Christmas Cheer For All

So, all week I've used every spare moment of my time to do Christmas baking

which isn't a negative thing, I really like baking!

Tonight I was finally all done! I had baked 5 different items and they looked delicious!

Then I packaged them all up in pretty tins and cookie bags.

Then I loaded them all up in a sled, bundled myself up and went all over town

delivering Christmas cheer to one and all!

I was almost done when I heard something behind me, it was a dog.

This isn't unusual; there's a lot of dogs roaming free in this town.

I told it to go away but it continued to follow me at a safe distance.

My next stop wasn't home so I was standing outside his house thinking when said dog approached me.

Against my better judgment I put out my hand and encouraged the dog to come closer for a pat on the head.

Miiiistaaaaaaaaake!

As I continued on my way I felt a tug behind me, on my sled.

I turned around and wouldn't you know it, that sneaky dog was stealing one of my

cookie packages!

I chased after it yelling, "STOP!"

The cookie bag went flying, landing on the street and sliding several inches.

I picked up the cookie bag, inspected everything and gave that crazy dog a stern look.

I then proceeded to pick up my entire sled and carry it home, dog trailing along behind me.

I really hope someone was watching out their window because

I'm sure they would have been entertained!

This is my happy face...:D

I can't even explain how excited I am!

I'm going to Debbie's for New Years!!

We havn't seen each other since July, that's a long time.

I can hardly sit still!

Guess what, guess what, guess what?!?!?!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeahooooooooooo!

Pick of the Week...

In the spirit of all things Christmas why don't you go ahead and click here

to watch a funny video of some guys singing

many, many Christmas songs.

The guy laughing like the count just adds to it really.

Pick of the Week...

On Saturday after a full day of emptying my wallet in the beginnings of the tradition that is giving gifts at Christmas I went to "Voyage of the Dawn Treader"

It. Was. Fabulous.

I didn't have very high expectations after Prince Caspian and all the creative licence that was used there. However, the third installment in the beloved classic series penned by C.S. Lewis was so well done! I was pleased and amazed. I plan on watching it in theatres again, and I never do that.

Go watch it!

pə(r)ˈtikyələr

Somehow, somewhere along the line I became one of those people.

You know the type,

The ones who have to have their CD's organized according to genre

and their cups placed just so in the cupboard?

Only I don't do those kinds of things.

I'm more the type who does dishes in the same order every single time.

[First plates (but make sure the cutlery is already in the water) then bowls, then cups, then sharps, then cutlery, then anything else in order of cleanest to grossest.]

and also who tries to make things fit together just so when I put them away in a box.

I'm not sure how that happened.

So anyway, today in the fight against that I went against the grain,

I opened a chip bag upside down.

It drove me crazy for the first minute but then I got over it!

So maybe I'm not so bad after all...

Pick of the week...

Once upon a time I was watching funny videos on youtube

and then I decided that I wanted to watch the music video for "Fireflies"

So I did.

On the side where they have all those 'suggestions' videos I saw a cover for the song

It looked interesting so I clicked on it.

My life has not been the same since.

Ok, so maybe that was a bit dramatic but I discovered some very talented people.

That was the first youtube channel I ever subscribed to.

Their names are Kurt Hugo Schneider and Sam Tsui and they are aaaamazing! I can even ignore all the stupid songs they cover because they are just that talented!

Find Kurt's youtube channel... HERE

And now here's a couple of my fav videos from them.

my 100th post?!?

I came on here to blog about...well nothing really.
You see I was cruising through some blogs that I read on a regular basis and it came to my attention that the blogger world is bigger then I even knew!
Did you know that some people make money from their blogging?
How can I get a piece of that action?!
Also I've noticed that every ones blogs are waaaaay cooler then mine...
button sharing, completely original buttons to navigate said blogs with, original photography for their banner...
How do you guys all do that??
I can see in my head how I want my blog to look but for the life of me I don't know how to make it happen.
That's not it though, here I thought that blogs were something that you shared with your friends and family so they could either a) be updated about your life or b) be entertained by your witty antics. Apparently though there are blogs out there that have thousands of followers...some that are strangers even! It becomes somewhat of a community.

So anyway, that was all going through my mind so I came to blog about it.
Then I saw that I had written 99 blogs thus far.
and I thought, "This is my 100th blog! It should be something fantastic, something mind blowing, something worthy of being the 100th!"

But all I could think about was these things I realized about blogging.

You see, this is why I don't have a thousand strangers following my blog, waiting for what amazing thing I'll think up next.

*Oh and just so you know, I am very thankful for my 5 followers! You guys rock!

Challenge number four...

...a picture of you and your friends.

Hmmmm...I have lots of friends, and not all of them hang out together. You see, I have groups of friends. I have my camp friends, my Millar friends, my Regina friends...
Sooooo I guess that calls for a series of pictures!
(I actually just wanted to finish that sentence with the word collage but then I realized that maybe I wouldn't be able to arrange them much like a collage unless I made a real collage on picnik. However, I'm too lazy to go onto picnik and make a collage. So series it is.)

Some of my Bible school friends reunited this summer at a wedding. I made amazing friends at bible school, it's really true when they say you'll meet people who will be in your life forever during your college years.

and this right here is some of my camp friends a few years ago at a baby dedication. I wish I had a picture of all my camp friends because they are amazing! I feel like they are my family, spending entire summers with them all is such a blessing!

