I did it!

I made it to my goal! Except the one day that I forgot to post and posted twice on the following day - I posted everyday between October 28 and November 30. And then I forgot to post yesterday :), but I had this niggling feeling that I forgot something when I went to bed. Then remembered at midnight that it was to post. Oops! I feel like I am back in the groove with blogging and I am liking it. Though I rarely get comments, I know that some people are keeping up with my blog and it does feel a bit like community. It's kind of funny to me how some of my blogging friends are still going gung ho and others are extremely sporadic now. We'll see if I can keep it up. I did have dreams of doing a "twelve days of Christmas" giveaway on my blog, but I just can't afford the items plus postage that would require. I am seriously thinking about doing a giveaway blog, but haven't figured out all that would entail/require of me, so we will see about that.
Last night was my last running class. Even though I had missed the last two classes due to not feeling so great two weeks ago and R getting an ear infection last week and getting the joy of sitting in the waiting room at the walk in with a screaming preschooler. I was pretty proud of myself this week though. We did 10:1 (10 minutes running and 1 minute walking), 2 sets and I did good, didn't feel like I was going to die or pass out, so yeah me! And over the past 10 weeks I have discovered that I enjoy running, especially by myself - getting out and doing something all for me, getting away from the chaos that is sometimes my house and figuring things out a bit, or just listening to my heartbeat, concentrating on my stride, trying to go further with less effort. It's a good hobby/fitness thing to do for myself. I always hated running before, probably for the reason that I sucked at gym - I was really, really awful. My sister and I were talking about it on Saturday even, how my gym teacher in grades 7 and 8, who was and is still a close friend of my parents, used to tell my dad that if anyone was going to get hit by a ball in gym, it would be me, even if I was standing right next to him. I was always last picked and last across the finish line. I think the fact that every week of this running class that I was there I was consistently in the middle helped with my confidence. It was good for me, especially since I plan to continue with it.
Today, I get to go get a haircut and color of some sorts. I am so excited! I love haircuts! Since chopping off ALL my hair 2 months ago - I needed a change, but it was a pretty drastic one - I have been just letting it grow, but it desperately needs some shaping. The twincesses are getting their hair cut too - my mom said she would pay for their "first in the salon" cut. I have cut their hair before, but just bangs for K and bangs and evening out the back of A's. We are making it a family affair and meeting my mom at her hair stylist's. Who is also my sister and aunt's hairstylist. My first time to see her, so we'll see how she does with my hair. Maybe with all of us getting our hair cut, R will want to too. Ha - who am I kidding, the day that boy asks for a haircut or even consents to one without much bribery and coercion I will fall over in surprise. I have been cutting his hair for the past year and a half and every time it is a struggle, though now at least he doesn't cower and cry anymore. He is in desperate need of a cleanup around the ears and neck - so gotta do that before Christmas.
Well, I should get to cleaning my house... TTYL.

AdSense

OK - so I got the AdSense up and running on my blog now - I am sure none of you have noticed the BIG ads as of yet :) - and I am wondering if I am allowed to decide which ads are or are not allowed on my blog. I mean the one that is presently below the video of the girls walking is for Scientology, which I am not really thrilled that I am now inadvertently promoting.
I am going to look into it, but if anyone knows the answer to this, I would appreciate knowing. Thanks.

Brightness!

Figured that I would do a new background to go with our colorful family photos. Love The Cutest Blog on the Block!

Whoops!

Oh my goodness - I almost forgot about posting today - would've ruined my streak of a whole week in a row. :) As I don't have a lot to say today, I am going to give you a link to Heather's photo blog - more pictures from our shoot. Aren't my kids cute? I cannot wait to see the rest - I get the disk (or is it disc?) tomorrow! YEAH!!

New Goal

I was looking back at my posting and since March it has been very sporadic. I want to change that because I really enjoyed the recording of my life and looking back at posts and seeing where my journey has taken me in the past. I really want to get back to blogging and keeping in contact with people. So, I am making it a goal of mine to write something every day until November 30.
Talk to you all soon! :)

Updates

For those of you who have an invitation to R's blog, I updated it today - not a whole lot when there is almost a year to update, but I got halfway through July 2008. :)

So I don't feel the need to privatize

Hello!
I have been vacillating the past few weeks about making my blog private or not. This seems to happen to me about once a year, I start wondering if I am being a good mom and protecting my family the way I should by having our lives out there for all to see. Frankly, at times it scares me what is available for people to look at on the web. Since the girls were born, I have no time to keep up with MY blog, let alone R's blog, and the girls that I only kept while they were inside (the difference in time you have between 1 child and 3 ! :)
I am struggling with making it private because I like going to read other people's blogs and I know that I would miss the potential of "meeting" others through my blog if I did.
So, I have decided to do a compromise - I will be changing everything on my blog so that it will be a little more private, but I will still be public. My hubby will now be DH (Dear Husband, as it is now popular to call the hubby) and the kids will be known by the initial their name starts with or "the boy" and "the girls" or my new favorite I saw on another blog "the twincesses". My profile will have another name as well, which I haven't decided on yet, but you see when it happens.
Thank you all for reading - I hope to be seeing more of YOU and MORE of you.

