work

Tonight I'm working - brought home a pile of it - it is going ok.  I needed a break so I'm taking one, plus I can't sit on the floor anymore as it is killing my back.  I had this great set up on the floor, but it is no longer great and it is just causing everything to ache.

It is windy here tonight and also warming up when it was supposed to cool right off tonight - forecast said minus 10 and it is a balmy zero - bikini weather around these parts after that last few weeks of nonsense minus 20's and colder.

Alright - I guess that is a long enough break... better finish this job up.
xxoo

sunday

It is postsecret Sunday - in case you aren't part of the following - every Sunday new postcards are posted over at POST SECRET - people mail in postcards and share a secret with the viewers of the site and with the people that buy the books.

Go Riders Go

there has to be a smarter way

I regularly read American news on CNN, which I know is more propaganda than real news, but tonight I read the following:

Black Friday problems

It is a sad state that we feel we have to consume so much.  That we need to spend more than we can afford and hurt people to spend.   Oprah had a great article in her magazine this month on spending - noting that if you can't pay off what you are buying for Christmas by January you should be re-thinking what you are buying.  It also spoke to how we all want to be generous and go above and beyond for our family and friends, but at what cost to you emotionally later when the ends aren't meeting.

I think it is important to remember that we have family and friends because of our personalities - who we are - and while it is nice to give and receive gifts I think it is more important to give yourself - share a skill that you have, spend time with someone - I would gladly accept a hand cleaning the house versus a box of chocolates  or anything.  I've asked my family to stop buying gifts for us "grown ups" and if they want to buy stuff for the guys ok, but to take it easy - spending time with someone is far more valuable than any one gift - or hand me down stuff that would otherwise go unused - case in point my aunty mary would spend all kinds of time with me and share stories and gave me little knick knack things she had collected or she would do my nails... she has been gone for a number of years but I remember these fond moments over any gift exchange.  And please - when you end up shopping this year remember to stay smiling - there are stupid people everywhere and between rushing around and parking and crazy people and all the other day to day nonsense things can get out of control - sit back - take an extra sip of coffee and remember that you aren't one of the stupid people and that you have control of yourself and that smiles are free and your good behavior can be a beacon for others.  xxoo

drinks

While I totally and completely love the soy peppermint mochas at Starbucks it isn't practical to have one every day.  I was in Vancouver this weekend and had something that I knew I could make at home and be just as good and get my peppermint fill without the syrup calories (like I'm counting those lately - ha)

Step 1 - buy Candy Cane lanes tea - it is only available in the season so stock up on this to get you through the year and your favorite hot chocolate mix

Step 2 - make your favorite hot chocolate at home and once you've got it stirred up add a tea bag.  Now since it is too hot to drink anyway - let it steep for 2 minutes or longer - then you will have a yummy peppermint hot chocolate - feel free to add chocolate shavings on top or whip cream - if you are into that :)

love you - happy saturday

dr oz

He has this great show on tonight about foods to avoid, vitamins to avoid...

Strawberries - USDA found 50 different residues on strawberries - (pesticides)
So instead - soak in 2 minutes in water before rinsing - cleans up lots of the urk

Apples - USDA found over 40 different residues on apples (pesticides) plus apples are waxed and wax doesn't come off - apples aren't supposed to be shiny
So peel apples

Spinach -USDA found more than 40 different residues
Washing isn't enough - pick organic or get frozen spinach - the wash and blanch before freezing - taking off 90% of the pesticides

Peaches - USDA found more than 60 different residues on peaches - soft skinned fruit is tougher to wash, pesticides can absorb through - organic alternatives will be enough - so how do you clean these fruit...

Dr Oz suggested the following:
Home solution to wash pesticides off

1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1 tbsp baking soda
1/2 cup juice lemon
mix - done - then pour in spray bottle and then you can taste it... then you can spray your fruit/veggies to clean off

He has a pretty good website - learn more cool stuff at www.doctoroz.com 

ahoy

In an effort to convey information and to start a new trend....

So telephones were invited in the east coast - with lots of mariners - and they greeted each other with Ahoy - Edison turned this into hello - why is this important information...

