Last Day

Well, today is officially the last day I will be 28. Tomorrow I turn 29 and will begin my last year as a twenty-something. If the next year is anything like the last couple of months have been, then I am so excited to see what the year brings.

Today I had an awesome day! I started my journey of baking and it was a ridiculous amount of fun. My first project was a yeast bread. It was a little intimidating at first as I've never even used yeast before, let alone bake any type of bread. It was a bit of a process, with having to let the dough rise not once but twice, and I'm just a little bit of an impatient person, but it was so worth the wait!

Here is my beautiful dough after mixing and a bit of kneading.

 Here it is all puffy and gorgeous after it's first rise.

Here Vaeh is punching it down, getting it ready for rolling and putting it into the pan for it's second rise.

And here it is, in all of it's baked, crusty, soft, golden brown glory.

I'm so incredibly proud of myself. If you've never baked bread before, you must try it. The sense of accomplishment after you take it out of the oven is HUGE. 

During the periods of rest for the dough to rise, I decided to make some granola in between those pauses. Granola is a very inexpensive thing to make and it's good to have on hand for snacking or for cereal. I didn't put much into this, I just used what was on hand; oats, ground flax, salt, cinnamon, melted butter and honey. 

This is a picture just before going into the oven.

And this is after coming out.

 

I'm definitely going to keep this up. My house has never smelled so heavenly, and for whatever reason, all this baking happening today made me go to town cleaning my house. So now I'm relaxing on the couch with my feet up, enjoying the delicious smell of freshly baked bread, along with the faint aroma of cinnamon, my house is organized and I get to share my wonderful day with all of you. It's a very good day. 

Tomorrow my birthday-day will start off with waking to a tidy house (how great is that?!) and then I plan on baking one of my favorite cakes; the pineapple upside down variety :) I found an interesting recipe for baking this in a crock pot and it's kind of piqued my interest. I'm doing a very basic version of it, not going too fancy, in case it totally bombs. That way I won't be so upset about it. After that I'll probably just relax at home (as much as I can while working) and at some point go and renew my drivers license and pay my cell phone bill. I know what you are thinking. My life is so glamorous. Please don't be jealous. Really. It's not very becoming.

So that is the plan. If anything changes I will be quite surprised, and it takes a lot to surprise me. So long 28! You've been good to me and started me off on a path I really never saw coming. To 29: you have some big shoes to fill, but I have no doubt in my mind that you will exceed my expectations.

Whew!

Wow, it's been a crazy time around here. I can't believe I spent this long not posting here, but it was necessary. Once things started getting back on track after Gabe's bout with croup, we got hit with another wave of ickyness. We are beginning to get over it now, whatever it was, but it's still affecting me quite a bit. I have been really tired and not feeling myself at all and that part of it is hanging on. I'm thankful though that when we do get sick, which isn't all that often, we bounce back fairly quickly. I attribute that to our diet and basically taking good overall care of ourselves. It does make a difference. I will apologize in advance if any of this post doesn't make much sense. I'm still a little foggy, lol.

Tomorrow marks the end of term 2 in my Bible college class and term 3 begins next week. I'm loving every minute of it. I'm learning so much and making some great friends, and of course strengthening my relationship with God. I can't believe how far I was from Him just a short time ago, and now I'm closer than I've ever been. I've been able to accomplish so many things through Him and with His guidance, it's amazing. Truly amazing. I look back on the last year and I was just a mess, especially after ending the relationship with my ex. I didn't realize how co-dependent I had become on my ex until I left. The first time I had to go to a grocery store alone with the kids was absolutely terrifying for me. I was even scared to drive. I was so far removed from myself during that 7 year relationship that I spent much of my time at home, in solitude with my children. I didn't want to see or talk to anyone in the real world. I became so insanely shy, even talking to a bank teller or cashier was excruciating for me and affected me for days afterward. I would never go places or do things on my own. Ever. I always had to have someone with me, and that was on the rare occasion that I left the house. My life was in shambles. I wouldn't go to church because 1) I had to do it alone, and 2) I was horribly ashamed of my life, so I just didn't go. I look at my life now and I'm such a different person. I'm out, getting a life that I never had but always wanted. I'm meeting people, learning new things, making HUGE changes and stepping out of my comfort zone time and time again. Fear still grips me in almost everything that I do, but I press through it. I lived in fear for far too long and I won't let it have control over me anymore. It still has a voice, true, but not control. I've even started the process of auditioning for the worship team (singing) at my church. I've always wanted to sing but never had the confidence. This is a different girl!! I know none of this would have been possible without the strength of God in me.

I've recently decided to hold off on my studio re-do and I've contacted a homestay organization in the hopes of hosting a foreign student. Not only will this help my finances (things are VERY tight!) but I think it would be a great experience for the kids. I had an interview with one organization in particular and hopefully I will hear something from them soon. I figure since I already do so much of my crafting at my kitchen table, why not use my office for something that will be of a great help. I'm working on making some more changes in the areas of finances, meal/menu planning and smart shopping. So far I've managed to cut my grocery bill from around $500 a month to around $350 a month, but I know I can do better than that so I' m working on it. I will post about these changes soon, as they happen.

