Monday, December 20, 2010

Christmas is coming...

This is my 3rd blog - have been blogging since 2005 and I have always posted this at Christmas but it really is one of my favorites:

Because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace."
Zechariah's song, Luke 1:78,79

I love these verses.
This is what Christmas is about. Our Messiah coming to save us.

I am really loving my friend Karina's blog these days (and always :). Beautiful pictures and posts that are making me think. She has been doing Advent readings and I'm really enjoying them.



Can't believe it is only 5 days until Christmas! I'm not feeling too stressed. I don't really have any shopping left and other than getting a couple of things ready for work, cleaning my house and doing some baking I am good to go.

Speaking of cleaning my house... that is my one Christmas wish. *a clean house*
That would be wonderful :)

But if I got one of these - I don't think I'd be impressed:


Although we do need a new vacuum...


And some more fun for you :


Yes Santa - nothing says, "I love you like a new ironing board!"

So cheesy:
Hilarious:

And this for my friend Erica:

Thursday, December 16, 2010

like a child

As I was putting my son to bed tonight, I was praying with him, thanking Jesus for the good day and the snow and for Christmas when he piped in and said, "and thank you that you have Papa."
So I asked if he meant that Papa is in Heaven with Jesus and he answered yes.

We have had such a hard time explaining to him that Papa is with Jesus in Heaven and that we will see him again someday when we die. At times - we've wondered what he understands and if we've explained it properly. When I still don't understand everything myself, how do I explain it to a four year old? But it sounds like he's getting it.

So, that made me smile. And cry, at the same time.

Monday, December 13, 2010

The Winner, baking, and more links! (just cause I can)

The Winner of some awesome Norwex kitchen helpers is Becky!!! Yay for you! (send me your address and I'll mail you some cool stuff)

Today my son and I made some Monkey Munch and Pumpkin Spice latte. The monkey munch turned out pretty well. I used regular white chocolate chips and I have to say, they are not as nice as Epicure Belgian White chocolate. They didn't melt very well and I ended up having to add more butter and then some Belgian Milk chocolate to make it more smooth. But it worked out. My son's favorite part is shaking the bag to spread the icing sugar around :)
The Pumpkin Spice latte was really good too! I didn't use half and half but milk instead, and didn't have whipped cream to top it off but it still tasted yummy. Will definitely be making that again!

This is kind of a random post, but that's life lately!


Some of my favorite songs lately:






Saturday, December 11, 2010

What a week

I don't mean to be a whiner, really I don't, but this is how our last week has been:

Last Friday - baby girl (I know she's not really a baby anymore but she's MY baby) threw up all night long. Literally every half hour. We kept her in our bed and would just hold a towel, or wipes or whatever we had that was still clean under her while she threw up. Poor girl, she had nothing left in her. Finally at about 5 am she was done. We slept for a couple of hours after that.

Saturday -We decorated our tree and house for Christmas, cleaned up a bit and just hung out at home. Then that night my husband and I went to his staff Christmas party. The kids did fine with the babysitter. Supper was fab, party was fun but the chairs were really uncomfortable. At the end of the night, my back was sore.

Sunday - Early morning, baby girl is throwing up again. No church for us. But our son had to go to Sunday school to practice for his Sunday school Christmas program. Thank goodness for my mom who picked him up and took him there. I tried to clean up, make some food and do laundry, knowing that I might not have the energy to do those things throughout the week if this continued. Later that evening little boy starts throwing up. Every half hour. We let him sit on the couch, drink ginger ale and watch Diego episodes until 10 o'clock. Then put him to bed. My husband and I took turns getting up everytime he threw up in the night.

Monday - I started throwing up. Husband had to come home from work to look after the kids. Enough said.

Tuesday - Kids had upset stomachs, but were ok. I was in some serious pain though. Went for a massage while my lovely friend watched my kids. Found out my hip was displaced. (I've had problems with my SI and hips since giving birth to my daughter)

Wednesday - Tried to get into my chiropractor, couldn't. Called my mom and cried. She brought me some painkillers. ;) Went to my RMT who did an adjustment on my back. Could barely walk. My mom took my kids to their daycare so they could have some attention and I took some painkillers and iced my back. Slept the day away :) (anyone who received an email etc from me that day might have been confused - I was pretty loopy) Missed work.

Thursday - Baby girl threw up, little boy had upset tummy. I felt a bit better, did some dishes etc, but probably pushed it too much and hurt my back more. Missed work again. Then threw up all night long.

Friday - Finally got to my chiropractor for an early morning appointment. Felt a lot better. Actually made muffins with my son. Tidied the house a bit. The kids and I did some colouring and got out some more Christmas decorations. Husband brought supper home but did not eat it.
Then he threw up all night long.

Today - daughter was up at 6am (teething?) is now back down for a nap and my son and I are watching tv. I have a feeling we will not be doing too much today.
I am hoping and praying that this is the end. We have a very busy day tomorrow and I am quite ready to get out of the house, get back to work this week and get ready for Christmas. So many things that I wanted to get done - Christmas photos and cards, wrapping presents, baking, visiting with some friends. My brother and sister-in-law are moving today and we can't even help out.
Two weeks until Christmas! I am so glad I don't have more presents to buy. That is one thing that I was on top of.

*I will do the draw sometime today or tomorrow*

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Christmas, happy things, lots of links aaand a Giveaway!

Big F for me. I did not finish my 30 days of gratitude. Meh, oh well. Move on...
Christmas is coming, our tree is up and we are getting excited! I am done my Christmas shopping and just want to do some baking etc to get ready.

I had a crappy couple of weeks. Might blog about it later but don't really feel like having this blog all about how sad etc I am
Let me say one thing though, one bathroom when everyone is sick is not fun. I really wish we had one more bathroom in this house!

Some nice things that happened to me last week:

I won not one but TWO giveaways on blogs!

The first was on my friend Kim's blog. She made some wonderful things for an at-home pedicure!
I can't wait to try everything! I think I'm going to pick the orange nail polish...
Thanks Kim!

Then one evening after the kids were in bed, I was lurking around on Facebook, saw that Kim had entered in a draw on the Simple Kids FB site and thought - why not? So I did...
and I won! I won one of these awesome playhouses for my kids!
Miss Pretty Pretty Playhouses

Now to choose one that isn't too girly, that both kids will play with AND that my husband and I will agree on...
Being a librarian, I think the Library one is neat, but growing up my dad had a market garden and so this one is pretty cool.

We were all sick with the flu this weekend and a friend brought over some chicken lemon rice soup one night. So sweet of her! Plus that is my favourite kind of soup! That made life so much easier! My husband had to stay home from work yesterday because I was out of commision so having food in the fridge to heat up for meals was so nice! Thanks Connie!

And now... in the spirit of Christmas and to copy my friends Kim, and Erica and Karis who gave away a beautiful hat (check out her website Odd Duck Creations) ....

I am doing a giveaway!!! Because I am not crafty and don't have much creative talent I am going to give away some Norwex (because I sell it and love it). I will do some shameless self promotion in another post about the merits of this wonderful stuff!

But for now in honor of the name of my blog - Washing Dishes, I will give away some of these lovely items to help you wash your dishes better!

So, if you'd like to win, simply leave a comment. And to make it interesting and because everyone else is doing it, answer the question - what is the room you hate cleaning the most in your house?

**I will do the draw on the weekend!**

Good Luck!