What I've Learned Today

So here I am again. I've been making an effort to not write today because I fear I will look like I don't have anything else to do. I'm also afraid that I'll divulge too much information about what's going on today because I have a feeling I talk way too openly about stuff that probably shouldn't be talked about.
Okay, I'm gonna do it. I just can't help myself. Today is the official preparation day for what is supposed to happen tomorrow. What happens tomorrow is, ehm, an attempt to figure out what causes all my terrible intestinal distress. This attempt is going to focus on the, uh, lower parts of the intestines, if you know what I'm sayin'. Oh the dread! Oh the agony!!
I just have to say that I feel really bad and I REALLY want to EAT!! I'm not sure to what extent I actually do feel as bad as I do and to what extent I feel really sorry for myself and so imagine that I feel worse than I do. Besides that, I've learned a lot of really interesting things today.
First interesting thing is that my husband is friggin AWESOME. Yes, I already knew this, but he demonstrated it yet again in such a sweet way today. First, because I'm kind of needing to stay home all day, he has taken the girls to their holiday club and will leave work to bring them home. Despite the fact that he is working, all by himself, on something very important that MUST be done tomorrow, he took the morning off to be with me in my emotional distress. He sure didn't have to stay with me, but he did nonetheless. Isn't that just the sweetest thing? He also keeps calling me to see how everything is, um, coming along. So sweet.
Second, I've discovered that chemistry lab must be really cool. The "special drink" I have to have is some kind of magnesium s.... er, something. When I pour it into water it gets all crazy fizzy and makes fizzing noises and emits a really cool cloud of smoke (yes, I know it's gas or something, but smoke sounds much cooler). It totally makes me feel like a scientist. Then I get to drink it, which is kind of like experimenting my scary concoction on myself. Isn't that like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or something?
Third, I've learned that bile, which comes from the liver and aids in the absorption of fat and fat soluble vitamins, is bright green. As it passes through your intestines it turns brown, which makes poo brown. If it passes through your intestines too fast, it doesn't have a chance to turn brown and, therefore, comes out green. I didn't know that.
Fourth, feeling really bad and tired from not eating and stuff makes you not feel up to getting off your butt (unless, as in my case, you kind of HAVE to from time to time). What this has meant is that I've spent a lot of time reading the Bible and thinking about it. Although I'm sure the spiritual value of fasting is still beyond me, it seems as if the results of depriving yourself of food allow you to sit and focus on things that you usually don't take the time to sit and focus on. I'm not cleaning because I feel like I'm kinda gonna pass out (until I force myself to drink some Gatorade, which helps) when I'm up and about. Being in the kitchen makes me REALLY want to eat, so I totally stay out of there. Thus, I sit with quiet and my thoughts and am allowed to study and focus on it in a way that I don't normally. I think it also helps that I'm not just fasting, but that I have to stay home all day and can't keep myself otherwise occupied or busy with various things. It's actually pretty cool.
Fifth, I REALLY HATE Gatorade. Passionately.
So now that the three people who actually read this are probably really grossed out, I feel much better since I've had a chance to vent a little. I wasn't gonna tell anyone what test I was having because it's kind of embarrassing, but what difference does it make really?
Anyhoo, yesterday I took some pictures with the kids. Obviously, I had just gotten them each a hot chocolate. I guess I'm off then.

Sports Day

It hit me just now that I never posted pictures of Jordyn's sports day this year!! How could I? I think I will do just that.

So here's the deal. As most know, Jordyn just started at her new school last term. That means several great things (i.e. Jordyn is much happier, showing greater progress, showing huge advances in confidence, etc), but it also means some really irritating things (i.e. we have NO idea how things run around the place and, as it isn't the beginning of the school year no one thinks to tell us ANYTHING!!!). For instance, for about the first week or two of school, I would stand at the door and ring the bell and wait for someone to let us in at drop off. Somehow, I never noticed that lots of parents were able to get in. But they were. Once Jason got home, he quickly discovered that (a) we were allowed to know the code and (b) what the code is. Why didn't someone tell me?? Then we got the school calendar, which, I'm quite convinced, is actually written in a different language which looks deceptively similar to English, but actually is not. Jordyn's teacher kindly supplied us with a copy of said calendar, but neglected to provide some sort of key to deciphering the code words and names that littered the thing. I found myself utterly confused about which events we were supposed to attend...actually, I was confused about what the events were at all. So we relied on Jordyn to tell us stuff, which proved unreliable. She told me that the morning of the Spring Concert she was supposed to be dropped at the church super early. Um, nope. She neglected to tell us about her country presentation (which we found out about from other parents, quite by accident I might add). So, the day before her class assembly (important day), she said that we were supposed to go along. We didn't really believe her. That morning I got all dressed for the gym (pony tail, no make up, gym shorts, trainers) and dropped her at school only to discover that she'd been right this time. I was informed that I had roughly 30 minutes to wait around until the event. That was just enough time to ride my bike home and turn around and come back in the car so that I could drive to the class I had booked later that morning. So I finally walk in for this assembly, still in my shorts and pony tail, to find all the other parent's in suits, ties, and skirts. UGH!

