disappearing furniture.....

yesterday I came home to find my washer and dryer gone, today the dinning room table was missing, and in a few minutes the couches will go too......

I guess that means I'm making progress.

I'm hoping my theory of getting new furniture to help me move on works. It could backfire and the first night in the new place might seem like a foriegn world....of course with all the plants I could pretend I'm on a safari....that's fun!

I am on my way to pick up Andrew and meet someone I am not looking forward to meeting. I suppose it's better to get it all done in one shot. Husband moves out, sell the house, etc, deal with it now rather than put it off for a year and rehash it.

Lord give me strength, grace and a spirit of PEACE so I don't act like a freak.

It's Friday....but Monday's coming!

question

on my way to paint. going to Timmy's first. Do I wear my paint clothes into Tim Hortons?

Good News!

The garage is ready for paint (mostly). I'm hoping to get the main room done by tommorrow so I can start taking stuff over there! (yeah!) If anyone is bored come on by with a paint brush!

Boxes

In just over a week I will be unpacking boxes filled with earthly things I really don't have much use for...
this week families who live in deplorable conditions will be opening boxes filled with essentials and surprises. Some of these boxes may even change lives. Money that has been sent will be used to buy shoes and uniforms so the children will be able to go to school.

The first year we did baby clinic in El Amparo we had a line up out the door. We had brought our children's secondhand clothes and stuffed toys. The moms were so young and so eager for clothes for their little ones. It's incredible to be part of it.

8:08pm
This is as far as I got in this post, I was then going to talk about how I would love to spend more time packing up heavenly boxes. "do not store up your tresures on earth where moth and rust destroy......" But the bank called just as I finished that last sentence. Because I am not buying the apartment we will owe the bank a signicant penalty. That was the last straw, my money was already accounted for.... paying bills, paying debts, investing. I felt like I was getting the short end of the stick. It wasn't my fault the place burnt down. I unleashed on my husband via email, sobbing the whole time. I can't really say it was a money issue, it was more of a how much more can be heaped on me (have I mentioned that my new place isn't ready yet?). Up until that moment I was pretty accepting of my circumstances, so many people have had it so much worse than me, I was just chalking it up to "that's life". The families in Costa Rica don't have food on a daily basis and I'm bitching b/c I won't have enough for a down payment on a future home. I was having a huge pity party, my life isn't fair, why should he walk away with so much and me so little? Unfortunetly my husband who had wanted me to be more open and show more emotion just had his wish granted...perhaps not in a way he was hoping.
Time for a reality check....it's money, in the end it won't matter. I want heavenly boxes. I want to look back at my life and see the investments of made into eternal matters.
Sometimes that's easier said then done, it's so much easier to get caught up in the daily life, the earthly fairness of it, the drive to get ahead.

Store up your treasures in heaven, pack the heavenly boxes.

So glad my mother has left the country...

She would be absolutley appalled by my packing techniques.
I started off organizing and sorting, making sure everything that went together was in the same box. Labelling boxes so they would end up in the same room, wrapping anything breakable and then...
Then this morning I realized I only have 2 days off between now and moving day. I still have to pack, clean, go to the dump, paint the new place, move and clean the house. Sooooo......
I have resorted to scooping up anything and dumping it in a box. Taping the box and labelling it "misc."
Not sure I'm looking forward to unpacking.

moving day

Moving day will be Thursday March 31, so I might need some help for the furniture and possibly some pickup trucks. I know it's a week day, but even if I can have help after work that would be great. Thanks so much!

I am

Disclaimer: this blog is in no way meant to brag or make me look good in front of you all. It is merely a lesson learned about myself recently. After beating myself up b/c I do not meet someone else's standards, I have discovered that there is more to me than what was in the little box I was stuffed into. My list of likes and dislikes, abilities and inabilities was not predetermined by another and I refuse to live by them anymore. I am 3 dimensional...

I am
not one to back down when fighting for an injustice
willing to take on a challenge
not scared of change (anymore)
stronger than I think I am
fun
willing to go on an adventure
ready to try new things
able to see the positive (most of the time, except first thing in the morning)
not limited by my inexperience
excited by risks (doesn't mean I always take them, I'm just excited by them)
able to make my own desicions (with the input of others)
not scared to fail (i've done it enough, I'm getting good at it!)
successful when I try
someone who loves to be social with friends
not afraid to tell it like it is
not afraid to get lost - it just makes for a more exciting trip!
creative
loving
patient (okay, that might be a stretch)
ready to take on the world!! (or maybe just dewdney )

many shades of white...

So excited....I will be able to start painting the garage either tuesday or wednesday (Yeah!).

I have decided to be really bold and paint the main room white. Yes, I said white. I know you are all thinking you must be reading this wrong especially after the contraversial green kitchen.
I have a vision in white, but picking the right shade of white is next to impossible. I didn't realize it would be this hard. Definetly harder than any other color. And they want to buy the paint tommorrow so I have to make a desicion right now......aahhhhhh. Very stressful :)

I'm going to go stare at my white paint chips a little longer.

8:35pm
After consulting with Jenn and going through every shade of white imaginable, we settled on white. Just plain white. "Natural White". No chance of pink or yellow undertones. Pretty bold.

more than just a trinket.....

