Cruise paid for - with creative math!

This is the diamond princess. The ship that I will be on in 3 weeks!

I was telling someone my strategy for quitting smoking. My idea was to take the money that would have been spent on ciggy's and reward myself instead. I did do that for the first couple of months very happily. But after a while I forgot. I might have still spent the money, but I stopped thinking of it as a reward.

So anyways. I was doing the math. I spent about $1000 a year on cigs. October is my one year mark. add that to the $571.78 from book sales and taa daaa! Cruise is paid for! ....well .... sort of.

I saw you! Now please go away!

I love I saw you's. Sometimes there are funny. I like this one.

I think I saw you jogging along my street...
You, tall and lumbering with a Charlie Brown head. It was dark, and I am not used to seeing you without the playstation thingee in your hand and the couch under your ass. If that was you, quit it. It's just poor form to display your sweaty self "accidently on purpose" to the girlfriend of five years that you broke up with while she was cleaning out the kitty litter. Go jog on your own street. Later, heartbreaker.

Meow

http://www.stuffonmycat.com/

If you loved cats in sinks, then you'll love stuff on my cat.com!


I give up! I give up!



The softest baby wipe yet!



Do I fit into my skinny jeans yet?

PLUG

Yesterday I had a customer who is some sort of Halloween expert. He works in the film industry and I think does huge halloween displays. He comes in every year and buys a thousand dollars worth of decorations.

He also goes around and shops for halloween best buys. Shoppers has been a best buy the last few years we had some anatomically correct skeletons that were reasonable. I believe the website guy has used our skeletons as movie props. This year we have cool looking skulls. Check out his website- it has lots of links to cool halloween related websites. http://www.vancouverhalloween.com/

Catching y'all up

Doesn't it seem like all of a sudden summer is over and autumn is here? Wool socks are now in high rotation, time to put away the flip-flops.


Micah- you little love bird. My step-sister is getting married on a Princess cruise to Mexico. A bunch of people are going. We leave Oct 21 st for a week.

Cathy- It seems it's just your comments that don't show up immediately. Very strange.

Anyways...
It's no secret that I dislike my job and have been looking for something else. My summer job search was disappointing. My employer is hiring 50 new employees in the next week I have no desire to train that many people. In the last month 5 out of 6 of the management people have either quit or gone on long-term medical leave (including the store owner) and all of the pharmacists have quit except one (who is now also working 7 days a week.) I feel bad for my boss who has been working 7 days a week. Up until now I have been working as the Assistant Head Cashier, but I can't keep working 4 days a week while going to school full time. So I began taking courses through my work. Starting sometime in October I will be working as a Pharmacy Technician- less responsibility, and more money. My plan is to gain some experience and then apply elsewhere. We'll see how it works out. Clearly I need to jump this sinking ship!

Don't you just love electronic tracking!?

My laptop is almost here! It just got scanned at the Richmond sorting plant. So I should get it tomorrow. What did people do before electronic tracking? Stay at home never knowing when their package might arrive.

I found a toonie on the way home. I think these are 2 good things that are suppose to cancel out the bad day at work. My 4 hour shift on my day off turned into a 7 hour day, no breaks, 3 new employees, 1 one day door crasher sale and one asshole employee that ended in me threatening to write him up when all I really want to do is punch him. So after checking Shannon's blog and seeing the Dalai Lama pic. I think nothing will fix today except reggae played too loudly and canning pears- lots of pears. My neighbours must really wonder about me, they must think I'm a rasta.

Woo Hoo!

I sold 2 textbooks tonight! I'm thrilled since I haven't sold any of the texts I thought I would. BUT...The 2 text I sold are ones that I used at Douglas College. I have a fear that the idiot buyers have bought the wrong edition. As long as they don't return the books I will have had a record setting few weeks. Only another $900 to go and the cruise will be paid!


For some reason comments are not showing up right away. When I publish a new post then all the comments that have been left since the last time I published show up. I don't know why. But don't stop commenting! I'll try to fix it.

The odds are 1 in 1 688 000

So this is the PNE prize home. I'm going to win it. I went to the PNE on Friday with Ryan, who was here for 2 days. We got to the PNE just before it opened and ran to the prize home to walk through before the line got too long. There were parts of it that I loved, and parts that I hated, but I'll take a free house gladly. The house is really just a rancher, but there is an small open loft-like room on the second floor. Ryan and I agreed that it was a waste of space, they should have made it the master bedroom. We both bought 5 tickets for $25, but I just realized we are total idiots! The tickets are 5 for $25 or 15 for $50, we could have got an extra 5 tickets for the same price! Oh well.



I also bought my self a laptop! I can't afford a nice one, since I have to pay for the cruise. But I did get one that will hopefully get me through the next year of classes. This way I'll be able to get more work done while I'm stuck at school and of course work on my term papers, which will be due just after the cruise. I will actually be one of those horrible people that take their laptops on vacation! I chose the Gateway computer because the Toshiba is $150 more this week. Unfortunately I won't receive the computer for more than a week, as it isn't released until the 8th (pre-sales.)

The best cobbler EVER!

As the title hints at, yes, I have found a to die for Blackberry Cobbler recipe.

Let's call it:

Hilary's Blackberry Cobbler

1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbs cold butter
1/4 cup boiling water
2 tbs cornstartch
1/4 cup cold water
1 tbs lemon juice
4 cups fresh cleaned blackberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil
in a large bowl mix the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/4 cup boiling water just until the mixture is evenly moist.
In a separate bowl dissolve the cornstarch in cold water. Mix in remaining 1 cup sugar, lemon juice and blackberries. Transfer to a cast rion skillet, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Drop dough into the skillet by spoonfulls. place skillet on the foil linned baking sheet.
Bake 25 minuted until the dough is golden brown


But whatever. That's too much work. So what I did was:

Mix all the ingredients as it says. But I don't have a cast iron skillet so I put the sugar berry mix into a pyrex dish and did not cook it, as it will cook in the oven anyways. It was recommended that you double the dough recipe, which I did. I would also cut the sugar down a bit, maybe 1 cup total. Also if you double the dough you have to cook it for longer. It took about 35 minutes

Update

Well in response to the many inquiries I received, today I went back to see what was in the duffle bag. It was GONE. I'm so happy because the last thing I want to do was get close to it!

This last week, I met up with Theresa who is visiting en route to Taiwan to teach English. We had a very nice long walk around the sea wall, through stanley park on some trails, and around and around the west end. Add it all up we probably did close to 20 Km! We topped the day off with sushi and met up with her Vancouverite friend who did not know a single landmark in Vancouver. Lost Lagoon-nope, Denman- nope. Georgia-nope. Second beach-nope. Needless to say meeting up with this person was exceedingly difficult!

I also went to the BCCOM show and shine on Sunday. It was amazing! I didn't expect such a huge show, or such crowds. Good job Shannon. I watched Jim Byrnes play, which was awesome, and then I sat 3 feet away from him as he chilled between sets. Darren scored a table on an patio with the perfect view of the stage and the loner guy who danced the entire time by himself! Clearly this guy was feeling the music. Unfortunately his girlfriend wasn't feeling it when he pulled her up infront of the crowd for a little bump n'grind. ewww. We also met Otto from Norway, a businessman here for a month. Very nice man, we enjoyed talking to him. I think he just didn't know what to make of the North American bike culture.

gluttony

Doesn't anyone know how to make pies anymore?

Screw selling books, I should sell pies! Everyone should learn how to make pies, it's so easy. Well maybe instead of doing canning for Xmas, I'll make frozen pies. I'll go for the tri-fector for Shannon, Blackberry pie with goat cheese and post-its.

