I am thankful for the following this week.

Use of my legs
I don’t have a car, but my parents have been exceedingly generous with the use of their car. This week I decided to see if I could do without using it once. On Tuesday evening I needed to do some light shopping, and the store I needed to go to was a good 25 minutes away by foot. I whined and considered trying to take the bus there but I eventually put on my running shoes and walked. It was bit cold but with good music in my ears it was very doable. Next time I’ll eat dinner before going out though!

Having the option to walk somewhere is something I definitely take for granted. It may not ever always be the preferred choice but at least it’s one I have.

A functioning immune system
I have a cold but the fact that 48 hours has made a difference is testimony to a functioning immune system, especially since I didn’t take any medication for it. I still sound a bit like a frog and my nose is plugged but I feel sooo much better than I did on Monday evening and that is something that I am thankful for.

The Save to Splurge Challenge
The fabulous Onada came up with the Save to Splurge challenge at the beginning of this year. The plan was that anyone who wanted to join the challenge would share how they would save some of the money they regularly spend (on eating lunches out or on coffees, for example) and then use the money saved to either pay down some bills or buy something lovely. We had to set goals for how much we thought we’d save.

I joined this challenge reluctantly because my track record with sticking to anything for longer than a few days is ABYSMAL! It just does not happen. In fact I think some researchers need to use me as their guinea pig to study this phenomenon. Back when I thought diets were the way to lose weight I’d say I’m on “such and such” diet and be off it before 24 hours has passed.

But this challenge stuck, shockingly enough. I have bought my lunch for most of my life, and at my current workplace where I have been for almost five years, I have bought my lunch every day. So my personal challenge was to bring in my lunch once a week, which would make my savings for the eight weeks of the challenge $64. However, the challenge was bumped to nine weeks in length and this is the ninth week and I have saved nearly twice that amount because I actually made the extra effort to prepare enough dinner so I had leftovers and I actually remembered to bring the leftovers to work!

Unlike the other ladies, I didn’t intend to splurge because I couldn’t think of anything I wanted that would be in that price range. However, during my walk on Tuesday evening, I decided to stop at a shoe store and saw these two pairs of summer sandals and um, they had to go home with me (click to make bigger).

I think I may have broken the rules of the game by splurging before the challenge is over but when your feet are size 11 wide, you don’t hesitate when you find shoes in your size. I snapped them up kia kia, and I even had coupons to soften the blow of paying full price (and thankfully, one pair was on sale). I’m very pleased with my purchases.

Funm’s reading challenge
I love to read but sometimes there isn’t enough time in the day to get things done, including reading. That’s why I was excited by Funm’s reading challenge. Also, the fact that I proved that I could stick to a challenge made me eager to give this new challenge a try! I’m going to try to read two books a month (versus the challenge’s four books per month) and I’m starting with the book on the right. So far, I love it! The jist of the book is that women who want to get married should be looking for those qualities that make a man a good longterm partner, and that focusing on things like chemistry or sparks doesn’t guarantee a better marriage than those who marry a guy who is nice, dependable, so-called “boring” guys. The book is not telling women to settle, but instead encouraging them to compromise. I’m interested in what I’ll take away from the book.

There was a time when reading a book a week wasn’t a challenge at all, because in a week I could read three or four books. Now I have to actually remind myself to make time to read. Hopefully I’ll be able to consistently make time for books.

Upcoming good news
A friend of mine has some good news coming up and I’m too excited on her behalf to say nothing at all. I’m definitely thankful for that.

And those of you who have good news to share and are biding your time before revealing it to your loved ones blogsville, I’m thankful for that too!

