mr.kindergarten

Michael went to Ready, Set, Learn tonight, which is basically a starter program to kindergarten.  He is past this as he has been going to daycare for years and has been to strong start a few times.  That said, it was nice to be in the room where he will go to kindergarten and meet his teacher (even though she didn't bother to introduce herself and didn't wear a name tag - I know.. I'm complaining already).

Tonight's session (which was happening during dinner time - which is just PLAIN STUPID) was about... of course, food... we've had a long day, we haven't gotten dinner because I work until 5pm and the thing started at 5pm... anyways... we sing some songs and then she asks about food.. what is a food that is good for you - Michael says - shockingly he says salad - a food he has yet to really eat because there are vegetables in it... then she asks what is a food that is not yummy... well it is the usually foods that kids don't like... but not Michael - Michael has to be wayyyyy outside the box.  "Michael, what is food that is not yummy?"  Chocolate soap.

Now that might sound like a shocking answer - where would he come up with something like that... well it just so happens that one of my co-workers gave us chocolate soap for valentines day and one of my other co-workers fed her husband one and it became legend for the guys (they watched her do it) - we even went to her house and she had them in a bowl and offered them to the boys and they absolutely would not take any - knowing that she was a trickster... so that whole situation really had an impact on him...  :)

Anyways - I don't think we'll be back at it - during dinner time is just a bad idea and then he is pretty adjusted to life with other kids and learning and fun...

Growing up... *sigh* - how can he be going to kindergarten in just a few short months...

celebration

1000

This represents my thousandth post on blogger.

I thought you might be interested in knowing... 

I've managed to get a good case of what the boys had.  I haven't actually had a cold that makes me cough in ages.  It is a nuisance.  I ran out of cold fx and am trying out airborne tabs - they had an immediate effect this morning (they really don't taste good) and plan to have another tonight.  Hopefully it will pass quicker than what the boys suffered with.

It is Sunday - which means if you are postsecret.com reader it is time to go over there and read.  There are a few good ones this week and of course, some crazy ones.

It is also Daffodil month.  Love to hear your thoughts on this. I know there is some anger that they stole the poppy idea and it might impact poppy sales.  I back the daffodil campaign because the daffodil's are cute and brighten up my day, and now that they are tied to the cancer fundraising campaign I get to wear them in my favorite month :)  If you don't know what I'm talking about or don't know where to get one - go here for information on the cause and then for the daffodils - well we are hosting them in my office, so if you want one I'm sure I can send you one... I'll make a small donation for you and mail you one.

i heart craig ferguson

that's all
nothing great to share tonight - tired - long day
working tomorrow

and so - life goes on....

xxoo

rain

The spring rains are starting... I hear they may be spring snow tomorrow - blah! Darn weather.  We still have snow on the lawn, but only inches now and there are lots of green patches.

Why am I blogging at 8am? Well I'm home with sick kids - Kyle isn't that sick, but his cough sounds so awful that I don't want his teacher to have to listen to his cough all day and Michael has the same cold, but isn't coughing as loud - he is more miserable than anything.. fine as long as their are cartoons on and things to do...

So now I'm setting up to work from home - a bit - and just hang out with the sickies for the day.
Hope everyone else is well.

blustery

It is windy in good ole Q-town tonight - so things are rumbling around outside, it is loud and then what I thought was the wind turned out to be something good... you see - my terrible neighbors are moving out.  They were throwing their stuff outside and loading.  I'm sooo glad to see them go!

Not really sure who's bright idea it is to move in the wind, at 9pm - but I don't really care.  Tonight they've been parking in front of our house and about 30 minutes ago the boyfriend/whatever is sitting in his truck, but it is dark and I can't see him - just notice the car - so then I walk into the kitchen and he has a flash light and he starts flashing it at our house - ROAR!!!! Good riddance!  Be gone you stupid M-F'er!!!!!!! Wasn't like it was the one time - it was over and over for five minutes!!!! RRROOOAARRRR!

Anyways - I'm assuming that since Friday is the start of a new month (30 days of April... hooray) they'll be packing and moving for the next two days and then we wait for the next nonsense to move in... of course - this time will be different... there is no way that I'm putting up with the nonsense that has happened with this family - no way!!!

hair cut

Tonight Max destroyed things twice.  First time, he jumped and grabbed a bag of bread, tore into it and dragged out some bread to half eat on our couch - awesome.  (When I say -jumped up- he jumped up to the height of our dinner table - counter height - and drug the bread bag off the counter top and onto the floor) Then tonight we went to go and get Andy dinner and were gone a total of 20 minutes and come home to chocolate wrappers all over the house.  He had grabbed one of my work bags and dug into the chocolate bag - this, again, was put away, up high - and so he is covered in chocolate gunk and so... he got a hair cut - a big hair cut - tonight I figured out that I can give him a shorter cut and he can still have a cute-ish face - so that may be the end of the longer body hair look for Max the House Wrecker!

