Essentially Inga

Rain Drops on Roses

2009-04-23T10:07:00.009-06:00

I went outside about two days ago and found some things that were picture worthy so I took my new camera out and this is what I got.

*Tuplis have started blooming outside the house.

*My brother's cat sitting under my truck. I swear I didn't put him there even though I sometimes feel like it.

*Wood ready to be put in the fire pit.

Pastures of Plenty

2009-04-06T19:38:00.004-06:00

I have been finding it difficult to be happy lately. I'm not depressed but I'm just not happy. Perhaps it is because in March, I did not get a weekend off. I worked every weekend at camp cooking for confirmation retreats and it perhaps because I am in the midst of one of the busiest times of year. School ends on Wednesday and before then, I have to write three finals and do a project. I was going to do a great deal of work on the weekend but instead I went to a funeral of my friend's brother. He died of a pulmonary embolism due to a badly sprained ankle. The funeral was one that was very sad as he was only just 30 years old. It was very shocking when I got a text last weekend as I was driving down Whyte Ave after dropping one of my coworkers from the weekend off at his house. I had to ask my friend if she was serious. She was. The thing about the funeral though was that I got to see many friends and acquaintances who I have not seen in a very long time. Many people who have passed through my life and I have passed through theirs, often making a dent in mine and their history and often not. Its funny how funerals do that.

*This is the road out of the camp. If you turn left or right, you will eventually get to the highway but if you go straight, you stay on camp property.

On the other side of the coin, I had dinner on Friday night with two old friends that I worked at camp with a number of years back. One is getting married in less than a month and the other I see more often but not often enough. My brother was going to preside for the ceremony but is not able to because his graduation from seminary is the next weekend and therefore cannot accept a call to a parish until after graduation which then means he also will not be ordained until then. Yet still, having dinner with these lovely ladies was like we had been passing through each others lives more frequently than we have been in the last couple of years. No time had passed. Nothing shocking had happened beside the upcoming nuptials, a baby, a new job here and there and a boyfriend in and out.

I think lately I have been feeling that my very tight knit and perhaps even suffocating group of immediate friends has been drifting away from each other. We're growing up I suppose and its getting more difficult to get together. Things are happening in each others lives that are not necessarily getting told to everyone and life is starting to happen. A few years ago, I would not have cared much. I would have gone on my merry way without a second glance, just a first glance, in the rear view mirror. I guess in some ways, these girls are my sisters. I have never had a sister but, I imagine that it would be like this. Sharing secrets, sharing each others lives, sharing one another. The truly sad thing is that I don't necessarily know if they care as much as I do and also think, that is the thing that truly hurts the most. Perhaps they don't but I don't want to face it because I do care. I used to be a cold-hearted jerk. I wonder what happened to her because sometimes it was easier to be her.

Hush

2009-03-09T11:02:00.004-06:00

This past weekend, I worked a confirmation retreat at one of the camps that I work at during the year. Every time I work a confirmation retreat I realize that I love singing. Its like this integral part of me hibernates until somehow and usually out of no where, it reappears. I've been writing down my thoughts lately which has turned into me actually writing some songs for which I can be proud. I've also been getting some advice about song writing and lyrics from a friend which has really helped. I don't think I really have a desire to be some big recording artist but I feel like music is in me to share and it is also my stress-reliever. I've decided I want to make music my job and my life.

Foot on my Throat

2009-03-05T10:48:00.006-07:00

Things have not been going well these days. In the last three weeks, I've had to put 1000$ into my car. The break pads that were apparently replaced just before I bought the Jeep were in fact not replaced and a fairly important belt was cracked. So, instead of the oil change that I was expecting to pay for three weeks ago, I had to pay 700$ for replacing my rear break pads, this "really important" belt and an oil change. To add to that, on Tuesday I took my car in to get the newly replaced break pads looked at because they were still squeaking and lucky for me, my mechanic called me up and told me that I needed to get my emergency break pads replaced too because they were grinding metal to metal. Great! Another 300$. Now I have no money and I also just found out that I need to pay the U of A more money in tuition because my student loan didn't cover all of my tuition like they said they were going to. This is even after I called student finances, Canada Student Loans and Alberta Loans. This is also after I had to 700$ more for doing my practicum last semester in Camrose. I thought I was doing the U of A a favour by going to a rural center. I also think I have to get rid of my phone because its costing too much to keep. I also need to get a hair cut but (you guessed it!) I can't afford it!!! This is all so ridiculous.

You and I Both

2009-02-26T11:28:00.003-07:00

I am currently sitting in one of my ethics classes, not listening to the presentation by some woman from the library talk about Statistics Canada and how it relates to education. Although it is probably interesting to some, I could care less. Since I transfered to the U of A, I have become increasingly less interested in school and going to class. I have no idea why. Maybe it is the lack of personal attention because of the large class sizes or maybe it is because I am feeling the effects of being in post secondary school for six straight years or maybe it is because the U of A is a crappy school. I'm not sure but hey, they gave me a Macbook to use for this class because this presentation "requires" the class to all have laptops at out fingertips. Surely they must not actually believe that we are interested in the same boring presentation that we've heard five times this year. Geesh!

On the running front, its still going strong. I've decided that for lent, I'm not going to give up something but rather I'm going to give my time to exercise and eating healthy. I think I've always tried to eat healthy but in the last couple of weeks I've been really trying to eat healthy, meaning no processed food, no junk food, no sugary drinks. Only vegetables and fruit. Its been so hard! I went to dinner with my mom at a local restaurant. It was so hard to fine something that didn't have fries that accompanied it. I settled for rice and beans with my meal. I've also been eating less but more frequently. I think its been helping but boy has it made me in a bad mood sometimes. I feel sorry for my dear parents who get the brunt of my wrath. That's alss something I should be working on too...

Black Horse and The Cherry Tree

2009-02-19T19:13:00.002-07:00

I've come to the conclusion that I hate running. I've been stepping up my gym routine and I've been going to the gym everyday this week. The older I'm getting the more and more I see the value in being healthy. The only thing that seems the make my cardio better is running though. I can bike for hours or go on the elliptical machine for hours but running is the best medicine. I resent going to the gym now. I hate every second of it. I think the only thing that gets me through working out is listening to my ipod. I feel like I'm destined to a life of running on a treadmill, never going anywhere. I hate running! Too bad its good for me.

Rumors

2009-02-08T20:49:00.006-07:00

So there is the 25 Things list going around on Facebook. Here are mine. They could be true or they could be rumors.

1) I ALWAYS re-read texts, emails, notes etc. before sending them for fear that I will look stupid because of spelling mistakes or poor sentence structure.

2) I'm very proud of my Scandinavian heritage. So much so that I have considered not using my father's last name and instead, using my mother's last name so my name would be completely Norwegian.

3) I want to marry a man that is a musician, has tattoos, and loves Jesus. I don't know if this will ever happen but I hope it does. I mean, who could not love a guy that is kind of bad-ass and plays the guitar!

4) I really feel that music is inside my veins. I would rather lose a finger, (although I hope that never happens) than lose my voice because I've always thought that it was my best asset, musically.

5) Sometimes I hate going to live concerts because I can be too outwardly critical of those performing probably because I wish it were me on stage. (This leads into the next one...)

6) I want to be a folk-singing, funk and reggae influenced songstress but I have never found the opportunity, time, courage to do so. Maybe this is where my tattooed, Jesus-loving, musician husband will come in handy!

7) I love colour. There is no white wall in my house and I very rarely wear all black. I never realized this until a friend told me I have very colourful clothing a couple of years ago.

8) My favorite geometric shape in the circle. My favorite clothes have circles on them and my favorite earrings are circles. I love circles.

9) I want to have a least three children.

10) I want to get my nose pierced but I'm too scared to do it for fear my mother will disapprove. She thinks nose piercings are the grossest thing you can do to your body even though my brother has a tattoo and probably plans to get more.

11) I love cardigans.

12) I hate answering the phone and sometimes I just let it ring.

13) I've never filed taxes and I don't know how.

14) I have read all of Jane Austen's books, seen all of the movies, documentaries etc. I think she is a literary genius and that she was ahead of her time.

15) I like taking long drives in my car all alone.

16) Although I have a vast and varied collection of music, I will listen to the same artist for weeks on end in the car or on the bus until I get bored of them.

17) I don't like the dark.

18) I watch The Weather Channel every morning to see what the day is going to be like.

19) I like extra-aged, strong cheddar.

20) I'm want to get a tattoo someday.

21) I think my shy demeanor often influences what opportunities do and don't come my way.

22) I'm the biggest procrastinator I know.

23) I dislike tomatoes. Always have, always will.

24) I can't draw but I consider myself to be artistic. I'm only "good" at abstract art.

25) I'm obsessed with the show Stargate Atlantis even though I think science fiction in rubbish.

Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast

2009-02-02T17:50:00.009-07:00

Life has caught up to me lately. Last semester I was busy teaching school so I haven't been posting anything but after a month of catching uo on sleep etc. I'm posting some pictures of my dorm room that I shared with my lovely roommate
Anna.

White Daisies and a Lonesome Song

2008-12-02T18:27:00.010-07:00

Remember when you were little and you wanted something so bad that you could have died? You whined and whined to your mother or father for that doll or action figure until they almost died. You talked and talked about the thing you wanted until you were blue in the face or until the person you were talking to hit you in the arm for talking so much about this thing you wanted. I remember that.

I remember wanting and pleading and crying for my first Barbie after my mom took me to see her good friend who had daughters. My mom's friend let me play with her daughter's Barbies who had liked Barbies when they were little. My mom was against the whole Barbie fad just like any good feminist mother would be. I remember not relenting with my cries for the blond haired, blue-eyed, pink clothed lady. I also remember my mother not giving in to me. In fact she didn't until my lovely aunt gave me a Barbie for my birthday. My mother's plan was foiled and I was happy little girl. From then on, it was only downhill. As I grew older, my collection grew bigger and bigger. Some were given to me as presents, some were bought and some were hand-me-downs from friends. My collection grew so much that I had about twenty or thirty Barbies with dozens of outfit, a Ken doll, a Stacy doll, a Maxi doll, a pink cadillac and house with all the amenities included. Around grade seven or eight, it became less acceptable to play with Barbies so they were banished into the suitcase that they sit in now in the laundry room at home waiting for the next generation of girls to play with them.

I have not truly wanted many things in my adult life but when I have, I have felt like that little girl who wants the Barbie on the shelf in the toy store who has been told she can't have what she wants. And when I've been told no, I still whine and complain like I did when I was little albeit, maybe a little less veraciously and loudly. I have been feeling like that little girl a lot lately. Only now, I understand the repercussions of these wants which I have thought were needs.

