Tidbits

1. It is snowing again! It is beautiful outside and we had a mini-snowball fight in the driveway with my brother this morning
2. This is great article about the 25% hike in service calls that Canon Photocopier$ get in the festive season as a direct result of people phocopying their various naked bits after partaking in some holiday cheer. Now that is funny as hell!!!!

How are you?

Sometimes this question can really trip me up.

How to answer - brutally honest, and let it all hang out. Or do you spare the person the details and just go with an easy "fine".

Sometimes when people ask you how they are doing, they are just being polite and don't really want to hear the long story and gruesome details. Sometimes, you can tell that the person really cares, and then you are in a position where do you really want to go there, or is it easier for you to retreat to said earlier position?

I find it hard some days to answer this question because it can be easy to get caught up in the mundane trivial stuff that grates on your normally optimistic outlook... So generally I go with my gut instincts, how I am feeling in that particular moment and whom is doing the asking.

This morning I think I would have liked to have stayed in bed.

SNOW!

It is Grey Cup Sunday today, and I think with all the folks in town from East of Hope and the Coast Mountains have brought with them some intrepid weather from the rest of Canada. When I got up this morning, it was SNOWING! It was beautiful. Not enough to stick... yet. The temperature is still hovering just above zero, and I thinking that we could see some more in the next few days. Prolly won't last, but a novely when it happens. It is always amusing that a few inches of snow all but shuts down the coast for a day or two.

I always find it strange when I watch weather snippets from the rest of Canada, the cold, white, frozen north. West Coast is so different, all the way up to Alaska. A true rainforest that stays pretty mild and damp, while the rest of the country(ies) are held in the grip of winter, we have days where you could easy head for the slopes in the morning and go for a walk on the beach at night. Maybe not always, but not far from the truth either. It blows my mind - you can head not even 100 km in, and the weather is completely different.

Last night we hooked up with some dear friends and went for "all you can eat" Sushi and Korean B-B-Q. Damn fine night. We get spoiled with out fresh seafood and the wares last night were awesome. We topped it off with a few different kinds of gelato - green tea, mango, and coconut. The last two were divine, I am not quite in to green tea gelato at this stage of the game. We even had a private room, so it didn't matter how loud and racous we could be/were. Great service, and really good variety. Funny, I think the more sushi you try, the more you end up craving it. Before, once a year was enough for me and now I can definitely eat it anytime. There are a few things I won't go near, and some items that amaze me that I like. The salmon sashimi is something else though.

Off to prepare for some Grey Cup festivities...

The Crush delivered

We had a great game last night, breaking our last few games of just not playing up to our potential. It has been two weeks since we played, and I missed it. We won, 7-2, and it was great to get out for a skate, even if it happened at 11pm and I was TIRED to begin with. We only had 3 girls out (again) so I played most of the game (being coed, we have to have a minimum 2 girls on the ice at all times). We did shorter shifts so I didn't quite feel like I needed the oxygen tent the whole game :] Kenny played well in net, and all in all, the girls played awesome for only having three of us!

Today has been a move slowly, watch a vid, do some housecleaning type day. Was feeling blechy around the edges, so taking it easy was a welcome break.

Rambles

Sometimes it is hard to capture the thoughts that are running through my head and pay enough attention to them to see them through.

Some of my thoughts are like silverfish, darting in to my consciousness and then they are gone in a flash. Or like a silverfish, they weave and dance a little before they disappear, teasing me.

Sometimes I liken the way my mind works to a skipping CD - bouncing between half finished topics in a rush, only to return to one, and then skip forward, and somehow managing to keep most of the threads in order in between apparently random and disconnected thought processes.

Sometimes my mind is like a sieve, easily distracted, or like teflon, where nothing seems to stick. Or when I have so many thoughts trying to get out at one time that they all log jam and I end up sounding like the village idiot.

The fine art of communication

I have had a strange day. My presentation went off without a hitch today! My technology worked, I had a handful of people out, I didn't flush red, and people seemed grateful for me being me and the information that I disseminated. Transit home worked smooth - my train rocked up pretty quick, and my bus was waiting at the station. An easy end to a long day.

