10 reasons to like winter

Well, I found myself grumbling a lot today about the advent of winter. It's just not my favorite season. However, I have also had the indisputable privilege of listening to or being around the umpteenth showing of Madame Blueberry. As a result I have "A Thankful Heart is a Happy Heart" running through my head over and over and over again. At some point I have to pay attention.

So, because I could use this whole happy heart thing, and not the grouchy mommy who appears at our house on an all-too-frequent basis I have been thinking of the top ten reasons I am thankful for winter and I will share them with you.

10. No more mosquitoes. This is especially good because Spud has this compulsive need to pick at his bites until they bleed. Over and over again. Oh, and Alana, you don't need to comment and sarcastically ask where he got that from, I know I did it too, but I kinda wanted him to inherit my winning smile and my killer wit, not the weird, compulsive need to pick at anything abnormal on his skin.

9. My deck and my garage can now double as an extra freezer and fridge.

8. I no longer have to sit on the bus and wonder if that lady is wearing a bikini top or if she is just wearing her bra. And nothing else on top. On the bus. In front of my kids. But then I realize that they probably don't make purple satin bikinis with lace.

7. I no longer have to wonder what would possess someone to wear just a bra and cut-offs on the bus. In front of my kids.

6. Wintry days are perfect for cuddling up in front of a fire with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate. Unfortunately Sprout would make for the fire like a moth to a flame, knocking my hot chocolate over onto my book on his way. But winter days are still good for thinking about a fire, with a book and hot chocolate while I help my kids paint with shaving cream.

5. Snow is pretty. So are flowers, I miss flowers

4. The steady stream of unwanted door to door solicitation pretty much dries up in the winter. The only ones brave enough are the missionaries (of all faiths) and I have sympathy for them. I might even give them a cup of coffee. But it'll depend on how well this whole happy heart thing holds up.

3. Way Cooler no longer has to mow the lawn giving him more time to watch hockey play with his kids.

2. Tobogganing. Because there is nothing like careening down an icy hill on a thin piece of plastic (with no steering) in -20 degree weather to say, I'm a crazy Canadian.

1. And the number one good thing about winter, it only lasts for 4-5 months!

Sunday Stuff

So, it is Sunday and this Psalm has been running through my head all day, so I want to share it with you!
Psalm 103

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-
3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
6 The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children-
18 with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.
20 Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.
21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.
22 Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

Happy Sunday!

The Geek on a soapbox

I tend to be fairly easy to get along with but there are a few things in life that can irritate the pants off of me. You want to know what some of them are? No? Well it's my blog I'll tell you anyway!

1. Barney

2. People who don't hold the door for the people right behind them, especially when they are pushing the stroller of death.

3. Smoking. If you smoke, I like you, I just can't stand your dirty, money-wasting, disease-causing, litter producing habit.

4. The stigma surrounding depression, and Postpartum depression. People with this disease cannot "snap out of it" or "just choose to be happy." They do not need to "pray harder and everything will be all right." God can choose to heal them but He can also choose to use doctors and medicine.

People with depression need support and understanding just like anyone else with a disease that affects their day to day living.

This now ends the Geek's soapbox rant. It was brought to you courtesy of Blog Day for the Mother's Act. If you need more info please visit postpartum progress. Thanks. Stay tuned tomorrow for further tales from Texas. It's supposed to snow tonight and snow always makes my thoughts turn south of the border!

Raising Men

Yesterday the wheels fell off the bus. It was a horrific day of temper-tantrums, screaming, whining, and the poop didn't hit the fan, but it was finger-painted on everything else. Way Cooler in one of his lesser sane moments when discussing the day with me offered to stay at home and I could go back to work. I kicked him off the computer and had monster.com fired up in record time.

This morning I decided to continue to run my home from home because I realized something important, amidst the constant discipline and refereeing I do, I am not just putting out immediate fires, I am raising men.

I have an awesome (and unbelievably scary) responsibility. My actions now, and every day of their lives will shape the kind of students, employees and husbands they become. They will learn to make their own choices along the way, but Way Cooler and I have been entrusted to raise and train two leaders.

When I look at it this way, the discipline doesn't seem quite so monotonous, the chores I ask them to do take on new meaning and I don't feel as stuck in a never-ending battle of the wills. All my work and prayer will (Lord willing) pay off as they grow up to be productive members of society.

