thai food

Tonight was my first attempt at Thai Food. I'm not about super spicy food, but I do enjoy it sometimes. I made lettuce chicken wraps and Coconut Curry Thai Chicken.


The recipe for the Coconut Curry Thai Chicken came from Food Network - here... We made some significant adjustments though.... as I pre-read the recipe and then read the feedback... thankfully :) So what did we do...

First we put on some rice...

1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk
1/2 tablespoon Thai curry paste
1 tablespoons curry powder
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
(Mix all of this together and then let it sit and wait the next part is ready for use....)

Olive oil (tbsp)
1 shallot, chopped
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, fat removed, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 cup thinly sliced red peppers
1 cup scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
Chopped fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Cook the shallot first in the olive oil. Medium heat, for about 5-10 minutes so it becomes transparent and yummy.
Then add the red pepper, then go and cut up your chicken and add it in.
Once the chicken is browned and cooked add the peanut butter
Then once the peanut butter has cooked everything add the sauce you made earlier
This simmers and all the yummy flavours join forces.

Now your rice should be ready to go - put some rice on a plate
Then add the yummy Coconut Curry Thai Chicken on top
Then add the scallions and/or cilantro to the top of everything - if you like it..

Now for me this had heat, but wasn't super hot... had we followed the recipe on food network - no one would have eaten it - as it was both of the kids found it too hot - but they aren't use to spicy food...



So then I made the lettuce chicken wraps.
This is pretty simple and is super yummy.

You need a head of lettuce. Run the lettuce under cold water and then let the lettuce soak in cold water while you prepare everything else... this will make the lettuce crisp when you are ready to eat.

For the filling...
1 tbsp oil (vegetable or olive)
1 package of ground chicken breast
1 tbsp of ginger
1 carrot grated
1 cup of shredded cabbage (fine)
1/2 cup of peas
1 cup of baby shrimp
2 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 cup peanuts

Cook the chicken
Then add everything else to the pan and cook...

Once it is all cooked then - woo hoo - it is time to eat!
So a couple of tablespoons goes in the lettuce - wrap it up and eat.. yum yum yum!

I also made apple muffins and they turned out wicked awesome too!

hello

good morning!
I am so glad to have coffee back in my life!
I bought some coffee I'm not in love with right now but I'm going to finish it before moving onto something better.
Any suggestions for a coffee that is mild/medium and available at a grocery store... or is that one of my mistakes... buying it from the grocery store.

today is also a day to celebrate Paula - it is her special day today! Happy Birthday, lover!

Alright we have a jam-packed day ahead... so I'm sure I'll be back on here tonight to share about our day... it might even include some lambs....

saturday

Today Michael went skating for the first time. It was a skating birthday party. We didn't stay the whole time, but the guys both got to skate and have cake. Busy day with skating, swimming, library time, shopping and some cleaning...

Alright, so am I the only person that liked Wall-E... I mean it isn't the best Disney movie, but I think it is a pretty good story and idea - or is this like how I like Fantasia and most of the rest of the planet thinks it is - meh...

700

Does it make me a total dork that I like the new A&W commercial where they talk in the helium voices... that stuff just cracks me up :)

What else? Well not much - I'm swamped at work and just trying to catch up. The paddles are out and I'm just givin'er...

I hope everyone had a great week - I'm sure each of you are looking just as forward to some days off as I am :)
hugs, smooches and buckets of love - happy friday! AMEN!

fantastic

I got a birthday present today - hooray - my fabulous sister (THANK YOU!) in Calgary sent me a package that included a word wall stencil, which will go up tomorrow and a new wallet from espe. If you haven't already you should definitely check them out... www.espe.ca They have retailers all over the place - there is one outlet in Quesnel (Richbar Cottage Baskets & Gifts) and then I've seen them at Granville Island in the Lower Mainland...


This is a photo of one of their products. I've had a wallet for about 3 months and love it... and now I have another larger wallet - hooray!

My sister has also challenged me to take apart a crochet pattern and make it easy for others to use... so with that in mind I'll be showing how to make a pair of slippers over the next few days. I managed to finish 3/4 of one slipper in about an hour and half tonight - so I'll begin the photography of the project with the second slipper. And... I will try to ensure that it makes sense for all those weird right handed people :)

I love you!
I love you!
I love you!
Say it three times tomorrow - minimum... there is no maximum...

book mooch

I don't know if any of you have heard of this before, but there is a great place online to swap books. You set up an account with bookmooch.com and then you get points to get books. It is an interesting little system. It is free in the sense that you pay nothing for the books - but you have to be willing to share your books and pay for shipping to whoever it is that wants your books (so there is the "hidden" cost). So you only get books when you send books... sounds complicated but they've explained it really well on their site.

From their site...
In order to mooch books from others, you need to earn points which you use up as you get free books from other people.
You earn points when you:

Type books in: enter books you own and want to give away. Each book typed in gets you 1/10th of a point.
Give books away: respond to a mooch request, and send your book to them. 1 point awarded, 3 points if sent to another country.
Acknowledge Receipt: after you receive a book, leave feedback for the sender and earn 1/10th of a point.
You use up points when:
Mooching Books: each book you receive costs you 1 point, 2 points if it was postal mailed from another country.
Charities: you can give your points to worthwhile charities we work with.

Some additional facts:
2:1 ratio: you have to send out at least 1 book for every 2 you receive. If you don't keep this ratio up, you won't be able to mooch any books, even if you have the points, until you improve your ratio. Sending internationally counts as 3 books.
Feedback score: if your feedback score is bad, people may refuse your mooch requests. Efficient response and well-packaged books in good condition earn good feedback points.
Lost in the mail: if a book is "lost in the mail" the sender gets their point anyway, and the receiver doesn't lose a point. You're allowed a limited number of "books lost in the mail" in order for us to limit possible fraud.

the bruise

Here is my beautiful bruise - four days old...

If you need a good magazine to read - I really enjoyed Chatelaine this month (well I guess it is for February)- they have an article with the author of Eat Pray Love on her new book - Committed and then there is a really good excerpt from "The Heart Does Break" by Jill Frayne. The excerpt made me cry and was very well written. Beautifully crafted. They also have a page on scoring free stuff...

how to prepare cucumber for sushi

First, you need a cucumber - shockingly. Peel the cucumber skin off.


Then you pretend like the cucumber has layers and you peel it - slowly widdling your way down to the seed part.


So then you end up with "peeled" pieces - I've ended up with both long strips and short ones (short ones are where I was impatience is didn't take enough time to "peel" the cucumber.


Then you slice the peeled cucumber pieces into little strips. Little strips are inserted into your sushi.

