The iLee Bird Gets The Worm

My computer told me I act like a 22 year old, I took a test and everything!

You Are 22 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

Since we've bought our own home, I've been busy getting looking the way we want it to look.
This has meant lots of easy jobs like changing the door handles so they all match, painting the bath panel white to get rid of the nasty wood look it had before and putting up curtains.

But I've also had to turn my hand to more adventurous jobs, and I don't think I've done too bad so far! 

I've removed a sink and used the plumbing to hook up our washing machine. 
I've put together a fireplace, stained it, varnished it and put it in place (after removing the old one). 
I've put together lots of flat pack furniture, from desks to wardrobes to futons (with help from my glamorous assistant, Sarah on that one!).
I've installed a new fire in the living room.
I've set up a wireless internet connection and made sure nobody else could hack into it. 

These last few days I've embarked on my biggest task to date, replacing the shower and shower enclosure. Now, I won't pretend I've tried this one all alone, I had the help of Andrew, who I work with, to install the shower itself, I helped, but he definitely did the tricky stuff.

But I'm now part way through replacing the enclosure.

It was quite a job getting the old one out, but I managed it. The glass itself wasn't the problem, in fact one whole wall was held up by a single screw, it's no wonder it leaked and wobbled! It was the base that didn't want to leave!

I then took off some old white tiles and cleaned off all the old tile adhesive, preparation is important!

Eventually I'm ready to begin, my first job was to replace the old tiles with new ones that match the rest of the bathroom tiles. And this is where I'm at, the new tiles are in place and they look fantastic, even if I do say so myself! Tomorrow I will grout them, and then it's installing the new shower enclosure itself. 

Please pray I can do it!!!      

I've been tagged.



Unlike Sarah and Tara I hate these things, but for the sake of a quiet life I'll do as I'm supposed to...

4 JOBS I'VE HELD

1. Various finance jobs, including Caravan Park Finance Manager, Regional Finance Manager for a national car finance company and a few others.
2. Various bar jobs, these never seemed to last long, but I do remember I was serving alcohol before I was legally allowed to drink it. That probably means I wasn't legally allowed to serve it either!
3. Various retail jobs, including B&Q and Woolworths
4. Various rubbish jobs including the obligatory MacDonalds (for a whole day and a half), selling ice cream at the end of the pier in Llandudno and working as a waiter in the club on the caravan park for a whopping £1 an hour!!
Wow, I've had a heck of a lot of jobs!!!

4 MOVIES I CAN WATCH OVER AND OVER

1. Napoleon Dynamite - Heck yes I can!
2. The Incredibles - 100% machine washable darling, that's a new feature!
3. Usual Suspects - awesome, just awesome movie!
4. Ghostbusters - who ya gonna call?

4 PLACES I HAVE LIVED

1. Deganwy, North Wales
2. Bristol, England
3. Manchester, England
4. Toronto, Canada

4. TV SHOWS I LOVE TO WATCH

1. Lost - but I'm getting sick of waiting for new episodes, what are Fox (is it on Fox?) playing at!!
2. CSI - I just watched Quentin Tarantino's series finale where a guy gets buried alive, great tv!
3. Little Britain - computer says no, but I say yes!
4. I hate to admit this one, but I suppose I have to put Gilmore Girls, I never thought it would happen, but it has, I'm officially hooked!

4 PLACES I HAVE BEEN ON HOLIDAY

1. Caribbean - cruisin' baby!! It's the only way to travel!
2. Tunisia - honeymoon fun
3. Florida - Not ony seeing my favourite little bro, but also DISNEY!!!
4. Several Mediterranean Islands - they're all pretty much the same... sun, beaches and very fat, very ugly topless women, eeeewwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!

4 OF MY FAVOURITE DISHES

1. Steak
2. Roast Lamb and mint sauce
3. That traditional English dish, curry.
4. Spaghetti Bolognaise
Mmm my mouth's watering just thinking about them!

