'Tis the Season

Sure, it's Christmas and all, but we're also strong into the "Ten Best of 2009" season as well! I always like reading these, even if I've seen very little of the movies, books, songs, whatever, that they're talking about.

I just read one through msn.com, it was The Ten Most Memorable Movie Make-Outs of 2009.

It was so funny and I liked that it didn't just do 'the hottest' scenes. It also had some of the most memorable for being bad, funny or just plain awkward!

However, #4 was from The Proposal with Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock. I was in stitches during that scene! So funny! Although I must also admit to laughing so hard my stomach hurt through quite a bit of that movie.

As funny as that was, I think it still was not the time I laughed the absolute hardest in a movie in 2009. Did anyone see The Ugly Truth? I enjoyed that movie far more than I thought I would. I like when films exceed your expectations, it's such a pleasant surprise! Well, if you saw it, you saw the table scene. I think that's all I need to say. So freakin' funny! I luckily had gone to this movie with a couple old girl friends of mine, so we could freely laugh out loud! And did we ever! It had me giggling the whole drive home, too!

A Place to Call Home

This is just an older picture of the two of us! Two years ago or so. Just a bit after we got our house which we live in now. I used to wonder how middle aged or older people's homes always seemed to get to filled with knick knacks and pictures and shelves and just... everything!

But just looking at this old picture, I can see that in two short years, I've already made a lot of headway towards having a cramped and cluttered little home. But it's a happy, healthy and loving little home. Make no mistake, it is a home, not a house. Our home is the center of holidays, celebrations, gatherings, tears of sadness, tears of joy, a place to get away from it all, a place to hide, a place to find yourself, an oasis, a refuge, chaos, peace, sanctuary, noise, quiet... whatever your soul needs.

It's very nice to have a place to call home.

Soon...

I finally had the courage to take another baby step in the direction of a big dream of mine.

I'm not going to tell you about it yet.

Don't you hate when people do that? I know I sure do!

I'll let you know when I have more courage to share it.

Until then... it's 2:31am and I have church at 10am tomorrow. And most importantly, I need to wake up in time to have a shower to wash my hair. Even a quick one. I had a bath tonight, but decided I didn't want to go to be with a wet head, so I didn't wash my hair. Now the thought of waking up early is making me sad.

My darling daughter is away having an early Christmas with her dad's family this weekend because some of them are flying out to Winnipeg to visit her great-grandpa. Her great-grandma on that side just recently passed away, so they want to make sure they're there for him. On the plus side for me, we can do something fun and crazy Christmas Eve this year, because that's when her dad's family usually does their traditions! Any good ideas?

I miss her like crazy! She's my sunshine, every single day! Can't wait to see her tomorrow!

And yet...

-40

°C

• °C
• °F

A few clouds

• Feels Like: -
• Wind: SW 6km/h
• Sunrise: 8:42
• Sunset: 16:15

• Relative Humidity: 73%
• Pressure: 103.19 kPa
• Visibility: 24.0 km
• Ceiling: unlimited

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And yet... school still is not cancelled. Up and at 'em! Business as usual!

I actually don't have any clients today at work, so I was secretly hoping Layla's kindergarten would be cancelled and we could just sleep in and hang out around home. Honestly, I'm still tempted, as it's very rare that we get to do that any more.

Ahhh, a whole day of nothing! What a dream!

But I guess if anyone would happen to ever read this (although I doubt any of her teachers would), I would be caught! Evidence of bad mothering! Keeping my child at home by choice!

Oh well, I'm sure I'll be taking her. It's just still very cold and dark outside. It takes a bit of motivation to get going. Hence, instead of getting ready for the day, I'm putting off the inevitable by blogging.

Hope it's warmer where you are and you can find the motivation to get up!

Happiness

Where we are in Canada, our winters are very, very long and often very, very cold.

So it's good to find any little thing that helps to make the season a bit brighter and make you excited for the winter.

I found a fabulous little pick-me-up walking home from work last Saturday (when my car couldn't get out of my drive-way or onto the road). I stopped in French's Jewellery because they had the most adorable sock monkey mittens I have ever seen in the window! Yes, that's right. I said sock monkey mittens!

As I still haven't had the time to look for my camera cord and the battery is still dead, you can see a picture of these crazy awesome things at www.knitwits.com and clicking on the cartoon sock monkey in the top right corner. Are those awesome or what??? I am sooo happy I own them! I've been super frugal lately, but these were an amazing purchase with zero buyer's remorse!

I get compliments on them everywhere I go! And the saleslady Miriam, was one of the most fabulous shop clerks I have ever met in my life! It was so fun shopping with her! She's my retail bosom buddy now!

Stay warm friends!

Brrr!

I feel redundant, as all anyone can talk about is the weather! Mind you, there was a record windchill this morning at -56C. The actual temperature has been as low as -44C.

Unless you're from around here (or somewhere even more North), temperatures like that are hard to understand. You just have to be here to understand how retarded cold it really is.

However, the crazy snowfall from last weekend is still making everything look beautiful! On Monday we got a tree (a real one again, after hesitating about the decision for almost 2 weeks), Tuesday Layla and I decorated it while listening to Christmas music. That really got me in the Christmas Spirit! On Wednesday, I bought the movie Elf, with Will Farrell. Layla and I watched it twice in a row that very night! Love it! Soooo funny!

Also, while we were watching this movie (the first time around), we got PIXIED!!! So fun!

For those of you who don't know what the entails:

-You bake a bunch of delicious goodies

-You put them on a pretty tray

-You put them on the doorstep of someone you care about (or someone you don't like, if you're feeling extra nice!)

