Our weekend

Raclette at my parents with Mom and Dad Helder and Karin and Josh.











Us at the Museum of Civilization with the Parliament Buildings in the background. We didn't have a tripod so it's pretty blurry. We were trying to make a nice Christmas card picture but as you can tell, it didn't quite work out. Also it's freezing cold and pretty windy.









Reuben and his dad dress up at the Canadian War Museum. We had a really nice time there. If you're in the area you should really check it out. It's definitely worth it. We were there for 3 hours and we didn't get to see half the stuff.









Here we are outside the Canadian War Museum with another attempt at a good picture of us with the Parliament Buildings in the background. Again, very cold and windy. Oh well.










And this is our bench, finally at home in our home. We just love it. It fits perfectly and adds a nice touch to our appartment. Thanks Dad!!

School - UPDATED

Ok, so I was going to quit until my wonderful husband convinced me that he would take care of all our house chores until I was done. So I took a deep breath and am planning to dive into it again tonight. Wish me luck!

School

I don't know how people do it. 40 hrs of work a week plus a night class that includes hours of homework especially as the semester comes to a close and things get more advanced in the class. At the same time, Christmas is coming and you have a home to regularly maintain.

I've overstayed my welcome in this class.

Bye COBOL ... it was nice getting to know you but I hope I never see you again!

Wet Cement

Ok, so does anybody else like the smell of wet cement? I know this sounds really weird but I do like it. . . a lot! I love walking through the tunnel at our church, it's so old and cementy! One of the first times I noticed the smell was walking in the parking garage at Carleton University. I loved the smell as I climbed the stairs. And today, I noticed the smell again as I took my daily walk through the parking garage at the airport.
I tried to google it to see if I was just weird but I found one forum where they were talking about pregnant women and the weird smells that they like. One woman really liked the smell of gasoline!? Now that is crazy!

Our bench

Dad Helder is making us a bench out of an old church pew. It just needs a couple of coats of varnish and a way to get to Ottawa and we'll be able to sit down to tie our shoes. We can't wait to see it in place.
We plan to put a shelf with some hooks above it. I keep threatening Reuben that I will fill the shelf with nicknacks and hang dried flowers from the hooks. Wouldn't that be nice?!

Raleigh Pictures-UPDATED

I thought I would add some descriptives of these pictures.
This is my attempt at rollerskating. I look pretty confident don't I? Good thing you can't see me that well:)
While in Raleigh we did a quick tour of some show homes that were decorated. They were all quite lovely. This is Reuben having some fun.
Reuben has wanted to drive one of these since doing a project on it in highschool. It's a Lexus IS300. And it's my aunt & uncle's. So he finally got the chance.
While touring the Capital buildings downtown Raleigh, we got to test out some of their stationary canons.
These are some of the flowers blooming around the Capital building
My favourite cousin with my favourite man, what a sweet picture!

This is for my Mom

*This program is intended to collect savings account data
*and store it into a text file.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. SAVINGSDATA.
AUTHOR. IRENE HELDER.
DATE-WRITTEN. OCTOBER 25, 2006.

*Maintenance Log
*Name Date Explanation
*--------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT PRINT-FILE ASSIGN TO 'A:\SAVINGS.DAT'
ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL.

DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD PRINT-FILE
RECORD CONTAINS 36 CHARACTERS.
01 PRINT-LINE PIC X(36).

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
*All the variables needed for storing the data.
01 WS-SCREEN-SAVINGS.
05 WS-ACCOUNTNUM.
10 WS-ACCFIRST PIC 9(5) VALUE 0.
10 WS-ACCHYPHEN PIC X VALUE "-".
10 WS-ACCLAST PIC 99 VALUE 0.
05 WS-NAME PIC X(17) VALUE SPACES.
05 WS-AMOUNT PIC ZZZZZZ9.99 VALUE SPACES.
05 WS-TERM PIC 99 VALUE 0.

*Other variables needed for running the program.
01 WS-OTHER-VARIABLES.
05 WS-COUNTER PIC 99 VALUE 0.
05 WS-MORERECORDS PIC X VALUE 'Y'.

*Variables for printing data to the file.
01 WS-PRINTLINE.
05 PR-ACCOUNTNUM PIC X(8).
05 PR-NAME PIC X(17).
05 PR-AMOUNT PIC 9(7)V99.
05 PR-TERM PIC 99.

*Control variables.
01 WS-CONTROLS.
05 WS-SAVE PIC X VALUE SPACES.
88 SAVE-DATA VALUE 'Y','y'.

*Details how the screen will display.
SCREEN SECTION.
01 GET-ACCOUNT-NUM.
05 VALUE "PLEASE ENTER THE ACCOUNT NUMBER:"
LINE 2 COLUMN 2.
05 PIC 9(5) USING WS-ACCFIRST LINE 2 COLUMN 34 REVERSE-VIDEO.
05 VALUE "-" LINE 2 COLUMN 39.
05 PIC 99 USING WS-ACCLAST LINE 2 COLUMN 40 REVERSE-VIDEO.

01 GET-ACCTNAME.
05 VALUE "PLEASE ENTER THE NAME:" LINE 4 COLUMN 2.
05 PIC X(17) USING WS-NAME LINE 4 COLUMN 24 REVERSE-VIDEO.

01 GET-ACCTAMOUNT.
05 VALUE "PLEASE ENTER THE AMOUNT:" LINE 6 COLUMN 2.
05 PIC ZZZZZZ9.99 USING WS-AMOUNT
LINE 6 COLUMN 25 REVERSE-VIDEO.

01 GET-ACCTTERM.
05 VALUE "PLEASE ENTER THE TERM:" LINE 8 COLUMN 2.
05 PIC 99 USING WS-TERM LINE 8 COLUMN 24 REVERSE-VIDEO.

01 SAVE-RECORD.
10 VALUE "WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAVE THIS RECORD?"
LINE 10 COLUMN 2.
10 PIC X USING WS-SAVE LINE 10 COLUMN 37.

01 MORE-RECORDS.
10 VALUE "WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD ANOTHER RECORD?" LINE 12
COLUMN 2.
10 PIC X USING WS-MORERECORDS LINE 12 COLUMN 39.

01 ERROR-MESSAGES.
05 SCR-FIRSTERROR.
10 VALUE "PLEASE ENTER 5 NUMBERS BEFORE THE HYPHEN"
LINE 3 COLUMN 2.
05 SCR-SECONDERROR.
10 VALUE "PLEASE ENTER 2 NUMBERS AFTER THE HYPHEN"
LINE 3 COLUMN 2.

01 CLEAR-SCREEN.
05 LINE 2 BLANK LINE.
05 LINE 3 BLANK LINE.
05 LINE 4 BLANK LINE.
05 LINE 5 BLANK LINE.
05 LINE 6 BLANK LINE.
05 LINE 7 BLANK LINE.
05 LINE 8 BLANK LINE.
05 LINE 9 BLANK LINE.
05 LINE 10 BLANK LINE.
05 LINE 11 BLANK LINE.
05 LINE 12 BLANK LINE.

PROCEDURE DIVISION.

CREATESAVINGSACCOUNTFILE.
PERFORM A100-STARTUP.
PERFORM A200-PROCESSRECORDS
UNTIL WS-MORERECORDS = "N" or "n".
PERFORM A300-FINALIZE.

STOP RUN.

A100-STARTUP.
OPEN EXTEND PRINT-FILE.

A200-PROCESSRECORDS.
* DISPLAY 'ENTERED A200 PARAGRAPH'.
DISPLAY CLEAR-SCREEN.
INITIALIZE WS-SCREEN-SAVINGS.

PERFORM B100-GETDATA.
PERFORM B200-SAVERECORDS.
PERFORM B300-MORERECORDS.

A300-FINALIZE.
* DISPLAY 'ENTERED A300 PARAGRAPH'.
CLOSE PRINT-FILE.

*I left the code in but commented it out because I can't get it to
*work properly.
B100-GETDATA.
DISPLAY GET-ACCOUNT-NUM.

* PERFORM WITH TEST AFTER UNTIL WS-COUNTER = 5
ACCEPT GET-ACCOUNT-NUM.
* INITIALIZE WS-COUNTER
* INSPECT WS-ACCFIRST TALLYING WS-COUNTER FOR CHARACTERS
* BEFORE '-'
* IF WS-COUNTER <> 5
* DISPLAY SCR-FIRSTERROR
* END-IF
* END-PERFORM.

