Okay, I need help!

It's become a boot obsession factory over here at the Khlopchyk house. I need your help. Are these boots too much alike to consider keeping both? The one on the left are the brand new ones that could go back since I have not yet worn them out of the house. The one on the right is the traded pair.

Here's the side view:

These are the ones I scored in Calgary that I love for my normal everyday Mom look (aka jeans and a t-shirt)

I am steppin out of the box or what?!

Help me out my wonderful blogging friends, all comments are welcome and appreciated!

I heart

THE DISNEY STORE!

The boys are getting all this for Christmas. I was like a kid in a candy store finding all this stuff. And it was on sale too. Hooray for the big city shopping my job enables!

And this shows the yellow paint that I finally decided on back when I was having one of my PMS days :-) The stickers were Jay's idea and they really finished off the rooms.

Monday dawns again

And I am home again from yet another work weekend get way. Sometime soon we'll have to actually take a family trip TOGETHER and that doesn't involve me working the entire weekend.

But back to reality 'cause I know Hawaii isn't in our cards this year.

I did manage to squeeze in some shopping while in Calgary and you should see the boots I bought this time - these are going back. I traded my old boots, the ones that are the same as two of my other pairs of shoes with the mom of one of Jack's classmates. She had some sweet trendy boots that were too small for her (my size!) and mine were actually a size too big for me (her size!). And the new/old ones are very much like the ones I had purchased so back those go.

However, never fear, my credit card will not know the difference since I replaced them with some cool casual boots on my latest shopping expedition that will be great with my usual uniform (JEANS!).

I will post pictures but I am too zonked today.

While I was away, Jay played host to my aunt, uncle and cousins from Nova Scotia. Remember Conor? Well this time he brought his whole family. I left Friday, they arrived Saturday. Thankfully they didn’t leave until this morning and I arrived home last night.

The kids are as exhausted as me after playing full tilt for 48 hours.

And I may or may not be one of the worst parents ever. I let Jack stay home from school today so he could play with them longer.

I know.

And I may or may not have told them he wasn’t feeling well.

(wait for it, wait for it.........)

Whew. No lighting. THIS time.

I personally think cousins from Nova Scotia (across the country) is a reasonable excuse to miss a day of Grade 1. Call me crazy.

Tomorrow, back to regularly scheduled programming.

Purging

So here’s the thing. I need to write about this because it’s been gnawing at me for a couple of weeks now. I have been pretty much ranting about it to anyone who will listen for the last couple of weeks but apparently until I put fingers to keyboard I will not rest.

Now I want to warn you that you may violently disagree with me. I am going to get into some controversial topics that include religion and homosexuality not to the mention the be all and end all, Heaven. Or Kevin as Hannah’s little guy refers to it. How cute is that?

My intent is neither to convert you to my beliefs nor is it to offend yours. These are my beliefs and I will attempt to justify them. If you don’t want to read on, I completely respect you, and if you do, please do so with an open mind and more importantly, an open heart.

A couple of weeks ago I was chatting with someone who brought up the words Christianity and homosexuality in the context that one could not be Christian and accept homosexuality. I don’t know this person well and it was brought up in passing. I didn’t address it although it made my blood boil.

My first thought is that if that is part of being a Christian then I want no part of it. I do consider myself Christian. I am not a knowledgeable one but I believe in God. I believe he loves us ALL. Unconditionally.

To not accept homosexuality as valid goes against that which is my primary belief. If God loves us unconditionally then how in Heaven’s name (excuse the pun) can He not accept homosexuals?

Um, that’d be a condition wouldn’t it?

Now that in itself doesn’t make my blood boil but this does. Today the sermon was about this exact topic. It’s funny because this has happened on more than one occasion. Jim reminded us about this lovely historical fact.

Does anyone remember Matthew Shepard? The long of the short of it is that he was beaten to death for being gay. That makes my blood simmer.

What happened at his funeral sets it to boiling something fierce. A minister of a church and his followers picketed outside Matthew’s funeral and displayed signs that read:

"Matt Shepard rots in Hell"

"AIDS Kills Fags Dead"

"God Hates Fags".

"MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12,1998 , in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22."

First of all, hate and God, they simply don’t belong in the same sentence except to point out that they don’t belong in the same sentence, in my humble opinion. And secondly and here is where I may offend, the bible to justify hate?

Pretty sure that is NOT what it’s for.

I don’t know the book of Leviticus but I do know many parables about Jesus. He hung out with the outcasts of society. He welcomed them into His life like no one else ever had, including people with a horrible contagious disease known as leprosy. Heck, he even associated with prostitutes. I personally choose to use this as a lesson rather than the verse from Leviticus.

People who are homosexual do not choose to be homosexual in the same manner that no one would ever choose to contract a horrible disease that disfigures and injures. So how can anyone justify the hate that is still inflicted upon them today?

I refuse to be that kind of Christian because to me that is the polar opposite of anything Jesus tried to teach us.

Here we are over 2,000 years later and we still haven’t learned.

Now the same analogy can be made to anyone who is different in whatever manner they are different. God love us unconditionally. We are made in His image and our life goal is to be like him. He is also forgiving. We make mistakes, we screw up, He forgives if we ask.

IF, Leviticus is right and being homosexual is an abomination, then would God not forgive?

And then the next issue that gets me a simmering is the ticket to Heaven topic. Recently I was at a birthday party where the topic emerged. Again treading on dangerous ground to get into such discussions at a three year old’s birthday party but I would like to point out that I did not start the conversation. I did, however, have to put in my two cents. I am passionate about this because I feel it to be a kind of religious hypocrisy.

