Lead me not into temptation

This week I've been busy playing with my mixer. It's lovely! But what is not lovely is the affect bread has on one's waistline... bread is evil.


I went on a bread diet this past week.... all I ate was bread. I couldn't help it. All that yummy warm bread slathered with melted butter....I'm drooling just thinking about it. My cooling rack always looks something like this, within minutes of coming out of the oven, one of the loaves has a big chunk taken out of it. How mysterious!

I dreaded going to WW last night, but Lisa made me go and face the scale. Oh yeah, it was BAD!! Did I already mention that bread is evil??

But it's a start of a new week for me and I'm going to try to get back on track.,,, my goal is to give the newly baked bread a chance to actually cool properly on the rack before I put them in the freezer or in the breadbox, without a big slab taken off. And I will also look Rodger in the eyes and say "I DO NOT NEED ANY BREAD." He loves it when I do that because it gives him permission to do whatever it takes to get me away from over-eating. And I'm not allowed to get mad at him when he does. Most of the time I don't hit him....

They made me work for it

Last year on this day, I was packing a suitcase full of tank tops, shorts, bathingsuits, sunscreen, and Maeve Binchy books. Today I am celebrating my birthday Deep Cove style, complete with rubber boots and a warm sweater. The suitcase is empty, and will remain so for a long time.

To celebrate my birthday, Rodger and the kids made up a treasure hunt for me today... I had to solve my own clues to find my present. They did a great job - it was actually a bit hard! Here was a sample of the clues:

The next leg of your quest you will perform a traditional Deep Cove chore. Go to the log pile, chop the logs on the chopping block and load the wheelbarrow, and then bring the wood to the wood shed.

On the wood stack in the shed you will find another letter and then add the wood to the stack. When you have completed your task, you will receive your next clue.

A gift awaits under the tree, a nestled block has the letter you need.
The last 3 letters spell that which you hold so dear,
An object of your affection into which you can pour a tear
At home this is faithfully by your side
And many times when you go for a ride
A hint you may need to play this card
So it rhymes with a slimy animal in our yard. (Answer: MUG! haha, yes I do love my coffee mug)

Proceed to the place revealed in the scrambled letters to unveil your priceless masterpiece. (It took me awhile to unscramble the words GUEST ROOM.

It was the only thing I truly wanted for my birthday, but I seriously did not think I would get it.... I found the ad on Used Victoria over Christmas, and within a day, the ad disappeared. I thought to myself "lucky person. That is the exact colour I would buy if I had the choice... Cinnamon."



From the genuine shock on my face, it appears that I was the lucky person. Thank you, thank you Rodger and Dad and Mom T!


Perhaps tomorrow I will have my brief moment of sadness over not getting on a plane to head somewhere hot & sunny. But I'm thinking I'll get over it with a quick trip to Thrifty's for some yeast so I can bake some bread using my fancy machine... once I figure out how to use it.

Comfort

This week I was reminded, once again, of how precious life is. And how God's timing is HIS timing, not ours. Crappy (and painful) as that may seem, we don't know the bigger picture and He has chosen not to reveal everything to us. We just need to trust Him. Sounds simple, but it's not.

After a prompting from a friend a couple of days ago, I've been reciting something in my head that I learned as a kid. And as a teenager I wondered "why do I have to memorize this boring stuff??". Well, it's for times like these...times when I am confused about God and His purpose for our lives, and when my faith is shaky. I grieve for my friends and church family, as they mourn the tragic loss of a sister, daughter, cousin, friend. And for her husband and 2 young children who are left behind to deal with such an unfathomable emptiness. God decided to take His beloved daughter home to be with Him, while she slept. No warning, no time to say goodbye to loved ones. Just gone from this life.

And so I am asked: What is your only comfort, in life and in death?

That I am not my own
But belong, body and soul
in life, and in death
to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ

He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood
And has set me free from the tyranny of the devil
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from head
without the will of my Father in heaven
In fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to Him
Christ, by His Spirit
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for Him.

(The Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day #1) I don't remember the other 84 questions, but this one sums it up anyway. And I am comforted. I pray my friends also find comfort in these words. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow... but someday.

Christmas

I can't believe tomorrow we will be doing the annual "Wow, it's New Year's Eve... what should we do? Where should we go? Can we just stay home??" We always leave the planning of this ridiculously over-rated evening until the very last second. My vote is to stay home, invite a couple of friends who have also not made plans yet, eat lots, drink lots and play a rousing game of Clue.

We've had a busy Christmas, and today is the first day where we have no agenda. We're all in our PJ's, I'm drinking a pot of coffee and making a grocery list of much-needed stuff.





Mom and Dad came for Christmas this year, which was great. They've done it once before, when Cameron was 5 months old. We didn't really do much while they were here, but I'm hoping that's what they wanted to do? The weather was terrible... rainy, windy...typical. But they wandered through Sidney, checking out the Thrift Stores and the used book stores, we took them to the Chinese food buffet, and looked at the beautiful Christmas lights at Butchart Gardens in monsoon weather. The kids loved the carousel ride... and my dad loved hearing "Time to go home."

