30 By 30–Using our own photos as art

Another one to check off my list! I wanted to blow up at least 3 of our own photos to use as art. Well, as it turns out, we had a ton of photos that we thought were art-worthy, plus we got a great deal on printing and framing so we did 12!

I was really impressed how well the 8x10's turned out considering I printed them at Walmart, but they look great! The lady beside me at the store actually asked if I was a professional photographer! Alas, no. But I did take one or two of the shots up there. It helps to have an incredible camera.

Here's how it looks in the room:

So that was definitely worth doing. I love the look of them all in the same frame. I will definitely do more of this in the future as we travel and take new photos.

30 By 30–Reading the favourite books of my friends

I'm working my way through my 30 by 30 list. One item was to read the favourite book of each of my closest friends. I started with my husband who chose "The Barbarian Way" by Erwin Raphael McManus.

I'm generally a fiction reader so this non-fiction book was a little out of my realm, which is exactly the point of this exercise.

The Barbarian Way is about becoming an un-tame Christian, one who takes risks and is willing to go outside the traditional religious boundaries.

Overall, I think the idea is a good one. Jesus wasn't exactly a traditional guy and he broke many of the religious "rules" of that time. I do think it's important for us not to be afraid to do something different if it's what God is calling us to do.


What I liked:

• McManus went deeper into a part of the story of John the Baptist than I have ever heard and it really made an impact on me. When John was in prison, Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you if you do not turn away from me because of this." I always assumed that meant that John was to have faith no matter what. But Erwin explains that what he was really say was "I'm not coming for you John, I hope you can still trust me that I know what I'm doing." That's heavy. He basically told John that he would never see the outside world again, but that was the plan for his life. And John did trust him because that was how he lived life. When God tells me that he isn't going to take me away from a tough situation, will I trust him still? I want to be that person.
• The book also talks about how God puts dreams inside of us, but so many people don't follow those dreams out of fear or because they seem too far fetched. If God has put a dream in me, I don't want to be someone who is afraid to follow His plan.
• Another verse, which I've read before, but didn't really pay attention to was when Jesus spoke to Peter and said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?" In other words, God has different plans for all of us and if His plan for my friend is to make them wealthy and for me to be poor, I have to let that be God's prerogative.
• "Jesus death wasn't to free us from dying, but the fear of dying." That's a really good line and one I know I don't consider enough since I'm rarely in a life-or-death predicament.
• McManus said: "There are no obligations fueling the actions of His people." I think that's great. We shouldn't be doing things for God people we should but because we want to. I know sometimes, I find myself praying because I feel like I'm supposed to, not because I'm trying to strengthen my relationship with God and that's definitely not where I want to be.
• Finally, I enjoyed Erwin's object lesson about rhinos. First, I had no idea a group of rhinos was called a crash, so I learned something new there. But his point was that rhinos can only see 30ft. ahead of them, but it doesn't stop them from running as fast as they can. So we, as Christians, aren't to be afraid of what's ahead of us, at 31ft. even if we can't see. We should run full speed ahead into what God has called us to.

What I didn't like:

• I really didn't like the way McManus put down modern Christianity and the church. I'm not so naive as to think any church is perfect or that any Christians have it all figured out, but the book made it sound like we've all got it completely wrong. I just don't agree. I think we've all got a long way to go and I think that includes the author, his church, everyone. For example, one line read, "To keep people in line, Christianity demands everyone become a good citizen." I have several thoughts on this. One, what is so wrong about being a good citizen? Two, didn't Jesus call us to live good lives? I know that what he is trying to say is that there are often too many rules that don't bring us any closer to God, but it came out like nothing Christians are currently doing is right if they follow any rules.
• Another thing that really bothered me was the book's description of how churches portray Christianity: "Jesus died and rose so you can live a life of endless comfort, security and indulgence" or "confess and believe and you'll go to heaven." Yes, there are some people who spread the prosperity gospel, but I think that's the outspoken few. You don't have to read far into the Bible to see God-fearing people suffer. I think that's an unfair generalization. The second statement I think is more accurate, but it's simplifying an entire faith into 8 words.
• The book's suggestions on "becoming a barbarian" are very vague, to the point that I really didn't know what he was suggesting I do. He used words like crazy faith, adventure and fully alive. I wished there had been something a bit more practical.