My secret dream is to own a goat farm and make expensive cheese. Good to know there is another goat cheese fiend out there, I'll need a taste tester.

ever feel like you're in a movie?

Well for some reason I haven't been able to upload pictures onto my blog for a while. Sarah had the same problem a while ago- I assumed it was something she was doing, apparently not!

I was trying to upload a picture of blackberries. The fruit not the tech-gadget. There is maybe a week or so left in this years blackberry season. Get outside and pick some! It has always been a little scary picking blackberries as there are tons of coyotes in the ravine. However this year apparently there is a cougar in the ravine as well. I find it hard to believe. It was sighted a few weeks ago- apparently. Although today I thought I found a body...

I pick behind queen's park hospital, not actually in the ravine, but along the edge of it. In some spots there are trails that go down into the ravine. I was near one of these when I saw what I thought was the upper half of a person in a little clearing in the middle of the blackberry bushes. After a few deep breaths for courage, I took a closer look. It was a rather large duffel bag that was stuffed full. I have no idea what's in there, I was too scared to look. But I figured if there was some poor soul stuffed in the duffel bag it would probably smell. Who knows. If it's still there next time maybe I'll give it a kick or something. In movies duffel bags either contain bodies or unmarked american money...

If your curious I'm making blackberry jam and pies.

shameless self promotion

I have a huge book donation. The freecycle website has come through again for me. I just picked up about 200 books from 2 people on Agnes street. Since I don't drive this presented a problem! I borrowed a really good granny cart from Nana (it actually collapses small enough to fit in a grocery bag.) So I was able to lug all those books home. The strange thing is that some guy actually follwoed me the entire way uphill from Agens at St. Mary's all the way through the park, down pathways, all the way to ginger drive! Freak alert! (some middle aged guy) The books were so heavy if he'd offered to pull my cart I might have said yes!!

I am hoping for a good month of sales, as August is a huge month for textbook sales. With some luck I might get the bloody cruise paid for! So remember if you have any books to donate, let me know! Now that I have a sexy cart, I might just be able to pick-up! Thanks to Dad, Judy, Cathy, Sarah and Whitney for their donations. Actually I can't remember if Sarah has actually given me any books, but she should!!! hahaha!

¢ ¢

This is what I learned today:

press ALT and then type 0162
and that's how to get a ¢ sign!!!!
I have always wondered how! Tell everyone you know

millions of apples, apples for free

hey!
Do you know how to can applesauce?
Neither do I.

I have been looking online for recipe but all the ones I found say that you have to strain the apple mush. I don't want to (mostly because I don't want to buy a strainer.) I don't actually like applesauce- especially since I'm allergic to apples, but I promised Nana I would make her some in exchange for the apples. So if anyone has a kick-ass recipe, let me know. Thanks!

Kassie

Today Shannon told Kassie how they are going to go for a trip on a ferry so big that they can drive their car on it. Kassie started to get upset and said she didn't want to go. So Shannon keeps telling her how much fun it will be, how big the ferry is and how they are going to go to an island. At this point Kassie is almost crying. Finally Kassie says that they only 'ferry' she's ever seen is Tinkerbell, and she doesn't think she wants to see a fairy that is big enough to carry the car! Isn't that the cutest!!!

Nearly Grown Up...

To answer the question once and for all.
How Much Longer Are You Going To Be At SFU?
I have 30 credits to go which is at MOST 10 classes. At the very least it is 6 and a half classes. Do I see the light at the end of the tunnel? No. I'm still scared to death that'll flunk out and finally admit to being a lifer at shoppers. That's scarier than the shining and nightmare on elm street!

cruiser chicks

Sarah and I went for a cruise around coal harbour and the sea wall monday. We decided that having super cute bikes made it much more fun. We borrowed the bikes from Justis- they are for sale in his shop The Denman Bike Shop. I have to admit that when I saw the price of the bikes I was more than a little nervous!!!! As Sarah said on her website, we only had one helmet (which Sarah wore) I was more worried about damaging the bike then I was my head.
I think I look super cute on the bike! After a few blocks I got use to back peddle brakes.
Out front of Whit's place. Justis gave me an earful about how I shouldn't be wearing flip flops on a bike. We were both wearing flip flops until I called Sarah to tell her about the shoe clearance going on at the bay! Big mistake, that girl can't pass up a shoe store without buying. How can Ryan possibly think she only owns 20 pairs?!!

In this heat Slurpies are considered required

Just a quick update for those not in Van City. Sarah is back in town, and I always get lazy updating the blog. Anyways, I watched some of the baseball tourney (which they won) got a fairly wicked sunburn and ate far too much sushi. I went and saw Pirates of the Carribean, not as good as the first, but I think thte 3rd one will be really good. Number 2 seems to be just a build up to #3.

Sarah, Ryan and I also went for a day trip up to Whistler- It was a long trip because of the construction, it was nice I haven't been there in years. We stopped for cheese sticks in Squamish I remember them being soo much better. We also stopped off at Warren and Karens in Brakendale and met D-Boz the Pit Bull. The dog has some bad manners! He would run around growling with a ball in his mouth and then run up behind you and while you're standing there, and shove his head in between your knees!

Nana turned 90 on Monday, I went out for possibly the worst food ever at the jiffy wiffy waffle house. It was my first time there, hopefully the last! I also went and picked the apples off her tree, but it's too hot to do any canning, the thought of turning the canning pot on....ugh! Hopefully the weather will change-otherwise I won't get any canning done.

Last night I went to laugh lines- the headliner was really good. The warm up act was a 73 year old gramma. It felt really wrong to laugh at her, and all her jokes were really raunchy, which made it even more uncomfortable. There was hardly any AC in the club, I think I lost about 10 pounds in sweat! I think the club did it on purpose, I didn't even bat an eye at the $7.50 drinks.

As I'm sure everyone in Vancouver is already aware, It is SMOKING hot here. Bus journey's are no longer enjoyable. There are lots of deoderant ads on the bus and skytrain, but I swear no one in Vancouver has ever used any! I am actually starting to long for rain. 2 nights ago I managed to sleep a little with the help of a cold shower and an ice pack. Last night I decided to forget trying to cool my house down. Instead I made a bed on my balcony! I highly recommned it, I was actually able to sleep.

In the last 2 days I have had nearly 150 comments posted on my blog. They aren't from anyone I know. I have no idea why I'm being spammed, but it's getting to be annoying. It's not that the comments are bad- it's comments like "This blog has lots of information for a beginner like me!" They're nice, but there's just too many. So from now on when you post a comment, word verification is required. Just enter the word/letters shown. Hopefully this will stop the spammer.

Wading Through the Pox

... one child at a time. Kassie has chicken pox. Kaitlyn is coming down with the pox. The daycare kids have all been exposed. The neighbour's kids have the pox, the neighbour has the pox. Shannon is sick too. So what does this all add up to? Between 7 and 9 children with the pox, 2 out of commission mothers and one neighbour (me) who gets to run the daycare. Do you think Costco sells industrial sized calimine lotion?

Sleeping Beauty she is not!

"CLEVELAND (AP) - Officers who went to a home to serve a search warrant found a skeleton in the bed where an 80-year-old woman said her mother was sleeping.
Police believe the remains belong to woman's 98-year-old mother, who hadn't been seen in at least three years. Officers went to the home Wednesday to serve a search warrant for building, housing and health code violations, but the woman said they couldn't come inside because her mother was sleeping. After persuading her to let them in the house, the officials pulled back the blanket on the bed and found the skeleton.
The daughter, whose name was withheld until her family was notified, was taken to St. Vincent Charity Hospital.
Cuyahoga County coroner Elizabeth Balraj said Thursday she would need more information to identify the body, which showed no signs of injury.
Police Lieut. Thomas Stacho said no charges were expected. "

She must be crazy if no charges are pending. How long did she figure mom was going to sleep for?

