Thanks for teaching me to try new things....

I saw this video on Ellen yesterday - it's unbelievable. The video is of Stacy Westfall and her horse, Wizard's Baby Doll. She reins the horse completely bareback and bridle-less. The amount of trust built up between this girl and her horse is amazing. You must watch!

Leaping toward the weekend...

February 29, 2008; an extra day of February; "Leap Year". These special leap years occur every four years. They are what cause our seasons to change at the same time every year and they keep the calendar in alignment with the earth's motion around the sun .... used to "fix" the error time misses in one year (source).

Even time makes mistakes :)

I'm off today - on account of working tomorrow. The day plan is to clean house - specifically my scrap room...we'll see if the gumption reaches me. It hasn't yet, and we're midway through the day already.

Last night, on AI.. Jason Yeager was no surprise, he'd already outrun his welcome...Robbie, on the other hand was a bit of a surprise...as I thought Luke would certainly be the next to leave. Next week, Luke; you can't sing. As for the girls, I only really enjoy Brooke, Ramiele, and Carly, so it didn't matter to me who got booted...however, I'm a little shocked to see Amanda last another week, and I was as flabbergasted as Kady was when she found out she wasn't going home this week (wtf?? I guess America like to look at her and are turning a deaf ear. She can imitate Britney really well, but she doesn't have a leg to stand on when she sings 'herself').

Happy Friday, peeps!!! The weekend is close at hand!

Happy Hump Day

I felt a bit challenged with trying to post a follow up to the last poignant one, so had a day gap inbetween... and, for the record, I normally will not reference anything "Oprah" - I used to enjoy Oprah...but I enjoyed fat-Oprah much more than skinny-Oprah. She used to get it at one time...now, not so much. Her aside, I still feel Randy Pausch's message is one that everyone should hear.

It's been awhile since I properly updated you all on the mundaneness that is my life. For those interested, here's a quick 'n dirty:

• I worked another week of nights - which really does nothing to increase my social circle or blogworthiness.
• on Friday night I was supposed to meet with my SU club for a night of crafts & laughs but I had to bow out on account of feeling like a large turd of dog poo. Yep - it was coming over me in waves all day - waking up Friday morning feeling awful - but having the stamp night to look forward to so I kept hanging on... At around 3pm my head was pounding so hard I couldn't see straight, and I felt like stomach contents were going to resurface...so I left work and headed to the couch. I never made it to Angela's for SU night.
• Saturday night I missed a staff party on account of the continued feeling-like-poo-state I was in. I stayed on the couch watching back episodes of Greys, thanks to Mummy and her wonderful gift of Season 2 & 3 DVDs :). Did I mention that I *heart* Greys?
• Sunday was a continuance of Saturday.
• Monday I made it to work - still feeling slight poo-ness (today was the first day I felt poo-free actually).
• Tuesday marked yet ANOTHER scheduled scrap class that was cancelled due to zero sign-ups. I'm the teacher that didn't teach...*sigh*...methinks it's just time to scrap for me and leave this world of rejection! No issue, however, since the evening was not a full bust! I thoroughly enjoyed BB (holy DRAMA again!!) and AI (wow...DavidA is going to win - let's just say that right now. I still really enjoy Michael & Jason a lot...and I like David despite his over-cockiness). Good TV night!

A little bit of perspective...

...we can all use a dose of it every now and then. When the trivial things in life feel like they're too much, take a minute to really think about what's bothering you.

Dr. Randy Pausch has terminal pancreatic cancer, and has very little time left. He revisited his "last lecture" on Oprah - which details life, and how to "live". Please, take the time to watch this. Some points to ponder from it:

• brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things
• have fun all the time
• know the importance of people vs things
• experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted
• work & play well with others
• have patience
• show gratitude
  
• if you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself -the dreams will come to you
  

A letter

Dear Mr. Horton,

PLEASE instruct your staff to STIR the coffee before throwing it out the window.

