[1-post linkbacks to where you pulled a photo/quote when it isn't yours. giving credit where credit is due is nice.]
[2-word verification = crappy. if you find you are getting spammers, etc then activate it for a bit, then shut it off again later to see if you still get that problem. i've had mine off for a while and have only gotten one spammer comment which magically disappeared...]
[3-its uber nice to comment on the blogs you read. i know to hear feedback and your opinion and others like to know you are kicking around on their blog too. but be nice ;) ]
hello day full of so much goodness which will make me more tired than anything.
hello to the surprise of the husband joining us for supper instead of working late into the evening on a friend's house.
hello & goodbye for another week to the tiny tester rental that helps people decide how cloth diapering fits into their lives.
hello cool breeze coming in from my open office window after the evening rain...
hello the end of a busy monday and hello rocking chair to relax in.
life ain't always beautiful
sometimes it's just plain hard.
life can knock you down, it can break your heart...
tears will fall sometimes...
life ain't always beautiful
but its a beautiful ride...
but the stuggles make me stonger
and the changes make me wise
and happiness has its own way of takin its sweet time....
no life ain't always beautiful
but i know i'll be fine
hey life ain't always beautiful
but it's a beaufitul ride...
what a beautiful ride...
my sweet cousin posted this song to his facebook wall today, it is just a few of the lyrics from gary allen - life ain't always beautiful on youtube here.
it's a great reminder that life ain't always beautiful. there will be bumps in the road. forks in the road. road blocks. but getting there? beautiful. the journey? wonderful. it will turn out perfect in the end...
cookies & lists don't often go together but today cookies are in my list so they do :)
- made a triple batch of 'dad's favorite oatmeal cookies' [that would be MY dad, but really they are everyone's favorite in this house]
- triple batch means 36 cookies baked and 51 cookie dough balls freezing.
- that was all before 940am.
- cutest phrase while boy2&3 were 'helping' this morning?
"me lick it mom?"
EVERY.TIME. I stopped the beaters.
[yes it did raise my frustration level after the first 8 times]
- also today - replies to emails. updates to policies. packing/shipping orders. lunch. napping. soccer. [hopefully being WARM at soccer]
- yesterday was similar - emails. city day including delivering/shipping orders. shopping for groceries & early birthday present for boy1.
- those city days kick me in the butt HARD. and by the end of the day i was a mess. exhausted. luckily it was a wednesday and no soccer. although there was yoga, i completely skipped it because i wasn't sure my body could handle anything else and i was right. i seized up and have not felt worse in my whole pregnancy.
- a song came on the radio hope now by addison road. i actually listened and the lyrics blew me away... 'when the world knocks you down, Your love sets me free...'
(VERSE 1)
If everything comes down to love
Then just what am I afraid of
When I call out Your name
Something inside awakes in my soul
How quickly I forget I'm Yours
(PRE-CHORUS)
I'm not my own
I've been carried by You
All my life
(CHORUS)
Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free
(VERSE 2)
When my life is like a storm
Rising waters all I want is the shore
You say I'll be ok
Make it through the rain
You are my shelter from the storm
(CHORUS)
Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free
(PRE-CHORUS)
I am not my own
I've been carried by you all my life
(CHORUS)
Everything rides on hope now
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free
(CHORUS)
Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free
(CHORUS 2)
You've become my hearts desires
I will sing Your praises higher
Your love sets me free
(Your love sets me free)
Your love sets me free
(You love sets me free)
Your love sets me free
Blogs. I have one. Well, more than one. And it looks a certain way. But could look different. Especially if I am the lucky one who wins this giveaway at Aspire. LOVE her design style. Go take a peak...
177] wonderful long weekend with today as the 'extra' day...
178] this 'extra day' which was nice enough to include progress made on the impending to do list...
179] thoughts of only 6ish weeks left until we meet our precious new gem...
180] pink snuggles in church with a newbie [and little kicks for her from her lil friend baking inside me!]
181] the blessing of the husband making supper tonight [although he does need to broaden his cooking horizons because weiners & beans are not on my 'eat as a whole meal' list]
182] reminders to not worry & not be afraid for God will make me STRONG.
183] the May long weekend that always brings rain every.single.year, but the sun shone bright enough last evening to warrant a bike ride...
184] the bikeride that aided us in bumping into friends for a quick chat [before the mosquitos ate us up!]
185] homemade perogies that can be consumed more than once a week without that 'ugh not again' feeling! [the how to is coming - i promise!!]
186] real emails/messages in the inbox each day.
187] a tidy and clutter free house making it easier for showings...
188] date night with my own personal [and handsome] hockey player :)
189] what once was a fear of swings, is now turned into a love of swings...
190] caged [and cute] monkeys
191] a love that grows stronger every day...