I'm suggesting that for Thursday Nov 25 - we all answer the phone with Ahoy - if nothing else we will create smiles, which leads to happiness and joy :)

love ya!

airport

I'm at YVR - with FRRREEEE internet!  AWESOME.

I had to return my car rental at 1pm so I'm here super early and just hanging out.  I stuff everything in my carry on - so I've got my computer, and a magazine.  It is cold in the airport - but it was hot in the far end of the airport and in a classic April slowday move I lost my boarding pass as soon as I came through security. I'm not really sure what the heck I did with it - I'm actually thinking security didn't hand it back to me - but whatever... they were able to issue me a new one.

So I guess I'm going to sit here and read and just be one with all the other travellers until the flight gets here... love to you - hope your Tuesday is going fantastic!

i'm an aunti

Well my friends - it is official - I am an aunti - my sister had her baby yesterday afternoon - she is doing ok - sounds like things could have gone better and she is DEFINITELY a trooper.  Mr. Nicholas Joseph - came in at 10 lbs and 3 ounces - naturally - without drugs... MADNESS!  So send your good thoughts for a healthy recovery to my sister and a heroes medal for doing such a great job!  Congrats Mel - you are awesome!

Love you!

And what am I doing now... well I'm going to bed - after doing some reading and catching up on some filing.  xxoo

babies...

No - she has fought the battle through the night and it sounds like progress is finally being made - about 30 minutes ago they were getting ready to move her into labour and delivery... hooray!

PS - Freakin' minus 22 right now - WHAT!!!!!!!

colder... what

And now it is minus 16... and cooling quickly...

I also want to advise Shaw and the other media that I'm ok with them running commercials for the Jake Gyllenhaal movie on repeat - in fact, there are a number of shows that can be deleted from the schedule in exchange for Jake's commercials.

Merci beaucoup

No new news on Mel... two hours of nothing... hopefully I'll get a late hour update... hate to bug her because she might actually be trying to sleep

old

I'm getting to old for this crappy, cold weather... I mean really - minus 14 and it isn't even that late.
Max can't even go outside - he went out tonight and pulled one of those passing out goat moves... he put one foot up, then took a step, then lifted a different leg because he was cold and then just plotted over into the snow and didn't know what to do... it was sad and pathetic... so we took him in ... plus it is only minus 14 and we know that it is going to get a heck of a lot colder than that.

Mel was re-induced this afternoon and things are picking up tonight - she is having contractions every 15 minutes or so and more than one... but it looks to be a long night... poor Mel... everyone please send your good thoughts her way... she'll need them to stay strong through the next hours.

and...

Hey - and if you can see the sky where you are - the meteor shower is going.. so get out and enjoy it... wish we had an open sky.... freakin' winter...

What the heck is up with this negative 10-15 crap!  and inches and inches of snow - my parents got more than a foot - TODAY - in less than 24 hours.  BAHHHHHH!

no announcements

So my sister was induced this afternoon - and now she is sitting in the hospital waiting... trying to be patient.  It sounds like they will re-induce her tomorrow if things aren't moving along.  She's had a few "good" contractions, but nothing consistent.

As soon as I know though... I'll post something.  I told her to call me in on my cell for the birth - if she feels like it - then I can cheer her on from afar... be even better if she could skype me in - :)

aunti april

Hells yes!  My sister is getting induced tomorrow - HOOORAY!!!!!!!

craft

WTF

SNOW - weather change - negatives ALL WEEK!  FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Ok - my readers - I like the north - I like the range in weather because we get really nice and hot in the summer and really nice snow - but man I hate the shift.  I'm cold already and we haven't even had any really cold weather yet... upside... well it means that I should use the fire place... which can lead to s'more consuming and just nice evenings with wine and lovely-ness....

And that is all from the land of whiny-whinersons :)

what's cooking

Wednesday night - make no plans - it is Leonid night - a really good meteor shower! At least 20 an hour, but usually there is more - one year it was -20 when I watched it and there were probably 60 or more in a hour - you couldn't keep up with the number screaming across the sky.

