The Wack

I got so busy I forgot to blog! Among the highlights was a trip to Chilliwack for my grandmother's birthday.

Breakfast champagne toast to Ella (my new neice)


Birthday presents for Nana.



The veiw from the back porch, it was a little hazy.





Yellow plums ready to be eatten. I know where I'm going for produce! They have 2 peach trees, 2 apple trees, a pear tree and a plum tree. Only the plums were ready when I was there though.








The lawn is so big that Dad had to buy a ride 'em lawnmower and he had to build a huge compost bin for all the grass. Pitchfork and cowboy hat completed the picture.






The lawn. Standing at the fence looking towards the back of the house





Cows! Momma, and 2 calfs (hiding in the grass on the far left). The horses were in the barn that day.






The walk to see the cows was too long for Nana, so we sat her in the back of the tractor and took her for a tour.

Bowling Drug Dealers

After the baseball tournament, I went bowling with the girls from work. A quick shower, bite to eat and I was sober enough to bowl. I was still sort of in cheerleader mode though, I kept wanting to yell out a cheer as each person went up to bowl.

My sexy shoes.


Glow in the dark bowling!
It was strange, the balls were all covered in oily slime. Apparently they put grease on the lanes, we didn't like it. We were all worried about our clothes. One of the balls was so slippery, that I dropped it. It rolled across to the next lane, and nearly took out a little kid!


Team picture.



Something we discovered, if you throw the heaviest ball you can, you get a better score. I could not believe how well I was playing! I started out with a 7 pound ball, but had graduated to a 14 pound pink ball by the end of the night. The next morning I discovered that I had thrown my back out! I guess throwing a 14 pound ball one-handed repeatedly isn't so good for the ole back. It kind of sidelined me for the second day of cheerleading.

CONGRATULATIONS

If you were born today, you share a birthday with Ginger Rogers and Will Farrell. You might be the centre of attention and turn every head when you grow up.

You also share a birthday with Orville Redenbacher and Michael Flattery from Lord of the Dance. ...I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

However, it's an excellent day to be born.

Shamrocks will rock you!

Time for the annual 420's... I mean Shamrock's year-end tournament


Official cheerleader gear, thanks to the local dollar stores.



Shannon scored these awesome sunglasses.



Cheering at 420 in honour of the previous team name. Don't look directly at my legs. They aren't actually that white, it's just that everyone else is so tanned.

Adventures in Groceries

Well it has been 2 months of gluten-free living. Only a couple of mistakes along the way, and lots learned. Thank goodness for the internet, there are so many resources and gluten-free communities out there. I have a new favorite blog, it is called "Gluten-Free Girl" The writer was miserable most of her life and thought she was dying. Then one day she found out she had celiac disease, changed her diet, and changed her life. She fell in love with a chef who changed his restaurant for her. Every week she writes about food, falling in love and living a full life. It's a great food website, check it out. http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/ Her cookbook (by the same name) is top of my wishlist.





Two months of gluten free eating has resulted in 2 months of sleeping through the night, no more sickness. Honestly, I have never felt better (with about 10 pounds mysteriously melting off). There are a few things I am really missing though. Every cereal in the breakfast aisle at Safeway contains gluten. Believe me. I literally started at one end of the aisle and read ingredient lists until there weren't anymore to read. Security probably thought I was planning on robbing the place. In despair, I have started shopping a little broader a field at specialty shops. I have found a good corn-flake cereal and have found a frozen bread I like. But what I've really been missing is oatmeal. Oats are gluten free but they are cross contaminated with other grains during processing. I have found a few online retailers of gluten-free oats, but the price is outrageous.





Today I went to a new grocery store. Maybe you've heard of it? It's called Save-On-Foods. Ha ha ha. There isn't one near my house, so I've never really shopped at Save-On. To my delight, they had all sorts of sections dedicated to food-freaks like me! I'm excited to try out the new foods I bought. The first is a sort of "Oatmeal"





"Ruth's Chia Goodness"
What makes this cereal different? Well it is made from Chia Pets! Remember that seed that you used to smear on your Chia Pet as a kid? Well turns out Chia is from the plant Salvia (found in lots of gardens including mine!) I honestly don't know if this is going to be good, but first thing tomorrow morning I am going to get up and make a bowl. Stay tuned for the official review....

And we're back. well I made a small bowl of Chia, I was expecting something that looked like oatmeal (because that's what is on the package.) The end product is dark brown, almost black seeds in a jelly-like muck. It reminds me of a kiwi fruit mushed up, the mouth feel is strange. The taste is tolerable as long as I keep reminding myself that it is good for me.

Gas Tax Tuesday

All day long I kept hearing people moan about the cost of gas and the new gas tax. I've never cared about gas prices because I don't drive. But that is all soon to change, I am planning to buy a car in the fall or winter (because I have to). I really want a hybrid or smart car, but I can't afford it. After doing a little Internet searching, I found that there are plenty of eco-friendly options out there if you aren't going to go far or aren't wanting to go fast.


At first I saw electric scooters (like motorcycles, but smaller.) I was surprised to learn that in BC, you don't need a licence to be on the road with an electric scooter. It doesn't really make sense to me, why should you be allowed to drive on the road without a licence? Sounds kinda dangerous to me. And then I found electric tricycles! A trike is so much more my speed and seems a lot safer. Some of them have peddles and other types don't.





Can't you picture me on this scooter? So cute. If only I could find a pink one! I could totally grocery shop and commute to and from work on these! The best part is that they are cheap, starting at about $1000, and the best part of all, no gas!




Can anyone else picture themselves cruising around the city on one of these puppies?