* PERFORM WITH TEST AFTER UNTIL WS-COUNTER = 2
* INITIALIZE WS-COUNTER
* INSPECT WS-ACCLAST TALLYING WS-COUNTER FOR CHARACTERS
* BEFORE '-'
* IF WS-COUNTER <> 2
* DISPLAY SCR-SECONDERROR
* END-IF
* END-PERFORM.

* DISPLAY CLEAR-MSGS.
DISPLAY GET-ACCTNAME.
ACCEPT GET-ACCTNAME.

DISPLAY GET-ACCTAMOUNT.
ACCEPT GET-ACCTAMOUNT.

DISPLAY GET-ACCTTERM.
ACCEPT GET-ACCTTERM.

B200-SAVERECORDS.
DISPLAY SAVE-RECORD.
ACCEPT SAVE-RECORD.
IF SAVE-DATA PERFORM C100-PRINTVALUES.

B300-MORERECORDS.
DISPLAY MORE-RECORDS.
ACCEPT MORE-RECORDS.

C100-PRINTVALUES.
* DISPLAY 'ENTERED C100'.
MOVE WS-ACCOUNTNUM TO PR-ACCOUNTNUM.
MOVE WS-NAME TO PR-NAME.
MOVE WS-AMOUNT TO PR-AMOUNT.
MOVE WS-TERM TO PR-TERM.
MOVE WS-PRINTLINE TO PRINT-LINE.
WRITE PRINT-LINE AFTER ADVANCING 1 LINE.

Irene needs . . .to join in the fun!

Irene needs to make a decision: should she try to lose weight with a diet program again or should she see the psychologist? - woah, get with the program
Irene needs to pull together the information she has collected - hmmm
Irene needs a medication refill - definitely
Irene needs to push Harry - um ... Harry get over here
Irene needs to stay warm, it's sooo cold ... - oh so true, we haven't turned our heat on yet
Irene needs a new pair of shoes - and how
Irene needs to know how to win at slot machines - nah, gambling is bad
Irene needs purpose and reasons for living -- sometimes this is so elusive and sometimes it is staring at me from across the room
Irene needs to be escorted to upstate New York to deal with a more serious criminal matter - did something happen that I wasn't informed about?
Irene needs to update her wardrobe and get a new haircut style - oh yeah, Reuben better keep bringing home that bacon!
Irene needs to balance her home life with social endeavors - you know me, social butterfly.

haha ... that was a funny exercise!

Thanksgiving

here goes,
I am thankful for:

my hubby
my family
living in Ottawa
the ability to travel
my church family
friends close by
friend far away
the ability to dream big
oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
wonderful, quiet Saturdays in which to get as many chores done as you want or don't want
jeans
hoodies
pasta
income
the color green
Ikea
God's love
freedom of religion
mountains
oceans
music
cousins to giggle with
books and time to read
hot showers
warm mittens
coworkers who are willing to drive you home
my soon-to-be neice/nephew
the Bible
scrapbooking supplies
the view from our appartment



peace be with you all.

My favourite thing

We just returned from another road trip. If you're here from Reuben's blog you'll see that he succinctly described our trip in a series of bullets. I don't have much to add. It was a fantastic time! Everything worked out wonderfully, as far as the plan went except for one thing ... the weather. We had read that it was 30 degrees and sunny in Raleigh when we left. When we arrived and for the entire weekend it was 17 degrees and raining. The exact weather we had just left behind us in the frigid north. Sigh! The grass isn't always greener. (As our friend, Joel, recently pointed out.

Ok, every time we go on a trip we have to tell my father what our favourite part of the trip was. So, here goes. My favourite part of our trip was roller skating!! Can you believe we actually went roller skating? Ottawa doesn't have any roller rinks. It's too bad because it's a lot nicer than ice skating. Why? You may ask. Because it's not freezing cold! At the roller rink you could get roller skates or roller blades. We all got roller skates just for old times sake. When we were younger, my parents had a basement with concrete in the laundry/work room part and we used to roller skate around down there. We'd run into the dryer to stop ourselves. And my cousin, Corrine (who we were visiting, in case you didn't know), used to do this with us. So we did a lot of reminiscing. We always do a lot of reminiscing when we are with her.

Speaking of which, Reuben and I have a really hard time listening to music together because there are only a few bands which we both enjoy listening too. My cousin, Corrine, seemed to have both of our favourites on her IPOD. It's so great when your husband gets a long with your favourite cousin. Anyway, that was just an interesting side note.

So, rollerskating was fun but it's more exercise than I had bargained for. My calf muscles and heart were hurting after just 15 min. You should have seen some of the 'locals' at the rink. There were these 40 year old guys with their wives, just whizzing around the place like they'd been going to the rink every Saturday night since they were 18. It was really cool! And then there were the young people just grooving and having a good time. The music wasn't too harsh either. All in all, a great way to spend a Saturday night in a foreign country.

Other good parts were the grits (mmm ... looks like Cream of Wheat but is eaten with salt and butter instead of sugar and raisins), the Parade of Homes and of course, the company.

Another successful road trip under our belt ... Winnipeg here we come. (Not a road trip, by the way.)

COBOL

hey everyone, I'm in my night class right now at Algonquin college. So, it's sort of boring because it's really basic right now. I don't know if that's because it's a college course or just because it's the beginning of the course and I've done programming before. You do need 2 prerequisites to take this course but I'm not sure what everyone else's background is.

The stereotype is that College is easier than University. Is that the case? Or is it just more practical than theoretical. Well, I'm just glad that my course is easy right now, I don't know if I can handle a full day's work and homework and school. I guess I'm not the first one to attempt it so I should be able to do it.

If this doesn't make sense it's because I'm half listening and half typing this blog. It's very distracting having the Internet right in front of me. I end up starting to look something up and totally block out the teacher and then realize I've missed something that could be important.

haha ... life of a student. This includes leaving your homework to the last minute!

Happy studying all of my fellow students!!

The Morning Routine

Mornings ... I've always hated mornings. The alarm clock sounds and you emerge drowsily from sleep to a new day. There is that moment when you just want to turn off the alarm and roll over and go peacefully back to sleep but then you realize that you must arise and face the day with all it's joy and trouble. I've never been one to ignore my alarm and oversleep. There is some sense of duty and of not wanting to disappoint that makes me rise and shine. Before marriage I was always a total groucho in the mornings not wanting to communicate with anyone. Living on my own seemed to encourage this mood. Now that I am married, sometimes I wake up grumpy and Reuben is happy sometimes Reuben is happy and I am grumpy. Oh wait ... I'm still the grump. Ok, so most days Reuben has to really encourage me to cheer up and be happy, get out of bed and face the day. He always thanks God for a good night's sleep and good jobs to go to. How come I find it hard to pray this in the morning. Having just woken up, it's hard to believe that I have had a good sleep. Especially, last night when I tossed and turned with a severe headache until 2 in the morning, when I forced myself to take advil and then tossed and turned the rest of the night but at least without a headache. But this morning Reuben woke up more grumpy then I've ever seen him in the morning. He's sick. He has a sore throat and we hardly spoke one word to each other.
I'm not sure what my point is. I guess I was just pondering the difference now that I am married and have to communicate with someone in the morning. About the fact that I love waking up with someone rather than alone. And that inevitably my day is better because of this.

Reuben's Birthday Weekend

It's time for another long and boring post. Work is very slow so I am going to write as much as possible because I have nothing to do here and I'm trying to make the day go by just a little bit faster. Anyway, it's almost lunchtime so that's a good thing.

This past weekend it was Reuben's birthday. We knew we wanted to do something special and since travelling is our specialty we spent some time working on where to go. Eventually, we decided on Brockville and Merrickville, both within an hour's drive of home. We had thought Calgary at first, to take advantage of my working at WestJet but then it was so far away and we didn't want to spend them money to go to the mountains so we opted for something closer to home. Plus we hadn't been to our own church for 4 weeks so it was good to be home for that.

