Merry Christmas...

...from creepy pipe cleaner Santa.

I Hope You Don't Resonate With This

marriedtothesea.com

Like Bill Crosby Or David Letterson

I was flipping through the Best Buy flyer and got to the part with all the cheap knock off software.

I had to laugh and then feel a little sad - there are going to be some terribly sad children and some terribly confused Mothers when some kids open Guitar Master for PC on Christmas morning.

Daaaag.

Forgive Me Internet For I Have Sinned

A few weeks ago one of my roommates lost their phone. It sucked, he looked everywhere for it, vigorously retraced his steps and nothing, no phone. So he took the opportunity that life handed him to get an iPhone. It's been quite the event in the house to have it here. He's been downloading new apps every night and shares with great enthusiasm the slick features of each one. As you can imagine, I have been a wee be jealous and coveting this sweet piece of technology. He got it on Saturday and it wasn't until last night that I finally broke down and asked if I could play with it. Mmm. When he said I could play it with, he told me he wasn't responsible for puting temptation in my hands. I told him if I was going to make an expensive Apple purchase it would be of a Macbook pro, preloaded with Final Cut.

Well Good For Me

So my time with the unnamed labour group has been up for a few weeks now. Unemployment has looked pretty good on me. I have been doing more: sleeping; knitting; Christmas card writing; Christmas present making; phone talking; visiting; watching of various DVDs and VHSs; cursing the snow and falling in love with Sack boy.

I have also been applying for some jobs. I got one. In the new year I'll be working for the YMCA here in London. They have hired me on in one specific department with a lot of chat about cross training me for a few other departments/programs that me and my zany skill set could help in. It looks pretty promising and fun. And after 3 months it comes with a free gym membership. Yeah!

Something I've Always Wondered (For The Past 2 Months)

I believe the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" works on an assumption. Until this year I hadn't really thought about this assumption. At first I thought the assumption was that a child had witnessed their mother in an adulterous act. Then it occurred to me that in some family traditions, Dad dresses up as Santa and brings the presents.

The good in me wants to work on the assumption that the song is about a couple in a loving married relationship, being caught sharing a bit of physical lovin' by the product of their relationship. But the pessimistic pragmatic in me says that Mum is a ho.

So what do you think -

Is "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" about a loving married relationship, or adulterous acts?
	Love, love, love.
	She's a ho, stone her.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

It's A Sad, Sad Night

Tonight is the midnight breakfast at Redeemer. For the past 7 years I attended this event - both semesters. I feel sad I will miss bacon and breastfest tonight. This is truly the end of an era.

Things You Never Want To See

Sometimes it's quite disturbing to walk in on one of your roomies making a pattern for the knitted underwear she's going to make her uncle for Christmas. Cough.

Dedicated To The Singles

A Milestone

This guy turns 25 today.

In case you're new around here, that's my little brother up there. Little brothers should not turn 25. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally enjoying the maturity (sisters, there is hope!), but still, little brothers should not turn 25.

I would like to point out that this particular little brother is a foreman (yup, he got 2 promotions this year) at the 2010 Olympic Bobsled/Luge/Skeleton track in Whistler, BC. Aside from that, he's a pretty good kid who calls his sister pretty regularly and has learned to ride (a snowboard) like he was born to it.

Happy Birthday Johnny, I love you.

(also, a very happy birthday to the L.Bo - Les, your commitment to fighting the results of sin is a constant conviction and encouragement to me, keep fighting the good fight!)

Here and There

Friday I am going to this with this.
Saturday I am going to this with this.

There is a Joni Mitchell quote that would apply here.

Zero Nightmares

nataliedee.com

When You Work From Home...

... you don't fall asleep thinking of snow days.

All I Want For Christmas Is Rawr, Rawr, Rawr

Maybe I really want this t-shirt

Bored? Have Children? In London On Friday?

If you answered yes to any of these three things then do I have an idea for you!

Friday night is a cozy winter night in London. If you are familiar with Victoria Park you'll also be familiar with its acres of trees and beauty. It is a great piece of green space in the heart of the city. Every year the city lights the park up in a really magnificent way. The official first lighting of the park happens to be Friday. I'm told thousands of people come out for this. I suggest you be one of them - 6:15pm.

Once the lights are on, you wander around and gaze at all the different displays, you grab a hot chocolate somewhere. Don't go too far though. 'Cause at 7:30 at Centennial Hall the Christmas Celebration is starting!

