Amuzing Race 3

Guess what's happening soon? The Amuzing Race 3...just like I promised!

Please check out the Coquitlam Alliance Church young adults website.

It is going to be a fun one! Full of surprises and new activities! Get together your team of 4 and start training!

Are YOU Ready?

I don't know why this is funny because it will be happening to me soon...

HOW TO KNOW WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE READY TO HAVE CHILDREN

MESS TEST
Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Place a fish stick behind the couch and leave it there all summer.

TOY TEST
Obtain a 55-gallon box of LEGOs (or you may substitute roofing tacks). Have a friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold. Try to walk to the bathroom or kitchen. Do not scream because this would wake a child at night.

GROCERY STORE TEST
Borrow one or two small animals (goats are best) and take them with you as you shop. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.

DRESSING TEST
Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus. Stuff into a small net bag making sure that all the arms stay inside.

FEEDING TEST
Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water. Suspend from the ceiling with a cord. Start the jug swinging.Try to insert spoonfuls of soggy cereal into the mouth of the jug, while pretending to be an airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.

NIGHT TEST
Prepare by obtaining a small cloth bag and fill it with 8-12 pounds of sand. Soak it thoroughly in water. At 3:00p.m. begin to waltz and hum with the bag until 9:00 p.m. Lay down your bag and set your alarm for 10:00 p.m. Get up, pick up your bag, and sing every song you have ever heard. Make up about a dozen more and sing these too until 4:00 a. m. Set alarm for 5:00 a.m. Get up and make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.

INGENUITY TEST
Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and pot of paint, turn it into an alligator. Now take a toilet paper tube and turn it into an attractive Christmas candle. Use only scotch tape and a piece of foil. Last, take a milk carton, a Ping-Pong ball, and an empty box of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower.

AUTOMOBILE TEST
Forget the BMW and buy a station wagon. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there. Get a dime. Stick it into the cassette player. Run a garden rake along both side of the car.

PHYSICAL TEST (Women)
Obtain a large bean bag chair and attach it to the front of your clothes. Leave it there for 9 months. Now remove 10 of the beans.

PHYSICAL TEST (Men)
Go to the nearest drug store. Set your wallet on the counter. Ask the clerk to help himself. Now proceed to the nearest food store. Go to the head office and arrange for your paycheck to be directly deposited to the store. Purchase a newspaper. Go home and read it quietly for the last time.

FINAL ASSIGNMENT
Find a couple who already have a small child. Lecture them on how they can improve their discipline, patience, tolerance, toilet training and child's table manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasize to them that they should never allow their children to run wild. Enjoy this experience. It will be the last time you will have all the answers.

Anyone SAD?

Seasonal affective disorder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, also known as winter depression is an affective, or mood, disorder. Most SAD sufferers experience normal mental health throughout most of the year, but experience depressive symptoms in the winter or summer. SAD is rare, if existent at all, in the tropics, but is measurably present at latitudes north of 30°N, or south of 30°S.

Seasonal mood variations are believed to be related mostly to light, not temperature. For this reason, SAD is prevalent even in mid-latitude places with mild winters, such as Seattle and Vancouver. Prolonged periods of overcast weather can also exacerbate SAD.

SAD can be a serious disorder and may require hospitalization.

MY THOUGHTS ON THIS:

I'm sure I have this. Actually, I think everyone who lives in Vancouver has this! You'd think that as residents of the city we'd be used to it, but not a day goes by in the winter where I don't hear complaining about the weather. Usually it's me.

Even on the overcast, although nice and WARM day we had on Sunday, I heard people say, "UGH, it was so overcast today". At least my poor umbrella got a break!

I always have problems with this that start in January and last until the sun comes out. It's so dreary and wet!

In last Sunday's torrential downpour, my parents had to put SANDBAGS in front of their back door, because the entire backyard was a lake! We've never seen it like that in the 25 years they've lived there! They phoned Home Depot to get some sandbags, then find out that they sell the empty bags for sand...but they don't sell sand. You know their slogan, right? "You Can Do It, We Can Help".

So they had to use grocery bags and steal the sand from the grandkid's sandbox. Unfortunately it wasn't good enough, and the water went over the bags and into the basement. Lucky for them, they'd piled blankets in front of the door, which managed to sop up all the water that came in.

I also think commuters get SAD more. I take 1 car, 2 trains, 5 buses (at least), walk for 20 - 30 minutes and wait exposed to the elements for goodness knows HOW long to get to and home from work. It's tough when you get to work with your pants half wet, windblown frizzy hair, soaking socks and freezing to the bone.

The definition mentions that SAD can require hospitalization. I, however, WORK at a hospital, so this will not do the trick for me. I just want to get away! If I had the money in my pocket, I'd be sitting on a lounge chair on a white sandy beach of the Mayan Riviera, half in the water to cool down my legs. I'd have my bathing suit and sunglasses on, and a Pina Colada (virgin, of course) in each hand.

But instead, I sit at my desk, with goosebumps that haven't gone away since November 24, 2006.

So this brings me to a question. Why do I live here if I can't stand the weather so much?

Hmmm.

Hmm.

Lets consider the alternatives:

• Any more North and I'd be covered in snow still
• Any more South and I'd be in the States
• Any more West and I'd be on an Island with even worse weather
• Any more East and I'd be in the Prairies

Enough said.

Now that I've got that off my chest...

