What a Ride!!!!!!

What an intense week I've had!!! Let me fill you in on what's been happening here.

A little while ago, I was working on a talk for CWC. It wasn't going well and I just didn't feel inspired to do anything about it. It felt like God was telling me to just lay off for a while. The day after that happened, I saw a poem written by my Aunt. I asked her if I could play around with it and see if I could make it into a song. She said yes. Well, it took me about 10 minutes to figure out what I wanted to do. I really wanted to record it so that I could send it to her. I checked into recording studios and heard back from one that was very expensive. I had basically given up doing any recording when I got an email from a guy who was willing to record me for a decent price.

I started recording yesterday. I finished the song today. It sounds amazing and is in post production as we speak. Here's the really cool part. I've been asked by the recording studio to do more studio work for them. As well, the owner of the studio is encouraging me to write more songs and create a Christian album. There is a lady who is interested in the song I have already recorded AND since I am working for the studio, I now have a position I can do from home, creating music which is what I love to do, and gives me enough money to make our budget a little more realistic. Because I work from home and will be my own company, I get to write off a lot of expenses on income tax (always groovy). This all happened after I saw those fish symbols on the front of my house - wow!!!!!

I can't believe the way God works. Everything fell into place at the perfect time, in the perfect way. I feel so grateful, so unworthy but so thankful for the precious gifts God has given me. To know that He loves me so much He makes a way for me to fulfill my dreams of recording music...I am awed and humbled. I really have no words to say what it means to me.

So here's to many more songs, and a new career! Anyone have any ideas what I can call my company? I'm terrible with names for stuff like that...

A reminder from God...

The picture you see above is the front of my house. I saw this while I was taking Declan to school this morning. Can you see the Christian Fish Symbols under the top windows? What a beautiful reminder from God that my children (those are their bedrooms up there) are held in the palm of His hand and that God watches over us every day! I couldn't help but stop, take a picture, and thank God for His reminder.

Jasmine Tea Room...

Yesterday I felt the urge to go out for coffee with someone. Being that I don't really drink coffee, it's really just a name I put to going out and talking with a friend. I called my friend Andrew and he took me to the Jasmine Tea Room in Lethbridge. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures but I should have! This place was really cool!

When you walk in the door, it looks like an antique store. There are many pieces of furniture, jewlery, candles, etc for sale. When you walk through another doorway, you see a totally girly tea room with tables and chairs and enough tea to let the whole world drink! I had a raspberry italian creamosa. It's raspberry syrup, club soda and cream. Yummy!!!! I also had an egg salad sandwhich with spinach instead of lettuce on a croissant. Soooo good! Andrew had a london fog which is earl grey tea with milk and something else that I forgot and a seafood salad croissant. The sugar on the table was colored pink and there were hats and scarves and other cool things hanging on the walls. It was beautiful and old world-ish and I loved it!

Great conversation, good food, and yummy drinks. It was a special day and I'm glad I went. Thanks Drew!!!

Happy Birthday Rowan...

2 years ago at 5:30pm our little girl was born. She did not have an easy time of things those first few days. Rowan was born with a hole in her lung. She spent the first three days of her life in the NICU. It was so hard to see her there under an oxygen helmet not being able to hold her. You would never know what she went through looking at her today!

Today we had a birthday party for this little princess. Rowan had two friends come to her party. Lily, and Fin. Their mothers, Selena and Renae were also in attendance as was Rowan's Nana, Mom and Dad. We had Chicken Noodle Soup, Homemade New England Clam Chowder, and Homemade Beef Barley Soup as well as assorted sandwiches, pickles, cucumber and carrots. All Rowan's favorite foods. We had chocolate cupcakes for desert and there were presents all around!

What a blessing this little one has been to me! Never in my life did I think I would have a daughter. I was more than a little surprised when I found out that's just what I was getting! She is a strong minded, opinionated little girl. She is not afraid to speak her mind or stand up for herself. Rowan is precious, kind, loving, beautiful, strong, independent, willing to try new things, determined, and wonderful! Happy Birthday Baby Girl! We love you!!!

This week's menu...

