Bits of Bliss

reunion and weekend plans

2010-01-30T13:34:00.003-07:00

so there was a bit of chit chat by a few people that i have on my facebook about a 20 year reunion.

now, after a bit of back and forth, we have a venue (i hope - still need to get ahold of the fellow - he owns a lounge that looks pretty poshy, went to school with him since elementary!!) a date, and now just need to get a bit of a planning committee together for the whole thing.

interesting to see how fast word spreads, even with so few of us keeping in touch over the years!

this weekend will be a nice chance to do some relaxing - we have been fairly busy still this last month, but i get some r& r without having to feel too guilty. dh is off to a stag party with work guys, and he'll be staying overnight in the city. we both know that it will just be better all the way around - i don't have to go pick him up, and he won't have to worry about driving home. he's already claimed a couch at a co-worker's home.

i do have a couple things on my to-do list: laundry and getting my payroll and expenses done for last week. the boys and i are going to go out for dinner so that takes care of that :)

hoping to get a little bit of scrapbooking done as well. i have all of our cuba pictures now organized, and thanks to a couple packages of 12x12 page protectors that are sectioned off to hold 6 individual pictures on each side of the page, i won't be doing a super intensive album. considering i printed off 300 pictures, there is just no way that would work anyhow.

so that's it for today - have a great weekend!

kreativ blogger

2010-01-27T22:29:00.004-07:00

so the wonderful meredith has named me as a kreativ blogger... i don't know mer in real life, but when i get to boston one of these days, we shall meet. at starbucks. without children (well, ok, her littles can come so i can feed LM chocolate cake and get him all hyped up on chocolate). and the coffee will be on me!
the challenge is as follows: share 5 random things about me, and then bestow the honor of kreativ blogger to another 5 (possibly unwilling) bloggers that i hope read my blog and will pass it on... and on... and on....

5 random things... let's see...

1. go back, way back... i took classical piano lessons for the majority of my formative years. from about age 3 (when my mom got frustrated with the whole yamaha program) through to age 17. i don't own a piano myself anymore. but there is a big beautiful grand in my mom's house. (i also don't play anymore. but i could.)

2. i love to read. in the last week i've read 2 totally trashy but lovely novels by Susan Elizabeth Phillips - "What I did for love" and "Glitter Baby". total escapism, but that's what i like. oh, and cookbooks. cookbooks are good reading. especially when you're on a diet. food porn. gotta love it!

3. i play hidden object games. love 'em all.

4. i really want to know how to work the f-stop on my dslr. i just don't get it. so maybe i should take that photography class i've been procrastinating about. or read the manual. hmmm... maybe that would be good bathroom reading??

5. totally random - my sister ran into a girl that was a horrible bully to me when i was in high school a few months ago. the girl (lady now, i suppose??) tells her that she really wishes that she had not been so mean to me and to tell me that she's sorry. ya know what honey? i had totally forgotten about you from 20 years ago, and now, that would just be a little late. and, quite honestly, if she still remembers how horrible she was, i'm just a little bit glad for it. maybe she found her conscience somewhere in that little cold bitchy heart of hers after all.

ok, so there's the random list. and the torch shall now be passed on to:

mona - you're so sweet and kind, but unwilling to accept anything less than the best for her kids. and because she's a momma that all kids would want.

sarah - love reading her travel adventures as she is living and working in london!

sue - because sue is just an awesome gal - and she always has her blog up to date. and because she's a great photographer, mom and doesn't complain about her job like the rest of us LOL

lee - again another blogger that puts me to shame and always has something new up on her blog - pieces of her life, creative tidbits, and always a smile :)

carmen - because for just a little while, i'd love her sense of style. and her home. oh, and maybe all of her lovely furniture too... and also her ability to keep things organized. and that she actually gets her scrapbooking done :)

that's about it for tonight. i do have some other stuff to post, but will keep that for another day, hopefully not too long from now!

new year

2010-01-05T21:39:00.002-07:00

and a new start!

coming out of a fairly busy holiday season, i'm quite glad to have things going back to some semblance of normal. we had a great time with friends and family, visiting and enjoying each other's company.

i got my office totally cleaned out and ready to go for the year work wise, and actually found the carpet in there. my very neglected craft space is also tidied up, and i even got some pages done last night from pictures from last january's trip to mazatlan and put into the album. looking forward to spending a little more time on my scrapbooking again. alas, the pictures from cuba are still not all downloaded, nor uploaded to costco for printing. will need to get to that in short order!

with work this year there a new beginning. we've (co-workers and myself) been transferred to a new third party company that sounds like it actually cares about who we are and what we do as field sales reps. that came into effect yesterday. we met a couple of our contact ladies at our meetings the beginning of december. i've had more emails from them in the last 2 days (count 3) that i did not solicit, than i have from the last company in 2 years. (oh yes, they were great.... NOT)

i didn't do any boxing week shopping, just didn't feel like battling the crowds, nor do i really need anything. dh and ds1 did, however, brave walm*rt on boxing day and came home with more than what they had planned. they found a great deal on a bravia tv for our kitchen. we haven't had a tv on the main floor of the house for close to 5 years. this is a big change for us. i can actually watch the news! i know it will change our viewing habits dramatically! (not that it is a good thing all the way around... that its on just because is something we'll have to work on) we are not typically big tv watchers, but now its just that little bit too convenient, it is on!

we're still in the midst of a crazy cold, snowy winter. the weatherman is teasing us with + side temperatures towards the end of this week. i sure hope he's right, or i'm sure that someone may get lynched. it started the day after we got back from cuba and really has not let up since.

the weather is good for ds1 though, who asked for, and received, a snowblower for christmas from his grandpa. it had just been sitting in their garage, and hadn't been used more than twice, so he is feeling very lucky! he has had it out a couple times since christmas, and is thoroughly enjoying his man toy! he has a job shovelling/mowing for a man across the street, and heck, why not snowblow everyone else's while he's at it?? LOL good kid!

we have a little getaway planned for february to great falls, montana for a shopping/long weekend trip. because of the family day holiday we get here, its nice to have that little break in the middle of the long winter.

looking to march, with work we're heading to blue mountain resort in collingwood, ontario. us "girls" were hoping to be able to go there a couple days early to spend some time together (read shopping trip to buffalo, ny) but its not looking good with flights and such. we so rarely see each other, and don't often have the opportunity, but it would have been nice to spend a little more time together.

and then there's the last new year/beginning. its not bad, but since we came home from holidays i just haven't been able to shake the 10 pounds off my behind that was acquired from the great cuban food we had. then came the bit of overindulgence that is christmas... yummy baking, too much wine and drink, and other high calorie nibbles. so yesterday i started back on my strict diet i really need to follow to get pounds back off. other than being hungry right now (this too shall pass)it should only take me a few weeks. i just need to pass on the carb overload and fatty foods that have been hanging around the house. thank goodness the fridge is back to normal, and the last of the goodies are gone (not to mention easy stuff to throw in the oven and eat just because its there!) i've also started doing a bit of a workout thanks to ds2's wii. i'm not into heavy sweaty crazy workouts (i just don't enjoy it) so its been fun to do a 1/2 hour or so on it and not feel like i must do it every day.

my mom and dad are off to palm springs for the next few months, leaving on saturday. i'm hoping they enjoy their time away in the warm!

happy new year everyone - and i hope your year is off to a good start as well!

home sweet home

2009-11-27T14:47:00.002-07:00

and we're back!

got in late last night, and woke up to a very grey day... snowing out now, and while dh and i were out picking up the dogs from the kennel, i told him that it was time for the daily nap on the beach. LOL wishful thinking!

i haven't downloaded any pics yet, i think between the 4 cameras we have close to 600. hopefully will get to that at some point over the weekend. the weather was amazing, the people wonderful, and brought back an extra 10 pounds on my behind. so the food wasn't as bad as people made it out to be!! LOL i'm sure most of it is water retention (i have such a hard time with that when we go away) so it won't take forever to get rid of.

now if only there was a way to keep the tan....

so sadly neglected

2009-11-11T10:49:00.003-07:00

wow.

i didn't think it had been 3 months since i've posted anything here. i apologize. and especially to those of you who have diligently checked in to see what's up, and there's been absolutely nothing other than some cobwebs!

ok, i'll make things quick, but hopefully update enough that i don't ramble too long.

- had an uneventful end to the summer. kids back to school, life back to normal.

- went camping the last weekend of september. met a ferocious windstorm. don't ever want to experience this in another lifetime.

- ended up purchasing a 2006 toyota 4runner limited instead of the mercedes i had put an offer in on. love it too, but drama with the MB dealership was just not fun.

- dh has his cute little lexus as prior posted.

- house is basically done. just a few things left, and all minor. a few more pieces of baseboard needed. backsplash tile and hood fan to be picked up and installed (i really need to decide on something. decision needs to be made on what kind of railing i want to put in. but the best thing is that i LOVE it. we all do. and anyone stopping over says the same thing.

- work has been busy/crazy, but christmas is now put to bed. which means HOLIDAYS!! we're off to veradaro, cuba tonight for 2 weeks. so looking forward to it!

in a nutshell, these are the things that have gone on in the last while. probably a few more things, but hey, something is better than nothing. will post when we're back!!

amazing!

2009-08-05T09:13:00.002-06:00

so we went for a break this past weekend to great falls, montana. it was so nice to just get away from the disasterous mess our house is in.

but its all getting better.

we left the painter to do his thing on friday. and we returned to a totally new house! what a difference!

the crappy thing is i can't even take any pictures at the moment, as the weather has been gross and cloudy since we got home on monday. (we don't have many light fixtures up, and none in the new part of the house) i'm never sure about choosing paint colors, but i am very pleased with the green and brown that i chose.

the painter we had in was just a hoot. he's probably in his early 50's, and serenaded us with christmas carols all day. the funniest part was that he really didn't know the words to any of them.

but he worked like a man on a mission, and spent most of the weekend here as well. and it was done on time, as he had promised.

our flooring guy starts tomorrow, and it will be so nice to have the 33 boxes of hardwood out of the way. they're sitting in the kitchen at the moment, and as much as they're not in the way, they take up alot of room!

so, as soon as the weather clears up (its looking like it will be the weekend before it does) i'll post some pictures!

as for our weekend away, friends of our actually were the ones to suggest going. we weren't planning on heading south until the fall for a shopping trip, but this was a great little getaway. we didn't find too many sales on, but we also didn't know that it wasn't a long weekend in the states as it was here. we did manage to find some floor tile for our entry and by the fireplace, and we are quite happy with it. brought home quite a few grocery items that we like, and that we just can't get here. and that was about it. walked alot, and had a great time just hanging out.

so i think that's it for now, have a great day!

a bit of shopping...

2009-07-26T10:02:00.002-06:00

so after all of the excitement has died down (although i will still admit this is just utterly surreal!!!) dh went shopping for his vehicle on friday. this is what he will be getting, hopefully with delivery this week:

and this is what i've found...

dh is picking up a sweet little 2009 lexus is250, and i'm upgrading a few years from a 2002 mercedes ml320 to a 2006 mercedes ml350.

sweet rides!

i did take a toyota fj cruiser out for a spin as well, but really, its just not as practical for our family. and i know i sound just that little bit snobby-ish, but i really do love the mercedes. it is a vehicle i feel so safe in, and with the leg room needed for ds1, the back seat is more than ample. they handle so well, and now after driving the other for 3 years, i just know i would have a tough time driving something else.

so it is done.

i should have my new one next week, and thanks to ds1, here's a snap of it!

in other news, we're living in a dust bowl. i have never seen so much dust in my life. you can write your name on almost any horizontal surface of our house. the taper has been working hard this week to complete things so the painter can start tomorrow. i picked up our paint yesterday, and we're going with a green and brown color scheme, and i think it will look amazing.

that's it, that's all for today... hope you have a great sunday!

in the closet... and other tales

2009-07-22T23:09:00.005-06:00

you know, i really didn't think its been quite this long since i had last posted anything.

i think that because things had just come to such a snail's pace, i just plain didn't get here. but even with the snail's pace, there have been some crazy things happen in just the last couple days, that made my life into a sort of time warp.

so this is where we are now, in a rambling sort of way:

- we're about 6 steps away from completing our reno. we fired our contractor about a month ago. he just quit bothering to get much of anything done (surprise, surprise) and we just ended up with the shortest end of the stick.

- about being in the closet - i spent far too much time removing the subfloor and ripping yet more staples out of the pantry, and have only accomplished the removing of the subfloor in the coat closet. the staples still need to come out of there before the hardwood is installed. hot and stuffy little spaces do not make me happy.

- the finishing is done on the outside of the house. we have a doorbell and our house numbers are up.

- "backhoe bob" will be here tomorrow to level out the ground in front of the house and drill the holes so we can pour the concrete for our new porch.

- after a really odd experience with a guy that came to drywall and tape, ending with him just walking out of our house on monday morning with no explanation other than him having nothing less than what could be called a 2-year old's temper tantrum (after telling him the painter would be doing the texturing of the ceiling), one of my dad's co-horts is finishing the taping in the addition, and should be done by sunday.

- the painter will be here monday morning to start painting the main living areas and addition.

- the flooring installer will be putting in the hardwood on aug 4. and at that point the only thing left will be the tile backsplash in the kitchen.

so, really we're just that close. yet so far away yet.

add to all of the chaos:

- had a ridiculous summer cold for the better part of 3 weeks. when i laid down it felt like someone was sitting on my chest and i coughed and coughed and couldn't sleep. and when i talked to anyone more than a few minutes, i was again coughing. not so good when i had lots to tell my customers. talking is my job. and coughing on them or near them does not help my sales.

- time has been in short supply while we have tried to balance weekend home projects and some fun time (mainly golfing) with the kids. i always worry that they never get enough fun stuff in during the summer. i don't want them to have to be programmed to death, but they have a routine going as well. 5 days out of the week, they're at home. 2 days a week they're at my mom's. b's been having sleep overs, going to sleep overs, and generally being as much of a couch potato as possible. j has his little jobs that keep him busy, and he stays quite active, but he's starting to get tired. when we all go 7 days a week, its just not a good thing for any of us.

- we've done some entertaining, even though the house is a disaster. have had a few great evenings with friends, and now that it seems like the weather is finally co-operating now, hopefully we'll have even more.

- august long weekend we're heading to great falls for a break. the couple that we went to mazatlan with will also be joining us for some shopping, maybe a round of golf, a trip to the montana state fair, and just some plain r&r. (although this plan already sounds just that little bit busy!)

- went to a golf tourney with my boss last weekend, and i came home with a pair of oakley sunglasses and a shop vac.

-which pales in comparison to this:

(click for bigger picture)

dh golfed at the pc children's charity tournament yesterday and got a hole in one. that in itself is a feat. but he also won this beauty of a car.

we took the cash option. an amazing $78000.00!!! i was almost hysterical when he called me. insane.

- so now there's a few more things to add to the list. we'll be paying off some house stuff with the cashola, shopping for a new vehicle for dh, and looking at upgrading my baby as well. this just made a few things possible for us that we were worried about having the funds to do it with.

i think that's about it. like i said, a bit of craziness around here, and adding to that the everyday mundaneness of it all, i really feel like i've just been in the closet for too long of a time!

have a great day - thanks for reading!

scrappy bits

2009-05-28T21:09:00.004-06:00

just cre8 had an online crop this past weekend, and i was able to get some layouts done, as well as an altered book in a short amount of time. so here they are:

the altered book instructions came from jessi lute in innisfail - we still need to catch up for a coffee one of these days when i'm in the red deer area...

i turned this into a bit of a fantasy/future dream book for myself. love the fabric pages!

i'm not finished with it yet, but because i love it so much, i'm sure it won't take me too long to do... i also forgot that 8 pages, folded in half, double sided makes 32, not 16 like i first had in my head... oops!

next up, a "recipe" to make 4 layouts, consisting of 4 patterned papers, 4 - 6 sheets of cardstock, and a few embellishments and letters. super easy, and all done in about a hour and a half. still need to add some journalling, but these layouts are all for our last trip to mazatlan and coordinate with what i've already done.

then another layout, the challenge was to do it in 30 minutes or less, the only time not counted was choosing the picture. i had the papers on my desk already from my book project, so was able to put this together in about 15-ish minutes.

and this super cute little sign for my scrapbook room!

and the last challenge i was able to finish, was to use chipboard as is, no paint, ink, paper, nothing. just plain.

i love the photo in this one of ds and my niece, walking across the world's shortest river in great falls at easter.

thanks for looking!

voted as the best mom ever...

2009-05-20T12:44:00.002-06:00

by my 13 yo son.

why? because said "cool mom" is taking him to see dave matthews at the gorge in george, washington on september long weekend.

we've been talking about it for a few weeks now, and yesterday i bit the bullet, ordered the tickets, and booked our room for the weekend.

it will be one of those "priceless" trips, just the two of us. something we're both just a *little* bit pumped about. just a little bit crazy, we'll be in the car for 20-ish hours, leaving saturday morning, and returning home monday later in the day.

and i'm cool. oh yeah.

slide show day!

2009-05-17T18:26:00.005-06:00

well, we've made some progress. we're sitting in what we can officially call a construction zone. the last two weekends have been spent inside, working at getting the kitchen ready for the new cabinetry. there has been some destruction. there is lots of dust. there has been some blood shed. but its all been worth it - we're getting there, and we can say we've done it ourselves.

what we had before:

working away:

on the shot that shows a portion of the floor, you'll notice there are bumps all over it. that would be where the linoleum/subfloor was. each of those bumps contains a staple. there were THOUSANDS of staples to pull out of the floor to prep for the cabinets. we're putting in hardwood, and they need to all be out. the boys and i have worked diligently, almost every night for the last 2 weeks to pull out the staples. as of right now, there are only a couple small areas left that need to be done before tuesday.

and this is where we are today:

and we're off to the races! the new cabinets will be partially installed on tuesday, with the cabinet fronts installed on thursday. the wait-it-out part will be hard for the granite countertops which will be templated probably on wednesday, with installation a week to two weeks later. its rather interesting to try to make some semblance of a meal with no sink. even more interesting is trying to wash the odd dishes in the bathroom sink. we're trying to use paper plates as much as we can, even though not eco-friendly at all for the time being.

it will all be worth it though! so looking forward to this part getting done. we will be putting in the hardwood at some point in the next month, the dust is making me crazy!

and if you've gotten this far, check out my new slideshow to the right - the cards i made for the canadian troops overseas are all there, 51 to date, and were delivered to corinne today when she stopped by on her way home to saskatoon. enjoy!

thanks for taking a peek, wish me luck!

really? today?

2009-04-26T12:35:00.002-06:00

that's what i said to dh when he reminded me of our tee time yesterday. it was cold. and windy. and still snow on the course.

we made it 5 holes before we called it quits.

at least it was free - there was no one else on the course, and the manager said if we were avid enough golfers to be out in the cold, what we played was on the house.

and 5 holes was enough.

more pics and videos will follow later - gotta get out the door...

kapusta calling...