On Friday after work, we headed out with our suitcase to Brockville. We took the 416 up to the 401 and got off the 401 at Prescott and then drove down Hwy 2 to Brockville. This was a little more exciting than the 401 as it follows the St. Lawrence river. There were some great views and great countryside homes to see! In Brockville we drove around to find a restaurant and ended up at the Brockberry Cafe. It is a small, family run business but the choice, wine and food were all excellent. We loved the wine we had, not sure what it was, something Italian! Reuben had his famous Philly Cheese Steak sandwich that he always gets and I had a great salad with Thai chicken and mandarin oranges. We had bruschetta to start so we were too full for dessert.

Then we checked into our hotel. It was a really nice room! I couldn't wait to give Reuben his birthday present (his actual birthday was on Sunday) so he opened it then. He was very surprised! It is a GPS locator. We've been having lots of fun with it!

In the morning, we checked out the complimentary continental breakfast and were dismally disappointed. There were some dry croissant bagels with jam. Some bread, muffins (not fresh). And coffee and orange juice. oh well, we filled up anyway. On the road we decided to skip the Brockville Farmer's Market and used our GPS to get to Merrickville. We had to pass through Smith Falls' and since Reuben had never been to the Hershey factory we stopped by and purchased some much needed chocolate. Then it was on to Merrickville. It was sort of a cool and windy day but at least the rain held off until we left. We toured around the cute shops, saw the locks and had some lunch at the Yellow Canoe cafe. It was a nice time, I'm glad we went.

On Sunday, we had a very fun dinner party at my parents' place. Ribs, chicken, fettucine, salad and a wonderful chocolate mousse dessert birthday cake.

Then on Monday we were supposed to have a church picnic but the weather was decidedly not picnic-like. So we grabbed all the food we had planned to bring and brought it to Mom & Dad's and had a smorgasborg dinner.

All in all, a wonderful and memorable weekend.

Book Survey

One book that . . .

1) changed your life: A Time to Kill by John Grisham, what horrible things humanity can do

2) read more than once: Lots of books, I don't mind reading books over and over. I've read all of Rosamunde Pilcher's books at least twice

3) want on a desert island: My Hardy Boys collection for sentimental reasons and maybe some survival tips.

4) made me laugh: Any Miss Marple book by Agatha Christie, she's so cute!

5) made me cry: Pretense by Lori Wick

6) wish had been written: i don't know what to answer for this, i'm not very good at coming up with ideas

7) wish had not been written: Anything by Catherine Cookson

8) Currently Reading: No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

9) Meaning to Read: more of the Bible

Pictures from Dina and Josh's Wedding

Melissa Bremer - Bridesmaid

Dina and her Father

Joel Muis - Best Man

Pieter Gelms, Jocelyn Ludwig and Brian Jager - waiting for the reception to start

Devon Hummel

Cutting the cake

Eating the cake

Joel and Jocelyn

Reuben and I


Someone was parachuting outside the reception

Whirlwind Weekend

Last weekend we drove down to southern Ontario for Josh and Dina's wedding. We had a fairly uneventful trip except for the long line-up at Wendy's and the gross public washrooms at the rest stops. But that wasn't unexpected, I suppose. We arrived at 9:15pm and after some snacks and chatting with the fam we headed to bed.

The wedding was at 11am in Brampton so we had a nice breakfast of pancakes and raspberries and got ourselves together. When we were about 5 min away, I realized I had forgotton to put my rings on and I really wanted them for the day so we turned around. We then realized we had forgotton a couple of other important things(I can't remember what they were) so we lost a total of 15 minutes. When you are late, Murphy's Law states that you must hit every traffic light on the way to your destination, which we did. Fortunately, we did not get lost. We arrived at the ceremony, in the nick of time. Stressful!

I don't have pictures uploaded yet but hopefully, I can get them before the end of the week. It was a beautiful wedding, a wonderful sermon, melodious music and tear jerking vows!:) Everything was great! The stand up reception was scrumptious, lots of yummy cakes etc.

We had about 5 hours to kill before the reception so a group of us went to Turtle Jacks, around the corner seeing as Brampton was too far away from our homes to go back in between. Jocelyn, Pete, Tim, Brian, Chris, Reuben and I sat at the pub until 3:30 or so. It was beautiful weather and good company. Then we decided to head towards the reception and maybe we would spot somewhere else to hang out on the way. Brian found The Bramalea City Centre mall on the map so we headed there. We walked around the mall for an hour and a half.

The reception hall was beautifully decorated. We had fun at the reception. The food was great! It was a bit warm at first but it cooled down later on. The entertainment was pretty good and it didn't end too late. All together a very nice day!

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, thankfully we didn't have church till 11am because we weren't asleep until 1am the night before. We left again around 3pm. On the way, we picked up Josh's brother Scott from Brampton. We didn't end up leaving Brampton till 4:30pm because we miscommunicated about where we were meeting, but at least we found eachother.

This weekend we are going to Waterdown again. We have a Helder family picnic on Saturday as well as some birthday celebrations for Reuben, even though his birthday isn't till September 3.

A lonely weekend

I miss my husband! He has been gone for 3 long nights. Every August long weekend, he and his friends go camping. This year was no different. I've heard many stories of these trips which is the reason I don't go. Also, because it's camping. And haven't I done enough camping for one summer?! phew! Anyway, they went to Guelph Lake which is a good 6 hour drive for him, all by himself. He should be on his way home right now and I am anticipating it greatly! The problem is, I don't know when he will be home so it's the great waiting game. As mentioned previously, I am not the most patient person in the world so I am seriously hoping that he is home when I get there.

I've realized over the weekend that while I can manage on my own, as I have before. Life is very boring when you don't have someone to share it with. I miss having someone to talk to, someone to make decisions with, someone to argue with, someone to sit silently eating breakfast with and someone to pray with.

Reuben, you are loved and missed, come home!

More Pics

Reuben on Canada Day, Downtown Ottawa


Me on the Ferry to Cumberland

Travel Bug

Why do I have the travel bug? First, let's define this term "travel bug". I've read that it is "a certain restlessness to visit sites that till now exist only in the traveller's imagination". This sounds about right. I think that it is also a restlessness to just get away from it all. For me, it is sort of linked to my laziness, my love of planning and the way I grew up. My parents and I have been travelling our whole family existence.

Soon after I was born, my dad took my mom and I to Switzerland for 2 years. He was doing is post doctorate at the University in Zurich. My mom and I also lived in Holland for about 3 months while Karin entered the world. After we moved to Ottawa, I don't know how many times my father has been to England, France and Germany to colaborate with colleagues, sit in on thesis exams and give lectures at various universities in these countries. My parents have also been to Israel, Hawaii and San Francisco. My father has also travelled to many different cities in the United States and Canada, all in the pursuit or recognition of scientific discoveries. So, as you can see travel was a big part of my growing up.

As a family, we drove to Winnipeg and Taber, Alberta coming back by way of the northern States. We also drove back and forth to Burlington, ON countless times to visit relatives and friends. In highschool, I had the privelage of visiting Quebec City, Toronto and Boston.

When I finished University, I rewarded myself with a month long trip to California. I spent quite a bit of money doing this. I had no job lined up for when I came back. I think this would be the traits of a travel bug or wait am I a travel bug or do I have the travel bug:) Ok, so to rephrase. I think these are the symptoms of the travel bug.

I guess it was inevitable that I began to work for WestJet, an airline, in the business of travel. Since starting here, Reuben and I have gone to Vancouver, Edmonton and Victoria, not to mention the many flights between Toronto and Ottawa. Since dating, we have also gone to Halifax but that was pre-WestJet. This year we are still planning to go to Winnipeg, Halifax(again) and Raleigh. But we are driving to Raleigh, as it's a lot cheaper and less hassle even with a good airline deal.

I love to travel. I hope we can keep travelling. Our big trip for next year is Paris, southern France and Barcelona. We hope to travel with my parents and my Dad's cousin, Ina. We also hope to meet up with friends who are living in Holland but will meet us in Paris.

I could go on and on about travelling, maybe I'll write some more posts at a later date on the joys and also the hassles of travelling.

Camping Pictures

My toes on our early morning canoe and Reuben dismantling our sleeping structure.

Camping Round 2

Bon Echo is a beautiful park. It's about 2.5 hrs from our place. The campsites only take up a third of the actual park and there are 300 of them.

Why is camping considered such a wonderful pastime? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Also, if my husband is so enamored with it does that necessitate that I become enamored as well?

What's the point of bringing modern conveniences to the woods, like trailers, when you are meant to be roughing it?

