Monday, December 31, 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
who knew?
If you get the Spec, you already know.
Turkey doesn't make you sleepy.
(Perhaps prolonged shopping, wrapping, cleaning and cooking, followed immediately by consumption of large amounts of potatoes and gravy while engaging in loud, high-energy conversation is what does it!)
Other myths are exploded too.
Did you know we're using far more than 10% of our brains? That's disappointing. I have enjoyed fantasizing about what kind of amazing creatures we'd be if only we could get our brains in gear.
Also, reading in dim light does NOT ruin your eyesight. Wish I had known this 25 years ago. I was a book-a-holic, so after going to bed, I would stand up with my book and lean into the window. If you looked out the window, past our back yard (which took a long steep dive downwards), past the back yard that backed onto our back yard, past that house and across that street, there was a single street light. This is the light I used for secret reading.
Then I had to visit the optometrist, and I trembled in the fear that he would gasp, point an accusing finger, and loudly proclaim to my parents, "THIS GIRL HAS BEEN READING IN DIM LIGHT!!!"
If only I had known then that my eyesight was actually ruined by genetics. It's Dad's fault! :)
And by the way...ditch the 8 glasses of water a day.
What a relief!
Turkey doesn't make you sleepy.
(Perhaps prolonged shopping, wrapping, cleaning and cooking, followed immediately by consumption of large amounts of potatoes and gravy while engaging in loud, high-energy conversation is what does it!)
Other myths are exploded too.
Did you know we're using far more than 10% of our brains? That's disappointing. I have enjoyed fantasizing about what kind of amazing creatures we'd be if only we could get our brains in gear.
Also, reading in dim light does NOT ruin your eyesight. Wish I had known this 25 years ago. I was a book-a-holic, so after going to bed, I would stand up with my book and lean into the window. If you looked out the window, past our back yard (which took a long steep dive downwards), past the back yard that backed onto our back yard, past that house and across that street, there was a single street light. This is the light I used for secret reading.
Then I had to visit the optometrist, and I trembled in the fear that he would gasp, point an accusing finger, and loudly proclaim to my parents, "THIS GIRL HAS BEEN READING IN DIM LIGHT!!!"
If only I had known then that my eyesight was actually ruined by genetics. It's Dad's fault! :)
And by the way...ditch the 8 glasses of water a day.
What a relief!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
a toast
...to my pastor friend (also a woman), voted today into a position traditionally held by men.
Has a nice ring to it!
"Sectional Presbyter"
Has a nice ring to it!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
good Canadian girl
Sunday, you may have noticed the inclement weather. Jeff and I left the house by 8 am, before the storm hit our part of the city. We went to church (that's right, we made it there, along with 28 other hardy souls) and figured we could go home and shovel out in the afternoon.
Plot Twist: Since the evening service got quickly cancelled, our family decided to do a movie afternoon. Girls would go to my sister's place to watch Anne of Green Gables; boys would go to our place to watch Lord of the Rings. We would just scatter briefly to eat lunch, change clothes, dig out whatever needed to be dug out, and then we would settle in for some cozy movie-viewing.
So we ate lunch, and then headed home. Got to the end of our street, peered down it, and judged that with a little luck, we could navigate it. We were mistaken. We managed to forward-and-back our way halfway down the street, then gave up, and backed all the way out. Boys movie got moved to my parents' place.
Soooo....we drove up the mountain to my parents' place. Their street was a mess too, but you could (sort of) drive down it. Jeff was driving. We worked our way down the first section of the street, crept around a car that was sort of in a driveway and sort of in the road, rounded the curve, up the hill, prayed briefly as we hit a section with no traction at all, bombed straight through a stop sign, and pulled up in front of the house.
Jeff hopped out, and Mom just had to run in to get some stuff and run out again. But alas, although she was moving quickly, it was not quick enough, and other cars came bombing through the same stop sign I had just bombed through...I had to get out of the way. I hollered out the window - "I'll be back!" and drove on.
