First Burgers of 2007

'Twas the first day of real Springtime and the Rachel sat outside

To eat her cheese and crackers at noon by building's side

The lunchtime sun was glorious, bright and cheery warm

On days like this a lunch outside will surely be the norm.

The Rachel came home happy, full of lots of vitamin Ds

Absorbed from being outside in the bright and cheery breeze.

The Rachel and the Mike were feeling summer's promise

They thought, I know one supper which for months has been amiss.

And so the rusty shed key was taken from its spot

And they rolled out the trusty Barbeque which for so long was forgot.

Out came the buns and burgers, they were prepared with glee

For the first barbequed meal of 2007 for this young family

Alas, the buns were freezer-burned, the patties, they were dry

The mayonnaise was weirdly colored, its smell had gone awry.

Yet the Rachel and the Mike, ignoring the substandard taste

They ate their stale burgers, they would not let them go to waste.

For now we know that whatever the case, any burgers from now on

Will be much better than last year's leftovers which thankfully are gone.

What was I thinking

Somehow, someway, Mike got me to play Medal of Honour with him tonight. While he didn't manage to keep me playing for as long as he might have liked, I think he enjoyed hunting me down while I was running around blindly with a bazooka, hitting walls, falling off buildings, and getting stuck in closets.
I have a feeling those hundreds of hours of playing in university may have given him a bit of an edge. I'll have to pull out the Boggle and show him a thing or two :)

Must ... post ...

It's almost the end of March already - winter has come and gone and the summer birds are seeping back into the treetops. All the snow is melted off our property, even the mountain on our front yard. Thankfully, it didn't all drain into our basement, which, being in an old house in the spring for the first time, I was a little afraid of. The next challenge for us is to find ourselves a new car. Despite how good the old Escort has been to us up until her 250,000th odomebirthday, she's starting to sound a little too unsafe for the number of daily kilometers she does on the highway. So far we haven't had any luck winning the car from Tim Horton's Roll up the Rim - well, no luck winning anything for that matter.
Tonight, we're having four people over for dinner, and we have no idea who they are. They will just show up at our door at 7:00, and we hope to enjoy a tasty Dutch-Indonesian meal with them, complete with satay and kroepoek, or Krupuk Udang Komodo according to the package. This is all organized as a "Mystery Dinner" through the school for a fundraiser. We are looking forward to it - I just wish we had another dining room chair. I hope they aren't expecting things to be too fancy! Perhaps we will draw straws for the office chair...

Weird word of the day:
HONORIFICABILITUDINITATIBUS
With honour.

Boring, Boring Post

So it's been a while since I've posted - not too much new and exciting going on. We've both been sick with various things, strep throat, ear infections, colds, so we're on his-and-hers amoxicillin. Aww, isn't that cute.
We finished painting our living room last week, and we're quite pleased with the results. It feels like a whole new room, and it didn't even take that long. Give us a call and come visit to see the new look!
We were quite pleased to get hit with some of the snow from the storm which centered on Hamilton a week ago today. Except for the fact that shovelling the driveway with a fever isn't the nicest thing in the world, it was nice to get some real winter action in and see what our area looks like buried under snow. Of course, it's looking pretty miserable out there now that it's warmed up and even rained a little. It's a false spring, and I'm not looking forward to it getting cold again but it's sure to happen.
Rachel, signing out

Milestones

Today marks an important Odometer Birthday for our trusty little Escort.

Congratulations on this milestone,

and may you enjoy many more happy kilometers!!

Here she is, parked in the driveway

at exactly 250,000.0 km

Wecome, Hannah Rachel!

This past Friday, 11 lady friends all crowded into our little living room for a shower to celebrate the birth of Rick and Elaine's baby Hannah. A good time was had by all (I hope, anyways!!) playing games and catching up. Hannah was really good, tolerating being passed from lap to lap, and it was an enjoyable evening.

The star of the show(er)

Hmmm.

Sometimes, there are people in this world who make you so mad and frustrated that they don't even deserve to be the topic of a blog post. Therefore, the topic is changing.
So we've had winter for a few days now. It's nice and all but a little too late to enjoy it to its full potential. I've unplugged our Christmas lights already, our furnace seems to be running continually and my kitchen keeps getting filled with snowy bootprints. My hands are dry, my toes are cold, and my nose is runny. When does spring start again? March?
It's kind of that doldrum time of year, when if you're not completely excited about how you spend your days, you begin to wonder if you should find something else. Does anyone out there know anyone out here who needs someone with a Biology degree and an ability to learn? Please let me know.

"I'm old, Gandalf. I know I don't look it, but I'm beginning to feel it in my heart.

I feel... thin. Sort of stretched, like... butter scraped over too much bread.

I need a holiday. A very long holiday. And I don't expect I shall return.

In fact I mean not to."

sorry Danielle, I stole the quote, but you can use it too if you want to :)

Icy

HOKEYDOODLESITSNOWED!!!

Woke up this morning to snow again - this time it actually covers the grass,

and people leave footprints where they walk.

I almost feel like I'm in Canada...

She seems pretty proud of her handiwork

Once Upon An Apology

Once upon a time, there was a negligent blogger. This blogger avoided blogging for a whole month. At the end of the one month hiatus, instead of discovering that blogging ideas were bursting out of her brain, the poor blogger found herself with an empty screen and an empty imagination. And the poor blogger apologized to what few readers remained, and blamed it all on the inappropriate non-winter weather and the difficulty of typing on a new keyboard.

Yup, not too much to report over here. Hmm. Christmas came and went rather quickly this year, owing to the busy-ness of the season and the lack of vacation days. I had two Fridays off work over the "holidays", which were spent driving here and there, opening presents, and sharing much-enjoyed fellowship with family and friends. I experienced my first retail Boxing Day from the cashier's point of view, I went to bed at 11:40 on New Year's Eve, and I missed the Great Lindor Clearance Event. Although I do have to admit, there were many other great chocolate deals which I gleefully took advantage of.

Before going any further, I need to congratulate Rick and Elaine on the birth of their first baby, a little girl named Hannah Rachel. She is a cutie and growing like a weed. And I must say, she has quite the nice middle name! Sorry, no pictures - I was going to take some at the baptism last Sunday, and I knew I was forgetting something, and unfortunately it turned out to be the camera. It's tough to take pictures without one of those.

So now, the middle of January approaches, and life quickly settles into its normal routines again. Well, routines that I am accustomed to now, yet it is striking when you consider how quickly life changes. A few short years ago, life was busy with homework, tours to New York City and Quebec City, and high school graduation. There were big decisions to be made about post-secondary education and areas of study. Then came years of hard work and university fun with dorm-mates and friends, staying up to wildly abnormal hours in the morning and doing crazy things, learning about life and love, meeting new friends and future husbands, while at the same time working hard at our chosen disciplines. Now all of a sudden, we're immersed in our curret careers (wherever that may have taken us) and surrounded by weddings and babies. How did this all happen? Life seems to be a whirlwind of change and sometimes it makes me feel a little dizzy. What does God have in store for our lives next? How would He have us obey His perfect will for us in the situation we now find ourselves in? Life cannot become so busy that we do not have time to seek.

Incline your ear and come to me

Listen, that you may live.

And I will make an everlasting covenant with you . . . .

Seek the LORD while He may be found;

Call upon Him while He is near. . . .

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

so are My ways higher than your ways

and My thoughts than your thoughts . . . .

For you will go out with joy,

and be led forth with peace

Isaiah 55