Visichy

New Years Resolution 2010 - week 12

2010-03-22T07:07:00.002-06:00

I tried to make this a "green" week and came so close but for 3 minor slip ups. I forgot to take my morning vitamin one day. And once I do that it's hard to make up for it once I'm at work so I had to accept a yellow there. I also missed one training session with Claire. I intended to do some work on her "stand on command" on Saturday night but I went out for dinner and by the time I came home I completely forgot. My third oops was with the goal to eat fruit. I had two servings but need three for a green square. I knew that one would be a challenge so I need to be more vigilant about planning for those fruit servings.

On the plus side, my weak point last week (getting 5 work out sessions in per week) was not only met but surpassed as I exercised all 7 days. They varied in activity and intensity so it wasn't too much... I just lived an active lifestyle this past week :)

This coming week is going to be tricky because I'm going to a dog show this weekend. Dog show weekends are challenging for anyone on any kind of diet as the food offerings are generally unhealthy and packing enough healthy food without a way to store or cook it is an extra challenge so I'm guaranteed to eat out a lot. And I'll be very busy at the show and tired at the end of the day but I wouldn't call it a workout so I'm sure that goal will fall short. So I'll do my best but I'm bracing myself for some yellow and possibly red squares this week.

The new goal for the week is to keep track of what I eat. I'll write down everything I eat in a spreadsheet. Have a great week!

New Years Resolution 2010 - week 11

2010-03-15T06:09:00.004-06:00

This week I tried to be sooooooo good so that I would have a full green line on the chart but I fell short by just one little workout. Argh! I'll have to try again this week. The solid green line will become harder and harder as time goes on but I'm determined to do it :)

This week my goal is to put my jacket away whenever I come in the house. I've gotten in the bad habit lately of throwing my jacket on the living room floor when I come in. I used to throw it on the loveseat but since we rearranged the living room furniture I can't do that so now I just throw it on the floor..... not good! It'll make my living room a better place to be if there is less stuff on the floor.

New Years Resolution 2010 - week 10

2010-03-08T06:09:00.001-07:00

This was a pretty good week. I only have 2 yellow squares. I missed one training session with Claire (pretty good considering how often I have trouble with this one) and I went to bed after 10 pm 2 nights. But those weren't due to just staying up late... I was at events (an archery shoot and the annual SABA banquet) and arrived home well after 10pm on both occasions.

Here is this week's chart......

Although I like to think I eat fairly healthy I do struggle in a couple of areas. I've addressed some of them already but this week's goal is not about foods I need to avoid but instead foods I need to eat. I enjoy and eat a lot of vegetables but I seldom eat fruit. I just don't like many fruits. Apples, oranges, bananas... not interested. I'm more interested in berries, melons, and tropical fruits such as pineapple, kiwi, and mangoes. Unfortunately these are some of the more expensive fruits out there, especially in the winter, but my taste buds just don't care about my wallet ;)

So my goal is to eat a serving of fruit at least 3 times a week (for me, that's a lot). For the purposes of this goal I do not count tomatoes as fruit as I eat a lot of tomatoes but I need to diversify. I can use juice only for one serving but would prefer not to use juice at all. I tend not to drink juice unless I'm sick so that shouldn't be a problem.

New Years Resolution 2010 - week 9

2010-03-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

So this wasn't my all time best week but as each week passes they get more and more complicated so I think my "best weeks" are behind me.

I missed one workout this week (whoops!) and two training sessions with Claire (double whoops!). And one day I forgot to take my morning vitamin so that's 3 yellow squares. Oh yeah, and apparently I have no self control around sugary treats LOL! In spite of my efforts to be good, I had a cookie, candy, or donut 8 times in the course of the week. 5 is my maximum allowed and that really should be more than enough. I'm going to try much harder this week.

This week my new resolution is to put my laundry away within 24 hours of folding it. I wash, dry, and fold my laundry on a lovely schedule each week. And then my clean and folded laundry sits in a laundry basket in the bedroom and I choose my clothes out of the laundry basket when I SHOULD be choosing them out of my closet or dresser. I don't know why I can't seem to do that last step. I don't mind putting stuff in drawers so much, it's the hanging up of all my shirts and dress pants that I particularly hate. But if I don't hang them up then things get wrinkled again. So it's in my best interest to just put them away already! LOL. So that's my goal for this week :)

New Years Resolution 2010 - week 8

2010-02-22T06:27:00.003-07:00

This week was a little more normal than the last few weeks have been (because of Claire being in season) but we had the Family Day holiday and it was reading week which threw a bit of a wrench into things. My fitness classes were cancelled but I subbed 2 classes. It was a short work week but a very busy and stressful one.

I fell slightly short in 2 areas. I missed one traning session with Claire and I missed one workout. If I could have counted archery more than once I would have been fine on the workouts as I went to a competitive shoot on Sunday which took all day but couldn't count it and didn't have time (or the energy) to do another workout on top of it.

My latest resolution went well though. I was allowed 5 candies/cakes/cookies and had 4. And no chocolate :) I'm going to try for even less this week. Baby steps for me.

In the past couple of years I have really slacked on wearing my retainer after having braces for a few years. So my goal starting this week is to wear my retainer one night a week. My teeth are starting to creep back to their old crooked positions so hopefully this will stop them and bring them back to where they are supposed to be.

New Years Resolution 2010 - week 7

2010-02-15T15:22:00.003-07:00

I'm making a slight change to the format of my weekly new years resolution blog post. I hate to focus on the negatives but for practical reasons I'll only be highlighting where I went off the rails each week. As the goals add up I'll have lots to keep track of without rehashing the details and I don't really think anyone cares how much water I drank or what time I went to bed. The goals will still be there and I'll write up anything that was other than expected.

So this week I had only one real slip up and overall did okay. Claire was still in season (her last week so next week I have no excuse! LOL) so her training sessions went by the wayside. I did 2 sessions but that fell short of what I wanted to do so I got a red square.

As this week contained Valentine's Day, a day traditionally celebrated with chocolate, I saved my day where I'm "allowed" to have chocolate for that day. So my chocolate-free time came to an end after 4 weeks.

This coming week's goal was going to have sweets (cakes, cookies, or candies) no more than twice a week. However, I had 2 already in the first day LOL! So I changed it to 5 times a week thinking that would be a more reasonable goal that I can attain. It certainly gives me something to reach for but hopefully is more realistic for me. If I choose to have chocolate in the week, that will be separate from these 5 sweets.

Although chocolate wasn't too hard for me to give up, I think sweets, specifically candy, will be very hard to give up. My weakness is caramel candies and gummy candies. I must be strong and resist! :)

New Years Resolution 2010 - week 6

2010-02-07T19:51:00.003-07:00

Well, this was rather an unusual week.

Water - no problem :)
20 mins exercise X 5 - I did 4 formal exercise sessions plus 4 archery sessions. Given that archery is physical activity but not very strenuous I've decided that I can use only one archery session per week as an "exercise session" for this challenge. So for this week I met my 5 exercise sessions goal.
Claire training sessions X 5 - unfortunately Claire was in standing heat this week so no obedience or agility class for her. And as I spent so much time doing archery in the evenings I didn't make the time to train her at home. I did 2 training sessions but that's not enough for a yellow square so I have a red one this week.
Chocolate only once - I haven't had any chocolate again this week. It really wasn't that hard to give up chocolate I'm finding. I still have sugar and other desserts but none contain chocolate.
Take vitamins twice a day - I had one minor slip up. I missed one evening vitamin but didn't realize it until the next day when it was too late to make it up. So... yellow square.
No food after 8pm X 6 - Well, this happened to be one of those weeks where my schedule was not what I expected. With Claire being in season and me unable to take her to class I was free to go to archery shoots in small towns in Southern Alberta. Unfortunately this made for some very late nights and twice I ended up having supper after 8pm. I'm allowed one slip up but two = yellow square.

One side effect of all the late nights this week is I was absolutely shattered by Friday as I hadn't had enough sleep. Thus, the inspiration for this week's challenge. My goal is to be in bed by 10pm most nights. Some forgiveness is allowed on the weekend but I would like to be in bed by 10pm even then, if possible, so 6 nights a week is the goal.

New Years Resolution 2010 - week 5

2010-01-31T19:01:00.004-07:00

All things considered, this was a pretty good week. I became sick on Tuesday and it never really let up until the weekend. This made a couple of resolutions quite a challenge.

Drink 8 cups of water - I bent the rules just a little on this one while I was sick. On the worst days I drank 4-6 cups of water but drank an additional 4-6 cups of orange juice with club soda (my drink of choice when sick). Normally only pure water is acceptable for my challenge but if I'm sick, I think this substitution is fine.

20 minutes exercise X 5 - I only got in 2 workouts out of 5 (again, because I was sick) which is a 40% success rate.... lower than the 50% necessary for a yellow square so I have to be content with a red. The funny thing was, I tried to do yoga while I was sick so I could still get my resolution workouts in. This worked fine for about 2 minutes until they started asking for "deep yoga breathing" which my lungs and sinuses were not going to let me do LOL. I did my best for the session but never tried it again.

Claire training sessions X 5 - Claire and I had 5 sessions where we covered the obedience stand, conformation stacking, and free-stacking. It's surprising how good she has gotten in just 5 sessions of reinforcing the stand commands.

Have chocolate only once - I can't believe I've gone 2 whole weeks without chocolate. I know I'm "allowed" to have it but I'm afraid to waste my weekly indulgence on cheap chocolate or an early-in-the-week craving. So the situation just hasn't presented itself yet where partaking in chocolate seems worth it.

Take vitamins twice a day - Although my goal was to take them with breakfast and supper, I'm really glad I counted success for just taking them twice a day as the times I took them varied wildly.

This week my goal is to not eat anything after 8pm with one allowance made per week. The goal is because almost every time I eat later in the evening I reach for junk food.... either salty or sweet but rarely with any nutrients. These are needless calories that don't get burned off as I go to bed about 9:30pm. The reason for allowing myself one day off from this rule is because my schedule can often be so crazy that I simply can't eat anything until 8pm or close to it. So this is to allow me the flexibility to deal with weeks were I have crazy days like that.

New Years Resolution 2010 - week 4

2010-01-24T18:07:00.004-07:00

Uh oh! My first yellow square happened this week.

Drink 8 cups of water - almost missed a day as I got busy running around town on Friday and didn't bring my water bottle with me. But I pulled it together in the evening and got my minimum water amount in :)

20 minutes exercise X 5 - I've developed a habit now of exercising each morning before work. Whether it's teaching my class, doing some yoga, or walking the dogs (weather permitting), if I can get my exercise done in the morning then anything I do later in the day or on the weekends is a bonus.

Claire training sessions X 5 - Here's where I messed up and only got 4 sessions in. I had 5 sessions planned but life had other plans this week. 4 is still good and I'm giving myself a yellow square :)

Have chocolate only once - I actually didn't have any chocolate at all. So I get a big ol' green square for that :) Having a goal and some accountability (this blog) really helped. To be honest, I didn't even miss it. Last week it seemed like an overwhelming goal but it turned out to be one of the easiest so far... for one week at least LOL!

This week's goal is also aimed at improving my health. I take a multi-vitamin twice a day. Well, I'm SUPPOSED to take it twice a day LOL. But all too often I forget the evening one. I'm supposed to take it with food but that never happens... if I remember at all it's usually the last thing I do before bedtime. So the goal is to take the vitamin twice a day with food (breakfast and supper) but if I take it twice, even if it's not with food, then that will still count as success. It's just a matter of making it a habit.

Wish me luck :)

New Years Resolution 2010 - week 3

2010-01-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

3 resolutions this week and doing fine. :D

Drinking water - never an issue. Getting in 10 cups or more most days. :)

20 minutes exercise, 5 times - I started teaching my step classes again which took care of 2 sessions. Then one day I used an exercise DVD, one time I jumped on the treadmill, and one time I went with Vince to take the dogs for a walk. Last weekend I found a bunch of cheap exercise DVD's at Walmart (featuring people I recognized so I'm not worried about the quality of instruction). So I can't say I'm bored with my exercise routine now that I have 8 new 60 minute workouts to choose from :)

Training Claire 5 times - This was the most challenging resolution as it was a new activity in my routine but one I really needed to do. I worked with Claire in each of obedience, agility, and conformation for at least one session in the week. My lowest priority is agility as I imagine it'll be 6-12 months before she'll be ready to compete but Claire will be competing in conformation and obedience (rally, to be specific) in about 10 weeks so any extra training sessions have been and will continue to be devoted to those pursuits.

For my fourth resolution this year I've decided to correct a very bad habit I picked up before Christmas and have stuck to with great enthusiasm. I've been eating way way WAY too much chocolate. Really, it's all sweets but chocolate, something I didn't even like that much, is something I've gotten a taste for and have been eating far too much of.... sometimes daily and occasionally more than once a day. That's crazy when I used to rarely eat chocolate.

So, with that in mind, I've decided to limit my chocolate intake to one time a week. It can be a "chocolate trio" dessert at Moxie's, a bag of M&M's at the movie theater, or I could waste it on a chocolate chip cookie in the break room at work LOL. I expect this to be the first step for a later resolution that is more restrictive in my sugar consumption but I need baby steps :)

New Years Resolution 2010 - week 2

2010-01-10T15:00:00.003-07:00

Week 2 had some challenges. The goal was to do 20 minutes of cardio activity 5 days of the week. I made a minor change from cardio to 20 minutes of any kind of exercise... cardio, weights, yoga, etc. Unfortunately I was sick for 2 of the days early in the week so those were automatically the 2 days off. I really didn't want to mess up the resolutions so early in the year so I had to be really vigilant in getting the required 20 minutes in all of the other days. But I did it :D

The week 1 challenge of drinking 8 cups or more of water wasn't a problem at all. So I get a green square for that too.

As you can see on the chart below, I'm keeping track of my weeks and resolutions. Each week, for every resolution, past and current, I will either get a green square (100% followed), yellow square (mostly followed), or red square (followed 50% or less of the time). Of course I would like to have a pure green chart at the end of the year but I'm sure as the resolutions pile up I will slip up here and there so in the end the chart will look less like a pure green triangle than a Christmas Tree LOL!!

Two resolutions down.... fifty to go. It sounds daunting but I'm looking forward to the next one.

The goal for Week 3 is to do some kind of training (obedience, agility, or conformation) with Claire at least 5 days a week. I'm hoping to enter her first obedience (rally novice) competition at the end of March and although I know she has the basic skills to qualify, she needs to work around more distractions to help with her confidence in the ring. She'll also be in her first conformation show that weekend so although she doesn't need a lot of conformation training, per se, she needs a bit of work with free stacking and practice moving out on the show lead.

Check back next week to see how I did with the new resolution plus the previous 2 weeks. :)

2010... A New Year's Resolution - week 1

2010-01-05T07:46:00.010-07:00

My new year's resolutions in the past, like so many other people's, haven't had much staying power. So for 2010 I decided to do something a little bit different. I'm going to have a new resolution each week. They will be small things.... things that a perfect person would be doing anyways... but hopefully I'll be able to stick to them and by the end of the year I'll have 52 new good habits.

For this personal challenge I decided to make the week run from Monday - Sunday. I'll blog about each week's success or failure at the end of the week.

The first week of 2010 was an abbreviated week.... Friday January 1st - Sunday January 3rd. The goal was to drink at least 8 cups of water each day. Drinking enough water hasn't been much of an issue for me but over the Christmas break I noticed I wasn't drinking as much as usual so I used the first few days to get back on track.

I'm happy to report that week 1 was a success. I drank 8 or more cups of water each day and felt better for it :) I think part of the reason I felt better was because I was better hydrated but the other part is because I was getting control over an aspect of my health that I had let slide over the Christmas break. It felt good to have a goal/plan/schedule after some time without one.

The goal for week 2 is to do 20 minutes of cardio 5 times over the course of the week. It has to be done on 5 different days and has to be outside of my normal routine. I start teaching step classes again next week so this is partly to help me gear back up for them after taking a month off. Check back next week to see if I met that goal and was able to keep up with the week 1 goal.