But there was nowhere to stop! No where to turn around. I rounded a corner, came to another stop sign, almost got taken out by another car who was happily oblivious to the fact that they were sending me into a snowbank for no reason. I rolled down my window, and stuck my arm out as far as it could go, and yelled "STOP!!" (Honest, that's all I said, but it was very firm, and effective too!)
We worked our way past each other, and I aimed to turn around at the next intersection. Nope - there's a stuck car there, just keep on driving so you don't join them. And now I am out of the subdivision, and wondering HOW I am going to get back in to pick up my mom.
I stop at a gas station, and try to phone them all, to say, "Tell Mom to hike out to the main road!" No answer. What to do?
Back on the main road, and there is nowhere - NOWHERE - to turn in, to pause, to turn around. And so I end up back at the beginning of this circle, and realize - I'm going to have to go back into the subdivision the same way Jeff drove in the first time.
OK. I can do this.
I turned onto the first section of my parents' street. The car that had previously been sort of in a driveway, and sort of in the road, was now entirely in the road, and thoroughly stuck. I am NOT driving down there to get stuck with him. So I wait. A pick-up truck with big wheels inches around me and goes down the road ahead of me. Great - I can follow in his tracks.
We round a corner, and now he's gone, I don't know where. And facing me is a very narrow, very messy lane. There is one car in front of me, trying to get through it. And there are two cars coming towards me, hugging the snow bank, and waiting for the car in front of me to get by them. That car gets stuck. The people in the other two cars hop out to help the first one.
I look around. This is ridiculous. Miraculously, there is a cleared driveway right beside me, so I pull in. If all these other cars will just GET OUT OF THE WAY, I can get through this street. Because I AM CANADIAN, and I KNOW how to drive in a snowstorm!
All the other cars clear out of the way. The theme to Rocky begins playing in my head. Neighbours stop shovelling and lean on their shovels to watch. I wave at them, with an ace pilot's reckless grin, back out into the road, jam the car into first gear and surge forward. The engine screams, the tires spin, the neighbours catch their breath, and I glare at the road in front of me. I will not be defeated!
Slowly, then gaining in speed, my car plowed through the mess on the road. I reached the top of the hill, to the traction-less place, suggested briefly to God that I could use an angel, just for a moment. Over the hill, bombed through the stop sign and pulled up again in front of my parents' house. Mom was waiting on the side of the road, and jumped in. Jeff was on the sidewalk, both arms raised in a cheer. I rolled down my window, and yelled, "I'M A GOOD CANADIAN GIRL!!!" and kept on going, because we had an appointment with Anne of Green Gables.
And THAT, my friends, is what real Canadians do in a blizzard.
Plot Twist: Since the evening service got quickly cancelled, our family decided to do a movie afternoon. Girls would go to my sister's place to watch Anne of Green Gables; boys would go to our place to watch Lord of the Rings. We would just scatter briefly to eat lunch, change clothes, dig out whatever needed to be dug out, and then we would settle in for some cozy movie-viewing.
So we ate lunch, and then headed home. Got to the end of our street, peered down it, and judged that with a little luck, we could navigate it. We were mistaken. We managed to forward-and-back our way halfway down the street, then gave up, and backed all the way out. Boys movie got moved to my parents' place.
Soooo....we drove up the mountain to my parents' place. Their street was a mess too, but you could (sort of) drive down it. Jeff was driving. We worked our way down the first section of the street, crept around a car that was sort of in a driveway and sort of in the road, rounded the curve, up the hill, prayed briefly as we hit a section with no traction at all, bombed straight through a stop sign, and pulled up in front of the house.
Jeff hopped out, and Mom just had to run in to get some stuff and run out again. But alas, although she was moving quickly, it was not quick enough, and other cars came bombing through the same stop sign I had just bombed through...I had to get out of the way. I hollered out the window - "I'll be back!" and drove on.
