santa 2008

On Saturday we went to the annual school district Christmas party and for a change - we were actually on time - usually my mom shows up late and we walk in after the gifts are being handed out... which means that we have to wait until the end and them going back over those who were missed. I did some complaining last year and now this year - we were in the top 20 people there - which meant we were one of the top 20 called up.

It was fun and low stress and usually I'm bitchy and whining during and after the event. This time - pretty good - everyone had a good time - everyone had fun - it was the first holiday miracle :)

After the event we went for lunch - or rather the boys did with my parents while I sat there and played cop to them eating and misbehaving... plus I don't eat fast food and so going to A&W and being offered fries and stuff made me a little - RRRRRR - so I just wanted to get home.

Highlight: Kyle noted the following as Santa made his big entrance - "Look, Santa's grandma came with him." (aka Mrs Claus)


The boys with my mom


The boys visiting Santa - that's as close as Michael came to Santa...


Some photography fun for me after Santa - I managed to get within about 10 feet of this fawn - I got a few other shots of the fawn with the mom and a few other deer - it was awesome!

project update

Alright so the project I really got going on this week should be finished for tomorrow... amazing...

I sat here and watched (mostly) the newest Indiana Jones and I gotta say that I can't believe that that was the story line - I mean really - that's how it ends - that is the story of Indiana Jones - it was actually not the worst film until the last 15 minutes or so... ok - I know - that's a stretch that those 15 minutes were the only bad parts, but I'm trying to be kind because I love the other three films... I just can't believe it. I guess I'm not super disappointed - I'd heard it wasn't great and didn't think it would even be as good as it was... at least it wasn't like I am legend - when it was like 'ooohhhh it is the best film ever - it is amazing" and then we watch it and it sucked... and my expectations were sooo high and just completely dashed...

ok - back to the project and less computer...

stink

There was something smelly in my office yesterday.... thanks, but no it wasn't me :)

I couldn't figure out what it was and I went as far as spraying down the floor and cleaning my chair pad to get rid of the smell. I'm pretty sure the smell gave me my headache yesterday after - something chemically... anyhow - this mornin I sit down and there it is again - and I decide that's it - I'm not sitting here all day and getting another headache... and so began the tearing apart of my office - I believe that I found the source and am now able to think while I work... amazing how that can turn things around...

Alright - so another day kicked off - time for work.

how did it go...

Well my day wasn't as rotten as I thought after my attempt at negativity control :) I ended up with a terrible headache in the afternoon though and I've been feeling a little rotten the rest of the day. I worked out tonight though and don't feel like such a slug now.

I'm working on a project and I'm hoping to share it by the weekend - I took it on my trip to Seattle and started it but then left it - then I got back to it last night and I'm feeling like I'll have it finished for the weekend.

Alright - a photo and then back to the project and - holy crap - I just realized it was after 11... damn! Ok - so I'm going to bed... ARG... ok - project might be tail end of weekend... k - so no photo tonight - I'll load something tomorrow :)

a post before I really get working

It is 12 minutes to the real start of my work day - although I've actually been working for 20 minutes already... and I just wanted to kick off the week on a high note - I'm actually feeling a little bit low this morning, but I know that I need to be thinking positively and then the good stuff should come back to me - will -... the good stuff will come back to me :)

So in an effort to turn the day around here are some quotes to bring smiles and get anyone else who may be feeling this way some help too :)

A day without laughter is a day wasted ~ Charlie Chaplin

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.Dream. Discover ~ Mark Twain

To love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is to live forever ~ Henry Drummond

And a final one to kick off the morning... To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world - and this came from the ever famous unknown... so feel free to tell people that this morning and throughout the day and tell them you came up with it... :)

Smiling and ready for the work day....

tonight

It is after one in the morning and I'm still working... why? Special client needed a last minute job - so good that I can bill someone for this time - not so great that I'm sleepy and not feeling particularly sparkly - upset stomach or something.

I'm working on my older computer in the basement, where it is cold and where all the crap in the free world is piled because our leaky reno room has still not been completed... so hordes of our crap is sitting on the floor - stacked and then re-stacked - my desk is a disaster and that's putting it kindly... but being on this computer gives me one advantage - I can share a couple of Kyle's photos...


Grandma and Michael having some fun...

A crocodile adventure shot

A pretty bloom...

2008 festival of trees

Well another year, another night of competition. 400 chocolates, a hundred red balls, 200 extra lights and much more... plus this year I had help which saved me hours of time - the help was awesome - I'd probably still be there if it hadn't been for all the people that came from other teams to help out... plus it was awesome to just focus on something fun and have a great time - 2 1/2 hours just slipped by - and here it is...



I also bought all the supplies for another tree and provided some direction... but our community spirit team really pulled it together... here was our awesome tree topper!


I love Quatchi!




Ok, one more of the tree topper... this is a beautiful reindeer wall mount that I used as a tree topper and it turned into the show stopper... which I was glad about because once I put it up I was thinking that maybe I'd made the wrong choice... all that matters is that someone pays good money for that tree to support the O.R. in Quesnel.

photos...

Right - so I didn't download my camera - so no photos tonight - I spent some time taking the challenge on the biggest loser - 1,000 steps - which when I started I was thinking - this can't be that bad - I thought of all the step classes I've been to and you must put in hundreds, if not a thousand during one of those sessions... well I'm not as sure tonight.

I completed 1,000 steps in about 35 minutes and as far as I can remember the fastest time on biggest loser was something about 40 minutes... but I can't find a note on how long it took anyone and I can't watch hulu or any other places online that would let me watch the episode or piece of the episode - in any case I just wondered if I could get through and how quickly and it broke up the treadmill schedule - it definitely winded me and had my heart rate a pumping but really wasn't long enough for a great workout - oh well - at least I put some time in tonight.

ok - off to bed.

