Wednesday, January 25, 2012

building babies

I love reading the paper - love the weekend Globe and Mail - I can't sit and read the whole thing in one session, but I like pouring through it on a Saturday/Sunday and catching up.  I went to a conference in 2009 and met this guy who said the best thing he ever started doing was reading the paper every day.  Now I tried to do that but I just can't keep up - the Globe is huge and I'm totally a slow reader - getting through the weekend one is enough... in any case... I tend to keep articles that I went to spend more time on and now I want to share one with you from Jan 7.

They profiled building babies - building better babies.  I'm torn on what to think about this article.  Wait, that's a lie.  I think it is wrong.  There it is.  Wrong.  But there is a piece of me on the fence about a few things.

What's the story - basically scientists can now profile DNA and take away elements that might (might) lead to disease or disability (disability only in the minds of some... what... what am I talking about - watch this video about autism - it is shocking and it has changed my mind about a lot of things) What this means is parents can get faulty parts of DNA removed so children don't get specific diseases, abnormalities, etc and at some point down the road - can work on things like height and all kinds of other things - engineering perfection - hardly - but it feels like that is the intent.

Tell us how you really feel - well... I kind of think all of the shit we are getting as humans is caused by us - and I mean human kind when I say us - no one wants a disease and no one sets out to get a disease - but we are consuming so much more - we are pumping harmful things into our environments - have these diseases always existed - likely not - have we caused some of them from the foods we eat and lifestyles that we live - I think, yes.

This has taken me ages to write tonight.  I've come back to this post over and over again because I'm so - arg and rrrrrr and blah.  Some will say this is prevention and prevention is what the medical system aims for - we want to stop things before they happen and again - no one wants to be sick, but I just don't feel good about this.

When I was given the chance to test if the guys had down syndrome or other chromosome diseases I said no - because I would love them no matter what.  Now for parents who live with disease with their children they would likely love to take that away for their children and give them a "normal" life but my worry in this, that when we extract something from our DNA what are we doing - will we create something worse - I don't think we've done enough homework to understand what we are messing around with and maybe the scientists will say we have done enough homework.

I could go on and on about this, but I'm totally bagged and I feel like this deserves more of my brain cells to make a proper argument.  Let me know what you think - I'm quite interested on the opinions around this.

I'll close with this - I feel like a better parent after watching just a minute of that damned Toddlers and Tiaras - what the hell is that - why is that popular - why are we sexualizing our children - WHY?  SIGH!!!!!!

crepe fest-e-val













That's about 60 crepes :)

And that's it folks - xo

Love to you!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

oh the adventures

Today I went to Prince George.  It was super windy...


That is the snow being blown across the road - little did I know how much this exact spot in the road was going to play a role in my day. 

PG was the same as always I had some errands to run and a meeting and then I turned around and came back.  So in the photo you can see that the hill crests up ahead - so I'm driving back for another meeting and find this...

I'm looking at it as I come over the hill and then I see what I don't really want to see - someone inside.  So I pull over and check on him.  He looks okay and then he says help has been called he'll just wait by his car.  So I'm like.. oh ok and I head back to my car.  And then I see him crouching to get out of the wind because you see - this was the very same spot that I'd taken the picture in the morning showing how windy it was... so I get out again and say - hey - why don't you sit in my car.  He finally agrees.  He is freezing - his hands look like ice.

After about 15 minutes three cop cars show up - lights ablazin', one with sirens - and then he goes on his merry way.  So while he is sitting in the car he tells me that he came over the crest of the hill touch the edge of a snow drift - and there was a big one on the road there and then with the wind it just flip his car on its roof.  It was madness.  He said that he slowed down.  And then... while we are sitting there a Telus van comes up and he asks to use their phone because he wasn't sure if the first person that stopped and said they'd call 911 actually had and I had no cell service.  So he hops into the telus truck and calls and as he does this a green mini van comes up to me and she is livid.  She shouts at me - tell that idiot to slow down - he passed a bunch of us - as if I'm the freakin' police or something... and seriously - he isn't going to be driving anywhere fast now.... if he was speeding I'm sure he learned his lesson... I felt awful enough for the guy - his car is hooped and I honestly think if he hit that drift the right (wrong) way the wind would have tossed his little KIA...