But there was nowhere to stop! No where to turn around. I rounded a corner, came to another stop sign, almost got taken out by another car who was happily oblivious to the fact that they were sending me into a snowbank for no reason. I rolled down my window, and stuck my arm out as far as it could go, and yelled "STOP!!" (Honest, that's all I said, but it was very firm, and effective too!)
We worked our way past each other, and I aimed to turn around at the next intersection. Nope - there's a stuck car there, just keep on driving so you don't join them. And now I am out of the subdivision, and wondering HOW I am going to get back in to pick up my mom.
I stop at a gas station, and try to phone them all, to say, "Tell Mom to hike out to the main road!" No answer. What to do?
Back on the main road, and there is nowhere - NOWHERE - to turn in, to pause, to turn around. And so I end up back at the beginning of this circle, and realize - I'm going to have to go back into the subdivision the same way Jeff drove in the first time.
OK. I can do this.
I turned onto the first section of my parents' street. The car that had previously been sort of in a driveway, and sort of in the road, was now entirely in the road, and thoroughly stuck. I am NOT driving down there to get stuck with him. So I wait. A pick-up truck with big wheels inches around me and goes down the road ahead of me. Great - I can follow in his tracks.
We round a corner, and now he's gone, I don't know where. And facing me is a very narrow, very messy lane. There is one car in front of me, trying to get through it. And there are two cars coming towards me, hugging the snow bank, and waiting for the car in front of me to get by them. That car gets stuck. The people in the other two cars hop out to help the first one.
I look around. This is ridiculous. Miraculously, there is a cleared driveway right beside me, so I pull in. If all these other cars will just GET OUT OF THE WAY, I can get through this street. Because I AM CANADIAN, and I KNOW how to drive in a snowstorm!
All the other cars clear out of the way. The theme to Rocky begins playing in my head. Neighbours stop shovelling and lean on their shovels to watch. I wave at them, with an ace pilot's reckless grin, back out into the road, jam the car into first gear and surge forward. The engine screams, the tires spin, the neighbours catch their breath, and I glare at the road in front of me. I will not be defeated!
Slowly, then gaining in speed, my car plowed through the mess on the road. I reached the top of the hill, to the traction-less place, suggested briefly to God that I could use an angel, just for a moment. Over the hill, bombed through the stop sign and pulled up again in front of my parents' house. Mom was waiting on the side of the road, and jumped in. Jeff was on the sidewalk, both arms raised in a cheer. I rolled down my window, and yelled, "I'M A GOOD CANADIAN GIRL!!!" and kept on going, because we had an appointment with Anne of Green Gables.
And THAT, my friends, is what real Canadians do in a blizzard.
Friday, December 14, 2007
what's in a purse
Last night, I was driving home from Nooma (you know who you are!), and turned on CFRB for a few moments.
They were talking about women's purses, and how the average woman's purse weighs over 5 pounds. So they had women calling in, telling what was in their purse. In between, they were talking about how women always keep so many useless receipts, and have purses full of who-knows-what....
And I was thinking, "What??!!"
My purse has a wallet, a chequebook, a chapstick and keys. If there's ever more than that, it's the exception to the rule. I do not carry a hairbrush, comb, ancient receipts, cosmetic bag, tweezers, kleenex, a variety of medications, or a bag of sugar in my purse. As opposed to the women who called in during the short time I was listening.
That's right. A bag of sugar.
They were talking about women's purses, and how the average woman's purse weighs over 5 pounds. So they had women calling in, telling what was in their purse. In between, they were talking about how women always keep so many useless receipts, and have purses full of who-knows-what....
And I was thinking, "What??!!"
My purse has a wallet, a chequebook, a chapstick and keys. If there's ever more than that, it's the exception to the rule. I do not carry a hairbrush, comb, ancient receipts, cosmetic bag, tweezers, kleenex, a variety of medications, or a bag of sugar in my purse. As opposed to the women who called in during the short time I was listening.
That's right. A bag of sugar.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
So much snow outside! And it's the second big snowfall of the year! Today, I suddenly realized with a little heart-jump - "Oh my, maybe it'll actually be a white Christmas this year!!!"