At the beginning of the semester, I thought in my head that I needed to go to Camrose. It was an absolute must. Although the choice to go to Camrose was made way back in April, it only hit me that I had the actual possibility to live in this town away from my home. I didn't think of what I was leaving behind in Edmonton, which in reality is not much besides a house, pets, friends, family and weak ties to a university that I don't really like but, it is enough to miss. I say this sarcastically because all these things are so important in my life. It has been a lonely past three weeks. The one thing that I do about this place is I don't long to sleep in my own bed but to sleep at all. There is so much to do but so little time.

In my sixth year of university I am having my first experience living in residence. I now understand the appeal of going away from home for school. The past five years living at home, I have clearly missed out on the stuff that happens after 8pm on campus. In that respect Camrose has been great but it does have its down sides. I have only felt this lonely very few times in my life and it has only ever been when I have been with friends. I suppose it is because I am an introverted person and I find it hard to be myself when I am constantly bombarded with having to meet new people. I like sitting in my room reading or watching tv or surfing the internet. This is the time I get to recharge. I suppose I haven't felt like I have been recharging lately.

This afternoon, I left my wallet in my car which I park at a friends. I had to walk to her house which is about a five minute walk from campus which isn't a big problem but when you're hungry for supper, it matters a great deal. It was not the actual act of leaving my wallet in the car that enraged me but a series of events that occurred in the last couple of days that fueled my bad mood. The wallet in the car was simply the last straw. So, after a fit of rage and perhaps some swearing, I went on a cold, snowy walk to pick up my wallet. As I came back to the school to go to dinner, I walked near the Faith and Life Chapel. I heard some people singing the Holden Evening Prayer service. This is a service I have partaken in many times in my life. So much so that I know it by heart. For a moment I thought, "This is what I need right now" but then, the other side of me told me to go straight to supper. I have some friends at this moment in time that don't believe going to church is cool. Perhaps when I was their age I agreed but now, at my age I don't care what others think. One thing I have realized as I have been living here is that I enjoy church and I don't feel ready for the week without doing something spiritual on the weekend or during the week.

Tonight the Holden Evening Prayer side of me won out and not my stomach. It was just what I needed. I walked straight into the Chapel, which is not usually a thing I do because I am so shy. But I needed that time of solitude and singing to calm myself from the series misfortunate events that are perhaps not misfortunate for others but are perhaps only misfortunate for myself because that are not what I want to hear. So really, the worst thing that happened to me tonight is that I had to sit alone at supper in a crowded dining hall but that wasn't really that bad either. I am happy that I came to Camrose but I think I'll just need to give all the events of the last couple of days a little time to soak in. That is what I heard in the wind tonight.

Body In a Box

2008-11-17T20:16:00.003-07:00

In the past week, two people related to the people in my circle of friends and acquaintances have died. The first, a the wife of a pastor who is friends with my brother. She was diagnosed with Cancer this summer just a month after I had lunch with her, her husband, a friend of both them, my brother and a friend of mine. I was in complete shock when I found out that Judith had inoperable cancer. She just seemed to be fine when I saw her. The kicker is is that she also had just had her and Jason's son Ole. He is now only about six months old. He will not remember his mother but will only have the memories of his father, his family and friends.

The second person to pass away this week is the father of a good friend of mine. He died Sunday night in a plane crash. He was a volunteer pilot in Red Deer, doing a training session. The fog around the area is what apparently caused the crash but authorities are not confirming anything. Although I have not met Kristine's father, I know that he was a great man because of Kristine. Kristine is to be married this next year. She got engaged just a month ago at Thanksgiving. I cannot know or understand the depth of her and her family's pain but I do know the pain of loss and it is not a good feeling.

Judith's funeral is tonight as I write this. I am not sure when Kristine's father's funeral was/is but I do know that they have gone to be with our Saviour. These losses have left my circle reeling but I believe we all find comfort in the fact that they have been taken to be with the Lord.

I was listening to a song call Body In a Box by City and Colour. I thought the lyrics were appropriate but the one difference is that I am confident that Judith and Mr. Nielsen have found the light.

There's a funeral procession on the highway,
Traffic screeches to a halt.
There's people searching for a better way,
To live their lives.
Johnny lived a good life, you'll hear them say
As tears of sadness soak the ground.
The reaper crept in, took his breath away,
In the middle of the night.

[Chorus:]
We celebrate the lives of the dead,
It's like a man's best party, only happens when he dies.
We gather 'round to pay our respects,
While their souls are still searching for the light,
Searching for the light.

So please don't come to me on my dying day,
Just let me go in peace.
With all the things that I forgot to say,
Racing through my mind.
And don't you bury me six feet under ground,
Just burn my body in a box.
And let my ashes blow with the wind,
Out into the night sky.

Full Moon Fever

2008-10-27T21:08:00.003-06:00

I bought a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo last Tuesday. Its silver and lovely but it smells a little like smoke and beer but so far I love it. Unfortunately though, I have been feeling a little uneasy about the whole thing. I also moved into the dorms at Augustana last night because started my first practicum for my Education degree at one of the junior highs in Camrose. I think its been a little much growing up for me in the past week. I now have car payments on top of my student loans, I have to pay for room and board on top of tuition and I am now a student teacher, which I'm not sure I want to be anymore after my first day. I guess we will just have to wait and see. I'll post pics of the new truck and the dorm room shortly after I figure out the whole internet connecting thing. I will post seomthing a little longer. I realize its been a long time since I have posted anything but my semester was so short and therefore lots of work. So much stuff to do!

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

2008-08-28T09:45:00.020-06:00

Well the summer is almost over and I have yet to post anything since June 13th. Sorry about that folks but this girl has been busy at work and in Whitehorse!! Ya, that's right. I got to go to Whitehorse for a week for FREE! But more about that later. I didn't take many photos this summer because I never think about it but here are some. From random trips to the convenience store, putting all of the campers mattresses on the roof to rediculous talent shows to random toga parties, concerts and photoshoots on the lawn in the Village, these are the pictures from my summer at the lake and around. Did I mention my hair started to mold? Enjoy!

CATastrophe and the Libertarian Party of Canada

2008-06-13T13:21:00.010-06:00

A good family friend of ours had her third child this week. I remember when their first child was born. That was the summer that I started working at camp and he was a delight to have around. A baby at camp is perhaps not the most usual thing to have other than at family camp but somehow the experience kind of made us all more of a family. My friend having her third child made me think of what it would be like to have children. In fact, lately I've been feeling more like a mother but to my cats.

My brother decided to get a cat this past winter probably when he was feeling lonely in the big ol' city of Calgary. His name is Athanasius and for all intensive purposes, he is a lovely cat but he does have his quirks. All he thinks about is going outside, trying to eat the buttons off people's shirts and when the next time he'll get the some wet cat food is, which is a treat in our house. He's been living in our house for the last week and a half while my brother has been back in Calgary. Erik didn't want to subject Athy to the terrors of having to sit in the car since my brother is coming back to Edmonton this next week.

My two lovely and trained cats, Sebastian and Lena have been dealing well with the young whipper-snapper so far. There have only been a couple of incidents where the claws have come out and hissing has occurred. They treat him like the little child he is especially when he is outside. They follow him and make sure he doesn't get into trouble. Unfortunately, this has caused a little bit of a costly problem. While Sebastian was outside on Wednesday morning, he tore his ACL. Yes, that's right. The same ACL that professional athletes pull. I didn't think that was possible but apparently it is quite common in animals, at least in dogs. There were two options that we could have done, have surgery or do nothing which would result in arthritis in the knee and perhaps pain and discomfort. I think Sebastian was hearkening back to his younger days by trying to climb a fence which he has not done in years.

I have been looking after my little boy for the past two days, making sure he has been eating, drinking lots of water and making sure that he is resting. I've been upset to say the least but my mom said something that I think will come in handy when I have children. She said "You can't shield them form everything." I have always known this but I think person is often not ready to have something perhaps traumatic happen like this to someone or something you love. You never know how you'll react.

I took Sebastian to the veterinarian this morning so he could have surgery. Yes, it costs lots and lots of money to get his leg fixed but I had to do it for him and myself. Watching him limp around the house for the rest of his life was not an option. I came across a quote last night that I thought was relevant to this situation. It went like this, "Where there is positive thinking, there is hope." Believe me, there is nothing but positive thoughts in this house right now.

Call and Answer

2008-06-11T13:55:00.011-06:00

My friend Tim was ordained a couple of weeks ago. He has been called by God and the church to be a pastor and he has answered it. Its funny because last time I had a "vacation" was two years ago when I went to Tim's wedding and this year, my "vacation" was going to his ordination. Anyways, next year I'll have two to go to as my brother will be ordained as well as our friend Sean. Here are some highlights from the day.

*The Bishop welcoming us.

*Sermon

*Tim receiving his stole.

*Giving friends communion.

*Happy for Tim.

Lesson Learned

2008-06-08T22:08:00.005-06:00

I went to the Synod Conference Convention this past weekend where they tried to stuff a number current and former Bishops into a Smart car. I thought the picture was funny. People who are often considered stoggy, boring pastors took time out of their busy and perhaps tense day to have a laugh. Its about time!

Bottom of the Barrel

2008-05-14T19:48:00.007-06:00

So far the month of May has sucked. I had big plans for this month like going to the gym everyday and cooking up all the new recipes I've found but my body has had something else up its sleeve. As soon as my last exam was finished, I got strep throat. It is not an experience I would like to repeat and then, I had to rescheduled my dentist appointment that was supposed to be last week for this week. Apparently enlarged tonsils don't facilitate getting my wisdom teeth out. So what turned into only one week down has turned into three weeks down. I had two naps yesterday because I was so tired from the dentist. I think that was the first time I've had a nap in a couple years. It felt good. Maybe I'm going to be a napper now. I hate when you're made to slow down because I always feel guilty for sleeping in or sitting around all day. I wonder what the psychological reasoning behind the guilt is. Surely there must be some study on it.

**Don't laugh, my face really hurts. I hope I don't look like this forever cause then we'd have a problem.**

Little Waltz

2008-05-07T21:55:00.004-06:00

My mom and I were at Rona today looking at paint colors for the fences around the perimeter of our property that need to be painted this spring. After we had looked and chosen the colour we liked, we headed for the door. In one of the checkout lines was a older man who smelt like Old Spice. This is the very same brand of deodorant and cologne my grandfather used all his life. That familiar smell that is so comforting washed over both my mom and I. It wasn't until we were out of the store, on our way to our car, that my mom verbalized what we were both feeling. She said teary-eyed, "that older man in the checkout line smells exactly like my dad." I replied, "I know," dismissing the pain and tears in her eyes.

