LOL

My latest favorite discoveries on "Fail Blog"... Enjoy some giggles!

giggles

http://icanhascheezburger.com remains one of my favorite sites of all time... And now a friend has me hooked on also checking the other links across the top of the page... LOLdogs, LOLcelebs, LOLnews, fail blog, etc.

Anyway, I just had to share this very cute picture, because it makes me smile pretty consistently every time I see it!! The giggles are almost contagious, it seems!


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

musical humour

A colleague shared this with us at work today... Very fun...


Or how about this spoof of "Jesus Take the Wheel"?


Then there's his take on the song, "I Can Only Imagine"


They just keep coming...


More on Youtube... Enjoy!

90

My maternal grandmother turned 90 on Friday. We had family home from BC, Alberta, Ontario and all over southern Manitoba to celebrate. It was chaotic with 48 people in one house, but it was also great fun! And my grandma continues to amaze me. After raising 6 kids during a time when maternity leave from her job as a nurse was NOT a year per baby, she has continued to stay active and spry enough to thoroughly enjoy her 20ish grandkids (and their significant others) and 10 great-grandkids.

I stood back a few minutes after the cake cutting and just watched the busy-ness of the place as my cousins and aunts started dishing up cake and ice cream. I thought about how lucky we are, to have so many people to support us.

How lucky we are, to have no one in the family who's gotten into any significant trouble, like drugs or teen pregnancy (that we know of!)....

How lucky we are, that every grandchild has at LEAST a high school education (except for the youngest who's still working on hers!)

How lucky we are that the vast majority of us have been able to go on to post-secondary and finish at least one degree.

How lucky we are to have so many people to call family who really get what family is about, and who love to just spend time together. One memory that someone mentioned on Friday at our gathering was of the day that most of our extended family went rafting down the Assiniboine river one summer about 20 years ago. We had lawn chairs and snacks on the make-shift rafts (plywood over empty oil drums if I recall), and a couple of canoes and inner tubes for those that were tired of the rafts. I think it's my all-time favorite memory of our family because it's such a significant image of us just being together, laughing and having a great time in the process!

And then I thought that all of that stuff is learned. Passed down through generations. And we are so blessed to have a grandmother who's still with it enough to continue to teach us about patience, love, wisdom and laughter.

Happy birthday, Grandma - we all love you!!

PS - welcome to the world, Gabriel Arthur!

Games night

What a fun time I had last night! I took my Little Sister to a games night at my church that the Fellowship and Outreach committee (of which I'm a member) was hosting. The timing of the evening was bad, with curling and parent teacher interviews taking up a large portion of potential participants, but those of us that were there (all 8 of us!) didn't let that stop us!

We ranged in age from 14 to... I would guess 70-something. My Little Sister didn't know anyone there but me. But the other people there did a great job of making her feel right at home. We laughed, we snacked, we took turns kicking each others' butts at the games we were playing, and then we laughed some more.

The magic in it for me, I think, was partly in watching my Little Sister interact with these older folks (and them with her). I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of older people in her life are very no-nonsense, strict, traditional people. Those are not words I would use to describe the people we spent time with last night. In fact I think I would describe them as kind, open, and fun-loving.

So thanks again to my church community for reminding me of what it really means to be "in community" with others. It's a night I'll not soon forget!

birthday fun

My birthday is coming up this week. I'll be 31. Last year, I threw a big birthday party for myself and invited friends and family from all over to join me. It was fun, and I felt very loved just by the number of people that drove distances in awful weather. But I also was reminded that I am an introvert at heart, and prefer to be in smaller groups where I can feel like I really connected with people.

This year was the exact opposite of last year. Friday night I went out with a great friend, for dinner, shopping, and a movie. We had great fun - especially since most of our connecting recently has been in a work context.

Then Saturday I headed out to my parents' place, where I think I had officially my smallest birthday party yet. I blew out the candles with just my mom and my dad present. Since we were celebrating early, my mom hadn't had time to get my gift yet, so there weren't any gifts to open. And still, I couldn't have felt more special.

I don't remember many occasions in my childhood (ie, before I left home) that I got quality time with both my parents and no one else. My mom went to the trouble of baking a cake even though she couldn't eat it. My dad and I got to talk guitar (the lessons are going well enough that I was excited to show him what I've learned) and we all watched a few hilarious youtube videos... And we have photographic evidence of me crying from laughing so hard. Something about blowing out the candles - I don't remember what - got us all laughing so hard I couldn't stop.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for a great evening... It felt good to come home.

fun distraction

So I'm not going to apologize for not having blogged in over a month, despite the fact that I've had plenty to blog about. I'm going to save all the inspiring stories about my work, and the people there for another time, because, frankly, it's been VERY busy, and I am exhausted tonight. I will, however, share the following video with you because tonight it made me giggle til there were tears squeezing out of my eyes. Perhaps the tearful giggling was more because of the long, busy day at work that I just came home from, but see what you think...

laugh & learn

Watch the following short commercial from the UK, for an important message delivered with a giggle. :-)