No Time Wasted

Today was great. I love it when I have a day off, and I get a ton of stuff done ( quite literally this time :) I like to have something to show for my days off, or I feel like I've wasted something that doesn't come around too often. I had a lot planned for today, but number one on the list was to get some sleep. Didn't turn out that way.

Mom called at 7:50 AM to say that Dusty needed someone to drive him on his paper route, so that he could make it to the quiz meet by 9. So I grabbed a Kit Kat, hopped on my bike, and drove him around on his route. We finished just in time for him to have a shower. He was soo excited ;)

As I rode up my driveway, I realized I had left my keys at mom & dad's, and was therefore locked out of my house. Luckily I had my cell phone on me, so I was able to ask mom to bring them. While I was waiting for the keys I decided I'd better do something to keep warm...it was nice out, but my biking shoes are not exactly meant for winter. So I began to shovel the snow off of my deck. I still hadn't cleared any of the snow from the last two storms, so there was well over a foot of snow on the deck. As I was tossing it over the railing, it occurred to me that there was a massive amount of snow in my yard, and that massive amounts of snow are well suited to making quincys. So I decided to make the most super huge ginormously large quincy ever. I shoveled for exactly an hour. I discovered I can move a lot of snow in one hour. In fact, I am a Canadian-snow-moving-machine! Then I discovered, once I was done, that I am now a very sore Canadian-snow-moving-machine. My spindly little arms are not quite used to that.

Anywhoos, the pile is really, really big. Bigger than any quincy I've ever made before anyway. Now the hard part will be digging it out. It may take quite some time. But it should be spacious enough for a small party inside! Yee haw. I'll let you all know when it's ready :)

The rest of my afternoon was spent having short naps, and cleaning my house. It was a rather busy week, and the place had become a bit of a pig sty. And I bought a bamboo stalk! It's really neat-o! I had to put something in the space that my Christmas tree previously occupied, and I remembered Nat and Candice had a bamboo plant, and it was really cool. And I figured the probably don't die too easily. On the way home from the florist I was reminded of the House Plant Song by Audio Adrenaline. I'll post the lyrics tomorrow. I hope my bamboo likes loud music :)

For supper I was treated to a turkey dinner along with all the quiz teams that came to our church. It was nice to not have to make supper. Speaking of not making supper...can't remember if I already posted it or not, but on thursday Liane and I went to Heinrich & Irene's place for supper, and we had barbecued steak. Boy was it good. Made me feel all summery.

After supper I was in charge of organizing the outdoor games for the quizzers. It was a lot of fun. There's a rather large hill of snow on the parking lot, so we had a fort building competition. There were also snow ball fights, King of the Hill matches, and much snow-frolicking in general.

Then the worship team lead a time of praise & worship. It was great to play with everybody again. Nat came out, and Bruce played bass this time 'cause Keith was gone for the weekend. Dusty filled in for Tim on the drums, and I think he did a pretty darn good job. I lost my voice by the end of the first set, but thankfully God allowed me to make it through the second set (albeit rather raspilly) set. Sheldon spoke for a while about giving our burdens to God. He used Matthew 11 where Jesus said:

"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light".

It was definitely something I needed to hear. Not because I feel overly burdened, but just because when I am feeling heavy, the last thing on my mind is allowing God to help me with it. Anyone who knows me knows I like to do things on my own, without the help of others. I guess you could call it pride. Something to work on :)

Anywhoos, it's late, and I should hit the sack. Later!

King of the Shovel :)
photo by Warren Thiessen Copyright 2004

Brrrrrrr!

Wowzers! Minus 45C with the windchill! Actually, it doesn't even feel too bad out there...the sun is shining, and it's another beautiful day. I think we should all give a warm Manitoba welcome to the month of January! It sure came in with a bang!

Hmmm....I started this post this morning, and didn't get to finish it before I had to go to work. Had a rather interesting morning. Went outside @ 8:30 to start my car. It's the one time every week I use my car...grocery shopping morning. Being the wise 23 years that I am, I had plugged the car in the night before. Even with my amazing Motomaster Eliminator battery (available exclusively at Canadian Tire!), my old v8 refuses to crank over when it's below -20C if it's not plugged in. Well, first thing that I noticed was not a good thing. Somehow my car door was unlocked and had been left open. I know for sure I had locked and closed my door on monday night, after Heinrich brought it back to my place. So now my battery was completely dead from the interior light being on for a day. I called my mom to see if I could borrow the car to pick up some groceries and a battery charger. Then I remembered there was a loose connection on one of the battery cables that always seemed to show up when it's really cold, so I went back out to the car to wiggle the cable and try again. As I got back into the car I noticed the face plate for my CD player was missing, and there was more plastic from my dashboard smashed and lying on the floor. Suddenly the open door made sense. Sometime between monday night and wednesday morning my car had been broken into, and the theives didn't even have the courtesy to close my door when they were done. What kind of people are out stealing car stereos when it's freakin' minus 45? Yikes. I should have left a note and told 'em just to take the whole car. Maybe next time.

So thankfully Liane came over to help me out. We picked up a charger, made a police report, and got some groceries. After I got home from work @ 9:30 this evening, I spent and hour or two outside working on the car...cleaning the battery terminals and replacing the bolts that hold them on. Seems to work ok now. It'd better. I have to pick up Liane after work tomorrow, and I don't think she'd want a double on my bike:) Heinrich & Irene invited us over for a BBQ. I should build a garage just so I could bbq in winter. That'd be great!
Anywhoos, it's late once again, and I should hit the sack.
Talk to ya'll later,
Wern

C&C Report :)

He he. What a fun day! Liane, Tim, Beth, Heath, Bruce, Ash, and myself went to Lumgair's place to do some hiking. It was so beautiful...anywhere from a foot of powder, to snow up to our waists! We wrestled in the snow, jumped off of cliffs into the snow, saw Tim go horizontal head first into a snow bank up to his feet, and then we bushwacked our way back. Some of us (who will remain nameless :) had to crawl 'cause the snow was so deep! The only downside was that it was pretty cool...-20C and a nasty wind up at the top of the hill we jumping off of.
Well, we made it back to my place for some hot chocolate, although by the time I had the hot chocolate made, we were all warm :) We worked up such an appetite trudging through the snow I would have felt bad sending everyone home hungry. So we ordered some pizza. It was reeaally good, especially after we had to wait an hour for it.
Then Keith called to see if he could borrow Bruce's "Bourne Supremacy" dvd, so I invited us all over to their place to watch it :) We ended up watching the Bourne Identity too, so it ended up being another late night. Boy do those movies rock though. So much action! I would have a hard time picking a favorite between the two though...they were both awesome.
Well, with anything good there is usually a price to pay, and the aftermath in my kitchen is calling my name. Every mug, glass, and plate I have are strewn around the kitchen, waiting to be washed. Yee haw. Guess I'd better get to work. Later,

photo by Warren Thiessen Copyright 2004

Yes, that is Tim going head first into a drift. I took 4 pictures in a row, and by the fourth one, he is in past his knees :) Crazy!
photo by Warren Thiessen Copyright 2004

Hi! I'm the cutest little Thiessen you ever did see! I normally have a huge smile in between these cheeks, but somehow my cousin Warren missed it :)
photo by Warren Thiessen Copyright 2004