A few weeks back I watched the movie Julie & Julia and was completely inspired to do more cooking and baking. I have such a strong desire to make things from scratch, bake treats with the kids and create meals that make those who eat them close their eyes in pure enjoyment. I love how great meals bring people together and represent wonderful family moments and gatherings. I love how home-made baked treats make children eagerly sit in front of the oven licking their lips, and make them silently giggle while they eat them, filling up with the love that the baker put into them. I have a lot of wonderful memories of family meals and I want to experience those with my own children. It may take me awhile to start this "new" tradition here but I will keep you posted on every moment of it.

So that's it for now. I'm tired and should get some much needed rest. The kids and I were up at 5am this morning as I am helping out at my church every Sunday for the month of March. A bunch of us are making breakfast for the early morning service team and then we all sit down and eat together before service begins. It's such a lovely time, but it makes for a very tired Me come Sunday afternoon. I'm not a morning person at all. I'm not a grump, it just affects me a lot physically when I wake up too early.

Goodnight everyone! Bye for now ♥

Quick Update

I want to start by saying thank-you for the warm comments regarding my baptism, and for my new followers!

It's been kind of a crazy few weeks for us which has left me no time for blogging. I was feeling a bit under the weather and as I started getting better, Gabe came down with a bad case of Croup (is there a good case of it?? Doubtful). He was really sick and I, of course, was really worried. Taking care of him took up most of my time and I fell behind on a lot of things. I missed one of my Bible college classes and in turn fell behind on my class reports. Ugh. It's been chaotic. BUT!  Gabe is better now, I'm better and all caught up, and that's all that matters :) I'll be back to update shortly.

My Big Moment

Last Saturday, January 30th, was a big day for me. It was a life changing day and truly one I will never forget. Last Saturday I was baptized. I won't go into details of my testimony because it is very long, but since this blog is about me and my life, I thought this was definitely something worthy of sharing. It was a big decision for me to get baptized and one that I did not take lightly. I grew up as a Christian but never had been baptized. I'm glad I waited. Not only was it an incredibly moving experience, it was very overwhelming. At my church, my Pastor likes to baptize several people at once, kind of make it an occasion. After taking a 30 minute class we are all called up on stage during church service and each of us is to give our testimony. Out loud. On stage. Into a microphone. Gulp. I had NEVER spoken in public, or even into a microphone in my life, and it was one of my biggest fears. I was shaking and kept arguing with myself that I couldn't do it, yes I could, no I couldn't, yes I could. I had no time at all to prepare, thinking my Pastor would just ask one or two to speak. As the microphone slowly made it's way down to me, after incredibly moving testimonies were spoken bringing me to tears just hearing others stories, it landed in my hands. I was shaking. I was terrified. I remember the first thing I thought was that it was heavier than I imagined. The next thing I thought, 'Oh my gosh, I have to speak now. HELP!!!'. My parents and sister looked on, along with the rest of the congregation and I just opened my mouth. I nervously introduced myself, gave my testimony and then did my best to hold back tears as I finished. Wow that was hard. I passed the microphone to the next person and instantly felt relieved. And then the strangest feeling came over me. I wanted to do it again. WHAT?! I did not just think that. Yep. I wanted to do it again. I loved it! I conquered a major fear I have struggled with my whole life and now it's behind me. I can totally do it again.
After our testimonies were shared, we lined up to the baptism tank and one by one, we were baptized. All 7 of us. Strangers an hour prior. Now connected like never before. It was incredible. It all happened so fast, but I do remember taking in every moment. The temperature of the water, what the Pastor said to me, how long I was under the water for, coming up, wiping my eyes, turning and facing the church and throwing my hands up in the air. I did it.
I've spent the last week sort of reflecting, and realizing the huge leaps and bounds I've taken the last few months in my life because of my faith. It has been an amazing journey and I can't wait to see what is in store for me next. Bring it on!!!

Good Old Fashioned Wholesomeness

Last weekend, in celebration of Vaeh's birthday, we made a visit to the Kids Only Market on Granville Island. It's one of her most favorite places in the world and it's become a bit of a tradition for her birthday that we spend the day there. A couple of years ago I gave Vaeh the option to either have a party, invite kids and do the whole party thing or just go somewhere fun and spend the day together as a family. She chose the latter and a new tradition emerged. I'm a little against traditional birthday parties for several reasons so I was elated that she was on board. I'm sure her ideals will change as she grows older, but for now I'm loving the way we celebrate. My favorite part about the Kids Only Market is that they have all these neat little stores that carry really cool traditional type, quality, wholesome toys. Part of our tradition is that she picks out a special birthday gift while at the market. This year we cheated a little bit and picked out more than one, but they are small and can be enjoyed by all 3 of us so we snuck in a few more. As you can see from the picture, she picked out bells, a harmonica and a kaleidoscope along with a wooden birdhouse making kit and a garden tool kit. To me you don't get much more wholesome than that. She so takes after me. I would've picked all of those as well. We are blessed in the fact that because we are registered homeschoolers through a certain organization, we get a learning investment which is an allotment of funds dispersed throughout the year to be used toward the cost of educating and providing supplies to the learner. All of the items Vaeh picked from the market fall under the category of learning so they were no cost to me. I love when that happens. Especially when you take into account the changes I'm working on, that learning invesment is incredibly helpful.