2009-04-23T15:46:00.005-06:00

so i have this very cute little grandma, and she has always made wonderful "peasant" food - lots of cabbage, potatoes, and sausage. and when we were hit over night with a lovely spring storm, the snow and chilly weather made me feel a longing for some kapusta. (spoken as ka - poo - sta) i remember sitting in my grandma's kitchen when i was little, and eating lots of kapusta with fresh brown bread and butter with my grandpa. its good with lots of things, like smoked pork hocks and mustard, perogies, sausage, mashed potatoes, ham. (note all the porky things! LOL)

what is kapusta? well, its basically saurkraut, but with the addition of fresh cabbage, bacon, and onion.

so i called my grandma after picking up the requisite cabbage and onions (the rest was in the fridge and freezer) and asked her for some directions. which were somewhat fuzzy in description.

(you must also imagine a fairly heavy eastern european accent here)

"first you slice up the cabbage. put it in the water. but don't cook it too long. you don't want mushy saurkraut."

ok. done.

"and then you cook the onion and the bacon. make sure there is lots of bacon. cut it up in dices. don't cook it too long, you don't want the bacon too done."

ok. done.

"drain the cabbage in that thing. you know the one. the thing with the holes."

- a colander, grandma?

"yes, that's the thing. drain it. then add the saurkraut from the jar. then cook it a bit more. but not too long, you don't want it mushy." (mushy = moooshie *giggle*)

"cook it some more. i put in a bay leaf. or maybe more. and some pepper. maybe some salt. add some shookar if you think you need it if its too sour" (shookar = sugar)

got it.

yum.

its what's for dinner. with some farmer's sausage and perogies.

recipe:

1 small green cabbage - sliced fine (like a really small cabbage - mine was the size of an oversized softball, the smallest i could find)

1 jar more or less of saurkraut

3/4 lb bacon, diced

1 large onion, diced

pepper & salt to taste

2 bay leaves

a spoonful or 2 of brown sugar

slice up the cabbage (i used the food processor - goes lickety-split) and put it in a large pot. cover with water and bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes. drain. put it back in the same pot, add the jarred saurkraut. bring to a simmer, cook another 10 minutes or so. meanwhile, start the onion and bacon in another fry pan, saute until the onion is translucent and the bacon is just starting to turn crisp. add to pot with the cabbage mixture. (don't drain the bacon/onion - you need it for the flavor) add a generous amount of pepper, a some salt, and some brown sugar to cut the vinegar as you like. add a couple of whole bay leaves and let simmer for another 1/2 hour or so.

this keeps well, and will fill your home with lovely stinky cabbage-y goodness.

enjoy!

easter away

2009-04-12T21:34:00.008-06:00

long weekend... gotta love it!

we headed down to great falls, montana, for this easter weekend with the boys in tow! we had a great time away, some much needed r&r, and best of all, some shopping and hanging out with my sister, brother in law, and their 2 older ones (the little one stayed behind at nana's).

not too many pics, but we did take some time out from the shopping spree to go to an easter egg hunt (apparently over in less than 5 minutes) for the little ones, and then off to the fish hatchery and park.

great photo ops here, and the weather was nothing short of spectacular.

the four of us...

the "men" hanging out...

the kids, up the hill...

doesn't this just melt your heart??

another photo that just makes me go "awwwwwwwwww" - they were walking over the concrete bridge that divides the "world's shortest river" from the missouri river.

feeding the fish - there were some HUGE ones here!

smile for the camera - no! the other camera! LOL

waiting for dh to come out of the washroom...

and the grand finale - easter chocolate in bed on easter morning!

so that's it in a nutshell... did i ever tell anyone that i *heart* ROSS? that is the best store for deals on clothes. picked up a bunch of new spring stuff for myself, and some new golf clothing (since what i have is just too darn big now!). some great work clothes, even though i'm in dire need of t-shirts to just hang around in. the boys (all 3 of them) found some good stuff there too. jeans, shorts, t-shirts.

target would have to be my second best choice for some fun, cheap clothes. there were a few things i found there that made me happy, and it actually fit me now.

it was for sure my weekend to score on some good buys!

there's far too much good shopping down there that can easily drain my bank account! it was a great weekend though, and we're looking forward to our next trip down that way.

oh, and as for house stuff, when we arrived home this afternoon, our sheathing is all up on the roof, the framing has been started for the fire place and we're quite happy with how things are coming along. will take some pics tomorrow to show the progress!

progress comes in baby steps

2009-04-03T18:09:00.004-06:00

sometimes you wonder why things can take so long to actually come about. this is how things looked after tuesday....

and this is how things look after today.

and really, that's all the "time" it took.

two not-even-full days. that's because our contractor only showed up those two days this week. well... at least its something, i suppose.

hopefully by the end of next week the sheathing will be on the remaining bit on the walls, and the roof. looking at the very top picture, that is the west wall of the house, and we'll be putting in a fireplace (middle of the bottom of the wall) and 2 smaller windows up high. our current front window will be moving up to the very front, as well as the front door we have now. there will be one more window adjacent to the front door that is new. i'm just happy its finally starting to look like something other than a mess!! (well, excusing the mud, the giant construction bin and the ever present recycling bin)

cross your fingers for me - its not as much of a ghetto around here now!! LOL

still here

2009-03-26T22:02:00.004-06:00

and nothing's happened to the house in the last 3 weeks... well, you could count the plastic if you really want to. this is what living in a ghetto house looks like...

nope. not impressive is it? and this was taken 3 weeks ago. the only difference, like i said, is that there is some plastic hanging down from the front above the window (it was raining in through the window casing when the snow was melting one day), more plastic hanging down in front of the door (as water was coming in through that wall too, which lead to rather damp carpeting in dh's office) and a small bit of framing where the new angled bit will be just in front of where the door is now.

and its been windy. so the tar paper flaps on the side of the house where it has come loose. and the siding flaps and bangs where it is untacked. add to that the flapping of the plastic, and we have a 3 piece band gracing us with percussion while its blowing.

pathetic.

and unbelievably frustrating.

which is probably one of the biggest reasons i haven't posted anything for a while. its just too darn depressing.

moving on. because that's the only thing that's getting me by right now...

went to cranbrook last week for work, and had a super evening with the Gladdy at the b&b i stay at. she is one heck of a super lady, and when i pulled up that day, she bounced out the door and exclaimed - "good! you're here! you've got 10 minutes, we're going to a party!" LOL gotta love her. and it was a great evening out!! went to a VIP grand opening party for the east side mario's that is opening there. met the mayor of cranbrook. met the guy that oversees the franchise openings. and they were serving ceasar's, which of course is fitting for the clamato rep!! met alot of other great people, we had samples of their menu items, and wine, beer and ceasar's.

afterwards, we headed off to one of the local pub's (it was st. patrick's day) and my gf Jenny came to meet us there for a couple of drinks. it was great to catch up with her, and we're planning on getting together for a long weekend, maybe may will work for us.

so that was a fun trip, and nice that i was lucky enough to be included as a VIP!

other than work, and the disaster of a house, we're waiting to hear back on a couple of quotes for kitchen cabinets. the last quote from my dad's "guy" came in at a staggering $17, 000, which to us is completely out of the question. so there are 2 other contenders at the moment, and one of the fellows has been a dream to work with so far. he gets what we want, and he knows he needs to be competetive.

and then i asked dh why we need to be concerned about waiting for the outside addition to be done before we start on the inside. well, apparently, we can start on the inside as soon as we get our cabinets arranged. so that makes me happy. at this rate, we could have the kitchen done and over with before the addition is even near completion. and that would actually be a good thing if you ask me. we're just so darn cramped in there, its not even funny. we spend so much time in the kitchen area with friends and family, more than 3 people and no one can move. keep your fingers crossed for me!

puttering around with photoshop tonight, i came up with this:

its using one of the templates courtesy of scrapbooks etc. i'm not a photoshop whiz by any means, and i liked that this actually worked with a bit of fiddling. i'm working on getting started on our latest holiday mini album, so trying to find some fresh ideas to work with my pictures instead of just my usual format that i use.

hope you're all having a great day out there... maybe some new house stuff will be ready for posting next week!

ides of march

2009-03-09T18:25:00.007-06:00

well, you'd think that spring may finally arrive here...

nope...

its not here yet!!

and yet, i'm still hoping! and waiting patiently! and my patience is wearing thin... we've had highway closures, school closures, more snow and bone-chilling temps in the last week. i have a cold i'm fighting off without much luck, and i'm just plain tired of winter.

we popped out to banff for the past weekend, left early saturday morning, and came back sunday afternoon. it was a good quick getaway with the kids. and the hotel we chose was just fabulous! the fox is a smaller, newer hotel right on banff avenue as you drive in to town. the best part was the grotto hot pool that is built based on the old cave and basin hot springs. we were doing our part to help the economy for the weekend, and we did enjoy our stay very much. we did the walk down the banff touristy corridor, and bought some fun and funky winter hats for the boys. dh got his own "sock" hat - will have to post pics of them wearing the goofy things. somewhat regretfully, we didn't take any pictures this weekend. it was just so darn cold out, and i didn't lug the camera with me on our travels. we had a nice dinner out at one of the pubs, and had a wonderful sleep that night. (dh and i needed that - we had a late night on friday!) sunday we went for a fabulous brunch at the banff park lodge. i remember going there with my parents the odd time we went to banff for a weekend. there were crab legs, smoked salmon, made to order omelets, and all sorts of yummy desserts (just the things i need for my behind LOL). we also stopped in canmore on the way home, and poked around in the shops there. not as touristy as banff, but all the same it was nice to be away for a couple days. what did surprise us was the distinct lack of people in banff itself. it was very quiet, even though its starting to get into the shoulder season. but that was nice too, not often do you get to walk down the street without feeling claustrophobic!

so this is where we were at with our house last wednesday. the floor joists for the addition were put in, and as of friday afternoon the subfloor is on as well. that, however, now has a good 4 inches of snow on it thanks to the wild weather on saturday night. oh - and look! no snow!! it had almost all melted at that point!

and check it out! my christmas wreath is still on the door LOL! there is now also a garbage bin on the other side of the yard as well.

so, its finally starting to move. thank goodness.

on to the fun stuff: my quebec trip...
while i didn't take alot of pictures, i did enjoy alot of what we saw. on saturday we headed to ottawa from my aunt and uncle's to visit their daughter, my cousin, and her family. i haven't seen them in years, and it was nice to see them there.

this struck me as a good funny - we were down at the market area near the parliment buildings, and the $12 french fries sounded like a great idea!! inside the market, there were all kinds of shops, but for someone on a diet - this was far too tempting!

outside there were all sorts of vendors, and lots of hats to choose from. i was thinking of getting the kids each one, but it was just too hard to make a choice. so i didn't.

my aunt and uncle were having a great time despite the chilly weather!

oh the cheese... it was all about the cheese. and so many kinds!! i was drooling!
on our return trip, we stopped at montebello for a quick coffee and dessert on the way home. it is a beautiful hotel, unique that it is constructed entirely of logs.

what i wouldn't do for a fireplace like this one...

say cheese! enjoying our coffee and desserts.

and apparently, this hat was something i *had* to wear to be chic while there... my aunt told me she had purchased it directly at the manufacturer's years ago, for a stunning $60 or so. in the gift shop i could have picked one up for a mere $275. go figure!

continuing on our way, there was an accident, and we turned around to access a river crossing over the ice. this wasn't in the plans, and it added about an extra hour to get back home for the night.
buddy behind us was giving me the thumbs up when i took this pic - too bad you can't actually see him through the window though!
but what a stunning sunset we were able to see on our way across!

just down the road from my aunt and uncle's - this little grouping of signs caught my eye...

and then, mont tremblant...
we arrived late on monday evening, in the dark, so i didn't really get to see where we were, or where we were going. loved the little cabriolet to take people from the very base of the hill, up over the buildings to the base of the ski hill. it was very pretty! and cold!

i never did end up doing the activity that was planned - a 10 minute walk turned into an hour hike that ended up with us in totally the wrong place. laurie (another gal from work) and i took that as our excuse to run and go shopping in the boutiques for a bit. and then a hot tub was needed to warm up the frozen bones!

a quebec tradition - maple syrup on the snow - a sweet treat, and it sure looked yummy!

this was from the top of the boutique area looking down the hill. what a pretty place! i would love to visit there in the summer when its not so cold out!

so that's it... it was a great visit out east, but boy, i would have been much happier had it been warmer! i did have a fantastic time reconnecting with people i haven't seen since last year, and also meeting some new ones as well. (its amazing what a bit of time at the pub does! LOL)

have a great night :)

where have I been??

2009-02-16T08:22:00.002-07:00

well, its been a crazy couple weeks since we've been home. i'm feeling very neglectful of my blog but that's just the way things go sometimes!

its been a series of road trips for me since the beginning of february, and my work life has been in overdrive due to deadlines that needed to be made by this past friday. i've travelled a good chunk of southern alberta. where exactly?

i've been to the following places:

brooks, medicine hat, taber, lethbridge, picture butte, calgary (multiple times!!), crossfield, carstairs, didsbury, olds, sundre, rocky mtn house, innisfail, sylvan lake, red deer, stettler, three hills, drumheller, and of course, home - in strathmore. and phone calls placed to okotoks, high river, canmore, and golden, bc.

and this week i'm in the city, but heading out to montreal on friday to spend the weekend with my aunt and uncle before our work conference in mont-tremblant on tuesday and wednesday of next week. i'll be returning home on thursday the 26th.

i'm looking forward to going east, the last time was a high school trip when i was in grade 11. we may even go to ottawa for a day to visit my cousins there. i've never been there!

our house is plodding along... we're hoping the backfill will go in to the foundation area this week so we can get things moving. we did a little hunting this weekend, for fireplace and kitchen cabinets. there are 2 cabinet people in the running at the moment, and we should have estimates sometime in the next week or so.

in other news, my parents are enjoying their stay in puerto penasco. we've had a couple brief, garbly phone calls in the last couple weeks. internet is not widely available there, so a good connection is tough to find. i think they'll be home sometime toward the end of march.

we've booked our easter trip to great falls, mt, to go shopping. my sister expressed her desire to go for the weekend as well, and we're hoping our parents will join us as well. we enjoy going down there, and there are always deals to be had for shopping.

finally got ds2's glasses dealt with: what a fiasco! the first pair were broken in less than 24 hours. and we didn't get the next pair for another week after. the good thing was they deemed the breakage as a manufacturing defect, so we didn't need to pay for the second ones. and with no insurance for eye care, it would have been a bummer to have to pay again.

yes, my life has been just a little bit crazy.

so here's a pic for ya... i'm trying to keep up with my 365 project, but i'm not beating myself up for it either!! i needed ds2 to show me his new specs on his face considering i didn't get a pic of the first ones.

have a happy family day or president's day wherever your travels take you! (mine are taking me to work)

mazatlan with friends

2009-01-30T20:00:00.023-07:00

tuesday:
arrival in mazatlan about 1pm, and we had the whole top floor of a double decker bus to take us to the resort. it was a very informative trip, thanks to a lovely lady, Kyky (kiki), who met us at the airport and was both an escort and tour guide on our way there. the kids had a blast sitting at the very front and had an up close view of where we had ended up.

ahhhhhhhh hotel. this was our tiny deck off our room, overlooking the pool, snack bar and a somewhat ocean view. we could hear the waves crashing on the beach at night, and i had a hard time getting to sleep at night when we got home - it was too quiet!

wednesday:
el patio -this was our favorite spot for breakfast. it was on the land side of the resort, across the street. we were able to order breakfast a la carte, and it was just fantastic. the guys that looked after us over there were amazing - pictures of them later. it was a quiet little restaurant, and we were surprised there weren't any more people over there. most of the time it was less than half full, and we only missed breakfast there 2 of our 10 days.

this was one of the coolest things at one of the pools - a cliff to jump off of! the kids had a ball with it, and if we had to ever guess where they were, this was it.

city tour- we had agreed to attend the dreaded timeshare presentation in exchange for a city tour on a trolley bus, as well as credits towards an island tour. we had a fantastic tour guide who told us about all we saw. we opted to go on wednesday afternoon at 4:30 as we didn't have any dinner plans at that point, and the weather was a bit cool that day.

in picture - ds2, dh, friends j & l.

along the malacon there are alot of different pieces of artwork representing various aspects of mazatlan culture and history. this is a pulmonia, an open air taxi that tourists quite often opt to use instead of a traditional taxi or bus. they come equipped with LOUD stereos, and their horns make all sorts of crazy noises.

as the sun goes down fairly early (5:30-ish) we hit the sunset as we were on our tour. these dolphins were part of a larger statue, representing the cycle of life.

this guy is one of the divers that entertains the tourists - for a tip. (tips are a HUGE thing LOL- tipped to death i tell ya!) he jumps off a natural store tower to the side of this square.

pretty amazing stuff - and rather enterprising if nothing else. the depth of the water is only about 12 feet where he goes it.

this is the highest accessible point in mazatlan, and a restaurant over looks the city. its a rather interesting view, and gives you a better sense of just how large mazatlan is.

thursday:
ah yes, the timeshare presentation. we did get to see some show suites with fantastic views of the ocean and beach. the rest of our day was spent by the pool and the beach, as it was sunny and hot.

friday:
we decided to take a trip to old mazatlan and the downtown quarter. the easiest, cheapest and most fun way of getting there was these trucks. the back end of small pick ups are converted to people movers, and 10 of us fit very comfortably. they are covered, and come equipped with driver operated stereos. we did hear some rather odd stuff on this one! for 80 pesos (about $8 canadian) one way, we had our transportation.

a quick stop along our walk, we had a drink at one of the sidewalk restaurants. pacifico beer for 120 pesos ($1.20) and lemonade for 150 pesos.

the circus was in town (apparently - we didn't go) and we saw the animals go by down the street, with a police escort and loudspeakers advertising the show.

the old market - ok, a little gross, but i spoke to one of the butchers and asked what is done with a pigs head. it is used to make posole - a type of corn soup. it sounded good, but i don't know if i could actually handle the pig's head myself!

this is one of mazatlan's landmarks - the cathedral in the historic part of town. when it was being built, the church had run out of money, so the jewish people helped by contributing the remainder of the money for construction. interesting to note that because of that, the stained glass windows at the very top had the star of david imbedded in them. it was absolutely beautiful and quiet inside.

the main square across from the cathedral, where open air concerts are held on friday nights (didn't get there either LOL)

we thought this was just hilarious!!! our best guess without a translator is that people need to pick up after their dogs!!

walking towards the ocean, this street takes the sidewalk almost a storey up over road level. it made for an interesting perspective.

saturday:
b was not feeling well, so i stayed behind with him while the rest of the crew went to el cid marina to check it out. apparently you can't fish there...

another pool with cliffs to jump off of... i bet the kids were itching to do just that!

looking out to the ocean...

the little bit of beach at that resort, but no ocean access...

pool view from the hotel side...

wouldn't you just love to have flowers like these at home??

luxury golf cart transportation...