The comment was made that if one did not believe in God they don’t get into Heaven.

Um, when did Heaven become an exclusive club? How about just being a good person? Does that count I asked. Well yeah, I guess, as long as they believe in some form of god was the response.

Wow. Again with the conditions. I just can’t believe that sort of thing. It goes against my core principles. However, the person I was debating with is someone I like and respect and we agreed to disagree.

Maybe I am going to Hell because of my beliefs that God loves and accepts us without condition.

It’s a risk I am willing to take.

Um?

The above is collection of my shoes. The dressy ones anyway. I do have two pairs of runners and some other flat shoes as well but these kinda drive home a point.


Deep brown colour...... check
Fat chunky low heel......check
Same style, shape and general appearance...... check

Sandal version of the same style......CHECK!



I KNOW what I like.


Well last night as I shopped with Cathy, I went out on a limb and purchased these:

But I am just not sure if they are ME.....

The brown is a little off. The heel is ALL wrong. And don't even get me started on the shape and appearance.....

Am I too young to be so set in my ways?

Thankful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and here are some of the most important reasons to be thankful:

My cup runneth over. I wish the same for all of you.

I. AM. GRATEFUL.

Both Hannah and Teeni tagged me with a meme that required me to ponder what I am grateful for in my life. THAT, my friends, was relatively easy and I took today to ponder exactly that. Here is my list:


1. My parents. I have to start there because without them, there would be no me. And the wonderful parents they are have shaped who I am and how I parent my own boys. The fact that I am so close to both of them speaks volumes on how great they were and are. They are always available for cooking, home reno and computer advice (Mom’s Food/sewing/parenting/misc Help Line and Dad’s Helpdesk at your service). Not to mention that they are great, not great as in old but fabulous, grandparents to boot. Yay for my mom and dad!

2. Next has to be Jay. My partner in life, parenting and everything in between. Oh and also my best friend along with other things not necessary to mention here ;-) I think these posts tell all . He ROCKS and he’s hot to boot. Yay for Jay!

3. My two favourite little boys, Jack and Kamden. They make all right in the world. The joy that they share with me is priceless. I think they are the single most poignant beacon ensuring I don’t take anything in this wonderful life for granted. Their innocence is palpable and it brings me back to simpler times when the biggest concern was what game to play next. One cannot get overly caught up on the rat race if you listen to your kids. Not just hear them, but listen to them. I try to. I don’t always succeed but thankfully they have good lungs and eventually they get my attention. Thanks dudes, I am forever blessed because I have the privilege of being your Mommy.

4. My extended family. I have the BEST extended family one could ever hope for. You don’t get to pick your in-laws, siblings and siblings in law. Honestly, I couldn’t have picked them better myself. I look FORWARD to family get togethers and for that I am eternally grateful.

5. Friends. Need I say more? Everyone should have several. Period. I am lucky enough to have many great friends. I treasure each and every one of them. Each is uniquely wonderful and brings something unique and wonderful to my life. I only hope that I do the same for each of them. And by the way, that includes all you on-line buddies too, y’all are awesome!

6. My health and the health of those around me. As Jay’s Nana says, if it’s healthy, it’ll be happy. She is a wise one that Nana. Today as I choked for breath as I jogged with Kamden in the stroller, I was grateful for the ability to jog, for the pain that went up and down my legs as I pushed harder into the gale force winds. I was grateful that I felt the sting as the wind whipped a fallen leaf into the side of my face. Because in feeling all of those sensations, I felt fully alive. Someday, I will not be able to jog – hopefully not for a long, long time but until that day I will be grateful for the privilege of having a body that is able. It is a gift to be treasured.

7. & 8. My job. For my job I am grateful because of two things. First and foremost, it allows me to stay home with my dudes. I can’t imagine not being here to do all the things we do. I love taking both of them to school and then being the one to pick them up and hear all about their day. I like that we are not (usually) rushed to get out the door in the morning. That I can simultaneously do laundry and catch up on some work at the same time is worth more than all the tea in China. But mostly I am grateful because even when I am working, I am here. I can hear the kids beating up on their dad, er I mean, playing with their dad. That in itself warrants mention on this list. However, the fact that I also thoroughly enjoy my work more than any job I have EVER done in my entire life (I know, I know, I am NOT that old but still) makes this point count for two things to be grateful for.

Now because I was tagged twice, I promised I would do more than the required. I have so much to be grateful for so here’s a laundry list (why in the name of all things is it called a laundry list anyway?) of some of the multitude of things I am grateful for:

9. My childhood, it was happy
10. My home, it too is happy
11. The country in which I was born and reside. I. AM. CANADIAN. And proud of it.
12. Summer nights
13. Summer days at the beach
14. The melancholy call of a loon
15. The enveloping comfort of my own bed
16. Good. Food.
17. Chocolate (how did it take me this long to get that one in?)18. Cold winter nights snuggled up by the fire
19. Memories. The good, the bad and the ugly because they all make me who I am today.
20. A good laugh. I consider it a vital ingredient for life.

I could go on and on really. But for the sake of your boredom, I quit now. Thanks for yet again, (if you made it this far that is) listening to my drivel.

And because I have fairly crazy luck with successfully tagging people, I am going to leave it up to you. IF you want to play, please do. It’s good to focus on the good.

Hugs