So, overall, it was a worthwhile read for several important points I was able to take out of it. I wouldn't add it to my favourites list, but it had some good points and it gave AJ and I some good things to talk about.

The Rising Of The Yeast

AJ and I got a bread maker for our wedding 3 years ago and just opened it yesterday. It's been in storage until we got a kitchen worthy of it. Finally we have that kitchen, so I thought I would try it out.

It was supposed to be cinnamon raisin swirl bread, but when I came home, groceries in hand, I realized we didn't have any cinnamon. So I found a recipe we did have the ingredients for–Parmesan Pepper French Bread.

I followed the instructions exactly (clearly labeling myself a beginner) and let the bread maker do it's thing. Around 3 hours later it hit the bake stage and it started to smell like bread in here. I was pretty proud. With 15 minutes to go, the bread really started to smell done, then a little overdone. However, rather than listening to my gut (again, being a beginner and not really trusting myself in the kitchen), I trusted the bread maker and let it go.

When it finally finished it's cycle, I opened it up, shook it for about 15 minutes before it came out of the pan and then realized that I should, in fact, have listened to my gut. The loaf wasn't a charred brick or anything, but the crust was definitely on the dark side of brown.

Aside from learning my lesson about not necessarily listening to a machine over a brain, I think it turned out pretty well! And it tastes pretty good too.

Still on my cooking to-do list is to make bread by hand, sans bread maker. I think it would be a really neat experience and I found a great, simple recipe.

Bread maker verdict: Yum. And I will definitely try to hone the art in the future!

List-it Wednesday!

If I haven't mentioned it before, I LOVE lists. I write to-do lists, grocery lists, don't do lists, gift lists...I pretty much write a list for anything I want to remember or am trying to sort out.

So I'm taking a page from The Secret Society of List Addicts (a great blog btw) and creating list-it Wednesdays.

5 Personal Bad Habits

Biting my nails: I've been doing it since I was young and I agree that it's gross and makes my nails look awful and isn't very ladylike, but I just can't stop. I mostly bite them when I'm stressed and I can go through spurts of being able to grow them for a special occasion or something, but once they get a little bit of white tips, I always end up banging them off something. Then I bite it to even it out and eventually I have to fix them all to match. It's terrible. And I would love to give it up. Help?

Boredom eating: I think this one is even worse than nail-biting. I work hard to eat well at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then I spend a night at home alone without anything particular to do and I get the munchies like crazy. If I can keep myself busy, I can curb this desire, but it sure takes a lot of work.

Putting back empty containers: Yes, AJ, it was me (like you were wondering!). I don't know why changing the milk bag bothers me so much, but if I can put that container back with more than a tablespoon in it, I will do it. This usually backfires on me because I'm the milk drinker so I'll wake up in the morning, go to grab some milk and find it pretty much empty. Then I curse my lazy night-before self.

Guessing presents: I love puzzles and games and guessing presents is like a game to me. A game where no one wins. Even if it's just something small or AJ saying "I have a surprise for you." I will usually guess what it is, sometimes without even meaning to and I am usually right. Then it's no fun for me because I'm not surprised and it's no fun for him because he can't surprise me. No idea how to break this habit short of hitting myself in the head with a hammer every time I think about trying to guess.

TV: This one goes back to some other posts. TV is just so easy. Click and you're in another world where you have no responsibilities or duties. You just sit there and enjoy. I don't usually veg when I have something important to do, but definitely when there are other things to do and I'm just being lazy. But I'm working on this one.

I'm sure I have a ton more, but I think that's enough talking about what's wrong with me for now.

What are your bad habits?

29 by 30

I'm proud to announce that I have complete an item off my 30 by 30 list!

My dog Snax and I were hanging out one day and I decided it was the perfect time to teach her a new trick. I had a few hours to spare and she was squeaking away on one of her toys, begging me to play with her.

