Spring has sprung and romance is in the air

Not a photo from the date described in this post, but a photo from our pre-Easter baking session. Cody helped by documenting through photo the entire process. More photos on Facebook.

A couple of weeks ago mom asked in a phone conversation whether life in Grimshaw, post engagement, had become boring and *gasp* unromantic.

“There are not recent blog posts,” she said. “I keep looking at you terrified in the dentists chair.”

While I will admit that the long winters in northern Alberta do put a bit of a damper on dating life, all is not lost. Allow me to tell you a story.

On Good Friday Cody and I were on our way to Peace River to attend the Good Friday service. He was telling me on the way there that he had to stop at StyleRite Dry Cleaners to pick something up for his coworker. This man had gone to Grande Prairie for the long weekend and was going to pick up some bike parts for Cody in exchange Cody would pick this stuff up at StyleRite. I let Cody know that StyleRite would likely be closed because of the holiday and then asked what he had to pick up.

“Tickets to Titanic?” I asked. StyleRite is also the local ticket hub for various performances in Peace River, particularly performances by Peace Players.

Cody tried to tell me he couldn’t say what Joe, his coworker, wanted. That it was a secret. After convincing him that I would not tell anyone, he said that Joe did in fact want two tickets to Titanic. After the church service we were both far too hungry and far too caught up in being able to purchase a shower for the basement bathroom to remember that we needed tickets.

Later that week I was in Peace River delivering newspapers and had some time to kill before heading over the the courthouse to report on a local woman who assaulted an elderly woman (pick up the April 18 edition of the Mile Zero News for more details…) So I called Cody and asked if he wanted me to pick up those tickets. He said yes that would be great.

So into StyleRite I went. The woman behind the counter asked what seats I wanted, which was a difficult decision since I was buying tickets for someone else. I didn’t want to buy bad tickets, but I really didn’t know what good tickets were. The woman told me of what was left, Row F, seats 1 and 2 were the best. So those were the seats.

Later that night I gave Cody the tickets. On Thursday he told me Joe was really appreciative because he probably wasn’t going to be able to get to Peace River that evening.

Then, on Friday one of my coworkers at the Multiplex asked if I could take her shift that night. I remembered Cody asking a couple of weeks before what nights I had free but hadn’t heard anything since then. Knowing that my lovely fiance prefers to plan surprise evenings rather than fill me in on the plans, I sent him a text asking whether I could work on Friday night.

He called me back and urgently asked me not to work. I said ok, not a problem. I mean who really wants to work on a Friday night.

Cody was supposed to come and pick me up at 5:30 but he texted me to say he was running late and asked me to meet him at his house. When I got there, there were two gorgeous pink roses waiting for me on the kitchen table. The card was simple and sweet “Thank you for just being you.”

When Cody finished getting ready we headed to Peace River for dinner. I was under the impression that we were going to see Wrath of the Titans (Cody’s pick). We pulled up to the Blue Bridge, Peace River’s newest restaurant. I had been wanting to try it for some time but Cody had heard nothing but bad reviews from his coworkers so we never went. I was super excited and the restaurant did not disappoint. The food was delicious (not overly WW friendly though), the service was good, and the atmosphere was great. We may have found the location for our Rehearsal Dinner.

After ordering dessert, Cody told me to close my eyes. He’s a little sneaky, so I was hesitant at first. But I closed them and a few seconds later he told me to open them. There sitting on the table in front of me were two tickets to Peace Player’s Titanic. The very two tickets I had purchased two days earlier. Cody prides himself in planning secrets and I will admit he can do a very good job. I mean he got me to purchase tickets to my own surprise – and he still surprised me.

The show was excellent, provided me with another source of motivation to keep practicing my clarinet. When the Peace Players do musicals they have an orchestra pit – which includes a clarinet.

So despite the couple of inches of snow that fell on Friday night and Saturday morning, Spring is in the air in Grimshaw. And along with Spring comes romantic dates, walks around the block with Olive, and sandals!

Count down update: 39 days until I board a plane to Ontario and get to meet my beautiful niece, 125 days until I get to stand in my sisters’ bridal party and watch her say “I do,” and just 174 days until I say “I do!”

Rubber Boots and Shower Stalls

Spring has arrived! Sort of.

Early last week we finally began to see some of that gorgeous Spring time weather I’ve been craving since January. Blue skies and sweater weather for three days in a row. I even broke down and bought myself a pair of rubber boots to wear when walking from point A to point B. These boots are super cute of course, and probably the best Spring-time purchase I have ever made. The depth of the puddles the runoff has caused along the roads and sidewalks is shocking, and without these boots I would never get anywhere with dry feet.