Oh, and here's a picture of me and my oldest friend Barbie...this is about 5 years ago when she was pregnant with her first baybay! See how I'm pointing at her cute belly! We've been friends since we were little. Best friends for a long, long time. You know when you have someone in you life that will always be there, no matter what. And no matter how much time goes by without seeing each other you know that things will still be the same? That's Barbie.

and now here I am with my buddiest Debbie! we have about 5 million self portraits of the 2 of us. For this one we pulled classy and used a timer! We've been pals ever since she invited me randomly to her birthday party many moons ago. We've been on lots of adventures and I can always count on Debbie to do random things with me.

I want to upload more but at the same time I don't. I hope you enjoyed meeting some of my besties, they aaare spectacular!

So much for sleep.

I am 26 years old

and somehow

I still have no clue who I am.

Well that's not entirely true,

there is some things I know about myself.

I know that I love spaghetti and I know that I hate spiders and I know that I do not like sudden change, thus needing time to adapt.

But for the most part I really don't know who I am

and I'm pretty sure you're supposed to have at least some of it figured out by 26.

Do you know why I don't know who I am?

Because I've spent most of my life being a very good chameleon.

yep.

Some species of this particular lizard can change their skin colour and pattern in order to blend in with their surroundings.

I'm very, very good at that.

In grade 4 my favorite colour was purple...

Because that was Stephanie's favorite colour.

When I was 17 and on a trip to BC with Debbie I liked eating beans on toast...

because Debbie loved it.

A few years ago I taught Sunday school because everyone said I would do a wonderful job...

I dreaded Sunday morning. I am not a good Sunday school teacher.

In high school I was super quiet and stuck with my own crowd because somehow

that is how I was labeled early in my high school career.

In Bible school I was quite outgoing and friends with almost everyone because somehow

that was how I was labeled then.

In my family gatherings I rarely talk.

In my friend gatherings I can easily make people laugh.

So who the heck am I really?

and how do I figure it out?

Pick of the week...

Here you go, spend hours and hours playing this addicting game.
Or spend 2 seconds playing it, get frustrated and quit.
Either way works.

I'm going to sleep now. That's my real pick of the week!

Forgiveness...

I've been thinking a lot about forgiveness lately.

I've had to ask for forgiveness a lot of times in my life

because you see I make lots of mistakes

and I hurt people unintentionally.

It's scary apologizing to someone you love and asking them to forgive you.

But when they offer that forgiveness freely

the feeling is unexplainable.

There's also been a few times when people have sought my forgiveness

and giving it to them is a beautiful thing!

I've also learned that sometimes you have to remind yourself that you forgave them

and even do it again.

But what I'm really wondering about;

what has my mind all muddled is...

What do you do when someone has hurt you but doesn't apologize

and more importantly, doesn't ask for forgiveness.

Hmmmmm.

I believe that God wants us to forgive them anyway

but is it just me or does that seem harder to do when they don't fess up to what they've done?

Pick of the week...

Now anyone can be an artist!

The best part is, you don't have to worry about the mess that paints make!

Check out my painting...

Click here to create your own painting.

Oh and look, they put the link right there for you guys

How convenient!

All you have to do is answer a few short questions and taaadaaaaa!

You are an artist.

Enjoy!

Challenge number three...

...take a picture of something you ate today.

Okay first off, I don't take pictures of my food. I'm just not one of those people, although I do admit that there have been a few times in my life where I've been particularly proud of my culinary creations so to celebrate I've snapped a picture. I don't, however, take pictures of my dinner plate on a regular basis.

Secondly, does anyone else think this challenge is worded...wrong? the word "ate" indicates past tense...need I say more? Ew.

All that being said, I don't have a picture of something I ate today. I do have a food related topic that I want to talk about though! I've been wanting to blog this for a while actually.

I do not like eating cereal in the morning. there's something about milk in the AM that doesn't sit well with me, especially when it's been flavored by cereal. I do, however, LOOOOOVE a good bowl of cereal for a night time snack! I prefer sugar cereals for this. Some personal favorites are: Sugar Crisp, Corn Pops, Reese Puffs Cereal and the classic Honey Nut Cheerios. There's nothing like sitting down in front of the tv after a hard days work with a big bowl of sugary-grainy goodness with some 2% milk!

I recently took a trip to the States. Before coming home I stopped at WalMart and took a stroll through the cereal isle. That's when I found them...

Cupcake Pebbles! Now, I love cupcakes they are simply beautiful. So the thought of being able to eat them in cereal form just makes me happy, happy indeed. I put a box in my handy WalMart basket right away. You know what else was exciting? They only cost $2.50! Groceries are waaaaay cheaper in the states!

I could hardly wait to try a bowl! I opened the bag...it smelled so good! Like when you walk into someones house who just made a batch of vanilla cupcakes and covered them in buttercream icing!
It's a beautiful thing.

I poured myself a big bowl and covered it in milk. The first bite was...was...well it was like eating a cupcake. I tell you no lie. They really got the flavor on these right! They are good.

There is a few slight drawbacks though. It's a really hard cereal, I don't even know how to explain it...you know how cereal usually gets soggy when it sits in milk too long? These don't get soggy at all. That sound like a bonus and not a drawback I realize but think about it...not natural. Plus it does weird things to the milk...it kind of leaves a film on top.

But I still give it 2 thumbs up!

Challenge number two...

...Your idea of the perfect first date.

Funny you should ask that! A couple weeks ago I read this blog entry and I was reminded of a very similar experience I had.

