Forget the crushed pearls and silk extract of Brilliant Brunette, if Pantene can promise this it might be time to make the switch....
It's amazing what good hair can do!!!!!!!!
Make a wish list not a to do list
make love not dinner
dance all day not just at night
buy flowers not groceries
see the rainbow not the rain
If I use this and still feel the urge to make a to do list and eat, can I get my money back????
So today, the same child, who I'll call "Molly" for anonymity's sake, asked where my boyfriend was so we all went to the map to see England and then see how far it is to B.C. Canada. Thankfully Andy is in Vancouver right now so I didn't have to deal with trying to explain why my boyfriend is living on an invisible island (Thetis Island doesn't show up on our children's world map.) I was trying to explain the concept of distance to my bunch of 2 year olds so said "you have to go on a big airplane to get there and it takes a long time!" Then they start jumping up and down saying "we're going on an airplane, we're going on a airplane!!!"
"No, no, no, I said, we're not going on an airplane"
"But we have our coats on" said Molly
"I know but we can't go on an airplane now, it takes too long and we don't have enough pennies"
"Later?"
"we can't go later either"
"But I want to go to Hanida and see your boyfriend!"
So do I, so do I!!!!!!!!
Whether I would want to take a whole bunch of 2 year olds with me on the long trip would be another question.
Ever since Andy came to visit my kids at work with me they ask about him most days. The average conversation does like this.....
child:"M-Amie where's your Dad today?"
me:"My Dad? Sweetie he wasn't my Dad he was my boyfriend, remember?"
child:Where your bof-end?
child:"He's in Hanida"
me:"yeah he's in Canada"
child:"He's far away?"
me:"Yes he's far away"
child:"why?"
me:"well, because he is"
child:"In Hanida"
me:"yes, he has to work"
child:"Your bof-end at work"
me:"yep"
child:"M'amie, where your hat today?"
(I was wearing a hat the day we went in to visit the kids)
I haven't figured out how to explain why Andy is in Canada and why I am here to 2 year olds yet, even though we do have this conversation a lot. Thankfully, my lack of answer doesn't really concern them as much as where my hat is, so it's ok. I guess they accept the answer "because he is." They just accept that it's that simple.
I'm not really a simple kind of girl, my thoughts are usually anything but simple. I have so many questions, try to guess at so many answers to them, come up with multiple possible answers, then I like to make plans for every one of those possible scenarios.
Yeah, my mind is rarely a simple place.
Sometimes this isn't good for me.....most times this isn't good for me because while I'm running ahead, trying to plan for and control all the unknown elements of the future, I'm missing out on living in today and living in the Lord's rest. I'm not making anything any better, I'm making myself feel worse, I'm missing the good of today and I'm not trusting in the Lord.
Missing Andy is definitely one of those areas.
I'm starting to realise that today Andy is in Canada BECAUSE HE IS, I'm here BECAUSE I AM. THIS is where the Lord has us today!!! I can wrestle this fact, I can dream, plan, cry, get down in the dumps, get angry, I can do whatever with this fact but at the end of the day it's the way it is and the best thing I can do is be a 2 year old and accept it. Accept that today, this is the way it is, and more than that, this is the way i WANT it if this is the way the Lord has it!!!
YES I'm sad and Yes I miss him but I can't change that so I have to face up to it and get on with living. Get on with loving him from a distance, get on with making sure he knows how much I do love him, get on with caring for the kids I look after and learning to teach them and love them, get on with learning to be a friend to the people I work with and my other friends, to love my parents, to seek and love the Lord and all the other stuff that fills my days. Above all, to be thankful for all these things I am 'getting on with' and take the time to be thankful for where I am and what I have, rather than using that time to wish things were different.
Looking at the children I work with inspires me to have many deep thoughts (as well as many laughs) and at the time I always think 'I should write something about that on my blog' but as the day progresses the profoundness of my mind fades and instead becomes filled with innovative ideas for what to do with a certain 'cutie' who should really be given his own T.V. show teaching other toddlers how to be a 'terrible Two"! Seriously, the kid should write a book, he redefines the term terrible two's, he has taken the art of it to a whole new level and I am starting to realise that he is on a mission to teach the other 15 children in Pre2 his ways.
Ok maybe I am exaggerating but not much! I can in all honesty say that I do love this kid. He has SO much character and such personality I can't help but really love him. Also, even if I am VERY 'not happy' with him, all he has to do is give me a big hug and say "sorry M-Amie" and I'm a sucker. I think it's because he says it so cute and also because my niece Megan called me M-Amie for years before she called me Auntie Amie so I kinda have a soft spot for that. The other thing he does is I'll say "look at me" when I am telling him he has done something wrong with me and he'll look at me, and then smile, and look at my eyes and then say "M-Amie, you've got me on your eyes, my in your eyes!" because he can see his reflection and I just think that's really cute too.