Irony.... Louisa, don't read this one ;)

2009-08-05T15:28:00.004-06:00

Take a look at this picture and take note of the gi-normous item in the middle of the living room:

Now take a look at the close up shot of the corner of the item in question:
Irony, anyone?

Well traveled eyewear

2009-06-15T18:24:00.003-06:00

Today I wore sandals to work for the first time this year. At one point I slipped my feet out of my sandals at my desk and looked at the bottom of my foot. There was a strange light blue semi-circle on the bottom of my foot. I peeled it off and it took me a minute to realize what it was. Then I figured it out... it was a contact lens!

Last night I was in the shower and I decided that the next morning I would start a new pack of contact lenses. So I took my contacts out while I was in the shower to let them run down the drain. But it seems one got stuck to the bottom of my foot. It lasted through that shower, all night in bed, walking around the house and taking the dogs for a walk the next morning, a morning shower (where I obviously didn't wash the bottom of my foot LOL), and getting ready and driving to work. That is one sticky contact lens. :)

I'm all for appreciating other cultures but.....

2009-06-09T10:35:00.003-06:00

This is going to sound racist but I think I have a valid point. Enough with the "Native Awareness Weeks" already!

In the last 2 months there have been:

A Native Awareness Week put on by the University including pow-wows, speakers, etc.
A Native Awareness Week put on by the city with more pow-wows, speakers, arts & crafts for the kiddies, etc.
U of L convocation with native elements in the ceremonies (drumming and songs).
A native symposium (lectures, dancing demonstrations, etc) held in the university atrium.

These are just off the top of my head... I'm sure there were more events. All this is just a 2 month period.

My question is, at what point is enough enough? I am "aware" of the natives. Having spent many of my school years in this area I've been to my share of drumming ceremonies, round dances, and the like. It gets to a point where it feels shoved down my throat.

When do I get to celebrate my own heritage? There are a lot of English immigrants in Canada.... when do we get to have "British Awareness Week"? Tea, scones, and yorkshire puddings all around. We can wear crowns like the royal family and play polo. Then we can go to a pub to drink Guiness and sing football anthems. I'd sign up for that!

Yoga Workshop

2009-06-01T11:31:00.003-06:00

This past weekend I went to a yoga workshop. It was not the experience that I was expecting. I figured we'd do a total of 10 hours (in a 48 hour period) of yoga but instead it was broken down into some yoga, some meditation (also not at all as I pictured it), some chanting (ummmm, okay), and some qi-gong (kind of like tai-chi).

The yoga was challenging but at no point painful which was a surprise. My experiences in the past with yoga have often involved holding poses so long that I lose circulation and have excrutiating pain. But at the workshop I didn't have any pain like that so YAY! Poses weren't held very long and the instructor fostered a very permissive environment where any modifications needed (due to injuries or whatever) were encouraged.

The qi-gong I found to be very similar to yoga so they went well together. All movements were very slow and controlled and required a surprising amount of strength. I'd recommend it for some variety in a workout routine.

The chanting was a little bizarre. I tried to get into it but I never really was able to. I'd do it again and it was a nice break from the yoga but it's not something that came naturally to me.

The meditation was my favorite part. It was very relaxing. We would lie down or sit in a specific position with our eyes closed while the instructor read to us a story or asked us to picture something in our minds. After a few minutes we would finish and talk about what we saw or experienced. Some people got nothing and some had specific images come to their minds.

During one meditation I saw some salmon jumping/swimming upstream, then a shipwreck, then a fire. I was very calm and peaceful while seeing these images which, to me, was odd given that each image involved a lot of activity. So afterwards I mentioned what I saw to the instructor and she said I was probably seeing images from past lives. I had no idea what to say to that as I have never given much thought to reincarnation and it was a bit of a shock to have someone tell me that I had past lives when I hadn't decided if I even believed in them. It was a bizarre and unique experience for sure but one that I am happy to have had.

Dementia already?

2009-05-20T10:28:00.002-06:00

This morning Vince turned to me and said "I heard on the radio the other day....." and proceeds to tell me a story. I stared at him in utter shock the whole time.

When he finished I said "yes, I know about that story because I'M the one that told it to YOU two days ago!!! Not the radio... ME!!!"

**Sigh**

May long weekend.... time for a movie review post

2009-05-19T10:29:00.002-06:00

Hello my blogging friends. In the last week I have seen a few movies and I thought you might be interested to know what I thought of them. Maybe you are and maybe you aren't but either way I'm going to write about them :)

Last Chance Harvey - the trailer looked promising... a cute love story between Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. But the delivery was slow and, in places, almost irritating. Dustin Hoffman loses his job halfway through the movie (it's in the trailer so I'm not giving anything away) but they never really explained why. Just that he was "out of chances". I finished the movie feeling dissatisfied and somewhat bored. Sorry, this was just a 2 star movie for me.

Star Trek - I think I enjoyed this movie more than most. Based on the fact that sometimes I was the only one in the theater laughing, I got some of the inside jokes that others either missed or didn't find funny. I also love that they legitimately took the Star Trek story in a whole new direction. They can re-explore the relationships between crew members, re-introduce old villains as new again, and enjoy the story-telling devices of new technology while still giving a nod to the original franchise. This movie gets a solid 5 stars from me :)

Slumdog Millionaire - Maybe the fact that I saw this movie after the hype and awards put my expectations too high. It was a good movie but I didn't think it was outstanding. It left a couple of unanswered questions and, frankly, with the news stories about the "slumdog kids" having their homes demolished and so forth, it put a bit of a damper on the whole show. I'll give it 4 stars.

Hound Dog - the controversial movie where Dakota Fanning's character gets raped. It was an okay movie. Dakota Fanning was awesome but she always is. For movie going satisfaction I'd recommend The Secret Life of Bees instead. It's a surprisingly similar story but more entertaining and easier to watch. Hound Dog gets 3 stars from me.

Frost/Nixon - I'm surprised this movie was a nominee for best picture at the Oscars. Yes, the acting was excellent but the story didn't really grab me. Maybe because I'm not a fan of Richard Nixon I was tainted before seeing it. I was mildly entertained but I wouldn't recommend it to a friend. 2 1/2 stars.

Marley & Me - one of the few movies I've seen that does justice to the book. Don't get me wrong, the book is better (it always is) but I didn't feel like anything critical or exceptional had been left out in the movie. I'm not a big fan of Owen Wilson but he did a decent job of being the sympathetic main character. If you haven't seen it, I recommend having a full box of tissues nearby when you watch it. It's a tear jerker but it's worth it. 4 1/2 stars.

Tin Cup - to be fair, this is an older movie although I'd never seen it. To further be charitable, I was tired when I started watching it so falling asleep during the movie may not have been totally the movie's fault. But in all honesty, I can't imagine anything worse than watching an actress (Rene Russo), who seems to only be able to play the same one-dimensional character over and over, unconvincingly act smart and strong while simultaneously watching Kevin Costner attempt to play the wounded hero by either being an idiot or standing around and saying nothing. All this is set on the background of a rundown driving range while Cheech Marin drinks beer, smokes cigars, and tries to be the movie's comic relief. I tried to like it but really none of it was working for me. 1 1/2 stars.

... and I don't care

2009-05-15T09:56:00.002-06:00

I'm wearing a sweatshirt to work today even though it's not really dress code appropriate.... and I don't care.

I should be working on finishing up some stuff for a project right now but instead I'm blogging.... and I don't care.

I'm not supposed to work with my office door closed but I am because of the noisy cubicle dwellers just outside.... and I don't care.

I haven't turned my page-a-day calendar to the right date in 10 days.... and I don't care.

All I can think about is food.... and I don't care.

I'm moderately crabby today.... and I don't care.

There are lots of things that I DO care about but I'm too tired to put them in writing right now..... and I don't care :)

Happy Anniversary :)

2009-05-12T11:06:00.002-06:00

Vince & I are celebrating are 2 year wedding anniversary today. My mother-in-law said it wouldn't last a year. Vince & I knew better and we are well on our way to proving her very very wrong :)

The celebration will be small this year. We are having dinner at The Keg and I made this for dessert..... http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/strawberry-shortcakecake/

You know you ate too much junk food when....

2009-05-07T12:17:00.004-06:00

You go to the convenience store near your office where you used to go every day and buy popcorn, chips, chocolate, and candy.... then one day you go in and just buy popcorn and a diet beverage and the woman behind the counter exclaims "That's all? You usually get much more than that".

Uh, thanks for the comment on my dietary habits, stranger. That wasn't uncomfortable for me at all! LOL.

An uncomfortable situation

2009-05-05T18:56:00.002-06:00

So here's the situation.... I'm at the massage therapists getting a massage. She was stretching my gluteus maximus muscle. She asked if my leg was relaxed. It wasn't and she knew it wasn't but I said yes anyways. Why? Because I had to fart. And if I relaxed I might have farted. And I couldn't confess that to her because then one of three scenarious would have happened. Either:
1. she would have said "go ahead and fart" and I would have and stunk up the room and been embarassed.
2. she would have said "go ahead and fart" and I wouldn't have been able to because of the embarassment.
3. she would have said "please don't fart" and I'd be right back where I was with the additional embarassment of her knowledge of my gasseous build-up.
In any scenario I would be embarassed and uncomfortable. So it was just as well I lied and said "yes, I'm as relaxed as I can be".

I have a new blog

2009-05-01T11:23:00.001-06:00

Not to worry, this blog will still be up and running. This is where I like to bitch and moan about the injustices in this world. This is where I eloquently expound on the issues facing the modern woman. This is where I just get stuff off my chest.

The new blog has a very specific purpose. It is where I will theorize, hypothesize, experiment, document and come to conclusions about important issues to me in the world of food. I have a few ideas already of various experiments I would like to try. I imagine more will come to me the more testing I do.

An introduction is already up and I look forward to doing my first real post soon :) Come join me at my new blog.... http://www.foodiestudent.blogspot.com/

A word about punctuality

2009-04-19T10:11:00.002-06:00

This blog often contains my rants about situations in life that bother me. This will be no exception :)

This morning Vince & I went to Walmart. The best time to go is as soon as they open on Sunday... there is hardly anyone around and we never have to wait in line at the checkout. However, this morning we arrived at Walmart at 6:59, one minute before they opened (yup, we're early birds LOL). The doors were locked so we waited... and waited... and waited. At 7:05 we got impatient and went in a side door where we saw the night shift staff were leaving. The greeter person was there and commented that she was surprised that management hadn't come to open the doors yet. We agreed that since the store opens at 7:00am that yes, they should have come by now.

So anyways, this is just a bit of a rant about the annoyance of people not being where they are supposed to be at a certain time. Time is valuable and it would be nice if people were a little more respectful of others' time.

A word about personal space

2009-04-09T11:05:00.002-06:00

In the last 24 hours I've had 3 run-ins with people over personal space. In none of those incidents did I say anything because it's not against the rules or anything but just something of a societal norm that I think some are more sensitive to than others.

The first incident was last night in Safeway. I was standing in the express lane with my selections and a woman came and stood behind me with her basket. But her basket kept touching my lower back. It was very annoying and she was clearly in my personal space. I couldn't take a step forward or I would be in the next person's personal space and touching him with my own basket. So in a very passive aggressive way (LOL) I leaned back to hopefully signal her that her basket was touching me. However that did nothing and by the time I could have said something the person in front of me had moved up so I moved up too.

Second incident occured this morning at the gym. After my workout I went to shower in the open shower area. There are 6 shower heads and someone was using #6 so I started using #3. #6 finished and after a few seconds alone another woman came in and started using shower #2. I was very put off by that. There were 3 showers she could have used that were not right next to me (#'s 1, 5, and 6) and it seemed a huge invasion of privacy to be naked and have a naked stranger stand as close to me as possible. I finished showering as quickly as possible and got out of there ASAP.

Third and final incident was also at the gym. I was doing my hair/makeup before leaving the changerooms for the day and I left my gym bag on the bench in front of my locker. About one minute before I finished a couple of young girls (obviously university students) walked in, scooted my bag down the bench, and sat down. Now I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and assume they had a locker nearby. But they never opened a locker, they just sat there and talked. But I fail to understand the need to move someone's bag. I would NEVER move someone's bag that was on the bench because it's not mine. But these girls had no problem doing so. Note that I try to be aware of those around me and if they need bench space that is being taken up by my bag I will always move it out of the way.... but again, it's my bag and I'll be the one to move it.

So this is a little bit of a rant and really not much can be done to improve these situations because no one is really doing anything bad or wrong.... they are just making me uncomfortable with their obliviousness to personal space. A little more awareness from some people would go a long way to making this world a better place :)

That's some kind of math ya got there!

2009-03-30T10:26:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I turned 35 years old. My dear husband turned 43 a couple of weeks ago. Last night we were chatting and he said "do you realize that when you are 70 I'm going to be 86?"

Ummmmm, okay then.

Boundaries

2009-03-17T10:20:00.002-06:00

Since we started renting a room in our basement to a student I have learned some important things about myself. It took a while and some soul searching but I think I have figured it out. At first I thought I was anal-retentive, then selfish, then just a bitch. And while I realize all of those things may be true to a point, at the end of the day it just all comes down to boundaries.

Vince couldn't understand why I was getting so upset when the renter kept coming up and using the dishwasher, using my seive to drain his pasta, and using the stove when he has burners downstairs to use. It's all about boundaries. I realize he's not going to wear out my seive (although I would have appreciated it if he had asked first but that's another rant) and that it's more practical for him to use the stove burners which are larger than the ones we bought for him to use. But my kitchen really needs to be MY kitchen. I'm uncomfortable going in there when he is in there and there are times when I HAVE to go in there (cooking, cleaning up, putting away leftovers, etc). And if there is one room in the house that really is mine, it's the kitchen! So he needs to really back off and allow me my space.

So what we have done, in order for me to quit losing my mind every time he comes up the stairs, is purchase all the items to build a mini-kitchen downstairs for him to use. It will have a sink, counter, microwave and microwave cart, and a fridge. The only thing it won't have is an oven (or toaster oven) and any additional appliances the renter may want such as a popcorn popper, blender, etc. Tonight we will start building the cabinets. Within a few weeks I hope to have it fully assembled and functional.

The only thing we still need to buy is a 28" wide refrigerator. If anybody hears of a used one for sale in Southern Alberta please let me know :)

Our tax dollars at work

2009-03-09T11:06:00.002-06:00

In the bathrooms at work 2 of the cubicles have those "potty billboards" where advertisers will try to entice you to purchase their cell phones or cable service while you are doing your necessary business. They change them every couple of weeks so a new advertiser can have your attention while you are grunting.

Anyways, about a month ago a new advertiser went in. It was the Alberta provincial government.... they had an advertisement aimed at students trying to show them how perfect Alberta is to work in. You know... work in this "great economy" all week and then spend the weekend fishing, hiking, hang-gliding, etc in the mountains.

Then last week that advertisement was replaced with a new one. This one is from the Canadian federal government.... they have an advertisement aimed at students advertising the opportunities to work and study abroad.

So my tax money is being spent by people with totally contradictory interests. Awesome!

Raindrops on Roses, Whiskers on Kittens

2009-02-18T12:56:00.008-07:00

Kelly of KLAD Cockers fame (yup, she's famous) tagged me, to be honest she tagged anyone who read her blog LOL, to come up with a list of my 10 favorite things and post them here. I am excluding my husband, family, dogs, etc from this list as I think they are a given. And it's fun to be more random than that. So, for your reading pleasure, may I present my top 10 favorite things.......

1. Coke Zero - I'm so original that I picked something sitting on my desk. We're off to a flying start here LOL!

2. Gossip - now, before you all beat me up for this one let me explain. I don't mean passing on questionable information. I just like to collect it and if I question it I will go to the source to verify. I am woefully out of touch with so many friends that I like to hear what is going on with them and that sometimes comes via 3rd parties. I realize it is hypocritical to say I don't spread it (which is true, I rarely if ever pass it on, partly because I really am so out of touch LOL) but in order for me to receive the gossip, someone else has to be the gossiper. I'm not judging here... I'm confessing one of my favorite things. Can't we all just get along? Never mind. Let's move on.