One time I watched that movie called Sydney White. I know, I know. It's one of those lame movies that's a redo of a classic story (Snow White in case you were wondering) with a corny message and slightly inappropriate humor. I'm not scared to say that I liked it anyway.

But on to the point of this. There is a scene in Sydney White where she goes on a first date with her soon to be Prince Charming. Now there are many wonderful places to go on a first date: a nice restaurant, the movies, mini golfing, on a picnic, you get my drift. Mr. Prince, however, doesn't do any of these things. He takes her to a soup kitchen where they serve food to homeless people.

After that scene I turned to my friend and I said in these exact words, "If a guy ever, ever takes me on a first date to serve homeless people food I will drop everything going on in my life and I will marry that guy!"

It hasn't happened yet but I still stand by that statement.

Pick of the week

When people say ridiculous and/or hilarious things I am thrilled. I even took up the practice of keeping a quote book through my Bible school days and I continue to do so.
So, imagine my delight when I discovered a website devoted to "Crazy Things Parents Say"!

Here's a couple of my favorites...

Mom: No, you may NOT come outside to watch me smash this mouse's head in with a rock
Me: But mom….
Mom: I SAID NO!

Me: Oh come on Dad, I want a puppy so bad!
Dad: No, we already had turtles, and a hamster, several cats and 3 aquarium of fish! No more pets!
Mum: (pointing at him) Yeah and we also have a fat old donkey!

You can check out the site www.crazythingsparentssay.failblog.org to read more crazy quotes. Although I do warn you, some of them can be inappropriate so think before you click!

Lypsol, toilet cleaner and historical fiction

So, even though I spouted off about all these things swirling in my brain and about how I'm planning on blogging about some of them I'm going to ignore that for today and start a 30 day blog challenge...(note: I will most likely not be doing this in 30 consecutive days because in between those posts I will be continuing the Pick of the Week segment as well as blogging out some of those brain swirlings of mine)

why am I doing something so cliche you ask?

Beeeecaaaaause...I have this plan in the back of my mine; a goal I want to reach in the next year or two. In order to reach that goal I need to dust off my writing skills. I used to write a lot: poetry, short stories, plays...but not anymore. I seriously need to sharpen up, so don't judge me!

So today's blog challenge: A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.

Today I was very, very sick. This fact made my eyes itch, my lips crack and Kleenex my best friend. I don't know why but for some reason whenever I'm sick my lips get exceedingly dry. It's the only time I use chap stick. I feel like my lips soak in the wonder that is Lypsol; I can be applying the stuff every 10 minutes and yet with each new application I'm applying on bare skin...hmmmmmmm.

However, the fact that I was sick did not stop me from taking a trip into the city with a couple friends. I bought many items but two I am extremely happy about!

Yes, one of those items is Toilet Bowl Cleaning Gels! I mean hello, you put one in your toilet and it cleans with every flush for 7 days! How is that not exciting?!

The other item, "The Pursuit of Miss Charlotte Edwards" a historical fiction novel written by my dear friend Kelsey. She really is my friend! We went to camp together when we were kids and then we went to Bible school together! I'm tremendously happy for Kelsey and her publish achievement! I can not wait t read it!

So that's how my day was: I was sick, I used lots of Lypsol, I overcame all that and spent the day out and about where I bought exciting purchases!

bloggity, bloggity

I've got all these thoughts swirling around inside my head
Some of them I want to blog
Others, I don't really feel the need to post online
(not that anyone reads this buuuut you never know!)
However, right know the thoughts are all running around in circles,
running into each other, causing crashes of lightning and deep thunder rolls.
I can't even sort them out.
The danger is that they will all smoosh together and become a giant lump of...
blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarg!
I'm sure they won't though, I can usually sort out the swirlings of my brain...

More to come, if you care that is!

Pick of the Week

I'm sure you've all heard about and probably seen the JK Wedding Entrance Dance. It's great right! But have you seen the G & K Wedding Entrance Dance? I dare to say I may even like it more!

Also, it wasn't my intention to always have videos as my pick of the week. It was, in fact, my desire to have all sorts of picks. However, I just keep finding great videos that I want to share! Next week I promise the pick will be something other then a video.

Pick of the week...

I absolutely love a good proposal story. I love getting together with a newly engaged friend and hearing her tell all the details about how he popped the question. Heck, I've even listened to people I barely know tell me all about their engagement!

This engagement is breathtaking!



Wow!

I had big, big dreams!

When I was little I wanted nothing more then to be a truck driver.

Yeeeeeup, I wanted to drive a big rig all across the country. Living out of my truck and seeing the world! Well maybe not the world but a large chunk of Canada anyhow. However, that wasn't the end of my dream. Oh no! I not only wanted to drive truck but I wanted to own my own trucking business! That's right! My dad even had a special hat made for me one Christmas. It had a purple semi on it with "JB Trucking" scrawled across it.

The dream even went so far that I wrote songs about it...I will share one of those with you now!