I find, even in myself, such a contradiction between loving luxury and conveniences and wanting to get away from it all by living in the country and doing things simply.

So, our camping trip. Well, it was fine. Except for having to use the Ladies Room in the middle of the night, 3 times the first night. The weather was beautiful. The scenery was beautiful. Our air mattress didn't deflate, too much. The water was warm. S'mores are yummy but messy. The mosquitos bit and bit and bit forcing us to go just a little bit mad. The food, provided by my mother-in-law was plentiful and good. We had a romantic, early morning canoe on the pristine lake.

I really hate to say this but I am glad I don't have to go again till next year. I just love my creature comforts too much. I love not having to share a bathroom with other people not to mention a gazillion different species of bugs. I love not having to wear bugspray and then hopping in to bed soaked in the stuff. Oh wait ...I promised myself I wouldn't turn this into a rant ...

Sorry, Reuben.

Please save

The problem with the computer being that if you are typing a wonderfully, long and inspiring paragraph about important topics, it will invariably freeze on you and be unable to recover anything.

This just happened to me ... bear with me as I try to recover.

So, I beg and plead with you to please hit save if you are writing for longer than 30 seconds.

A long time

Well, it has been a long time since I've posted. Almost half a month. We've been busy. Work has been slow. There is not much to fill my hours here but I get by and it's better than nothing, I guess.

So, for the Canada Day weekend, Reuben and I went downtown Ottawa and stayed overnight on Friday night at the Radisson. WestJet uses this hotel to board it's airline crew when they have to stay overnight, so they give all employees a really good room rate. It was a really nice hotel and we enjoyed our stay there. For dinner, we walked down to the market and ate at an Irish Pub. I had a chicken boxty, which was sort of a chicken stew wrapped in a potato pancake. It was really rich and flavourful! Afterwards, we walked around some more and ended up eating some really horrid dessert at Carmello's on Sparks Street. It was really sweet!!! oh well. On Canada Day, we went to Parliament Hill and sat on the lawn along with thousands of others and watched the end of the Musical Ride on a big screen because we were too far back to see it even though it was right there. And then Stephen Harper and his family came along with the Governor General and her family. We heard a couple of speeches and a couple of musical acts. Then we walked over to Majors Hill park and checked out the scene there. We were really hot and the sun was beating down. I was pretty spent by this time.

We were signed up to help out at the Ottawa Mission for Men at 2 so we had to cut the festivities short and walked over there. We served food and cleaned up in the kitchen till about 5:30. Then we walked back to our car and went home. My parents came over with pizza and we went to Dairy Queen for dessert. It was a nice evening! They were meant to stay and watch the local fireworks from our balcony but when they didn't start at 10 they decided to go home. Just after they left the fireworks started so Reuben and I watched them on our own. There was a really big tree in the way but we could see the really high ones. It was still really nice!!!!

On Sunday, we witnessed little Zachary Hart's baptism. It was a really hot day, again.

Last weekend, we spent Sat morning with some friends from WestJet. They had organized a morning at Thunderbird Miniputt/Driving Range and Go-Kart. So we did that. It was hard getting up early and heading out there. And then it was really hot and sunny!! We had fun. Reuben really enjoyed the go-karting. I got off the track after 3 rounds. It was sort of uncomfortable and I'm just not competitive enough, I guess. Oh well. So then, in the afternoon we went shopping, which was fun! Oh and on Friday we both got off work early and went to see Superman Returns. It was decent! Nice cheesy love story and not too violent or obscene. Yay!

On Sunday, we got up early, again and drove to Montreal with Mom, Oma N, Karin, Josh and Emma. We went to the ERQ church in Laval where my cousin's baby Ezekiel was being baptized. The service was in French but they had a copy of the sermon in English printed out so that was really helpful. It was nice to see our Jager family again! Unfortunately, Corrine had to head back to Raleigh right away after church:( Whereas, we went up to Derek's parents' cottage, just north of the city. We had a nice afternoon. Good food and good fellowship. The weather was hot and sunny, again and so I tried to stay in the shade. I would have gone swimming but apparently, the bottom of the lake wasn't too nice to stand on.

On the drive home, we stopped at the Chateau Montebello for drinks. They made a mighty nice sangria!:) Then we got on the ferry at Masson and crossed over to Cumberland, Ontario. It was only a 5 minute ride but fun nonetheless.

This weekend we are going camping at Bon Echo. It should be another hot weekend so hopefully, it will be a great improvement on last time we went!!! I'll let you know how it goes.

Soccer

This is perfect!

Sweater Sets

Is "sweater set" one word or two? Ok, weird question, I know. I bought this sweater because it's cold at work but not that cold, it's summer. My sweaters are all big, bulky, winter sweaters. So, I found this really nice green one. And I love it. Although, it's sort of the type of sweater you'd have as part of a sweater set, but it only came with the sweater not the matching tank top for underneath. Anyway, I sort of feel old wearing it. I mean isn't it only Grandma's that wear sweater sets? Despite the fact that I feel old, I also feel good about myself. I'm not sure why. I'm not sure whether it looks good or I just feel so comfortable but still dressy. Usually when I dress up I'm not comfortable but today I am.

So, here's to comfortable sweatersets and Grandma's who wear them!!!!

Another baby!!!

Wow, I can't believe I blogged about Alanna and Brian's baby and not about Amanda and Derek's. Amanda is my cousin, one of the family of cousins that we grew up with in Ottawa. She lives with her husband, Derek, in Montreal. They had their baby on Thursday at around noon. Here's a link to Ezekiel's site with lots more cute baby pictures:) Congratulations!!!

New Hart Baby

Just wanted everyone to know that there is a new Hart baby!

Zachary Curtis Eelco Hart was born on Sat. evening. He is the son of Brian and Alanna Hart, there are more details and pictures on their blog.

Third Anniversary and Father's Day

Yesterday, was Father's Day, our 3 month anniversary and it was also really hot! Our church does not have air conditioning and Reuben doesn't handle heat very well. It's like he sweats but it doesn't cool his body off, he just keeps getting hotter and hotter. It's hard to watch because I don't know what to do for him.

We didn't do anything to celebrate our anniversary, just mentioned it. We're saving it all up for our one year. I'm wondering if anybody celebrates monthly anniversaries in their first year of marriage. I suppose it's sort of silly.

As for Father's Day, we planned a great evening meal including ribs, green beans, baked potatoes, coleslaw and the piece de resistance was my frozen chocolate mousse squares and frozen banana chocolate ribbon cheesecake. MMMMMMM!!!! It was all really good! Anybody want to come over for leftovers, we've got lots of cake left. This is because both my brother and sister, Diana, couldn't come. So it was just the 6 of us.

We got my Dad a personalized license plate for Father's Day. We've been planning to do this for about a year but just haven't got around to it. It says "dlta 4ce". This is what he calls his research group. Delta has something to do with enzyme activity. If you remember the delta symbol from calculas, it signifies change. Anyway, he was really, really surprised!! We can hardly ever surprise him but this time we got him. I think he really likes it too. It will come in 6-8 weeks. We also got him some golf balls for his upcoming trip to the Maritimes with Rich and a cell phone cover, which he desperately needed.

All in all, it was a fun day despite the heat!

Camping - UGH

Ok, so we went camping. My family doesn't camp. I've been camping maybe 3 times in my life and each time it's been so frigidly cold I said I'd never do it again. I guess my parents never camped because they never camped as kids. Well, anyway, they just aren't the type to think that it's an adventure. I guess that's why I have the same mentality.

Well, Karin and Josh have been going camping with their group of friends for the past 3 or 4 summers and this time they invited Reuben and I along. We thought it might be fun to hang out with these people and get some camping in. Reuben grew up camping every summer. He loves it, he's used to it.

The weather didn't promise to be very good and we just about canceled. At the last minute we decided to stick it out and go anyway. Even though as we were packing the car, it was pouring rain and 10 degrees. I was trying to be brave and stick it out for Reuben's sake.

The weather didn't get any better. Our air mattress didn't stay inflated. We couldn't go swimming cause it was too cold. We sort of wished we knew our fellow campers a little bit better as it would have made for better bonding.

The good things about the weekend (because I hate to complain about the whole thing) was that sitting around a fire really is very enjoyable (if you don't get smoked out). And hearing rain on your tent is quite soothing.