Kyle is sick with a cold.
Michael continues to like being called Jet.

really... really

And this from the Oxford English dictionary... 


The March update also adds new words from across the dictionary. These include initialisms such as OMG and LOL, and the acronym Wag; plus markers of modern life, from muffin top, n. to non-dom n.


Initialisms are now words... WHAT!!!????????


I call bullshit!  This is just lazy language and the end of english how can an organization like Oxford English Dictionary agree that OMG and LOL are words... surprised that WTF didn't make the grade.


ps... CARMEN - @trevor_linden - he is on twitter... in case you aren't already following him... 

thursday night

Tonight I got to have two great phone calls... I got to talk with Paula and catch up on her pregnancy... hooray!  And with my sister and Nicholas on skype so I got to see him laughing and giggling.. hooray - again!

I love that there are so many babies in or nearly in the family right now.  It is also great to experience life as an aunti - totally love it!

Other things I love - Big Trouble in Little China - and on that note I'm going to go and get my fill since they are running it on AMC tonight and then hook myself with my other dear friend, Advilene :)  

day 2

Alright - so tonight I'm still coping with the mouth piece... I sound like I've got a candy wedged in my mouth when I talk so I get strange looks - like I'm rude for eating while talking - awkward...  chewing is difficult and impossible to do without the guard in - which means I'm trying to chew with the guard in place and it is awful... it is soft food or liquid and the soft food is difficult *sigh*

Hoarding: Buried alive = cleaning time - it is always an inspiration!

baking

It's Tuesday night and thought I should do something special and bake some treats... I picked up BC Hydro's fun recipe cards - each recipe is submitted by a BC celebrity - there is even a Ryan Kesler recipe for Chicken Pot Pie ... this recipe cards highlight powersmart facts and what appears to be a good recipe... that's right - appears.  So what happened...

 This lovely recipe for some yummy chocolate, super banana-y, muffins and the recipe - as you can see - clearly says 7-9 extra large muffins - and now that I've made the recipe and it is smelling up the whole house - well apparently extra large meant more like mini muffin loafs - the recipe is giant!  So while I thought I was getting into an hour of baking... it appears that I'll be up for hours...

Other complaints.. while I'm complaining - the recipe calls for peanut butter - one tablespoon - but what it should say is one tablespoon per muffin and it suggests to simply put the peanut butter on the top of the muffin... except that the muffin is going to rise and when the peanut butter melts it is going to run all over hells have acre and make a mess - so this dawned on me but I also had some kind of hope that maybe the recipe was right and that it wouldn't make a mess - so I did one dozen (yes - a dozen) with peanut butter and one without - and of course... of course it is making a freakin' mess - darn it!  So I'm going to make the remaining dozens - that's right - I'll easily get 4 dozen muffins - I'm going to forgo the peanut butter.

sigh - did manage to use up all my browning bananas - so there is the silver lining..

update: 12:29am, can't believe I'm still up - soooo wanted to be sleeping by now... the peanut butter was a disaster - do not follow that part of the recipe - it basically burned to the top of the muffin and while it may end up tasting ok, it just didn't work... stupid, stupid, stupid!

12:31am - sneezing with new guard is awful - a new, different kind of pain

12:32am - sleep walker is lurking - i can hear him getting ready to make an appearance and probably tell me something like the jellyroll called me and said it was half past lunchfast

12:33am - watching cnn and listening to them talk about libya and the potential that the real reason is about oil - that there is some concern for people, but it is more about oil... makes me wonder about alberta...  dear muffins, cook faster so I don't have to think about oil prices, peak oil, usa interests and on and on and on

a new guard

And so today I went back to get my new guard for my terrible jaw.  It is not pretty and it is totally different than the last one they gave me.  It has metal pieces and it pinches and my 's' and 'c' sounds are shot.  So it is a few weeks at this stage and then onto the next stage ... whatever that is... sigh... it is definitely the end of hard food for a while trying to eat is painful - at best - let alone trying to eat something that needs a lot of chewing.  Having a guard is also causing my lips to dry out and they ache.

It is spring break here and so the guys get to be together at daycare and today they got a day at home which is nice - I know they love the chance to play together and have fun.  Kyle has also been teaching Michael how to play Star Wars on the PS3 and they are pretty into that.  Michael has asked to change his name to Jet, Kyle whined about him changing his name and so I asked what he wanted his changed to and he agreed that his name was fine - ha.  And now we are going to run out for some baking supplies and then we are going to play RISK... or something like it - Kyle is also really into chess (chest) right now - so I'm trying to learn that game all over again.  I was never good at Chess and I just have flashes of losing as a kid every time we set up to play.  Oh well - and now back to playing.

unisheep

A long time ago, when the earth was green  

There was more kinds of animals than you've ever seen

They'd run around free while we were all asleep

And the happiest of them all was the unisheep

guinness

Seriously - why does there need to be photos of the man with the most toes, or the most deformed toes or any of that shit - tonight Kyle brought home his library books and he has to go to the most disgusting section to share.  Now I'm not that old that I don't remember pulling the same shit and being really interested in the crazy crap in the book... but man... that is crazy.. the whole book is insane.

