Yay Canada!

Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Metal Results:

G11 S12 B6 T29

G9 S9 B7 T25

G7 S10 B7 T24

What's Eelke getting for his birthday?

How about a new girlfriend?

I went Terrestrial on my hair tonight (literally!): that's what the box said the colour was. I look totally alien now: I barely recognise myself in the mirror! Miranda will freak out when she sees me in the morning. At least you can't see my two grey hairs any more. I did it in retaliation to the haircut I got last Friday by Allen. I liked it well enough then, but today the bangs were bothering me, too long and too thick; so I went home, cut the bangs a bit (still too long) and decided to throw the colour on. I told Eelke I was going to colour my hair; he said Cool! I gotta go, miss you and call you tomorrow. (but with less punctuation) eeek! I seriously need to go to hairstyling school and learn to cut my own hair. I hate having to rely on other people for things like styling my hair. That's what I'll do - I'll go to hairstyling school, quit my job, and style hair for a living. Darn that Anthony for leaving me! He would never have let my hair get into this state. I'm gonna go bang my head against a wall now.

Weeds

After her husband suddenly dies of a heart attack, a housewife sells pot in the suburbs to support her family- it's not really a plot that I would be interested in, but I AM LOVING IT! Why? I'm not sure. It's marketed as a comendy, but it is not laugh-out-loud funny; it is captivating with its subtle shockers. The finale of season was amazing! I cannot wait for the show to resume in July.

Weeeeeeee!

Earlier in the week it was looking like the temperatures would be horrible for our trip to the mountains, but the weather co-operated! It was cold on Friday night (-28C) but that didn't stop us from donning our swim suits and running outside to be (literally) boiled in hot tub.

Skiing was great on Saturday! The temperature went up to about -4C, and it was just like riding a bicycle, which is a good thing, considering I have not been skiing in over 10 years. The morning runs were terrific! I'm no speed deamon, and but I really enjoyed myself. Being exhausted, and the lack of snow made the slopes very icy in the afternoon, so my confidence was stolen after a few spills.

On Sunday, Eelke and I went hiking, made snowangels, watched the squirrels and simply enjoyed some quiet time with the winter surroundings.

Eelke's post-doc friends are super nice, and it was fun to be in their company. They are also very well behaved in the car. ;)

See all the pictures here!

Bathtub Test

It doesn't hurt to take a hard look at yourself from time to time, and this should help get you started.

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what the criterion was which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.

"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub.

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup.

"No." said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window ?

Ski Bunny

It's snow time! We're taking tomorrow off work and heading up to Jasper to hit the slopes. (I hope there is snow in the mountains, because there is still no show here in the city. YAY!)

Miranda pitched a fit when I told her she would be staying with Grandma & Papa and that Eelke and I would be staying at a hotel. "WAH!" she said, "It's not fair because I've never slept in a hotel before! WAH!" She's 6 and gets pissed off when she discovers she hasn't experienced everything the world has to offer in her few short years.

8*C in February!

Yesterday it was so warm that I was outside for 2 hours without a jacket! I still brought along my gloves, and Eelke gave me a hard time about that, but at least he did not hear me say that my hands were cold!

We had a wonderful, long walk in the river valley, which ended up being a hike as Eelke led us up and down muddly slopes in an atempt to get closer to the river. He wanted to touch the ice chunks that were floating downstream.

After the walk, Eelke suggested we stop at McDonald's for ice cream. Instead, I took us for some real soft serve at Dairy Queen. Mmmmm good! view the photos

I'm a blond bimbo girl, in the fantasy world

So I go to pick Miranda up from her afterschool care the other day... (Scott, you'll love this one; there's no escaping Barbie in this world)

I walk into the room, I see three 6-year old girls (Miranda and 2 friends) sitting at a table playing together. Suddenly, Barbie Girl starts blasting from the CD player and ALL THREE GIRLS start singing their hearts out. (And so do the other 5 girls in the room.)

"I'm a barbie girl, in the barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic!
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation
Come on Barbie, let's go party!"