Until I called my mother.

All of my communication skills mean nothing when I talk to her. I love her dearly, but it seems at times we speak two different languages. We approach life so differently, and how we interact with people. I think our five minute conversation quickly became terse, and we ended on a cheesy note in which I had an instant flashback of being any age, feeling frustrated with my mum and wondering how we got from A to H in less than 6 seconds flat. Those are the moments I want to lean over to my dad and tell him that I think it is good we are united in many of our personality traits, as it seems my brother and mum reflect each other a bit. I wonder about that - gender dynamics between siblings and their parents, and how each interacts. Dads look out for their girls, and mums look out for their boys.

Time to pull up with a good book, this week at times has already been a slog. Had a nice "not seeing eye to eye moment" about office temperatures yesterday. Well not much of a disagreement, apparently I can have a few vents moved and just cope. Out of spite I brought in an old sweater to wear, one that my gran used to have, my inheritance. So I can wrap myself in a big hug that reminds me of someone near and dear and change my own temperature and gripe about the battle I had no chance of even showing up to.

100 Random Things

I started this list back in November 2005!!!!! This was before I got pregnant, before we got married, before out lives evolved! Crazy eh???

1. I was hatched and raised in British Columbia, somewhat rare in these parts since many people have moved here from the rest of Canada and beyond
2. I am in my 'early' 30s
3. I am as good as married, even if we haven't done the deed yet
4. I am glad that we met when we did, and I didn't expect it when it happened
5. I have 2 cats
6. I have african cichlids (fish)
7. I have a lot of plants
8. I have a lot of books, and am finally getting better at paying forward the pocket books which I won't read again
9. I love playing ice hockey
10. I enjoy knitting
11. I love being in the ocean, near the ocean, near any body of water
12. I wish I could be more of an environmentalist but I recognize my limitations
13. I read voraciously
14. I have written a lot of poetry over the years, some good, some not so good
15. I have taken way too many post secondary level credits
16. I love plaid
17. I recycle as much as I can
18. I collect rocks
19. I love to travel
20. I cry when animals get hurt in movies
21. I can't carry a note
22. I am a morning person, once I am up
23. I love a good cup of coffee in the morning
24. I like reading the Sunday paper
25. I love that moment before the day starts and you are snuggled up with your honey in bed, and the cats are wrapped around your legs
26. I have a bird of paradise plant that is five years old and I hope that 2 years from now that it will bloom
27. I love popcorn.
    
28. I hate paying for parking and parking tickets
29. Learning how to breast feed is really tough
    
30. I am stubborn.
31. I don't give up easily.
32. I love punk celtic rock
33. Watching Brandon grow and change has been humbling
34. We had a "shot gun" wedding and I loved every minute of it
35. I never expected to be sober for my stag, or for my wedding
36. Helping hands that come forward with gently used items when you have a baby is amazing
37. Catching up with old and new friends once you have a baby is really cool
38. Facebook is some crazy stuff - reconnecting with people on a superficial level, and actually rediscovering connections that were put to the side for a time
39. I like trucks.
40. I don't miss driving a 5 speed as much as I thought I would
41. I like growing plants
42. I like rose gardens
43. I really don't like any of Vancouver's radio stations. Some days it floors me to admit that a talk radio show, or even a country radio show can be better than the rest of the offerings
44. My musical tastes have been trapped in a state of limbo, I really haven't been exposed to all that much new stuff I actually like
45. I want to see ZZ Top, Flogging Molly, and George Leach in concert. Talk about extremes eh?
46. I have a brother that is 5 years younger than me.
47. I like to camp.
48. I love to travel.
49. I have read all of the Harry Potter books and I think they ended well.
50. I hated how the Sopranos ended.
51. I have a tan for the first time in years
52. We got married on March 25, 2006
53. Brandon was born on July 24, 2006
54. I want to see Yosemite.
55. For some reason, I want to go back to Hawaii one day.
56. I would like another try at outrigger.
57. Having a power boat would be really cool to get out and explore more of BC's rugged coastline.
58. I love cross border shopping.
59. I like cheese.
60. Coming up with 100 random things about myself is hard work.
61. I enjoy going to the tulip festival in la connor and looking at all the colours.
62. This summer I visited Nej and her boys, and it blew me away when I looked in the backseat and between us we had 3 boys. 20 years ago, it was just us.
63. I want to go whale watching at the north end of Vancouver island.
64. I have a yen to do a hot springs of BC driving tour in the fall.
65. I want a masters degree one day.
66. One day, I would like to have my student loans paid off.
67. I have both an outgoing side, and a real loner streak.
68. I like doc martens.
69. I like to wear white shirts, even if they never stay clean.
    