I'm sick with a cold.

That is all.

oh and by the way...

sunday

1. 45 minute snowball fight - check
2. Laundry 
3. Lunch - gooey grill cheese and soup that no one liked
4. Grocery shopping with visit from Kyle's friend who gave him trouble for not pulling his tooth out (he has a front top tooth that is hanging by a thread - literally - it nearly came out last night, but then stopped... his other tooth is nearly out behind the baby one)
5. Grabbed a treat for being sooo good
6. Watched a cartoon and now....

Off to clean a bedroom, do some more laundry and then go to Andy's last game of the season...

we will also continue to miss my sister and her beautiful baby... my evenings are not the same without baby snuggling... :(

Jen - heat helped me with ear/jaw pain - one of those bean packs you put in the microwave can be very helpful as it provides heat for a while - that plus advil... hope you get better soon

photos

Three cute boys

Michael (5), Nicholas (.4) and Kyle (8)

Smooches

the case of the slack ass blogger

I know... what's the deal - where I have a been?
Well between swamped and life.  I'll skip the boring details.  The fantastic stuff is as follows: my sister drove all the way from Calgary to Quesnel to visit and so we get to have her stay with us and hang out and chat and all that great stuff - she also brought my nephew with her - very cute, Nicholas.  He is 3 1/2 months old (that's right and she still drove here on her own) and starting to giggle and is just starting to figure out that his hands are part of his body and that he can hold and pick up things with them... it is fun to watch and great to have a wee-little person around the house.  He is very easy going and happy.

So she has been here since Thursday night and it has been great to have her here.  We are spoiled to have her and Nicholas.

Photos will definitely follow...

Love to all of you! xxoo

can you say - productive

First we had a buffet breakfast at home, which simply means a little bit of everything was available - it was fantastic!  Yummy and fun... then we knew the sunny weather was going to be short lived and wanted to get outside so we went sledding downtown at Lebourdais Park.  We got to sled for an hour alone - hill to ourselves - great.  The guys had a great time.  We all took turns, or went together - awesome!

This afternoon Andy and I installed two new lights in our bedroom.  It took longer than I thought and now that they are up I'm thinking we might switch them.  Now that we got them up the first time it won't be as big a deal the second time.  And now since we took down the old lights we can move them to another part of the house - or possibly get one new one and switch out one old one.

Then it was onto dinner which was lasagna for the cheese eaters and a new recipe that I made up.  You see I really wanted turkey dinner tonight so I made it as a casserole.  Bottom layer stuffing, next layer cream corn, next layer ground turkey mixed with one package of turkey gravy, topped with mashed potatoes - baked in the oven for a little while and then enjoyed with cranberry sauce. Different anyways...  good different... definitely something I'd make again.

There is one more task to get through today, but it is getting late and I don't think we are going to take it on... need to assemble a closet... anyways - a fantastic sunday... sadly tomorrow isn't another day off... but it sounds like I might have some time off coming my way soon as we may just be lucky enough to have a few visitors at our house :)

Tomorrow is celebrate Canada's Gold Medal win at the Olympics day - so remember to wear your jersey!

rrrrrridiculous

So it is roll up the rim time again and we are keeping stats in the office on it.
As a group we are up one stupid lame donut and down six coffees/teas/hot chocolates...

How are you doing?  Any winners out there?

Also - did you know that they have an online game that you can play daily for prizes?  Visit www.rolluptherimtowin.com

freakin' people

I have my hate on tonight for vindictive, manipulative people! ROAR!!!!!!
Seriously - what is wrong with some people...

FOCUS

FOCUS!!!!!!

hello city

Just feeling squirrelly tonight 

tonight

So I'm lame and watching the Grammy's.
Lady Gaga was ok - glad she wasn't wearing meat again.. yuk

Themes tonight - giant, honking, enormous heels - it is one thing to stand in the same spot in the giant heels and sing a song - it is something totally different to prance around the stage and climb stairs and on and on...

Missing the fun collaborations they've had in the past... Lady Gaga and Elton John last year was pretty cool - it is still early though.. maybe there will be more to the show... 

max

Max and I went and played some catch on the weekend... I know - in this photo - he looks cute and fun... two great qualities in a dog... BUT - there happens to be very little for him to destroy right now and yet.. he decided to eat my Mac cord today, eat my ear buds, pull a bag of paper towel off a chair and destroy it, find a roll of paper towel and rip it to shreds - good times... 

how much snow...

