Feast One Hundred & Ninety

Friday Feast
Appetizer
When someone smiles at you, do you smile back?
Yes but I usually smile first. I love smiling at people just to see what their reaction will be.

Soup
Describe the flooring in your home. Do you have carpet, hardwood, vinyl, a mix?
95% carpet. I only have a bit of vinyl in the entry, kitchen and bathroom. The allergist said I should have hardwood but I like capet.

Salad
Write a sentence with only 5 words, but all of the words have to start with the first letter of your first name.
He helped her help herself. (does it count if I kind of repeat two words? LOL)

Main Course
Do you know anyone whose life has been touched by adoption?
Yes, many people. The first that comes to mind is Charlyn and her three adorable boys and Diana and her four amazing children. That's just the beginning though!

Dessert
Name 2 blue things.
Not the sky today! Lets see...how about, the walls of my office (at least the part that's not wood panelled) and my co-worker's hoodie.

Inspiration

I originally uploaded this photo as a Wordless Wednesday but I realized I wanted to talk about it so I'm posting it today instead.

A few weeks ago Mom and I drove out to Surrey to visit an embroidery/cross stitch store. It was *full* of floss, patterns and tons of completed projects. Mom does a lot of cross stitch, she always has. Mostly smaller projects. I have done some in the past but not recently. After visiting that store I was inspired! I went digging in my hope chest and pulled out all my floss and half completed work. Since then I've completed a small Christmas project and made great headway on the larger one that I have going. I used to alternate between scrapbooking and cross stitching regularly but lately it's been all scrapbooking. It feels good to get the cross stitching out again though. It must be the cold weather.

I'll try and take some pictures of my projects so you can see what I'm working on.

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you’ve got
‘Til it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

I don't really know if it was paradise and I doubt they're putting up a parking lot but I definitely didn't know what we had until now that it's gone.

Yesterday morning on the way to work there was a big yellow machine on the road. I drove around it and didn't think anything of it. On my way home from work the machine was gone along with a whole bunch of trees! They've cleared enough space for probably three or four lots and there may be more to go.

Even though the housing prices have tanked in BC it doesn't seem like building is suffering. Especially in my town they are shoving houses into every available spot. Weird corners and places that have been empty lots for *years* are suddenly being developed.

This was running through my head all last night.

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you’ve got
‘Til it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

The Search Begins

I mentioned in July that I had done some preliminary geneology work when I visited Grandpa. I've messed around with the info I collected a little bit (most Googling terms and stuff) but I haven't studied any of it yet.

In September I visited my dad's Aunty Phyllis (my great aunt) since then the "geneology ball" has really been rolling. I contacted my dad's cousin Jean and she sent out copies of all of her research. Charts, family group sheets, pictures, etc. It's mostly of my dad's, dad's side but it's fascinating.

We have plans to meet up with Jean on Sunday to go over some of it and then I'm hoping to start doing my own research.

I considered opening a separate blog to detail this journey but that's too complicated so I'm just going to keep it here and y'all can come on this adventure with me :) Stay tuned!

Halloween 2008

Last night was our Halloween night at Dance. Mom made an apron for me and I went as a maid, French maid, cleaning lady, whatever you want to call me. It was a lot of fun though. Everyone was trying to get me to come clean their houses LOL

Oh, and the duster is Seth's I never use it. I hate that thing but it was fun to have with me!

Everyone brought treats to share and these were my favourite. Shortbread cookies with jam filling covered in white chocolate!!!

The Arrogant Worms

My next two weeks are shaping up to be really busy so having a low key schedule this weekend was perfect. In fact on Saturday I didn't even get dressed until about 6:30pm when I left the house.

Sunday after church we had a potluck lunch and in the evening I joined Jenna, her husband William, her dad and two sisters for an "Arrogant Worms" concert.

My going was kind of a last minute decision. Sunday morning their mom wasn't feeling well so she asked Katherine to see if there was anyone that would like to go in her place. Katherine called me and even though I confessed to not being familiar with the music, I agreed. I'm glad I did. The concert was a lot of fun.

The Worms describe themselves as "Musical comedy at its folkiest" and nothing is safe from their super fast lyrics. I laughed out loud SO many times during the show. My personal favourite songs are now "Rocks & Trees", "Celine Dion", and of course the classic "Last Saskatchewan Pirate".

You can hear a few of the songs on their woefully outdated MySpace page.

Feast One Hundred & Ninety One

I haven't done this in a few weeks but it's Friday afternoon and I'm bored.

Friday Feast
Appetizer
What is the nearest big city to your home?
Vancouver, BC, and after spending time there again last weekend I can truly say I love visiting, but I really love living out in the suburbs. I never really realized that before last weekend.