Note to self - 1,000 steps sounded and felt great last night - not so great when you have a calf spasm while shopping and continued pulling pain for remainder of day... brain still thinks it was an ok idea... calf is working on telling brain that it wasn't super smart, ass appears to be getting in the way of message...

where did i go?

Alright - so I've been too busy to write anything exciting and unable to make a comment on the recent political events in our region because someone is always watching... :) In any case I'm looking forward to the year ahead and I'll leave my political stuff there...

What else? Well tomorrow is the festival of trees here in town and because I'm insane I decided I'd help with two trees. I've designed both but I'll only be decorating on one team... a team of one likely - but still a team... I'm swamped with other work both the full time variety and the part time but not feeling sunk... yet. I'm excited about the holiday season and am looking forward to having my sister home and my brother home for a few days. I'm hoping we might actually get a nice family picture together.

I've got a few scrapbook pages finished and I'm working on more and slowly but surely catching up.

Alright - I'm off to finish cooking dinner and with any luck I'll be back here later tonight with photos...

What's for dinner... glad you asked - tonight I'm re-heating some leftovers from my board meeting last night and then I've added a chicken, potato and carrot dish. Take two chicken breasts and cut into small pieces - small enough that you can eat two pieces at a time, then cut up two potatoes into small pieces (smaller than chicken) and the same with one or two carrots. Cook chicken in a little oil and water. Add the potatoes and carrots once chicken is cooked. Add soy sauce and some water to create a sauce in the pot. Cook until potatoes and carrots are... well... cooked. Then serve with rice or just eat with leftovers from board meetings :)

Note - do not blog too long as can result in food sticking to bottom of pan..

oh yeah!

It is Friday! woooooo hoooooooooo!

That is all :)

More later.

conversation

"Mom, I know how babies are made."

Great... great... (brain catches up with words)... what?

"I know how babies are made."

Holding my breath - what has he heard now.

"Well first..."

Lord - please don't provide the details.

"First you pull out your shirt, like this (extends shirt as far as it can go forward) and then you fill it with sand."
Holds like pouch.

"See."

Yes - I see. Phew.

When is it you have that conversation?

My parents decide that that question wasn't worth answering - or at least not the part I wanted to better understand. I asked that question at about age 12 maybe 14 and got this big long story about the work involved in raising kids...

friday night

Love Actually (definitely a favorite movie) is playing... I'm getting ready to make a loaf of banana bread and I'm then going to watch the movie while I scrapbook and enjoy a cooler... ah - now this is a good Friday night...

love actually is all around... damn I love this movie!

I feel it my fingers
I feel it in my toes
Christmas is all around me
And so the feeling grows

It's written in the wind
It's everywhere I go
So if you really love Christmas
Come on and let it snow, come on and let it snow

Solid gold shit :)

10:12... update


Ready to go....


If you want more
You want more, more, more

Jump for my love
Jump in and feel my touch



Update 11:46pm

Now off to deal with coughing kids... looks like it will be a long night :)

Two years

Today marks two years since Grandma passed away. I just wanted to acknowledge it. The sense of loss isn't as close to the surface today. I've been thinking about her more this last two weeks leading up to today and what she went through and what our family went through. I wonder what she'd say about things going on in my life and what she'd say about the changes in the world. I want to write more to this end, but it is a little bit too sad to write and it brings it very real and very raw to the top of my mind. "Be good April, and if you can't be good, be safe."

snow

It is snowing right now.... outside my window... I have no harsh words or anger towards the weather - it felt late anyway... I should have my winter tires on by now...

I'm home for the rest of the day with Michael - he is sick with some kind of cold - blah... so it means a movie day with work - since there is no escaping the office during the week.

Idea assistance - I'm in a tree decorating competition in two weeks - I competed last year and we did well - but this year I want to knock socks off - I'm planning on stringing holiday chocolates on the tree. My initial plan was to somehow attach ferriro roches together in a long rope and then string the tree but I'm looking for other ways to cover the tree... I want it to be in a way that allows people to easily take a chocolate from the tree... what do you think? The tree will be red and white - the chocolates need to be one color - so there aren't a tonne of different brands I can use - but there is more than the ferriro's.

Ok - back to work and the coughing babe.

An open letter

This is an open letter to the stupid children in our neighbourhood (hood) who think that throwing an egg at a house is a fun past time. Please take notice that hence forth it is not ok and if we catch said children we will be making sure we have a meeting with their parents and ensuring that your little hands are helping out with a clean up project.... Don't kids know that they have to wait until college to do stupid shit and then you can only throw pumpkins and eggs at friends houses - not random strangers.

Thank you for your time.

(Yes, this may be how that whole do unto others thing works... but come on... they were are friends... it wasn't some random act...)

just playing around

and now for some photos

Kyle as a cowboy police man (sheriff) - getting ready to depart for trick or treating...


Buzz Light Year Pumpkin, in honour of Michael's costume that was never worn...


Beaver footprints on the Nazko River


Michael in the new dog house at my parents house


Dew on a pine

northern bc driving

I was raised to watch for wildlife... mostly this was a tool for hunting - but it is an excellent tool for driving because I see things on the road a few seconds (generally) before I might run into them. I've also been taught that if the road allows it and it's dark out, drive in the middle of the road so if something decides to walk out in front of you you've got an extra second... we spent the afternoon with my parents in nazko, had a yummy moose crumb steak dinner, with basmati rice and mashed carrots and with the damned time change it got dark fast - which is actually fine because I hate driving at dusk.

