Carbonation

Many a beverage in the world today has what some call "pop," "soda," "soda pop," "sparkling" or "carbonated" water as a part of it's make-up. This stuff creates a "fizzy" sensation in one's mouth and throat as it is sipped or, in some cases, guzzled down. About 97% of the people I know enjoy carbonation and say it is the reason that they love certain drinks so much.

I simply don't understand the excitement and addiction that is associated with carbonated beverages. Like I must have a really rare and sensitive mouth condition or something because I hate fizz.

And yes, I've tried it many times for those of you who may think I'm judging without experience. Every now and again I'll have a sip of pop and am quickly reminded of why I passionately dislike it.

In the best way I can describe the way fizz feels when it hits my mouth... it burns like watching drops of water evaporate on contact in a heated fry pan. That may not make much sense but it burns, ok? Also it gets even worse if my stomach decides to send it back up because it re-burns my mouth and throat and gets my nasal passages involved too! Who wants to suffer through all that?

I realize that my experience is, as I mentioned before, extremely rare because 97% of the people I know really enjoy soda and often forget that I literally just can't even.

But I discovered recently that certain situations can influence me to attempt to enjoy carbonated drink. For example, if I've paid more than $5 for a drink at a restaurant and find out that it has some fizz in it, I will choke it down so that my money is not wasted. Another situation is when I've just met someone whom I am trying to impress and they are really excited to share their favourite soda pop with me, I will try my best to smile and, again, choke it down for the sake of being polite, but I will also commit to telling them my honest opinion of all things fizzy in hopes that I do not have to repeatedly face the awkwardness of being kindly offered something I hate.

"Clearly Canadian" is a type of sparkling water that has amazing flavour despite its stronger-than-your-average carbonation. I drank a whole bottle of the stuff the other day (wild cherry flavour) as an act of politeness because the person who offered it to me was extremely excited that they got to witness my first taste of this spectacular nostalgic beverage. Unfortunately it was painful as ever but I can almost say that the flavour was worth it though I will probably not be drinking another one unless my mouth and throat are numbed first. More for my friend I suppose :) because I still hate fizz.

Of fear and little brothers...Part 3

I was about 18 and I was in what my family calls "the cold room" which was named according to the simple fact that it is always cold in there. This particular day I was trying to aid my mother in organizing our house little bit and I decided that the cold room needed some attention. Though it is not a very large room, about 5' x 5' in area, it was full of children's goodies (books and toys mostly) just tossed carelessly about the place. In order to organize this room, which smelled quite dank due to the sewer pipe access located just under the carpet in the middle of the floor, I had to duck under the 5' high door frame multiple times as I sought to remove every item from the room. As the floor became more and more visible, I noticed that there was a small crack between the wall and the carpet. Now, because the cold room is in the corner of our basement, it is not uncommon to discover many different types of tiny multiple legged beings crawling into the house through cracks in the foundation. Bugs are not my favourite things, and they likely never will be. As I lifted a book from the corner, I caught a glimpse of twenty or so tiny-but-larger-than-expected legs reaching out across the carpet from the crack at the bottom of the wall and I decided that I needed someone else to help me clear out the rest of the room. Enter 8 year old Daniel. Before you assume that I am a terrible big sister, I did tell him about the giant centipede legs prior to his entrance to the room to commence continued removal of the goodies. He behaved as any nervous person would and kept a close watch on the corner where I had spotted the centipede while he bravely picked up toys and handed them out to me. Then I saw something on the wall outside the cold room that caused me to scream involuntarily. My poor little brother interpreted my scream as "OH NO! THERE'S THE CENTIPEDE!" (which was not what I had intended to communicate) and he leaped out of the room with tears streaming down his face. My scream was solely in response to a spider (my irrational fear) so I quickly apologized and directed his attention toward the beast. He quickly wiped away his tears, grabbed a book and killed the spider on my behalf.

I am thankful that my brothers are brave and also willing to rescue me from spiders because I literally just can't even. If I see one I'm instantly either frozen, jumping, shaking, screaming, or a combination of those reactions. The rational thinking portion of my brain turns off and I search for a way out of the situation. Either I call out for help from the nearest human being, run away, or just sit and stare at the spider if it is in my room because I don't want to lose track of it lest it sneak up on me again later.

Other people have found this fear of mine to be rather entertaining as they have watched my various reactions to spider encounters, some of which they have initiated. I try not to hold grudges and Jesus has forgiven me so I have since forgiven these people for intentionally taking advantage of me (some multiple times) and then making fun of me for "overreacting." I don't consider it an overreaction because I don't react intentionally. My body kicks into flight mode and that's that. And no, it doesn't matter how big the spider is. They all have the same effect. But I think I'm getting better at reacting less or at least appropriately given the circumstances.

Just yesterday morning at about 6:30am (most of my family is still sleeping at this time) I was just about to turn on the water to shower when a spider crawled out of the drain. I gasped and leaped out of the tub and thought about what to do. I considered waking up Alexander because his room was about 20ft away and he would probably respond the fastest, but then I thought that would be rude. So without waking up anybody else, I thought of my own solution that would keep me a reasonable distance away from the creep. Don't judge me too harshly but I drowned it in the tub, running the water for an extra five minutes after it went down the drain just to make sure it didn't come back up. I later that day told my dad about my dilemma and mentioned that I had considered waking someone up to help me and he said, "Well it's a good thing you didn't get me because I hate those things too!"

My closest friends have told me that I need to marry someone that isn't afraid of spiders. I agree.

Happy National Hug-a-Single Day!

That was the subject of one of the many spam emails that float into my inbox on a regular basis. At first I was confused. What is "National Hug-a-Single Day"? Then it hit me. Today is Valentine's Day.