sunday:
was spent on the beach/pool. no pictures to post from that day
monday:
back over to the marina for our day out to stone island. this pelican was quite funny to watch. a fellow had some fish sitting on the dock, and she was quite adamant that she would get some! she was also quite pretty, with bright feathers on her head.

out at sea! we took our tour on a trimaran. j was not quite the sea man he thought - he has his mother's tummy and did not get his sea legs!

this little outcropping in the water (a good km or 2 off shore) was a great place for these sealions to hang out and sun themselves. one of them even waved! HA!

this was NOT the boat i would have chosen to go anywhere on... especially with that name! LOL

one of the places that could be rented on stone island - with a beautiful garden and the ocean across the street.

coconut grove - we couldn't see where it ended!

off for a horseback ride!

view of the beach from the restaurant/base where we spent our time there.

j & s kayaking - they went almost all the way out to the island in the background!

j - on our way back

dinner!! this was the mexican restaurant, and we had a super dinner! amazing homemade tortillas made to order as quesedillas or tacos.

j being silly - he wanted the lampshade for a hat LOL

just one of the silly signs we saw that something was lost in translation...
tuesday: another day on the beach or by the pool. no pics to share!

wednesday:
view of the snack bar in the morning...

off we went on another red truck to the aquarium. the white castle looking thing in the background is valentino's - the "cootchie cootchie" bar that is hopping on the weekends.

a view out over the roof of the truck.

our driver that morning...

our visit to the aquarium was probably the most expensive thing we did on the whole trip - just over $30 for the 4 of us to go to. it was very well kept and maintained. we also found it interesting that the majority of the people working there were handicapped in some way. alot of down's syndrome or other issues, but they were all very pleasant and helpful and looked super smart in their uniforms.
there were a number of exhibits that were very interesting. everything from birds to crocodiles! check out those teeth!
sea turtles
everyone taking a look
frogs
rays
sharks
sea tortoises
toucans! i loved these guys!
parrots in the open exhibit - we were able to go into a huge enclosure and wander around with the bird.
funky chicken

sea lion show - this was very cool!
sea lion fishy breath kisses LOL

outside the aquarium
doing the macarena on the red truck home - we laughed and laughed - and attracted alot of attention!! there was also the chicken dance too LOL
a picture perfect view...
tequila volleyball in the pool
our last night, as we went over the bridge to the sushi restaurant...

senor frogs was also at the bottom of our hotel.
thursday morning:
time to go home, and one last breakfast at el patio. the green juice is cactus juice, a pleasant discovery that ricardo started feeding us a couple days before we left (to lose the extra weight we gained on the trip!! LOL) the cook was also awesome and gave us some well wishes on our cheesecake... (it says nice trip)

our awesome chef that made our yummy breakfasts in the morning - ricardo called her the "fat lady" and dh called him on it - "she doesn't speak english, does she??" LOL

ricardo (left) and ramon, our awesome servers who made our the start of our days just amazing.

ricardo giving dh a little loving...

these two were such hams - they made us laugh and were the best of the trip.

the tide was super high most mornings, coming all the way up to the beach loungers...

dh & ds1 enjoying the view...

rested, relaxed and tanned... and very reluctant about taking off the bathing suit in exchange for jeans and a sweatshirt!

an over the shoulder shot of everyone in the van on our trip to the airport.

ROFL - this guy looked like he was taking a piddle!

the company that dh works for has an outlet in mazatlan.... hmmmm... maybe he should be asking for a transfer??

the end!! thanks for taking a look!

home again!

2009-01-30T19:33:00.004-07:00

fantastic 10 days away from home, spent on the gold coast in mexico. mazatlan was a pleasant surprise! it is a sprawling city that is well suited to exploring. we went on a couple of tours, the best being a city tour, with a great commentary by the guide. it gave us an idea of what else we wanted to see more of, and where to go that was tourist friendly. being there were 10 of us all together, it was a great way to find out what we could do at a reasonable cost.

more on that to come! i'll need to download pics to blogger, and we all know how long that can take. and since there are more than 400 that i pulled off my camera tonight, i have to do some selective weeding. i do have to say there are even more pictures than we usually take, and that is something i'm impressed with!

but here's a good funny for you - we arrived back in calgary close to midnight, and having pre-arranged our pick up time with the cab company in strathmore, we weren't too concerned about having a ride home. we zipped through customs (amazing!! 15 minutes and we were through!) and proceeded to the waiting area. after a short time, i suggested to dh that perhaps he call to find out how long they would be as we were through customs so quickly.

they hadn't left strathmore yet as they had written down our arrival time to be the same time as when we had left.

urgh.

so buddy hustled his butt and was out to the airport in less than half an hour (a feat in itself, he said he was doing a buck 45 down the back road!!!)

arriving back to town, we dropped our friends off at their house first, and then had a bit of a panic when we got to the house and found that our front porch was gone.

with no stairs to the front door.

oh yes, the contractor had been by and taken down the porch. and we had no back door key with us.

LOL it was a bit of a heft to get up the 3-ish feet to the door, and haul the luggage up as well (there is still alot of snow around the side of the house, so that was not a great option at 2:30 in the morning!)

so this is what the front yard looks like today:
and i've just now noticed that my christmas wreath is still hanging on the front door!! OMG that is just not good!! i'll have to take that down tomorrow!

and here's a teaser for you - an actual PICTURE of ME!!!

these were both taken on the catamaran that we went out touring on. it was a beautiful day to be out on the water!

more to come... stay tuned!

whine and moan

2009-01-18T10:19:00.006-07:00

well, i'm there. i've lost just over 40 pounds since september. and i've made my goal. i am sticking to my weight loss plan for the next couple of weeks yet, as best i can, while we're on holidays. (not because i want to lose more, but because the plan i'm on has a 6 week stabilization part to it that will be better to start once i get back) does it feel good? oh yes. but that good feeling makes it hard for packing as very little of what i own for summer clothing fits anymore. and i know i shouldn't whine about the whole thing, but it is rather disheartening to put on something you liked, and made you look good before, and now it just hangs like a bad set of curtains.

so that has left me with 1 dress that i happened to find as a "one off" on sale between christmas and new years. shorts that are large, but i can get away with as long as i don't make any sudden movements for them to fall down. 2 pairs of capris that have a baggy bum. there is nowhere to purchase shorts at this time of year! i even had my eye on a pair of sandals from sears, called them, (this was last weekend) and they told me it would be well toward the end of the month before they arrive. huh?? the new catalog just came out!!

i have managed to find some tank tops and 3 super cute roxy t's found their way into my shopping bag yesterday.

and another lady i know that lost a good amount (more than 70!!! lbs for her) is throwing a bag of goodies my way to borrow for holidays. i'll be picking those up today.

so hopefully i won't look too pathetic for the 10 days we're away. at least i have bathing suits that fit!

(yes, it is a shameful whine, and i'm sure some of you are thinking some nasty thoughts, and i totally appreciate that. i just never thought in my life that i could actually do this! EVER.)

we're less than 48 hours to boarding our plane for our getaway. the kids are packed (i'm usually scrambling around the night before), dh has got his act together, i'm the only one left.

things to do:
change our bed
clean the carpets (i know this sounds ridiculous, but then my housekeeper can get some other much needed things done when we're away)
write notes to the schools re: the kids absence
last minute laundry
make sure i leave a cheque and list for my housekeeper
drop the dogs at the kennel tomorrow after work
lock the doors (we're really really bad for that!!)

the cab arrives at 3:45 am on tuesday for us to take off!

have a great sunday!

feeling a bit ill

2009-01-12T20:19:00.003-07:00

because i can't find one of my work file folders. the last time i know i had it in hand was on thursday. what that means is that a bunch of work stuff i got done in the last few weeks is MIA. ugh. and i have due dates this friday. if i don't find it in the next 24 hours, i'll have to redo what i did before then. feeling just a bit like the universe is working against me, this is the second "lost" thing in the last couple weeks. (the other being my photoshop disk)

on a nice, happy note - dh and i went for pedicures tonight. what a lovely couple hours! our tootsies are polished and buffed and scrubbed and flip-flop worthy.

1 more week...

so here is dh loving the massage chair... pic(s) of the day

pics of the day...

2009-01-11T20:34:00.008-07:00

ok, nothing fancy, just don't feel like doing much of anything to these yet. the good news is that they are taken and posted. i'll give you a little recap though:

January 5...
came home to find the cookie plate had been ransacked by the dog. apparently the chocolate ones were not to his liking. his loss... note the dog hair all over the table. he must have sat up there enjoying his goodies!! (i did find a snickerdoodle buried in the living room curtains. maybe that was his stash for later!!)

January 6...
here's a sneak peek of me!! LOL i thought it would be kind of neat to capture my "new" shadow, against some pristine snow. i couldn't find a great patch anywhere *sigh* and the sun was getting kind of low - so my shadow is very warped lengthwise. *and* it looks like someone is poking me with a stick, even though i was very much alone!!

January 7...
there had been alot of fog overnight and through the day, resulting in amazing hoarfrost both out where we live as well as in the city. this was the best pic i managed considering how overcast it was. this was down near the river in the city at a great park, but i didn't want to wander too far in a skirt, not to mention the wind was crazy cold. lots of people out with their cameras, it was breathtaking!

January 8...
so now that everyone in our house is on to the pic of the day, the camera is often on the kitchen table in the evening. and after dinner, dh took this one of ds1. isn't he a handsome guy??!

January 9...
this is the culprit that ate the cookies... looks comfortable up there, doesn't he?? just a little too much so for my liking!

January 10...
oh yes, some weather warm enough to venture outside without freezing body parts in seconds!! the boys were trying to build a snowman in the front yard, but it was just not the right consistency to get anywhere with it.

January 11...
happy birthday to the 4 year olds!! my niece and nephew turn 4 tomorrow, so we went for dinner at my sister's tonight for that. they'd had a great day - their party with their pals this morning, and the rest of us tonight... and there's some bonus photos as well... my sis playing with one of the puppets they got, great giggles on that one..!

that's it, that's all! a week in a nutshell...

have a great week!

i haven't forgotten

2009-01-08T23:25:00.001-07:00

about my picture a day. i'm taking them, they're just not getting on my computer.

i've lost my photoshop disk. so i'm taking a break from hunting for it, its making me just that bit crazy. i used it in the not so distant past, but can't find it right now.

if you've seen it, i'm offering a reward....

monday

2009-01-05T20:46:00.004-07:00

well, i am impressed, 5 days in, and i've taken a picture everyday. today is a toss up between 2 though, so i'm a bit torn as to which to post. maybe i need a poll LOL and did anyone catch my dating boo-boo?? i put both the 2nd and 3rd in as the 2nd - i need to change that...!

back to work today, and it was a good productive day although i didn't get in to as many stores as i was hoping to. the people i deal with were all in great moods, and extra chatty. along with an hour i spent talking to another sales rep from another company who happens to deal with some of our product in a back door sort of way. (but i'd rather have a rapport with him than argue with him, c'est la vie!!)

up a bit on the scale at my weigh in this morning (.4 of a pound... not much, but enough that it was up rather than down!!) but i'll keep plugging away. also made arrangements with the time i'll be away - i'll have an extra 4 weight loss weeks traded for maintenance weeks so that if i happen to gain a bit it won't be a huge deal, and i won't have to pay for more loss weeks when we're back if i do happen to gain a bit.

the weather has improved dramatically over the last 24 hours - tonight we made a quick wal*mart run, and i was able to go out in just a hoodie rather than the bundling we've been used to the last few weeks. we're hovering just below freezing, with the forecast for more of the same.
the bad news is that there is yet more snow arriving towards the end of the week.

and i'm happy to report that i finally have some music up and running again on my blog - boy have i missed that!! just some stuff that i like, hope you do too!

hope you're having a great day, wherever your travels lead you!

grumpy people

2009-01-04T21:15:00.003-07:00

annoy me!! its seems like now that the christmas season is over, more people are just grumpier than ever. and pushy. and shovey. not sure why that is. even driving down the street earlier today, got to the corner and just about got smoked by the guy that lives a few doors down because he cut the corner turning onto our street. or the lady that comes zooming down the alley, only to be surprised that someone else is coming down the road. the dirty looks are amazing. or the pushy people at costco. couldn't even stop anywhere in there today for fear of being run into from behind by a cart. and when they stop dead in the middle of the aisle, with no room on either side to get by, there is a dirty look from them for trying passing them. bleh. grumps go home!! LOL

the boys and i had a good day today, and quite productive. dh had to work today because he let his guys take a break over the last 2 weeks, so he got stuck working today. he was able to come home early, however, and was back in the house by 3.

we went to costco in the city, got a few groceries to tide us over for the next couple weeks, the boys had a hot dog and fries, and we were back home by 1pm. then the kids went to dinosaur hill to toboggan for a while. the weather finally warmed to a balmy -6, enough for them to enjoy some time out there. i got the fridge cleaned out and diswasher emptied while they were gone, and then enjoyed a bit of quiet before all of them were back home. dh got dinner prepped, so all i had to do was cook it, so that was nice. a lovely chicken stirfry with brown rice.

hoping when i go in tomorrow to weigh in, i'll be down a bit more. hopefully only another week (or less!) before i can start my stabilization program, which means i'll have a bit more for food allowance once we go on holidays.

todays photo was taken by ds1 while we were driving on the highway to the city. check out that gorgeous blue sky!! and we could see the mountains as well. if you click the picture, you can enlarge it, and you can make out part of the downtown cityscape of calgary.

have a great night!

quiet saturday

2009-01-03T18:02:00.004-07:00

the boys were planning on playing d&d today, so we really didn't have anything on the go. there were no major things to do today, so we went for a tan, and then hung out at home for the rest of the day. again, bitter cold with -40 windchills, makes life outside not pleasant. and that's ok. the boys are enjoying having downtime before they go back to school on monday.

chilly

2009-01-02T17:03:00.005-07:00

didn't get too far today, just the necessary grocery run. paperwork day, expense reports, payroll, yada yada.

ds1 is house sitting until sunday - he has been entrusted the care of a lizard (yuck), a cat, and a goldfish. he had to battle a snowdrift that hit mid-leg height to get into the house today, so i shovelled a path in the freezing cold while he tended to the animals.

it is bitterly cold out there, a good -38C windchill. and the snow keeps coming. it sounds like we're in for a bit of a break in the weather by sunday or monday. until then, we'll just keep bundled up.

today's photo from my office looking out the front window...

a quiet start

2009-01-02T00:06:00.003-07:00

to 2009

we went to a friend's house for an evening of cards and laughter, a toast at midnight and home around 2am. didn't sleep in too long, but got our projects out of the way mid-afternoon. took the tree down and got laundry folded. dinner out was the highlight of the day, there ended up being 10 of us for dinner at the super chinese food restaurant in town.

weather is miserable, its snowed most of the day, and the roads in town were nasty when we were out earlier.

i'm going to try to do the picture of the day starting with today, although it isn't really a picture, just a simple scan of our fortunes from the cookies tonight. note: if you add the "in bed" clause to our fortunes, dh's is the funniest of all!

happy new year!

its almost over

2008-12-30T23:45:00.002-07:00

and quite glad that it is.

its been a fairly busy christmas season for us, and i'm not too sad to be heading back into the routine of everyday life once more. the kids are back to school on monday, and i'll return to a much more normal work life as well.

the weather here has just been something else over the last month. i don't remember having this much snow since i was a kid. and it just keeps on coming down. the streets in town are not in great shape, and i almost got myself stuck in our back alley this morning when i was just a bit too far over off the packed snow. i really need to take a picture to document this abnormal weather. it is just odd!

in other news, and another almost over topic... i am down to my final 3 pounds of my weight loss journey. even over christmas i lost 1.6lbs, which i was totally not expecting. i still had a few glasses of red wine, ate turkey, and had a few bites of holiday baking. no deprevation happened here! i think the big thing for me was that food was not a focus. because i've been eating so low-key for months now, it really wasn't a big deal to not stuff myself until i was uncomfortable. and i still enjoyed it. but i am enjoying my size 8 clothing far more!!

we also in the final countdown for our winter getaway. we're heading off to mazatlan in 20 days. i'm so looking forward to the sun and warmth, its not even funny. i've had a very hard time staying warm the last while... i guess its when i no longer have 37 pounds of fat on my rear end, there is no longer the polar bear effect! the kids are pumped, they only have 2 weeks back at school before we head south.

and, of course, the year is almost over. there have been good things for us the last year, and i hope that the good karma continues. both dh and i have jobs we both love, and that financially has put us in a good position. we should have our reno starting soon on our house. (oh no, that STILL hasn't begun!) the kids are happy and healthy. we're blessed to have great friends in our lives, as well as other positive people surrounding us.

so, to you and yours, a very happy new year, and thanks for taking a peek into my life (as sporadic as it may be). may you also be blessed in the new year.

64 cups, 2 hours and 1 doorknob

2008-12-17T22:18:00.003-07:00

for a quiet wednesday, tonight was a good night.

the kids have curling each week, so after making cheese panini's for 3 hungry little boys, i dropped them off at the rink. j doesn't curl until 5:30, so he stayed home to get his homework done. b always brings his buddy from out of town to walk with him,and today there was an extra little boy, but given the weather, i thought a ride over was a good idea.

so anyways, after having wrestled with getting our back door open and closed all day today, i was getting frustrated. when dh wandered in the back after picking j up at 7pm, he closed the door and the knob came right off in his hand. oh yes, that doorknob has been giving us issue for months now. and we had an extra one we had found at a garage sale in the summer as well. it just hadn't been replaced yet.

now it has. after dh couldn't find it in the garage and had a bit of a meltdown (i think he was hungry!! and dinner was sitting on the table!) he replaced it. yay!

so there's the doorknob.

2 hours - the time it took dh to complete a normally 35 minute drive to work in the city. i'm quite glad i stayed put today. the wind and blowing snow were just a bit much for me this morning going to the dr's office, let alone taking on the highway and the treacherous city streets. something like 360 accidents reported between 7pm last night and 10 am this morning. craziness!

after a phone call last week from the school about supplying some treats for the bake sale tomorrow while the christmas concert is going on, i did up a few plates of goodies from my slowing growing stash of baking. i ended up baking off the refrigerator ginger cookies i had put together last weekend as well. and then i thought i should make some caramel popcorn.

now i must say, this is my downfall. and i've been putting it off until now for that reason. i love love love sweet salty food. caramel. oh my. and now that i am so close to my goal, i didn't want to have that temptation in the house.

so i made it. 64 cups of ooey gooey luscious carmelly goodness. and i was good. i only had a taste. ok, maybe 10 single pieces. but that's all. no more for me. some will go to school tomorrow, some for the neighbour, and the rest will end up as snacking goodness over the next week.

but that 64 cups will not end up on my a$$...

i've worked to hard for that!

randomness

2008-12-14T23:08:00.002-07:00

oh yes, again, its been a while. so, to update, here are the points of interest in no particular order:

- its freaking freezing outside. gotta love alberta in the winter, although it is far earlier for a winter storm and wind chills of -45C than normal. brrrrr!!