I got out the the little treats we have, about the size of a dime, that seemed perfect to bribe the dog into doing something new.

I decided to teach her to play dead. She already knows how to lie down and how to roll over so I figured it wouldn't be too much of a stretch. And I thought it would be fun to make things a little interesting and teach her to play dead only when I point my finger at her and say bang.

Being totally objective, I think it is safe to say that my dog is the smartest dog ever. I'm pretty sure if I ever got stuck in a well, she would built some sort of pulley system and have me out of there within the hour, that's just how smart she is.

Anyway, it took me all of about 20 minutes to teach her this trick. I pointed my finger and said bang and then got her to lie down and roll over. Halfway through the roll I held her there and said stay. I told her she was good when I let her up and gave her a little treat. After a few times of this, she rolled over on her own and I would tell her to stay when she got onto her back. After few times later and she was staying on her own every time. Smart dog.

I showed AJ the trick and he loved it. Then he added a silencer to the gun. As in, he didn't say bang, he just pointed his finger. Snax immediately laid down on her back and played dead.

Verdict: I have a totally genius dog and I had a lot of fun teaching her the new trick. I plan on teaching her at least a few more before my 30th birthday arrives.

Superbowl commercials

Like every other North American yesterday, I watched the Superbowl. I don't really care for football particularly, although it's obviously better than watching, say, soccer, but my husband is a fan and we watch on Sundays from time to time and always do something for the Superbowl.

This year, we just had a couple friends over to our place since we have our shiny new Boxing Day TV. I have to say, the details you can see with the HDTV are incredible.

Anyway, even more than the football, there is always huge buzz generated around the commercials. Of course, up here in the Great White North, the ever-popular CRTC has made it so we can't see the American commercials. No big deal really since everything's on YouTube about 3 seconds after it airs, often even before that.

What I really don't understand is why Canadian commercials don't follow the lead of the American. I read an article that, although CTV wouldn't release its prices, an ad was going for around $120,000. The US station was charging $2.5 million! But this isn't where I see the problem.

My problem is that pretty much all of the ads were re-runs that we've seen many times before. Why is there no hype for the Canadian commercials during the Superbowl? You've got the same captive audience, albeit smaller, and people who, for one day, actually look forward to the commercials. Why are advertisers not using that to their benefit? It's just such a shame. Imagine if Canadian advertisers (who are actually mostly American companies anyway) put some extra effort into the Canadian versions of commercials–Americans might even look up our commercials on YouTube. Ok, probably not. Do they even know we have electricity way up here?

Update: Losing the lazies

And one final re-post to bring me up-to-date.

It’s been just over a week since my self-induced TV lockdown so it’s time for a status report.

Things have been going…ok. I have plans about 2-3 days of the week so those days are obviously much easier. It’s the nights that I’m all alone as of 5pm and have to fill 5 hours. TV is obviously the easiest thing.

I actually managed to pretty much follow my schedule and got quite a bit accomplished. Except for yesterday. Yesterday I had planned to make a dish for a potluck I’m attending tonight. I went to the grocery store right after work and got everything I needed. Got home, put everything away and got the stuff out I would need. And then realized I had forgotten a pretty important ingredient and had to go back to the store. That was fine though.

I got home and started chopping and blending etc., and it was just so quiet. So I decided to turn on the TV. My pathetic reasoning was that I was still being productive so flipping on the TV wasn’t against my initial reasoning. Technically true. Anyway, I did it and it was so much better. It ended up taking me almost 2 hours to make this stuff because it had to refrigerate for an hour before being cooked.

They turned out pretty well, tasting almost just like the Montana’s apps they were modeled after. I was pretty proud. And the TV thing–I can’t decide if I’m just such a loser for not even being able to make it two weeks, or if I don’t really care because I still accomplished what I wanted to.

One thing I do regret is that in all my non-TVing this week, I didn’t manage to get a workout in. Not one. Ugh. Ah well, I will pick myself up and start again next week.

