Meet our van

This is a very nice picture of our new vehicle. It's not an actual picture because we still have to pick it up yet, but we have paid for it, and the used car dealer is taking care of switching over the ownership etc. We should have it no later than Thursday, although I'm hoping we'll get it sooner. Ours is, of course, used and therefore not in as good condition as this picture, but I think it will suit us fine. It is a 2004 Ford Freestar with a little over 120,000 kms on it. There are no current plans to provide it with any sort of name.

Of wine touring and new homes...

We're just back from a lovely afternoon of wine touring with some friends. It was the first wine tour we'd ever done, and I quite enjoyed it. The tours were informative, the wine samples flowed freely, and I think a good time was had by all. I would definitely recommend it if you've never gone on one.

I will admit, though, that now that I'm here at home and looking back over the day, I don't remember having any particular moments of revelation. Which feels weird. I think my brain got shut off at some point, and I just went through the day being with the people and enjoying the wine, but not thinking about anything. That is so not like me. I'm not sure if I quite like it.

Anyway, enough being maudlin. In more exciting news, we finalized an offer on a house today! That's right! We're buying a house! It's in Stoney Creek, a lovely little 1 1/2 storey detached home with three bedrooms and a garage. It's perfect for us I think, and we got it for a good price, too. The closing date is Oct 15, and we should have a bit of overlap time from when we get the keys to when we need to move out of our current place, which will give us time to clean and paint etc.

We haven't found a new vehicle yet, though. Hopefully that will come soon...

Easy Chicken & Broccoli

I made this for supper tonight.



I've made this several times before. It's one of my favorite quick and easy recipes. The only thing is that you MUST add salt and pepper or else it ends up totally bland. I usually add two or three pinches of salt (yes, pinches) and about a 1/8 to 1/4 tsp of pepper. Also, I find it works better to wait to add the cheese until you are absolutely certain the rice is cooked all the way through. I don't find the five minutes is quite enough time, so I will often stir it at that point, then let it cook some more. Once it's done, I'll put the cheese on to melt while I set the table to eat and call everyone to sit down. It stays super hot, so you don't have to worry about it cooling down too much too soon after you take it off the stove. DON'T BURN YOUR MOUTH ON THE BROCCOLI!!

Caramelized Beef Skewers

I made these for lunch today.



They were very tasty. They definitely need to be eaten soon after being taken off the bbq because they cool down quickly. If you click on the picture, it will take you to the recipe. I have done this for all the previous food pictures I've posted as well. For the record, I have taken my own pictures of the skewers. However, our computer had to be rebuilt today, and Tim is gone, so I have no idea how to get the program on our computer to get the pictures off our camera. You'll have to wait to see how mine actually turned out.

Also, for all who may be yet unaware, we have decided that instead of fixing our car (which needs a new transmission to the tune of $2,000) we are going to buy a new-to-us van. Unfortunately, Tim is gone for work till next Tuesday or Wednesday, so I am currently driving a rental car until he gets a chance to go out and find something for us. Not that I'm complaining. I get to drive this:



It's a 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt with AIR CONDITIONING!! Anyway, I need to go to bed now because it's late, but I just thought I would share.

Saucy Pepper Steak

I'm in Chatham for the weekend while Tim is out on a run, and last night for supper I made Saucy Pepper Steak.



It was very yummy.

In other news, our car broke the other day while we were on the way to bringing Tim to work. Thankfully, and quite ironically, I had to drop him off at an auto shop where he was picking up the truck for work that had been brought there for service. The shifter on our car stopped working just on the last hill before we got there, and we were able to coast into their parking lot. We have to wait until Monday for someone to take a look at it and give us a verdict, but it looks like we may need a new transmission. Ugh.

BBQ Chicken Packets

Wow! I was so impressed to have three comments already on my previous post! I can't believe people actually check my blog that often.

In honor of that, I'm actually posting two days in a row. It helps that I tried a new recipe for lunch today, so that's my main reason. This is what we had:

Barbecued Chicken Packet


It was quite tasty. When they say 15 minutes on the bbq, they mean 15 minutes. Don't leave it on longer because you're worried about it not being done. I left it on slightly longer, and I didn't need to. Also, we (Tim and I) decided that more bbq sauce would be better as well, or maybe some salt and pepper on the chicken. Either way, the chicken needed slightly more flavor. All in all, an extremely easy meal to make, not at all ingredient-intensive, and I would definitely recommend trying it.

