After a LOT of frustration, a couple "For goodness sakes!", no swearing (thankfully), and a bit of fishing line, here is our 2009 Christmas tree. I decided that I would like some garland to put on the tree to help fill in some of the gaps. So I ventured out to Walmart (on a Saturday, four weeks before Christmas...I know I am a little crazy!) and got some pretty shiny silver garland. I am happy with how the tree looks. Here's hoping it stays upright!
That is the title of the next book club book. I have been working on it for a few weeks now and I would say it is very different than my usual choice for reading material. I would say I don't often choose to read non-fiction books. It is the story of Greg Mortenson who tried (and failed) to climb K2. When he came down the mountain he was in pretty rough shape and was nursed back to health by a remote village in Pakistan. He got to know the people in the village and realized they had need of a school, so he promised to return to build them a school. Over the next decade and beyond he built numerous schools as well as water wells and other practical things for the remote villages in Pakistan.
I found it very interesting tonight as I read and he recounted what it was like for him hearing about the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. He was in a small village in Pakistan and one of the people heard about the attacks over a shortwave radio. He told Greg that "bombs have fallen on the village of New York in America". It went on to talk about how heartbroken people were in Pakistan (a mainly Muslim nation) to hear of such a terrible attack. I will be the first to admit that I am pretty ignorant when it comes to knowledge of the beliefs of Islam. Three Cups of Tea mentions how the Koran talks about the importance of looking after the less fortunate, widows, children, etc. Greg is repeatedly referred to as an infidel, even by the people who support what he is doing in Pakistan.
I also found it interesting (and a little disturbing) to read about how the extremist Muslims, from Saudi Arabia, with all their oil money started moving into Pakistan and building schools and mosques in communities who couldn't afford to do it themselves. Three Cups of Tea talks about how poor Pakistan is because the government does not provide proper schools or education to it's people. It said that a very small percentage of wealthy people in Pakistan send their children to privately run schools. Then the government does not provide public schools to the rest. So when the Saudi's showed up and offered to build schools (aka madrassas, where the Taliban do a lot of their recruiting) the people were receptive. They sent their children to these schools where more often than not the teachers were extremist Muslims with no training in math, science or literature. They were taught combat and recruited to the Taliban. That is so disturbing to me.....maybe you already knew this, but like I said I am quite ignorant about a lot of this.
Makes me so thankful to live in little ole Saskatchewan. I can't imagine the thought of bombs dropping from the skies over our province. When I was driving to work today I saw an army truck driving the opposite way down the freeway and I thought to myself how rarely we see things like that in Saskatoon. But you see footage from Afghanistan on the news and there are all sorts of vehicles or tanks patrolling. I am so thankful to live in a free and safe country!!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
I heard on the radio this morning that we can expect our water bills to go up 7% in each of the next three years. The reason..... People are conserving water, so the city is not making as much money as they need to. What a kick in the butt! Makes me want to have 20 minute showers every day and run our dishwasher and do 20 loads of laundry. At least that way I would actually be paying for the water that I am using, not just paying for the lack of water use. Boo!
I have been debating lately about cutting my hair short again. I had the same hairstyle (the one on the right) for about three years. I think it suits me, but I started to get bored with it, so I started growing it out. The pic on the left was taken a couple of weeks ago. My hair is just past my shoulders now and is sort of blah. Anyone have any suggestions what I should do with it? I don't know that I would be comfortable going much shorter than it was before, but I just don't think growing it out any longer would look good. I also am not minding having it a bit darker. The picture on the left was taken about two months after my last colour, and you can hardly see any roots. I think I look good blonder, but it definitely requires more upkeep. I have appreciated not having to get my hair cut every six weeks or so, like I did when it was shorter. I have a hair appointment booked for December 11th, so I will try to figure it out by then!
I just found out that my brother-in-law, Lorne, has pneumonia after being sick with the flu (most likely H1N1) for the last ten days. Please pray for him and my sister and their kids. The boys have had their vaccinations in the last couple of weeks but my sister has not had her shot yet. So far she is healthy.
For all of you who are dying to hear how my thyroid is doing, the answer is good! I was in to see my specialist about three weeks ago (can I just say that Dr. Sharma is a very kind and compassionate doctor! I really like him!). He was pleased to see that my TSH levels are back within the normal range. He didn't have too much to say with regards to my hair loss or menstrual cycles. He did say that they should get back to normal eventually.
I have been feeling pretty well back to normal, and in the last week or two I have noticed a significant decrease in the amount of hair I am losing. I still have the thin spots on my head, but hopefully it will grow back quickly. I also only had one menstrual cycle in the last month :) My goiter is barely there anymore. It feels good to be back to normal. I even went for blood work last week and did not hear from my doctor's office, so I will assume that the numbers are still in the normal range and will go for more blood work in about a month.
In approximately 2002 I developed an intolerance to lactose. I didn't realize it at first, I went to the doctor complaining of digestive troubles. She suggested cutting out dairy products and see how I made out. I did it, and voila it seemed to clear up. So for a period of time I completely cut out all dairy products. But then I started to miss cheese so I would have some here and there. I was also told that lactose intolerant people can eat yogurt because the bacteria in the yogurt counteracts the effect of the lactose. So I started eating yogurt. In the last couple of years I would say that the only thing I have fully cut out is straight milk. There have been a couple of times that I have had something with milk in it and it has caused me some digestive issues. So I decided to stop drinking milk (I was not a big milk drinker anyway) and I tried many options for my cereal. Over the last years I have tried soy milk, goat's milk and most recently Lactaid milk. It is definitely more expensive, however Jay and I maybe go through four liters of milk per month, so I don't feel like it's too bad of a deal.
