Merry Christmas!

Les left for work around 6:30 this morning . I enjoyed some quiet time with God by candle light and then did the shoveling. Made a treat for Amanda for breakfast (new recipe! mmmm), then got the turkey in the oven and made the cranberries. Everything is pretty much in order, so I made a last minute card. Soon both sides of the family will be here and Les will be home from work. Merry Christmas everybody!

Happy 5th Anniversary to Us!!

November 7, 2007 was our 5th anniversary - we celebrated 3 ways:

- first with an anniversary trip to Edmonton, Canmore & Banff since we never did get that honeymoon; stayed in a lovely inn in Canmore overlooking the mountains...we'll definitely do that again...this picture taken one evening around sunset in one of our trail walks around Canmore:)
- second with a date last Friday - dinner at The Granary; movie (Dan in Real Life); followed by a trip to McNally...
- third, last night with Miss Amanda - went for dinner to The Broadway Cafe and then went to The Mendal to see the painting of Les by Kathleen Robertson.

Can you tell where we've been?

Apparently this is me...


...and this is what that means.

Robin Mark & Paul Baloche

...an evening you won't want to miss

Hockey Night in the Brophy House!


Well, it's the first Canuck game of the season on HNIC, so we invited a few friends over and made the traditional parfaits for the 3rd period. What do you think of the new team colours?

The Name Game

Well I was tagged to play this name game! If you dont have a blog- try it in the comments section! And if you do have a blog - leave a link so I can read yours! It was pretty fun! I love reading them so leave a comment:)

Here goes!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) -Fancy Cavalier (yes, my first pet was a toy poodle named 'Fancy Pants')

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Rolo, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
(a close second would be - Chocolate Ginger...now THAT sounds more gansta like!)

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) S-Bro

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Pink Spaniel (OK - I'm not positive what my favourite animal is...I like dogs and cats, flutter-by's and even elephants, so I picked the type of pet I've often wanted but never had - a cocker spaniel).

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)- Marie Saskatoon

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) - Brosh

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put “The”) The Purple Macchiato

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)- Joseph Bernard

9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) Fruits and Passions, Cherry Blaster (mmm cherry blasters...do you know how many years it has been since I had a cherry blaster?)

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Elaine Bernard

That was fun!

Now I must tag 5 people-Hmmmmmm, well I won't tag you, but I'd love to see what you come up with, so leave a comment...

We've adopted a new member into our family...



...Bella!

Allow me to introduce you to Lorelei...





..she's an Electra Hawaii with flower imprints on the tires and flowers on the body and seat. Could riding be any more fun?!

When does a hobby become an obsession?

...how about when the most relaxing thing you can think of to help you fall asleep at night is what project you're going to make next?!

I'm into stamping. There, I said it. Now before you all start worrying and reaching for your rolodex(es) to find me the number of stampers-anonymous, let me just say that it's not an activity I find a lot of time to do, but when I do have moments to be creative, that's my outlet right now...and when I don't...well, sometimes I just daydream about what I might make next...

...and, you see, I have this GREAT husband who encourages me to make more time for things I enjoy, so I've signed up for a monthly stamping club this fall...and I recently got back from a stamp camp at the lake even. Here's a peak at a couple of my favourite projects in the last month or so...

Les' Pivot Questionnaire

These 10 questions originally came from a French series, "Bouillon de Culture" hosted by Bernard Pivot.

They're better known as the questions that James Lipton asks every guest at the end of "Inside the Actor's Studio" show.

1. What is your favorite word? civilized
   
2. What is your least favorite word? war
   
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? a challenge
   
4. What turns you off? solicitation for money
   
5. What is your favorite curse word? "I spit on your haircut!"
   
6. What sound or noise do you love? a les paul through a cranked amplifier
   
7. What sound or noise do you hate? rap music
   
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? professional musician
   
9. What profession would you not like to do? labourer
   
10. If Heaven exists, (it does!) what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? hey, I know you.
    

Your turn.

Sherri's Pivot Questionnaire

These 10 questions originally came from a French series, "Bouillon de Culture" hosted by Bernard Pivot.

They're better known as the questions that James Lipton asks every guest at the end of "Inside the Actor's Studio" show.

1. What is your favorite word? sweet
   
2. What is your least favorite word? networking
   
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? music, discussion, my husband
   
4. What turns you off? self-righteousness
   
5. What is your favorite curse word? good grief
   
6. What sound or noise do you love? the sound of the garage door opener from inside the house
   
7. What sound or noise do you hate? alarm clocks before 8 a.m.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? teacher or pastor
   
9. What profession would you not like to do? politician
   
10. If Heaven exists, (it does!) what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? do hugs have sounds? ...I'd like to hear him say my name.
    