They are putting on a "show" tomorrow. Six girls are going to be singing and dancing to 5 songs. They are so excited and have been "rehearsing" all week. It is a PD day at school so the afterschool care is having a pajama day. Miranda has asked if she can take a cool dress to change into for the show. Let me think about that ... ah, NO! It's daycare, not a fashion show. *sigh* I tried to get the song list out of them, but all they can tell me is Barbie Girl and Macarena and then they go off on a tangent.

Strawberry Body Butter Soothes the Soul

I was feeling a little down today but some retail therapy, a trip to the mall over morning break, made it better. :) yay! I went back to the office with candles and a small pot of Strawberry Body Butter from The Body Shop. It is divine! Sweet smelling, pink and fluffy cream, it would be like smearing strawberries and cream all over your body! Only I wouldn't know since I only got a 50mL pot to keep at my desk at work for my hands.

(not bad for 10 minutes of shopping)

It all starts with a kink in the road

On Friday I get an email from Eelke, excited about this "kink" in the road just outside of the city, so we make plans to go there on our Sunday trip to the country. The explaination for the kink in the road: it goes around a lake that is too small to indicate on the map. So we were driving around the lake and on the "out" side there was a little piece of heaven tucked away: Lily Lake Village Resort! Oh my it was lovely! Campgrounds, a Bed & breakfast, Cuddle Inn, fine-dining restaurants & bistro, and the piece de resistance, a small wilflife park! Bison, elk, llamas, horses... there are pens for other animals which have probably been moved for the winter months. The bison seemed to charge at the fence but stopped. One even let Eelke touch it! Then we got back in the car and drove to Legal, where we stopped at a truckstop for a bite to eat. Finally without the responsibility of keeping my eyes on the road, I took some pictures. see the photos here Eelke will probably blog about the trip as well, and he'll have pictures of what we saw on the drive, so watch his space for that!

Presents for Mummy

For my mum's birthday I bought her a yoga mat so we can do pilates together, and I promised her I would make her some jewllery. Her birthday was over a month weeks ago! Bad me, I have yet to see her for pilates, and I still have to give her the jewllery. I will be seeing her today so I hope I will remember to give her the present.

Speech, Speech, Speech!

No, I am not remarkable enough to have won a Nobel Prize or an Academy Award! :( In the morning, I have to stand up in front of 100 people (the whole office!) and give a brief introduction and outline of the Social Committee and what our plans are for activities for this year.

To make a long-ish story short, 3 people resigned and now I am now running the Social Committee show. I must admit, it's a bit exhilarating to have that kind of control! Also, I am being forced to get over my fear of public speaking... eeek! I am a quiet talker, so do I used the microphone and run the risk of having it make that horrible screeching noise when I first open my mouth to speak? or, do I go without and hope that the people waaay in the back can hear me? agh! I'm going to be up all night worrying that I might sleep in and miss the meeting (I'm already being called in to work a 1/2 hour early for this meeting). I think faster than I talk so I hope I don't stumble on my thoughts. I suppose I could actually write out what I have to say, I mean I sort of already did, but it's just a list of items I need to touch on and not really exactly what I have to say; besides, I don't want to be "reading" a presentation to the office. I will just have to take deep breaths, and try to slow down my thinking, and no Redbull for breakfast (the caffeine makes me think even faster). Sure, I can do that!

It has been suggested that I picture the front row naked... eeek! That's probably scarier than having to give the presentation in the first place.

Groundhog Day Consensus

It's unanimous: 3 out of 3 groundhogs predict it will be an early spring!

Balzac Billie (in Balzac, Alberta) , Wiarton Willie (in Ontario) and Shubenacadie Sam (in Nova Scotia) emerged to overcast skies, hence, no shadows to be seen!

To the South of us, USA's Punxsutawney Phil (in Pennsylvania) saw his shadow, predicting 6 more weeks of winter.