70. I want another tattoo.
71. I don't think I will get more piercings.
72. One day, we will get a dog.
73. I was born in Richmond, BC
74. Watching the Vancouver Giants win the Memorial Cup live was AWESOME
75. My son has blue blue eyes and dimples!
76. I never thought that cosleeping would be an option but it works
77. I miss my dear friends who don't live in the lower mainland dearly, and am so grateful the lot of you stay connected by whatever means works with all of our crazy lives.
78. I really try to be a good friend.
79. I have seen the northern lights.
80. I like to travel in June and September
81. I want to start doing some drop in yoga sessions.
82. I love massage therapy
83. I like having my toenails painted.
84. I like taking pictures of my feet in funky places.
85. I like reading both high brow literature and page turner thrillers
86. I like reading just about anything, and recently signed up for the national geographic magazine as my bathroom reading material
87. I never knew I could care so much about another person's bowel movements before we had Brandon
88. having kids does change you, no matter how much you yell and scream and deny that it will change you
89. having kids doesn't mean you can't do what you used to do, you just do it differently
90. I got to see part of the original Cariboo wagon trail and it made my day in a geeky way
91. I like guinness.
92. I like spiced rum.
93. I like blackberries.
94. I don't like tuna or tomato soup.
95. I am almost there and I am running out of juicy little tidbits to relate.
96. I think that my friendships are really cool now, even if I don't get to see all my girlfriends that often (kids, husbands, family, work... )
97. I am in a book club, and it makes me gleeful
98. I am trying to get out walking as many days of the week that I can.
99. I like to take the path less traveled.
100. I like arrowroot biscuits.

AND THAT IS ALL FOLKS.

The first 25 or so were from almost 2 years ago. O M G !!! where does the time go?? And wow, has every thing changed or what?? Funny how some years are everything about change, and some years you just float on through.

Pea Soup

For the last few days, and for the next few days, the coast has been literally cloaked in pea soup fog. Viz has been reduced to just beyond the edge of your car, a half k (1/4 mile) in every direction until everything disappears in to the mist.

Makes me glad that I don't have curly hair (read spiral perms of the 80s to give some life to my very straight hair), otherwise the dampness would turn it in to frizz. It is a cloying, cold damp that clings to you, making you shiver. It also looks bizarre, there are fog patches in my back yard! Almost time to hang the christmas lights to bring light to the dark!! The other part to it, is you leave for work in a fog, go for a walk at lunch, in a fog, and you guessed it, you leave from work in a darker fog! Today will be a longer day since I have to do a presentation later, if anyone decides to show. Part of me hopes that some do, the other part has all crossables crossed that my technology works. The few presentations I have done have been an ongoing learning curve on how to fix technology that doesn't work how it should.

Some days are like this...

snippet from afternoon TV

"you are up an unsanitary tributary without sufficient means of locomotion"

now, if you were a script writer, and you came up with a line like that, would you waste it on afternoon TV?

try rolling that one off your tongue and not laughing. It definitely had me and my sidekick in stitches!

where the hell did my six days off go?

why does that time seem to go by in half the time that the rest of the time goes by in?

*SIGH*

ah well, finish running some errands today and trying to get my head back in to the game and failing miserably.

Kazzicus Domesticus, volume 1

Day two of my week at home and I am covered in flour.

My kitchen is covered in flour.

There isn't a spare counter that doesn't have something spilled on it, er on it.