Its been almost ten years since my grandfather died but every day I miss him more and more. The holidays we spent at my grandparents cabin just outside of Saskatoon will forever be in my heart. Watching Ben-Hurr, The Ten Commandments, Fiddler on the Roof and The Sound of Music, (the only videos my grandparents owned) laying in the hammock watching the sun shine through the trees in the front yard of the cabin, being woken up by the my grandparents neighbour who mowed his lawn every Saturday and the walks we took through the tiny forest and across the lawns of all of the neighbours to get to my aunt and uncle's cabin are memories that I would have liked to share with my children.

My grandparents sold the cabin a year before my grandfather died. Its been my dream ever since to buy the cabin back. My family built the cabin together. From the cement slab it used to be when my grandparents bought it for $1000 dollars to the beautiful cabin it became full of love, community and memories. Maybe its the memories that I am clinging onto but if you ask me where my most favorite place is in the world, I would definitely have to say the cabin at Blackstrap Lake.

Supply and Demand

2008-04-21T13:31:00.006-06:00

This summer will mark my sixth year of working at summer camp. For someone who hated summer camp with a passion so much that I refused to go even when I was in high school, this is an amazing feat to say the least. I'm going to be the head cook for the third summer in a row and I think this is going to be a summer of change. I've been looking for mixmasters and food processors in the internet to buy. Up until now, is been looking like I'll be spending around $1000 dollars but low and behold, ebay, the 8th wonder of the world, has everything I need. I am currently bidding on a mixmaster that retails for $750 CDN for $1 US. That's right! $1 US. Its like I'm on the "Price is Right" or something. (You know when contestants bid a dollar for somthing that clearly is not worth a dollar but way more.) I cannot believe it! I'm not even talking about a used mixmaster. I'm talking about brand new not even out of the box. This is rediculous.

This perhaps seems like a silly thing to write a post about but when you have tendonitis and carpal tunnel in your shoulders, elbow and wrists, anything to make your life pain free is worth it. All I have to do it last 6 days. After that, its mine and I can't believe it. Who would have thought that something like ebay would be so wonderful. I had a friend who was addicted to ebay once. She wracked up her credit cards in her second year of university and flunked out of school. Don't worry, that won't be me but how can you resist such a thing of beauty such as this!

**Behold the beauty that is the Professional 600 Series | Bowl-Lift Stand Mixer | Flour Power™ Rating - 14 Cup. I can't wait to use it all summer long!**

Everything Looks Better in Sepia

2008-04-01T20:07:00.017-06:00

So I got my hair cut on Easter Monday. I did the very thing that I promised myself in grade seven that I would never do again and I cut it above my shoulders. You see, the summer before I was to go into grade seven, I went to get my hair cut at one of those "aesthetics, learn to be a hairdresser" type places in Saskatoon with my mother. She happened to be getting her hair cut as well and without the guidance of my mother because she was in a different part of the salon as me, I cut my hair up to my jaw line at an angle so that I had a modified mushroom cut with a little brush cut part in the back. I would show you a picture but I refuse to post any picture of this as I am still to this horrified, nay, mortified at the sight of my school pictures that year. This was before I knew that I had curly hair and that it was never going to go away. Way before I had embraced it perhaps. (ie. if your mother does not have curly hair, she will not show the ways of the curl. She simply can never as she has not experience the joys and the sorrows of the curl.)

So, as I walked into the junior high school and met a teacher of mine whom I never before met and whom I had a bit of a crush on from then on, I was not only mortified at the state of my hair but also at the fact that he told me that the grade eights were meeting not in the gym but in the hallway. He thought I was older than I was because I was five foot ten by then. I had to correct him and say that I was not only in the right place as I was in grade seven but also that I was indeed in his class. We were both embarrassed. Thus, I have been growing out my hair from that day forward. Playing with the various long lengths you can have but never past the pivotal point of no return.

** The beast in her natural habitat as well as in her high maintanance habitat. Like I said, everything looks better in sepia.**

When I went into the hairdresser's on Monday, I was feeling the winds of change blow through me (and my hair). I decided to go to a new stylist because I have not been terribly happy with the stylist that I currently have. I've been going to her for five years and she is always too cautious. She never cuts enough and probably for good reason as maybe I would have freaked out three years ago. So in a haste (and a need of change), I went to someone new. We discussed what I wanted which was a change and a "style" if you will but I am not sure I was prepared as I thought. She did a very nice job and I have been getting compliments on my hair for the last week or so but I don't know what to do with it. Maybe I never will. Goodness knows how many products I have used over the last five years. The countless numbers of hours thinking about how the girl who just walked by got her hair to do that and the number of times I have had to push away the hair straightener people in the mall because they love me and my hair and because they only do straighten a small chunk of hair in the back where they think it will be less noticable but really you end trying your hair back when you leave the kioske only because their demonstration is so short as they can't wait to leech onto the next sucker.

I guess in the end, I think I have lost some of my femininity. I have always been complimented on my hair even when I have felt bad about the rest of myself. I has been a big security blanket that I have literally been able to hide behind not to mention shut in the car door, blow outside the window, and endlessly have touched by friends, family and random people on the bus for the last ten years. I have always associated it with not only femininity in general but also my own femininity. Does short hair make me a man now? Probably not. I still have all the organs of a woman but I guess it will just take a little getting used to. And really, I wake up from one day to the next vacillating between loving and hating this stuff on my head. I'll probably love it tomorrow. Can't wait for tomorrow then...

Monster Ballads

2008-03-03T17:23:00.010-07:00

So Josh Ritter was fantastic! I was a little skeptical at first because the concerts I go to usually involve a fancy dress code, programs and many, many movements where people who don't usually go to these types of concerts clap and we whop do then snicker snearlingly at their stupidity. None the less I plan on going to see Josh (we're on a first name basis now) in Calgary at their folk fest. Here's a couple of pictures from the night.

**Some of us in our Threadless t-shirts posing as per the name of each shirt and waiting to meet Josh Ritter**

**Re-enacting the greatness of the concert.**

**Josh Ritter and friends!!!**

Unintentional Tease

2008-02-27T16:28:00.005-07:00

Have you ever had someone really inspire you? Maybe their really good at art or music or I don't know, blowing milk out of their nose. You just find them to be wonderful inspiration to you because they can do something you strive to do but better and lovelier and more wonderful and just really awesome. Well maybe they can't do it better but more different than they way you do it. I have been and am in this position. I know three friends who are doing what I wish to with all of my being. They have made the leap to this full-time professional musician. However, they are all smart enough to know the value of education and have or are in the process of post-secondary enlightenment.

**One of my new loves. I'll tell you if we hit it off**

I love the music of the folk variety very dearly. I love all music but folk the most. Perhaps you'd say the music in my unintentional tease. Its there taunting. Taunting me so badly that in fact, I would love to be a folk singer in this fair country of Canada where I could meet cool people like Josh Ritter, Jeremy Fisher, Tamara Nile and Feist. This is my secret desire. The one and only thing that stands in the way is that I don't write folk music so I can never truly be a bonafied musician the way I would like to be. Give me a tune and I can remember it in a minute but give me a pencil and paper and I am lost forever. What do you write about? Who do you write about? Who do find to be in your band? These are all questions of mine that I would like answered and of course I would also like to meet these people that will be in my band and how do I cure this writers block? Well I don't know but I am writing my second song of my life (well that is the second song of my life that is in a contempoarary music style rather than classical) and so far I have a chorus. That should be good right? Maybe I will be the next Feist singing at the Grammys but first, I must go to a Josh Ritter concert tonight.

Simple Thought

2008-02-25T20:50:00.005-07:00

It was Reading Week last week and while I didn't get my typical week of rolling out of bed half way through the morning and then staying in my pyjamas until 2:00pm in the afternoon, I'm kind of glad. Instead I had the weekend off to do nothing and then come Monday morning, work on my homework that need to get done for this week.

I also flew to Saskatoon on Thursday morning and like a garden refreshed by the rain, I too have been refreshed by the love of God and some incredible, incredible people that I can't wait to see again. I was in Saskatoon for a planning weekend for the Drama Troup and the Band that will be a part of the National Youth Gathering put on the ELCIC in Whitehorse this coming August. The people that were chosen to be in the two groups have been in contact so we all knew the basics about each other. The funny thing about it is that although we did not all know each in person, the fact that we were joined together by the same common goal with the same intentions in mind, united us in everything we did. It kind of rememinded me of being of being at camp. I didn't get very much sleep, I had a ton of fun and I got to know some great people which I can't wait to get to know better in the months to come.

** This is a picture of Whitehorse. I think the different signs signifies how we as a people are always changing, going in different directions.**

One of the conversations I was having with a few people at lunch yesterday was about friendships. Everyone was talking about the relationships they all had with their friends. I found it fascinating that we all found it hard to sustain realtionships with people who were not interested in the same things as we were. Perhaps that is quite a simple notion and perhaps I have always known this but maybe I always thought I was some sort of anamoly because I am a very introverted person. It could also be because I don't hang out with people who are musicians like me. My friends are occasional musicians whereas I have decided to immerse myself in the life of a musician because I feel it is my calling. It could also do witht he fact that this year at the U of A has been quite a lonely one. I don't know very many people and when I do see my friends its in short bursts on the weekends. Going to and from school has been my life with activites after school. I didn't really realize that until now.

I feel rejuvenated because these people are people I think I will always know. Our lives are intertwined because of faith. Its funny because I had a link to almost every single person I spent the weekend with. I was some how connected by our grandparnets knowing each other or my brother went to school with them or their significant other or I had a friend who knew them.
I suppose I experienced a revelation of sorts through the contrast of company that I have shared this past year at the U of A. To move from one university that is religious to one that is not, showed a tremendous contrast. But it was not until I experienced the non-religious that I understood this revelation. Within our small community of Lutheran students from across Canada uniting for an adventure was something that pointed to God’s goodness. I needed to experience the darkness, a world without revelation to understand the revelation. I needed a weekend of rejuvenation that has allowed me to remember who I am.

A to Z

2008-02-05T22:50:00.000-07:00

First off I'd like to welcome any new readers Essentially Inga may have.

In one of the comments left by a reader in my last post, there was a comment that that reader and I live in two very different worlds. Interestlingly enough, I think we are all a lot closer than we all think. I've come to this conclusion because on Saturday my hardrive on my computer crashed. I didn't know what to do so I did what I usually do which is call up my brother who lives three hours away and no longer has a PC (since he jumped onto the Mac train at Christmas) and doesn't always remember exactly what to do with my IT questions. I may not be the most eloquent when I am slightly histerical at that thought of losing my life that I have been compiling onto my computer.