We nearly went home Sat night. It started raining again and I had just about enough of being dirty, cold and uncomfortable. I can't imagine camping for a whole week!!! But we toughed it out and stayed overnight.

We're scheduled to go camping with Reuben's family in July. What should I do? Any tips to make it more enjoyable.

Another fun-filled weekend just passed. We had our friends, Josh and Dina, over from Brampton. On Friday night we did some groceries so we'd have enough food to feed them. And then we cleaned up the apt and did some dishes. They arrived around 10:15 and we sat and chatted till about midnight.

On Saturday, we got up around 8 and the guys went to play a round or two of squash while I got breakfast ready. Homemade waffles with whipped cream, bananas and blueberries. Mmmmmm!!! Then we got ready to go downtown and left around 11am. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very nice and it pretty much rained the whole day. But we trudged through and toured around the outside of the parliament buildings until we were allowed to go inside. It was an open door day so we could go wherever we wanted. We went up the Peace Tower, saw the Memorial Chamber, the House of Commons and the Senate. And last but not least we got to see the newly renovated Library of Parliament. It's been under construction for 4 years. But it was worth the wait. It was very beautiful! I will try to get some pictures up soon or get Reuben to put some on his blog. After this we decided to get something to eat as it was pouring rain. Our original plan was to walk around the Market but it wouldn't have been much fun in the rain. So we went to Darcy McGee's pub on Sparks Street. I had an excellent Summer Tomato Soup and some fries along with a warming cup of cocoa. The rest of the day was spent in our apartment warming up, playing games, eating pizza and watching a movie.

On Sunday, we went to church and between services we went for a nice walk by the river. The weather was gorgeous, sunny, warm with a slight breeze! After second service we went to my parents' for dinner with Mike and Diana, who were also down for the weekend. Josh and Dina left around 7pm. We had such a great time with them! We hope to do it again soon.

My amazing husband and babies

There's nothing really exciting to post about but I wanted to share that Reuben continually amazes me! This past weekend I spent all of Saturday in Montreal and Reuben stayed home. He did groceries, he baked cookies and he put up this amazing canopy above/around our bed! I will try to get a picture of it up here soon. I would also like to post a picture of the other side of our livingroom.

In Montreal, my Mom and Emma and I went to a baby shower for my cousin, Amanda. She is due on June 17. We had a lovely time but it certainly was a long drive just for an afternoon of fun. My aunt and uncle and other cousin, Corrine were there so we didn't have any excuse not to go (not that we wanted one) because we rarely get to see them. The shower was fun! We played some interesting games, the food was delicious and Amanda and Derek received some really nice gifts. I'm glad I got to see Amanda one last time before she has the baby. I also can't wait to see their baby!

Speaking of babies, I'm now allowed to inform the world that I'm going to be an Aunt. I wanted to start another blog dedicated to this so there is a link to it on my sidebar. There won't be much to say for awhile as she is only 8 or 9 weeks along. Oh, you're probably wondering which one of my family is having this baby! My youngest sister, Diana!!!! I'm so happy for her and Mike. It's so wonderful that God can bless them with the beginning of a bigger family. Anyway, I should let you read all about it at my other blog.

Our Second Anniversary

Second month, that is.

We've been married for 2 months now. It doesn't sound like a long time when you say it like that but it feels long. In a good way. We are really discovering the wonderful depth that is marriage. The saying that you don't know what it's like to be married until you are, is really true. I've dreamed long and hard about being married and now that I am it is so much more than I thought it would be. More wonderful, more precious, more intense, more fulfilling. When there is someone to come home to at the end of the day, it makes everything seem so much more worth it. (I'm not sure if that makes sense.)

Admittedly, it's not all sunshine and roses. There are an infinite number of things that annoy him about me and annoy me about him. But somehow it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, you just forget it, give eachother a hug and go to sleep.

We've done some more painting in our apt. I was really tired and sore the second night(it took 2 nights to finish) so I wasn't very enthusiastic whereas Reuben just wanted to do as good a job as possible. We got it done though, hopefully, we'll get a picture up here soon so you can see. It looks great! So much more cosy than the off-white they had in here. It's looking more and more like home!

We are heading down to visit my sister, Diana and her husband Mike tomorrow night. Then on Saturday, we are going to Waterdown to stay with Reuben's parents and to hang out with some of our friends whom we haven't seen in quite awhile. We are looking forward to it. It has been a long time since we have been to Southern Ontario. I hope the weather gets better.

For the love of Airports

Big news, folks!

I will once again be a WestJetter starting on Tuesday, May 23. I'll be doing the same job as before only for the Airports department at the Ottawa airport. More thoughts on this to come ...

Pics

My husband just posted 2 pictures. One of our new paint job in the livingroom and one of the view from our balcony last night. It was amazing how the stormy weather came up and their were so many sailboats out on the river. I love where we live.

My Birthday

I was thinking this weekend about how everyone congratulates you for your birthday. I wonder how that started because really why do I need to be congratulated. I didn't really do anything. I think my parents should be the one congratulated and in our Dutch circles they do. I think it's appropriate. I also think that we should be giving cards and presents to our parents on our birthdays to let them know how much we appreciate all the things they have done for us over the past year. I guess that is what Mother's Day and Father's Day is for. (I'm sorry for the continued use of dangling participles. I wish there was an easy way for me to stop using them.)

Speaking of Mother's Day, my sister, Karin and I were racking our brains for what to get our Mother and we couldn't think of anything. She seems to have everything. But then we came up with the brilliant idea to take her out for lunch. Pretty brilliant, huh? I'm sure it's been done before;) Then we are going to a ballet performance. It's just a children's ballet involving some of the girls in our church. It should be pretty cute!

We painted our apartment last night. It's called Copper Coin but it's more orange than brown. We have to do another coat tonight. With Reuben and I working on it together it only took 2.5 hrs whereas when I did our bedroom it took me 4 hrs. It's much more fun to have someone helping you. Some of our friends said that painting together would test our relationship but I think it just made it stronger. Although I did nitpick a little about Reuben's technique, as I've painted a few more times than him but in the end it went fine.

We'll be putting on the second coat tonight and then we'll take some pictures of that wall and our bedroom and post them here so that ya'll can see how our place is turning out.

The Ottawa Hospital

I am working at the hospital. Who would ever have guessed it? It's crazy where life (God) can take you. I am working in the HR department and further in Compensation and Classification. They deal with Job Descriptions and pay rates and try to keep track of all the different jobs at the hospital. They have a big challenge right now because the Civic Hospital just amalgamated with 2 other hospitals to form one Ottawa Hospital that has 3 campuses. So it's a big job to sort through everyone's job and make sure that everyone is being paid fairly. I think it's pretty interesting and had definitely never thought about the fact that this was going on. And is probably going on behind the scenes at a lot of major organizations.

At first when I heard that I was going to be at the hospital, I was a little bit apprehensive because I, like most people, do not enjoy hospitals and the thought of being around sick people sort makes me nervous because I do not know how to deal with it. But I'm actually across the street from the main building and no where near any patients. It's called the Clinical Studies building and it's really old and run down but they have run out of room elsewhere for offices. Apparently, the building was supposed to be demolished but they decided to keep it up because they odn't have money to build something to replace it right now. At first I was a little leary about it but it's not too bad once you get used to it.

The job is very undefined. What they really need is someone to be a data analyst. For now I'm just filing and organizing and photocopying and taking some time to learn their database. They have a permanent job posted and they are wondering if I want to apply for it. I just looked at the job description and I'm not sure if it's a job that I would want. The pay is very good so that is one incentive but I am just not sure if it's the right job for me.

Besides the job thing, it's my birthday this Sunday. Reuben is taking me to Montreal tomorrow. And my parents are hosting a bbq for me. It should be a good weekend. I guess I'm in my late twenties now but that doesn't really bother me. I think I'm pretty comfortable where I am and Reuben keeps me feeling young:)

Well, that's the excitement from my life right now.

Blog Title Change

As the Best Day of My Life has come and gone, I think it's time to change the title of my blog. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to start a new blog but I figured a change in title would be easier. So what do you think?

