happy halloween

An evening of fun for us all - boys had a great time out and Andy lit some fireworks for us.... hope everyone else had a safe and good time tonight!

to get you in the mood for halloween...

So here are our family pumpkins for 2007! Enjoy :)


T-Rex


Decepticon Logo (What's that... Transformers....)


Autobot Logo (again, transformers)

the book

so here is the draft book - it is over 5 MB so you have to download it from the site - if anyone wants to check it out then please do and email me feedback - aakcheng@telus.net

http://downloads.southhillgraphics.ca/City_of_Quesnel/

work

So here is another project I'm working on - www.moosemeadowsfarm.ca - I'm not the original site developer, but now I manage it and make all the new pages. fun fun fun.. if you want a wreath for your door/house for christmas or if you want some unique Cariboo delicacy you should definitely check the site (dandylion jelly, honey, birch syrup) - you can place orders for all of their products...

carmen - watch your email for a link from me.... if you have time - I know you are back in PG... so if you don't have time to look at the book I'll understand

hip hip hooray

a view from the top

This is at 4,400 ft above Quesnel. In the distance is Dragon Lake - this is taken from the west side of the Fraser River. Top of Milburn Lake Mtn. The puddles were iced over and winter is definitely on its way... brrrrr was it cold!

hike

One last hike and I'm finishing up the book tonight - as far as actual writing and hiking - HOORAY! I can't flaming wait!

I'll share photos tonight from the peak :)

face in the garden

One of my fav photos from this past summer of clicking.

This is from Edgewood Farm, a beautiful gift shop on a turn of the century farm. The gardens are amazing and they also have strawberries in August for picking. If you come to Quesnel it's definitely worth a visit and if you ask 'pretty' I might even take you :)

sleep

found small amount of motivation at bottom of cup - short lived - overwhelming urge to sleep is now winning battle... one more night of too much work and then... well then i get to work on my course work for my degree... WHAT - why did I sign up for a course this semester - oh and my web work but I don't think of that as work as much - time consuming - yes - learning and fun yes... plus I get paid for that too... ok - eyes closing - night

lost

not under couch

took detour and ended up in hot shower...

hopefully motivation will be at bottom of tea cup

april's tea - white lemon misto
(1 tsp lemon honey from honeyshop.ca, 1/4 cup steamed 2% milk, 3/4 cup hot water - stir - drink - mmmmm)

motivation

must find motivation
trying to find some

must be under the couch - going to look there

book book book

So anyone feel like proofing my book? I should have a draft in a couple of days if there are any takers let me know.

camera cord found...

This is a chainsaw carving that my dad did for mom. That's love when a man carves that anywhere for you.


This is Michael appreciating the first of two cakes celebrating Kyle's birthday.


Here are Michael and Kyle on Kyle's birthday. We had a crocodile cake.


This is the cool toy that aunti mel got Kyle for his birthday. Michael loves it.... Kyle likes it too...


This is my brother, loving mashed potatoes.


Here are the boys in front my parents hand-placed rock wall at the new house.


You guessed, a grasshopper.


The boys and granny on a 4-wheeler - good times. I took Michael on a tootle after.


Here is my parents house - the exterior is nearly complete...


What is this? Spiders have eight legs...

brrrrrr

On Thursday morning my furnace stopped turning on - well it would turn on and then turn off and turn on and turn off over and over... I check the simple things and then, due to paranoia, I turn the thermostat off. I call a furnace place once I get to work. I explain the problem after all that she says - we actually aren't taking on any new clients. rrright... So I have meetings and this has been hell week - so I call another place at lunch - and get put on the wait list - I'm number 50. I talk to my brother last night and he suggests another place - so I call this morning and get told November 19. Thanks! So ms string puller (me) calls my chamber buddy and ask - hey - do you know what I should do? she gives me a PG number and says she will ask around... the place that listed me as #50 calls me back and says they can come on their way home - great - I'm pretty sure this is all as a result of my whining to the chamber... any way - a hundred bucks later, one new filter, some dial adjusting and testing and it flicks on... while he is packing up and taking a call it runs - I don't know when it shut off - I think it was about 20 minutes after he left... maybe less - it hasn't come back on - my thermostat is saying it should be 19 but that it is 17 - so maybe the pilot light is out - I don't even know how to start that - I feel like such a dull knife on this - so we are back in the land of cold - I'm sitting in blankets typing - my bed has extra blankets and I have our one function heater in the boys room.. BLAH! SO I guess I'll be calling back in tomorrow. He said as he was leaving that if there was anything wrong as a result of what he did he'd come back for free... hope that stands up. :) - WHERE ARE THE PHOTOS?... I know I know...

foreshadow

I guess I shouldn't have said anything about being sick and hoping I wasn't coming down with something... just another 8 hours later I was praying to bathroom gods. Man I was sick! Now it could have been food poisoning or just whatever is going around... today I'm feeling blah but managed to drag myself into work... I tried to sleep all day yesterday which means my poor husband had to drive himself to PG and now he is probably coughing up a lung worried about his test tomorrow...