That is all.

Antidote

Again courtesy of http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/

For some reason, this particular cartoon reminded me of the full moon...reminded me of the 'weirdos' I deal with, regularly, when the moon hits it's full status. I picture them mumbling, talking to themselves...like this sort of person...

I'm just biding my time...waiting for the day to finally pass - pretty much annoyed by anything and everything today. Chris chided: "Well that's no way to spend a day! Get yourself a blizzard on the way home. :)"... after much thought it was decided that a chocolate milkshake is the cure that ails me and I'm just biding time til I get my milkshake. I might, just might have to throw in an order of mozza sticks, too...cuz, let's face it...where shaken up chocolate milk and ice cream can't fix something, deep-fried cheese surely can.

Nothing but the boob tube

Did anyone catch the DRAMA last night on BB? Un-freaking-believeable...Joshuah had NO right to say that...and I truly hope that as soon as the words left his lips he was overcome with complete and utter shame/remorse/guilt and sadness. And after the whole race thing that Jen pulled, I'm more than glad to see her go...blatant lying right to Ryan's face - it's not hard to see who wears that pants in that relationship *whip sound*. It will be interesting to see how Allison plays out now that the 'gf' is gone. Who thinks she'll try to break the two of them up?

And as for AI - I do still tune in...it's really early yet, but I do have a few favourites. My favs on the boy side are Michael, JasonC and David. I'm a bit of a sucker for an Aussie accent, so Michael just has to talk and I like him...but he can really sing too :). JasonC needs to get rid of the dreds, but I really enjoy him, and David is an ultimate cutie patootie - though his cutesy bashfulness will soon get old. On the flipside, my fav girls are without a doubt Carly and Ramiele -they're really the only 2 girls I enjoy. Carly can SING. I didn't like her song choice at all last night, though, and think that might be why she got such a knuckle-rap from Simon. Ramiele is a power house...the voice that comes out of her itty-bittiness is incredible.

Predictions for who's on the way home tonight: Garrett, and Luke or JasonY for the boys and for the girls, Amy, and Kristy or Joanne.

A fresh coat of paint to cover the dirt...

I've been reading a new blog lately - it's consuming a lot of my days (one of the good things about working in an in-bound call centre does allow for time for stuff like this). I'm going through the archives, and have made it through (or so I thought) about a year and a half of old posts. I started to notice that some of the old months' began later in the month. I thought it weird - but thought maybe she just didn't post that reguarly... til I finally clicked the icon "Next Page" on the bottom of the page...only to discover 1-2 extra pages of posts. Posts that I've missed, consistently, since I started the archives, for every month that I've put behind me as "read". Darwin!

On my lunch break I was watching Ellen...one of her guests was newly-mom'd Christina Aguilara. Ellen so eloquently asked Christina if she was nursing - in reply to the gargantuan boobies in her midst. They got to talking about the new wee one, named "Max". My sister's dog's name is Max. Instead of conjuring up an image of an adorable swaddling Christina-esque image, I'm bombarded by an image of that big, stinkin', drooly dog. Isn't it funny how that happens? Max = drooly dog (and on a side note, I now also have a Tina Turner song stuck in my head). I used to work in daycare - if there was a 'bad' kid in the midst, that child's name is forever marked for you...that's why, to this day, the name "Brandon" equates to Devil's spawn for me.

Still lovin this guy ...broke down and am now posting a YouTube performance. It's NOT the same as being there, but you do get an idea of how awesome he is. This is the song he played for his final encore when we saw him a few weeks ago.

That's about right...

Entertainment?