Anyways - so that was my big adventure for the day.

And now... off to make crepes.

xo


Monday, January 23, 2012

meeting

I'm awaiting the start of meeting - shockingly I'm all ready for it.

So I'm working on catching up on some reading and came across this...


I am unspeakably affluent –
rich with ideas, with resources, with love.
There’s so little I need to consume —
and infinite ways to contribute.
I can be a philanthropist, without spending a dime.
I can raise my own brilliance barometer
simply by charging what I’m actually worth.

I just thought this was very great and had to share it with you!
We can all be great - we really can. 

xo

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Temperature shift

At lunch it was minus 10, at 3:30 it was minus 5 and now it is minus 1 - madness and just a few days ago it was minus a billion... stupid weather...

Now to figure out what to do for dinner and this evening... maybe cookies... we'll see if my helpers are up for it...

xo

update - helpers were completely uninterested in cookie making and since I'm still a bit under the weather I decided against it - I've finished three toques and plan to just keep working on them as I have time and clean up all the yarn - tomorrow is Monday... 16 days and counting tomorrow - 16 days - I can hardly believe it - carmen, how did you pack for your long trips.. ? anyone else have suggestions... 

crochet recipe

First - I know - they aren't called recipes - but my brain calls them recipes just the same.

I've decided to make toques with the yarn my grandmother never used.  Hit a rough spot yesterday when I found a slipper she'd made - but never made the second one.  A few tears... then moved on...  there is piles of yarn - in every colour you can think of - so I'm making toques and if you want one - just let me know - you can post a note and I'll gladly make you one.  I'm just going to keep making them and then drop them off to the homeless shelter or wherever...

Anyways... so I'm following the 'recipe' in the book I have and I get to a point in it that I'm thinking - gees - this is a big toque but maybe the edges get softened and it will all work out... sadly... no and so I finished this toque and have plans to now market them to the smart car people as car covers :)  Let the laughter begin!  Turns out that the 'recipe' is for giants - I took 20 stitches off and now have toques that fit my head - nearly finished the second one - I'll post it tonight... and seriously - if you want a toque - I'm totally into making one and mailing it to you -you'll be helping me celebrate my grandma's love of making stuff for other people and also helping me clean up since the yarn takes up a pile of space.







xo - love to you!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

saturday

Chest cold + plus fever = an afternoon of James Bond

Blah.


Friday, January 20, 2012

last night didn't happen

I went for a run - and I kept on running.  The best part of running is listening to my body go - hey - this feels pretty good - look how far you've come - it wasn't that long ago that I absolutely dreaded running and just wanted to find an excuse to not go.  Last night I put in 8km - longest run in a while and then did TRX (what's TRX?)  Actually I broke up the run - I did 5 km, TRX for 30 minutes and then another 3 km - I just didn't want to go home last night.

Sadly I pulled a muscle in my back last night, which I knew I'd done and will now ease off on back exercises for a while - definitely don't want to make that worse.  On top of that I'm getting a chest infection - I've got this raspy sound when I exhale hard - it is gross, but I'm going to be just fine and need to remain upbeat and positive because nothing good comes from being sad and down.

Well I just needed a break from what I'm working on and I'll now get back to work - putting a bid package together.  I'm thinking of just sending in - of course your event should be in Quesnel - you'd be stupid to run it anywhere else :) - ok not so much...

xo love to you!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

a run

Yep - I need a run - a long, run.

More tonight.

xo

Stay warm - it finally warmed up to minus 28 today... that's right - that's the "warmest" it got today... apparently a tropical heat wave will descend upon us next week - plus seven - too good to be true says me :)


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

for goodness sake

First - brrrrrrrrrr - minus a billion continues...

Second - is government stupid?  (ok - stop shouting yes) Why does government like to work on projects that are absolutely useless - why isn't more time spent on attending to the needs of important issues.  When you think of Los Angeles - and granted - I'm pretty far removed from LA - I think of pollution issues, I think of drug and alcohol, homelessness, Hollywood, film making, gangs - plenty of things to keep politicians busy... but what is being worked on right now... and I have to thank my buddy Matt for telling me about this...