History of Groundhog Day: It is based on the European tradition of Hedgehog Day. It was believed that if the sun was shining on Candlemas Day (Feb 2nd) then winter would last another 6 weeks; if cloudy, spring would make an early appearance, as the vernal equinox and the traditional beginning of Spring is 6 weeks after Feb 2nd.

Why the hedgehog? They go back to Roman times, when they believed spring was decided by hedgehogs seeing their shadows at night by the light of the moon.

When Europeans settled in North America (where hedgehogs are not indigenous) the shortage of hedgehogs forced the people to turn to the rodent's cousin, the woodchuck (a.k.a. the groundhog) .

I Woke Up Screaming

I had a horrific dream last night, one that found me waking myself up screaming, and left me afraid to go to sleep afterwards.

Someone was stalking me but I didn't know it. I went outside and found the windshield of my car cracked, like rocks have been thrown at it. Then I was driving my daddy's truck and the same thing happened, but this time the person responsible for it made it known to me that it was intentional, and he was after me. I was being chased and as I tried to find a door with the lights on insides, Icouldn't find one. When I finally did get in to a house, with the hopes of being safe, the man chasing me comes crashing trough the door because there is no lock on the door!

There was more after that, but I the details are hazy. I remember screaming, screaming in terror. I was screaming when I couldn't get the door locked but I got past that point and it wasn't until later on when I was screaming again that I woke up.

Manefestations of reality. I know a lot of people believe that dreams are not so literal, but I often have dreams that reflect on goings on of the day before. My brain needs an off button, or at least a mute button, so I can get through the night.

Cards and Flowers

Cards and flowers on Valentine's Day
Heart-shaped candies help to say
I love you in a special way
And love is the reason for Valentine's Day

With Barbie cards for the girls, and Dragonball Z cards for the boys, Miranda is all ready for Valentine's Day! The children in her class will have their cards attatched to little goody bags, containing a lolly and 2 small heart-shaped erasers.

I am so delighted to have this done and out of the way, instead of rushing the night before to get everything in order. The extra Dragonball Z cards I made up for my friends at work. I am such a dork, but whatever, there's no point saving them for next year!

Raynaud's Phenomenon

My finger tips turn white and go numb and slowly so does the rest of my fingers. It happens on days that are even 16C outside! I cannot even drink a cold beverage from the fridge wihtout my fingers turning white from the cold glass. Then as my hands warm up, the white turns to red, and it HURTS! Lately, it has been happening to my toes, even inside the house! And it has been a balmy winter here, the warmest in history.

I went to see the doctor and he touched my hand and recoiled from the cold and from the colour (they were blue). He declared that I have *insert dramatic music here* Raynaud's Phenomenon! oh joy. He told me to look it up on the internet. Was he implying that I am an internet junky?

He was surprised to hear that I have had this happening since I was in high school. He said he would write a prescription out for me. He opened my chart and freaked out a bit at my last blood pressure reading. Guess what, I have a low BP reading and the drug he wants me to take has a side effect of reducing blood pressure. He wrote me the prescription, told me to take 1/2 a pill if I feel dizzy. He also wrote a prescription for the heating pads to put in my mittens and socks.

I feel like an old lady, blue and cold and about to keel over from the lack of blood flowing to my extremities, sipping tea to warm my bones. :(

Who Supports Whom?

"Some 76 percent of men in a relationship turn to their partners for support while only 36 percent of women do so."

gee, I wonder why?

read the article

I took the kids to Ikea...

After the autoshow, I took the kids to Ikea. Miranda got checked into Småland.
Much to his dismay, Eelke was too tall to go inside and play, so he has to go shopping with me. It is great to have a boyfriend who (1) likes to shop with me at Ikea, and (2) actually likes a lot of the same furniture I do! One day we're going to have a kickass home!

After shopping we had hotdogs and a cinnamon bun and then the kids went to play.

I found a quilt cover that I really, really want but they didn't have it in quite the colour I wanted. I'm going to "sleep" on it and see which colour I decide on: the light brown or the red. I didn't go home empty handed; I bought chocolates and cookies and candies and candles and batteries.

click to see the "kids" playing

Vroooom! Vroooom!