Today we made raspberry streudel muffins, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, moo shu pork (a new recipe for me), almond jello with fruit, beef/pork and broccoli - oh and I'm going to make an overnight french toast - I'm testing this now so I'm not testing over the holidays and disappointing everyone with a failure breakfast - figured I could do something on a Monday and just be a regular failure :)  I'm not a fan of french toast so this is a big deal for me to even try something like this.

I'm busy this week - too busy - and it looks like it isn't going to let up until December... and then it should be good again..

Alright my loves - I'm going to see what kind of trouble I can get into tonight - love ya!

oh and I totally loved How to train your dragon - what a great kids movie - most will know that I'm partial to dragons (hereditary - lmao) but beyond that it had a good story and moral and I know that this puts me behind 'cause I'm only just seeing it now and it has been out for a while, but I thought I'd mention it... alright... off to find chaos :)

snow update

So it did snow in town a little last night - I mean a very very very little... but it meant that Michael got to throw a few small snowballs and Max got to see what snow is...

how about a little crafty...

I'm in the process of getting my office/craft/art space back in order and decided to print off some simple 'things to get done' list cards - I just printed them off on card stock so they are a little more hearty and picked an uplifting colour... what next... hmmmmmm

If you want a copy to print off on your printer email me at aakcheng at gmail dot com and I'll gladly send the pdf to you

il neige

Well it is trying - it is cold and it is lightly raining tonight - so the snow should be hitting the ground later tonight.  I'm kind of looking forward to it - just come and let us get us to it...

I was surprised to hear the woman that killed a four year old got 2.5 years in prison.  I recognize that she will (may) have guilt the rest of her life for the crime she committed, but that seems pretty light.  And to hear that she is going to appeal the decision - I can't say I'm surprised, but really.. really... I certainly hope that the detective work was complete and that she won't get off on this on a technicality - like the "i"s weren't dotted on this one.

Alright back to snow watch 2010...

snow

Well the sky looks like snow is coming... but no flakes yet.

Today we went to the paramedics lunch - they don't have a christmas party and instead have a big lunch on Remembrance Day. The kids ate a classic lunch of brownies, fruit, cake, crepes and more brownies - mmmmmm....  oh, and cookies :)

So I think I'm going to spend the rest of the day cleaning up and making soup or doing something in the kitchen.  I also want to do a run through of Michael's room and try to de-clutter.  We went to Wal-Mart this afternoon and it seemed like everyone in town was there - it was like Christmas shopping kicked off there today and people were really going to town.  We picked up some stuffing for our new project - which I'm trying to fix so I can take photos and share.

Alright - and there is a brief mid-lazy-day update :)
xxoo

because I know you'll care

It is freakin' MINUS FIVE here tonight - brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Yet another important announcement  :)

Thank you for reading here - xxoo - smooches

fyi

Australia is not in Asia - just thought I'd pass on that important information.

piiiisssssssssssed

And for the third time this year my debit card has been compromised and I'm put in the great position of having to leave everything at the register and call my bank and find out what the hell is going on!  FFS

I'm pissed at my bank because the previous two times should have been a big enough sign to get me a new card number but... NOOOOO - I keep all that and get stuck - some stupid business in Q-town is under investigation for keeping customer information - well I can name all the places I went to yesterday and I go to all those places - ALLLLL THE TIME - so why on earth has this happened again

Alright - I just totally needed to vent and now need to figure out what to cook for dinner since I was at the grocery store buying it when the rug got pulled out from under me on that... how I love the look from them.. um your card is rejected - says it is stolen - well why don't you f$%#ING shout it - oh wait - you did - awesome - ROAR!

destructo dog

Tonight we went out... and when we got home our dear little friend was sitting at the door... the clue with him is that he doesn't follow us upstairs... ah... so what did you do...

