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www.notafrica.blogspot.com
See you over there!
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Quick Post
For those of you who read this and don't live in my hometown, we have been getting more snow in the last week than I can remember. From what I've heard, the last big snow like this in our area was 1977!
Anyhow, last week the schools had three snow days in a row (I never had that going to school, ever) but of course, being the nerdy homeschooling mom that I am, we didn't get a snow day...not a single one. We just plowed right through working like busy little beavers. You see, I have this day-book for homeschooling and by this Thursday coming, we have some deadlines to meet. Ethan has to have completed Lesson 66 of his math, Grammar needs to be done etc...so there's no time for nonsense. I have things on a list that must be checked off (this is the Type A portion of my personality coming out...)
Anyhow, we've gotten over four feet of snow in the last week, actually, almost five feet. That's pretty darn good for balmy south-western Ontario. It's been a beautiful white wonderland out here and I have loved being "snowed in." Turns out I'm becoming a bit of a hermit. How can I tell? When I look ahead to a week and see that we don't have to be anywhere at any time and I sigh a huge sigh of relief. Officially a hermit. Sad but true!
If I don't post between now and then, have a very very Merry Christmas and may the blessings of this season remind you of the Greatest Blessing ever ~ the gift of a Saviour!
Anyhow, last week the schools had three snow days in a row (I never had that going to school, ever) but of course, being the nerdy homeschooling mom that I am, we didn't get a snow day...not a single one. We just plowed right through working like busy little beavers. You see, I have this day-book for homeschooling and by this Thursday coming, we have some deadlines to meet. Ethan has to have completed Lesson 66 of his math, Grammar needs to be done etc...so there's no time for nonsense. I have things on a list that must be checked off (this is the Type A portion of my personality coming out...)
Anyhow, we've gotten over four feet of snow in the last week, actually, almost five feet. That's pretty darn good for balmy south-western Ontario. It's been a beautiful white wonderland out here and I have loved being "snowed in." Turns out I'm becoming a bit of a hermit. How can I tell? When I look ahead to a week and see that we don't have to be anywhere at any time and I sigh a huge sigh of relief. Officially a hermit. Sad but true!
If I don't post between now and then, have a very very Merry Christmas and may the blessings of this season remind you of the Greatest Blessing ever ~ the gift of a Saviour!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Brotherly Love
I was just answering emails a few minutes ago when my brother popped up in the Instant Messaging to have a chat with me.
Below is our chat word for word. Who else can you have a conversation like this with other than your own brother. This is why God gave brothers.
Brother: Loser, why haven't you answered my email?
Me: I'm getting to it right now, dingleberry.
Brother: Faster....my time is valuable.
Me: w.r.i.t.i.n.g.....v.e.r.y......s.l.o.w.l.y........
Brother: you are so dead when I see you next....
Me: I very much look forward to our next meeting....fartface.
Brother: You suck. Your email is going in the trash (my email was about Christmas gift ideas)
Get lost and leave me alone.
Me: Merry Christmas.....smooooooooch.
Brother: And to you and your family!
Seriously, now, who do you get to call names like that and know that on the other end of the message, they are laughing as much as you are. And when all is said and done, you love each other just as much as you did before -- may be even more.
I don't write much about my brother. He's 40 and I'm 34 (although you may not be able to tell that by the maturity of our messaging). He is one of my most favourite people, but don't tell him that. He never reads my blog so I can say whatever I want about him and he'll never know.
It is a very good thing to have an older brother. They push you, irritate you, defend you, throttle you, drive you around, drive you crazy, give you advice, give you punches in the shoulder, and love you like no one else could -- at least, my brother does.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Freedom Four
In school yesterday...
Me: "Jack, it's time to do your reading."
Jack: "I don't want to. I quit."
Me: "You can't quit, buddy."
Jack: "Then I retire."
Me: "Jack, it's time to do your reading."
Jack: "I don't want to. I quit."
Me: "You can't quit, buddy."
Jack: "Then I retire."
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Trip - Part 2
Like I said in the earlier post, Unmentionable and I had this crazy conversation on the way to South Bend that illuminated and enlightened our minds as to each other.
Turns out we are both weird -- but in different ways. We did know that before, (it's pretty obvious) but now we know it in a new way.
Unmentionable is the kind of person who should be in the army. He loves rules, directions, order. He would be the first to volunteer for a job asked by his superior. His motto would be "mine is not to ask why, mine is just to do or die".
For heaven's sake, the more I think about it, the more the man is made for the armed forces. He wears his hair in a buzz cut and gets up before dawn every day because he LIKES it. He may have missed his true calling.
Not so with me.
