Well, tomorrow is the day!

Moving day is almost here and no I'm still not ready. Probably won't be ready until I'm walking out the door lol! But we are working on it.

I'm not sure when we will have internet again. We still aren't sure if we can connect to the wireless or if we'll have to get our own installed. I'm sure I'll have all sorts of things to tell you about when I get back on.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Oh My!

A week until moving day!

Am I ready?? NO!! But we do have a lot done already, and will be ready when we need to be. I've been pretty good about not being to Sad about going. After all it's not THAT far. But it is far enough that we won't be around that often. I had it in my head that I'd be back a lot, then when we drove out there I realized how long it was and how hard that would be to do very often.

I found myself teary walking away from Church today. We have such an awesome group of friends and support here. Some really amazing people. Getting into the van I shed my first tears. I imagine there will be more over this coming week(like now as I type). I find myself gazing over the backyard realizing this is not going to be my daily view. Ack! I wasn't going to make this all sentimental and it happened anyways!

I can hear Payton playing the backyard with the kids from upstairs, and I know this is going to be quite the adjustment for her. I've got her enrolled in a soccer camp the week after we move, I'm hoping it will help her adjust. I'm just going to have to keep her busy and find some kids for her to play with.

But what an adventure it's going to be!

This is very cool - cars that run on air?!?

Just took a break from the monotony that is sorting yet another box full of papers(I have issues with paper hording I think, note to self, file or recycle) and came accross a very cool car here.

I searched a little more and found this video on youtube.

Can you imagine a car that runs on air? And is reasonable to buy to begin with? I really hope it pans out because if they make it over here I'm all over it!

Moving

K, I know these aren't pictures. Sorry. Shouldn't make promises lol!

But we have things we need to get rid of, including:

A chest Freezer: older, used, but works Taken
Coffee table: Square, wooden, opens up for storage
Dresser: White
Waterbed drawers,we don't actually have a waterbed just had our mattresses on top of them.
Shelves: Ikea floating shelves. Beech.
Shelves: also ikea, basic, not sure how to describe them, wall mounted adjustable height

There may be more, and some smaller things. Just let me know if your interested. Thanks!

Where's the pictures.

I think posts look a little naked without pictures don't you? I must admit to enjoying reading others posts with some eye candy thrown in there. I guess that may be my visual artsy side that needs fueling and encouragement. But alas I'm not uploading anything tonight or I won't ever get off this computer and back to doing something toward moving. I'm already tired of packing, organizing, cleaning ect. Sigh. Better get back at it. I'll post a pic or 2 tomorrow for you. I promise.

Not the best planning

And why did I think committing to any type of blogging for the next month was a good idea?? I have managed to take some pics of things that made me happy/smile during the day the last couple of days. But getting them uploaded then writing an actual post may not happen regularly. Maybe every few days? Maybe

A simpler life

Do you ever wish that things were simpler? Lately I've been feeling an almost constant desire to simplify. Purge my surroundings, get rid of the clutter. Simplify. We(as in me personally and western society) have to much stuff. It seems your "status" for many comes from what you have. The "American" dream has become more about the size of your house and they type of vehicle you drive than about anything else. We are constantly trying to keep up with what we think we need because other people have it, or the media says we need it. Wants and needs have become so intertwined that we can't tell the difference. Debt is soaring because it's so easy to get and there is always something we "need" to justify the spending. Does all this stuff make us happy? Content? The answer is almost always no.

The pace of life is crazy busy, no doubt largely due to the fact that we have to work so hard to pay off those debts to get more stuff. When do you have time to enjoy that stuff? Or anything?

I've also found myself concerned about waste. Along with the consumerism is a tendency to replace things that maybe don't need replacing. With our busy lifestyles we've become dependent on convenience. Disposable everything. When I stop and think(or look) at the amount of stuff that goes in the garbage it really upsets me. I recycle a lot but I think we could do better.

I get overwhelmed thinking about how many things I'd like to change in our life. Things that I believe would improve our sense of being. Things that would be better for the environment. But I don't have to do everything at once, I can't do everything at once. I think the key for me is to remember that even small steps make a difference. If I can make an effort to live consciously in all area's of my life I believe change will start on it's own. It's going to take awhile, the "need" of things is so ingrained that it will take me awhile to figure out my needs vs wants.