192] an eyes wide OPEN feeling after our meeting with the dr. we know what to expect. and we pray and pray... its in Gods hands!
a four year old that perhaps doesn't need to nap anymore but can't make it through a day happy without one and when he has soccer in the evening - doesn't nap. this mamma [me] foresees meltdowns in the near future [for both her and the four year old], really - many in a matter of a three hour span.
a two year old longing for milk, saying 'milkeeee, milkeeeee, milkeeeee mommeeeee' even getting out his own cup out of the drawer - although his mamma [me] is in the process of filling his cup of milk and bringing it to the table for him. this is apparently unacceptable and said milk cup gets spilled all over the floor, the chair and the table. tears and tantrums [for both her and the two year old] and a time out in the crib.
no wonder i have grey hairs [somewhere in there!] and feel exhausted by 8pm.
1] a winner for the giveaway [THANKS MOMCENTRAL CANADA!!] is... Hilary! Congrats :)
2] the SUN is shining and oh wow is it nice after a long week last week of blustery coldness...
3] we are selling our house [totally not in a rush though and won't be taking the first offer to fall into our hands] & have now teamed up with a realtor to help us do so. this has taken a boat load of stress off of me [and what i would have continued to do on the marketing side of it], but has also made me more busier with getting ready for showings and have it perfect. or close to it. and with THREE children AND a pregnant belly, it is quite the challenge. just on sunday we had an open house and i noted to the husband that if i do this ten more times i am sure to go into labour!
4] now 33 weeks. think - size of a honeydew melon. saturday we had a nice talk with the doctor about how to go about a vba3c if we so desire to go that route. we are praying about it. its complicated but in the end, it would be more of a risk to the baby then anything and not a huge risk. 1%. i know scheduling a c-section is the easy route and so many people ask me WHY would you even consider vbac. what a loaded question! when it comes down to it, i have the OPTION to and i'm exhausted and just done with having to answer those questions. i may possibly want you to touch/rub my belly than ask me that question. now those friends who genuinely care and know the whole story and don't impose their strong willed opinion against mine, i am alright talking to them about it...
[photosource]
5] dessert. oh dear. this weekend i will embark on the journey that is a party and whip up a cake to celebrate a certain 4 year old's birth. and what is a party without CAKE? i think boy2 would love another cake like this: [did an elmo rainbow one for his 2nd birthday]
It is absolutely great that you can print and do so very efficiently [also fax, scan and copy], although printing only with the color cartridge is simply unacceptable. Please change your preference and print with the black as well. It is very important in order for me to get the things done that I need to... I know you are full so there should be no other reason for you not to work the way you should. Thank you.
boy3 felt left out last week when boy2 got all the phonecalls for his birthday!
"me talk! me talk!" was all i heard as boy2 would be trying to talk...
so boy3 got his wish and would 'talk' too. perhaps it makes up for boy1's lack of desire to talk on the phone?
Having been through the home-purchasing process before, I appreciate how overwhelming the mortgage decision making process can be. It didn’t surprise me to hear that 51% of Canadian homeowners cite utility costs as the biggest surprise of home ownership. What I thought was most interesting is that nearly half of Canadians are planning energy efficient upgrades in the next year. This tells me that many people are catching on to the fact that investing in energy efficient upgrades to their home can help reduce costs over the long term. BMO wants to encourage and reward these Canadian homeowners, looking to reduce their energy usage, with a special mortgage rate.
For Canadians who meet BMO’s energy efficiency criteria, The BMO Eco Smart Mortgage is a new mortgage product with market-leading five-year fixed rate of 3.89 per cent – a rate significantly lower than comparable green mortgage products.
Here is how it works:
A homeowner downloads the appropriate checklist (house or condo) from the BMO website. The check-list includes things such as: High-efficiency heating and cooling systems, Solar, tank-less or ENERGY STAR qualified hot water system and ENERGY STAR qualified windows, doors and major appliances. If after reviewing the checklist, the homeowner feels their home qualifies; they then contact a BMO branch to talk to a mortgage specialist. BMO will send an appraiser into the home of the consumer to confirm the house qualification.
As part of the BMO Eco Smart Mortgage Blog Tour, I completed the check-list to see if we qualified for the BMO Eco Smart Mortgage and share with your readers the experience, any learning’s or insights about your home, and of course – did you qualify? If not, any thoughts on any small (or large) upgrades you might consider in order to increase your homes efficiency?
Since we built our current home ourselves, we made a lot of these upgrades already - such as a high efficiency furnace [although it is electric, not gas as they suggested], Energy Star qualified air conditioning system, attic insulation rated at R50. The windows we chose were also Energy Star qualified and double pane - although our next house we should probably go with triple pane. Exteriors soors are also on the checklist stating that Energy Star, metal and fiberglass insulated are recommended.