3. Learning - this is an odd one. When I was in school I absolutely hated it! I hate being told what I have to learn about. I want to learn what I WANT to learn about. Therefore, you will never see my butt in a creative writing class or history of Canadian government class. However, recently I have taken classes in fitness theory, group exercise instruction, and project management. In the future I'd like to take some cooking or baking or cake decorating classes.... something fun for me.

4. My laptop - how is a girl supposed to watch TV while sitting on the couch with her feet on a footstool while simultaneously playing Little Shop - Memories without a laptop? I tell you, there is simply no other way.

5. My sister - yes, I'm breaking my own rule by including Louisa. But that girl can make me laugh like nobody's business. Our recent e-mail exchange devolved into spewing of fake "facts". Example.... FACT: 3 out of 4 people will not try a recipe if there is no picture of the finished product. Okay, you had to be there but it seriously made me LOL.

6. Lost - I vowed never to watch this show until it was available on DVD so that any end of episode cliffhangers could be dealt with by watching the next episode immediately.... a solution that is good for my heart and allows me days of Lost-marathon pleasure. However, I admit now that I am hooked and simply cannot wait until the current season comes out on DVD. Therefore I am now watching Lost every Wednesday at 9/8 Central (why do they always omit Mountain Time?) on ABC.

7. My van - We are currently down to one vehicle since Vince's car died a couple of weeks ago. It has been an adjustment for me to, after about 15 years of vehicular independence, suddenly have to share a vehicle with someone. We have a system where Vince drops me off on his way to work and then picks me up again afterwards. It is working so far but I am now limited in my ability to make appointments right after work or on the weekends when Vince is working. I am now aware of the freedom I had before and am looking forward to having that again when Vince gets another car.

8. Air Conditioning - not so much now but in July and August A/C will be one of my favorite things. It's sometimes surprising to me that we grew up in a house without A/C, the cars never had A/C, I don't even think the schools had A/C but don't quote me on that one. A/C has gone from luxury to nearly a necessity these days. We don't use it much but on the days we need it, we REALLY need it.

9. The Hot Tub - on chilly days the hot tub feels soooooooo good. It's especially nice after working out. Ahhhhh, just thinking about it makes me smile.

10. Recognition - whether it's a ribbon at a dog show, thanks from a student after teaching a fitness class, or an acknowledgement from a coworker for a job well done, recognition for hard work just plain feels good. The flip side of the coin is that lack of recognition is one of the most demotivating tools. This goes to show that financial reward isn't everything.

The end. Following Kelly's lead, I tag anyone who reads this to post their own top 10 favorites list. This goes for both of my siblings who haven't updated their blogs in months!!!!!

Workout song list

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

I've been getting bored of my old workout mixes so last weekend I put together a new song list. Most of the songs are up-tempo... perfect for motivation during monotonous cardio workouts. The last two are slower... more appropriate for cooling down and stretching.

Note, these were mostly downloaded from iTunes so I've left their original names and artists as I found them in iTunes just in case you want to dowload them too. So, if you are interested, here is the list:

Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now) [Featuring Big Ali & Dollar Man] - Big Ali, Bob Sinclar & Dollar Man
Keeps Gettin' Better - Christina Aguilera
When I Grow Up - The Pussycat Dolls
Womanizer - Britney Spears
Disturbia - Rihanna
Just Dance - Lady GaGa & Colby O'Donis
Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) - Beyoncé
Back to Life (However Do You Want Me) - Soul II Soul
Bootylicious - Destiny's Child
Cotton Eye Joe - Rednex
Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani
Check On It - Beyoncé & Slim Thug
I Beg Your Pardon - Kon Kan
I Don't Feel Like Dancin' - Scissor Sisters
It Takes Two - Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock
Poker Face - Lady GaGa
My Love (Paul Oakenfold Radio Edit) - Justin Timberlake
Nasty Girl (Radio Edit) - Inaya Day
The Power (7' Version) - Snap!
Rasputin - The Dancing Queen Group
SOS - Rihanna
Spirit In the Sky - Doctor & The Medics
We Like to Party! - Vengaboys
The Way I Are (feat. Keri Hilson & D.O.E.) - Timbaland
Africa (feat. Culture) [Radio Edit] - Karl Wolf

In the news

2009-02-02T14:35:00.002-07:00

So some people are up in arms about the whole Michael Phelps smoking pot situation.... click here if you haven't read the story. They say he's a role model and should be ashamed of himself and Olympic champions should be held to a higher standard and blah blah blah.

Here's my opinion (and if you don't care about my opinion, why are you reading my blog????)..... Michael Phelps is a grown up and can do whatever he wants. He wasn't hurting anybody. He wasn't using drugs to give himself an unfair advantage in competition. He wasn't selling the drugs to kids. He wasn't promoting the use of drugs in any capacity. He was doing what many people his age do.... experiment with marijuana.

Last year Michael Phelps pledged to "My Victory," an initiative to keep competitive sports clean of cheating and drug use. This will cause some people say he is a hypocrite. But the occasional recreational experimentational drug use is not the same as doping with steroids and cheating in a sports competition. They are two completely seperate issues.

I really don't think all the hoopla is needed. I also think it's sad that he has to issue an apology for it. Unless you are living in a fairy tale, Disney-esque world, this is not unusual and I feel sorry for the backlash Michael Phelps has had to endure for his actions. He's a grown up. Back off and let him live as normal a life as he can.

What do you blog about when nothing is going on?

2009-01-30T09:31:00.002-07:00

I check a few blogs on a daily basis and none of them have been updated for over a week. Then I realized I hadn't updated mine either so who am I to judge? But here's the conundrum, if nothing out of the ordinary is going on, what do I blog about? So I decided to just blog about some random stuff that I'm doing these days.

Today is Friday. Friday is my weigh-in day. I have basically been maintaining my weight for months now (+ or - 5 lbs). Last week I was fairly low and feeling good. However, today I stepped on the scale and was up 3.5 lbs! Still within my "maintenance range" but quite a wake up call for a girl who works out at least 5 times a week, and eats salad for lunch most days. Okay, looking back on it, this certainly wasn't my best week... many sugary treats including a new recipe for "cheesecake bars" which I helped myself to. So I'm acknowledging the errors I made and am planning to correct them. So hopefully next Friday I'll see some or all of that 3.5 lbs gone :)

There is an almost empty bag of Honey-lemon Halls cough drops on my desk. It has been sitting there for months, just waiting for me to get sick again. I should probably put it in a drawer or something but now it's like my good luck charm. Sore throats will stay away just because the bag is on my desk.

Today is pay day. My check is a little higher than the one in December because the union and the U of L finally agreed to an increase for union employees and it took effect this month. However, we are owed back pay for the months of July - December 2008 and we won't see that until next month's paycheck. It would have been nice to see it today but oh well.... at least we'll get it eventually.

Yesterday I was so tired in the afternoon I almost fell asleep at my desk. You know when you start to drop off and suddenly your body protests and your head snaps up? That happened to me while I was sitting at my desk. Luckily no one saw it :)

The only part of my job that I'm actually enjoying these days is the Project Management part of it. I'm so over the programming. I'm really glad I'm taking my career in a new direction by earning a project management certificate and, hopefully, will soon have a job that uses those skills all of the time.

Okay, those are all the words I can think of right now. I hope you are all having a lovely Friday (or whatever day of the week you are reading this).

I'm a fan of ESBM :)

2009-01-19T10:48:00.003-07:00

Lately I've been really into cooking. I've never been much of a cook but it has been a lot of fun exploring and developing my culinary talents.

However, developing culinary talents while trying to lose weight has been tricky so I was very happy to discover "Eat, Shrink, and Be Merry". This is the title of both a recipe book and a tv show on the Food Network. The authors/hosts take existing restaurant recipes and make them significantly healthier with a few substitutions. Then they do a taste test with the restaurant's customers or the public to see which is preferred. Cheesy puns aside, it's quite fun and an inspiration for adjusting existing recipes we all love.

I tried 2 of the recipes this weekend and was very happy with the results. Keep in mind, these are not "diet" recipes... they still have fat, calories, and other bad stuff but they have less of it and have more fiber, protein, and other good stuff than their restaurant counterparts.....

Smackaroni and Cheese... http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=8422 (anyone who knows me well knows I eliminated the mushrooms from this recipe and it was still yummy LOL)

The Better Butter Chicken... http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=8423

One I haven't tried yet but is on my radar is Shockolate Cheesecake... http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=8418

And if you are interested in watching the tv episodes that featured these recipes in a taste test just go to any of the above links, click on "Video" near the top of the screen, then "Full Episodes", then expand the option for "Eat, Shrink, and Be Merry".

Enjoy :)

Sigh.... what is it with people?

2009-01-12T14:22:00.002-07:00

A while back I posted about the grossness of not flushing a public toilet and other public bathroom blunders. Apparently that was the first in a series of bathroom rants I will be making. This is part 2.

Okay, I really don't care what people do in their own home. They can keep their surroundings in whatever state of cleanliness they like and become the most disgusting human beings in the world. It's their home and their hygiene habits.

But, for the love of all that is good and pure in our society, when you use a public bathroom please, oh please, wash your hands before you leave. The water will not hurt you. The soap will not kill you. The person who exits the bathroom immediately after you (and therefore will touch the door handle right after you) will thank you. Only good can come of this action.

Please also know that if I know who you are and I catch you not washing your hands, you will NEVER be able to live it down in my head. I may not say anything and you may never know my disgust, but I'll never forget it and the stench of that one indiscretion will taint my view of you forever more.

So please, pretty please with a cherry on top, when you use the facilities in a public place make it a complete bathroom experience by using the sinks and the soap provided.

Thank you!

Mascara Recommendation

2009-01-09T10:48:00.002-07:00

A few months ago I was getting my hair cut & coloured at the salon. While I was in one of the "processing" phases someone came around and handed out some mascara samples for Kissme Mascara. I didn't think much of it, put the sample in my purse and promptly forgot about it.

Just before Christmas I was going through my purse (clearly not a common occurance) and found the mascara sample and decided to try it. It was a slightly different experience. Not so much with the application but with the wearing and removal of the mascara. I tend to have bad under-eye smearing problems throughout the day with mascara but not with this product. I also find removal a pain, especially with waterproof mascaras, but not with this product. I was shocked at how good my lashes looked at the end of the day and was slightly amused by the removal process.... it just takes some water and pressure and the mascara will actually slide off your lashes onto your finger. It's unlike any other mascara I've ever used.

For more details you can check out their website... http://kissmemascara.com/

Holy Snowflakes Batman!

2009-01-07T22:42:00.005-07:00

I'm really trying not to pick up my phone and complain to the city that the road in front of my house needs plowing. I know they are being inundated with people calling to complain. I know I live on a cul-de-sac so my street won't get touched no matter how much I beg. I know the crazy amounts of snow we have received are not the city's fault.

But when both Vince & I get stuck right in front of our house (in separate vehicles within an hour of each other) because some idiot in a truck spun his tires and made a giant trench that no one but the same idiot can drive through without getting stuck, it really sucks! So now, just to get out of our driveway, we have to drive on the sidewalk for a few meters before getting on the street just to avoid getting stuck.

And at the end of the street is so much snow that you have to be going at least 20 kmph just to have the momentum to plow through it. That's a little scary when you are going around a corner and you can't see what you are driving into.

So, since complaining to the city won't do any good and the budget just can't take a tractor to clear it out ourselves right now, you get to read all about it. The problem is still there but I feel slightly better. Thank-you, my blog therapists :)

I'm not dead :)

2009-01-05T11:06:00.002-07:00

I haven't updated my blog in a very long time so I thought I'd give it a go today.

First of all, a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. I had a great Christmas break.....

Dec 23 - Valerie's birthday dinner. I took the day off work to prepare for hosting 2 feasts on the 24th and 25th so it was great to go out that night and have someone bring food to me :)

Valerie's birthday is, in my mind, the real kick-off to Christmas. I'm usually done work by then and it's the first in a series of family gatherings. At this particular supper I sat between Ben and Scott... both of whom have new iPhones so I spent much of the meal being jealous of them as I looked sadly at my ghetto phone (which, BTW, I love in spite of the fact that it can't do anything more than call and text).

Dec 24 - Traditional 7's game. Usually we do a pot luck dinner and then play Sevens but this year I wanted to try out a bunch of new recipes so I told everyone to just show up and I was so surprised and flattered by the oooo's and ahhhh's and the fuss that everyone made over the food I prepared that I briefly considered changing careers and becoming a caterer.... VERY briefly LOL.

Dec 25 - Vince & I opened our stockings in the morning. I filled the stockings for the dogs and cat so I made Vince open them up too.

Then we exchanged presents and I had to confess that I went way over our agreed on $50 limit. But I had the best of intentions! It went like this.... I went to buy Vince a $50 gift card to his favorite golf store. While I was there I decided to get him something that I could tape the card to so he could unwrap something (instead of just open an envelope). I selected some new golf balls and, since it's Christmas I splurged on the best ones - they were about $50. And when I mentioned to the salesman/manager who it was for it turned out he knows Vince very well and he said he's holding a wedge for him as Vince wanted to buy it in the new year. On the spur of the moment I asked him to add it to my bill so I could give it to Vince for Christmas - it was about $130. So, as you can see, I really did only go in to spend $50... it's not my fault that I walked out with a $230 bill LOL. Thank you Visa :)

Immediately after the gifts were opened I was back in the kitchen preparing the Christmas dinner. I wish I had had the forethought to take a picture but I didn't so you get a list of what I made.... turkey breast with bone in (oh man, it was SOOOO good and just had the good white meat which is all that Vince & I like to eat), gravy made from the turkey drippings (I'd never done that before and it was, without a doubt, the best gravy I've ever made), mashed potatoes (a new recipe and it was very good), yorkshire puddings (my one disappointment... they didn't rise as much as usual but were still quite edible), green beans (sauteed and steamed with almond slices), salad, fresh homemade buns, stuffing (another new recipe made from cornbread and french bread.... delicious), corn, cranberry sauce (I was going to make it from scratch but at the last minute decided to use canned and it's just as well as I was the only one there who likes cranberry sauce), and I think that's it. We had regular and non-alcoholic white wine which complimented everything nicely (although my sister in law implied I was an alcoholic even though she has never ever seen me drink alcohol before.... that's a whole other story though). It all ended with a white chocolate cheesecake topped with kiwi and raspberry artfully shaped into a Christmas wreath. Okay, anyone else drooling right now? LOL. It all went well but I felt bad for Ben... he came over and was so sick he took a nap on our couch after dinner. What a trooper for coming over though. It wouldn't have been the same without him.

After those three days I didn't do anything too memorable except take a day trip to Calgary with Scott. We saw a movie ("Milk" which I HIGHLY recommend... not a dry eye in the theater at the end), and I was introduced to Pottery Barn (which didn't do much for me) and Williams-Sonoma (in which I could easily spend thousands of dollars and enjoy every second of it - but I only bought some measuring spoons and wooden spoons). The drive home was scary as the snow was falling and visibility was crappy... and, as you may know, I'm not a great passenger at the best of times - imagine how bad I was in scary road conditions. I joked with Scott that I might have to replace the "holy shit" handle in his vehicle as I was pulling on it so hard.

So those are the highlights of my Christmas break. I hope yours was good and that getting back to the usual routine isn't too painful :)

Politics

2008-11-04T14:28:00.008-07:00

Today is the US presidential election. Everyone knows Obama and McCain have been campaigning hard for months. By the end of today we will know who will be the next president of the USA.

So here's what I found fascinating. Canada has elected a conservative Prime Minister. Alberta is known for being a conservative province. However, on a Calgary news website they have a poll. As of my writing this blog the results look like this:

Who do you think is the best choice for President of the United States?