Some yumminess

Isn't it funny how I say I'm going to get better at posting regularly, and then I never do? The problem is that every time I have a spare moment to post something, I'm not feeling particularly inspired. And then, of course, the times when I am inspired, I'm nowhere near my computer, or the kids are up, and I couldn't get the time to post if I wanted.

Anyway, life moves on. We are currently in the middle of a ridiculously hot spell of weather. I was appalled this morning when I heard the weather on the radio, and at 10:30 am it was 24C, but felt like 33C. I haven't left my house since about 11, and I'm a little concerned how much hotter it's going to be now. Even worse, I have to actually get into my car, which has a black interior and no air conditioning, and drive to pick up my kids. Ugh. So much for my shower...

Besides the weather, the kids are doing well. Reuben loves to tell stories about anything and everything, and boy, does he have a lot of words to use up! Kaylee says "Mama" now and has begun making babbling noises, so I fear she is not far behind him. She walks everywhere and even looks like she's about to take off running on occasion. She is sleeping generally better, but occasionally still has a rough night where she's up two or three times. I consider it a good night if she's only up once. (It's an even greater night when she sleeps all the way through, like last night, but those are few and far between.)

I've gone on a bit of a domestic kick lately, which means my dishes sometimes actually get done twice a day instead of just the customary once in the morning. I've also had some fun going through my Kraft What's Cooking magazines, and I've picked out some new recipes to try. I've been getting them for years, and I always look through them thinking, "Oh, that looks yummy. Oh, I should make that." But then, I never do because I'm always missing one of the ingredients. So I decided to go through them and pick out some recipes BEFORE I get my groceries so that I can make sure I have what I need in the house. Maybe I'll have to use that as my inspiration for posting more, letting you all know the new and yummy things I've been making. Here's some pics (from the Kraft website) of the recipes I've tried so far.

Southwestern Stuffed Burgers


Garden Vegetable Salad Stackers


Oreo & Fudge Ice Cream Cake


Chicken Berry Spinach Salad

Nothing

I'm sitting here in my parent's house in Chatham with just me and Kaylee while everyone else has gone garage sale-ing, and I feel like I should be doing something productive like updating my blog. Of course, I just woke up from a nap, so my brain is foggy and not really thinking of anything inspirational to write. As always, I love getting a break from the city to visit my parents beautiful home. They recently purchased a hot tub, so that is adding nicely to the relaxational value of being here. I will admit that sometimes I do wish that I didn't have two children to watch so I could go sit in it and just chill. Maybe then I'd be able to come up with something a little more worthwhile to post...

That being said, even with Kaylee whining at me and pulling on my leg as I sit here, it is so nice to be able to hear birds instead of road noise and see gardens and trees instead of townhouses and concrete. I remember in one of my religion classes at Redeemer that we talked about how the Bible moves from garden to city (Eden to the new Jerusalem), and that is apparently the direction we're all headed. I sure hope that God's city, the new Jerusalem, is a heck of a lot nicer than the cities we humans have made because I find our cities to be pretty doggone crummy and not at all peaceful places.

Anyway, I feel like that was kind of random. My brain is definitely not thinking clearly, even after two cups of coffee for breakfast. And yes, I actually managed to have a nap at 9:00 in the morning after having said coffee. What does that tell you about how tiring my kids are? Kaylee decided not to go back to sleep this morning after her 5am feed, and I was not impressed.

Well, I'm not sure what else is to be said. I can't think of anything deep to say, so now that I've done my duty and updated with nothing, I'm going to go now.

Hebrews 10:25

So I should be going to bed. I've typed up the file that's due Monday afternoon, and I'll proof it tomorrow. I'm tired. But for some reason I decided to procrastinate on sleeping and catch up with blogs, so now I feel like posting too.

I've had some interesting thoughts lately, but of course, never got around to writing them down when I had them. The most recent bouts of thinking have surrounded something I mentioned in my last post about how our church is taking an eight week break from Sunday morning services. We're working through The Tangible Kingdom primer in small groups as an alternative to having regular services. My understanding was that the exercise was supposed to help us lose our dependence on Sunday morning services as our way of doing "church", that we're supposed to learn how to do church throughout the whole week.