I really like the idea of a tankless hot water system or even the solar hot water system. The BMO checklist says "According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), residential solar water heater systems cost between $1,500 and $3,500, compared to $150 to $450 for electric and gas heaters. With savings in electricity or natural gas, solar water heaters pay for themselves within four to eight years."
Major appliances are recommended to be Energy Star qualified as well. When we moved in, we purchased every appliance new [with the exception of the washer & dryer which are energy efficient as well] and they are all Energy Star ones as well. The BMO checklist notes that "these washing machines use 50 percent less energy and 35 to 50 percent less water than traditional models." If anyone knows me, this is pretty important to me as we do a lot of laundry here and a few extra loads each week for cloth diapers!
On the smaller scale, we also chose low-flow dual flush toilets, and fixtures that were water & energy saving as well.
Want to go through the checklists yourself and have more information on the Eco Smart Mortgage? Go here for more information.
Giveaway!
Simply comment on this post to share your efforts or future plans to make your home more energy efficient for a chance to win a $50 RONA gift card.
Open to Canadians only, ends May 15th. Now *closed*.
Disclosure – I am participating in the BMO Eco Smart Mortgage program by Mom Central Canada on behalf of BMO - Bank of Montreal. I received a gift card as a thank you for my participation. The opinions on this blog are my own.
pinterest is more addicting than facebook. i get lost in it. i dream. i dream of what our next house could look like. we are praying that our next house will be new to us, and not newly built like the last two. the possibilities are endless. & only God knows in the end how its going to work out. in the meantime come walk with me & enjoy the eye candy that inspired me for what the next house could have elements of...
hello friday - it's so nice to see you and the sunshiny day that you have brought us!
one cute quote from the start of the day:
boy2 - "mommy i love you, especially when i get hurt"
what's up for today? take a peak and see... the 'how to' will come later!
it's not the greatest hint but I don't want to totally give it away either! those of you on facebook already know...
[and blogger why must you auto rotate my photos?]
If you had read my blog for a while or stopped by my About Me page, you will know I am a tad crunchy. One of those crunchy habits is to have less garbage. I don't buy pre-packaged snacks, or other over packaged items from the grocery store. I often buy in bulk too. One thing more that I should do is compost. We have a garburator so most of the food waste goes in there to be chopped up and put down the drain...
This video is inspiring, and although I don't think I will make it this far in my journey towards living waste free, it is still something to strive for.
The Johnson family live in California, and the waste they have produced in four years can fit in her hands! Check out their website at TheZeroWasteHome.com.
This is how we do up birthdays for a certain four year old...
Hockey is in the blood around here. And this goalie helmut fits perfectly into our family. It hasn't touched the floor since it came in and I suspect it won't until playoffs are done...
Today is a day when I put all the negative crap piling up in the trash.
Today I will ignore all the stressors in my life and make the important stuff come FIRST.
Today I will not let anyone ruin my outlook on life with their negative/threatening/meanness... [yup some people are MEAN even when they don't think they are doing so. and it makes me mad and makes me wanna scream!]
Today is a day when it doesn't matter if we eat dessert after every meal.
Today is a day that I remember what I was doing four years ago.
Today, four years ago, I got to hold my 2nd born son in my arms.
What a great awesome awesome day that was.
Today, four years ago, boy1 became a big brother and hasn't looked back since.
We love you lil boy2. You are the sweetest loudest hockey lovin 4 year old I know :) I can't wait to see what God has planned for the rest of your life!
prayers for people who need them but you're not sure what for
a friendly wave
a hi how are you to someone 'new' to church but not new to you
crayon creations that's for 'your birthday mom - so i fold it like this and you don't look at it yet' [my birthday is months away but his is tomorrow...]
'love you mommy' from the 2 year old that melts my heart
the excitement of boy2 who gets to be on the blue team and play on the soccer field for the first time after years of watching the older brother play...
sleepy toddler who stays sleepy enough to be brought in from the van to quickly change his cloth diaper so he can finish his nap in his crib.
trying not to NEED things that are wanted. but to only have things that are absolutely needed.
getting away from the temptations of the consumer world. less buying = less garbage = less stuff.
mentions of 'circles' in moms group this morning and the realization that the current circles can be cultivated, not necessarily to grow BIGGER, but to grow deeper...
verse in Luke I read today that mentions giving a portion to God, those who are rich give their portion, but the woman who gave her 2 coins gave ALL she had. I want to be the poor woman who doesn't give a second thought about giving Him all I have. To not hold back...
All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on. Luke 21:4
Prayer for today from here: Father God, you own everything in the heavens and on the earth; please break me from the sinful habits of greed, worldliness, covetousness, and indiscipline. What your Son has done for me is much greater than any of my fleeting and temporary accomplishments. In Jesus' name. Amen.