The next thing I did was call Dell since E had no answer to my questions but rather loud laughs and cackles. I went through a series of options on the phone only to end up talking to some IT guy in India. (Apparently Dell outsources to everywhere now a days) We talked about all my options for about an hour and a half only to conclude that I didn't want to erase my hardrive, which I told him from the beginning, and that there was no solution for my problem besides erasing my hardrive. Obviously a solution was not going to be found unless I went to go talk to some people in person about my dilemma.

**This is a Dell. Although my computer is a Dell this one is not it. They look much cooler now a days with their fancy coloured fronts. Mine still looks pretty good.**

The next day I went to staples and got some information about how to take my hardive apart and install it into soem sort of encasement and transfer everything to the family computer, Apparently, this can all be done quite easily if you know what you are doing and if you know what kind of hardrive you have. FYI. There are two types. Three trips to the store and a lesson on hardrive adaptors tells you that.

So in the end I transfered the contents of my hardrive to my other computer and then pressed the frightening "Ctrl+F11" and have slowly been starting again. In a way its like when the earth is calling for the rain to come after a long draught. Refrshing and renewing.

The one thing that I don't really understand is the obstinant attitude that Dell was giving me about erasing my hardrive. If I tell you I'm not going to do something, don't tell me to do it. Give me a solution!

Some Devil

2008-01-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

In the past 48 hours, I have painted one wall in my house three times. This one tiny little little wall has caused me so much grief in the past and now finally, I have conquered the little devil. I have painted it taupe, orange and three shades of brown. At one point I thought I was in a bad dream or part of a very bad blond joke. (ex. How many blonds does it take to paint a wall...)The kicker of this whole experience is that I don't even go into the room on a regular basis. The wall is in the spare bedroom in the basement which is only used when company come to visit or when my brother comes home.

**This is the picture of the room and my cat Sebastian. Really, its his room not the guest bedroom or my brothers room. haha!**

Down Poison

2007-12-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

There has been a recent outbreak of the mumps in the Alberta region. So much so that it has become an epidemic within the university scene. Mumps is a highly contagious viral disease that spreads easily from person-to-person through coughing, sneezing, and direct contact with the saliva of an infected person. In most cases, individuals will recover from mumps within one to two weeks. Mumps, considered to be a childhood disease, can have serious complications if contracted as an adult, including swelling of the testes that could result in sterility, encephalitis, meningitis, and deafness.

Symptoms may include headache, fever, vomiting, loss of appetite, pain when chewing or swallowing, and pain and swelling of glands under the ears or on either side of the face. Swelling often begins on one side of the face, but can affect both sides of the face.

I got my mumps shot a couple of weeks just after classes ended. I tried to get my Mumps, Measles and Rubella as they like to call it, once before that. I went on one of the last days to get the shot because I was busy with the end of classes and projects, essays and finals to deal with but I thought it was necessary as I do not want any of the illnesses associated with the mumps (or the mumps itself for the matter).

So I went to the Ed Building, which was only one of two sites where shots were being given to only be told after waiting for half and hour in a very cramped hallway only three feet away from the beginning of the line, that I and the rest of my 75 closest friends would have to go downstairs because the "Peace Officer" (not even a flippin' Police Officer!) was worried about the safety of everyone. Like the good little girl that I am, I walked down the four flights of stairs and then proceeded to wait another forty-five minutes only have have the wrong end of the line go up the four flights of stairs so they could be vaccinated first. After this happened, I left in disgust and because I needed to go to a funeral.

The second time I went I still had to wait for an hour in the Ed. Building but Capital health had the foresight to bring in 40 nurses this time instead of 15 like before. This second time was still pretty crappy and I did get this weird rash that was itchy but made my arm go numb if I touched it. I guess I'm vaccinated for life though. Great. Thanks for wasting my time Capital Health especially during a pretty important time during the semester.

OK. I'm watching Superbad right now and I can't concentrate right now. I don't recommend it. So far, its vulgar and disgusting and I've only been watching it for five minutes. However, its kind of like Martha Stuart or the Teletubbies, you just have to watch.

Birth Date/Friendship Update

2007-12-09T16:57:00.000-07:00

It's my birthday! Yay! I just thought I should tell everyone. I'll tell you about the swag I scored later.

Here's what I really wanted to say. Apparently you can't see the shoes I'm talking about in my latest post so I decided instead of modifying the previous post with a different picture I'd just post an update.

Here are the cursed shoes. I've been thinking about it and I still might keep them. We'll see. But they still hurt my feet and my back! I also realize that they very well worn for only having had them for five months. That's what you get for buying cheap I guess.

The Simple Story

2007-12-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

The Christmas season hasn't sneaked up on me this year. Perhaps it is because for the first time in three years, I am not staying at school for exorbitant amounts of time and perhaps I've been a little more intentional about keeping up with what is going on in the world. I also may have been tipped off by the Christmas music and Christmas trees that where up in the stores before Halloween had gone and passed.

With the start of Advent occurring this past Sunday, it marks the official start of Christmas in the church. Like the exams that I am waiting to write, Advent is a period of waiting and watching. Waiting in darkness for the Christ-child to come. We wait by putting up Christmas decorations, trees, lights, ornaments. My parents have an Advent calendar with a book that they used to read every night at supper, telling us what each day meant. When E and I got older we used to read from the book once or twice a week or whenever everyone was home for supper. We have since lost that tradition. Maybe its because we all have our own lives now. My dad quite frequently has to work at night, my brother doesn't live in the city anymore and my mom and I perhaps don't have the time either. We're always running around to different activities or she is teaching piano or too tired from working. I think that this has not stopped E and I from remember what my parents have instilled in us. To watch and wait.

* This is a picture of me and my friend Beans. Its not her real name. We just call her that. Ask her about sometime if you meet her. It's a funny story. Anyways, the shoes I am wearing in this picture are the offenders that have been causing me grief and pain all semester. My back and my feet hurt whenever I wear them and now I have to go to the physio. to fix all of it. They're going in the garbage now. I refuse to give them to the Goodwill so someone else can be subjected to their pain.*

Yesterday was the last day of classes of my first semester at the U of A. It feels good. Like a well-fitting, comfortable shoe. To mark the occasion my friend A and I went out for lunch yesterday. It just so happens that we went to the same restaurant we went to the first day of the semester. It also just so happens to be one of my favorite restaurants in Edmonton. The Highlevel Diner opened on December 5th, 1982. I may not have been born yet but my family has sort of a long history with the place. My mom and her very good friend D go there for coffee monthly and it was also the place that my family went for supper after my great-uncles funeral around Christmas time many years ago. I perhaps didn't appreciate the Highlevel Diner as much then because of the "weird" food they had. However, my tastes have changed. They offered champagne for the occasion.

Yesterday just made me remember the celebrations that will be happening all month. My family celebrates three birthdays and Christmas this month. I think we are prone to forgetting about Advent because of it. Perhaps these are all signs. Signs of God who is busy, who is making preparations. Signs that God is bringing light to the world.

Eh?

2007-11-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

So since the last time we talked, I have written numerous essay and term projects, studied for a plethora of exams, read a gazillion books, practiced various musical instruments, checked my email too many times to count, gone to the gym, ordered 21 shirts from this place called Threadless.com with seven of my friends, gone to church, worked at camp for the weekend, arranged some music for a project and for a funeral, watched tv, joined a choir, and rekindled my love for one Mr. Dave Matthews and his band. I think that about sums up my life at the moment. I am currently writing a paper on Canadianisms. After that, I'm yours. Well, I should say the blog's really. I have lots of stuff to write but I never feel I can get it out in a speedily fashion because I've been too busy with school. However, when my friends and I get our shirts, I'm planning a photo shoot. You get money off of purchases when you post pictures of you in the shirt on the website. I might as well share you photos with you too. Anyways, I must continue to write about the ubiquitous eh? and the other words that make us uniquely Canadian.

PS. Leave a comment if you like. It would be nice to know that people actually read this.

We're Almost There

2007-11-12T17:44:00.000-07:00

I'm going to Whitehorse in August! Go to this website and you can read more about what I'll be doing and you can see my profile. That's all. That's it. I'll tell you more later.

http://youth.elcic.ca/travelLight/home.php

If you mean it, sorry is enough

2007-10-26T22:54:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday I went to my church to drop off these two girls that take piano lessons from my mom. They usually have supper with my mom and I and sometimes my father, if he is home, every week after their lesson. We try to teach them something new to cook for their family during the coming week. These two girls are refugees that my church has brought over to live in Canada with their father because he wanted them to have a better future and a better life here with all the opportunities there are to be had. Consequently, they do not have much female influence because of the move here as their mother and grandmothers have remained in their country of origin.

So, when we arrived at the church, there were a myriad of shopping carts full of bottles and other junk. My mother went inside to get a bulletin or something. While she was inside the church, these two people in their somewhat dirty clothes and greasy hair came out to smoke. I thought, "These are not people that I know nor are they people that usually come to my church." That was not so much the problem. When my mother came back and got into the car, she informed me that they were having what she called the Banquet for the Homeless. To that I replies, "Good. Our church is actually becoming more socially active within the community around us." I was quite impressed. Well, I was impressed until I backed out of my parking stall and saw one of the somewhat dirty clothed and greasy haired people smoking and peeing on the wall of the church. This guy, pulled out his "thing" and started peeing on the side of the wall! I was instantly disgusted.

What do you say to something like? Do you get out of your car and yell at the poor guy even? There is after all two men's washrooms in the church. Do you tell the pastor? Do you yell at the person who organized this banquet at your church? No, no you don't. You try and forget the scene you have just seen by forgiving this man for urinating on your place of worship because you believe in grace. This is the same grace that you have received. So I forgive this man. Enough said I suppose. He had his reasons for what he did and I have my reasons for forgiving. I don't believe we are here, in this world to judge each others actions. I think those of us who do, often become hypocrites because in the end, we are no better and no worse. Just perhaps on the same or even a different path, trying to get through this life. Even if this guy isn't sorry, me being sorry for his actions is enough.

Manna and Mercy

2007-10-20T13:29:00.000-06:00

I went to Saskatoon last weekend with my mom to visit my grandmother and because it was Homecoming at my mother's old high school. It was actually her 40th high school reunion. I wasn't planning on going with her because I had lots of homework due to the necessity, felt by my professors and the U of A, to have midterm week. In my case, it seems like midterm month.

I digress. So on the way to Saskatoon, my mom and I got talking about death. This was probably becasue her friend D's brother-in-law had just died the week before. D was supposed to go Homecoming with my mom but she felt that she should stay home with her husband, P, who was mourning the loss of his brother. My mom had talked to D about the funeral the night before and everyone's reaction to the death. D's brother-in-law had had cancer so his death was not a sudden thing (not that death isn't sudden no matter what the situation). D and P knew that he was dying so they, as well as the rest of the family, had gone to his home to be with him and say their goodbyes. Surprisingly, P's brother became a little frustrated by the whole ordeal. Eventually the whole family had to take turns staying with him during the week and take "days off" from visiting.