I am shocked! Here's a pic of the guy behind cats in sinks and kitten war:


I don't think I can endorse his sites anymore. He probably has a kitten mill where he forces the kittens to be cute and pose for pictures. Very cruella de ville.

Better than cat's in sinks

I can't remember if I ever posted the www.catsinsinks.com website on the blog or not. Check it out if you like cats in sinks. Here's a sample:

But now these people have made a new site about kittens!!! http://kittenwar.com/

First Freebie received!
I received the sample of greenies today, it's a cat treat that is supposed to freshen breath and clean their teeth. Her breath smells like chicken now. Not what I'd call fresh. But she likes it, and I have a coupon to buy more. It is also salem's first piece of mail- it is addressed to her, not me.

My fridge died this morning. It's going to be 28 degrees today and it is the start of a long weekend. Not good. Luckily though I called the co-op fridge guy 2 days ago, so hopefully I might get a new fridge soon. Shannon is going away this weekend, so I plan on moving my food to her house. Good thing too, because my freezer has around 30 jars of jam in it. I don't think I can eat that much jam. The only thing worse is when my hot water tank quit in Christmas day!

contradiction

I was chatting with someone recently about how blogs are like diaries. At the time I agreed. But no, this isn't a diary.

Dear Diary,
----I don't open like this, I also don't include obscure little haikus about my computer.

blinking,
I have mail,
the ink is low.
Office Depot savior.

Thankfully this is not a diary. And that was not a haiku, it was a Senryū

Bye Bye Bert

sigh

I have a bit of an update for y'all.

Worms:

I joined a discussion group/forum that's all about vermicomposting. I'd done my research before I started, but I was a little worried because I only had a few worms. But everyone was really nice and said that I was doing everything right. Well apparently I am. The worms have had babies! They are only about 3/4 of a cm long and kinda white in colour. So that's good! I was worried that I didn't have boy and girl worms, but hey no worries they don't have sex- they reproduce asexually- did you know that?

I also did 6 batches of strawberry freezer jam in the past week. I have put a posting on my local freecycle site that if anyone has a fruit tree, I'm willing to take the fruit off their hands. Hopefully that way I can get more fruit for free. If you are interested there is a link in my links section- people post stuff that they don't want or stuff that they want- the only rule is that everything must be free. You must apply to join the group.

free is the right price for me!

Name: Evian Affinity
Freebie Type: Free Sample
Availability: Canada only
Get a free sample of Evian (yes, like the bottled water) Affinity skincare products. Choose between Original Hydrating Lotion or Oxygenating Cleansing Gel. Sign up for your sample at www.evianaffinity.ca

Name: Downy
Freebie Type: Free Sample
Availability: Canada only
Go to the Downy website, click on "request a free sample," then fill out your info to get your free sample of Downy plus Whitening liquid fabric softener. One sample per household, and only while supplies last!

Name: Nike Fitness Dance DVD
Freebie Type: Free DVD
Availability: U.S. & Canada
Register to be a member of Nike.com and then sign up to receive a free Nike Fitness Dance DVD featuring Rihanna. You should receive the DVD in four to six weeks. Hurry! Offer is only good while supplies last!

Name: Greenies
Freebie Type: Free Sample
Availability: U.S. & Canada
Click on "Get Greenies" on the Greenies site to get your free sample of cat or dog treats. Ships in 4 to 6 weeks.

Shannon got me hooked on free samples, lets see how many of the samples actually show up.

Warning!

I just received 21 comments on my blog in 8 seconds. I dunno who it is but they have included a link to click. I wouldn't click on it. I have no idea what it is. Be warned

ha!

Busted....

Since reading Sarah's last post, where she heard that word on the street is that you have to do at least one ship excursion, I have found the page that lists all the excursions and their prices. So up for the voting I think. What sounds best?
Cabo:
$69
Cruise to the Chileno Reef marine sanctuary and experience the fun and adventure of sea kayaking. Begin your adventure from Cabo San Lucas aboard the Adventure, a specially designed 90-foot boat tailored to offer enjoyment for all ages. Cruise for approximately one-hour along the coast passing world class championship golf courses, miles of unspoiled serene beaches, breathtaking landscapes and secluded untouched coves. After arriving at the protected marine park at Chileno Reef, your experienced guide will offer instruction before boarding your two-person “sit-on-top” kayak. Venture out with your guide for the approximately 45-minute kayak from Chileno Reef to Santa Maria Bay passing extravagant rock formations carved by sand, air, and sea. Stop at Santa Maria Bay where you may rest for approximately 30 minutes on the white sandy beach, swim or snorkel. The Adventurer will pick you up in the bay to begin the return voyage to Cabo San Lucas as the friendly crew provides chips and salsa and serves margaritas, beer, and soft drinks.

$19 -cheap and is only 45 minutes long
Travel by boat to view Cabo San Lucas’ famed rock arches, where the Pacific meets the Gulf of California. Your approximately 40-minute boat tour explores Los Arcos, the majestic rock arches where the waters of the Gulf meet the Pacific. Watch for wildlife including pelicans, sea lions and seals as Jean-Michel Cousteau provides taped narration of the area’s ecology and points of interest. Enjoy a complimentary beverage while surveying magnificent views of the coast, Los Arcos, and your Princess ship at anchor.

$49
Your guided kayaking adventure visits the dramatic rock arches at Los Arcos, then you don a mask and snorkel to explore the marine sanctuary at Lover’s Beach. Transfer by water taxi to the kayak launching area, where you receive an orientation on how to kayak and your mask, snorkel and safety vest. Board your two-person sea kayaks and paddle across San Lucas Bay, passing Pelican Rock and circling the dramatic rock arches of Los Arcos. Continue to Lover’s Beach, where the waters of the Pacific and the Gulf of California meet. The offshore waters are part of a marine sanctuary; you have a short time to swim, sunbathe or snorkel. Board your kayak and return to the kayak launching area, where a water taxi transfers you to the tender pier. All snorkeling equipment including safety vest, instruction and supervision, bottled water and transportation are included.

There are about 20 different snorkelling tours, so apparently that's the thing to do there. There is also whale watching and swimming with dolphins!!!

Mazatlan:
As much as I'd love to spend $50 to see a flip-flop factory.... All of the excursions sound awful. But I think the deer island one is the one Sarah and I plan on doing, but on our own (without the blue haired ladies)
$67
Travel to secluded Deer Island for swimming, hiking and a guided kayak trip that is suited for beginners. After a short transfer by taxi, board a catamaran for the 40-minute cruise to Deer Island. Disembark at the beach on the island’s leeward side, where you find chairs, ample shade, bathrooms and changing facilities. Swim or take a guided hike of the island that leads to stunning views of Mazatlan, the coast and the Pacific. After a short safety orientation, board your kayak for a 45-minute guided paddle along the island’s shore. (These simple "sit on top" kayaks do not require prior experience.) Board your catamaran for the return cruise to Mazatlan.

Peurto Vallarta
$99- I really want to do this one!!!! Is rappeling hard?
Explore the jungle canopy of the Sierra Madre by air-sailing from treetop to treetop. Receive a briefing onboard and then drive to a private reserve in the Sierra Madre, where professional guides help you master the techniques of using horizontal traverse cables to travel through the jungle canopy. Glide through the trees 90 feet above the ground along a series of zip lines, jungle bridges and across a Tarzan swing, pausing at special observation platforms in the virgin forest to observe plant and wildlife. At the end of your adventure, rappel 70 feet to the forest floor. SPECIAL NOTES:This active excursion is designed for passengers in top physical condition.


