!! the picture above is not the exact mug. the one i got is white with green writing and green on the inside. it's the perfect green, not dark and evergreenish, or blah and pastely, it's a vibrant (yet not neon) green. this year i have kicked myself many times for not remembering to bring a mug to work, finally i have one there and it's amazing!!! thank you to whoever decided that they didn't want it. (oh and i had to go through 40 pages of google images looking for a pic of the mug i won, but it could not be found. i even went through all of starbucks website. my apologies for the incorrect pic.)

mexican marketplace

this month grade 2 is learning about Mexico! today was a busy day. we had an amazing taco lunch which was provided by one of the very generous moms. she had corn and wheat tortillas which she heated up, then you had a choice of beef or chicken then there was sour cream, cheese, salsa, tomatoes and lettuce. it was sooooo yummy!! after lunch the kids had a 'mexican marketplace'. everyone brought in a towel which they laid on the floor and some stuff from their house that they were willing to trade for different things. i wandered around the market and saw some stuff i really wanted, but i hadn't brought anything to trade. so i went and got my prize box and attempted to trade anything for a bag of nacho cheese chips. haha. unfortunately the student who had them could not be persuaded to trade (he had already traded someone else for them). so i traded an eraser for a bandana. i used the bandana as my 'mat' and set up shop. i became popular very quickly!! haha. i ended up with some weird christmas picture frame, a plastic elephant, a 'mani' figurine (from Ice Age) that talks, a beaded necklace, some random book about a plane, a book of daytime prayers, 2 brownies, a headband, 2 hair clips, a shrek toy, a broken eraser, some stickers, a plastic dinosaur....and probably some other crap. :D it was fun! the kids had a blast and were so excited to show all of their friends the things they got. one of the sweet things i observed was a student who has autism that approached another special ed student and wanted to trade something. she had an old (somewhat ratty) pair of black heeled shoes. the convo went a little like this:
"I'll trade you these shoes for this doll's dress"
"shoes, no fit me"
"You can give them to your little sister"
"ok. my sister like new shoes"
she is going to be a sales lady!!! hehe i love it!!!!

get fit challenge

last tuesday a girl at work approached me and said that she thinks our staff should do a fitness challenge. she said that she didn't want to initiate it but since i am on the social committee maybe i could. by lunch time there was a sheet up on the board and people began to sign their lives away. basically it's done by points and not weight (also it's an honour system). for each half hour of light workout you get 1 point, for each half hour of sweat induced workout you get 2 points...max is 4 points/day. the "get fit challenge" began today and it will end on March 5th (the last school day before spring break). i do not work on mondays so i had ALL DAY to get my 4 points. do you think i did it? NOPE!! i had decided that I was not going to be doing any crazy workout. no p90x for me!!! i was going to walk/jog each day and then do weights at home. last night a friend slept over and she LOVES starbucks. so this morning we walked to starbucks and grabbed some food at the farmers market and walked back to my place. it was DUMPING rain. normally i hate getting wet but today it felt so great (other than the fact that i couldn't see anything because my glasses were so wet). i don't like getting my hair wet because it takes me so long to blow dry and flat iron it each day. however, today i didn't wear a coat or a hood or take an umbrella. i embraced the rain. the water was dripping down my face. i was soaked through my sweater. my pant legs were wet half way to my knees, but it felt really good. i happily sipped my tall blended strawberry lemonade all the way back home. the walk was an hour (not including the shopping time) so i got 2 points. i had plans to do weights for 30 minutes or maybe even an hour but that didn't happen. hopefully tomorrow (or i guess technically 'today' since it's after midnight) i will get 4 points. but i kinda doubt it. oh well. maybe i'll just be a 2-pointer.

oh...i am going bowling on the weekend, i wonder if that will count? ;)

goals, not resolutions

new years resolutions....i have said a few times that i don't really believe in them because they set people up for failure. i do have goals though....and i don't think that goals are the same as resolutions, and webster even agrees with me. in fact a goal is just something that you 'put effort towards' where as a resolution is something that you are 'determined' to do.

i am always working on things, or working towards a goal. some will be life time goals (ones which i could not complete in the timeline of a year) and others are smaller things that i may achieve, and hopefully i WILL achieve.

here are some of my goals:

