| Exasperated and Flying Putrid Pasta |
Hummphh. I've been trying to do our taxes online with a site called Ufile. The pages are taking ridiculously long to load and are driving me crazy. I ate supper and came back and a page still hadn't loaded. So meanwhile I've been checking email and reading the blogs - which I already read today, so there wasn't much new.
Here are a few bits of random information for you.
1. Our heat was fixed early Tuesday morning. On Monday night we told the girls they could sleep in the main building if they wanted, but they all decided to tough it out. Many of them wore their "wicking layers" - a common phrase here, especially with our winter camp-out coming up. (a wicking layer is a synthetic (usually) layer of clothing that is meant to keep you warm, while at the same time wicking moisture away from you - for most of the girls this is polypro long underwear)
2. Our heat quit again on Wednesday. The maintenance guy called a professional and so the situation was quickly fixed and we are back up around 20 degrees again.
3. Played basketball with the students today.
4. Lance thinks I need new sport shorts (he strongly dislikes all my athletic shorts - which are all for sure 5 years old)
5. I don't think I need new shorts, I don't care if I'm not very cool. (this is a big step for me)
6. I talked to my mom for about an hour today, it was really nice. Lance asked what we talked about. I didn't really know what to tell him -- how do you summarize an hour of jumping here and there through a variety of topics?
7. Movie night with friends tonight.
8. I found a new brand of sugar-free cookies, which I may or may not have written about. They are fantastic and I have been enjoying them often.
9. Last night there was a huge food fight in the cafeteria! There was pasta everywhere. The walls had gooey globs stuck all over them and the floor was entirely covered. During a staff meeting our head cook Terri suggested having a food fight as an activity for the students. So Lance and the RAs planned it and kept it a secret from the students. The cook made disgusting overcooked pasta with a diarhea-like sauce. The food was served to the students (who actually ate it --I did too, it wasn't toxic, but had a bad smell and aftertaste) Then Lance engaged in a mock fight with the cooks which ended with him getting food in the face. Mayhem followed. For about four minutes the was food flying everywhere. Lots of the students had a great time, others bolted for the door. When it was all over they were asking, "Do we get a real supper?" We cleaned off the chairs and tables and then ate the real supper. After supper the clean-up lasted around 4 hours. We will not sponsor a food fight again. It was one of those times when I wanted to be more separate than together with my husband -- I want to pick and choose when I embrace our "oneness". When he makes great decisions I'm one with him, if they're not good... but I'm growing.
Well, that's all for today. A bit of rambling. I'm going to try to make some guacomole to bring to movie night.
Hope you are well.
Aimee |
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| She's Gone |
Well, Melanie has gone home now. Boy did we have a blast. There are too many great things to list, but here are a few - Laughing till our stomachs hurt (more than once), great conversations, historical adventures, second hand escapades, eating Alberta beef, skating at night outside, "homesteading", reading quirky Anne Lamott -- it was a spectacular 5 1/2 days.
I feel like I've had a holiday, and now I don't feel like going back to work tomorrow. No work today, it's "Family Day" - an Alberta holiday.
I've got to do some dishes -- which will be nice, having my hands in warm water, since our heat is still not working, so it's ten degrees celcius in here (except if you're by one of the space heaters). I'm wearing the blanket poncho, modeled by Melanie in the herring photo. The students have been away all weekend and come back today, I hope our maintenance man can figure out the heat by tonight. I think I'll get Lance to call him up.
Okay, just a little blog today.
Hope you are well.
Aimee |
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| She has arrived |
Now of course you already know that Melanie has arrived, since she has blogged about being here. It is not because this isn't a momentous occasion that I haven't yet blogged. I have been too busy enjoying my friend, and, yes, already thinking that she'll be going soon.
We have been having a marvelous time so far. I'm at work now... and don't really have anything to do... well there are things to do, but not little things. I don't want to start overhauling a manual right now - 30min before I go home, my last day of the week. That will have to wait. Instead I will do a little blog.
This week has been great.
1. Lance came Home
2. Melanie is visiting
3. I almost got to talk to Marsha on the phone
explanation: I picked up the phone mid-message and said, "Hi Marsh, here's Melanie". I guess that would be considered talking to her, actually at her. I look forward to meeting her and having an actual conversation with her one day. She may blog about the story from her end, so I'll leave it at that.