This Sunday's family trip was to see the Motorshow that was in town for the weekend. Eelke spent too much time oogling the Dodge trucks and made not even a glance towards the GM trucks. Miranda (the car model) wants the purple and yellow H3, I want the Aston Martin or a Porsche Carrera GT, and Eelke still wants his old red SAAB 900.
Looking at all the flashy vehicles made Miranda and Eelke hungry, so they shared a jumbo hotdog before we left the show.

Click to see the photos.

Mayor Declares Today Mozart Day!

Mozart was born 250 years ago today, and the City of Edmonton has declared today to be Mozart Day. Mozart, the child prodigy who was composing music at the age of 5 is hailed by an Austrian website as "the most famous Austrian of all time" (hmmm, even more famous that Hitler?)

So what's so special about Mozart Day? At 1:30pm there is a celebration at City Hall. There will be a special performance by E-SWAT (Edmonton Symphony Wolfgang Amadé Team) and special presentations. And what birthday celebration could be complete without birthday cake? Yes, there will be cake too! Special Mozart performances will continue through the year.

Parking Lot Pinata

Miranda went to Emma's birthday party and it was at Let's Play, and indoor playpark with strict rules on bringing food into the facility (outside food is forbidden unless you have a party room booked, then you may bring in only party cake).

Tara had a strawberry shaped pinata and they would not let her bring it in at the end of the party, even though there were no other patrons in the building. So the party wrapped up in the parking lot, with the adults laughing at the situation as the children hit the pinata outdoors.

Photos of the party in the parking lot are here .
(note: the Hummer in the background is the chariot that drove the birthday girl to her party)

Mental Health

" The neutoric builds castles in the sky, the psychotic lives in them, and the psychiatrist collects the rent. "

" Scientists say 1 out of every 4 people is crazy. Check 3 friends, if they are OK, you're it. "

CD for Eelke

1. Sia - Breathe Me
2. Korn - Twisted Transistor (Radio)
3. 3 Doors Down - Landing In London
4. Faktion - Take It Away
5. Mudvayne - Fall Into Sleep (Album)
6. Nine Inch Nails - Every Day Is Exactly The Same
7. The White Stripes - The Denial Twist
8. Taproot - Birthday
9. She Wants Revenge - Tear You Apart
10. Evans Blue - Cold (But I'm Still Here)
11. Hard-Fi - Cash Machine
12. Matisyahu - King Without A Crown
13. Prom Kings - Bleeding
14. Revelation Theory - Slowburn
15. My Chemical Romance - The Ghost Of You
16. Panic! At The Disco - There's A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought Of It Yet
17. Panic! At The Disco - Build God, Then We'll Talk
18. Starsailor - Faith Hope Love
19. Editors - All Sparks
20. Madonna - Hung Up

The song that got deleted off the list... Armchair Cynics - Bang. I was going to make it exactly like the CD in my car, but then I started downloading some more music and wanted to add some new songs so I could listen in the car in the morning. It all got complicated since I had only ONE blanko CD (as Eelke calls them) in my house.

I Can't Get No Sleep

I can't get no sleep
I can't get no sleep
I need to sleep, i cant get no sleep
I need to sleep, i cant get no sleep

Deep in the bosom of the gentle night
Is when I search for the light
Pick up my pen and start to write
I struggle, fight dark forces
In the clear moon light
Without fear... insomnia
I can't get no sleep

... I can't actually say that I have insomnia because I have not actually tried to go to sleep yet tonight, and I am not picking up my pen to start to write; music is in my head, playing over and over, songs more than one at the same time! I can't get no sleep

I am up waaaaaay to late, burning a new music CD (for who else, but Eelke, but don't tell him because it's a surprise! heehee). I could have been in bed hours ago, but do you have any idea how hard it is to select one song to delete from the list in order to may the playlist fit on a CD?! And that's why I can't get no sleep

Go figure that the most predominant song stuck in my head, Insomnia, is one that I haven't even listened to tonight! I can't get no sleep

A Little Note

I found this note in one of Miranda's books. She is always writing little notes but so far this has been my favourite. Maybe it's because of the little picture (with them wearing little crowns) she drew with it. I asked her to read it to me.