However, I am ploughing through my Christmas baking. It is nice to know I can stick this stuff in the freezer and I am set for the next 6 weeks. I have a course that runs 2 weekends in December, so if I don't really get it done now, it won't get done. It is nice to show up at someone's house with a plate of goodies :]

I have already made, in no particular order:

ginger snap cookies
sourdough star cookies
chocolate haystack bar (instead of drop cookie version)
chocolate/peanut butter marshmellow bar
date square
butter tarts

I still need to make shortbread, and a few other things, but I done for today. Time to take some selfish time and fritter away the rest of my day with a good book.

Hell, maybe even put my kitchen back to the way it was before the flour monster hit.

This could be the first time in ten years I get my Christmas cards in the mail before December 24th... I know, all the cynics out there, but it may actually happen!!!

Sleep, interrupted

My first day off, of a few. It feels strange being off with no big plans, or plans to get out of dodge. Instead, I am doing the odds and sods around the house you never seem to have enough time for.

You know how it is, attempting to sleep in to be woken up by a telemarketer, only to realize an hour later when you wake up in a true sweat that someone forgot to turn the heat off so it is a balmy 90 degrees and you feel slightly naseaous as a result. It was a good day, I have no idea where the time went, nor did I feel all that motivated to get my personal list of chores done. No more laundry to do, which is a bonus.

It is strange not really having an agenda though - I think I will do some baking, I will try to catch up with a few friends, but there is nothing absolutely pressing. Maybe get the car through aircare (finally) and perhaps attempt to relax too.

I have a thick folder of my poetry attempts, I think a side project will be to put them in an electronic format and perhaps work on them a bit. Judging from the stack of paper, that is a job in itself! Other than that, nothing all that prolific is coming to mind tonight.

Frost!

What a beautiful morning! After dragging my ass in to work early, which is nothing short of a miracle for me (I would normally rather stay late than show up early... perhaps this is another perk with aging comes a different circadian rhythm?) I have a net station up, and I am grooving at my desk, enjoying the quiet.

The skies were pink, and it is clear! NO RAIN!!! It feels like it has already been raining for months straight and progress has been steady on our ark!

First frost this morning, and where did we put our ice scrappers? They have vamoosed, and then some. Funny, you only need something 3-4 months a year and once the temperatures change, away they go. Kind of like the bug zapper going in to hiding for the winter.

Battlefront

After too many hours, I have to admit that the latest Star War$ Battl3front II is awesome gameplay for the x-box. What a way to burn off angst with some senseless battles between good and evil. Very enthralling, great graphics, makes for a way to make a few hours evaporate in between pizza and iced tea and then POOF! That was your saturday. It has been fun though, we have been chilling with my bro, and it has been fun! Lots of trash talking, and mocking each other, interspersed with my trying to tell him that this speed metal band he is listening to now sounds like old school heavy metal from the 80s. Listening to a few sound bites was hilarious, I half cringe and half laugh, and partially half to admit I did really like some strange types of music in my day, hell, even still :]

There was some productivity today however, the house is clean, ran some errands, fixed the lock on our shed... I feel like I have been in an altered reality for the last few hours though - this will more than likely be my fix for the next long while!

Remembrance Day

A good time to remember those that have fallen in the name of something greater than themselves. Whether it be in a moment of silence, or participating in an organized event, it is important to never forget the events of the past, no matter how troubling they are.

I watched the Fab Five last night, they are truly wonderful folks and I like their show. Today would have been a dear friend's birthday, whom passed away during the summer after an heroic battle. I miss his prescence, he would have fit in to the Fab Five dynamic - an amazing art historian whom loved ABBA and the Spice Girls, with impecable taste, honour, and an unbelievable sense of humor. I miss his friendship all the time. On the flipside, Ken's best friends' birthday also happens to be today, and I am very proud of the man he is and the job he does. Today is meaningful in so many different ways, no less poignant.

Yikes!