This is a very family friendly concert - so family friendly in fact that the children of the audience get to come up on stage at one point (in 2 different age groups) and sing for everyone. The concert features works with Chorus London (that's the one I'm in), St. Mary Choir School (some of whom sang with us in Carmina and Voices - they are also joining with us on a couple pieces), the Forest City Violins (which from the descriptions I've heard, sound reminiscent of the Blazing Fiddles), and a percussion trio.

The evening at Centennial Hall is hosted by Peter Garland - and I asked if that was his real name or if it was a character like umm, Frank Nomatcheskids from the fire department presentation squad. I was told that Peter Garland is a real person. There is a reception after that is sponsored by McDonalds - I'm anticipating hot chocolate, orange drink and pickles. But I could be wrong.

So it sounds like a pretty nice evening - with or without kids I think you could have a good time. If Peter Garland and our music extravaganza isn't really for you, I do know that A Christmas Carol is opening at the Grand theatre that night too.

Pretty much if you are in London this Friday night and you stay home all night, you're a chump.

Back

The phone is back. I feel normal again. And only 15 text message and 1 voice mail waiting for me.

Some Gaps In The Truth

There is a lovely jazz song called "All God's Children Got Rhythm" (Kaper/Jurman/Kahn). It contains the title line and also a line that says "all God's children got swing".

I just want to say that the authors of this catchy tune obviously never met the Dutch or white Baptists.

A Tale Of One Cell Phone

This weekend some lovely people from Hamilton came to visit some of us London dwellers and have some epic fun. During the ending of this fun tonight I got in the car of said Hamiltonians. My cell phone liked it so much in their car that it decided to stay there.

Little cellular did not inform me of this jump, so off he rode to Hamilton, where he will stay until he can get very quickly shipped back to me.

This would be one of those times where I wished my portable calling machine was sophisticated enough to be able to sync with my computer - because that would mean that 90% of my phone numbers would not be sitting in Hamilton right now.

Swift travels my chirpy, cat coated friend - I need you.

Loads Of Truth

I use iGoogle and one of my gadgets there is the quote of the day. There are three of them in a little box all together.

The other day these three were together and I loved them all:

I base my fashion taste on what doesn't itch.
- Gilda Radner

The purpose of life is to fight maturity.
- Dick Werthimer

A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled.
- Sir Barnett Cocks

...Lookin' Out My Back Door (And My Front Door)

Not Quite

Today would have been Grandma Stewart's 89th birthday.

I miss you Grandma, I miss you a lot.

Why I Think Winter Is A Crock O' Nasty

I know its only November and it hasn't even got really snowy or really cold yet. But as the white begins to pile up here in London I am already reminded of why I think winter is dumb. Do I think there are some profoundly beautiful and awe inspiring parts of winter - yes. Do I think there are some fun things you can do in winter that you can't do at other times - yes. Those things are not the point of this ranting, griping, crank.

My main complaint with winter (aside from sub zero temperatures) is this: everything takes longer (I have composed many songs about this in my head). You could accuse me of western rushing attitudes and tell me that winter is God's way of making me slow down. You could do that, but you'd be wrong.

Let's compose a little list of things that take longer because of winter and all its accoutrement.

1. showers - no longer can I dash out apres shower, now everything must be moisterized lest it dry up and fall off or crack, itch and burn
2. getting dressed - just throw on a dress? heeeeck no! long johns, pants or tights ('cause dem hose just ain't gonna cut it), shirt, long sleeved shirt, sweater - layers, layers, layers - a person could die of skin suffication.
   
3. leaving the house - throw on flip flops, grab keys and go - oh, no. put on socks, put on boots, put on and zip up 20lbs coat, find hat, find mitts, begin sweating
4. using a car - fight polar bear on way to car, use mitts to dig way into car, start car, I said saaa-aaaart the car, turn up anything that makes heat and defrosts things, dig out scraper/brush, scraaaape scraaaaape scraaaaape, brush brush brush brush brush <-- repeat brush and scrape routine for 20 minutes, brush snow and ice off self, wring out now sopping wet mittens, get in car. oh, not so fast - silly, you forgot that you have to shovel the driveway in order to even get this freshly cleared car out. i hope it's not snowing heavily while you're shovelling 'cause all your hard brushing work is about to get undone
5. driving anywhere - main roads are plowed and salted? sweet! what's that? you don't live on the 401? oh, your house is on a purely residential street, oh and that won't get plowed until 4pm the day after it snowed like mad. ok, so it takes you 20 minutes to ram your way out to a main route (this is added to the 20 or so it took you to get your car ready to leave the driveway - and add to that the half an hour it took you to shovel) . now you're on that main route but traffic is moving at an astounding 36 km/h which should have you at work only 3 hours late (you have second thoughts about having won in the fight against the polar bear and wonder if just having let him eat you would have solved a lot more problems).