They have got a motion in place that requires... hold on... you might need to sit down so you don't fall down when you start laughing...

That Actors in adult movies will be required to wear condoms under an ordinance granted final approval yesterday in LA.

Why do they need to care...

Here's the logic...

That while major porn film companies test their employees every 30 days, that that simply isn't enough and they are trying to protect (literally) the workers.  That this measure will reduce the many cases of HIV reported in the film industry - point of fact - the last case noted by major industry was in 2004.

Ok - so stop working on some bull shit non-issue - and who the hell is going to police that - is this some stupid employment plan - 'good morning evil angel productions, because of our new bylaw you are also required to have a rubber checker employee at every production, the employee will need to pass out rubbers and also make sure that the rubber is a secure position throughout the entire filming period - while this will cost you more money we don't care because you make gobs of money from all the porn lovers in the world and since we can't tax you more we are going to make you help our city and state by forcing you to employ more people'

GARBAGE!

Get back to work! If this is your top priority you must be the best city in the world and since you aren't - then you should really get your heads out of your asses and get back to issues that matter to the tax payers!

And for me - well this issue makes me think of plenty of other counter intuitive measures and issues that have come up over the years and hope that all politicians will look to this one example and say - hey maybe we should pick five priority projects and solve those problems - and then work on the next five and the next five and once we get to utopia we can start chasing the issue of porn employees not wrapping their junk with a trojan.


We must be the change!  We must be the positive change!

Monday, January 16, 2012

omg

Ok - I need to vent.

This morning didn't start out well... I slept really really poorly and nearly fell on the floor - multiple times... guess I was trying to walking around the house.  Then Kyle wakes me up at 6 with - why are you sleeping on the couch... fine... so I'll stop sleeping on the couch... fine...

It is cold here - and I'm a big boob now and the cold just gets to me - I'm sitting nearly on a heater as I write this to you - so since the cold gets me I tell the kids to please get ready with all their winter stuff.  Michael looks like he is ready for early fall with a little hoodie and some little gloves and Kyle doesn't get dressed at all - insert laughter - of course I wasn't really in a laughing mood this morning and so then I show them (again) where all the winter stuff is and then I dress Michael because he is pre-occupied with other things plus I keep getting - it can't be that cold - 'mmmoommmm' - right - I parked my vehicle inside last night - something I've NEVER done... NEVER... anyways - Michael is ready - I pack his snow pants so he can wear them after school and then Kyle wonders over and ... do you remember when Joey and Chandler got in a fight and Joey's retaliation was to put on all of Chandlers clothes - commando style - well that's kind of how Kyle looked plus he was wearing snowmobile goggles - awesome...  and finally we leave the house and then I get this... -wow it is cold... gawd!

Anyways - I can sit here and laugh about it now but I really came on here this morning for was to complain about Tim Hortons - I needed to pick up some stuff at the top of the hill for the office and realized that nothing was open so I stopped and grabbed some tea at horny tim's and guess what... they are changing the sizes - so now you can get extra small (the old small), small (the old medium), medium (the old large), large (the old extra large) and extra large - the new 24 oz coffee... really - oh, and we aren't going to charge you more for the sizes (yet) but really - why do they need to do that - you can already get a refill for a reduced price - am I missing something - have the other coffee companies already done this and because I pretty much only go to horny tim's and starhumps that I just don't know any better... anyways - be forewarned - when you go to order your extra large steep tea double double you will be signing up for a lot more than you probably bargained for - :)

And now to do some work and prep for some fun stuff happening over the next two weeks!

Happy Monday :)

xo

ps. and no word of a lie Kyle's cough which finally left - came back, Michael wasn't feeling good and I took as much cold fx you can take to keep all the pool koodies off of me... stupid dumb pool water... I gave Kyle some herbal stuff to go to school with and am hoping that Michael will rebound... blah... 

Sunday, January 15, 2012

pardon?

