em-belle-ish

Quick Update

2011-05-22T21:22:00.000-06:00

Spring has finally sprung in our part of the world.

The trees finally have leaves!

I am working hard on my first graduate course these days,

but the boys and I did get out to do a few fun things

like a spring walk at the river

and a play date with friends.

I hope your weekend was wonderful too.

It's a YES!!!

2011-04-15T21:36:00.000-06:00

I finally got it!

My acceptance letter to

GRAD SCHOOL!

I am taking a
Master of Education degree in Educational Studies.

I start in May

and I'm very excited

but, not very bloggy :(

Sorry for my silence.

Maybe I'm saving up all my words

for those papers

in my future.

Winter R&R&R&R (Rest, Recreation, Reading, and Rolling)

2011-03-11T18:17:00.000-07:00

We've had enough REST lately with all that sick

and we were itching to get outside for some

RECREATION.

Just in case I was feeling wimpy and wanted

to warm up in the van,

I stashed my

READING

in my purse.

On the way home we got our

hot chocolate and treats 'cause we

had to get in on the real Canadian pastime:

ROLLING up the rim :)

I hope your weekend is bringing you some R&R

(whatever that may be for you).

going tilt

2011-03-03T06:16:00.001-07:00

I am still here,

but I have been rather quiet lately.

The facts are that we have been sick.

SICK for over a month people.

The last bought started with waking up to a "Mom, I puked" at 12:30 a.m.

And an,
"I almost made it."

Sigh. (Aren't you glad that I didn't post a picture here ;)

That ailment passed through all 4 of us and I am the last to recover.

I've resorted to washing my hands with antibacterial kitchen spray and hand soap now:

a girl has got to do what a girl has got to do.

The facts are that we've had a lot of stress lately

coming from a number of different

big things

in our life.

I'm sure that hasn't helped the "sick" thing either.

I have to admit that when bad things happen

in my life

I usually default to feeling guilty

that somehow I caused this

and that I should know how to make it go away.

This thinking, in itself, is not bad.

There is some practical wisdom that can from this type of thinking.

BUT

this thinking becomes a problem for me when it paralyzes me with guilt.

Let me illustrate:

A few weeks ago, the sweet ladies at our Ladies' Bible Study asked me to share

the story of our youngest son's birth and how God healed him.

I asked them if I could share another time because I wasn't up to it.

I didn't want to share because #1 it was likely going to make me cry (who likes doing that in public?)

and

#2 that whole situation didn't go the way I wanted it to. Right then, it didn't seem like much of a victory testimony.
You see,

I wanted him to be born with no complications and to be able to come home right away healthy and whole.

Instead, he was in the hospital for 25 days, had two blood transfusions, and was on Oxygen for 6 months.

I have carried a lot of guilt about that.
That's why I really didn't want to share.

It was a rough journey for all of us.

It was painful emotionally, financially, and spiritually.

During that time we met many
people who were going through even more painful circumstances with their little ones.
The Bible is filled with people who were healed instantly.
Why wasn't my faith big enough or strong enough to make that happen for my baby?
And that is the guilt in a nutshell.

This could get really theological right about now.
I could be opening up a big can of worms by speaking this publicly.
But I hate feeling like a fraud or hypocrite.
Facing the facts is the quickest way to bring about change.
So, I'm putting my brave on
and facing these facts publicly.

Here is what I believe God showed me this morning.
I saw myself in a pinball machine.
I was being bopped around haphazardly
between
a lot of either or situations that I had set up
in my own thought patterns.
Either God heals baby in the way I had imagined
or my faith is null and void.
Either God provides for us in the way that I had imagined
or my faith is null and void.
Et cetera, et cetera.
I was going tilt.

Get the picture?
It's noisy and unpredictable in that pinball machine.
It's stressful in there.

And then I was reminded of God's Word in Psalm 121:
"I lift up my eyes to the hills,
From where does my help come?
[I am letting God take the lid off my pinball game, and I am looking up
to HIM. He is where my help comes from.]
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved,
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper,
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore."

Looking back, my life has not
always gone the way I had wanted it,
but God has always kept me.