OOO or this one! Price isn't listed
Experience the thrill of discovering the flora and fauna in the jungles of the Sierra Madre. Designed for maximum adventure, this tour takes place in an area of pristine, unspoiled forest where scenic beauty and rich ecological habitats create a true tropical paradise. This active 6-hour excursion brings out the child in all of us. The adventure begins with an off-road adventure when you board a Unimog 4x4 and drive into the heart of the tropical forests where you'll learn a variety of wilderness techniques, ride mules, splash through streams, rappel through waterfalls into natural river pools, and soar 200 feet above the ground over the jungle foliage on a 1000 foot zip line! Our trip leaders' knowledge of the landscape and wildlife makes these trips unforgettable adventures - and their expertise ensures a fun, educational and safe trip into the wilderness. Discover and explore the extraordinary flora and fauna hidden away under the canopy of the jungle.

$69
This one sounds good, but I think it might be the same place that Arnold Scwartzenegger's Predetor was filmed. Others have said to avoid that tourist trap.
Relax on board a modern catamaran as you cruise south of Puerto Vallarta following the spectacular tropical coastline of Banderas Bay. Your journey takes you past some of the most picturesque scenery in Vallarta, where dolphins and humpback whales are often sighted during the winter months.The morning is spent at the tranquil cove of Majahuitas, an unspoiled area of natural beauty on the southern coast of Banderas Bay. Only accessible by sea, Majahuitas is the desert island beach of everyone's dreams. With swaying palms, and a sheltered cove with crystal clear waters which offers ideal conditions for swimming, snorkeling and kayaking.After lunch aboard your catamaran, head off to Yelapa, an old charming Mexican fishing village set in it's own natural cove. Long a famous day trip from Puerto Vallarta, Yelapa has become a must on most tourist's lists, but since there are no roads in, this tropical paradise is only accessible by boat.The tiny village is a true escape from civilization. If you love the outdoors and want to spend time exploring nature, this idyllic spot is perfect for you. Hike through the jungle to the Cola de Caballo waterfalls, swim in the cove's protected waters, or just relax on the expansive sandy beach. As you cruise back to Puerto Vallarta, the on board fiesta wraps up a day full of fun-in-the-sun with an open bar, dancing, music, and entertainment provided by the friendly crew.

So what would you do? Check out the other options at: http://www.princess.com/shorex/index.jsp

Garden!

So this is my garden! There are Iris's, a dhalia, basil, oregano, dill, sage, rosemary, lemon balm, mint, a hosta, a succulent, and a hydrangia

There is also a couple of cucmber plants













On the far left is a lilac tree that will eventually be moved to another location.
In front of the Lilca is a green pot that Katilyn and Kassie helped me plant garlic and regular chives in last night.











This is a pot of iris's that Dad and Judy gave me. There is also a calla lily just coming up.

















This is the veggie garden. There are Walla Walla onions, lettuce, beans, radishes peas and strawberries. Look how big the lettuce in the middle is!












This is lettuce that I started from seed, It'll be ready to eat in about a month I think.












This is another type of lettuce that I started from seed. The huge gap in the middle is where the carrots would have been if the squirrels hadn't made a feast of them!









And these are beans and radishes. These beans grow in a bush instead of a vine. We'll see what happens!





~

Domestic Goddess- darn toot'n

Now THAT's my blueberry pie! Looks pretty good doesn't it? It was really good. The recipe said to use 3 Tbs of cornstarch, but all the reviews said that was not enough, most said 4 was perfect and 5 made jello pie. So I chose to use 4. It was way to runny. The next one will have 5 Tbs. Should be perfect. It didn't bubble over at all, it did however spill it's juices all over my carpet like a CSI crime scene. That's how I found out that I needed more cornstarch. So I'm also including a review of Shout Carpet Stain Remover. Works like a damn. No stains left on my carpet.

I'm not a rat stuck in an endless maze!

www.gethuman.com
The key to getting a real person on the phone. No more following the endless promps that inevitably end with "I'm sorry that option is invalid, please try again." The genius behind this website has cracked the codes, and listed their secrets. Like say you wanted to call Sears credit card - how would you ever know that in order to get a human you must press "0000000; and then press 0 at subsequent prompts" or that at Virgin mobile you have to ... "At prompts say "English", "More Options", "Ask a Question", "Live Advisor", "Something Else", then enter mobile # or say "I don't have one." wheew! This could be a lifesaver. It's an american based website, but there is some Canadian stuff, like the code for Air Canada.

We all have our moments of stupidity

Salem hangs out on my balcony, there is no way for her to get off of it, I leave the door open all day so she can come and go as she pleases. This morning I was making breakfast, when I heard a noise, not a crash, more of a thump. So I go out to investigate. I don't see anything, I figure she has gone inside. I look down to see if anything is amis in the neighbour's yard. Then I see my neighbour standing there, open mouthed. Seems Salem was watching him dig (moving the Rodos finally) and she lost her balance and fell off the balcony, landed on their patio umbrella, bounced off and hit the ground, where she promptly remembered the dogs. 2 retrievers. It all ended well. Thankfully the dogs are training to be seeing-eye dogs, and are well behaved enough to not kill a bewildered kitty when told. 8 Lives Remain.

As for my moment of stupidity:
I was contacted by a guy about a week ago who wanted to buy one of my books. However he wished to pick the book up in person, rather than have me mail it. He sent me several emails, one of which was where he suggested that he pay me cash in person. I hoped he would go away. Instead he bought the book online, from me. So I emailed him and agreed, sure you can get the book, lets figure out a time and place. My Idea: Come to shoppers (where my male co-worker would hand him the book instead of me). His Idea: Can I come by your house between 10:00- 11:30 tonight.
ALARM BELLS
um, no. I don't think that will work for me.
Panic at the disco. So at 12 noon Shannon, Angie, Emma, myself, 3 kids and 4 cell phones await this guy. As we wait we joke that this guy may not be a mass-murderer/stalker, but may actually be super hot and be the guy I eventually marry. In the end he was just some normal guy in a very nice mercedes. However thanks to Shannon, almost the entire co-op knows my stupidity. We now have a new policy in place- no pick-ups thank you very much.

Domestic Goddess

So this is the blueberry pie I am trying to make, it's in the oven right now. In 45 minutes we'll know if it looks anything like this. My pastry was too flimsy, so I couldn't do the lattice thing, but I did do a criss cross thing. Stay tuned for pictures!

So why am I baking a pie? Well because Shannon has never made a pie and seems to not believe how easy it is. So she gave me a ton of blueberries in return for a pie. She's a bit of a freak though... she made 4 batches of different muffins today, all before 10:30 am. She needs to get out more. Yesterday she made about 4 dozen cookies, a few loaves of bread and another batch of muffins. We've been joking that we're on the Fat-Fast diet! I'm now refusing to eat anymore muffins.

giggles

People put funny pictures on their blogs. These ones made me laugh.


This is why I don't own a Swiffer














Bathing suit season is almost upon us. The paparazzi are everywhere. Don't be an unsuspecting victim!!


















Man, art people are weird!

















~

Tarragon

Did you know that tarragon is called the king of herbs? Well it is.
Sarah gave me a bunch of it. I've dried it, but I have no idea what to do with it. Do you have any recipes that use tarragon that don't involve meat or bernaise sauce?