- i am nowhere near started OR finished Christmas shopping with only 12 days to go. i am never this late getting at it!

- a personal journey started about 3 1/2 months ago, i'm working on losing the 40lbs that has been hanging off my a** for the last 13 years. i'm so close, but seeming rather stuck the last couple weeks. down 2 up 1, repeat. less than 10 to go, but its a bit frustrating.

- christmas related, with work, christmas was SO over for me by the beginning of november. i've been working on superbowl and family day weekends for the last month. really. that's probably what half my shopping problem is. i'm already in the future. my sense of time is somewhat warped!!

- 36 days until we head to mazatlan for 10 days. so looking forward to it. we'll be going with the kids, another couple and another mom and her 3 girls. it'll be a fun trip!! we've been talking about another family vacation to mexico, maybe in the summer again. we had such a great time in cancun, and my mom would also like to go there again too...

- my parents are off to puerto penasco for 6 weeks at the beginning of january to officially kick off my mom's retirement. they're driving down, taking grandma, and their molly dog is going as well (oh yes, a 5 day trip with a 160lb rottie will be FUN!)no, she's really a great traveller (the dog) and i'm sure it will be just fine.

- our next non-family trip i'd like to go to either huatulco or acapulco. just that little bit further south. although the beaches in the mayan riviera are far better. and the water's warmer. dream a bit with me!

- i won! really! $500 smackers in a work "contest". for a display. i never win anything, so it was a BIG shocker to me. just in time to buy ridiculously outrageous new bathing suits. like really - $100 for a little piece of material?? drives me crazy. its not cash, but for a gift certificate. i chose the mall. gotta love it.

- still loving work. its going well, and i think our company will ride out whatever recessionary issues there are with few problems. everyone has to buy groceries, and the little food luxuries are things people don't tend to skimp until things are really bad.

- oh yes, the battery died in my beast today. despite all the coddling we've given it up until now, this cold snap was its demise. so dh will bring one home for me tomorrow. oh happy day!! then all the crazy lights won't flash at me in inopportune times any more!

- 3 christmas parties in one week last week. need i say more? diet havoc. cleanse starting tomorrow. come on 10 pounds!!! go away!! LOL

- the boys both had bits to do in the last community theatre project. j had a great part, and b did the lighting. it was really cute, a production of "father knows best" or for the newer generations, the original of the movie "cheaper by the dozen". well done, well attended. and it was a family affair in all - dh and numerous rounded up friends help build the set, and i became part of the costuming crew, sewing one of the girl's outfits. (i *DON"T* sew!)

- attended a family reunion/birthday party for one of my aunts the beginning of november. my dad's side of the family is huge, so lots of visiting with various relatives.

- my parents went to egypt in november. trip of a lifetime. its on my list.

ok, i think that's it in a nutshell...

and once again, i really need to get on this again. life prevails...

mexico adventure part 2

2008-10-30T08:16:00.010-06:00

so to continue (albeit 2 months later!!! its been sitting in my draft box awaiting journalling!) we went up the road from the resort one afternoon to visit a crocodile zoo. well, it was that and much more! it was on the pricey side ($70US for the 4 of us) but we had a guide just for us, and a personal tour along with lots of animals to touch and feel.

first, a welcoming kiss from one of the parrots. notice the slightly squinshed up faces on all of us as that parrot was coming in for a smooch...

and then it was right on in to the thick of it - starting with holding crocodiles.

those were some awfully scary looking creatures - i personally think they'd make a nice pair of shoes. but these little ones were kind of cute in a don't touch me kind of way. the boys did think it was cool though.

and then on to the boa constrictors. fortunately for us, this one was just a little one, only about 2 months old.

this one seemed to quite like dh... alot... especially around his neck!

and yes, i did hold this one. amazing how much power you could feel in such a small animal!!

now, if anyone has ever seen one of these and knows what it is... please tell me! we can't remember for the life of us, but he did belong to an exotic dancer... apparently... a herbivore, he was not out for anything but some lovin'...

b was the only one that was brave enough to hold him. he was a pretty cool animal once you got past his looks! they store food in the pouches on either side of their head, similar to a hamster.

iguanas...

vine snakes...

and the cutest little turtles!! we could take a couple home in our pockets!

oh the thrill of the hunt... LOL

and just when we thought we had seen all the lizards we could, *these* were in the next enclosure that we walked through... no barriers, and less than 5 feet away. just a little bit on the intimidating side!!

and then we visited the deer. and fed them. b seemed to be the deer whisperer for the day. every time we turned around, he had more of them around him!

ok, so NOT attractive! LOL but it was quite hilarious at the time... the deer were coming up to me and sniffing for the goodies i had. so i sniffed back at them!

these were quite the funky animals, a cross between a raccoon and something else. and quite vicious the way they were fighting over their food!!

this was monica, a rescued monkey. she was quite sweet and was quite happy to eat the treats we gave her... no really good pics, all blurry as she was a twitchy little thing!

and this pretty kitty was just so cute! a cross of an ocelot and something else, she was no bigger than a housecat. no petting her though!

and a final goodbye from the parrots.

really an amazing experience when there is just not the same opportunity to touch/feel at a traditional zoo here. we did like that they also take in rescued animals, the place was spotlessly clean and all the animals were well cared for. so our money did go to a great cause. the website is http://www.crococunzoo.com. it is just south of cancun, at km 31. IMHO, a great trip for the whole family. just take bug spray, lots of it, no matter the time of day. trust me on this one!!

mexico adventures - august 2008

2008-10-29T22:29:00.005-06:00

this is where we stayed - the ocean coral H10 just 15 minutes south of cancun, mexico. if you want hot, try mexico in august. it was amazing - about 38C plus the humidex bringing it up to close to 50C. less than a day and we were very happy with the heat!
just a bit blurry!! my dad and i
a beachside buffet was a great way to spend our second to last evening. there was a live band, and fabulous food!
always on the lookout for clamato - we found it in a little groceteria in puerto morelos
another blurry-ish one, (thanks donut for taking pictures!!) of my mom and i. the italian restaurant was the best of the bunch!
on the end of the pier in puerto morelos, mexico
las isla mall in cancun (oh yes, we were hot and cranky!!)
my mom, the donut (ds#1) and dh on the connecting walk at the H10 ocean resort just south of cancun
yes, that is exactly what you are seeing - really!! the fine sand had gotten jammed up between the mesh lining and the outer material of his shorts - so what better way to get it out than get nekkid in the ocean!!! LOLOL
just one of the huge beautiful pools at the resort!

more to come....

just for tammy...

2008-10-29T21:24:00.010-06:00

funny how you bump into someone that you haven't seen in - what? - 18 years or so?? so, this one is for you tammy - because you'll have to snoop pretty darn deep to find more like it!!

this was our annual family photo day the weekend prior to thanksgiving. so this is us - left to right - dh, ds#1 (12 years old), ds#2 (10 years old) and myself.

the 12 of us went down to kinsmen park to do the deed... makes life interesting with all of us - my grandma is 90, all the way down to my little niece that turned 1 in may.

it was nice that the trees still had leaves, it made it much prettier than when we did this last year.

so here's some more:

boy - you'd think we had no teeth!! LOL

my sister, brother in law, and their little monkeys

my mom and dad - gotta love 'em!

then there's the whole gang - the guys vs the girls! loved these pictures, but too bad about me looking like a somewhat sad daydreamer!!

just goofing around

so there's the goods for you!

i really should get some of our trip pictures up from mexico in august. that was one amazing trip. well heck, posted one set, now i should be motivated to do the rest...

life is busy, but a good busy. ds#1 is in yet another upcoming theatre production, curling season is here again for both the boys, and halloween just a couple days away.

thanks for taking a peek!

fits and starts

2008-05-22T22:49:00.005-06:00

not sure where to even begin - its been 2 months, and there has been alot going on.
probably best to just get at it in point form:

- my dear friend's brother passed away tragically in mid-april. trying to be there for her as much as i can. her mom is also devastated, as well as his long time girlfriend. just sad.

- dh's best friend (also our neighbour) was diagnosed with lymphoma also in april. very sad. he's on chemo now, and staying with his parents. the prognosis is fairly good, but without an mri to be done in the future (because of his size) i'm hoping that the weight loss he is experiencing now will continue. all for his health.

- my grandma came to stay over spring break - essentially giving my parents (namely mom) a break of their own to go down to palm springs. a lovely goodie came out of that stay - we finally have our dining table we've been drooling over for the last while. and amazingly enough, dh and i both agreed on it. dh finished it himself, and it is beautiful!

- work has been busy. a good, happy, productive busy. getting myself settled into a routine and rhythm for my calls. i still have a few stores that i haven't gotten to in my *huge* area that i cover, but hopefully will be all caught up by the end of june.

- speaking of work, another work trip is on the slate for the end of june. thinking we may be going to vancouver island?? not sure - my boss hasn't indicated where we'll be off to!

- and work related, but not so much, got new rubber for my benz last week. and really, it could have been worse - $760 installed with free rotation and flat repairs for the life of the tires. and given how many nails i tend to find, he'll be regretting that one i'm sure!

- i've had lots of travel days the last while, doing the southern alberta tour. nice to see some scenery, and super nice people along the way.

- golf season is underway again. gotta love it. although things are mighty soggy right now with all the rain we've had the last few days. i suppose i can't complain that much, its great for the grass and my plants. we've gone out 5 times already, and can't wait for more. here's a pic from our outing on mother's day (and the bonus was a gift cert for another free round for another day just for me!!)

- my littlest niece just turned the big 1 last weekend. got to spend time with my sis and her family to celebrate the special day. she is just such a cutie!

not to mention the handsome dude holding on to her so dearly!

- a few social things have gone on as well - made some new friends with dh's co-workers, have had dinner with them, we were invited to a birthday party, and gone bowling with everyone that participates in the social club.

- took the kikanue dog for obedience classes. she is noticeably better, but still has her "things" she does. i really need to get working with her more. also found out that our fantastic kennel lady is retiring. hoping i won't have too hard a time to find someone else to replace her.

- planning our summer holiday! we've been researching all sorts of places online, and we've got our hearts set on somewhere warm, probably mexico, and hopefully cancun. dh and i loved it there when we went on our honeymoon, and yes, even though it was 14 years ago, we realize there have been big changes, but are still looking forward to it.

i think that's about it. hopefully i won't wait quite so long to get on my blog again. thanks for taking a peek!

a life well lived

2008-03-20T22:36:00.003-06:00

i returned today from a conference with my new job, and sadly had to attend the funeral of a dear friend of my parents.

the theme that was iterated throughout was "a life well lived" and from all the tributes presented by family and friends, he had indeed lived a great life.

it was a hard funeral to attend, for this man i really didn't know so very well. my parents have been friends with the couple for many years - i babysat their children in my teen years, their family and ours were often together through my adolescent and teen years, but since then i could probably count the number of times i've seen them since i've been married on two hands.

they and my parents had travelled to china, and most recently croatia, as well as attending many functions, dinner theatres and other events together.

i think the hardest part today was realizing that my parents are coming into that "aging" population - that they are no longer young, and that this is the beginning of losing their friends to age and/or illness. it was so sad for me to see the grief on their children's faces, knowing that some day that will be mine. and their children are not much younger than i am.

this was not an unexpected sudden death, but the timeframe for his death was very short. only 5 weeks ago he was on the beach in hawaii, and as was retold to my mom, he said to the gentleman he was with, that he felt better than he had in a long time.

2 weeks later he was given only a few weeks to live.

maybe that was because he was given a short reprieve before the suffering he went through. cancer acted swiftly in his case, and sadly there was no miracle that he could have found to save his life.

life is short.

call your mom and dad and tell them you love them. i did.

gone gone gone

2008-02-18T22:22:00.002-07:00

isn't it funny how time just gets away from you???

life has been busy around here, and strangely enough, not alot to say about things either. (hey mer - maybe we both need some excitement!!)

starting to settle into a work routine, although the weather hadn't really been cooperating, the kids had some down time (one week they only attended school for 1 day because of the weather!!) so that had me working from home (not a bad thing!) while they were home. there's also been a big learning curve, lots of things to remember, learn and do. and hopefully within my weekly time frame. it's all good.

we just came home this afternoon from a well-deserved break to great falls, montana. although its not too far from home (4 1/2 hours), we shopped 'til we dropped with the dollar being as good as it is right now. i found some wonderful deals on clothing - both for work and play, and the kids were somewhat spoiled as well. b's big deal of the weekend was a new set of golf clubs for this spring. he's very pumped, and was already asking j if he'd come out to the field with him as soon as the snow melts to practice his drives. silly guy :) i'm thinking we just have to get out to the golf dome one weekend here for him to try them out. j was in his glory picking out some fun new things for himself, as well as some (gigantic) size 13 golf shoes. like i said, deals were in the air this weekend!!

tomorrow is a busy day getting back in the groove. on my must do list is an oil change for the 'benz. and a deal there as well. found oil for cheap in the states. now this may not sound like a big deal, but given that it takes 8 litres of synthetic, and retail here is about $10 a litre, my $4.50/L i paid to pick it up in the states was a godsend. my dad had forewarned me about the $150 oil changes, but this has now sealed the deal so to speak for taking a trip away!! mind you, it only needs an oil change done every 15,000 km, (or 6 months) compared to the 6 - 8 week cycle i needed before in the van, its really not any more of an expense. but heck, save a dollar here and there when i can!

the other must do on my list is training for the upcoming provincial election. that's coming up in 2 weeks. that's tomorrow afternoon.

and then off to obedience school with the kikanue dog. we had our first class last week, and had a great time. she did very well - even my kennel lady (she also does the classes) was quite impressed. kikanue can be a real handful, but she did very well. hopefully this will get us off in a better direction than things have been going with her. its not that she's a bad dog, she's just a mismanaged dog with too many ideas about being the alpha in the house. she thinks she's the boss, and that doesn't go over well with me, who IS the alpha (LOL). because we really don't have much of a background for her, it can just be plain difficult living with her. hopefully this will help.

other than that, i think that's about it...

over and out...

and enjoy the tunes! (sorry its probably now stuck in your head!!!)

so. um. yeah.

2008-01-19T13:27:00.000-07:00

more than a month. wow. well, there are reasons. maybe not huge earth shattering ones, but reasons nonetheless.

so, here goes:

1. sometimes there's just nothing interesting to say. which is most days. so there's that.

2. christmas and all that goes with. concerts, parties, people in and out of our house a number of evenings (that i LOVE). and then christmas itself. which was great. family commitments, that sort of thing.

3. oh yeah. the small matter of a disgusting cold that hung around prior, during and after the christmas season. took a good 3-ish weeks to be rid of. snot. nothing i really need to have.

4. a transition to my new position (heck, that rhymes! LOL) i'm now officially a territory manager for cadbury-schweppes. and loving it. hello clamato!! LOADS of perks. gotta love it!

so i think that's it. so really, its not so much how many excuses, its the quality. really.

so yeah, back to the whole christmas thing. we had our friends/neighbours in a couple of evenings in december. oh, and new year's eve too. we had a great time. heaps of great stuff to eat, drink and be merry.

christmas day was spent at my sister's in the city. and you know, i'm really so over the having everyone out here for christmas. seriously. i don't have a mess to clean up, and its all good in the long run.

presents were not about quantity this year. i did get the one thing i desperately wanted - tanning minutes. it may sound somewhat dorky, - its not really even about the tan for me. i just get so freaking cold in the winter time, going and laying in that hot bed for 10 minutes and i'm a much happier person for it. i feel much better too. its different than sitting in the tub in scalding hot water... my bones get warm too.

we did also get nintendo ds systems for all 4 of us. that was the "big stuff" and we've been having an absolute riot with them. we have games that we all play together, which is just plain fun. two of our neighbours also got them, so we have had them all going at the same time and had a grand time playing racing games together.

dh also got me the most amazing-est, cooshie-est bathtub pillow i have ever seen. that just plain rocks. love it.

and as i already mentioned, seriously loving my new job. loads of perks (our beer fridge is stuffed full of clamato, water, welch's juice, fiji water - amazing!) and great co-workers. i have a huge territory to cover, generally we're visiting stores about once a quarter, so i'm hoping to get out to at least do an initial visit with all my stores in the next few weeks. from there, i'll just play it by ear. i'm hoping to get some headway made in some accounts that the other sales rep just has not had time to do. so while i don't have distinct goals yet, i know what i personally want to accomplish as well.

hoping to get my "home office" set up in a way that is conducive to working from home some days as well. looking for another desk or table so that one will be a work desk, and the other for crafting. will have to see what i come up with! will also need to get the spare bed out of my office too to make some room. a good de-junking is desperately needed!

i think that's it for now - the big stuff anyways...

ttfn!

its all because i washed it...

2007-12-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

really. i should know better.

i thought, heck, the getaway vehicle could really use a wash, so i sucked it up and paid the $8.50 for a super duper wash when i got gas this afternoon.

and now its all nice and shiny. sitting in the garage. warm and toasty.

WHILE ITS SNOWING LIKE CRAZY OUTSIDE.

really. i should know better.

go figure. the second i take it out, its going to be even more dirty than before i washed it. just my typical luck. it looks pretty though. if nothing else.

went to heritage park yesterday for brunch and a wander of their 12 days of christmas displays, went with the whole darn fan-damily. so that included, my parents, grandma, sis, brother-in-law, their 3 munchkins, and us. and it was darn cold out. left the house early here to drop off dh's car to get the oil changed at the dealership first. and it was a BALMY minus freaking 25!!! my bones just don't do well in that.

so we bee-lined for the admission booth, scooted through the gates, ran down the hill to stand under the heater they have there, then ran the rest of the way down to the main street. ducked into what is the ice cream store in the summer to warm up before making our way the rest of the way to the hotel for our brunch. it was wonderful - homestyle, hearty, and filled us up for the rest of the afternoon. fresh bakery items, hash browns, eggs, bacon, sausage and french toast, pancakes and waffles. yum.

afterwards, it had warmed up sufficiently to wander around for a bit. took a look at the crafts and goodies they had on sale for christmas, the little ones threw snow around, went through a maze, and generally had a nice little walk. no, no pics, didn't feel like lugging the camera around in the cold, not to mention, i'm sure it would have just fogged up anyways.

from there, we went in search of tile to complete the downstairs bathroom. our plumber will be in next saturday to hook everything up. the kids are happy (as am i) and we won't have to go upstairs to piddle when we're watching tv! what a bonus!! LOL

friends and neighbours over last night for a pre-christmas visit. it was great - lots of laughter, the guys even got into a hockey game for a bit, wonderful munchie finger foods, and it was an easy clean up this morning.

and now its just late enough that i better get my buns in bed - off to the city again tomorrow. maybe even some success with getting christmas presents together!!

blizzardy blah!