Well we didn't actually get much more - that said at about 12:30 my neighbour (the good one) got towed out of his drive way - so sleep was elusive last night.  I got up early this morning and now my neighbour is cleaning his driveway - he started about 20 minutes ago and already brought out his snow blower - buddy - it is still too early for that sound - even if I've been up for an hour...


vent - the stupid commercial on cnn with the women saying that there should be a camera on every street in america if that means one life is saved .... right - or it might be because then cnn would have all kinds of free coverage of the stupid things people are doing all over the usa... maybe...  maybe obama should get behind this - jobs for putting up the cameras, jobs at cnn to sit and watch the cameras and to report crazy things, bad things... cnn could even branch out into home protection at that point - so they could protect the streets and report :)

hmmm

it is midnight - and it is starting to snow again.. so much for thinking that the 8 inches was all we were getting - on top of that max is being crazy and wants to bark in my face at night - two nights ago he put his face on the end of the bed and just starred at me and then barked until i moved... arg!

good morning Paula

More moose!

a year ago

One year ago today I was in Lillooet as their official Olympic photographer.  I thought I'd share the photo book that I put together for them here.. it was so much fun - the community was amazing and the day was full of great activities!  (This is an 8MB file - so it will take a minute or two to download....)

http://twe.ly/t3s

Ps. it stopped snowing - looks like about 8 inches - it has stopped though... 

and now...

Well we have a few inches now... at about 2 pm the skies really opened up and started dropping big flakes.
I'm sick so I don't really care how much it snows.  It continues to snow though and it if keeps up at the rate it is now I won't be surprised if we have a foot by 8pm... 

sunday

So it is postsecret sunday (www.postsecret.com) and as I get to the bottom I see this...

Now I don't know if this is just how smart facebook is now or if this is coincidence... but I know two of the people in "922,144 people like PostSecret" box... anyways - I had to share.

weather

It has been snowing since 9am - we've got about 2 cm...
It started snowing in Nazko at 4am... they have a foot...

great

flowers

BOOOOO YAAAKKKKAAAAA!!!!

hooray!

I got beautiful, super amazing flowers from Paula today!  You totally made my day!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

sleepwalking - 2nd night in a row

Kyle has a bunk bed and so the slightest move you can hear from a distance - tonight I hear it going like he is playing jungle gym with it.  He is sitting up and babbling and then he is trying to get down from the bunk bed.  I tell him to sit down and take it easy for a second.  He is completely asleep though.

"are you crazy, v..., v..., v..., f..., v...."

Then he gets up and is trying to come down the ladder again.

-buddy - it's ok - go back to sleep

'v'

'v'

That was 20 minutes ago and now I keep hearing him mumble every once in a while...

good times. 

tonight

That's two... two sleep walking events tonight... ah ah ah ah

and ... what the hell does this mean....

I guess this is the weatherman's WTF....

Today's post was sponsored by the letters, W, T and F and the number 2

xoox

dry skin and other end of the day thoughts

Well the weather is definitely shifting and my skin is going nuts over it - plus my thumb is totally cracked and that is just less than grand.

How to make tomorrow a better day...  don't toss chairs in the office when people outside can see into your office and don't curse at the top of your lungs because while you think people can't hear you... they can...

Give away a few thank you's today... this will be good for you and you might even make someone else's day.

No matter what the groundhog decides is the timeline for the rest of winter - remember that today can be fabulous and so can tomorrow and the next - do not let anyone else decide what your day should be like for you...

Coffee has given me heart burn two days in a row.

And now it is after midnight - and I should probably close up shop and stop working and hit the hay...

(Fraggles - it appears that you can buy Fraggles in Calgary at Chapters I'm trying to find other places too)

Paula - I love you! I hope that today is happy pregnant day and that you are feeling great this morning... xxoo

fraggles

In another attempt to get me to buy things I don't need but want because the kid in me totally and completely wants them I give you...

I heart boober!

Ok - seriously - I really heart wembley...

Available at Manhattan Toys - sold all over BC - Chapters is apparently selling some.. but not all... I wonder if Edgewood in Quesnel could carry these... I think it would fit with the book store... (Page 22)

unwinding

My favorite cd right now is Eat Pray Love - it has a little bit of everything.  I also really enjoy the international songs - for some reason I calm down just hearing some of the songs that have some accordion in them...  it also has two new songs from Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam - lead) and classics from Neil Young.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/eat-pray-love-original-motion/id377595028

and tonight...

So we had a buffet for dinner tonight - that's code for left overs and then a couple of deli items from Safeway... and I've got tomorrow nights dinner in the oven now - a pork tenderloin roast with potatoes, carrots and onions... tomorrow night will now be a breeze! hooray!