I start a new job tomorrow. I'm with a temp agency and they got me a 3 week contract at the Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital. It looks like I'll be doing some admin work for them. Sounds pretty cool. I'm always nervous when I have to go to an unknown place and start an unknown task. But as my life progresses, I've learned to take things more in stride and not worry so much. Things usually work out in the end. The job starts at 8. I have to take the bus because the parking fees are horrendous. I'm going to have to be an early riser again. But it's not as bad as 5:30. I think I can handle 6:30 a bit better. At least I won't be the only one in my whole world awake at that time. Reuben won't get as much care and attention in the morning though. Currently, I make his breakfast and his lunch but I'm not sure I'll be able to keep that up as he has to leave 20 min. later than myself. We'll make it work though. It'll be nice to just be working to save instead of having to spend it all on living costs.

Well, onwards and upwards as they say. I'll keep you posted ... no pun intended.

Our Wedding Pictures

If you'd like to see more pictures, click here .

Our Bridal Party

Sorry, I could only get this one picture working but it's something at least. I'll keep trying!

Where do I start ...

I am starting this post today because I know that it needs to get done but I'm not sure where to start or where to end. I probably will not get it done today, either. I am at a computer in the library and it's very hard to concentrate. There are people milling about and people on other computers talking to themselves. It's very disconcerting to say the least. I wish we had the internet at home. I feel very disconnected. I am very used to just popping on to google whenever an idea hits me and now I tell myself to look it up later but I don't write it down and I inevitably forget.

So, yes, where to start. Well, we're married now. Tomorrow it will be 3 weeks, already. My does time fly. It's a rainy day and I have just done our weekly grocery shopping, I also did laundry and organized some files. I'm not working again yet. Being a wife is different than I thought it would be. It's wonderful! It's also challenging. I love my husband, I love spending time with him, I love cooking for him and keeping our house organized and clean. I love going to sleep with him and waking up with him beside me. It's hard to articulate the challenges except to say that I have higher expectations of myself now or at least I think that's what it is. Anyway, maybe I'll write more about that later. On to the good stuff, the wedding.

Our wedding day was perfect. It truly was the best day of my life!! I actually did get some sleep the night before, maybe 3 or 4 hours but I felt good when I got up and even though I didn't need to be up, once I was awake at 6:30 I couldn't stay in bed any longer. The first thing I did was have a bite to eat and then a bath!. Our hairdresser, Erica, arrived just after 7 and by that time the rest of the girls were starting to stir. Erica worked on our hair from 7 am till 12:30 .. she was amazing and we all turned out wonderfully! It was a long morning for me, the time went slowly. I just wanted to see Reuben. Finally, it was time to put my dress on. I wish I had some pics to add to this blog but since I'm not at home I don't have them with me. I wanted to have a picture with Mom and Dad outside before we left for the church so we did that but it was so cold and windy!! That was the only downfall about the day but at least it was sunny and I didn't have to worry about get wet or muddy. We arrived at the church on time and Reuben had arrived on time and was escorting the grandmothers in. My bouquet and the girls bouquets were beautiful and exactly what I had envisioned. Waiting to walk down the aisle, I almost starting crying but my Dad distracted me by talking about his tie ... which was the plan!!:) And finally, when the doors opened, I took a deep breath and tried to see Reuben but the aisle was so long, I could hardly even see him . So I just tried not to look at him until I could actually look in his eyes. It was a magical moment! The rest of the service went smoothly. Apparently we looked quite calm and happy. Which we were. We had already decided not to worry if anything went wrong and we didn't. I was just trying to absorb everything and remember every moment. Saying I do was the easiest thing in the world because we are so certain that we are supposed to be together forever. And then it was over and we were walking out and were ready to relax for the rest of the day.

Getting our pictures taken at the RBG center was a breeze. We had a great photographer in Corny. I was getting pretty tired of posing and smiling by the end and was super hungry. But it was just nice to be with everyone, our family and closest friends for that time.

Our reception was fun and there was great food and laughter and singing and good speeches and the slideshow of us growing up was awesome! (sorry, run on sentence). I don't know what else to say, I had a good time and I think everyone else was having a good time.

And then it was off on our honeymoon, which is another story for another blog for another day.

WestJet

Today is my last day at WestJet. It's sad and it's happy. It's hard for me to process the fact that I am leaving because all I am thinking about right now is the wedding and starting my new life together with Reuben in Ottawa. But I know that I will miss this job. I have enjoyed learning about the airline industry. I've enjoyed being at the airport and seeing the planes everyday. I've enjoyed getting to know the people I work with here. Generally, they are a good group! I have learned a lot at this job. I've learned that I hate driving in Toronto. I've learned that I can get up at 5:30 every weekday for a year and 4 months and not totally disintegrate(I am happy that this was my last morning getting up that early for work, hopefully forever!). I've learned to cope with the commute of just under an hour each way everyday. At first, I didn't think I was going to make it but it's amazing what you can adapt to and get used to. Now, it doesn't even feel that long. Unfortunately, I've also learned the difference between those who are friendly on the outside(because that is what is promoted at this company) but not friendly on the inside and those who are genuinely friendly both inside and out. I've met some really happy, positive and lovely people at my time here.

So, it's onwards and upwards. This was my second full time job since leaving University in December 2001 and my third job (the other one being just a seasonal contract).

I just realized I hadn't posted this on the intended day. Let me do that now and then move on.

Leg cramps

Kay, weird title for a post, I know. But I have the worst calf cramp of my life. I woke up with it at 5:15 and it's still here!!! I don't know what to do about it. I tried massaging it, walking it off and nothing helps. Any ideas, folks? I know that noone is reading this but I thought I'd throw it out there. I'm going to see if our first aid kit has any hot patches, maybe that would help.

There is nothing much else going on so there's not much to write about. Just that there are only 16 sleeps till the Wedding Day:)

My emotional ramblings on our new apartment

Ok .. so Reuben challenged me in his last post to write something emotional about our place. I guess that's one of my jobs in our relationship!!

The weekend of packing and unpacking was so whirlwind that I hardly had any time to digest the fact that we were moving into our very own first apartment. Wow ... it's all coming together and our wedding day is fast approaching! Less than 3 weeks to go.

On Thursday night, I had my first night of not being able to sleep from excitement and nervousness. I also think it's cause my mom was sleeping over and it's hard for me to fall asleep with someone else in the room. I am always conscious of them. I guess I'll have to get used to that when we're married! So, I was pretty tired on Friday. The troops came over at 9 in the morning and we(I mean, they) starting carting things up the stairs, down the path, around the house and out to the driveway. Around 10:30 we took a Tim's break and then loaded up the rest. We visited my Oma Buist before hitting the road. Jared drove down with me to keep me company and to help with the move on the other end. We decided not to try and stay with the cube van as they were driving quite slow. We made it home before Reuben got home from work ...around 5:10. Mom and Dad got there about 6:30.

On Sat. morning we got up bright and early again and made it to the apt building by 9am. We loaded all the stuff in the service elevator and were done by 10am. Then the unpacking began. We got most of the kitchen stuff done but we quickly realized we were going to run out space. I don't know where all this stuff came from but I've been accumulating it for awhile plus all the new stuff we've been getting for our engagement and bridal showers. I wished we had more time to set things up on Sat. It was really hard to leave. I wanted to stay and nest but it's back to Burlington for me.

Reuben had some adventures on his first night sleeping there but I'll let him tell that story!:) I have one and a half weeks of work left and then it's wedding, wedding, wedding. And finally, 4 weeks after we moved in, I will get to move in!!

Apt 710

All packed and ready to go.

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Packing the van.

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Taking a break.

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Driving the van ... what a beast!

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Backing in ... 'wing-walker' Jared.

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Finally, it's all unloaded.

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Now, we unpack ...the kitchen.

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Dad unpacking the millions of boxes.

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And relaxing after a hard 2 days' work ... Thanks to everyone who helped us, we couldn't have done it without you.
Mom, POPS, Dad, Jared, Lawren, Josh, Rich and Emma.

Quote

I read this on my blog journey today:

"did you know that the valentine's heart we have all grown to 'love' was originally a doodle drawn to represent a female's buttocks? ..i guess that means that i 'heart' you, means i love your butt... "

Moving Out

3 more sleeps in my apartment and then it's onward and upward ... literally. I'm in the basement now and I will be on the 7th floor. I am excited to be moving all of my things to our new apartment. Reuben's parents, graciously, helped us purchase a vanity cabinet for our bathroom. So, I can't wait to see how it and everything else is going to fit and look in the apartment.