I think I am really looking forward to playing hockey tonight. My mood has done a weird funky chicken today, at some points I have felt great, other times lazy as hell, at other times just blah. It will be nice to leave it all on the ice. I need to get better at incorporating exercise in to my daily regime. I feel so much better when it is there, seems like my schedule has been wonky enough that it just hasn't happened yet on a consistent basis. It is like I have weekly "resolutions" of what I should be doing and I think I half sabotage myself. I should be trying to get out and at least walk every day, I should be making sure the house doesn't fly to pieces by thursday night (ok, it is just that things are out of place and need to be put to rights) , I should be eating better all the time. Ah, the tyranny of the shoulds. All you can do is try, and when you stumble, wallow for just that second, dust yourself off, and get right back up again.

Then there is the human factor, and shit happens. You have a bad day at work, you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, you miss your bus, you end up not being in the mood to eat the lunch you packed. These things happen and you have to be flexible enough to be able to roll with it. Some days it is harder to shake.

Like yesterday, I got lots done but at times it felt really uphill. Picked up something from Puro-later and then went to drop off our empties and got stopped by a train, for almost 20 minutes, which was my second train of the day! Nothing like sitting in the car stewing over something you can't control, especially when the train stops and starts moving backwards, only to resume forward motion again and you wonder whether or not you are foolish to fit in another errand before you head to the doctors! Or going to Cosstco and getting a script filled, only to have them be able to fill about a 1/3 of what you were picking up but they did fix my glasses for free and I got out of their cheaply. Or getting to your mechanic, and getting a really big problem fixed, two actually, only to have another one crop up. It felt like one of those days where something would come together as something didn't. I hate that I end up feeling like I am whining when I go off about stuff like this - ultimately I am healthy, secure in who I am, in my relationship, but there are these little hurdles that you just deal with. It is what we all do - because I think life is a series of checks and balances, some good and some bad, and there are indeed moments when life does take your breathe away, usually when you least expect it.

Most of today was really nice - slept in, went out for lunch with Ken's mom and then to the casino for a bit, read my book, lazed around. Funnily enough, even just venting about this here has helped put things a little bit more in perspective again - a little moment before I work my way back in to optimism!

Busy day off

Why are days off busier than days at work?? I think I have put a dent in to my "things to do" list, but it still feels like I am avoiding things. Truck still needs some loving care, but I did manage to fix the sagging fabric roof! Yay!

It is damp and cold today, a theme of this week. Seems like I haven't been warm enough. Had to go to the doctor's today, so as a result of feeling sorry for myself I decided to buy a new tablecloth and grab a lunch on the run. It helped, a little!

Ken was also a sweetheart last night and came home with a dozen red roses - just because. Awww. Amazing how days always seem to be filled with highs and lows, and all points in between.

Temperature Wars

There is something to be said about being the youngest female in your office. Especially when there is a significant age gap and your hormones are doing different things directly as a result of being in different times of your life.

My office is so cold right now that my hands are cold. My nose is cold. Hell, I am getting cramps in my hands from the cold as I type this. There is a cold something drifting down out of the vent. I think I will need to call in someone to adjust my thermostat... and then I will probably boil.. but somehow boiling in November is more appealing than shoving my cold hands under my armpits inside, at work, in November.

Details. Of course, I am whining right now and it could be worse... Ken is outside quite a bit for his work, working in the inclement weather all the time and he doesn't complain, he is a trooper and does what he has to do, yet another reason why I love him. *SIGH*

Sunday, again

My house has been put to rights again, the laundry is done and the needles swept away until the next gust of wind. I am down to the last few pages of a Breath of Snow and Ashes and I have loved this book - all 1000 pages of it?! It has felt like a constant companion for the last few weeks, but it draws to a close. The worst part about discovering a favourite author in medias res is that you have to wait for them to write their next installment!!! Not nearly as satisfying as discover a "new to you" author that is a prolific writer and you have a whole library to choose from, at your leisure. It means I get to jump in to a new adventure book tomorrow!

Fiesty!

I am having one of those weeks where I am a little bit more blunt that normal. I also think I have been suffering from a bit of a sailor mouth as a result. I think I have been feeling pretty frustrated with things beyond my control in the last few weeks, and these frustrations have manifested themselves a bit in my overall fiestiness, or sassiness, or just blunt honesty.

