Hmmm

April 30, 2009 – Day 120

I have no idea what they’re doing to this building downtown (or why?) but it looks like the head of a giant insect to me.

Thanks Stacey

April 29, 2009 – Day 119

My cousin Carol recommended a book to me – Tears of the Desert, A Memoir of Survival in Darfur by Halima Bashir. I don’t have a library card but my co-worker, Stacey, ordered it for me on her card. The book came in and we walked to the library at lunchtime today to pick it up.

I started reading it on the bus ride home (a bus ride that took half an hour longer tonight because our bus broke down and we had to wait at that stop for the next bus). What I’ve read of the book so far has been very interesting. I'm planning to go to bed a little early tonight so I can read more - and I think it’s going to be hard to put down.

If I get back into reading, I'll get a library card of my own again.

Trash

April 28, 2009 – Day 118

Did you know that Brad and Angelina were on the verge of a break up a couple weeks ago? Now, she’s pregnant again with their 7th child and they’re madly in love! I know it’s ridiculous but if Brad, Angelina and/or Jen is on the front cover of one of these trash magazines, I want to read it and will often buy the magazine. That’s the only story I generally read in the entire magazine and I don’t know why I want to know - I just do.

Censored

April 27, 2009 – Day 117

On February 26, I got in some trouble at work. The security guy from our department “met” with me (interrogated me) around noon and told me the picture I posted in my Facebook album on February 5 was a breach of security, a hard copy of which (photo and journalling) he had in hand. He told me that if he can access my Facebook account, so can the “bad guys”. He asked me many things, including what I was willing to do to rectify the situation. I said I would delete the photo but since we don’t have access to Facebook at work, it would have to wait until I got home at the end of the day. He said he had access to Facebook on a computer in the building he works in across the street and asked if I’d be willing to go over there with him to delete it. I said I would (and I did). When our meeting was coming to an end, he said I could take the afternoon off “on him”. I told him I didn’t want to leave but he said staying wasn’t an option and I wouldn’t be allowed to return until I was cleared by security in Ottawa. He had to escort me off the premises but when we went to my desk to get my things, my team leader, who was then Acting Deputy Director and the Acting Director asked if they could meet with us before I was led away. They were already together because my supervisor had just finished meeting with them to advise them what was happening.

This led to my bad day at work last Thursday (another meeting with management) but the story is long, detailed and rather sensitive to post here, especially considering the trouble I’ve already been in (even though I deleted the “ friend” as soon as I found out who it was that provided materials from my Facebook account) and I blurred out my photo today for the same reason but if you want to know the full story, let me know.

What the Neighbours Bought

April 26, 2009 – Day 116

Last Thursday, when Ken got home after work, he couldn’t pull into our driveway because the neighbours had it blocked, they were having a new hot tub delivered. Could that somehow be what the red and orange lines painted on their grass were for?

Michael and Kristy

April 25, 2009 – Day 115

Adam went to Cold Lake today to spend a couple days with Christine and her family, so he wasn’t here for the usual Saturday morning coffee. Michael and his girlfriend Kristy came over though. Michael bought me a Caramel Corretto coffee from Second Cup and I made banana chocolate chip muffins and chocolate dipped strawberries for him and Kristy. I thought a picture of Michael and Kristy would be a nice picture for the day and once I saw the picture I took, and noticed the look in Michael’s “eye”, I'd venture to guess that my boy is in love. :-)

Home Cooked Roast Beef Dinner

April 24, 2009 – Day 114

Our supper tonight was inspired by my nephew Shayne's wife, Sandy. Sandy posted a picture on her blog of her roast beef birthday dinner and when I saw it last night, I instantly had a craving for the same (not another birthday, just the food). :-) I went out to do my grocery shopping this morning and picked up the fixings for a roast beef feast and whipped it up for supper tonight. My gravy was a little lumpy but it was delicious just the same and Ken loved the meal too – thanks for the great idea Sandy!

Ugly Day But Pretty Flowers

April 23, 2009 – Day 113

I didn’t have a very good day at work today but I do work on the best team in the department and really like the lawyers I work with (in other words, my trouble was due to circumstances outside our team). Since I couldn’t take a picture to show why today wasn’t a good day, I took a picture of why yesterday was a much better day. These are the flowers I received as part of the little celebration they had for Administrative Assistants Day yesterday. They’re so pretty and I wish I could have brought them home today but I didn’t have a box to put them in and they would have been too awkward to carry on the bus without a box.