I have also decided what I'm going to do with the patch of dirt at the base of the stairs. Once my loser neighbour keeps his end of the bargain by removing the rhodos (he was supposed to do it 3 weeks ago!) I spent last weekend removing the wysteria. So anyways, I have a small lilac tree, and an hydrangia to plant- given to me by another neighbour. Finally I won't have to steal lilacs anymore!!!! I'm also going to put in a bunch of herbs, most of them perenials. So far: dill, basil, oregano, sage and mint. I'm on the hunt for lemon balm and chives maybe thyme. What am I missing? I also bought a succulent to put in the sunny bit, and a cucumber plant. The carrots are a total failure- lesson learnt. Some of the lettuce is almost ready for the first harvest. Stay tuned for pictures!

flowers

The sadest thing just happened. Some flowers were delivered to my house. They were so beautiful! And then the guy showed me the card .... addressed to Carol Williams!!!! She lives in the co-op next to Shannon, but my address was written. How sad is that!

Although it was kinda strange to receive flowers on Mother's Day...

And what did Shannon get? Well she went to a wedding the night before and didn't get to sleep until 3 AM. The girls were so excited to wish her happy mother's day that they woke her up at 4:45!!! Needless to say she is not a very happy mother today!

Salem

Salem is my cat. She is a lucky cat. Sarah use to give me a hard time that Elliot got premium cat food and Salem got cheap Whiskas food. Sarah said it was because I didn't love Salem! Well today Salem's stinky poo tipped the scales. She is now on super premium food. Did you know that there is organic human-grade food for cats? Yes she is now eatting organic non-genetically modified chicken breast turned into cat food, mixed with FRUIT, vegitables, grains and kelp. I didn't think she would actually eat it, but she is. Yeah fruit and veggies- cranberries, apples, potatoe and carrots. (The pet store would take it back if she didn't like it, so there wasn't any risk.) It's 3 times the price of Whiskas, but if her poop is 3 times less stinky it will be worth it!

Lilacs

I love lilacs. We had a huge one at Dad's house. I miss having them in the house. I have been stealing lilac blooms for the last week from people's yards. Yesterday I finally went to Nana's and stole some of hers. This morning I woke up to the smell of lilacs!

I got an email from the fox about the upcoming chili peppers concert. I would like to see them, but the tickets are $66 plus service charge. that's just stupid. So I did the math. If they sell out and sell all 20 000 seats, before expenses they make $1.32 million dollars in Vancouver. Times the 31 dates listed equals $40.92 million -assuming that all venues hold 20 000 people and all tickets are the same price. Not bad for 4 months work!!! Is it too late to become a pop sensation a la Britney Spears?

Hmm, It's been a while hasn't it?

Been busier than usual with Sarah and Ryan in town. So quick update for the last 2 weeks:
Watched a few baseball games, had a fondue with Shannon, Marcell, Ryan and Sarah. Dinner at Dads, Lunch with Nana, Aunt Irene, Sarah and Ryan. Baby shower for Barbara today. I'm sure there will be entirely too much cooing over little Otto! Poor little Jacob must be getting a little jealous. And lots of time spent looking for another job. Someone suggested Chapters- I don't really want to be in retail anymore, but if it pays enough...
Micah you worked there? What is the pay?

And my neighbour is expanding my garden space! He's transplanting the 3 Rhodo's at the bottom of my stairs to somewhere. So that means I can plant other stuff. I already bought strawberry plants to be put there. Maybe cucumbers? Tomato? Potatoes?

sun, shoes, veg and worms

I haven't posted anything in a while. It was my birthday, very fun but busy weekend. The weather couldn't be better. 20 degrees for the last 3 days has given me the first sunburn of the year. I went out for lunch and drinks with Whitney on Saturday after work, then off to the Vancouver Public Library booksale to increase my inventory. Then later to dinner at Anduccii's. Sunday was Sushi Lunch (breakfast) with Sarah and Shannon, followed by a trip to the liquor store to buy Champagne like it was new years or something! Honestly I don't know how Sarah and Shannon drink so much Champagne. Then off to watch Sarah and Sud's baseball team play, followed by a game of Botchi. Sushi breakfast and alcohol in the first real heat of the year, sent me over the edge. Spinning-head hit in the carride and didn't stop until I got home and ate 30 minutes later. Super glad I didn't continue on to the Burgon's!

But before all this I went to the annual Army and Navy shoe sale! you gotta be aggressive, those ladies push and shove and had mouths like sailors! Luckily I escaped with my life and three pairs of shoes and a purse. 2 pairs were $9.99 each and the 3rd pair was $29, the purse was $11. deal! looks like I'll be wearing heels all summer

Update on the garden- 2 types of lettuce looking good, the carrots have been reseeded after some sort of animal crawled in the window box and dug them up! I'm convinced it was the Easter Bunny. Peas are coming along, won't be long before I'm eatting them. Planted cucumbers, beans and radishes yesterday. The cucumbers don't grow on a vine, they grow on a bush! have you ever heard of such a thing? I still have to pick-up a tomato plant and strawberries. This is going to be the best garden ever! Last night I bought corn on the cob- first of the season- oh so good with BBQ'd potatoe!

As for the worms? who knows, I looked in last night, took a longtime to find the worms, doesn't look like they've done anything to the spinach I threw in last week. I gave them some tomato and water, we'll see if anything happens.

Genius!

I was repotting a Dhallia that I bought last year. I was topping it up with some organic potting soil, the potting soil I have noticed has lots of worms in it. Today it actually hit me. These worms are long skinny and red, they live in potting soil. If I wanted worms that would MAKE potting soil, then shouldn't these be the worms? Lightbulb moment. Now I just have to sort through the bag to find the worms. But I am now the proud owner of 8 worms, and 1 homemade worm composting bin. I am a happy monkey. I shall keep you all posted on the progress!

Can Tom's stock sink any lower?

After that whole "I like original baby names" post, things have changed. TomKat had their kitten- Surrey or maybe they spell it Suri. I'm sure everyone in Vancouver thinks it's a terrible name. Maybe I'll call my kids Whalley, Newton and King George. All of which are better than being named Scott Road.

Free Books

I have some books that I can't sell online for various reasons. Rather than storing them for the garage sale that I will never I have, I am offering the following:
PAPERBACKS:
Daphnis and Chloe by Longus
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde- 2 copies
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Tuesday's Jillaroo by Kerry Allyne (romance)
A Stone for Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins
Time Enough for Love and The Past Through Tomorrow both by Robert A Heinlein
Never Leave Me byHarold Robbins
My Private Detective -romance
In the Arms of the law-romance
This Far From Paradise-Philip Shelby
Mother in the Making-romance
Only You-romance
The Double Heart Diner-romance and comedy rolled into one fab book
How to Dump a Guy: A Coward's Manual-Fillion and Ladowsky- I think this one should be shared!!
The Last Man In Montana-romance
Only the Nanny Knows for Sure-romance
The Pirate-Harold Robbins
Heartstorm-romance
HARDCOVER
Black Notice-Patricia Cornwell- no dust cover
Word of Honor-Terri Blackstock
...And Never Let Her Go-Ann Rule
Christmas Joys to Craft and Stitch

No judgement if you're after the cheesey romance novels! I was given all these books (except Dorian Grey) so I don't know if they're any good. But they're FREE. Most of the paperbacks are either not in good shape, or are not listed on Amazon. All the hardcovers are in very good shape, but they aren't listed on Amazon.

I better be getting a big refund

I am soooo frustrated. It took me half an hour to get through to talk to a person at the tax centre and then I spent the next half hour yelling at the idiot that took my call. She kept going on and on about how they cannot tell me how much my student loan is, and if I want to know what my repayment amount is blah blah blah. I'm not in repayment- that's not why I'm calling. I don't owe them anything-right now. Anyways apparently one government agency gave me the wrong information. The revenue agency tells me to call BC Student loans and BC Student loans tells me to call the Revenue agency!!!!! I don't even do my own taxes!

