Road Trip

Well, boys and girls, my husband is taking me on a holiday tomorrow morning. We are going to be in Banff (yay!) until next Sunday - staying at a beautiful resort...Just the two of us for eight days.

I'm not a great skier (After 2 seasons of lessons, I actually suck), but maybe he'll talk me into one day on the slopes, but mostly it'll be shopping, eating way too much, and just having an insane amount of fun.

He's taking me to Pier 1 tomorrow to pick out my NEW DISHES!!!!!!!!! He got me a gift certificate for Christmas from there & it's been burning a hole in my wallet. As well, I'm going to stop at a store called "Gravity Pope" to get a new pair of Uggs - Amy rolled her eyes when I told her that I can't go to Banff for a week without them.

So, I'll have my laptop with me, and I'll try to keep up with everyone's lives. Have a wonderful week! I'll take lots of pictures! Peace!

Play it Again, Sam....

For those of you easily offended, read no further!


So many movies have sequels...Usually when the movie is good, the sequels are kind of disappointing - but sometimes, you're pleasantly surprised, and the sequels were well worth the wait.

Last night after dinner, my husband, my daughter & I were waiting for American Idol to start. Thanks to modern technology, I was able to surf through what was playing on each channel and see the titles of the shows (God Bless digital cable. Amen) As I'm surfing through, my hand freezes on the title of a movie that's on. This is what I saw:

"Jam It All The Way Up My Ass - 3"

Are you kidding me??? Seriously, after the insane amount of laughter, all I could wonder was, how good would the first movie have to be to warrant two sequels??? All I could say was, "Well, clearly we can't watch this - we haven't seen the first 2, and it would probably ruin the story." Then, just because for some demented reason this struck us as way too hilarious, we decided out of curiosity to look at upcoming titles just to see. This is what we found:

- "A Load In Every Hole - 4"
- "Gangland White Boys Stomp - 14"
- "Titty Mania - 13"
- "We Swallow - 10"
- "Screw My Husband, Please - 4"

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty damn certain that there's absolutely no story line to porn. I mean, technically, there is, but, trust me, dear Porn Producers, nobody...and I mean nobody watches it for the story line...Do they?

Have I been missing something here? Is porn actually so good, that they require up to 13 sequels??? This really got my mind going, when I stumbled across the only movie last night that was a first-run showing:

"Whoriental Sex Academy"

Sounded interesting...Not interesting enough to watch, but when the 15 sequels come out, maybe I'll buy the box-set.

Have a great evening, everyone. Peace.

It's Kare's Birthday!!!!!

How do I say “Happy Birthday” to my friend? Well, Kare, here’s a trip down memory lane….

I met you when I was a stupid 15 year old & we were walking to the same job. Two complete opposites who became completely inseparable. My friends didn’t like you and your friends didn’t like me. But we clicked. I went on my first road trip with you – to a Rod Stewart concert. We ordered “Chicken-on-the-Way”, and when it took too long, you wanted to phone and tell them we were going to order from “Chicken-on-the-Ball”. Please tell me why we found this so funny… ;o)

We saw each other through teenage pregnancy, good boyfriends, bad boyfriends, and hey, we even kinda shared a boyfriend at one point. We spent a lot of times at sleazy bars listening to our boys play, and loved every minute of it. I watched your budgie fly out the window and then couldn’t stop laughing when you cried and wanted to get in the car to find it. I even stayed up with you when you were convinced that our apartment was haunted.

Years came and went, we stayed in touch, and at times we lost touch. Fate brought you to Rocky who happened to live right across the street from me, and nothing had changed.

For better or for worse, in good times & in bad, in sickness & in health, as long as we both shall live. Funny how marriage vows can sum up our friendship.

Happy Birthday to my forever friend. I love you.

Okay, seriously - could my life be any busier? Two weeks ago, the temperature in this fine city was +10c (I have no idea what that is in fahrenheit, for all you Americans), and exactly a week later, I woke up to -31c. You know, it's no damn wonder why the plague is sweeping through here like a brush fire.

A week ago, I decided that because of this weather, I would do a tribute to the ladies that keep me warm every morning - my girls at Starbucks.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the counter that I have walked up to every morning for the past 16 months. These girls take such good care of me - this girl in particular:

Here she is, making my Venti Extra Hot, Non-Fat Caramel Macciatto - just the way I like it....With extra, extra, extra caramel on the top. She is just the sweetest lady - it's nice to walk in and no longer have to even place an order. She knows and she makes it.





And then there's the manager:


Such a sweet person, she's laughed, cried on my shoulder and talked to me every morning like she's known me all of her life. She's beyond wound up tighter than a drum, but a kind heart, and always there to give me the 'broken' gingerbread cookies.

She actually came up to me one day while I was grocery shopping with Vaughn. She put her arm around me and started talking to me about the family - After I introduced her to my husband, she proceeded to gossip about everyone and everything. When she walked away, Vaughn asked how I knew her, and when I told him that she was the lady that made my coffee everyday, he couldn't stop laughing. He couldn't understand how this person was talking to me like I was her best friend. He then looked at me and said, "Jesus, how much time do you actually spend there???" I didn't think any more of it until last week when I looked at the bottom of my receipt. You see, after every 7 coffees purchased, you get one free. My receipt boldly stated:

"You have purchased 2 of 7 towards your 83rd free beverage!"

