THE WAY OF THE LORD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS

This post is the 22nd entry of my self - imposed 22 day writers challenge!
For good measure, true devotion and utter enjoyment I will add two more days of daily writing which will bring us to June 1.

A long time ago I wrote my bucket list. On the paper I listed everything I wanted to learn, achieve, see, travel to, accomplish and read during my life party here on earth. One of the books I wanted to read is THE BIBLE.

This book scares me; it is way too thick and way too complicated written to make heads and tails of it. The Bible is THE silent bestseller on the book market. It has been around forever, it will never go out of fashion!
Knowing what the bible teaches is part of my own 'well rounded', personal education. I am born protestant to once- a- year church going parents. Religious education wasn't high on the agenda at school- it is part of our curriculum and not more.


Given the choice, I rather read a Dan Brown novel than the bible. Having said that, The Lord works in mysterious ways: A few months ago I decided to open my doors to two Jehova witnesses (Dec 14, 2013, True Religion), - who brought the bible into our house! To this day, I am still with the ladies! These two wonderful women have become part of my private, weekly enlightenment routine. We are flicking through the bible, we are reading bits and bops, comparing, talking, laughing.
What can I say, "Jehovah made me open the door so I can finally read his word".

What an interesting book this is. After spending all those months with the ladies you can ask me,
Are I converted? No. Are you wiser? Yes! Am I enjoying myself? You bet! Will I join the Jehovah crew? I Don't think so.



Our middle son plays basketball with the team of our local Christian School. After the first practise he was so surprised these boys are so normal, just like him! He told me some boys pray before having dinner, he asked me why we don't go to church!
Why don't we?
Over the years I formed my own belief about who or what GOD is. Dominic and I are free spirits, we are interested in everything others call God, Jehovah, Buddha or Allah.
I told our son, "Just because you go to church doesn't make you a good person. If you want to go, I will take you."
Guess what happened? Our son believes he is a good person - up to this day he has chosen to sleep in instead of getting up and going to church.

STILL HERE -

I should rename this blog to "Prairie Log", as this is my third entry on this topic! Bare with me, I will be home on Monday and things will get back to normal...

After our event, we left our venue elated and ready for tomorrow. It was 5.30pm Weyburn time on a Saturday, we went shopping when it hit me: The movie set from Yesterday World changed into Ghost Town: We hardly saw any souls anywhere! How many more names can you give this place?
6pm is too early to be tucked away at home, but not too late to be out and about?
Apart from petrol stations, the odd fast food joint and Walmart, everything else was shut. Let's hear it from Gail: You never ever see anybody out and about. Not on Monday, on Tuesday.....ever!

Today we presented our live event LIVE LIFE NOW for the first time!
Part of our presentation is devoted to goal setting. That got me thinking; Do you set goals? If yes, do you take them serious? Do you act upon them or do you live your life like "I want to become a rich, let's find a good job and see what happens?"

Here is my question: If we never heard of goal setting when we were little, and all you had was your imagination, your ideas and dreams- how far would they carry us?
Do we gravitate towards our own wishes and ideas anyways without manifesting them on paper?
Autsch, it's official, the prairie makes me mellow, I am writing way too serious stuff.

Right here is the part I should mention my parents, my all too serious, over protective father, my amazing hospitable, overwhelming mother. None of them open to anything fancy like 'becoming an entrepreneur, dream big, setting goals. What are goals again? Instead of 'doing what you love doing" the motto of my father was 'Do what earns a steady income and has a future (become a civil servant!). Enough said.
My parents deserve a whole book devoted to them, therefore I am not even tempted to start with them....you will thank me, believe me!

As my chances are slim to hear from you (?), I will answer my own question.
YES, we are guided by our dreams, wishes and ideas. Take it or leave it, here is part of my story:
When I was little, I fall in love with this man:

There was no question in my mind - ever, I was going to marry a native American!

I wanted to live in an English speaking country, become a writer and if I was lucky enough to have children, I wanted four - four Boys!
Here comes the spooky part: I am married to an American (without hair!), I live in Canada (reminder: they speak - among many other languages, English) I wrote a book and we have four boys (ok, I cheated, one is an exchange student, he is ours on a temporary basis only).

All this without ever knowing what goal setting is? What is that called?

One Happy Mother!
See 'ya tomorrow!