So we get in the car and I'm watching the road because I'm a trained professional... about 40 km from my parents house the following occurs in less than a few seconds: First let me say that I'm driving in the middle of the road
1) I see something move on my right
2) I see a big dark rear end on the road
3) I realize it is a moose and stay the course hoping it doesn't move
4) I see it is standing in my lane
5) I move a touch more left to give it room
6) I get a blinding light return as it swings its head up
7) I realize I'm now looking at a trophy moose and I see more than 10 points (points are antler points - which means that this is damned big moose) on one side of his head...
8) I see that he is not only looking up now because he's heard me, he is now making for the left of the road - right where I'm trying to go
9) I say "HOLY SHIT!"
10) I pull way over left and now fear that his antlers are going to carve out the ass end of my CRV
11) We pull ahead and it is a miss
12) My heart catches up with my brain and sends in the adrenaline

I've decided that had a been a regular driver I wouldn't be home tonight - I'd have a moose for an ornament on my CRV... or rather I'd be lucky to even have my CRV at all - he'd have landed full into my car - because he didn't see my coming and was likely just as shocked as I was - I'm always looking for my headlights reflecting off of eyes on the sides of the roads - the animals don't usually stand like he was - all ass on the road - eating something in the ditch - I mean come on - he's got the whole ditch to stand in and yet decided tonight to stand on the road to eat... he probably didn't care about the car though - he would have one the battle - I'm sure he out weighed my car....

Good times in Northern BC

evil yoga

So I've got some workout DVD's and I did one a few weeks ago and it nearly killed me. The routine was great and definitely got my heart rate up but it made me hurt so much that I didn't work out for a couple of days... so I've been scared to go back to them... I woke up with a pinch nerve in my shoulder that has been throbbing most of today and I thought tonight I'd tried the yoga dvd... now my nerve is still pinched but not as bad, but the yoga was brutal... I mean - what the hell - downward facing dog, to plank, to warrior, to multiple warriors to triangle to some weird move where I was desperately trying to stay in the warrior leg position while putting one arm over my back (that's right - over my back) while the other arm is going under my leg to grasp the hand that is coming over... needless to say - I'm not really ready for that one... at 45 minutes I gave up and decided I'd try the rest another night...

but I will go back to the DVD's - I just need to remember that I need to take my time...


AND WHAT THE HELL- there's a commercial from Lowe's for Christmas - holy crap! Ok - wait - I shouldn't say anything - 'binder probably has a few decorations out tonight :) and to be honest - I thought about it... in fact Kyle was asking me about christmas this morning... like Halloween wasn't enough for excitement around here...

Happy Halloween

It is just after one am and I'm heading to bed. I just finished our two pumpkins for 2008... I'll post photos tomorrow because I am too tired and need a warm shower and sleep to rest my hands from carving... gotta say though that I love craving - the time flew by and I'm pleased with the completed pumpkins... we'll see what the boys think in the morning.

halloweiner

Well tonight was costume building night for us. I managed to pull off a buzz light year jet pack and a sheriff star for Kyle.. who for the third time will be a sheriff or what he calls a police cowboy... I'll have photos this weekend with the boys decked out.

Throat... not better - I sound terrible, but am not really suffering much more than a sore throat... no nauseau or migraine like last night - I was a basket case from my migraine - I just didn't want to do anything - and I've had migraines before - but this was in a new league... a league I never wanted to join... anyhow this is all my fault anyway... I actually hoped I'd get sick - I know - sad - I just wanted a break - and I know - it is a sad state that I would rather be sick than go to work - and what's funny is work is going well - I'm catching up on everything and feel like I'm on my game with things...

Ok - I'm going to watch some tv...

Dinner - tonight I pan fried some pork chops and thought I'd use a Campbell's Gardennay Harvest Mushroom with Real Cream, which sounds fattening but is actually isn't. Anyone - using it as a sauce - well - not as great - even as a soup - I wouldn't highly recommend it. I've had the Butternut Squash Gardennay soup and it isn't too bad. I've used it as a salad dressing because it adds a nice flavor and is way better than using salad dressing that is super fattening. I also had brown rice for the first time tonight... a tablespoon of it... ok - to be honest - I actually had a salad and this is what I made everyone else... salad - those organic boxes of salad - a big handful of salad, 2 tbsp of feta cheese crumbled, 1/2 an avocado diced, a couple of dried cranberries, a couple of pecans, 1/2 cup of corn - tossed together - dinner is served. The cranberries were the only thing I'd probably remove from the salad - it just didn't need the sweet... I've bought a pomegrante and plan to use it on a salad tomorrow night... do you care about my dinner plans.. likely not... but I just felt like writing about dinner... so there you go :)

ache

My throat hurts.




Yes, please feel sad for poor whiny me... my voice is getting worse and it didn't help having a board meeting where I had to do most of the talking. I was dying by the end of it. LONG DAY! Phew! It also didn't help that my brain started to throb about 30 minutes before I could leave.

My throat is all that hurts - so I guess that is good - good for being bad...

How is that for a crappy post.... gees I will work on my comedy routine for tomorrow.

fat

where does fat go? I've burned off a few pounds this year and a few inches and today as I put on a piece of clothing that is too big I thought... where did that inch go? Did it really leave... is it stuck to someone else now... could the sweaty fat particles that drop off of me hideout somewhere and talk about the day they'll come back... and taunt me with - nice try salad eater... come back to the dark side... eat everything - everywhere...

I realize that this is a bit (a lot) of a mad thought - but it made me think about how odd this whole weight loss/gain situation is... I mean I know when I'm gaining weight - bigger clothes, stretched skin - but when it leaves - well it was something on my body - it was flabby stuff - the white goo you don't eat from meat - so it was something and now it is evaporating... or am I full of heavy air - or is it just shrunk inside and what was once a flabby cell is now a skinny cell who goes around talking about her great nails and wears high heels... hey girls this way to the skinny section... hey you fat cell - 20 more laps - head to toe - get on it ...

alright - it's official, I'm insane... ok - Paula - you're right - it was more likely official when I did the lingerie show in my res. living room... that was alcohol induced insanity though... sadly i only had milk at dinner :)

water web

fear

Just another day... not feeling fabulous and I happened to have a doctors appointment to chat about other things... so I went into the clinic (multi-floor) and look at the stairs and opt for the elevator. I pressed the button to take me to the top and down comes the elevator and get in and felt off - like I'd stepped into the wrong doors... and I had.