The 12 Days of Truckin' Christmas

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me

a new wide load semi

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me

two crates of logs

and a new wide load semi

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me

three road maps, two crates of logs

and a new wide load semi

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

four steering wheels, three road maps, two crates of logs

and a new wide load semi

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

Fiiiiive black tires!

four steering wheels, three road maps, two crates of logs

and a new wide load semi

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

six gearshifts shifting, fiiive black tires, four steering wheels,

three road maps, two crates of logs

and a new wide load semi

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me

seven breaks a-squealing, six gearshifts sifting, fiiive black tires,

four steering wheels, three road maps, two crates of logs

and a new wide load semi

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

eight gas tanks pumping, seven breaks a-squealing, six gearshifts shifting

fiiiive black tires, four steering wheels, three road maps, two crated of logs

and a new wide load semi

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

nine break lights blinking, eight gas tanks pumping, seven breaks a-squealing

six gearshifts shifting, fiiive black tires, four steering wheels, three road maps, two crates of logs

and a new wide load semi

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

ten motors running, nine break lights blinking, eight gas tanks pumping,

seven breaks a-squealing, six gearshifts shifting, fiiiive black tires, four steering wheels,

three road maps, two crates of logs

and a new wide load semi

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me

eleven headlights flashing, ten motors running, nine break lights blinking,

eight gas tanks pumping, seven breaks a-squealing, six gearshifts shifting, fiiive black tires,

four steering wheels, three road maps,two crates of logs,

and a new wide load semi

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

twelve lunches waiting, eleven headlights flashing, ten motors running, nine break lights blinking

eight gas tanks pumping, seven breaks a-squealing, six gearshifts shifting,

fiiive black tires, four steering wheels, three road maps, two crates of logs,

and a neeeew wide load semiiiiiiiii!!!

You might need to know this...

One time this summer I wound up sleeping in my car in a Walmart parking lot.

Weeeeeell it wasn't so much I "wound up" doing it as I wanted to do it. So, instead of making plans to find a place to stay that one night I pulled into a Walmart and made my dreams come true!

Here's what you need to know should you find yourself in a scenario similar...

1. Location, location, location. Where you park for the night is important. You don't want to park in the spots close to the Walmart doors (especially the ones with a blue wheelchair marking them, that's a biiiiig no no!) because everyone coming in and out of the doors while you're trying to get ready for bed can see inside your car. Aaaawkward. Try to find a place close to RVs but not too close. You'll feel secure knowing there are other people spending the night there as well but you'll also have a sense of privacy...well as much as you can sleeping in a car anyway.




2. Use Walmart to your advantage but don't make yourself too at home. Sure you can go in before they close to use the bathroom, brush your teeth you could even change into your jammies if you are really brave. However, don't take things too far! It's probably best to avoid taking a sponge bath in the bathroom sink, settling in to watch a movie before bed, drinking milk from the carton and putting it back in the cooler or inviting your friends over for a game of Cranium.

3. Make your bed as comfy as possible. I think this is a given in any sleeping situation. Am I wrong?



4. Be as discreet as you can when changing from your day clothes into your jammies. Remember, public exposure is wrong! Perhaps putting a skirt on over top to change beneath would work for you? Or if you're of the male persuasion, changing under a blanket? Either way, there's no need to put on a show!

5. Be prepared for the Random Factor. You never know what's going to happen in a Walmart parking lot! Teenagers playing with shopping carts at 2am, dad's giving driving lessons, cars backfiring, kids in the RV close by crying, men relieving themselves in the decorative trees (sorry to tell ya Walmart workers). The Walmart parking lot comes alive after hours!

6. Crack the car window. Not too much mind you. Just enough to keep the air fresh. You know sometimes when you wake up and the room is stuffy, covered with that sleep smell? Much worse inside a car.

7. Enjoy your sleep. Though it may be interrupted often,it may be cramped and there's not much privacy enjoy the experience I say.

Pick of the Week

So here's something else I've discovered online. These guys are aaaaamazing! I fall in love everytime I listen to another of their covers.

Pick of the Week

On occasion I cruise through the world wide web looking at the ridiculous, the hilarious, the inspiring, the beautiful.

There's a lot of stuff out there!

And some of it must be shared! I feel like that statement needed a dramatic trumpet blast after it...hmmmm.

Anyway, here is the first thing I wish to share with you...

Check out THESE!!!

Are you serious?! Unikeys!! I may just have to order some, no joke.

cutest. ever.

see more Wedinator

it's an emo type of day

"Love like you've never been hurt" is much easier facebook status'd then lived.

How did that come about?

This summer while I was in Regina I did a lot of things that I've never done before: I went to my first 3D movie ever; I slept in my car in the walmart parking lot; I became close friends with total strangers; I brushed my teeth in the walmart bathroom; I went to my second 3D movie ever; I got a mani-pedi; I got into a collision on Albert; I spent an entire afternoon in a public library; I looked at a human heart that had suffered a heart attack...

and I went to a rabbit funeral.

The rabbit, Lou, had belonged to a 16 year old girl that I love very much. I went over to her house and of course I dressed in black because that's only appropriate. When I arrived said 16 year old and her mother were digging the grave in the back yard. I took over so that the headstone could be prepared.

It was a lovely service. Lou was laid in his grave then the mother and I sang a duet after which Lou's owner read a page from her journal about the first day she got Lou. Then we all shared memories about Lou, after those heart warming moments we each took a turn filling the grave. When it was all over we went inside to have some refreshments.

The entire experience made me want to have children.

something to inspire you perhaps?

go to YouTube and check out this video right now! Trust me, it is genius! It involves many of my favorite things: stop motion, super heroes, chalk art and giant squirrels exploding into millions of colourful butterflies! I don't think you'll regret taking a few minutes to watch it.

and while you're at it, check out this video that was made at our teen camp this year...it makes me proud of those teens!

(I apologize for not putting these videos directly on to my blog as I realize that makes life easier. However, the first video is not allowed to be embedded, which I respect, and the camp video wouldn't fit onto my blog...you would have been only experiencing half of it. Sorry for the inconvenience.)

survey time!