At this point, my mom and I started to talk about my grandparents and the fragility of their lives at this moment in our lives. My two grandfathers have passed on in the last 10 years but my grandmothers are still with us. I say this with a little hesitation. One of my grandmothers has severe "Dementias like tendencies" as they like to call it but she is otherwise physically fine. She can no longer remember names and her speech is gone. In essence, she is just a vessel. This may sound harsh but it is the reality of her reality and the rest of her life. My other grandmother is in good health but is now finally slowing down a little more every time I see her.

**This is a picture that reminds me of the road to my grandparents cabin in Saskatchewan. It isn't but I have always had a fondness for pictures of prairie scenes. Must be something in the blood.**

Whenever we talk about death, my family always talks about the deaths of my grandfathers. They were expected and unexpected in their own ways. My mother's father had always been sick all of my life becasue of a longer-time heart condition and heart attack that occurred just before I was born. I think my mom's family then realized the fragility of his life and of life in general. All of his grandchildren grew up seeing him take numerous pills and other health medication so we all knew that he would not be with us forever. Conversely, my father's parents have always been in good health in my lifetime. I think it was harder for my dad and his sister to lose their father because they had not experienced the health scares my mother's family had with my grandfather.

I remember the day my dad's father died. My brother and I were at the house he was looking after for the week and he got a call on his cell phone. It was my mother telling us grandpa had passed away. My brother then hung up the phone and told me. I think for us, it was alright. We knew that he was in a better place and that he was no longer suffering. We decided to go to the young adults group we went to weekly. It seemed very strange to the people there when we asked them to pray for us during the devotional period before eating supper. They seemed shocked that we were there with them. But, isn't that where we should have been? With our family and friends?

I remember my mom's father telling us to go on with our lives the week before he died. He wanted me to go play in the softball provincials my team was in and he wanted E and I to go to the music camp we were registered in the next week. An we did. He didn't want us to watch and wait for him to slowly slip away. I guess in a way, he wanted to see that we could survive without him.

I don't know if this is true but it seems as though everyone that I know that has died, has died while their family hasn't been in the room. Maybe this is becasue we come into this world alone so we must also leave it alone. I don't know. All I know is that this life is only a tiny glimpse of what is to come. The banquet feast and the guests will be ready at the table with welcoming arms outstretched, waiting for us to come home.

Food in the Belly

2007-10-08T21:46:00.001-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I learned yesterday, thanks to the ever-wonderful CBC Radio 2 and the great Howard Dick from the program Choral Concert, that is was in fact us, the Canadians that really had the first Thanksgiving. It was Martin Frobisher on the banks of the Northwest Passage that first started this tradition. What a great tradition it is. There is no better reason to have Turkey (or Tofurkey as the case may be) and to share in the giving of thanks for all the rich blessings we have been given.

On the lighter side, I am perhaps the biggest sucker on the face of the earth. In the last couple of weeks I have been accosted by many a vendor to test many a product. Firstly, I was stopped while with my brother at the mall, to try some Red Sea salt hand exfoliater. I tried it of course and didn't buy it. This girl even buffed my nails, which by the way was gone after two days becasue I'm so rough with my hands, and she even moisturized them. I don't seem to be able to say no. The girl was mad I waisted and that reaction was warranted.

** This is me with my new haircut. It is the shortest I have had my hair in 10 years. It was a hard decision because I think women especially associate beauty and virility with hair. I sure do.**

Again, I was at the mall but this time with my mother, when this girl accosted me and pretty much physically dragged me to her chair so that she could try a straightening iron on my hair. I was considering buying myself the iron until she became more and more aggressive about the whole ordeal. She even showed me how to curl my hair with the iron but in the end, I didn't buy it. Besides, she only straightened half my head. Half my head! Who does that?!?! Half my hair! I pretty much had to do the rest of my hair. In fact, I did do the rest of my hair when I got home but the nerve. Do the whole thing!

It's not these two incidents either. I've been accosted by blood bank people, people giving out magazines or newspapers. It's everyone and all people.

I must be gullible too. My mom said she found my underwear outside my brother's place on the ground in Calgary two weeks after I had been there. She told me this about a week after she found them. She told me that they were undamaged and fine. I told her I was absolutely not going to wear them even if she had washed them five time, which she had, but to my surprise when I got to them in my pile of underwear but guess what? They weren't mine. They were a small child's spandex shorts. I was appalled by the mistake. I truly must be a gullible person that can't say no. Seriously.

Push and Pull

2007-09-21T15:58:00.000-06:00

This is a short paper that I wrote for my Ed. Pysh. class. It's about the most memorable moment that I've had in my student career. I decided not to write about a specific experience when I was a student but instead, about when I was the teacher. It'll all make more sense in a couple of minutes.

Something Has Got to Give

One of the most memorable moments in my life that has perhaps influenced me the most to become a teacher does not come from my own experience as a student but from my experience as the teacher.

For the past five summers since high school, I have worked at a summer camp on Pigeon Lake. I have held several positions in my time working there, such as assistant cook, counsellor and head cook Perhaps my favourite position that I have held is the one of counsellor. This is because of the awesome ability that children have to remind us adults to stop and play with the sand on the beach, or to play with the ladybug that has just landed on someone’s leg while sitting in the grass, or just by playing a simple game of soccer.

During the summer we run a day camp for one week. My second summer as a counsellor was bit more stressful than the first. I was the only returning staff member at our main camp where the day camp was being held which meant that our staff did not know what to expect. The first half of the summer had gone well, but we were running out of energy and there was still half a summer left. The day camp week was supposed to be an easy week. The kids were only there from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon. For the rest of the day, we had time off.

However, that summer, three years ago, I had the fortunate (or unfortunate) pleasure of working with some of the most rambunctious and high-spirited eight to eleven year olds that I have ever worked with in my life. My initial hope, on the Monday morning that camp started, was that the children would go and play in the field with my two SITs (junior counsellors) for half an hour each morning while I was in a staff meeting. I promptly found out that this was not the case. My SITs were not able to wrangle the kids into playing a simple game of toilet tag. From this point on, I knew that the week was not going to be as “stress free” and “restful” as I had planned and expected.

As the week progressed, I found that the kids only listened to me during our morning games when I made them stand or sit in a specific order with myself and my two SITs equally dispersed throughout the group of ten. At lunch time, they wanted to sit on the carpeted floor underneath the dining hall tables. This turned out to be a good place to get their attention. I also found that the children only listened to me when I raised my voice in a very stern and parental manner. This was especially true when I told them that they could not walk around in their underwear or in their towel or leave the rest of their clothes in the middle of the dining hall floor after changing following their time swimming in the lake. When the children were not doing what they had been asked to do, I felt as if I had to act as a drill sergeant yelling at my troops. Their inability to follow directions and to comply with my requests was driving me mad.

**This is a picture of a group of us playing Lord of the Rings Risk during our time off this year. I have no pictures from VBS three years ago. Strange.**

Fortunately, I was not alone. While commiserating with fellow counsellors and SITs at supper the Thursday night before our last day with our troops, I found that we all had the same frustrations and irritations. We all found out what our parents and teachers had known for years. We found that the more we insisted that the children comply in accordance with our loving and caring terms, the more they listened and the more they respected us. The children found that we actually were concerned for them. They no longer saw us as strangers like they had at the beginning of the week. We had become trusting and caring people to them that took concern in their well-being. All this allowed us to be sure that we, their caregivers for the week, were doing our jobs.

So, on the last day of camp, when the campers were all leaving, I had parents thank me for spending time with their children. Not only was every single one of my campers coming up to me and giving me a hug, they were telling me that I was the most favourite counsellor that they had ever had. Specifically, one mother told me that all her daughter talked about when she was not at camp was about going to camp. She also told me that her daughter was normally temperamental and often in a bad mood. She said that that week was one of the happiest times in her daughter’s life. As all my campers left with their families, I realized that I was going to miss them which was not necessarily a feeling I had for campers that were leaving at the end of the week.

It was only later that I realized the impact of my relationship with these children. They joined with me on my journey that summer. I was surely not expecting to be so profoundly touched by them in a way that has will shape the rest of my life and what I have chosen to do as a profession.

Happytimes

2007-09-08T17:52:00.000-06:00

I'm back! So after a long hiatus, I'm ready to update my blog regularly so there here we go.

Last week marks the first week of my career as a University of Alberta student. I'm not ashamed to say that I had more than one butterfly in my stomach. I even got my mother to drive me to school for the first harrowing day of many to come. It wasn't that bad though. I made it to all my classes in time, transfered out of a Canadian Literature class that I hated and found out that I have to learn every band instrument there is! Yes, that's right. I have to learn every band instrument there is! Stupid me decided to take two Music teaching classes so here I am a brass player having to learn how to play the clarinet, flute and saxophone. My goodness. I also have to take instruments on the bus daily which sucks but I'll get through it.

I'll update you all more about what else is happening at school when it happens. Later days!

Careless

2007-08-04T19:57:00.000-06:00

So the last time I posted something was just before I went to staff training. Since then, I've had a wonderful time working with all the lovely people I work and live with. Never the less we've all had a few ups and downs but that's life. We love, we lose and we live. That's the power of God. Without the bad that we experience, we can't experience the good.

This summer I've also been exposed to some wonderfully lovely music such as Amos Lee, Ray Lamontagne, Matt Costa, Brett Dennen and so many others I can't remember right now. Anyways, here's some pictures from the summer so far. I'll have tons by the end of course.

Time Capsule

2007-06-13T09:23:00.000-06:00

So I don't really have anything to say. I haven't done much in the last month and a half besides catch up on working out at the gym, do some renovations, go shopping and catch up on some well deserved sleep. I'm starting work this next week and spending a week training in Southern Alberta so I'm sure I'll have something when I come back. Later Skaters!

I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses and the voice I hear, falling on my ear the Son of God discloses

2007-05-17T15:12:00.000-06:00

My brother is working at Alberta Hospital as a student Chaplain this summer for the next three months. Yesterday, he had to go to a patient picnic in which he was told that he would be playing baseball. I'm not sure that he was that enthused by the prospect of playing baseball with the criminally insane but I guess he did it anyways. So I, being the nice sister I am, asked how his day went "with the kids" to which he responded, "They're not kids Ingrid. They're murderers and rapists." I was quite taken aback to his response but I guess it was at least an accurate description of who these people are. I think that was the extent of that conversation.