John McCain 24%
Barack Obama 61%
Don't care 15%

So where were all these democratic voters in our election last month??????

Yummy recipe

2008-10-21T10:41:00.003-06:00

Before making this recipe make sure you have friends nearby who are not on a diet LOL. This makes a lot of cinnamon rolls (about 65-70) so get ready to share.... or get instant diabetes :)

Vicky's Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
4 C (1L) milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 packages Active Dry Yeast (or 2 tablespoons)
9 cups all-purpose flour
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 "scant" (less than a full) teaspoon baking soda
1 heaping tablespoon salt

Filling:
1 ½ - 2 cups melted butter
2 cups sugar (white or brown)
1 cup cinnamon
Non-stick spray

Frosting:
2-3 packages cream cheese
2 cups margarine
1 kg bag powdered sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar in a pan. "Scald" the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point.) Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour.

When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in 2 packages Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute so the yeast gets all warm and moist and happy. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let sit for at least an hour.

Note: if making frosting, pull margarine & cream cheese out of the fridge after the dough has risen but before moving on.

Add the final cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it—overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to splurge out of the pan, just punch it down. Or, of course, you can just go ahead and make the rolls.

Sprinkle counter surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Rectangle should increase in both width and length as you roll it out.

Drizzle ½ melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite (long) end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Some of the butter/sugar/cinnamon mixture may ooze out toward the end, but that’s no big deal. Pinch the seam to the roll to seal it.

Spray non-stick spray in seven round, foil cake or pie pans. Then begin cutting rolls approximately 3/4 to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans. Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. This recipe makes approximately seven pans of rolls (9 rolls per pan).

Let the rolls sit for 20 to 30 minutes to rise, then bake at 400 degrees F until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

While the rolls are in the oven, make the “cinnabon-y” frosting. Put the, now room temp, margarine and cream cheese in a bowl. Beat together with a mixer. Slowly add in all powdered sugar. Once all of the sugar is in the bowl, mix for AT LEAST an additional 12 minutes. When almost done, add in the vanilla extract and lemon juice.

Generously spread frosting over warm rolls after you pull them out of the oven (frosting will melt so if you prefer, cool before frosting).

Enjoy :)

7 Random things (tagged by Sarah)

2008-10-15T11:10:00.002-06:00

Seven random things about me:

1. I am the largest fitness instructor I've ever met. I weigh alot but am in excellent health and can teach and participate in a kick-ass class. I get nothing but compliments and am often told how much better I am than the "other" instructor. :) I just have to accept that god gave me a shot-putter's body rather than a ballerina's body. I'm cool with that (not really but I'm working on it LOL)

2. When I'm in the office, I hate taking the time to go to the bathroom. I'll wait until I'm absolutely desperate - nearly exploding - before I'll go to the bathroom. I'm not entirely sure why.

3. I love cross-stitching but hate having cross stitch art in my house. If I make a really big & difficult one that I'm particularly proud of (like the Rapunzel I made and was hanging in Valerie's house) and it's framed and protected under glass then I can maybe see hanging it up in my house.... but only one or two of them max. I hate the little cutesy ones in the hoop frames... they are great to do but I hate seeing them on the wall.

4. I can only wear a certain running shoe when I work out... New Balance 1008's. They are kept under lock & key and cherished to extend their life as long as possible.

5. I haven't been to the dentist in about 3 years.

6. I am proud of my career but hate my current job. I'm working on fixing that.

7. I dislike using pens that have a cap. My favorite are the clicky tops but I don't mind the twisty bottoms. The key is to have the pen be all one unit. The lids are just an extra hassle I don't need in my life. They are necessary for markers and highlighters... I get that and can deal with it. But for pens we have options that negate the need for caps... let's take advantage of the options.

Tag seven people:
1. Kelly
2. Louisa
3. Scott
4. Ben
5. Random person that may read my blog
6. Sarah to do it again but with new random facts
7. My new imaginary friend Bernard (don't call him Barney - he hates that!)

Louisa tagged me! 8 Things.....

2008-10-10T14:30:00.003-06:00

I'm supposed to list 8 things in each of the following categories, but I'm lazy so I'm only doing 2 of each. Actually I was going to do 1 of each but I'm too lazy to change all the plurals below to singular, lol.

I'm so lazy I'm not even going to change that paragraph that came directly from Louisa's blog!

2 Things I am passionate about... my step classes and project management

2 "words" or "phrases" I say way too often... "seriously" (that seems to be a popular one) and "my bad"

2 Things I want to do before I die... work at IBM as a PM and pay off my house

2 Things I have learned from my past... just because someone (especially a loved one or someone you trust) tells you something is true doesn't mean it is and always wear new running/fitness shoes around the store for at least 10 minutes before buying them.

2 Things I currently need or want... a better job and a massage

2 More people I tag... my imaginary friends Vanessa and Luke

Sarah's Contest - free stuff!

2008-10-01T14:24:00.001-06:00

Sarah is having a contest and giving away free stuff to a randomly selected entry. Go to her blog at http://callhermum.blogspot.com/2008/10/100-posts-contest.html and in your entry say that you found her from Vicky's blog and I'll get an entry too :) It's a win-win!

Good luck! :)

TV Premiere Week

2008-09-29T11:18:00.002-06:00

The first week of new fall TV has come and gone. Not all shows have started yet but a significant portion have.

The show I was most looking forward to was "Heroes". NBC went way overboard with this one broadcasting a 2 hour premiere PLUS a one hour party (stars on the red carpet, clips from the show, screaming fans, etc) leading up to the premiere. I think they went overboard in hyping up the show... it was a good premiere but not worthy of the one hour scream-a-thon leading up to it. The episode also brought up so many questions but very few answers... intentionally I'm sure to get people to keep watching. However, the writers are in danger of crossing the line from intrigue to throw-hands-up-in-the-air-confusion which will lead to changing the channel.

I'm also looking forward to "The Office", "Grey's Anatomy", "House", "CSI", and "Lost". Unfortunately these are the shows that I tend to watch on DVD after the season has ended so I won't be able to comment on them for about a year LOL.

The new shows for this fall didn't look too interesting except for "The Mentalist". The show is about an FBI consultant that helps to solve crimes using his knack for reading people... a skill he used previously as a fake psychic. I watched the series premiere with high hopes but in a land with many one hour "procedurals" (CSI, Law & Order, Medium, Numbers, Bones, etc) the last thing we need is another mediocre one. There was very little about this show that was either new or interesting.... if you are going to copy some of the highest rated shows on TV then you'll have to do it as well or better than they are to get a share of the audience. This one just didn't cut it for me.

What were you (or are you) looking forward to? Did the premiere meet your expectations?

Peanut Butter M&Ms....

2008-09-24T12:33:00.002-06:00

are YUMMY!
I'm just saying :)

When did flushing become optional?

2008-09-18T11:09:00.002-06:00

Under what circumstances would a person use a public washroom and then opt to not flush the toilet when they are finished? Seriously!

It's an automatic reaction for me (and I assumed everyone) that when my business is finished I wipe, pull up pants, *flush*, and then leave the stall. Who forgets a step? Seriously!

If you are trying to conserve water then go ahead and do that at home. But in a public facility it's much nicer, not to mention hygenic, to start off with a clean bowl. To conserve water, many new toilets are designed to use only the minimum amount required to flush the contents away. I've even seen ones that adjust how much water is used based on the contents... you pull up on the lever for number one and push down for a deuce. Seriously!

So please, for the love of polite society, next time you use a public washroom flush the damn toilet when you are done..... SERIOUSLY!!!!!

If you're going to do it, do it right!

2008-09-17T10:47:00.002-06:00

Our dishwasher died last week so we have been doing dishes by hand while we wait for the dishwasher to be repaired. Most of the dishes have been washed by Vince because he was on vacation last week so he had the free time to do them. But I have learned that my husband, as much as I love him, is not the best washer of dishes out there. I have taken many bowls or glasses out of the cupboard or cutlery out of the drawer only to put them directly next to the sink to be rewashed due to their dirtiness.

I mentioned this to Vince a couple of times and it has gotten a bit better but I still have to inspect every item I take out of the cupboard before I use it... just in case.

Luckily our dishwasher will come back home tomorrow with a new motor in it. I can't wait to run a cycle through and know that the dishes will be clean and sparkling when they come out. Ahhhh, the simple pleasures :)

To the guy at the front counter at work.....

2008-09-09T12:04:00.001-06:00

It's a library, not a lie-berry.

I'm just saying!

I had a dream.....

2008-09-08T10:28:00.003-06:00

Not as famous or poignant as Martin Luther King's dream but a dream nonetheless.

Last night I dreamt that we had paid off so much of our mortgage that we were down to owing just $14,200. In my dream Vince & I were discussing what to do with all of our extra money once the mortgage was completely paid off.

Then I woke up and realized that, in fact, we still owe many hundreds of thousands of dollars on our mortgage and we are a couple of decades away from my dream becoming a reality... sigh!

Oh well, that's why we have dreams I suppose. To have something to look forward to.

Update on Yesterday's Post

2008-09-05T10:50:00.002-06:00

I thought it strange that the local theater hadn't brought in the movie "Traitor". Maybe it was an oversight? Maybe they didn't think it would do well? Who knows? But given its success the first week out I thought they might bring it in for the second week of its release.

Well they didn't! Not only did they not bring in a potentially big money-maker, they actually brought BACK (yes, it left and is now back) "You Don't Mess With The Zohan" for a few showings. That film has been out for 3 months and has been trashed by critics and audiences. Why oh why oh why would they bring it back.... especially when there are way better movies out there that people would be happy to pay to see?????? I'll even pay for the overpriced popcorn and Diet Coke and Milk Duds (which, for the price they charge, should come in an actual gold box instead of a dark yellow cardboard one) if that'll help my cause.

I guess I'll have to wait for "Traitor" to come out on DVD. I have no problem giving my money to Blockbuster instead. And at the private showing in my living room I'll be able to pause for potty breaks and watch special features after the movie. Oh yeah, and my popcorn/beverage/candy prices will be determined by Safeway, not the movie theater. I'm fairly certain I'll come out on top :)

Movies in Lethbridge

2008-09-04T10:49:00.004-06:00

I get that one of the things I had to give up when I moved to Lethbridge from Calgary is the convenience of seeing any currently playing movie I wanted, no matter how obscure, because someone in Calgary is going to be playing it. There have been a few movies I wanted to see that never came to the big screen in Lethbridge (ie. September Dawn) but as they weren't expected to be blockbusters I can understand not bringing them to Lethbridge.

However, the latest Don Cheadle film "Traitor" looks awesome and debuted at number 5 on its opening weekend. It has received good reviews from both critics and movie-goers. So why isn't it being shown in Lethbridge?

The first-run theater in town has 10 screens and is currently playing, among others, Mamma Mia (been out 7 weeks), Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (4 weeks), and Pineapple Express (4 weeks). I can understand hanging on to Dark Knight (also 7 weeks) as it is consistently bringing in the money but the other 3 were ranked 8, 19, and 9 respectively in last week's earnings. All were surpassed by Traitor.

So please, if anyone has any pull with the decision makers at the Park Place theaters in Lethbridge, get them to bring in Traitor. I really really really want to see it :)

People that work in almost every office I've ever been in....

2008-08-27T15:42:00.002-06:00

The loud talker/laugher - usually a woman. Talks loud enough in an open office area that people 10 cubicles over have to hold their hand over their other ear when talking on the phone just to be able to hear their own conversation. She also is usually the one you can hear from the other side of the building when she is laughing.

The quiet talker - also usually a woman. Usually size 2 or less and seldom wears make up. These women are very polite and friendly but will seldom initiate a conversation.

The sleazy politician - always a man. He walks the line on appropriateness of conversation... never bad enough to get fired but his HR file probably has a pile of complaints about him. He's outgoing and good at schmoozing customers but most people in the office see through his charm.

The crazy cat/dog/kid/grandchild lady - this woman has so many pictures of her cat/dog/kid/grandchild on her walls that you can't see what colour the paint is behind them. When a new employee is introduced to her she makes a point of introducing them to her cat/dog/kid/grandchild via the pictures on the wall. There is a lot of employee turnover in this lady's department.

The international guy - this person (or group) speaks English as a second language. Usually, but not always, their education was taken in their homeland where they also learned English. Their technical skills are excellent but their communication skills are lacking. They speak their mother tongue at home and although they will socialize with the English speakers at work, they don't say much as they aren't comfortable enough with the language.

The party planner - this is always a woman. The unofficial social co-ordinator of the group. She will organize all team lunches, signing of cards, and flowers purchasing for condolences for the loss of a loved one. This is never in the job description but someone will take on the responsibility anyways.

The technical guy - almost always a man. Even if everyone is doing the same job and has the same qualifications there will be one stand-out geek, Mr 4.0 GPA, that everyone goes to if they are having technical/programming issues. In all of my IT jobs there has been this guy but I'm not sure if this happens in other industries/jobs too.

Some less common office folks that are sometimes seen.....

The joker - should have been a stand up comedian
The suck-up - so obvious even the boss makes fun of him
The princess - keeps a mirror and full make-up kit at her desk
The coffee drinker - drinks 3 pots a day without anyone's help
The new kid - fresh out of university and just thankful to have a job

Did I miss anyone?

Too funny/bizarre/creepy not to share

2008-08-22T11:33:00.000-06:00

http://www.frakincool.com/pictures/ginos-love-spray-tan/

Enjoy :)

Lunch anyone?

2008-08-21T11:31:00.004-06:00

No one told me when I started working at the U of L that the entire Students Union food court (where I get my lunch every day) would be shut down for the last 2 weeks of August. There aren't that many places to buy food there anyways (a Subway, a taco place, a smoothie & pita place, and a chinese place with various deep fried offerings) but at least I had choices!

So for this week and next I either have to hike to the fitness center and join the line up (of all staff members who regularly eat elsewhere) at the Tim Horton's or I have to hike even further to my car and drive somewhere to get lunch. Of course there is the secret third option of bringing my lunch to work but, for a bunch of reasons I won't get into here, that's not a good option for me.

Ok, so I know this is a fairly small issue and one probably not worth ranting about (especially since everything will be back to normal on September 1st) but I had to come up with something to blog about. It was either this or Facebook profile pics and what I think they say about a person.

NBC vs CBC Medal Count

2008-08-19T13:21:00.003-06:00

This is how NBC ranks the countries competing in the olympics with regards to their medal count.... (see their actual list here)

Ordered by total number of medals
If there is a tie in the total then the tie breaker goes to the country with the most golds
If there is still a tie then the tie breaker goes to the country with the most silvers
As you would expect, then it is the number of bronzes
If there is still a tie after that then they rank them in alphabetical order

I'm cool with that system. It's simple, it makes sense, and at the end of the day, I think the total medal count means more than which medals they are (ie. a country with 10 silvers should rank higher than a country with just one gold).

This is how CBC ranks the countries competing in the Olympics with regards to their medal count.... (see their actual list here)

Ordered by the country with the most golds
If there is a tie then the the tie breaker goes to the country with the highest total number of medals
steps 3-5 are the same as above.

I find this to be a very confusing system. It means, as of the time of writing, that Thailand with 1 gold medal total is ranked #27 of the countries and that Hungary, with 4 silvers and 1 bronze, is ranked #47. This seems so wrong to me.

The irony is that Canada, at least in the 2008 summer Olympics, is not a real gold medal nation. Our athletes have reached the podium a respectable number of times but seldom is Oh Canada played while they are standing there.

So, as of 1:36pm MDT, on Canada's own CBC website, Canada is currently ranked as the 17th country due to only 2 gold medals. However, our neighbours to the south have ranked Canada as 13th due to our total haul of 13 medals. I'm all for humility but CBC is taking TOO humble of an approach with respect to our Canadian athletes. I say change the ranking system to reflect what the US does and go by total number of medals. WE'RE NUMBER 13! WE'RE NUMBER 13!!!!! YAY!!!!!!