To top it all off she was looking at someone else's tax return. I just went through the last 3 years over the phone with her- line by line. While she's telling me all about how because I had 8 employers last year blah blah....WHAT? No I only worked at one place! So we argue over this for like 5 minutes when she finally asks me what my name is. Oh (tee hee) Ooopps wrong person! Argh! meanwhile she just got paid $25 an hour to be a complete idiot!!!!!

Apres Easter- sunny days

Had dinner at Whit's. It was very good. Lots of drama. But Nummie. I particularily liked when one of the guests who was over an hour late for dinner, walked in and loudly commented on Whitney's place for like 5 minutes as if it was the Taj Mahal. It's nice, but it isn't THAT nice.

I notice I'm coming up to my 200th visitor to my blog! This is a momentus occasion. If it's you- let me know! I was Sarah's 100th visitor, she is now getting close to 400 visitors. It's amazing, I didn't think anyone would actually check out my blog. So thanks a bunch.

Correction

Not to Poo Poo the book that I worte about in the previous post, but it's bull.
They bought groceries, they bought essentials (like coffee, toilet paper, internet access, cable TV etc) Humpf! I buy less than they did in this book. The criticims that I read was that the author was in debt she owned an appartment in NYC and house in Vermont. The critic said that the author woke up one morning and realized that the $50, 000 nest egg in the bank wasn't enough to retire on so she wrote this book. I'm dissapointed. It would be much better if they hadn't bought anything.

Bunnies love carrots, not eggs!

So now that classes are over I got to watch Sunday morning TV. I dunno if it's because it's Easter or what- but there was nothing on.

I'm going to Whitney's tonight for baked tofu and parsnips. Let's hope she didn't make those Jewish Eggs again- for those of you who didn't have the pleasure- they were hardboiled eggs marinated in the shells in coffee, cinnamon and some other stuff for like a week. The shells absorbed the liquid resulting in grey/brown hardboiled eggs. They looked suspicously like rotten eggs.

I have found a book that sounds really good "Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping" by Judith Levine. She literally didn't buy anything, no grocery shopping, no new clothes nothing. Apparently she managed to save $8000. I'm not too sure how she lived, but I think it sounds interesting. Maybe that's how I'll save $ for the cruise!

On a sunny note, my peas, carrots and 2 types of lettuce have sprouted! I decided that flowers are a silly thing to grow, this year I'm only growing food. I found a website that has tons of info about veggie container growing. If I can figure out how to rig it up, I'm going to suspend planters from my balcony, above the neighbours house and plant beans in them. Did you know that you can grow pumpkins, pickle plants, zuchini and squashes in containers? Neither did I, I'm not going to try it. Does anyone have any suggestions for what else I should grow?

Random

Ever have one of those days when everyone seems to be stare at you? And you don't have any idea why? Yeah, I thought I must have had a smear of mascara down my face or something. I whipped out my mirror to check, no everything in order. Very unnerving.

Exams are over, who knows what the results will be. I seem to either ace things or fail miserably lately. It's like I have dissociated or something. I got 100% on one quiz and then 40% on the next one- I thought I would get a B on both. And then I get my termpapers back. An A on one and C+ on the other. I think I might go back to last semesters strategy- not checking any of my marks because as long as I try my hardest my marks are irrelevant (especially since my grades are determined by comparison with other people in my class.)

Kids

Today I got to play daycare. Shannon had to have an operation, so I filled in. 7 kids in total. I knew for little kids its hard to remember names (even though they've all met me a bunch of times) so today I went by Shannon. The youngest is only a year old, but he was super easy except his parents use cloth diapers and facetowels- that was just too nasty for words. I had fed them all breakfast, got them toys, broken up about 5 screaming matches ( 2 of the kids don't play well together) when I started to think "how long till nap time?" It was 8:30. It's funny, when I finally got them all to sleep (12:30 nap time) I really wanted to smoke. It's been 7 months since I quit and today was the first day I thought of cheating. I didn't. I didn't even check to see if Shannon's secret stash was stocked or not. It made me think of an email Lila sent me, I don't remember what it was about, but it said "Mommy drinks because you cry." I would make a terrible mother!

Roger. Huh? Over. Huh?

I've never actually seen a cockpit before. This was on a blog that was linked to Sarah and Ryan's blog. One of the other pilots I think. Pretty cool. Click for a close-up. There's a lot of gauges and displays eh? Anyone ever seen the movie Airplane? You'll remember when Captain Oveur, Roger and Murdock got food poisoning and Ted Striker had to fly the plane, and there was the blow-up auto pilot? I don't see that button. Love that movie, just reading the quotes makes me laugh

"Surely you can't be serious."

"I am serious... and don't call me Shirley."

and

Rumack: Captain, how soon can you land?

Captain Oveur: I can't tell.

Rumack: You can tell me. I'm a doctor.

Captain Oveur: No. I mean I'm just not sure.

Rumack: Well, can't you take a guess?

Captain Oveur: Well, not for another two hours.

Rumack: You can't take a guess for another two hours?

Monotheism

I heard on the radio today that Gwyneth Paltrow had her baby. The report said that they had named him Carrot. I actually don't see anything wrong with that. But then I saw online that they named him Moses! So they went from Apple (very original) to Moses (very traditional.) I think I like Carrot better- I don't really like common names. Actually Carrot would have been fitting as Chris Martin and Gwyneth are both veggie-tarians. I'm thinking Nefrusobek or Hatchepsut are good names maybe that's what I'll name my first kid. Huge points to anyone who can tell me why or why this post is titled Monotheism.

new: Links

Thanks to Sarah, I have finally fixed my Links section. Check'em out

Worm Revolution

I think this worm thing is going to catch on.

So after a lot of hinting, Whitney caught on that I wanted to sign her (ie ME) up for the Vancouver City Hall worm program. I think I've managed to talk Shannon into taking some worms later and starting her own composter. She is a non-recycler. Hasn't recycled anything since she moved out from her parents 10 years ago. I have been trying to guilt her-telling her that she is destroying the world that Kassie and Kaitlyn will have to live in. But the worm thing is an EDUCATIONAL program for the daycare kids. Maybe she'll do it.

So after finals I'll sign up for the workshop and get myself some worms. After like 2 or 3 months, the worms will have done their work, voila dirt, and lots of baby worms. So in a few months, I can set YOU up with worms. I won't even charge you the $35/pound. Although maybe I should. I could become a worm farmer- maybe that's where I'll finally make my millions. Although to make 1 mill, I'd have to sell 28 571.43 pounds of worms- that's a lot of mouths to feed.

Who knew Worms were expensive?

So on a much sunnier note.
The co-op doesn't allow composting- fear of rats and racoons. So I have been horrible and throwing all my veggie scraps out. Which actually adds up to be a lot- I'm a veggie-tarian! I remember in one of the Katima-houses they had a worm compost. You set it up in a little rubbermaid tote, the worms do all the work, it doesn't smell and voila -dirt, recycling and happy worms. So where do you get the freak'n worms man? I dunno. Mail order apparently $25 for 1 pound, but 1 pound of worms sounds like too many mouths to feed. Plus $25? am I cheap, or does that sound like a lot to you too? Apparently they aren't earthworms, they're red worms.

