This Happy Significant Day!

Two years ago we gathered to celebrate our love and to make a commitment in front of our friends and family, and we have photos to prove it.
I find it incredible how much we have changed since our marriage. We had both just graduated from College and were ready to wow the world with our knowledge. But, like any new graduated we had alot of life skills to aquire before we would be of any use to anyone. Of course we are still on that journey, but in two years, through our marriage and through our short time as parents we have matured and grown and have much more to offer still.

I think i miss our 'wild' days of cruising around in the car taking weird photos. Here are a few from our honey moon adventure road trip though a little bit of the states and Canada:

Nope, i lie! I have been trying all day to load photos, and they just won't work. I keep getting a message saying "contains no data" well boo. It honestly took me about 4 hours to get these other two photos up. Ahwell.

For our lovely evening out my mother is babysitting Corrina and we are going for dinner, a walk here and there, a movie, and who knows what other mischief we will find!

Eat, Eat, Yum Yum!!

I just came back from the mall and i am very impressed with the fall clothing, well most of it anyway. I love the color rust orange, burnt orange, pumpkin orange, orange-red- whatever you want to call it-and it is everywhere! Plus, all the shirts this year are longer cut which is great because i hate tugging things down, and everything it made to layer nicely, which i love. There are so many cozy sweaters in style too. Hmmm, fall!I also went into one really colorful children's clothing store: the children's place. Have you been? Everything is bright bright bright! Orange, green, yellow, pink! And great designs: embrodiered flowers on all the shirts, cute cute crazy fabrics, lots of ruffles and color color color. I must say this sure is going to be a good fashion year for me, and it certainly is a great year to have a little baby to dress! Ahhh, janie baby clothes. That's what i call them! So, i didn't go wacko and buy anything, i just looked and enjoyed. This shirt here is one of my favorites! And all the cute little sweaters to coordinate and little tshirts with awesome prints. I think i need to drag dave there and inspire him to dress Corrina.. these are just the sort of things he likes (the colors, not the shopping!) Oh, and i looovve these ones too! little hippy babies!

Corrina has started to chow down on so many different foods now! She eats banana, sweet potatoes, cereals, carrot, green beans, and peas. I was at the farmers market last weekend and was able to buy some fresh veggies to puree up for her. Lucky little ducky! I had so much fun sifting through people and stands and food and baking at the market and it was tough just to come home with the necesities, but i managed. Candace and i were both saying that we hope to have our own gardens one day so we can grow flowers and veggies, but i think i would miss the fun of going to a market for the things. Last night i saw "the devil wears Prada"... don't go to see it, just rent it if you must. I also watched "She's the Man" with some friends. I have to say that i really liked the movie. It was clean, it was funny, it was a teen age flick yes, but a great one. It had some morals to it even and i think i wil rent that one again! Here is a photo of Corrie with her Grandma Mary! I think one of Corrina's happiest times of the day is when she comes out of the bath tub, is wrapped cozily in a towel, and looks at herself in the bathroom mirror!

My Mom arrives tomorrow night. I am really looking forward to the week of visiting, and of course seeing my mom play with Corrina and such. I really love to show her off. Before Chris and Mary came out i was so excited for them to see Corrina and all the wonderful things she can do, and now i get to be excited all over again for my mom. I tell ya, Corrina is a little show off. She smiles and flirts with anyone, anywhere, except me of course (because i am the evil nap-time mommy.. mwah... no, she loves me too). I think she will be an extreme extravert like me and get alot of energy from others. So fun!
Well, my house needs a sweeping, my dishes a cleaning, dinner and cooking, and i am going over to a friends tonight.
Thanks for reading!

Awkward

So I'm walking down the street today, from my office to the bank for some mundane transaction, and it's sunny and I'm in my own little world. I'm walking the back path behind the Millenium Library, there's construction off to my left, I'm shamfully avoiding eyecontact with street people that I've had a run-in with in the past, and someone in big sunglasses goes by. It's a nice walk.