Jen's Office

April 22, 2009 – Day 112

For Administrative Assistants Day, we were treated to a great lunch this afternoon. We were also each given a bouquet of flowers and gift card to Tim Horton’s. The lunch was held in one of our larger boardrooms which is in Manulife Place. My friend Jen works in Manulife so after the lunch, I went back to Jen’s office with her to take this picture.

Nosey Nellie

April 21, 2009 – Day 111

I’m usually too busy doing my own thing to care what my neighbours are doing but I am curious about these orange and red lines in the yard of our adjacent neighbour to the south. Last Friday some guys (not sure if they were city employees or not) came out to the neighbour’s property to survey something. They drew these lines on the grass and “planted” little red flags along those lines as they surveyed. I couldn’t get a great picture but the red lines run along the outside of the neighbour’s fence and in their backyard at a diagonal from the corner of the fence that is adjacent to our property. The little flags have been taken down but otherwise nothing else has happened; however, I am curious to know what is going to happen.

A Necessary Evil

April 20, 2009 – Day 110

If you’re a woman in your 40s or older, you probably know what this ominous looking machine is for. If you’re a younger woman, you’ll discover what this ominous looking machine is for when you’re a little older. It’s not a machine that I like very much. They flatten breasts between plastic plates to take x-rays of them with this machine – but this testing (a mammogram) can help save lives by detecting early evidence of breast cancer. I learned from a poster that these x-rays can detect a lump three years before it can be felt by a regular breast exam. It’s one of those things in life I view as a necessary evil - and I had to go (routine doctor’s orders) for one of these nasty little tests today.

Just Because

April 19, 2009 – Day 109

Yesterday afternoon Michael brought me a “surprise” bouquet of flowers, as the card says, “Just Because”. Thank you Michael, I absolutely love these beautiful flowers!

Company's Coming - for Breakfast

April 18, 2009 - Day 108

This week, Travis and his dad spent a few days in the city visiting Adam and Michael and a couple days in Cold Lake visiting Christine and her family. They went back to Grande Prairie today but I made a big breakfast for the boys and Kristy this morning before Travis and his dad left for home. The boys brought coffee from Second Cup (a delicious pumpkin flavoured coffee for me) and I made sausage strata, hash browns, orange juice and tried a new recipe from my cousin Carol for dessert. Black Forest Buns…mmm. Although they look delicious, nobody had room for them after breakfast so the boys took a few home for later.

Bed and Breakfast for Ian

April 17, 2009 – Day 107

My son-in-law, Ian, had an early appointment in the city this morning. He drove down from Cold Lake and spent the night at our house last night. I didn’t get to see much of him because he arrived about 10:15 p.m. and had to leave at 8:00 this morning; Ken didn’t get to see him at all because he was already in bed when Ian got here and gone to work before Ian got up this morning. I did get a chance to make breakfast for Ian before he left though.

Spring Cleaning

April 16, 2009 – Day 106

Another sure sign of spring – today our streets were cleaned! Two of these big machines zipped up and down our cul de sac and had the road cleaned in a matter of minutes.

A New Purse - Or Two!

April 15, 2009 – Day 105

I finally broke down and picked out a new purse today! When I got to the till to pay for it, the cashier told me they have a sale – buy a second purse at half price. It’s so hard for me to ever decide on a purse so I doubted I’d be able to find another purse I liked well enough to buy on the same day, but I did! So I got TWO new purses today! They’re not expensive though, both only came to $44.60.

And, in response to a challenge from my sister Darlene earlier this year to show what’s in our purses, here’s what came out of my old purse (which is on the right in the picture). However, not all of it will be going into my new purse, it’s time to clean out the junk and shred those receipts!

I don’t know why but I have a terrible time getting rid of receipts; there are 41 in this stack. Here’s a list of the other items included here: my watch, set of keys, ChapStick (very important and I never leave home without it), 2 partially used packs of gum (although I rarely chew gum, I always seem to have some in my purse), 3 mints from Ricky’s, 5 partially used packages of Halls, a few Tums that are turning to powder in a small plastic bag, a few odd vitamins in a small plastic bag, Ativan, Advil, hair pick, eyeglass cleaner, dental floss, Tide pen, work ID and pass card, 1 loose loonie, chequebook, a full bankbook, a half empty bankbook, my wallet which contains things like my Driver’s License, Alberta Health Care card, 2 credit cards, grocery store reward cards, Carlton Cards reward card and other similar cards, a few business cards, $120 and $11.25 change..