Now, wait a sec there April.... yes...
What do you do with the seed part - that middle core...

That my friends, you eat... while you hum yourself a little Henry the Eighth I am

Now if you say "ew" - eat the seed part - ggggrrroooosssss....
First I have to ask - why are you making cucumber strips for your sushi if you don't like cucumber
and second... you caaaannn just throw it out to.... but I insist on the humming... while you throw it away

ms piggy

I love that Miss Piggy is apart of Disney's commercial. She is so amazing! I love her!!!


I can't say that I remember her looking like this though... maybe this was her big-girl night out... oddly enough if you google miss piggy you'll find that this is not the only off photo of miss piggy... plus there is are lots of other stuff on the muppets that I'm just going to say... it simply can't be true...

The end of our day turned into cooking time. We baked lots of monster cookies, plus a yummy roast that took three hours (an hour longer than I'd expected) but I had a back up plan and made some dry-ish garlic pork bites and then a bunch of other stuff.... and now I'm going to crochet and hang out... hugs and kisses and great thoughts for the week ahead...

more skiing

Super yummy pancakes!


Kyle trying out x country skiing for the first time. We were told to go without poles - so we tried that for a while and then gave the poles a whirl for a little while, just because Kyle really wanted to try them.



The guys hammin' it up for the camera.


The Cariboo Ski Touring Club had a pancake breakfast this morning. They also had free lesson and free skis to borrow and try your hand at skiing. I wanted both of the guys to try but they didn't have small enough ones for Michael. We had a good time, just the same. Very slick conditions out there today so we stayed for about an hour and then headed home.

today - wow....

I will start with the absolute fact that I had a great morning.


I went skiing for the first time this season and probably didn't pick the best first day out. The weather warmed up considerably today and it was slick... plus I haven't skied on a groomed course in years and I pretty much (I did) forget how to go down hill. I actually did the sideways shuffle down a few hills because I was terrified of falling. I fell a tonne of times, but about half way through I bit it and landed on the edge of my ski and did this...



And here is how it looks tonight...


I knew it was bad because as soon as I stood up it was stinging... but I carried on... trying to continue to feel great because I really was enjoying my time. I had to concentrate on being out there skiing and nothing could plague me. I couldn't think about work or anything else and that was a great feeling.

Tomorrow there is a free ski and pancake breakfast at Hallis Lake, so I'm thinking of taking the guys out to it. They can try out some skis and see what it is like. That assumes that I'm able to walk tomorrow... ha.

what the heck.... a few more photos

Well I've had a nice apple martini and I'm enjoying some popcorn - so what the heck... here are few more photos... just for kicks :)

Star Wars Battle...

some pictures for friday night

This is a chunky squirrel that has taken up residence at my parents house in Nazko. This squirrel is a bird hater. He has picked a fight with all the neighbourhood birds by figuring out how to block access to the feeder. Now the birds are forced to go to a different feeder and he gets everything at his feeder. SMART!

eat pray love

I finished Eat Pray Love last night and I highly recommend people read it. It was definitely worth the read. I think it was the perfect thing to read for me right now. There was a section in the book that dragged for me and I stopped reading it for a while but then I knew I wanted to know how it ended and it was definitely worth it. (Link to Chapters is noted - click on the book title - they've got it for $10 - definitely worth it - I'm sharing it around the office right now.)

Michael is back to normal (pretty much) and the guys get to go on a date tomorrow night with their aunty. Bowling and birthday present picking... what fun... so what will I do? Excellent question... excellent... I don't really know... it may include coolers and a drum kit...

On the stupid front... well my beautiful Aunti Jenni will get a laugh out of this. When we completed the half marathon this summer I'd told her that I run kind of funny and when I say kind of I actually mean I do run funny. Not like Febe, but I tend to run to my left and then my right - so I weave while I run. Tonight I was singing along to Nickelback and was just slowing down from my run when I started going left. Now I managed to recover and didn't actually hit my head, but I definitely tweaked my back and calf... stupid... stupid... I've run and biked in a weave my whole life. I remember when I was a kid my parents trying (desperately) to correct my biking weave, but there was no helping it... nothing made me go straight. I've straightened out over the years, but running I totally weave... so there you go - another story for the stupid pages in April's life :)

All my love to you - hugs and kisses - and please send some muscle relaxants and love in my direction :) Sweet dreams!

the throw up train

Man do I hate throw up! HATE IT!

Michael is WAY better tonight. 100 times better. He was full of great things to say tonight... he didn't eat all day - pretty much - and then asked for a special dinner at a specific restaurant (Bliss in Quesnel)... not McDonald's or A&W he wants a local restaurant - and he doesn't really want the food (well he wanted their fries and gravy) - he wants to know if we can go and sit on the patio... sadly no... minus 24 - not tonight my love :)

Then he asks for a bath - sure... and he is playing in the tub and says "Mom, don't wash my hair tonight, if you do it will make me sick." So I oblige for tonight - what the heck...

What was also funny today was at dinner time Kyle suddenly noticed that Michael is still wearing pajamas and he just gets bent out of shape over it. "He was wearing those this morning and is wearing them tonight too." And then makes a face. Gotta love them!

Happy Wednesday everyone... thank goodness the week is half done! Now off to rock it out...

yuk

After being unable to workout - or rather - get motivated to workout I got to jammin' on guitar hero world tour - definitely harder than what I've been playing - but it is fun and challenging stuff... so I got through about five songs (one gig and the start of the next) and then let the flood gates open... Michael starts to cry about a nightmare... ok... so he gets back to sleep and then about two minutes later we are into full on throw up mode. Now what I don't understand is how I can somehow manage to witness intense throwing up and tolerate the smells and be all - hey man - I love you... and then clean up throw up that didn't make it where it was supposed to go... and now we are sitting here watching cartoons and trying to recuperate from the throw up madness.. he is on round three four too many to count... for throwing up and I don't get the sense that we've seen the last of this tonight... fun... good times...

World Juniors

Tonight was spent watching the world juniors - sadly our team didn't take home the gold... but we've got so much gold to look forward to in February that I'm not that sad... the boys did a great job!

What I really enjoyed was watching the game with twitter on and reading all the back and forth and cheering - it added to the game - made me feel like I was part of it... lame... maybe... but as previously noted - I will happily accept being lame.

And now... time for biggest loser and another run...

...... and later that same night.....

First we re-arranged all of the gym equipment and the cable hasn't been set up in that room - so I start running anyway and then my nano dies... frakin' heck... so I come upstairs and I hear this....