Then there is the mud pit also known as the Multiplex parking lot. It didn’t get paved last year before the frost set in, so now we have a mud pit. My rubber boots and I don’t mind so much, but the Multiplex janitor is right upset and there is one family who walks to the facility regularly and has not yet seen the logical benefits of rubber boots.

Anyways, enough about the boots. Grimshaw was enjoying the beautiful Spring weather when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the snow began to fly. We didn’t get hit quite as hard as the more southern parts of the province, but there is still snow on the ground. In April. At Easter.

The temperature is supposed to rise to six degrees today, with lots of sun, which means my rubber boots will become very handy before the end of the day. According to Grimshaw’s Mayor, my boots make me more northern each time I wear them. I can’t tell if that was a compliment on my new boots or a joke at my previous impractical footwear. In any event, I hope I’ve seen the last of the snow for this winter.

Yesterday, on Good Friday, I had the great opportunity to attend a service at City on a Hill in Peace River. My church and City on a Hill have been doing some combined services lately and it’s been a great experience. The Good Friday service has always been one of my favourites, mostly just because of the song selection, and the City on a Hill worship team did not disappoint.

After church Cody and I noticed the Home Hardware was open, a rare occasion. We need a shower stall for the basement bathroom in his house because the previous one broke. Into the store we went and out we left, a shower stall on order, and a bag of cement in hand to fix the hole. The previous owner had installed the shower stall over a 1.5 foot wide, by six inch deep, hole in the concrete. It’s no wonder the shower base cracked.

And just so everyone is up to date, 23 days until I am once again working one job (and maybe have a new reporter to work with and the big Editor position under my belt…but that’s not official yet), 47 days until I am in Ontario for four days, and 182 days before my last name quits being a dead giveaway for my heritage. Without blonde hair and the “ma” at the end of my name, I wonder if people will still suspect that I’m Dutch, likely not. They’ll probably just accept me as one of them, an adopted German northern Albertan.

AND for those of you who have not checked it out already, go visit my wedding website. You can read all kinds of romantic stories, learn about our bridal party, and even make song requests for the dance. Seriously, make song selections! We’d love to hear from all of you.

 

Understanding the horror of the dentists’ chair

Today I experience a first. Some might say I was fairly fortunate to not have experienced this until the wonderful age of 24, but after today I would rather have not experienced it at all.

Today I learned of my first ever cavity and then had my first ever cavity filled.

The dentist has never been an event I particularly enjoy taking part in, unlike my wonderful and strange fiance, but it also has never been something I’ve dreaded. Today has changed all of that.

Almost five hours later, my cheek is still a little numb from the freezing. The extended pins and needles feeling is more than a little uncomfortable and persistent, which is bothersome.

The strangest part about the whole thing was that while the dentist and her assistant were leaning over my face and doing their thing inside my very frozen mouth covered in something they referred to a raincoat, they were talking about me.

It was very weird. They were having a conversation about the cardio boot camp program that is run at the multiplex. They were asking all kinds of questions of each other about the facility and the program that I knew the answer to but was unable to answer because of the rain coat in my mouth. The rain coat that, I might add, did very little to prevent “rain” from getting on my face. The assistant was constantly splashing water and whatever else onto my cheek.

Then the dentist starts talking about the fitness instructor who was being interviewed by “one of the multiplex employees” on Saturday morning. While that statement wasn’t totally untrue, because I am a multiplex employee (at least until the end of April), the fitness instructor was actually being interviewed by the newspaper reporter. Listing to a conversation that was going on so close to me and yet didn’t really include me was a strange experience. It was like culturally acceptable eavesdropping.

It’s now just about 5:30 p.m. and I almost have complete feeling in my face (the awful appointment was at 11:30 a.m.). The best part about all of this is that I can look forward to going through all of it again on Monday. I guess when it rains it pours…good thing the dentist uses that “rain coat.”

Snow storms and eye sight

While Ontario is experiencing some pretty gorgeous weather, after today's snow fall some of the roads around Grimshaw still look like this.

Things around Grimshaw have been interesting, that I cannot deny.

On Monday the weather was absolutely gorgeous, to quote a friend, it was “sweat weather.” For a brief moment I even thought maybe we would get to experience Spring when Spring arrives, instead of in April. I should have known better. I woke up this morning, went to the gym at 6:30 a.m. and was hit by the most unpleasant bitter cold wind.