My chicken noodle soup wasn't bad in the end - but totally needed more seasoning after the initial recipe... so I'm not sure what was really missing... my chicken just wasn't 'chicken-y' enough.

And while I know my friends and family in Calgary are sad about -31 it is more of the same here - we've been locked into the minus 20's for a few days and before that we had all the snow and then it was super cold before that - this darn winter... me thinks the groundhog is going to sleep in on Wednesday... I would :)

dinner

Meatloaf - check
Home made from scratch chicken noodle soup - check
Mashed potatoes - check
Cream corn - check
Family....

So I've been building dinner all afternoon and now that it is dinner time no one is hungry.... awesome... oh well... guess it can all just sit and wait until there are hungry people...

sigh

:)

sunday...

Here is what we are up to this afternoon... first we are making broth... 

• 1 whole chicken rinsed
• 2 carrots, cut in large chunks
• 2 celery stalks, cut in large chunks
• 1 large white onions, quartered
• Ginger - a big chunk (like the size of a toilet paper roll - ok - 3/4 of that... then cut into four chunks)
• 1/4 bunch fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• Black pepper - about 10 turns on the pepper mill

And now... we wait for broth to be finished to transform into glorious soup!

2010 Torch Relay

Today is the day the torch relay came through Quesnel.  I can't believe a year has gone by since the events - it was amazing to be apart of the relay and then to get to go down to some games and events.

Pictures of the relay are here....
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=320069&id=651326140&l=544a87837f

Ps... is it really the end of January... really... really?

today is thursday

Cute boys - making mom's day!

Five moose - hanging out in a field - AWESOME

Steeped on Reid

So super lucky me - I won a bag of tea from the new tea store in Quesnel.  And since I want to share the great experience of trying new tea I took some photos...

A shot of the tea that I won - Pecan Pastry - that's right - no fat pastries - hooray! 

The fuzzy building in the background is actually where 

Steeped is located in the heart of Downtown Quesnel. 

Here is our fancy office teapot and all the great tea parts are going into our

little strainer... green tea, dried papaya and orange petals - oh, and pecans... yummy

All the happy tea parts hanging out - awaiting water

Note to self - line up hot tea kettle with teapot before trying to take photos....

I like honey in my tea and the great flavour - of, you guessed it, Quesnel honey, made 

a great match with the Pecan Pastry tea

And here you go - a finished cup - after steeping for five minutes - very nice!

Join the Steeped lovers on facebook and you too could win a bag of tea... 

*sigh*

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much.  Too busy and nothing really exciting to share.
I watched an interesting workshop session tonight - I don't normally watch those online, but I've participated in two recently and really enjoyed them.  It was on being human and being connected.  What she ended up talking about was how vulnerability is the core of ourselves in both joy and happiness and also on the negative side of things for ourselves as well.

At the end of her presentation she made a few comments that I wanted to pass on.

1. Let yourself be seen for who you are - be authentic
2. Love with your whole heart even though there are no guarantees
3. Practice gratitude and joy - the power of thank you
4. Remind yourself that you are enough - as you are right now - you are beautiful, amazing, funny, you are what you need to be - do not be misguided by ideas of perfection.

And now - for a hot bath and some magazine reading... love to you!

xxoo

yes, it is

1) Today is National Coffee Break Day - our office is celebrating by having coffee breaks every 15 minutes

2) It is plus (PLUS) one in Q town right now - hooray!

That is all
xxoo

dinner

"Mom, I know all the swear words."

Um - that isn't really something to be proud of.

"Well I know them.  I know the 'n' word."

*in my head - great... that's awesome - crap... now to have that conversation*

Well what is it then.

*giggles*

"Well it is nerd."

Great....

"I also know the 'd' word."

*in my head - what the hell is the d-word... I start going through my on mental list*

"It's douche bag."

And so for the second time today I hear/see that word.  Maybe Kyle was reading Carmen's tweets :)

sleeping

This is a fur ball sleeping on his back - all four legs in the air... awesome....
Somebody had a long day.

while I'm writing letters

Dear Crack Users, Prostitutes, Pimps, Prostitute Users, Crack Dealers,

My alley and back yard driveway are not there so you can do your deals, drop off your whores, pick up your blow or crack or pot or 'shrooms.  It is not a turn around, it is a fire lane and my backyard - that is all.

You have two options - get a brain and realize that your life is worth more than drugs and prostitution or go away and die - please.

Thanks.

ape

IDIOTS

Dear stupid people who are driving like it is summer,

I would like to open this letter with a stern finger wagging and mad face pushed against my window - it snowed people - it snowed A FREAKIN' LOT!  SLOOOWWWW DOWWWNNN!!!!!!