2007-12-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

oh the weather outside is frightful....

most definitely! had a quick roadtrip to vulcan, a small center about an hour south to do a sales call for one of the reps this morning. at this moment in time i am VERY glad i headed out at a decent time this morning, and that i'm back home now. it is snowing quite a bit, and on the way home it was white-out conditions in a number of places.

the downside at this moment is that i do have to go back in to the city for my final dental appointment to get the crown finished on one of my molars. i'm not much looking forward to the drive in a couple hours. we'll see what its like at that point.

i took my camera with me this morning on my way out, if only to stop at some point and take a few pics of the amazing hoarfrost that is hanging around on everything right now. but with the blowing snow, and the frigid temps, it just didn't happen. i think the worst thing about our weather right now is the lack of sunshine. if you can count on one thing, it is the crazy amount of sun we get, even in winter. but we've had cloud for pretty much the last week, and that sure gets alot of people down. i was hoping that there would be some blue sky this morning to get some great pictures. but it wasn't to be. oh well!

work has been super slow still. i'm going out about 2 days a week, but even at that, its only for a half day or so at a time. it sounds all good to get paid for not going anywhere, but at the same time, there's not alot of extra to go towards christmas shopping then either. and that kind of sucks too. who knows. none of us girls are getting much of anything by way of work right now, so at least i can say its not just me.

hope you're having a sun-shiny day! and if you are, could you please send some this way too??

it's all about being 12

2007-12-03T21:25:00.000-07:00

tomorrow that is. my big guy is turning 12 - and he's quite excited about it all. he's one amazing kid and i am proud to call him my son. and because i wouldn't be a mom without embarrassing him to death - this is a goodie of him a few weeks ago when we were hanging out at my sister's house.
poor child. good thing he doesn't read my blog. or so i hope LOL

but seriously, this is a pic that shows off who he really is...
he's just a big teddy bear - gentle, sensitive, and loving. he's already got great practice with the little ones, and that is one amazing feat to get a young guy to tote around a baby (even a cousin!) for any length of time! good on ya man :) and happy birthday!

so another goodie from our visit with my sister - the b-man reading to the twin monkeys. he thought it was just great to have an audience all to himself. he read them stories while they both listened intently to him!
the cool thing was that b-man was reading them some of his favorites from when he was their age. they are by laura numeroff - and there are a few of them. i can't say which is the best of the bunch, but they are sure great for little ones at the pre-reading age. they can easily memorize the books, and then that eventually leads to them learning to read those words! very cool remembering those things about my own kids.

and a couple of housekeeping notes - the big guy has been working with the theatre group again in another production here. its a pantomime - basically a comedy that involves audience participation. the whole crew was out to see it over the weekend, including nana, poppa, mimi, auntie lisa, and auntie jenny who came up from cranbrook especially to see him.

also a big shout out to my buddy sam in georgia - have missed you guy! so happy to have heard from you today!

hope you're all staying warm - its mighty chilly here!

i just about piddled in my pants

2007-11-14T21:49:00.001-07:00

listening to this one.... bear with me - i was laughing my behind off!! and even if you don't like ellen, believe me, its good!

Dave Matthews Band - Say Goodbye

2007-11-13T01:51:00.001-07:00

just because... one of my favorite songs... especially at 2 in the morning...

and again...

2007-11-13T01:12:00.000-07:00

so instead of laying there tonight... again... i'm up. might as well throw a bit onto the blog. what the heck.

windier than all get out today. and our recycle bin has blown away. funny thing b said to me as we were discussing it - "i can't believe it would blow away when there was so much stuff in it" HA!
the guy was by today to pick it up! good giggle either way. but our bin is still gone. maybe a quick drive down the street tomorrow is in order - i saw a garbage can that belongs to the neighbour behind us was in the walkway a few houses down. so maybe its around. the lid was under our next-door neighbour's truck. hopefully its not far.

went into the city this afternoon for a bit. dh had an interview late this afternoon, so we went and wandered the mall for a while. surprising how many people had the day off - this was the first time ever that dh got the day off for rememberance day. it was hot and crowded and my patience wore thin fairly quick - not something normal for me. we did find a new winter coat for j though. we've been looking for a while, and found one he's happy with. and on sale!

we had a quick stirfry dinner tonight of broccoli and beef, using the seasoning mix packet from the spice aisle of the grocery store. we were quite pleased with the results. it was yummy and quick!

j is in another play again with the theatre here. he was missed on the audition calls, and when they finally did call him, it was to be a second for a part, as well as a technical stage hand again as well. so he does have days that he is performing for sure, and is having a grand time as well. he really enjoys his time working with the theatre group.

well, i'm going to go and try to get back to sleep. hopefully its not too long a night again...

sleeplessness

2007-11-10T23:18:00.000-07:00

i think that when you're pregnant, your body programs itself to require less sleep than usual. you're up every couple hours to pee, and whether you're actually fully awake, or more the stumbling type, you get accustomed to waking every couple hours whether you need to or not. then as a new mom, you struggle through the wee hours of the night, again, either fully awake or just barely stumbling through, to fetch that little one to you, feed and relax again into sleep.

and eventually, your little ones outgrow the need for you in the night. even my guys will very rarely wake me up if they are ill.

but then there are nights like last night. where i tried every "trick" in my book. counting, breathing, relaxing, to no avail. i know that i must have slept at some point. the last time i looked at the clock it was just before 7am this morning. but my brain did not revel in sleep. it was very much active and awake. and as such, today i was a sloth.

i spent the morning on the couch in the basement, watching a terrible movie with my youngest son, who eventually realized that i had dozed off and teletoon had a far more interesting movie on than was on tbs, changed the channel. the two of us peeled ourselves away from the tv around 11am, and i got myself into the shower.

then we had a baking lesson. my little b wanted to make butter tarts. i was half wondering to myself where he had even seen them to be wanting to make them (i'm thinking on our trip to costco yesterday... perhaps?) so i indulged him. i've had the tart shells in the freezer since last fall when i made a few batches for some reason or other. so that's what we did. he was so proud of himself, measuring and making sure we were following the instructions. and they turned out wonderful. even kikanue indulged in a couple that she pulled off the tray while we were downstairs after lunch. go figure. a doggie with a sweet tooth!

so this afternoon was more of the same for me. the tv on, but me dozing most of the programs away. dh and the big man had gone to the city this morning to fetch the shower stall and last 2 remaining doors for the basement. so the loaded them into the house, and then headed out to the garage for some male bonding time playing darts for the rest of the afternoon. little b went to play with a friend for a while, and then he also joined the guys outside. the good thing was dinner was easy tonight - costco pizza and a salad, followed by the butter tarts for dessert. a great saturday night dinner if you ask me!

so now, dh is snoring (he also didn't sleep well last night) and i'm awake. perhaps a little too awake for not sleeping last night. but i do need to get there. i'm thinking a little snog of something will help put me out for the night.

if there ever was a reason to be up in the middle of the night, a little one to cuddle would be the best reason ever. watching the alarm clock count the minutes just doesn't do it for me.

people are weird

2007-11-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

like this morning - parked my car on the street in downtown calgary, no sooner had i put it in park, and some chickie smokes the front driver's side on the bumper. there was a casual "sorry - here's my info" like it was an everyday occurence for her. who knows! maybe it is! (i should have looked closer at her bumper - maybe there's more to see!) thank goodness it was only a scuff, dh buffed it tonight, and its all good now. phew. not even so much as a mark on the bumper.

and the odd interview i went to this morning. started out the other day with her calling me and grilling me. ok... i get that, not alot of time to chit-chat in a busy environment. and today, she wanted me to interview for a photo-copy sales position. um, no. not my thing. should have maybe asked a couple more questions on the phone the other day, but given how that went...

then went to work, and had to shake my head. two of us were working on a large display, and when we got there, i asked that our "contact" lady be paged to come down and meet us. more than an hour later, i asked one of the clerks if they could page her again, as we were part way through and i wanted to know where exactly she wanted the display, and she finally came down and told us that she wanted things done differently from what we had started. um hello? we've been here an hour! if she had come down when first paged, it wouldn't have even been an issue. whatever.

and that was quite enough of odd people for the day.

so looking to tomorrow - the boys are off school, so we're going in to hang out with the nieces and nephew in the morning for a bit, then i'll probably drop the boys off for a visit with their great-grandma and i'll go and get a bit of work done that was dropped in my lap tonight. then i'm sure we'll head to the mall, or costco, or something for a bit, then home for the evening.

a dear friend of mine called last night, haven't talked to her in ages. the last time we connected, she was in the midst of going to turkey for a month with her now fiancee and her mom, and then returning only to be moving shortly thereafter. that was the beginning of june. so found out last night that she did finally move a week or so ago, and is closer than she was - she had been in prince george, bc for the last 6 years. the kids are quite happy to hear that she is now in cranbrook, and we hope to connect soon for a visit, hopefully at christmas time at the latest.

funny how things can change, but also how fast time can go by.

it was a quiet week for work for me, but a good opportunity to work with a friend of mine that is also working for the same company. the nice thing is with her being around the corner, she'll drive in with me, so that makes it quite nice for the commute. we got some nice big displays set up this week, and the stores are happy with that.

food wise the last week, things have been somewhat usual. tonight was brats and fries and salad night - along with watching grey's, big shots and survivor.

but something we had the other night was definitely decadent, but downright delicious. so here it is:

shrimp and parsley... (oh yes, its good!)

4 lbs shrimp, unpeeled (check out the zipperback shrimp from extra foods/superstore in the green bag, 2 lbs per bag. got these ones last week, $18 for 4 lbs - so $4.50 a pound.)

1 cup butter
6-8 cloves garlic, sliced
2-4 bunches of parsley, depending on size - you need a good amount of parsley!! 2 bunches if their big, 4 if they're not
1-2 loaves of french bread, unsliced

ok, since this is one of those throw it in the pan recipe, its more method than anything...

turn oven to 250, place unsliced bread in, no foil, no pan, nothing. you just want to warm and freshen up the bread. put the biggest frypan you have on the stovetop, turn to med-high heat. add butter. in the meantime, slice your garlic, and as the butter has started to melt, put in the garlic. rough chop up the parsley, throw it in the pan. swirl around in the butter (it should be all melted now, but not sizzling). pour your shrimp over top, don't worry if they're not thawed out. it works just the same. cover, and let simmer for a couple minutes. stir. cover. repeat until all the shrimp are pink and cooked. remove from heat.

take the bread out of the oven, slice thick.

on your table you want to have spread out that day's newspaper a couple layers thick. set out a soup plate (the ones with the rim) and a fork for everyone, and napkin(s). put the pan of shrimp in the middle, and dig in. you'll have alot of liquid in the pan (this is NOT all butter the parsley absorbed that! - it's basically a shrimp stock) throw the shrimp peels on the newspaper, dunk your bread in the sauce and eat it with the parsley (yummy and good for you!), drink some good wine and just enjoy. we will also have a salad with this too, just greens and a light dressing is a good combo to compliment your dinner.

serves 4-5 hungry people!

missed it all...

2007-11-01T21:34:00.000-06:00

taking any pics that is - we were just too busy having fun last night to take any pictures. but heck, we had a grand time anyways. dh dressed up as a crash test dummy, i was my usual witch, ds#1 was a roman god, and ds#2 was a crusader. all in all it was a great time :)

we had over 100 kids come for a treat last night - and it was quite funny with the older ones when i asked them if they wanted playdoh or a glow-bracelet. and interestingly enough, more of them wanted the playdoh! you're never too old is my thinking. costco had these mini playdoh's - 80 of the for $12 or something. so that made it reasonable, and my thinking is that the kids always get more candy than they possibly need, so something different is quite welcome!

dinner last night was a quick one - the kids were anxious to get going, dh was anxious to go hang outside on the porch, and for me, after a busy day, it was nice to just get something simple and hearty in our bellies. so we had a quick panini sandwich (plain cheese for b and i, pastrami and roast beast and cheese for dh and j) and a bowl of mushroom soup. gotta love it!

its been busy with work this week, and i'm quite glad that tomorrow is friday. looking forward to a not too busy weekend.

had an interesting job interview this afternoon with a placement agency. interesting in that the fellow i met with was someone that is on the same sort of wavelength as i am - that its not always the schooling that will make a person better for a job than another. we'll see where that goes!

so that's about it for an update tonight - i'm quite ready for bed, and need to be out the door early tomorrow morning.

it must be in the hoisin...

2007-10-30T21:52:00.000-06:00

LOL

well, tonight was another "test" dinner - we (oh, yes, it was I tonight - nobody else interested in cooking till it was all done... but i digress) had a ginger noodle soup out of that same cookbook/mag from last night. and that one had more hoisin sauce in it. we've almost killed 2 bottles in 2 nights. go figure.

before the recipe though, a few tidbits from my day.

i'm covering someone's route again this week, and man, he has some busy days. he has sales calls that need to be done before 10 am. now, that doesn't seem like a big deal, but today there were 2 to be done. and i need about an hour per store. so counting backwards from my time deadline, that means i needed to be in the city, at my first stop by 8am. and leaving from home about an hour before that if it wasn't rush hour. so that means leaving at 7am. and since i'm such a great morning person (NOT) that meant i was out the door at 7:30am. oh yes, 1/2 an hour later than i should have been, without counting the traffic. but you know, even with the accident that was just at the city limits for my access point this morning, i was still done and not feeling too rushed for either stop by 9:45. i figured i was doing well. the rest of my day went smoothly (until tonight - computer issues, but what else is new) so am hoping that tomorrow won't be too much of pain to get the computer working again.

i ran into a former co-worker today while i was out. she works at one of the safeway stores in the city that i was in today. she doesn't look too much different, and she still has the same sense of humor that i remember from 10+ years ago. so that was kind of neat :) she made my day - told me i look "fabulous". (mind you, when i knew her, i was still so fat from being preggo with ds#1)

what else.... met up with ds#2's teacher today. all the teacher's have been doing "pre-report card meetings" - a little less formal that a P/T interview, but really, how formal are those? went through some of b's strengths and weaknesses, and nothing was a surprise to me. the cool thing is that she is very gung-ho on working with the kids on their positives, and working with them to make the weaknesses not so bad either. i know b quite likes her, so that is a huge obstacle surmounted in itself.

ok, enough, i'm ready for bed... recipe time...

Ginger Noodle Soup

1lb ground lean pork
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
2 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 cups chicken stock
1 carrot,, shredded
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
5 oz rice vermicelli
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup bean sprouts
4 sprigs cilantro

In saucepan, brown pork over med-high heat, stirring to break up meat. Drain off fat. Add onion, garlic, hoisin, ginger and soy sauce; cook for 2 minutes.
Add chicken stock and bring to boil. Add carrot and mushrooms; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
Stir in vermicelli; simmer until noodles are tender, about 5 minutes. Ladle into soup bowls. Garnish with sliced green onion, bean sprouts and cilantro.

Makes 4 servings; 463 cal, 29g protein, 16g fat, 48g carbs, 3g fibre

From Canadian Living Make it Tonight mag, Fall 2002

only a couple things i fiddled with: grated the ginger and garlic with my microplane, so there weren't "bits" in the soup - my youngest doesn't like bits of ginger. added in the leftover beef stock from last nights dinner with the chicken stock - so it was more like 6 cups stock. it was all gone, so it must have been good. we also threw a splash of seasoned rice vinegar on it at the table- it could probably use a squish of a lime even, to cut the salty taste. (remember - sweet, salty, bitter, sour for asian food) that totally perked it up to our taste.

a little addiction

2007-10-29T20:01:00.000-06:00

well, it was a good weekend overall - had a bit of a lazy day on saturday, got a nap in, did some scrapping, it was all good. sunday, got the "stuff" done for the week ahead, laundry, groceries, homework, yada yada...

so what about the addiction? well, i tell ya, we've become addicted to a sandwich. panini sandwiches. what that grill does to a couple slice of bread and some cheese is just heavenly. today when i got home from work, that's what i had. cheddar and roast beef and a bit of grainy mustard grilled to perfection. ds1 did the same thing when he got home from school. yum.

and that's also what ended up being for dinner last night - grilled panini rubens. montreal smoked meat was a steal of a deal at just 99cents for 100g at the grocery store yesterday, so dh and i decided they would make a great dinner. yum. i could eat a panini everyday LOL (my hips would sure pay for it though!)

so after an un-busy week last week, it was back to work early today. the person i'm covering for has a busy schedule, but on top of that, he sees a number of his stores early in the day - they need to be seen before 10am. that makes for early mornings for me this week. the good thing is that it also makes for a bit earlier time home as well, so i can't complain too loudly.

so on the menu tonight - we made hoisin beef noodles for dinner. on sunday, i tidied up my kitchen cart with all my cookbooks, cooking mags and various bits and pieces on it, and found a magazine from 5 years ago. told the kids to pick a couple things out of it for dinner this week. and we found the noodle dish for tonight.

Hoisin Beef Noodles
1 tbsp vegetable oil (i didn't use this!)
1 lb lean ground beef
3 cloves garlic
3 cups sliced mushrooms
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 sweet red or green pepper, sliced
1 cup beef stock
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 pkg precooked chinese noodles (450g - the steamed noodles that are in the produce section)
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 cups bean sprouts
2 green onions, chopped

In wok or large skillet, heat oil over high heat; brown beef and garlic, breaking up meat with spoon, about 5 minutes. Spoon off any fat. Add mushrooms and carrots; cook over med-high heat until mushrooms are tender and liquid is evaporated, about 7 minutes.
Add red pepper, stock, hoisin; bring to boil.
Meanwhile, gently loosen noodles under warm water; drain and add to pan. Whisk cornstarch with 1 tbsp water; stir into pan and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 1 minute. Serve topped with bean sprouts and green onions.