We are holding up ok today. Kyle started to get sick last night, but managed to get back to sleep without throwing up. Tonight we just taking it easy. Toast and cheese dinner, grapes, tea... milk :)

Anyway - hope I recover soon - with any luck I may actually load some photos tonight.. just need to find my cord...

stats

I decided it was time to update my stat counter tonight and was shocked at the number of visitors I've had since March. Even in this month alone I've had more than 300 individual hits... crazy... so to everyone visiting - thanks... you've given me a renewed motivation to post...

and on that note I'm going to bed - whatever is going around my house is terrible... michael threw up in his sleep last night - fabulous - that's something you won't find the joy of parenting - the smell of vomitus macaroni and cheese - dear lord - it has completely turned me off of pasta... blah - he was feeling a million times better today - it was like whatever it was left with the macaroni - on my damned CARPET! ARG! ARG! triple ARG! I don't know if it is dealing with barfy cheese or what but I definitely did not feel good today - hopefully I'll be back to "normal" tomorrow

oh and cross your fingers, toes, make some prayers... whatever works for you - andy goes for licensing on Thursday - he leaves tomorrow for Van - he doesn't need luck - but he does need positive thoughts :) thank you positive thought network... ok - good night

Oh - I also wanted to say something about Gore getting the peace prize - but can't get it out right - so here is the short of it - 1) what the hell 2) when did the nobel prize become a popularity contest (2 popularity contests won, 1 prize - wait that math doesn't add up...)

HHHOOOOOORRRAAYYYYYYYY!

Where will we be on December 15 with thousands of others? That's right ladies and gentleman we are going to Bon Jovi!
HHHHHHHOOOOOOORRRRRRRRAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

kyle's bday

so I don't have pictures tonight - but I'll say that he had a pretty darn good time. No party on Saturday - my aunti jenni visited on Saturday and that was great - I was so happy to have her over! We went for dinner and BP's (it sucked for service) and then came home for crocodile cake and presents. Aunti Jenni got Kyle a spider man truck and new game - Monkey Madness - we got him the Prehistoric Park dvd's and, of course, Steve Irwin. Steve is a "ken-sized", talks and has adventures. Kyle was very pleased to get him.

Today Kyle had lunch with his two "girlfriends" and a friend from daycare. Small and short - good! Kyle got a new dinosaur from his little buddy and they had a great time playing together.

Now I'm trying to write the rest of the book. I just finished enjoying a cup of peppermint tea - definitely my favorite tea now - I really like it as a fog (3/4 tea with one peppermint bag and then rest milk (2%) mmmmmm) Plus peppermint is good for your insides - so hooray for that.

I made bread tonight - buns - and andy said "these are better than your moms..." I'm still blushing from it - you see buns are kind of a pinnacle in the career of baking - and true success is out doing your family members - so hip hip hooray.... they are good - and it is all about time... I am using my mothers and grandmothers recipe - I've used the same one for years and the only thing I've changed is that I no longer rush making it - if it sits and rises for an hour or more... oh well - and they totally taste better.

Alright - I'm off to write the book... write more... night and hope everyone had a great weekend.

tonight

my feet are cold
i have a tin cut on my right ring finger and my left index
a cold is trying to gain entry to my system

so now that I've done my whining - we are t-minus a few hours from kyle's fifth birthday... only one kid replied to our birthday invitation... BOOOOOOOOO - Michael is still sick and Kyle was pretty run down and sneezy tonight - so we are going to call the one kid tomorrow and say we've chosen to cancel because the guys are sick and I don't want to entertain a parent that I don't even know.. (the mom wanted to stay at the house - no problem if there is more than one parent... not so great if we are just looking at each other and have nothing to talk about... blah)... so kyle will go to lunch with some buddies on sunday and i might suggest that the mom and other kid attend there... well see... he really wanted to hang out with a past friend but that mom didn't call at all... i'm also wondering if people will show up and not have replied...

i can't believe that my body was getting ready to have its first baby five years ago... GOD - i can't believe i was 25... where did all the time go - where? where?

cookie of the month... thinking of starting a cookie program - if you wanted cookies - how much would you be willing to pay? a dozen small cookies for shipping in canada is about $2... I'm thinking like $3 a month... I know - I'm insane... oh and i started another craft project... something that I'm hoping to market... i'll share more later...

blah-diddy-blah-blah

My body decided a few days ago that it had had enough. I knew it was coming, so I started taking cold FX and I'm still taking it hoping that I'll bypass the full blown whatever it is I have. I'm run down and still have a heap of work to do. I'm plowing through some of it tonight... finally... I'm just looking forward to Kyle's birthday on Saturday and now I'm looking forward to my aunt visiting - HOORAY!

