Melspeth, The Other Blog

I feel loved when...

The Five Love Languages

My Primary Love Language is Physical Touch

<th colspan="2">My Detailed Results:</th>

Physical Touch:	10
Quality Time:	6
Acts of Service:	6
Words of Affirmation:	5
Receiving Gifts:	3

About this quiz

Unhappiness in relationships is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. It can be helpful to know what language you speak and what language those around you speak.

Tag 3 people so they can find out what their love language is.

Take the Quiz!
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Emily just came over to us, peanut butter and milk dotted on her face.  I looked down into her beautiful, messy face and said, "Hi, Messy Girl." 

"What's that?"

"Your face is messy."

"Why?"

"Because you eat messy."

"Nooo, I eat SANGwiches!"

And with a laugh and a smile, she was off again to eat her sandwich.

This one is from Geoffrey...

We bought a big bag of sugar snap peas at Costco the other day and ever since, G has been asking,

"Mummy, can I have some snack peas?"

*grin*

Emily brought her tiny treasure box in to us just a few minutes ago and began telling us where she acquired each of her treasures (read: rocks).  She has various rocks that she's pulled out of the garden and one pretty, tumbled rose quartz that we got last month when we went to the Hell's Gate Airtram.  This is what she said to Daddy...

"This is the rock that I got at Hello's Gate!"

I have a feeling the next time we go, we're all going to wave and yell "Hello!" on the tram...

Apparently, that is the proper name for sunscreen.  According to Emily, of course.

"Mummy, you need to put on your sunskin so you can be safe."

Another gem from Emily today...

"Mummy, what are those?"

"Those are veins.  That's what carries the blood through my body."

"And what's that?"

"That's a capillary"

*pointing* "And is THAT a crapillary?"

*bemused smile* "Yes, sweetheart, it is."

SO cute!

Honest, that's what it is.  Just ask Emily...

"Sweetie, what's that?"

"The Keymote control."

"The what?"

(matter-of-factly) "The keymote control."

There you have it.

The latest from Emily...

...as in, "I'm ready to turn the eggs.  Can you hand me a spatular?"

I love that girl.

Greetings, faithful readers  (well, reader, at least)...

This weekend is a wedding craft extravaganza.  We have several people coming over to do stuff, including sewing table runners, hem fabric, paint pots, do silk flower arrangements, paint table markers, construct pew markers, bead my veil, prepare the guest/scrapbook pages and stitch the ring pillow.  Oy! 

I am touched and humbled by the number of people who have agreed to help and I am grateful to each and every one of you.

Thank you.

*long satisfied sigh*

It is so good to be home.

We are finally in one place, almost all of our stuff is in that place and we are slowly getting unpacked a little every day. Our living room is livable and thanks to FlyLady, I am keeping on top of the clutter in the common areas. Even being down for a day with stomach flu didn't put much of a dent in the routines!

I cannot tell you how glad I am to be out of our old neighbourhood. Between the 'herbal essences' wafting about and the bullet found in the hallway the week before we moved, I was VERY glad to leave there for the last time on Saturday.

We have painted in the living room, started painting in the master bedroom and will be painting the kids' room soon (probably after the wedding). Just putting a few coats of paint on the walls makes such a difference to me between "rental house" and home. We have our china and crystal nestled in the buffet and have already had occasion to use it. Thanks, dangerbrat ... :)

Now Rick and I are in full-bore wedding mode. We've been painting the last of the invitations to go out and I've been embroidering the ring pillow that Geoffrey will carry, beading the edge of my veil and I still need to embroider a nice script K onto some matte satin for the ceremony - as soon as Rick finds me one and prints it out. Then there's the floral arrangements and pew markers, but those can be finished in an evening or two. The week before will be cookie decorating time, as we have opted to serve wedding cookies instead of cake. So, all you artsy types, let me know if you want to paint/decorate cookies!

I'll try to be better about keeping this thing updated...

I'm a little slow on the uptake this week...been so busy!

On Friday, January 4 at 4 pm, Rick asked me to marry him.  It was all very impromptu and sweet and touching and perfect.  You can read the whole story on Facebook (reply here if you can't read it for some reason).

I am overjoyed.  I'm still periodically crying happy tears about it and staring at my beautiful ring (who could blame me?)  *SQUEE*

I have been so busy having a life that I've forgotten to write about it!

My life is wonderful - a happy, rewarding, fulfilling relationship with my soulmate, two amazing children that delight me on a daily basis and a job that keeps a roof over our heads.

We're getting ready for Christmas, too.  The tree is up and decorated, the mantle looks amazing and half the presents are already wrapped.  I am more organized this year than in years past.  Of course, the piddly little amount of baking has already been devoured, so I am hoping to get some new stuff done in the next few days.  There are mincemeat tarts cooling as I type this and I've put in an order for ingredients to make butter tarts, nanaimo bars, banana bread and date squares.

In the midst of Christmas preparations, Rick and I are also beginning to plan our wedding.  Before you ask, we are NOT engaged.  Yet.  But with a date of July 12, 2008, we have to start getting our ducks in a row.  So, expect to hear a LOT more about that as we go along.