So by my count something (exiting the house and getting to a main route in a city) that would have taken you 5 minutes in June has now taken around an hour and a quarter. And there my friends is my just some of the fuel for my fire of thinking winter is dumb.

Because I Didn't Do The Dishes

For two entire school years, every supper (except both Aprils) before Church in the Box I ate supper with the same chore group of women. Now I can't just say that I ate with them, I need to say that I ate food that was generously supplied and prepared by them. It was a really good deal.

Here's how it would go:

• Laura comes in for CITB and is a big stress bag because there were always insane things going wrong
• Laura quickly loses years off her life
• around 5 or 5:30 things would calm down enough that Laura could escape
• Laura escapes to the dorm of said lovely women and

1. freaks out
2. tries to sleep
3. takes something for her headache
4. remembers that she doesn't have any pre-service music to play
5. gets her pre-service 'staff' devotion together
6. makes lots of terrible jokes
7. makes Natalie laugh until she is pretty much hyperventilating
   
8. eats
9. realizes the time, freaks out and leaves in a very big hurry for the school

So basically that's how things went. It was a pretty involved process. Now the reason I am writing this post is to give shout out to Steph. Steph is the unofficial mother among this women, not because she's older or has actual children of her own, but because she is responsible and has some great maternal instincts. She was the one that ensured food would be ready and usually that it was food that I love.

Last night we had a little reunion of these ladies at the dorm that Steph is now a Residence Advisor for (aka she is one step closer to being a real Mom) and once again her matronly field general skills delivered a great time of eating and socializing.

Go Steph.

It Takes Good Judgement

nataliedee.com

Continuing With The Obscure But Important Canadian Icons

You may recall this one.

And now I give you:

Ruth Watson Henderson - composer, performer, icon.

I'm Quite Sure Jesus Is Coming Very Soon

I chose soprano.

Chance?

I was speaking with my choir director on the weekend and it came up that I have only sung the Messiah as an alto. So Gerry said that if I wanted, I could sing it as an alto.

We have to sing it on December 13 and have one more other concert before that, that we are learning music for too. I think we have 6 or 7 rehearsals before Messiah but only 2 or 3 of those will be 100% dedicated to the Messiah. So that is a lot of music to learn as a different part in a short time. But it is also a great chance to learn an important work in another part.

I have to decide by tonight - what do you think I should do?

What part should I sing in Handel's "Messiah"?
	Alto
	Soprano
Free polls from Pollhost.com

In The Quiet Misty Morning

I think Brantford was abducted by aliens as I was driving through it last night.

What Path Are You On?

The Continuation of Good Things

Oct 30 - discipleship class
Oct 31 - Caesar & Cleopatra @ Stratford
Nov 1 - sung in choral concert concert
Nov 3 - choir rehearsal
Nov 5 - Cardus launch/Zylstra lectures
Nov 6 - discipleship class
Nov 7 - Romeo & Juliet @ Stratford
Nov 8 - singing in choral concert
Nov 9 - Emilia Galotti @ Stratford
Nov 10 - choir rehearsal

It's A Good Way To Be

This was the state of my bulletin board earlier in the week. I'm very ok with that.

Happy Pagan Death Candy Scary Day!

Did you know that palm trees are the opposite of Halloween?
(as usual - click for larger versions)



By carving a palm tree into a pumpkin, I have created a rift in the space-time continuum. We're all doomed.



If I stare long enough into the rift I think I see the Red Sea being parted... oh, wait, that's just me doing a canon ball at the old cottage. My bad.



This what happens when you let an over achieving ed student near a creative outlet (that involves) knives after she's finished her last exam (which was math).



Same deal. We're praying that her sanity will be restored.