God did heal my son. He is healthy and whole and FULL of life.
And that is a victory testimony, isn't it?

I am purposely going to change my gaze from being on how I want things to go
to looking to Whom my help comes from.

It's already feeling a whole lot more peaceful in my soul.
I don't know exactly how He is going to do it, but He is going to keep me now and forevermore.
Amen (which means: let it be)

Subtle St. Patrick's Mantle

2011-02-21T11:05:00.001-07:00

Last week I had a long awaited shopping day with a friend.

She surprised me by buying me these scented green lovelies.

I played a little and finally settled on arranging them on my mantle.

Now we have a little green

to give a subtle nod to St. Patrick

and our soon coming spring.

tulips

2011-02-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

I have been fighting sick for the past few weeks.

My sweet friend brought me these to

encourage me.

I am feeling better and I am enjoying these :)

Thank you Marlene.

100 Day

2011-02-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

We are often told to count our blessings.

Today we counted 100 :)

My Second Grader is ready to roll with

100 Hot Wheels for "100 Day" at school.

Happy 100 Day!

Valentined Winter Wreath

2011-02-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

I love my twiggy winter wreath.

I purchased it at a local store.

I am sure that I will get my money's worth out of it because

the length of our Canadian winter

allows me to have it up for about half the year.

But I thought that I would add a little Valentine love for the next couple of weeks.

So, off to the dollar store where I found these babies:

These are glittered Styrofoam hearts stuck on wire sticks.

At first I weaved the sticks into the wreath.

But the white wires were distracting.

So, I pulled the heart off the stick and popped it right onto the twigs.

Happy Valentines Day.

Remember to hug the ones that you love cause life is precious.

Goodbye Ads

2011-02-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

Just a little FYI

an apology.

I just took down the Adsense ads.

I am sorry if any of the ads posted on em-belle-ish offended you.

It was an experiement to try them

and in the end

I decided that if I am going to offer space to advertisers that

I would like to have some say in the content of the ads :)

Handy Dandy Home Planner

2011-02-05T17:04:00.001-07:00

Here is my "Handy Dandy Home Planner!"

(Anyone else ever watch Blue's Clues? :)

My sections are:

week plans

to do

groceries

big city shopping trip list

bills

school

church
books/DVDs lent and borrowed

I made my own templates using Microsoft Word tables.

I was so inspired, that I even made a twin binder for substitute teaching.

I am feeling very happily organized. Thank you A Bowl Full of Lemons.

I am linking up here.

I Painted My Shoes

2011-01-29T19:08:00.006-07:00

I love these shoes:

except for this:

I wore them once and the paint came off the toes... so I used a Sharpie to try and camouflage it.

Not so good :(

When I saw Sugar Bee's shoe project a while back

the wheels started turning.

I threw caution to the wind this week

and

PAINTED MY SHOES!

I used this liquid metallic paint by Modern Masters.

I picked it up at a local paint store. It is intended for walls.

This was after one coat.

After a few touch ups:

What do you think?

Wear them or toss them?

Linking up to: Under the Table and Dreaming
Sugar Bee's Take a Look Tuesday
Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint Party

Back to School: the substitute

2011-01-27T04:10:00.000-07:00

picture courtesy of scienceblogs.com

I've been teaching for almost ten years

but
I haven't done a tonne of

substitute teaching.

For the last little bit, I've been almost full timing as a sub.
OK, sometimes my heart races a little bit - but for the most part it has been great.

What I have discovered is that I really love the kids.
I thought that it would be hard getting to know the students
if I were only with them once in a while.
But it's working out that I am just getting to know
a whole lot more kids
than I would if I had a homeroom.

So I'm putting more of my creative energies into the classroom these days
but I'm still thinking about you my bloggy friends.

I've been hoping to get to a pair of shoes that I really love.
Maybe I could give them a touch of Sugar Bee.

She modge podged shoes people! And they are gorgeous!!!

I'll keep you posted when I get brave enough to jump in on the shoe project :)

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

2011-01-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

I have been up to:

1. A lot of subbing :) A new adventure every day.

2. Trying to keep up with all my daily duties.

3. Completing the application for a Master of Education program.

4. The 21 Day Organizing Challenge.

#3 went in the mail today. Holy moly, I am really doing this.

