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Category Archives: Life
The Little Engine that Couldn’t
It would seem as if we’ve arrived at the end of an era. I have had a long run at this blog — almost 9.5 years. But it looks like it is time to close up shop in some form or another. The heyday of vandermeander.com happened when I was pregnant with Olivia, when I […]
Posted in Blog, Life
8 Comments
Choosing How I Feel
This weekend was supposed to look a lot different than it does. We were invited down to Calgary for my cousin’s birthday on Friday and since the kids were off school and I had class in Calgary on the day of the party, it all worked out well. But, add to that, my aunt and […]
Dear Dixie,
Dear Dixie, Today you feel stressed. Today everything is too much and you just want to crawl under the covers and stay in bed all day. You tried that a few times. Unfortunately, you can’t fall asleep. Your brain keeps spinning with everything — all of the things that you need to do, all of […]
Posted in Life, Psychology, School
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To Brace Or Not To Brace
That is the question of the day. This morning Madeline and I headed up to Edmonton for a follow-up appointment for her and a consultation for me with the orthodontist. She gets to wait a year for some grown up teeth to come in before the long road of mouth reconfiguration for her. I get […]
Putting Up Our Own Walls: My 13 Year Old Logic
I’m curious to know which of my middle school friends will remember this particular story. I’m even more curious what their thoughts were in the middle of it… Picture a small town hall with two classes of grade seven students having a dance on the last night of their class camping trip. Picture 12 and […]
Posted in Life, Memories
2 Comments
Contrived Joy/Pure Joy
So that last post showed the dandelion pictures from today, but if you go back to the dandelion post of 2008 you will see that to get a decent happy picture of the children is near impossible. Today wasn’t much different. “Look at the camera, Olivia!” “No bunny ears, Luke!” “Sit straight. Sit forward. Sit […]
Posted in Kids, Life, Motherhood
3 Comments
All About the Stuff
It’s true. I have a love-hate relationship with our stuff. And I wish I could figure out what the exact point is where something that I wanted and valued becomes something that is on the floor, unwanted, and a burden. Between having a few weekends of travel, some birthdays, and some major papers due, the house […]
Posted in Life
3 Comments
Perspectives
I was looking through Marc’s flickr account tonight hoping to find some pictoral inspiration for a new blog design. No luck. I did, however, run across a number of gems of the video and picture variety from days and years gone by. What I gleaned from that trip down memory lane? “Be happy with what you […]
Posted in Life, Memories
4 Comments
Thoughts on Growing the Oldest
I had a strange and slightly backward realization last week. I had the opportunity to attend a prayer meeting at a senior’s home with a few of the seniors from the church. When we were visiting together afterward, I looked around the table and had this thought: “What will life be like when there are […]
Posted in Life, Psychology
1 Comment
The “Fastest” Way to See a Pediatrician
Luke has been home sick all week. Not *quite* how I envisioned the first week back at school for the kids. You see, he has had this strange tickle/cough since Sunday December 23rd. (I remember because I first noticed it during church. It truly is impossible to keep kids quiet during church!) Luke wasn’t sick […]
Posted in Kids, Life
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