Back row (l-r) by: Tashley, Chelsea, Michelle, Chelsea
Front row (l-r) by: Shawna, Tashley, Me, Alyssa, Chelsea



What a bunch of spooky over achievers. Boo!

This Isn't Right

Here is what I came back to last night (some pics taken last night, some this morning - all of them gross):









There are limbs and whole trees down all over the city. Cars have been smashed by falling debris. My one roommate said that the snow was touching the bottom of the car as she drove down our street to get to work. It's a mess. It's not creationally normative to have snow on the ground before Halloween. I'm glad that its supposed to get up to 15C here tomorrow. Take that snow!

From The Inside

Shhh, don't tell. I may have snapped a couple shots at Monday night's rehearsal with the orchestra.





I may or may not have been sitting behind the percussion section.

Further Proof That I Serve A Loving God

I'm heading to Hamilton tonight to attend a gala dinner (it's a gala day for me), and then I'm staying over night with one of the couples attending the event. In the morning I will go to the chiropractor (whom I miss so dearly).

I am happy to announce that by doing these little things, I should miss this:


Yup, that says 10cm of snow. At time of publishing Hamilton is not expected to get any precipitation during the same period. So I will go to Hamilton, let it snow, and then come back to London after the yuck is done. And all this planned weeeeeks in advance.

Thank you Jesus.

I Know There Is A Connection

When I saw this...

toothpastefordinner.com

It made me think of a few men I know. But it also made me think of this.

For Halloween Week

I took this picture of Leah



She took this picture of me.

So You're Leaving The Wolf With The Lambs?

A couple of my roommates went to Costco this week. Among many things, their trip yielded the classic Monster Mix bucket of candy. I say classic because a friend's mother buys her one every year to share with her friends. So the bucket of candy has been a staple at Pony Villa (and dorms before that). Anyway, it came out that I might be the only one home on Hallowe'en night.

Let's break this down - everyone else gone, me alone with an entire bucket of candy, the expectation that at the end of the night the bucket will be empty. Hmmmm.

I wonder how this will all play out.... wonder indeed.

I Think It Was A Good Day

I spent some time at home on the weekend. I got pretty tired (for various reasons) and decided it wouldn't be safe for me to drive all the way back to London on Sunday night. Therefore I thought I would get a good jump after breakfast on Monday morning and be back to London just after lunch. That was a pipe dream.

The following are my facebook status updates that I made via my cell (with some commentary):

Laura is on the side of the 401 with a flat tire, although she is capable of changing said tire, she is glad to have caa. 10:51

-I'm just driving along and the car starts to handle all crazy and there is a bad bad noise coming from the back. I pull over and swear. Then I call CAA. Then I wait for CAA. Then CAA comes and puts the spare on and inflates it for me. Then I make phone calls to Dad and L.Bo for advice on where the heck to go and get this tire repaired. I end up at Northumberland Tire. They say its gonna be 45min or so. Alors, I take off on foot to kill the time.

Laura stly) replacement. Hurray! 12:01

-this was supposed to read "Laura is eating chinese buffet by herself in port hope. She was just informed that the tire cannot be fixed and she is waiting for them to put on a (likely costly) replacement. Hurray!" I had decided lunch was in order and a 6.50$ chinese lunch buffet is ok with me.

Laura gives up on trying to update this from her cell. Grrr. 12:03

-I was pretty frustrated that I had taken the time to put that whole long update up and it didn't work. though I think it may have worked over the mobile network because I got a text from L.bo saying that I was killing her. she felt sad that she was working and couldn't come and have 6.50$ chinese buffet with me.

Laura is killing Lesley, possibly slowly and with her song. 12:06

-so I thought I'd let everyone know that I was killing L.bo

Laura just watched some woman named Doris get surprised for her birthday at the aforementioned chinese place. 12:18

-yup, just as I was heading back to the buffet Doris and a couple of friends walked in and she spied a very long table full of more of her friends and very quietly and sporadically they started going "uh, surprise." "surprise Doris" "happy birthday Doris" I was pretty amused. And I was just killing time while I was waiting for N-Tire to put the newbie on my car.