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how well do you keep secrets?
Depends on the secret. Who it's from, and who I'm keeping it from. I tend to tell people who it won't matter to. There are some things that I've never told anyone, but mostly I let it out somewhere so it doesn't just sit and fester in my head (that sounds gross!)

Salad
Describe your hair (color, texture, length).
Brown with auburn highlights. Texture, wavy...but mostly because I keep it in a braid 95% of the time. Length, getting longer every day. Currently to my knees when it's down.

Main Course
What kind of driver are you? Courteous? Aggressive? Slow?
I try to be courteous. I'm a "10%" driver. I generally go 10% over the speed limit. I'm not stupid and aggressive though. Defensive yes, aggressive, no.

Dessert
When was the last time you had a really bad week?
This one wasn't wonderful but mostly for other people. I just got the fall out. I have to admit, I'm tired of being a sounding board. I love that people trust me enough to ask for my opinion on stuff but it seems to be coming from all sides lately and I'm tired. (and if you asked me for my advice lately, it's not you. It's people who don't read here that I'm talking about).

:D

Once in awhile Dierks does what he calls "Town Hall Meetings". They're essentially a live chat with Dierks on a webcam addressing the Fan Club members and the FCers throwing questions and comments at warp speed. After the last meeting he did in April, where he unveiled the cover of the Greatest Hits project, he learned that just trying to read questions and answer them randomly doesn't work. This time he had FCers submit questions before hand and one of the staff at EchoMusic read them to him. It was kind of funny watching him answer the questions. Our comments are scrolling like crazy it's really distracting so he tried to ignore them but it's hard! Anyways, one of the questions was "What is the last song you downloaded" and "What are you listening to right now" He said that the last song he downloaded on Itunes was the Alan Jackson song that he will be singing during the "CMT Giants" special on Alan.

In his truck he's listening to cuts off his new album (due in February). When he mentioned the truck I typed "YEAH BIG WHITE!" He read that out loud! And said "Yes, Big White. That's my truck's name" and then he read my screen name "Agent-seven-one-three". I know it doesn't sound like a big deal but he didn't read very many comments out loud and he didn't read anyone else's screen name.

It made me feel special :D

The Straight and Narrow Way

My maternal great-grandmother, who I called "Oma" was a wonderful German woman. At least I think she was. Unfortunately I never developed a very close relationship with her. She immigrated from Germany along with her husband, and children which included my newly married grandparents. She retained a thick German accent which, I have to admit, to a kid, was indimidating. In the mid 1980's she also suffered a stroke which caused her to lose the use of her left side, especially her arm.

We usually visited her home whenever we were in Alberta but never stayed for too long. I remember the house but I don't have a lot of memories from there. When she passed away in 1997 after a lengthy stay at an assisted living facility, there was only one thing that I wanted to remember her by. It was the one thing that I really remember from her house. This picture.

It hung in the rec-room in the basement. I used to stand and stare at this picture. It is an illustration of Matthew 7:13-14. "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

The words are all in German but you can see that they are scripture references. I remember looking at it and thinking that I know I should want to take the path on the right because it leads to salvation but wanting to take the path on the left because face it, it's way more inviting.

I've had this picture for over ten years now. In that time I've moved five times. I've never really done anything with the picture. It's a bit odd so I've never actually hung it up. For most of that time it's sat in the back of my closet. Recently I pulled it out and decided to finally translate the scripture verses like I had originally intended when I actually got the picture.

Translating is harder than it looks! Some of the verses, like "Joh 3:16" were easy. Some took a bit of detective work but once I found them, they were just funny. Like Exodus 20:13. The German equivilant for Exodus is "Mof" or something. It has to do with it being a "book of Moses". Anyways, the picture beside the scripture verse (at the top of the image at left) is of two guys with guns aimed at another guy. Any guess as to what Exodus 20:13 is? Yup! "Thou shalt not kill"!

Some of the verses were next to impossible. I printed off a list of the German equivilent of the books of the bible which helped a lot but even then I had to use a process of elimination for some. For example, what book of the bible contains the following scriptures: 20:13, 23:46-47 and 33:11. Any guesses?

Now that I've read all the verses (in English) and now that I'm twice as old as when I used to read it and think the left path was better, I can definitely say that even though it's dark, the path on the right gives way more hope.

I think I'll even hang it up finally. It's a good reminder of lots of things, not the least of which is Oma.

Cousin Carla

Friday evening I went straight from work to Vancouver. Specifically to the Salt Tasting Room in Gastown. My cousin Carla was in town with her boyfriend Lee and she had arranged a get together there.