Losing the lazies

Another re-post from a couple weeks ago.

I don’t know what it is, but once I get home from work in the evening, I lose all motivation. I can have great plans to work out or see friends or cook a great dinner for myself, but as soon as I step in the house, all I want to do is sit and chill. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes that’s exactly what I need. But most of the time it’s just me being lazy and apathetic and that’s not the girl I want to be.

I was really thinking about this the other day and how much I could accomplish if I didn’t just sit and watch TV at night. So I decided to make a change.

Being ridiculously into lists, that’s how I started this project. First, I wrote down TV times–those times during the week when there’s actually a show on TV that I’d really likely to watch on a weekly basis. Other than those times, my TV watching is just time filler and really unnecessary. (Not that any other TV is really necessary, but a girl’s gotta have her shows)

So my new TV schedule looks like this:

Mondays: 8-10 (The Bachelor–don’t even judge)

Tuesdays: 8-10 (The Biggest Loser–love it!)

Wednesdays: 9-10 (Criminal Minds)

Thursdays: 8-9:30 or 10 (Survivor, The Office)

Fridays: 8- (There’s lots of fun stuff on Fridays and I figured one night of total chill time is ok.

I didn’t write anything for the weekends because weekends aren’t really a problem time, with lots to do and no time to waste on TV when I could be hanging out with my husband, AJ. 

So there’s list number one. It still seems like a lot, but, believe me, that’s a big change for me. Plus, I won't be watching all of these shows every week. I do plan to leave the house as much as possible. This is more of a rule for when I have no plans and don't want to spend my night watching 5 straights hours of television.

List number 2 is a list of TV alternatives–things I can do instead of the TV-watching. It may seem obvious, but I find it easier to do something else if it’s already decided for me. Same principle as food really – don’t have a plan, eat junk, have a plan, stick to it.

This list is actually really great because it joins together with my last post, 30 by 30 and maybe I can check off some of that list sooner than later. Here’s what I came up with:

• Read the Bible (seriously, I need to get into that regular devotional time again and what better thing to replace TV with)
• Scrapbook (I’m not too far behind, but it’s something I really love to do and it’s been too long)
• Cook (I really need to get back into cooking good dinners for myself, and by that I mean, learn how to cook and don’t put it off just because I’m cooking for one)
• Write letters (2 years ago my New Year’s resolution was to write a letter every month. I did okay, but it’s dropped off since then and I’d like to pick it back up)
• LIFE work (I usually have some sort of project for LIFE on the go)
• Plan the weekend (when AJ and I have some miraculous time together on the weekend and don’t have anything planned, I could save us the “what do you want to do? I don’t know, what do you want to do?” and plan something fun)
• Clean (this one does not make me excited, but it’s something that needs to be done and I always feel like a good wife when I’ve cleaned stuff)
• Unpack (we’re getting close, but I’d like the rid us of those last few boxes)

From the 30 by 30 list:

• Recover dining room chairs (sounds like a lot of fun and a good learning experience)
• Read another book (my 30 by 30 reading list is a pretty decent size so I need to get started)
• Learn to sew (Probably a 25 year old shouldn’t be asking mommy to fix her shirt button)
• Blow up 3 photos as art (this one’s more expensive, but something to do one day. It’ll probably take me a while to choose just 3)
• Teach Snax a new trick (that dog is super smart so that should be a fun one)
• WORK OUT (weigh 160 seems like a ridiculous goal given how working out has been going, but I’ve got the videos and I need to use them…a lot)
• Bake a pie from scratch (totally do-able, it’s just about getting around to it)
• Design (I want to make a calendar and I could start the template any time, it’s just a matter of getting the program. Photoshop Elements is less than $100, so I’m hoping to get it for my birthday perhaps)

That’s 16 things! I could be occupied with a new thing every day for 3 weeks. Of course, I do go out a couple times a week. And I try to make plans as much as possible to keep myself busy and prevent losing my socialite membership.