My mom and I played countless games of Scrabble and I taught her, Rodger and Simon the game of "Clue" which our family got for Christmas. And of course we ate alot. A perfectly relaxing Christmas.

Caramels

After reading my sister's post today about making homemade caramel, I started to think about Christmas memories from my childhood. Every year, I remember our family receiving the most fabulous gift from our sweet neighbor, Mrs. Barton... homemade caramel individually wrapped in tin foil. Oh my word, that was the BEST caramel I have ever tasted, and to this day I have yet to find anything that comes close to that magical taste. Each time we were allowed a caramel, my brothers and sisters carefully picked through the batch of pieces, making sure that we got the biggest, fattest one that was available. They didn't last long in our house. I'm sure my mom's memory of the caramels is slightly different... I'm pretty sure all she remembers is the horrendously messy kitchen where these delectable treats came from and was amazed we didn't have tummy issues when we ate something that was created in that home. Sigh... I miss those caramels!

Maybe I'll try that recipe my sister used and see how they measure up. Nah... why bother? They won't.

Bah Hum Bug

Ruby's supposedly having a nap right now but I can hear her door opening and closing. That's fine, she can wait a few more minutes while I have a cup of coffee and rant for a bit. it's been a frustrating time for me lately and I think yesterday was the "final straw" kind of day... today I'm slowly easing out of my stress but it's still there. It's hard to put into words exactly why I feel so stressed, anxious and frustrated these days.

But take yesterday for example.... there was a serious monsoon going on outside and inside the house as well. Yup, we've got a leak in the roof and now when it rains hard, it drips quite rapidly straight into the house by the front door. Nice. Does anyone have $12K kicking around for us?? Obviously this is a stressful situation because we don't have the money to fix our roof right now, not to mention you can't fix a roof during monsoon season. So out come the towels and a heater to try to save the hardwood floor from ruin. It's going to be a long winter. Rain, rain... go away!!!

Add to the frustration: Sunday School and the upcoming Christmas programs. it's amazing to me how in the dark I am when it comes to the program and what is expected of me and the kids... and I also had no clue that I am not part of the decision-making process, I am just told what to do. But I wasn't actually aware of this fact until yesterday when I tried to make a decision on behalf of Sunday School. Again, final straw for me. I'm done. By the end of June, I will have put in 3 years and it's time for someone else to take on the challenge. Let someone else "live and breath it" for awhile. I long for the day when I can just show up for church and be spiritually fed again... what a concept. Or better yet, if I want to skip out one Sunday I CAN! I cannot wait.

Then there's the upcoming Grade 1 sleepover next Thursday night... yes, a school night! Seriously?? Excuse me, but according to my calendar it's an instructional day on Friday and it's supposed to be "business as usual." The teachers are encouraging parents to pick up their child at 8:30 am Friday morning because they will be very tired. So I guess Cameron will be one of the only kids in his class on Friday morning. Oh, I'm sure he won't even notice or feel left out when all his buddies pass him in the doorway with their jammies on, waving "nighty night", as Cameron heads into school for a regular school day. Yesterday my letter to the Principal was met with "I understand your perspective on all of this, but too bad." And here I thought school was for learning?? Maybe I'm just old-school that way. Silly me.

Rodger's dealing with a parking ticket that I got a couple of weeks ago, while dropping the family off at the ferry terminal. we pulled into the drop-off zone, got 3 carseats, various baggage and 3 kids out of the car, and then proceeded to a large lineup of people at the walk-on terminal. After several minutes we finally paid for our tickets, then spent a few more minutes checking in their baggage & car seats (which had to be put into plastic bags and tied up.) By the time I headed back to the drop-off zone where the car was parked, I had a $59 ticket on my windshield because I "left the car unattended for more than 3 minutes". Oh my word. I can't even go on any more about this because just thinking about it makes my blood boil. So yeah, add that to Rodger's list of things to deal with.

Tomorrow's going to be a better day. We're going to chop down a tree at the Christmas Tree farm, then try to have fun while we decorate it. Then on Sunday we're spending a big chunk of time practicing our songs with Sunday School. Then we're working on a combined craft with all of the kids, followed by hot chocolate and treats. I can feel the Sunday headache coming on already.

I'm looking forward to Sunday afternoon, when I will be taking a very long nap. Because I deserve it. Wah.

My Play Date

This morning was a rare treat... I had a 2 hour play date with a fellow stampin' addict while Rodger took Ruby skating with the Grade 1 class. It was such fun!

Mi Ran and I swapped Christmas card workshop cards today... we each had extra card "kits" so it was super easy to put together. And it's always interesting to me how everyone can have such completely different ideas, or styles.

So everything turned out great except for the fact that she thought I was a Big Shot - I mean, she thought I owned a Big Shot! So I wasn't able to finish 2 of the cards which required embossing. (Doesn't this wreath card look awesome?) But lucky for me, I have a friend with Big Shot toys, so I'm sure "she" will let me use her machine to finish the cards next week sometime, if I walk in the door bearing treats or a meal! :-)