Salt is a really neat concept. From their website: "Salt is a tasting room specializing in artisinal cheese, small-batch cured meats, and a dynamic array of wines, beers and Sherries. Our menu is simple. Guests assemble a Tasting Plate from our chalkboard’s selection of 10 cheeses, 10 meats, and 10 condiments. The selections change constantly, making it almost impossible to have the same Salt experience twice."

I had a tasting plate combination of two cheeses and a meat. Then I let the waitress pick three wed rines...no wait, make that red wines LOL to compliment. I didn't keep the sheet of what I had and I'm kicking myself now because they were all fantastic. Along with the meat and cheese you get three condiments and I had apricot preserves, an Italian mustard and Granny Smith apples. You also get a basket of bread so it is surprisingly filling. I did find that by the end of our meal I was craving chocolate or something sweet.

Saturday I picked Carla and Lee up from their hotel and we went to her brother's house for dinner. His daughter is 3.5 and I haven't seen her since just after she was born. She kept Carla and I busy dressing up as princesses and having picnics on the floor. It was really sweet. It was great to catch up with Peter and his wife Shirley as well.

Carla and Lee are living in Amsterdam right now so it's hard to say when I'll see them again. It was great to have this time with them though.

Ontario: The Timeline

I've been to Ontario twice. The first time was Easter 2000. I was only there for four days but I got to see a lot of the sights. I visited again at the end of August, 2004. The main reason for my trip was the Creative Memories Showcase but I spent the week before visiting a number of different friends.

Since I've visited in the Spring and Summer, I now say that if/when I go back, it will be for Autumn because the trees are supposed to be gorgeous.

On the flip side, my favourite season in BC is summer. I don't love the heat but I love the busyness and the activity. The fairs and festivals, being outside, etc.

So right now I'm planning on heading East near the end of August 2010. I'll give notice in my apartment so I have it through the end of the month but if I get my ducks in a row, I can leave sooner than that. That will be a good time to drive across the country (because yes, I will be driving) and it will put me in Ontario just in time for Autumn.

I figure Septemberish is a good time to start a new job somewhere and, in a perfect world, I can still make plans to come home for Christmas. (Not to sure how that one will play out but I can hope right?)

Another thought is, if I'm in Ontario at the beginning of September, hopefully I can get down to the DC Retreat. Whether I drive, or fly, it's got to be cheaper since it's closer, right?

One last thing, with that timeline I have all winter to settle in and get familar with the area and once Spring/Summer hits I'll be ready and comfortable to start exploring in earnest. Because that's the main reason I want to live over there. To be close to stuff that we just don't have on the West Coast. Like history for example. 150 years just doesn't cut it.

So there, more reasons, not necessarily as to why to move, but WHEN.

Reasons to Move to Ontario

I keep trying to reference this blog post but then I realize that I never actually posted it in the first place. I started this particular entry in April. It's going to be on-going so I may as well clean it up and post it so I have something to work off.

My original post on this topic was in May 2007 since then the idea has continued to percolate and grow. I am a notoriously slow decision maker and I need time to get used to the idea. That's why the long timeline worked so well for me. Now we're under two years though and while part of me is scared because it's such a huge step, I'm getting more and more excited.

I've lost track of who I've told and who I haven't though. The only person I'm conciously NOT telling (yet) is my boss. Some of my coworkers know though and that's okay. I'm sure it will come out in casual conversation way before I give my official notice but for now, what she doesn't know won't hurt her. ;)

Earlier this week I was telling my friend Cheryl about my plan and, like most people I tell she said "it sounds like you've really thought it out." Which I have. So, here's a list of why I want to move to Ontario in Septemberish of 2010.

1. It's still in Canada so no paperwork is required
2. I have lots of friends there
3. I have a church I can attend
4. It's close to the East Coast of the US (which is an area I'd love to spend more time in)
5. I'll be 29 in 2010 and in need of a change
6. I want to live in more than one province in my lifetime
7. Financially 2010 makes sense. My car will be paid off in 2009 and I have a plan to pay off my cc debt by 2010.
8. I want to be in BC for the Olypmics but after that nothing is holding me.
9. By then I'll have been at my job for 4 years and ready for something new
10. At this point in my life I can leave all my furniture and kitchen items behind and start new because they were ALL hand-me-downs

And, from Rene

• And then there's SSMI and SWON and the Ohio Retreat....all within driving
  distance

and Diane:

• Ummm hello. I'm in driving distance.

So there. Lots of good reasons to move. Have I missed any?