**This is a picture of me. I don't like many pictures of myself but this one is great. It's not centered, you can't see my whole face and it's not perfect. It reminds me that we are an imperfect people, chosen by God. His grace alone is what saves us.**

On the lighter side, my brother was asked by one of the supervisors if he was a patient. He realized this only after he looked at his own patient list and and saw that the name the supervisor called him was on it. My brother promptly came home and shaved off his beard. Maybe he deserved that though. He's been coming home and "psychoanalyzing" all of us and telling us all of our problems. One insight that has come from the constant torment my brother has been putting us through is that I have a slight obsession with geometric patterns. My favorite clothes and earrings all are circles or have circles on them. I realized this as I was cleaning my room last night. Maybe he's been right all along...

World is Round

2007-05-14T21:58:00.000-06:00

I graduated from university on Saturday. I officially have a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Music and and minor on English. It's so nice to be done. Everything seems a little brighter and better now. I feel like I'm finally back in living colour.

Here are a few pictures of my graduation and of my cousin's graduation the next day in Outlook Saskatchewan. Yes, that does mean that I went to both and yes, Outlook is just outside of Saskatoon. My mother and I drove for a total of about 13 or 14 hours yesterday. It was worth it though. My cousin was happy that we came and I was happy we could share our special day together. Ironically, he had two other cousins graduate from university too. We're all growing up!

Dandelions in Bullet Holes, We Stand in Our Civilian Clothes

2007-04-04T11:57:00.000-06:00

I went to the Medicenter on Saturday night and this time I didn't have glass in my foot thank goodness. I think I would have sat down and cried if I had. This time I had/have very enlarged tonsils. It all happened so suddenly. I came home on Thursday night thinking that I should take some Reactin for all the snow mold that seems to be everywhere I go. (I'm now convinced I'm allergic to snow mold because I always get sick when it melts outside. I sound like such a hypochondriac!) Anyways, I took the Reactin which seemed to help and I went about the rest of my week until I woke up on Saturday morning with tonsils the size of large grapes. No Kidding.

I, of course, thought nothing of it until I came home from the gym and showed my mom my huge tonsils. Long story short, I found myself at the Medicenter on Saturday night expecting a very long wait which was only five minutes long to my surprise. Here's the kicker though. Crazy Polish Doctor was the doctor on call. As soon as he came into the exam room and he saw me sitting there, he had a giant smile on his face. He took a look at my tonsils, he said "Well, you have tonsillitis and maybe strep throat. Let's take a swab and send it to the lab." He also said something about Mono but I stopped listening after he said it. My thought process went a little like this, "Mono? Kissing disease? I haven't kissed anyone lately. How could that be?." Then, Crazy Polish Doctor gave me a prescription and that was that. In any case, I haven't heard from the Medicenter so obviously I don't have Strep throat or Mono. Thank goodness and I feel like my tonsil are getting smaller.

* This is a picture of a flower. You may not remember them or even what they look like since we've had snow on the ground for more than half the year and since there's definitely snow on the ground right now even though it's April 4th but they'll start popping up soon. You just wait.*

I did have to cook at LSM yesterday though. I wasn't to happy about that. I asked everyone I could to do it but no one took the bait. The end of the semester is coming up and I have a lot to do and besides, I cooked two weeks ago. It ended up being all right though. I've been so busy with school, that cooking gave me a chance to slow down. I realized this when I was standing at the till at Safeway with my mother paying for groceries. The meal was a hit. It was just homemade mac and cheese and a salad but they liked it. We also went on a scavenger hunt around the U of A campus. I wasn't going to stay for it but I did. It was really fun and my team ended up winning which was probably the best part. Apparently with all of this craziness with the cooking yesterday, it has made me look relaxed. One of the "mature students" in my French class told me that today and I guess I do feel relaxed.

My friend Allan, was saying last night that Jesus was a man who went against the grain. This is obvious but he also posed the question of whether or not He stops us from doing things we shouldn't do or know we shouldn't do. No one had a definitive answer but I was thinking, with Good Friday coming up and Easter, we do have to stop. We are going to stop the busy world we live in on Friday and maybe Monday as well. Stores are going not open or at least not at their regular times on Friday and Monday. I think people who don't believe in Jesus and haven't "taken him as their personal Lord and Saviour" (I'm making fun of the movie Saved! You should see it if you haven't) kind of laugh and say "Well I'm getting a day off just for fun. Ha! Take that religion!" but really, Jesus is pulling the wool over their eyes this weekend. He's shutting down the mall and South Edmonton Common even if it's only for a few hours. He's making us take time to get our priorities straight and I say good on ya, Jesus! I can't wait for the weekend!

If Wishes Were Horses

2007-03-18T14:49:00.000-06:00

This afternoon I watched a movie called "Flicka." It is an adaptation of Mary O'Hara's novel, My Friend Flicka, in which 16 year old Katy McLaughlin dreams of fulfilling her family legacy by working on her father's ranch in Wyoming. Katy sets out to make a wild mustang she finds a riding horse. She names the horse Flicka, a Swedish word for pretty, young girl.

As I was watching the movie, I felt that there was something very familiar about the scenery and the way of the life that was being portrayed. I am by no means a country girl and I would venture that many of my family members would say that I am entirely a city-slicker (even though when my friends were complaining about the way the water tasted at a church we were singing at last week and I told them to hold their nose and suck it up (what a funny pun!), they called me a country girl.) Interestingly enough, my brother recently told me that my great-grandfather was one of the best bronco trainers in Western Canada so maybe it is in my blood.

There is a scene in the movie where Katy is talking to her brother about his plans to leave the ranch and go to university. She starts to cry because she said she knows that he will never return. That scene really struck me but I also realized that that is a very true comment. We live with our family for 18 or 20 years and then we suddenly move out. We cut off our everyday lives from the people who probably know us the best and who are able to forgive us for all the stupid things we do. Why is this the case? Is visiting your family at Christmas or at Thanksgiving really what we have come to? Why can we not stand our family members for more than a couple days when visiting them after we move out even though we've lived with these people for probably at least two decades?

*This is of course another camp picture. The simple way of life this picture encompasses is what I think we should all aspire to. Like some country song says, "If wishes were hoses I would ride, ride, ride."*

I've been struggling with the decision of what to do next year with my schooling. Should I stay here and live with my parents or move away and live on my own? I've gotten a taste of what it is like to live on my own from working at camp the past four years and I have to say, it's great. Maybe that's a false sense of independence though. For two of those four years I've had my meals made for me everyday and a schedule to live by but at the same time, I have been a "responsible parent" to a dozen kids a week at a time over the two months of the summer. (However, for the other two years, I made the meals.)

I don't know what to do yet and maybe I won't know until its made clear by what we call "a higher power" (aka. God) in my philosophy class. I know one thing for sure and that's that I am waiting anxiously.

Let Us Pause in Life's Pleasures to Count it's Many Tears

2007-02-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

Things have not been going my way lately. I applied to a couple universities and then received letters that did not give me good news. It's not that I didn't get in but that I have to give them more information. That's not even bad but I realized after getting those letters and paying quite a bit of money that I am missing one class for every program that I've applied for so far. It might not even be a problem but it's that fact that it may be a problem that is the problem. What a mouth full!

I think I might just have to go to Augustana like my parents told me to when I was 17 years old and trying figure out where to go for school. (*Note to self, 17 year olds cannot make rational decisions about school or anything for that matter.) So, I have a least three more years of university. That's not so bad, right? I'm not sure at this point but on the bright side, I will have two more degrees plus my BA after these next three years. That's pretty impressive.

*This is me with my head in my hands and the weight of the world on my shoulders. Kidding! It's actually me and two of my coworkers during the passion play last summer. We were the apostles that fell asleep when Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is however an accurate depiction of what I feel like right now.

The other problem is that my professors seem to not have gotten the memo that tells them that everyone that goes to university is an adult (or at least an adult in age if not in intellectual capacity). You ask why I say this? I will tell you or at least ask you a question about my previous statement. When someone tells me that a choir tour is from March 8-9th, does automatically make you think, "Oh, that means it actually means that we will be coming back on the 11th. I like sleeping at crazy people's houses. (aka billets)" No freaking way does that mean that to me. I have a life and stuff to do on the weekend. It's bad enough I have to miss two days of school, reschedule two midterms and miss going to the gym. Seriously!

Whatever, next week will be awful but all I can say is whatever.

100 Things You Didn't Know About Me

2007-02-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

This is a survey I got off the internet. These are things you probably don't know about me.

1. How old will you be in five years? 25

2. Who did you spend at least two hours with today? Mandana. We went to Whyte Ave. and spent way too much money on accessories and ate lunch.

3. How tall are you? 5'10

4. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks? Reading Week

5. What's the last movie you saw? Probably some made for TV crap.

6. Who was the last person you called? Granola

7. Who was the last person to call you? Mandana

8. What was the last text message you received? "night”

9. Who was the last person to leave you a voicemail? Granola and Lena

10. Do you prefer to call or text? Neither but if I have to, I’ll call.

11. What were you doing at 12am last night? Sleeping until I was rudely interrupted by a phone call and text messages.

12. Are your parents married/separated/divorced? married

13. When is the last time you saw your mom? This morning before she went to work.

14. What color are your eyes? blue

15. What time did you wake up today? 7:00am

16. What are you wearing right now? My favorite jeans, my favorite new blue shirt and striped socks.

17. What is your favorite Christmas song? The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came

18. Where is your favorite place to be? At my grandparent's cabin

19. Where is your least favorite place to be? I’m not sure but probably Concordia. It’s a fish bowl!

20. Where would you go if you could go anywhere? Norway!

21. Where do you think you'll be in 10 years? Edmonton, Saskatoon or Camrose

22. Do you tan or burn? Tan and beautifully I might add!

23. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child? The monster my brother told me lived in the basement.

24. What was the last thing that really made you laugh? Everything Mandana said to me.

25. How many TVs do you have in your house? Three

26. How big is your bed? It’s a double bed

27. Do you have a laptop or desktop computer? Laptop

28. Do you sleep with or without clothes on? Pants and a shirt, please.

29. What color are your sheets? Turquoise

30. How many pillows do you sleep with? Three

31. What is your favorite season? Winter

32. What do you like about fall? The wonderful colors, crunching leaves and the smell of everything.

33. What do you like about winter? The clean smell, the sun, the snow, the everything…

34. What do you like about the summer? The rain and the fact that I spend all of it at the lake working at camp. The slip and slide is a definite plus as well.

35. What do you like about spring? Planting flowers, the rebirth of everything.

36. How many states have you lived in? One province.

37. What cities/towns have you lived in? Edmonton, Mulhurst Bay, Hastings Lake near Camrose

38. Do you prefer shoes, socks, or bare feet? Bare feet

39. Are you a social person? Sometimes.

40. What was the last thing you ate? Chinese Winter salad, chicken breast and homemade mac and cheese.

41. What is your favorite restaurant? Highlevel Diner, the Sugarbowl, Sicilian Pasta Kitchen because their food really does taste like the food in Italy.