STILL In THE PRAIRIE

...and definitely not in love!
There is something about this flatness that depresses me - only kidding, nothing ever depresses me!
Rather, it feels like I stepped into yesterday world, straight from a movie set. After seventeen months of looking at the mountains in BC I can honestly say, the prairie is not for me (the power of snow covered mountain ranges makes you fall in love with them.)

Stop whinging Christina and get back to business:
My venture partner Gail and I are facilitating LIVE LIFE NOW here in Weyburn. Our event, nor we, aren't known (famous!!!) - yet. There is no sponsor, no event manager, no booking agent, no huge crowds waiting for us to hear our pearls of wisdom. All we have is our combined enthusiasm, stories, knowledge, experiences and a deep desire to inspire, help and motivate the ladies to LIVE LIFE NOW.

Today, we were busy was a capital B. We even did last day cold calling for our event at the local community. The employment agency, the Chamber of Commerce, schools, banks and kindergarden got their fair share of a quality 'Christina & Gail" -motivation pitch.
More shopping had to be done, Gail baked, broiled, printed, decorated and finalized the order of our presentation.
What was my involvement in all of this? I stressed Gail out, reminded her of the next tasks ahead, wrote the shopping list, ironed my shirts (even the folks here on the prairie like to see their presenter in a neatly pressed outfit, so I hope), packed my books and wrote this blog. Fair is fair!
[caption id="attachment_798" align="alignnone" width="224"] One busy lady![/caption]

Unfortunately, wishing, hoping and praying doesn't make it far in life if you don't get up and do your part! Fortunately, we did everything that needed to be done to make it a fantastic day tomorrow. Maybe I should go to bed wishing, hoping and praying for a successful 1 x event tomorrow.
Will see ya; tomorrow!

IN THE PRAIRIE

As you might remember, we immigrated from The Netherlands to hilly, beautiful B.C. We lived the 'flat' lifestyle for 12 long years; long enough to call myself an expert on Lowland - Living, big mistake!

Guess where I am at this right moment: Right in the middle of the Saskatchewan, in a place called Weyburn. If you need help with your bearings, let me help you. It's a bit further right from where we live, it is the second province to the east from B.C.
Whatever made me think Holland is flat? It is, but not as flat as it is here! Goodness gracious, the prairie is flatter than any pancake you ever baked, flatter than any crepe you ever ate. Let me say it again, it is FLAT in Saskatchewan.

This morning I left from Abbotsford airport, which is just the cutest, most efficient and less crowded airport I have ever been to. With cute I mean, as much as cute can be used to describe an airport.
In order to get to Abbotsford you drive through winding country lanes, picturesque scenery on both sides; the mountains are on the right hand side, the Fraser River on your left. There isn't a more idyllic way to get to any airport than this.

Coming back to the prairies- my mate Gail picked me up from Regina - (say the name with an English accent - not the German way- and you will know why I have a hard time saying it...) and we headed off to Weyburn. Which is a 100 km ride further down the dirt road with no street lights and road markings. During the car ride I couldn't get over the fact how flat it is...nothing to see, just a vast vastness.

To make the ride more interesting we shared stories about our past lives. If we had a friendly competition going on there, I pretty much won with my story about the teacher I know: Happily married for 20 years, four children, meets the love of her life and leaves her husband for - another woman! These two ladies move in together, husband is totally devastated (how can a man compete with another woman?), the ex- wife enjoys her new found pleasures. Anyway, after about two years ex wife returns back to her husband. The reason: Her lover cheated on her - with a man!
Yes, truth is stranger than fiction.

You will hear from me tomorrow with an exclusive report on prairie living!

SOME OF MY FAVOURITE QUOTES:

It


This will be it for today- What the heck, yesterday I introduced you to my personal, SEXIEST MAN ALIVE, today I shared with you some short and sweet wisdom!
See ya'tomorrow!

I FEEL AT MY TOUGHEST...

definitely not when I sit in a traffic jam, listening to crappy music tunes.
I re-tuned my radio stations and found CBC radio- something similar to BBC radio in England.
Finally, more talk than dumbing down auto/ food/ fashion commercials. This radio station offers a news update as well- NEWS is a word non of the other big commercial radio stations recognizes or respects.
Crawling through the traffic I listened to a beautiful story about being tough. The narrator ended with the question "When do you feel at your toughest?'
Here are some of the answers I loved

- When I change my daughters diapers (told by a father)
- When I wear my Doc Martens
- When I chop an onion without bursting into tears
- When I wear sunglasses inside
- When I ask for a pay rise
- When a woman asks me to open a can for her
- When I need to change a car tire

And me, personally?
I feel toughest when I walk into a bookstore, a copy of Verry Berry Extra-Ordinary in hand, give the manager my best pitch, eye contact and all- and get turned down. It hasn't happened too often -yet- , still, with this NO I am getting closer to a YES!