I get up to my floor and the lights on the floor panel go dark. Now I didn't immediately panic,... but, ok I did. Not crying or freaking out - just trying to figure what you do in this situation - if the elevator suddenly pitches down do I pull my feet up. So I stood anchored to a corner giving this all a minute because maybe the elevator is just having a bad day. After a minute and some frantic thinking about whether or not the elevator is sliding down I push the emergency button. Ring, ring, ring... we are sorry no one is available to answer your call. Not good... not happy. I hang up and push the button again. Ring, ring, ring, ring.... no answer. I take a step forward and attempt to pry the doors open - that's what they do in the movies - right... I manage to open it a few inches and see that I'm stuck between floors - trapped - and then it happens - the elevator slides. Blood pressure rising, fear beginning to creep in, walls closing... in... on... me.... I think I made some kind of barking help sound... I start pushing the buttons to revive the elevator - please.... open... PLEASE! I pry at the door again and it doesn't move this time - no glimmer of hope - no light and then suddenly there is a light - one of the buttons I've pushed is lit and I push them all and bing - the doors open and I throw myself out like I've won a flamin' marathon and run - literally - run up the stairs to my appointment -

Shocked that I've survived to live another day I wobble into the doctors office where no one is and finally someone asks if I had an appointment. I say I'm sorry I'm late I was trapped in the elevator... oh.... my knees are clanging together from the ordeal - so I get an oh... and that's it - I tell her I've been in there for eight minutes or so - more than enough for a lifetime... so I didn't panic but I'm pleased the elevator didn't slide to the ground floor.

So in an effort to educate the masses and myself - if you are caught in the same situation and elevator begins to slide and then fall dramatically you are supposed to lie flat on the bottom on the elevator to distribute the force more evenly across your body rather than having the full force on your feet/legs. While searching I also watched a video of a poor guy trapped for 41 hours... so now I don't feel as bad... but still not pleased. Still alive though :) hooray for that.

yummy chinese food

I always get inspired to cook more Chinese food after visiting my mother in law. She doesn't cook as often as she use to but she has some great dishes that we ask for when we visit... Usually I come home all inspired but don't do anything, but this time I'm on it. I made two dishes and rice and lo bo gho (that's phonetic and not the correct spelling). My favorite dish right now is one with pressed tofu and long chinese chives. And since I know you are dying to know how to make the dish I'm going to share.

Buy some pressed tofu - it comes in a package of 4 small squares. Now when I say pressed tofu - I mean it - that soft stuff is terrible for this and WON'T WORK - dessert tofu isn't good in chinese food - flavoured tofus won't work either - PRESSED ONLY! But April, I don't like tofu... ah.... well this is good tofu... it is yummy and it really doesn't taste like some of the icky tofu.. because I agree why eat a meat replacement if you like meat - eat meat - but this is the one time I'll stand up and say hey - eat some tofu - cause this is yummy (I also like agedashi, as we've seen months ago...) One square will be good for one dish and serves 4 people or more at a time. So you take one square out - cut it into four pieces and then further cut each of the four pieces so you are left with a whole pile of little pieces. (see pic below - it gives you an idea about the size the pieces should be) Then get a package of long chives - now in the North - well good luck to you... this isn't something you'll regularly see at the grocery store - but Extra Foods in Quesnel sometimes brings this in... this could also work with spinach leaves... but it is best with the yummy long chives... so if you can get your hands on the chives they are about a foot long or longer and look just like regular chives from the garden but you'll usually find them with a closed chive bloom on the top. I wash them up and then cut them into four or five pieces, so you end up with about 2 cups of the chives.... ok so now you are ready to cook... stir fry the tofu pieces in a little bit of oil - high heat - they will brown up quickly - likely in less than five minutes at five minutes of cooking or when they are starting to brown but not get too crispy - you add a tbsp of soy sauce and then add in the chives. Then let the chives wilt a bit - probably another five minutes. Add a little bit more soy sauce if you find your pan doesn't have much liquid and then serve with rice... yummy! Ok so one more point - these are not regular chives - if you just buy those regular herb chives in the grocery store this won't taste great - it would be FAR better with spinach leaves... spinach leaves will cook in two minutes...

happy turkey weekend

Well it's Sunday afternoon - I've just finished putting ye'olde bird into the oven with some yummy stuffing and with any luck we'll be enjoying some tasty turkey at about 6:30pm... woohoo! :)

So let's give thanks this weekend - share your thankful items.... here are some of mine...

1) I'm thankful for my family (boys, husband, extended family)
2) I'm thankful for my friends and my friends who are much more like family

Ok - so those are the critical ones that I'm super thankful for - super duper even.