Your turn.

Inspi-READ

Last night Les took me out on a date. We had dinner at Kelsey's where I had some delicious balsamic chicken and then we saw 'Becoming Jane' (I *love* Jane Austin.) Afterward we did two of my favourite things...Starbucks and then book browsing.

Concerning the latter, if you ever find yourself at McNally Robinson and wonder why those big chairs are sitting side by side instead of back to back in a particular section of the store, you will know that Les and I likely sat there book browsing... Every so often we go to McNally and load up all sorts of books and magazines to look at, and then we turn the chairs so we can sit next to each other as we peruse:) Sometimes the chairs will even still be sitting side by side the next time we go...kind of sitting there holding hands, waiting for us:)

Amazing SIX-Year-Old Singer - The most amazing bloopers are here

Tim Hughes - Everything

Happy Mother's Day!

Allow me to indulge myself just a bit;) Amanda presented me with a book of poetry this weekend that she had written. I'll share just one. The style is such that whatever the 3rd thought of the 4th line is, it changes the rest of the poem to that subject...

FAMILY
Busy, small
Caring, helping, working
Grandpa, grandma, mom, dad
Cooking, cleaning, loving
Smart, pretty
Mom

Apparently it brought tears to the teacher's eyes when she read it. Can you just imagine what it did to mine (let alone my heart)?!

Out of the mouth of babes...

Oy, what a week I've had...and here I had all these great things to post about, but I'm so busy I can't. But I've popped in briefly to share what my brilliant daughter said tonight...

She said, "It's our imperfections that make us interesting - at least that's what I've always thought."

What a perspective! ...our imperfections make us interesting.

What do you think?

Do It Anyway Lyrics

The lyrics to this song are powerful and really capture what I'm feeling...

You can spend your whole life buildin'
Something from nothin
One storm could come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You could chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

God is great but sometimes life aint good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like i think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This worlds gone crazy
And it's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway

You can love someone with all you heart
For all the right reasons
And in a moment they can choose to walk away
love em anyway

God is great but sometimes life aint good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like i think it should
But I do it anyway
Yeah, I do it anyway

You can pour your soul out singin'
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway
Yeah sing it anyway

I sing
I dream
I love anyway

You Are a Auditory Learner

You tend to remember what you hear, and you have a knack for speaking well. You excel at debating, foreign languages, and music. You would be an excellent diplomat - or rock star!

What's Your Learning Style?

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Living with a GRANDE Passion

I think this book sounds interesting! This is what the back cover says...

You don't stand in line at Starbucks just to buy a cup of coffee. You stop for the experience surrounding the cup of coffee.

Too many of us line up for God out of duty or guilt. We completely miss the warmth and richness of the experience of living with God. If we'd learn to see what God is doing on earth, we could participate fully in the irresistible life that he offers.

You can learn to pay attention like never before, to identify where God is already in business right in your neighborhood. The doors are open and the coffee is brewing. God is serving the refreshing antidote to the unsatisfying, arms-length spiritual life---and he won't even make you stand in line. Let Leonard Sweet show you how the passion that Starbucks has for creating an irresistible experience can connect you with God's stirring introduction to the experience of faith.

You can read more of an excerpt from the book here.

Les & Sherri's Tasty Travels

Yes, you are right, I've been missing in action...part of that is just busy life things and part of that is the recent trip that my hubby and I took to Edmonton. For the third year running, Les and I headed to Edmonton at the end of January for the Breakforth Conference. The conference was awesome again this year, and I hope to post more about that in the future, but I thought I'm mention first a few of the tastier parts of trip. You see Les I spent a couple of extra days in Edmonton to shop and relax after the conference, and we had a great time at some of our favourite spots, so here are a few of our tips that had us eating at way less than $40-a-day!

- What's a trip to Edmonton without visiting IKEA?! And did you know that they serve some of the best coffee that Les has ever tasted? Also they run a breakfast feature until 11 a.m. each day...breakfast for a buck! So one morning for $1 each we had scrambled eggs, sausage and a croissant. It was very good and totally fueled us for the next few hours as we shopped. We actually made it back to IKEA at the end of our trip too as we were snowed in in Edmonton for an extra day and Les had missed having his Swedish meatball lunch. They have a deal for somewhere around $5 that includes salad, a meatball entre (with lingonberry sauce) and coffee/tea. Did I mention that their tea is pretty awesome too?! Gotta love IKEA!

