Now and Then

This post is about me and my best friend Jen. Jen has recently been diagnosed with Lukemia, but that is not what my post is about. My post is about us. Jen and I have gone to school together since kindergarten, but we werent in the same class until grade 2. So we have known each other for either 15.5 years, or 13.5 years, depending on how you look at it. When we were little, we werent super close; we werent even always friends. We went to the odd birthday party, and played the odd playground game together. Jen was good at tetherbell. I was good at geting hit in the head playing tetherball. Towards the last 2 or 3 years of highschool is when we really started to grow closer. We graduated together, and we even took all the same classes in grade 12! The next year, we both attended CLBI. The only difference is that I was SUPER excited to go, and she didnt want to go at all. We spent 2 years together at CLBI (She liked it, and went back! Go figure!) and we were even on the same missions team at the end of our 2nd year. Together we have served at camp, been to Mexico twice, and despite the fact that we are two very different people, I couldnt ask for a better best friend. Now, I live in BC and Jen lives in Alberta, but we have been able to get together once or twice. I am going to see her in the hospital soon, and am looking forward to being able to be with my friend again! I have included some pictures to illustrate my story.


The first is from a birthday party when we were 7 or 8. There I am, 2nd from the left, and Jen is 4th from the left. Look how cute we are!

This second picture is a no brainer. It is from grad at CLBI last spring. I am (obviously) on the left, and Jen is (obviously) on the right. Look how cute we are!

Upgrade

I changed my look! What do you think? I really like it! I also switched to the new version of blogger. I thought this day would never come, but it has. I think deep down, I am avoiding the idea that I really should clean my room, do some laundry, and wrap some Christmas presents, especially considering it is already Christmas Eve Eve. Ill get it done... maybe after dinner?

At least I had some water!

I think I need to cut back on my caffeine intake. Maybe not. I feel fine. Heres a list of what I have had to drink today.

9:30am Coffee at my house (cream and sugar)
11:45am Tall non-fat vanilla latte at Grab-a-Java
2:15pm Water at the church
3:30pm coffee at the restaraunt (cream and sugar)
4-5pm water during my shift
5-8pm an unknown amount of iced tea during my shift

Then I went home. I havent had anything else yet, but if I do, I will try to make it something without caffeine. I could go for some milk, maybe. And something to eat. Im starving!

For lack of a better title.....

The main reason for this post is that I am stalling because I dont feel like making the trek to the church today. But I HAVE to. More on that later. I also realized that my posting has been less frequent than I meant it to be.
So, this is what has been going on lately:

The church: as mentioned before, I have to go in today, mostly because when I was in on Saturday, my vacumn died. It just stopped working. My other one died a couple monthes ago. I dont know what to do. I have to go talk to... well... someone about it... maybe I will get a new one?? Also on Saturday, I managed to set off the burgalar alarm and lock my keys in the office. And I was only there for 2 hours. What would have happened if I stayed longer, I wonder??

The Restaraunt: I went to our staff Christmas party on Tuesday. John-Mark went with me. I am very glad because I ended up sitting with people I dotn reallyknow, and I mostly just felt awkward, like I didnt belong. I have been picking up more shifts, due to one of the girls being seriously injured in a snowboarding accident. They taught me how to close on Saturday.

My Mom: She has been sick for a while. In and out of the doctors'. She went to the hospital with chest pains on Monday, and they were afraid it was a blood clot in her lung. Dangerous. Scary. So, they sent her home, and she had to sit and be afraid to move until the Abbotsford hospital called to get her in for a CT scan. They didnt call. Back to the hospital, more waiting, an abulance ride, a CT scan, another ambulance, and more waiting. No clot. The fluid around her lungs was infamed. Pluracy, I think they call it. Anti-inflammatories and pain killers. Shes getting better. Quite a fright for me.

My pets: If anyone has met by big, red, fluffy cat, Abe, you know that he is very lazy and docile. Until now. He has become much more agressive, and has taken to attacking the computer screen. When I shoo him away, he attacks my leg. Christmas present exchange with John-Mark has resulted in a new member in our house: a hermit crab named Halden Jr. I love him. He likes to dig and bury himself in the sand. Halden Sr. died last Christmas in Stony Plasin after a tragic Airport-Freezing incident. Halden Sr. will be kept nice and warm.

Oral Health: I had to go to the dentist today. One of my fillings fell out. Right in my front tooth. You know, from when Jen threw a rock and it broke my teeth? $382.10 later, I have nice, unchipped teeth again. My dentist said I'll likely need crowns soon. Unfortunately, I have no insurance, so these fillings will have to last a while. Moral of the story: throwing rocks at each other may seem like a fun way to pass the time, but will end in tragedy. Dont do it.

John-Mark: He went home for Christmas on saturday. We both framed a picture of us as Christmas presents for each other. It was the same picture. Go figure.

Coffee: I went to Have-a-Java and had a vanilla fudge latte. I kind of liked it. I may or may not have enjoyed their comfy leather chairs. I have forsaken all I have aspired to be. But I still love Grab-a-Java. It dodnt mean anything.

Friends: I am going out for dinner with friends from highschool today. It is our annual Select-a-Santa gift exchange. Like Secret Santa, except we pick who we buy for. I am buying for Angela, and Anushka has me. It will be fun I think.

Cars: 36 days until my road test. My instructor told me that he thinks I will be ready by then. This is good. In the meantime, I have the keys to a purple minivan if anyone wants to go for a joyride. Just joking, John-Mark!!

So, that is whats going on with me. I think I have hilighted all areas of interest.
Until next time!!

Architects

It seems as though John-Mark and I have kept up with our holiday-themed creativity. I arrived home from work yesterday to find that he has mixed up some gingerbread dough. Now, we have baked and cooked together on numerous occasions, but this was by far our toughest endeavor.
We managed to roll the dough and to cut it into shapes resembling the sides and roof of a house.
We managed to move the pieces from the counter to the cookie sheet without streching or breaking them (difficult!)
We managed to bake them to a perfect golden brown.
We managed to scrape up just enough sugar to make the best, thickest, stickiest icing ever.
We managed to break my Mom's electric mixer. We stopped beating the icing when it started to emit smoke. Oops.
We managed to assemble the entire house with no problems. Everything stood up on the first try.
We forgot to let the icing dry before decorating the roof with an inch of icing, simulating snow. It looked beautiful.
We managed to collapse our beautiful gingerbread house!
BUT, dont worry.
We managed to fix it.
Check it out!

21 more sleeps! Wait... 23. Oops.

So, since my computer is no longer hanging out with my boyfriend, I am able to post the much-awaited for Christmas tree picture. Maybe now Celia will no longer find it necessary to refer to me as a politician. The picture actually does not do justice to the actual beauty of the tree in real life, but, it will have to do.
I also included a picture of said boyfriend and myself, because, well, we decorated the tree, and I just wanted to.
PS notice the snow on the balcony!