Now for the not so critical thanks

1) I'm thankful for sushi
2) I'm thankful for sunny days
3) I'm thankful for rainy days
4) I'm thankful for a glass of wine and some beautiful music
5) I'm thankful for a hand to hold
6) I'm thankful for macaroons
7) I'm thankful for words of kindness

So let's hear it - what are you thankful for - what are things/people/items that make you give thanks and reflect on your great life... and I know some of you non-happy people are sitting there - mad because someone peed in your cornflakes - but you are alive and breathing - and there is much in that to give thanks for... and no I'm not talking about some higher lord, god, smurf that some may believe in - I'm talking about believing in yourself and saying - ROAR - I'm amazing and I should be thankful for my life - even if some not so fabulous, happy, positive things have come your way... see I didn't say share your - things I hate about my life list.... and if you aren't thankful for making lists... well you can always go and read someone elses blog :) see thankful for my mouse button that will enable me to click away from here ;)

talk, talk, talk

For more than a year I've been telling myself that I wanted to try and make homemade borscht. I've had good borscht at Granville's - the best coffee house in the North - but there's is creamy, has dill ~ which I don't always take kindly to and has a tomatoe-y base. So I tried a recipe my mom had last night and voila I have borscht.

I'm sure that you are keenly interested in just how did I perform this wonder... well...

I used 3 giants beets



1 large carrot and 1 onion. All grated - then placed in a pot with water - enough water to just cover all the ingredients. Then I let is boil for 20 minutes. (Note the beets were pre-cooked because they are monsters - it took an hour to cook the beets.)

Ok - so then I added 4 cups of beef stock, 1/3 cup margerine (but totally not necessary now that I've been there, done that) and 2 cups of grated cabbage. Back on the stove for more cooking. At this point it needs to cook for 20 minutes more - but then it can just sit and simmer until you feel like eating it. I let mine cool for a while and then put it away for lunch for today. I'm going to freeze half of the batch too... so yes - this is a large recipe because my intent was to make enough that I could enjoy a little in a few weeks when I don't have access to my parents beets :)

Now off to make muffins...

the weekend

11:20pm - hooray for the weekend

Michael is on the mend - his tummy is still trying to figure out how to adjust to eating again - so we will see how he does over the weekend. He went back to daycare today and they didn't notice any problems... of course - would they?

Did anyone watch the debates last night? I watched the Canadian one for a few minutes and had a great laugh when Layton started slamming Harper. The muddy side of politics isn't great - but man- when they know how to stick it to them and make them wear it around for a few days it is pretty funny. Just a bunch of big kids - of course - as I read in our local paper a few months ago - what are we teaching youth when we bully at the top of our countries government. Is bullying ok when you do it on tv?

I thought Dion did well - I thought he was clear and easier to relate to than I've seen him before. He didn't seem stiff and that is the image I had in my head. So I guess we'll see how this race goes. Our area has a just about 20 year old Liberal candidate, a female NDP candidate, our incumbent conservative candidate and a green party person who is in Vancouver and has no intention of coming into our riding - which is total SHIT - what the hell is wrong with their party that they'd do something like that. Not that I would have voted for the green party but what the hell... here is your candidate and she's too good to come to your area - well that's a great reason to vote green - we should all vote for her and make her move to this terrible part of the world... asses!

still home

So Michael is still under the weather - better today than yesterday - he was actually playing around a bit today and took in a trip to Wal-Mart first thing this morning. With any luck he'll be back at school/daycare tomorrow :) He's having a quick nap right now which has given me time to do some baking. Today I'm trying out a (carmen stop reading) banana split brownie, which is basically a banana brownie (which means it is lower in fat/sugars than regular brownies) and a strawberry cream cheese frosting.... but really that is the frosting - those two ingredients plus some icing sugar.

I'm going to pick Kyle up in an hour and half and with any luck we will also do some cooking... hooray for being at home. Man do I miss being around the house during the week. Plus food network has all these great day time shows on cooking. Plus I got to watch Oprah yesterday - which I actually couldn't watch - it was on breast cancer and that nerve is a little to close to my tear duct right now. ...point of clarification - I'm not sad about my boobs - they are a-ok - sad about a good friends recent loss

home afternoon

Well it's definitely the start of the school year - I got that great phone call from daycare today. "Michael is sick."
I show up and he is sitting, crying; on a couch, alone. There is one girl who doesn't like me because I came and had a fit one morning about the guys being soaked to the bone because they were allowed to play in a puddle, in the rain. She thought I was speaking about her behavior - I wasn't - I was speaking about the owners. In any case she continues her role as a non-talker and the other employee comes over and says "he doesn't usually sit with me or talk to me but today he did so I knew something was up... (not a good start - I need to be a stay at home/work from home mom...)" She goes on to say his temp was 100.3 and then says - I mean 103... great - there is a difference in shifting the decimal point... so we go home and he looks terrible. We do the song and dance about taking medicine - he cries - its even worse on me but he finally takes most of it. Fast forward three hours and he is hungry and sitting here watching a movie. So I don't know what the heck is wrong with him. He has a slight runny nose and is complaining - a little - about a tummy ache... the joys of parenting.

On the parenting front, because Michael came home at lunch I decided we'd go and get Kyle after school. I arrive and another parent is waiting and we chat a little bit and then I ask - hey have you heard anything from the teacher. Well then I got an ear full about the same stuff I'm concerned about. Do parents not get involved with their students work anymore? I'm shocked that a month into the school year we've received nothing formal from the teacher - no introduction - no welcome - NOTHING! Very - super - extremely frustrating... or is this normal? Am I to expect this low level of communication home? (Jen - what say you?)

the toll

Alright friends - what do you think about the province of BC removing the toll on the coconut highway today?

Here is a few cents worth...

1) The coconut highway tolls puts $57M in the provincial coffers every year. Where will that shortfall come from now? We still need to maintain the highway - the only savings, as far as I can tell is that a group of people lost their jobs today. Not great. Where do we pick up $57M? I know we have a surplus... oh wait - if we have debt do we really have a surplus? I'm sure there is money in education or health care that could be trimmed off.

2) We've been paying the toll for 22 years and raised $853M, the apparent price of the project was $857 and apparently we've paid off the "debt" on the highway so the toll can be removed - debt paid. This is actually a great idea - removing a tax when the reason for the tax is gone... that was what was supposed to happen to income tax, but here we are - still paying - and I don't think good old Steve Harper is going to pull a "let's get rid of income tax" card out of his hat.