• recycle more
• do some form of exercise 3-4 times a week (which will be way easier once i have my new weight set tomorrow)
• chill out and work on not letting things get under my skin (especially little things like water on the bathroom counter.....yes i AM that anal!)
• uplift people more, gossip less
• be a better wife (life time goal....i don't think anyone in a marriage should ever stop working on their relationship)
• cook more, eat out less (that pains me to write since i don't feel confident in my cooking skills and i am confident in the skills of cooks at restaurants)
• get more involved at church....maybe with the kids program
• be more money conscious (asking myself "do i really need this?)
• read the books that i have bought.....there are about 30+ that i need to read....this is possibly a life time goal since i keep buying books. hehe

that's all i can think of right now. i have an ongoing list in my head and this is the first time i have actually written it down for people to see. consider yourself privileged. :)

shopping fiasco

today i went grocery shopping. if you have read my past blog post (judging) you will know that going thru the check out is not one of my fav things because i worry that people are judging me. well today was not a fun shopping experience.

initially i was super excited because tonight i am having my (overly obsessed bachelor) girls over for the premiere of THE BACHELOR!!!! i always put together a ton of food for us to snack on during the show. last night i made my 'menu' and then headed out to the store to buy all my stuff (plus some food for steve and i). well it seemed like the whole store was filled with seniors. usually i find them so cute walking around with their carts and matching prices and checking their coupons but today i was on a mission. every aisle there would be a few seniors with their carts standing in the middle of the aisle and they were all oblivious to people trying to squeeze past them. i of course gave them the "excuse me, can i just squeeze past you?" "oh, sorry dear, let me just move my big ol cart" would be their response. after this happened about 20 times i was feeling like i wanted to say "seriously!!!!! how do you not realize that you are IN PEOPLE'S WAY!!!!!!", but of course i would never actually say that (especially not to a senior). when i had collected all of my groceries i headed to the line. i was walking at an appropriate grocery store pace. not slow but not in a race. i was just about to turn into the check stand 6 line when this crazy lady, who had pushed past me a few times with ZERO common courtesies, flew past me grumbling under her breath. she had maybe 7-10 items. she could have gone to check stand 1 (the express/15 items or less) and been out of there in a flash. but NO she had to budge past me. so i waited and waited. she tapped her foot and glared at the cashier (who is actually really good, i have had her many times and she is fast). meanwhile an elderly couple and their 2 grandkids (who i had to ask twice if i could get past them, once by the soup and once by the bread)came up behind me and joined our line. i watched her eye up all of my food. i hadn't been thinking much about being judged right then because i was very focused on not aggravating the mad lady ahead of me. i scanned my food and wished i had placed things in a different order. my pop was out in the open, my mr. noodles were also lying on top and then there was the 2 bags of Sun Chips. "shoot" i thought. then i grabbed my phone and snapped a picture (which made that elderly couple look at me even more). HAHA oh well.

being average

so my brother left for argentina early yesterday morning. he will be with YWAM. basically that consists of 3 months of schooling in Argentina and lots of soccer. then he is heading to South Africa for more soccer and most likely the world cup. it should be pretty awesome for him.
the other night before he left a bunch of us were talking and brad amazed me with his attitude. he was super humble about his soccer skills (he is phenomenal but would NEVER say he that he is good) and he said he is looking forward to playing a ton and learning lots. he also said that he hopes everyone is better than he is so it will be a challenge. WHAT???? why would anyone want to be the worst? is something wrong with me? i would want to be the best or at least one of the best. dang dude i have a bad attitude. i have been told MANY times that I "need to be ok with being average". everytime i have been told that I shudder. why would i strive to be average or settle for being average. aren't we supposed to try and be 'good' or 'excellent'? when is it ok to be 'ok'? after spending some time thinking about what Brad said i realized that HE has the right attitude, not me. what's the reason for me wanting to be great at stuff? if i am honest it's because i don't want to be embarrassed if i suck at something and i want people to think good things about me rather than negative things. but that is silly. i can't control what people think. i would probably feel better with myself if i wasn't stressing over not being 'good' at stuff. so here is something i am going to work on....maybe it's a new years resolution (even though i don't really believe in that cause it sets people up for failure haha)....i am going to CHILL OUT and just be me. i am going to be ok with sucking at things, and i am going to stop stressing to be the "best"....cause really you can never be the best.
thanks brad for the food for thought. all the best with YWAM and God bless!!!