So no retail therapy at lunch - but I did go out for lunch today with my dear friend Melissa. We went to Mosiac, and I had the lunch special, which consisted of a a chicken ceasar wrap and a bowl of clam chowder, and I ate every crumb. It was delicious. It was lovely to get out for an hour as well. Missed you, hunny. We must do it again - soon. :)

Did anyone catch the Knight Rider movie this past weekend? For a brief moment I was taken back in time and felt young and gushy again. Well, no...notsomuch. Some things are better left enjoyed back in the day than to dredge them up again in the now... I did, however, watch the entire movie, if for nothing else but nostalgia sake. I laughed out loud at the end scene where the new "Michael" sat in the K.I.T.T car in his black leather coat - so reminiscent of his predecessor. Was that really necessary? For those of you who had a wee crush on the Hoff back in the day (and I stress, back in the day), here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUplnn462uE. Enjoy.

BB9 is holding my attention, but it doesn't even hold a candle to BB8... I cannot wait for Allison to get the boot. I would actually rather keep Sheila around than her, and Sheila had been my new "Jen" when the first show aired.

Overheard at work: "..Celine Dion gives me the diarrhea anyways...". I laughed out loud at that.

Serenity NOW

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

Aaaaaaand repeat...

Those who know me realize I'm not a woman of prayer...but today I'm trying it.

I'm TRYING to see the glass as half FULL. Instead, I see the moon as more than half full...and at least have something to blame it on this week.

Retail therapy at lunch time.

Oh Weekend...how I've missed you....

TGIF! In just about an hour my weekend starts! I have to work 4 hrs at BR tomorrow, and after that, I do hope to give the house a good cleaning. I've been neglecting my house duties a tad...oh how do I wish my cleaning fairy would resurface.

So this year's Valentines Day was a little less extravagant than years prior...but I had a lovely time, nonetheless. Chris and I went to PD for some pizza (note to self: PD on V-Day = take your kids out night). The food was ok, and we got a nice helping of birth control while there, and even a piece of McCain chocolate cake for dessert. From there, we drove around town, all the while listening to Matt, and belting out the lyrics. Chris got me an adapter for my mP3 player for the car for a V-Day prezzie, which is going to come in oh so handy! Thanks hunny! After our in-car concert with ourselves, we then took in a movie, Definitely, Maybe. It was cute - a romantic comedy by the makers of Notting Hill, one of my favourite movies. It was a little slow moving, but I enjoyed it. Abigail Breslin's character was the cutest. A great 'date' night - thank you Christopher...my love for your burns with the heat of a million (spicy) jalapeños :).

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy *Heart* Day everyone. We had some Valentine 'crafts' to do at work today. The picture is the winning cookie in the cookie decorating contest. Way to go Leslie! Hope you don't mind that I posted this :). It was just too cute not to share.

So how are YOU spending your day? Tell me all your romantical plans....

When I first met Chris, he exclaimed, quite profusely, how he hated this holiday - how he felt it was completely commercial and unnecessary - that he felt it wrong to have one day designated where he was forced to tell me that he loved me. However, the first year we were together, I got home from work to find supper prepared for me, treats and one of my favourite DVDs, and special instructions: "dress warmly - I have a surprise planned for after supper". We then went for a drive and ended up at our destination - a sleigh ride! Complete with hot chocolate/dessert after the ride. The people who arranged this did it specifically for Valentines Day, and had a room set up upstairs in their house, with intimate little tables for two, and music. It was fantastical. The next year, I surprised him with a weekend getaway at a Bed & Breakfast, which was amaaaazing...and then last year, I arrived home to find rose petals (fake so the cats didn't eat them) on the kitchen table,...music playing and the coffee table set up with wine and chocolate-covered strawberries (that Chris had made himself).

Sorta sounds like he couldn't hate the holiday, hmmm?

The weekend in review...

So Tuesday again - and another busy weekend behind me.

Friday night, Angela, Brandi & myself joined Penzie, Maria & Laurie-Anne in Summerside for the Paper Attic Crop. We stayed the night Friday, cropping til 11pm and then all day Saturday. Although it's always a good thing to get together with friends to crop, I can honestly say that I'm unsure if I'll attend the next one. I found it really loud, and had a hard time concentrating on what I wanted to do. Being super-tired didn't help - just frustrates me when I have an occasion to crop and I waste it or don't get much accomplished. I probably would have gotten more accomplished had I cropped at home. It was still fun getting together with my girlies, though ;).