And there’s more – a small pair of scissors, 2 eyeglass screwdrivers (uhm, don’t try to get into the courthouse with those items), 3 pens, a small package of stamps, 2 old grocery lists, small stickies with list on top one that says, hash browns, mushroom soup” and lower on the stickie I wrote “200.00” (no idea why now). The lottery ticket I bought a few weeks ago was still in my purse and I discovered we only had ONE number on one of the 3 tickets we bought! There’s a requisition for a mammogram I have to go for on Monday (if you don’t know what it is, don’t ask :-), $3 off Cookies by George coupon, 25% off expired Home Outfitters coupon, Overcoming Panic list, 5 loose Kleenexes, scrap piece of paper with e-mail address on it, folded sheet of paper with notes of my sister’s condition when she was in the hospital a few years ago, family phone numbers on the page as well and a reminder note to myself to ask my stepsister and mortgage broker, Amelia, on the back side (something to do with our house purchase in 2005), a printed page off the Staples website of the new computer monitor I bought in January, iRewards coupons, and an invoice for Little Bear’s pre-dental surgery vet visit in January. And that’s why I need a bigger purse - and to be able to carry my point-and-shoot camera in it as well!

Old Man Winter Pays a Visit

April 14, 2009 – Day 104

Bundled in my winter coat and scarf, I took this picture as my bus was pulling up to my stop at 5 to 7 this morning. Winter was back. Thankfully, it was only a short visit though; by the time I got off work this afternoon spring had returned.

The worst spring snowfall I remember was on May 20, 1997. In Edmonton, hundreds of trees already lush with leaves on their branches were damaged, snapping under the weight of the heavy snow. Some of those branches fell on vehicles and other things, causing additional, costly damage. The sound of the snapping branches was eerie, bringing to mind what a war zone might sound like.

Hand me Down Recipes

April 13, 2009 – Day 103

I took a break from designing to work on other things today. I had some laundry, housework and cooking to do but I also spent about four hours on another big project I’m currently working on. I’m going through all my cookbooks and typing up all my favourite recipes. When I’m finished, I’ll print a copy for each of my kids.

I’ve been working on this project off and on for months, probably over a year altogether but I’ve set a goal for myself to have it done by Christmas this year. Today I counted how many recipes I have left to type and there are 111 (from a wide variety of cookbooks). I believe I can manage that by Christmas time.

Breakfast for Supper

April 12, 2009 – Day 102

I spent a good deal of the day trying to finish a kit for the store before our Sunday night deadline. Ken helped out by making supper. He made eggs and toast with cheese on the side and his breakfast for supper was yummy. He can cook my eggs exactly how I like them.

I was up until almost 2:00 a.m. but managed to get my kit finished and uploaded. It was a couple hours late but I’m hoping it will still be included with the new releases next Sunday.

Vintage Goodies

April 11, 2009 – Day 101

These are the items I bought at the antique sale yesterday. Everything but the pink glass platter and box of food colors is for use in my designing business.

Mom gave me a platter exactly like this one several years ago but for $10, I thought I should buy this second one in case I ever accidentally break the one Mom gave me and I’m sure there will be occasions when I’ll be able to use both platters at the same time.

This is what I spent at each of the booths I shopped at:
Baby/Kitten picture $10
Bride + 1 old photo with frame $12
12 vintage cards $30
Depression glass pink platter $10
Food colors $16
Bag of buttons $5
Total = $83.00

Antiques!

April 10, 2009 – Day 100

My sister Darlene and I went to the Wildrose Antique Show & Sale at the Agricom today. We moved through the aisles of exhibits at a good pace but it still took us more than four hours to make our way through the hall. I love antiques so I was in my glory; I even found a few small things to buy.

Ninety-Nine

April 9, 2009 – Day 99

I didn’t have ninety-nine red balloons or ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall so I settled for ninety-nine pennies to represent ninety-nine days in – Project 365, loving it!

Goodbye Winter!