Of course I reserve the right to retract this post and change my allegiance to the CBC system if Canada gets a flurry of gold medals which ranks us higher with that system. ;)

It is 2008, right?

2008-08-16T18:20:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I was driving home from work when a car commercial came on the radio. They were promoting various models of Kia cars. Their big "claim to fame" was how fuel efficient the cars are. But they promoted it by saying how many miles per gallon the various models can get.

Miles per gallon! Canada switched road signs to metric in 1977 and gasoline sales switched to metric in 1981. It's now 2008. I have no idea what a good miles per gallon number is an no one under the age of 50 should. Even those over 50 have had lots of time to get used to the "new" system. And I don't care enough to do the conversion.

So, Kia, if you want to communicate with anyone born since 1960, may I suggest switching to the metric system? It's pretty cool. Everything is divisible by 10 :)

Excuse me for being the grammar police but....

2008-08-15T14:10:00.003-06:00

I really can't believe how much stuff gets into print with obvious grammar mistakes. Spelling isn't much of an issue due to spell checkers but grammar checkers are somewhat less reliable and someone with a 3rd grade grasp of the English language is required to proofread some of this stuff for accuracy.

Think I'm kidding? Last weekend I found my old Grade 3 English & Math notebook. Besides some really funny notes (like "I hate Mrs Mirkovich" - my teacher, and "I hate Louisa. She always cheats!" next to a tally scoresheet... I guess I had some anger issues LOL) and noticing an early affinity for math (in the whole book there were only 2 small math errors in pages of problems - hooray for young me) I found hand written phrases such as:

The girls went to the pool. THEY'RE going to swim THERE. THEIR swimsuits are red.

This was in 3rd grade! There really is no excuse for grown adults to not have a grasp on the whole their/they're/there, your/you're, it's/its situation. I'm not an English major by any stretch but these are the basics!

Back to my original story.... yesterday I picked up the mail which included a junkmail newspaper called "The Lethbridge Journal". On the top of the front page, above the name of the newspaper, was an advertisement. It's a free paper so that's to be expected. The advertisement was for a car dealership. The tagline (which they have used for as long as I can remember) was printed as.... "Your going to drive away happy!"

I threw the whole paper away.

Hooray... the Olympics are finally here

2008-08-08T13:45:00.002-06:00

I don't talk about it much but I LOVE the Olympics. I prefer summer but get almost as excited about the winter events. Wherever there are representatives from all over the world competing for their country in a sporting event, it's exciting. If I could take 3 weeks off work and plant myself in front of the TV for the duration I would. It's sad but I really would.

The Olympics are more special than any other world championship competition because they encompass so many different events within a 3 week period and they only occur once every 4 years (yes, I know they are technically every 2 years because they alternate the summer & winter but for any given event the competition occurs every 4 years).

Supposedly the athletes are all amateurs in their respective disciplines but I don't think that really means anything these days. When basketball players are making millions of dollars in the NBA, I don't think anyone can profess that they are "amateurs" at their sport. However I'd argue that the weightlifters and fencers can claim amateur status given that I don't think there is much money to be made in either event.

I can get excited about almost any of the sports.... they are each exciting in their own way. My favorites are generally gymnastics, diving, and various track & field events. But I'm open to watching any event and am hoping there is TV coverage devoted to some of the more obscure ones. When was the last time you saw women's wrestling, handball, taekwondo, or a good old fashioned kayak race? The TV announcers are usually pretty good about explaining how things are judged and scored so even if you are completely unfamiliar with the competition it's fairly easy to follow along. Which is good because... what the hell is a modern pentathlon????

It has been a long time since I ranted (ha ha ha) so.....

2008-07-24T13:17:00.004-06:00

I'm mad. I'm just so mad. I can't even tell you how mad I am right now.

This morning I walked in to my office to find a letter on my desk saying annual increases are upon us and, in a nutshell, everyone gets 4% but if you were on probation on July 1st you get 0%. I completed my 9 month probation period on July 9th.... just 8 days later.

This amounts to a $170/month difference in my paycheck (do the math and you can figure out how much I make at the U of L LOL) so I decided to look into it more. Turns out, the collective agreement between AUPE (of which I am a member) and the U of L states that all employees are eligible for a 4% increase every July 1st unless they 1. lack merit or 2. have excessive absences... neither of which is applicable in my case. I double checked and probationary employees ARE NOT exempt from this rule.

So I wrote to HR. I'm paraphrasing but their response amounts to... we decided to do it this way years ago but it's not in the collective agreement because it has never been an issue. Well baby, it's a frickin issue now!!!!! It is literally in writing that I should get an increase retro-active to July 1st and I'm going to either....

file a grievance and fight for my money or
leave and find a non-union job elsewhere where I don't have to fight for my basic employee rights that the employer has agreed to

I have started the process for both of the above. Not sure which one will come in to effect first though. Wish me luck.

Locker room etiquette

2008-07-23T13:27:00.003-06:00

After I'm finished working out I, like most people, go to the locker room to shower and change before going on about my day. For reasons of keeping things simple, I opt to change in the locker room "at large" if you will. It's just easier to change next to my locker rather than look for a change room (none of which are near my locker) or go into a bathroom stall (many are near my locker but are cramped and dirtier than the open space and unused bench next to my locker).

The only real downside of my choice is that women walk by all the time and they see me naked. If those women are family or friends or even strangers I don't care at all. I'm just not hyped about nudity in front of other women... with one exception: co-workers. I don't want to be naked in front of co-workers... it's just weird. But since my gym is in the same building as my office, I end up changing in front of co-workers a lot.

So here's what I usually do... pretend I don't see them or ignore them until I/we have finished changing. Here's what I don't do.... engage them in conversation! So why do they so often start a conversation with me????? It's awkward. I know they feel it too. Do they feel once they have started a conversation they are committed to continue it inspite of the palpable tension? The problem is, the dressed person is by default in the position of power. The naked person is automatically vulnerable by virtue of being naked in front of someone they frequently see while fully clothed.

So, to keep the balance of power fair between business associates in various stages of nudity, here are my rules of etiquette if you ever see a co-worker in the locker room:

If one party is dressed and the other is naked then the dressed party is under obligation to completely ignore and in no way acknowledge the naked party
If one party is dressed and the other is partly dressed (ie. at least underwear and bra on) then eye contact and a nod of acknowledgement is all that is allowed
If both parties are naked (ie. in the shower) then all effort must be made to keep a side profile or 3/4 turn so parties are mostly back to back. Brief pleasantries may be exchanged (ie. "have a nice workout?"... "it was great. thank-you" THE END). Every effort must be made to ensure the business of being naked is completed as swiftly as possible.
Note: this only applies if there are no physical barriers (ie. shower stalls) between the naked parties. In the case of shower stalls or other physical obstructions then rule #4 applies instead.
If both parties are partly dressed (ie. at least underwear and bra on, or the exception to rule #3 above) then limited conversation may occur. Topics should be restricted to the weather, pop-culture, and news headlines. Nothing personal, family, or business related.
If both parties are dressed you may speak to each other in a normal fashion as you would outside the locker room.

I hope this clears up any confusion you may have with regards to locker room etiquette. Please feel free to distribute to your co-workers, especially the frequent offenders, as you see fit :)

Not a rant.... need opinions

2008-07-21T13:34:00.002-06:00

Vince & I have been talking about opening up our home and renting out the spare bedroom. I am very reluctant but the money would be nice so I'm seriously considering it. We could rent it out to.....

1. Foreign exchange students (pros - they are usually quiet, especially older students. cons - language & cooking barrier)
2. University students (pros - often here just for a fixed period of time... semester or two. cons - newly out of parents home so may not be responsible)
3. Visiting faculty (pros - responsible, here for a short period of time, sometimes only need to stay for a couple nights/week. cons - can't think of any right now)

The bedroom is basically furnished and the renter would have use of the rest of the house.... I was thinking of asking $500/month. Any thoughts?

Since I'm on the subject

2008-07-18T15:57:00.002-06:00

What is the deal with people who don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom? I know they were taught to do it at some point. I even remember when I was little (this was in England so I was probably 5 or 6 years old) we had a video shown to us in school that stressed the importance of washing hands. Everyone knows they should do it. I've even noticed signs in public bathrooms such as in hospitals, restaurants, and even the University that remind people to wash their hands.

Yet whenever I use a public bathroom, I am constantly amazed by the number of women who walk out of a stall, check their hair in the mirror, and then leave. I would LOVE to yell after them "YOU FORGOT TO WASH YOUR HANDS!!!" but that would make me the crazy one. But it would be worth it just so I wouldn't be so grossed out by them.

It has been too long since I've had a good rant!

2008-07-17T14:16:00.003-06:00

What is the deal with the U of L toilet paper? Seriously!

Most bathrooms in the university (at least in the area I work in) all have the same products.... great soap (comes out foamy so easier to lather up and rinse off than a true gel-liquid) in great dispensers (it senses your hand under the dispenser and gives up a portion of soap without the hand-washer having to touch anything). By the same token the paper towels are equally good. There is a trick to getting a decent amount out of the touch-free dispenser but once you understand the trick it's an easy-peasy procedure.

As it turns out the soap and paper towel are consolation for skipping out on decent toilet paper. It's the really thin kind (totally see-through) on a giant roll. So when it's a new/heavy roll you have to figure out the physics of bunching together as much of the TP "tail" as you can to give it the strength needed to handle the pulling action on the ultra-heavy roll of tissue-paper... I mean toilet paper.... without tearing it off prematurely. What a song and dance for the prickliest, least-absorbing excuse for toilet paper I've ever had the misfortune of placing in private places.

One day I'll remember to bring a roll of Charmin from home. Until then I'll either have to "hold it" or suffer with the rest of the U of L staff, students, and faculty.

Check your local chip aisle

2008-06-27T20:04:00.003-06:00

One of the hardest things about losing weight is substituting regular food for low fat or fat free versions. Sometimes the healthier options are fine and there is no significant difference in taste. Unfortunately that is not true for salty snack items. Baked chips taste different than regular potato chips in so many ways. They have little or no flavour. They are less greasy but they are dry and lack the same crunch as regular potato chips. They are just a sad substitute.

However, in the last year or two, I've seen some exciting developments in the potato chip aisle. This has come in smaller packaging of tried & true salty snack favorites. They have 100 calorie packs of Lay's original potato chips. Sun chips, and Doritos. They also have individual portions (about 120 calories) of Rold Gold pretzels and Cheetos (the good air puffy ones). These were probably intended for travelling, lunch boxes, etc. But they are also good for those watching calories as they have all the flavour, texture, and taste of the original products (as they ARE the original products) but they come in a smaller package. So I can open one package of chips to have as a snack without the hassle of counting out the chips into a bowl (this is what WW recommends) or trying to trust myself to close the bag and take it back to the kitchen after a single serving has been consumed... HA!!! Like that would ever happen :P

Things I learned at WW LOL

2008-06-26T06:37:00.003-06:00

This may make Weight Watchers attendees sound like a bunch of nuts but, on a WW bulliten board we were finishing the sentence "You don't know this about me but.....". Some of the answers made me laugh so I've copied them here for you to enjoy.

