7 Quick Takes: The Adventures in Housesitting Episode

This week's Quick Takes are brought to you by Elizabeth Shue, of "Adventures in Babysitting" fame. And now apparently CSI. 

I've been housesitting for my future in-laws. While this may sound simple and unchallenging, I promise you I've had more than a few frustrations. 

--- 1 ---

My future in-laws just had their kitchen redone. It's gorgeous with cherry cabinets and marble (although J tells me they're not marble but actually coriander? I don't know. They look like marble and stay cool like marble...) countertops. Unfortunately, I can't find ANYTHING! I like to cook, but I'm not an adventurous cook, so I rely on recipes. Which require measuring implements like cups and spoons. Which I CAN'T FIND! J has since told me that they are packed away still from the renovation. Sad day.

Look's like I can't do much of this in the next couple weeks. 

--- 2 ---

Another kitchen related one (what can I say? I spend A LOT of time in the kitchen). J's family is all tall. J himself is just shy of 6 feet, his brother is a few inches taller, their Dad is around the same, and their Mom is around 5' 8". The only one even close to my height is his sister, and she's 5' 6" I think. Which still makes her over 4" taller than me. The kitchen layout and product placement reflects that height. Important things like the teapot and tea mugs are all on the second shelf. J came over yesterday and asked why I had left the teapot on the counter.

Incidentally, J himself has a weird way of putting things away in his kitchen. He put the tupperware containers on the very top shelf, and then the pie plate on the second shelf (which I can actually reach if I stretch). Gah!

--- 3 ---

I took the bus the wrong way. Although I will blame this one more on Google Maps (or my inability to read it on my iPod) than the house itself, it was still an adventure. See I was trying to get to school, and Google Maps told me to take the bus at 7:07. I just didn't realize that there was a stop across the street from the one I was standing at until the bus I was supposed to be on came. It was also -40 C with a windchill that day. I got on the opposite bus, talked to the bus driver, got on a different bus, and finally hooked up to a train station to take me to the University. But the good news is I was only 5 minutes late for class!

--- 4 ---

I got a parking ticket. Not in front of the house, because that would be weird, but at the train station which is next to a mall. Apparently the mall parking people really don't like park and riders. I had no other option though! I had to go to the University to work at the Information booth, and then get to my town 30 minutes away from the University to work my retail job! Sigh... I could have really used that $50.

--- 5 ---

I have a one hour course every Tuesday that runs later in the evening (annoying, I know, but required!). So I decided to just drive to the University from the house, and suck it up and pay the $4 for parking for an hour. So I left the house, and got on the freeway. Unfortunately, I got on the freeway on the left side, and needed to get off of it on the right side within 2 km. By the time I finally got over, I had JUST missed the exit. Sigh. At least I was only 5 minutes late! (wait, this seems to be a trend...)

--- 6 ---

One more kitchen one: I got really excited when I was looking around the kitchen (looking madly for measuring spoons) and found a stand mixer. There are so many things I would like to try and bake using a stand mixer. Except, I don't think my future mother in law uses it all that often. When I pulled it out, all the rubber coating of the cord started crumbling off. Needless to say, I didn't use it.

Aren't they beautiful?

--- 7 ---

On the flip side, I have been sleeping really well at their house, so at least I have plenty of rest for all these adventures I keep having!

Have a great Friday everyone!

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

Bus Musings

Who out there has ever been dumped? (I realize this is an odd question from a girl who just got engaged, and before you jump to conclusions--J and I are still engaged and happily planning both the wedding and the marriage) But seriously, if you've ever been dumped, who has had friends console you (with copious amounts of greasy pizza and (non-greasy) ice cream) with this statement: "He just couldn't accept who you are. You're better off without him."?

You mean I'm too... blonde?!

I know I have experienced all of the above, and I'm hoping sure I'm not alone. I was randomly musing about this on the bus to school this morning. Granted, it was 7 AM (8 AM classes 5, Courtney 0), so I'm not sure my musings made a whole bunch of sense, but I'm going to try and write out my rambling thoughts.

Much of the world says that if a relationship doesn't work out, it's because you couldn't accept each other as you are. We have giant libraries of books targeting pre-teen and teen girls, trying to empower them, telling them that they shouldn't change for boys, or relationships with said boys.