Saturday night, Chris & I took in the Matt Andersen concert at the Confed Centre. Angela had tickets she couldn't use, and didn't want to see them go to waste, so we were happy to oblige - and happy indeed...that man put on a FANTASTIC performance. I didn't even know I was a fan of jazz/blues until I saw him perform. I'd link to a YouTube performance, but it just cheapens it until you see the real thing. I can't say enough good things about Matt...unbelieveable stage presence...unbelieveable talent...a phenom in his own right. If given an opportunity to see this man live, DO IT. Saturday's performance marked a first for him - on stage with a band, partnering up with the Hupman Brothers. Chris bought every CD the centre had available (the 'boxed set'), including one of the Hupman Brothers, and the band were kind enough to stay back to sign autographs and pose for a picture or two. This was beyond a doubt the highlight of my weekend. We will be first in line to buy tickets for his next performance. Bravo, guys!!

Sunday was a fairly lazy day - however, we did manage to get out of the house to grab a breakfast bagel and coffee at Timothys. Always delish :). We finally got to watch a taped episode 1 of the newest Survivor...lamest first show EVER.

Back to work Monday and here I am Tuesday...nothing noteworthy happened yesterday, but I just have to add....Big Brother starts tonight!!!!!!!!!!!! Nothing will compare to BB8, but I certainly look forward to a new season.

Good-bye Dr. Ling

Dr. Barry Ling lost his courageous battle with cancer today:

http://barryl.blogspot.com/2008/02/one-last-bear-hug.html

A well-loved man, who will be surely missed.

I saw Dr. Ling for my knee problems, and it was he who performed my knee surgery (scope). He was nothing but kind to me, and although I did not know him other than that, I empathize with his family at this very sad time, and wish them peace.

The Road Trip of Life

From a blog I've just discovered:

"...It’s true; you can’t just shrivel up and wail in a corner about stuff. Well, you can but you have about one hour and then you need to pull yourself together already. Take control of yourself. Stop berating yourself for having feelings. Quit feeling bad about every damn thing. Maybe in the road trip of life this is just a bad diner stop where the bathroom is filthy and has run out of toilet paper and everything you ordered looks wilted, not just the lettuce and your water glass has lipstick on it but it isn’t your shade. It’s like that. And the good news is you can get up out of that saggy pleather booth and haul ass on out of there. You’ve got free will and choice. Things will definitely improve from here.
It is a new day and I’m seeing things differently..."

Thanks Sizzle - I'm glad I happened upon your prose...you just might even inspire me.

I'm going to love myself today...

How can one possibly expect love back if one doesn't love onself?

It's a hard lesson to learn.

I'm going to take baby steps and hope that those around me are patient, and accepting.

This time of year is rough for me...at first, I thought it was just an excuse I allowed myself - to 'make up for' times where I just wasn't my 'sunshine-y' self... However, after experiencing "down" patches consistently, around the same time of year, for the past 5 years, it's time to really look at it...here are a few possibilities:

-it's the end part of winter -Christmas behind, cold temps, stuck inside for months, the better part of the time coming home from the work day in the dark ... I think I do better when it's sunny and a little warmer.
-speaking of Christmas - it's that time of year when the bills seem to do nothing but accumulate (not to mention the added oil bill that's only around this time of year for us, since we have electric hot water) ... and now left with trying to 'pay off' Christmas.
-tax season is around the corner - for those of us who experience stress over money, there's always the added worry about 'paying in' and another bill to add to the all-consuming pile...
-oh, and the anniversary of Dad's passing is approaching...while he never really leaves my thoughts, this time of year his memory seems to be a complete constant. And it's not the 'happy memories of time with Dad' that are the constant ...memories of the final days are so vivid... thinking back to the day where the sores in his mouth were so bad that you couldn't understand him - but I heard him say 'good bye' before his tears fell...the guilt of those silent car rides we had together - why didn't I talk more?...the guilt of going out to supper with friends that night - and not being there when he died...the guilt of not saying "I love you" one last time because I thought I had one more tomorrow...