I know you think your car is going to save your sorry ass when it rolls or hits another vehicle but it won't.  You are not superman, he-man, she-ra, my little pony or rainbow brite when you drive - you are a regular old stupid human and you should slow the hell down.

Thanks.

ape

shame

shame on you for waxing your child's eye brows - shame, shame, shame!
I'm not watching that crap anymore.. even out of boredom, which was the case tonight.

sleep

Last night Kyle asked to "spend the night" in Michael's room.  And so he did.

Tonight he asks to sleep in there again... and then 10 minutes ago I find out why.  He is being a detective.  He is trying to figure out why Michael is having nightmares.

"Mom" quietly

Yes

"I figured it out."

Ok, figured out what?

"Well Michael is having nightmares and it is because of the sounds in his room."

blink, blink

"There are sounds in his vent - I can hear them because I'm sleeping beside it and every time there is a loud vent sound he moves in his sleep."

um... well when the heat comes on the vent makes sounds

"ok, but it is why Michael is having nightmares"

ok... well thanks for the (pause)

"advise"

yes, thanks for the advise...

good times
good times

cheese, I hate thee

I thought - I can have pizza... sure it is topped with lovely dairy, but I haven't tried in a while.. so why not... wrong-o - soooo freakin' wrong-o - my guts are killing me and I feel like my heartburn is going to explode out of me 'alien' style!  roar - why can't we be friends - why can't we be friends... 

Help... my readers with kids - Michael is having nightmares - it seems like every night - it is awful... he doesn't say what the dreams are about and I told him a few nights ago that I snuck into his room and stole his nightmares and that I threw them outside... they then froze and can't come back.  I don't know what else to do now.  Tonight he cried and cried because he says he misses me - I don't know where this came from.  It is almost like we got some great time together over the holidays and now we hardly see each other - it sucks... sucks!  Funnier still is that Andy had a nightmare last night and grab me in his sleep - scaring the crap out of me - ah.. but I'm use to his scary antics.

Good times!

meh

Day old homemade sushi is blah!  I made too much last night and we tried to have it again tonight and it just blah - super honkin' blah!  Our guests last night brought dessert and so the boys powered through the rest of it tonight.

Habs scored

It snowed again - so we now have a real snow base in the community - if the weather isn't too terrible tomorrow we will head out for some sled riding... but I hear it is supposed to be minus 10 or colder - blah.

and the Habs score again
TIED!!!

Ok I'm not a Habs fan but I like Canadians winning.

7 billion people

This is a promotional video for National Geographic on their year long review of the earth holding 7 billion people - but it has some interesting facts and information and I thought you might enjoy it...

a weekend

blah

I'm full of the blahs.

That is all...

love to you - happy friday...

if you need something to do tonight - google has set up a map to show mass animal deaths - as a result of the 5000 birds dropping out of the sky... http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=201817256339889828327.0004991bca25af104a22b  - I know - that should totally kick off your weekend and make your life better - ha.... sorry - it is just where I am tonight.

What do you think happened to those birds and fish...?

devil, thy name be max

I know... he looks cute and loveable... and he might be - if he didn't destroy everything in the house.  This week he has hit the garbage twice and destroyed it, chewed the arms, legs and head off a storm trooper, and eaten a brand new power cord.

He goes a day of being a saint and we start to believe that he is a good dog... and then he pulls another trick out of his bag and reminds us that really he is a lunatic and will eat/destroy any thing...

And... since Paula announced on Facebook tonight... let me also congratulate her and Dean on their pregnancy - fantastic news and we are so happy for both of you and can't wait for your babies arrival.

doing my part :)

Ahhhh so it snowed here... about a foot... yep... it is  a lot of snow - but we totally needed it.  We need snow for next summers crops, so bring it on... that said when the forecast is dead on and we all know there is snow coming it makes me laugh that our city can't seem to get it together to plow.  You see I know, right now, that I'll be lucky if my street gets done before the weekend. Why?  Well there is more snow due tonight/tomorrow and they'll just re-do the main streets - if they do them.  So tonight we shovelled the driveway and the road to ensure we could get out tomorrow.

good old gandalf

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

clam chowder

Tonight we made clam chowder - Kyle asked me to make it... and then ate none of it... instead he wanted more lasagna.  Ah... well - such is life.  He then grabbed a couple of cookbooks and picked out meals for the rest of the week - there are 20 post-it notes out with meal ideas and plans...  my little chef...

And tomorrow our associate chef turns five... there are meal and cake plans out already.  Grandma and Grandpa dropped off a giant chocolate cake for tomorrow though, so I guess we will make a cake for the weekend.

food

Tonight was lasagna and to liven things up I cooked an extra two pieces of lasagna noodles and used cookie cutters to decorate the top of the lasagna.  Despite my attempt at getting my fussy eater to try out the pasta he simply ate around it - he ate all the meat/sauce but didn't want any pasta... he did eat the garlic toast, so that is good... plus some cucumber... so we are getting there.