I've had many great Valentine's Days in the past and, for most of them, I've been single. All in all, I have nothing to complain about because I enjoy being single and it means that there is no pressure for me to do anything out-of-the-ordinary today. To me, Valentine's Day is a day when I get to ponder love and eat more chocolate than usual :). 

I've already written a post about singleness here so I won't go super into detail about it but I wanted to comment a little bit about how our world pities those of us who don't have a boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife, or partner of some kind. "National Hug-a-Single Day" implies that people who are single, such as myself, need a hug today, which could be legit (read more here) or not. Perhaps because we should be wallowing in self-pity because we have nobody "special" to love us or show love to and therefore require a hug to comfort us. I challenge this thinking because I know I am loved first and foremost by my heavenly Father and also by many people in my life and I don't feel as though I need a "special someone" all to myself to make me feel content or more loved. Plus my parents got me chocolate today so I don't feel left out ;).

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 

- 1 Corinthians 13

Sprinkles

There it was, sitting on a plate on the counter, chopped into two pieces, one smaller than the other, sprinkles and all.

I had just finished eating supper and thought the small cupcake would make a good dessert so I didn't hesitate to pick up the smaller portion (in an attempt to be generous) and gobble it down.

It tasted like a vanilla cupcake with sprinkles, as expected, except the texture was very crunchy.

A couple of minutes later my sister went over to the plate and said, "Where did the other half of Maggie's treat go? Did someone eat it?"

...Oops.

Maggie, in case you did not know, is my dog (Read more about her here).

I admitted to consuming the treat but was relieved that nobody witnessed the event as I had gobbled that "pupcake" down quickly without a second thought. In my defense, there was nothing stopping me from eating it and it was also just chilling on a plate on the counter, sprinkles and all, begging me to eat it.

My parents were not surprised that it was me and they had a good laugh over it all. Apparently I have a habit of just eating without thinking. Something I need to correct, and fast, before I eat any more sprinkled dog treats.

Poor Maggie only got half of her "pupcake" and I felt a little bad because, in all honesty, it tasted pretty good and I am very thankful for that :).

Mistakes were made today but I am not the only human who has enjoyed a dog treat in my family...

One day I came home from work and my brother Landon ran up to me and asked me to dare him to eat one of Maggie's treats (which were Soft Milk Bone Beef).

I thought it was weird that he would want me to dare him with such urgency but I said, "Sure, I dare you to eat one of those."

"I'll eat two!" He shouted as he shoved two beefy treats into his mouth.

Mom came into the kitchen and said, "Hey! I told you to stop eating Maggie's treats!"

The little stinker...

...at least I'm not alone :).

The Family

Someone asked me at our Young Adults Bible study last night if myself and one of the guys we were talking with were related. I told her that I was an adopted member of his family, which is sort of true and totally awesome.

It all began back when one of the brothers from the family (there are 11 kids in total) moved to Regina with his wife and my parents quickly befriended them. I joined a co-ed soccer team with them and played a few seasons before heading out of town to Bible College.

A couple of years later, I was at home from Bible College during Christmas break and I realised that my flight was scheduled to bring me back to school two days before it was going to be open again for the next semester. Then my parents discovered that the family lived near the small town where my Bible College was and so it was offered that I stay with them for the weekend until the school was open.

To be honest, I was super nervous about this. I had never met the family and I did not even know what they looked like. All I was told was that they were very nice people. So I got off the plane hoping that they would know who I was, and they did!

Making a good impression quickly became my goal as I knew that the family was solid in their faith and had raised their kids really well (the previously mentioned brother and his wife as well as another brother had moved to Regina and I noted that they are all people of good character).

After spending some quality time meeting more of the family and playing pool, ticket-to-ride, and "power Uno" (the family's own invention), I was invited to "Wing's Night" where we ate many chicken wings and watched She's the Man together. I also attended church with the family and got to witness their great musical talent and engage in some theological discussion during Sunday school. I'll never forget those first moments I spent with the family because I did not feel like a stranger at all.

They later dropped me off at school and I was known as "that girl" to the family for a while after that until the family moved to Regina and now they know my name (except some of them are trying to get one of the grandkids to call me "Kevin" just to bug me because he is the only two-year-old I know who can pronounce my name properly). I also get to see them on a regular basis at church and on the soccer field as I have been a part of what is known as the family's team due to the fact that most of the team is official family.

All that to say, we go way back and I am always treated like part of the family any time I am around them (teasing and all) and I am very honoured to be known as an adopted member. :) 

Why I Love Babysitting

1. Kids are super cute and often entertaining.
- I once babysat two girls ages 5 and 3 and a boy who was 2 and all three of the kids were playing house with me. I was affectionately known as "girl" to my 3 year old mom (I think she forgot my real name) and she kept on trying to feed me "spicy lemon" which I told her was hurting my mouth. As it were, mom wasn't interested in pleasing her girl and instead proceeded to attempt to force feed me more spicy lemon. The 2 year old boy noticed my distress and immediately offered me a bowl of "dood soup" which consisted of felt apple slices and bacon. I was thankful. Then the 5 year old told me that she was my grandma and told me that she had no home and was just wandering the streets in a storm. According to 3 and 5 year old girls, storms "make all the lights go off, have lightening, clouds, spooky sounds, bats, bangs, and the wind blows over the beaver's house."

2. I have learned to be both fun and serious.
- Part of being a babysitter is having fun  and playing with the kids but also being authoritative and what they would call "mean" sometimes. Especially when it is time to go to bed. This is when kids like to test my patience and I have to try really hard to maintain my "serious" face and voice in order to show the kids that I am no longer joking around. If the "serious" Jess fails, I then leave it to the parents to discipline their kids however they choose to. One girl I babysat for years said to me when she was 6 years old, "Jessica, sometimes you're scary, but I still like you."