Laura cannot do anything simple. Sigh. 12:42

-while I was in the bathroom my Dad called. he had just remembered that before I got the car, he and Mom had put new tires on it and they might be under warranty. but the warranty would be with Canadian Tire, which I was not at and which there is none in Port Hope. this frustrated me to know at this point. so I called Dad and said that it was too late for this tire as a new one was being put on, but I was glad to know for future tire 'incidents'. I got back to N-tire and the spare was still on my car. what? growl. they hadn't had time to find a suitable replacement. so I took that opportunity to check my glove box for anything that mentioned tire warranty. found it, called dad. after some discussion dad called cobourg CT for me and they said to bring the tire in. I got my tire back from N-tire and slowly headed to the 'burg.

Laura is on her way to cobourg canadian tire, frick. 13:00

-I was obviously thrilled to be back tracking and likely eating another hour of time. if I didn't leave cobourg by 3pm then I wouldn't be making it to London by 7 for rehearsal (because of traffic) and would just go back to my parents.

Laura was really wishing she would get an unsecured wireless signal at CT. that wish is going unfulfilled. 13:17

-I pulled out my laptop and thought I might get some work done while waiting for my 'free' replacement tire to be put on. this work would not be involving the internet

Laura has a new tire and is ready to take off across toronto (into traffic). Oh look, its raining. Fun. 13:51

-after about a million phone calls, a bunch of hours spent waiting on the 401, in port hope, and in cobourg, I was finally able to start heading westward again

Laura is back in London, thinking about supper and getting ready for rehearsal. 17:07

-traffic was nice, I made good time and I made it back with a bit of space to breath and have supper before choir rehearsal.

So I think that was a pretty stellar day and was in no way frustrating or a waste of an entire day. Cough.

Logan & Leah

Leah...



...has a little brother.

Logan Hunter born Thursday, October 16. 8lbs, 2oz.

Maybe I really love these kids.

Look Out World

Maybe Kim is the greatest friend ever. Maybe last night she bought me Enchanted!!!!!

Something You're Going To Want To Do

On November the 1st and 8th, I'm singing with Chorus London in some pretty fantastic concerts.

The concerts are basically the same actually - or at least the music being sung is the same - Orff's Carmina Burana - you can see the first/last movement here - and Ruth Watson Henderson's Voices of Earth. Both concerts will have Chorus London and the Amadeus Choir and a children's choir, along with orchestra.

On Novemeber 1 the concert happens in London at Centennial Hall. On Novermber 8 the concert happens in Toronto at York Minster Park Baptist Church.

A few of the differences will be: the childrens choirs will be different for each city, and I believe the pianists will be different as well. We were told a few weeks ago that Ruth Watson Henderson herself will be one of the pianists for the Toronto date.

I think these will be very hot concerts - 200 voices, amazing music, orchestra, hmmm yes. I'd never heard all of Carmina Burana before I entered the ensemble and it is one crazy b!tch goddess of a piece of music - the rhythm is crazy at times, it's sung in medieval Latin and German. There are even some yiddish words thrown in for good measure. The translations of the lyrics are pretty crazy too. Some highlights:

"If the world were all mine from the sea up to the Rhine, this I would willingly forgo to have the queen of England lie in my arms."

"Some gamble, some drink, some live without discretion. From those who spend their time in gambling, some are stripped bare, some win clothes, some are dressed in sacks; there no-one fears death, but for the wine they throw dice."

"May God grant, may the gods grant, what I have set myself to do, and that is, to unlock the bonds of her virginity."

Voices of Earth draws its lyrics from the Canticles of the Sun and poetry by Archibald Lampman. One of my favourite parts of singing it is the way the two choirs are written. There are many times when one choir is kind of singing the back up vox for the other choir. Sometimes this means that the lyrics get a little skewed. At one point our choir gets to sing "oo-ooooooo grass." And at another "a pool, a pooool, cool." Or another favourite "with joy for Captain fancy at the helm." I want to meet Capt. Fancy.

The V.O.E (as I've taken to calling it in my head because I don't have anyone to talk to such choral matters about) is something you'll want to take in for a variety of reasons

1. it's Canadian - the composer and the poetry (Archie L is from Morpeth, ON)
2. it's rarely performed due to the whole 2 choir, plus childrens choir, plus orchestra/double piano thing
3. you can't just go out and buy a cd of it - there are no commercial recordings available
4. it was written in 1991 - which means you can't be sick of it yet
5. it is a big challenge to sing - from the unfamiliarity with it, to the fact that it changes time signatures about 1,538 times, or the insane rhythms, or maybe the sharp text painting
   

Basically you need to come to this concert and you have 2 chances to do it. I've linked both choir's websites in the post - and you can get tickets from the 'home' choir for each date. I have a small mitt full of tickets for the London date. Let me know if you want one/some/all/a punch in the face.