Anyway, all this to say that we were told where sports day was to be held, but I guess people thought we knew where the place was. I had the brilliant idea of using Google, which we did. Ya, um, I guess that the college playing grounds aren't actually AT the college. UGH! Then we had to figure out where the college playing grounds actually were, which wasn't very easy since all the teachers and office staff were at the field and not in the office to answer calls and, therefore, our question. We drove here, we drove there. I finally went into the reception office at the college and asked, at which point Jason simultaneously called the upper school and asked them. AHA, we knew where to go. About 30 minutes later we finally arrived (even though it was only about 2 miles. Yep, traffic is that bad).

Jordyn was a little irked with us when we got there, but we made it there and were already on our way to recovering from the unavoidable marital strife that accompanies aimlessly driving around very busy streets with no idea where you're going while you're already super late for your daughter's important day. Yep, we pasted on the smiles.

Jordyn didn't win any of her races, poor kid. She's not exactly the sportiest type. That's alright. I'm proud of her for giving it her all. Plus, she looked super cute in her tight blue shorts, pulled up in a rather Urkel-esque sort of way, with her way-too-big polo tucked in, which created a very amusing mass of bulges around her waist. She's such a sweet kid.

My race wasn't much better than hers, to be honest. I think just running would have been shameful enough. No, us mums had to race with tennis balls balanced on tennis rackets. Not exactly my thing. Why can't us moms have a sparring match or something? Ya, everyone could gather around us in a big circle and yell "fight, fight, fight" and the last mom standing can win the blue ribbon. I think that maybe I'd do alright in that situation.

Maddy won her race. She was very pleased. All the dads were really competitive as well. Jason said a lot of them remembered which dad won last year and who was fast, etc. Guess what?? Jason won. He's the super fast, cool dad. Shocker. I think he was more pleased with himself than he'd be willing to admit. Their blue ribbons are still hanging in the kitchen.

So, that's it I guess. We are proud of our little, sweet Jordyn and our fast daddy and Maddy. Now I'd better attach those pics and get cleaned up so I can go get the kids from their little club this afternoon.

Still avoiding the dishes

I'm so tired today and do NOT want to do that sink of dirty dishes that is STILL taunting me from the kitchen sink. Ugh. Walking into a very messy kitchen first thing in the morning is, well, just very depressing. It makes me feel like a really big slob. I should be down there doing them right now.
However, I'm pooped and stressed. It's Tuesday. Tuesday is 2 days before Thursday. Thursday is gonna STINK. Thursday is the day before Friday. Friday is gonna STINK. I am not willing to say why, but any prayers that people are willing to offer up for me on those days would be much appreciated. I'm going to need a very good attitude those days, that's all I'm gonna say. Pray that the Lord will be with me and help me maintain a good attitude. Okay?
I'm pooped because last night was one of those marital discussion nights. We seem to have a LOT of those in the few months following a trip, which, sadly, is very frequent as we seem to be always either getting over a trip or preparing for one....or in the middle of one. I think people want to make it appear as if they have perfect marriages, like they don't fight and are always understanding of one another's needs. I think a "good" marriage is quite the opposite because I believe that the nature of marriage has a very irritating tendency of showing us our flaws and areas of extreme selfishness. We then have a choice. We can choose to work through things, to show compassion and ask for compassion in turn, or we can choose feed our selfish nature. I just don't think you can have it both ways. It seems like it is only through this gruelling process that we are allowed to, slowly over time, actually achieve real unity and be able to feel and show true love and affection for one another. I mean, is that thing we feel in the beginning of a relationship really love??? I would say that, in many cases, it is not. What we feel is perhaps a part of love, the nice "high" of emotion that we get from love. True love, however, is being willing to sacrifice ourselves for another. How many of us are willing to do that? How many of us would allow our partners to tell them their deepest, darkest shame and be willing to show acceptance and compassion? Holy cow, quite often I am not even able to show compassion in even the small things. On top of that, how often are we willing to humble ourselves and confess our deepest shame to our partners? How often are we even willing to admit it to ourselves?
Anyway, that's where my mind is this morning. I'm gonna head to the gym and lift some weights now.

First Post

The first obstacle that must be overcome when one is returning to blogging is the desire to be as fabulously witty and entertaining as one imagines one once was. No, no. Actually, the first obstacle that must be overcome is setting up the blog. It would appear as if I’ve managed to overcome that hurdle, though I am still wondering how all those clever people out there manage to attach their blogs to facebook. Oh, and how am I supposed to put pictures in my posts? I’ve just spoken with Jason and he says he will help me with this. I’d imagine that with enough time effort, paired with a large helping of frustration, I’d figure it out on my own. I’ll let him do it. It’ll make him feel very manly.
So now that I’ve done all that (and selected a title for my blog…ya, that was about 30 minutes down the drain...and typed, retyped, and retyped again the little “word verification” boxes) it is finally time to get to the actual blogging. So here I go…… Um…….
Seeing as I have about 5 minutes until I must run the kids to tennis, I would appear as if I don’t actually have that much time to demonstrate to you all my amazing wit. I do wonder, however, if when Jason does get home tonight and sees that the dishes are still stacked in the sink, that the girls have managed to cut paper into amazingly large quantities of teeny pieces that are strewn all over the floor, and that the house is basically a wreck, if he’ll be glad that I’ve spent all this time creating this lovely little blog with a rather unclever title.
*Sigh* And thus ends my first blog post. My time is up. Despite the fact that I have proven unable to recreate the most likely imagined preexisting wit and entertainment factor, I must be off. I will post this nonetheless.

WOW...I just posted a pic. That's the cake I made last week. Don't ask how many hours I invested there. Ok, really, I gotta get those kids to tennis.