Cold is not my friend!

Holy man it's cold here!

I woke up today and caught up on the blogs I follow. I had a good giggle at K.Law's Blog- Raining Iguanas, who wouldn't laugh at the photo of the frozen lizard in her back yard and then got started with my own day. When we cleaned out the closet un-buried some great tops that I haven't seen for awhile. I wore one today, it's gorgeous, a satin teal tank with black trim and cute button details. I mixed it with a cropped black suit jacket, black dress pants and teal pointed toe shoes. It was cute all together and I was, once again, thankful that I cleaned out all that clutter.

When Jonathan opened up the door so we could go to work I almost ran back down and hid in the warm bed. The high today was -21 plus windchill?? Who the heck came here and decided it was a good idea to be this cold all the time? But I sucked it up and headed into work, I mean really, why waste such a cute outfit? We got there, got back inside and then realized, the heater is broken. It is 10 degrees inside. A bit of an improvement, but not much, especially when wearing a satin tank top. I bundled up in my scarf and spent most of the day huddled in the office. The bright side- the property management company will fix the heater. The down side- They can't get to it until tomorrow. Mental note- wear warm layers to work tomorrow! Lots of tea, surprise t-shirts and warm food got me through the day. By the end even Jon was starting to freeze (he is usually always warm!) I knew the t-shirts from ThinkGeek were on their way, but they came really fast. I tossed this one on over my silk shirt, under the suit jacket and kept my scarf on. Not as dressy, but also not as chattery....

We got home and he started looking up places in Victoria. Yup, all him this time! This is the first big sign that he is excited to move (until now he has said he will go because it is what I want to do) Yay!!! And look at what we found:

Isn't it pretty? It's 5 minutes away from the area that I really want to be in, lets us keep our kitties, has cute 2 bedroom suites and is in our price range. They even let you upgrade to a bigger suite if you need to. So that way, when we first go there and are job hunting we can move into the 2 bdrm, once we know what our monthly income is going to be we can switch up if possible. Townhouse= time to get our Hungarian Vizla!! I am pumped! There is even a pool and canoes to rent in the complex. I am excited to go to the farmer's market in my canoe. I think this is home!

All right, time for me to stop looking at the photo and thaw in bed so I can sleep! Goodnight everyone!

Crazy Cats!

Ok, I know I said I was done for the night, but I finally got a photo of my cats drinking from the sink. Whenever you go into the bathroom they both race in and jump onto the sink, just waiting for you to turn the tap on. Really, you would think I don't give them water, but there's a bowl out all the time. 

Firefly                                                            Kiki

So much stuff!!!

I woke up with a strange need to clean and purge today after spending so much of yesterday looking at moving options for April. We moved last December from my condo (which was beautiful but two small for both of us) into Jon's parent's basement walkout (which is smaller, but let us save up money). We are now planning to move a province over and get our life going. It seems like all of our plans are on hold while we stay in Edmonton. Don't get me wrong, I  love the Edmonton (hate the weather) but love the rest of it, and we both grew up here, so moving is going to be tough. I can work here, but not for the same kind of money I will get there. He can work here but will have more success there as his company is just getting started out there. We can get a place, get the jobs going, get our puppy and eventually, start with the kids!
But yes, purging. We have way too much stuff! I swear we didn't move this much stuff in here! We spent all of today working in the bedroom closet and sink area. Yes, our bedroom has a sink. It used to be my Father in Law's workshop, so there was a utility sink in the corner. This is what we did to the room:

It is a strange shape, the back wall does a weird jut back thing and the closet is back in the corner. We put in handy Ikea armoires along the one wall to give us some storage for all my scrap booking stuff and office things. We share the monster dresser and the closet (oi!) Here is a closer view of the wall:

Gotta love the random shelving wherever I can stick it! We also possess the only floor length mirror in the whole house. I don't understand how people can get ready in the morning without one! Want to see our newly purged closet? We donated 5 bags of clothing to Goodwill, and still, it looks insane!

Don't you love the pretty support pole running through it? It makes you dodge a bit when you pull the clothing on that end out, but isn't as annoying as it looks in this photo! I am so thankful that there are two hanging bars in there, we would go nuts trying to share one! The other wall in the closet is all boxes and bins with shoes. Also all purged ;( but that just means I can buy more once we have moved!!!

I also listed a ton of stuff on Kijiji. God I love that site! I'm not sure how many responses I will get, everyone in the city has turned into a hermit due to all the snow, but I am hopeful. This stuff needs a new home, and fast. My next big job is going through our storage locker and seeing what needs to be listed, what needs to move with us and what can go to Goodwill and Freecycle. We got the locker thinking that we were only going to use it for 3 or 4 months while we were showing our condo so we could buy a new place. Here we are a year later going back to discover what is in it's depths. Should be fun!

Yup, that's all. What an exciting day for me! But I feel an odd sense of accomplishment.

Birthdays & Puppies

Today was very anti-climatic day. I wasn't going to do a post, but after how much I bug Jonathan to read my posts he bugged me about taking a few days off. I suppose he is right, if I slack off now I won't learn the things I set out to learn with it. 

I finally dragged my butt out of bed and went to the trainer with Jon. After 3 months of 5 days a week I took 1 month off. Bad idea!!! My butt is now very, very mad at me. Evil squats! Fortunately after that we came back home and spent the day on the couch and the computer. I am in full on Victoria dreamland, trying to nail down what area we want to look for apartments in and seeing what arrangements I can make for the moving process. I can't believe it is only a few months away!!

Today was also my Father in Law's birthday, so we had a great dinner and played Tock. Girls against boys....and we won for once! So much for letting the birthday boy get his way. Oh well!! 

