christmas is just three days away. it's unbelievable how time has flown. these past three months have been like a blur.
what have we been up to to make time go so fast?
well, in the past few weeks:
as noted previously, the first saturday of the month, we found ourselves at what is fast becoming the annual christmas party for our friends. steve and cor hosted the deep fried turkey and kid's secret santa exchange at their place. as usually - yummy food and great memories.
the weekend after, we went to see stuart mclean's christmas show. for those of you unfamiliar with this author, i suggest you give him a go. the first book i ever read of his was vinyl cafe: unplugged. both sweet and funny. he doesn't write novels, really. more like short stories. but the short story centres around one family - dave, morley, sam, stephanie and arthur, the dog. as well as some neighbours that seem to cross paths with dave and morley's family quite a bit. his earlier work seemed a bit rough so i would probably not start off with his first couple of publications.
anyway, the concert was a hit. he brought the house down with a story from his most recent book, "extreme vinyl cafe." he also featured two canadian musicians. one whom i really liked by the name of matt anderson, who has a booming voice. anderson did probably the best 'holy night' i've ever heard.
this past friday night, i threw my best friend, ada, a surprise party, congratulating her on obtaining her ph D. she thought i was throwing a christmas party with just her friends but had no clue that i had also invited two of her cousins (and their respective spouses and kids), her parents, her younger brother and her best friend from dragon boating.
when she walked in and saw what we had done, she actually had to walk back out, turn to her husband and ask in complete shock, "hoa... do you know what's going on? what's going on? what's happening?"
awesome! i was stressed that she would find out and it's been difficult because i had been seeing her every weekend since the last weekend of november. i was so worried i'd let something slip.
anyway, the party was great. i haven't hosted such a large event (24 adults and 12 kids) in such a long time (not including chaeli's birthday parties held at indoor playgrounds where we get a host or two to do a lot of the leg work) that i found myself a bit lost in what to do. and planning a party for an adult is so very different, in my opinion, from throwing a party for a preschooler. and the last time i threw such a party mainly for an adult (or adults) was back several years back - the 2000 new years party and the jack and jill for ada/hoa. i've had bbq gatherings and potlucks since then, but those were of a smaller group.
so yes - i found myself quite nervous.
i think it went well, though. everyone seemed to have a good time. i tried to keep it casual - nothing too fancy. it was meant to just be a nice, intimate and cozy gathering.
the next day, the saturday, doug, chaeli and i went downtown by subway to watch disney on ice.
we've seen this one before two years ago - the princess classics. but even the 2nd time around, it was good. in fact, it was better. we bought better seats - a section better which ended up being only $39 ea. and 12 rows from the rink. not bad, considering the first 3 rows right at the rink are $80 ea.
afterwards, we went right back uptown and stopped at a small japanese restaurant for some really good, quality food for a very decent price.
chaeli was so tired. she hardly slepted the night before and because the show was at 3pm, she missed her nap. by the end of our meal, her eyes were almost half shut. but it was some of her favourite food and she was hungry. so she forced herself to stay awake just to eat as much as she could.
by the time we drove underground into our parking lot, she was out.
she slept almost 14 hours that night.
so i'm calling her "eddie" since she stares at me like the jack russell from fraser - as mentioned in the previous post.
today, she picked the cardio machine next to me again. and yes, she proceeded to talk to me.
i purposely moved the mp3 player that was clipped on to my shirt and turned the volume up, hoping that she'd get the hint that my music was too loud for me to hear her. and though she does not look my way the entire time, she did turn to stare at me at least several times. each time, holding her gaze for what felt like 10 seconds or there around.
do you know how long 10 seconds is? or even 8 seconds? count it out - with a mississippi inbetween.
yeah - that's right. LONG.
i could tell she was doing this as a way to try and catch my own eyes should i turn even a millimeter towards her direction in order to 'flag me down' so to speak.
and yes, she did try to talk to me - quite loudly i might add - on a few occassions. i know because inbetween song tracks, i actually heard her. not enough to know exactly what she was talking about, but enough to know that she was talking to me.
what was worse this time was that she started to watch the timer on my machine more and more near the end. i was thinking to myself, "oh. my. god. is she watching it so she can try to talk to me at the end of my workout?"
sure enough, just as i started to wipe down my cardio machine with my towel, she tried to get my attention again.
i didn't really know what to do because by this point, she wasn't just annoying me, but was creeping me out. so i did the only thing i could do - jump off, do the quickest 180 spin on my heels and march off while still plugged into my tunes.
i also showered and dressed quickly in fear of her catching me in the women's locker room. or worse yet, waiting for me at the entrance of the gym!
Well, the last order dates for the holidays have passed, and Santa's final sacks of festive MOOs are filling up fast. We're still taking new orders though, and we'll be shipping them out as fast as we can - so don't hesitate to order thank you cards for all your lovely pressies!
Just so you know, here's our warehouse and customer service closure dates over the holiday season.
Thursday 24th December - LIMITED HOURS: we'll be shipping orders in the morning, but going home in the afternoon to wrap presents.
Friday 25th December - CLOSED : we'll be at home feasting on mince pies and turkey.
Monday 28th December - UK CLOSED: we'll be buying new trousers to fit our expanded waistlines!! (please note this is a UK Holiday only).
Tuesday 29th December - OPEN: business as usual.
Wednesday 30th December - OPEN: business as usual.