Makes 4 servings; 544 cal, 32g protein, 23g total fat, 53g carbs, 5g fibre From Canadian Living Make It Tonight mag - Fall 2002

and, as always, my couple changes. i doubled this - and probably didn't need to. as i couldn't find the streamed noodles out here in booney-ville, i used another dry chinese noodle, which is probably why there was just so much. we needed to add a bit of hoisin and sriracha sauce at the table to make it to our taste, but ds2 liked it without adding anything. i also just mixed the cornstarch into the stock mixture as it was just easier.
overall - yummy :) there was enough for dh to have seconds, ds1 to have thirds, lunch for all 3 tomorrow, and took a 6-cup container to one of the neighbours for her hubby for his lunch tomorrow.

quickie

2007-10-26T22:01:00.001-06:00

no, not that kind...

just a quickie note for the day.

have one cutie patootie kid with a new pair of glasses.

my eyes are healing well.

got to spend some time with my parents, grandma, sis and the nieces and nephew today, along with my kids.

it was a good day. especially dinner out.

yum.

tv thursday

2007-10-26T00:13:00.000-06:00

well, things went well today - had a good morning at home. productive - spent some time on the phone, got a start on our summer holiday journal, and then went off to the city to get my parents. on the way got a phone call for another interview. so did a phone screen with a nice gentleman i've spoken with before on my way in. good way to spend my otherwise unproductive time in the car!

my parents were quite happy to be home, and i had a good visit with them before i came back to town. my grandmother was (i think) in her own way happy to see them home again. she's basically been on her own for the last few weeks, only because she refused to spend a couple days with us, or with my sister. so other than a few meals and outings, she's managed quite well. she did mention to me the other night that it had been a bit of a holiday for her as well.

when i got back home, and had dinner organized, got another phone call from the fellow actually doing the interviewing in the city for the call i had earlier in the afternoon. so i'm meeting with him tomorrow. we'll see what comes out of that. (disappointing news today - found out the job i "got" has been post-poned for the time being - january at the earliest. seeing as how it has taken 6 months now to get to this point, i'm just not going to hold my breath anymore.)

and then it was on to tv thursday.

thursday nights are big in our house. dh and i have missed only 1 episode ever of survivor. and grey's anatomy has been on my list since it premiered as well. add to that (this fall) big shots - and we have a full night on thursdays. i don't think i've ever watched as much television as i do this year. but none of the shows i watch are ones that i want to give up!

so what exactly is the line up? (oh yes, now we're off on a tangent...)
monday - nothing. unless we remember to watch the "new" ramsay's kitchen nightmares. i liked the british ones better. *sigh*
tuesday - pushing daisies. brilliant new show. love it. a little kooky, but fun, cute and what the heck, that guy is cute.
wednesday - private practice. gotta follow addison. although i'm really not liking this as much as grey's. or as much as i expected. its just a little too off the wall for what i expected it to be, and maybe that's the point with it set in cali. dirty sexy money. i love this one. love the characters, almost reminds me of dynasty - what with the rich and spoiled. but its all good. dh likes it too.
thursday - as already mentioned: grey's anatomy, survivor, big shots. grey's and survivor are self explanatory. big shots? well that one is just good. i think dh likes it just for the fact that he's starting to relate to these guys and their verge-of-middle-age-crisis thing. and the golf. its all about the golf. LOL
friday - men in trees. we were watching that one faithfully last year, and then sometime in the spring they started with reruns and we just haven't made a point of watching it since it started up again this fall. liked that one too.
saturday - no tv on this day!
sunday - desperate housewives. need i say more? wisteria lane, where you can just escape!

i think that about covers it.

so what was for dinner tonight? it was what has become our thursday night staple - homemade bratwursts, steak cut fries and a salad. its a no brainer - and everyone's happy.

including me. :P

the day off that i really took as a day off...

2007-10-24T22:16:00.000-06:00

finally!

really and truly i took the day off. i didn't go anywhere. i stayed home. i scrapbooked. i had tea with a girlfriend and hugged her little one. i talked on the phone. but i didn't go anywhere and didn't do too much of anything. i even laid down and rested for a 1/2 hour. it was good. and needed.

so what to make for dinner on a day off? an easy recipe i found on bhg.com in their pasta section. easy, yummy, and best of all, i had everything to make it with at home. comments etc, to follow.

Bow Ties With Sausage & Sweet Peppers

serves: 4

Start to Finish: 25 min.

Ingredients

8 ounces dried large bow-tie pasta
12 ounces uncooked spicy Italian sausage links
2 medium red sweet peppers, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1/2 cup vegetable broth or beef broth
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 cup snipped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Return pasta to saucepan.

2. Meanwhile, cut the sausage into 1-inch pieces. In a large skillet cook sausage and sweet peppers over medium-high heat until sausage is brown. Drain well.

3. Stir the broth and black pepper into skillet. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Pour over pasta; add parsley. Toss gently to coat. Transfer to a warm serving dish. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Facts

Nutrition facts per serving:

Servings Per Recipe 4
Calories 397
Total Fat (g) 18
Saturated Fat (g) 6
Cholesterol (mg) 94
Sodium (mg) 713
Carbohydrate (g) 38
Fiber (g) 3
Protein (g) 24

*Percent Daily Values are base on a 2,000 calorie diet

ok, so very obviously, this has been cut and pasted for ease of posting.

what i changed - i added in a sliced onion for a bit of bulk. i used spaghetti noodles instead of bowties (only because i wasn't going to the store for noodles) and i used a can of diced tomatoes instead of the broth. i also had removed the casings completely from the sausage and just used the insides like ground beef.

what the men said - dh thought it was awesome, ds #1 had seconds, and ds #2 said it was too spicy (but he had also had a huge lunch, and then had a sandwich and snack after school before curling. so he probably just wasn't hungry). me? i thought it was definitely good. something easy i'll make again.

tonight's recipe

2007-10-23T22:57:00.000-06:00

alright, well if it will get me blogging a bit more regularly - i'll post some of the recipes that i've tried over the last little while, starting with tonight's dinner.

now, fair warning, i am NOT a super health conscious cook. i make what i like, when i want, and don't pay too much attention to what is all in it. if i had to choose a "diet" i would go more low-carb, but not necessarily low-fat. i'll note any changes i made in the instructions, but other than that, whatever you do is totally up to you. i'll also let you know what the verdict was from the men on the recipe that i post.

first up:

Meaty Moussaka - Everyday with Rachel Ray mag, Sept 2007
4 servings, prep 30 minutes, bake 45 minutes

4 tbsp butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
salt and pepper
1 -8oz can tomato sauce
2 large eggs
2 tbsp flour
1 cup whole milk
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup ricotta cheese

Method:
Preheat oven to 350. In large skillet, heat 2 tbsp butter over med-high heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, 3-5 minutes. Add beef and cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in cinnamon and nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Add the tomato sauce and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, 3-5 minutes. Pour into an 8-inch square baking dish and set aside.
In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs and set aside. In a small saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over med-high heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking often, until the mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in the milk until thickened. Lower the heat to med and stir in the cream cheese and ricotta; season with salt and pepper. Whisk on-quarter of the cheese sauce into the reserved eggs until smooth. Whisk the egg mixture into the cheese sauce in the saucepan.
Pour the sauce over the meat in the baking dish and spread evenly. Bake until the top is lightly browned and firm to the touch, 40 - 45 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes; cut into squares to serve.

Make ahead tips from Rachel- Chill: Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days. To reheat, cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes, uncover and bake for 10 minutes more. Freeze: Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for up to 4 months. To reheat, discard plastic, cover with foil and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours, uncover and bake 15 minutes more.

*Ok, so this is what I basically did, with the following exceptions:

Because i don't always follow directions well, and because i figured, heck, i have a whole tub of ricotta, and an 8 oz pkg of cream cheeese, lets just double the whole thing. So i did. There is now an extra meal in the freezer ready to pop in the oven on one of our crazy nights. Instead of a square pan i used 2 rectangular ones. So thinner layers. Whatever. It needs a good amount of salt to season (i don't generally add salt to anything, so that is a good indicator) i'm thinking 2-3 tsp of salt for 3 pounds of the meat mixture. When i made the cheese sauce, apparently i forgot all about the eggs. Goes to show you what happens when i'm trying to get dinner made in the midst of the mayhem of my children emptying the dishwasher and falling all over themselves to talk to me at the same time. Oh yes, and 2% milk instead of homo. But all in all, this was super. We had it with a green salad with Italian Parmesan and Herb dressing (Safeway brand, if you haven't had it, you gotta - its great!) No, there isn't any pasta. Or rice. But if you added a nice ziti or penne to this between the meat and the sauce layers you'd get Pastitsio. Another great dish. But we didn't miss the carbs at all. I also threw in a bit of Epicure spice Hummus mix. It needed a little something and that was just enough to make it great!

Rating? 2 thumbs up all the way around the table. So one full recipe in a rectangular 9x13" pan netted us: 3 helpings for dh, 2 helpings for ds#1, 1 helping for both ds#2 and myself, and a leftover corner for dh to take tomorrow. It doubled beautifully, and as I said earlier, I now have 2 dinners in the time of one! Gotta love that if nothing else!

who knew?

2007-10-22T22:59:00.000-06:00

i am utterly amazed.

I

CAN

SEE.

for anyone that has eyesight that doesn't require correction, it is something that i think is very much taken for granted. and really, i took it for granted as well, that as inconvenient as it was, i could easily slip on my glasses, or pop in my contacts, and simple as that, see.

but after 27 years of having some sort of corrective apparatus in front of my face or in my eyes, i can see without having to try, mess around, or fumble in the dark. i open my eyes and there it all is in front of me.

and it is wonderful.

i won't say it was easy, because i had a really rough day after surgery on friday. i sent dh to get the car from the lrt station as 1/2 hour after the procedure, i started to hurt. and i couldn't keep my eyes open. so he went to get it, and fetched me from the office shortly after. even on the way home i didn't open my eyes even once. the drops burned, and i would have cried if i could.

but less than 24 hours later, at my post-op exam, i was seeing better than i probably ever have in my life. 20/20 from my left eye, and 20/25 from the right. a staggering improvement from being unable to see 2 inches in front of me other than blobs of color.

today was the first time i have driven since the operation. its going to take some getting used to - i had a bit of a hard time parking once i got home. reading is still a bit of a challenge, but i know that it can take quite a while for everything to sort itself out anyways. and heck, its only been 4 days, compared to a lifetime!

after being out today, i am somewhat glad of my boss' decision that i take this week off work. she wants to make sure that i'm well recovered before returning to work. this morning i was disappointed, but by mid-afternoon and being out with the kids, my eyes were begging for a little time off. so i'll take advantage of having some down time this week.

in other news, took the kids today for their annual eye exams. as expected, ds 1 still has the gift of perfect eyesight. ds 2, well, not so much. his prescription has changed, but with that comes a new set of eyeglasses for him this year. we found some fun and funky ones that we're both happy with, they should be ready in a day or two to pick up.

my parents will be arriving home again on thursday after the globe-trotting they've been doing for the last few weeks. they've been in croatia, bosnia, england and somewhere else that i have no recollection of what my mom had said. they had called a couple weeks ago to let us know they were having a grand time, and were enjoying their travels immensely. so i'll be fetching them from the airport on thursday, and pick up their molly dog from the kennel on the way.

here's a challenge for you - something that we've done over the last week or so. maybe its something you're interested in, maybe not, but what the heck - if it appeals, try it! ds#1 and i went through a bunch of my magazines that i hoard - make that "save for reference" - and as my favorites the last while have been real simple and rachel ray's everyday, they have some awesome sounding recipes in them. so we chose a handful and have been experimenting with them - and having some great results. we had a southwestern bean dish (like baked beans) in the crockpot, another that was a spicy bean and cheese burrito, a ginger/garlic shrimp with couscous, italian sausage and kale soup, and tomorrow i'm going to make moussaka. i've been liking having a few meatless meals, and i think with bulking up on the fiber and protein, we'll see a bit of a difference in the pant size again as well. (i'm slowly losing again after that blip from quitting smoking).

some good things? dh discovered he likes couscous (yay! i've always liked it but he can be a bit funny about some things!) we all enjoy the meatless meals more than i would have thought. dh (again) is a big meat and potatoes kind of guy. so this is a big step. ds 2, he'd rather not have meat if he didn't have to (although he does have a hankering for a steak now and then! LOL)

a couple of other recipes that are still on the list to make, are a sesame and hummus noodle dish, and fish recipe that has peppers and green onions in parchment paper. (there wasn't any fish i wanted to use the day i was shopping). so there's a bit of a dare for you.

and i'm going to challenge myself to get some stuff scrapbooked this week instead of just being a bum all week and not doing anything.

(and one last quickie - i heard back from another lady about "the job" and hopefully will have something in place in the next week or so. gah!! this waiting is killing me!!)

20/20

2007-10-18T21:52:00.000-06:00

tomorrow i'm going to get my eyes done.

excited.

scared.

a little grossed out (these are my eyes, and i will be awake!!)

but mainly looking forward to the freedom from my dependence on contact lenses and glasses that i have had a love/hate relationship with for the last 27 years of my life. scary looking at it in those kind of terms. dh is taking the day off of work to take me.

will report back later in the weekend about how things "look" from my new perspective!

if i really tried

2007-10-09T21:58:00.000-06:00

i could probably tell you all kinds of things.

like i finally got a call back about that job interview. and i got it. just no definite start date yet. *yippee* (just a little happy dance to throw in there)

like my dh thinks i work too much and don't bill enough of my time.

like we went to great falls, montana, for thanksgiving weekend, stayed in a super-duper-great hotel with an awesome room (that didn't smell like ass), was huge and comfy.

like my parents are away until the end of the month, they left last tuesday.

like my birthday is friday. and i'll be 35. *eek*

like my dh is sending me on friday to get an assessment done for me to find out about laser surgery for my eyes.

like the kennel i put the dogs in this past weekend will never get any more business from me. ever. (have you ever been bitten in the ass by a deranged poodle? need i say more??)

like my dad telling me i need to get a passport before he returns from holidays so i can go with him to palm springs the beginning of next month to fetch another car. (don't ask - apparently he's now the car-buy-and-sell-kind-of-guy never thought of my dad as a car salesman)

i think that's what i could tell you. there's probably more.

ok, so i know i just SUCK!

2007-09-21T10:18:00.001-06:00

it's been since before holidays that i've posted. so i know that i officially suck.

i'll just give you a quick recap, and call it good.

- holiday was great. the room not so much - would have to give it negative reviews. it sucked. smelled like ass. and totally uncomfortable

- had that interview *FINALLY* that i was waiting for. 2 1/2 weeks ago. still haven't heard anything back.

- had a yearly review with my boss, got a good raise, a nice lunch, and a pat on the back.

- have trained 2 new people since coming home from holidays.

- have done 2 weeks of sales coverage, with another 3 back to back starting a week from monday.

- got the kids back to school with zero road bumps. b is actually loving school this year - maybe its going to finally be "the" year for him. he's never really liked it yet! (and i think he's connected very well with this year's teacher - definitely key for him!)

- my big kid is in junior high. wow. scary that he's growing up.

- been out golfing twice - once with the kids, once with dh, one of his co-workers and our usual golfing partner-the neighbour.

- quit smoking just after returning from holidays. that is a huge one. and probably the biggest reason i haven't been on the computer much. had to change habits as well.

- gained 5 pounds. see above.

- went to race city to watch cascar and stock car racing.

- started reading the new harry potter book.

- read books 1 - 10 of the stephanie plum series.

- we're toying with the idea of moving sooner rather than later. possibilities are (and yes, some sound a little bit crazy) houston, texas; belize; bahamas; ohio (and i already said NO to that one)

so there you have it. a month in fast forward!

and we're off!!

2007-08-16T20:38:00.001-06:00

heading out tomorrow morning to nanaimo for just over a week. will return next sunday hopefully refreshed and rejuvinated from the vacation - needed for us all! hoping to maybe catch up with jennifer from scraptivity - hopefully we can co-ordinate!

the kids head back to school only a couple days after we get back. they're both looking forward to it - ok, who am i kidding? ds 1 is - he's the big geek. ds 2 - not so much. he'd rather be buried in his computer games and archie comics.

and me? looking forward to the routine of school days again. and maybe i'll find a little bit of productivity scrapbooking again. didn't get anything done over the summer. but i did take pictures!

have a good week - updates and pics when we get back!

picture post

2007-08-08T22:31:00.001-06:00

and this is all there is - just pictures. a little bit of playing around in photoshop, some digi brushes, and i'm quite happy with the result of my just messing around on sunday morning.

the first series:

my neighbour's baby boy - at 1 week old. he's just too cute.

the next couple are pics that just touch my heart. my oldest son with my niece. she was born about 2 weeks before my neighbour's little guy - they couldn't be more different - she's just a little wee thing, with the sweetest little face. he's a bruiser - almost 4 pounds heavier than her already!

and after all we go through with my grandma, you know that she just loves to cuddle the little ones.

and a couple of goodies of one of my other friend's son and girlfriend. they are just too cute together! i caught them candidly when my friend said very quietly "i really need some pictures of them". still need to fiddle with these ones a bit, but i'm still happy with how they turned out.

relief

2007-08-08T07:28:00.000-06:00

is on its way!! we're finally in for some rain - yippee!! we desperately need it, everything is so dry out here. we're still supposed to hit 27C today, but some showers through the day.

working quite a bit this week again. covering a sales route. good stuff :)

dropping the boys to my mom this morning for a visit, will pick them up on friday.

a quick round of golf is booked for after work today too.

have a good one!

august long...

2007-08-05T10:09:00.001-06:00

sunday morning, halfway through the long weekend. sunflowers blooming outside my window. sun shining. whinnies of horses just a stone's throw away. the promise of a lazy day is here. its been a busy weekend so far - friday night had the neighbours over for dinner and a movie. lots of laughs, a great time! saturday morning dh went to work and the kids and i slept in, very much needed for me. we then headed off to walmart for a wander and a couple purchases, then met dh at the rodeo grounds for a wander. after that, it was home, i crashed out for a nap, then went down to a friend's campsite for dinner and drinks. this morning its quiet. and i'm liking that. we're supposed to be going for yet another bbq/dinner at a friend's later today, but haven't heard from them yet. will have to call here shortly and find out what's up. tomorrow morning we're off to rosebud for a round of golf with the kids. it's their first time out golfing "for real" so it should be an entertaining time.

enjoy your weekend!

there is a silver lining

2007-08-02T07:41:00.000-06:00

in that storm cloud that sometimes hangs over me.

a few weeks ago i posted about that jerk that harassed me at one of the stores i work in. well, it seems that he has now given the store a written warning, and he has also gone after the company i work for and kraft as well. so, to make a long story short, effective immediately, none of us merchandisers are allowed to go into those particular stores any more to do our work. i'm thinking it will last all of a month before we're told to go back in.

why? the simple answer is because the service we provide is needed. the stores are going to be outraged that we will not be there to help them out. and what we do is a big PITA for them to complete - its a job that they don't want to do, so we do it.

so what is the silver lining? i'll be having more saturdays off for the rest of the summer. makes me happy :)

in the meantime, this week and next week, i'm covering sales routes for a couple of different reps. this is the part of my job that i love. i get to use my brain, and do something i really really enjoy. the crazy part is that it wears me out more than the physical stuff i usually do. i was ready for bed at 8:00 last night. but its a good tired.

and with that, i better get my butt in gear and out the door - i have a busy day today!

have a good one!

and this is what it looks like...

2007-08-01T19:25:00.001-06:00

when you get your butt in gear and get your yardwork done!

we've made alot of changes to the yard this year, namely adding the lower deck right at the back of the house, as well as adding in the gravel to make the maintenance even less. (if only we could get the dogs potty trained, it would be simple!!) things that are still to be done: flowerbeds that match up the railing along the lower deck, and putting up the cedar to close in the bottom of the upper deck (no pics of that simply because it just doesn't look very nice with the clutter underneath at the moment!) i'm also wanting raised flower beds in front of the upper deck, along where the cedar is being put in to finish it off. that won't be until next year i'm guessing. just the amount of work we've done this year has improved things hugely! makes me happy!

oh, yes, and between the gazebo and the jurassic park plants, is the mini-pond. it's flourishing this year, doing very well aside from my crazy algae problem i'm having (because of no fish, too much heat, and too much sun), my lilies are doing awesome, as well as the rest of the miscellaneous plants that are in there.

thanks for taking a peek!