I can't let cutlery touch my teeth. It gives me cold shivers down my spine.
I can stick out my tongue and touch it to my nose!!
I can find a piece of shredded coconut in a granola bar (gag)
The word "moist" makes me cringe. The sound of bisque porcelain (unfinished) against itself brings tears to my eyes. I actually *like* the sound of nails on a chalkboard!
Even thinking the word "mould" makes me gag
I'm really insecure
I hate the sound of frozen packages of food (meat, veggies, bread etc.) scraping against the sides of the freezer. It is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
I also cringe when people play with their cutlery and place the knife in between the fork ewwwwwwwwwww!!!! I can't read lettering on a pill bottle but I can spot a wee spider anywhere in any room!
The sound of a metal spoon in a metal bowl makes me want to curl up in the fetal position and die.
I enjoy plucking my eyebrows
I can't sleep with my closet door open. Not even a crack.
I have entire conversations with people in my head.
I can't have my foot hang off of the bed when I’m in bed I still think something is going to come out from under there and grab me.
When people eat with their mouth open, I have an uncontrollable urge to tell them to chew with their mouth closed. YUCKY
I'm a chronic nail biter. I hate it, but it’s something that I do when I am stressed.
I can knit, crochet, fix vehicles, refinish furniture, set up any and all electronics, but can't sew a straight line for the life of me.
I chew the inside of my lips constantly. Until my teeth hurt and my lips bleed. I too am afraid of things under the bed, and the dark. I am constantly imagining my own death and funeral
I can't be near someone scraping paint off of wood.
I can put my leg around my shoulders
Dirty dishes in the sink drive me nuts! They either go in the dishwasher or even on the counter but keep the sink clear!
It's been 14 1/2 months since I last looked at myself in the mirror naked!!!
I have a fear of falling and can't climb ladders because of it.
Lately straightening my hair causes me to sneeze... (WTF??)
Eyes on potatoes freak me out. Can't touch them or look at them. The spore balls on the underside of leaves creep me out.
I hate the sound of my brother rubbing his toes together, skin on skin! YUCK!!! ***shutter***
I can roll my tongue from the sides inward and can roll the tip!
I can speak in several different accents. I can play piano by ear. I can sing.
I can't make omelettes. They always turn into scrambled eggs so I make frittatas instead.
I'm a texting addict... I average 3500 - 4000 texts a month
I can't eat seafood if it has a head. The chickens/ducks and pigs in the windows in China Town with their heads attached freak me out. The sound of smacking lips makes me cringe.
When I was little, I was afraid to flush the toilet. So I'd wash my hands first, flush and RUN!
*no one* is allowed to touch my toes, DH included. I got a pedicure once, for my sister's wedding, and it might have been the worst experience of my life.
My favourite word is Doily and I know every word to Wayne's World...including the Cantonese parts.
I am also afraid of thunderstorms, bees, and I have an incredibly strong phobia of bats. Just typing it gives me goose bumps.
the sound of someone rubbing their finger against their teeth so it squeaks.... I don’t have words for how awful that makes me feel..
After dark our rec room is very creepy. So I have to turn off the light, run from the room and close the door
I can cook just about anything but I can't make pancakes (even from a mix), grilled cheese or omelettes!
I cannot stand the feeling of no cream on my feet once they've been wet and dried...it is one of the worst feelings ever
I hate the sound of people swallowing
Strong peppermint makes me sneeze.
I cannot stand the feel of yarn or wool, and it actually makes me shudder.
I have a terrible fear of going across bridges (to the point where a grown man couldn't get me to bend my elbows when driving across one - he did everything but karate chop them).
I can ride a unicycle. I can write with both hands (just not as comfy with the left). The thought of a piece of string going across my lips or through my fingers, can put me over the edge - so can a fork screeching on a plate (and that squeaky sound that Kleenex makes when you squeeze & rub it together - I think I'm the ONLY one on earth that can hear that, can't hear anything else most days - but I can hear THAT). * SHUDDER *
If I have a hitch in my nail and I get a hair, or a fibre of any variety caught in it, it seriously gives me goose bumps and puts my teeth on edge.
I hate the feeling of foam and velvet I can’t stand the sound of kissing
I have to use a different fork for every course when eating a multi-course meal. Even if I eat spaghetti, and then eat my salad after, I have to change forks.
I prefer paper cups over glass
I hate shaking people's hands- I'm a bit of a germophobe! I wash my hands dozens of times a day
I flush the toilet with my foot! Especially if I'm in a public place *cringe*
Mittens don't bother me, but I can't breathe when I have gloves on my hands.
The feeling of hair being "teased" makes me freak out!! I wear two different socks at all times - I match them in my drawer and then when I go to put on a pair I take one sock from one set and another sock from another set and wear two different ones. I chew my lips when I'm stressed.
I tend to forget to flush the toilet.
I hate it when anyone touches the top/upper half of my head - it makes me feel claustrophobic I can't go barefoot
I have weird texture issues with food and can’t eat celery
I go out of my mind when I see/hear/feel cotton wool.
I used to complain all the time about my cold feet, then I lost some weight and now I complain that they are too hot!
I secretly wish everyday that my fish would die. :( He lives in a big huge tank all alone and he's too big to flush and he's 4 years old. His brother's and sister's died and I don't want him. I feed him, but I hate him and I feel guilty typing this.
I am very insecure. At every social event, no matter how small or large, I wonder who is thinking I am: not successful enough too fat too loud weird obnoxious do not dress nice enough
I HAVE to have bare feet. Not in public but anywhere in my house (or backyard in the summer) I have to be barefoot. I don't like the feeling of my toes being squished together in socks or shoes
I can be a total beech sometimes
Some days I have an extra weird feeling about falling down the stairs. I hate to vacuum the stairs since I'm worried about falling down them. I don't remember falling down the stairs so I don't know where this comes from.
I hate being hugged by anyone other than my closest friends and my husband. What's wrong with a good ol' handshake? That was the ONLY thing leading up to my wedding that stressed me out - that people would want to hug me. I'm talking my own aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends. The thought of HIS family and friends, whom I don't know very well, hugging me, was even worse.
I can twist both my wrists more than 360 degrees. I have to crack my collarbone every morning when I wake up, or else I walk around lopsided all day. I have a paralyzing fear of snakes, even photos of snakes. I cannot use someone else's spoon, fork, straw, etc. Even if it's a bite or a sip of something, I need to get my own.
I hate it when people sleep on the couch when others are in the room. If I am too boring for you to stay awake and communicate with, or you are that tired, then go to bed. If other people are around, give them the respect of sitting up and talking to them and acknowledging they are with you. Okay if you are sick, that is different, but as a general rule, it drives me absolutely stupid.
I *HATE* the feeling of Styrofoam on my skin... also the sound of it. If I buy something new and its packed in Styrofoam in the box, I have to get my FH to unwrap it for me.. *cringe* I don't like going barefoot in my house (or anyone’s house for that matter)
I eat ice cream with a fork.
When I wear gloves, i have to put my pinkie fingers in with my ring fingers so my pinkies don’t get cold.
I don't like it when people shuffle their feet when walking...unless they are elderly.
I flirt shamelessly with married men because they are safely attached and can’t hurt me. If any of them ever tried anything more than flirt, I would be super mad!! It would ruin my fun.
Walking on a wharf over water makes me panic... and I'm a great swimmer. I hate swimming in lakes - can't see the bottom and having the weeds touch my feet freaks me out (I picture something under them getting ready to grab my feet - too many scary movies maybe?)
I dry myself when I come out the shower a very specific way. My new DH tried drying me once after a shower... poor man was trying to be romantic - it FREAKED me out - and now he just smiles when I get into my "routine"... I ABSOLUTELY can't stand people walking around the house with wet feet after taking a shower - DRY YOUR FEET PLEASE
I can't hear as well when I have sunglasses on. I think certain inanimate objects have feelings...like my muffin tins.
I chew everything, including pudding, ice cream, jello, smoothies. I have to eat with a teaspoon, not the bigger spoon. This for some reason is considered weird. Both my dad and dbf always forget and get a kick out of watching me go get the small spoon. I think inanimate objects have feelings too. And I think that the lesser used of 2 items likely feels slighted and unloved. I cannot do ANYTHING in the morning before I've gone to the washroom. Heaven help me if someone else in the house gets up moments before me. I will have to hop around until they're done.
I can't cook rice. When I take a bite of a cookie, I suck right after so crumbs don't fall.
Every time I pass by a sharp object - I imagine it sticking in my eye. Every time I walk over a grate or near the lake, I hold on to my rings with my other fingers.
I refuse to eat cake/pie with a dinner fork if we have dessert forks available. Dessert needs a dessert fork... it's right in the name of the fork! LOL
I can't find addresses with the radio on. I must turn it off. I have what we call the 'finder finger' when I'm looking for something (on a wall in the grocery store, etc.) I put up the index finger on my right hand and bend it repeatedly at the bottom knuckle. Took us forever to figure out how I developed the habit. It's from scrolling on a computer mouse. I developed the habit in university -- likely from scrolling through pages and pages of journal articles looking for the one I want, and worse, scrolling through individual articles looking for citations. I do it without realizing it. It cracks the family up.
We have "love fluff" in our house, and all new stuffed ups (what DD calls stuffed animals" have to go through the love fluff ceremony, to get their name and come to life. I cannot walk over bridges, or enclosed tunnels (like walkways from a parking lot to the mall). Monkeys scare me, even stuffed ones. They don't have love fluff available.
I have to hold my breath passing by a cemetery. This makes funerals a might tricky.
I can't go in elevators more than around 15 floors without someone with me. My old dentist used to have to send someone down to get me. I got a new dentist. I can't stand being near someone who is constantly tapping a pen or playing with something noisy. I have to rip the tags off my t-shirts or they will drive the back of my neck crazy.
I hate using the same pen everyone else uses at the bank or store to sign receipts - always use my own. I can't stand mouth noises - chewing, biting nails, etc. The girl that shares my office chews gum with her mouth open all the time. AAAAAAAAAAAAH!
I hate the feeling of my nails scratching against rocks.
When I read about injuries to fingertips, or even just about catching a nail on something, my fingertips tingle and I curl up my hands to protect them. Talk about sympathy pains!
I am totally grossed out by egg yolks and the white Rooster juice on cooked eggs (broken over Hard is the way I like my eggs) The sound of someone chewing their food annoys the hell out of me
I am afraid of dying/getting old and seeing others I know and love go before me
I am afraid of my house burning down and losing everything
I cannot sleep without my bedroom door open and night lights all over my house, and also the closet door has to be closed.
I am terrified of thunderstorms

Bragging rights for anyone who can pick out any of my 3 contributions to the above LOL.

Just For Fun :)

2008-06-23T14:47:00.002-06:00

Stolen from Sarah's blog.....

Answer in only one word:
1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Your significant other? Unreachable
3. Your Hair? Cut
4. Your mother? Dead
5. Your father? Calgary
6. Your favorite thing? Success
7. Your dream last night? Forgotten
8. Your favorite drink? Water
9. Your dream/goal? Athleticism
10. The room you're in? Office
11. Your children? None
12. Your fear? Pain
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Rich
14. Where were you last night? Bed
15. What you're not? Mean
16. Muffins? Decline
17. One of your wish list items? Slenderness
18. Where you grew up? Multi
19. What you read last? Internet
20. What are you wearing? Capris
21. Your TV? LCD
22. Your pets? Partis
23. Your computer? Three
24. Your life? Changing
25. Your mood? Regular
26. Missing someone? Always
27. Your car? Van
28. Something you're not wearing? Socks
29. Favorite Store? Moxie's ;)
30. Your summer? Work
31. Like someone? Husband
32. Your favorite color? Yellow
33. Last time you laughed? Today
34. Last time you cried? Unknown
35. Someone you wish to know more? Yes
36. Horrible habit? Overeating
37. Future plans? Happiness
38. If money were no object? Acreage
39. Life-long dream? Wealth
40. Greatest accomplishment? Education

Starbucks sucks.... here's why!

2008-06-17T11:16:00.003-06:00

About 3 or 4 times a week I go to Starbucks for a "Skinny Vanilla Latte". The venti (largest) size comes to almost $5 but then I heard that if I buy them using a registered Starbucks card the syrup (a whopping $0.35) would be free. So I registered the card, put $100 on it, and got excited about all the yummy upcoming lattes I would be enjoying for 35 cents less than everyone else :)

Since I have registered my Starbucks card I have used about $55 of the $100.... that's 12 lattes of various sizes. Of those 12 I have had the following experiences:

4 or 5 of the lattes have had free syrup. Sometimes the Starbucks representative offers it for free; sometimes I have to ask for it because of my registered card. But at least I get what they promised
1 of the lattes they tried to charge me for syrup even though my card is registered and when I pointed that out to them they refused to believe it was registered.
The rest I never mentioned my card was registered and they charged me for syrup. I always pointed it out to them after the fact but they never offered me the 35 cents or any other kind of compensation.

So I've decided that if Starbucks can't get their crap together in the time it takes me to drain the remaining $45 from my card then I just won't be going there again. I do enjoy my skinny vanilla lattes but I'm sick of them not following through on their promises and the constant guessing game of how much they are going to charge me for my latte today. Oh, and I have contacted Starbucks customer service via their website but no response yet.

Even if you don't care, it's my blog so I'm gonna talk about whatever I want :)

2008-06-16T20:59:00.002-06:00

This morning marked the one week anniversary of the day I re-joined Weight Watchers. Over the week I became a Weight Watchers nazi! I was totally hard core about it.... ate enough but well within my limits.... exercised lots. And I stayed away from the scale so I really had no idea what the result was going to be.

So this morning (as I will every Monday morning) I stepped on the scale and saw a loss. Yippee!!!! I went up to Vince and told him how happy I was that I had lost 3.5 lbs. I was doing my little happy dance, got some breakfast, and sat in front of the computer to enter my weight in the WW "online tools". But when I did, then double checked and triple checked the numbers I realized that I had actually lost 5.5 lbs! Even more happy dancing and rejoicing :) I was very happy to have bad math this morning LOL.

What would you do? Courtesy question.

2008-06-13T10:36:00.007-06:00

Remember the wedding crasher that came to my wedding? The guy (former wrestling referee... since been fired) we specifically did not invite because he is such an idiot and none of the wrestlers like him? The guy who has cheated on his girlfriend (A) and got the other girl (B) pregnant. Dumped the girlfriend (A) to be with the pregnant one (B) then discovered he got the dumped girlfriend (A) pregnant too. Then cheated on them both (A&B) and got a third girl (C) pregnant (so the story goes). I believe he is not supporting any of the children and the one ex-girlfriend (A) told me he wants her to have her current boyfriend adopt the baby so the fool doesn't have to pay any child support. The guy is irresponsible, irritating, and an idiot.

Now he is supposedly getting married. Vince & I received an invitation a few days ago and we don't want to go. We aren't his friend. I don't even know the fiancee. Vince says we should just tell them we are going golfing that day LOL. It's on the Saturday of a long weekend so it'll be easy to say we have a prior committment. I say we just decline the invitation and not give a present or card. He and his then girlfriend who crashed our wedding didn't get us so much as a card so I don't feel bad about not getting one for him. But is that childish? I want to take the high road but I just don't like this guy! What do you think?

Ok, let's try this again

2008-06-10T12:58:00.002-06:00

My pants have been shrinking! At least that's what I kept telling myself. Then I realized what deep down I knew all the time... I've been gaining weight at such a rapid rate that I'm now 35 lbs more than a year ago when I got married. No wonder my clothes aren't fitting me well and every time I go clothes shopping I strangely can only find stuff that fits in larger sizes LOL.

So I'm going back on the only weight loss plan that has ever worked for me.... Weight Watchers. There are 2 things that have kept me from re-joining WW in the last year or so:

It's very expensive. Approximately $15/week to weigh yourself and listen to a 30 minute lecture on weight loss tips
I don't like the location or leaders at the Lethbridge WW. There was one leader I really liked but she was basically the cashier... never the weigh in lady or lecturer.

So instead of doing the traditional meetings, I am going to try doing Weight Watchers online. No meetings, no public weigh ins, no lectures, but still the same plan. And the online tools are awesome! Once you are familiar with the program it's great one-stop shopping for all food tracking, activity tracking, recipe finder, etc. And best of all, it works out to be about 1/2 the price of traditional meetings. So far I'm on day 2 so no great successes to report yet but I'm hoping this will be the best of both worlds.... a plan that works AND that I can stick with :)

Keep crying wolf and soon no one will believe you

2008-06-05T21:11:00.004-06:00

One thing I seriously don't understand in the world of Hollywood is why some people, and it only seems to be black men, cry racism when they are let go from an acting job.

A year or so ago actor Isaiah Washington was let go from the show "Grey's Anatomy". This was around a much publicized situation where he referred to his gay co-star in a derogatory way..... after which Isaiah Washington said the real reason he was let go was because he's black.

Now Harold Perrineau, Michael from "Lost", is saying that he was killed off on the show because he is black.

First of all, when these men were hired, were they hiding the fact that they are black? Did they think the casting people did not realize they were black? If they were worried about their race being an issue, don't you think they would simply have not been hired to portray those characters?

Other actors have come and gone on both shows. When Dominic Monaghan's character Charlie was killed off on Lost I didn't hear him crying that it was because he was English. Or when Jeffery Dean Morgan, who played Denny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy, left because his character was killed off there were no accusations of the producers getting rid of him because he is single.

So how come some people feel it is okay to cry racism when, through what seems to be normal storytelling of their characters, they leave a show? I can maybe understand them not GETTING a role because of race (of course I'm not condoning hiring based on race, but I can understand the accusation). But auditioning, earning a role in a regular television series, successfully portraying that character for years, and then being let go because the character is no longer part of the story, and THEN crying racism? Sorry, that doesn't fly with me. I think it makes them look like whiners and they can only do more harm than good for black people who may have a legitimate racism grievance.

Something I have learned that I am sensitive about....

2008-06-04T19:47:00.005-06:00

People criticizing my cooking or lack of cooking. Today I brought a birthday cake into work for everyone in the office who has a birthday this month. Every month 2 people from the office volunteer to bring a cake in for all the birthdays that month. I signed up late last year for June. What I didn't realize at the time was that the end of May, beginning of June was going to be INSANELY busy for me. Just to give you an idea...

Sunday - changed plans as I got guilted into coming in to work. Worked 4 hours but the server was down the whole time.... waste of time sitting in the office.
Monday- worked a 14 hour day... until 10pm. Missed Brighton's 3rd birthday party because of it (still haven't given him his present).
Tuesday - worked 2 hours of overtime.
Wednesday - the day I was scheduled to bring a cake in to work

So as you can see, I haven't exactly had the time to buy ingredients and bake a cake from scratch. When I realized this I ordered a cake from Safeway. Note that I bought a HUGE cake.... bigger than most bring in. Also, most people actually do buy their cakes instead of making them. So I was doing nothing out of the ordinary.

But as the cake was being eaten, the "model" girl (from a few posts ago) leaned over to her neighbour and said sarcastically "this cake is so good. I MUST get the recipe." This was said in my earshot and I was very offended. After all, I have literally not had the time to bake a cake in the last few days. If she was so disappointed with her free cake she should have declined a piece. I was going to make a cheesecake before it was clear that I wouldn't have time to do so. And I still might..... but she will NOT be invited to have a piece. Bitches don't get any of my cheesecake LOL!

VICKY DOESN'T EAT MUSHROOMS!!!!!!!

2008-06-02T10:10:00.002-06:00

There are few things in this world that I feel as strongly about as mushrooms. I don't like the look of them, the smell of them, and especially not the taste of them. I don't have a phobia or fear of mushrooms. I just simply don't like them at all. Because of that extreme dislike, I feel I have just as much right to order restaurant food without mushrooms as someone who is allergic to mushrooms.

On the weekend we ordered pizza and I had my usual.... veggie lovers with no mushrooms. When I opened the box at home at first glance it appeared that they made my pizza correctly. But on further inspection I found small pieces of mushroom scattered throughout my pizza. It looked like they had made my pizza with mushrooms, then realized their mistake and tried to remove them but missed some of the smaller pieces. I was horrified! What if I was allergic to mushrooms? I could have become violently ill because of their mistake. If they realized their mistake before cooking (which they must have done as there no signs of mushroom imprints in the melted cheese) then they could have easily remade my pizza with only a minor delay. Believe me, I would have been happy to wait the extra few minutes for a pizza that no mushroom had ever touched. As it is, I have to inspect every piece of this pizza before I eat it and then re-inspect it with every bite. I have removed a few small pieces of mushroom from every piece so far.

It will be a long time before I order Pizza Hut pizza again. Which is okay because Douro's actually makes better pizza. They are out of the way but the inconvenience has now become more bearable because of their better pie.