And then I turned. I know that face, I recognize that backpack. I know who it is on the bike and I really want to talk to them. But I just keep walking. I don't think they saw me, and they just kept going, so I just keep going. But I'm thinking, Man, I wish I wouldn't do that. I want to call his name, but I don't. I'm embarrassed. How many times have I done that, only to have it be the wrong person (note: This is not a true thought--it rarely happens--but it is what I was thinking). So I'm still going, still wishing I wasn't, still looking over my shoulder. It was the weirdest thing.

Then I'm running. I'm running, trying to catch up. He's a bike, for Pete's sake, but I'm chasing him down. I think I saw him look back, and that's enough for me. I'm in a big hurry to get to the bank and back, but here I am running down the path like an idiot. Maybe the light is red, I think. I round the corner, and he's gone. Then he's back. He too had turned around on his bike, presumably to check and see if it was really me.

And we both stop and we chat, and it's great to see him. He went to college with Janie and me, and now lives here in the city. He asks me how I'm doing and I tell him. I ask him how he's doing and he tells me. I tell him about sleepless nights and baby showers. He tells me about a recent summer job that fell through and about going to school. I ask him where he's going to church, and he tells me he doesn't. He says that he hasn't had faith in a number of years.

What was funny was that I didn't really know how to respond, because I felt suddenly awkward, but at the exact same time I wasn't really that shocked. Now, don't get me wrong. I never would have assumed that this guy would ever have left the Church. No way. It's not that. I just thought immediately about how difficult my own faith has been these last few years. I thought about how just about everyone has a faith struggle in their 20's. It's textbook (which is not to say that it's at all easy).


My very first response was, Do I have a preofesssional obligation to try and "win him back?" But thankfully my next response was a very godly "Screw that!" I felt that nither my job nor my faith demand that I make people feel judged or rejected. And so we just talked. I did my best simply to listen, and to accept him. I think that's what I would want in the situation. I felt funny, but I'm not sure why.

When we parted, we'd said we'd get together sometime. He said Don't feel awkward that I'm not a Christian anymore. I did feel awkward, but not for that reason. I was in awe that he was so bold, so blunt and so honest. I felt that I, in contrast, am so typically reserved and distant. I felt awkward because I always do around people (most people, not all). But did I feel awkward about the whole faith thing? I dunno. Maybe. Maybe not.

Either way, I was very thankful that I'm not as "narrow minded" as I used to be, and that his decision did not "offend" me, as it would have in years gone by. Also, I was thankful for my faith and the strength that it offers me which has so often carried me through rough times.

So the question is, Do you pray for someone who probably doesn't want you to? Who probably knows that you will be, and potentially could resent that? I did, and I could have felt awkard about it. But I didn' t want to.

-Dave

Is it possible...

... that i haven't really been in the mood to blog? Wow.

It is a very very grey day. Next monday the forcast for winnipeg is 40! My goodness. I think i will be hiding inside. I wonder what the temperature with the humidex will be that day? I think i will enjoy this cool, wet day and not think about it!

One of my favorite movies is Anne of Green Gables. Unlike most people i haven't actualy read the books, i have only watched the movies. Well, this past little while i have been working on reading the books. I love them, but i can't help but read and think "this isn't the way this story went... in the movie it was like this." Backwards. And for all the lines that appear in the book and the movie i tend to read them exactly as Anne or the other characters say them in the movies. I will encourage Corrina to read the books first so she isn't tainted by the movies.

I have been trying to teach Corrina to play peek aboo. Is this really something babies have to be taught, or do they just get it? Well, at 6 months she still doesn't get it. If i cover my face with my hands she watches my hands as they move away from my face, then she sorta looks at me, and doesn't really care. Whatever it is i try to 'hide' behind is way more exciting to her. That's okay. It's cute.

Here's a great post to read and think about. Claire's new inspiration!