- The Old Spagetti Factory was where we had supper on the night the conference ended. This was a favourite of Les' family growing up and he still orders the veal everytime he goes there. So knowing that we might head there I checked to see if there were any deals to be had online before we left. And sure enough, visaperks was offering a promotion where if you paid with your visa you would get a free entree for every one you purchased..so basically, my hunter's chicken that night was on the house:) (And yes, I cheated and had the wee dish of spumoni ice cream that comes with your meal that night too:)

- White Spot - this is our favourite place to eat at from back in B.C., and thankfully there is one in Edmonton now. Many people here in Saskatchewan don't even know about White Spot, but trust me, you would love it. It's kind of like a Kelsey's or a Moxie's, but WAY better. The first time I ate there when Les & I were dating I had the cheddar grilled chicken and to this day I have not had anything else there. It's SO good, and I get there so infrequently that I always order the same thing...yum! Les's favourite is the double double (double the beef, double the cheese). And thanks to letting our server know where we were staying (just down the road), we got 15% off our total check!

- Starbucks! When Les and I travel (which isn't much), we try to go to as many different Starbucks as we can. One of our favourites is on Whyte Street in Edmonton...a perfect break for an afternoon of walking up and down Whyte Street and exploring the ecclectic shops there (including Avenue Guitars...the BEST guitar store ever!) It's upstairs in an old brick building that is now a Chapters...the view and the windows are completely charming. Another Starbucks highlight was at the downtown Starbucks one of the nights during the conference...we had a short period between our afternoon and evening sessions and both weren't too hungry so we indulged in the Starbucks-fair... I had a sugar-free cinnamon dolce latte with no fat (so basically skim milk and expresso, but it tastes so good) and a low fat scone. In Edmonton the Starbucks have French Toast Scones. Doesn't that sound good with my doce latte?!! Mmmm.

- Red Robin is another favourite of ours whenever we are in Alberta. We both are in love with the teriyaki chicken sandwiches. They grill pineapple and put it on the grilled teriyaki chicken breast. It's delightful! Since I was sure we would try to get to Red Robin at least once, I did some searching online for deals before we left and found that if you sign up for their newsletter, you get $3 off your meal the next time you are there. So, yet another deal!

- O'Byrne's Irish Pub - this is an Irish Pub on Whyte Street. We ate there on Tuesday night because on Tuesday nights they have a real Irish session. The atmosphere was so authentic...music was awesome (even though we couldn't stay later to see the dancers), and Tuesdays are all-you-can-eat fish and chip nights for $7.95. And let me just say, that neither of us could eat more than the initial portion they brought, but oh, the fish was so good (not all batter)...and what a treat to have chips!

My Favourite Monty Python Skit...

Presenting...THE LION TAMER!

The 2007 Blizzard

Well, by now it would not be 'news' for me to tell you that we had the worst blizzard I have ever experienced in my life this past Wednesday. Though I am a little late in writing about it on here, I still want to preserve the memory of that day...for it was the first time I've ever come home from work on snow-mobile!

Actually, the day started normal enough. When the alarm went off Wednesday morning, Les told me there was only a 'skiff' of snow, and later when I ate my breakfast, I looked out and thought, 'maybe the storm has passed us by', it was lightly snowing with just a bit of wind. Sure visibility was reduced a bit when I drove to work, but I had definitely driven through worse before. Once I was at work I was pretty much oblivious to what was happening outside...it's like that most days once I get inside our downtown offices. But after lunch I heard a couple of administrative staff talking about their bus routes being shut down, and then a little after 1:30, I got the message from the OMP, we could go home as the city was closing down streets, but we should make sure to take work with us. I called home and told Les that I would pick up Amanda on my way. A few minutes later Les called me back to say that the school had also called saying that they were closing too and that we could pick her up. Les told me to drive safe, and I said 'of course, you know me, I'll go slow...'

I have driven through a lot of things, but I have never experienced anything like the drive home on Wednesday. One of the worst parts being driving north on Circle Drive between 22nd Street and 33rd. I could see nothing. The only way I stayed on the road was to look for the green street light poles that were every so often in the ditch. Somehow I got through and made my way to Amanda's school to pick up my girlie. Somehow, that is, with a few tears and lots of prayers a long the way...