3) All my Vancouverite friends and people who don't live in the Okanagan.... are you know going to get in your car this weekend and drive up to the Okanagan because you'll save $20 on tolls... minus the carbon tax, of course.... right.... I'm sure it will cause an amazing boom.... look out!

On the boob tube - The World After Humans - I don't know if any of you are watching this tonight. I'm more half assed listening and as far as I can tell the point is that if we want the earth to get better we should all go and hang ourselves.

in the news

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A West Virginia man who police said passed gas and fanned it toward a patrolman has been charged with battery on a police officer. From the associated press Wednesday Sept 24 08.

I know a few people that should definitely be charged... not naming names... I'm sure a few of my friends will remember someone who was banned from a washroom in university :)

What's even funnier is that it was like fart central at our house tonight. Michael actually declared it "fart time"... a kin to circle time I guess.

ER

Ok so last night was the season opener for ER and it was super sad. I mean they told us all summer that someone was going to die in the season opener but gees... I don't know if any of you watch it - I guess ER isn't as popular as I think it is. It was good in the 90's and I'd still watch it if they carried on with it. It's almost like a soap opera - you don't seem them canning any of those and they are terrible. ER kicks ass over all the daytime stuff... but I guess ER isn't competing with the day... what are they competing with? I don't know what is even on the other channels during that time slot - or do people actually turn off their tvs? - HA - right!

Ok - I won't wreck it for those who didn't see it but I cried hard enough that when Paula called me to say (our ER ritual) - damn - how could they do that and we could both cry on the phone together - that I didn't answer the phone because I was crying so much and just couldn't talk. I know - I'm stupid - it's television... I know, I know... but I cry to good books too...

politics

Today I was listening to my favorite CBC show - Almanac and people were giving it to Minister Penner. 2 things came out of the discussion that I thought were interesting enough that I'd share them here.

1) Penner noted that NDP has flip flopped on the carbon tax/carbon planning idea. He noted the NDP plan for carbon credits/carbon exchange currently being toted around and then noted that the NDP had voted out/against the idea of that in principal months ago. He then said "I wouldn't drive with Ms. James, pause (paused long enough that I thought what the hell is he talking about that has nothing to do the carbon tax), she's all over the road." To which I started laughing pretty hard. I mean politicians don't usually talk like that - it was actually kind of refreshing.

2) A caller calls in and says he doesn't believe in global warming, but does believe in global cooling. Penner wasn't really listening, I don't think, because he went on Al Gore bender on all these scientists agreeing that humans have caused climate change. I don't think anyone was arguing against climate change - just that the planet is cooling and not warming and that a cooling trend has a direct impact on the people that are trying to heat their homes with natural gas and other fuels that are now being charged an additional 2%.

So where is the carbon tax money going? It's "tax neutral" - meaning our income tax is supposed to decrease to recover what we are now paying in additional taxes for carbon. But does it really add up?

Our family is paying at least $1,800 a year in gas for our cars and another $1,800 in natural gas. So that's $3,600 annually (pre-2% carbon tax). So that's $72 more a year that I'll pay for the governments carbon tax. Does it balance out? Well we got a $100 cheque in July for each of us, that's $400, and we'll see what I'll save on my taxes. So as far as I can tell for this year we are ahead. Now the tax escalates up over the next few years so we will see what it looks like in four years and we will see if it is even there in four years - who knows who will be making the rules by then.

What I also hate about the election season right now is that politicians seem unable to answer questions without first talking about their competition in a negative light. Doing the negative talk says to me that they aren't confident. A confident leader wouldn't need to talk about the other party and their plans and their mistakes. Tell me you are going to make my city, my province, my country a great place to live - economically, socially, and all the other 'lly's - and do it. Politicians need to remember that every day they are in office they are doing the work of the people - every day - not the first year in office and every day after that is campaigning to stay another term. Forget the second term - third term, fourth term.... treat every day like you are really trying to make a difference for us... the tax payers - aka your wage payers.

Where do you stand on the carbon tax? Have I misunderstood the carbon tax?

damned costco

On the weekend we went to Costco - likely one of our last visits since I'm not renewing our membership - and did the "aisle" thing and picked up a few items - nothing special and nothing that I couldn't have gotten somewhere else. There was also a nice display of strawberries and since they were less than $4.00 for a big container of them I thought sure - let's get some.

First problem - they stank up our car, leading me to believe that they are spraying the boxes or berries themselves with something that is supposed to smell like strawberries but actually smells quite vile. Seriously it smelled like a strawberry fart - I'll let you think about that - but really - it was that bad.

Second problem - this morning I took them to the sink to be washed - they looked all pretty, sitting in their container - all placed so delicately in the box - so uniformly - and then it happens - I pick one up and my thumb goes right through it - ok - so one strawberry - that's ok - pick up another - same thing - same thing - same thing - same thing.... ARG! So the outside looks great - in fact if I was super gentle I could have probably put them all back in the box and they'd still look fantastic - but the meat of the berry was destroyed - so what are they spraying them with to make the outside look good and the inside rot...

Can I take them back and complain? Not unless I want to spend another $50 in fuel to drive to PG. Arg - again!

Rose

Kissed by the morning fog; a beautiful rose in Lebourdais Park

Happy First Day of Fall

That's right - it's already here - which means the days are getting shorter and we are marching closer to another winter. Well hooray for that. Thanks for stopping by :)

what happened this week

Well I actually got some scrapbook pages completed. I'm up to 5 pages for the week - which is incredible.