I have been calling a spade, a spade rather than being diplomatic and trying to disguise my own frustrations with mamby pambly language that dances around the issue rather than just putting it out there. Overall this week has gotten better while it has progressed.... workwise I seem to be doing a lot of clean ups of other peoples messes, and it continues to amaze me the kind of vision that people generally walk around with. So many people walk around with blinders on, not realizing or considering the impact that their words or behaviours can have on other people. I don't think that I am unique in this awareness. There are pockets of people like us out there!

The weather has been crazy this week - I love how tumultuous it has been. The sky has been angry and roiling, and then breaks where the sun peaks through and the clouds shine silver. I have seen absolute monsoons come down, freak lightning, rivers of water down the street, the winds blowing the fall colours around, tossing them up and then sending them down wet and sticking to everything. There are so many needles down in the backyard it looks like a rust coloured patio and not concrete. I love fall - how the weather changes on a dime, and then tosses your hair around, and then breaks in a moment of beauty that takes your breathe away.

Wow, a rant and a poetic moment. I must be playing hockey tonight :]

First taste of this years batch...

The first of the Winter Ale's has come out, and frankly, I am not completely thrilled with this years offering. I had a hankering for a good beer, so I stopped in and grabbed a family of Granville I$land's Winter Ale.

I twisted off that cap after sufficiently chilling, and poured it in to a glass. No real head which I found surprising. Nice smell, and a slight vanilla taste, and it tasted ok, but it tasted a bit flat - like it didn't have a lot of kick to it, or fizz for that matter. Didn't really feel all that thirst quenching, or like more. It was nice, like an affable person that doesn't really stick out.

Looking forward to trying out other Christmas Ales that may come out. All in all, I am a microbrew girl. Unless I am in an establishment that can pour a fine black velvet (guinness and strongbow cider), I will go for a darker beer on tap, hopefully on sale but after my monday night experiences, that may not matter so much.

Glad the bulk of my work week is over. The students that I have interviewed this week fell in two camps, those that were a joy to help, those that caused me nothing but grief. Only so much character development I need to go through some weeks!!!

5 bucks!

Amazing what you can do with 5 bucks. Well that isn't completely true - I started out with $12.25 but I needed to send out a parcel (from one of the items I sold on the bay), so after squeaking in as a small package ($6.85) I had $5.40 left in my pocket. I needed to pick up the rest of dinner (just about payday so cupboards are getting sparse) and so I grabbed bulk rice, mushies, green and red peppers, and onions.. and it came to $5.33.

I am freaking awesome!! Ok, this could stem from my days working as a grocery store cashier, but damn, I am good. I find it amazing that you can have a budget, or fixed amount of dosh in your pocket and you can get what you need and have a few cents left over.

Cheap Beer

I love beer and hot wings. Some days, more than others. For our football club/pool, we get a free dinner and pint of beer on monday nights. Usually, this is a pretty good deal, except that the beer they used to have on special monday nights no longer is, and we have been cheaping out the last several weeks and getting a subpar beer (which is on special and appeals to our scotch genes).

Well, after a draft beer headache (or was it because I didn't have a coffee yesterday, I hope not!) from 2 beers, I think that next week I will be voting to continue with my free subpar beer, and then moving to the better draft beer if I feel the need to have another at that point.

It was a strange halloween - a few folk were dressed up at the pub, nothing like watching a granny make a few comments to a 20 year old MALE granny in full get up, but it was quiet. Not many fireworks in our neighborhood, or trixters out and about. Could have been the lousy, damp weather. When I went up to the bar to sign in, and got my prize draw tickets, one ticket sent a buzz up my arm and I figured I had a winner there! My dad was teasing me at the table, trying to get me to switch with him (he wins many doorprizes where I do not), but I refused, holding on to my lucky ticket. Moral of this story - I WON! I got a free pair of cool sunglassed with a case :] now if we could pick enough winners next week in our pool I will be even happier!