Today I made white choc chip and cranberry cookies with them. When they started they asked "we making bic, bic, bic's Amie?" (they call biscuits bic, bic, bic's) and I said "yes we're making choc chip cookies" so soon they were all saying 'cookies' and talking about making the cookies, rolling the cookies, baking them, eating them. When it came to eating them I made the hot chocolate too because we were talking about Winter and our favourite winter foods. They had been so excited for 'cookies' and I guess I never realised they wouldn't know what cookies were. They seems kind of disappointed when the greatly anticipated 'cookies' did infact turn out to be 'bic bic bic's'
The cookies and hot chocolate were perfect to come into after playing out in the hurricane weather. We had wind speeds of 70-100mph today. We didn't stay out long. They are so little, half of them were hanging on to my coat. A couple of them got knocked over by the wind. One threw a ball and it blew back in his face. We didn't stay out long.
Well I keep reading on lots of blogs that this week is official 'delurking' week in blogland. I don't really like the tag 'lurker' but anyway, I have a little stat counter that tells me how many people check my blog from where, I don't look at it much but when I do I think...'Wow, I wish I knew who more of there people are and hoe they found my blog' I always guess at who they might be and think 'oh I know someone from bibleschool who lived there,' or 'maybe they found me through this person' or sometimes I see they found me through some pretty random searches on google. Apparently someone cam to my site the other day after searching google for Leona's dress.....sorry, I'm not a shop and also, I already got it (as if Coast only makes 1)
I guess this is kind of a rambly way to say, if you ever check in on my blog, take this chance to let me know, 350 people have in the last couple of days and I would really like to know if there are people who I know reading that I don't know read or if you found it somehow and read........let me know, don't be shy!!!!!!!
(also let me know if you think I should change this new template, I'm getting some mixed reactions)
Kelly created this I think and because I read it, I guess I'm tagged to do it. I don't mind because I think it's fun to do things like this once in a while! Ok here goes...
5 favourite movies
I added 'blogtunes' to my side bar, I went to their site, selected a few songs and created a playlist for people to listen to as they read my profound blogging thoughts. The choice is kind of limited but personally I can't think of a better accompanyment to my musings than Westlife.
just scroll down a little, it's right below my links list, select 'amiehj's new station' and you can enjoy too.
Around 9:30 this evening I decided it was time to design a blog template from scratch. It's something I have wanted to do for ages and tonight I got round to it. It's pretty simple and I still want to play around with it a bunch but we'll see when that happens. It didn't take 4 hours to do, I watched some t.v. and talked to Andy for a while in there too.
Above I kind of explain the new title a bit. I've grown up in a pretty big city and not in the safest area so freedom to roam was highly sought. Contrary to the belief of some readers of my blog on te other side of the pond, I did not grow up with the liberty to roam free among castles and expanses of English countryside.
I like my street, there were lots of children and not many cars so playing out was fun. Most the kids were older than me though and I can still remember what it felt like when they would all disappear for 5 minutes to ride around the block and I wasn't allowed yet.
I remember the first time I was allowed. I remember sitting on my bike by the open garage door begging my Mum to let me, who told me to ask my Dad, who told me to talk to my Mum. I was finally allowed after my Mum made the older children promise to keep an eye on me. After that the trip around the block became quite a frequent excursion although it was a while before I could just go without having to shout through the letterbox, into the house, when I left and when I got back.
It seems funny to think that such a small freedom was so liberating back then.
When I was 5 I had taken the liberty of granting myself the freedom to go beyond the block and received my first grounding (one of 3 I ever received in total.) When I was 5 I wanted a pet so badly (I was later to get my dog Barney for my 6th birthday) so one day, my friend Heather (who lived across the road) and I came up with a master plan.....
A little while earlier my oldest brother Mark had moved out leaving me a big glass jar full of 1p and 2p copper coins and change he'd had. I remember sitting in the corner of my room with heather whilst my Mum drank tea with her friend down stairs. We loaded (what we believed to be a fortune) into a bag and set off for the pet shop (about 5 blocks away) to buy my a bunny, no cage, no food, just a bunny rabbit. As we went to leave our street the other children asked us where we were going and we told them, cool-ley "The Airport!" I can't even begin to explain to you why Heather and I could have imagined this was an even almost believable alibi...we just did.
It turned out the pet shop was closed, I guess I hadn't figured out thing close on a Sunday. Disappointed we headed towards home and in the distance I saw my Mum, stood at the end of our street, hands on hips.