What else? Well on Thursday I got to go on a mine tour. It was pretty amazing! A few photos are below. The only downside was the final building tour - the smells in the building made me feel like I'd been punched in the lung - it was terrible - I actually was struggling to breathe and then it started to get better or my body made the adjustment, but every once in a while I got all choked up - so not great - but I'm pretty sensitive. The rest of the tour was pretty cool though.


Here is my tour group in front of a giant truck - the trucks cost $4,000,000 each - tire replacement runs for $50K each... see you can learn something new every day


Here is one of their active pits - to put it into perspective - each step on the face of the mine is 45 ft tall... it was crazy!

scrapbooking

I scrapbooked last night. Seriously I haven't done much in the last year - I start and I get creative block - but for whatever reason last night worked - two pages completed and a third nearly finished. Tonight I spent the evening at work - didn't get home until 9:30 and so I'm just trying to unwind... I'm hoping to continue putting a few pages together a night this month - that would be great... I'm also thinking rather than making 3 sets of the scrapbooks this year I'll just scan each page and make a photo book. I spend so much time trying to reproduce the pages that I get bogged in it and don't finish. So I'm going to see if making a photo book is a better option and be something all the grandparents will like and display.

Now for a few photos...

Michael enjoying some time with Doc

"Um, now what do I do with it?" - Kyle fishing the Nazko river

You can nearly read it off his lips... STRONG - this was Michael's word of the day after helping with filling our truck with a load of wood

A bear - I whistled at him and he started to come back to the road... oops... he got to the road and another car started to come around the corner - and then he took off - always sites to see the Nazko Highway

and so it begins

Today is September 11 and my skin has already started to fall apart. It happens every year but it is early this year... usually I start to get dry skin in late October - so what's the deal... what can I do? I know - apply skin lotion - but I feel like I'm doing it all day - ALL FLAMIN! DAY!!!! Anyone heard of eating a food that can help with your skins ability to retain moisture?... I know it sounds pretty sci-fi - let's go to the moon stuff - but really - there has got to be a better way to cope with this... right... there is also the - shut-up method - but really - would I have a blog if I wanted to hold all my complaints inside ... hell no!

photos

A trek to Nazko to enjoy a yummy dinner with Grandma and Grandpa


Fun in Lebourdais Park with Kyle


Rose


A beautiful female dragonfly


A pretty purply blue flower in Lebourdais Park

the horse race

In just (just... ha) 37 days we (Canadians) will elect a new prime minister. Me, queen-o-political stuff, likes to follow all the stuff going on - although seeing some of the ads is already getting old. (It will be my first time voting... that one... good grief) I asked my husband who would he be voting for - like he cares - and he said - who ever looks best in a dress... so I give you a little political fun in the race to be the leader of our great country.


Mr Dion sporting a beautiful cocktail dress. Ready to party it up with Canadians - showing off his fun side and his green side.


Mr Layton is ready to pull out all the stops in this number. He is here to make a change and setting trends for the future.


Mr Harper - conservative through and through - why change from what works - not a show stopper but wanting you to take a second look.

You be the judge, who looks the best? Who will be our next prime minister?

This is not a paid advertisement, this is not to show support for any of the candidates or parties - I'm still trying to figure out who is best. I'll tell you this much I'm tired of hearing "picking the best of the worst" - politicians deserve credit for the time they put out to run things. If they don't do a good job its probably because we aren't being loud enough about the direction we want things to go in. Last time I checked they also didn't get training in mind reading and so are unable to connect with your fabulous ideas on truly making long lasting changes that will make our lives better - vote - guide our nation in the right/left/center direction!

Buy these beautiful gowns at Only Gowns.com - beautiful gowns for all occassions.

S∆2C

So I'm enjoying my workout on the treadmill tonight and flicking through channels and I come across the big cancer fundraiser happening in the states today (this week). I wasn't expecting much and was just catching the tail end of it - I caught the section where actors were telling the stories of cancer victims/survivors and everything is fine and dandy... I'm still walking and just listening and then forrest whitaker shares his story and I just start crying - it was the one with "time of death" - if you were watching it. It had a huge impact - the telling of stories - I watched the rest of the show - probably the last 15 minutes... I'm glad to see actors getting behind a good cause - hats off to them and everyone that donated to the cause. Stuff that like - seeing a guy donate $25M to cancer research - watching people rally together behind a cause is great. There are lots of diseases and illnesses that need support - but finding one cure will lead to other cures.

What else?

The first week of grade 1 is finished. woohoo! Kyle survived and now we are getting ready to enjoy the weekend.

Still having apple fest at our house and still on the hunt for the best uses for the surplus.

It is September 5 and I need to begin scrapbooking. That's more of a reminder to me because I come back to my blog often (in hopes of those beloved comments) and can use all the help I can get to remember to do stuff.

apples, apples, we've got apples

Alright - what can I do with a tonne of apples... ok - not quite a tonne but I'm sure we've got more than 200 lbs once the tree is cleaned off. I've made apple crisp - which really - who can get enough of that... but what else? I'm looking for simple things - and something that will freeze - or something that you've had success with... yes - I will do my homework and use the internet to find this information but if you have a quick fix or something that you like to do with apples then let me know.

Oh and I found the Space Needle... I gotta say - I really expected it to stick out of the landscape when we flew over... in the post from yesterday look at the square roof in the middle of the photo and look left - you'll see a circle - and that's it.


This was taken from the Seattle aquarium - which I didn't know existed until we walked by the sign. I guess they don't need tourists. We went shopping at a cool Seattle stuff store near the aquarium and then walked back to the market - AWESOME!

September

Well friends it's September and with that comes the first day of grade 1. CRAZY! Yesterday was a half day and today was the beginning of full days. Yesterday we got the jolly - hey one of the kids in class has lice - YUCK! - letter but nothing else. Which has left me surprised because his kindergarten teacher was really good about talking with us and sending home stuff every day - well nearly every day.