I checked in to Twitter after dinner and got absorbed into the wonderful world of 144 letter posts. I really need to learn how to do the point form thing. I love it and get so frustrated by it at the same time!! I caught up, retweeted, replied and then got distracted by YouTube with cute videos of Hungarian Vizlas. I posted one below for you too!! One of my old bosses had a Vizla named Echo and he was such a great dog. We decided last year that when we move into a bigger place and have a good back yard we are getting one and naming him Romeo. 

See, aren't they cute??? I am so excited!!!

Snow!!!

Edmonton gets a ton of snow. I have come to accept this as fact, even though I wish every year that it won't come! The snow is one of my biggest reasons for the move to Victoria! They get one or two big snowstorms each winter. They last a week, and then it goes away!! 

When I went outside this morning this is what I saw:

Jonathan grabbed our neighbour's snowblower and went at the driveway so we could head to church. We shovelled at 11pm, so this was 12 hours worth of snow....

I am a princess. Here is the path that was made for me to get in the warm car while he finished!

 The view out our living room window. The frog statue comes up to my knees. We live in the basement, so this is under the deck.....

The arbor is at the back of our yard. It has a swinging seat on it. Can you see the frame? We thankfully took the cushions off it before the snow. 

Prayer of Epiphany

Our Reverend said this prayer in church today and I love it so much I feel the need to share it. Such powerful words and such truth! 

  

Light-giving God – 

We are magi on a caravan of lumbering hope,

traveling through grinding wind and glaring sun,

chill clear nights and skin-baking days. 

We come to seek Your light.

We come lumbering in hope, 

each of us on our own life’s journey – traveling through times of loneliness and fear,

through heartbreak and anger, 

through grief and loss, 

through economic uncertainty, 

through fear for loved ones caught up in war, 

through our own private crises,

through the extended shock of horrific images of hurricanes and genocide, 

through struggles with the mental illness of a child,

the disintegration of a parent, 

the simple letting go of a child more ready to be an adult

than we are ready to allow their growth, 

through the changes in a new marriage,

the welcoming of a new child, 

the completion of a degree, 

the vision emerging in a new work of art.

We come lumbering in hope on a journey of joys and sorrows. 

We come as magi to seek Your light.

But Light-giving God, 

we admit that we are also Herod the King,

trembling in fear at the news of the rising of Your light. 

We admit that we are afraid that the light of Your truth may indeed rise,

and it may be threatening to us. 

Like Herod,

we fear the rise of the truth of the harm we have done to others to build our own palaces and to fortify our own power;

we fear the rise of the truth that lies beneath the political spin we put on our own lives;

we fear to admit to ourselves the truth that may rise within us as we acknowledge the pain of what we have done to others and what others have done to us.

Light-giving God, 

we come as trembling Herod, 

afraid of Your light.

But Light-giving God, 

we are also magi wrapped in joy to arrive at the manger that cradles Your light.

We greet the rising light that Herod so fears.

We, too, fear this light, this truth. 

For here we meet Your light and truth, 

the truth of our own powerlessness.

We are magi, wise and respected sages. 

We are Herod the King, holding wealth and power. 

Yet we are no more than this helpless infant,

no more than human flotsam on the tidal wave of time, 

human beings, no more and no less.

Light-giving God, 

let us sit in stillness in the light of this truth of our powerlessness,

until we can see Your real light cradled here, 

until we are enveloped in the assuring light of this truth, 

until we shine in the light of the common humanity You reveal to us here.

Light-giving God. 

We lumber together in hope as Your church to lift Your Light. 

Let the light that we lift be this light visible in the manger. 

Let us lift not the light of our congratulation of ourselves,

not the light of belief in our own superiority, 

not the light of our belief in our own narrow presuppositions, 

not even the light of our own church.

Let us lift the light from You that we can encounter here,

the light of the power You make known to us in the truth of our powerlessness, 

the light we can see as we sit quietly as magi at the manger learning to be at ease with our common humanity, 

learning to be at ease with You.

Let this be the light we lift as a beacon in the darkness we know best. 

As we lift that light,

may we too be lifted to know the true power that lies among us waiting to rise as a beacon of our true hope.

Amen

Dr. Susan M. (Elli) Elliott

Furniture & Friends

For all of those that know me, ignore this paragraph. It contains useless knowledge for you. For those that don't know me (and haven't figured it out yet) I work at my families kids furniture store. It is great, most clients who come in are excited to be welcoming a new little one into the family or putting their toddler into a big kid room. We also sell a ton of little things like bedding, lamps, paintings, strollers, feeding goodies, etc. The list goes on and on.

Today was spent rearranging half of the showroom to make room for a new bunk bed. There is alot of stuff to move around! We seriously moved around 3 isles worth of hardwood beds, dressers and cribs and then moved around all the coordinating matching items. Holy man. I am almost as sore as the day I lost to the warehouse. But the bright side? It's done, and looks gorgeous. We have 2 inches too much room exactly where the bunk bed is going. Perfect!! And, bright side #2??? I don't work again until Monday, so I don't have to deal with the bunk bed coming out tomorrow! Sweet!!

Back to advice time for you guys. Do you know those friends that have been a part of your life for a long long time? Are you still friends with all of them because of your past together or do you leave some behind as you change and grow? Jon and I are both struggling with this question. There are people who we still randomly talk to that we used to be really close to, but have taken such different paths than us that our lives don't seem to mesh up anymore. We have found newer friends who mesh in right now and have the same interests as we do now. Getting together with them is a blast. Time with them includes  lots of conversation, and sweet activities. But the old ones still call occasionally, and we still have the awkward coffee chats, strange hugs and promises to get together again soon. How do we deal with this? Opinions please!!!