We decided to do our shopping at Sobey's last week, as their flier had some good deals. I needed some milk (or 'malk' as we like to call it....it's a Simpson's reference). I grabbed what I thought was skim Lactaid milk. I brought it home and started using it. I noticed that it had a decal on the side that says that it has added milk solids, so it has 2% milk taste without the fat. I thought, hey that's new. Not until today did I realize that it's regular milk, just with added milk solids. Not lactose free. I have used it on my cereal two or three times since we bought it and I feel just fine. I am little paranoid to just go for it and try regular milk full time. Though I have heard that people with lactose intolerance do not seem to react as harshly to fat free milk. It seems odd that I would develop lactose intolerance as an adult, but then would start to tolerate it again. Hmmm...
I finally got started on my Christmas shopping, which makes me happy. I like buying gifts for people, if I know what to buy. Sometimes when I don't know what to get it stresses me out. Which seems to contradict what gift giving is about. It shouldn't be stressful!
I am thankful that in the last couple of years my Christmas shopping list has shrunk a bit. A couple of years ago my best girl friends and I decided to stop exchanging gifts. It seemed to get harder to think of something to get for them, and we decided we would much rather get together for a nice meal or just spend some time together. I don't know if it'll happen this year, with one just having had a new baby and recovering from surgery and the other has a crazy busy work schedule.
This year we decided at work not to buy each other gifts. There are only three of us where I work so it wasn't such a big deal to buy two gifts. But with some of us being on a tighter budget and again trying to find something relatively inexpensive and somewhat thoughtful, but usually just a gift for the sake of buying a gift.....anyway, this year we have decided we are just going to exchange some Christmas baking with each other and probably go out for supper together. (Beats last year's drinking shots in the back room between appointments, haha)
A few weeks ago a friend posted this video on Facebook and it really did make me think. I hope it'll make you think too.
On Saturday mornings I like to sleep in and laze around. When I do get up I usually spend some time hanging out in my pajamas before I go shower and get dressed and start my day. This morning was no different. Around 11am I was sitting in the kitchen reading some blogs on my laptop and eating some yogurt. Suddenly the doorbell rang. Because I am not comfortable answering the door in my little nighty, I made a dash for the bedroom to hide. However I could tell that the guy at the door had seen me through the frosted window in our front door. I figured if no one came to the door he would give up and move on. No, he proceeded to knock quite vigorously on the window. I started to wonder if it wasn't something really important so I started digging around in my closet for my bath robe. When I was putting it on the guy rang the doorbell again. I said to Jay, "If this isn't important I am going to be some ticked off!" As I was coming around the corner to open the front door, I saw the culprit, run across our front lawn to our neighbour's front door and then realized that it was a kid (maybe 12 or 13 years old) in a hockey jersey with a garbage bag. He was collecting pop bottles and cans. And that was really worth two door bell rings and a knock that sounded very serious. I am sure he saw me when I ran for the bedroom, but really, if someone doesn't answer the door, there is probably a good reason!!
I remember one time when I was in youth group and we went door to door collecting for the food bank. One door we went to it took the lady a long time to answer the door, and when she did, she was wrapped in a sheet (or possibly a blanket) and very little or nothing else. I am sure this kid did not want to see me in my little nighty :P
I was listening to this CD in my car this week and this song really leaped out at me. I really like this song, but the words really sank into my heart and I found myself moved to tears while driving home from work the other night. Feel free to listen to the Youtube video and I posted the lyrics below.
I will offer up my life In spirit and truth, Pouring out the oil of love As my worship to You In surrender I must give my every part; Lord, receive the sacrifice Of a broken heart
CHORUS: Jesus, what can I give, what can I bring To so faithful a friend, to so loving a King? Savior, what can be said, what can be sung As a praise of Your name For the things You have done? Oh my words could not tell, not even in part Of the debt of love that is owed By this thankful heart
You deserve my every breath For You've paid the great cost; Giving up Your life to death, Even death on a cross You took all my shame away, There defeated my sin Opened up the gates of heaven And have beckoned me in
I would like to announce the birth of Karen and Levi's baby. They had a baby boy this morning by c-section (scheduled). His name is Oliver Leopold and weighs 7lbs 5oz. He has a full head of reddish, wavy hair.
I just got off the phone with Karen and she is doing very well. I am excited to go up to the hospital tomorrow evening to meet the little guy :)
I enjoy playing with Kiwi. I would say one of my favorite things to play with her is hide and seek. I do all the hiding and she does all the seeking. Typically what I do is I throw a toy for her, then when she runs to get it I run and hide behind a door, beside the bed, under the computer desk, behind the island in the kitchen, etc. and she looks for me quite frantically until she finds me. Let me tell you she is so happy when she finds me. She licks my face as if I haven't seen her in hours. She is a pretty smart dog and knows there are only so many places I can hide. She always looks behind the doors first, then usually beside the bed and in the shower in our bedroom. If she is really stumped I will say her name and she will find me in no time. She makes us laugh so much and brings us so much happiness. I love my little poochie!
One of my other favorite things to play is 'where's Jason?' If she is in another room or even sitting on his lap and you ask her, 'Where's Jason?" she will think about it. You can see the little wheels in her head turning. Then she will either run over and jump up on his lap and give him a thorough face wash, or if she is already sitting on his lap, after she thinks about it for a minute she will spin around, put her paws up on his shoulders and give him an equally thorough face wash. She is such a sweet little dog.