4. We had a great time with our Discipleship group last night
5. Melanie got to join the girls as we studied Mike Yaconnelli's book, "Messy Spirituality" (which I highly recommend)
6. Melanie and my very good friend Jena got to meet yesterday - they hit it off and acted just like friends
On the lower side I haven't been feeling top notch lately. I think too many carbs - I broke into a bag of ripple chips in a moment of loneliness when Lance was away and haven't really been careful since then. Vegetables here I come!
Melanie and I might do some looking into my family history while she's here. That could be really neat.
Okay, maybe that's all for now.
I think I'll head home early.
hope you are well.
Aimee |
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| Waiting |
So now I am waiting for Lance to come home. I am trying not to get my hopes up about him coming home soon. I need to be productive in the mean time. I have set the table for our supper tonight - flowered table cloth (clearance bin at superstore) daisy wine glasses (which will hold milk) spring green ikea candles in our wrought iron candle holder. We're having waffles - one of Lance's favorite meals. I have to go out and get some eggs - I should get bacon or farmer sausage too, as a treat for Lance. I made a strawberry apple sauce to go on the waffles. I should tidy up a bit and make Lance a card for Valentines day.
Major announcement: Melanie comes here tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am very excited. I used some of my free time while Lance was gone to get her room ready. I'm still working on it, but I've got the bed set up and made, that's the main thing.
Okay, off to make a card.
Have a lovely day.
Aimee |
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| Not as Fine |
Well, Lance called this afternoon and said that plans have changed. They're coming home tomorrow instead of tonight. It's wiser of them, they would be driving home after a concert, from Medecine Hat, which is like 6hrs or something - they'd be here around 4am. So I know it's better... but I was very sad when he told me.
I've been lonely today. I went to church this morning with our friend Brent. We were a mismatched couple, his wife was feeling sick and my husband was away. I ate lunch with the students in the cafeteria. Watched some of Anne of Green Gables. Had a nap. Ate a snack. Did some work. I wished some friends would call and invite me over (I could've called them I guess)
Anyways, then there was a knock on my door and one of my favorite former students who just got back from a trip to Haiti had stopped by for a chat. Another student had said she should come and visit me since Lance was away. What a gift from God. We talked for atleast an hour and a half. It was great.
Then Jena came over for a visit and we talked for a long time - lovely and just what we both needed.
Once again God is faithful to provide.
Now I need to trust him for the speed to get some stuff done for our chapel time tomorrow - it's ten now and I don't want to be up too late. I better get back to work.
Hope you are well.
Aimee
ps. thanks for reading |
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| I'm Doing Just Fine |
Well, Lance has been gone for four sleeps now, and there's just tonight left. He comes home tomorrow night late. I have been quite busy so the time has gone by quickly. At our school each year the boys throw a party for the girls and vice versa. Tonight is the girls party for the guys. It is a really elaborate affair as far as theme, food, decorating, activities etc go. I have been helping out quite a bit, which is just fine by me since I'm alone this week. They knock on my door and say, "Sorry to bother you Aimee, but..." and in my head I'm like, "thanks for having a party that I can help with so I don't get desparately lonely". Last night I spent a couple hours helping out. Wow, on a friday night Aimee willingly helped with the party... not much of a sacrifice, it was just me alone with my asparagus and cheese for supper.
So Lance is absolutely loving the tour. He gets to play music, talk about music, listen to music, hang out with people, drive through beautiful country (some may disagree about the beauty of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan) and take a lot of photos. He took our digital camera and I forget how many photos he said he'd taken, tons though.
Cara pointed out in the guestbook that I said I'd mix Lance like crazy. Bizarre typo. I haven't been mixing him like crazy afterall. Missing yes, mixing, no. :)
Marsha, one of the few mothers who reads my blog, has encouraged me to mention the kiwi incident to my doctor the next time I go in. I was thinking of doing some detective work on my own, like trying another piece of kiwi and seeing if anything happens, perhaps that isn't the best idea, especially since I'm alone. Hummingbird PI won't endeavour to solve this case alone.