If he and I stood before a superior officer that said, "I need you to do __________."
Unmentionable's response: Sir, yes, SIR.
Mine: "Why?"
In our discussion, I explained that my first reaction to someone telling me to do something is "Why?" This is what drives me. A need to understand.
Unmentionable is baffled by this. He is absolutely floored that I could utter such a response to a command. To him, this is total disrespect. You do not question authority.
I do. And it is my natural state.
He was horrified. For him, to ask why to an authority figure is the pinnacle of arrogance and disrespect.
I laughed and said....but why?
He just about had a conniption. I tried to explain that it isn't arrogance, just a need to understand. If I don't understand then I won't know why I'm doing it. If you can't prove to me why I should do this and why it's the right thing to do, then I'm not doing it. Wait....that sounded a little arrogant.
But it's so true. My favourite question is why. Throughout highschool especially, I needed to understand. Why do I have do that? Why do I have to wear a long skirt every day to school? Why is my mark so low on this math test? If someone can't back up their position with a decent response then I figured I didn't really have to listen. Yikes.
Isn't that horrible? As we drove through the USA together, chatting about this, I began to realize what an awful teenager I must have been. I had no idea how frustrating it must have been to be an authority figure to me.
We laughed. No, I laughed and Unmentionable shook his head in disbelief. We wondered which of our children would inherit my trait and which would inherit his.
It was a light bulb moment. It made me laugh and it made me sad. Laugh because I think a lot of things are funny and sad because I may have been and still be a very frustrating person to teach, direct and lead.
And that was our conversation. Perhaps it was not that interesting to read but I needed to put it down on "paper" so I wouldn't forget.
The End.
Turns out we are both weird -- but in different ways. We did know that before, (it's pretty obvious) but now we know it in a new way.
Unmentionable is the kind of person who should be in the army. He loves rules, directions, order. He would be the first to volunteer for a job asked by his superior. His motto would be "mine is not to ask why, mine is just to do or die".
For heaven's sake, the more I think about it, the more the man is made for the armed forces. He wears his hair in a buzz cut and gets up before dawn every day because he LIKES it. He may have missed his true calling.
Not so with me.
If he and I stood before a superior officer that said, "I need you to do __________."
Unmentionable's response: Sir, yes, SIR.
Mine: "Why?"
In our discussion, I explained that my first reaction to someone telling me to do something is "Why?" This is what drives me. A need to understand.
Unmentionable is baffled by this. He is absolutely floored that I could utter such a response to a command. To him, this is total disrespect. You do not question authority.
I do. And it is my natural state.
He was horrified. For him, to ask why to an authority figure is the pinnacle of arrogance and disrespect.
I laughed and said....but why?
He just about had a conniption. I tried to explain that it isn't arrogance, just a need to understand. If I don't understand then I won't know why I'm doing it. If you can't prove to me why I should do this and why it's the right thing to do, then I'm not doing it. Wait....that sounded a little arrogant.
But it's so true. My favourite question is why. Throughout highschool especially, I needed to understand. Why do I have do that? Why do I have to wear a long skirt every day to school? Why is my mark so low on this math test? If someone can't back up their position with a decent response then I figured I didn't really have to listen. Yikes.
Isn't that horrible? As we drove through the USA together, chatting about this, I began to realize what an awful teenager I must have been. I had no idea how frustrating it must have been to be an authority figure to me.
We laughed. No, I laughed and Unmentionable shook his head in disbelief. We wondered which of our children would inherit my trait and which would inherit his.
It was a light bulb moment. It made me laugh and it made me sad. Laugh because I think a lot of things are funny and sad because I may have been and still be a very frustrating person to teach, direct and lead.
And that was our conversation. Perhaps it was not that interesting to read but I needed to put it down on "paper" so I wouldn't forget.
The End.
Monday, November 8, 2010
The Trip - Part 1
A couple weekends ago, The Unmentionable and I went on a weekend getaway to South Bend, Indiana.
Through work Unmentionable did, we became friends with a woman who works for the University of Notre Dame in the athletic department. Athletic dept. = free tickets to games. So this sweet friend of ours invites us down to stay with her in her home and attend a university football game. For those of you like me, this means a BIG DEAL to a man.
And it was a big deal.
Last year was the first weekend we did this. We were amazed at what a big deal "game day" is in the States. We are talking HUGE.
I cannot even explain to you the craziness that goes on for a game. A game that happens every other weekend. Every other weekend is a home game in this town and that means that 80,000 people descend upon the stadium to watch the game. Those are just the ones with tickets. There are still thousands of others that just come to the campus to be part of the festivities and the tail-gating.