Oh, yeah, siiiiigh and one last reason why you may want to come to this concert.... double sigh... this, cough, will... ugh... be (I can do this), my first, siiiiiiiiiigh, concert as... deep breath... a soprano (of the 2nd variety). There, I said it. So you'd better come.

(ps - if you call for tix in London, mention my name - i'm required to sell a certain number)

Vote, Vote, Vote...

...unless you are a felon, 'cause felons can't vote.

I watch this every election day.

Also, ever since I became a laptop owner I spend my election nights with television coverage on and my laptop on my lap, checking the ridings of family, friends and roommates. I make a nice drink and I make popcorn and other snacks. Ohhh, its a good time.

Me = nerd.

This Is True

Up is to down as palm trees are to Halloween.

Now You Tell Me

toothpastefordinner.com

Today Was Kind Of Hard

There was a woman named Betty who had been in Chorus London for over 20 years. She 'retired' from the choir a few years ago. She passed away a couple of weeks ago after a battle with cancer. One of her wishes was that the choir would sing at her memorial.

The memorial was this morning. We were to sing Rutter's "The Lord Bless You And Keep You" and do parts on the 2 hymns that were sung. Easy right?

Wrong.

It may have been a little soon for me to do another funeral - and this one contained one of the hymns that we sang at Grandma Stewart's funeral and 2 of the Psalms, including the one I read. So I had all of that hitting me. The service was also in a funeral home chapel and the last time I was in one of those was after my friend Crystal was killed. So I had bits of that swirling around too.

I started to cry during one of the prayers and I'm sure there were a few people wondering how exactly I had been so touched at a memorial service for someone I had never met. But yeah, it put me in a bit of a funk for the rest of the day and really emphasized to me how much I miss my Grandma.

Waking Up To A Dead Tongue

Chorus London has an upcoming concert and we will be performing Orff's Carmina Burana. This is pretty exciting as its one of those pieces that you should just sing in your lifetime.

Carmina Burana is in a mix of Latin, German and a few yiddish words, all of a medieval persuasion. Our rehearsals are for 2.5 hours once a week and I have the piece on my computer. The leaves me with bits of the work floating around my head. Thusly I have been waking up random Latin phrases from the piece running loudly through my brain.

This is not a new phenominon for me, it happened all the time in my days as an RUC concert choir memeber. All the time. But, when these phrases went looping through my head I could easily walk through the halls of the school, sing them and have the phrase continued by some pour sap who was suffering from the same fate. I think I liked having the company in that "misery."

Now I'm sure that other Chorus London members are having the same thing happen to them. But I only see them once a week and they are all (well mostly) real adults and I don't think they would react well if I walked into our rehearsal hall and looked at one of them and started bellowing "NAZAZA! NAZAZA! NAZAZA!"

I miss interacting on a daily basis with other choir members and hashing out our Latin, German, Rutter-an, Handel-ian, etc tune cooties together.

CMO

Current Musical Obsession:

3 songs from the Enchanted soundtrack - "True Love's Kiss", "Happy Working Song", and "That's How You Know"

Concert Dress

I'm going to Stratford after church today to see The Music Man. I thought I'd wear a dress, I also thought I might wear some "flesh coloured" pantyhose. Thusly I went to the drawer that would contain such a beast. The drawer, except for a couple pairs of tights, contains only black, concert dress related hosen of various sizes and heights.

I've been singing in choirs for too long.

Schwesterlein

Alles Gute zum zwanzigster Geburtstag mein Schwesterlein

Eg elska tig

That's How You Know

So I'm sitting here working away and listening to music and this song comes on and all of a sudden I realize that the song is totally about love languages. It talks about words and time and touch and all kinds of good things. And I think it gives some solid advice on letting those around us know that they are loved.

Thus I give you the lyrics for "That's How You Know" from the movie Enchanted:

(as sung by Amy Adams playing Giselle and other parts of the cast)

Giselle:
How does she know you love her?
How does she know she's yours?

Man:
How does she know that you love her?

Giselle:
How do you show her you love her?

Both:
How does she know that you really, really, truly love her?
How does she know that you love her?
How do you show her you love her?
How does she know that you really, really, truly love her?

