Rest in Pieces

Blue Pontiac Firebird a.k.a F-bomb (1987-2008)
The beastly blue machine passed into junkyard glory on November 22 after many years of suffering. The Firebird, affectionately nicknamed F-bomb, came into the Vanderberg family about eight years ago, winning us over with its sleek style and dazzling blue colour. Especially loved were the T-roof and the CD player...what more could you want? F-bomb was passed down to all four children, trying its best to serve them faithfully, bringing them tree planting,to basketball and volleyball games, and back and forth to school each day. However, signs of trouble began early. F-bomb kept putting its engine light on and would sometimes simply refuse to go, leaving us all stranded at various places and times(Middle of nowhere, highway to Taber, important first date). Over the years, its muffler gradually got louder and louder, subjecting it to the scorn of neighbours and embarassing its owners. Finally, one day its muffler simply fell off and F-bomb took a turn for the worse. It no longer wanted to turn on its headlights, make its windshield wipers work, keep the rain out or keep the seats locked in place. Often it would decide to stop driving in the middle of a busy road and a few pumps of the gas pedal was needed to convince it to keep on moving. However, F-bomb must be credited for its perserverance. After being near death for many years, it would somehow still find a little bit of energy to keep on going, although not always when you needed it to. Resilient to the end, F-bomb was able to make one last journey to its final destination. F-bomb is survived by George, Chris, Brad, Trevor, David and Lindsay. Though it is gone, it will never be forgotten. Being stranded late at night, driving in the pouring rain without windshield wipers, and having to turn on headlights by hand has only made us stronger and more aware of what kind of cars not to buy. F-bomb will forever remain the quintessential trashy car that most people only wish they could drive. Thanks for the memories. You will be missed...kind of.

Hunting

I bet you I spent my Labour Day in a way none of you did, or have, or ever will. I dug out my winter coat, put on my boots, and I went hunting. Now this particular type of hunting does not include killing any Bambis, Thumpers or Bullwinkles. Rather, my elusive prey was the...mushroom. Really, I don't think it should be called mushroom hunting seeing as those fungi don't really put up much of a fight or try to escape, but there was some pretty mad knife skills invovled and well, "mushroom hunting" sounds a lot better than "perusing for mushrooms."

Before you label me a dork, I must point out that this wasn't my idea. At all. Being the wonderful girlfriend that I am, I choose to help Jordan with his new favourite hobby. I carried the mushroom basket (apparently mushrooms can't be stored in plastic...and baskets are way cooler) all around the river bottom and protected the specimen. After a very unsuccessful first half, Jordan found four different kinds of mushrooms. I found a lot of rocks that looked like mushrooms. That is why I carried the bakset.

You are probably wondering how someone gets interested in knowing anything about mushrooms beyond what they taste like. Well it all started in Tofino, BC on our family vacation where there was a mushroom book in our rental house. David and Jordan read it together and then, while treeplanting, David bought his very own mushroom book. Needing someone to share his excitement with, David bought Jordan the very same one. Here is what it looks like.


This book has gone everywhere with Jordan. It came to the Jack Johnson concert, into restaurants, into various bathrooms, and everywhere in between. Now while most mushroom hunters are slightly insane as you can see, I am happy to report that Jordan and David have managed to keep it together. Another bonus is that neither have died or developed any serious illnesses from eating any of their treasures. This guy wasn't so lucky though. So make sure you know what you are doing.

I know mushroom hunting probably isn't your idea of fun, but I wouldn't knock it until you try it. After all, you get to spend time in the great outdoors with someone you care about and it is much more stimulating than watching TV. I had a blast...even if I only carried the basket.

Green Gym Halo Ocean Jesus

The guilt of letting down all my faithful blogger readers (or reader...thanks Mom!) has finally gotten to me and so here I am once again, trying to find something to blog about.

My summer is shaping up to be pretty similar to last summer, working full time at Blocks and Rocks Landscaping Centre as a receptionist. However there are two very note-worthy differences.

#1. I have my very own business cards. A beautiful green colour. Apparently I am not good enough for it to say what I do...but my name is on there. I even give them out for free.

#2. Keeping with the green theme, I now have a reliable form of transportation, which I henceforth dub The Green Machine. It is a beautiful green Chrysler mini-van with room for 7 complete with a large dent in the side. It's a sport edition too yet. The best part is its fuel efficiency...costing me $80 or more to fill it up. The Green Machine replaces the now defunct Firebird (aka The F-bomb)whose broken windshield wipers, unreliable headlights, leaky windows, broken de-frost, constant shaking and sometimes-starting-engine will be sorely missed.

Besides work, my summer has consisted of hanging out with friends, watching Jordan play soccer, going to the gym with Whitney and playing Halo with Jordan at his new house. I am proud to say I can now kill him approximately 4 times when he is trying his absolute hardest. Going to the gym has allowed me to discover my fondness for steam rooms. They are wonderfully refreshing and you should all try one sometime.

Speaking of refreshing, I also had my very first professional massage this summer when I went to Tofino on Vancouver Island with my family and Jordan. It was pretty fantastic. It was also my first time seeing the ocean which was amazing and incredibly informative with a biology textbook boyfriend by your side. Everything was beautiful...the rainforest, the starfish, the natural hot springs, the whales we never got to see on our whale watching tour, the oysters the boys poached off the rocks and the crabs they all killed for supper. All in all, it was a great time.