Well, I can see how that is a noble purpose, but as tomorrow will be week four and only the halfway point through our "break", I can honestly say, I don't think we're accomplishing the intended goal. There are a number of reasons for this, the main one being that I don't feel like there's been enough of an emphasis put on us as a church body to maintain contact with one another throughout the week during this whole process. Yes, we've been put in small groups. But the groups are very, very small -- as in, Tim and I are with only two other couples. Other than the close friends we already have from the church, we aren't in contact with anyone else from the church, and we haven't been encouraged or given opportunities to make that contact. It's really hard to cold call other people from the church to say, "Hey," when you don't know them that well to begin with except for when you would normally see them in church on Sunday. But at the same time, I miss being able to connect with those people.

That being said, I had originally started out this process being really excited to see what was going to happen over these eight weeks. I'm not that excited anymore. I don't think we're accomplishing what we were supposed to. Frankly, I realize now just how dependent I am on that Sunday morning service, and I don't think it's a bad thing. Yes, we are supposed to do church all through the week, but at the same time, the Sunday morning services have an extremely important place, and I don't think we should be downplaying that. It really is the most convenient time of the week to reconnect with people. Life happens during the rest of the week. People have jobs. Not to mention, there is seriously something to be said for needing that corporate worship setting to experience God in a way that you just can't while listening to worship music in your car while driving.

I have discovered that I desperately need my Sunday morning church services. I think I knew this before -- it was actually a lesson I learned one summer while doing a French immersion program in Quebec where I went five weeks without going to a single church service because the closest church to where I lived was still a good half hour hike in both directions, not to mention the fact that it was a French Catholic church. After five weeks of no Christian fellowship to speak of, let's just say I learned how important it is to keep meeting with other believers. This time around, I had hoped that the small group settings would fill in the gap a little bit better, but I'm afraid that I'm finding it's not quite cutting it. I don't know if it's my group, or the curriculum, or something else, but I miss going to church on Sunday.

I miss it even more this weekend while Tim is away at the All Ontario Youth Convention, and I'm stuck here at home with the kids trying to figure out how to entertain ourselves for four days while he's gone. Our pastor had discouraged us from going to other churches on Sunday mornings as a replacement; well, tough luck. By golly, I'm finding a church to go to tomorrow morning whether he likes it or not!

Anyway, that's my rant for the night. I think I'm finding it particularly frustrating because I just wish I could be at Convention with Tim this weekend, but can't be because I'm still nursing Kaylee. Well. Next year.

Bland and uninspired

Okay, so I was bad and didn't post for a while. I guess life got busy again. I think I was waiting for inspiration, but didn't have anything come to me for a while, and then, I didn't think about doing just an update post. I think maybe we'll stick with bland and uninspired today so you can all catch up on what life has been doing for us lately.

Tim has a new job. He has officially (and finally) quit working full-time for Artech and has gone back to driving for Northland Transport. He is doing long hauls, usually leaving Monday and back Thursday. Some weeks look a little different, but in general, he's gone about three nights a week. I'd prefer if that were down to two, but it has been their busy season with Easter and Mother's Day.

Kaylee is crawling, pulling herself up on furniture, and doing stairs (up, not down). She is also finally getting some more teeth, although has been quite miserable with it. She spent last week dealing with a fever and being utterly inconsolable, but the tooth that's coming seems to be a monster, so I don't blame her for being so cranky. I would prefer if she would go back to her happy self, which she has for the most part, but I'm not going to have any hair left after a while if this keeps up for too long.

Reuben is himself, a very busy two and half year old that has discovered he likes to come out of his bed, and when he wakes up at 6 in the morning, it makes for a very tired Mommy. I'm trying to find ways to keep him occupied from that 6 to 7 stretch so that I can get some more sleep before Kaylee wakes up for the day. Veggie Tales videos have become my friend, and I like that the old VCR's are a lot more child-friendly to use. (I know, my son has already figured out how to make it rewind/fast forward and then play again. It's scary what he can do with technology.)

I am managing. With Kaylee still not sleeping through the night, giving me at the most two or three hour stretches (on a good night), I'm quite exhausted. One night this week, she actually slept from 8:30 till 3:30, solid. I got a five hour chunck of sleep for myself, and I couldn't believe how much better I felt in the morning. What I wouldn't give for her to make that a habit! She's gotten much better at being able to settle herself to sleep when I put her down without me needing to keep my hand on her, so I'm hoping that will slowly translate to her being able to settle herself down through the night as well.

Well, that's all for now. Maybe someday soon inspiration will strike again for another more indepth post. Our church is doing an interesting 8-weeks without Sunday services thing that might provide some thought-provoking possibilities...