3. If the children are well behaved, I pick up some good parenting tips.
- Every child can have his or her "off days" but I am able to tell pretty quickly based on how well the kids listen to me whether or not they have been disciplined well. Usually if I threaten reporting the kids to their parents when they get home, kids that have been well disciplined will submit and those that have not will continue to disobey. One girl, when I asked her, "Do I have to tell daddy that you're not listening when he gets home?" quickly responded "no, no, I'll be good!" and she listened after that. Kudos to that father!

4. I am very practiced in dealing with children.
- Having babysat for a number of families over the years since I was 12, I have gained experience dealing with many different kids. From crying 10 month old babies to "too cool" 10 year olds, and everything in between. It has been both fun and challenging and I have been able to develop some useful strategies in calming down angry kids, tiring out restless ones, and entertaining bored ones too. When I babysat a "too cool" 10 year old boy, he thought he was too old for a babysitter and acted as though I was the worst person ever because I was in charge while his parents were gone. His attitude quickly changed when I suggested we play Mario Kart and I proceeded to annihilate him on every race. Every time I babysat him after that he would show me his new video games and we had fun together.

5. Sometimes parents are surprised by what they come home to.
- Kids often act a lot more disobedient around their parents than they will with me. It may take 2-3 times of babysitting for me to establish my authority but a routine soon takes place and the kids realize that I cannot be pushed around. If a child has a habit of not going to bed, I have them asleep by the time mom and dad come home. Whether it be because I tired them out with a hopping competition or read them a really long story, the kids are usually sleeping. Another thing I like to do for parents is clean up their house for them while they are out. I'll do the dishes and tidy up any toys just to help relieve some parental stress. One family wanted to hire me to clean their house if I was willing but I told them that it was just something I wanted to do if I had time while babysitting and not as an extra side job (I don't think I need extra practice cleaning things in other words).

6. It is an opportunity to serve.
- I never go to babysit expecting payment though most parents have paid me anyways. I don't have a set rate because sometimes people can't afford to pay a babysitter very much and I get that. I am thankful when I get paid but I am more thankful for the opportunity to hang out with kids, get some practice for maybe becoming a parent myself someday, and relieving some stress from parents who need some time away from the kiddos. It's another way that I can show the love of Christ to those around me. 

Toothless

That was my adopted nickname for two days after I got my tooth pulled and there are some valuable life lessons to be learned from the story I am about to tell you.

Lesson #1: Brush AND floss your teeth daily.

I am sure this all began back about ten or so years ago when I first got a couple of fillings in my teeth because of cavities. Laziness would get the better of me and I allowed my teeth to go unbrushed many a night. The mind of a fourteen-year-old Jessica thinks that the only reason one should brush their teeth is to get rid of bad breath. And no one talks to me when I'm sleeping so it shouldn't matter right? Well the dentist told me I was wrong and I am now reminded with an unpleasant tingling sensation whenever cold food or drink lingers on the filled teeth in my mouth.

Lesson #2: Go to the dentist at least once yearly.

Dentist appointments were always booked by my mother. Every six months I would go to get my teeth inspected and cleaned. Then I turned 18 and was told to book my own appointments. Now, if given the choice, I would not choose to go to the dentist. I find the whole experience quite disturbing as they scrape away at your teeth (supposedly there's plaque) and then rip and tear at your gums with dental floss and tell you that you've been doing it wrong. Am I supposed to brush until it hurts and make my gums bleed? If so then of course I've been doing it wrong and will continue to do so! Anyways I finally made my appointment after five or so years of neglect and, once again, they discovered a cavity. I wasn't surprised and I got it filled a week later.

Lesson #3: Ask questions to save money.

Since I wasn't covered by insurance, I paid about $500 for both my cleaning appointment and the filling that followed. I didn't mind paying because it was absolutely necessary to take care of these things but, had I known that I didn't have coverage, I might have waited until the New Year to book my appointments. Now I wish I had waited. Just a week before Christmas I began to experience a terrible toothache. I assumed it was my wisdom teeth coming in a bit more as they have ached a bit in the past so I resorted to taking all of the pain medication (naproxen, ibuprofen, acetaminophen) and using Orajel to numb my gums and relieve my discomfort. The night before Christmas Eve I discovered that the gums around the tooth that I had gotten filled most recently ached the most. Instinctively, I spread a fair amount of Orajel around the tooth and accidentally got some on it. Instant excruciating pain throbbed in my mouth and I realized that my wisdom teeth had nothing to do with the pain after all. If I had asked my dentist what he thought I should do with the tooth prior to getting it filled, pulling it would have cost me approximately only $150 rather than a $250 filling that eventually backfired.

Lesson #4: Pray always.

The pain was so horrible that I was in tears and close to asking my mom to take me to the emergency room. As I laid my face on an ice pack and pressed on the tooth with my fingers repeatedly to temporarily relieve some of the pain, I thought of what I could do. I researched emergency dental clinics and found that none of them were open until the next morning. Then I considered grabbing pliers and pulling the tooth out myself but that thought quickly dissolved. What should have been my first resort turned out to be my third. I cried out to God and asked Him to take away my pain. I asked specifically for the pain to be relieved enough so that I could get a decent sleep and make it to the dentist.

Lesson #5: Praise the Lord!