Oh, and for the record, the drawbacks are:

1. I will miss my parents and friends here
2. The weather
3. The lack of mountains

I'm not intending for this to be a long term thing though. Just a change of pace for awhile.

Your train is coming

I have had Dierks Bentley's "Trying to Stop Your Leaving" as the ring tone on my phone for well over a year. Specifically the part near the end where he sings:

Train’s a comin,’ river’s runnin’
Pain’s a comin,’ tears are runnin’
Yeah, that’s kind of the way I’m feelin’
Knowin’ I couldn’t stop your leavin’

Lately, if my phone rings while Mom is around she's taken to saying "Your train is coming!" LOL

Watch the music video

Wordless Wednesday: Exercising my Democratic Right

Turkey-less Thanksgiving

This weekend was Thanksgiving in Canada. Saturday I had plans to meet up with Melissa and Jevon for a Thanksgiving dinner but no one else could make that time. We still met up and played games but we had pizza for dinner instead.

Sunday was "Thanksgiving". Mom, Dad and I were the only ones together for dinner so instead of doing a big turkey I convinced them to make salmon with stuffing since the stuffing is all I was really craving. Mom makes an awesome stuffed salmon but this time she chose to make the stuffing on the side and do the salmon on a cedar plank in the bar-b-que. It was amazing! (please excuse the sideways picture. I can't get it to straighten itself).

Monday Meredith took me out for breakfast and then we spent the day making cards. We took a break at one point and played a round of Monopoly. We haven't played that in ages but we had a blast.

So that was my long weekend. Fairly low key without a turkey in sight!

Scenarios

Best Case Scenario: The idiot who backed into me takes responsibility and my bumper is replaced at no cost to me.

Worst Case Scenario: He denies it and I have to pay the deductible of $300.

Either way it's a pain in the butt but not as bad a it could have been.

So, what happened? I was driving, following a truck and we were both yeilding before turning right. He slowed down in the right turn lane and then started backing up!!! WHO BACKS UP in a turn lane?!? Luckily he wasn't going very fast but he still put his hitch through my bumper. I honked but he said he "couldn't see me" and apparently he couldn't hear me either.

He was really nice and jumped out and gave me his information right away. It was his boss's truck. He's in town on business. They have to notify by letter but hopefully he'll own up to the charges.

Wordless Wednesday: :(

Random Memory #6: Oregon Trail

I'm continuing to live in a no-television apartment and it's working amazingly well. All my regular shows have started back up again for the new season and I'm not missing them or feeling sorry for myself at all.

One of the things that is keeping me sane is that I can get random dvd's from the library. Movies, documentaries, educational programming. It's fascinating what they have there. Recently I watched a PBS documentary on the Oregon Trail. That is a period of history that has always fascinated me. I have read lots of historical fiction based around that time period and we used to spend HOURS playing it after school.

As soon as the bell rang we'd RACE to the computer lab and stay there until it closed (an hour or so later). Mom learned not to expect us right after school. "Us" was Meredith, my brothers and I (and other students). You could take five people in your "wagon" so Mere and I always took each other, which ever boy we had a crush on that week and one random brother that we'd write off to cholera or a wagon accident or drowning. Because you knew SOMEONE had to die and we didn't want it to be someone we liked!

The best part of Oregon Trail was hunting (even if you could only bring back 100 pounds of meat) and running the rapids at the end. I still miss that game.

Did anyone else play?

Weekend Recap

Fall is here. The crisp cool days, the smell of wood smoke in the air and the leaves are slowly changing. Thanks to global warming (or something, that’s just a good scapegoat) we also has some wacky weather over the weekend. Thursday I was out until 10pm running errands. I had a list of places to stop: Michaels, Linens n’ Things, my parents so I could use the computer and do laundry and Walmart. Friday I got home after work and didn’t leave. I kept the blinds closed so I couldn’t see the rain or wind, lit a bunch of candles and scrapbooked all evening. It was wonderful.

Saturday was “National Card Making Day”. I met Teresa on the Canadian side of the border and together we went down to a scrapbook store in Bellingham for a card class. 15 cards for $15 in two hours. Cute cards too and it showed how many you can make with a small amount of paper. When I got home I used the “formula” they had showed us along with a new stamp set I bought and made another 10 cards in less than an hour.

Sunday after church I went over to Mom & Dad’s for lunch. Mom was in Alberta all last week staying with her dad who had cataract surgery on Tuesday. He’s doing well and my aunt has actually moved in with him now which is good. He may be getting his eyesight back but his hearing is mostly gone :(

Sunday evening I went over to Chris & Natalie’s and we played Settlers of Catan, with the Cities & Knights expansion pack. I’ve played Settlers with the Seafarers pack but I like Cities & Knights better. I lost but it was still fun ;) I worked with Natalie at NR and we've been planning a games night for awhile. I'm pretty sure we'll have more in the future and I can't wait!