So yesterday I put this plan into effect. And wouldn’t you know I would happen to start on a Wednesday. If you look back at my TV plan, you’ll see that there is zero TV allowed on Wednesdays. All day I was like, no problem, how could I have a problem going one night without TV. What I’ve discovered is that TV is more than just about lazy mindlessness, it’s about loneliness. That big house is very very big and quiet without the TV on. I usually have it on while I’m making dinner or writing e-mails, just to have a presence in the house. It’s comforting. At first I told myself that if I just had it on in the background it didn’t really count. But then I thought, if I can’t even make it through the first day, this plan has no hope. So I left it off and turned on the iPod for some musical companionship. It helped.

With the TV distraction I was amazingly productive. I had gone grocery shopping before I went home so I made myself a delicious, even well-balanced dinner. Mashed potatoes, baked chicken and carrots. Delicious and WAY healthier than the hot dogs or quesadillas I usually make for myself. While it was cooking, I read my book, played with the dog and made a couple last minute changes on a LIFE project.

After dinner, I did dishes then went to work breaking down all of the empty boxes that are piled around the house, putting them in a neat pile. I then went in search of some notes I needed and although I didn’t find them, I did find my winter coat I had been missing for a month!

By that time, it was 8 o’clock and time for a workout. I did 45 minutes with my Biggest Loser Bootcamp DVD and, let me tell you, Bootcamp is totally appropriate. I only did level one, plus the warm up and cool down and I was sweating and breathing heavy and even sore. It was good.

After making myself lunch for the next day, I headed upstairs to change into pyjamas, slipped into bed and finished the last 80 pages of my book. Lights out by 10.

Seriously, that was more than I accomplished in the last 2 weeks, plus I had a healthy meal and got to bed at a decent time. As much as I missed the TV, I think once I break that routine, I’ll be totally fine. And I feel way better about myself when I get things done–even proud.

30 by 30

Note: This is a re-post I wrote about a month ago that I wanted to bring over as it will be the basis for quite a few posts in the future.

This year I’ll be turning 26, which means 30 is looming around the corner. I’m really happy with where I am right now, but I want to always be moving forward. So in the spirit of the New Year/New Decade/30 on the Horizon, I want to make myself a list of 30 things I want to accomplish by the time I’m 30. Nothing huge or crazy, but things I can actually do. So here goes:

1. Blow up at least 3 of our own photos to use at art in the new house
2. Make a calendar in Photoshop to give as Christmas gifts
3. Teach Snax a new trick
4. Serve at a soup kitchen at Christmastime
5. Take a wine tour
6. Play ice hockey
7. Try (and hopefully enjoy) running
8. Bungee jump
9. Road trip down the California coast
10. Scuba dive
11. See the Goo Goo Dolls in concert
12. Go on a short term missions trip with AJ
13. Weigh 160
14. Read the favourite book of at least one friend each year
15. Spend New Year’s downtown in a big city
16. Read the Harry Potter series
17. Spend a day painting on canvas
18. See the Grease musical
19. Take kickboxing
20. Learn to drive stick (better)
21. Go white water rafting
22. Pay off our debts
23. Recover the dining room chairs
24. Learn to sew so I don’t have to get my mom to fix my buttons
25. Get a great permanent job
26. Buy a design program (probably Photoshop)
27. Host a family Christmas
28. Bake a pie from scratch
29. Be in a play
30. Have a baby

Ok, there it is. 4.5 years, 30 things. Let’s make it happen.

Did you know there were 8 kinds of awesome?

There are. In fact, there are probably many more.

Welcome to my humble little blog. For me, writing has a ton of amazing benefits that have propelled me toward starting this blog. First, it's a great hobby. I love to write and to craft words and stories in a way that makes people laugh or think or at least want to keep reading. Secondly, I find writing helps me sort out my thoughts and bring a clarity I would never otherwise find. Third, maybe, just maybe, I will say something interesting enough for other people to want to read.

Really, I'm not sure where this will take me. Everyone is writing a blog these days and I have no reason to believe that mine will be any more special than the others. But, at the very least, it will make me a better writer and I'll have fun doing it.

Thanks for reading!