I finished praying at around 1am and then woke up at 7:15am. God had answered my prayer in my favour. I found it particularly amazing that, though I distinctly remember setting my alarm for 5:30am, God woke me up at 7:15am which gave me just enough sleep to feel decent and just enough time to get to work. I also noticed that my toothache was very minimal and bearable to the point that I almost did not phone the dentist. I decided that, since I wanted to eat Christmas dinner the next day, that I should probably book an appointment to get the tooth dealt with ASAP. To make a longer story shorter, I was able to book an emergency appointment, got my tooth pulled, and was able to eat Christmas dinner without any pain.

A Tale of Dreams and Chickens

I've recorded my dreams before simply because some of them are just bizarre and most of them are too realistic to be forgotten. Where do dreams come from? Well I heard somewhere that you typically dream about things that you were thinking about before you fell asleep. That would make sense according to my own personal experience and that of a friend of mine.

After pondering about his grandparent's farm where they have chickens, he fell asleep. Upon waking he recalled having a strange dream about chickens...

He said that in his dream he discovered that the happier a chicken is, the bigger the egg it will lay. So an undoubtedly entertaining scene ensued of him chasing chickens* and trying to make them happy so that they would lay bigger eggs. Apparently dream chickens like it when we mimic their sounds whilst holding them and also speaking encouraging words to them. If you imagine anyone doing this, it's pretty hilarious.

My friend succeeded at testing the larger egg theory in his dream, but I did a bit of research and found that it is actually true that "the way that you treat your hens will determine how quickly they will start to lay Large, Extra Large or Jumbo eggs." See link here.

You learn new things every day :).

*Note: I don't think chickens like to be chased. From real personal experience, they freak out.

Manitoba Fall 2016

I went once again to visit my dear Ruth this past weekend. We've made it a "thing" to visit each other at least twice a year since we were roommates at Bible College in 2010. I'd say we are good friends :)

I left rather early on Friday, 4am to be exact, hoping to get to Ruth's by the time her morning class was over so we could maximize our time together. I was blessed by an amazing sky to admire as the sun began to rise around the 6:45am mark.

My Mom always tells me to drive safely but I know that there is always the risk of other people not driving safely that could cause me harm. I met one such person on the outskirts of Steinbach just 20 minutes before I would safely reach my destination. Whilst cruising down a two-way highway, a large white truck turned onto the road in front of me. All was well until this truck began to swerve off the road to the right, creating a giant cloud of gravel dust as it's oversized tires forced it into the air. I thought to myself this person must have a passenger whom they are trying to get a reaction out of by driving crazy because I have done this to other people and have had it done to me as well. I would have not minded the truck's momentary play except for the fact that it continued to swerve over and over and over again, not seeming to care about my windshield as it continued to hurl earth with each swerve. After about 7 or so minutes of this I decided to try and pass the white beast because I did not want to put up with it's recklessness anymore. As I passed I considered not looking at the driver of the truck but I was curious to see the facial expression of the expected passenger. What I saw, to my surprise and concern, was a man at least age 40 driving by himself wearing Elton John type sunglasses, a leopard print hat, and a leather jacket, leaning way too far forward and hunched over the steering wheel with a facial expression that told me that he was either drunk, really amused with his crazy driving, or rather excited that he was driving for the first time. I was very relieved to have passed him but I was concerned for the other vehicles travelling near the white terror. When I got into the city I kept a close eye on the truck in my rear-view mirror and prayed that he would not cause an accident. At the next intersection, crazy driver pulled up next to me to turn left and I felt my heart race. When I finally arrived at Ruth's, I reported the situation to her and she told me I should have called 911 to report the driver. Next time, I will. I was paranoid about white trucks for the rest of the weekend.

Salisbury House was our first outing together for a bite to eat.

The rest of Friday consisted of shopping for various ingredients for cooking and baking as well as relaxing, running errands, and cribbage. Saturday lent itself to a bit of touring. I discovered that the Winnipeg Science Centre is very similar to the one we have in Regina although there were a few different things such as a racetrack for Knex cars...

We also went to the Winnipeg Art Gallery which was hosting a ball that night so there were pretty flower arrangements everywhere not to mention a grand piano! <3

The gallery also features a rooftop sculpture garden.

I thought this piece of art looked pretty nifty.

We went to Marion Street Eatery for supper which was super tasty. I like my fries.

The main reason I chose this weekend to visit Ruth was that my sister's friend had suggested that we (including my sister, her friend, her friend's sister, our mom, and I) go see Carrie Underwood in Winnipeg. So I took advantage of the situation. My brief opinion of the concert was it was ok. I mean, Carrie sang great and the show was entertaining but something bothered me. I compared this concert experience with Urbana 2012 (see post here) where we also had thousands of people worshipping. The main difference between the two events was the object/person of worship. At the concert, people worshipped the music artist. At Urbana, people worshipped God. I resolve to save my time and money in the future for God-worshipping events.

Ruth is Mennonite, which means we make really good food when I'm there. That is real perogies and farmer sausage!

I enjoyed my weekend overall, but it was most exciting and enjoyable because I got to spend time in fellowship with this amazing woman :)

Blind Dates

A good friend and I had a chat about a potential blind date offered to her which caused me to explore my experience with the subject.

I've been on two blind dates in my life and here is what I have to say about them.

The first blind date I went on was set up by a trusted family friend. He told my Dad about the potential suitor and then my Dad passed the information on to me. At first I was ok with the idea as I strategically stalked the guy on facebook and was impressed with what I discovered about him. As the day when we would meet approached I became more and more apprehensive. What if he doesn't like me? What if I don't like him? What if I say or do something embarrassing? What if conversation doesn't flow? What if it's AWKWARD?? My Mom convinced me, perhaps because she wants grandkids someday, to "stop worrying already and take a risk." So, when the day came, I arrived 15 minutes early and sat in my car in the Western Pizza parking lot and tried to tell myself that everything was going to be fine. Instead my stomach was turning and my mind was bombarding me with more anxious inquisitions. Should I order iced tea? No, water is free. What if he orders water too? Would it be weird to order food? What kind of questions should I ask him? What if I talk too much? Oh! That must be him! He was indeed there. I recognized him from the pictures on facebook. Plus he walked into Western Pizza, which was where we were meeting. Guess I should get in there...