What tomorrow night.. ah... well we will see what chef kyle and his assistant want.  Michael asked to look at a cook book tonight to think about what he wants to make for dessert tomorrow night.  woohooooo - me thinks it will be something to do with chocolate :)

iron chef kyle

Inspired to create something fun for dinner Kyle came up with the following:

Chocolate Raspberry Fruitness

1 tbsp raspberries (frozen/defrosted/added a little sugar)
2 tbsp raspberry jello
2 tbsp light raspberry mousse
1/2 slice of raspberry loaf, crumbled
repeat

Top with a frozen raspberry, garnish with berry pocky and a chocolate stick

Enjoy!

Comments tonight:
"If I sold this recipe to a restaurant I could make a lot of money"
"I'm going to use this recipe when I'm on Iron Chef and it is raspberry night"

So Kyle took care of dessert and Michael made rice, eggs and garlic toast.

Hooray for helpers :)

1/1/11

Nose... still in tacked, however, still sore.  This morning (5am ish) I trashed my baby toe on the corner of my bed as Michael requested I come to his room.  I was so tired that I ignored the pain and went to sleep - wicked.  It didn't tear the nail completely off, but it is gross.

Now Michael decided to wack himself in the face with the stick while we were out adventuring this afternoon - awesome... he has two really nice welts right under his eye.

And now?  Well I'm going to make sloppy joe's and then hang out for the rest of the day. Cleaned the kitchen - finally - and want to tackle a different room tomorrow.

Happy 2011!  Couple more days off - hooray!

Happy New Year!

well that ends the year on a high note... ha

Today we went and did a little shopping, but I wanted to surprise the guys with a swim at the pool.  And so we pull in there and they are all - why are we here - I tell them there is a pool here... blank looks - I can see them processing it - 'we know there is a pool here' ... sooooooo - we get to go swimming - hooray.

So we go in and play in the big pool and the little pool and have lots of fun... and it is time to go - I'm giving the 10 minute warning (again) but we are leaving and then Kyle kicks off the foam thing in the pool and trashes my nose... I didn't even see it coming - all I know is that it happened and my brain told me to get out of the pool 'cause you are bleeding.  I get over to the edge and I'm bleeding all over the place - I pull myself out of the pool and the guys get out and we wander into the first aid room.  The first aid girl is a bit surprised by all the blood and says - more than once - you're really bleeding - I take it in stride because I'm a bleeder and this is life - but holy crap - it hurts - I've never been kicked right in the nose/teeth before and now my nose feels like it is broken - I don't want to move it much because any movement is painful and my teeth still feel jiggly... if that makes any sense.

Anyhow there you go - now we are at home - Kyle and I are going to play and Michael wants to watch a movie.  Good times - good times.

break photos

This is my new laptop bag.  Hooray - I love ESPE!

Plus it came with a great shopping bag.

This is tonight's mess - Max found 2 toilet paper rolls

and promptly destroyed them - this is part way through clean up

Sushi making on Boxing Day - Kyle totally got into it 

He picked the filling for all of the rolls - and then ate lots :)

Two cute boys

This is the reason why Max destroyed the toilet paper rolls

The boys both got spy gear - the sunglasses let you see behind you

Hello - I've had too many cookies - but hey... what's one more cupcake

Mmmmmm.... cupcakes - direct from the Quesnel Bakery to our bellies

A pretty spice picture - the beginning of yummy chocolate ginger cookies

They were delicious!  Ok - I didn't really eat them but they smelled awesome

just testing something

Hi - I just needed a place to test this out...

loved it then, love it now

well i see by the clock on the wall that it's time to wish you one and all - good bye (stay well) bye bye (keep warm) relax (at ease) take care (stay loose) adieu mon vieux , a la prochaine, goodbye until we meet again

no title

ROAR

That is all.  Just needed to get it off my chest.

day maker

Save.ca has some great coupons right now - if you are down with coupon cutting... this also made my day - I'd forgotten that I'm registered as Ms. Queen of the Universe - excellent.... excellent...

Alright - and now to figure out what else to do today.... maybe the library... the boys are playing with their GIANT "AT-AT" toys they got from their aunty...

Oh and I also got the best gift of all today - a birthday cake with hair in it - AWESOME! Thanks, Mom.  (seriously)

sitting there

So you have a few minutes this morning to watch something... this is it - this is the clip to spend two and half minutes on...  this is pretty amazing

this day keeps getting better

So most of the afternoon and tonight I've been feeling terrible - I've blown (literally) through two boxes of tissue and I just opened the third - I can't sleep because my eyes are burning and to blink actually stings... blah - stupid damned colds... and so what do I do... watch hoarders... it is always motivation to chuck crap out and with any luck I'll fall asleep...