Will they stumble along the way? Absolutely. Might they fall away altogether? I hope not, but they could choose to ignore what I am investing in them now, but that will be their choice in years to come. My job is to do my best now and trust God with their lives as they grow.

I am not just a housewife anymore, I am raising men.

P.S. As I was reading this post it occurred to me that it might come across as saying moms who go back to work aren't also raising their kids. Not in the least. We are all raising future leaders and we all have an enormous responsibility whether we are at home all day or just for part of it.

My New Heros

I have been thinking a lot this week about single moms and the thought it my head is usually one of extreme thankfulness that I am not one. I really cannot imagine doing this alone.

Single moms not only have all the parenting, cleaning, helping, cooking, homework, driving etc that I do, they don't have anyone to step in once in a while like most of us do.

There are no words to describe my extreme thankfulness and relief to have a firm masculine voice remind Spud that we do not bite our moms and then they went off to have a talk. Problem solved. Way Cooler can just never leave again now.

Single moms don't always get that. They may have brothers, Dads, and friends to fill in the gap (and I really hope they do) but some don't, and so they go it alone.

Add to that the grief of a loss of a spouse or the bitter ache of a relationship that could no longer work or the loneliness of being left alone.

Plus, where I live, there is an added worry. Our economy is red-hot. Good for people who work in the oil industry, bad for people who rent as they never know when their rent will go up sky-high or get an eviction notice because their apartment is being converted to a condo. One that they could never afford. So there are many who never know from month to month how long they will be able to afford to shelter their family.

I got thinking of how tough it is for these women, and how much I admire them. If you are doing it alone, keep going! You amaze me!

If you know one, drop her a note, babysit her kids, bring her a meal, take her kids to a ballgame with yours, and let her know she is not alone. She has you.

Blog Action Day

It's blog action day. The topic of the year is the environment. But since I spent my day lecturing Spud and Sprout I am all lessoned out and want to tell you a story instead.

Way Cooler and I went to Texas in 2001-2003 so he could get his PhD. There was a great deal of studying involved during the year but precious little he could do during the summer. So, being the wonderful wife I am I told him to get a job.

Being the good husband he is, he did. Several states away. He worked for the summer at a camp in Kentucky. It truly was a wonderful job, surrounded by nature, on the shores of a lake, in the middle of some of the prettiest country I had seen since Vancouver.

It was a snazzy little camp, with really nice dorm style cabins, a fabulous meeting centre with state of the art sound equipment and video projection. It also had a fully equipped waterfront with a bunch of jet skis and waterski boats.

Oh, yeah, did I mention what they paid him to do? Drive a waterski boat. that's right, they paid him to teach people to ski and drive boat, not only that, they paid him well.

So, it was a great camp. They had 300 campers each week for 10 weeks.

When Way Cooler got there he noticed at meals they used Styrofoam plates, bowls and cups. At every meal. When he asked why they didn't use real dishes and just wash them (like every camp we had ever been at) they told him it was easier this way. When he asked about the environmental impact of throwing out 63 000 Styrofoam plates and cups a summer they said, "oh it doesn't take up any space at all. We burn it."

Apparently, there is no impact at all that way. Umm hmm.

Now that I've got Alyson cringing forever, go do something good for the world!

Have you ever wondered?

Before I had kids, I used to ponder world politics, why there is so much inequity, and what makes a truly great leader. My kids have effectively sucked all my working braincells out and now I ponder the following when I am having trouble sleeping at night

1) Why in a house full of colourful educational toys do my boys prefer to push empty tide jugs around my kitchen island for hours? They call them their orange cars.

2) We can send people to the moon, why can't someone invent a straw sippy cup that doesn't leak?

3) Why is it that children who can go several days without pooping will have several instances in the course of a lunch with someone you barely know in a restaurant without a change table?

4) Was Barney created by someone who really hated his mother and felt a need to punish all mothers?

5)Why is it OK for a 3 year old to listen to Bob and Larry sing for 8 hours straight but if mommy sings a line of a more contemporary praise song it is a fate worse than death for said three year old?

6) Do the people that tell me "Treasure these years, they grow up so fast" think that they are the 1st person to impart that wisdom to me?