It went well! My family friend sat in with us to introduce us and then promptly left us to chat alone. We both ordered water. We both talked a lot and conversation flowed fairly easily. It led us to a second date, then a third, and then we were in a relationship. Not all blind dates end up in relationships though...

The second blind date I went on was set up by a trusted co-worker and friend of mine. She told me that she knew this great guy and thought maybe I would be interested in him. I told her, after a bit of facebook stalking, that I was willing to meet him and so she set up a time and place for all of us to hang out together. There was no anxiety leading up to the date this time. I arrived at the coffee shop 15 minutes early as per usual and my girlfriend showed up shortly afterward and we chatted while waiting for the guy, who showed up on time, unlike us women. That meeting also went really well and led to a second and third date but not into a relationship.

Both blind dates were successful because they served their purpose to determine whether a particular guy was a suitable match for me to best glorify God for the rest of my life with.

I also learned valuable lessons in both of these experiences.

Lesson 1: Take risks! There is no harm in meeting someone new and it is likely that they will be
                 feeling just as anxious and, if not, they probably have an understanding of what it's like to
                 be nervous for a blind date.
Lesson 2: Be gracious! If the other person embarrasses him or herself, don't make fun or judge them.
                 If they laugh it off, laugh with them. If they look ashamed, tell them it's ok and empathize.
Lesson 3: Ask questions! The purpose of a blind date is to get to know the other person to see if there
                 is potential for another date and so on and so forth as I mentioned before...to glorify God.
Lesson 4: Be yourself! The fastest way to get to know someone else genuinely is to be genuine, both
                on and offline.*

I prefer to get to know people the old-fashioned way by naturally developing friendships without the added pressure that a blind date piles on to get to know someone with a potential romantic relationship on the brain, but I'm also not opposed to blind dates because they've challenged me to take risks and be more confident in meeting new people.

*If you're wondering how I facebook stalk people without facebook...I have my sources :)

Just Keep Running!

I finished the GMS Healthy Half 21.1K Run this past Sunday with a record time (for me) of  1:40:36.0. Now how did I do it? Well here is a list of things that contributed to my run:

1. I prayed before, during, and after the race.
2. I pumped some tunes such as "This Is Not A Test" and "Unstoppable" by tobyMac.
3. I had a meeting to be at for 9:55am sharp (the race began at 8:00am).
4. I ate a large breakfast of oatmeal and fruit at 6:00am.
5. I carried with me a 750mL water bottle full of sports beverage.
6. I had my Mom running behind me.
7. I kept a faster woman in my sight at all times.
8. I played two soccer games and worked the day before.
9. I slept 5 1/2 hours the night before.
10. I made sure that I could always run at least 5K in under 30min at any given moment.
11. I trained very inconsistently.
12. I did not stretch.
13. I chugged water the day before until my pee was clear (I was adequately hydrated).
14. I wore Saucony Kinvara 5 running shoes.
15. I ignored any pain and I never stopped running.

Some of the things in my list would not be recommended by myself or anyone else who knows how to prepare for a long run but I will say that the top three things were the most important factors as they provided me with the most motivation to keep running at a decent pace.

Now I am going to turn sharply and address a passage of Scripture that I found relatable to the subject of running:

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 says, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." 

These verses contain examples of how we should live out our faith if we have chosen to follow Jesus. "We receive salvation as a free gift and then the Lord blesses us on top of that with temporal and eternal rewards for faithfully serving Him. What a God!" (Keith Krell) So with the prize of God's approval in our sights, we should train hard through the reading and studying of God's Word and then seek to live it out faithfully as we run the race of our lives. This takes intense and constant discipline and self-control but the prize of one day hearing Jesus say, "Well done, good and faithful servant," (Matthew 25:21) is worth every effort of ours to obtain.

Since I did not train very efficiently for the half marathon as my goal was not to obtain a specific prize, I hope that my life race is run well due to a faithful pattern of consistent and deliberate meditation on God's Word as well as much time spent in prayer. I recognize that it is ultimately for the glory of God that I run this race and, if I do well, all the credit is His. :) pressing on!

May we one day say with Paul, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing." - 2 Timothy 4:7-8

Roller Coasters

Once upon a time my family travelled to Wisconsin Dells and stayed at Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park.

When we arrived at the hotel and got our park passes the first thing my Dad said to me was, "Will you take the kids to the park?"

Now I was really tired from the long drive and had almost zero motivation to take anyone anywhere. But I caved under the intense pressure of eager expectations plus parental prodding and down to the park I went with four siblings in tow. Just kidding. My siblings were way ahead of me :).

There was an indoor park which contained the more "childish" rides and a much larger outdoor park full of race tracks and more intimidating rides.

We (I) decided to start small and try some of the indoor stuff before moving on to the "real" rides outside.

The most exciting thing indoors was a small roller coaster with mice for cars and we soon decided that we needed something a little more challenging.

I'm going to focus in on my little brother Daniel for a moment.

Bravest kid ever.

There were three roller coasters outside. Pegasus was the smallest of the three but it was still super fast and fun. My whole family ended up riding Pegasus (even my Dad who hates roller coasters!).

It was not enough for Daniel.