I am off now to move my laundry from the washer to the dryer! Yippy. My day is going to be pretty dull, but made of life all the same.
Janers

Blog Basics: Editing Links 101

There are getting to be enough people out there who still have google news and EDIT ME! on the side of their blogs, so I’m setting out to show you how to change this, quickly and easily. Mark, this one’s for you.


1. First of all, you have to log in to your blogger account. This takes you to a page that says DASHBOARD in big letters at the top.

2. You should see the name of your blog on the left-ish. Click on that. This takes you to a page with the name of your blog and a list of all your posts. Right? If not, start again.

3. At the top are 4 tabs: Posting, Setting, Template, and View Blog. Click on Template. This takes you to a page with a whole lot of http and code and stuff. Take a cue from Douglas Adams: Don’t Panic!

4. Now, this is the tricky bit. What your looking for is a chunk of code that has links in it already. It’ll look like this:








On our template, this section is in the last ¼ of the code.

5. From here, it’s easy. Replace the part in quotes with the web address you want to link to, and replace the text between > and < with whatever you want the link to say. As in, if you want a link to my mother’s blog, you would edit the code to look like this:









6. Make sure you don’t add more or less than you need to (like deleting the = or something). The code won’t appreciate that.

7. Now hit “SAVE TEMPLATE CHANGES” on the bottom of the page, and then click the “Republish Index Only” button. Now the next time you go to your site, you’ll have a link to my mom’s blog! (or whatever). And that’s it! Let me know if this helps!

Note: You made need to refresh your blog to see the changes. I always do.

My House

If you walked into my house today you would see this:
-baby car seat
-cats tucked in around sandals and shoes, sleeping soundly
- recyling box
-shelf neatly arranged with large canvas storage bins (pretty blue, green, and cream!)
-a colorful kitchen with lots of orange and red
-clean dishes (most of the time, these days at least)
-plants, photos, and candles
-a colorful living room
-muppets
-The personalities of Janie and Dave
You would see that i don't really have a color scheme (even though sometimes i try, it usualy gets taken over within days by other wonderful colors that i just can't neglect), that i do like to organize but i'm not always on top of it, and that i have alot of Martha Stewart Mag's, and a big stack of 'organization/decorating' books on our coffee table.

My house means a lot to me. Besides just holding my 'stuff' it holds my heart in a way. I am represented by my house in more than one way. I can express who i am through the colors and arrangements. I can show other people my family through photos and memorabilia, i can serve food and fill people's tummies, and i can raise my daughter here. But if i go deeper and think about why i invest so much time in making my house neat i remember a metaphor that someone once shared with me.
They said that we, our 'selfs', are like a house. Sometimes someone (or multiple people) invades that space and messes things up (there are so many different ways that we can be hurt in life, and most of us have been hurt and our personal insides have been invaded) and they usualy leave without cleaning up. They tear things off the walls, throw things around, track mud around, break precious items, and then leave without a glance back. They leave us with a great big mess to clean up, and alot of sadness about the mess. At one point 4 years back,I remember feeling like i was standing in a large, torn apart room, all alone, very overwhelemed with no one to help me put things back in their place. It isn't a mess we allowed or asked for; it is like being robbed (i have never had my physical house robbed, but i can imagine the feeling). For years i have been working on cleaning up my 'emotional house' by rearrange who i am, picking up odds and ends of broken bits and putting them back together, organizing my thoughts, feelings, faith, believes, relationships, and priorities. I have come a long long way, and things are kinda where i want them, although they shuffle daily. I have come to realize that i act this out more than i realized in my real house. Dave knows very well that i move things around alot, am always wanting something new to organize with, am constantly searching through books and magazines for inspiration, and i find it very important to have a tidy, put together (when i have the time of course) environment. I know that this is just a reflection of what is happening inside of me. I think this is good and it is a part of my freedom to heal. In our relationship dave really gives me alot of room to be who i want to be, and it does change from day to day, and thus so does our living space. The house that is me really is a happy place while i work on rearraging things.