Yesterday I finally got outside. I went for a walk down mainstreet and did some shopping. I went to our local "Nutters" bulk/healthfood store and found some sugar-free cookies on a super sale (because they were past their freshness date) so I risked the $1 and when I got home discovered they were delicious. They're shortbread, made by a company in BC called, Fenwicks. I plan to go back today and buy some more, now that I know they're not stale.
Last night I watched some of Anne of Green Gables (the sequel). What a lovely story. Questions for you readers, particularly females. Did you grow up loving Anne? Did you identify with her, like, see yourself as her character in the movie/book?
Well, that's all for now. Hope you're doing well.
bye. Aimee |
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| The Rawling Brothers |
Well, as the Abarbanels say when Ron is gone, "when the cat's away the mice will play" -- in my case this reads, "when the cat's away the mouse will play". Lance is away for 6 days on a tour with a local country band. This is a great opportunity for him and he is very excited about it -- I am too, I just know I'll mix him like crazy. He'll be playing bass with the band, called the Rawling Brothers, and even get to play a couple of his songs too. They are touring southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. So Lance left and lunch time today and so far I'm fine -- this is what I expected. I'm not sure what it looks like when the Abarbanels "play". My playing will probably look like going to bed early and staying up late reading. Eating snacks instead of making meals. Spending lots of time with our friends the Jensens - they always take care of me when Lance is gone.
I actually will have more responsibility with Lance being gone. Now I am the only residence life director and will be responsible to deal with any "situations" if they were to arise. Handing out "work fines" for rule breaking -- usually for those who come in past curfew, or sneak out. I would really like to avoid having to do any of this. There are a couple of options, either the students follow all the rules this week, or they break them and I don't catch them. I'm hoping for the first.
Tonight was the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper at our school. It is an annual fundraiser for the second year mission trips. Last year I didn't go - pancakes and syrup are a little too loaded with sugar for me. This year since Lance was gone and I felt like I should be around - and since I knew they bought sugar free syrup - I went. It was okay. Tons of seniors come out, we had a silent auction (in which I bid on an item, merely to raise the bid, I almost won, but convinced another girl to bid higher than me) there were some presentations about the mission trips, and our maintenance/director of outdoor ed had his beard and moustache shaved as part of the fundraiser. It was fun to be with the students but I was glad to come home.
I will probably blog more regularly while Lance is away I can sense it already. Perhaps you will wish he was away more often.
Hope you are well.
Oh yeah. Thanks for the kiwi info. I'm not allergic to laytex or bananas last time I checked. I haven't tried any kiwis since those smoothies. I didn't leave the skin on - though I did think about it. I still have a bag of kiwis in my fridge. I'm feeling a lot better, almost 100%.
Have a good night.
Aimee |
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| Sick |
Hi everybody. I'm sick. Though this is not my excuse for not blogging in a week.
I just got sick yesterday -- and think kiwi fruit is to blame. What kind of sick am I you ask? I have a cold. How do you get a cold from a kiwi fruit. Here's the scoop. Sunday night I got home from this big worship conference - which I will tell you about another time. I had eaten a lot of junk food on the weekend (a lot for me, nachos twice, pizza, hamburger) and was craving some fruit. I made myself a smoothie - mango raspberry. Just what I needed. Later in the evening I was hungry again so I made myself another smoothie - this time I made a strawberry kiwi one. After the first sip my throat felt fuzzy. I know some people are alergic to kiwis so it crossed my mind that maybe I had developed an allergy. I kept drinking the smoothie and continued to have the fuzzy throat. It wasn't spreading so I wasn't worried. In the morning I had a little sore throat and so attributed the fuzziness the night before to getting sick and not the kiwi. The sore throat disappeared by afternoon. Monday night Lance and I again had smoothies. Since I had determined that the fuzziness wasn't from the kiwi I made myself another kiwi smoothie. First sip... the fuzziness returned. Lance tried my smoothie and also got a fuzzy throat. Now a couple days later I am full blown sick - stuffy nose, sore throat and tired.
So I ask you. Was it the kiwi fruit? And also, what was it about the kiwi that made us get fuzzy throats, when we never had this problem before?
I better go back to work for a bit. And then... have a nap!!!!
Hope you are well.
Aimee |
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