Spring starts tomorrow! And any day Vancouver will start to brighten up, and show another colour besides grey. Then my blogging will pick up because I'll actually feel motivated to go outside and do crazy things!

Honestly...

I think this a record time period between posts. There's been such a rush of different high and low emotions lately that I can't seem to focus on one long enough to write.

So, caution, here is "the mess" that is my brain.

The longer I'm pregnant, the more I'm learning about the emotions of it. Some people think that we're off in our own "pregnant" world (which is on cloud 9), don't care about others, and don't have any negative emotions.

So not true.

Of course I am excited about what God's forming inside me, but it doesn't make me immune to the rest of the world.

I'm mad that some friends have troubles getting pregnant. I'm upset that some friends have lost their babies. I know how it feels, and it's horrible. There are loads of people who are choosing to dispose of their babies, and the people who want children can't have them! It's not fair. It makes me mad.

I wonder "Why would God let this happen to these wonderful people?". I pray in earnest for friends who have problems, but God's answer isn't "yes" (at least, not yet). Why?

Why do I pray if "God's will be done" anyway? Can I change His mind like Moses did? If yes, why haven't I?

I guess in the back of my mind I know the answers. There's a purpose for everything. And we on earth, are not meant to know the inner thoughts of God. He knows why everything happens and we just have to learn to accept the answers we're given, and trust that one day we'll understand. It still doesn't make it easier.

But I'll keep praying.

What's Up YOUR Nose?

This post is dedicated to my mother, who gave me this blog idea, and obviously wants me to share with the world one of the incredibly stupid things I did as a kid.

As a child, I loved to visit my grandparents on Vancouver Island! It was a fun road trip with a loving destination! They had a massive yard on a hill with beautiful gardens and raspberries. The house was huge! The "guest room" was big enough for our whole family of 5 to sleep with lots of room to spare.

One particularly memorable trip was when I was about 5 (mom, you can comment and correct me if I'm wrong). It wasn't the whole trip I remembered, just one aspect in particular.

I don't know what season it was, or where exactly in the house I was, but somehow I got hold of a stick of pussywillows.

They're so furry and fuzzy, and I was enjoying playing with them. They felt like a cuddly kitty!

In my 5-year old mind I thought, "Those would feel nice in my nose".

So up one went to tickle the inside of my nostril.

And there it stayed.

Try as I might, I could not dislodge the pussywillow! The harder I tried, the further up it went. I think it got up into my sinuses by the time I fessed up to my stupid move. It's pretty bad when you're only 5 and still know what you've done was really really dumb.

Off to the hospital I went, embarassed. They tried to get it out but it was so far up that the doctor said he'd have to operate to remove it. Luckily, they managed to get it out without the operation, and I was sent home back to grandma's house with a red face.

My family will never let me forget this incidence.

Moral of the story? Don't stick fuzzy things up your nose. It doesn't feel that great anyway.

I know I'm not alone! Colin shoved a piece of lego up his nose. Fess up now...what did you stick up your nose or in your ear as a kid?

The Good Ol' Hockey Game

Thanks to Point-to-Point Destinations, we had a wonderful free date Sunday night worth $180!

It started off at the Macaroni Grill, a very sentimental restaurant for us. For those who haven't been there, you MUST go! It's in an old mansion. The atmosphere is breathtaking! Since we had a gift certificate, we could splurge and each have a 4 course meal! We had the pasta milano, pictured below.

The tablecloths are made of paper. They give you an assortment of crayons at the table so you can draw on it. The servers write their name, and sometimes draw on it as well. We had fun making cartoon caractatures of each other! I wish we could have brought it home.

After dinner, we went to GM Place for the Canucks vs Wild game. Neither of us watch hockey much (unless they're in the Stanley Cup final), but just being there gets you into the spirit of the game. There's something about the cool air, music, and brightness of the ice and lights that makes me excited for the game to start.

Colin and I got right into it, jumping up when we scored, cheering when our players hit the others into the boards...the whole bit.

To the right of me was an explosive man. I was actually scared of him. He was really quiet, but then out of the blue he'd shout "HIT HIM" with such hate and anger that it made me coward towards Colin.

I was actually thankful for the 2 guys behind us. They knew what they were talking about and pretty much gave a comedy commentary on the entire game. I always knew who was on the ice and what the ref's call should have been.

To our left were 2 other couples. I think they were recipients of free tickets from the timeshare company too, because they didn't look into it at all. One couple didn't even show up until the 2nd period.

Speaking of timesharing, there seemed to be a seat timeshare in the row in front of us. In the 1st period, the 4 seats were empty. For the 2nd period, we were lucky enough to have 4 screaming girls ages 7 - 10 in front of us all decked out in Canucks tatoos, jerseys, flags. It was evident that their only goal for the period was to get on the big screen. They failed.

Then the 3rd period, there were 4 different people there. Adults who spent the majority of the time taking photos of each other. I'm pretty sure they'd had one too many $10 beers (well, them, and the rest of those around us).

I was watching the game more than the people though, and it was a great game! It was tied in the end, so there was an overtime period. No scoring in that, so it came down to a shootout! So exciting! So tense! And...we won! This is the first Canucks game I've been to where the Canucks won! The curse has been broken.

I would recommend going to those timeshare presentations even more now! As a matter of fact, I can't WAIT for the next one!

Sugary Goodness

Hows this for marketing?

I laughed out loud when I read this.

I thought Dr. Pepper was ONE flavour!

-Colin