Now, Amanda's school is only a few blocks from our house and so you would think that once I got there I was home-free. Well, I only wish that was true. The residential street I had to pull onto to get her from school was aweful and I had to pull on facing north, so we could barely see anything. We navigated around cars, got stuck and unstuck...only to find ourselves 2 car-links form where we could turn west to head home. But there was no getting further. These cars were ultimately abandoned in the centre of the road (the front one of which I couldn't even see). We tried to go around them and got horribly stuck ourselves. I kept going in and out of the vehicle trying to dig us out the best I could...all the while facing the gusting wind and snow from the north (I've never been colder...eyebrows and eyelashes frozen with ice-crystals). Everytime I'd pop back into the vehicle to warm up, I tried to keep it together and tell Amanda that everything would be ok. Nobody helped us..we tried to help a couple of others...and then, at one point I thought this man who walked up to our car was going to help us, but he just shouted foul language our way while puffing on his cigarette. Once I accepted that we wouldn't get through there, I tried to get us back to behind the two abandoned cars (once a car that was blocking us moved). In the process, I managed to turn the car around to try going up the road the other way...only to end up getting stuck again because I had to stop behind a van that seemed to get stuck and unstuck every few feet. The van had numerous people with shovels helping them, but no one even made a motion to help us. Eventually though a man walked up to the vehicle and told me I might as well give up, that even if I got unstuck, that there were so many vehicles stuck ahead of that van that we weren't going anywhere tonight. He said to just abandon the car. I said that I scared to do so because I had my daughter with me and I didn't think she could make the walk home in this. He said we could wait it out at his home around the corner with his wife, and he helped to push me so I could get unstuck and then I pulled the car as far over to the corner as I could.

Amanda and I then tried to walk to this gentleman's house, but eventually Amanda couldn't walk into the wind anymore, and we ducked into a nearby driveway and knocked on the door of a stranger (so much for all my efforts at teaching my daughter not to talk to strangers). These were kind strangers though, and they let us in and let me use the phone to call Les. Les wanted to come and get us right away, but it was no use, he would just get caught in this all too. We'd have to wait it out a bit and try to walk a little further later. Our hosts made us some hot chocolate and then looking out their front window said it was getting worse, so we should just come upstairs and watch some TV with them, that we wouldn't be going anywhere for quite a while. Once upstairs the man of the house commented that he remembered a bad snow storm in the 80's when the police let them use their snowmobiles on the streets. He wondered if that would happen again, so he called the city police and got their approval to take his sleds out. The next thing I knew, he and his wife were getting their snowmobiles out and bundled us up and took Amanda and I home. I've never been so thankful for the kindness of strangers in my life! And thankful to God too, because He did answer those prayers and kept us safe...even taking us to the one house that could actually get us home before dark that night:)

How Ironic...

Today we took back a DVD that Les received for Christmas to one of the local Christian bookstores here. When we tried to watch the DVD last night, it skipped in several places and so we didn't get very far. So today we took the DVD back hoping to be able to exchange it for another copy.

Since Christmas we have been to a few different stores to do returns and exchanges. Most seem to have fairly generous policies and were only too happy to help us out. I suppose that is why I'm still thinking about our experience at this "Christian" store today. It was quite the opposite. You see, when we approach the counter and explained the problem, the clerk didn't immediately try to remedy our problem and obtain a new DVD for us or provide us with a refund or a gift card for that matter. Rather, the clerk's response was to ask exactly where the skips were on the DVD as she would have to view the DVD herself before doing anything else. I explained where the skips were on the parts of the DVD we were able to watch (after a certain point, the skipping was so bad, the DVD was unwatchable). She then took the DVD to the back of the store to the children's area where they had TV and DVD player that was currently playing a Veggie Tales video. She then said that she would have to view these skips for herself. After I helped her with her own technical issues in operating the DVD player, I then showed her some of the skips on the DVD. Satisfied that there were indeed skips on the DVD, she did not proceed back to the cash register as I had hoped to help remedy the problem for us. Instead she said she would need to review this with her manager and could not promise that they would take the DVD back. In the end, they determined that they would replace the DVD for us, but, of course, they didn't have any in stock, so they would order one for us and call us when one came in. In the meantime, we got no refund, no gift card or in-store credit on the DVD return, just their word that they would call us when our new DVD came in...

We took their word, but the irony of it stuck with me. They certainly didn't take our word that the DVD skipped, and I guess that rubbed me a bit the wrong way. We've never had a problem returning anything this season at the secular stores we went to, but today, at this "Christian" store, we were treated suspiciously when we were simply returning a defective product, simply wanting a working version of the exact same thing. And all this in a place where there are books and cds galore on topics like grace and love, it felt more than just a little bit ironic to me.