When do you feel at your toughest?

ABOUT BRONCOS & CRABS

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On this glorious Sunday afternoon half the population of Vancouver's Lower Mainland area stood in line for the Rodeo in Cloverdale (Dominic and I included)

- the other half was on the beach in White Rock (where we ended up going).

Our much anticipated trip to the Rodeo was cut short due to the fact all their tickets were sold out. Bugger, why didn't they tell us that before we stood in line for 40 minutes? Our next chance to watch real cowboys would be in Calgary during the Calgary Stampede in July- but that is a 12 hour drive from our house.

On our way back to the car we received the above leaflet from one (friendly!!!!) anti rodeo demonstrator. She told us about modern day techniques to make a horse buck.

Holy Moly! And I was under the impression cowboys still use real wild horses and bulls. Ask a professional cowboy and he will twist and turn this evidence to his liking accordingly.

The day was too young to drive back home. Instead we set out for lovely White Rock. White Rock is the sunniest city in all of Canada. It is chosen as retirement place by many wealthy, healthy (it's hilly there) pensioners; it is a favourite hang-out spot for day visitors.

Instead of watching horses going crazy, we watched crab trappers doing their business instead. Did you know you can catch crab with raw chicken pieces? Canadian rules and regulations for a crab hunter are intense (see picture above). Only males of a certain size are allowed to be caught. The rest must be thrown back into the water - and only four big ones per crab fisher are allowed to end up in the pot!

See ya tomorrow for day 13!

YES to a SECOND TERM?

Yesterday, citizens of BC went to the polls. Today, we hear the province wants the same old, same old.

In a few weeks, our household has to vote if we want to grant our Korean exchange student Joey a second term in our home!



Last year in September we said yes without hesitation. We had the wonderful opportunity to offer a young boy a home away from home. All it took was a firm handshake plus the promise to offer board and three square meals a day. Back then it was the beginning of a new adventure.  Soon we need to decide if we want the same old without him, or the same old with him.

Cooking or doing the laundry for a sixth family member doesn't bother me - what bothers me is his mess! His room is a minefield of scattered dirty, clean, wet, dry clothes. Wrappings of candy bars, Korean noodle packs, books, writing utensils, cologne etc I am sure you get the picture!

Our boys have already said Yes to a second term. Joey has successfully slurped and gamed himself into the hearts of this adopted brothers. Dominic and I are more fussy.  We will only offer him a second term if he promisses to

- put his dirty towels (plus clothes) into his laundry basket - and doesn't leave them on the bathroom floor  (maid service please!)  One day we actually run out of fresh ones, they were scattered around his wc- he uses a fresh one every day!

- he agrees to hand in all his hand-held electronic devises after 10 pm. That will be a tough one, he is on them all night!

- he throws away his earphones. He loves the buzz in his ears all day long; you can't talk to that kid - you need to yell!  He can't hear you! (or doesn't want to hear you) .

- obeys  my 'get outside rule. This is another tough one! Joey loves our men den, his computer and the spacious indoors!  Guess for how long he can sit in front of the computer for? Guess again! NINE (!!!) hours! Even for a hard-wired  Korean computer geek I think this is a bit much

- he stops taking 30 minute long midnight showers!

What I don't care about is how he spends his parents money: He only buys the best of the best. For him that is everything with the name NIKE on it!  I send my boys to the SALE aisle, Joey hits straight to New Releases!

See ya tomorrow for day 9 of my 22 day challenge!

[caption id="attachment_230" align="alignnone" width="225"] Am I happy about a second term?[/caption]

 

BATHROOM TALK

Gentlemen, does the following scene looks familiar? You, your wife (or girl-friend) and a few other couples are sitting in a restaurant. At one point your wife excuses herself to use the washroom! This is the secret code for all the other ladies to get up, grab their bags and follow your wife into the sacred chamber - never to be seen again!



Have you ever wandered why it takes us so long to return? Ever wandered what's going on behind closed doors? (for educational purposes only,- no kinky stuff please).

I have a good idea what we are doing in there. Just this afternoon I read an article about the popularity of washrooms in restaurants and bars - and apart from the occassional drug user, it's all harmless stuff!