Irritating and ironic

2008-06-01T11:05:00.003-06:00

I work with a girl who used to be a model. I have never seen a picture of her or one of the movies she was supposedly in but she mentions it all the time. I should also mention that she is neither tall (I am taller than her) nor particularly pretty.... regular but not pretty. Nor is she extremely thin... about average but not thin. So in no way would I have guessed she was a model if she hadn't told me.

The first time she told me I responded with "how interesting" and asked her some questions about it. Then we moved on with the conversation and I thought that was the end of it.

But since then she mentions it about once every 2 weeks... and every time she acts like she is telling me for the first time and there's a big pause while she looks at me expectantly. It's like she is expecting me to fawn all over her and praise her for her former career. I don't think she is even doing it consciously. I suspect she usually gets a positive reaction from people and she feeds off it. But she has now mentioned it so often that it's irritating me and I won't play her game anymore.

So a few weeks ago she mentioned again that she used to be a model and I responded with "yes, you told me about that." And last week when she mentioned it yet again I just looked at her and waited for her to continue her thought (if there was one). I don't think it is my responsibility to provide fawning whenever she mentions her former career.

Here's the funny thing. I only found out about 2 weeks ago (after working with her for almost 8 months) that she has her masters degree in computer science. I would have thought THAT would be something to brag about.... not that someone put some makeup on her and snapped a few pictures. Where's the achievement in that?

Happy Anniversary

2008-05-13T13:37:00.004-06:00

Yesterday Vince & I celebrated our very first wedding anniversary. Vince planned the evening and it was a complete surprise. He had a limousine pick us up. We had champagne in the back seat on our way to The Keg. There we had supper (after which I was sure I wouldn't be able to eat for a week! LOL), and afterwards, just for fun, we had the limo take us to Tim Horton's for coffee LOL. We attracted a few stares from the people in Tim Horton's... it was amusing :) We got some pictures but I didn't get around to downloading them last night so I'll put them up on facebook in the next few days.

Unfortunately Vince has a bad sinus cold right now so he wasn't having as much fun last night as he normally would have. I suspect I am getting his cold too so I'm on Cold FX trying to fight it.

We decided to alternate planning of anniversary dinners every year so next year is mine. I don't want to try and outdo Vince so I'm thinking of trying something a little different. At first I thought a hot air balloon ride but Vince isn't into heights so I think that would be more scary than fun for him LOL. Then I thought since he loves hockey so much we could go to a playoffs game but unless it's in Calgary (and then good luck getting tickets!) we'd have to fly there which Vince won't do. So I'm leaning towards a romantic picnic but I'll need a contingency plan in case of bad weather. Any other suggestions for anniversary celebrations? I am taking suggestions for the next 364 days LOL.

Seriously, how hard is it to be polite?

2008-05-12T10:07:00.004-06:00

Yesterday Vince & I were walking into Tim Hortons. He reached the door first and held it open for me but as I was about to walk through 2 women walked out of the same door chatting with each other but didn't say thank-you to Vince for holding the door open for them. This is my absolute biggest pet peeve because it is SOOOOOOO rude and costs them absolutely nothing to be polite and say thank-you in passing. So as I passed them to walk through the doorway I said "you're welcome!". I honestly don't think they clued in to why I said that but it sure made me feel better. I know it's rude to point out someone else's rudeness but I also think some people need a lesson in manners.

Something that has always bugged me

2008-05-11T10:51:00.002-06:00

Why oh why oh why do so many organizations group the prairie provinces together? I seriously don't understand that. Yesterday when I was in Tim Horton's they still had displayed their "Roll Up The Rim" rules and regulations in a poster on the wall. The cup distribution table caught my eye as it listed how many winning cups were sent out by province... or more accurately by region. They listed BC as one entity. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, NWT, and Yukon as another (I guess Nunavut doesn't have Tim's because they weren't on there). Ontario as another region, then Quebec, and the maritime provinces were grouped together too. For geographical reasons I can understand why the maritimes are grouped together. But why oh why aren't Alberta, Sask, Manitoba, NWT, and Yukon subcategorized? I can see grouping Sask and Manitoba together for population reasons. Same with NWT and Yukon. I can even see grouping BC and Alberta together as we Albertans have much in common with our neighbours to the west. But for some reason that never happens. BC is always in a class by itself and Alberta gets lumped in with the other prairie provinces.

The same grouping happens in the CKC (Canadian Kennel Club). They list dog shows and trials by region. BC is its own region. Then all the prairies are lumped together. I have never been to a show in Manitoba and don't plan on ever going to one but in order to find my local shows I have to filter through the Manitoba listings in order to find what I'm looking for. BC people don't have to go through this rigmarole. Neither do Ontario people due to Ontario being its own region.

I think its time those of us in Alberta demanded answers to this question. Alberta's economy is booming, as is the population. We are, in many ways, more similar to BC than to Saskatchewan (sadly not in politics but hopefully that will change one day). Yes, the geography is similar to Saskatchewan in some ways (prairies) but we also have some beautiful mountain ranges, forests, and lets not forget the oil and natural gas, which sets us apart from the other prairie provinces.

Am I alone on this? Anyone else wonder why we Albertans aren't given the distinction of our own provincial identity?

Movin' on up :)

2008-05-01T10:18:00.003-06:00

On Tuesday (2 days ago) the "person who knows everything in the Registrar's Office" (also known as Linda, the Registrar's secretary) came up to me in my teeny tiny cubicle and said due to some construction they were going to move me out of my cubicle to a large vacant one nearby. I was happy about this and asked when it would happen. She said on Monday as they needed time to do some shuffling of other desks first and then move some boxes out of the vacant one before it would be ready for me. So I booked some time in my calendar on Friday to straighten out my desk so it would be all ready for the move on Monday.

Then yesterday, Wednesday, Linda came by again (this time with movers following her) and said "are you ready to move now?". Ummmm, not really LOL. I had piles of paper, bottles that need to be recycled, and random instructional manuals (none of which belong to me) scattered all over my desk. So much for my prep time! I asked them for a few minutes to get ready which they needed anyways to get the boxes out of my new cubicle. About an hour later I was moved and settled in my new cubicle. It was by far the fastest a move has ever happened in my entire working career.

My new cubicle is EASILY twice the size of my old one. But strangely, it is in a triangle shape so making efficient use of the space is a challenge. However, it is all worth it because I no longer have to do the sideways shimmy to get behind my desk. That was never fun for me.

I'm a bad girl who wants to be good LOL

2008-04-30T09:40:00.003-06:00

I haven't been to the gym in weeks! I'm supposed to be an exercise instructor (I finally got certified so I'm all official now) and I can't find the motivation to get off my butt to go to the gym. I don't have a class to teach right now so it's too easy to skip the gym when I really should be going.

I'll be teaching again in the fall and will be substitute teaching over the summer once in a while so I have reasons to stay active and fit. However, that doesn't help me actually get out the door an hour earlier to hit the gym before work.

Once I'm in the habit of it it's not such a big deal but starting to go when it's not part of my regular schedule I really struggle with starting up again. So my question is, how do YOU find the motivation to go to the gym? Help this lazy-ass girl please :)

Ya know that feeling when you have to pee?

2008-04-29T10:52:00.003-06:00

You know that feeling when you have to pee but you really don't want to waste the time or energy to actually get up, walk all the way to the bathroom, go through the whole routine there, then walk all the way back again? It rarely happens at home but at work I go through it every single day.

When I have to pee at work I just HATE it. The bathroom is far away (relatively speaking), my cubicle is so small that I have to shimmy sideways to get out from behind the desk, and if I stop what I'm doing when I'm in "the zone" I know it will take a while to get back into "the zone" when I get back. So I put off the trip to the bathroom as long as possible... I'm literally doing the fast walking pee-pee dance on the way to the ladies' room most times.

But here's the strange thing.... sometimes my bladder will give me a reprieve. It's like I have to pee SOOOOO badly that I'm doing the pee-pee dance while seated on my desk chair (ladies, you know what I mean LOL). And then a couple of minutes later I don't have to pee so bad anymore. I still need to go but the desperation is gone. Has anyone else experienced that? It's very strange. But of course it is only temporary as within about 10 minutes (I've never timed it... just a guess) I'll have to really pee and quickly. There is no reprieve the second time.

Okay, I know this is a very strange post but I'm going through it so I thought I'd share :)

I'm back, baby

2008-04-28T11:26:00.003-06:00

I took a week off blogging when I went to Anaheim on a business trip 2 weeks ago. And last week was just so crazy that I never got down to posting.

It's very strange that getting out of a normal routine for just a few days can seem to cause everything to spiral out of control. I still have a few items in my suitcase that need to be put away. I have a few souveniers to give to family. I have some odds and ends that need straightening out. But put them all together and my life feels very out of control.

I wish I had a day off that I could use just to straighten out my life. But honestly, with an extra day off I probably wouldn't use it appropriately... I'd spend some time in the hot tub and the rest messing around on my computer. I have wonderful intentions of being organized but the execution of it always seems just out of my grasp.

Yeah, I'm offended (rant)

2008-04-10T20:53:00.000-06:00

Last night I went to see Spirit Of The Marathon. It was awesome and I was totally inspired to put my shoes on and go for a run.

Now before I go any further in my story let me just say this.... I'm fat! I totally and completely get that and understand that. However, does that really mean that I can't run? I won't be able to complete a marathon tomorrow but I can run a bit! So on with my story....

They had a table set up outside the theater where people could enter their name in a draw for prizes after the show. As I was filling out my ballot one of the organizers came up to me and said "Oh, do you run?". This guy didn't ask ANYONE ELSE AT ALL this question... just me. Maybe I'm being oversensitive about it but it seemed that he not-so-subtly was showing shock that the fat girl came to the running movie.

Then I got home... still totally inspired by the show... and I asked Vince if he would cheer me on at the finish line of a race. He responded "well, yeah" very hesitantly... so I finished the sentence for him "if you don't have to work!". He sheepishly said yes. So I said "if I was in a marathon would you take the day off work to be there at the finish line?". Men, if your wife asks you if you'll be there at the finish line when she is running a marathon the correct answer is a resounding "YES, OF COURSE I WILL, BABY!". Vince however responded with "that's a long ways away so let's not worry about it yet." SIGH!!!!!!

By the way, be sure to rent Spirit Of The Marathon when it comes out on DVD this fall. Yes, it's about marathon runners but specifically about a handful of people in various walks of life from elite Olympic athletes who are in it to win to a single mom who is a first time runner. It's about the people and their stories more than the race itself but the whole thing is awesome. My experiences with the dude at the theater and my husband at home notwithstanding, the show is a definite must see :)

Tagged

2008-04-09T17:47:00.004-06:00

Sarah tagged me to do this.....

A- Attached or Single: Attached to a lovely man I call Vince

B- Best friend: Vince cus I share my life with him, Scott cus we've been friends since we were wee, and Louisa cus.... well who wouldn't love Louisa? She's awesome!

C- Cake or Pie: Cake... I'm not so much into pastry.

D- Day of Choice: Friday... usually date night and the weekend is upon us.

E- Essential Item: Water and my laptop!

F- Favorite color: Green or yellow

G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Gummi bears... especially the sour ones.

H- Hometown: Lethbridge

I- Indulgence(s): Hoodies... I can never have enough LOL.

J- January or July: Tough call... one is too cold and the other too hot. I guess July since I have air conditioning :)

K-Kids: 4 of the 4 legged kind.... Mercedes (Sadi-bug or munchkin), Gilly (Mr Gilbert), Claire (Claire-a-bell), Star (bad-ass kitty) LOL

L- Life is Incomplete Without: laughter

M-Marriage Date: May 12, 2007

N- Number of Siblings: 1 brother and 1 sister (the aforementioned Louisa who is often very awesome)

O- Oranges or apples: The occasional Golden Delicious Apple.... that's it!

P- Phobias or Fears: bad guys from horror movies. And spiders!

Q- Quotes: "Believe what you want but shut the hell up!"... I want to quote it whenever politics and/or religion start to be debated

R- Reason to Smile: My dogs.

S- Season: Spring

T- Tag Seven: Louisa and any 6 other people who read this and haven't done this already

U- Unknown Fact about Me: I can't stand it when my hair gets so long that it touches my neck (when it was longer did ya ever notice that it was always in a ponytail? That's why LOL)

V- Vegetarian or Meat Lover: Pizza? Veggie but with no mushrooms. That's what I usually order but I'll add a meat... any meat at all... for the protein.

W- Worst Habit: Eating when I'm not hungry just because of opportunity.

X- X Rays or Ultrasounds: X-rays as I don't need to have an uncomfortably full bladder to have it done.

Y- Your Favorite Food: Tuscan Chicken Sandwich from Moxie's

Z-Zodiac: Aries

Attitude is everything

2008-04-08T19:39:00.002-06:00

I've been watching Beauty And The Geek off and on since it started. The episode that was on tonight was the "geek makeover" episode that they have every season. In this episode the remaining geeks are sent to a salon for a total body makeover (hair cuts, facial hair trim, even chest & back waxing) and dressed in stylish clothes so they look amazingly different from the first few episodes. These guys are sometimes unfamiliar with basic hygiene (ie. never use deodorant, shower every few days, etc) so the transformation can be surprising and always for the better.

But this year one guy, Joe, was so upset with his transformation. He said it was disrespectful to his fashion sense and the style he liked to portray. This is one of the guys that had hygiene issues and desperately needed some fashion and basic cleanliness help. He was constantly complaining and bringing everyone within earshot down.

Watching this guy's attitude affect everyone around him made me realize how important one's attitude is to success in life. There's nothing wrong with vocalizing displeasure over something but letting it go on and on to the point that it's bringing other people down is unattractive and makes people want to keep their distance from you. There is so much to be learned from Beauty and the Geek LOL.

Something to look forward to

2008-04-06T18:35:00.007-06:00

Vince & I went to the movie theater today. Before the movie they showed the world's shortest trailer for a documentary (about 10 seconds or so) but it was enough to peak my interest. So I went online to check out Spirit Of The Marathon. After seeing the trailer on the website, I not only knew I wanted to go see the documentary but I wanted to put my shoes on and go running right away. It was kind of like what I call the "Westminster Effect"... whenever I watch the Westminster dog show on TV I want to groom my dogs and take them to a dog show LOL.

The only thing is that Spirit Of The Marathon is showing on one night only... this coming Wednesday. I already had plans but they weren't set in stone so I can go see the documentary... yippee! I don't want to set my hopes up too high but if the show is as good as I expect then I'll be buying the DVD when it is released later this year. Stay tuned later in the week for a review.

The math of running

2008-04-05T11:08:00.004-06:00

Last night I purchased the much a-stressed over running watch. This morning I decided to take it on a trial run (so to speak LOL). Once again I grabbed my iPod, put a leash on Mercedes, and we were out the door. I very quickly realized that the countdown feature on the watch (which was a big deal to me when I was buying it) was of very little use on a real life run because the chime/alarm can only be heard when the watch is fairly close to my ears - close enough that I can see the time on the watch. And if I can see the time on my watch then there is no need for an alarm to tell me that a minute has passed. Now, lest you blame the iPod, I must say that the iPod was turned down low.... just enough for me to hear the beat, when I was testing out the countdown feature on the watch.

So I turned off the coundown timer and just used the stopwatch for the run. It is set up to time how long it takes to run a lap and remembers up to 30 laps for future analysis. But since I'm running on the street and not on a track that really doesn't mean much to me.... I just plan a route and go. So the stopwatch is much fancier than I need.

But here is where the math comes in. I'll be picking up the pace a little in the coming weeks but for now I'm doing a run 1 min, walk 2 mins rotation. I found the easiest way to do that is to start running on every minute that is divisible by three. So I walked/warmed up for the first 3 mins. At the 3 minute mark I started running for a minute then switched to walking at the 4 minute mark. Then repeated the process starting at the 6 minute mark. So you can see that some simple math is involved especially when you are up around 25, 26, 27 minutes and have to remember (while running and tired) which number is divisible by 3 LOL. It'll be easier when I switch to run 1 min, walk 1 min as I can start running at the odd minutes and walking on the even minutes or vice versa. I guess this is where I earn the true title of "mathlete".