Jeez, veggie-tarian, saving the seals and worm composting- sounds pretty west coast to me! Actually it's really west coast. Did you know that if you live in the city of Vancouver (which I don't) and attend a workshop (which I wouild), city hall will give you the bin and the worms? Hmm, whitney....don't you live in Vancouver? :)

~Under the Tahitian Sun~

This pic is from Sarah and Ryan's honeymoon in Bora Bora. You should check out their blog.
http://sudsandsarah.blogspot.com/


The question that keeps coming around in my head is: "Why the hell am I living in Canada?" Anyone else want to rent out scooters and jetski's to tourists rather than do whatever it is you're doing now? It's grey and rainy in Vancouver, I'm cramming for finals wondering why I bother.

words of wisdom- words to live by

We begin from the recognition that all beings cherish happiness and do not want suffering. It then becomes both morally wrong and pragmatically unwise to pursue only one's own happiness oblivious to the feelings and aspirations of all others who surround us as members of the same human family. The wiser course is to think of others when pursuing our own happiness.
~Dalai Lama

How anyone can profess to find animal life interesting and yet take delight in reducing the wonder of any animal to a bloody mass of fur and feathers is beyond my comprehension. ~Joseph Wood Krutch


If he be really and seriously seeking to live a good life, the first thing from which he will abstain will always be the use of animals for food, because . . . its use is simply immoral, as it involves the performance of an act which is contrary to the moral feeling - killing. ~Tolstoy

Seals pt 2

Did you know that the seal hunt started on Saturday? Over 300 000 baby seals will be killed this year. The Canadian government actually increased the number of killings allowed from last year. So why do I have a picture of Pam here? Well not only has she been a spokeswoman for PETA for years, but she is also taking a petition to give to Stephen Harper to end the seal hunt.

"So what." you think? Every year Japan has their annual whaling season. And every year our news programs show the graphic pictures of the sea turned red with the blood of whales. And it's news because it's horrible and we condem them for it. All over the world people see US in the same way. This isn't the image that Canada should have. So sign the petition. You'll feel good about yourself.

http://www.furisdead.com/feat-pampetition.asp?int=weekly_enews

Okay, Somebody out there wanted to know about OCD. No one I know qualifies- but anyways you asked. This is the DSM-IV-TR diagnositc criteria:

The person has either obsessions or compulsions or can have both
obsessions are defined by 1, 2, 3 and 4

1. recurrent and persisent thoughts, impulses or images that are intrusive and inappropriate and cause marked anxiety or distress.
2. it isn't just excessive worry about real-life problems
3. the person attempts to ignore or suppress such thoughts, impulses or images or tries to neutralize them with some other thought or action.
4. the person recognizes that the obsessive thoughts, impulses or images are coming from within themselves- ie the thoughts aren't being places in their head by someone else.

Compulsions are defined by 1 AND 2

1. Repetitive behaviours or mental acts that the person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession, or according to rules that must be applied rigidly.
2. the behaviours or mental acts are aimed at preventing or reducing distress or preventing some dreaded event or situation. However the acts are not connected in any logical way with which they are designed to neutralize or prevent, or are clearly excessive.

AND At some point the person has recognized that the obsessions or complusions are excessive or unreasonable.

KEY- the compulsions are things they DO NOT want to do, but have to do. ex. not being able to go to sleep until a glass on the bedside table is in the EXACT place it NEEDS to be. It may take hours, and the person may need to look at it from many different angles and create rules for how they can be sure that the glass is in the right spot. The person does not want to do this, it is a way to reduce anxiety.

So is vacuming the carpet in a particular way so all the fibers are the same way OCD? No unless it interferes with their life (like missing work because the carpet isn't right.) Or there are bizarre rules attached to it -like you have to vacume it by taking three steps forward and then two back starting in one place and then working is couter-clockwise circles.

So no. None of you have OCD. But if you want to see if someone else has OCD, try messing with their routines. For most people it wouldn't bother them that much. A person with OCD would freak. ex I walked on the right side of a tree and my Riverview patient who ONLY goes around things on the left. The patient stopped and was unable to continue on until I had undone it by walking backwards around the tree.

"I am a butterfly in the sun"

Well, to stop all the questions. No I didn't get the VPLibrary job. I didn't expect to anyways. But I think that's kind of a blessing in disguise. Being on call for all 20 of the branches would suck, and they require you to work 20 hours.
Besides I have a line on an even better job. Yes I have applied for it. And no I'm not saying what it is. I don't want to ginx myself twice. Oh but I will say what it's not -pole dancer, nude model, slaughter house worker, Conservative party spokeswoman or McDonald's slave worker. I turned them all down.
I think that if you put yourself in the right place, things will happen. Which is why I avoid silver poles, painters, slaughter houses, Mr. Harper and McDonald's.

Regarding the stress quiz, it doesn't look good folks. I see heart disease in your futures. Perhaps you need an affirmation to repeat to yourselves? You're supposed to write these on a index card and put them where you will see it.
~ Success is to be enjoyed
~ My family will benefit from my relaxing more
And my personal favourite
~ There are beautiful things happening in my life daily
See now don't you feel better? No? Well open up your window, stick your head out and yell as loudly as you can. "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!!!" hahaha!

This checklist is for Micah:

Do people tell you that you need to calm down?
Do you feel tense much of the time?
In your community or job, do you find yourself not saying what is on your mind?
When you are upset do you try to block the world out (i.e.: watch TV, Listen to the radio, go to sleep)?
Do you have trouble falling asleep?
Do you feel misunderstood much of the time?
Do people comment on how much you yell or curse?
Do your friends not seek you out as often?
Do you find it difficult to stay on task?
Do you feel like your world is chaotic?

This isn't a check list that is used by the pro's, it isn't scientific at all. How many Yes's are okay? Well it depends, mostly because a lot of these question could be used to screen for ADD/ADHD as well. It is the combination that is important. Actually you could just about qualify for a Manic Episode depending on which questions you say Yes to. Hmm chew on that for a couple days, perhaps that's the problem.

I AM Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
off to class, and then running downtown to meet up with Darren, Shannon and Whitney at the Irish Heather. Should be crazy. I've never gone to an irish pub on St. Patty's. At 6:50 am there were already lines forming for the bars. Apparently Guinness drinks like a meal.

Listening to House of Pain "Jump Around" and "Shamrocks and Shenanigans"

mental health

I'm starting a new series of mental health information on my blog. Unless I get overwhelming feedback that this sucks. Disclaimer- I am not a mental health professional- yet.

Stress! Ever wonder if you are a big ball of stress?

There are a few of you who definately should score off the charts. Answer honestly. It should be pretty clear to you how you are doing. But if you wish you can send me your results and I can score it for you.

Perceived Stress Scale- 10 Item
Instructions: The questions in this scale ask you about your feelings and thoughts during the last month. In each case, please indicate with a check how often you felt or thought a certain way.

1. In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often

2. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often

3. In the last month, how often have you felt nervous and "stressed"?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often

4. In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often

5. In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your way?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often

6. In the last month, how often have you found that you could not cope with all the things that you had to do?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often

7. In the last month, how often have you been able to control irritations in your life?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often

8. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on top of things?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often

9. In the last month, how often have you been angered because of things that were outside of your control?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often

10. In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?
___0=never ___1=almost never ___2=sometimes ___3=fairly often ___4=very often

Disclosure. "Permission for use of the scale is not necessary when use is for academic reseach or educational purposes." My rationale for posting the scale is that I am a psyc student who is learning about this scale, and I am educating others. However, just in case-accessed from http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/Research/Psychosocial/notebook/PSS10.html

Laurie Nelson

Department of Psychology

Carnegie Mellon University

5000 Forbes Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15213

or email your request with your complete address included:lanelson@andrew.cmu.edu

Please don't sue me, I'm worth nothing- I will however remove PSS if requested

watch for Pt 2: reducing stress or maybe the health problems associated with stress.