42. What is your favorite ice cream? Maple Walnut.

43. What is your favorite dessert? Something with lime, cheese and whipped cream.

44. What is your favorite kind of soup? Anything creamy

45. What kind of jelly do you like on your PB & J sandwich? Raspberry or Strawberry

46. Do you like Chinese food? Sure do.

47. Do you like coffee? Of course.

48. How many glasses of water, a day, do you drink on average? As many Nalgene bottles as I can handle.

49. What do you drink in the morning? Water and Orange juice

51. Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed? The left

52. Do you know how to play poker? Nope.

53. Do you like to cuddle? Sometimes

54. Have you ever been to Canada? Umm, let me think.

55. Do you have an addictive personality? I don’t know. Ask my friends or family.

56. Do you eat out or at home more often? Home

58. Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you? Yes. I think her name is Mindy and we went to the same junior high and high school and I recently discovered she also goes to Concordia.

59. Do you want kids? Yes

60. Do you speak any other languages? French

61. Have you ever gotten stitches? This year in fact on the bottom of my foot after I stepped on a piece of glass.

62. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance? No

63. Do you prefer an ocean or a pool? Both are slightly disgusting

64. Do you prefer a window seat or an aisle seats? Aisle, because I have long legs.

65. Do you know how to drive stick? Perhaps. My brother taught me once on my uncle’s truck.

66. What is your favorite thing to spend money on? Hair stuff. I'm trying to find something that makes my hair nice curly instead or crazy curly. I'm convinced it will never happen though.

67. Do you wear any jewelry 24/7? Earrings

68. What is your favorite TV show? Grey’s Anatomy and House

69. Can you roll your tongue? Yes

70. Who is the funniest person you know? Blake

71. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? Not for a very long time

72. What is the main ring tone on your phone? Just the normal one that comes on your cell phone.

73. Do you still have clothes from when you were little? Yes, the Sparks shirt from when I was little, my baptismal dress and the dress I wore on the first day of school

74. What red object is closest to you right now? The footstool my cat is sitting on.

75. Do you turn off the water while you brush your teeth? Of course

76. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed? Definitely closed. Who knows what’s in there at night!

77. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees? Bees because I could probably survive that.

78. Do you flirt a lot? No.

79. What do you dip a chicken nugget in? Sweet and Sour sauce and Plum sauce

80. What is your favorite food? Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, bussell sprouts and rice and roast beef and mashed potatoes.

81. Can you change the oil on a car? Umm…no!

82. Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket? You bet not!

83. Have you ever run out of gas? Almost but no.

84. What is your usual bedtime? Around 10:00 or 11:00pm. I know, its pathetic.

85. What was the last book you read? Mr Sammler’s Planet by Saul Bellows

86. Do you read the newspaper? Yes

87. Do you have any magazine subscriptions? No.

89. Do you watch soap operas? Not lately

90. Do you dance in the car? No

91. What radio station did you last listen to? ckua. The Celtic show is the best!

92. Who is in the picture frame closest to you? There are many and many camp friends are in them.

93. What was the last note you scribbled on a piece of paper? The name of a band I heard on a radio.

94. What is your favorite candle scent? Something citrus

95. What is your favorite board game? Scrabble.

97. When was the last time you attended church? Last Sunday and at chapel at school.

98. Who was your favorite teacher in high school? M. Jean-Proulx

99. What is the longest you have ever camped out in a tent? Two weeks

100. Who was the last person to do something extra special for you? I'm a giver and I don't seem to get a lot of the time which is fine for me. In the six months there's probably three things that have stood out in my mind. (or that I remember because. There could be more)

1. Laina and Scooter so nicely came to one of my concerts when I was in Calgary. That was so wonderful of them to do that.

2. My friend Mon gave me a pair of earrings for Christmas which I didn't expect. It was a very nice surprise.

3. Kash who gave me a card he made during Quest this past summer. It wasn’t even that special except for the fact that he doesn’t do crafts.

Friendship Updates

2007-02-13T15:34:00.000-07:00

I've recently discovered this thing called Facebook. It's described as being and I quote, "a social utility that connects you with the people around you." This is code for being able to stalk your old friends from high school or from university or from whom you've randomly met in your travels. I confess that it can be a little addictive in nature and on the weekend I spent way too much time on it but in a way its kind of cool.

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These are Matt's legs. Need I say more? but I will. He's the fun-loving, crazy, hilarious guy that I met a camp. You'll read about him in a few seconds or minutes depending on how long it takes you to read.
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I saw the profiles of some friends that I haven't seen in literally years. You can add people to your friends list which is a way to reconnect with them. Of course they have to want to add you to their friends list but usually they do. They have so far with me! It's interesting to see how people have changed and how they haven't changed.

One guy in particular, whom I never dreamed I would ever see again, I discovered is still the same fun-loving, crazy, hilarious guy that I met two and a half years ago at camp. He's still the same old Matt which is why we became friends in the first place. I guess you can call Facebook a classy Maury or Oprah. It reunites people that haven't seen each other in a long time but without all the hysterics and over dramatized crying. Thank goodness. I hate touchy-feely stuff like that! And I still maintain that Facebook is stupid!

Dang Yo!

2007-02-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

If last year was the summer of weddings, then this year is the year of other life changing events. This past summer I think I knew about ten couples that got married. So obviously I have become accustomed to the drill of weddings and all that business. I thought this surge of life changing events was somewhat over. But no!

In the past couple of months of catching up with my friends or just randomly talking to my friends, I have noticed that practically everyone is either getting married, having a child, moving in with their significant other, getting engaged, buying a house, moving out of their parents, graduating from university (although I am doing that which makes me feel a little better as I write this) or generally getting on with their lives.

When my mom told that this surge was going to happen in my early twenties I kind of didn't believe her. Boy do I now! She also told me there will be a surge in my thirties when there will be other life changing events such as deaths of the older generations of family members (heaven forbid), divorces, marriages, remarriages, having children, having more children, changing jobs, quitting jobs etc. What a list of things to do!

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*This is a picture of a very good friend named Tim at his wedding this past summer to a wonderful young lady named Joanne. Although I have not gotten to know Joanne that well I hope to as Tim has been a great friend to me and my family over the years. What a great couple!*
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I guess it'll happen to all of us but in our own time. Just stop with all the changes! It means I'll have to change my email contact lists with new last names and Auntie Ingrid will have to remember small children's birthdays and buy presents and attend baptisms and buy house warming plants and wedding presents and....

Does anyone know what an ulcer feels like because I think I might have one

2007-02-05T20:56:00.000-07:00

So I just finished this absolutely retarded biology lab on cells and micro organisms and crap like that. I hate this class. Biology 100 is a joke. Nobody wants to be there and nobody even cares. What science teacher wants to teach a bunch of uninterested Arts students about cells?!? We don't understand half the crap our biology teacher says and its only half because we don't understand the terms. FYI, when you can't say half the terms with the right emphasis on the right syllables, I think you should reevaluate why you're teaching! Now I have to study for a freaking midterm!!! I'm tired and I just want to go to bed.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

2007-02-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

During the holidays I was looking at pictures. I had gotten a bunch of pictures printed in September of the last four summers of working at camp and I was putting some of them in frames for a Birthday present. They were for my brother so he could put them up in his very sparse apartment. Interestingly enough, they made me a little sad. It was a sadness that I hadn't kept up some of the friendships that I had made for those three months of working and living together over the last four summers and a sadness that I hadn't made the most out of the whole experience.

I am not a person who usually dwells in the past but I think sometimes its important to know and remember where we've been to understand what we've done. Pictures help me to do that. I love pictures for that reason and I cherish the pictures that I have because unlike a lot of people, I don't take many pictures in my ordinary life (something about a self confidence thing comes to mind....) but pictures are also like the sword and the rose. The moment they are capturing is forever documented which is great. You can look back on experiences with fond memories but it also means that that moment will never occur again. Things happen. People move on and decide to never go back to where they were whether it is because they can't or simply do not want to. I always think of pictures as one of those songs that you hear on the radio that brings you back to the time you first heard it. You don't always want to hear that song or maybe you do but it can be a toss up at times.

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These are some of the pictures I was talking about. There's one of a pylon kiss (it's not an actual kiss. This is bible camp after all! Get your mind out of the gutter!) between two wonderful people that I've gotten to know over the years, Heather and Jordan. There's also one kind of artsy picture of the pulpit that was used for one of the chapels that was on the beach. Everyone that has seen this agrees it should be on a Jones Soda bottle. Maybe one day.
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I watched a new version of Jane Eyre last night on Masterpiece Theater. I studied Jane Eyre last year in one of the many novel study classes that I've taken so of course I've read it and I've seen an older version of the movie. But, I've never been really listened or taken in what I've read. In one of the scenes, Mr Rochester, the mean older man whose heart is eventually unfrozen by the plain Jane Eyre, says something to the effect of "We don't like to say goodbye to friends even when we know we will never see them again." I'm not sure why that struck me last night. Maybe it's because this next summer I will have to get to know and work with some new people who will hopefully become friends. Some people from this past summer aren't coming back to work and that can be hard to deal with. I guess in some ways I don't want to replace the wonderful memories with other wonderful memories.

I am however looking forward to taking more pictures this summer because no matter what the moment and the intention, they really do say a thousand words.

Christmas Blessings and Symbols

2007-01-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I last posted (more than a month, oops!) so I post some pictures from Christmas. It was a nice quiet Christmas chez Ingrid with the fam. My mother invited our neighbor and her granddaughter over on Christmas Eve even though Erik and I didn't want her to. I think are complaint was that "she's too redneck and too Albertan" but that's another story... I 'm glad my mother did invite them over because in all my years we've never had a Christmas sans family or friends. It truly exemplified the meaning of Christmas and reminded me of why we celebrate the birth of Christ.

The pictures on the left are of some Christmas symbols that we put up in our house such as the Christmas tree, the advent wreath and some star tea light candle holders we put on the table that act as another advent wreath as well. I like them very much because no matter what the world looks like outside, my house in all its Christmas decoration glory, reminds me of the promise of the birth of the Christ-child in Bethlehem some two thousand years ago. Christmas does that to you. It reminds you of what is actually important. I love Christmas for that reason. I hope it does that for you too!

It's my Birthday and I'll cry if I want to.

2006-12-09T13:34:00.000-07:00

So today is my 21st Birthday. I guess you could say that I'm a little impartial over the whole thing. I don't really care about getting older nor do I fret over this fact. However, there is not going to be any big hoopla over this day because I never feel like I can doing anything until exams are over. I think the novelty of Birthdays has worn off since my Birthday as well as my father's, my brother's and Jesus' and then New Years occur throughout December at our house. Thank goodness my mother was born in July!