January 11, Miranda and Mackenzie are going to see Hillary Duff on stage.

The girls did go to the Hilary Duff concert together, but I do not know if theis note was made before or after that date.

Ice Princess

This weekend was the 3rd Annual Ice on Whyte in Old Strathcona, and this year they were featuring a "BIG" ice sculpture theme.

Aside from an ice sculpture donation box, they had sculptures called "Matrix", "King Kong", "King of the Penguins", "Hell Dogs Cry", and "Buffalo Hunter's Dream". There was also a bunny sculpture for the children (and grown-ups, too) to touch.

In the second park, there was an ice maze, an ice castle, two ice slides (since it was +5C outside, the ice was melting and muddy on the slide so Miranda didn't ride on it ; her butt was wet enough from sitting on the ice benches in the maze and in the castle!), and another ice donation box.

Photos can be seen here.

Can't Buy My Vote

This morning I was walking down the hallway to the LRT and I could see two people with badges on their lapels and pamphlets and an open box of Tim Hortons timbits. I thought they were some bible beaters, trying to lure people in with the offer of free treats. As I got nearer, I could see it was Nicole Martel (Edmonton East Liberal Party candidate) with the timbit box, and a lackey was passing out campaign literature. HAHA! As if I would vote for the liberals, and they are insane if they think free balls of fat saturated sugar will sway my mind.

Since I don't want you accidentally voting for her, since her name is the only one you might recognize on the ballot after reading this, here is the complete list of the candidates in the 252 Edmonton East riding:

Conservative: Peter Goldring (Incumbent)
Green Party: Trey Capnerhurst
Liberal: Nicole Martel
New Democtratic Party: Arlene Chapman

Can you make me purrr?

See else can you make the pussy do.

What winter?

It is common knowlegde that I hate winter. It's dark and depressing and f'ing freezing and trudging through the snow just plain bites. But not this year! The days are getting longer and it's no longer pitch black outside when I leave the office at 5:00. Our New Year's deepfreeze didn't hit us, and January is more than half over and we still have not seen out typical week of -40C temperatures. I have been basking in the warmth of our non-traditional Alberta winter, with daytime temperatures a few degrees below (or even above) freezing! Last night was the coldest in weeks, dipping down to -13C. Tonight is going to be the same and I have dug out the long johns. How sad is that? Right now it is -9C outside and I am whimpering like a baby that it is too cold. Either 2006 will be the best year of my life, or it will be the worst and it will snow all summer long.

Tough Question

Personally, I think I would choose the ever-growing ear hairs. You would have to keep a few pair of sharpened scissors stashed all over the place, but it would be easier to deal with scissors and snipping hairs than it would be to deal with a dripping nose and used tissues all over the place. ....Ewww gross!

My Favourite Cartoon

I swear I should get t-shirts made with this cartoon for me and Eelke.

It's not hard to tell which one of us is the ruler. ;)

What is purple and sparkles?

... my new toothpaste!

It is Colgate Luminous enamel strengthening toothpaste in paradise fresh flavour. Michellini was at the drustore with me, and she had the audacity to accuse me of still harbouring my toothpaste addiction! I can honestly say that I needed this new tube of toothpaste.

I know, I admit I might have had a problem in the paste, I mean PAST, with my 7 different kinds of toothpaste in the bathroom, but now there are only four kinds; well 5 if you count Miranda's Colgate Kids watermelon, but I don't use that one! This weekend I used up the last of my Crest cinnamon rush Whitening Expressions, and the Crest Vivid White. I am down to the Crest vanilla mint (which is almost all used up, and really, almost used up, as in only 1 or 2 more squeezes left), Crest sensitivity protection (which has probably 6 squeezes left), and the Colgate sensitive whitening (purchased last week under Michellini's accusing glare).

ps - Eelke has Crest whitening Expressions Lemon Ice at his place and it reminds me of brushing my teeth with lemon pie. :)

It's Bitchalicious!

