Desperate or Distracted

Usually I find these winter months, meaning January and February, a great time in the year to slow down, refocus and of course hibernate, particularly after the chaos of Christmas with all it's events and celebrations.
But when I returned to work after the Christmas holidays it was incredibly busy. I had a number of upcoming meetings to prepare for and training sessions. The result being my mind was reeling with "work thoughts" invading my home time. If you work in any type of administrative role, you are usually multi-tasking to the max, arranging, preparing and making sure the wheels are well greased ahead of time so everything runs smoothly. So with all these things going on, I was feeling pretty distracted. I would sit down to spend some one-on-one time in prayer and I was soon moving back to "did I email so and so?" or "I have to photocopy that" or "I had better book those rooms." I think God has been patiently waiting for me to look him in the eye and say "you have my full attention!"

On the other hand, there are the desperate times. Desperate people are very focused. On one thing. They are not distracted. They are desperately listening and waiting for that one answer. They also can be pretty needy.

I've been in both sets of shoes. The funny thing about the distracted is sometimes, if God can't get your attention for any length of time, He will move you into a desperate mode, just so He can talk to you! Sometimes, you will move yourself there. "Help! I have too much going on!! I need some answers!! I'm desperate!"

On the flip side, I'm happy to say, God is never desperate or distracted. He never stops giving you his full attention, He never says "just a minute, I've got a few things going on right now."
He never says "I'm desperate for some answers myself!"

If you are desperate or distracted, you are swinging to the far side of the pendulum. Neither are a good place to be. It's time to balance out - somewhere in the middle where life is full and fulfilling but you can still find your center and refocus without feeling distracted and without feeling needy. I'm working towards that myself right now. As I'm definitely swinging on the distracted side I will purposefully leave work at work and take time to quiet myself and listen in the stillness to the voice of my Lord and Saviour.

The Problem with Popcorn

Bet you thought I was gone for good didn't ya? Actually it was January in Canada and I was hibernating. Now that we are well into February, half way through, this little bear is starting to wake up and sniff the air.
And I'm hungry.
When it comes to food, I'm a nibbler. I perfected this technique whilst waitressing in my young and energetic days. Having no time to actually sit down and eat a meal, I would nibble. A french fry here, a scoop of rice pudding there.
But I started this nibblemania much before that. I nibble down the sides of chocolate bars. Makes them last longer I say. First the very tip, then down one side and then the other, then the bottom end. I nibble my way through cookies. Makes them last longer I say. Nibble, nibble nibble.
But here is the anomoly. I have a problem with popcorn.
For some reason I take huge mitt-fuls and try to stuff them all into my mouth at once. I don't know why....I certainly don't do this with anything else. Strictly stick to delicate little mouthfuls or nibbles. Why I don't pop one little kernal into my mouth at a time, like any well educated nibbler would do, is beyond me. In an effort to choke myself on popcorn, I drop it all over my lap, the counter and the floor, much to Amelia's delight who just snaps up all those falling gems.
So, if you find yourself getting frustrated with all my nibbling, hand me some popcorn and watch the transformation begin.

A Successful Destiny

Happy New Year Everyone! Hard to imagine it's 2011. I can honestly say, I've been around on this earth for a while now. I've seen some amazing times, some hard times, lots of changes, a few surprises but the bottom line is I have a successful destiny ahead of me.
I can easily be accused of being nostalgic. That would be true. I'm big on tradition and I love to ruminate on the past full of wonderful memories. But I'm not walking backwards always looking behind. I'm looking forward! So much ahead, so much to do and see! I can glance back at the past, when I was younger or when the kids were little etc. and appreciate those times but I don't want to go back there and relive them. I have already lived them (and learned from them)! There is more to live ahead! Why not just add to the pile of great moments and memories and lessons!
Even better, I have a guarantee. It is one of the many perks of following Christ. "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day." (Proverbs 4:18). Sometimes things start out a little murky, and I can't see the direction I'm to take but as time goes on, just like the breaking of dawn, everything becomes clearer until it's like full daylight and I can see every detail. If you are in the dark, I suggest you wait a little while until the sun comes up!
"Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed." (Proverbs 16:3). You see - it's a guarantee to success!
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." (1Cor. 2:9). I trust Him to bring me wonderful suprises. And as for the struggles I didn't see coming I trust Him to walk me through them.
So here's to a new year. A year full of success in all you do for that is what you are destined for!

