Miscellaneous about me

This summer will be my fourth 2 month period spent living in the states; twice in Washington, twice in Tennessee (Washington for kids camp – yeah Lake Retreat, Tennessee for the School of Ministry, what up).
I have always loved America and was very excited to discover that I married a man with dual citizenship. Thank you husband, gateway to the Land of the Free.
I am also a very proud Canadian.

I have lived in Victoria, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Ucluelet/Tofino and Vancouver.
Of these places I miss my family in Victoria and Port Alberni, the food and friends in Nanaimo, the nature and pure majesty of Ucluelet / Tofino and Sproat Lake and the non-big-city-ness of all of those places.
Of these places I would pick any of them except Vancouver to live in.
Of these places, I live in Vancouver.
To be fair though, I always said I would never live in Nanaimo and I ended up there for 5 years.
I miss living on Vancouver Island except for the ease in which I can travel to the USA now.
I have been trying to apply for a Nexus pass for over a year now – by trying I mean filling out the paperwork and waiting for the next step…so far we’re stalled at the Birth Certificate step since Paul can not locate his. Le sigh.

I lived in the same home in Port Alberni from the time I was 5 (when it was built – designed by my Dad!) until I was 19.
I have lived in 1 condo, 3 apartments, 2 basement suites and 3 homes (homes with families other than my parents that is).

I have had 1 ferret, 2 fish and 4 cats.
We ended up giving the ferret away because he wasn’t very cuddly, both the fish died and were left rotting in their bowl for some time before we noticed, and of our 4 cats one was put down, one died of natural causes (after running way for 6 months and getting a disease), one was killed after a cat fight and another was given away to a fat farm.

I hope to not take care of pets in the future. This seems unlikely. We don’t even have children yet, but already a member of my family is begging me for pets. Pets and babies. Paul wants a dog. He wants rabbits and chickens. He would cuddle and love the dog (and a baby) but he wants to kill the rabbits and make the chickens earn their keep with eggs.

I like cooking with chicken; chicken that is already skinned and deboned.
I like knowing that when I pull meat from my freezer it will be uniform – and not some section of a rabbit that Paul killed for me. And he seems to think it is strange that I feel this way.
I like knowing that I will have enough eggs – will I with chickens? I don’t know.
I like not having to care for another small tiny human being yet – caring for myself is tiring enough – what if it snows? Do the chickens and rabbits have to come inside? I don’t know, I really don’t. It’s why I’m asking.

I LOVE Salt and Vinegar Chips.
I also love when people don’t think I’m pregnant because I ate too many Salt and Vinegar Chips.
We are at an impasse, these chips and I.

Technically I’m at a similar impasse with Dill Pickle chips as well.
But my true love is Salt and Vinegar.
FYI, Thanks Becky Boer for the update on the American Lays Salt and Vinegar situation. Much appreciated. I can come to the states with a light heart.

I love Sangria. I like Wine. I love coolers (only good ones). I’m starting to love beer.
I save Weight Watchers Points each day for my nightcap – a drink with my husband completes my day in beautiful ways.
And that beer I mentioned? It must be cold. Very cold. Like, really cold beer. And it must be in a frozen glass, to make it colder. And it’s light-ish beer; Coors, Canadian, Sol or Granville Island Lager. I’m ok with that. Paul says it’s lame.
This from the man who mocked me for not liking beer at all – now I like it and I still get mocked? Not cool husband, not cool.

Also: here is what a cold beer looks like.

And it fulfills an April Photo-of-the-day "Cold"

I can’t handle spice. Even Pepper is too much for me. For Reals. And Jalapeno chips? You taunt me with your flavor and your mouth killing amounts of spice. I want you but you hurt me. So I refuse to be with you.
Paul loves spice. He is a bit of a spice junky.
It is a good thing I am a mild but awesome cook, or this would be a problem.

I love Freezies. LOVE FREEZIES.
I buy a pack of 24 mini freezies for less than a dollar at Superstore.
Each pack contains 4 rows of the same colours: Blue, White, Red, Peachy, Purple and Orange. The peachy tastes gross and the orange is boring.
I eat the rest. I eat at least two rows in each sitting.
Because I don’t eat the Peachy and the Orange my freezers have dozens of the peachy and orange freezies in them. Possibly even a hundred.
They are littered throughout both my freezers.
Just wishing someone would pick them to eat.
But no one ever will.
Because they suck.

And lastly, I read this article recently and found it convicting – what a great explanation of how to change our hearts in hard circumstances.

Peace out, happy Sunday!