9 Hours

Mark and I spent Thanksgiving in Indiana.  So on Sunday we were driving back home.  We weren't the only ones either, the highways were packed, we hit a couple traffic jams....Not to mention the almost 2 hour wait at the border.

I don't know if you've ever taken a road trip with your spouse, but I do know that if you have been stuck in a car for 9 hours with your spouse it is likely that all of your issues will come to the surface.  At least that was the way it was for us.  Now I'm not saying that we have any major problems, but sometimes when you let some of the little things slide they add up.  So that was what happened when we got in the car.  We realized that we had gotten into a rut and our day to day routine wasn't helping.  So the car ride that forced the conversation inspired change.  We both made the effort to change a couple little things and it has made all the difference.

People say that marriage is hard for a reason...because it is.  But it is also sooo rewarding, especially when you work out your problems.

It is good to change things up.

Immigration

I think this post needs to start with a moment almost 2 years ago now.  Many of you will remember my surprise visit to California in January 2010.  This was 6 months before our wedding when Mark and I were still figuring out where we were going to live.  I was at Sophie's house watching a movie with her when Mark called me.  In short, it was a conversation that decided we were going to live in Canada.  I remember hanging up the phone, looking at Sophie and bursting into tears. 

Ever since then I have been agonizing over my living in Canada.  Wondering if I would be stuck living here for the rest of my life.  There have been so many times where I have thought that this move to Canada would be the end of my teaching career.  For me, the fact that we were starting our life in Canada meant that we would never be able to move back.  Mark on the other hand is my eternal optimist.  He promised me not long after we got engaged that he would get me back to the live in the US eventually.  So time went on and we finally came up with a plan.

I am amazed and so grateful at how quickly this plan seems to be coming together in front of us.  We thought Mark's brothers wouldn't be ready for Mark to start work till the end of Spring.  Now they might want him to start working with them in January.  We thought the immigration would take us a year or 6 months at the best.

After a month of waiting, Mark's paperwork has been approved!!  Now the visa center has to approve it and set up an interview with us and so on.  The visa center should contact us within 30 days to let us know.  I mean that is amazing!  I have no idea how long we will have to wait for the interview and everything, but it is definitely looking promising.  For the first time in a long time I feel like things are finally aligning.  This path is finally open to us, and I can't wait to see what comes from it. 

Back to the US for a great job for Mark.  Hopefully a teaching job for me.  To finally feel settled.  Moving to the US means we can finally get on with our lives and get ahead.  Work, for both of us.  A house.  Kids.  That is the direction, and I am so looking forward to it.  I have prayed for this move for so long.  Through all of my doubts, I am so thankful that those prayers are being answered.  So what have I learned??

I have learned about patience.  I have learned about my own faith. 

Another odd Canadian thing

This is something that has been bothering me for awhile.  I just never looked into it until last week.
When eating store bought chocolate chip cookies in Canada I always got an unpleasant crunchy kind of something in my teeth after chewing up a cookie.  Couldn't put my finger on it.  After awhile I finally realize what that strange crunchy thing was.

Coconut.
It seemed to me that these chocolate chip cookies I was eating had tiny little bits of coconut in them.  Not pieces big enough for you to see as you were eating your cookie.  But tiny little pieces that you could feel in your mouth.  They seemed to have the texture that is distinctly coconut.
Did you know that I hate coconut? I hate that texture in my mouth, I hate that little bit of crunch it has.  Can't stand it, it makes me feel like I need to scrape my tongue after I eat it.

So I finally made a point to read the label of the cookies.

Sure enough, there it was plain as day...allow me to copy and paste from the cookie website:

"Made with real chocolate chips

INGREDIENTS: ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR, CHOCOLATE CHIPS (SUGAR,  CHOCOLATE LIQUOR, DEXTROSE, COCOA BUTTER, MILK INGREDIENTS, SOYA LECITHIN, SALT, VANILLIN), SUGAR/GLUCOSE-FRUCTOSE, VEGETABLE OIL  SHORTENING (CANOLA AND/OR SOYA AND/OR COTTONSEED), BUTTER, LIQUID WHOLE EGGS, FANCY MOLASSES, DRIED UNSWEETENED COCONUT (CONTAINS SULFITES), BAKING POWDER, SALT, SODIUM BICARBONATE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOUR.

ALLERGY WARNING: THIS PRODUCT MAY CONTAIN PEANUTS AND NUTS."

There it was right in front of my face!  WHY oh WHY in the world do chocolate cookies have to have coconut in them in Canada??  Mind, you I have tried a couple different brands. 
I really don't know why this is necessary, all I know is that it surely annoys me.  Just one more thing to add to the list of odd Canadian things.



You may be from Indiana if...

There was a girl I went to high school with that put this on her facebook page last night.  It made me laugh.  -I added a few explanations in case you aren't from Indiana.

