Tuesday, June 29, 2010

I Am A Pet Owner!

It's official! I have pets that have lived longer than a day, yay!!! =D I have three triops and at LEAST 30 sea monkeys! Hurray!!!!! =D I'd post pictures here, but they're too small to see still without a tag, so I'll definitely get them up on Facebook!

Soooooo.......... apart from that, there's not too much to update on lol... I did - however - find a cool "casserole formula" on my friend Alison's blog, and I thought I'd share it here! =) And also to have as a personal reference... ;)

Casserole Formula:
2 cups pasta, rice, or potatoes, cooked
1 cup veggies, frozen or fresh, diced
1 lb of meat, browned (or 2 cups of beans)
2 cups of white sauce or condensed soup (or, you could use a tomato based sauce if you wish)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cheese
Salt and pepper (or any other spices)

Mix all of the above. Put into a greased 9x13 casserole dish at 350F for 30 minutes.

So simple right??? I may have to make something this week following this... perhaps a hashbrown casserole, or a spaghatta nadle casserole, oh my gosh!!! =D and I have a few veggies in the fridge I need to use up soon, so that's excellent! No meat or beans though, perhaps I'll work around it...

Anyways, I'm off to bed, gnight! =)

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Mentorship/Earthlings

This morning at Weston, we talked about people who have had a significant impact on our lives. I didn't share my own testimony, but I really enjoyed hearing other people's!

As much as I felt a nudge to stand up and share, I couldn't quite bring myself to do it, and so I thought I would share it here.

There have been a few people who have really impacted my life. I first want to say that every person who is a part of Weston has impacted me in one way or another. Vincent touched on it in his own testimony, but we are a family! Of course, not everybody there knows everything about me, about my past, about my issues, but there are a couple who I've been blessed to have in my life whom I can go to if I need to unload.

The biggest impact on my life has been Karen. There have been PLENTY of times when I've learned something from her, big and little things, and she might not even realise a lot of it! Through her, I learned how to love and open up to someone. She was one of the first people I opened up to about being suicidal. And she is such a great person to have a good conversation about stuff! I love sharing my thoughts with her, because she will share her thoughts, and often it's a completely different side of looking at something, a view that's so out-of-the-box that I often leave the conversation with a completely different opinion about whatever we were talking about. Not necessarily having the same ideas as her, but definitely different than when I entered into conversation. Does that make sense?

Another person to impact my life is Jessica. She was there through the darkest days, someone I could always text when I was having a tough time, whether it was being tempted to hurt myself, or whether it was after a fight with my mom, she was always there being caring and supportive. Without her, I'm not even sure I'd be alive now. She was the very first person I told about being suicidal, and it was her whom I asked to come with me to talk to Karen about it. She has saved my life. But it wasn't all only hard moments, we've had so much fun together too! From window shopping and picture taking to working together at camp, to sleep-overs, so many awesome memories have been made. I almost feel now like God brought us together when we needed each other the most, and now that those dark days are behind us that super close bond isn't needed as much. And I don't mean that to be negative in any way! I do miss being as close as we once were, but I understand that people change, we mature differently, and even now her life has changed dramatically with marriage and a child, and we just don't connect as well, I've come to understand and accept that now. But she will ALWAYS been my Georgio, my sister best friend thing =)

Debi has also been a very close friend. Through all the hard times with my mom, she has always been there to support me and reassure me. Of course, I will be the first to admit that it wasn't ALL my mom's fault, but through Debi I've come to understand that it's not all my fault either. Sometimes it's hard to see that without feeling guilty. In my case, I grew up believing that my mom was perfect and so any time I got in trouble (and when I say "get in trouble," I mean getting yelled at...) I had the mindset that I wasn't good enough and couldn't measure up to my mom's standards. It was Debi that I often would tell about what would happen between my mom and I, and she was the one who would always reassure me that I AM good, that I DO have worth, more than my mom could recognise at the time. And please don't see this as a rip on my mom, cuz I've also come to understand that my mom was going through a LOT of crap for many years, which lead to a lot of over-reaction... But through it all, I can now see that my mom was doing the best she could to raise a daughter. Looking at it from another view, I could see that it would be hard for my mom because we didn't connect very well to begin with, and I would often turn to other people for help rather than her, and I think it kinda hurt her. But it was difficult for me to turn to her because she didn't seem very receptive to me so I just didn't bother. And then when I begin to make preparations to move out of her place, I think she came to think that she was losing her only child. That's when things got really bad. And though I won't go into detail here, because it's personal, now that I'm out of the house and settled, and even now into my OWN place, I think my mom has come to see that I have grown up but can still rely on her for support, and I think that's part of the reason things are good now. Now that my mom has seen that I can support myself, that I don't NEED her but still WANT her in my life, we are good =) And Debi has definitely been a big part in helping me realise all this.