MOM

(remember in home alone when Macauley Kalkin shouts MOM... just like that)

So I go his room and he is lit up like a christmas tree - I can see his teeth in the light - and he is smiling! Smiling hard...

Mom - I saw electricity in my bed....


LOL

four

Today our little man turned four... this is a big step since he was actually never three. Michael decided to never actually say that he was three... he was just two for two years... he was fine with announcing that he was four today and had a good time at daycare sharing cupcakes with his friends and then having dinner and presents with us tonight. Now the guys are organizing the new lego Star Wars set that he got and working on building it.

I'll load some photos tonight - once I get free of the kitchen cleaning...

And here he is... four years old and blowing out a candle... I have this same scene for each of his birthdays.. I can't believe how big he is getting...



Now the big deal tonight was going to be picking out a movie to watch and then it turned into an all important lego building night... and so we did this...

snuggie sex

Need a laugh...

Visit Snuggie Sex

What did today hold? Well it had sleep - extra sleep for me and now I wonder how I'm going to go to work tomorrow. I actually took time off and now I don't want to go back... this year I definitely want to spend more time taking photographs and really move towards doing that as a part time gig and move away from the nine to five...

We played rock band tonight too and it was great! Michael on guitar, Kyle on drums and me on the mike... I was bit uncomfortable singing, but they both know that I love to sing so we jammed it out. It was loads of fun!

And now to do some wii fit.. :) smooches to you and best wishes for a great day tomorrow!

today

Today is palindrome day....

01022010

(you can read it forwards and backwards and it is the same)

We went to Nazko - survived the drive - they got six inches of snow last night - so the roads weren't great... but it was good. The guys got some fresh air time, and time to play with the dogs. Other than that - just a lazy day - we hung out and now I'm going to continue this theme and likely head to bed after a nice bath.

Good night my loves! Hugs all around!

what would this place be without photos...

So back a few years ago (about eight) I taught a sushi course. I haven't made piles of sushi and I totally am not an expert but I can make sushi and I like to because you can make so many different kinds - and it is way more affordable. In an effort to get Kyle interested in sushi I invited him to pick what went into all of the rolls. Then I also had him help out with making tempura squid... so he totally helped pick up the squid - it was wicked!



Here is Kyle holding up a squid...


Here is all the sushi we made. We made bbq salmon with shrimp, bbq salmon with cream cheese and shrimp, avocado and shrimp and crab and lobster, and then a bunch of the other combinations of those ingredients. What is funny is that he made me make the rolls without seaweed which aren't that easy to make and then he didn't want them - actually liked the seaweed... ha...

Happy 2010

Welcome 2010!

When I was a kid I remember reading about how we'd be on the moon this year.. like living there... too funny.

My new year's eve was filled with.. you guessed it... more rock band. I'm now playing hard/expert for drums (which I freakin' love) and medium for guitar... I, seriously, can't get enough of it. I played for hours again last night.

Today we spent a good part of the day reorganizing the basement - time to move stuff out and more stuff around and clean... so that was good. It was largely a quiet day though. Tomorrow we are driving to Nazko to visit grandma and grandpa and put in time sledding and snowmobiling... so that should be fun...

I'm hoping to post photos later - need to download a bunch of photos to share :)

Resolution front - skipping that this year - I have some personal goals for health and wellness and for life in general and more wine :) - but I've opted to not have resolutions - they never last.

rock band

Well I can't believe it - but I love rock band and guitar hero. I'm struggling with the guitar but I'm way better than when I started and I love playing the drums! LOVE IT! I got bored of the beginner songs in the beatles early on and am now working on the challenging songs - what a great, amazing, fantastic invention! Problems... well between this and the wii fit I don't think I'll be doing anything else with my evenings... oh well.... :)

Yes - it is a video game and I can't believe I'm on here gabbing about it. I'm such a nerd!

Have others been doing this for ages - am at the end of a trend? If you are amazing at it - share your tips... :)

Ok - I need to calm down...

And a final point - yes, swinging your hips and tapping your feet does help... it does... seriously!

oh - what did I do today...

Well we got a GPS for Christmas - that's right a GPS for our big town... so I got up the courage ('cause I knew it cost so much) to ask for an exchange. Today I went back with my mom to the store and picked out something awesome - we got rock band, and the beatles disc and hold for it... the aerosmith one too!!!!!! HOOOOOORRRRRRAAAAAYYYYY!

So now I'm going to get some wine and get singing - yippee!

Happy first day of being 33... yiipppeeeee!
WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!

birthday

First, thank you, Jen, for the birthday wishes. Thank you also to Paula for sending me the fabulous calendar! I love you guys!

Tonight I've gotten good and partially drunk! Hooray. And... I watched dirty dancing - so things couldn't be better.
Why am I extra pleased? I'm extra pleased because my 32nd year has come to an end. It was one of my toughest yet, and there were points throughout the year that challenged me in ways that I never imagined... but I survived... and here I am at the start of my 33rd year. Here's is to a fantastic year ahead, full of excellent things - love, laughter, happiness, and good wine!

Cheers my friends! Cheers all around!

MY LOVE TO YOU!

because I knew you'd appreciate this...

The cold that I have is working on leaving... hooray - but my brain must still be dealing with the side effects of being ill... the cold has dried my upper lip and lips so I've been applying lots of gloss/chap stick. In a moment of brainless I was about one inch from applying deodorant to my face - awesome.... I thought everyone might get a good laugh about that this morning :) Even I laughed... mostly I laughed because I didn't actually apply it - phew - disaster averted... now off to have some coffee...

Best wishes for a great day...

what will help a cold...

That's right - it is time for cooking with ape...


Here is your fearless (ha) cook. This is a moment after me testing the soup and realizing that I'd actually done an okay job.. hooray!

So what did I do tonight... well this came about as a result of a heap of turkey being left over from dinner.

First warmed olive oil in big pot. Then added chopped up onion (1), celery (4 stalks chopped up - not minced - bigger pieces), a cup of mini carrots chopped up (bite size pieces or a bit smaller), a heaping table spoon of garlic (minced) and then all that went into the olive oil on low/med heat.

Then after the onions went transparent I added about 2 cups of chopped up cabbage. I didn't mix the cabbage in - I just let it sit on top. After about 5 minutes I stirred it together. I also added two packages of chicken bouillon (those pouches in the yellow box). Then I chopped up the left over turkey (2 cups-ish). Then I started adding boiled water (I had my little tea kettle going on the side for this). Over the next 10 minutes I added 18 cups of water that was pre-boiled. I also added another four pouches of the chicken bouillon. Once this was all together and I added two potatoes (cut into bite size pieces). Once the potatoes were in I've let it sit to get all flavourful - letting all the yummy flavours dance together. I'm letting them dance for about 45 minutes before I serve it. The potato will be cooked and everything will be yummy.