 Here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about Indiana.
*If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't even work there, you may live in Indiana. (It is true that people are friendly...When I go running in Indiana you always nod your head or say hello to people you pass)
* If you've worn shorts and a jacket at the same time, you may live in Indiana.
*If "vacation" means going anywhere south of Fort Wayne for the weekend, you may live in Indiana. (This was my whole childhood.  All of our family vacations were to state parks or to Indianapolis...all south of Ft. Wayne)
* If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Indiana.(How else do you explain how far things are?  Where's the mall? Oh its about a half hour away.)
*If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Indiana. (My dad twice)
*If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day and back again, you may live in Indiana. (Very typical of months like October, and March.)
* If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you may live in Indiana. (Ì may flinch a little on the highway, I won`t lie...but lots of people don`t)
*If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both doors unlocked, you may live in Indiana. (Seriously, we never locked our house when I was growing up.)
*If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you may live in Indiana. (I definitely remember a couple of snowy Halloween nights in my life.)
*If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -you're going 80 and everybody is passing you, you may live in Indiana.(SOooo true.  The major highway to Chicago is 55mph through Gary...if you are going under 90 you will get run off the road)
* If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you may live in Indiana.(Absolutely)
*If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you may live in Indiana. (This is a well known Indiana joke.  Winter lasts forever, and when it finally leaves road construction is everywhere to fix all of the damage caused by the salt on the roads)
* If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you may live in Indiana.
*If you find 10 degrees "a little chilly", you may live in Indiana.
*If you actually understand these jokes, you definitely do live - or have lived - in Indiana

-Like I said, it made me laugh so I thought I would share.

Good Morning America

If any of you saw my facebook status yesterday you would have seen my excitement!  We got a letter back from the US government just saying that Mark's paperwork is being processed. 

So with that letter we can now apply for a visa for Mark! YAY!  Him getting that visa will allow us to move to the US while his green card is still getting processed!  I am definitely excited for this to all work out. So ready to get out of Canada.  Mark is soo ready to quit his job and work with his brothers.  So if this all goes to plan, Mark should start work with his brothers in like March and we should move in May or June!!! Absolutely CAN'T wait for that to all happen!

In other life news.  Something happened yesterday that I thought I would share because it made me feel very thankful.  Last night, Mark and I were at his parents house (yet again) helping them with the finishing touches of renovating their new house.  At about 9 o'clock Mark and his dad came downstairs.  Mark asked if I was ready to go.  I said sure whenever you are ready.  But then Mark's dad said why don't we try and just finish that room before you go?  Mark said okay even though he really didn't want to.  So they go at it for another half hour and Mark and I finally leave around 9:30.  As we are driving on the highway about halfway home traffic starts to slow.  Traffic starts to come to a dead stop.  A cop and a couple ambulances rush by.  Obviously there had been a really bad accident.  So we slowly creep forward and as we get closer we realize that the police have blocked off the highway and are making all traffic exit.  So Mark and I think, wow, that must have been one bad accident for them to shut the highway down.  So after a bit of extra driving, we finally get home. 

I was a bit curious when we got home and looked online to see what the deal was with that accident.  Turned out that around 9:20 or so a car got on the highway going the wrong way and hit somebody else.  Somebody died and like 3 other people were badly injured.  It made me think......

If we had left the parents house at 9 like Mark had wanted to we probably woulda been right there when the accident happened.  Just one of those things that got me thinking about the way things happen in life.  So like I said, thankful.

I've gone green...sort of

So in another attempt to be a bit more on the healthy side of things I decided to give green smoothies a try.  I gave the green smoothie thing a try last year unsuccessfully.  When I first tried it, I put a bunch of spinach in the blender along with some water and a few other things that I don't remember.  It was definitely green.  I was a little skeptical but decided to trust in the fad that so many of my facebook friends seemed to be into.  I poured said concoction into a glass and drank it up.  Let's just say that it tasted like liquid spinach.  I gagged and sputtered and got most of it down feeling very proud at how healthy I was being.  The next day I whipped up said concoction again.  This time, I was unsuccessful and could not bear to drink the liquid spinach.

Recently I have become more consistent with the running.  I am planning on running a 5k on Thanksgiving that is how consistent I have been.  So with that in mind I have been trying to get onto that healthy kick again.  My main problem is snacks.  I sit at home all day long with nothing to do except try to convince myself that I'm not hungry and shouldn't have a snack.  Before you know it I have had like 5 snacks during the day.  So this was about the time that I thought I would try the whole green smoothie thing again.

I knew that I had to adjust my recipe for it otherwise it would never work.  I had just bought some frozen strawberries that I thought I might use for breakfast occasionally.  I was already buying spinach for a dish I was making for dinner that week.  So I went to work on a new green smoothie.

I put one banana in the blender.  Then I added about a cup or slightly more of spinach.  Then I added a handful of those frozen strawberries.  I saw on pinterest somebody used green tea in their green smoothie, so I opted for that instead of just plain water.  Plus I had cranberry pomegranate green tea, so I figured it would just enhance the flavor.  I put the lid on the Ninja and set him to work (best blender ever by the way)

So what came out wasn't actually green in color which already made it more appealing than my first attempt.  Poured it into a glass and what do you know?  It tasted like a strawberry banana smoothie.  You wouldn't even know there was any spinach in it.  So I have stuck with that recipe for several weeks now and have been loving it.  I know it isn't as intense as what a real green smoothie it like, but it is working for me.  What I like the best about it is that it is very filling.  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't ever replace a full meal with it, but it is working for those random parts of the day when I would normally reach for the cookies, or popcorn, or whatever it may be.

So that is my green story.  Maybe if I feel brave I will try some other greens besides spinach, and add more of it some time.  We shall see.