I guess I did have a party though in essence last night. I went to a Christmas party and had a grand time with two cute little kittens that belonged to the hosts. Of course I had a great time the humans that came too! So don't worry everyone, there will be no life crisis this year. I think the most I'll do is cut my hair in a couple of weeks to mark this occasion of finally being an adult in all 54(?) states of the US.

Note* This is a picture of me with two girls that I've worked with at camp. Here we're singing "Ice, Ice Baby" to the tune of "Going to the Chapel of Love" at the talent show we had this summer. It is a little bit of a strange combo but I encourage you to try it sometime. And yes, those are tinfoil hats on our heads. Where did those sunglasses go?

Mr. and Mrs. Fuddy-Duddy

2006-12-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the last day of classes for me. I had a great day planned out for myself. I only had one class anyway so I'd be home just in time to watch the soaps for once and bask in the fact that I only have one more semester left in my BA. (YEAH!!!! That's something to bask in itself) Instead, I woke up late, tried to finish homework that I didn't understand so that the fill-in-the-blank stuff was filled in and I could get marks for having it "done" (apparently I'm still in jr. high where my teacher checks to see if I did my homework) and then, as I was backing out my car from our very long driveway, I got stuck. The temperature was just right so that the snow was a little slushy but not quite. I was so mad, my dad was mad and my mom was mad. I thought to myself "We'll just push it out. It'll be fine. I can still get to school on time." Unfortunatly, this was not what happened.

After pushing the car by MYSELF because my father was being an idiot and not helping, I finally conceeded. I was just so close to getting it out myself. If I had been just a little stronger. I took my dads car and drove to school. I was fuming the whole way to school, while sitting in class at school and and driving from school. I couldn't believe my dad wouldn't help me. He's like that though so it was no surprise.

When I came home from school, my parents were outside shovelling. Well, it was more like my mother was supervising my father while he shoveled. He's like one of those kids that you have to watch all times or else they try and sneak out of what they're supposed to be doing. At that point I had already decided, while driving home, to shovel the six inches of packed snow and three layers of ice so the driveway could be used for the rest of the winter. I was then told that all of our good shovels were our greenhouse at the back of the garage in the backyard. I recovered the shovels that have been hiding in there for years and a pick. (In recent years we've been using the Crappy McCrappy shovels that we inherited when my grandfather died.) That was an adverture in itself becuase I had to trudge through two and a half feet of snow to get to the shovels but it reminded me of my childhood playing in the snow. I think I'll take my snowpants out more often this winter.

After about three or four hours of shovelling with both of my parents, it was done. We can see the actual concrete ground all over the driveway. This little adventure did however spur my father on to buying a $1500 snow blower yesterday. (Erik, we don't need to buy dad a birthday gift or a Christmas gift.) My mom was fine with it to my surprise when my dad came home with the bill. I guess she was feeling like it was probably time. Dad did turn 60 years old on Sunday and he's not as spry as he used to be. It was nice spending time with my parents like that even though it was while shoveling which is a terrible job in itself. My wrists hurts like there's no tomorrow right now because I got the lovely job of hacking away at the snow and ice with a pick (is that what it's called?) but I'll get over it. The pain will subside and I think I will look fondly upon that day for a long time. We don't usually get to spend time like in our day and age where people schedule themselves up to the hilt. I did however, come to realize that I do have old parents. One of them can order from some seniors menus now! Next it will be driving them to their doctors appointments and taking them grocery shopping. Oh, what a life!

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*Note about the picture. This is a picture of one of my cousins on the top of a mountain in Norway. I like it because it's like he's pointing to the future whatever that may be.

The Diaries of a Shopaholic

2006-11-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

So the title of this entry isn't really accurate. I am not a shopaholic. In fact, I don't like shopping even if it is for things like groceries which are essential to living. I think shopping is somewhat useless unless I'm in the mood for it. Unfortunately, this is not how most people my age think. They, as well as I, have been bombarded by the media's portrayal of what we should waste our limited free time doing which is shopping. I am positive that I have never in my life uttered the words to my friends, "So like, do you want to go to the mall like later? We can sit in the food court and like eat New York Fries and like look at boys and gossip and like go to the Gap and like buy clothing that is like way too overpriced and like it'll be fun! Right!?!" If I see one more girl wearing a lululemon sweater I'm going to scream! They're not even that popular anywhere else except in Alberta! This is the reason we all have a skewed vision of what "pretty" is.

Anyway, so I went to the store the other day to find a winter coat. This has been, in recent years, a difficult task. It might be because I am a somewhat picky shopper and because its hard to find clothes in general for me, a plus size, five foot ten inch young lady who takes pride in the way she looks. (This statement may not be in line with the Ingrid that you know if you've worked at camp with me in the past couple of years. I looked especially unkempt this past summer but that's what working in a hot kitchen does to you.) Contrary to popular belief, we "big girls" have never been fans of muumuus. Anyway, I have had particularly bad luck with winter coats in the past because styles have been ugly. Times have been desperate though. I actually bought an orange coat that was two sizes to big in my second year of university because it was on sale. That was a mistake. I looked like a mandarin orange the whole winter. So, if you ever learn anything from me, it should be never buy anything because it's a good price. That advice is not just for clothes either. It includes groceries, cars, computers etc.

So, back to the story. I found TWO coats that I like this year. That never happens! Now it comes down to a choice. It is always so hard for me. I hate making decisions. I'm always scared I'm going to make the wrong one because so many times before I have. (ie, orange coat!) Either way, I will have to live with the decision. For Pete's sake there are people living in Africa that don't have running water and I'm complaining about a silly winter coat! The song "You're So Vain" by Carly Simone comes to mind right now. Choices and decisions!

This is seriously getting serious

2006-11-07T16:13:00.000-07:00

So this will be my final post on the subject of my foot. Readers (meaning all one of you) have asked for a picture. I, being the writer of the people and not a tyrant, have obliged. There she is is all her stitched glory.
I finally conceded against my own wishes and I went to the doctor a couple nights ago. Unfortunately the crazy Polish doctor who is always in a bad mood was on duty. I charmed him with my nice smile and told him my pathetic sob story and he froze my foot with two shots of freezing and dug around for awhile, stitched me up and then told me that he found absolutely nothing! I couldn't believe him then and I can't believe it now. I think he did get something though cause my foot doesn't hurt now. I guess I don't need to go see a surgeon after all. Hurray!!! We'll see though. I got kind of scared driving home that I might lose my foot to gangrene or something. But on the plus side, I think I gave crazy Polish doctor something interesting to do. He seemed to have a bit of a bounce in his step when he left the examination room even if I didn't. Oh well. My little jaunt to the Medicenter gave crazy Polish doctor a change of pace in his everyday, mundane life of sore throats and runny noses. Anything I can do for the people I say!

The seriousness factor of this saga has concluded however. I went to the Medicenter for the last and final time yesterday morning. The doctor on duty saw me for all of two minutes (even though I waited for 45 minutes for him and was late for my first class of the day) and then proceded to tell me that the stitch crazy Polish doctor put in wasn't really doing anything but making it hard for me to walk. The nurse then came in and took it out for me. I was greatly relieved because I have to work at Kuriakos this weekend (even though I'm absolutely dreading it cause this is my long weekend! I'll just keep on telling myself I doing this for Jesus and bring some movies along to watch.) We live and learn.

This is seriously getting rediculous.

2006-11-05T21:37:00.002-07:00

No fancy stuff today kids. Inga's foot hurts to much and yes, that means the Ninja glass is officially and still in my foot. I can't believe this happened to me. In the words of my friend Beans, (FYI that is a nickname) "woof dog." This is REDONCULOUS! (Thanks KJ for that lovely addition to the English language.) Why won't it come out!!! I feel like Job. Look him up if you don't know who he is. Not in the phonebook silly, he's in the Bible. He went through some pretty rank stuff but I guess "what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger." I'm pretty sure gangrene can kill you though or at least make it so you have to have your foot amputated. I dislike (that's for you Mango) feet so much and now I have to go to the doctor and let her touch my foot! I don't even like it when people look at my feet let alone touch them. Seriously people. Stuff like this only ever happens to me.

Anger, Glass and Weight

2006-11-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

I am angry. This may not seem like an uncommon statement if you know me personally but my anger has a reason. I am angry because I stepped on a piece of glass. Unfortunately, the laundry room in the basement of my house has been plagued with little pieces of glass. How did they get there you ask? I’ll tell you. For some reason the cement floor attracts the canning jars in the cold room. The jars and the floor act as magnets. They are just so drawn to each other that whenever one enters the cold room, a jar will break right in front of your eyes.

So, last night as I was running the upstairs to go to bed, I stepped on a piece of glass. This piece of glass is no ordinary piece of glass. It was the worst kind of glass. Ninja glass. These Ninja pieces of glass are the tiniest of pieces that you’ve ever seen that cannot be swept up in their entirety. Therefore, on occasion, tiny pieces of glass cut my feet when in the basement. I have been told to wear shoes while walking in the basement but do I listen? No! Absolutely not!

I got to thinking while I tried digging out this piece of Ninja glass last night on my bed and tonight in the place of the crime, the basement. I am desperate. I want this piece of glass out of my foot or I at least want the pain in my foot to dissipate. The thing about pain and being desperate is that we always get hit with these feelings out of nowhere. That is how life works. Yet we still wonder how God can do that to us. Why does He let us feel this pain and desperation? Where is He when He lets us feel this way? The answer is: He’s in the hurt, the pain and the desperation. It’s in these situations of falling apart, no matter what the reason, that God gets an opportunity to show us that he cares and remind us how much he really does love us.

I wasn’t expecting this to happen. I was expecting to go to bed and have a good sleep. No pain involved. Instead I felt discomfort last night. It’s okay though. God is just giving me a reminder that He is here for me when I need Him. He reminded me that I have been forgiven for my sins known and unknown. I just need to stop and take a break from my crazy life. I encourage you to do the same. God didn’t create us to carry these wounds around. God created us to be free.

*Note: This is a picture of a girl my brother worked with this summer. I like it because it reminds me of someone who thinks they have the weight of the world on their shoulders. She doesn't though. God does and He is gladly carrying it for you!

New things, random projects and ideas

2006-10-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I have officially jumped on the blog bandwagon. I know, I'm lame. I don't really know if this is good idea but we'll see if I can maintain this project. I've been thinking about this for a while and I know this might be sort of out of character for me but I do have stuff to say even if I don't say it most of the time. And besides, if any random Joe Dirt (and I realize this is a name of a very stupid movie) can start a blog, so can I. So here it is kids. My random thoughts. I hope you enjoy!