And here is something you shouldn't do...

The wooden spoon does not add any flavour to the soup... so it should be removed promptly.. :)

So that soup totally tastes better after it has sat for a while - here I am hours later and it is WAY better... so the tip here is patience. Patience in life, patience in soup making

hanging out...

i must be sick

Today I spoke my mind. It was wild.

First stop... I took the guys with me to Wal-Mart to return some duplicate gifts. We waited patiently and went in at the right time, had we been 2 minutes later we would have waited a long long time. As it was, stuff wouldn't scan but they took care of it for us. The problem was that the longer I waited, the more I felt blah... over heating, tired, worn out... but I had one more mission to under take. I had a question I wanted answered about my cell phone.

So someone is helping me, but is new and doesn't know the answer. She gets another person who immediately beaks off. I was advised that even though I'm listed on the account, I'm not the primary person for the account and can't do anything. Now if she'd said this with a smile I would have probably just said fine. Sadly, she was a total bitch about it. I actually couldn't believe it. I mean I wasn't robbing them, and I wasn't being rude. If I was being a jerk then fair enough - be a jerk right back... but I wasn't - I'm standing there sick and tired. So after she beaks off at me I just simply say - well you don't have to be snotty about it - and I turn and leave, actually saying the first thing that came into my head... usually I think of something after and then twist all day about it - thinking - gees I totally should have said X... I walked out of the store thinking she was going to chase me down and shout at me and/or curse at me but that was it... she didn't...

Now we are safely home, had some lunch and just hanging... Michael wanted to watch a movie, so we will tackle that next...

day three

This morning I woke up and thought the cold must be in retreat... departing for a better location. My nose wasn't dripping all over the place and I took that as a sign that things were on the mend. I walked to the bathroom and then quickly realize this cold is nowhere near leaving. I blow my nose and I start bleeding all over the place - great - now I'm a bleeder on the best of days so this doesn't surprise me, but it sucks. Then after it stops I blow my nose again and now I've got air going out my eye... like a stream of air is going out as I blow - what the hell is that... my body is re-routing air ways... not happy.

So it turns out that now rather than my sinus being choked full of all the snot in the free world it has gone back into my throat. Not only does it hurt to swallow it hurts to just breathe air because the passing of air by my tonsil-ish area is torture.

Through all of this I'm happy though - I'm the only one suffering. The guys are just stuck with me not wanting to do much - but really as long as we can play some games or play on the wii or watch some movies they are content. It is still minus a billion here so outside isn't an option anyway.

... later that day....

So we ended up (in true April style) making an agenda for the day..... I know... WTH... but we did... and this appealed to Kyle because this is what his day at school usually looks like. So we made a big list of to do's for the agenda and now we are getting through the list. I thought I was really getting sick about an hour ago but it turns out the heat was just set super high. I went and turned it down because I was going out on the deck to cool off (note that it is minus a billion outside so this is CRAZY) - thinking that I was getting fevers - I actually peeled off most of my clothes and then figured out what was up - I'm still half clothed but whatever.

And what else... well I've enjoyed coffee at the house for a couple of days in a row. Hooray for coffee - and so far I'm not having issues with coffee - no heart burn, no extra pain, no other side effects... you know what is giving me heart burn lately is some wine... there are certain kinds of wine that totally bring on heart burn... what is that... wine is supposed to be a friend :) Anyways - back to the agenda...

a cold

For those who have called the house today, you will know that I'm sick. I sound like there is an extra large sized frog sitting in my throat... plus I'm sneezing A LOT and have the runniest nose I've had in ages... one box of tissue paper was smoked through today... crazy!

All that said whatever this is it is pretty much in my sinus only. I've got some ear pain, but nothing major and my throat doesn't hurt anymore... so I'm hoping this cold moves on.. I've got some time before I return to work and it would sure be nice to have a few days off where I wasn't feelin' crappy... plus I want to get back on the wii fit and don't have the wind to do anything right now.

I finished 'five people you meet in heaven" and I got say it was only okay. 2.7 out of 5. This is another great example of a book that starts well and finishes light. The chapters were big at the beginning of the book and tiny at the end. There were a couple of really good chapters, but I kind of feel like the book could have been another 50 pages longer. I've read far worse, and this book is a good example of breaking a reading rule. I recently heard that if a book is going to be good you'll know by page 22 - which means you'll also know if it isn't going to be good by then too... in this case I'd say if the book had carried on as good as it was at page 22 I'd be telling you that you must read this book... I'm finding this to be the same for eat, pray, love - you see I got through the first two sections of the book and really really liked the book - then I started the love part of the book and I've been less than interested in finishing it... I'm trying to though, want to move on to the next one...

2 hours later... and now my face is burning... gees - my lip feels like it is on fire... arg! Stupid runny nose... stupid, stupid, stupid.

LOL

Today is boxing day.

"Mom, what is boxing day?"

"Well today we get to go shopping and if people get in our way we are allowed to punch them."

See... I am a good parent.

what?

Today was good, today was fun, tomorrow will be a better one.

So what does that say.. well to be honest, it was a very laid back kind of day. There was no rush to open gifts - it was very casual. My parents made it for lunch - we had lunch... my brother made it for dinner - we had dinner... opened some gifts and enjoyed each others company. I remembered that giving hugs was better than wearing my grinch costume... it was good.

What was bad... well there had to be some nuggets to share from today... and there were - there nearly wasn't... but one showed up at dinner. First, I'll point out that my mom started swearing. Now I know she's a big girl and likely swears more than I do - well maybe not that much - but she curses... and I've seen that grow over the years... but today, my dad actually made a face once when she cursed. She said both ass and shit in front of the guys and frickin' - which I don't mind as much - but I really don't want them to say it so I don't say it very often... (ok I really try not to... ) Then at dinner Michael was being fussy. It wasn't chicken and fries... turkey - WHAT? Plus I don't think he is feeling that well... but we managed to talk him into eating a few peas. My sister in law and my mom started to tell him to eat a carrot. My sister in law says something smart about carrots and rabbits eye sight and then my brilliant mom says - yes, you want to eat your carrots cause then you'll be able to see at night. So when the monsters come into your room you'll be able to turn on your eyes and scare them away.... WHAT! My mouth dropped open and I couldn't blink - did that just come out of your mouth and my (nearly) four year old just heard that... WHAT! At this point I changed the topic by saying he didn't have to eat carrots, just the peas... and please stop talking - just put some food in your mouth and stop talking.