Thursday 31st December - OPEN: business as usual.
Friday 1st January - CLOSED : we'll be trying out our New Year resolutions and nursing hangovers.
Monday 4th January - OPEN: that's it, holidays over, back to work!
It's also important to note that our StickerBook turnaround in the UK is severely delayed over the holidays. Any orders placed after the 20th December will not be dispatched until the week of the 4th January.
That's all for now - Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the MOO Warehouse Crew!
awhile ago, i ranted about the weird lady that was very persistent in getting my attention even while i was plugged into my tunes and clearly ignoring her.
that wasn't the last time she's tried to get my attention. there's been several occassions where she'll find a cardio machine next to mine and start talking. i can't hear her, but i can see her lips move from my peripheral view. most times, she doesn't talk. but she keeps on turning to look at me, waiting for an in... you know, that moment where i'll turn slightly towards her direction so she can get my attention.
good god. i feel like i have my very own 'eddie' at the gym - you know, that jack russell that keeps on staring at fraser.
and what the hell is up with all this jack russell symbolism in my life? is this some universal way of mocking me???
anyway... today, she caught me in the women's locker room just as i was getting ready to go to my thursday bodypump class. she's so weird. she just comes up and starts talking to me as if we were already in the middle of a conversation.
so the gist of it is - she's noticed that i lost weight and wants to know how i did it.
i size her up and decide to tell her that most of my recent success has been from bodypump. judging by what little i know of her, i had a gutt feeling that she would follow me into this class. and judging by anything i was able to piece together, the class would scare her away.
and so, like a good little stalker, she came to class.
when she got there, she started to say that she has done this class now that she thinks about it. and that it had caused her injuries.
and no, i don't understand why she continued to step up for the class without at least talking to the instuctor first about her past injuries with the class. but she went ahead anyway.
i'll admit, i checked to see her form throughout the class and as i suspected, she did not come close to the correct form in ANY of the exercises that we did. i know the instructor, without wanting to shine the spotlight on her, was trying her very best to speak to the entire class on the proper form in hopes that she would listen. but she did not. and not only was her form off, it was probably the most WAY off form i've ever seen done - in bodypump or anywhere else. she was doing things with that bar that i have never seen before. and anytime she squated or lunged, her knee went WAY past her toes.
all i could think was, "and THAT's why she kept on injuring herself."
as usual, i had to leave before the abs and stretch in order for me to have time to shower, change and go back to work. i didn't stick around but i had a feeling she was looking for me afterwards.
we shall see if she returns next week or not.
WEIRD!
i've been busy.
and it's been fun stuff but the one thing i'm missing is having down time. i mean, the christmas tree and all the other decorations are up, but i haven't had the time to be able to enjoy it. i would love a full weekend where we have ample opportunity to sit in our living room, listening to christmas tunes and do some craft together. or read. or play board games.
this sunday might give us that opportunity, as will christmas eve. but that is all.
and i'll take that over nothing.
i was just talking to my girlfriend about christmas eve and christmas day. and how it's managed with extended family, as well as our immediate family.
we both agreed that we need at portion of time to be with just the husband and our kids - to set aside at least christmas eve and/or christmas morning for us to build our own annual traditions.
it's not always easy though - family politics can come into play. for example - if you come from two large familes (or worse, if your side and his side are like oil and water), how do you decide on how to split it up AND reserve that special time for just your nuclear family?
my in-laws do not live in the same city as us but if they did, both sides are small enough to have christmas dinner together. and i would have no problem having them over late in the morning to open presents with chaeli. but i would still want christmas eve pretty much to ourselves. a drop by from a friend is no big deal, so long as we get to stay where we are. at home.
so i want to hear from those out there - how do you do it? what's your idea christmas?
note: to all those replying, it seems as though people think that i'm having family politics over the holidays and i just want to clarify, that i'm not. but i notice it's common amongst a lot of people i know. :)
I always say God's timing is perfect. I never know when I turn on the radio what great thing I may hear on my favorite Christian talk radio station. Many times I get delayed then I turn it on and think, wow, if I had been in the car 15 minutes ago or 15 minutes later I would have missed this.
Well, today I was listening to Family Life with Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine. The neat thing is they were interviewing a woman named Sharon Jaymes and she is the author of a new parenting book a friend gave me on How to Be a Great Mom and Raise Great Kids.
A quote was shared during this broadcast that really struck me and it was about managing yourself...mind, body and spirit. Especially your spiritual life.....
Here is the quote: "Most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you're listening to yourself, instead of talking to yourself. The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself." That's ultimately what you're talking about here, is knowing how to handle yourself.
So many times people just let life happen to them without truly engaging in a relationship with God. God has really been teaching me about really listening to Him and being led in all things. I am trying to look at predictable patterns that work and do not work and how to be more effective.
In fact, my latest prayer has been, "Lord teach me a better way. How can I be a better mom, wife, friend and disciple. God show me how to be more effective in all I do." But more imporantly than that, I am just learning to trust God when I do not always see how things are going to turn out.
Also, I am really worshiping the Lord a lot. Our family listens and sings a lot of praise and worship music. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So I am excited to see what God has in store for myself and my family. Life is full of many ups and downs and uncertainty.....but that makes the certainty of God so much sweeter.
I am so thankful for a Savior because I have needed a lot of saving :)
I always like to share a video. My daughter and I have been practicing this together for her to sing as a solo. Love this.