I’m also thankful:

• for the almost spring-like weather. I think I’ll be thanking God for the weather until all this snow melts.
• that I feel safe. It’s a real gift to be able to go out and come home late at night and not be afraid, even when all is quiet around me and it seems like I’m the only one awake on the whole street. This doesn’t mean I’ll behave recklessly, of course.
• that I’ll be going camping with my sister and friends this summer. I booked the campsite this week; it just so happens it’ll be during my birthday weekend. We’re going to the same place as last year and it’ll be the fourth year in a row that this group of five (six this year) goes and I’m really looking forward to it.
• for the power of a kind word. Have you ever been the recipient of unexpected kind words? A month or so ago, I was at a grocery store, just buying a few things, and the cashier said she liked my hair. I hadn’t done anything special to it (I wear my hair relaxed) but her compliment made my day since it was so unexpected. Yesterday, while waiting for my turn at another store, I noticed and really liked the cashier’s hair colour so I told her so as she was putting my purchases through the cash register. Her reaction was very much like mine earlier: surprise at the unexpectedness of the comment and then a genuine smile. Try it!

I had a great time on Saturday taking part in the Big Size = Big Dating Problem? show on Verastically Speakin’ and I’m so thankful to all those people who told me they listened to the show. There was great discussion (as usual!) on the topic and the message that kept coming back was that confidence is key, there’s someone out there who will like your body and while it’s ok to have a few extra pounds, being obese is not cool.

Most guys who called in said they wouldn’t mind dating a bigger girl but like I said on the show, no guy on blogsville is going to say otherwise and risk the the ire of blogsville’s citizens! I may one day put up an poll with pictures of women in a variety of sizes and ask men to vote on who is too big for them to date. I’m hoping the anonymous poll would allow them vote in a way that supports my hypothesis.

If you want to listen to the show, you can click below.

Sickle cell disease is serious and anyone wanting more information about this can consult:

• Sickle Cell Ontario
• Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc.
• These Genes, Tosyn Bucknor’s project
• the wikipedia page on it

If you would like to donate to this cause, you can support Sickle Cell Ontario by donating here, or support the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc. here. Give what you can; even if it’s just your coffee money!

For those unfamiliar with how sickle cell disease transfer from parent to child works (and those in the know, especially the doctors among us, please correct me if I get any of this wrong), if you are AA, you do not have the sickle cell trait or disease; you are completely healthy (as regards sickle cell disease). If you are AS you have the trait, which means you are a carrier of sickle cell disease. You generally show no signs of the disease but may have or develop some conditions as a result (though generally not sickle cell disease). If you are SS you have sickle cell disease.

So, if you know you’re a carrier, to give yourself the lowest chance of having a child who is also a carrier or a child who has sickle cell disease, it’s ideal to match yourself with someone who is AA as that nearly guarantees you won’t have children who have sickle cell disease. If you and your spouse are AS, there’s about a 25% chance that your offspring could have sickle cell disease, a 25% chance that your child could be AA, and a 50% chance that your offspring could be a carrier like you.

As far as I can tell, these are only odds. It doesn’t mean that if two AS parents have four children, two of them will definitely be AS. You sometimes hear that despite the odds of having a child with a certain condition, some families have multiple children with the same “rare” or “uncommon” condition.

I think the older generation cares more about the answer to the question asked in the title of this entry. One example is the pastor of a friend of mine who told her to make sure she finds out the genotype of a guy she was getting to know before things get more serious. Among the younger set, some don’t know their genotype and aren’t in a rush to find out, and don’t care about the genotype their significant other. I currently don’t know my genotype, but I will be requesting that it be checked in the blood test following my annual physical exam next month, along with my blood type (which I’m embarrassed to confess I don’t know either). I know it won’t affect who I decide to be with, but my potential future partner may feel differently.

I have some questions for you:

1. Does the genotype of your (future) spouse matter to you?
2. Have you ever ended a relationship or decided not to enter into a relationship due to genotype?
3. Have your parents or others tried to influence a budding relationship due to “incompatible” genotypes?

Please vote on the poll on the right regarding whether or not you know your genotype!

My general stance is that bigger people (by which I mean overweight or obese folks) have a harder time dating. However, I don’t think society and its focus on slim/muscular people being the standard of beauty is 100% to blame (only 95%): some overweight or obese people (*ahemGNGahem*) are not completely comfortable in their skin and despite their best efforts this dissatisfaction is often more visible than they are aware, meaning that they don’t come across as confident people. We all know that confidence is sexy and a girl or guy who’s busy with their body issues is not always a fun person to be around.