Can you believe I just went grocery shopping for this week and I've already lost my list of what I was going to make? I think I remember it though...here it goes...

Thursday - New England Clam Chowder (from scratch), and biscuits
Friday - Home made perogies and farmer sausage
Saturday - Meatloaf with potatoes and gravy
Sunday - Lemon Pepper Tilapia with Wild Rice and Peas
Monday - Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Garlic Toast and Salad
Tuesday - Spring Rolls, Gyoza, Won Ton Soup, Rice and Chinese Finger Foods.
Wednesday - Greek Chicken with Rice Pilaf and Roasted Veggies

Whew! I remembered! I'm also doing homemade soups and sandwiches with chocolate cupcakes for Rowan's birthday tomorrow. On top of all of this, I have to clean my house! I have company coming for Rowan's birthday and as of right now, I would be frightened to let them in the door! I'd better get off this computer and get to it!

Not tired anymore...

Well, I finally got Rowan to sleep around 4am and she slept until 12:30pm today. I got Declan off to school and then I got to sleep for a few hours. Yay! I also got to clean up my kitchen and send my song project to my Aunt. For having my schedule all messed up, I actually feel like I've been semi productive today.

On a side note, I went to the doctor today because my mouth was hurting and my tongue looked funny. To my dismay, I have thrush. Yuck. I have to swish nasty yellow slimy medicine in my mouth four times a day for the next 7 days. I think my daughter fears I may throw up from the grossness of it all because this afternoon when I was swishing, she brought me a bucket and told me to spit. Much as I would have loved to obey her, I have to swallow this foul stuff and then not drink or eat for 1/2 an hour. I would have liked nothing more than to spit that out and drink a gallon of juice to get the taste out of my mouth!

Well, I'm off to make supper for the family. I think it's homemade hamburger night. Yummy!

So tired....

I found out the other thing that I don't like about Rowan getting her shots. She's up all night. I think I have slept for 1 hour as of this post. It looks like I've got her settled down now so I think I'll go take a nap. Thank goodness Declan is at school all day so I have a chance to catch up on some zzz's whenever she sleeps. Hopefully we have that fever taken care of and she'll sleep a good long while today.

Good night everyone!

Needles...

Today I have to take my little girl to the public health clinic and let them poke needles into her arm. I hate needle days for multiple reasons. I don't like watching my daughter cry because her arms hurt. I also have issues with public health nurses in general. I don't think it's the person per se. I just don't like the way they are trained. If your child doesn't fit the normal curve of where a child should be at that age as far as weight, height, and behaviour, automatically there's something wrong with your child. Not all children fit the mold that the government has set for them. Some are slower to grow and develop, some are faster. It doesn't mean that there's something wrong necessarily. In my mind, only a parent really knows what's normal and not normal for their child. I have had public health nurses tell me my son has a failure to thrive (he's the healthiest little boy I've ever met and eats more than I do) and that my daughter's skin looks like she's not getting enough vitamins (she also eats us out of house and home in every food group). I've come to the point where I ignore most of what they say, let them stick my daughter with needles and leave. What I wouldn't give for a nurse who understands that sometimes fair skin, or high metabolism runs in the family.

Anyway, that's my rant for the day. To all you health care professionals out there, try asking what the norm is in the family as far as growth and development. You may find out there's really nothing to worry about after all with these kids.

Pool and Pizza...

Today my friend Selena and I went out to play pool and eat pizza. We live in the same townhouse complex and I think I see less of her than I do of my sister who lives two provinces away!

Selena and I met because our boys were in the same kindergarten class two years ago. The boys became friends and so did we. Now we have girls who are less than one year apart. It has been great to have someone to talk to about the things that happen with my kids. Our boys tend to get into trouble together. The only positive side of this is that Selena and I have learned how to handle the cleaning up of such messes together with alot of humor.

My life wouldn't be the same without this wonderful lady and I'm hoping that we will both make more of an effort to spend some time together in the future. Besides, she beat me in pool...I must have my chance to win back the title of queen of pool...

New Template...