LOL

2007-07-27T08:45:00.001-06:00

dragonfly bliss

2007-07-25T08:55:00.001-06:00

this little guy was hanging out on my daylilies last night when i was moving the sprinkler around. i don't think i've seen as many dragonflies ever as i have this year. we have ones that are big enough to cart off with a small child, down to little ones like this. and the colors are spectacular too. blue, yellow, red, and all of them having a grand time catching the bugs that bug us! if we sit still long enough, and it doesn't take long with how many are hanging around, they will land on our toes or our fingers so we can get an up close and personal moment with them. i think that having the pond in our backyard, as small as it is, is a great lure for them. they are buzzing about constantly, dipping down to take a drink, and enjoy the cool that the micro-climate of the pond provides.

today: gotta make phone calls. to the vet, the dentist, hopefully receive a phone call about an interview, make a phone call about the offer i'm not taking, call the kennel to let them know about our additional doggie for holidays (we had booked before we got kikanue). need to take pictures of our alley - dh is going to town council about the issues that are going on. funny thing, its not our kids that we're worried about, its all the others on our block (and issues only because of one household that is causing big problems on our street). we're taking the kids to the driving range tonight, gotta get some practice going on! and i think that's about it. hopefully the sun will poke out today, its cloudy at the moment, but a welcome relief. rain last night :) and most of the night as well, its been far too long since we've had any.

have a wonderful day!

lost in the shuffle

2007-07-24T19:43:00.001-06:00

it's been a busy week. what can i say?

finally feeling like i'm settling into the unscheduledness of summer - the way things should be.

i'm back to working 4 days a week, but i did take the past saturday off to have a full weekend with dh and the kids. saturday we did some errands, had a swim in the pool, and just generally enjoyed the day. sunday we went out golfing with a friend, and had a great time at Akokiniskway in Rosebud. its not a far drive for us, only about 40 minutes, and a great little course to play. it was challenging enough for our friend, who golfs a good deal more than we do, but easy enough that we had a great game as well.

this little deer greeted us at the 8th fairway, and was kind enough to pose for a picture on the way by. just past the bush is the river that runs through the course, and she headed down that way after we passed by.

this was by far one of the more picturesque golf courses we've played on. well manicured, but also lots of trees and scenery to keep thing interesting.

this is dh and our neighbour friend that we head out to the course with. he's a riot to play a round with - always so complimentary, even on the bad shots! one of the "rules of the course" that we have seen posted elsewhere is to always be complimentary of your fellow players. encouragement is always a good thing. and, interestingly enough, i managed to tie with dh for the day! i did far better the second time around (it is only a 9-hole) but i was very pleased with myself!

by far, one of my favorite scenes from the day. after finishing the rather challenging uphill 8th hole, we had to cross the railroad tracks to head over to the 9th tee. its so quiet and peaceful out there, and not a busy course. we didn't have to rush, nor did we feel like we were playing too slow either. we're planning to take the kids out for a round there as well one afternoon, its reasonable to take them with us, and a good course to have fun at.

and, as you can see, both of these guys are finding that golf can be fun. we took them out to the driving range the sunday before last, and they had a good time taking a whack at some balls as well!

we're working on getting these guys to use "proper form", something ds #1 is having a bit of a hard time with. he's a bit of a stiff kid as it is, so getting him to loosen up while taking a poke at the ball is a bit of a challenge.

and just a little bit of a funny face to end it all! i packed up the boys and a pal, and we went to riley park in the city last wednesday for a chillin' kind of day. the weather wasn't as co-operative as we would have liked, it was cloudy, but was still warm enough for the guys to splash around in the pool there for a bit.

gotta put a shout out for Vicki and the amazing RAK she sent me that arrived last week. a wonderful box of goodies, including a page kit of one of her designs, rub ons, ribbon, chipboard and other lovely things! now to just get some scrapbooking done. i had great intentions of doing something tonight - anything really, and i haven't done anything at all.

have a great week everyone!

you win some

2007-07-17T22:55:00.000-06:00

and you lose some.

started my day out well this morning - got up and organized early as it was my housekeeper day (LOVE that lady!!). before it got well and hot in the house, i set out to get mini banana loaves in the oven, and then finish up the machine stitching part of the 4th cover for our outdoor benches.

and that's where the losing some started!

i measured (vaguely) and cut (vaguely) the fabric so i could make the cushion cover and get it stitched up in a timely manner. (why vaguely?? because i can't sew a straight seam to save my life, but i can get the job done LOL)

then i lifted up the cushion off the kitchen table...

and WHAM!

hit the light above the table and the blown glass cover came smashing down onto the table (my neighbour across the alley even heard it - she told me this evening!)

so, glass everywhere across the kitchen.

so i swept, jonah vacuumed, and then a couple hours later after another vacuum by my housekeeper, she was still finding bits of glass when she washed the floor.

now the search for a new light. or maybe not. we are going to be renovating the kitchen/living area next spring, and i can live with it for the moment. so it could wait for now.

so, from there i still did end up having a good day. finished up my ATC cards for the S! swap, they're quite cute, but not what i had started with in the first place. will scan and post a pic tomorrow.

also, got the bottles taken back to the depot. $30 is not a bad bit for a 20 minute trip.

then out to the country to a friend's for a coffee and to pick up her son to hang out with bailey tonight for a sleepover and tomorrow we're off to riley park in the city for a fun day. its a bit more of a little kid's place, but nice nonetheless. lots of big trees, and water. can't ask for more!

our yard has really come together in the last couple weeks. will make an effort to take pics tomorrow and get them posted. there's still a few more things to get done, a few of them will be worked on this weekend, but won't be too much of a difference overall compared to what we started with the beginning of this summer.

and yes, i did get the cushions finished today. and they're awesome if i do say so myself :)

music to my ears

2007-07-15T07:58:00.000-06:00

its so quiet you can hear a pin drop.

its that quiet in our house this morning. i think everyone was just exhausted from the heat yesterday. right now, being up earlier than the rest of the crew, i have a good cross breeze going through the house. it is lovely.

and last night, searching for a song by jesse cook, i found this site, RadioCanada2, and there is a live to radio concert that is just beautiful. i've heard his song, "It Ain't Me Babe" performed with Melissa McClelland, a number of times, but never caught the name of it until yesterday. its gorgeous. if you have the time, just click on the play all tracks button and have it go for you. if not, you can listen to just that song.

sometimes the CBC can surprise a person!

have a great day, stay cool! we're off to the driving range with the kids in a bit to hit some golf balls. good times!

now, i wouldn't want to argue with a "pretty lady"

2007-07-14T23:35:00.000-06:00

oh yes, these words were spoken to me this afternoon while i was at work.

by a lovely gentleman who attacked me for doing my job.

and then pulled out his little book and showed me the "rules" that he enforces.

and then proceeded to berate the store staff for "allowing" me to do my job.

after a rather heated discussion with the store staff and myself, escorted me out of the store to ensure that i was, indeed, leaving the premesis.

i'm sure he got the shock of his life when i got into my mercedes and drove away. you can stick your smarmy butt into your datsun from 1970. "pretty lady" indeed!

asshole.

i'm getting a letter together to forward to his boss. about his sexist attitude and completely rude and out of line harassing behaviour.

stuff that one in your rule book buddy!

sometimes i wonder

2007-07-10T09:13:00.000-06:00

if its just me.

so i went for that interview yesterday afternoon, and they have changed their minds on what they are planning on doing. so i interviewed for a totally different job, and i don't want it. i turned it down the last time as well when i was offered it.

bummer.

kind of ticks me off too - why would they ask/advertise to interview for a position, and then change what the plan is? doesn't make any sense to me. they have a person from another province now doing what i was supposed to be interviewing for. as she already has this job function, they added it to her list, and in 2-3 months another person will then have the opportunity to "move up" into that function here. that's the catch i guess, take a job you may not want in the hopes that you can move up. and with no guarantees, i wouldn't want to move. same shit, different shoe.

bah.

on another note -

my parents get home tomorrow, and for my guys its not a minute too soon. they have really had a tough time with grandma, she's seriously losing it. i really hope that when i get old, i don't do what she is doing to our family. between my parents and i, we thought that she would do well with the kids. she has always been great with them, and they were looking forward to the time they were spending with her. not so much now. she's really laid it on thick this last week - all kinds of guilt trips, and just being plain not nice.

take for instance this: the sewer was backing up. not hugely, but enough that there was gunk coming up the outlet in the laundry room, and in the one bathroom (shower and tub) downstairs. so i talked to my dad, and he said, yes, please! call the city! get them to come out and fix it! (hello!?? there is gross stuff coming up!!)

what does my grandma do? FREAKS OUT. why? because someone was coming to fix it!!

like come on lady. poop in the house is a good thing? seriously. gross.

and all it took was 5 minutes, and it was fixed. man.

i sure don't envy my mom. it all seems to be getting worse and worse. told my kids they have permission to put me in a home if i ever get like that.

i think next time my parents go away, they need to hire a grandma sitter.

party's over!

2007-07-08T23:09:00.000-06:00

it's amazing how much stuff we can jam into the small bit of weekend that i get!

friday night we ended up having various neighbours over for cocktails, and chatted into the later hours of the evening.

saturday, i worked, then headed off to pick up the boys and my grandma to go babysit my sister's twins for a few hours. so the boys and i got the little ones down to the park for a bit, came home, ate dinner, gave the twins a tub, put them to bed, and jonah and i headed out for a quick hunt for golf clubs which turned into a 3 store trip and 2 hours. back to my sister's, she arrived very shortly after, and i packed grandma and the boys back to my mom's. i headed home from there and was finally home about 11pm.

this morning (even though i had the chance to sleep in!) i was up before the alarm at 7am. coffee? check. email? check. then off to the shower and out the door for a round of golf with dh and a friend. from there we came home to let the dogs out for a quick piddle, then out the door again to another friend's for a visit and dinner.

phew.

done.

another whirlwind weekend is over!

good news is i'm working tomorrow, "the" interview at 6pm, then should have tuesday and wednesday off. wednesday is a ladies lunch with my boss, her admin assistant, and one other gal that is on our team. so in some ways, not a day off, but not a work day either.

its all good.

but the party's over! LOL

when its hot hot hot...

2007-07-05T15:31:00.001-06:00

you gotta stay cool, cool, cool! check out that temperature!! (the time is wrong) 36.7C. freaking hot!

but for that you need one of these:

yes, this is my new sweet ride!!

i got it yesterday - woohoo!! it is alot of fun to drive, just getting used to the blind spots and such. dropped my parent's off at the airport late yesterday afternoon, and from there returned home with this amazing vehicle. there are more buttons to push than you can possibly imagine, along with the amazing leather interior and creature comforts that are all included. it has an actual thermostat on the controls, so i know that i'm not being too outrageous setting the a/c at 26 when its so hot out there. separate controls in the back seat give everyone a chance to cool off, so its not just the front seat that gets cool! and for those cold winter mornings, there are even seat heaters.

i managed to sell my van on tuesday afternoon, for what i think was fair, just under $2K, so that got it out of our hair before we even needed to try to flog it elsewhere. dh was happy as well, especially when i got the cash in hand that day.

in other news, the interview i had the other morning went well, waiting to hear about it, but i'm sure i could have it if i want. it comes with a $5.50/hr raise and car allowance (i do get mileage now, but that works too) and full time hours with no weekends. downside? full time hours. we'll see. i'm guessing i'll hear about it either tomorrow or early next week.

i also have one more interview on monday afternoon. that one to me may make more sense as it will be more flexible in my hours, full time as well, but it's supposed to be 80/20 - 80% out at the various stores and 20% at home. through the summer i could probably sort it out to work 6 hours out a day and the remainder at home, with weekends off again. there will be some extra travel as well, with it supervising all the employees of the company in alberta, but they are talking about splitting it in half in the not so distant future only because of the sheer size of the territory. i would love that job, it is really something that would be a good position for me. no, its not sales, but it is a step up, and not lateral as with the previous one (even though with that one the money is better - but does that make up for less flexibility?)

and my dear doggie is back - some of you may know that she disappeared on us in a totally panicked moment when the fireworks were going off on canada evening. someone found her north of town, still frightened, and very sore from her extreme escape. she's still got slightly sore paws, but she is moving alot better and is very happy to be home.

that's it, that's all for today - i'm off to find a cold beverage, and have a little relax before dh gets home from work in about 45 minutes. sushi is on the menu for dinner tonight - totally looking forward to that! (not to mention that its not something HOT to eat!!LOL)

happy summer holidays!

2007-06-29T07:48:00.000-06:00

well, today is the first official day for the boy's summer holidays. and i'm off to work, so just a quick post...

have been running 6 ways from sunday this week, and looking forward to having 2 days off in a row. i have a busy day ahead today as well - a stop in chestermere, then an interview, then 3 more calls and stop and pick up the patio set i found the other day. then home. hopefully it won't be too long a day.

the boys have their day planned out as well. its supposed to be a hot one today, so they'll head off to the pool this afternoon after lounging the morning away. funny how getting b up for school in the morning is like pulling teeth, yet today, not having to go, he's up earlier than when i try to get him up for school. LOL

have a happy friday!

grade 6 celebration!

2007-06-26T21:24:00.001-06:00

Last night was the farewell and awards ceremony for the grade 6's at Jonah's school. He did very well, finishing at the top of his class. Yes, he's a nerd, but we love him all the same! He got the award for the top Social Studies mark in his grade, and was congratulated all around.

These two fantastic ladies have been a huge part of his life for the last year. Kudos to them for helping him grow and learn and have fun while doing it all!

This is one of the men in his life that I know he'll remember for the rest of his life. The school principal. He has been an amazing role model to all the kids in the school. And this was his last year, he is retired after Friday! I know that he'll be missed!
And man, has my little Donut boy grown. He is more than a head taller than the rest of the kids in his grade, he is even taller than me now!

Congrats to my grade 6 grad!

busy weekend...

2007-06-24T21:59:00.000-06:00

well, its been a weekend. i worked most of the day yesterday, and came home after picking up some awesome steaks for dinner. unfortunately, the weather wasn't wanting to co-operate. so rene suggested we head back into the city for vietnamese for dinner. i drove through that storm on my way home, and saw some spectacular lightening on the way. there were even a few times that it hit the ground! thankfully it was a good distance away.

during the trip back in i had a little nap, and well needed. it had been a late night before, and getting up early, then a good busy day of hefting boxes around almost made that quick nap a necessity at that point!

while we were in the city, we noticed the sky was just black looking eastwards to home. it was quite the storm going on, but we weren't too concerned. arriving home, there was hail everywhere! a few of my perennials in the back by the pond have taken a beating, but all in all, not as much damage as there could have been.

i got a good sleep in this morning, and after messing around on the computer for a bit, i got the carpets cleaned in the living room and hallway. amazing what comes out of that carpet. just gross!!

from there i had a shower, then cut both the boys hair, got most of a layout done, a thank you card done, tidied up the kitchen, got dinner organized and had a quick trip over to walmart just to get out of the house for a bit.

jonah's managed to find himself a couple of lawn-cutting jobs for the summer, so he did one this afternoon, and he'll have a few more to do by the end of the week. he's quite excited about the prospect of earning some decent money this summer. awesome for an 11 year old! he's already planning on saving for a new bike, as well as having spending money for holidays in august.

tonight another crazy storm just missed us. on the weather website, it was reporting nickle sized hail and severe thunder and lightening. it was interesting looking out the front side of the house and seeing blue sky and sunshine, and looking out the back at a threatening sky and hearing the thunder booming. bizarre weather!

some new music tonight - bare naked ladies. easy. that's what i'm looking forward to for the summer. a little bit of easy. enjoy!

friday friday friday

2007-06-22T16:15:00.000-06:00

crazy busy day today. and tomorrow's about the same.

but i'm home now, and its gorgeous outside for the b-man's tent-out tonight.

he's pumped.

i'm not.

let's just say that some freakin' asshole opened my gate. i think its the neighbour's kids - they have nothing better to do with their time than piss me off. then they usually call and complain our dog is out. thanks a lot.

the same ones who figure they can park 10 cars out front of their house daily and not leave anywhere for anyone else to park. today i just about went over there to give them my 2 cents worth. but then the gate was open and i left it at that - had to go see if i could find the dog (and i can't) don't know where the heck he's gone.

the same ones that figure weeds that are 6 feet tall in the front yard is acceptable landscaping.

the same ones that never mowed their lawn (till this year)

the same ones that have a field of dandelions out front as well.

people are pissing me off today!

hump day giggles...

2007-06-20T23:05:00.000-06:00

courtesy of my hubby:

New Words for 2007

* SALAD DODGER.
An excellent phrase for an overweight person.

* SWAMP-DONKEY
A deeply unattractive person.

* TESTICULATING.
Waving your arms around and talking bollocks.

* BLAMESTORMING.
Sitting round in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.

* SEAGULL MANAGER.
A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and Then leaves.

* ASSMOSIS.
The process by which people seem to absorb success and advancement by sucking up to the boss rather than working hard.

* SALMON DAY.
The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die.

* CUBE FARM.
An office filled with cubicles.

* PRAIRIE DOGGING.
When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on. (This also applies to applause for a promotion because there may be cake.)

* SITCOMs.
Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What yuppies turn into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids or start a "home business".

* SINBAD.
Single working girls. Single income, no boyfriend and desperate.

* AEROPLANE BLONDE.
One who has bleached/dyed her hair but still has a 'black box'.

* PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE.
The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again.

* ADMINISPHERE.
The rarefied organisational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the "adminisphere" are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve. This is often affiliated with the dreaded "administrivia" - needless paperwork and processes.

* GOING FOR A McSHIT.
Entering a fast food restaurant with no intention of buying food, you're just going to the bog. If challenged by a pimply staff member, your declaration to them that you'll buy their food afterwards is known as a McShit with Lies.

* 404.
Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error message "404 Not Found" meaning that the requested document could not be located.

* AUSSIE KISS.
Similar to a French Kiss, but given down under.

* OH - NO SECOND.
That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just Made a BIG mistake (e.g. you've hit 'reply all').

* GREYHOUND.
A very short skirt, only an inch from the hare.

* JOHNNY-NO-STARS.
A young man of substandard intelligence, the typical adolescent who works in a burger restaurant. The 'no-stars' comes from the badges displaying stars that staff at fast-food restaurants often wear to show their level of training.

* MILLENNIUM DOMES.
The contents of a Wonderbra, i.e. extremely impressive when viewed from The outside, but there's actually naught in there worth seeing.

* MONKEY BATH.
A bath so hot, that when lowering yourself in, you go: "Oo! Oo! Oo! Aa! Aa! Aa!".

* MYSTERY BUS.
The bus that arrives at the pub on Friday night while you're in the toilet after your 10th pint, and whisks away all the unattractive people so the pub is suddenly packed with stunners when you come back in.

* MYSTERY TAXI.
The taxi that arrives at your place on Saturday morning before you wake up, whisks away the stunner you slept with, and leaves a 10 Pinter in your bed instead.

* BEER COAT.
The invisible but warm coat worn when walking home after a booze cruise At 3:00am.