Spring has Sprung

OK - so it doesn't look or feel like spring in Calgary today - but I was needing a blog template that was just a little more spring like. So here we are. Again - Made by Lena... check her templates out. And - though I don't like pink that much, I love this template... makes me feel a little girly. Gotta keep up with the picture of blossoming motherhood that I make- LOL! :)

A New Look!

Like my new blog design? I have been wanting a new blog design for awhile, do not know how to do this myself, so when I came across Jobina's and Mel's blogs that are newly designed today, I had to find out where they got them from.
Designs by Lena is the site! She either has free blog templates (mine is one of them) or ones that you can pay her for - Mel got a custom design - for a small fee. Lena is extremely talented - go their and check her blog templates and photo cards out!

Finally!

I finally updated R's blog, so if you ever check it and are sick of there being no updates - it is now got new posts! I couldn't sleep - too much caffeine yesterday, OOPS!, so figured I'd spend my time doing instead of worrying, but now I need to head to bed! Good night!

Happy (Belated) Anniversary!

I missed it. I missed my own blog anniversary yesterday. It was one year ago yesterday that I started this thing. I have enjoyed it...
Gotten to know myself some through writing down what was happening and what I was thinking and gotten to know other people through their blogs.
I am proud of myself that I have kept up with this on a pretty consistent basis. I have never been good with journaling or diaries and this has been good for me. I really enjoy blogging and the community that it provides. I love that it helps me get thoughts together that I am having. I love sharing my life with other people. I love that I can spend as much or as little time as I want to blogging.
Now, if I could just get people to comment who I know read it, but never comment! :)

New Day - New Format

Hey - I felt like a change, and this is way less expensive than a makeover! :) Who knows how long it'll last, but I needed to "move the furniture around" so to speak. Hope you like the new template while it lasts.

Reevaluating

I have noticed that I have been very sporadic with my blog. It's almost been a year since I started it and though I started it wanting to be totally open and honest with myself and the world, I find I have been not writing because I have nothing of significance to say, or having things that I am mulling over that I am not sure I want to bare to the world wide web. I have considered going private, but then I will not get to "meet" more people, which this blog and reading other people's sometimes feels like the only social interaction I get some days. At the beginning I had a lot about R on here, but since starting his own blog for him, that has cut down the posts - though I am glad about that as I felt it was all about him and I needed my own space.
I think part of the lack of posts has been because I had wanted this blog to be about my spiritual journey as well as the every day life and thoughts I was having. but my spiritual life has pretty much been minor in my life the past half year or so. Not intentionally, just trying to figure some things out and know what I believe, not what I have been taught to believe. I have always struggled in my relationship with God - not believing in Him or His hand in my life or the lives of others - in not feeling His presence. I once started reading Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli and didn't end up finishing it and it's been on my mind for the past few weeks to get it out and reread it. I think I need a reminder that it's not just me right now.
I didn't want this blog to be just fluff because I wanted it to reflect who I was and I am someone who can go deep. Though it is funny, because one of the ladies in my mom's group gave me a card last week and she said that she appreciates how funny I am. I don't think anyone besides DH laughs at/with me as much as my mom's group ladies. No one else probably thinks that I, myself, am funny. Oh, don't get me wrong - most everyone who knows me thinks I have a good, shall I say great, sense of humor - but no one has ever commented before Rose that I am humorous and not in a bad way. Makes me feel good.
I think that's all the thoughts I have for now. If there are more I will share, and I am going to get out Messy Spirituality and I will let you know how that goes.
Have a good Wednesday!

It's been forever...

