hawaii? what?

so tim and i are HERE!  in fact, we were here yesterday but couldn't hook up to the internet.  it was discovered today that we have a connection on the deck so i'm sitting here watching the sun go down on the deck typing.  well, to not make you feel as bad, the sun is going down behind a bunch of clouds so we can't see anything.  :)  

hawaii is warm.  that's may seem like a strange thing to report but no matter what the weather is here, it's the same temperature.  it's taking me some time to get my head wrapped around it.  when i was in grade 1, there was a boy, BJ, in grade 3 who had gone to hawaii for a vacation and when he returned, he told our class that when it rains in hawaii, it's warm outside still.  i've never understood.  and now, here i am, and BJ, i want you to know now that i understand.  the rain is warm.  and it will rain for two minutes and be finished.  i love that.  

dec. 29

so i'm continuing this post from yesterday.  this morning we did the classic "get up at 6am to go surfing".  but it's a little different when you're trying to go to one place with 16 people.  impressively, we were out the door only 15 minutes late to meet domi at the beach.  the beach that we're at here at our pink house is in a bay so it's calm and is great for kayaking, jetskiing, paddleboarding, etc.  just not surfing.  so we drove to a better surf beach about an hour away and a handful of people got a domi-lesson.  tim and i were two of the people who hung out on the beach and watched.  :)

and this afternoon is watersports off our own beach here at the pink house.  jet skiing and paddleboarding (which is just looks like standing on a surfboard and paddling)  pics to come in the next couple days.  

PHOTOS! (the first of many)

my new maternity jeans...

"you look so much bigger than you should be!"

the lack of photos

so as you know, my computer is in limbo. we don't turn it on anymore. it sits alone in the office. we really need a new one. for now we use tim's macbook that he brings home from work each night.

BUT the other day i took some photos of my maternity pants to post and then when i went to upload them onto his computer, it wouldn't open up the camera to get them off. i know that most computers will open a camera and upload the pics even if it doesn't have the software but don't macs do that too?

so, in conclusion and answer to ashlee's lastest comment on the fireplace post, i thought to take a photo of the fireplace but i knew i wouldn't be able to post it.

i'll keep working on it.

a fireplace just in time for christmas

tim and i have been talking about getting an electric fireplace for quite a long time but most of them are ugly and then when you get a nice looking one, it's more than $700.  so we haven't bought.  

then last sunday night, there was a christmas variety program at the church and the stage was set up with an electric fireplace and a rug with big chairs etc.  tim and i commented to each other on how nice the fireplace was - pretty nice fake flame and such.  

so a couple days later, my mom calls to tell us that "by the way, that fireplace we had at church is for sale...for $250."  she hadn't even known that we liked it - just knew we'd been thinking about wanting one.  

so today we picked it up.  so great.  nice size.  chocolate brown.  we've already rearranged the furniture.  next time you come over, we can turn on the fire and enjoy the ambiance.  

oh christmas tree!

we have a fake tree. it was given to us for our first christmas (this will be our 5th!) by a friend and it's a high-quality, perfect for a basement suite, kind of tree.

it doesn't come apart so it sits fully assembled all year under our stairs and is easily carried up stairs come december each year...already lit. it's the lowest maintenance tree ever.

tim wants to get rid of it. WHAT? he wants a real one. one that will be wet when we go out in the cold to buy it. one that we'll have to buy a stand for. one that won't stand up straight when we get it in the stand. one that we have to wrap lights around. one that will shed needles into our 70's like shag carpet. one that we'll have to find a place to get rid of when january rolls around.

how could one want such a things?

thankfully, i convinced him that since we'll be in hawaii for 10 days right after christmas, our little tree will have to suffice for another year.

but despite wanting my little tree to stay, i can't work up the motivation to decorate it. it already had a string of lights on it when we brought it up at the end of november but we thought there should be more so we bought another string. the string sat in the box for week until we figured out that we accidently bought net lights. we took them back and bought a string. it sat in it's box for another week. tim suggested each morning as we drove to school, "tonight we'll decorate the christmas tree!" to no avail by the time we returned home. finally...2 and a half weeks after we carried our tree up the stairs, we wrapped the second string of lights around the tree. it looks terrible. we need to take the old string off and wrap them all at once. but we just left it looking terrible. as for decorations? they're still in the box in under the stairs. i guess we should try to get those on before christmas at least. what's with the lack of motivation? maybe it's knowing that my tree is leaving next year. maybe it's because all our decorations are cars and sports. maybe i like the look of just little white lights. ...maybe i'm just lazy.

this weekend...for sure.

in baby news...

i am getting fatter. sure, i knew it was going to happen and don't get me wrong, i'm embracing it with open arms...in fact, helping out a little by eating more than i should and not exercising (you know, i was sick and all for three and a half weeks). but people like to tell me how they can't believe how much i'm showing so early in my pregnancy. (thanks. for your own personal future reference, i wouldn't recommend saying this to pregnant people, even if you're thinking it. ) my mother in law has been convinced that it's twins. and when i went out and bought maternity pants this past weekend, i was starting to come to terms with the fact that...it may just be twins.

i went to the doctor yesterday. i'm not just fat - there's definitely a baby in there. i heard the heartbeat. but he's sure it's not twins. from where he could "feel the top of my uterus" (weird!) it's not high enough to be two babies. phew. but he told me all was well and it was time to call and make my ultrasound appointment. i'm not due for the appointment for another 4 weeks or so but apparently appointments book up fast.

so i called today. the FIRST appointment available: 10:30am on January 21. are you kidding me? sigh - i just want to know if it's a boy or girl. i guess i have to wait a little while longer...

so we're not on the ball...

tim and i are headed to hawaii as of december 27 - my friends Angela and Domi are getting MARRIED! we have known that we would be going for months and months now. but did we get passports? no. and now it's pretty much too late. sooo....we know that you don't need a passport to drive into the US until june 2009. we're going to be driving into seattle. then to fly within the states, for example, seattle to honolulu, you don't need a passport. and then flying back, we won't need a passport. and then driving home from seattle to abbotsford we won't need a passport. right? have a missed something or is it all going to work out despite our lack of being on top of things?

cream cheese overload

so do you ever order a bagel and cream cheese from tim hortons? what's with the amount of cream cheese that they put on those? it's shocking. i scrape off enough cream cheese for maybe 3 more bagels. is this just at my local TH? or is it at yours too?

from the mouths of babes...

i finally told my class this week on monday that i was pregnant. i guess i was showing in chapel so some parents figured it out and were all over me. so i thought i'd better tell my kids before they heard it from their parents. they were very keen. they made a suggestion box for names that i should name the baby. Some of my favourites include Shasha, Minique, Vennasa, Oatis, and Lulu.

then the next day, one of my kids comes up to me and says, "Mrs. Shulba, I think your baby grew a little last night!" aka. you're looking a bit fatter...I told him it was probably just the shirt I was wearing.