Want to take a quick and fun survey to help a sista out?! I know that you sure do! You see this here survey I'm about to direct you towards is for a family feud type game that we are going to be playing at an appreciation banquet for the staff at a children's summer camp.

so if you've got a second check it out and hey, tell your friends because every survey taken helps!

Click here to take survey

Thanks!

strange, strange interweb

So for some reason I can't log into blogger on my computer. I also can't log into my youtube account on my computer. Everything else is log inable...I am perplexed. Anybody have any idea why this would be?

Finally!

So for days and days I couldn't log into blogger, I don't know why? But I'm here now.

Did you notice I changed my blog a little? I got a new background, it's called "Black Bird Fly" and I think it's superb! Unfortunately the little advertisement is in a most unfortunate place and I don't know how to fix it. What do you think? (Suzy since you're the only one who comments on my blog I'm counting on your opinion!)

In other news I spider blasted the entire basement and I'm very, very happy. I vacuumed all the crevices and then I spider blasted aaaaaaaall along the floors and the ceiling. Now all the spiders are dead. Except for the ones I vacuumed up. Those ones are sitting in the vacuum, getting madder and madder, plotting my demise and probably procreating so that there are even more of them to get mad at me. Oh boy.

Padded room, here I come (as long as there's no spiders)

Ok so, a couple posts ago I wrote about a terrible experience I had with 3 creepy spiders in my bedroom. Well I haven't written much lately because that was the first experience of many and I fear I'm close to a mental breakdown!

So here is what's happened since that last spider post:

The night after I was just settling into bed when I suddenly spotted a BIG spider in the corner of my room. I jumped out of bed, grabbed a winter boot from storage and tried desperately to squish him! The thing was he was in the corner and my boot couldn't get to him. I tried over and over to kill the thing but I couldn't and then something horrible happened...the spider started jumping. JUMPING! I thought I was going to cry.

The next evening rolled around and I decided I was going to go visit some friends. It was raining outside, but only lightly, so I grabbed my raincoat and off I went. After visiting for a while I went to leave, I grabbed my raincoat and started to put it on when I saw it. There was a spider inside my raincoat. How long was it there??!?!?! I don't even want to think about it. Then when I got home and crawled into my bed I looked down (I seriously need to just stop doing that) and there was another spider who had taken up residence in my room. This one had a creepy funnel web...check it out...


I moved out. I'm not even joking, I started sleeping outside in a camper van. I'm not lying when I say that

(I'm also not lying when I say you have to be seriously talented to make a picture look good when you draw it using the paint program.)

Then, I got mad. That's my house, it's not a spider hotel! Those evil arachnids have no right to just make themselves at home. So I went to the store and I got...


I was so happy about this purchase that I'm pretty sure I was walking around the store with a crazed look on my face, chuckling under my breath.


Those stupid spiders are in for it now!

Dear James Ranson,

I highly doubt that you ever read this blog anymore but I really hope you do because for almost a year now I've wanted to say something to you.

I'm really, really sorry.

I won't go into details because this isn't the place but I hope you can forgive me. I miss hearing from you. My e-mail address is still the same.

Love,
Joni

ick, eek, YIIIIIKES!!

It's now 2:10am (although my computer lies and says it's 3:10am) and I can't sleep, not at all.

It all started at about 10pm, which is a decent time, when I crawled into bed and said to myself, "I'm going to read a few chapters of this book." So I started to read said book and after only 2 chapters in I had to know. I mean I had to know. So I finished that entire book. At 1:33am I closed the covers to that book and thought to myself, "whoa. What a trip! That book was crazy! And now, it's time for me to sleep." So I turned off the light.

And then my brain kicked in and I started thinking. Thinking about: truth and morals, good and evil, the way the world wishes it could live by it's own standards even though time and time again they see that it just doesn't work, and about how sometimes I'm scared that I've become the type of person who just believes whatever I'm told without thinking about it first.

While I was thinking about all these things I turned on the light and that's when I saw it. A SPIDER!!!!!! And do you know what it was doing? It was crawling along a thin web line up the wall right beside my bed. I threw on my glasses so I could find something to squish it with and then I saw something even worse...

Two. More. Spiders.

They were down on the floor. Perhaps they were cheering their buddy on, "Come on man, you can do it! You're almost there! Touch the human bro, do it!"

I jumped out of my bed and searched for something, anything to kill them with. I found a juice bottle to be their doom. I squished the one on the wall first and then I slowly reached down with my death weapon and squished his buddy. When I brought the bottle back up towards me there were 2 spider corpses left behind.

Now I don't know where the third spider went. And I'm itchy all over and also I'm paranoid. Are spiders revenge seeking creatures?

And besides all that there's 2 dead spiders beside my bed. I'm not sure I'll ever sleep again.

Things I really, really, really don't like

This post may come across as whiny and complaining. It's really not, I'm just stating facts in the form of a list. :)

1. Spiders. ugh.
2. Unhappy endings in books and movies
3. Things that go bump in the night
4. Doing the dishes (but don't worry, I still do them!)
5. When people leave garbage aaaaaaall over their table while I'm waitressing
6. When old people look like they are going to trip or fall down
7. Funerals.
8. Spiders. Seriously.
9. Not being invited or included. Yeah, I'm a baby like that.
10. When the people I love hurt
11. Underage drinking
12. Disgusting smells
13. Mold, it makes me want to barf.*
14. Spiiiiiiiiders!!!
15. Wasted food
16. Having to mix drinks at work (mostly because I don't know how)
17. Looking stupid. (Too bad it happens lots!)
18. Tomatoes
19. Suicide
20. When it snows in May!
21. and did I mention, SPIDERS!! I would even go as far as to say I hate them.