I’m sure the discussion will be very interesting, especially since some people have very strong words for overweight/obese people, stereotypical things like thinking they must be fat people are ugly, lazy, slobs.

Join us at 10am EST on March 6 and hear what we have to say!

The 2010 Nigerian Blog Awards are coming!
The 2010 Nigerian Blog Awards are coming. We have a website that’s non-functional (I’m no Seye Kuyinu when it comes to web design) and a twitter account. Please follow us so you’ll be first to know when the fun starts.

If you have no idea what the Nigerian Blog Awards are, please visit the 2009 Naija Bloggers Award site that sting and her able helpers organized. I changed the name a bit for 2010 but much of how things were run last year will be the same.

Please continue to send any blogs by Nigerians or blogs focused on Nigeria to me so I can add them to this list. They will also be listed on Nigerian Blog Awards website, of course!

Can you believe it’s March 1 already? God help us…I have things I need to accomplish before December 31 so I’d like time to slow down a bit!

Since I got my full driver’s license a few years ago, Canada’s winters have really been a great challenge of my driving skills. I have driven in really bad weather, I’ve had to control a car while it’s skidding and sliding all over the place and I have learned to not over-rotate the steering wheel when trying to control the car because the result ends up being worse than the original skid.

As I drove last night, I became a little scared at the way the car was sliding around, so I started singing “I’m not driving this car; God is driving this car”. I often do that when I’m not feeling confident: I’ll sing a song to myself. It was exactly what I needed to force me to focus on the task at hand and not on anything else. Even though some of the cars behind me were probably wondering why I was driving so slowly, I only have one life and skidding into a ditch was not a part of my plan.

I arrived safely at my parents’ place and said a quick thanks to God.

Other things that I am thankful for this past week:

• the success of the Nigeria Day aspect of Black History Month that was held in this city. I’ll blog more about it later but it was nice to see some non-Nigerians waiting to enter in order to share out culture with us.
• the continued health of my family in general. God is good!
• the fact that I continue to pay down my mortgage and other household bills without too much pain (my bank account might disagree!)
• that I’ll be seeing some female friends that I haven’t seen in a little while tomorrow. They’ll be coming to my place so I need to get that house clean.

May you be overflowing with thanks this weekend.

Dates: February 26-27, 2010 (this week!)
Time: 9:00am – 8:00pm (both days)
Location: Cactus Patisserie, 20-24 Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, Lagos

Amina’s work blows me away because she doesn’t only construct the bags herself, she hand dyes the fabric part and I can’t even imagine how much work goes into that. Don’t take my word for it though; here is a preview of she has in store for you:

If you can make it on either of those days (or both days sef), go and show your support (tell her GNG sent you). Her work is truly beautiful and it’s good to support fellow Nigerians doing entrepreneurial things like this at such a high level, in addition to their day jobs! Simply inspiring!

Canadian athletes are very humble. When we (I will claim my Canadian citizenship now!) win a gold medal, we’re quick to congratulate the other medalists instead of spending lots of time on self-congratulation like our neighbours to the south do (and here I renounce my American citizenship). I’m thankful that the curse of Canada being unable to win a gold medal on home soil has been broken: at last count, a man and a woman have both won gold medals. Go Canada go!

When I’m in church and the pastor asks us to turn to a particular passage in the bible, I always seem to pass other stories or passages that I like more, or passages that I’m prompted to read. This results in me only giving the pastor half of my attention while reading other passage (not a practice I’d recommend!).

Last Sunday, this practice of mine led me to Chapter 5 of the book of Matthew, specifically the section on making oaths. Verses 33-37 say:

33″Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ 34But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

I am one of those people who makes promises and means well, but I don’t always keep my promises. If I really can’t do something, I won’t say I’ll do it but when you add a procrastinating nature to the mix, the result is there are times when I don’t end up doing what I say I’ll do, when I say I’ll do it. And when I’ve broken the same promise more than once, it’s tempting to “swear” that I’ll do it this time, no matter what, and I really started thinking of why I have to “swear” that. Why can’t I just be a woman of my word and let my ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and my ‘No’ be ‘No’? It’s what God asks of us.