A few weeks before our day at the Market I was browsing the free section on Craigslist and found an ad from a husband and wife photography team looking to expand their portfolio and offering free photo shoots for the first 5 people to respond to the ad. I happened to be quick enough and managed to get myself a free photo shoot. Before we went to the Market we had our pictures taken, journalistic style (my favorite) at Kitsilano Beach. I'll talk more about this in another blog post.

It definitely was a great day. We've been working hard on our harmonica/bells jam sessions and I think we're improving. But that would depend on who you ask. Just make sure it's not my neighbor :)

Growing Up

Today my little baby girl, my first born, my daughter, is celebrating her birthday. Her seventh birthday. My how time flies.

I've so enjoyed watching this little angel blossom and grow before my eyes. She is such an amazing soul and I'm Blessed to know her. This morning I made her favorite special birthday breakfast: french toast complete with syrup AND icing sugar, and a side of strawberries, specially requested by the birthday girl.

Today will be a quiet day celebrated together at home. We have plans to paint nails, play a game or two and snuggle up to a movie. Happy Birthday Babygirl ♥

Thrift Shopping and a New Challenge

I hadn't had a chance to shop the numerous aisles in my favorite thrift shop in what seemed to be ages, but finally, FINALLY, I was able to pop in for a quick visit. I love thrift stores. It is really amazing the little treasures and everyday things you can find. My favorite is the Value Village close to my home, along with another little church thrift store close-by, but know that not all thrift stores are created equal. I've been in my fair share of thrift stores and location is key. Stores that are in "nicer" neighborhoods will more than likely carry "nicer" things. The Value Village I shop at is in one of those "nicer" neighborhoods and regularly I find clothing from H&M, Gap, Old Navy and many other name brands, a lot of them with the store tags still on. Something else I love to shop for at thrift stores is books. Some people may get all icky-feeling about buying used books but I have a tip for you. Put your "new" books into a bag and then pop them into the freezer for a couple of days. When you take them out they are fresh as daisies. Even musty smelling books loose their musty smell after a visit to the freezer. My favorite thing though, is finding vintage treasures at thrift stores. This can be hard as the good items get snapped up really quickly, but once in awhile you will come across something old and sweet, and you fall in love. Especially when those items remind you of your childhood. My most recent "love" purchase was these 3 little vintage glasses.

I'm sure at one point there were more of these oh-so-pretty glasses in the set, but that was all that was there. Since there are 3 of us here at home, it works out nicely. I really love these. They remind me of glasses my Grandma had when I was a little girl.

With all of the turmoil and devastation happening in Haiti, and all over the world, my heart has really been aching for people who need help. I do what I can, when I can, but it doesn't feel like anywhere near enough. I so admire all of the people who have dropped everything to be in Haiti in person, and I admire even more the people who left Haiti after the earthquake and are going back because they want to help. If I could do it I so would. But it got me thinking about my own situation. Safe, comfortable, happy, here. I feel guilty. I do. To ever complain about something not going quite right for me, I feel guilty. Selfish and guilty. With those thoughts sprung a challenge. Maybe it was God putting it into my heart, but nevertheless a challenge has presented itself to me and I am going to take it on. With all of my efforts on trying to live a simple lifestyle, with all of my efforts to not keep up with the Joneses, and with my love for thrift stores, sites like Freecycle and Craigslist, I'm going to live with less, and with purpose. I'm going to cut back on all of the things I don't need, and I've started already. I got rid of my fancy cell phone, used my FidoDollars and got a much cheaper phone, and a green one to boot. I also got rid of my fancy cell phone plan and went with a much cheaper plan, with the hopes of eventually going even cheaper once my contract is up. I've cancelled all of the fancy extras on my cable plan, as well as on my home phone plan, and plan to do more cutting back in these areas when I can figure out where (they rope you into so many things you don't need, but can't not have. Does that make sense??). This is just the beginning. I'm not going to get sucked into buying the latest gadget, upgrade to the latest must-have, guilt-tripped into buying the latest toy, or pay a fortune for something I can get much less (or FREE!). The purpose behind all of this, is to enable me to give more. I don't need a bunch of junk while other people are barely surviving. It doesn't make sense and it doesn't work. Not in my mind it doesn't. And what appeal is there behind all of these mass-produced, chemical laden "things" that fill our homes anyway? We can't take it with us in the end. And that's the point. I'm going to take the focus off of me, live with a purpose that is beyond me,  and extend my hand. I hope I can make even a small difference somehow, somewhere. It's worth a try.