He insisted on moving on to bigger and better and dragged me along to Zeus. As the second biggest roller coaster at this park, Zeus was quite a bit bigger than Pegasus. I was a little bit nervous to try it out but my parents (mostly Mom) insisted that I not let Daniel go it alone. It wasn't so bad and I became a bit addicted to the adrenaline rush I obtained from the experience and rode it at least 3 more times in a row with Daniel.

But the largest coaster remained unridden by the Eiswerth clan...for the first few days at least.

Hades 360 was the largest roller coaster at the park and is known for being the world's first upside-down wooden roller coaster. It also had a drop of 140ft and hit 70mph speed straight down into the world's longest underground tunnel. I did not want to leave this vacation without having conquered Hades at least once. I knew that Daniel would ride with me but, to our dismay, Mom would not allow it. She insisted that herself and Alexander (my oldest brother) come with me to scope it out first.

We began the long trek uphill to ride Hades and it took us about ten or so minutes to reach the entrance. The seats in the cars held only two people and so one of us ended up sitting by herself...

Me, myself, and I sat together...

Alone.

Now I really did not mind all that much because I was too excited to care. Right before the ride began I looked back at my family members and my Mom met me with a facial expression that said I would rather be anywhere but here, while her mouth shouted rather aggressively, "Turn around, you!" So I turned back around with a huge grin across my face and the ride started...

I would describe the ride in excruciating detail but I've decided that I will only mention that the drop was super steep and ferociously fast, the tunnel was literally long and dauntingly dark, and there were a lot of high-pitched screams and panicky breaths coming from the seat directly behind me ;). Then suddenly it was all over.

Mom and Alexander assured me that they were never going on that ride again and then proceeded to act a bit angry toward me for "convincing" them to give it a shot.

The saddest part of the whole trip happened next...

Daniel was waiting with eager anticipation to ride Hades but Mom said, "Sorry Daniel but I don't think it is safe for you to ride that one, I'm afraid you'll slip right out of the seat!" I have to admit that I do support my Mom's concern for her youngest child but I still think I could've taken him with me and held him in place if there was a need for that. Daniel's hopes and dreams were seemingly crushed for a moment at my Mom's words as he hung his head...only to look up seconds later with a gleam in his eyes as he said to me, "Back to Zeus then!"

We rode Zeus at least fifteen times that week.

Out of respect for Daniel, I only rode Hades that one time...

I'd take him on Hades (not to mention also any other roller coaster) anytime because his bravery led me to conquer my slight fear of heights and also to feel the incredible adrenaline rush that roller coasters incite.

Is That...Poop?

I've written about dreams that I've had before and simply because last night was so vivid and weird, here it is...

It all began that I was set to babysit for a young family from my church who have three little girls. Ages 1, 3, and 5. It was the 5-year-old's birthday party and we were going to watch Finding Nemo and eat pink cake. I was super excited to celebrate with the girls and I went downstairs to get the ice cream cake from the freezer. When I came back up the 1-year-old was screaming in her crib so I ran upstairs to see what the commotion was. She had little clumps of greenish yellow stuff in her crib and I immediately thought oh no! Poop!? After cleaning up what I could find of the greenish yellow goop in her crib, I discovered that there was a trail of it leading elsewhere. What's going on? It turned out that the 3-year-old was responsible for the mess and she had the poop all over her hands. I contained myself and managed to speak gently whilst explaining to her that we don't touch poop. After cleaning her up I examined the surroundings. The stuff was everywhere! On the hall carpet, in the bathroom sink, but the 3-year-old's bedroom contained the worst of it. Poop was all over her bed and the floor had little chunks spread about. It was disgusting. I went to retrieve the wipes from the 1-year-old's change table and was horrified to discover that it had chunks of poop in it too! This was an absolute disaster. How did she manage to get poop all over the place in less than two minutes? The consistency was almost goopy, but mostly chunky. I managed to clean up most of it when I thought to myself where is the source? I did not want to find more of it but I decided I'd play detective just in case there was a large portion hiding somewhere. Most of the chunks were in the 3-year-old's room and so I started searching there. After snooping around the bed and dresser a bit with no traces of large portions I found that the closet had greenish yellow stuff in a large yellow container which read "Play-Doh" on the label. Most of it had dried up, which would explain why some of it was in the bathroom sink and therefore wet and goopy everywhere else...

I was happy to wake up very relieved that none of that happened in real life. When I told one of my friends about the dream, she reminded me that my profession of choice will likely contain a lot of "poopy" situations. True that. Too bad not all poop is Play-Doh. :)

Brain Freeze

I would describe it as an uncomfortable throbbing sensation that makes me feel as though my brain were trying to squeeze itself as far away from the frost that is obviously growing into the bottom of my cranium as I chug back my frappuccino.

I do, however, have one friend who will exclaim, "IT HURTS SO GOOD!" when he gets a brain freeze. He also told me that if he could have a brain freeze last 5 minutes or more he would probably be on the ground in the fetal position in sheer pleasure. I don't understand him.

Whenever I get a brain freeze, I am among friends. Some friends just laugh at me while others whisper remedy tips. And then there's the friend I mentioned earlier who gets jealous.

I appreciate the remedy tips because I have developed a strategy for getting rid of brain freeze...

If I have a hot food or beverage nearby, instant relief is possible.

If I use my thumb to press on the roof of my mouth, relief comes in 3 seconds.

If I put my tongue on the roof of my mouth, relief is a 10 second process.

Ideally, I could just avoid getting a brain freeze altogether by not chugging frozen beverages.