Giselle:
It's not enough to take the one you love for granted
You must remind her, or she'll be inclined to say...
"How do I know he loves me?"
(How does she know that you love her?
How do you show her you love her?)
"How do I know he's mine?"
(How does she know that you really, really, truly love her?)

Well does he leave a little note to tell you you are on his mind?
Send you yellow flowers when the sky is grey? Heyy!
He'll find a new way to show you, a little bit everyday
That's how you know, that's how you know!
He's your love...

Man:
You've got to show her you need her
Don't treat her like a mind reader
Each day do something to need her
To believe you love her

Giselle:
Everybody wants to live happily ever after
Everybody wants to know their true love is true...
How do you know he loves you?
(How does she know that you love her?
How do you show her you need her?)
How do you know he's yours?
(How does she know that you really, really, truely-)

Well does he take you out dancin' just so he can hold you close?
Dedicate a song with words in
Just for you? Ohhh!

All:
He'll find his own way to tell you
With the little things he'll do
That's how you know
That's how you know!

Giselle:
He's your love
He's your love...

That's how you know
(la la la la la la la la)
He loves you
(la la la la la la la la)
That's how you know
(la la la la la la la la)
It's true
(la la la la la)

Because he'll wear your favorite color
Just so he can match your eyes
Rent a private picnic
By the fires glow-oohh!

All:
His heart will be yours forever
Something everyday will show
That's how you know
(That's how you know)
That's how you know
(That's how you know)
That's how you know
(That's how you know)
That's how you know
(That's how you know)
That's how you know
(That's how you know)
That's how you know
(That's how you know)
That's how you know!

Giselle:
He's your love...

Man:
That's how she knows that you love her
That's how you show her you love her

Giselle:
That's how you know...
That's how you know...
He's your love...

Are You Speaking My Language?

The subject of love languages came on my radar around 10 years ago, shortly after the time I became a Christian. I had not(and still haven't) read Gary Chapman's book(s), The Five Love Languages. Since the understanding of the concept of love languages came into my existence I have often used it a much more specific way than I have been told Chapman does. I guess I kind of create some sub categories. For instance, I would say that one of my Mother's love languages is food - she loves with the food she makes. I would say that one of mine is punching - I love with the punches I give to your face. That kind of thing.

It wasn't until church this morning that I actually got to hear what Chapman's 5 languages actually are (imagine my shock and awe when punching and food where not on the list!). They actually really resonated with me both as things that for the most part I think I successfully do, but also as things I very much crave in relationship. As a part of a sermon encouraging us to speak out our faith we were encouraged to listen, watch and learn what other people's love languages are (in A.Z. language - felt needs) and speak them (real deeds).

Chapman's languages are:

1. Words of affirmation - aka encouragement
2. Quality time - aka spending time with someone and making them the focus of that time
3. Gifts - the giving, the recieving, the treasuring
4. Acts of service - allieviating the burdens, meeting the needs
5. Physical touch - we need this to survive and grow

I was really encouraged to hear these 'cause well, I think they are something I do pretty well. Relationships are something that for the most part I do well (I will admit to having made abominations of some relationships). Obviously there is more I can be looking for, more language to learn and to speak.

So as you're going through your life - take some time to think about those who are surrounding you; coworkers; family; friends; neighbours; housemates; community and see if you can listen for those languages. If you can't hear them, pray and ask that you would. It can't hurt to have a little more love in the world.

See, I Knew It Was Like That

nataliedee.com

B'ah, B.Ed

Sometimes I not so secretly resent the teaching profession and its self education for monopolizing so many people in my world.

An Epic Night Of Memorializing and Sausages

Once upon a time I partook in an epic adventure with 3 very brave men. Most of their bravery was shown in the fact that that decided to spend an evening with me.

Phase 1: Felix and Laura go to Hamilton and pick up pizza





Phase 2: Felix, Laura, Dan and John head to Toronto






Phase 3: Felix, Laura, Dan and John watch the Jays









Phase 4: Felix, Dan and John help Laura memorialize her Grandmother

(it reads: RIP Grandma 1919-2008, Jays fan since '77, Yankee hater since 1919)




Phase 5: Felix, Laura, Dan and John eat lots of snacks, including Nana's Own Spicy Snack Mix






Phase 6: In Grandma's honour the Jays beat the Yanks 8-2 and celebratory street meat is procured