From there it only got worse. I went home, showered and got ready for work. My outfit called for flats and because the snow is melting and the cold wind kept the mud frozen today, I figured flats would be an excellent addition to my cute outfit. Boy was I ever wrong. It was cold when I left my house to go to Berwyn for an MD council meeting. It was snowing when I left the council meeting at noon for lunch. At 2:30 p.m. when the meeting was over there were two inches of fresh fluffy snow just waiting to fill my cute flats with it’s icy coldness. But at least my outfit was still cute, right?

I’d also like to say my contacts are now working just great. Following my second appointment last Wednesday, I am now wearing a different brand with a better optical quality…and a stronger prescription. I went to see this eye doctor nine months ago and told him I thought my prescription had changed. He told me it hadn’t and I thought, “well you’re the expert.” Last Wednesday after approximately 15 minutes of me trying to convince this man I could in fact not see clearly and that I was in fact trying to read the letters, he decided to try a new prescription. Presto, I can see! The world is so crisp and clear!

The makings of a newspaper article

It’s come to my attention that there is a large misconception surrounding how news items get into a newspaper.

In speaking with members of the public, I have learned many people think news staff create news, or make things up. This simply is not true. Sure, on slow news weeks we have to dig a bit deeper, ask a few more questions, and even take a few more photos, but the fact remains news is not made by reporters, it’s only reported by reporters.

Often times, the news the public is convinced was created by reporters is the news certain members of the public do not want to see in the public, such as a guilty plea in court. This is the type of news that often contains a sensitive topic, or may be offensive to some, but is news nonetheless.

“Potential for offence lurks in every news story. Age, race, sex, disabilities, religion – all are often pertinent to the news but must be handled thoughtfully,” reads page 19 of the Canadian Press Stylebook – or (to risk blasphemy) a Canadian newsperson’s Bible.

With that being said, our job is to report what people tell us. Sure we paraphrase, but when it comes to facts and quotes, we only write what comes out of the mouths of the people we talk to or off the pages of reputable research notes, books and websites. A good reporter will research their topic, verify facts, and strive to only publish the truth. Unfortunately, good reporters are also human, and sometimes they make mistakes. In that case, it is our ethical duty to correct those mistakes as soon as possible.

Furthermore, a good reporter will never include their own thoughts or opinions in a news article. Yes, what you are reading now are my thoughts and opinions, but this is not a news article, this is a blog.

I am the first to admit avoiding bias can be difficult. When a person has a strong emotional connection, or bias, to a particular topic it is often best to hand off the article to a colleague who doesn’t have that same bias. At a small town newspaper, fellow reporters are a luxury. Many weeklies employ just one reporter, which is the case at two of our company’s newspapers as well as this paper while we are short staffed. While avoiding bias is difficult, it’s not impossible. I know for myself, when I am faced with a possible bias, I tend to use language that is friendly to the general public. For example, when speaking about a church-based gathering or group, I will use the word “club,” which is by definition a group of people united by a common interest, instead of the more commonly used church word “ministry.” I will also use the word “band” to describe a group of people who play music on Sunday mornings, instead of the more commonly used church term “worship team.”

I do this because I can remember having to explain to a professor in university what a worship team was. The term was something I had grown up with, and I’ll admit, I struggled to explain to him what a worship team was. I wouldn’t say “band” is the most appropriate term because “worship team” is, but as my professor pointed out, “worship team” is only an appropriate term, after it has been explained.

I know a lot of the how news is made is a mystery to most, because most don’t study how the news is made. However, next time you read an article that you don’t agree with, please remember a reporter didn’t make up the story you’re reading. He or she simply recorded in print what another member of the public relayed to him or her. And if you find a mistake, we appreciate being told what the mistake was. A simple phone call will do and we will publish a correction at the earliest opportunity.

The joy of contact lenses

Perhaps if I had a little man willing to clean my glasses all the time, I wouldn't have gone to contacts. Except that I'd still want to be able to see Cody at the end of the aisle on our wedding day.

Yesterday I entered the world of contact lens wearers. It’s a magnificent world when you take into consideration you no longer have to fight with dirty glasses, finger smudges from your oh-so-endearing fiance who knows you’re ticklish. I don’t have to worry about getting in the truck and not being able to see.

Contact lenses were the solution to all my corrective eyewear woes.

Or so I thought.

One of my co-workers shared with me the less exciting part of contacts before my initial appointment. She said having to stick her fingers in her eyes was difficult and made her a little squeamish. I though to myself, “that’s not a problem, I’ve had to flush stuff out of my eyes before and I’ve never had trouble with touching my own eyes. I have nothing to worry about.”