Now I'm not bashing that kind of empowerment, as a good majority of teenage boys are simply not mature enough to have the girl's best interests in mind. But if J didn't try and change me, I would venture to say that he wasn't being a very good husband. The way I see it, the vocation of marriage is a vehicle that God uses to a) make you holy, b) make your spouse holy, c) make your children holy, and d) make everyone who you touch with your life holy. I'm not a saint. I'm trying, but it's a work in progress. Part of J's job as my husband (starting August 18!) is to help change me into saint. So when we tell these teenage girls, for their own good, to remain who they are in the face of relationships, some of that becomes learned a little too well. It is good for a teenage girl to stand her ground when her boyfriend is telling her that sex would make their relationship so much better. It is not so good when a married woman stands her ground and says "I'm not 'mother material', don't try and change me." Note, I'm talking about Godly husbands who desire sainthood for their wives, not men who desire to control or demean their wives.

Part of who I am is who I used to be. This is the unchangeable part that J can't shape, and just has to accept. I thank God that he does accept that lost, Godless girl I used to be, and loves who she became. But part of who I am is who I'm growing to be. This is the part that J is largely going to shape. In fact, he already has.

When J and I first began to date, I strongly disliked cooking, was attending an evangelical church, and had strange liberal ideas about how the Catholic Church had to change to suit me. Now, I love to cook (although he had nothing to do with this directly, I was praying pretty hard that God would prepare me to be a good wife--this is what I got), and I love the Church, the way she is, and I realized that it was I who had to change, not the beautiful Bride of Christ.

Having J in my life has already changed me so much. If I refused to change for him, I would be alone, and my walk with God would be suffering. This is because changing for the man who is to be my husband, so that our relationship can be closer, is a pale shadow of changing for the Ruler of the Universe who desires perfect union with me.

7 Quick Takes: The Deep Freeze Episode

We have such weird weather here. For most of December we were hovering around 0 C (which is way warm for that time of year, as the average is -15 C). Now... well let me tell you what the temperature is now...

--- 1 ---

-40 C. With the windchill, it has been -40 C nearly everyday this week. For you Americans, I'll do the conversion for you. -40 C is -40 F. Although, it actually "warmed" up today. It's only -20 C (-4 C)! So the rest of this post will be devoted to what I've been doing to keep warm.

--- 2 ---

Tea. I love tea. I buy loose tea and infuse it in my fancy strainer container thing, and revel in the delicious warmth. My favourite variety right now is from David's Tea, and is called Checkmate. It tastes like chocolate, even though there is no chocolate in it! I actually have so much tea that I took all the over the counter medication out of the kitchen cupboard and put it in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom to have more room for tea.

--- 3 ---

I could write a mushy post about J here, but I won't embarrass him. I just say that hugs warm me from head to toe!

--- 4 ---

Layers. Lots and lots of layers. When I was waiting for the bus this morning, I was wearing a pair of leggings, a pair of jeans, a pair of wool socks with boots, a t-shirt, a cardigan, a hoodie with the hood up, a huge scarf wrapped several times around my head, my winter jacket, and my big furry mittens.

Somehow, I don't think I looked this good...

--- 5 ---

Eating soup. I love soup. I used to hate soup, but I really think I just disliked soup that came in a can. J and I just made this one. It was delicious. But don't forget the parmesan on top! That's the key to the flavours.

Tortellini and Kielbasa Sausage Soup

Photo from alldayidreamaboutfood.com

--- 6 ---

Working. Somehow I ended up with two part-time jobs. That means that I have 4 University classes, 2 part-time jobs, I volunteer with the Lifeteen Core and the Youth choir at Church, and I'm planning a wedding on top of it all. I seem to thrive when I'm busy though, so it's probably a good thing. Until I break down around midterm time...

--- 7 ---

livealittlewilder.com

livealittlewilder.com

It's my birthday week! My birthday was Sunday, so Happy 22nd Birthday to me! I had a small get together, and had a great time hanging out with friends and talking wedding stuff. I also made these great cookie dough truffles, and pretzel bites that both went over well with the guests. 

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes: The "What Was Courtney Doing All December?" Episode

I am a bad blogger. I realize this. I have mentioned this before. But in my defence, December was a really crazy month, OK? But one of my New Year's resolutions or things that I am going to try to do is blog more. But now, I'm sure you're all dying to know how my month was, so here goes:

--- 1 ---

My parents, after 25 years of marriage, told me and my brother that they are splitting up. After a very long night, filled with J running around trying to find toilet paper after I used all his kleenex for my tears, and him leading me in the rosary and other prayers, I found hope again.