We had a very busy weekend, running around doing errands for the wedding. Also, a nice time renewing our love for eachother. There is something about absence that really does make the heart grow fonder. It helps you not to take the other person for granted, which can so easily happen in our busy lives. It has also renewed my ability to rely on God for strength instead of Reuben. I hope that continues even when we're married because it's essential for life.

I have more packing to get done before Friday morning. Lot's more. I don't know how I crammed all of that stuff into my tiny place but as I am trying to pack it is just pouring out of the woodwork!!! Thankfully, Reuben's mom is able to get me lots of boxes from Shopper's Drugmart, where she works.

Only 3 more nights of living completely on my own. I will be living with Reuben's family for the next 3 weeks. Wow!

"And above all these things put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony" Colossians 3:14 My parents' wedding text; it just popped into my head.

Summer of 69

The title is just the song I'm listening to right now. It has no significance on the content of this post. Today is a weird day. There are 30 days till the wedding ... which I'm sure you could have figured out from reading yesterday's post where I said that there were 31 days till the wedding. I think I blogged about counting down last month but I just want to reiterate that I have no idea why I have such a fascination with doing it. It certainly doesn't help make the time go faster. Maybe it has something to do with one of my character traits; organization. Anyway, I'm nervous. Not nervous about getting married ... definitely not that. Nervous about getting everything done on time. Nervous about having to rely on other people to get things done for me when I know they don't have as much of a vested interest in things working out perfectly and on time!

It doesn't help that my job has been quite boring lately. There is absolutely nothing going on. And that means that my brain is constantly thinking about wedding plans, moving plans and honeymoon plans. It just makes it worse because I can't be distracted during the day. I am constantly thinking about everything. Does anyone have any solutions? At least I have been sleeping relatively well although I am sure that is about deteriorate especially once I move out of my place. But maybe I will surprise myself and sleep well right up until the wedding.

Speaking of moving out, I'm doing that next week Friday morning. If anyone wants to lend a hand for a couple of hours!;) My dad and brother are driving a cube van up from Ottawa and we will be packing it up and then unpacking at the new apartment in Ottawa on Saturday, Feb 25. I can't wait to start setting things up into our own little home. Reuben will get to bach it for 3 weeks.

Oh and if anyone reading this has white Christmas lights they can let us borrow for the wedding. Please let me know.

Warning: Sappy Valentine's Day Post

How I love Valentine's Day now that I have someone to share it with! Reuben is in Ottawa this week and I am still in Burlington, so it's a little sad that we won't be together on this day. But he surprised me and left behind a beautiful card and he bought me the Dido CD that I've been wanting for a long time. Following is a song from the CD that describes just how I feel about Reuben:


my tea's gone cold, i'm wondering why i got out of bed at all
the morning rain clouds up my window and i can't see at all
and even if i could it'd all be grey, but your picture on my wall
it reminds me that it's not so bad, it's not so bad
i drank too much last night, got bills to pay, my head just feels in pain
i missed the bus and there'll be hell today, i'm late for work again
and even if i'm there, they'll all imply that i might not last the day
and then you call me and it's not so bad, it's not so bad and
i want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life
oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life
push the door, i'm home at last and i'm soaking through and through
then you handed me a towel and all i see is you
and even if my house falls down now, i wouldn't have a clue
because you're near me and
i want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life
oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life.


Only 31 days till the wedding!

Hungry Day

Today is one of those days where I have eaten everything in my lunch by 12pm. My stomach is constantly craving food. I don't know why that is. Is it the weather? Is it some weird hormone imbalance? Is it because I didn't eat breakfast till I got to work? I wish I knew because it's not healthy and makes me really want to go to McDonald's and mow down on a Big Mac and french fries. Well, at least Cristina(co-worker) is going to Tim Horton's so she can get me a slightly healthier bagel:)

Other then that, it's a pretty quiet day here at WestJet. The sun is shining. But it's quite cold.

Tonight, my friend, Erica is coming over to try some up-do's on my hair for the wedding! I'm excited and nervous. I also want to try on my dress again cause, as the day approaches, I am more and more nervous about it being the perfect dress for me. I can't go back now but I just hope that it looks wonderful! I mean, the day is not really about looking great but I still want Reuben to be able to appreciate how I look on our wedding day!

I am also picking up some boxes so that I can start packing. I'm excited about that. I want to throw out some of the stuff, I never use ... although, given my track record, I'm sure it won't be a lot. And when I'm packing I can just go through and organize and clean things. It should be good. I know I have a lot of stuff, so I'm sure it'll take me the next 2 weeks to pack everything.

Well, that's all that is going on right now. Have a great day!

the Solemnization of Marriage

We learned something pretty amazing in our last pre-marriage class. The reason that the form for the Solemnization of Marriage has printed the answers "I do" after each question to the bride and groom is that we are not promising to do all of these things of ourselves but with the grace and help of the Lord and since we believe this to be true, there is no way we can answer other than "I do". What an amazing and comforting thought.

We had another good weekend in Ottawa this past weekend. My sisters and Mom surprised me with a bridal shower on the Saturday night. There were about 10 people there. It was supposed to be a surprise but I had figured it out especially when my brother said, earlier in the day, "So, what time is this party tonight?" hahaha:) Funny. We started out by going out for dinner at Moxie's. I had this chicken with a wild mushroom sauce that I wasn't too wild about! Then we walked around the mall to give people time to get to our house. I had a fabulous time and I was spoiled with gifts. Many for our kitchen and cooking but some for the bathroom, too (like our green towels, yay!) I really appreciated the effort it took for everybody to come out just for me:)

Reuben started work yesterday. He seems pretty happy with it so far. He said that he already had a great discussion about music with the guy he is sharing a room with. I'm glad because music is a huge part of Reuben's life! And I don't always agree with him on it so it's nice for him to have someone in Ottawa who is on the same wavelength.

Being apart is really hard. Last night, I got so much done! That's a good thing. In a way it was nice to be on my own again, doing what I wanted when I wanted but I've realized that I do enjoy "taking care" of Reuben and making dinner for both of us and stuff like that. I can't wait to go and set up our apartment and make a home for us. It's going to be fantastic!

Less than 6 weeks to the wedding!

My bed

I know it seems silly but am I the only one in the whole world who loves her bed?! I'm a light sleeper as I mentioned yesterday and I have a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep when I am in a strange bed. Does anyone else have this problem? I started sleeping over less and less at people's houses because I could never get to sleep and then I would be grumpy the next day and it just wasn't worth it.

My big dilemma right now is that I will be spending the last few nights before our wedding in a strange bed. See, I have to move out of my appartment on Feb 25 and I will probably then be staying with Reuben's parents, in his old bed. I'm not sure what to do with my bed. Maybe they will let me move it into his room? We don't have room in our apartment for it and I'm not sure we want to keep it in storage. I don't know if my parents have room for it but I would hate to give it away or throw it out.

My bed has been with me since I was a young teenager(and possibly before, I can't really remember when I got it). It's been with me, comforting me and giving me a soft place to lay my weary head through all the trials and tribulations of growing up, moving out and moving away. People often say that it is getting too old and I would need a new bed anyway soon but if I wasn't getting married I probably wouldn't give my bed up for a long time.

I also wonder, with my poor record of sleeping, how I will ever get used to sleeping in the same bed with someone. I'm not sure if this topic is slightly embarassing to write about or not but face it, most people either do it already or wonder what it would be like, right? What if Reuben snores like crazy and I am never able to fall asleep?? The problem is, that he says he can fall asleep anywhere and so I don't think he will have any troubles falling asleep with me in the room. I guess it's just one of those things that I shouldn't worry about until I've actually tried it and it doesn't work.

I love to sleep. Most people do, don't they? I grew up sleeping in till 10 on Saturdays and I always seem to be slightly tired and ready to go to bed at a moment's notice. Weird? or Normal? I'm not sure. What do you think?

Anyway, life is full of moments when we move on and I guess I just have to face facts and move on from the most comfortable bed in the world in 22 nights!

Exhausted

Why can't I be one of those people that sleeps through anything? I hate to complain but I just want to describe my night.
I fell asleep around 10pm, I guess. It's always sort of hard to know what time I finally drift off after my last look at the clock. At around 1:30am, I wake up to some loud talking upstairs and lots of walking around on the creaky floors. So I go to the bathroom and fall back asleep. An hour later, I am woken up again by really loud talking and some bass from a CD or radio. There is lots of walking around. Thankfully, after about 15 minutes the noises die down and I am able to fall asleep again.