And now... well everyone is gone. I've got the fireplace going, the guys are watching a movie and then we'll be heading to bed - or they will in about 20 minutes and then I'll be enjoying a glass of wine by the fireplace... what is important for me today is that I actually felt like I had the day off. Yes I checked my blackberry - twice... but I didn't check it incessantly... and I didn't feel like I needed to be thinking about work - I just thought about being with family and had a good day. amazing ;) I hope others had a great day and if you are lucky enough to have a few more days off I hope you'll enjoy them with your family and friends. Our love to you - my friends and family... hugs and kisses and cheers to a pleasantly finished day. xxoo

dec 25

Well after two visits on Christmas eve and some serious clean up we appear to be ready for christmas day. The guys were pretty excited. I said I saw Santa when we were driving tonight - it was a blow up christmas light one - and Michael nearly jumped out of his seat... WHERE, WHERE, WHERE....

Kyle is questioning all of the Santa stuff, seems to believe in Santa, but not... I don't know. The song that comes to my head is the Age of not believing.. I believe that's from bedknobs and broomsticks... I've always struggled with the santa stuff...

What else? Not much tonight. I had a big to do list today, and didn't really get anything accomplished. Oh well. We had fun today - I took the guys to the alvin and chipmunk movie - the second one - the guys really enjoyed it... I mean really really... it was ok - I didn't really pay close attention. This was my first trip to the theatre in ages and I've never taken the guys alone.

Turkey will be celebrated at my house tomorrow night, along with some yams, potatoes, stuffing and cranberry sauce... mmmmm cranberry sauce - LOVE IT! I hope everyone has a great day - free of stress - full of love - and I hope that love fills you up and it stays with you every day...

wrapping, tomatoes, blahs

I let the boys help wrap presents tonight - I was thinking I wouldn't because then the cat will be out of the bag when it comes to opening the gifts - Michael likes to share what is inside before it is opened.. but what the heck - Christmas isn't supposed to be about gifts - it is supposed to be about loving our family and friends.... so they helped and it was fun... they had a great time.

I accidentally left a container of grape tomatoes in the car over night - well it is minus a billion here and they froze - well tonight I found them and then promptly dropped them all over the place. Now why is this anything to be interested in - well my musical side got a little excited about this because they made the nicest sound when they fell - so when I went back out to pick them up - I tossed them a little bit just to hear the sound again. Alright - so I'm queen of the lame... that shouldn't be news to any of my readers.

Blah... well that's just how it is... I'm taking vitamin D again to help things out because that has helped me in the past - and since the sun sets at about 3:30 and it is just getting up when I roll into work at 9 - the days are just TOO short... and I'm hoping vitamin D will do the trick. What would I like to do tonight - I would like to have a pineapple blizzard and some chocolate - can I have either - hell no - why... cause I'm still pretty much dairy free.... but I would totally love to binge (might be part of the short day stuff too.... ) but even that isn't possible because eating too much makes my side hurt.. ARG! So here I am - bitchin' and whining... yes, I'm sure that is just what you wanted pre-Christmas... alright - before I get worse I'll go
I love you - my friends, my family - I hope your day is better than mine and that tomorrow will be filled with smiles for us all.

Singin' Loud and Proud for Quesnel

Here is a youtube video of a community competition Quesnel is competing in right now... you can help us win $100,000 for a sports facility by voting for us.... www.gamestown2010.ca
Video....


Ok and one more video - if you feel like you need something to do.... A very cool video about the universe - this takes a few minutes but is worth the watch - or at least I liked it....

cookies

14 dozen cookies
woohoo

the tooth fairy

I've been bugging Kyle about his newest wiggly tooth - it was definitely dead and gross and since he pulled the first one out I've been asking him to get on with the second one. Last night at dinner I bugged him because he was having pain when he ate and then (shockingly) he pulled it out.

He wanted to trap the toothfairy and asked me to put some special food for fairies in the bag with the tooth. Then he could show his own personal fairy to everyone in the morning, the following happened:

"Mom, you won't believe it."
I'm thinking... You got another couple of bucks for a tooth - awesome
I say "What, babe..."
"Mom,...." disgruntled voice...
"Mom, she ate the whole bag."

This stops me in my tracks.
"What do you mean she ate the bag?"
"Mom, the bag isn't there, so she must have eaten the whole thing."
That's right friends - Kyle's toothfairy doesn't keep teeth somewhere... she eats them.

So I try not to laugh.

"Why don't you take a second look?"
"Mom, it isn't there. She ate it. I checked."

Fast forward to tonight....
"Mom, the bag is here - I guess she didn't eat it after all. Can you put the money in my piggy bank?"

Ah, small joys.

life without cell

So I turned my cell phone off on Friday night and didn't turn it back on again until late Saturday night - it then received about 70 emails and a bunch of other stuff... I did the same today - I'm tired and need a vacation. I have a couple of days this week and then - done... vacation time.... my body is in desperate need of a break - plus my mind is tending to wonder right now and worry... worry about all the stuff that happened this time last year and I have to keep re-assuring myself that I'm fine. I think with the addition of wine - I should be significantly better this year. I went to reiki this week and I know I'm off because my mind wouldn't settle... just keep going from idea to idea... she noted that I was like a dark cloud when I came in and left with a turquoise glow... sounds good to me - it did help!

Today was my annual diva lunch - and it was a fantastic treat again. I spend a few hours with some great friends I've met through work - this is our fourth year doing it. I got this beautiful picture frame that bends and rotates - it is pretty cool - I also got some yummy shortbread (my favorite kind), and then a raft of other stuff... spoiled - as usual :) It was a beautiful day though. We spent the afternoon shopping - but then at about 2:30 a headache that appeared yesterday rolled back in and has pretty much stayed at my side since. It isn't a regular headache - it is more on the surface of my head... like it hurts to touch my scalp in one spot, and then just aches.. oh and on top of that (listen to me whining..) my earring hole is infected - freakin' hurts - I took my earrings out while we were shopping today and it started bleeding - gross - it was terrible.. so ear infection plus all this stupid head pain - I'm pretty sure that is all connected to my jaw and that it is just making a statement right now... so I'm bulked up on tylenol - which is really keeping it away tonight and plan to go to bed early.

Reading: I've started reading the five people you'll meet in heaven - I'm enjoying it so far... easy language and enjoyable so far. This is from the author that wrote tuesdays with morrie - which I know nothing about... so this is all new for me... I think I'll probably read his other books though now.

tonight

Need something to do?
Visit Starbucks
http://starbucksloveproject.com/#/main/ - they did this great "All you need is love" video thing - with people singing from all over the world - it is great!