Books

I've been doing some research. The book sales are going okay. All my inventory sources have been tapped. (Except for Shannon who is averaging 3 books a week now that she's the owner of the daycare.) So I need to find a way to get more books. I was reading what the pro's do, apparently you can buy books wholesale and they will be delivered to you. That sounds good to me since I don't drive. After spending several hours searching I found nothing. So the other suggestions from the pro's have been garage sales, thrift stores and digging through Barnes and Noble's dumpsters. There aren't any garage sales this time of year, thrift stores sounds okay. I think I'm going to checkout VV and Salvation Army. As for dumpster diving...well, I have FAR too much pride to do that.

If I was really sneaky I would dive into the huge "Books for Africa" bins that are all over campus. Students throw their textbooks into them if the bookstore isn't buying them back. Then the books are listed on Amazon and like 1 cent from every 100 textbooks sold goes to Africa. I'm sure that security would get me- but it is very very temtping. The money made on textbooks is crazy. I'd love to only sell textbooks. Maybe I should set up my own bin "Books for Hilary."

As I now have about 500 books for sale, I think I need a system. Currently they are boxed according to the date recieved. Alphabetical would make much more sense, oddly enough I only just thought of this. I'm thinking I should get a shelving unit. Sarah I remember you saying that there are shelves at Shannon M's house for me? would that work?

Hawaii Pic's

I got my pictures developed a long time ago, but I didn't bother to pick them up.

Germain's Luau- Too good to miss. Alloooooo-HA!




Whitney and I went snorkeling here



And then we caught a crappy limo to the airport.

God D@#$ snow

today it took over 2 hours to get to SFU- it usually takes about 35 minutes. I waited outside my house for 1 hour before I even saw a bus. I saw 2 of them going the other way. The buses run every 30 minutes, so I knew it wasn't good. I missed my exam by 45 minutes. I had to beg, finally I was allowed to write the test. finished in record time. back on the bus to get to work.
What total crap. I'm going to do my masters in hawaii.

ok holy crap. I just found this picture. it's a road, and that is a big truck in the distance. I don't know where this is- hell probably. actually it's Labrador, and this is a highway. Oddly enough I found it on a company's job opportunties website. I wonder what the pay is? It would take 6 figures before I'd move there!

Yes, yesterday sucked.

So I had a terrible commute to SFU in the snow. I got there sort of. The buses weren't going all the way-had to walk the rest of the way. I knew I had 6 hours of classes infront of me, and there was 5 inches of snow on the ground. So 20 minutes into my second class the school was closed. So in the snow and insane wind, the entire population of SFU was at the bus loop and there was one foot of snow on the ground. I actually got on the first bus and even got a seat- it was wet. Anyways I eventually got home-drenched. So it's still snowing. It snowed all through the night and the roads are snow covered (on the mountain.) And SFU is open! Normally this wouldn't piss me off, but I have a test today.

I found that pic looking for something else. There is a tunnel dug into the snow to get into the house. Total memories of that crazy snow storm in Elliston when we were snowed in for like a week.

Movies

I forgot!
Tristan and Isolde. I watched the first half- very good. I don't have the second half, so who knows. I think it's definately worth watching. By the looks of things I may have to wait until April when the DVD comes out to see the rest of the movie.

Oh and it snowing. In march. In vancouver. I hate going to school on the top of a mountain- it's 10 degrees colder than in the city and there'll be a foot of snow up there!
I am looking for flying pigs, clearly hell has frozen over as well.

It's like spotting Tom Cruise for a psyc student

So I fired off an email off to the writter of one of my textbooks. I was given an assignment to define about 100 words from the text. However there isn't a glossary or an index. So the only way to find the terms was to flip through over 500 pages. Page by page, scanning each page. Everyone in my tutorial complained that it was a horrible textbook. I mean how can you write a textbook and not have an index??

So I googled the 1st author. Stanley Coren. I knew he is a prof at UBC. Surprise! I totally know him-well not personally. www.stanelycoren.com/bio.htm He is a very well known dog trainer. He's always on TV, he use to have his own show. He's even been on Oprah!

So I gave my suggestion on how he could improve the text on the next edition and then I quickly told him the story of Salem. You see at one point I was so frustrated with her I was seriously thinking of sending her back to the pound. I flipped through my psyc texts and did a little further research in some psyc journals. I applied Dr. Coren's (and Pavlov's) dog training techniques to Salem. She is very stubborn- her best trick is playing fetch and dropping the ball at my feet. But she has much better manners now- the training continues. One day I might be able to have curtains hang in my windows again.

So I got a reply from Dr. Coren telling me that his publishers thought that indexes and glossaries take up too many pages. He said that he is trying to get an index in the 7th edition and said to give Salem a pat on the head from him.

Changes, Updates and Movies

So due to popular demand and lots of complaining I have changed my settings. You can now leave comments annonymously. But remember I have ESP and know who you are.
Alas, No I haven't heard anything from the library yet. They said they'd get back to me within 2 weeks, it's been 1 week today. So I have pretty much talked myself out of thinking that I might actually get it.
I am glad to hear that Micah is wickedly jealous about the whole library thing. Ah well, Theresa and I agreed that Malcom is amazing, so she's got us both beat. World traveller and a brilliant grad student? that's a tough one to top!!
Also Theresa admitted that she doesn't read my blog, but she reads my sisters!! I'm floored! Sarah is loving it! Things are going to have to change....
Oh and just watched Running Scared-Sarah you should not watch it. The actor guy is hot, but there is enough blood and violence that even I had to look away! I deleted it immediately after watching it (uh- not that I downloaded it....)

Next is Tristan and Isolde- looks really good. eye candy potential

That's the update for now kids. ~~Writting term papers, drinking tea and listening to Daft Punk

And the Oscar goes to....

Well I can't believe that neither Brokeback Mountain nor Walk the Line won best picture. I haven't seen Crash, although now I guess I have to. It must be really really good. While listening to 36 Maffia perform "It's hard out here for a pimp," I thought well this song sucks, wonder why it got nominated. And then they won! Either I'm getting too old and am out of touch, or the Oscars were fixed. So fashion faux pas- I particularily liked the guy with the tux shirt, jacket and crooked tie paired with jeans. Honestly-did he think he was rock'n that? I love that Jennifer Garner almost fell- I don't like her, so I was a little disappointed when she caught her balance again. I didn't see any one that looked REALLY bad though. They must have edited the uglies out. I did think that Dolly Parton looked awesome. She has the freakiest body ever! She's 60! She doesn't look it

Oh and that movie I talked about in an earlier post with Dolly Parton was called Straight Talk.

Seals

Well it's that time of year again.
Time to take your club and beat animals to death.
Did you know that in the next week or so the Federal Government is scheduled to decide if the seal hunt should be allowed to continue? Harper may be a Conservative freak, but I would actually maybe kinda respect him if the hunt was stopped. So what can you do to help you ask? Well you can start by emailing your local MP and email Harper at: pm@pm.gc.ca Tell him how you feel!

And this is why no one cares about my blog

yeah, so I'm sick...but not as sick as poor peter pumpkin head. Spent the whole day in my pj's surfing the web. wish I could do the same tomorrow. It seems that after midterms the last thing I want to do is pick up a textbook.

found out that ben harper and bedouin soundclash tickets are going on sale tomorrow. I was going to buy a few tickets. that was until I saw that the tickets were $45 plus service charges and the concert is the day before 2 termpapers are due. I think I would be far too stressed to handle a super chill concert.

I have nothing else to report.