hanging out at lynn canyon

boys will be boys...at every age.

salad. me and salad. i know, it's unheard of.

what's happening to me. i hate salad. i have ALWAYS hated salad. a few weeks ago i smelt caesar dressing and decided that maybe i should give salad another chance. so i ordered one. it was ok. actually less than ok. it was close to ok. not, throw up nasty, but not something that i would freak out about if it was served to me at someones house, but it wasn't great. a few days later i thought i should give it another try. it was a firm 'ok' this time. i was at a wedding a week after that and i tried some again since it was free and part of the buffet. it was better than ok this time. tonight i actually made a caesar salad as part of our dinner. i was close to enjoying it. but this makes no sense. i have always been a NO SALAD girl. when i list off the things i don't eat i say "red meat, pasta, salad and seafood". it's part of my thing. it's who i am. last year i started liking watermelon, but i was ok with that change because it was one fruit, something simple to add. then i added in corn and again i sucked it up and embraced the change. but this is salad, SALAD. ahhhh this is big. real big.

coupon clipping

my grandpa is all about clipping those coupons. he often asks me if i go through the fliers and find the best deals and go shop to shop comparing prices before purchasing my food (very stimulating conversation, i know). i don't. i never have. yesterday there were SO many fliers in the paper. today i sat down and looked through the fliers and wow, there are some good deals out there. like 12 cobs of corn for $4. doesn't that seem good? but what would i do with 12 cobs of corn? there is no way the 2 of us could eat all of that. most of the deals i found aren't practical for 2 people. how do people go about this coupon clipping thing? do you make a list of what you want and try and find deals. or when you find a deal do you plan meals according to that? ahhhh....it seems overwhelming. we do a budget system and at the end of each month we usually get to the last week and have about $40 for groceries...since we hadn't been careful with our grocery money throughout the month. that last week of the month is always lame. maybe if i start saving money by looking at the fliers we will have a happier last week of the month. :D

it's still awkward

really, really poor quality photo....sorry (it was taken on my phone). regardless, i am sure you can see how close that open window is to me. it's awkward. STILL very awkward for me. as i wrote in a past post about our neighbours i feel weird that we are always looking in on each other. i know it's townhouse living and there is nothing i can do about it....but i am still going to complain a little.

today we got some patio furniture and spent the better part of the morning assembling it. steve went off to work and i cleaned up our deck so it wouldn't look cluttered with old chairs, and dead flowers in pots (i can't seem to keep plants alive). once the sun was no longer on the table and chairs i wanted to enjoy a peaceful time sitting outside in our new comfy chairs reading my book and feeling the nice breeze. do you think i could stop thinking about whether or not someone was in that window looking at me??? NO. NO. NO! I COULD NOT! even now as i am sitting on the deck typing this i feel like i am being watching. there is a glare on their window so i can't tell if anyone is there or not. when we were painting and putting the wallpaper up in our room the guy in that townhouse look 2 naps and spent hours on his computer. all of which we could see from our window when i was painting. did he close his blinds for his naps? NOPE! AWKWARD! too many times over the past few weeks we have caught each other's eyes while i am in my kitchen and he is on his computer or whatever it is he is doing. i have decided that i need to keep the blinds closed most of the day. this saddens me but what else can i do? i feel like there is a stranger in my house. we were out on our balcony with some friends last weekend and he was sitting outside as well "reading". i kept seeing him smile and chuckle a bit as we talked and laughed. he was for sure listening. i am not surprised, it's a small area, what else can you do? but still....it's awkward!

also, while attempting to read today the next door neighbours were having a huge fight complete with yelling in chinese.that made my reading time so much more enjoyable.

july 21

july 21st. 1 year today since we lost our first baby. it's been a long haul. a year filled with disappointment and brief elation when i was pregnant the second time. it's hard to believe that it's already been 12 months. 12 months! man, i wish I knew God's plan for us. it's hard waiting. it's hard to have faith but we need to keep praying and clinging to God.

James 1 2-4
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

upstairs facelift

busy, busy, busy!! painted our bedroom (plus wallpapered one wall), painted ensuite, painted the other upstairs bathroom and have prepped one of the other bedrooms for painting. here are some pics of the project so far.

so long yucky yellow

far wall, old nastiness, right wall, new amazingness

almost done the 5 hour wallpapering project

YAY!! it's done! (not sure about the pillows yet....hence the tags still being ON)



new lamps...LOVE 'em!

THE bag is here!

GOT MY BAG!!! i LOVE it! it's very green and marvelous! (the lady at the post office said that she didn't need to see my ID because i am in there every week....??? i am? i didn't know that.)

eating...

i have been trying really hard the last 2 weeks to eat better and exercise more. so far i have done pretty good. 4-5 times a week i go for a power walk/jog. i wanted to pair that with the shred but then someone told me that if i am going to want to maintain this exercise program i shouldn't go all crazy and expect that i wil add an hour or more of exercise to my life each day from now on. so i am being more realistic and doing the walk/jog for now. i am also REALLY trying to eat better. here is my meal plan:

breakfast (i never used to eat breakfast so this is all new to me):
toast or bran muffin with fruit
snack:
cashews and some fruit
lunch:
rice cakes with a little cheese and veggies (right now i have been eating celery)
snack:
this changes a lot. sometimes i have fruit or veggies, sometimes i have more nuts, or some salt and vinegar mini rice cakes, or some crackers
dinner:
some kind of meat and veggies...this also varies a lot since steve isn't one who likes to eat the same thing each night for dinner. i am ok with eating the same thing over and over again.
night snack is a lot like afternoon snack

it's weird eating 6 times a day, but apparently it's more healthy. i am pretty much only drinking water, with the occassional fruit juice if i go out for cofee with friends. i also sneak in some chocolate chips once and a while. i love eating out but i have been making better choices at restaurants too. i have been ordering a chicken breast with veggies, or just having soup.

so far i have lost 6 pounds in a less than 2 weeks. it's a small victory but whatever.