Veronica Boulden

We kept a fire in the fireplace all day Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, even though the weather was quite mild.  We stayed in our pajamas all day Christmas Eve, cooking, baking, and reading books. Our grand-neighors sent gifts over for the kids. We are very blessed with the neighbors we have. My husband's company always sends a picnic basket with a delicious ham, sausage, bacon, cheddar cheese, and maple syrup.  So we used those gifts to plan our holiday menu. We had a sausage and cheese platter to snack on for lunch while the ham cooked slowly. Then we had the ham and homemade mac and cheese for dinner on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, we made sausages and French toast with maple syrup. In all, it was a delicious holiday. After dinner, we went to church for Christmas Eve service.  After church, our good friends the McCandlesses came over.  They brought a homemade chocolate cheese cake and I shared  chocolate delight  I had made.  Our friends took t

I got to teach Bodypump 90 on Saturday morning. That was a great way to start the weekend.  I am spending a lot of my time reading in The Lord of the Rings trilogy right now. These books are so celebrated by so many people that I respect that I made it a goal to read them in 2014 and I should finish by year's end.   The very least I can say is that these books are not overrated. It almost feels as if all the reading I've ever done has prepared me to enjoy them as much as I do.  I've already started quoting from them as often as it is possible in general conversation, making me either awesome or obnoxious, depending on how big of a Tolkein fan you are.  For instance, when my husband turned on the light while I was still in bed this morning, I said, "The yellow face! It burns us!"  I heard him chuckle as he got dressed before I fell back to sleep with a smile on my face, too.   At church Sunday morning, my friend Tricia invited me to meet her for t

Buster attacked and peed on a snowman when Chloe took him for his walk today, making the neighbor's kids cry. Then Buster peed on the Christmas tree when the girls came over to help Chloe decorate, grossing everyone out.  Buster pees on everything.  Good thing Chloe has pinned lots of recipes for homemade cleaners and deodorizers on Pinterest. She's laundered everything in her house. 

Chloe got an acceptance letter to Hogwarts and a package with school supplies. Come to find out that old flower pot in her backyard is a port key. 

Using Essential for Wellness- I had a sharp ache in my ear yesterday morning. This morning, I woke up with an sore throat and post nasal drip.  First, I mixed two drops of purification with a carrier oil in my palm and rubbed this on my temples, on my neck under my ears, and on my chest and I took several deep breaths.  Then I made myself a cup of hot tea with honey and turned on my diffuser next to me with a few drops of thieves oil in it.  Letting the steam from the tea and the diffuser go into my nostrils, I just sat and relaxed, reading and listening to music.   And I also drank tons of fresh water all morning.  The mucus is starting to break up and my throat is much soothed already. I feel remarkably fresh and clear headed compared to the way I would have felt if I had taken pills to cover the same symptoms. 

Sherry and Carrie went ice skating at their Uncle Pete's pond. Later, they had some hot tea flavored with lemon oil in front of a fire made with special sandalwood- scented logs. They made up a parody of "Oh, Christmas Tree" called "Olfactory."  (In honor of all the Tolkien I've been reading, I will actually include their song here.) Olfactory, Olfactory! Our nostrils are amazing! We smell with thee! We taste with thee! When you clog with green, we are so blue! Olfactory, Olfactory! Our nostrils are amazing!

Buster's living large in his new home.  The girls even got him his own attachment so they could take him along on their ill-conceived sleigh/ snow mobile rides. Sherry and Carrie have gone Paleo. Sherry thinks it helps her get in touch with her character Johnny Appleseed. "John would have hunted and gathered most of his food, you know." Carrie's doing it because she's gotten into body-building. But the high protein diet is making her a little irritable. Everyone is just steering clear of her until her cheat days when she's civil again.  Josephina is resting her huge feet on a park bench next to a memorial fountain the city commissioned her to make.  But it's so cold in Buffalo, the fountain has already frozen over. That got Josephina thinking about doing ice sculptures. She's never tried those. 

I just finished reading The Fellowship of the Ring for the first time.  When I read about Frodo's mail-shirt, the one Bilbo gave him, the one made of priceless, rare mithril, I thought the mail-shirt was a great representation of the righteousness of Christ.  The books says, "What?" cried Gimli, startled out of his silence. "A corset of Moria-silver? That was a kingly gift!"  "Yes," said Gandalf.  "I never told him, but its worth was greater than the value of the whole Shire and everything in it."   Frodo said nothing, but he put his hand under his tunic and touched the rings of his mail-shirt.  He felt staggered to think that he had been walking about with the price of the Shire under his jacket. As a Christian, I can relate well to this passage.  When I asked Jesus to be my Savior and received his forgiveness for all my sins at the beginning of my faith journey, it was like He gave me a mail-shirt to cover me, only it was not m

I opened my email this morning and Surprise! I passed my Bodycombat assessment video! Now I am certified!  I shouted for joy. The Bodycombat certification process was definitely harder for me than the Bodypump certification process. Before going to Bodypump training, I did Bodypump for a long time at home with the Pump DVDs, taught a freestyle barbell class for a while, and took Bodypump classes.  It's not a ton of experience, but it was definitely more than I had with Bodycombat and it helped.  With Bodycombat, I did the Bodycombat DVD that came the Pump DVDs several times, but I only ever went to one or two live classes before training. So I had almost no experience in the format before I went. That lack of experience made the whole process from initial training to video much harder.  And even though I am certified now, I still have so much to improve on before I feel really confident with Bodycombat.  But I am grateful to be given the "pass" that will allow m

More dare devil pull-behind sledding. It's like these girls think they're indestructible or something. Then they went back to Zoe's flat for what I can only guess are Jello shots?? (My kids think they're ice cubes.) Really, Lego?   Chloe's newly rescued pup Buster, true to his name, wrecked the party when he stole a big hunk of gourmet goat cheese off the kitchen counter. Zoe had that cheese imported at great expense!  Someone's going to need to rescue Buster from her!