So, I got out the handy-dandy calculator. I've gotten 82 free coffees - I had to purchase 574 coffees to get 82 free. With each coffee averaging $5.00, I have spent $2870.00. On coffee. In 16 months.

No wonder this woman thinks she's my best friend.

Have a great evening, everyone. Peace.

This is just so cool!

It's a girl thing

I love Thursdays. Every Thursday, Amanda (my co-worker & the manager of the place I work) and I go for lunch... It's a stressful time, and usually by Thursday, one or both of us want to wring the neck of a certain co-worker....So, it's nice - we sit, eat, laugh, bitch, and eat some more.

This Thursday turned into Friday and we went to my favorite restaurant. She is insane crazy about their clam chowder...*puke*...The only seafood I'll eat is tuna salad sandwiches, Filet of Fish or Captain Highliner's Fishsticks...I don't think either of the three would constitute as actual fish, but, whatever.

Amanda & I ordered the 'chili chicken' which was sooo good.....I'm sure it's just chicken nuggets tossed in a spicy thai chili sauce, but everything tastes better when you pay a fortune at a restaurant for it.










Like I said, Amanda always gets the clam chowder, so when the waitress asked her today if she wanted the 'meal size', she assumed that it was the same size she normally gets. Wrong. This bowl was like a bloody flying saucer.










After way too much time laughing at the barrel of chowder (and me grabbing my handy dandy cell phone to take pictures), she proceeded to eat. At first her face got really red....and then the nausea set in....You see, this isn't the first time clam chowder has done this to her. About a month ago, we ate there, and about an hour later she threw it all up in Wal Mart. I offered her some of my pan bread with Parmesan dip, but, in between gags, she politely refused.

I guess the thought of all of this food lost it's appeal when I reminded her that as much as she loves clam chowder, it'll never taste as good coming up as it did going down.

No dessert today...Lunch was over. Lucky for me, it didn't ruin my appetite at all.....I ate every bite.

Have a great day, everyone. Peace.

Yum!

Everyone knows my love for coffee... I also have an absolutle love for chocolate....Love, love, love. I happened upon the website of "chocolate nerd" (www.chocolatenerd.blogspot.com) when I was new on here...She's amazing - and what a blog! She tries out all these different chocolates & stuff and reviews them! She even makes these amazing notecards and journals that are published by Random House....What a woman.

Anyway....back on 28 November, she did a post about these fresh baked brownies made in South Africa, by this company called Khaya Cookie Company (www.khayacookies.com/index.htm). They provide employment to the men and women in a town that is riddled with poverty.... Anyway, after reading about this company, I expressed how interesting they must be. And guess what???? SHE SENT ME ONE!!!! Seriously, people - I'm spoiled beyond belief!

I've decided to wait until the weekend to try it - with an extra large cup of coffee, of course! :o)

Thanks again, Imani! You're a doll!


Have a great evening, everyone. Peace

Back to School

Happy New Year everyone!!! Wow - it's been a crazy week! Christmas was great - Santa was so good to me, but finally the madness is over, the decorations are put away for another year, and our lives are going to start getting back to normal....

I wanted to talk a little today about Amy....She graduated from high school in 2004, with no idea what the future held for her. I was so gung-ho about her going straight to college, but she just didn't see the sense in wasting her time and other people's money when she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life. So, she packed up and went on a road trip with my parent's for a few months, came back and decided she would give school a try, and she enrolled for the second semester. Almost at the end of that semester, she had an epiphany - she finally knew what her calling was. I was so happy....until she told me what it was.... After all that time (and money), she decided she wanted to be a professional body piercer. I was speechless - but, like any parent, I held it in, offered to help her get into a good apprenticeship program, and supported her. Then it came to the point where she told her father and grandfather of her dream. Bad idea. I swear, if you look up the term 'bad idea' in the dictionary, her conversation with these two men would be given an honorable mention. To say that 'shit hit the fan' would be such a gross understatement.

So, she put off school for another year. She worked hard, traveled, partied, and didn't save a dime. I knew it would come to her eventually, I just hoped it would be sooner than later. There is always a running joke in this house that we would support Amy until Adam gets out of university, and then she'd become his responsibility. I think somewhere deep down in our subconscious, we all knew that this would most likely be the way things would turn out. She was nagged by her grandparents, her father, and some of her close friends, but I knew that it would be a matter of time and it would hit her. If any of you knew Amy, she's not one to be backed into a corner. It would happen when it happened.

This is the time where I have to say that (gulp) I'm grateful for Ben entering her life. As you know, he only came up here for his summer break from university to work for Big Brothers. Amy spent a lot of time volunteering last year with him, and enjoyed it immensely. That girl is a natural born leader, and working with the children brought out something that I had never seen before. She had a purpose. She was making an impact, and changing the lives of children.

She went off to visit Ben last month, and spent a lot of time talking about her future. After all the pressure she had been under from family, he got through to her. She came back, and knew what she wanted to do. She wants to be a Social Worker. And she's beyond excited. I am over the moon excited for her. I could cry.

So, I dropped her off this morning for her 1st day of classes. I'm not a horoscope reader, but I read hers this morning and it basically said that she might as well go back to bed because this was going to be the worst day ever. We laughed about it, and I wished her luck.

Have a great day, everyone! Peace.