Guys, let me be your fly on the wall in a female washroom:

As soon as we enter a bathroom, we women turn them into our social network lounges! Have you noticed, we love to chat! We chat waiting in line for a vacant cubicle, we chat when we are inside the cubicle. We might even chat to the stranger in the space next to us. If needed, we exchange toiletpaper through the gap with the woman on the other side of the wall.

The one thing we don't do, we don't poop- in plain men talk it means, fart! We rather explode than letting it rip!

When we leave our stall we gossip, apply a new layer of lipstick, add more powder to the face, comb our hair, chat some more! We wash and dry our hands long and thoroughly. By the end of our visit we have made a few more friends!

I asked Dominic what he does when he goes to the bathroom. He looks at me, raises his eyebrow and said:"Nothing!" ( he thinks: dumb question, what do you expect me to do?)  Literally, he walks in, does his business, washes his hands (???) and walks out. Now I get it, that's why there is never a queue in front of the WC for men -  you unsocial creatures you!

See ya tomorrow for day 6 of my 22 day challenge!

WHEN It's HARD to be a WOMAN

On day three of my 22 - day challenge I want to enlighten and delighten you about the most frustrating 'thing' we women face on a more or less regular basis!

If you think I am referring to                                                                                              Our daily shower-shave-make-up routine,  Finding yet another excuse not to have sex ("I don't feel like it" is a statement, - not an excuse), - Getting our period whilst out and about, wearing white pants, - Getting a flat tire in the middle of nowhere and realizing: Dad has forgotten to show us how to change one of these, or Learning that getting pregnant is easier than raising children, please think again!

All these above are slight inconveniences - they come with the territory of being a woman! No, what I am refering to is the agonizing, time consuming quest to shop for the perfect dress!

Nothing, absolutely nothing compares to the fruitless outcome of wandering through the mall, visiting one shop after the other, trying on countless items and still come home empty handed. You have the vision in your head, you have the money, and still can't find what you came for.

[caption id="attachment_702" align="alignnone" width="225"] My fashionable Self at the beginning of my quest C.Waschko[/caption]

I've done the mall walk many times over, this time I went to Value Village instead- at least their dresses won't shrink or fade anymore!

[caption id="attachment_698" align="alignnone" width="300"] A fun shop for all of us who like a good challenge! C. Waschko[/caption]

At my age (younger than Madonna, older than Nicole Kidman) I prefer to shop for something that suits me rather than what is in fashion.  My body type (taller than, but less trim and muscular than Madonna, more toned than Nicole) calls for a dress that ends above the knee. If you have short legs, anything below the knee makes them look even shorter.

[caption id="attachment_699" align="alignnone" width="225"] This one is too long, the wrong pattern.    C.Waschko[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_700" align="alignnone" width="225"] This one is too short, need a tan first                               C. Waschko[/caption]

I love sleeveless outfits - then I notice my upper arms are more flabby than "normal" these days. Ok, no sleeveless for me today. Something low cut is pretty cool too- but only if you can fill out the cleavage bit! Here again, this one comes off the list. I like a slim cut, not a tight fit! The difference between figure hugging and tight is choosing between looking like a pro or a sausage - here we go again, we are back to sausages!

[caption id="attachment_701" align="alignnone" width="225"] Nice one... for somebody else! C.Waschko[/caption]

What about colours or patterns?  This is another, all too serious matter altogether. As a matter of fact I know, green, brown or lilac doesn't suit me, vertical stripes make us look fat. One of my favourite colours is blue- the problem is, I own way too many shades of blue already!

How difficult is it to find a good fitting, half sleeve, knee length dress with a round neck? Very! I couldn't find it at Value Village either!

Dear husbands, boy-friends or partners of sorts, do you see how difficult it is for a woman to find the perfect something? (not you, the dress)!

The next time your respected spouse comes home with her new outfit please give her a hug, pay her a compliment and don't look at the price tag! Most likely she went through hell finding what she came home with!

I will see ya' tomorrow!

A Canadian Delicacy: POUTINE

We Germans have a love affair with sausages!

If I have to name two of my countrys' obsessions, it has to be soccer and sausages!  We even have the big North - South divide: The folks down in Bavaria love their Weisswurst;

[caption id="attachment_690" align="alignnone" width="300"] That's the Bavarian way[/caption]

whereas we in the North can't stand that stuff; we prefer our harty currywurst!