Sherry is staring as Johnny Appleseed in a play called "An American Christmas" that she wrote, directs, acts, and sings in herself.      Chloe got a rescue named Buster.  They like to play Frisbee. (I think that's a Frisbee.) 

My husband and I went to see The Piano Guys in concert last night in Wallingford, CT at the Oakdale Theater.  I bought the tickets as a Christmas present to my husband, though it is still early in December.  I usually ask him before I do anything like this, but I know he is the sort of very frugal guy who will talk himself out of spending any money on himself. I also knew he really likes The Piano Guys and he didn't even know they were going to be in Connecticut, so if I bought the tickets without asking, it was going to be a total surprise.  So I got them and then quickly told him I was taking him to the concert. That way he was surprised, but he also knew and he wouldn't make plans to go to dinner with someone for business or something. The concert was a beautiful experience. We were both moved by the glorious sounds. Our hearts were lifted toward the divine. And I was surprised to be so moved by the feel of the music. Now I know, there's nothing like sitting in t

The girls raised money to support the pet hospital where Chloe works. This project gave Zoe and Jo several chances to get to know Josephina, so now she's hanging out with them a lot more often. Note: Zoe and Josephina talked things through and they got past their cocoa fiasco.  Really, it's not even an issue now that Jospehina is in the furniture business.     Chloe and Josephina used the money to buy a box full of supplies like dog biscuits and flea shampoo. Zoe's quiches are such a hit, she needed to buy an industrial-sized oven. The friends all cheered when it arrived and Zoe asked, "Who wants quiche?!"    

Jo wasn't selling any bows in Buffalo. She had to close her stand and she was feeling discouraged. To show their support, Zoe and Chloe started wearing bows more often.  They also encouraged Jo to open an Etsy shop called "Jo's Bows." That turned out to be a great idea.  Jo's online business is going really well. So well, in fact, that Chloe and Zoe secretly hope they can stop wearing their bows soon.  Zoe is trying out some quiche recipes for her coffee shop, so she invited Jo over to try some.  Well, Jo sort of invited herself over.  Jo is starting to think it's great fun that she and Zoe match more than shirts and scarves now. They get tons of attention when they're together in public and Jo loves that, but Zoe is starting to see red... or brown or black... any color besides blond!   Chloe and Josephina met at church.  Chloe invited her sledding and attached a pull-behind sled to hers.  But that's got "emergency room" written

Josephina has been making custom altars, lamp stands, and tables for the churches in and around Buffalo.  All her creativity and skills come together to create these beautiful, yet functional pieces. Sometimes she will go to a church service and sit quietly, watching how individuals and the congregation as a whole put her pieces to work in their worship. She finds it deeply satisfying to help facilitate so much corporate and personal culture and faith.  When her pretentious, artsy friends criticized her for taking these jobs, she told them, "Orthodox is the new eccentric."  For that, she was unfriended on Facebook by a whole lot of them.  The struggle is real, you guys. In addition to coffee and espresso, Zoe added frosted brownies and milk to her hot chocolate stand. Obviously, now she has the most popular after-dinner (and after-breakup) stop in town.  She always smiles and talks to the happy couples. But if she sees a girl that usually comes in with a guy come in a

On Saturday- Pea Pod We had our groceries delivered early in the morning.  Have you ever heard of Pea Pod?  It's awesome to have your groceries brought to your door! Bodypump I was on rotation to teach Bodypump that morning, so I chose to do the latest release 91.  I've done that release several times with other instructors or at home, but it was the third or forth time I got to teach it.  I finally felt really, really comfortable with the material for once, so I had a lot of fun. Bodycombat With technical help from my husband, I put together my Bodycombat 61 assessment video, complete with an introduction stating my name, address, etc.  I am submitting it today. Musical A friend from church offered us three, free tickets to our church's musical Saturday evening, "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." So my husband took our two oldest girls while I stayed home with the baby Saturday night. On Sunday- Church We went to church in the morni

Josephina is pleasantly surprised by all the furniture orders she has been getting these days. Knock on wood- She hopes to start an LLC soon and call it " 'Phina's Furnishings."  She always imagined herself going against the grain as a female sculptor, but she knows she wasn't really cut out for that.  Wood is really shaping up to be her medium of choice. Now that Zoe's got the only hot chocolate stand in town, business is going good for her, too. She has plans to add coffee and espresso to her menu, so she asked Jo and Chloe to meet up at her house to sample some new brews.  But, when the girls realized their hearts were racing and they could no longer sit or even blink, they decided it was time to stop taste-testing for the night. 

  Josephina decided to try her hand at carpentry.  She does well enough with that to pay rent on her flat.     Not to be outdone, because she can't stand being outdone, Jo opens a booth to sell handmade bows and monogrammed accessories to Buffalonians.  She may as well try convincing Chloe to eat refined, white flour. Puh-leeze! She'd have better luck getting Sherry and Carrie to take some Tylenol! 

Meet Sherry and Carrie, proud purveyors of essential oils.  They've got an oil for everything and if that annoys you, they've got an oil for that, too.  

This is Josephina's latest piece of sculpture called "No Man," a faceless snow man with a hole in his chest.  It's moving art. But it's also heavy, so no one can actually move it. Josephina hasn't been able to sell this sculpture or anything else for weeks.  To make some extra cash, Josephina got a permit to sell hot chocolate at the public ice skating rink.  Little did she know, Zoe has been selling hot chocolate at the same rink for years.  You can just tell by looking at their body language, things were tense.  This is not the way to make friends in a new city, Josephina.