Angels All The Way

Merry Christmas Everyone and Happy New Year! Let's just get that out of the way shall we?

Today is Boxing Day, the day I usually in a prompt and efficient manner, dispose of my Christmas Tree. But, as it only went up 3 days ago, I promised the kids I would leave it alone for the time being, say, tomorrow. I love christmas time, really, I do. But when it's done, I'm done. Be gone holly, be gone tree, be gone little red sleigh and ceramic house. I want order here people.


But I'm giving my tree a break this year. The poor thing was snatched off the Christmas Tree lot at Home Depot at a rock bottom price as there were only a couple days left until the big day. We lovingly decorated it with all our favourite ornaments and memories. Went to bed ready for Christmas Eve and I woke to find it laying face first on my carpet, acting all embarrased like, as it had poured all it's water onto my presents and soaked my rug. Thank you Amelia. Hope you had a good time tugging that ornament off that you just had to eat and pulling the tree down with it. So we propped er back up. Tied her to the Curtain rod and redecorated the whole thing. Randi dragged the carpet upstairs and over the banister in an attempt to dry and I stuck all the presents by the fire to warm up. And there was my angel, the pinnacle of the tree, holding her little lights in each hand that don't light up anymore. They are little blackened bulbs now. But she keeps smiling even if she is not lighting the way.


We are angel people, not star people. My parents had a lovely little angel with gold foil wings, alabaster hair and a beautiful wax face that had been delicately carved. One year the angel hung out too close to the fire and that was the end of her lovely little nose and rosebud mouth.


Recently, my son's girlfriend told me about an angel her mother used to own that they always put on the tree top. There she was, holding her two little lights in each hand much like my angel used to, and as Mara (at that time about 9) gazed in wonder those little lights suddenly blazed up and became flames of fire. Chaos ensued and the scored angel was promptly disposed of. Can you imagine what a little girl would be thinking as this angel decided it was time to torch the tree???


Even though some angels go bad and try to burn down your house or not light at all, or turn into a blob of wax, we still stick with them. It's angels all the way in this house.

Cookie Belly and Other Christmas Maladies

I don't really have to point out to any of you that Christmas is coming down the pike like rollerblades down a hill right now. We are in the thick of it. Shopping, decorating, celebrating and baking.

But Christmas doesn't come without its issues. You can't have a rose without thorns ya know.
To name a few: stress, perpetual busy-ness, a few extra pounds, hangovers and of course cookie belly.

Cookie belly plagues my household a lot at this time of the year. Both myself and my new daughter aka ballerina billet Kelli have a passion for baking, especially cookies. And then we sample the dough at different intervals, sample each batch, sample when they are still hot and then when they are cold and voila, you have a cookie belly. That's a belly that feels far to full and uncomfortable with a major sugar rush at the same time. The next morning you wake up with pants that have shrunk on their own accord.

But it's worth it. They are beautiful cookies inside the belly and outside the belly. The other day we spent an afternoon baking and decorating sugar cookies. Works of art, every last one of them! We are both good little bakers. In fact, I'm feeling a little peckish and Kelli just baked up a new batch of gingersnaps. Soft and fat pillows of gingery, spicy, sugary goodness....mmmmmmm. Bring on CB!

