This morning I left the house for work, a tad late like usual but not too concerned because I always manage to swipe in by 7:30. However, this morning was not a swipe-in-by-7:30 morning, although thanks to my wonderful Dad, it was a swipe-in-by-7:45 morning. (thanks so much for the ride!!) Our trusty little Escort has been taken away from us to the Car Hospital. He is scheduled for invasive surgery tomorrow sometime, and with light pocketbooks we anxiously await the prognosis. The doctor has estimated that he may be able to come home as soon as tomorrow night, where we will continue to keep the utmost care of him, perhaps even giving him an oil change and purging the randomness which somehow accumulates during the winter. He's been so good to us for so long that I guess he just had to give in and break down. Goodbye Escort
Today was a different day at work than usual. When the first truck arrived at my receiving door at 8:30 this morning, it was quickly discovered that the dock plate had somehow become broken from the time I left yesterday to the time I got to work in the morning. I don't know how many people know how a dock plate works, because I certainly had no idea before I started working as a receiver, but basically, it's a large metal platform found directly behind the large roll-up metal door. It can be popped up so that a ramp will flop out and onto the floor of the delivering truck, allowing skids to be brought into the warehouse. Well, the dock plate wouldn't stay down like it usually does - it kept popping up and flipping out the ramp. This being somewhat of a safety hazard, we had to develop a system where something would sit on top of the dock plate that was heavy enough to keep it down - it needed to be something big, much bigger than me, because if I stood on it, it would pop me off. Even two people had trouble keeping it down. The best thing was the forklift . . . oh the dreaded forklift which I have been ignoring for four months. I had to learn how to drive it today. I have to admit, it was not an in-depth lesson or anything, and I basically just drove it forwards and backwards for each delivery, but it was a confusing thing to drive, not like the old tow motor at Tiggys (not that I was wonderful at driving that either, but it was at least a little more like driving a car). This forklift is driven standing up, turns on the rear wheels, and has a joystick for going forwards and backwards and a crank for going left andright. To drive it requires skills similar to patting your head and rubbing your tummy in circles at the same time. Unfortunately, I am not even coordinated enough to clap in rhythm while singing, so as you can imagine, I wasn't so good at the steering aspect of things. But I must admit it was the first day, and it would be cool if I could someday drive that thing like a pro. 
Yesterday afternoon, I wandered around Woolco Plaza (or Mountain Plaza to those not interested in nostalgia and Canadian patriotism). I was officially there to stock up on essentials from Dutch Toko: nasi goreng spices, sambal oelek, boillion cubes, a dish brush. However, for old time's sake, I decided to wander the mall and see what had changed. I sadly discovered that Woolco Plaza has spiralled downward into a discount oblivion, full of discount stores selling ill-fitting clothes, suspicious eating establishments, and "stuff" stores selling everything from tiny pencil sharpeners to cheap pots and broken cutlery sets. I did find a few items of interest, one being chocolate covered coffee beans, and the other being squishies that light up when 
you squish them . . . But, the point of my post being "a rare event", I feel I have to mention that I managed to drive from Woolco Plaza to my parent's home on a Saturday afternoon without stopping even once, except almost completely at a stop sign. This, being a trip down the dreaded Upper James, is an extremly rare and perhaps even surreal event which merited a mention on my blog.
So, I sat down in front of the computer in a curious, creative, and perhaps somewhat mischievous mood. Have you ever wondered what people would look like if they didn't have a nose? Have you ever wondered what your sisters would look like if they didn't have a nose? Well, I did wonder, so I thought I'd try and figure it out. Voila, Danielle and Lauren, sans noses . . .
Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Watson went camping. About two o'clock in the morning, Holmes awakened Watson and said, "Watson, look up into the sky and tell me what you see."
Watson replied, "I see millions of stars."
Holmes said, "And what does that tell you, sir?"
Watson replied, "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Theologically, it tells me that God is great and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it tells me that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you, Holmes?"
"Watson, it tells me that somebody stole our tent"
After much anxiety, prayer, and discussion, and after a few roller-coaster weeks of interviews and job offers all over south-central Ontario, a very difficult choice has been made, and Mike and I are very pleased to announce that he has accepted a teaching job at Heritage Christian School in Jordan, Ontario. He will most likely be teaching Grade 6, and we will be moving out to the St Catherines area some time during the summer. Now that this one first major decision in our lives as a married couple has been made, we have a direction to head and some more decisions to make about where we will live, what church we will attend, and other details that come into play when you relocate to a new area. It seems strange and foreign to me, this whole idea of moving away. I don't think the reality of it has really hit me yet - I've lived my whole life here in Hamilton, with my biggest move being to Redeemer, which is not really a big move since it's less than 10 minutes from the Mussche family homestead. A new place to live? A new church? A new community? A new grocery store? No more Bennett's? This first year of marriage living in our little Redeemer apartment has served as a buffer time for adjusting to a new life, and for that I am thankful. I'm not so very good at handling change, and it would have been hard to adjust to the combination of being married AND moving to a new city at the same time. However, I must say that I got used to married life very very quickly, and I think both of us can attest to the fact that we can't imagine it any other way. And so, I'm sure we'll settle in just fine. Southeastward we shall go! 
What a beautiful day! The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, and the line-ups at the car washes were insanely long. It was one of those days where you just need to throw open your windows and enjoy the fresh air! And we definitely did, this morning. Unfortunately, however, we left the windows open and left our apartment, not returning until about 9:00 pm. Unlike the summer, when temperatures remain fairly reasonable at night, at 9:00 on a day in March it is not typically so reasonable. In fact, it is somewhat unreasonable to have your windows open at night in March. When we came home, the thermometer was reading 10.9 degrees. I am so cold.