Michael did ok yesterday - being dropped off alone again, but today he was a cling on and mumbled about Kyle. It was the worst. It made me sad... but within a few minutes of talking and seeing other kids at daycare he was ok - off and playing - pretending to be a tiger. me... well I was still sad - I don't brush stuff off as quickly...

My trip to Ellensburg was great. A good learning opportunity and a chance to meet other economic development people. I've got a few new pictures below from the past couple of weeks since I've been slacking on here - but with slacking on here meant I got a lot of other stuff done at home... like picking up apples (hundreds of pounds again) and making cookies, and apple crisp and playing and working out and just living it up :) Plus work - but hey - you can only have soo many good things in life... that's a tease though because my work is great right now... I'm getting stuff finished and I should have some great announcements later this week on work I've been part of all year - hooray.


Can you find the space needle?


Democratic headquarters - I just wanted an Obama sign picture... if you look closely you'll see my taking the picture in the window...

ellensburg

Hi y'all...
I'm taking a five day course in Ellensburg, a small town about 2 hours outside of Seattle. I'm getting in some great networking and learning lots about the american system which is completely irrelevant to my job, but that aside I'm picking up a few things. I thought I'd share a few photos of my adventure so far. There is a truely canadian course this afternoon and then a walking course - hooray! Then more stuff tonight... so the fun doesn't stop around here.


A beautiful bloom that I found when I went for a walk last night


The beautiful campus we are staying at, 1897 - brick - it is quite something to see


Here I am - in Ellensburg - set this up off of a railing :)

not much to report

So not much new with us... I'm heading to Washington (near Seattle) this weekend for work - taking a course... we've spent a couple of days in Nazko and the boys (especially Michael) have been enjoying time with the puppies... I've also gotten a little bit of time to use the camera...


You guessed it - its a beetle


And a little bit from the night sky - I didn't manage to take any meteor photos.... I'll keep working at it....

What else? Well it's blueberry time again - so I'm on the hunt for the biggest one - post your biggest find and photos if you have them...

look up

Well it's that time of year again - time to tilt your heads to the sky in the late evening and take in the best meteor shower of the year. Tonight marks the start of the Perseid meteor shower. Earth navigates through asteroids for the next couple of nights with tonight being the best night, but we continue through for two more nights... so get out there and check out the great show.

With any luck I might even have a photo to share tomorrow... we will see how lucky I am tonight :)

wasn't it just a few weeks ago...

It was just a few weeks ago that I shared an experience with a gun and just for kicks - I thought I'd share another. Last night I was cooking a mushroom sauce (fancy for me lately....) pork chops and mashed potatoes. The kids were playing and I was just washing something in the sink. I look outside and there is big guy standing outside, lighting a smoke at the end of my drive way. Nothing out of the ordinary - people smoke - so I'm looking at him and notice in his other hand a gun.

I ducked behind the cabinets and asked the guys to go and play in their room. Then I went back to the window to see if he was still there. Still there.. still smoking. So I try to catch a glimpse again and make sure I'm seeing what I'm seeing. Then he starts to walk... and what do I do first... I call Andy and tell him to not come home because I don't know what the hell is going on and I certainly don't want him driving down our street into that... ok - wait - first I went and locked the basement door... ok - so then Andy says - um have you called the police... well no - my first priority was to make sure he was ok... gees.... ok - so I call the none emergency line and right away she's asking me serious questions. In five minutes a constable calls and asks for a better description and then I spot him - walking away towards downtown - but with someone... so the cop tracks him down.

Then 20 minutes (ish) later I see the guy walking again towards downtown. I hear nothing else - no phone call from the cops - and so I figure I've overreacted - no gun, he was packing something else and I was flashing to something I saw in Pulp Fiction - but talk about giving the general anxiety disorder girl a lot to work from... my OCD for checking the locks in the house went out of control (see Canadian Living magazine on newsstands now on OCD). Tonight while me and the guys are eating dinner the constable calls me back. He tells me that it was a gun. That I wasn't just seeing things and that I did the right thing by calling - that it is exactly the kind of thing they want calls on. He said when he met up with the guy in the park that he was with his son and his son had a gun as well. Apparently they were full replica guns for shooting small pellets at each other. The cop informed him that he needed to put it in a bag because it could be so easily confused for the real thing. That apparently he can get in trouble for packing a replica... so here we go again - what is the need for replica guns... I mean - come on - I wasn't terrified - but I was shocked - I mean what the heck! The more I thought about it last night the more it made me think of those giant guns you see in movies - I mean it wasn't a simple hand gun - it was one of those double barrelled type hand guns... what does it make me think - well because I'm my father's daughter it makes me want to move away from town and hide; but there is no hiding from the weirdos and people who think that sporting a replica gun or a real gun is cool... I get that people like pellet guns and paint ball - but there's a time and a place and the place isn't my GD'en front yard or a public place.... alright - so there you go - another adventure - ended well - guess that's all that matters... two too many for me though

one more

Richmond Water Park on a beautiful summer day, July 2008

pictures

Michael and his buddy "Mom I love my buddy" - this is teehaa (pronouced te-aahhh) and she is the puppy my parents kept


Kyle trying to call the crocodiles out of the river near Enderby.... we will forever love Steve Irwin at our house


Some pretty daisies - this shot was taken in Richmond at my mom-in-laws house


Kyle on his first seadoo ride... yeeha... faster, faster


And here is all the broccoli that came out of my garden... needless to say I'm left wondering how farmers make any money on broccoli - when I pay .99 cents for a giant head of broccoli at the grocery store and I watered my plants for a couple of months and got this... this is all out of four plants... will I grow broccoli again?... probably - but I think I'll pay more attention to its growth and try to help it out a little bit...