I don't mind looking silly if it's for God's glory

Sometimes I pray for things that other people think are silly. I don't really mind that they think that though because I know that God cares. Do you know how I know He cares?

You see, today we had a hot dog sale to raise money to go to Native Youth Conference and I wasn't so sure about the whole thing. I prayed for 4 things that may seem silly
1. I prayed that the mail man would be early
2. I also prayed that there wouldn't be much mail for me to sort and deliver
3. I prayed for a warm, warm day
4. I prayed that everyone would have a toonie in their pocket and no lunch
Well, the mail man was a whole 15 minutes early, there was only 1 flyer, 2 magazines and a handful of letter mail for me and it was +16 during lunch! Now not everyone had a toonie and no lunch, but at least 3 dozen people did.

Also this one time when I was housesitting I had the craziest thing happen to me...

It was about 9am, I had just finished showering and was starting to do my hair when the doorbell rang. I thought to myself, "It isn't Jenny because she's at work, it shouldn't be any kids coming to visit because they should be at school...hmmm I wonder who it is?" So I hurried myself to the door. There was no one there! I thought that was a bit strange but I wasn't going to stand there pondering it, I was going to do my hair. So back to the bathroom I trudged.

Diiiing Doooong

What? Again? Ok then. Only this time there was about 5 doorbell rings in a row. I got to the door and no one was there again. Back to the bathroom.

Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong!

This is starting to get a little ridiculous as there is no one at the door for a third time. I'm standing there contemplating about which neighbour might be playing jokes on me when the door bell rings again...while I'm standing beside it! I'm not even sure what to think about that so I decide to ignore it and hope it will go away. Why doesn't that ever work?

I'm doing my hair while the door bell rings when suddenly I hear in my spirit, "Lay your hands on the doorbell and pray for it."

Uuuum excuse me God? Are you sure?

He's sure.

So I head outside with the bell part in my hand, I look around and I lay my other hand on the ringer part and I pray out loud. I asked God to fix the doorbell by His power and to send away anything evil that might have been making it happen. I prayed in the name of Jesus believing it would happen and then I went back inside.

That doorbell never rang again unless someone was making it happen.

Jesus is real and prayer is important my friends, no matter how silly it may seem.

Things I really, really, really, really like...

(and just so you know, Suzy, I'm not trying to steal your stellar Friday List thing you got goin on, I'm not a blog copycat! I just felt like making a list right now. Please forgive me if I've offended you :)

(Oh and another thing, if you, meaning anyone reading this, weren't directly mentioned in this list it doesn't mean that I don't really, really, really, really like you or anything connected with you...in fact the exact opposite is probably true! This is just what came to mind right now)

1. Peanut butter and jelly on a toasted English muffin
2. Ladybugs
3. The colour pink
4. Dandelions
5. Cashews
6. Makwa River (it's this really sweet river close to my house with a walk across dam. In the spring you can watch the fish jump up stream! I'm going to convince some friends to go there with me tomorrow, then I'll take a picture so you can see!)
7. Trees, including dead ones.
8. Canoeing with Cory and Anna
9. My dad.
10. Blogs, I'm kind of geeky like that
11. Scrubs. Both the show and the clothing!
12. Be Alive In Me-Abandon
13. Walt's Favorite Shrimp. mmmmm tasty!
14. Camping
15. My friend Jenny
16. Knowing how to administer CPR to people of all ages
17. Waaaatermelon, I seriously eat it all summer long and never, ever get sick of it!
18. The Armstrong Family
19. Listening to Jonathan pray (not in a creepy way though, in a "wow, this guy is filled with passion for God and for people and I know he means what he prays" way)
20. Carrots fresh from the garden that have been washed off with a hose but still have just a liiiiittle bit of dirt on them. Don't deny it, you love carrot dirt too.

of mice and little girls

The other day a couple of girls from Kids Club showed up at my house to visit. We hung out in my front yard for a while and enjoyed life. They climbed into my cedar hedge pretending to be Alice in Wonderland. While in there they discovered a birds nest with eggs in it, pretty exciting stuff. Also while they were in there about 10 blackbirds flew out of the hedge and perched on Henry's tree, staring at their invaded home begrudgingly. Then they decided they wanted to water the plants in my flower boxes with the rain water (there actually wasn't any plants in the boxes yet but I figured it wasn't going to hurt anyone if they didn't know that little fact :)

This is when they discovered...the dead mouse!

Dun dun duuuuuuuuuh!

It had drowned. And was dead in one of the buckets they wanted to use to water the "plants" All three of us crowded around the bucket to take a look at the tragically deceased critter. It's tongue was sticking out. The one girl dumped it out of the pail and went about her watering business.

The second girl went for the other pail, she looked inside and shrieked, "A SPIIIIIDER!!!!" To which I and girl #1 responded with matching "EEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!"s while we all ran in different directions.

Hmmmmmm.

oh you make me smile

First of all, I apologize for the Uncle Kracker reference in the title. I'm really, really sorry.

Now then, tomorrow I start work at the Golf and Country Club again. Today someone asked me if I have been practicing my public smiling, because apparently I don't smile in public. I'm not sure if I think that's true though, check it out...