Ok - so I flicked on the Golden Globes and have now flicked them back off - if Bridesmaids is up for any kind of awards I definitely DO NOT need to watch any further... that's ridiculous - if films from the previous year suck that bad they should go back previous years to see if there were other ones that were over looked...

sheesh!

the damned pool

Since Bali is getting ever closer I figured I'd better get some swimming in and see if I remember what I'm supposed to do - I've been in the past year, but never really get to swim - not that I did tonight either, but we'll get to that.

So first of all, I test drove one of my new size 10 bathing suits and wanted to cry because it totally fit - I mean totally fit - freakin' hooray - it was actually baggy in spots, but I need it a 10 for the 'girls' - they need size 10 space... but seriously - ok - anyway - little excited...  so I walk over to the pool - not the usual sprint and ease into the water as to not allow people to see me - I took my time with the guys and then we played and went from the bath water pool to the cold pool (stupid) but that's what the guys wanted... so then we play and swim for about 45 minutes and then they want to jump off the diving board - sure - give 'er - Michael flings himself off - hooray... Kyle stands like he is going to dive with his hands in a prayer position in front of him.  Instead of diving he kind of goes off sideways and does a bit of an odd landing into the water... he comes up fine and then he is covered in blood on his face.

Given my life long experiences with blood I don't panic but it does bug me that he is bleeding - he didn't land on his face... anyways - he swims over to me and I tell him he is bleeding - he says he is fine and then it pours out of him... awesome - so I pull him up and out of the pool and the lifeguards take him to get cleaned up and checked out... while I wait for King of the Dive...

And then we are standing in the first aid room while they stop his nose from bleeding in about the roughest way I've ever seen but he is fine and then I remember the last time we were there - last time it was me sitting in the chair because Kyle had kicked me in the face and I'd bled all over the place... sigh.

Other than that we had a quiet day - made lasagna, stayed warm, played games, watched cousins play hockey and hang out with my cousin who I haven't seen in a few years, watched a movie, and hung out.  Back to work on Monday and then I'm on the road working in Lillooet for a couple of days.

xo - I hope everyone else's weekends had less blood in it but all the fun :) love to you!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

minus 4

It snowed most of today and right now we are at minus 4 - I wish it would stay but I plotted up north from us and Dawson Creek is already at -20 and Mackenzie is at minus 13 - so it is coming... I'm figuring by 2am we will be into the negative teens and then be into the terrible nonsense of the minus 20 somethings tomorrow... blah!

Ok - so there is your weather update.  I'm thinking I might need a bath to soak out some sore muscles...
I hope everyone is warm and enjoying a great weekend!

xo

the wart

Last night we went through the third and most difficult application of the freezing on to the damned wart. It was definitely on its way out, but it bugged Kyle last night.  It bugged him to the point that he couldn't fall asleep.  He said it hurt and that he just couldn't sleep.  So I let him read and then after an hour of no sleep I said that was enough and went to check on the wart.  I could see that a smaller upstart one had gone on its own and the beastly one was definitely looking dead.. and so I took it off.  Kyle initially didn't want me to - he was upset - how could I do that - it wasn't ready - but it absolutely was and off it came.  And yes, I totally gagged when I did it - but I guess that is what mom's are for - dealing with the gore and then being emotionally scarred over it .. :)

And then sleep came - hooray - and now the wart is gone-ola!

What else - well it is Saturday and I'm going to the gym.

Want to do a quick quiz to see what kind of tea you should drink to make you feel better... check out David's tea Dosha quiz.  It is explains what Dosha is and then describes teas that will bring you balance.  I don't have a David's tea in town, but we do have a great tea shop that has similar kinds - so if you are like me you can probably find similar teas - or just wait until you are in towns that have David's tea - PG actually has one and it is somewhere I regularly stop.

Have a great Saturday!

xo

Friday, January 13, 2012

early

Yesterday I got to shake the Premier's hand.  She is a good speaker and she had super cute heels (really, she did).  That's about all the good things I can say about yesterday - other than going to winner's and buying some cute yoga shorts - a first for me.

Here is what I don't like - I don't like that we are only thinking about the short term.  That we aren't thinking about fifty or one hundred or hundreds of years of human life and that we are not focusing on innovation and intelligence.  A direct quote from the speech yesterday was excitement over mining and how people will have stable jobs for 10 years and it wasn't like it was just matter-of-factly said - it was hopping, skipping, jumping let's get are GD'n MF'ing cheerleading gear on and do a cheer for 10 years of work - WHAT!  WHAT!  What the hell kind of planning is that?  