I am young and have a long journey ahead of me. Sometime i forget that and feel like i need to accomplish alot in the next 3 or 4 years and i start rushing. But really, in 4 years i will only be 26! Wow. I have time to figure out who i am, where things belong inside of me, search for wisdom and inspiration, and invite people into my house. I know there will be a day when my house is pretty much back together, i think i am almost there. And as for now, I really think i can embrace the things that were knocked out of place without my permission, and the scars they left, because i really couldn't assure you that i would be who i am without the rearranging that has taken place. It is a 'good thing' (a little martha reference for you all!)
I love having people over, and more than that just being with people. I always like to open up the house that Dave and i have made into our home to friends, family, and strangers too. And, i am a pretty open person and i would love to continue to let you in the house that is ME as well.
Anyway, those are my deep and meaningful thoughts for the day. I hope you understand now why i am obbsessed with my house (and martha!) And of course, my house that is ME looks for most of it's "decorating" inpiration from The Lord and from friends and family who gleam rays of light as to who God is!

Here are a few pictures of Corrina swimming.
Last night we celebrated her 6 month mark by leaving her with out friend Candace and going on a date. It was a spur of the moment thing! We did a little shopping, walked around a duck pond, and had starbucks drinks. In the short time that we were stopped at Starbucks we saw 5 people we know from years past. It was great and we were blessed to be there at that time! Anyway, photos:

The never ending bloooggggg... ohaooooahhoh

We rented, and are still making our way through, the never ending story! Yes, the fabulous 80's classic has invaded our evenings! I was so excited when the flying pink dog (otherwise known as the luck dragon) made his apperance! Just love him. I was thinking about the scene where Atreyou (or however the heck i should be spelling it) is romping around in the mud, in the swamp of sadness (the name alone! Ha!).. and i was thinking about what the director must have told him: "slosh around in the mud for about ten minutes, changing directions alot, and looking really sad and lonely." That would have been a super funny scene to act if you ask me. When i was a little girl i would stick necklaces on my head and pretend i was the empress.. te he. And the big indifferent turtle who refuses to help and is allergic to Atreyou... so good! This weekend, in two movies, i watched men put raw egg in with orange juice, mix in various ways, then proceed to ingest the concotion. EWWWWW. Can anyone name the other recent hit movie that this happens in? Common, this is an EASY one!

In other news, i went to the beach and burnt myself. Little miss Julia has it right when she remebers to wear her sunscreen. Little miss Janie thought it would be fine to not screen up her legs, because heck, they hardly tan, let alone burn.. unless you are in the manitoba scorching sun, lying on your back. I should have just had a big orange sign taped to my butt reading "Give me skin cancer. How about my legs?" It stings to bend at the knees, and considering i have a baby who plays on the floor, i am doing this lots. OUCH! Silly Janie. Oh, Corrina went swimming for the first time, which is really boring to write about because there aren't any pictures to go with it. I forgot the camera. Opps. But, i think dave and i are going to pack up and head to the beach tomorrow, monday, for Corrie's second swimming adventure!

On Corrie's door i hung a chalk board so i could write the latest news: "Corrie's grounded for going out with friends too late. DO NOT ENTER" or "Don't give her dinner, she's been bad"(two punishments i never actualy plan on using!) or "Corrina's making very delicate card towers: DO NOT ENTER" (i was thinking in the future... ) So, after get bored with myself writing her recent weight with a few flowers beside the numbers, i told dave it was his turn to decorate the chalk board. Here is what he did:So... if your very cute baby goes missing, they are probably just at m y house!
I found this very cute white dress at the thrift store and purchased it so dave could personalize it for Baby. Hmmm, what will he do????
And here are some other pictures of hard to resist Corrina!

Well, baby feeding awaits me, followed by husband and self feeding, followed by house cleaning, and if time, a little never ending! Exciting!
Janers

Much Joy In Blog Land!