It's officially unanimous! I love them, Eelke loves them, Miranda loves them. Croissants are bitchtastic! Even Lucky (le chat) thinks that they are bitchalicious! There are three things that Lucky will beg for - Tuna, Ham, and Croissants.

Thought Recorder

I was riding home on the train and I had a thought while walking to my car.

Goodbye pens and paper and rushing to write down your brilliant thoughts and ideas! Wouldn't it be great if I had an Instant Thought Recorder!? Now I cannot recall what my initial thought was that I wanted to keep and record, but I do remember my thought about this thought recorder. You could have a thought and then after finishing the thought, you could press a button and it would save the last thought you had. Of course it would have to have some sort of filter on it to omit the thought to record your last thought, because then that would be the last thought; technically, it would have to record your second from last thought.

And then I got to thinking, why use a button at all? Why not make it and Hands-free Instant Thought Recorder. You could think "I want to record my last thought" and it would save that thought for you, again omitting the thought to record the thought.

Why not throw in a feature so it saves your last ten thoughts because you might not initially think to record a specific thought, and then a few thoughts later you decide you should make a memo of that thought? I know that sometimes a while after I have a thought I go back and think so-and-so would like that idea I had and would want to save the initial thought to share with them at a later date.

Anyways, this is just one of my thoughts that I managed to get on paper before I forgot it. And yes, I actually did put it on paper. I stopped driving a few blocks up from the train station and scribbled it on an old envelope.

I do realise this probably is an idea had by many people pbefore me, but it just seems like such a practical device! I just really, really wanted to get back that thought that I couldn't remember.

What is inflated and taller than Eelke...?

Today I am going to take down the Christmas tree and in closing the holiday season, I am posting about the Christmas decorations at my father's house.

This year, my step-mother posted 9-foot tall inflatable (and taller than Eelke) candy canes to mark the pathway to the front stairs (just in case the steps and sidewalk leading up were too obvious). Oh! but she doesn't stop there!
A happy little snowman with his hand up, waving hello, to greet you as you pass! And Santa in his sleigh (that is smaller than he is), with a reindeer (note the pervert checking out the reindeer butt in front of him)!

Obsession

I have recently acquired two new obsessions. Thanks a lot, Eelke! They have kept me up late the past three nights. Tuesday and Wednesday nights were spent watching the starting episodes of the TV series Lost. (I watched 5 episodes each night!) Last night I thought I could finally get some housework done, but noooo, I spent the night playing Sudoku. (4.5 hours of nothing but Sudoku!) There is even a version of Sudoku for kids, so we can teach Miranda how to do the puzzles, and last week I downloaded a verion of the game for my cellphone.

Rare Specimen Caught On Film!

It's Eelke - The COMPUTER NERD!

It is so sweet how he is so devoted to the computer, yet he still manages to shower his ever understanding girlfriend with heaps of affection and attention. Hmmm... perhaps it is because she has a computer ... with an internet connection that is always working, and a big hard and a willingness to share! (not to mention her HUGE and WONDERFUL collection of MP3s)
(Just don't ask him to do the dishes; he doesen't rinse! *gasp!*)

ps- he actually knows the name of the president of technology at Google. Hey Eelke, do you know what this says?

Happy New Year!

This was, by far, the best New Year's celebration I have ever had! And croissants for breakfast, who could ask for a nicer start to the new year; Merci, mon amour! Je t'aime beaucoup! Cheers to 2006!

I rang in the New Year with Eelke and Chris and Trisha at the Bear Bash, feasting in the sounds of Biff Naked and Three Days Grace.

The concert was fantastic, despite the beer flying through the air, and the moshing fools right in front of us (Eelke played bodyguard and kept me safe, all except my toes *ouch*).