--- 2 ---

You see, my parents have never been really faithful Catholics. But after that night, Mom completely turned around. Now she's fighting for Dad, for their marriage, even though he thinks he's in love with someone else.
I'm so proud of her. Her faith has just grown by leaps and bounds in the last month. Both parents went to Mass for the first time in years (besides Easter and Christmas), and Confession the first time in 25 years. This gives me hope.

--- 3 ---

But the woman that Dad thinks he's in love with was abused. Her ex-husband tore away all her supports. Pretty much her only support is my Dad. But he belongs to us, not her.

--- 4 ---

Throw in some death threats from the ex-husband towards both the "other woman" and Dad, and life got a little crazy. Thankfully, nothing has happened, and they did go to the police, so nothing should happen. But life is beginning to feel like a bad soap opera.

--- 5 ---

And now for something completely different... I'm getting MARRIED! J asked me to marry him amid all my parent drama. I said yes. Because we have one thing my parents lacked (and in some ways still do): Christ in the centre of our relationship.

--- 6 ---

We picked our date, and had a meeting with the Church yesterday! August 18, 2012 will be our wedding day!

--- 7 ---

So am I off the hook for the long wait? On a more serious note, I would very much appreciate any prayers you can offer for me and my family. Satan really hates us and really would love to see my parents split up, I really really don't want to see that happen. Thanks! 

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace

Do you ever have those moments where, when you look back on them, you can't even remember what you were thinking at the time, in a good way? Like something or Someone else had taken you over for awhile to accomplish something amazing?

I had that on Saturday night. As I mentioned in the most recent quick takes, I went on a Youth retreat as a Lifeteen Core member with a bunch of grade 9-12s. Now, I think Lifeteen gets a bad rap sometimes; yes, sometimes parishes can do Lifeteen badly, and you end up splitting the Church, and teaching liturgical abuse to teens. But I really like it in my Parish. We have people across all age groups that attend our 6pm Sunday Mass, music that, while it isn't Gregorian Chant, is not "I'm Trading My Sorrows (Say What?)", and a bunch of really fantastic teenagers who are (hopefully) learning a bunch.

We had 35 people from 14-31 years old--the thirty-somethings being our Youth Minister and our Priest--bunk down at a camp over the weekend. We talked about St. Paul and his conversion experience. How he had to give a lot of things up. How neither the Jews, nor the Christians (at first anyways) wanted him. How, after he got literally knocked to the ground by God, he still had to make the same choice to follow Him the next day.

So I told them my story. Except, it wasn't really me doing the talking. I had next to nothing written down, but my talk was smooth and coherent, and they were all listening. It was the Holy Spirit. So now I'm praying that my story can help some of those kids not make the same choices I made. Choices like pre-marital sex at 16. Choices like choosing boys over friends. Choices like choosing partying over everything else, just to fill the emptiness. Choices like thinking that a human boy could fill the hole in my heart that only God can fill.

Those were my choices. I'm grateful and filled with joy to say that those are not the choices that I make now. I got "knocked down" by God when he used a radio ad to bring me to the Evangelical church, which He used to finally get me to see that He is so in love with me, that He just wants to be with me. But it was a struggle to go against my old ways, a struggle that I continue to do everyday. But still, those choices are part of who I was. Who I am. My heart is glad at the thought that they can be used to make someone else's path a bit straighter.

Romans 8:28 - "God works all things to the good for those who love Him, and who are called according to His purpose."

I pray that this is the good that came out of those things in my past.

7 Quick Takes: The Puzzlement Episode

--- 1 ---

I'm not entirely sure where I lie on the whole headcovering issue. I don't think that I will be covering anytime soon, but I don't think I would be encountering the sort of hostility that other Catholic blogger's encounter. In fact, as the temperature has dropped down below 0 (Celsius), I've seen a staggering amount of girls using scarves as toques, face coverings and neck coverings all in one. Not to mention that there is a large International population at school, and many of those women cover and most people don't bat an eye. I wonder if the change is the fact that I'm in Canada and not the States? Or is it just the University social climate?

--- 2 ---

Speaking of temperature change, can anyone tell me what the Fahrenheit system is based on? I don't get it. Obviously, both Fahrenheit and Celsius are arbitrary numbering systems, but Celsius makes sense to me. Water freezes at 0 and boils at 100. Everything else just falls in between, which makes normal body temperature the awkward number 37. Although that's not as awkward as the 98.6 that Fahrenheit is.

--- 3 ---

Also, I realize I could just google the answer, but what fun would that be?