4 PLACES I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW

1. I'm with Sarah right now, so there's no place I'd rather be! Is that answer sickly enough for you!?!
2. Ok, I'll give a few better answers, but bear in mind they're all with my beautiful wife. I would say Canada visiting Sarah's family and our great friends there, but I'd be lying because I'd rather wait until winter is over to do that one. So I'll say West Palm Beach, Florida to visit Alex and Tara.
3. Anywhere I can swim with sharks, I really want to swim with sharks.
4. In Sarah's womb, hanging out with Bean. I'm not sure Sarah would be too pleased though, imagine the stretch marks!!

4 PEOPLE I AM TAGGING

I think most people have been covered, but I'm going to repeat because they haven't taken up the challenge yet.
1. Mum & Dad
2. Alex (Tara's off the hook because she's done it)
3. Kelly
4. You!!!

So, that's it, I've done it and now you all know a little more about me, even if they are all useless facts.
Now get going, you've been tagged!!!

Sarah, Sarah oh so fair
Sarah with the pretty hair

Sarah, Sarah oh so kind
Sarah with the cute behind!

Sarah, Sarah oh so smart
Sarah you have stolen my heart.

Lately I've been waking up very tired.


I don't know why, it's a mystery, it really is... oh wait, I do know why and her name begins with an 'S'!!

Ok, before you all start thinking this is going to be an inappropriate blog, you're wrong, get you minds out of the gutter people!

The reason is that Sarah, in all her beauty and wisdom and sickness has become something of a night owl.
I don't know what it is but she seems to miraculously become well when the clock strikes midnight, it's like Cinderella in reverse or something!

I have a theory... basically I think Sarah is still on Canadian time. Caused in part by the fact she is unable to get out of bed in the morning because of her sickness, so she sleeps late. This in turn means when I think it's midnight, it's only 7pm to Sarah so she's wide awake and full of life. And because she's been sick all day, she wants to make the most of this new found 'wellness' and talk.

I don't know why but Sarah insists on keeping me up to share in her joy of not puking.

Last night Sarah was so happy she actually pushed me out of bed!!
No kidding!!! And we have a king size bed!!
I hit the floor with a thump.

So I need help, how can I get some sleep??



Does anyone have any sleeping pills??

That's a line from one of my favourite movies, any ideas??


But that's off topic, today's blog is dedicated to my first attempt at making North American style pancakes.
My parents brought a box of pancake mix back from the US when they visited Alex and Tara at Christmas, up until now we haven't tried to make them, but I finally bought a whisk and decided to give it a go.
The thought of light and fluffy pancakes covered in maple syrup was too much to resist.

I've made pancakes before, but North Americans would call them crepes, you know the really thin ones?
Those I've done, I even remember being able to toss them (admitted, not always successfully!).

But these pancakes were smaller and thicker.

So I made the mix up, that bit I couldn't go too wrong with, I just had to add water and mix! Easy enough right, even for me!

I showed Sarah the consistency to make sure I had things right before I actually tried to cook them, and got her seal of approval, so I was all ready to start.
Admitted the kitchen was starting to look like World War 3, but the mix was looking good!

I heated up the griddle and away I went.
I don't know exactly what I did wrong, but they sure didn't taste like the ones Ron makes when I'm in Canada!
Or even the ones from IHOP (the pancake one, not the prayer one).
I think I had the heat too low, and I think the first couple I tried were just too thick.
One was still a bit gooey, the others were just stodgy.

So it was a pretty appalling first attempt, but we have more mix left so I can keep trying.
Practice makes perfect right??

It's conference time, again. It's almost like being back at TACF!

Except I'm not, and this is the first Prayer Week Preparation Conference.



A lot of preparation has gone into this conference and I think it's going to be a great time! Godfrey Birtill (one of my favourite worship leaders) is leading worship and there's lots of speakers, so I can't wait!

Please pray that it all goes smoothly, and that everyone who attends (we have about 120 prayer leaders booked in so far) is impacted by the vision of Prayer Week to go back to their own churches and stir up a praying community.

"Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in ruins. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes...' With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord"
- 1 Kings 18v30-32

"Then the fire of the Lord fell"
- 1 Kings 18v38