...since I last posted. Sorry all! I have been so busy with life, my house, trying to keep 'Roo from being a TVaholic - that DVD player was great on holidays, but 10 hours of Baby Einstein in the car to keep him happy does not make for wanting to play once he's home. We have been looking for a car and visiting with friends and went for a hike on Sunday. It's been a busy summer for us, I have realised. We have been trying to take advantage of every possible opportunity to enjoy spending time as a family, as well as with family and friends and enjoy the creation that God made. Especially the mountains, which we really haven't had a huge opportunity to spend time in until this year as life kept getting in the way.
News from our household... we have most likely found a car! There is a 1998 Subaru Outback at one of the dealerships here in town that we have a deposit on. They just have to do some repairs and are waiting for parts, so we should have it by next Wednesday or Thursday hopefully! I am so excited! It'll be my car to drive on a regular basis, though the family car for everything. We do not have to move the carseat back and forth anymore because of the air conditioning in the summer and 4WD in the winter as this car has both. YEAH! Anyways...
I can't think of anything else that is new at the moment, though I will try to be more consistent with my posts now.
Have a wonderful day!

New links added

I always wonder about blog protocol. When am I allowed to put a link to a person's blog on mine? Is it once I check their blog regularly or once I have decided to comment on a post they do, or what? It would be pretty weird to go to a friend of a friend's blog and see your own listed there if you had never had a comment from them. I decided to put the blogs that I try to catch up with on a weekly basis on my "Websites I Visit" as I am getting tired of going through other people's blogs to get to them - it's so much quicker to go down my blogroll and catch up quick and not waste time on seeing what other blogs may be out there. Anyways... check some of them out.

Still thinking about going private

I am still thinking about going private. Not that I wouldn't invite people to be a reader, just that then I would know who is reading. I think that is still bothering me a bit. And I am missing leaving the comments on, though I only get a couple maybe comments per post. I am realising by reading other people's blogs that they too are finding this and missing the comments as well and it bothers them too. Weird, huh? All of us having the same insecurities and doubts. I guess we are connected more than we think. Anyways... just letting you all know what's going on in my head.

What was I thinking?

I just read through my last post. Wow, life sounds like it was very hard for me on that day and for the past few weeks. Today I read it and think "What was I thinking?" I mean, has life been that hard for me these past few weeks? After having had a weekend together with my family and still having today "off" (DH home and us doing stuff together) life doesn't seem all that bad. And besides, who do I think I am that I have it bad or need to be private about my journey. I did start this to share it with others, so why am I thinking about making it private?
But, I think back and I remember that yes, I have been struggling inwardly for the past several weeks about life. Last week Jeff talked at church about refueling our spiritual lives, how if we do not do that, we tend to get short with people who are close to us, and irritable and cranky and life doesn't have peace or go smoothly. I have been experiencing this. I feel prickly, short with R and almost want to crawl out of my own skin because I feel so anxious. There has been no peace in my life, no settled feeling. Jeff also talked about what we can do to fill up our spiritual tanks (so to say), that is to reconnect with God and our spiritual side. This is different for every person. He also talked about what we do that hinders our journey and it too is different for every person.
For me, as I mentioned in the last post, I was letting distractions get in my way. Reading and watching TV tend to be my distraction of choice - do not get me wrong, I have no problem with these things - I LOVE to read and sitting down to watch TV on occasion is good. I was at the point though of whenever I had that anxious feeling, I would pick up a book or turn on the TV and lose myself in the story. It was not helpful and was keeping me from doing the reflecting that I know I have been avoiding since the Girlfriends retreat. Listen to me here - I sound like I am already past this, when I have just been thinking about it yesterday and today! Silliness.
Something that helps me to get energized spiritually is music. I am a music lover and adore many genres of music (sorry to the country fans out there, I am still not much of a country fan, though we do have a Tim McGraw CD which I love - it has "Live Like You Were Dying" on it, go figure! :) We got out some CDs from United Live (the youth worship from Hillsong Church in Australia) that I have been wanting to hear for a couple of months now, but have been forgetting. So good! I love their lyrics and they just speak to me and infuse me with a renewed passion for God.
Here are a few that have been replaying in my head:

From "To the Ends of the Earth"

Jesus, I believe in You
And I would go, to the ends of the earth
To the ends of the earth
For you alone are the son of God
And all the world will see
That You are God

One Way

I lay my life down at your feet
You're the only one I need
I turn to you and you are always there

In troubled times it's you I seek
I put you first that's all I'll need
I humble all I am, All to you

One way
Jesus
You're the only one that I could live for
One Way
Jesus
You're the only one that I could live for

You are always, always there
Every how and everywhere
Your grace abounds so deeply within me

You will never ever change
Yesterday, today the same
Forever 'til forever meets no end

One way
Jesus
You're the only one that I could live for
One Way
Jesus
You're the only one that I could live for

You are the way, the truth, and the life
We live by faith and not by sight, for you
We're living all for you

You are God

As to the lyrics, I may not be there yet, but I am working on it. And I am happy that I am on this journey... and that you are along for the ride with me... and I refuse to go backwards and become once again the woman who believes that all should be perfect in her life, at least the one that others see. It's not healthy and I will NOT do it.
So, once again, here I am, warts, struggles and all. Though, just for my own sanity, I am going to turn off the comments on future posts. If there is ever anything you want to say to me, you can email or find me on Facebook! :)
So this is a good-bye for now and a welcome to my space once again!