-then you ring the doorbell and...

RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNN!

and hide, so when the person opens their door, they only see the treats and it's a mystery who gave it to them! Isn't it fabulous?

If you've never done it before, give it a try!

It is so fun and a guaranteed way to spread the Christmas Cheer!

Thankful

Today I feel like I have a lot to be thankful for.

-I am thankful for the enormous amounts of snow we now have. It is beautiful and after our dry summer, we need the moisture. Besides, it does add a bit of adventure to the week!

-I am thankful for Fast and Testimony meeting at Church today. It was lovely and I felt the spirit there.

-I am thankful for my fabulous neighbors who both picked me up and took me to church with them, but also later came to help me shovel more of my driveway and some of the road as well so I could get my car out. And then, came back again later to make sure I safely got out of our street. So nice!

-I am thankful I was able to drive safely up to Edmonton to pick up my darling daughter and drive her safely home and that she had a safe weekend.

-I am thankful I could cuddle with Layla and watch our First Presidency Christmas Devotional on the internet at home while eating gingerbread cookies and drinking Egg Nog. Lovely!

-I am thankful I could read some scriptures with Layla tonight before bed and that I could sing Christmas Carols to her to help her fall asleep. I am also thankful for the opportunity to continue singing a few more songs even after Layla fell asleep!

-I am so thankful for the wonderful people in my Ward, and especially all the children and other Primary Workers down in the Primary (the coolest place to be on Sunday!).

-I am thankful I made it up to Edmonton a bit early and just drove around Whyte Ave., campus and a bit downtown just for the fun of it and to look at all the pretty lights and to see how the snow makes everything look so lovely and enchanted.

-Although I had a nightmare last night (first one in a very, very long time), I am thankful I had a very nice dream afterward, although I didn't want to wake up from that one, and then I was dragging my butt around the house in the morning after that.

-I am thankful that my car still started after not driving it for a couple days.

-I am thankful for the opportunity to again wear my fabulous new, amazing winter boots. Seriously, they put all other boots to shame! And to also wear again, my new sock monkey mittens. They are just so freakin' adorable, Layla even just talked to them all the way home!

This is only a tiny smidgen of all the wonderful things I have to be thankful for. Like my house, car, food, job, family, friends, clothes, church, health, etc.

In essence: I am a lucky girl! And I am thankful for all of my many blessings!

Birthday Bestie!

AMANDA

Big Birthday Wishes to the best bestie a friend could ask for! My dear Amanda, you are so beautiful, smart and talented. Beyond compare. You have already accomplished SO MUCH and I am absolutely confident that I am going to continue to be in awe of the many feats you will continue to accomplish. I know you will fulfill all of your big dreams, and then some!

One wish for you: I wish you could see yourself as others see you. You have a radiant luminosity about you that cannot be faked (although others try). You hold so much life and energy inside you. You are a beyond caring, thoughtful, loving person.

Truth be told: I often feel like Scrooge on Christmas Eve when I hang around you. I'll catch myself thinking: Why do I find it so hard to be as kind to everyone as Amanda does? She does it so easily and naturally.

Amanda, I love that you're always by my side on my crazy adventures. Whether it's a

"Let's go Malora, this is going to be awesome!"

or a

"Oh my gosh Malora, GET DOWN FROM THERE!"

Either way, happy or mad, you're by my side! And that's priceless!

A confession: I really enjoy telling you about the stupid, crazy things I do, or to do them around you, because I love to see/hear you expressions. I'm sorry. That's a very selfish friend. I know you really worry about me. And for that, I love you.

P.S. You know I'm totally going to drag you on many, many, many more adventures. And you're going to love it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAUTIFUL!!!

Where's November?

Howdy Strangers!

November, despite the calendar saying there's 30 days in it, flew by in the blink of an eye! It was a beautiful month! Very decent weather, only a tiny bit of snow a couple days from the end.

Most things here are going along as usual. One big exciting bit of news is that the starter went on my faithful old Taurus.

Pola freshly washed and squeaky clean!

Pola and I in better days. This was on a roadtrip to Kananaskis. We've been able to enjoy many fabulous adventures with our dear car (seriously, how many people name their car? We're very devoted people). The farthest our Pola took us was all the way to Oregon and back. Even going the long, scenic, completely out of the way route = fabulous!

Poor Layla was very sad to hear that Pola was 'sick' and I still haven't admitted outright to her that she's not coming back. Poor girl doesn't like change and would totally flip out, even though she loves our new car. In fact, Layla was the one who logically figured out the perfect name for her.

Number 1: Obviously, it is a 'her'.

Number 2: She's white. (think polar arctic, polar bear)

Therefore: Pola. The white Ford Taurus.

Sure, a starter wouldn't be that much money, but it was just another thing on an increasingly long list of things needing to be taken care of that I was avoiding. However, like when the transmission went, a starter cannot be procrastinated. You're simply not going anywhere until it's looked after.

And on that dark day, inside my heart, I gave up. I knew I just couldn't trust Pola any longer. With winter coming, driving around with a sweet 5 year old, a cell phone that's insistent on beeping 'low battery' after a 15 second conversation and mostly, the fans on the heater not working... I knew it was finally time to let her go.

So, the news is: we have a beautiful, fancy new car! However, since I've misplaced the cord for my camera and I've been crazy busy and haven't had the time to look for it, those pictures will remain for now, hidden in the black screen on my camera that needs to be charged (again, no cord).

In short:

HAPPY DECEMBER!!!