In the meantime, I wish you all a joyous Christmas and a new year filled with happiness.

I am sick.  Boo, sick!  Called in sick to work today, sneezed/coughed/sniffled my way through a staff meeting and am now being pampered with homemade onion soup and a fabulous dinner followed by a bubble bath in a huge tub and likely a back-rub, if I ask nicely enough. 

I have been fortunate to have several conversations with friends lately, friends I haven't seen or spoken to much since Jim and I broke up.  I have been alternately pleased and disheartened when the topic turned to my relationship with Rick and the future we are building together. When I tell them about how happy we are and how fantastic and functional we are as a couple, it is almost always met with skepticism.  Too many times now I have heard, "Yeah, he does that/it's great/you're happy  now.  But that could all change/you might change your mind/he might change in a year, in two years, etc, etc, etc."  To that I say Fie!  Fie on you, those who have never experienced this kind of love.  Perhaps that was a tad harsh; let me rephrase...

I am so sorry that you have not been so fortunate to have experienced this kind of amazing, servant-minded love; the kind of love where each partner gives 100%, none of this 50-50 bullshit.  The kind of love that I know down into my bones...that even before I laid eyes on him, I knew that we were right for each other, that in every way that matters, we fit together, that this man was made, molded by God for me - for this.  I am sorry that you are so coloured by my past actions that you cannot see the changes I have undergone.  There are some out there who feel hurt/betrayal/insult on behalf of someone who does not harbour those feelings toward me.  For you, I pray that your hearts will be turned, that you will see the healing that has occurred in the hearts and lives of those directly affected by events of the past.  It is not your hurt to be upset about.  It is not you who was betrayed.  You were simply unaware of what was really going on, that is all.  There are some out there that believe I am fickle, impetuous, shallow  or flighty.  For you, I pray that you will open your eyes and hearts up to see how one brief period of reckless behaviour does not define me in the rest of my life.  So please, take your skewed, coloured, filtered view of me, my life and my current choices and set them aside, for they will only serve to make you miserable and to damage what remains of our friendship.

Let's start fresh.

Greetings!

Just wanted to tell you how blissfully happy I am :)  I'm in love and get to marry my soul mate in less than 2 years!!!

I don't know about y'all, dear readers (for I think there are a few of you out there), but have you ever been so happy that you feel like singing, but you can't think of a song that's happy enough to encapsulate what you're feeling?

I am enjoying the brief moments of peace that I find in the evenings, once the kids are asleep.  Jake is  visiting a buddy, Marion and Rodney have already gone to bed, James is out with friends and my children are laying on the bed behind me, sleeping peacefully.  I am savouring it.

As much as I love being with my children, I am also really enjoying having some time away as well.  It affords Jim the chance to spend time with them as the primary caregiver and gives me some time to develop my relationship with Jake.  We actually went out on a date last week - that was so nice. 

I'm looking forward to the future - one day at a time.

I have made the conscious choice to not parade my spouse's failings and shortcomings in a public forum.  I feel that they will come to light in their own time and way and that pettiness should not be rewarded with more pettiness.  I am aware that things can be said in anger and bitterness and that we may all come to regret putting those things out in a public venue.  I do not regret anything that I have written here.

I have made the conscious choice to refrain from further discourse on the dissolution of my marital relationship here.  If you really care to know, you will know how to find me and ask me yourself.  And I will do my utmost to provide you with whatever information it is appropriate that you possess.

I have made the conscious choice to not point accusing fingers at what caused this or that or the other.  I am very much a fatalist - things happen when they do for a reason...and if I am here in this moment, surrounded by these people, with the possibilities that I have before me, I am meant to be here and I am worthy of what is to come.

I have made the conscious choice to redefine who I consider family.  I am discovering that family is not only delineated by bloodlines or marriage - it is also by love, caring, mutual respect and getting through the difficulties life throws at you together.  That said, my current "family" may not change at all...I am merely taking a good long look at each person on their own merits and re-evaluating where they stand in my life, if at all.  It is a sad task, but a necessary one on this journey.

I have made the conscious choice to not allow another person to make me feel shame or fear or pain unless I deem it necessary.

I have made the conscious choice to fill my heart with love for those who are worthy of it and pity for those who are not.  There is no room in my heart for anger, hatred or spite.  Life is too short to waste even one moment trying to make others feel less than they are - all that succeeds in doing is filling your heart and mind with a poison that will linger to the end of your days.

I wish you all a heart full of peace and an end to bitterness.

Truth.

I've been avoiding it.

And now Truth has come back to bite me on the ass in a big way.

It is a painful process to go through, but although I am experiencing pain and regret and fear and I have grievously hurt someone I care for, I am also feeling an enormous weight lifting off me.  I am beginning to feel the freedom that comes with speaking your Truth.

Once I have told those that must know, I will be able to say more.  Please be patient and try to understand.  Please try not to judge.  Please just allow that I am human and prone to screwing up on a massive scale and allow me the opportunity to earn your forgiveness and regain your trust.

Please.