And there it is - the garbage can torn apart - now he knows he has been bad and guilt keeps him in the basement for an hour...  good times with pets - good times

and math prevails

Alright - people - if you want to lose weight - here is the trick - eat less calories than you are right now.... that's it - there is nothing else you need to know... a science person has put this very difficult and complex issue to the test by completing the following: he tried the twinkie diet - so he didn't just eat twinkies - although I'm sure that some people will try that - what he did is he decided to eat only 1800 calories a day and most of that caloric intake came from twinkies and twinkie related products... he lost more than 25 lbs this way... and had a positive impact on his other health scores (cholesterol, etc)

So now let's put our thinking caps on - why did he lose weight - not because he ate twinkies, it is MATH!  Math is what conquers the system... it isn't a magic pill, twinkies, more water, more milk... just math...

So I've figured out my problem with weight loss - I suck at math... note to self, must learn to add and subtract more efficiently....

Here is the full article if you care to read it...
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html?hpt=T2

dairy pushers...

Ok - so my second craft attempt is making me squirrelly so I've opted for some web surfing and then some tub time... and then maybe I'll go back to it and try and fix it... rrrrr..

I've got food network on in the background and there it is again.. the dairy people pushing cheese - all you need is cheese... ah, but in this commercial all there is cheese - there looks to be vegetables and meat in the cheese... but it isn't the focus - how terrible that we need to train our children and families to eat food by saturating it with something else - don't taste your vegetables or anything else - dip it in cheese first - that will make it better.

If you can't eat a vegetable without cheese or a sauce - maybe you shouldn't eat that vegetable and you should find some other vegetable that you love... there are lots...

what of the rest of the day?

So we picked some pictures, printed them, put them in frames and actually put them on the wall... AMAZING!

We did arts and crafts - and I'm going to work on one more before you get photos...

We made cookies - and when I say cookies - I mean we made more than 100 and it was great - we had lots of fun!

I'm in the process of finishing a stew - it was too sweet - if stew can be sweet and so I'm trying to mellow the flavour out - it tastes like stew but just a little too sweet...

We bought Max his own official bed - yes, he still lives here... and a new plant for the office

And now we are watching a movie - or the guys are and I'm inbetween projects....

Happy Sunday

i heart youtube

So Kyle has asked me to take on a project today... and I'm nearly finished it (photos later) but I needed to learn something - how to do a ladder stitch - and thanks to a whole pile of people on youtube I was able to figure it out - hooray :)  I'm so not a seamstress but maybe one day I'll be able to do more than a running stitch - I'd love to make a quilt one day, but my brain just doesn't understand instructions for sewing very well... but maybe with youtube I'll get there :)

dinner

"Mom - what are we having for dinner tonight?"

-We are making boo-ree-toes... and you get to pick what goes in it

"Oh, well I want chicken and fries"

-No - burritos - we get to put the filling in

"ok"

2 minutes later

"Mom, what is in those bum thongs"

-pardon - I'm blinking and my brain is trying to catch up with the translation
- do you mean burritos

"yes, the booreethongs"

AWESOME

mr linden

Alright - so this is the third time I've seen him this year..  today I went into our coffee shop - Granvilles and I'm standing next to this tall guy and I'm not paying attention and then I go sit down to get my drink and this guy next to me says - pretty cool to stand in line with Trevor Linden... HA...so then I run out of the shop and get to my office and get the girls and we run back out on the street so we can walk by him and say hello - man, he is good looking... so then he just walked around downtown Quesnel this morning - so one of the other girls in the office ran after him and shook his hand and welcomed him to Quesnel - fun...

I didn't get a picture of him - I remembered about 10 minutes after the fact that my cell phone takes photos.. but he was here today to present to our students at our annual event - Career Leap - so he is guest speaking right now... woohoo :)

baby names

In an effort to aid my sister (days to go on the arrival our new family member) Kyle and Michael decided they wanted to help and suggest some names...

Girls

Donna
April the 2nd (ok that was from me)
Lady J
Merle

Boys

Steve
Jet
Duke
Anakin
Rex

We all always really like Yoda - but understand the complications of naming him that... it could be a wicked middle name though :)

Love you!

And now.. I'd love to hear others suggestions... I'm sure my sister won't mind hearing a few more name suggestions...