If you are a Weather Channel watcher, and you already know the answer, don't tell me. I want to experience the hope.
So I put up a new poll - will Christmas be white?
My Christmas checklist - lights are up outside, most presents are bought, tree is not up, presents are not wrapped. Food is mostly planned, but not prepared. Dates are set for where we go and when, and when others come to our place. And the house is relatively clean. My sense is, it's as clean as it's going to get.
If you are a Weather Channel watcher, and you already know the answer, don't tell me. I want to experience the hope.
So I put up a new poll - will Christmas be white?
My Christmas checklist - lights are up outside, most presents are bought, tree is not up, presents are not wrapped. Food is mostly planned, but not prepared. Dates are set for where we go and when, and when others come to our place. And the house is relatively clean. My sense is, it's as clean as it's going to get.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
once a year
Today is one of those days where you just know I'm not going to get much done.
The school that we rent our space from has an annual Christmas banquet and variety show type of thing. And they use our space for it. (In return, we get to share in a really tasty Chinese food banquet!)
They are very friendly, and the skits are always funny. Since most of the students are international students, some without any Christmas tradition in their culture, it is always a bit humorous to see their take on Canadian Christmas themes. They work in Santa and reindeer, but for some reason Elvis always appears at some point. I'm not sure how he fits in, but there he is.
Anyhow, I run sound for them, and even if I wasn't, my office is directly off the stage. How do you focus on work when Elvis and Santa are conversing just outside your door?
Breaking news - while typing this, I got a volunteer to run sound! Yay! Now...where in the building can I go to escape Elvis for a few hours?
The school that we rent our space from has an annual Christmas banquet and variety show type of thing. And they use our space for it. (In return, we get to share in a really tasty Chinese food banquet!)
They are very friendly, and the skits are always funny. Since most of the students are international students, some without any Christmas tradition in their culture, it is always a bit humorous to see their take on Canadian Christmas themes. They work in Santa and reindeer, but for some reason Elvis always appears at some point. I'm not sure how he fits in, but there he is.
Anyhow, I run sound for them, and even if I wasn't, my office is directly off the stage. How do you focus on work when Elvis and Santa are conversing just outside your door?
Breaking news - while typing this, I got a volunteer to run sound! Yay! Now...where in the building can I go to escape Elvis for a few hours?
Sunday, December 09, 2007
good for me
I finished the NY Times Sunday Crossword!!! (Except for literally one letter, and I truly don't know what it is.)
I have never finished it before.
Not likely to do it again.
Thought it should be noted.
I have never finished it before.
Not likely to do it again.
Thought it should be noted.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
it's a small world after all
Last week, two of our missionary friends who travel the world on a ship, docking in various ports to bring help to the poor and sick emailed us. They asked for prayer, because she was quite ill, and the local hospital wasn't all that helpful. So they were docking soon in Manila, Philippines, and hoping to go to a hospital there.
For the last two weeks, our missions team has been in Manila, Philippines.
But Manila is an awfully big city, and we didn't really have a way of contacting any of them, except to leave messages on their blog.
And yet....it turns out the missions team was only 5 minutes from the hospital, and they somehow heard about our friend in the hospital having surgery, so the whole team visited her.
She and her husband emailed us to say they thought it was pretty impressive that we could arrange a hospital visit from Crossfire all the way to Manila.
HOW COOL IS THAT??!!!!
I love it.
For the last two weeks, our missions team has been in Manila, Philippines.
But Manila is an awfully big city, and we didn't really have a way of contacting any of them, except to leave messages on their blog.
And yet....it turns out the missions team was only 5 minutes from the hospital, and they somehow heard about our friend in the hospital having surgery, so the whole team visited her.
She and her husband emailed us to say they thought it was pretty impressive that we could arrange a hospital visit from Crossfire all the way to Manila.
HOW COOL IS THAT??!!!!
I love it.
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