Was I ever wrong. Did you know you have to just about gouge your own eye out in order to take the silly lenses out. While I was learning how to complete the tedious process at the eye doctor yesterday, I was convinced my eye had absorbed the contact and it was no longer there. Again, when I went to go take them out last night before bed, I can’t describe the level of frustration I felt. The lady at the eye doctor told me within two or three days things would get better, that I would be able to put them in and out without trouble. I sure hope she wasn’t lying.

The other problem that is a little more serious is that my prescription is for distance. Now, contacts are wonderful while I am driving, I can wear sunglasses and see great distances. They are also wonderful while I am at my second job. I can see the security cameras without issue, and can see the faces of kids who are sneaking in without payment.

What my contacts are not great for are reading….anything. My iPhone is out of focus, the computer screen is a bit better but my recipe books require a little extra focus. It’s strange that I never noticed this problem when I was wearing my glasses all day, but perhaps I was just looking underneath them.

I decided to get contacts because I wanted to not wear my glasses on my wedding day, and still be able to see Cody at the end of the aisle. Squinting isn’t a great look in pictures. However, if I don’t figure out how to see clearly up close, then all my registry signing photos are going to be squinty. In all reality these photos are only a small portion of the total photos that will be taken throughout the day. I guess that could be my one small sacrifice.

In other news…yes, I am back! Sorry to have stopped writing for so long. Life is one crazy adventure, but I figured now that I am elbow deep in decisions about place settings, tulle and other pretty wedding things, there may be a significant amount of blogging material.

This proves you never quite know where you’ll be in just one year

Cody and I and our carved pumpkin - Carved on Nov. 2 (or some other date after Halloween).

I started this blog some time ago and figured it was about time to finish it. Here is the original beginning….

I got off work a little early this afternoon went home, did a bit of power yoga and then sat down behind my computer to read a few old blogs. I started with ones I had written about the same time last year and then went a little further back. This post is all about my sense of uncertainty in regards to the future and my sure determination to find great professional success. Thank you cards and rent cheques is all about the mass amount of excitement I felt as I prepared to leave my home province of Ontario.

While most of these posts made me smile and think fondly of all the great people I met along my way to Grimshaw, I can’t help but think that everything I thought God was gearing me up for was wrong. God didn’t send me to Grimshaw to get the experience I needed to one day work at the Globe & Mail. He didn’t even send me to Grimshaw to gain the experience I needed to return to live in beautiful Sarnia, as I had once thought.

And this is the new part….

God brought me to Grimshaw, away from everything, just so that I could find Him. Since graduating from High School I went on a bit of downward spiral spiritually. Of course I still believed and never did I ever think about turning away from God, but I wasn’t filled with the spirit and often made decisions based on my own wisdom, instead of first consulting Him. Even now when I face one of the day’s problem Cody always asks me if I’ve prayed about it. Sometimes this question irks me because, well, I haven’t prayed about it (and the fact that I feel irked is indicative of something else I’ll discuss a little further down). But I know that spiritual accountability is one of the reasons God has me in Grimshaw and subsequently, Cody in my life.

Now that I’m in Grimshaw a small part of me still wants to achieve a type of career where my name is recognized among journalism students, or in the very least a piece I wrote about. A friend told me she accepted a new job the other day. A definite step up from where she had been, and that made me a little jealous. Yet, I know that what I have here in Grimshaw and at the Mile Zero News is exactly right for me (and with an upcoming staff meeting regarding a website and colour printing, hopefully the newspaper will be well on it’s way to catching up with the rest of the media world!)

Besides, God brought me to Grimshaw to show me that life isn’t all about work. Life is about relationships.

In the last year and a half I’ve gone from being career driven, to relationship driven. I used to not care whether the people of Grimshaw knew who I was, and while a certain degree of anonymity is a good thing, especially when someone doesn’t like what I’ve written (I can’t write good news all the time!), having people know who I am, know who I’m dating and know where I attend church is a good thing.

Further to all of this, God is working a number on my heart. I know I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and use the gift of the spirit that God has given me – even if I’m not totally sure what that is. I’m being stretched in all directions. Sometimes I can recognize the work of the Spirit when I feel it, other times I’m stubborn and rebel against it (Or just feel irked…). Then, about two days later, I know the silly temper tantrum I threw with God (and any other poor person who happened to step in my path) was childish, and I can see the work He is trying to accomplish in my life.

It’s funny where God can lead a person in just one year. Away from everything that is familiar, away from everything that is entertainment (and distraction), and into something completely new and completely life changing. All I can say is that when I return to Ontario (and I will return, it just might not be as soon as my family hopes it will be), I’ll be a person of integrity and spirit-filled. I’ll be ready for whatever God has for me, the people, the situations, the employment.