Need something else to do?
Well I made butter tarts tonight - now I kind of made too much filler - just didn't have enough shells... but that's ok
Usually I follow my mom's recipe - every year - every year... and for some reason (and after a glass of wine) I decided it was time to look at another recipe....

So here is the recipe I followed tonight... just in case you have a glass of wine and nothing to do....
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, lightly beaten
18 unbaked tart shells

Preheat oven to 450ºF. (that's right friends... 450 degrees - freakin' hot and yes I totally thought I was going to burn the damn lot of them... and because I totally overfilled them it smelt burned-esk....)

In heavy saucepan, combine the raisins, butter, sugar, syrup and salt. Heat on a warm stove at low heat until butter is melted and the mixture is warm. Remove from heat and add vanilla and eggs. Spoon fill tart tins 2/3 full. (First note the whole blending the eggs into the warm mixture - that means you actually have to do it properly and not like me - kind of rushing and not realizing the mixture had overheated a bit... darn it... and it also says - fill 2/3 - which I also didn't listen to - I filled them right up and I actually think that wasn't such a bad idea cause then the tarts are full of raisin-y goodness...)

Do not fill the tart shells to the top with the filling or they will spill over while baking. 2/3 full should be fine. (Yes, yes - see the recipe even reminded me to take it easy and did I listen - NO - because I'm a nut... and while I'm noting nuts - I would have totally put nuts into this recipe - more filler and maybe even currants - cause I like them too...)

Bake for 10 minutes (that's right - back for 10 minutes at 450). Reduce heat to 350ºF and bake for 5 minutes or longer until pastry is golden. Do not let the pastry filling bubble. (I'd love to know how you are supposed to stop this from happening - mine bubbled they still tasted yummy... cause I totally tried one) Let butter tarts cool completely before removing from the tart tin. (This is an important note too....)

What next... well I'm finishing a glass and watching Braveheart - because I was in the mood for some scottish-ness...

and some photos...

Sushi - yum!


I judged a naughty gingerbread man competition :) - this was the winning entry. Big "O" Wedding Night (Yes... that's another gingerbread under the dress and in this scene it happens to be a female friend under the dress...)


A simple Christmas wish that did the trick for me. Smiles are extra important.



I'm one of those weird people that like the accordion - I mean I probably won't listen to hours of it - but I enjoy it... this is a shot from my last trip to Vancouver - these two olders guys seemed to be really into what they were doing. I wanted to go up and kiss them... watch out old men with accordions...


You should be able to make out a sun circle in the right hand side of this photo.


Today was a busy day. More tests, a site visit, coffee (mmmmmmmm - hooray), Christmas board party... I'm tired, but not tired... I didn't really get a great sleep last night. Tomorrow night is another event - a meet & greet event - same on Thursday night... Friday is a staff lunch... crazy week.

Favorite new product: Twisted peppermint - this product smells great! I love it! It is a 3-1 body wash, bubble bath and shampoo - now ordinarily I would have been worried about something that can be used as bubble bath and as shampoo - I thought it might be too bubbly... but it was great... and it made my head feel tingly... best product! BEST! Where is it - Bath and Body Works - right now it is $10 per bottle - and it is buy two get one free! WICKED!


Great IKEA ad... for those celebrating christmas IKEA is selling christmas trees for $20, if you do not celebrate christmas IKEA has great 5ft tree scented air fresheners for only $20... - love it! I want a 5 foot air freshener....

stupid side pain

So things aren't any better on the pain front. My ultrasound was clear - or largely clear - doctor couldn't see anything. Then he makes a face and says so that means we need to look at other stuff... so bring on the crappy stuff... now I'm getting booked for not only a ct scan, but also a surgerical consult... so that sucks.

So what's my problem? Well initially I thought I'd just pulled a muscle because when I stretched I'd feel something that just didn't feel right in my side. I kind of wrote it off, (three months of writing off) and then it started happening more often and then it turned into when I ate that area hurt. Now it hurts all the time. It is a dull ache most of the time, kind of feels like the stitch you get in your side when you run to hard to fast - with the exception that it isn't happening when I'm running.... when I eat it gets worse...

Am I ok? Yes... the doctor seemed more upset about it then me. Of course he knows that I have anxiety and I think maybe wondering if I was going to have a fit, but I haven't... and I guess I'm just thinking this is going to go away.... just as quietly as it showed up... I'm stressed out and maybe that is a big piece of it because high stress also makes it hurt... so there is the lame update... blah...

Despite all that - I send you my hugs and kisses and for some (you know who) some extra lovin' - :)

and today...

Not really a magically Monday... I took the afternoon off to see the doctor and he moved my ultrasound up to Wednesday instead of January - so that was nice... and in the very positive news I took my brother to the doctor after my appointment and turns out they had his test results - and hooray - he doesn't have MS - so that is great news. They found nothing else significant with his brain - so that is great! He still has surgery ahead of him and some questions to be answered, but they ruled up something - so that is good news.

Anyhow - I'll share some photos later - I'm going to go work out and blow off some steam.

Kisses xxoo

loblaws holiday giveaway

You can go to http://danigirl.ca/blog/ and scroll down to the Loblaws contest to win a basket of treats...
Just a little something for the holidays.

Since I'm here and sick we put the tree up. Still not into it...
So I had some rockets tonight - I guess I'm reverting to Halloween.

Night my lovelies! Here is to better insides tomorrow.

guts

I'm on hold.
I'm starting to loathe westjet.

What now?

Well I started feeling sick at about 2am - now I'm really sick. How can I type.... I don't know - how can I sit on hold for 28 minutes waiting to make a change to my flights. There is only one other option for flights right now and I need to see if that can work between throwing up. My guts just ache and I hate throwing up. I want to blame food poisoning, but I gotta say that Kyle was also throwing up tonight and I was going to write about that horrifyingly disgusting experience (maybe you don't want to know - you'll be scarred to) and now I'm sitting here trying to adjust flights with a bucket in my lap praying for a break in the throw up.

What's that... 29 minutes and I'm getting service.

Now it is the battle of not throwing up while getting stuff dealt with... fudge.

So not only am I not getting a flight, I wouldn't have gone anywhere. They told me the weather is so bad that they aren't flying to where I'm going.

And back on hold... flamin' crap - people I need to throw up! 41 minutes - I got a five minute break from the crappy music - and WestJet - PLEASE just put the radio on - if I have to stay on hold for the length of time I have to stay on hold you should at least AT LEAST have good music. This could be my cranky, throw up side talking - but WTF! FFS!