I found something today that was very valuable, I thought I had lost it years ago. Felt guilt for a long time for being so irresponsible. I never admitted I lost it, always just avoided the subject.
Today I found it 3yrs later, in a place I would have looked a dozen times while searching for it. It was in plain site. I had it all along, but I never saw it.

Oh dear!

So I blogged awhile ago that I had an addiction to house plants. At the time I had 22 house plants. Since then I have sold my house and have had to downsize considerably..... i got rid of three plants I wasn't too partial to at the garage sale. So I was down to 19. Then I found these beautiful 6ft palms at the Home Depot for $15.

I bought 2 of them.

Back up to 21. So I resoved to not buy any more house plants. I mentally decorated the garage and determined I really only need 11. But then.....

I went to superstore.

Yep, got sucked in. They have these cute little 1ft trees with pink flowers. Perfect for the pink bathroom....so perfect. They would look so great on the windowsill! There was three different shades, I would need at least 2 of them for the right effect.
I walked out of the store before I could buy them, but the memory of them still haunt me. I'm itching to go get them.
I'm going to be living in a greenhouse soon, not a garage!
Help.

coooofffeeeeeee

time flies when your having.....

Hmmm...
I just realized I have to move in just over 2 weeks. Not sure how that happened. Didn't really sneak up on me, I just kept thinking I had a lot of time.
I have 2 days off so I guess that means I'll be packing, cleaning and sorting - yuck. I hate moving. I'm going to get coffee...I think I'll need it...

Depressing night at work.
First of all it was very slow and by slow I mean s l o w.
my computer keeps track of when my customers come in, there was over an hour between customers at one point... ONE HOUR...you can only dust the film so many times!

Then there was the music....first up "All by myself, don't want to be all by myself....anymore" that was playing while I was in the change room staring at myself in the mirror.
Later it was "You've abandoned me...love don't live here anymore"

Need to shake that off and remember that I'm not by myself, I haven't been abandoned and love does live here. And that's really all that matters.

"the right choice and the hard choice are often the same thing"

Lessons from the bar part 2

Last night Dawn and I had dinner at Stella's, then we went to the London Drug's cosemtics fair. I went for the prizes and to have my eyebrows threaded. Not wanting my styling new eyebrow to go to waste we headed over to the springs for a chocolate martini (never had one before, really wasn't all that). Anyway, while there 2 ladies in their forties came and sat at our table. They were a little loaded on alcohol, bitterness and laughter and provided some great entertainment as they spewed off about not needing men (all the while checking out the 30yr olds from the corner of their eye).
One can't help but notice when you are in a bar, all the thin, gorgeous, barley dressed girls that drape themselves over anything that will buy them a drink. Although we didn't go looking for men (okay, I didn't go looking for men.... sorry Dawn:) you still feel a little like hugging a wall in your jeans, t-shirt and tummy rolls. These ladies kept looking at us a whispering in a barely audible voice, finally one of them said "See that girl in the camasol, she's wearing her freaking (she didn't say freaking) underwear! Girls like that attract a certain kind of guy, a guy that will be bored in a week. You girls are keepers, you guys will find Mr. Wonderful. Don't sell out."
Although I'm not looking for Mr. Wonderful, especially not in a bar....it was nice to be affirmed that we don't need to conform, we don't need to buy into the being thin and wild mentality. Who knew such wisdom could come from a 40yr old drunk woman.......

International Womans day...

...is today. Go girls!

Soooo...what are we supposed to do with this, shouldn't we get a day off or something, or free manicures for every woman...or better, free shoes!

Is there an international mans day?? Probably not why should men get whole day to themselves?? (just being sarcastic, no need to send vicious emails)

To celebrate I think I'll buy a couch! Lori, put in those french doors!!!

I never.....(following in Michelle's footsteps)

I never thought I'd enjoy snowboarding
I never realized how much life can change in a year
I never wanted to end up here
I never expected my apartment to burn down :P
I never realized how much I love my husband
I never had to lean on God as much as I do now
I never knew how much I could change
I never knew I could live outside my box.

I have never been more thankful for the blessings in my life.

things I am thankful for...

A personal committee to help make important desicions, like whether or not the new couch should have arms.
A four year old who never lets me forget the stupid things I do.
Friends who are always willing to go to Tim Hortons.
A camera that works.
A job that doesn't require me to get dressed up.
Call display.
A garage with a coke fridge.
Chocolate.
Microwave popcorn.
Paint chips.
An estranged husband I can still call friend (and I can still call when I drive my truck into the house).
Life

silly putty

Dear Lori,

I was sitting at the computer a few minutes ago when my 4yr old walked in and asked for help. I looked up at him and giggled as I noticed his forehead was green with a layer of silly putty.
B/c his forhead is so warm it has melted into a sticky goo that you would think would peel right off but doesn't. Hmmmm.... quite the dilema.

I stuck his head in the fridge for a few minutes in an attempt to harden the putty so it would come off in one big piece. That didn't work. So we grabbed a towel and cold water and scrubbed. He's managed to get it all off his head, but it's pretty stuck in his eyebrows. Do I let him walk around with green eyebrows? Any suggestions?

Sincerley,
Sticky in mission