* BEER COMPASS.
The invisible device that ensures your safe arrival home after booze cruise, even though you're too drunk to remember where you live, how you got here, and where you've come from.

* BREAKING THE SEAL.
Your first pee in the pub, usually after 2 hours of drinking. After breaking the seal of your bladder, repeat visits to the toilet will be required every 10 or 15 minutes for the rest of the night.

* TART FUEL.
Bottled premixed spirits, regularly consumed by young women.

* PICASSO BUM.
A woman whose knickers are too small for her, so she looks like she's Got 4 buttocks.

and i forgot...

2007-06-18T22:28:00.002-06:00

that i actually got some scrapping done this past weekend!

here's one of them, based on pencil lines sketch #36. took a pic because my scanner didn't like the lumpy bumpy bits of it, so it ended up with a big flash spot on it. but you get the idea. used old rob & bob papers from a past S! kit, along with the unmounted elsie fontwerks stamps. simple, but cute! i colored in the stamped letter with pencil crayon to match the papers. and pop-dotted the letters in various heights for the title. love the summery colors!

migraine monday

2007-06-18T22:21:00.000-06:00

oh i hate migraines.

woke up with it, and thinking i wasn't working today, was quite happy to get myself showered and dressed and was planning on just taking it easy.

didn't work out that way - ended up spending the afternoon in the city working. the good thing was that at least being on the far west side of the city, and leaving there smack in the middle of rush hour, i was still home in an hour.

so it's almost 10:30pm, and its still there. i took my meds like i needed to this morning, but it hasn't gotten any better. off to bed here shortly, and hopefully it will be better in the morning. i need to be bright eyed and bushy tailed - need to be out the door by 7:30 for work. the good thing is i'll be home by lunchtime, and should be able to hang out in the sunshine that we're finally getting again!

fabulous friday!

2007-06-15T16:35:00.000-06:00

happy friday to all my friends :)

had a busy/productive day at work today. worked with a couple of the summer student to get an entire cracker section moved at one of the Co-op's today. the impressive thing was that it took us a whopping 4 hours to get it all done. the rep was quite surprised, she figured it would take us the majority of the day. woot!

then i headed off to a couple other stores to get a few odds and ends done, and now home. and a decent time for a busy friday at that.

dinner tonight is an easy one - big ass homemade subs. looking forward to that!

hoping to get in a walk tonight, it looks like it could rain, if it felt like it (LOL) not like its unusual for june - it seems to be the rainiest month here. but the grass and flower beds are looking awesome! our backyard grass is somewhat trashed - with having two big-ish dogs running laps back there it's not as happy as it could be. can't wait until we get our pathways in.

happy friday!

that didn't last long!

2007-06-14T18:23:00.001-06:00

the chair that is!

it was gone when i went in to work today. odd. maybe someone remembered they left it by the roadside! LOL

some interesting tidbits from my day:

had a phone interview with a company (yes, i'm out kicking tires at the moment - just feeling restless and un-challenged) for a supervisory position for alberta. would be looking after about 20 merchandisers province-wide, something i would be good at, given the amount of merchandising experience i have and the variety of products i've worked with.

then, about 6pm, got a phone call for another job with some company (who? i have no idea!! didn't catch it when he called) for another merchandising position with them. who knows. i guess i applied with them last year sometime, so it could be anybody. anyways, i should be hearing from the regional co-ordinator in the next day or two to set up a face to face interview with him. the fellow i spoke with said that he was calling me back (apparently again?) after reviewing my resume now that they are actively looking to fill a position right now.

hmmmm... looking like i have a few options again. who knows. or maybe i'll stay where i'm at. it all depends on what is offered to me and where i can go with it all.

went to get the boy's SIN numbers today. now that is an exercise in patience. i got there about 3:30, and there was a large amount of people sitting there waiting. and waiting. and waiting. in the first 45 minutes i was waiting, not one single person, count them ZERO, were called in to talk to one of the people. i tell ya, i need a government job. maybe they were all on coffee. (sorry to any of my civil servent friends!!) but what a mess. and then there was the guy next to me, giving off one of those hmph/sigh noises every minute or so. like come on. i could pick my nose if you'd like and you could watch. maybe that would give you enough interesting things to look at instead of those crazy noises that the rest of us could also make. maybe like some weird demented sigh band or something.

blah.

raining again today, and it's not looking good for the weekend either. esp for dh - he was planning on getting our decks/porch stained this weekend. its long overdue, and he even ordered the stain for it. talk about being ahead of the game. but it'll be nice on monday. maybe that will become my project if i'm home.

well, that's it for today. dh is running behind as he needed to get the stereo replaced in his car - its crapped out on him. works once in a while. good thing it's on warranty still. the good thing about it being 7pm and not having dinner yet? he's bringing home vietnamese for dinner. yum.
and then we'll be watching pirate master. good show.

buh-bye!

have a seat...

2007-06-12T11:47:00.000-06:00

and enjoy the view!

LOL spotted this on the side of the highway this morning on my way to work. on my way back just had to stop and take a picture. i'm guessing someone is missing a piece of their living room set now!

is it over already?

2007-06-10T22:41:00.000-06:00

it's sunday night, and it's been a wonderful weekend for us. (did ya miss me?? LOL)

dh's birthday was on friday, and they let him leave early as we went camping for the weekend.

we didn't go too far - just off to the mini-lake 12 minutes from home. it is a good place to go for us to just get away, so don't laugh too hard! i had to work for a bit on friday morning, and the kids had the day off, so i toted them along with me, then off to costco to stock up and then back home again. dh got home just before 2pm, and i wasn't too much ahead of him - only arrived back at home about 1:30. we were packed and out the door without too many left behind necessities, the kids and the dogs by 3:45.

we had a great spot this time, it was a spot we hadn't had before. it didn't have anyone behind us, there was only green space, and then the "lake" itself. very nice if i do say so myself. we didn't have to contend with too many people coasting through our space or ogling either. (the one thing i hate about most campgrounds!) our friends joanne and lyle joined us later that evening (they both had to work their regular hours) so we hung out and started a fire, only to get rained on (not to mention the crazy thunder and lightening show!!) but we did sit outside under the awning until about midnight.

saturday was a fairly lazy day, b and i made the quick trek home to pick up his forgotten inhaler, and i snuck in a quick shower. then back out, and i got to have a bit of a nap.
steak for dinner, marshmallow s'mores for dessert, and it was a beautiful night.

today we managed to get pack and home by 12:30, then unpacked and laundry started, then some puttering in the yard and cleaned up the kitchen to fix the whirlwind that had occured in there. my parents and grandmother came out for dinner tonight, dh got his birthday cake, and we had a great visit. dh did a great job of getting most of the laundry in today as well, so i'll get the rest of the job done tomorrow - there is one heck of alot of folding to be done!

something we did learn this weekend - kikanue does NOT like little dogs. she sure wanted joanne's doggie for dinner. and it was not a good scene. i felt absolutely mortified. something we just need to keep in mind for future reference!!

and some cool "town" stuff - a dollarama opened up here this last week. the kids and i popped in there on our way home on friday. awesome. and a REAL dollar store in that things really are $1 or less. not often that you find that anymore. the only annoying thing is that they only take cash. what the heck is that? oh well. maybe we'll just spend less that way then!

and we're getting a sobey's here as well. which is way cool in my opinion. we have an IGA already, but i'm sure they'll be closing with the sobey's opening. they haven't broken ground for it yet, but i'm sure it will be started soon. the thing i really find lacking here is a good deli counter. the IGA used to be decent when we first moved here, but seriously went downhill when extra foods opened. the sobey's in the city have amazing deli departments, and the bakery department can't be beat. we're not so small town anymore, but that's fine with me. don't get me wrong, i do love the small town bit, but sometimes it can be frustrating!

boy i'm yappy tonight. lots to say i guess!

changed up my music on here again tonight. this song is just awesome, and i didn't know who it was by. now i do. wow. i used to listen to country all the time when i was younger, but not so much anymore. i do love this song though. happy music for the ears!

i hope you all have had a great weekend as well, summer is just too darn short, and the more weekends like this one, the better!

updated blog list!

2007-06-06T09:39:00.000-06:00

just quickly updated the blogs/websites i visit regularly. if you don't see yourself on there - let me know!!

have a happy wednesday!

terrific tuesday!

2007-06-05T16:30:00.000-06:00

well, its been a great day to be outside! i mucked around in my pond today and got a bunch of things repotted and happy :) things are starting to come along, even a couple of things i wasn't sure about (namely my $20 a pop water lilies - they're sprouting now!!) beautiful day out today, and just heard a few thunder booms, so i'm sure we're in for a bit of rain in the next little bit! the yard can use it, so i won't complain too loudly! gotta love the hot and sunny weather when we get it - summers are just too darn short for my liking!

here's a quickie of the rat pack:
aren't they just too cute! my two big guys and niece and nephew. the little one isn't in this one, i don't think my sister would have liked us too much if we had a 2 week old rolling around in the grass with the rest of them! LOL

hope you're having a terrific tuesday as well in your neck of the woods!

happy birthday b-man

2007-06-04T00:03:00.001-06:00

to my b-man:

9 years old yesterday!

happy birthday buddy - you are one of a kind. a free spirit. a little bit of wild. insightful. growing up. the baby still of our family.

you make us crazy. we love you dearly. you still cry at the drop of a hat. you want to grow up, yet you still want to be little. you are the one that keeps us on our toes. always thinking, always coming up with new things to make us laugh.

you love your archie comics. you love your computer games. you love to laugh.

happy birthday b!

(sorry mom's a little late - i think we just had an all-round busy/great weekend!)

i dare ya...

2007-05-31T21:00:00.000-06:00

it was a gorgeous day here today, and ending up not having to work after all, and keeping b home this morning because i was supposed to have worked and was going to take him with me because it would have meant an extra trip back to the city for his dentist appointment, and because i could...

i sat on the back deck with b for most of the day, made phone calls, gave myself a pedicure, and just had an all round nice hang out day with my kid.

so i dare ya...

dig out your footbath that has dustbunnies in it, or if you don't have one of those, find a basin, throw in some warm water, some sudsy nice smelling stuff, and have a soak. but you gotta do it outside. (and maybe, just maybe, let your kid(s) join you and watch the bliss on their faces when they can look after their tootsies too) and eat an ice cream cone for good measure.

come on - i dare ya!

wednesday = hump day

2007-05-30T08:51:00.000-06:00

no, not *that* kind of hump...

LOL just the usual midweek kind of hurdle, the final fling towards the weekend!

last night i made an awesome shrimp with peanut sauced pasta

and boy was it good! check out all the awesome ingredients in
this:

cilantro, homemade peanut sauce, shrimp, rice noodles, snap peas, asparagus, and some lime for on top. wow. good eats!

interesting enough, rene quite liked it too, even though he has a strong aversion to peanut butter. it was just never something that he ate as a kid. same thing as tuna. in germany, it is basically the last thing you would eat, as it is rated as cat food.

we went out for an extra long walk last night with those crazy dogs of ours. we were out quite a bit longer than usual, probably walked about double what we normally do, as we hadn't gone in a couple days as the wind makes both dh and i somewhat miserable. kikanue had a bit of a rough walk, she was barking at anything that moved.

heading off to work today, hopefully in not too long a time, i have to put a call in to see if the order has arrived yet, as it is on the other side of the city. mind you, by the time i get there, i'm sure it will be!!

jonah's theatre production is opening tomorrow night. it's called "Strathmore Theatre Players Spring Variety Show" and runs only tomorrow and friday evening. he's pretty pumped about the whole thing! i'm thinking about attending the dress rehersal tonight to take some pics of the star!!

and here's a couple of pics from the other day:

i tell ya, we have some crazy dogs - they love to wrestle!

it smells sooooooooo good!

2007-05-28T15:57:00.000-06:00

have had a nice monday :)

spent the morning with my sister and 2 nieces and nephew. got to cuddle the little peanut while mommy went in to meet with the surgeon for my nephew's hernia's that he will be getting fixed sometime in the next couple of months. poor little guy!

went to the mall after the hospital, and had lunch and a quick wander before heading home.

and what is that smell??

i've got a roast in the oven cooking with a marinade/sauce for vietnamese subs - or also known as bahn bo. yum. one of our favorite things to eat. and super duper easy. we like them with chicken as well. the bread you get at the sub shops is different than what you can find at the store, but using baguettes is close enough. the difference is that the vietnamese bread is light and crispy on the outside and very soft and melt in your mouth on the inside. baguettes tend to be a chewier outside crust and doughier on the inside. but its all good either way.

tomorrow will be an at home day for me. hope to get a layout done, i started it late last week, and haven't sat down at my desk much over the weekend. wanting to submit it for a DT call, its not a paper store, but something else. am i being cagey? oh yes, but will post it after their call is up. i would really like to get into something but have had a hard time of it so far. it'll happen, i know, just working on it can be the hard part.

here's another pic of b i haven't posted yet from our holidays. love it! we were going to the chinese dinner place that night - he looks so cute!

sunday night and a week's recap

2007-05-27T22:05:00.001-06:00

wow, can't believe its been a week since i've posted anything. it was a crazy hectic week around here for me. not that i get super busy, but things just start to pile up and then its the weekend, which are also never dull for us!

i was covering the sales route that i had been on so many times before, and in some ways, just as uneventful as usual. in other, more eventful than i would have liked. and not in a good eventful way.

it started out with me going in to one of the stores the friday before last. as it was a long weekend, they would rather me work and get calls done on the friday rather than having to pay me extra for working on the holiday. and that's fine with me. i would rather that too, as then i get 2 days off instead of only 1 (as i work most saturdays).

so off i go into one of my not so favorite stores to service, and the general manager says to me "make sure you stay away from D today - he's NOT in a good mood. just let me know what's up when you head out." ok, no problem. this store manager, B, is awesome. he knows that i know what i'm doing, and trusts me as well as will back me up no matter what.

so D, of the jerks that works in that particular store, starts in on me as soon as he spots me. "what the hell are you doing here? oh no, no WAY you're writing an order today." and so on, just the usual kind of crap he pulls even on a regular order day.

i smiled pleasantly, and let him know i was writing the order, when he snarls at me "you make sure that you talk to me before you leave!" now, me, not being the stupid person that he thinks i am, i went about my way, and had the store manager paged to let him know what i had put in for an order before i left. and he was perfectly fine with my what i had put in. if i had talked to D, he would have cut it back by at least half, and given that he had already cut back their weekend order with the other rep, they would have been out of stock on a pile of items.

so fast forward to thursday... my week had been going well, and i knew even before going in, that they would again be jerks like they always have been. so i see the store manager first and he gives me a head up that, yes, indeed, those two jerks were on the warpath.

so J, one of the other ASSistant managers, hauls me off to the back room to berate me for ordering, when not a single full case of anything was back there. of the 85 pieces i had ordered, there were about 10-ish cases total product that were left over. like give me a flipping break. by the next day, all of that could go out on the shelf. hello, you ARE a grocery store. you sell food. people come there to buy food. strange concept, that.

so spoke to the regional sales manager later that afternoon and told him what was going on. interestingly enough, i have been the only one to finally relay this back to him. we all want to think that its all part of the job, but now, he has labled it as abusive, unexcusable behaviour. for the real sales rep, this all may be a relief in the end for her, she's been told off, been rude to, and had more than her share of headaches there too. and for the last rep, she had one heck of a time as well. and for the other lady that has been sharing this particular coverage for the last while as well. the rsm is wanting to nail those two jerks to the wall. especially as they just don't want to co-operate.

the person in all of this that i feel the worst for is the store manager. if those two a-holes treat him like they treat us, wow. makes you really want to plow the hr people in the union office for that.

ok, enough negativity.

we had a busy weekend. i worked for a bit on saturday, came home, and chilled out on the deck after digging up some of my multitudinous iris' for one of my neighbours to put in her yard. then i had a snooze. on the deck. how awesome is that?! we had a fantastic dinner of bbq'd beef ribs, salad, corn on the cob, and beans. yum. sat out on the deck playing cards till after 10pm. gotta love it!

today i got a sleep in until 9am. then after a bit of reading on the computer, did some house tidy-ing (it was a mess - not to mention the sticky kitchen floors!) washed the kitchen floor, washed up a few dishes, gave the boy's bathroom a wipe, ran the vacuum around for a bit, and then sat on the deck to wait for the other relief rep to pick up the computer. had a visit with her, then spent the rest of the afternoon outside. the people across the street had rented an aerator for the weekend, so we paid them $25 to use it to get our front lawn done and our neighbour's as well. jonah mowed the front lawns first, then after rene was finished up with that crazy aerator, jonah ran around both yards with grass seed and fertilizer to perk things up. i finished digging up the iris' on the side of the house, and sent a few more across the street, moved some of them around in the side yard, put some in our backyard flowerbed that rene filled with dirt yesterday, and the last of them went to the people across the back alley. yes, there were alot! so happy to have that little job done and be able to spread the love around!

had a leftover's dinner of some soup that i made on our snowy day on thursday, (that kills me! snow and not too warm on thursday to tank top weather on sunday!!) then headed out to get some groceries with the b-man.

its been a productive weekend!

tomorrow i'm off to meet up with my sister in the morning, she has a specialist's appt with my nephew, so i'll look after my nieces while she's doing that. maybe i can get some photos taken of the new little one!

and if you've gotten this far... here's a funny for ya - that goofy tigger dog actually hung around long enough for me to take his picture - he's terrified of my camera!!

have a great week!

winners!

2007-05-21T22:11:00.001-06:00

well, its been a rainy day here, so we spent most of it inside. kinda boring for a long weekend monday, but what can you do?

we watched deja vu - the movie - this afternoon. it was really really good! has us sitting on the edge of our seats, only because it made you think of what was going to happen next! if you haven't seen it, i would recommend it!

there has been a break in the rain tonight, and the sidewalks were dry, so after dinner, and watching ramsay's kitchen nightmares (what a hoot that show is!) dh and i took the dog out for a quick walk. they haven't done too well with being cooped up inside the last couple of days. its just too wet for them to be let loose for too long in the yard, they end up coming in with rather wet feet, and i hate washing floors!

so on to the winners: (yes, winners! i'm feeling generous today!)

congrats to Bonnie (in scotland) and twistedsoda!

please email me your mailing addresses to jzankl at telus dot net

congrats ladies! Bonnie, you'll be getting the 7gypsies book and some other little goodies i dig up, and twistedsoda, you'll be getting some fun stuff i have hidden in my stash!

one more monkey

2007-05-20T23:03:00.000-06:00

to jump on the bed!

my sister and the newest addition to their family - what a cute little chickie she's going to be!

i'm sure this was taken pretty much as soon as she was tidied up a bit after she was delivered!

mom's sure got a glow going on *wink*

and one proud daddy to go along with a house full of princesses now!

and one with auntie too, can't forget that!

the rest of the pics are of the new *big* brother and sister - and grandma, grandpa, and great-grandma too! everyone got to check her out!

allie making sure she's real!dad with all his kids!

congrats guys on your new little addition to your family - she is just a little doll!