Sign of the Times

Yesterday was my day off, if you can call it that. It's the day I have "off" of my job that I go to and the day I try to jam in as many chores as possible. So after wandering around Walmart for a while which I hate doing so I finally said to myself "Self, what are you doing here, get out!" I left and headed to the Mall.
I'm not much of a Mall person either but, it's a sign of the times - christmas is coming; there is shopping to be done. I'm a get in, get it and get out kind of girl but yesterday as I was heading back to the exit there was the Christmas train out in a huge display.
This train set(s) is up every year but honestly, I have not taken the time to check it out since the kids were little and would stuff there little noses up against the glass on their tippee-toes to see the trains putter by through the little villages and hills.
I thought, slow down, you are moving to fast. You got to make the morning last. So I took the time to check out the little trains moving around the track and all the activity of train town.
There is a parade, which I remembered, going through a town with names of local stores. One of the floats in the parade is called "3 men in a hot tub" and sure enough, it is a hot tub with three men in it. I did not remember one of them being naked but sure enough, there is a little guy in there wearing no clothes....
Around the corner there is a fire going on with thick cotton ball puffs painted grey on the roof to indicate smoke and the police are there trying to keep order and the fire truck of course. There is a few men hanging around pointing, gesturing towards the ladder or the roof or something.
But one part, I did not really remember is a fenced in area with a barn called "Jurassic Park Day Care". There are a lot of dinosaurs lazying around inside the fence. I guess this is where you drop your dinosaur off before heading to work. Sticking out of the top window of the barn is the back end of either a brontosaurus or T-rex (not sure as I could only see his butt). Very clever.
Made me think I should really take the time in the midst of this busy season to check out the small details that make Christmas extra special. In fact, next time I'm in the mall I'm going to give that whole train set up a good going over, see what other little surprises are there to be discovered.
The Christmas chaos is starting to rev up. We can get overwhelmed, overbooked and overfed. Slow down and take the time to discover the little wonders of the season, whether that be the incredible unique beauty of a single snowflake or the back end of a dinosaur sticking out a window.

A Mouse in the House and Other Such Critter Encounters

Winter is in its way here in Canada. There is a definite chill in the air. So who can blame Mr. Mouse for moving his abode from the sunny grasses of my backyard to inside my 4 walls. Doesn't seem to matter that there are also 3 humans, 1 dog and two cats in here already. Apparently, we can all get along.
Amelia, the dog, though she sometimes takes the stance of a pointer (one paw bent in the air, back straight and nose pointed in the general direction of a suspicious object), is quite useless at catching anything.
Clare, well she is just too old and crabby. She can't hear, she sleeps all the time and she has a problem determining where the heck the kitty litter is.
But Frodo.....how disappointing. My big boy born in the wild by a feral mom no less. Who was raised on the ins and and outs of hunting mice. He simply is not doing his job. Oh, he's met Mr. Mouse, watched Mr. Mouse, even played with Mr. Mouse, but he has not shown Mr. Mouse the door.
So now when I go down to do the laundry, there he is twitching his cute little nose and whiskers at me and then I catch a glimpse of his little white belly and tippy tail as he scampers off. I hope he didn't invite his friends.
I don't mind mice. I don't really want them in my house either. But it seems until Frodo gets his act together or I break down and set a trap, it is what it is. Now RATS, on the other hand, that is a different story.
I used to work in a dog kennel where rat disposal was part of the job. I had it all worked out though. I simply let CeCe (sounds like seesee) out of her pen, barking chaos would ensue as all the other dogs would I suspect place their bets, and CeCe would eventually nail that rat, give it a quick shake, break it's neck and voila, one dead rat ready for me to dispose of. All I had to do was bury the sucker.
Then, there was the squirrel visit, clearly something right out of the movie Christmas Vacation. I was typing away at the computer, much like today. The dog and cat were both snoozing behind me in their respective chairs. Suddenly I hear the plink, plink of the piano. I take a quick look around me. Only me and the pets are in the house and not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. So I tiptoed into the music room see who was playing my piano. Mr. Squirrel was just heading out and we kind of ran into each other. I screamed, Squirrel screamed and we both headed in different directions; me up the stairs and Squirrelly into the clutches of the now very much awake dog and cat. Thus the craziness began with Squirrel, Amelia and Frodo all tearing up the place. Clare slept through it all. I eventually cornered the poor squirrel in the shelf on a bookcase and I promptly sealed the front of it with a garbage bag and called my hubby to get home right now and do something about this! With a little luck we eventually got the squirrel back outside. That is probably the last time he will try his paws on making music.
So back to Mr. Mouse. He really must go. Maybe if I wake Clare up and point her in the right direction, she'll perk up and do what comes naturally. Maybe Frodo will get his lazy butt in gear. Maybe Amelia will come up with a brilliant idea in her silly head. Maybe I'll set a trap. Or maybe, we will all live in harmony until spring. As long as Rat and Squirrel don't show up!