Pain... maybe this is the last hurrah of my gallbladder cause now that hurts - stupid freakin' westjet - please just let me get off the phone... going on 50 minutes.... please

58 minutes....

62 minutes....

66 minutes....

71 minutes... and finished - now to continue throwing up

cool

So these little pez dispensers are actually jump drives and pez dispensers - you'll find them with piles of other cool things over at etsy... find these great things by click here

productivity

Well I leave tomorrow - not looking forward to the 4am departure from Q-town - blah! - so I'm trying to get some stuff done... we had a christmas party to go to this morning - so the guys got to see Santa and have some treats and a present. I gotta say I'm just not into christmas this year. I have no interest in decorating the house and we are usually decorated by now. I guess we'll put up decorations the week before Christmas now... since I'm not back home until Dec 14.

This afternoon holds a few to do items... minor kitchen clean up, guys hair cuts, finish packing (I'm actually ahead on this for once...), and I need to stop by my office and turn off my computer because it is messing up my home account - arg!

I think I'm just shocked that I'm going away on this training. I can't believe I'm going to be gone for so long and that I've got three flights tomorrow to "enjoy" - two hour layover in Van - which is fine because they have good wi-fi, then about 40 minutes in Calgary and then off to Saskatoon. I just wish starbucks was open early tomorrow morning so I could load up before I go...

and back

Well I survived another road trip. Made it back to Q-town this evening after a longer ride home from Lillooet. The roads were ok - normal winter conditions, but there were some yucky spots. I got to drive back with one of my staff who grew up in Lillooet so I got to visit her homestead and also hear about some of the history of the community.


This is a rock face that is along Hwy 99 which runs from Hat Creek (near Cache Creek) to Whistler. Now there isn't a pull out where this rock is - so you need to find a safe place to pull over and then you get yourself in front of the rock. So we are probably .5 km from the base of the rock where I took this picture. And then you shout at the rock... and it echoes right back at you... so I totally yodeled... yodel-a-he-who... This morning, before we got going, I went and took a few more pictures and also got some more GREAT coffee.... hooray!

Next trip - I leave for Saskatoon for more training on Sunday... I have to leave Quesnel at 4:30am for my 7am flight... blah...

And now a couple more pics...

This is the view from the east side of the Fraser River about 5 km outside of Lillooet on Hwy 12... beeee-u-teeee-full!


Frost covered rose hip - if you click on this one you'll be able to see the tiny crystals shooting up off the rosehip

back in L-town

So I had a regional meeting in Lillooet today so I drove in yesterday and then plan to drive home tomorrow. Roads were great coming here and now the snow has shown up.... this morning you could watch the snow line shift - it was pretty amazing to watch.

I don't really have anything enlightening to say... other than Lillooet has the best coffee I've ever had. This morning I was treated (thank you!) to a coffee that was very very good - it was coffee plus a shot of espresso - I was nervous that my body was going to just have a melt down over it but it didn't - it was great! Did I mention it was great coffee... plus they had muffins hot out of the oven and they were yummy too! What else is great... well I got 20 minutes tonight to take some photos... now the first one is on route to Lillooet - this is around Clinton (a cute town that has a lot of antique stores that are worth checking out if you are into that...) and then some of my night shots...

Oh and my room has one of those old style tubs - so I totally brought bubble bath with me... enjoyed last night and plan to enjoy tonight too :)



And now for some evening photos of this beautiful town.... you can see how the snow has kissed the hill tops... and yet the grass in town is green :)




This kind of took my breath away. I really do like it here. I don't think I ever thought I was a mountain person, but I guess I am... there just seems to be something to take a photo of at every turn...

crazy week

This has been a crazy busy week and I'm going back on the road this weekend for another work thing - then back for a few days, then away for quite a while for training.

I'll write more later tonight, but before I forget, a great moment happened today. I've got a new disk in the car and I'm singing along when I hear Michael saying something very quietly. I call back and ask what's up and he is still quiet... what's up...
and then he says "Mom, I'm just singing along." Well then I started to get all excited... how are you singing along - you've never heard this song before... "Mom, we listen to it before nap time at daycare." WHAT! Now I love daycare...

He was singing "If I had a million dollars" - tonight we sang it again because I can't get enough!
Hooray! This isn't the first time he has sang a song with me - but it is his first barenaked ladies song!

More later....

hold on to your pants...

Alright... today was crazy busy and amazing... first we met Chef David Adjey - he was very nice and was kind of like Ron White - very comedic and fun! And then... that's right - we met Trevor Linden. We were like a bunch of school girls - it was wicked! Andy gave me four of his cards and a 8 1/2 x 11 photo... it was great! He shock my hand and was super nice. It was weird because we were the only ones that came prepared... most people just got Trevor to sign some piece of paper - not us... we all brought stuff.... jerseys, pictures, cards... everything!



Here is Trevor talking about the Stanley Cup run and his fractured ribs.


That's right - that is me standing next to Trevor Linden! Hooray! It was awesome!

saturday night

The guys are out at Grandma and Grandpa's tonight as I'm heading back on the road for a quick trip to Vancouver.
Back on Tuesday... I'm sure I'll post over the next couple of days as I'm pretty sure I'm going to have photos to share... turns out that Mr. Trevor Linden is going to the conference I'm attending, if you can freakin' believe that... so Carmen - this time I'm definitely getting a better photo...

What else? I've been eating really well until tonight and now my insides feel like they want to escape... stupid fried food... damn you! I'm totally back on coffee - and I don't care - I love coffee! I love you!

Alright - I totally need to get off my computer... I'm spending way too much time on here... I completed a survey for Stats Canada and the woman asking me questions kind of laughed at my total usage for personal time... lord... ok - off to get Trevor Linden cards ready for the trip - going prepared this time.

thursday

The vegetables got him...

Kyle was wearing this shirt when we ran into his kindergarten teacher who he still loves... she was telling us about stuff she's been doing and then she says "oh, kyle, what's that on your shirt and she reads vegetables are..." and then she goes silent... laughs but can't say evil... I think it is because she knows it is true... holy I could hardly contain myself though.

And in other news....

Jeff Dunham... yeah! Jay has great people on this week! Oh, but Jay didn't give Jeff enough time... booo - his stories were funny....

Dakota Fanning is on Jay too and she has the best shoes... seriously - did I just say that... yes, I did... sooo becoming a girly girl :)

i squish you

Ok - so beyond our shannagins and fun...

Larry the Cable Guy is on Jay tonight and he said the funniest thing... that he didn't get the halloween candy he wanted and it made him as made as a mosquito in a manican factory... you can hear the silence in the crowd and then slowly people caught what he said... gees that guy is funny...

star date 20091118

Caved....