No, it's not your eyes...the template for my blog was acting funny so I have had to change it. I went to look at my blog and the title had disappeared behind some other stuff. Very wierd.

I have spent all day checking out recording studios vs the cost of buying my own recording equipment. Nothing fancy, just enough to make my songs sound like something decent. Here's what I found out (just in case anyone was wondering...). To record in a studio in Lethbridge will cost you approximatly $450 not including the burning of any cd's. To buy the equipment I would need to record on my own will cost me $300 and then I can record over and over again. The software I found will allow me to lay multiple tracks so I can play piano, lay main and background vocals, strings, drums, and whatever else I want. Sweet!!! I even found a guy willing to teach me how to use this wonderful technology. Hooray!

I have been trying to figure out how long it will take me to save up enough to do this. I figure it will be a few months yet. That's okay. I don't mind waiting, although I would love to make this last song digital as soon as humanly possible. I think I may take Jay's advice and buy a cheap computer mic and put a rough draft on disc just so I remember what I did. Then when I have the equipment I want, I can really make it beautiful.

Well, I'm off to tweak that song some more...

Have a great night everyone!

We have water!!!

Well, the water main was fixed last night (miracle of miracles!) so we have water once again. Yay!

Last night I received a wonderful gift. My Aunt wrote a poem and few years back and posted it on her blog last night. I read it and felt instantly inspired. I asked her if I could put it to music and she said yes. Yay! I love writing music. Words don't come easily to me, but music always does. When I can create a song it gives me chills, makes me shake, creates a sense of accomplishment, and an adrenaline rush like you wouldn't believe! It's rare that I am inspired to write something. When it happens, the process is fast. A rough draft of a song can come in 5-10 minutes. Then comes the tweaking. This takes longer. I spent most of last night tweaking this particular song. I couldn't stop thinking about it and I was still adding things this morning.

If only I could find a way to record some of this stuff before I forget it! I have contacted a few studios to see if recording one song is even feasable. I haven't heard back yet. Perhaps I should just invest in a tape recorder for now. It's better than nothing!

Have you ever been inspired to do something? Moved to the point that you can't think about anything else?

Water Mains and other nuisances...

For the fourth year in a row, the water main in our area has burst. I woke up this morning to a letter from our landlord telling us to fill our tubs and sinks with water. Outside there was a lake in the public yard and water gushing out of the ground. Yuck.

I can't stand things like this. I don't like having water sitting all over my house. It's an inconvenience and a nuisance. It makes me wonder how people functioned before running water. No hot showers, if you wanted hot water for washing anything you had to heat it on the stove. Call me spoiled but I really like my hot water tank. I feel a little like I'm living in the past. We are getting our water from a giant tank outside and we heat it on the stove (although it is electric, not wood). If we want to flush the toilet, we have to put a bucket of water in the tank. I think I would rather just stay in 2008 and have running water and toilets I don't have to fiddle with.

Come on city workers...get that water main fixed! This lady wants a hot shower!

Criticism...can you hack it?

Recently I attempted something I never thought I would have the courage to do. I wrote out my life story. I submitted it to a group for approval as I wanted to talk about my story at one of their meetings. I don't know what I was expecting the feedback to be, but whatever I was expecting, that's not what I got. I received an email from a wonderful woman who loved my story, but knew that, as it was currently written, it was not appropriate for their group.

I started out being very hurt. I felt like someone had punched me. This was a talk that I had poured every inch of my being into! I had invested a lot of time, effort, and emotion on this talk and I felt like I hadn't really been heard. Then I read this lady's email again. She was more than willing to help me change my story to fit what the group was looking for. The purpose of speaking in this particular group is to focus on a specific type of person. My talk didn't do that as well as it could have. When I got over being hurt and offended that she didn't think it was perfect just the way it was, I started thinking about the real reasons why I wanted to do this in the first place. My feelings were no longer important, the outcome of the talk was what was important.

I don't know about you, but I don't really like criticism. I don't like being told that something I've done isn't good enough the way it is. I understand that criticism is all a part of learning and that, if done constructively, it's really a great way to learn. Unfortunately that doesn't change the fact that I feel attacked when I'm being corrected. Overactive defense mechanism? Absolutely!!! I can usually keep it under control long enough to hear the person out and correct the problem, but I tend to do this while muttering under my breath and grinding my teeth.