Carrot Soup

So I was in the kitchen today looking for something to eat, as I often do multiple times during the day, especially on Sundays when I am hungry and bored ;), and I found some older-looking carrots. They weren't fresh carrots because the ends looked a little bit soft and droopy, kind of like the way our skin gets when we age...Anyways, I decided to make carrot soup in order to make good use of these droopy vegetables before they expired completely.

I looked for a recipe and this is what I found:

epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/carrot-soup-with-ginger-and-lemon-4083

Now fast-forward a bit. The soup was absolutely delicious! The same consistency as butternut squash soup but with a tangier taste. I will absolutely be making it again in the future.

Backing up to before I started making the soup...and about a year before that :).

My parents wanted new kitchen knives, and so did I, so we went to Canadian Tire and picked up the Henkels Aviara set which was on sale for $299.99 regular $899.99. Seemed like a great deal so we went for it.

Now back to the present day, January 10, 2016.

I was almost finished chopping the onion for the soup, using the sharpest Henkels Aviara chef knife...you may already have guessed where this story is going...and the last part of the onion was a little tricky to slice. Let's just say my thumb got in the way.

The knife took a 1cm x 1cm x 2mm chunk of skin off my left thumb. It wouldn't stop bleeding for quite some time, despite my constant pressure with a kleenex but I was eventually able to make it stop and let it air out. Now my thumb just has a pink wound on the tip that dips in a bit.

The moral of the story is that the Henkels Aviara knife set is a really good one! The knives are really sharp! But I was advised by one of my co-workers that this story is not the best one to tell when trying to sell knives :P. 

Children

I love children for a number of reasons, and a big one is that they provide me with lots of stories to share, some funny, others ridiculous, and many random...

I was babysitting three kids, all under the age of ten, and they had a trampoline in their backyard. I was supervising the two boys (ages 4 and 6) jumping on the trampoline when I heard a loud CRASH come from the kitchen. I turned my back for less than a minute to see that the girl (8) had dropped a pan on the floor while the 4 year old boy had been bounced off the trampoline by his older brother. As I picked the youngest boy off the ground and assessed his condition, the older boy ran out of the yard around the house to the front yard where I soon found him jumping and screaming on top of the family van. At this time, while I was trying to convince the boy to get down, a woman walked by with her dog and the first thing out of my mouth was, "I'm just babysitting! He's not my kid!"

Christmas season was fast approaching and, as I was organizing the toys on the shelf at work, there was a particularly enthusiastic little girl shopping with her mom. As soon as the little girl entered the toy aisle she gasped loudly and began exclaiming "OH MY GOSH!" followed by "LOOK MOM! IT'S A (insert names of various toys sold at Canadian Tire here)" This went on for about 5 minutes.

A little boy was carrying a bike horn in his hand and squeezing it over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. I think he and his parents are deaf.

Some twins I know played hairdresser one time and one of the girls ended up with shorter hair than she wanted. When I told her it looked nice she snapped at me and said, "No it's CUT OFF!"

One of the high school students that participates in drama for the kids at church on Sunday morning had just finished one of his scenes and a little 7 year old girl beside me told me, "His voice is sooo adorable!"

When I was 4 I had a friend over (also 4) and it was early spring and we were playing in my backyard. Before I know it my 2 year old brother is butt-naked in the kiddie pool (which had nothing but a tiny mud puddle in it). I ran and reported the scene to my mother with tears streaming down my face and when she asked my brother what he was doing he promptly replied, "I'm smimming!"

I asked a 5 year old boy to tell me a joke. He thought really hard about it for a few seconds and then his eyes lit up and he said, "JOKE!"

A 9-year-old girl I was babysitting wanted me to paint her nails. She first had me "try out" the colours she liked on my nails and then proceeded to have me paint the same multicoloured pattern on her own nails. Then she smiled and said, "Now we're twins!"

I was sitting on the floor watching a number of children play together when all of the sudden I hear, "Oh it didn't work that good." A couple of 7 year old girls were standing behind me with an open lip gloss container and they were looking at me with concerned looks on their faces. "It didn't make your hair pretty!" One of the girls blurted out. It took a few washes for me to get the light pink sparkly sticky substance out of my hair.

Those stories are the only ones I can think of at the moment but having babysat and worked with the kids at church for so many years, I can't help but love them!

I Like Sushi

Now that is quite the understatement because I LOVE sushi! I maybe eat it only four or five times a year but it is a treat every time. Today I went with a few of my close friends to I Like Sushi, a place that serves sushi and also has a large Chinese buffet. Great food in general. You can see the delicious morsels of sushi displayed below...

Now when you arrive at an all-you-can-eat sushi place such as I Like Sushi, it helps to be familiar with what you are ordering and how much you and your friends can eat because if you do not finish everything you order, you pay for the leftovers on top of the base rate. This particular time my friends and I ordered way too much (this is not the first time this has happened either) and my stomach seemed to get more and more angry at me as more sushi rolls appeared on the table. By the time we all felt absolutely stuffed to the max, there were just a few little pieces of sushi left and we were tempted to do this...

But we didn't. Congrats to my friends for eating so much sushi! We got more than double of what we payed for for sure :). Despite feeling like a bloated tonne of bricks, I still LOVE sushi. 

Every Day Is Unique

It's true.

Just think about it...yesterday wasn't like today and you won't relive any of your days tomorrow.

So how are you making your days count?

Apart from the potential seriousness that could arise from the above question, let me tell you a bit about my day today...