We must all be the change.  We must have a culture of innovation and be really thinking about how to live smart.

China's middle class is going to explode - 180 cities the size of Vancouver will be built and lived in by rural Chinese in the next 15 years - 15 years - that's 300 million people migrating from their rural homes to large cities looking for the american life - with more, more, more (ok - it's a Canadian life too) and the mining and forestry companies are jumping up and down (pompoms in hand) because China can't support that kind of development they need Canada - they need us to strip everything off the face of BC and especially Northern BC and send it to China so they can build... great... so what happens when it is all gone.  Minerals do not re-grow themselves.  Oil and gas does not replenish itself, trees take time to grow - like 80 years of time - we are going to ship everything we have to a developing nation and then be have-not, have-nothing and be migrating ourselves to China, India and Russia.

And one more thing - for all the people pissed off about Enbridge - you should really, really, really do your homework - this is only one of many, many pipelines being proposed.  I'm still trying to figure out why Enbridge is having problems when the others aren't but it really isn't the only one that is going to cut across BC and out to the ocean to make giant profits for corporations and leave our province rich while they are here and operating and penniless and without resources when they leave - again - LONG TERM PLANNING!  All levels of government need to be thinking this way.  Let's have a future for ourselves and our children and their children and so on.

Very long, loud sigh!

End rant... for now - we'll see how today goes.



Wednesday, January 11, 2012

busy, busy

And so the count down rolls into under 30 days and I can't even believe it.  I'm still trying to figure out what to pack and yes... I know there was an earthquake in Indonesia - it was in a different part of the islands there and yes, I realize that I'm going to a part of the world where this could happen again.. but that's ok.. if we decide to live life that way we would never go anywhere... and I'm not living in a box...

I'm working on a scarf tonight and just hanging out.  I made soup last night that was pretty spicy, so I added a few more ingredients tonight and while it is still spicy it was good - more seafood and some mushrooms.

Recipe:
1800 ml (two no sodium added chicken stock) chicken stock
2 small red chillies, sliced (I, not knowing my chiles, used these small red peppers - apparently not red chillies)
1 shallot, minced
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp fish sauce
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 lb shrimp, cleaned, tailed
2 cups baby spinach
1 scallion, thinly sliced (green onion)

Simmer stock with chillies, ginger and fish sauce, 10 minutes.
Whisk in peanut butter.
Add shrimp and cook shrimp, about 1 minute.
Remove from heat.
To serve, fill bowls with baby spinach. Ladle soup over and garnish with scallion.

I didn't have the spinach so I served it without.
Tonight I added a few scallops, and some mushrooms.
Still spicy tonight, but yummy - keeping the colds away :)

And now back to crocheting and probably a movie...

xo my loves - i hope you are well



Friday, January 06, 2012

warts

Ok - let's count to 40.


1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - god- you have to stop right now - right now!

Then the tears- the tears and yelps and stops


This is the absolute shit part of being a parent.

Kyle has had a plantar's wart for months, but going to the doctor's office every couple of days wasn't working out and now I've got the super strength home kit and am hoping it will work.  Tonight's exercise caused the wart to go black - wicked - but then I noticed it is spreading.. rrrrrrrrrrr.

So now we are going to do another 40 second stint tomorrow and then compound W the shit out of it for a week and hope that works... it would be lovely to fix his feet.



What else... well I finished the 2012 calendars, got them printed and they go in the mail tomorrow.
I'm working on my own personal one that I need to have printed for next week and then I'm working on a special one too.

I've been busy running to meetings this week and next week is more of the same - going to PG for a one day workshop, plus lots of other random meetings.