This particular problem that I'm dealing with now is going to require a lot of attention and if I want to keep any of my teeth and not grind them down to nothing, I need to put that feeling of being attacked away and embrace what this woman has to offer me. Is that going to be easy? NO!! It's going to be hard hard hard! But I can do it! I know that God will remind me when I start grinding my teeth and muttering to myself. I know that He will ask me to turn the muttering to singing and to keep going. I know that I am doing this for Him who strengthens me and that He will keep me on the right path. So here I go...off into the wild blue yonder of constructive criticism and singing to ward off the grinding of my teeth! I'll let you know if I have any teeth left when this is all over!

WW1: The Experiences of an English Soldier...

The other day I saw something on CBC that really interested me. It was a story about a man who is blogging letters written by his late Grandfather who was a soldier in WW1. He is typing out the letters 90 years to the day of each post. We as the reader get to pretend to be the family. Waiting for each letter from him. Hoping that he's still alive and well.

The grandson started this blog in 2006 and the letters written so far have been captivating to say the least. Mainly this soldier wrote to his sister and brother. The family has been on CBC news as well as BBC news because of this blog. It's amazing to hear the stories of what happened during that war from someone who was actually THERE!!!


If you want to check it out, I have attached a link for you.

www.wwar1.blogspot.com

Food and other yummy things...

I went grocery shopping yesterday. Thanks to my very helpful husband, it only took me one hour! I love grocery shopping. When I see a full fridge, freezer and pantry, and feel relaxed. It drives me nuts not to have things available if we get unexpected company and I like to have options for meals. I made a list of recipes I want to make this week and I'm excited to make them! Here's what we're having this week...

1. Southern "Fried" Chicken and Sweet Potatoe Fries
2. Beef Roast with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, salad and glazed carrots
3. Chicken Alfredo
4. Beef Stir Fry
5. Lasagna
6. Spaghetti and Garlic Toast

To do all of this, I bought some chicken pieces, a roast, and one pound of hamburger. If you can figure out how to make new things out of leftovers, you can really save on your grocery bill. It's taken a while for me to figure this out but I couldn't believe the difference! I used to buy meat for every day. I cut that in half this time. I have more veggies than my fridge can hold. That doesn't really excite Declan or John, but Rowan and I are stoked! I love to cook and I love trying out new recipes. What have you tried lately that was really yummy?

Parent's role as teacher...

Have you ever tried to teach something to your child? Yesterday night I was helping Declan with his homework. We were practising subtraction. Declan is not crazy about math however he can do it if he puts his mind to it. He was having trouble subtracting numbers so I showed him how I started subtracting.

Example: 4-2=?

Me: Okay Declan, which number is smaller?

Declan: The two is smaller.

Me: That's right, so we are going to count to 4 starting at the number 2. Here's the trick, you can't say "2" because that will mess this up. Instead of saying "2" you have to say "hmm".

(insert Declan laughing hysterically at his Mom saying "hmm")

Me: Okay Declan, let's count. Hmm - three - four. How many numbers did you actually say?

(insert Declan drooling because he's laughing too hard)

Declan (gasping for air) : I said two numbers.

Me: So the answer is two! Great job!

Declan: That was so fun! Let's do another one!

Ladies and Gentlemen...my child did subtraction with me for 1/2 an hour and loved every minute of it! Yay!!! Now if I could only find something like that for addition!

Christmas Pictures!!!

Okay, here are some pictures of Christmas...

The kids were so excited, they could hardly wait for presents!!!

Housecoats were given to all the kids. Of course they all wanted to wear them right away!

Opening presents is tiring so my niece took some time out to chill with Papa.

Much talking was done by all...

It was a great time to get together! Sorry to Mom and Jobina...the pictures I took of you two came out fuzzy! Another time, I'll get it right. I promise!

Thanks to Jobina, Mark, Riker, Trinity, Mom and Dad for a wonderful Christmas!