Here's my "Welcome to the Golf Course what can I get you" smile


and here is my "I'm concentrating very hard on getting your order down right" smile


Then there's sometimes the "I'm sorry I made that mistake on your burger, I promise to fix it right away" smile which can also be used as the "I'm sorry sir, we don't have that kind of pie today" smile.


Later on in the day I get the "I'm doing dishes yet again!" smile on my face (but usually no one sees that because I'm in the back and quickly switch to smile #1 when summoned to the front)


Then my "Thanks for coming out, have a great day!" farewell smile makes an appearance as people leave


No one can blame me for the "I've been on my feet for 8 hours and just want to go home!!" smile that will only show up as closing time draws near

April showers bring...snow??

It's snowing today. Sigh. I thought that it was supposed to be spring! But that's not what this blog entry is about, oh no!

Yesterday it was raining and I love nothing more then taking a drive in the rain while I listen to some good music. So that's exactly what I did, I got in my little, red car put on some Hillsong and drove down to the provincial park. I drove to the camp gate and sat there for a while, listening to Mighty to Save and watching the rain obliterate my view out the window. Then I drove to the boat launch and as I was driving in I saw the dock and I thought to myself, "Aww, they already pulled the dock out!"

I sat there for a couple minutes looking at the ice.

Then I realized, "Wait a minute...they haven't even put the dock in yet. It's not winter!"

Mother nature* sure fooled me!

As promised...

So here is the promised blog, I know you've all been waiting in great anticipation for this moment. I'm sure you've checked my blog faithfully everyday and experienced great dissapointment each time it was the same. Mmmmhm. ANYway...

"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him:
" 'I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will live in hope."

Ok so, we all know (or maybe you don't but now you will!) that Jesus died on a cross and then 3 days later was raised from the dead again, quite amazing right? More amazing then we can even fathom! That passage of scripture up there is from Acts 2:22-26 it's after all the believers are filled with the Holy Spirit and Paul stands up in boldness and preaches the first sermon. He starts to talk about Jesus' death and resurrection, a few things from this passage stand out to me.

1. [vs 23] This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
God had complete control over this situation, it was God's plan all along that Jesus would die for His people. Because of Adam and Eve's sin there had to be a sacrifice, it was always God's plan that Jesus would be that once for all sacrifice. There's more to this point, we'll get there in a second...

2. [vs 24] But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him
It was impossible! Death had no authority, no power and no way to hold Jesus in its grip!! Knowing that fact it's astonishing that Jesus would die for us, isn't it?! Death was something so far removed from Him but he entered it fully so that we would have a way to restore our relationship with God. Wow.

Onto the extension of the first point that I was mentioning, which actually could also be an extention of the second point as well. Matthew 26:39 says, "Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." So this is when Jesus takes his disciples to Gethsemane to pray. Jesus knew how incredibly painful and horrible the experience was going to be but He also knew what was at stake here. He knew how important it was for His death to happen and He did what needed to be done, at a high cost to Himself. How amazing His love was for us all!

And because of all that, shouldn't something inside of us, as believers, rise up and want to have that same dedication to what God has called us to? Jesus was anointed for a set purpose, so are we! The cross of Jesus and everything that means should fill us with a deep desire to carry out that purpose we've been given!

God is amazing, I love learning more about Him everyday!

Coming soon...

a real blog post about deep and wonderful things I've been pondering over this resurrection season. Stay tuned!

Ha. Ha. It is to laugh.

I was going to post this yesterday in honor of April Fool's Day but for some reason blogspot acted like I didn't even have a blog...perhaps I got fooled afterall.

like an abandoned warehouse

Do you guys remember myspace? How it used to be all the rage until it was crushed in the wake called Facebook. Well the other day I was reminded of myspace and I thought to myself, "Man, I still have a myspace page out there...I really should delete that." So I just went to myspace. I don't want to use the word pathetic buuut...let's just say it's trying a little too hard to be like facebook.

I had a myspace blog so I checked it out. This post that I wrote back on May 2, 2007 seemed fitting to share with you now since my dad has been heavy on my heart the past few days.

"Seriously had one of the strangest dreams of my life a few nights ago...

I'm walking down the road towards our church when suddenly the wrath of GOD is poured out on Loon Lake in the form of thousands of tornados. How do I know it's the wrath of GOD? I just do, I also know that He is going to destroy all the non-believers. Then out of no where my dad is before me and he has been rendered unconcious, he falls forward into my arms and in that split second I know that GOD is going to take him unless I intercede. So as the tornados are drawing closer I lay on the ground in the middle of Taylor's field and start crying out to GOD on my dads behalf. I'm holding him tightly as it starts to pour rain. Then I notice that 3 girls have joined us, I know that they are angels. I ask them if they are there to help me intercede for my dad, they nod yes but I also know they are there to protect me from the coming wrath. Silently they all hold hands and form a circle around us, somehow they have enough hands to lay them on me as well. I close my eyes tight, cling to my dad with all the strength I can, willing him to stay on the ground and continue crying out to GOD. When I open my eyes I realize that we are in the centre of a tornado. As it rages around us I scream to GOD to have mercy on my dad, to give him more time. I'm sobbing, my hair is being whipped around me and my clothes are being tugged at by the rushing winds. The tornado passes. Soon after another one engulfs us, I continue to pray and cry and yet in the midst of all this I struggle to pull out my cell phone and I grip it tightly while I take a picture of what we are in. Over and over again tornados rage over us, and over and over again I scream to GOD for more time, for mercy. All the while the 3 angels hold hands and stay with us.