I think I can I think I can I think I can.

Day 17 Foiled... Maybe 18 too

2011-01-20T23:21:00.001-07:00

So I haven't forgotten the challenge.

But the mail centre and the keepsake/memento organization are just going to have to wait because

I have been busy wracking my brain

and banging on these

in order to fill one of these.

I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime you can check out what all the other lemon ladies are accomplishing

at A Bowl Full of Lemons.

Day 16: Getting the Twins out of the Fridge

2011-01-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

I love twins.

Dr. Pepper and I were hoping for twins.

BUT

not these kinds of twins:

No wonder the Fridge was so full.

But Toni at A Bowl Full of Lemons to the rescue.

Today's challenge is the fridge.

Here is what I started with:

I unloaded, deconstructed,

scrubbed and rebuilt the fridge.

I am checking Day 16 off my to do list

and linking up with all the other challengees

at A Bowl Full of Lemons.

Day 15: Medicine Storage

2011-01-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

We store our meds

up high

so they are out of little hands' reach.

So, this is the system that I fine tuned this weekend when

Toni gave us the hint that meds would be coming up.

No before pics, but imagine the basket with A LOT of bottles and bandages etc

mish moshed together.

I wanted to keep the basket,

but I wanted to categorize into kids' meds, cold meds, bandages etc.

So,

I used Ziploc freezer bags to categorize

and now I have my medicine file folder style.

I am loving it.

Said Basket.

Notice Dr. Pepper in the background. He's cooking supper.

I'm a blessed lady :)

Kids' Meds.

Yes, I am doing this while I am waiting for supper to be done.

Table is set :)

Thermometer with accessories.

Natural Remedies.

Zippy medicine folders :)

Up Up and Away

on the top shelf of the pantry.

Day 15 Done.

I'm linking up at A Bowl Full of Lemons.

Thanks for looking.

Day 14: Under the Bathroom Sink

2011-01-16T22:37:00.000-07:00

Yahoo, I got this one done on Saturday. Here is proof:

Before:

This area was hard for me to keep tidy until I started using this plastic drawer set. I keep all my extra supplies, toothbrushes, deodorant, razors in it. I just tidied up the drawers a bit.

And here it is now.

Day 14 Complete.

I'm linking up at A bowl full of lemons.

I'm Catching Up: Day 13 & Day 1

2011-01-15T20:10:00.001-07:00

Today's challenge is the medicine cabinet.

I don't have one

so I worked on this tray that I keep all my beauty potions in :)

I emptied it out, tossed a few things, wiped down the tray and bottles

and Voila:

OK, it's not stunning, but it's clean.

Since I missed the junk drawer challenge

I did penance today and

organized under the bathroom sink and the drawers.

Yikes, there was a lot of hair.

But it's all organized and clean now.

Phew.

Fitting the organizing time into my schedule has been a challenge,

but I am really enjoying

grabbing my spices out of my organized spice cabinet

and towels out of my linen closet.

Now to tackle that pantry - yikes!

Happy weekend.

I'm linking up @ A Bowl Full of Lemons.

Drumroll Please.....

2011-01-14T20:14:00.000-07:00

All the entries are in

and we have randomly selected the winner.

Congratulations to

Rachellabella

for winning

em-belle-ish's

first giveaway.

I'll be e-mailing you Rachellabella with the details of how to redeem your prize.

Thank you to everyone who signed on as follower or left a comment.

Thank you CSN for sponsoring our first Giveaway.

All of you are so kind.

Happy Weekend Everyone!!!

Giveaway & 21 Day Challenge Day 12

2011-01-13T22:42:00.001-07:00

CSN approached me

asking if I would be willing to host a giveaway

with one of their sites. After a little research I found that CSN Stores have over 200 online stores where you can find everything from stylish Modern Dining Room Furniture

to cute cookware to chic lighting pieces.

I was impressed by the variety of stylish and interesting products that they offer.

I love the retro school look of this dining set.

Can you imagine all the amazing tablescapes you could create with these?

I think this would make an eye catching centerpiece filled with oranges or pears.