Sitting, waiting for meeting to start - I bring the coffee for this meeting and I decided it was ok to have a mocha this morning... but I chose a (catch how lame I am here... ) grande soy decaf peppermint mocha with a little bit of lame on the side... and guess what.. it isn't good... it doesn't taste like coffee.. and now I wish I'd just pulled out the stops and gotten the drink I wanted.

That said, it is likely for the best that I didn't get real coffee or milk/cream or whip cream... ok - who am I kidding - I want to curl up into a ball in the corner of this room and cry... alright it is just that kind of day today. Well the meeting is getting ready to start...

I hope everyone has a great day...

crackberry

So I made the switch to the blackberry last week and have spent a week trying to figure it out. I've found a great site to get ringtones and stuff, but was wondering if anyone else has tips for a new user. Let me know :)

Tonight we went to the library and Kyle picked out a pile of books.. all non-fiction. So then tonight we read a sea monster book and I was surprised to read that the kraken was a real thing. That a squid with arms as long as a basketball court came out of the ocean off the coast of Newfoundland and tried to take down a ship (1873ish). The men on board cut two of the arms off and brought one of the arms to shore... no kidding... it also talked about giant octopus off the BC coast and that the largest one ever captured was right off our coastline... who knew? You should have seen Kyle's face when I said it was off the BC coast. He made this great face and then I could see his mind turning.. gees... we live there... gees... maybe we could catch one... so watch out octopus - summer 2010 may be the great octopus hunt for us :)

Final note - is it ok that I hate the new gap commercial for the holidays? is ok that I had a good laugh about the dork that falls at the end of the commercial after trying to ride a guy on the ground like a surf board?

Michael asked if we could put the tree up on the way home tonight (a house on our drive home has launched their christmas display and he is quite taken by it). I think I know why my dad left our christmas stuff to the last minute now - we usually put stuff up on the 22/23 and then took it down before new years... anyone else not feeling it this year...

Later that night... so I'm watching Jay Leno and they had the recent person kicked off of biggest loser... she looked fabulous - but she was wearing the wrong skirt - way too short - in fact they kept changing the camera view to avoid having the view... it looked like someone was trying to tell her not to stand at the end of the interview - but then she did - and well they tried to pan away... but they didn't do it fast enough... and there is my evening... screwin' around with my crackberry and getting flashed...

today

Nothing too exciting to report. A regular day at work - too long - that's for sure. One of my staff gave me some clarinet music, so he has tossed me a challenge... very kind of him... so now I'm going to try and learn it - of course he didn't give me something easy.. Clarinet Concerto; Mozart.. no less...

Ok before I run off and try to figure out how to play the concerto... I did want to share this great picture of Michael. Too much chocolate... I think this is what I look like after coffee... mmmmmmm coooooffffffeeeeee.... three days free... amazing... I totally miss it though...



Alright so after posting I decided I should go and listen to this concerto... holy crow... it is beautiful and reminded me why I wanted to play clarinet in the first place... that said... um... it is soooo beyond my skill level right now... and since I can't play clarinet tonight I'm going to go and grab my guitar and take a lesson on garage band....

Woohoo I tuned my guitar and played E, I'll be rocking it out to the Unicorn song in no time... yee ha! I love garage band!

ice waves

sunday

Yesterday we made cookies... I need to ice them today. I think we got about 100... ish... all different shapes and sizes. Right now the guys are enjoying a movie that I can't seem to get my head around or maybe I'm choosing not to understand - flamin' Pokemon. Can a guy please explain this to me... what is the attraction? What is so cool about pokemon? (I will also accept a girls explanation if there a girl that gets it.)

We were going to go to Nazko today but the weather is calling for snow and I don't have winter tires on yet. Kind of sad not to go because I wanted to get out and take some photos. I'll load some stuff later this afternoon once we've got some of the cookies decorated and if I actually get my crafting going... my crafting mojo has made a few appearances but lately the mojo would rather have a glass of wine versus actually producing something.

Day 2 without coffee... I'm glad that I didn't have a cup yesterday (survived) - today I would like a cup, but bought some tea to keep me going... ha - flamin' tea... FFS...

saturday

STOMACH - "Good morning, Brain. How are you doing?"

silence

STOMACH - "Look, I'm just going to say thank you for staying away from coffee today. It will help us both in the long term."

BRAIN - *sigh*

STOMACH - "I know it is tough - I know - we've been here before, but let's just let it go... this beautiful thing wasn't meant to drink coffee every day - it makes her sick and crazy... she could hardly form words yesterday and was in a roller coaster mood at work... I don't think those people even knew what hit them yesterday..."

BRAIN - *sigh*

STOMACH - "I'm not saying no coffee ever again, I'm just saying we can't make a habit out of it. It can't be every day. Ok?

BRAIN - "Fine."

Brain exits, stage left, mubbling small words...

a laugh

Sex is like air. It's not that important unless you aren't getting any. anonymous

That was something Mr Tony Robbins - world renowned speaker and motivator - posted on Twitter tonight.... I just thought it was funny because he usually posts such serious stuff and then he posts this... maybe I'm the only the one who will find that funny...

Looking forward to Saturday... hooray for the weekend! Yippee!

And in case you are counting it is 41 days till xmas and 45 till my b-day... why is that important - well it isn't... but I'm putting it out there... can't say that I'm into christmas this year... I'm not impressed with the stores that got decorated early - I mean isn't Remembrance Day the signal for decorating season ... I guess it it ok to put up your Christmas stuff... I guess... but seriously - I think a month of all that is enough... and even that... well some years I've been extra excited about xmas because of family and being together... this year I just want to survive it and feel no stress... so ideally there will be little focus on the commercial stuff and it will just another day to celebrate laughing and love of our friends and family... and with any luck the break will include some wicked sledding and x-country skiing... see that is something to get excited about!

poor choices

BRAIN "Stomach, hey, what ya doin'?"

silence...

BRAIN "Stomach, come on.... pleeeaassseeeee, can we talk?"

STOMACH "I'm not talking to you... look what you've done... you've created a monster. Two cups of coffee today. TTTWWWOOOO!"

BRAIN "Look, I'm really sorry. Can you forgive me?"

silence

BRAIN "Come on, I screwed up, I love you stomach. We are a team. Please. I need you."

STOMACH "Look - you gotta get control up there... she is running amuck because of you. Get her back in line, or I won't talk to you anymore. Do you hear me... no more discussion... this means no more coffee.... none - this has to stop."

silence

more silence

BRAIN "Can I think about it?"