That is pretty much it for vacation time, although this past Sunday, my parents, Betsy and I went to the Badlands Passion Play in Drumheller. It is a 3 hour play about Jesus' life in a natural outdoor ampitheater in the middle of the hodoos and the badlands so it resembles ancient Judea and Jerusalem. They really strive to make it realistic, with the costumes, hair and even live horses and donkeys. They have a choir and band sitting behind you providing the soundtrack and the actors move all around the hodoos and into the crowd. It is hard to explain how amazing it is, so you should all go there at one point in your life...or at least check out their website www.canadianpassionplay.com .

That is my summer so far. If you are reading this from Ontario, I probably miss you. If you are reading this from Alberta, it has been good to be home. If you are reading this from somewhere else, I probably don't know you. Have a blessed summer!

P.S. It is my birthday in a week.

Farewell

I remember sitting in a highschool classroom in a couple of years ago listening to a presentation on Redeemer that consisted of telling us how great the food plan was, and thinking to myself "I am never going to go there!" I don't usually like to be wrong, but this is one instance where I am blessed to have been so off the mark. It is funny how we plan our lives to go in the direction we think is best and we get radically turned around and experience something beyond what we could have imagined for ourselves.

Dealing with change has never been my strong point but I took a step of faith and came out to Ontario, hoping and praying for the best. I came to Redeemer not knowing what to expect but having a lot of doubts. Would I make friends? Could I live with 7 other girls? Will I learn anything? Is the food plan really that great?

It seems like just yesterday that I got off the plane to embark on this new adventure away from everything familiar, but now here I am, sitting back at home. The school year passed by so quickly but I will always remember this time for the wonderful memories and the invaluable lessons. I have met some of the most genuine and caring people and am proud to call them my friends. I lived with 7 amazing and unique girls who taught me so much by simply being different from me. The community that surrounded me blessed me in immeasurable ways, with ample amounts of laughter and people to challenge me in my thinking and beliefs.

Being at Redeemer taught me more about myself than I ever expected. I learned that change is an absolute necessity in life. As much as readjusting is hard, it gives you a whole new perspective on life. I realize that life is not always about structure and planning and sometimes, you just have to roll with the punches. I learned that there are endless opportunities in this world and that I am not confined in what I can do by only thinking of what I have already done. I would like to think that I have become more responsible as well, but I guess that is up for debate. I have also learned that recruiting students on the merits of the food plan should be considered false advertising.

As much as I loved my time spent at Redeemer, the time has come for me to leave that place behind. God puts some things in our lives for seasons and others for lifetimes, and I guess my studies at Redeemer were only meant to be one part on my journey. However, I know that the relationships I have made and the things I have learned will stay with me beyond seasons and years. I have come home with much of the same attitude that I first went to Redeemer with, not knowing what lies ahead of me, but hoping for the best. I have wonderful friends and family and it is great to be with them again, but it is still hard to say good-bye. Instead I will say see you later. Farewell Redeemer. Farewell friends. May you grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.

No More Licorice

I would like to make a new law. It would go something like "Thou shalt not use twizzlers to whip, violently strike or assualt in any other fashion, unless of course, someone strikes you first." I learned today first hand that while twizzlers may seem like a fun innocent snack, they stinkin hurt. And leave imprints. And make you bleed. Although they make a good alternative for those of us who can't do the towel whipping thing, in the wrong hands, things could get dangerous. Not my hands of course. I am a responsible licorice user and only retaliate when necessary. In my opinion, licorice should only be used as candy to be eaten...or as a straw to drink your juice because we all did it as kids and it was fun. When else can you eat your straw when you are done?

On a completely unrelated note, I was watching the American Idol special Idol Gives Back, after searching for it on the internet for an hour, and the contestants finished the show singing "Shout to the Lord." Does anyone else find that weird?

Lessons

I have learned three lessons this week and I would like to share my new wisdom with you.

Lesson 1. I tried a new tea this week, based upon the delighful cinnamon smell of the teabag. It is called Bengal Spice and I simply loved it. So the moral is that you should taste things if they smell good and you should all go buy Bengal Spice tea.

Lesson 2. I was feeling kind of frustrated and angry one day and so I decided to paint my nails pink. Bright pink. So go paint your nails bright colours if you are sad, depressed or sick of the greyness of winter.

Lesson 3. I spilled pink nail polish on my pants. Pink nail polish doesn't come out of pants. So don't spill nail polish on your pants.

That is all.

Moment of Truth

On Wednesday after watching American Idol, I was flipping through the channels...all four of them...and I came across a show called Moment of Truth. I had never heard of this show and neither had anyone else and so we started watching out of curiousity.

It is a reality gameshow where contestants are asked something like 50 questions prior to the show while hooked up to a lie detector. Then they are brought on stage in front of their family and spouse, a studio audience and an annoying host. The idea is for them to answer all the questions they are asked truthfully, according to the results of the polygraph in order to win money. They have to answer 21 questions which get increasingly personal to win $500 000. If at anytime they don't tell the truth, they lose all of the money.

Now I am all for honesty, but the questions that are asked on this show go beyond all reasonable limits. This is entertainment that has the potential to cause siginficant damage to a person's relationship with their loved ones. Some of the questions asked are "Do you think you are a better mother to your children than your mother was to you?" "Would you sleep with your former boyfriend (asked to a married woman) if you knew you would never get caught?" "Do you love your mother or your father more?" All these questions are asked in front of the people they are being asked about. The contestants are well aware of the questions they will be asked, seeing as they already had to answer them while hooked up to the lie detector. It just amazes me that people are willing to answer these types of questions just for money. I could go on some long tangent about how stupid our society can be sometimes, but instead, you can watch this video of the show and make your own judgments. I for one think some questions are better left unasked. Is greed induced honesty really honesty at all?