A jumble of thoughts...sorry if it doesn't flow smoothly or make a lot of sense

It has been awhile since I last posted something. This is for a few reasons. First, I have barely been on the computer in the past little while – the upstairs one that holds our pictures, so I cannot add pictures to the posts that I wanted to write. I am a little frustrated with this computer as every time I am on it, this “autoplay” window keeps popping up – so annoying as it stops whatever I am doing and I have to clock on the window or page to get back to typing. Anyone know what that is about, let me know!
Secondly, I am getting out and getting exercise, which I am loving! R and I have been taking a walk most days. It has been so beautiful here, and I love the smells of summer and the cool breeze in the morning. While R sleeps I have been doing housework, and catching a nap every once in a while.
Last night I had an awful sleep. I have also been watching “Roswell” on DVD from www.zip.ca which we are a part of. I am a little hooked on this series… I know, I am a sci-fi geek!... I had previously watched the first season and the third, but never the second, so now I am on the second and was up a little later last night watching it. I found my mind wouldn't shut off, and then it was hot in our room and my allergies (hay fever) have started acting up in the past week, so that was bugging me too. It was not a pretty night. DH and I were both up from 4-5, then he just got up, I fell asleep finally.
It seems as though I have been thinking non-stop for the past two weeks. There are a lot of things on my mind. I went to the Girlfriends retreat with our church 2 weeks ago, the theme of our session (yes, only one session on the weekend... it was good) was Self-Worth. I realised once again that mine is not very high. I tend to put a little too much stock in what others think, or should I say, what I perceive others think. And I started thinking about this and talked with both K and A from my mom's group on Saturday about it. I feel so blessed by these ladies, and am thankful to God for them. I never feel like they are judging me and I have told both of them that.
Here are some photos from the weekend. I didn't get too many, but hey...Here is the group of ladies that I was sitting with for our "spa evening". We were walked through doing manicures on ourselves. From Left to Right we have B, A, K and myself.
This is my feet after my pedicure. It was a good one, though I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I would've liked as I got a migraine an hour before it. (Gotta love the sandal tan, hey! My legs won't tan, but my feet sure do, how fair is that! :)
That was all the pictures I got, well, I actually got a really funny one of K, but I thought she wouldn't appreciate my putting it on here. :)
So, after I got home from my weekend away, I had a little bit to think about and I have been, but I haven't felt at all about blogging about it. I have been going back and forth about it, because I told myself that I would always be open and honest here and would use it as kind of a journal, but how open do you want to be with anyone who could read this? I do not mind about my family or close friends, but people rarely comment on my blog, so I have no idea who actually reads it. I am curious as to who I am all opening my life to and sharing it with. The purpose originally was to chronicle my journey and to also connect with other people and I am wondering if I am doing either. I guess it is time for some reflection and renewal of the vision, and purpose (ha, DH, just had to throw that in there - seemed appropriate! :) of this blog.
I have seen on other people's blogs a request that anyone who is reading the blog please leave a comment. I would like to do this, so please, leave a comment for me. I would like to know 4 things:
1. your name or online nickname
2. how you got to the blog
3. where approximately you are from
4. how long you have been reading
Please, even those of you who I know read it comment. You can post under anonymous if you do not have a gmail or blogger account.
Thank you everyone. This will help me figure some things out.

R's new blog

Hello Friends!
So I did it! I decided that I would start a new blog, just for thoughts and videos and pictures pertaining to R. This way I can separate my stuff from his. And now, if he wants to, DH can add things as well.
So if you want to visit R's blog, it is called "R-A-Roo" and just click here.

Welcome

Ok, so I have heard of blogs before - have some friends who are very computer savvy and have been blogging for years - but have never really read many, let alone wanted to do it myself. This week two things convinced me to try my hand at it. My friend, Jobina started her own for their family and one of the characters from Corner Gas decides to start his own on tonight's episode. (Hey, if Hank can do it, so can I! :)
So here is my blog. A way for you to keep get a glimpse into my thoughts - hey, that might be scary! As well, a means of keeping in touch and up to date on what is happening in our family. Hope you enjoy!