This story has a happy ending

2008-04-04T09:49:00.004-06:00

Last night I decided to go shopping for a new running watch (see yesterday's post). I had a running watch a few years ago but seem to have lost it in one of my moves. I searched online to find one with the features I wanted and there were so many I just decided to go to Sportchek to see what they had in stock. I received Sportchek gift cards for my birthday so it made sense to go there first.

I looked at every watch available in Sportcheck but the only one that had what I wanted (basically, just a stopwatch and/or countdown timer... anything else was a bonus) was a Timex Ironman watch in the men's style (bulky, larger watch face). I knew this watch came in a women's version from my internet research and they said they could order one in for me but I didn't really want to wait if at all possible so I ventured into the mall to see if I could find a suitable watch to take home right away.

First stop was Foot Locker... they had no watches at all and recommended I look in Sportchek (thanks dude!). Second stop was The Source... they had stopwatches but no watches and recommended I look in Sportchek (thanks chick!). Third stop was Charmed Diamond Store... they had a few watches with the right features but the buttons were very small and tough/sticky to push. I didn't want to be fiddling with little buttons when running so I passed on them and the woman recommended I look in.... you guessed it... Sportchek! LOL. So I started walking back to Sportchek with the intention of buying the manly watch when I glanced out of the corner of my eye the entrance to Sears. I thought well, it doesn't hurt to look in there.

So off I went to the Sears jewelry counter when what should catch my eye but the exact same Timex Ironman watch that was in Sportchek but the ladies version :) So I played with it, set the timer to make sure it worked, made sure the buttons were easy to use (they were) and decided to purchase it. Just as I was reaching for my wallet the sales lady mentioned that all Timex watches were going on sale the next day for 35% off. SWEET! So they are holding my selection for me until this evening when I can go and buy it at a lovely discount. I'm looking forward to picking it up.

Running running running

2008-04-03T17:54:00.002-06:00

Last night I turned on my iPod, put a leash on Mercedes, and went out for a little run. By "little run" I literally mean that I didn't run for long. We were gone for about 25 minutes and in that time ran for about 6 of those minutes. In that time I also warmed up, cooled down, stopped to pick up Mercedes poop... twice!, and stopped to tie my shoes. So the running portion only came in one minute spurts sporadically throughout the duration. However, I'm proud of myself for doing it.

I have Sarah to thank for the idea/inspiration. We are planning to do a 5K run together at the end of June and another one at the beginning of October. Next year I'd like to do the 8K "Ladiesfest" run in June. I've contemplated doing that run for a few years but have always felt unprepared for it. The 8K part doesn't worry me but the course elevation (going down into the coulees and back up again) sounds overwhelming.

So it looks like I'll need to buy a running watch again... the kind that has a stopwatch and alarm on it. Luckily I got some Sportchek gift cards for my birthday last week :D

Changing Names - another rant :)

2008-04-02T16:09:00.004-06:00

When I got married I kept my maiden name. My reasons for doing so are personal but for completeness of blog entry I shall list them here.....

I like my maiden name. This is not to say that I DISLIKE my husband's last name... simply stating that I like my current last name.
I received my education in my maiden name and therefore all diplomas, certificates, transcripts, etc are in my maiden name.
When I got married I had been an employed professional (since I got my bachelor's degree) for about 7 years and had been known as my maiden name in that capacity. So for professional (networking) reasons I wanted to keep my maiden name.
I have worked hard and advertised quite heavily as Mercedes' breeder/owner/handler in my maiden name.
I saw what a co-worker/friend went through a couple of years ago when she divorced and had to change her name on all official documents and even with the phone company, bank, etc. It was a huge struggle for her that took, in some cases, months to complete. Who needs the unnecessary headache?

Any one of the above reasons is, to me, strong enough to make the case for not changing my name but when all 5 were combined the decision was a very easy one and I opted to keep my maiden name. All 5 arguements basically come down to professional & paperwork issues. So the implication from some that I am either A. not really married or B. married but not committed to my husband because I didn't change my name is both crazy and highly offensive!

Just because I chose to keep my maiden name does not in any way mean that I do not love my husband. It is a personal choice and one which no one should judge. I actually had one in-law say that when I switched jobs (which I did about 5 months after I got married) that I could change my name then. This woman clearly had no concept of being a professional working woman as now I had even MORE reason to hang on to my maiden name as networking with old co-workers would be even more complicated if I changed my name.

Now, having said all this, I realize that many of the judgements and questions have come because of living in Southern Alberta. Although not unheard of for a woman to keep her maiden name when getting married I think it is still very uncommon and certainly much more uncommon than in larger cities. I remember a co-worker in Calgary got married a few years ago and his wife kept her maiden name.... no one seemed to bat an eye at her decision at all. I guess that's why it came as such a surprise when so many people questioned my decision and passed judgements based on it.

Well, it has been a while

2008-04-01T07:07:00.002-06:00

I know, I know, it has been a long time since I updated my blog. Basically what happened was I found facebook and figured my blog rantings could just be posted there as notes. But ya know what? That didn't really happen. So I'm back baby. :)

There's just so much I have to say. I have many rants stored inside me that need to come out. The first one is about one of my pet peeves.... when people say "if I can do it, you/anyone can do it". I suppose this is supposed to be motivational, as if to say I am weak and found the strength so I know you have the strength in you because you are not as weak as me. But the unsaid portion of the statement is I found the strength to do something that "anyone" can do so if you don't do it then there is something lacking in you. It's just negativity in my life that is unnecessary.

And we see this statement everywhere... usually in weight loss or exercise commercials as part of their sales pitch. If some stranger says to me that if they can do something then anyone can do it, it actually turns me completely off their product. There is a level of arrogance in it. It's as if they are challenging me to do what they did. Well I'm simply not interested in meeting the challenge of a stranger in a 30 second commercial and spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to do so. I just don't care enough. And they just irritated me enough to change the channel too.

Worst Blind Date Ever

2007-07-18T10:24:00.000-06:00

I was checking one of my regular bulletin boards and the topic of "Worst Dates" caught my eye. I recalled one particularly horrid blind date and posted the following story to the bulletin board. I realized it happened so many years ago that most of my blog readers have probably never heard the story. So here it is.... enjoy :)

I drove 6 hours to visit my aunt and her family (in Moose Jaw). They set me up (with my permission) on a TBM blind date that I had to drive another hour to meet (he was from Manitoba but was staying in Regina).

So I went to meet the guy in the lobby of his hotel in Regina. He mixed up our meeting time and was 2 hours late! Then when he finally arrived he took me to a political convention (seriously!). When that was over he wanted a drink so I suggested the McD's next door to get a soda... he said that wasn't good enough so we drove around (my car, my gas) until we found a 7-11. He made his beverage selection and told me to get the same. I said I'd get my own choice of beverage... which he put down as not as good as his and how I was missing out on his great beverage. He wasn't joking... he went on for a couple of minutes insulting my drink choice and telling me how I needed to get the same as him! In hindsight he was probably testing my willingness to be "obedient" to him. But after the drive, waiting for him, then sitting in a politcal convention I was not in the mood to be obedient to anyone, least of all him!

We drove to a nearby movie theater and the only movie that hadn't started yet was "8 Seconds" (cowboy/rodeo movie with Luke Perry) so we went to see it. At one point in the movie Luke Perry is in bed with his wife... no sex just lying in bed and talking. My date leaned over and put his hand over my eyes and said I wasn't old enough to see that part.

When the movie was over I started to drive him back to his hotel but he asked if I'd drive him to his friend's house in Moose Jaw instead. Since I had to drive there anyways (an hour away) I agreed. During the drive he tried to recruit me to work in his political party... the drive seemed to take forever. I pulled up at his friend's home and he wouldn't get out of the car. I was young and didn't know how to tell him to get the hell out so I just sat there staring out my window with my arms crossed waiting for him to leave. He was waiting for a kiss that there was no way he was getting. He finally got out.

The next morning he told his friends about the date and I heard afterwards they ripped into him for treating me so badly.... he thought the date went well from his perspective but his friends could tell from his retelling that it was miserable for me.

A couple of months later I was heading back to visit my aunt in Moose Jaw again and the blind date heard about it and wanted to get together with me again. Remembering how horrible the first date was I actually grew a spine and said no.

2007-07-09T11:51:00.000-06:00

We had family over for supper on Saturday night. I had set the table and was in the kitchen mixing the gravy when I heard a crash in the dining room. I looked over and our charming cat "Star" had jumped up on the table and knocked over the vase of flowers! Luckily the vase & flowers were salvageable but the water in the vase had spilled all over the table, the plates, napkins, and onto the floor. Her timing was awesome.... at 5:58 when people were to start arriving at 6:00! I was NOT impressed!!!!!

The dogs are so good and well behaved.... well, not really but at least they don't make me panic trying to mop up spilled flower-water 2 minutes before guests start arriving LOL.

The most unromantic thing ever said while trying to be romantic

2007-06-27T09:37:00.000-06:00

The story about WWE wrestler, Chris Benoit, who appears to have committed a murder-suicide against his wife, son, and himself has shocked and saddened the wrestling community. Vince & I were watching a news story about it as details were starting to emerge about this very sad and horrific situation.

At one point during the story Vince turned to me and said "I hope our relationship never gets that bad". Ummmmm, to the point of you murdering me? Yeah, I hope so too!!!!! I think he was trying to be sweet but it was the wierdest sentiment I'd ever heard LOL!

I'm all legal

2007-06-21T08:47:00.000-06:00

I am now the official owner of a CLASS 6 operators license. WOO HOO!!!! I can now legally ride my motorcycle without Vince (or any class 6 driver) following me.... I'm flying solo baby!!!! :D

Funny Father's Day Moment

2007-06-19T09:06:00.000-06:00

The day before Father's Day, Vince was out of town so I went out to get him a Father's Day card in secret. He came home earlier than I expected so I had to sneak the card in and sign it where he couldn't see me so it would be a complete surprise on the day. The card was so cute. It had a bunch of power tools on it and said something about being a powerful dad... I signed it from the "kids" (Gilly, Mercedes, and Star) and on the envelope I just wrote "Happy Father's Day". I put the card in my bedside drawer so first thing on Sunday I could give it to Vince :)

So on Sunday morning Vince & I were lying in bed talking. I grabbed the card and rolled over to give it to him. Our conversation that followed was:

Vince: "What's this?" (still half asleep)
Me: "Read it"
Vince: "Oh, is it for my dad?"
Me: "No, it's for you"
Vince: (sits up and turns to stare at me) "ARE YOU PREGNANT?????"
Me: (laughing hysterically) "No! Just read it!"
Vince: "Oh" (big sigh of relief) "It's from the kids"

LOL! Happy belated Father's Day to all the daddies out there :D

I aced it!

2007-06-18T10:22:00.000-06:00

Thanks for all the good luck comments and well wishes for my motorcycle licensing skills test. I'm very pleased to announce that I aced it! I successfully completed each skill required on the first attempt. It was actually easier than the course test (although about 80% the same). The licensing guy was very easy going, there were only 3 of us doing the test and our 2 instructors were both there and very supportive of us :)

So now all I need to do is successfully complete the multiple choice written test and I'll have completed all the requirements for my motorcycle license. I'll be doing that today or tomorrow... whenever I can sneak out for an hour or so in the middle of the day :)

Now I gotta do it all over again!

2007-06-15T09:19:00.000-06:00

Last night was the final day of my Motorcycle Skills training class. We did the final test and I tied for first place (and was the highest scoring woman in the class!). I SHOULD have been overjoyed as the test was to have covered both the class portion and also the provincial licensing requirement so I'd finally be legally able to ride solo.

Unfortunately, the licensing evaluator cancelled last minute (something about having 2 semi drivers to test... are they more important than a class of new bikers?!?!?!). So I have to go back and do the test again tomorrow for the licensing guy.

The good news is that my confidence is way up because of passing the test last night. But the bad news is that it'll be a new day with a new evaluator and there are no bonus points or guarantees that carry over from the previous test. So the stress level is high in spite of the success of yesterday's test. It's frustrating but all the people in my class are in the same situation... I just have to suck it up and retake the test. Wish me luck!

Unexpected obstacle in a motorcycle class

2007-06-08T11:28:00.000-06:00

I'm taking a motorcycle class at the local college (which, BTW, I would 100% recommend to anyone who wants to gain some skills and confidence on a motorcycle). Last night we were riding a lot on the bikes and doing some slow-speed maneuvering. After a couple of hours of this my upper back was getting a bit sore so when I was sitting on the bike taking a break for a couple of seconds I stretched out my back. I was moving my shoulder blades together (sticking my chest out), then doing the opposite and rounding my back out. I did that a few times before it was time to start riding again.

So I was doing figure 8's on the bike and concentrating on what I was doing when I realized something felt funny. I kept riding to the next obstacle and did that maneuver too. Partway through I realized what was wrong.... my bra had come undone during my stretches and I was riding around completely unsupported! Talk about letting them flap in the breeze!

I figured we were close to the end of class so maybe it would be okay and go unnoticed (I was wearing a leather jacket so it wasn't too obvious) until we finished up. So we are riding around a bit more when the instructor pulls us all in and someone happened to mention that there was an hour left in the class. So I turned off the bike and said "I have to take a break" and started walking into the college building. I'm sure they all thought I needed to go to the bathroom (which is technically where I went) but there was no way I was going to keep riding for another hour with my boobs unsupported and an undone bra hanging off my shoulders..... no bloody way!

Ok, how long has this been planned?

2007-06-07T15:14:00.000-06:00

I don't want to turn this into a "celebrity blog" but I just have to comment on the ridiculous Paris Hilton situation. Okay, Paris gets a DUI conviction, violates her parole, and is sentenced to go to jail. She has to serve a grand total of 23 days due to her expected good behavior (HA!). Ask Martha Stewart or Jack Kevorkian if 23 days is a "long time" to be in jail.

In the hours before Paris turns herself in to serve her jail sentence she walks the red carpet at the MTV Movie Awards show and makes out like she is doing her honorable duty and being so strong in face of adversity by going to prison. Okay, whatever!

So Paris spends 5 days in prison and refuses to eat the food served to her so she gets let out for "medical reasons"??!!!!???!!?? Was this her plan all along? Not eating for 5 days does not equal being sick. It equals being a princess! If she was truly sick then she should have gone to the hospital or the medical facilities in the jail. If she was anyone else besides Paris Hilton would she have had the option to serve the rest of her sentence from home? Maybe, but not because the food was not up to the prisoner's high standards. It's just crazy crazy crazy!

Okay, my rant is over..... for now :-)

Our New Addition

2007-06-04T10:46:00.000-06:00

Everyone, I'd like you to meet "Star" (named after our V-Star motorcycles). Star, this is everyone :)

My sneaky husband

2007-05-28T14:17:00.000-06:00

On Saturday morning Vince woke me up by saying what a BEAUTIFUL day it was going to be... sunny and highs in the mid 20's. Perfect day for a motorcycle ride. So he said that we should take the bikes out to Waterton when he comes home from work where he will buy me lunch at the Waterton restaurant of my choice. In my half asleep state it sounded like a good deal so I agreed to his plan.

It wasn't until about an hour later when I was fully awake that I realized what he had done. Vince wasn't going to treat me to lunch... it's OUR money so there is no treating involved LOL. And he knew that there was only one restaurant (besides fast food) that I'd be comfortable going into with helmet hair and bug-splattered chaps on... his favorite restaurant, Zum's. He just successfully manipulated me into going on a 300km motorcycle trip so he could have a steak sandwich at Zum's. Well played my husband, well played.

So I took the bike trip with him (and except for one psycho truck driver and a stray pheasant crossing the highway, it was without incident) but while we were waiting for our food at Zum's I let him know that I was on to his little scheme. He felt no shame for his underhandedness but I forgave him anyways. He needed forgiving :-)