Tail gating, my friends, is another culture entirely. A strange phenomenon that only happens in the parking lot of a sporting event. I have never witnessed anything like it.
And then there is the actual game. The cheerleaders, the marching band, the national anthem, the airforce jets flying over breaking the sound barrier just as the national anthem is finished.
It's incredible.
And squishy.
And uncomfortable.
Picture sitting a piece of wood with no back on it, the size of a 2x6 board, with 80,000 other people. Your spot on the "bench" is marked by a number. Your number is 4 inches from the next number, so that if you put your bum dead centre on your number, you have a total of eight inches of space before you touch your neighbour. My bum is bigger than 8 inches. Turns out most of the people attending the games have bums even bigger than mine.
But overall, its a cool thing to do.
This year we went again. We attended a hockey game on Friday night and then Unmentionable and sweet friend's boyfriend went to the football game on Saturday. I didn't need to go again. Turns out this is more of a man thing to do. I went shopping. Everyone was happy.
The weekend was so fun. Other than a football game on Saturday afternoon, Unmentionable and I spent loads of time hanging out, walking all over the beautiful campus of Notre Dame (this place is gorgeous!) and eating in different restaurants, just being together.
If you ever get a chance to go and see Notre Dame, it is worth the trip. The University in our home town is beautiful and about 30,000 students attend there. Notre Dame is gorgeous, well-maintained and filthy rich. Only 8,000 students attend there. And the facilities are incredible.
On the trip down, Unmentionable and I had the most enlightening conversation we'd had in ages. This is another post altogether because it was so interesting. It took a good portion of the trip and had us laughing hilariously and completely astonished that we had just discovered this pattern of behaviour in our lives despite that we have been married 14 years.
I'll leave you there, waiting, with bated-breath, for the next post where you discover just how strange and different two people can actually be.
Through work Unmentionable did, we became friends with a woman who works for the University of Notre Dame in the athletic department. Athletic dept. = free tickets to games. So this sweet friend of ours invites us down to stay with her in her home and attend a university football game. For those of you like me, this means a BIG DEAL to a man.
And it was a big deal.
Last year was the first weekend we did this. We were amazed at what a big deal "game day" is in the States. We are talking HUGE.
I cannot even explain to you the craziness that goes on for a game. A game that happens every other weekend. Every other weekend is a home game in this town and that means that 80,000 people descend upon the stadium to watch the game. Those are just the ones with tickets. There are still thousands of others that just come to the campus to be part of the festivities and the tail-gating.
Tail gating, my friends, is another culture entirely. A strange phenomenon that only happens in the parking lot of a sporting event. I have never witnessed anything like it.
And then there is the actual game. The cheerleaders, the marching band, the national anthem, the airforce jets flying over breaking the sound barrier just as the national anthem is finished.
It's incredible.
And squishy.
And uncomfortable.
Picture sitting a piece of wood with no back on it, the size of a 2x6 board, with 80,000 other people. Your spot on the "bench" is marked by a number. Your number is 4 inches from the next number, so that if you put your bum dead centre on your number, you have a total of eight inches of space before you touch your neighbour. My bum is bigger than 8 inches. Turns out most of the people attending the games have bums even bigger than mine.
But overall, its a cool thing to do.
This year we went again. We attended a hockey game on Friday night and then Unmentionable and sweet friend's boyfriend went to the football game on Saturday. I didn't need to go again. Turns out this is more of a man thing to do. I went shopping. Everyone was happy.
The weekend was so fun. Other than a football game on Saturday afternoon, Unmentionable and I spent loads of time hanging out, walking all over the beautiful campus of Notre Dame (this place is gorgeous!) and eating in different restaurants, just being together.
If you ever get a chance to go and see Notre Dame, it is worth the trip. The University in our home town is beautiful and about 30,000 students attend there. Notre Dame is gorgeous, well-maintained and filthy rich. Only 8,000 students attend there. And the facilities are incredible.
On the trip down, Unmentionable and I had the most enlightening conversation we'd had in ages. This is another post altogether because it was so interesting. It took a good portion of the trip and had us laughing hilariously and completely astonished that we had just discovered this pattern of behaviour in our lives despite that we have been married 14 years.
I'll leave you there, waiting, with bated-breath, for the next post where you discover just how strange and different two people can actually be.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
New house.
Finally! I've finally posted a few pics of our new place. Sadly, the pics are pretty small. If you know how to make the pics on a blog bigger without making them fuzzy, please let me know.
Time for the tour...
School Room (hard to tell but it's a nice bonus room over the garage/family room)
Laundry Room (which I love!!)
Dining room
Kitchen
Family Room
That's all I have for now. If you want to see it in real life, feel free to pop in.
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