As I walk to my car, at 5:53am, I first notice that I am going to have to scrape my windshield, that it's pretty cold out and ... what's that light glinting off metal ... what? ... there is a car parked behind me. I have to unlock my door, put my stuff in the car, go back to my apartment, unlock the door, find my landlord's phone number and trying not to sound too frustrated I listen to their phone ring both through my ear and through the floor above me. Finally, my landlord answers and I explain the situation. It takes him a good 5 minutes to come outside to move the car.

I mean, I already start work way too early and have to drive an hour in the mornings, is it too much to ask for a good night's sleep and no obstructions in the driveway. I guess I can't have it my way all the time.

Looking forward to an apartment with concrete walls.

Thoughts on Stress

When I start thinking about all the things that are happening and that need to get done in the next 7 weeks, I can hardly breathe and my shoulders get all tense. You've heard right, stress is not healthy! I try not to but it's so hard when there is so much to think about. Reuben and I try to make lists, writing things down as much as possible. This week we will be meeting with my Uncle Keith (who will be officiating the ceremony), Rob and Anita Helder(our caterers) and Rev. Huijgen for our last pre-marriage class. Then on Friday we are driving down to Ottawa with all of Reuben's earthly possessions. On Saturday we will be looking at the apartment we have hopefully rented, hanging out with our friends from southern Ontario who have come to Canada's capital to enjoy Winterlude and Reuben is also planning on going to skiing with Mike Broersma (although I'm not sure how that is going to work out). I'm supposed to be flying home on Sunday night and leaving my fiance to start his first day of work on Monday but the flight loads are pretty full already so I may have to fly home on Monday morning or catch a ride back with someone ... hmmm... that's a good idea, I should look into that. (That just popped into my head).

Last weekend, we spent all day Saturday looking at apartments. Finally, we decided on the first one we looked at because it was $100 cheaper than anything else and it was still a decent apartment. My sister, karin and her hubby live on the 9th floor of the building. We'd be on the 7th floor. We'd have an amazing view of the Ottawa River (like I had before)!!!:) And the kitchen is a little bit bigger than most. Unfortunately, the bathroom is fairly small. But having a bathtub makes up for that. I really miss not having a bathtub in the place I am in right now. I'm a bath person at heart. I guess I get that from my Dad. The building also has squash courts and an exercise room so maybe we will get up enough energy to get fit!:)

I have to be out of my current place by March 1, so we will probably do the move on Feb 24. Reuben won't be able to help move out as he won't be able to take the Friday off, my Dad will be driving a truck down to pick up my stuff so if any of you, reading this, is willing to add some muscle that day, we would really appreciate it!:)


Anyway, that's just a few of things happening in our lives and I've hardly even mentioned all the other wedding stuff that needs to happening in the next 45 days but I will leave it at that. Hope I didn't stress anyone out!

Definitely Ottawa

Well ...we're going. Last weekend Reuben had an interview with James Farrow of Farrow Architects and he was so impressed he hired him on the spot. We hummed and hawed about it until yesterday because he had some other job offers, as well (when it rains it pours) but finally decided to start the great adventure.

We'll be starting new jobs, getting married and moving to a new city all in the space of 2 months. That's a little bit crazy if you ask me. We are going to Ottawa again this weekend to look for an appartment. A cozy little abode for the two of us to make into our little nest. The Lord has blessed us richly.

Reuben starts his job on Feb 6. This means we will be living in different cities up until the wedding. I'm a little apprehensive about this as I like having him close by all the time but I also really believe in the phrase "absence makes the heart grow fonder" and think that it will make our wedding day and honeymoon that much sweeter!

We have lots to do in the next 49 days till our wedding. I can't even begin to describe it all. Many decisions to make as well. It's a good thing we make a good team!:)

Oh and by the way, I was right about going to St. Hubert's last Thursday and it was excellent as always. MMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Dinner

It's noon ... 5 1/2 hrs till I'm home in Ottawa. It's a nice, sunny day here in TO so hopefully that means no turbulence on our way up. When I first started flying the turbulence didn't really bother me but now it really does. It's almost like it gets worse everytime. I really hope I can get a seat near the front of the plane, it's always better up there.

Reuben says that he is surprising me with dinner out tonight. Well, he's not actually taking me out. My parents are. But it sounds like he helped decide where to go and he says I'll be happy. My favourite restaurant in the whole wide world is St. Hubert's. Not because their food is super fantastic, in fact I think it's gone downhill over the years, especially the fries. But because it brings back such sweet childhood memories. Actually, let me retract. Their food is amazing. It's not diverse. Basically, chicken, coleslaw, french fries, a toasted bun and the most delicious gravy in the entire world. I always order the exact same thing everytime I go and it never fails to satisfy me. Their coleslaw is about the only kind I'll eat. And normally, I don't like gravy either. Maybe it's because the flavour has been ingrained in me since I was a child.

hmm ... before I started writing that paragraph, I said to myself that I would not start to soliloquize about St. Hubert but the words just flowed out and I couldn't stop. Funny, hey?

Anyway, the other good restaurant in Ottawa is Moxies. It's a great atmosphere. They have great drinks. Their food is always unique. There is something for everyone.

I'm not sure where we are going for dinner tonight but as long as I am with Reuben it really doesn't matter to me. I am so anxious to get on that plane and over to him. We've only been apart for 2 days but as we were discussing earlier; absence sure does make the heart grow fonder.

Reuben's In Ottawa

Reuben's in Ottawa looking for a job. He's had 4 interviews in this area so he thought he'd try his hand at Ottawa architects. No leads so far but today is just his 1st day. I will be travelling there tomorrow night. I can't wait to be home again!

I am having second thoughts about moving to Ottawa, if Reuben gets a job there. I like my job here with WestJet. There are great benefits(flying for cheap) and a good group of people. Most of the time it is low stress. I don't want to have to search for another job. And I am getting used to our congregation and our great group of friends, especially the Bible Study group.

But Ottawa will always be my home. I like it's big city convenience and it's small town feel. I never realized how true that was until I moved to the ever-expanding GTA and felt the never-endingness of the sprawling metropolis as I commute an hour each way to work. Ottawa is expanding too. My old neighbourhood now has enough population to support a small movie theatre and has so many box stores that it's hard to see the surrounding farmland anymore.

I just have to keep being patient about what the Lord has planned for us. I'm just glad for a long weekend.

There's lots of wedding stuff going on. I talked to our florist this morning, who had to revise her quote to a much higher price! Very frustrating...but I've calmed down and accepted it. A wedding is just not cheap no matter how many ways you try to slice it. I am also going to Michael's to buy some scrapbooking supplies so I can start on our wedding scrapbook. Part of it will include a guest book. We had found this chintzy guest book but have decided to return it and just have people write directly on scrapbooking pages. I can't wait to design it. I can't wait to buy all sorts of new stuff.

Well, I'm off.

60 Days - Rambling Thoughts on a Countdown

60 days from today is supposed to be the best day of my life. I'm inclined to believe that it will be true. But I am nervous. I always get nervous though, so this is no surprise. I have been waiting for this day to come forever and now that it is getting so close, time is going by super fast. Whereas, before I sort of felt like if I didn't think about it time would just sort of slow down and the wedding would never come. But now, I don't think I can stop it from coming, it's just barreling on through. Not that I don't want it to come. I'm excited! Marrying Reuben is going to be a dream come true!! Walking down the aisle in my princess wedding dress towards my Prince Charming is going to be unreal! Someone said that waiting for your wedding day was just as good as the marriage itself. I hope marriage is better!

I am an impatient person by nature. I am always waiting for something. A new place to live, a job, a better job, the winter to be over, the hot summer weather to be gone, etc. It's sort of an endless cycle. It's happening with this too. First I wanted to be dating Reuben, then I wanted to be engaged to Reuben, now I want to marry Reuben and then I will want to have children and then I will want our children to grow up so I can be alone with Reuben. Life is a long road. Sometimes, I wish I could just slow down and enjoy the moment. It's hard to do.

I hope that on our wedding day I will be able to slow down and enjoy the moment.