I'm completely procrastinating - how sad is that - heaps of work and I procrastinate... I need to go read Covey and get re-motivated... of course reading will lead to further procrastination... ok - before I go - speaking of reading... I bought one of Steven King's new ones - Lisey's Story - if I had a day just for me I'd easily plow through this book. It is quite the tale and some nights I don't want to put it down, 'course some nights I fall asleep with it stuck to my face. If you feel like reading a story that will give you the creeps, and also make you think... give it a try. I picked it up for less than $8 at Costco.

Alright... alright - back to work.. 30 more minutes and then I'm pulling the plug and going to sleep.
Night all.

excuse me...

Alright... I'm watching my favorite meteorologist and hear that the east coast will experience la nina this year... what does that mean - well most of Canada (most) will experience higher than normal temperatures... and of course the exception to the rule is BC... well have lower temperatures and isn't that the truth... it is 11:30pm and it is already -2.... minus two - WHAT?

So what else? Well we didn't have turkey tonight but I did roast a chicken in the oven... not the same, but I made my turkey stuffing so I will still have a sandwich tomorrow... mmmm.... turkey sandwich... mmmmmm

Ok - back to writing my book - literally - still working on the hiking guide - I have all the trails written down.. just not in my computer... I'm getting there... I'm due for a break though... in the form of a nap...

Kids - Kyle - well the 5th birthday is fast approaching - we made invitations for his buddies tonight - steve irwin all the way baby... we are going to have a crocodile scavenger hunt and an australia cake... that's in a few short days... michael has a runny nose and had a slight temperature today... hoping he feels better tomorrow, but I think we are only at the beginning of this one... night all -

turkey weekend

So you've got a few minutes to do something useless.... well here you go - from the vault under things April sang at parties wasted... Mahamana

I didn't get a degree but...

I went to university. Made friends, found a husband :), had a good time - learned a few things... not many... but I did manage to take one thing away that was of value today. I learned how to break and enter with a credit card. This afternoon I locked my keys in the building and knew it as soon as I shut the door that even though I'd grabbed my bag - my keys had gone somewhere else. So I did my business out of the office and came back to see if I still had this skill... and after a minute or so I got back in. Hooray for crappy locks. So here is something to think about - if it is that easy for me (the not so smart, but still good looking, even if I don't have a bum) to B&E into my office - single lock (not deadbolt) you'd be wise to have additional security on your house/business.

an evening treat

It's 11pm and if I haven't started to climb into bed and still have work to do I get the munchies. Tonight I'm enjoying a fine cup of lemon honey water. I bought a little jar of lemon flavoured honey ($5.95) from honeyshop.ca - I'm lucky enough to be in the home town of honeyshop.ca. So here is some shameless promotion for them... the honey is amazing and the flavoured honey is fantastic. If you like a sweet tea and enjoy a flavour (name it and he probably has it) you should consider buying some. There are sample packages available and you will be happy you spent the money if you find a honey you love. So there you go - and no I'm not the president or being paid to write this - I love it! I tried strawberry, but my love is with lemon... my recipe for success - boil water, add one tsp or tbsp of lemon honey - sit down, put up feet, enjoy! - repeat as required...

october

T-minus 12 days to Kyle's 5th birthday. So what does that mean? Well it means that I'm nearly five years older and I can't believe. I can't believe that I was 25 when I had Kyle - it feels like it was hundreds of years ago and it also feels like it happened in a blink of an eye. I look at how big Kyle is and sometimes I can't even get my brain around it. Where did my 21" baby go? His arms are longer than that now. This Friday is his parent teacher interview - WHAT? I know - I can't believe it myself - that is a clear sign of how much time flies... I know I know - everyone always said that to you when you were young and you were like.... whatever old dude... now I'm the old dude and trying not to say anything about because then I will also be labelled the old dude and right now Kyle still says I'm young.. (PHEW).

What else? Well I'm swamped. Too much work. Too many projects. The one upside is that it is forcing me to say no and to teach people to do their own work. I'm actually leaving one board of directors and might be leaving another. This doesn't make me feel good, but it will free up some of my time and maybe then I will actually get to dedicate time to scrapbooking and the work that I enjoy...

Michael - well our little man is growing up fast. He enjoys everything Kyle does and right now is quite into dinosaurs (dinos), crocodiles (crocs) and dora. He has lots of words, not any real sentences yet. He blurts out a couple of words together when he really really wants something. He likes to eat, chase Kyle, hang out with Kyle... did I mention he likes Kyle. (dyle) My parents think he looks like my dad and he definitely has my dads attitude... I'm just glad his temper hasn't been too bad - when we were in Vancouver for Derek and Wendys wedding he lost it a few times and LOOK OUT!

Anyhow - there is a brief update.

Erks and whines...
Why do I some people pretend to listen and then later on - a day, a week, a month - they regirgitate the exact thing you said and claim it as their free thought! AAAHHHHHH! I'm hating that right now. Hating it!