I woke up with the intention of getting up early so that I could work but instead of taking a flying leap out of bed at 5:30am, I decided to press snooze until 6:07am. After cuddling my fluffy dog for an extra 5 minutes, I finally dragged myself out of my warm sleeping space into the cool, brisk air of my basement dwelling and further woke myself up with a shower. Time was then 6:30am. I finished putting mousse in my hair and touching up my make-up and so gracefully galloped up the stairs to search the kitchen for breakfast food items to satisfy my hungry stomach. Options were limited as the time was ticking so I poured myself a bowl of Strawberry Special K with about a 1/2 cup of extra added fibre, which supposedly makes you feel fuller for longer. Then I ate a chocolate chip cookie which had been baked the night before by yours truly. So with my hunger and sugar craving both successfully depleted, I grabbed my work essentials, which consisted of cookies, keys, and my water bottle, and I headed out the front door to my car because I had previously failed to arise in time to walk to CT.

I shall skip the 11 hours of work with a 40-minute lunch break somewhere in the middle because something more memorable and exciting happened today...

After arriving at home at about 7:15pm, I quickly made myself a roast beef sandwich and looked out the kitchen window. My oldest brother was attempting to start a fire in our fire bowl when all of the sudden I heard a commotion. A flame had hit the dead grass surrounding the pit and a small forest fire was growing and spreading in our backyard. I heard my brother say a calm, cool, and collected, "uh oh" before sprinting as fast as humanly possible into the house to grab the garden hose. If I wasn't trying to help put out the blaze, I would have video-taped it. It was quite the scene. Recipe for a backyard forest fire: Apparently my brother had tried to lightly sprinkle some gas onto the fire to make it burn faster but ended up lighting the gas can and then spilling it onto the grass. Missed the deck by 1 inch! The fire was out in less than 2 minutes but it left a nice, black, water-and-gas-soaked spot on the lawn.

Now I realize that a day like today will probably never happen again because my brother will most likely never try to start or fuel a fire in our backyard with gasoline again...hopefully.

Back to the seriousness from the beginning. There were a few key things missing from my day today, one of which was some time devoted to God. Let today be a lesson to me. I need Jesus. If I am claiming that He is who I live for, I need to prioritize in a way that proves my claim.

Thankfully, "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23

Blah, blah, blah...

It's one of those days...just finished writing a final exam and don't feel like studying for the next one right this minute :). So I think I'll blab on for a bit just for fun...

I heard a joke the other day that I thought was funny even though it took me an extra few seconds to understand...it went like this:

"Did you know that the man who wrote the Hokie Pokie died? It took them two weeks to bury him!"

LOL!

As I was praying this morning I asked God a lot of questions about life. There are so many things that I find myself unsure about but I know that He will provide the answers that I need when I need them.

I decided last week that I am going to quit my paper route. After having to be ready at 6am for clinical rotations, which forced me to start my paper route at 3:30am, which I did not enjoy and will never do again, I've decided it's time to be done. Ever since I have had to drive to pick up my papers to deliver each morning it's been a bit of a pain anyway. The pros have finally been outweighed by the cons.

I bought some floating shelves for my bedroom and now that they're mounted, I'm not sure what I should put on them! I figured that I needed more space for something but that something remains a mystery...

A new discovery that I made yesterday is that I can focus on reading my textbooks more if I am walking around at the same time. So now I can place my textbooks on my treadmill and study while exercising! Multitasking is a precious gift from the Lord :).

Today I created a casserole for supper and tried to take it out of the oven without oven mitts...don't even ask why because I don't know. My hands hurt...

I thought I needed maybe only ten more hangers for my closet but I bought thirty just in case (plus they were cheap). Turns out I'll probably need another thirty. Or I need to give away some clothes...

Now I think I should really go and study for my next exam...while watching Pirates of the Caribbean! Yes, I can do both. I'm just making flashcards for now :).

Poop Pillow

I know what you're thinking: What an attractive post title! I want to read that right now! or That's disgusting! I don't even want to know...

Well whatever you happen to be thinking, I would recommend reading the following story anyways because I am sure it will make you laugh out loud :)

So our family has a dog. Her name is Maggie. I've posted about her before but I might have to change one of the facts about her after I tell you what happened two nights ago...

First, some background info: Maggie typically likes snuggling up with someone during the night and because she is so warm and fuzzy there are usually a few of us who would like to take her for the extra comfort while we sleep. The only downside to having her in your room is that if she decides that she needs to "do her business" in the middle of the night, guess who gets woken up to let her out?

Upstairs there are three bedrooms fairly close together. My two youngest brothers, my sister, and my parents all sleep upstairs. Most of the time Maggie is in one of these three bedrooms for the night, and because they are so close together, my Mom can easily hear Maggie whining and is usually the first responder to her cries, allowing my siblings to get away with pretending they didn't hear anything so they don't have to get up to let the poor beast outside.

Now two nights ago my sister took Maggie for the night and was disturbed at 2:00am by some whining. Laziness settled in and my sister lay in her bed hoping that my Mom would take care of the dog. Little did she know that Mom did not hear Maggie this time.

I will attempt to take this next part of the story from my dog's perspective...

Oh I've gotta go! Come on Hannah get up! I'm at the door whining here! 

Five or so minutes pass...

Ok seriously! I cannot hold this thing in any longer! You are really gonna regret not getting up!

So Maggie then jumps back up on the bed and poops right next to Hannah's head on her pillow.

What a relief! Well I guess I can go back to sleep now...but ooh that is a smelly one! I'm gonna sleep as far away from that as possible. 

At this point my sister wakes up to this stinky little doggy poo right next to her face, totally grossed out, and notices that Maggie is sleeping at her feet. As it is about 2:30am at this point, Hannah deals with the mess and goes back to bed.

That will probably be the last time anyone in this house ignores Maggie's whining. Especially in the middle of the night.

I'm sure no one likes waking up to poop on their pillow. I can only imagine their reaction and giggle to myself. :)