On a completely different note, I watched a documentary tonight called "Earthlings," and it's basically about the ethical treatment of animals - or rather how we're NOT treating animals ethically. Seeing how animals are treated on industrial farms and slaughterhouses has seriously made me consider my eating habits. I am seriously thinking about going vegetarian, simply because I do NOT want to support such a disgusting way of treating animals. Here is the first part of a 10-part playlist on Youtube, it is the entire movie, so you can keep watching it on youtube if you'd like.

Monday, June 21, 2010

New Theme!

So I decided to change my blog. Lately I've been thinking a lot about rain - hard not to when it's always raining... I struggled with how to title my blog, whether I wanted to base it on storms, or rain, or water in general. As I was thinking about it, I was listening to my music (as usual), and one of my favourite songs came on: "Washed By the Water" by Need to Breathe (I've included a video below). And I thought, "Hey, that's perfect!"

I love rain. I love the sound, the smell, the puddles - yes I'm a puddle jumper =) But I love the symbolism as well. Rain is often used to symbolise troubles ("storms of life"), but it's also very much used as a symbol of being cleansed. And that's what this song talks about: even when the rain falls, even when the flood starts rising, even when the storm comes, I am washed by the water. God knows the storms I've been through... There've been times when I could feel the rain, times when I felt like I was drowning, times when I felt like just giving up... But even through it all, I am cleansed by the water, and with God's help I make it through.

Have a listen to this song, and as you do, think about where you have been in your life. How has God helped you through your storms? Leave me a comment, let's chat! And let me know what you think of the new layout! =)

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Vuvuzela Guy! BZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!

"Children! *BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*"
nuff said. WATCH!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

A Real Update?!?!?!?

Howdy folks! How's about for a real blog post? =D

Well it is official, I am now living in my own apartment, yay!!!!! =D I moved in the last weekend in May, and to be honest I'm still a long ways from being unpacked and settled in LOL! But I'm not too worried about it, it'll all get done eventually... =P

I don't really wanna make this long, even though I'm sure there's lots to write... I do wanna touch on my New Year's resolutions... So far, eating regularly has been still going. Though I haven't been making menu plans, I've still been eating breakfast/lunch/dinner, and no late-night snacking on junk foods! =) Even as I write this, I'm sitting down to eat breakfast for dinner: poached eggs, turkey bacon, garlic onion hashbrowns, and rye toast with apple jelly, yummo! =D

Exercise has been non-existent, unless you count chasing after 2-year-olds for 40 hours a week... ;P

Tithing has been going well though! I've only missed one paycheque, and that was because that was when my first rent cheque in my new apartment was coming out, and I had to make sure the money was in the bank so the cheque didn't bounce! And then of course there was pretty much nothing left once that was done...

Hmmm, what else to blog about? Work's been great, except this past week... There's been some drama issues getting a bit out of hand, but I think most of it got resolved today... Hopefully... ;)

My summer planning got done too, handed it in last week, got it back today from my supervisor, and there's just a couple things I need to go over tonight and get it back in tomorrow to be finalised and typed up and ready to go! It's been interesting planning for my 2-year-olds... Still a few things to learn, but my supervisor told me I pretty much had it down pat, yay! =) Now it's just a matter of making sure that I'm prepped the week before so I'm not rushing around trying to get things together the day of... Which I'm really bad for lol...

Well, I think that's all for tonight... Might post another fave troll later, if I see one worthy of posting =P

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Happy Duck

And yet another fave troll, hurray! =P

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Sneezing Bear Cub

One of these days I'll post a real update on what's up these days..... =P In the meantime, here's a super cute video! This is how I can get sometimes when my allergies get really bad lol....



Monday, June 14, 2010

Another Fave Troll!

Seriously, can you ever get enough of kittehs??? =D Ahaha this video made me smile! And yes, I watched the entire thing. Maybe even more than once...... =)

Friday, June 11, 2010

Fave Troll

LOL what a cute kitty!!!!! =D

Monday, June 7, 2010

Favourite Troll!

A sincere apology to those of you who actually keep up with my blog (hehe), I have been in the process of moving and whatnot, and haven't had much internet access... BUT! I have found a wireless network I can connect to and use, so ta da! I am here to post another fave troll I have found!!! Hahahaha so awesomely funny!!!!! =D