Oh and our christmas tree is falling down - so it is going tomorrow - it has begun to lean so the ornaments are coming off just in case it decides to tumble in the night... awesome - super honkin' awesome!

pretty standard

Most of my Christmas cards this year got something like... Season's Greetings and best wishes for 2011... I sent very few cards this year compared to other years... sad, really - but I want to send more cards/notes all year round as it doesn't need to be focused around a holiday.  There are a lot of things I did want to communicate this year and there were many other notes that I'd wished I sent - I've also been asking other people about the cards they would have sent or would have liked to have sent ... so I've compiled a few to share with you (I know.. you are sitting there right now thinking - I am so freakin' lucky - it is my freakin' lucky day - this is better than winning 6'49)

stupid weather

So it has been super warm here (super warm = plus nine) and sadly, I started adjusting to the new temps and tonight we are sliding back the other way.  It is only at zero but they (the weather guru's) are forecasting down to minus 18 in the next three days.. brrrrrrrrr - that said they were also calling for snow from Wednesday through the weekend and now the snow is gone - it may show up on New Year's day...

There is green grass here - green grass... tomorrow it will be frozen green grass and then it will be really frozen green grass... where did winter go - or rather, the snow... it is going to be a sad spring if we don't get some more.

blah

Ok - so I have a small cold and then today it appears that Andy and I both ate something that has given us some kind of food poisoning - amen to two bathrooms - I know - TMI - but seriously - I don't care - wait I do - I love you and thank you for reading my rants and raves...

We made sushi for dinner - photos later - Kyle ate a bunch of it and pretty much picked what went in each one - it was fun... and I think it would have been better last night rather than turkey... I'm feeling like it was the leftover turkey that has betrayed us - damned turkey - damn you!

So I'm going to go and format a computer and then I think... go to sleep - or rather - try to sleep as we have the king of the stupid dogs living with us and he is on a sugar high and I'm not sure when he is going to come off it - seriously.  He ate one of those giant kinder packages this afternoon - there are at least two giant eggs inside - gone... gone in his belly and because that wasn't enough he had a chocolate letter M - nice... classic - so he kind of laid around this afternoon and then about an hour ago started getting nuts.. he is growling at himself, running around like a nut and doing stuff that he normally doesn't... he is soo stupid.  I can't believe he ate so much chocolate. Anyways... I'm going to get going on this computer thing and then post photos later - unless this food poisoning stuff gets worse... blah...

today

Well we had a busy day full of family and laughter and joy and games and some shouting... but it was all good... I need sleep - I wish all of you well - love to you!  and hugs and kisses... photos tomorrow

garbage dog

Last night Max decided to destroy the garbage - there was a variety of snack options - including some potato wedges that he packed onto the couch to enjoy - awesome!

So there are no presents under the tree as we know he will destroy them.

One more day or rather 1/2 day and then I'm off for a few... not much else to report - pretty boring today - went shopping at the zoo tonight (walmart) and was shocked at the number of people out and really really shopping... I need some stuff for dinners for the next few nights and few small things... but there were people with carts super full and just a lot of people for it being after 10pm.

And now - to bed - and tomorrow I'll be wrapping... unless I can't sleep tonight and then... it will be on :)

anti-christmas music

BC Hydro must LOVE this!  I bet they'd be happy if we all tried this out.

I'm also really happy that this isn't to Christmas music and that it is to the hump music in American Pie... :)

what are you doing

You should be getting ready to go outside for the lunar eclipse.  Paula and I did this back in 1997 at UNBC - sat in the snow and watched - we (I) may have been drinking... and so if you can get outside to enjoy it - try to - it will be worth your while... it should start up at about 10:30 (Pacific time) and be in "darkness" for midnight-ish - happy viewing :)

right...

So what did we get accomplished - not much... I made soup - that is all - sadly my sister won't be here for the holidays. She was trying to drive here tonight and they turned around in Canmore because the roads were too bad and visibility was not great... sad for sure - but safety is far more important - far, far, far more important.

And so... tomorrow we will work on all the baking and have some fun while the weather stays frightful (minus 20 or colder - blah)

and this afternoon

We went out in the madness to pick up a few things and now we are going to cook... on the menu tonight - chewy gingerbread cookies, chocolate haystacks, caramel popcorn, and ham and corn chowder...

photos to follow :)

drawings

This is a Michael drawing - I'm the big blueberry with red lights on my shoulders... then Max is in the middle and Michael ... he is practicing his letters and drawing everyday right now - it is so fun to watch him improve and add details.

Finished making rice krispy squares...  and now...  I'm looking up a quick recipe - just for kicks....

"all you need is love, all you need is love, love is all you need"