And that's about it for me today - I'm back at the gym and running and I've had a good week for exercise... and I can definitely see the difference in my energy levels - so onward and upward on that whole front... things just don't work without the exercise component.

xo - my loves - xo

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

birthday

Michael turned 6 today.  Sigh - I can't believe how big he is getting and that he is his own little person... I ended up getting to take them out for dinner tonight - an unexpected good thing.  He is hopefully having a party on Sunday - we will see what his friends decide to do - he got a few gifts to open tonight - something he'd really wanted was a bath robe and I finally managed to find one... it is pretty posh... and he tried to wear it to bed.  (I know, I know - who asks for a bath robe... )

I'm hoping that the weather goes back to winter again and that we get some snow - I'd like to go cross country skiing this weekend but right now... well it doesn't feel like there will be any snow.  It rained hard here tonight and has been unbelievably warm - usually January is wicked cold so I'm not super upset about some warm weather, but that's enough... bring back winter... please.

I gave away most of my scrapbooking stuff today - I've got some paper and a few stickers left - I was happy to see it go to a home were everything will be well used and used up.  

I'm going to head to bed early - Kyle got up in the middle of the night and I didn't sleep very well after that.  He walks in - half asleep - and says - I'm cold and I'm sleeping in your blankets.  I laughed - pushy at 4am... who does that... 

So glad it is nearly the weekend - can't wait to have this week over... can't wait!
hugs and kisses to you - lots - take more if you need more :)
xo 

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

10 on Tuesday


Ten on Tuesday is hosted by Chelsea over at Roots and Rings and I was reminded to do it when I read Carmen's at My Life in a Nutshell

1. What did you get for Christmas?
Love, happiness and joy

2. Have you taken down your Christmas decorations?

Decorations are down - tree is still standing... it is going out tonight though

3. What did you do for New Years Eve?

I carefully inspected the inside of my eye lids

4. Do you like accents?

Yes - I could watch Braveheart everyday and never get sick of it... never ;)

5. What kind of television do you have?

Um - it is big and flat - there is one - it is not well used... but the kids like their shows... ok - and I love food network

6. Did you make any changes at the beginning of 2012?
I started something amazing and no - that doesn't mean the steve jobs book 



7. What’s the last book you read and do you recommend it?
I'm reading Steve Jobs biography and love it - recommended!  My brother says he even talked to Steve Jobs who apparently actually took some of the tech calls from home... 

8. Do you stay current on celebrity gossip?

Nope - don't care - but much like everyone else on the planet I can't seem to avoid it because someone how some idiot who makes millions of dollars for acting in a movie or singing a song trumps all of the things in the world that actually need attention - that's going to change though... change is in the air 

9. Do you know the words to Bohemian Rhapsody? Gangstas Paradise? Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?

Yes to all three - I know plenty of songs... I love Lady Antebellum right now!

10. What is your favorite education television show?
I'm going to say that Food Network is educational - and really - I love most of it... 

work

I'm at work early this morning.  Got up and just got out the door - ate breakfast and am having tea... no caffeine :)

This morning the weather is so dismal that I'm going to have to my fluorescent lights on all day.. blah - I loathe them!

Ok - and now to get to work and read a document and clean up my desk and start figuring out how I'm going to leave this place for a month.  (Hooray)

xo - have a great day at work! xo

Monday, January 02, 2012

hello 2012

First of all - goodbye 2011 - thank you for teaching me many, many, many valuable things, thank you!  I'm so glad to close out 2011 and just move on to 2012.

I have so much to look forward to in 2012 - I mean it really seems like a never ending list.  I'm heading to Bali in February, Japan in the spring - still booking, Iqaluit in September and then lots of trips to Vancouver and the rest of BC and hopefully a trip to Calgary... 

Resolutions - well I've never been one to really make one - weight loss continues and now it is more about maintenance and toning than anything else.  I plan to go to some TRX classes throughout January to help with that.  I'm dropping caffeine - or rather - largely dropping caffeine - I can now see what it is doing to me - I finally caught the pattern and now I'm going to stop doing that to myself... I just needed to see the pattern.

2012 is a year for joy and happiness - it is a year of moving forward and starting new projects and living.
We only get so many days on this earth - the rock collector continues to advise me that there are only about 350 ish of them left... and then a few will be left behind... regardless of that nonsense we all may get hundreds/thousands or ... who knows... but let's enjoy every day.

My sincere and best wishes to you for 2012 and for every day and year as we all go forward!
xo