What soccer and sausages are to a German is hockey and Poutine to a Canadian! Let me introduce to you, the National Dish of Canada:

Poutine is the ridiculous combination of French fries, sprinkled with cheese curd (or melted cheese), drowned in gravy!!! 

Don't be fooled by its appearance, it may sound disgusting, it tastes heavenly!

Nobody really knows whom to thank for this discovery; the French fry is hardly a Canadian invention!  (It is generally accepted that the fries were invented by either the French or the Belgians).

Poutine was born in rural Quebec in the 1950's- but as I just said, not one person can  claim being the inventor! Like many good things in life, poutine was created by accident.

One serving of crazy fries has more calories than you can consume in a whole week! It is  one of these "I have to be in the mood"- "I had one beer too many" - dishes!  

Enjoying Canadas National dish goes hand in hand with eating a whole tub of Ben & Jerry's ice-cream or polishing off a 200gr Milka chocolate bar- you know it's not good for you, but your body tells you, do it anyway. You feel drawn to the darker, more greasy side of life- you want to live on the wild side of the menu card!  

If you are planning to visit beautiful Canada, make sure you get your fix of soggy, cheesy, salty fries- there is nothing like it!

Whereas a good sausage can go with every meal, Poutine has to be reserved for the next special occassion! Mothers Day perhaps?  

See 'ya tomorrow!

THE MOST ANNOYING THING PARENTS DO...

...when dropping off their children at school.

Parents are the same all around the world: We only want the best for our kids and bugger the rest!

When it comes to waving good-bye to their precious ones, parents park their cars everywhere, regardless of whose driveway it is, what is in front-, besides or behind them.

It's the same old scene every moring, regardless of where you are in the world! What my Dutch buddies do with their bikes - leave them everywhere- my new Canadian parent friends do with their cars-  leave them everywhere! I just love it, it proves the point we are only people, regardless of where we live ! Canadians may be ueber friendly, but for these 2 minutes in the morning they are as ignorant, over protective and arrogant as the rest of the world wide parent group!

This madness is bad enough during dry, sunny days- imagine what is going on when it's raining... need I say more?

I can wash my hands in innocence, I am not part of this group- I prefer to bitch about them and make my boys walk!

[caption id="attachment_683" align="alignnone" width="300"] Strolling home photo: C. Waschko[/caption]

Now that this is off my chest, it is time to cook dinner- again- I will see you tomorrow!

Just a reminder, this was the first entry of my 22 day challenge!

 

 

SELF IMPOSED WRITERS CHALLENGE

Just for the heck of it! For the next 22 days I will force myself to blast out daily tidbits, updates, comments, opinionated jibber jabber or whatever you want to call it from the top of our hill here in the Greater Vancouver area on the West Coast of Canada.

My coaching buddy Gail reminded me of the 21 day rule to establish a new routine: In order to create a new habit in our life we have to do this one thing for at least 21 days in a row. If you miss one day, you have to start all over again! For good measure I added one extra day - to make sure I really got it!

I love writing! Unfortunately, I am not regular enough - if you know what I mean. This personal challenge will force me to get the creative juices flowing day in and day out.  Nothing like a good challenge.to prove a scientific(?) point!

This challenge doesn't serve anybody but myself and may turn into torture for my highly apprecited, much loved followers to find yet another extraordinary post in their inbox! Oh well, just ignore me if you want. I will be back the next day anyway, and the next and next...

What standard of entertainment can you expect during the next 22 days?

It can be anything,; anything from the sophisticated wit coming out of a kids' mouth:

[caption id="attachment_675" align="alignnone" width="300"] Pull your mouth apart and say "puck" C. Waschko[/caption]

to a classy game of chess! Let me surprise you!

[caption id="attachment_676" align="alignnone" width="300"] The boys are on it! C.Waschko[/caption]

My only rules are: Anything goes, no repetition and I HAVE to post EVERY day!

For the good of my family I should have signed up for the "A different meal per day challenge. How to create nutritious, delicious meals for feed and fill up three growing teenagers, a half teen, a husband and his wife!"

This is way too scary! Chances are, I might skip a day cooking due to writing and have to start all over again- with all new recipes. Ghee, what a great provider I am - I never said I am a great cook!  By all means, if you feel sorry or are worried about the well being of my family, please share your quick and easy recipes with me!

So, that's it for now! It is still a gorgeous day out here - I am about to start the BBQ to feed the hungry ones! See ya' tomorrow!