April 8, 2009 – Day 98

We still had a lot of snow on the ground on Monday but it’s been warm and melting like crazy. I can’t believe it but our snow is almost gone (other than in those shady spots), melted away in a matter of three days! For those of us who aren’t so fortunate to live where there is virtually no snow, we really appreciate spring and the warmer weather! It got up to +10C today and, other than the chill of the wind, felt somewhat like a tropical paradise. I’m still not daring enough to “shed” my winter coat though!

There are even signs of life (neighbourhood kids) on our street these wonderful SPRING days!

Dare I?!

April 7, 2009 – Day 97

Today was the first day this year that I didn’t wear or carry (in my bag) my scarf and mitts to work. The mittens are many years old but they’re still toasty warm on the coldest of winter days so I can’t bear to part with them to buy new ones - but I have absolutely no problem putting them away for the next seven or eight months!

I wonder if I dare put them away yet?!

I'm a Singer!

April 6, 2009 – Day 96

Well if the truth be known, I’m NOT a singer - but I have a whole lot of fun pretending I am! This is my collection of PlayStation 2 singstar games and as far as I know, it’s complete and up-to-date. It’s especially fun to play when my kids and grandkids are visiting and we all let loose and sing our hearts out.

Bath Time

April 5, 2009 – Day 95

Little Bear had a bath today. He loves to swim, and it’s hard to get him out of the water once he’s in a lake or river - but he hates to bath. Can you tell?

First BBQ? Not Quite...

April 4, 2009 – Day 94

My picture today was going to be of our first bar-b-que of the season; however, when Ken fired up the bar-b-que, he discovered we were out of propane. The rest of the meal was ready and we didn’t want to waste the extra time running out to fill the tank so I decided to try frying the steaks. I haven’t fried steak in years; in fact, I never buy steak during the winter months because I have this idea in my head that steak is wasted if it isn’t cooked on the bar-b-que. However, this was a good excuse to use my “new” frying pans – and the steak was surprisingly delicious fried!

I prefer rib steak (medium-rare); Ken likes T-Bone (well done). I fried one of each and an extra rib steak to use in another meal for Ken and I - maybe wraps.

Cherry Blossom

April 3, 2009 – Day 93

When my sisters and I were young, we never had a regular allowance but once in a while mom would give us a dollar to share between the 4 of us. Back then, 25 cents went a long way. Our favourite place to go with our loot was Syl’s Confectionery in High Prairie, where we’d spend every cent. We could buy five pieces of Double Bubble gum for a penny, Mojo candies were two for a penny, a Pep chocolate/mint bar was five cents. There were so many candies to choose from and it took us what seemed like hours to make our selections but by the end of our shopping excursion we would have a brown sandwich bag more than half full of candy. I bet mom gave us that dollar knowing it would buy her some free time! :-)

Once in a while we would spend more of our 25 cents on one item: chips were ten cents, pop was 12. One of my absolute favourites was the Cherry Blossom; like a chocolate bar, it cost ten cents - but it was worth every single little bite.

Now that I’m an adult I prefer savory treats and rarely eat sweets or candy but once in a while I do indulge in a sweet and when I do, there’s nothing quite like a good old-fashioned Cherry Blossom. It’s one of those rare things that really does taste as good now as I remember it tasting way back when.

The Winning Ticket?

April 2, 2009 – Day 92

I’m not much of a gambler but since Cathy and Barry won just under $77,000.00 a few weeks ago, Ken and I thought we should buy a couple tickets and try our luck as well. Today I finally remembered to buy those tickets. After finding out that they were only $2 each, I decided to splurge; I bought 3!

After the cashier told me how much the tickets cost, the conversation between her and I went something like this: I’ll take 3 please. What kind? What kind?! Quick picks please. No, what kind of quick picks? Oh, there are more than one kind? There are 3 kinds. Oh. What kinds are there? She named the 3 different kinds and I recognized “649” so that’s the kind I bought. :-)

What is the "Extra" on this ticket? You must have to pay extra? lol Should I have paid the extra? Does it increase your chances of winning?

It might take me weeks to remember to check the numbers after the draw date, which I’m assuming by the ticket is Saturday, April 4th.

Ouch!

April 1, 2009 – Day 91

I burned my hand on the top element of the oven when I was making our mini pizzas Saturday evening. It still hurts but I find ozonol soothes it.