I admit to wanting to own my own home, but lately what that will look like for me has changed. I'm no longer in a rush. I don't want to jump into owning something before we can handle it financially. The stress of owning something you can't really afford is something I don't desire. And when we can afford it I'm not sure what my "dream" house will be, I don't want the big house anymore. I find the look of large houses lonely.

I think you will be reading more about this on my blog in the future. It's going to be another journey in my life, the journey to a simpler life. A more family centered, God centered life. More about living and loving than earning and buying. At least that's the goal.

As there is a lot going on in my life with moving ect I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post. But I am going to make an effort to keep up with the blogging because I want to keep everyone updated and I really do love having everything documented. I thought for the next month I'll try to post something everyday, even if it's little, that makes me happy. A blog I've been reading has given me the inspiration for this. Bluebirdbaby, check it out here.

"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking."
Marcus Aurelius Antoninu

I was going to add pictures but it got long and late and I really need to pack something! I'll hopefully be back later with my moment of happiness!

Dance Recital

I should be in bed but I really wanted to post some pictures from Pay's first Dance Recital. It was so much fun watching all the kids perform. When Pay was on she did so well and looked so cute I just wanted to shout out that she was mine! I'm so proud of her!

I was using Rod's new lens, it's a 50mm f1.4 . It's got a great wide open aperture which is awesome for low lighting situations. The downside is that this particular lens is completely manual, aperture, shutter speed, focus, everything! It's been a challenge to get back into manual, especially when shooting children. But I've been enjoying the challenge and am improving. These were all taken in a church with no flash, and dancing, twirling bodies! Even with the good lens I still had to have it set to 1/60th at iso 400. I am to tired to edit so they are as taken.

The song was Jolly Holiday from Mary Poppins. You know imagine Dick Van Dyke singing:

"t's a jolly 'oliday with Mary
No wonder that it's Mary that we love!"

Without further a due, I present to you my little Dancing Queen!

Umm....WOW!

There has been a lot going on in my absence from the blogging world. One of these things being that Rod got a new job. It's at Triumf, which is a particle and molecular physics lab, he's running some of the machines. He was SO SO SO excited. And he loves it. The down side being it's location, it's at UBC. Which is a beautiful area but makes for a crazy commute. In the middle of the night(he works weird shifts) with no traffic it's still 75min, during the day it can easily be over 2 hours. We decided that his time could be much better spent at home, and decided we needed to move. We thought about moving closer but not to far away from here but he still had a fair commute then and our cost of living would rise without us being able to give up the car to balance that. Rod found out that he qualified for on campus staff/faculty housing and we decided to apply. And as of today we got a suite! We are officially moving to Vancouver!!

I never really considered myself a city person and didn't think I would ever move right into Vancouver but it just goes to show that you never know what is going to happen! I'm excited and scared. We're moving away from everything I know, I've lived in Mission since we moved to BC when I was 11! Rod's lived in Mission all his life! I'm apprehensive about leaving our family, friends, and Church. I know it's not really all that far but it seems worlds away.

We've prayed and prayed about it, and everything fell together. I really feel like this is the best choice for our family right now. When the possibility of moving on campus was first mentioned, I flat out refused it as a possibility, but slowly my heart has softened to the point where I actually feel excited. A little afraid, but not terrified.

Anyways, I'm rambling because it's late and my mind is spinning. There is SO much to do. AHHH!!! Have I mentioned I hate moving? Because I do.

So off we go to start a new adventure!

Yay!

Rod got the header to work. There is still some tweaking that needs to be done but I'm pleased with how it looks so far! I have to quit fiddling for now because the real world calls.

Nothing is as simple as you think

I was going to post today, you know really post, something insightful. Or at the very least a good welcome back to me blog lol! But I wanted to get my blog looking somewhat how I wanted to first(I decided it needed an overhaul). I wanted something simple, but fun with maybe a bit of whimsy thrown in there. Once I figured out what I wanted I figured it would be simple. Yeah. No! I did mange to find and install a simple layout with 3 columns as desired, and find a header I wanted. I just can't get the header to show up! Argh!

So after fighting with it for awhile. I am going to temporarily admit defeat and go to bed. I think I will let my technical savior figure it out when he's able.

Good night all! And yes. I'm officially back!