Slowly my dream fades away and I wake up with a very odd feeling in the pit of my stomach. I spent the entire next day with my dad. Maybe GOD is trying to tell me something? And maybe it was because I watched the first half hour of The Wizard of Oz the day before."

I still remember that dream vividly in my mind. Hmmm.

Also, one of these days I'll get around to deleting my myspace page. It's kind of creepy knowing it's just out there on the world wide web.

Dear Cancer,

Please leave my friends, family and community alone. No one wants you.

Sincerely,
Joni

So there was this one time...

There's been a lot of things happening latley but nothing that I really feel is blog material so I'm digging into the recesses of my brain to tell you a memory. But what story do I tell? Do I tell about the time I laid hands on a broken doorbell? Or about that one time some guy asked Debbie and I if we had any weed? Or I could tell you about one time when I got bit by a bat (at last I think it was a bat bite) Hmmmmmm...

Actually I'm just stalling because earlier today I remembered a story and I really, really, really wanted to blog it. Now though, I can't remember the story for the life of me.

maybe I'll remember tomorrow and blog it.

Sing the blues away

My friend Amy saw this and she said it made her think of me...hmmmm. However that is to be taken I'm still glad she did think of me because this has brought me many laughs over the past few days! I hope it at least brings a smile to your face.

Thanks Amy!

Oh that Henry

I live next door to this wonderful old man, he's in his 80's and before moving into town lived on a farm his whole life. He's very smart, very active and is not used to living in town yet (he still owns his tracor, it sits in the backyard)

Henry hates dandelions, hates them. If there's a dandelion within 50 feet of his yard you can consider that poor weed flower as good as dead. It's Henry's duty, no, his delight to destroy all of said yellow plants.

One morning last summer I walked out of my house, when I turned around to walk towards my car I saw a man in my front yard swinging a sickle. I jumped, my heart momentarily stopping, thinking that for sure the apocolypse was taking place and my head was about to be disconnected from my body. The sickle came down, I cringed...

Henry killed that dandelion in my front yard good.

Say goodbye to February Blahs!

Obvious fact: tomorrow is the first day of march! I'm fairly certain that March is my favorite month. Don't get me wrong all the other months of the year have their good points, and I must say July and September are riiiight after March in my books. March just is so wonderful, there's so many good things about it!

First off, March 20th. Vernal Equinox which means Spring is a comin baby! I love watching the snow melt away, leaving puddles behind for me to walk in. I love knowing that green grass is soon going to be growing, followed by flowers, followed by berries! All hope is not lost, winter will end!

Let's not forget how a week before that, Alberta and Saskatchewan will be running on the same time again, makes life simpler.

Also just days before the first day of Spring is St. Patrick's day. While this really isn't the greatest holiday ever and is used very often as an excuse for drunkeness I still do have Irish roots in me and I like to celebrate. I obstain from beer though thank you very much. I like to celebrate by having friends over for a big breakfast (after all it is a feast day in Ireland), including green pancakes!


There's a couple personal reasons I'm looking forward to March this year. One being that we are having our annual winter retreat at the beginning of the month. It's always a great weekend that I look forward to all year! Also this year my calendar was given to me by Debbie, each month has a picture on it. The March picture is my favorite, ever since she gave it to me at New Years I've been looking forward to having that picture on display, tomorrow it shall be done!

There is one bad thing about March though... Save a Spider Day, March 14. Yik, who wants to do that!

I mean no offense to Cadbury or the creators of their commercials

Does anyone else find the Cadbury egg commercials disturbing? Because I sure do.



Seriously, they're just wrong. And this one if the most disturbing of all...



Oh dear.

it's a ho hum kinda day

It's come to my attention that I havn't blogged in a while now...but I really don't have anything to say so here's a couple lines from my favorite show...


"You see, surgical and medical interns are kinda like two rival gangs. Not real gangs, more like those cheesy gangs you see in Broadway musicals."


"He was up all night with a high fever, cramping and crying."
"Dude!"
"Oh, my bad. Not crying, punching the wall all manly and angry like, you know what I mean?"

Power. Out.

I've always liked it when the power goes out. Ever since I was a child, if the power goes out something inside of me dances for joy. I'm not sure why but that's just the way it is with me.

One year at teen camp the power went out and stayed out for about 5 hours. We all went into the lodge and sat around eating our snacks. Then we had a worship time with 2 guitars, a hand drum and a bunch of candles all over the room. Later that night the girls all brushed their teeth outside around a jug of water by the light of my camping lantern. Then we all went to bed, an hour earlier then normal!!

This past weekend I was down south and during the storm that blew in there was 2 power outages. The first one took place while everyone was in the gym during a night of music and drama. So there we all were, all 300 of us, sitting in a dark gym with nowhere else to go. We started to sing hymns. It was beautiful!

Although I will admit that I rather enjoy all the privledges that come from electricity. So I don't think I'll be living pre 1800's style anytime soon.

Joni's pick of the...century!

Okay maybe not of the century but seriously you gotta check out this cd...



This is one of the most real albums I have ever listened to. It's haunting and beautiful all at the same time. Steven Curtis Chapman allows us to walk along with his family in their grief after losing their daughter and sister. Nothing is hidden in this 12 song journey through despair, grief, guilt, questioning and ultimatly new faith in God. It truly is an amazing experience listening to it.