And in keeping with today's theme for the 21 Day Challenge

I picked a stunning salt and pepper shaker set.

My boys would love these. Check out where the pepper is coming out.

LOL.

Truly, CSN offers something for everyone.

CSN is giving away a one-time use $25 gift certificate to use at one of their 200+ websites.

Giveaway Details:

*one entry for leaving a comment on this post

*one entry for being an em-belle-ish follower

*Please Note: this contest is only open to Canadian or USA residents

*Winner will be selected randomly January 14th @ 8 PM Mountain Standard Time

Now on to the 21 Day Challenge: Spice Cabinet

Before:

After:

Day 12 Complete!

Linking to A Bowl Full of Lemons 21 Day Challenge.

21 Day Challenge: Freezer

2011-01-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

Quick Snapshots of my Freezer Before:

OK... here are the before pictures.

It is totally unorganized.

Begone glow sticks, crumbs, and plastic wrap.

I threw out old blueberries and bananas and assorted outdated this and that.

I wiped everything out.

Now: Meat & Leftover Dutch Meatball Soup Drawer.

Bread, pie crust, tater tots, Bacon bits, ice cream and Cool Whip.

Really, that is a strange combination... oh well, we don't eat it at once.

It still doesn't look STUNNING, but it is ORGANIZED and CLEAN.

Ice cubes will be added after the trays have been through the dishwasher.

Thanks Toni. I'm linking up to the 21 Day Challenge here.

Tomorrow, I will be posting my very first giveaway. I'm so excited! I hope you can come back for a chance to win.

21 Day Challenge and Me.... sigh

2011-01-12T21:31:00.000-07:00

In that Gung-Ho feeling

that January brings

I signed up for

this:

But,

I am soooooooo

falling behind.

{Insert mental image of me hanging head in shame}

So I'm running behind the wagon trying to jump back on.

Just wanted to let you know.

PS I have a my first giveaway coming up REALLY soon!

Nothing says LOVE like ... & 21 Day Challenge Update

2011-01-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

Dr. Pepper went out of his way to make my day special.

He baked a Chocolate Fudge Cake.

He flipped burgers in the flipping cold.

He helped the boys put sparklers and candles on the cake.

I'm feeling very loved today.

My boys have given me extra hugs and kisses.

The youngest used his allowance to buy a special DVD for me.

My neighbor to the "south"

brought me a gift that says she knows me well

(bubble bath and a pedicure set)

I've had many personal, facebook, phone, and blogger birthday wishes.

So far, 36 has been awesome.

Thanks everyone!

PS. Here is my bootroom pic taken today to prove that it's still in order :)

I've got to play the "21 day challenge" fairly.

Launching & Landing Pad: My Beloved Bootroom

2011-01-10T08:12:00.010-07:00

I understand that the area that you enter and leave your house from
is called the launching pad. I usually call mine the bootroom. I've been working on mine :)

There was bootroom chaos for most of the day,

but now

there is blissful

organized

peace

in my bootroom.

When we built our house

adding the bootroom was really the

only change we made to

the original plans.

So thankful that

our builder made it happen.

BEFORE: What a mess!!!

AFTER: still packed full... but organized :)

Baskets labelled with chipboard letters on card stock from my scrapbooking stash.

Flip flops and water shoes are tucked away here.

Extra mitts and scarves are stashed here.

Backpacks and all their "fixings" are contained here :) I am soooo happy about that.

I purchased these amazing swing hooks from Grandma's Attic Home Parties a few years ago. Dr. Pepper mounted one high for us and one low for the kids (both mounted in studs). They hold so much stuff and all the members are able to use them independently!!!

Cost: $0 - I used what I had on hand

AND

the BONUS GOOD NEWS is that

the boys still fit into their winter boots & snowsuits!

I am looking for some decorative items to jazz things up, but for now I'm happy that everything is clean and in it's home.

Hooray, I can cross one more thing off "ThE LiSt"

Linking to A Bowl Full of Lemons Week 2 Challenge

Birthday Wishes

2011-01-10T00:00:00.001-07:00

It's my day to blow the candles out.

What should I wish for?