I just love 'snooping' around on other people's blogs. Through a series of snoops i found some marvelous old friends in blog land that i never anticipated even seeing again. Wow, i am filled with joy. I saw new baby twins that belong to a bible study leader i had back in High school (camp luther connection), i found wedding pictures from a friend who just got married saturday, i found the blog of one of my funny youth friends, and many many more. I am filled with much joy because i love people, making connections, and staying in touch.
I also had a lovely visit this morning with my friend and her energetic little 17 month(?) old. He sure did keep the cats busy as he chased them under every piece of furniture (their desperate attempt to hide!) , and Corrina slept through the whole thing!
My heart is happy and my mind wants to do a little more snooping. I am off now.
Janers

Vote for Pedro

These days I've got Napoleon Dynamite on the brain. We've got our big Napoleon event coming up this Saturday, and I'm preparing costumes and games and such. And one thing I've been doing a lot is looking up stuff online.

In my googling I came across an interesting pneonminon. I'm sure you are familiar with the now classic shirt: VOTE FOR PEDRO, written in red Copper black on a white w/ black ringer shirt (yes, I actually have one of these). Now this shirt is nothing new, but I've never seen some of these before:

Deport Pedro

Pedro Sucks

Pedro Lacks Politcal Experience (my favourite)

Don't blame me, I voted for Summer

We should have voted for Pedro (with a picture of Bush)

But then I came across this. Now honestly! Is there any excuse for this?!


I'm sorry, but no he didn't. Pedro is a fictional character, and this is just sad. I could even handle a "Jesus loves Pedro" or a "Vote for Jesus", even though that would be pushing it. This is worse than sad. This is cheap. A cheap grab for attention.

What do you think? Do these sort of things work? Am I way off base here? Has anyone ever come to faith because of a whitty saying about Jesus on a shirt? Is there a cultural difference here between Canadians and Americans? I'm trying to give the creators the benefit of the doubt, but I'm struggling.


-Dave

PS> If you want a descent "Jesus" shirt, may I suggest a few.

A question for the ages

My apologies to those who have never played an adventure game, and do not understand the brilliance of this composition.

Sitting Pretty!

A new accomplishment: sitting! A whole new angle on the world for Baby Corrina. Her grabbing skills have multiplied as well, and i can't carry her around in a store without her lunging for everything that i am holding! On the downside she is teething and her happy, content temperment has dissapeared and been replaced with an unpredictable, moody, unhappy, tearful baby. Plus i think she has hit a growth spurt so half the time that i think she must be in pain and i try to treat that she actually is in pain and starving too. Not too fun for her and i try to sympathize with her by poking my gums alot and starving myself. Well, not really, but i really try to think about what she must be feeling, and then act from there. Eeeekkkk, poor little sitting beauty.(I love the naked pictures! Lovely, soft baby skin!)

This weekend was Winnipeg Folk Festweekend, which i have been dreaming about for about 2 years. I went for 2 days and had a marvelous time. The festival was voted "best festival 2006" by the north american folk alliance! The fest is about 4 days, but with COrrina i could only handle so much and was very tired out by the end! There was so much to see and do there. Amazing music (wailing jenny's, the Cotter's, K'naan, hawskley Workman, fruit, flook, and other superb artists!), great food, sooo many unique people to watch, beautiful trees and grass and sunshine! There were so many handmade treasures to be bought: clothes (see gathered roots link), jewelry, nicknacks, drums, books, iron work, pottery.... The best part is that most of it is recycled material, or organic materials, plus it is all Hand Made and individual! I forgot to take many pictures, i was too immersed in music and people watching. Dave came too one of my 2 days and really enjoyed his time. This is Corrina at folk fest wearing her beautiful hand decorated dress from hungry! it was the perfect outfit! Ahhh, i am soo inspired and feeling free. But, i also feel frusterated because i don't feel like i have anything unique to contribute to the world now. It seems like everything creative has been done. I have been praying that i would find something that would represent me and being unique, but nothing has come to mind yet. That's okay i am so young and have lots of time (hopefully)! One inspiration i can start living is to care about the earth and people more everyday. I am great at recycling, but not so good at reusing, and i could really start reducing. We are back into cloth diapers because i know Corrina doesn't want to pollute the world with diapers she doesn't even have a choice about wearing. So she has asked us to switch back to clothe so there is a chance the world will be as pretty when she is old enough to enjoy it. I will also be conscious of the products i purchase, and i encourage YOU to be too. Tricia has always inspired us to be careful about all the things we buy in packages: cookies (plastic wrap around plastic container, all shoved into a plastic bag), chips, etc... Sure, it's sanitary, so we many be alive in 50 years and in good health, but the world might suck. It has really been on my heart that God gave us the earth to take care of and i know i am not giving that my full attention and best effort. So yes, folk fest was out of this world wonderful and i can't wait until next year!
I hope everyone takes extra notice of the beautiful outside world today, especially the trees!
Janie