So that was my weekend. Nothing too crazy but really enjoyable.

Only six quirky things this time

I've been tagged by Looney Lisa to share my 6 Quirks! There's a pun in there somewhere LOL

Here are the rules:
Link the person who tagged you.
Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.
Leave a comment to let them know

Okay, I've done this before. Y'all are going to think I'm just a big ball of quirk!

1. If there are two rolls of toilet paper for me to use, I always take from the smaller one.

2. I hate doing dishes and I let them build up until I run out of something (forks, pots etc) It's bad but it's one of the benefits of living alone :)

3. I don't drink iced tea. Sweetened or not. I just don't like the taste of it. I wish I did because it sounds so refreshing but I can't get past the "tea" taste.

4. I have exactly 300 "Friends" on Facebook. That's not really a quirky thing but I just realized that. A portion of them are from SS and I really don't interact with them but I feel weird not accepting their request. I'll probably go through and purge at some point.

5. I read Country Weekly. Some people find that quirky. I find it normal. It's a good magazine! How else do you think I fill my head with lots of useless news?

6. I don't have a computer at home, yet, I still manage to spend WAY too much time online. Crazy.

6 people to tag:
1. Who
2. ever
3. hasn't
4. been
5. tagged
6. yet!

YouTube Debut

After the wedding when we went back at Mom & Dad's house, Seth, Robert, Brittany, Mom and I sat down and played cards. During our game I put on a tape of Classic Disney songs that I have and the boys were singing along. It made me laugh so I filmed them with my camera. I had my YouTube debut in August. This is their's. Seth's on the left, Robert's on the right singing "A Whale Of A Tale" from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and "You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!" from Peter Pan.

BC's Northern Capital

As many of you who have been playing along on Facebook know, I was in Prince George for the first part of this week (I was posting updates to FB as I got internet access). Why you may ask? For a conference. I think I've mentioned that I sit on the Board of Directors for the organization I used to work for. That organization is one of 34 of it's kind in British Columbia and this was their annual conference. (I went to the Association AGM in March. Next year the two events will be combined.)

Bright and early Sunday morning I was picked up by two other Directors, Donna, Grant (and his wife Judy) and Grant drove us to the Vancouver airport. Our plane was delayed for about 30 minutes due to fog in PG but it was clear flying along the coast and I had a great view of Howe Sound and the Coastal Mountain range. (The white spot in the picture on the left is a ferry going from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale) Once we arrived in PG we were treated to brilliant orange and yellow fall foilage. It was beautiful. At home everything is still green and is just starting to change. Up there it's really dry and the trees are brightly coloured.

I had had a busy few days before our trip so after we checked in Grant and Judy went golfing and I just relaxed in my room for awhile. I did go out an explore the downtown section of Prince George for awhile but being Sunday, most places were closed. Luckily "Books & Company" a fantastic little...actually, not so little, book store and cafe was open. I hung out there for awhile just because it was such a great place.

That evening (after a nap after my walk) we had a welcome reception in the Two Rivers Art Gallery which I looked down at from my hotel room. This picture was taken from in front of the Civic Centre. The clock is part of Civic Plaza. The building behind is the art gallery and the building behind that is my hotel.

Monday we were up bright and early for the conference. All of the speakers they had were excellent and I learned a lot. I got sick of conference food pretty fast (it was unimaginative and bad quality) but it was free so I didn't complain too much. That evening Grant, Judy and I joined other delegates at a local PG restaurant called Cimo's. We had a nice time chatting and getting to know each other better.

Tuesday was more of the same. Late in the afternoon I skipped boring sounding round table discussion and went for a walk in the sunshine. That evening was our "Gala Awards Dinner". I was soooo surprised when I was awarded a "Volunteer of the Year" Award. I definitely wasn't expecting that. Each of the 34 organizations is able to nominate a Volunteer which is why I say "a". I was one of 21. It was wonderful and very special.

Wednesday we got up and had breakfast with the rest of the conference attendees and then headed for the airport. I had an aisle seat so I couldn't really see out the window. I ended up getting a pressure headache that I haven't really shaken yet either. Very painful.

Anyways, PG (which incidently does NOT stand for pregnant, as some of my less observant Facebook friends thought) is a nice little town. I'd have a hard time with the "average winter temperature of -18oC" but it's nice in the fall. I do wish we had had more time for tourist opportunities but I guess it's a reason to go back :)