She says she had realised I was missing, asked the other children, heard the airport story, gone in the direction they pointed and from a distance she saw us walking back. She said she spotted me instantly because I was dressed in my turquoise sweat pants and sweat shirt from Benneton (it had a fluffy teddy on the front.)
I remember sitting on the little chair in the kitchen crying and saying sorry. I was grounded for 2 days, Heather was grounded for the week. It never seemed fair as I masterminded the plat but I guess it was because she was 3 years older than me.
So there is a glimpse into Amie as a child and a rare occurrence I was naughty.
What I was trying to say in this blog was....... I don't remember, something about why I re-titled it 'Beyond the Block' but I think, by now, you probably get the gist.
goodnight
x
I'm sorry, this blog has been lacking in content these last few days. The thing is, the closer it comes to the end of Andy's time here the more every minute counts so blogger falls by the wayside. He left a couple of days ago but then there is kind of a mourning period before I am up to writing.
Every second he was here DID count, we did so many fun things and the whole thing was great, I love nothing more than having him around. I love waking up in the morning and knowing I get to spend the day with him. I would go and wake him up the second I woke up so I didn't miss a minute. On blogger we tend to write about all the 'big' things we did but really, a lot of the best times are in the little things like building lego with Zachary, Andy and I making lasagna together, going for walks, drinking coffees, driving together and a thousand and one other things.
So I last updated right before the panto....it was GREAT, our family was so crazy loud we rocked the house, we started chanting "out, out, out' at the wicked step mother and the whole theatre joined in and it was SO loud the actress started laughing because she didn't know what to do, it was funny and lots of fun.
On the 28th Andy took me out for a day and night on the town and it was really special. We looked around down town, mooching in the sales and picking up a few things, Andy treated me to a new top!!!!! We had lunch and the Monet and Chandon Champagne restaurant at the top of the Selfridges building, the restaurant had a fantastic view and the food was pretty great, especially the butternut squash rissotto. We relaxed at starbucks drinking coffee and enjoyed a very delicious evening meal at the ultra hip and trendy Tiger Tiger restaurant. I had apple and parsnip soup with fresh crusty baguette, breaded goat's cheese on a red onion relish and other yummy things, my favourite was the desert a tarte au citron with fresh cream, strawberries and a strawberry compote, it was all really good. You would think we would be full and we were but we arrived home to a VERY excited Jacob wanting to share the indulgence on his new Chocolate Fountain with us. So Andy and I put on some clothes with looser waist bands and we all enjoyed getting very chocolatty and messy together.
After the children went to bed Adam, Rachel, my parents, Andy and I stayed up till after 2am trying to solve the mystery of a frustration game of Super Cluedo
On the 29th Andy and I headed out to the Lake District, we got lost on some windy roads and ended up in Windermere at a kind of funky little restaurant called 'The Light House'. I love the Lake District and it was nice to get out of the city for a bit. We went to visit our friends at Capernwray Hall. Andy and Laurie Thomas, and their 4 children, are a family we enjoy a lot, Laurie's parents, Doug and Anne, were visiting from Canada, they are on staff at Capernwray Harbour. Laurie's Brother Eric (who is also a good friend) and his wife Sarah were also visiting from the States so it was lots of fun to spend some time hanging out and playing games with them and spending the night there.
We came back around lunch time and enjoyed more time with my family here, Emi and I baked and painted whilst Andy and Zach (with 'help' from Elijah) rebuilt the motorised lego helecopter into a bumper car that changes direction when it bumps.
The evening of the 30th was another big meal with my brothers Adam and Mark and their families all here.
The day of New Years Eve Andy and I shopped at the Trafford Centre and I was excited about a few bargins I got on some new clothes. We thought a lot about how to spend New Years Eve and ended up opting for a quiet evening. We stayed in, hanging out and playing games and then, around 11:30pm we walked to the park, stood on the Hill overlooking the skyline of Manchester and Salford and, as New Year arrived, the WHOLE skyline was FILLED with fireworks. It was a very cool thing to see and a really nice way to spend New Years, it was just the two of us, in the wind, with an amazing firework display.
On New Years day Andy and I Drove out to the tip of North Wales. We went to Conway for Fish and Chips and looked around the very cool town which is centred in a castle by the water.
We then drove on out to Anglesey which is an island. We walked on the beach and watched the sunset from the pier.
The 2nd of January, we spent downtown again which was great, we had a really nice lunch (we did a lot of eating out) and in the evening went out for coffee before coming home to pack.
So that is an overview of our last few days together. Andy's time here was perfect except it didn't last longer (like forever kind of longer.) We got to do so many different things and something special each day. I miss him more than I can believe (and I always miss him a lot) but I am very thankful for this time together and can't wait for lots more.