--- 4 ---

It's amazing how Google has take over the world. When I was young (wow, I feel old saying that), the internet was just starting out, and you had a variety of search engines like Mozilla and Spidercrawler.

--- 5 ---

I obviously have troubles walking because yesterday I split my third (THIRD!) pair of jeans, in less than a month, in the inner thigh. I think I have to learn to walk without my thighs touching... or I need to buy stronger jeans.

--- 6 ---

Our Lifeteen Winter Retreat starts today at 6! I'd be more excited if I didn't have a mountain of work to do before classes end next week. But really, it should be a very good weekend. Please keep the teens in your prayers while we talk to them about the need to make the decision, every single day, to follow Christ.

--- 7 ---

Something to get you in the Advent season! I got goosebumps when I listened to it.

Ave Maria, gratia plena Dominus tecum, Benedicta tu in mulieribus Et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus Sancta Maria, Mater Dei Ora pro nobis peccatoribus Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae, Amen

Hail Mary, full of grace The LORD is with thee Blessed art thous amongst women And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus Holy Mary, Mother of God Pray for us sinners Now and at the hour of our death, Amen

By the way, I didn't know that Ave Maria was the Hail Mary until a few months ago... Happy Friday!

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes: The Procrastination Episode

Most of my school assignments involve using a computer. Being on a computer means it's really tempting to just click on that little internet button. Being on the internet (even if I try and tell myself it's JUST to check email), means procrastination. So here are some sites that I like to procrastinate with. Some are blogs, some are recipe sites, all are distracting.

--- 1 ---

Obviously my number one time wasters would be checking email, and checking facebook. Checking email is slightly less hazardous as when your inbox is empty, it's pretty hard to keep looking at email. Unless I go back and read some sweet email J sent or something. Not that I save those though... 

Facebook. Well. Does anybody need to be told of the wonderful powers of procrastination that Facebook holds? I could do my assignment... OR, I could creep pictures of my best friend from grade three. I think the answer is obvious, don't you?

--- 2 ---

Something I came across just on Wednesday is going to be my new best internet friend. It is called ziplist.com, and it is amazing. Basically the idea is you can look up recipes on it (they're partnered with many food blogs and recipe sites) and add them to your recipe box. You can also install the ziplist button on your browser and click it for ANY recipe on the web. It catalog the ingredients for you and save the location of the recipe. THEN, when you're picking meals for the week, you can just click on the recipe, and add it to your shopping list!!!! If that weren't enough, it's smart enough to know that if a recipe calls for something like flour, that you probably already have it, so it asks first if you need it. Amazing, right?

--- 3 ---

The very first blog I ever followed was Cam at A Woman's Place. She is a Catholic convert (like so many Catholic bloggers...) and she posts often about her children, her marriage and the difficulties of living Catholic faith in our world. She also operates three Etsy stores.

I'm at that creepy point where I feel like I know her, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't read this blog (actually, I'm not sure that anyone really reads this blog besides maybe Katie at NFP and Me and J...). But I really love reading about her life (and the creepiness continues... moving on!)

--- 4 ---

Bad Catholic. Marc Barnes is freaking hilarious. He makes up words like conflibbergating, and badassery, and shows the amazing awesomeness of the Catholic faith. Plus, I always learn things in his posts (did you know that Catholics had a specific blessing for beer? I didn't!). Love it!

--- 5 ---

Food blogs in general. I always go on food blogs with the procrastination excuse that I'm "just looking quickly for a good recipe for... (insert not fancy occasion here)". Except then I always end up on the dessert blogs, which is usually not what I actually need a recipe for. Although, I am slightly annoyed with the fact that there have been Thanksgiving recipes on ALL the food blogs for a month. Because Thanksgiving was a month ago up here in the cold, and I don't have any turkey to try those delicious looking ways to use up my leftovers.

--- 6 ---

I stumbled on this next blog through, actually, I don't remember how I stumbled on to this blog. But it's one of my favourites. Her name is Rachel. She isn't Catholic (gasp!) but she is sooo funny. She has a knack for turning the time that her entire family came down with the stomach flu into pure entertainment. She's also convinced me that Mom jeans are the worst thing a woman can ever do to herself. Her blog is called Grasping for Objectivity... in my Subjective Life.

--- 7 ---

Finally, take number seven. I haven't spent as much time on this last one since I discovered that reading blogs was a much better way to get insights into other people's lives, but I still do frequent the Catholic Answers Forums (aka. CAF). Although some of it makes me cringe, with the way people snipe at each other, there are good conversations that happen, and it can be very informative. 

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!