Animation Nation!

Today I take a few small steps into a larger world. I've always said I wanted to be an animator, so I'm going to start doing some stuff. And it may never go anywhere, but hey, at least I'm trying. Janie and I are saving up a bit for a few computer upgrades so I can run some decent software. And after that, who knows, right?

This is basically just a test run for a larger "short" I'd like to do. It's rough, but fun. Right now it's 100% Pencil with no digital edits! Whoo hoo! We'll see how things go from here. Let me know what you think! -D

We went to see Super Man!

That's Right! We went to see the Man of Steel! The Big Guy in Blue! Kryptonite's Favourite Son!

And let me tell YOU! It was........sold out. Crap.

So, what do you do when you've got a babysitter for a few precious hours and the movie you've been standing in line for is sold out? You go see the next best thing. Fast and the Furious 3? Not a chance. New Adam Sandler Movie? Too risky. Hmmmm, lastest by Napoleon Dynamite creator, Jared Hess? Interesting! But wait, didn't Janie say she never wanted to see this...

And by that point she'd already bought the tickets and we were on our way.

So yes, we WENT to see Superman, but ended up at Nacho Libre! Which, I have to say, was not the greatest movie of all time, but certainly was funny enough for me! Jack Black was much more understated than his typcial roles, which I think really worked for him. I thought he was funny without being annoying, and even managed to be quite sincere despite that mustache. But the show was stolen, in my opinion, by his wrestling partner with the humungous lips - Steven! All he had to do was the rediculous smile and I was laughing!

The movie is more "normal" than Napoloen was, but at the same time the pacing was way off from a regualar movie. Much more laid back, to the point of being awkward. And I loved it! When Nacho goes off into "the Wilderness" to die, builds himself a little shelter from sticks, and starts eating bugs and grass, but ends ups being only 100 feet from the edge of town - I nearly lost it. Too good.

Bre, Ernie, if you two haven't seen this movie yet, let me say one thing: Mexico. Entirely film in mexico with an almost entirelty Mexican cast and crew.

So Nacho Libre is not for everyone, but for fans of Jack Black or Jared Hess, it could just be a winner.


By the way, has anyone seen Superman? Is it any good? The closest I've got is this cartoon. Let me know.
-D

Human contact withdrawl

Over the weekend we had Mom and Dad Colvin visiting with us. I LOVED having them around. We did fun things together, like play board games, and east "family meals" at the table. Even when we were just sitting in the living room all reading books i felt energized. Why, oh why, do we all live in our own little spaces and houses. I am sooo bored now. I don't know what to do with myself. I am going to go out for a walk this afternoon, to the library and to buy a decent backpack, but right NOW i have no energy and it is only 11 am. AARRRRg, i don't know what to do with myself. I know i am not alone in this struggle, that there are other extreme extraverts out there who don't function anymore after about an hour of being alone. This is an ongoing struggle. Maybe me, dave and Corrina will move back into a dorm. Or maybe i just need to make sure i visit with people everyday. Or maybe i will have lots of kids, or ... i don't know...
Oh well, this too shall pass. One day, before i know it, i will be back in school, working, having a family, and be longing for these 'free time' mornings of boredom.
That's all, i have vented.
I wish everyone energized days.
Janie