When I was younger, lots of kids would say things like “I swear to God” or “I swear on my grandmother’s grave”. That wasn’t really part of my vocabulary, but it’s the same idea as saying “I swear I’ll do it this time!” which I do say. Instead of wasting time “swearing” this or that, I’ll just do it, or say no more often, or give more realistic timelines.

Finally, I’m so excited for one of my blog buddies who got engaged! I’m so excited for you, girl and I’m waiting for gist!

Have a great weekend everyone, and if you’re a Nigerian blogger and your blog isn’t listed here (and you want it to be), please leave a comment on that entry. Thank you!

Caveats:

• the blog must have been updated in the last six months or sooner
• the blog must not be private
• the blog must be written by a Nigerian or focus on Nigeria

Edited to add: Please allow me to give Sting credit for starting this list when she and the others that worked with her on the 2009 Naija Bloggers’ Award site posted a list of Nigerian bloggers on their site!

List moved HERE!!

In a normal week, I spend some time reflecting on what I am thankful for but this week, I’m just doing this now, so only the following comes to mind:

• being able to fall into a deep sleep within a minute. I’m very tired so this is a wonderful gift. Waking up isn’t easy though!
• safety and protection. Over the last couple of weeks I have had a number of tradesmen in my house working to fix various things and I am thankful that I never had to worry about my safety while they were here.
• free local papers that allow me to keep up to date with what is going on in the world.
• a boss who cares. She may not be able to solve my every problem but I do feel like she cares about me as a person, and that means something me.

I know, shortest entry ever, especially when there are other things like the relatively mild weather we’ve been having to be thankful for but one more yawn from me and I’ll probably swallow my laptop.

Thank you all for sharing what you’re thankful for on the last entry. I enjoyed reading it.

• Blogging for example. Those of us who blog have access to a phone or computer and internet, which is a luxury some cannot afford. We also live in a nation where there’s relative freedom of speech and no regulations on how we use the medium of the blog so we write in peace, without looking over our shoulders or wondering who is reading (well, besides those family members and friends we may not want to read!).
• All week, when I got home from work, I’ve asked myself what I feel like having for dinner. Thank God for choice! Sure, some options are more appealing than others but I will not starve, and my cupboards have never been bare. Two nights ago I was saying to myself “Oh, I only have beef in the house; I want chicken, or fish.” It is a blessing to be able to make statements like that.
• I’m very attached to my family, even though I don’t live with them anymore. I’ve also become more attached to my family in Nigeria since my last visit. I am thankful that I can easily drop them a line to let them know I’m thinking of them thanks to phones and the internet. Just think of what people in Haiti and their family elsewhere were going through when those in Haiti couldn’t reach their loved ones to let them know they are ok. It’s very stressful for both sides
• I know, I’m weird, but I’m going to mention toilet paper because it is something we all take for granted. I already told you about my favourite toilet paper, and maybe it’s weird to even have a favourite, especially since I’m sure most of you never think about the stuff. It’s a most wonderful innovation; better, in my opinion, than sliced bread!

And some wonderful things that have happened in the lives of my friends:

1. My friend V got a new job and she starts on Monday. She has a lot of skills that are very much in demand, and though her industry is a bit volatile and subject to layoffs, she continues to thrive. She’ll be working for a little company that you may have heard of since they are the makers of the BlackBerry, so you can bet I’ve already tried to use my connections to get a free Blackberry (despite my efforts, no such luck!).
2. My friend A who was in a very toxic work environment has gotten out! I hate to see sweet people who are hardworking get abused in any way, and her work was beginning to be detrimental to her health.
3. V (from #1) and her husband have also upgraded their car situation! It’s always great to see people around you thriving!

Ok, your turn: big or little, what are you grateful for?