Maybe I'm just making excuses...I'm searching...I'm needing...I'm really down on 'me' lately...

baby step #1....

A new breed of cowboy?

Meet Whiplash, the sheepherding monkey from Fort Worth, Texas:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=eb6_1201729620

I can understand how he got his name.

Too cute.

Busy weekend

Chris' 30th birthday continued this weekend... I think I'm safe to say that we're finished the celebration! Friday night, I arranged to have a bunch of his friends join us at Ise's, in the private pool room. A lot of red beer was consumed by the birthday boy, along with a few shooters...and a lot of laughs were had by us all. Thank you, thank you to those who made it. To those that didn't, Chris really missed having you there.
After Ise's, we all landed back home, and had some munchies and talked. Bruce strummed the guitar for a bit, and I managed a make-shift birthday cake using two-bite brownies so I could use my special "30" candle I bought.









Saturday was a pretty 'lazy' day, on account of the consumables Friday. We made it to town at about 5pm, stopped for an unhealthy dose of McD's (sure cure for a hangover), and then grabbed a movie (Mr. Brooks -just fair) before calling it a night. Sunday, we got up and went to the "Shoppers Bazaar" (fancy name for flea market), grabbed a coffee, and then headed to Chris' mom's for the rest of the afternoon and supper.

I totally needed to organize/clean my craft room to prepare for this coming weekend's scrap retreat...*sigh*... but that didn't happen.

Driving down the Lost Highway...

A large percentage of my late morning/early afternoon today was totally engaging myself in the Bon Jovi "Lost Highway" DVD. The entire disc play-list, in sequence, comprises the DVD, with a few older favorites as encores. Thoroughly entertaining - extremely talented, thought-provoking awesomeness...not to mention that Jon Bon Bon is one fine piece of man to look at.

*sigh*

I *heart* Bon Jovi.

Where in the world...

...have I been?

Honestly, I haven't really been feeling 'bloggy' lately - but a proper update is long past due. Let's see if I can recall the whats, wheres and whens........

Here, in point form, is the quick 'n dirty of what I've been up to since my last "real post":

• Last Wednesday Mummy & I got out for supper, a quick stop at Hallmark, and then back to her place to relax and talk. It was lovely.
• Heath Ledger was found dead in his apt....wtf? So sad...so young and talented...I really feel for his wife and child...:(
• Last Friday, I met up with the Stampin'Up Club for nachos at BP and then on to Angela's for our January class. We made lovely cards, and another 2 pages for our 6x6 album. Many laughs ensued...and how refreshing is it when a group of gals can be that candid with each other? I totally love it. Oh, and Heidi, I totally want that shirt...:)
• Saturday, Chris & I joined Krissy & Marco for supper at Sim's - Chris' choice for his birthday supper. They all had the steak and said it was phenomenal - I don't eat a lot of red meat so I ordered the seafood chowder, and it was delicious. I must admit, that was the most 'high end' restaurant I have visited. After supper the 4 of us came back to our place for a few drinks, and the boys played with the birthday balloons. That's all that needs to be said for public reading :).
• Sunday was a day to do nothing - and I did just that. And I don't feel the least bit guilty.
• Monday I had booked off as a vacation day, and I was glad to have the option to go nowhere as I heard the freezing rain pinging against the window - all day....PEI was hit by a horrible ice storm...leaving much of the western part of the province out of power (as I type today there are still homes out of power)...with electric crews from other provinces being called in to assist, Red Cross setting up multiple emergency shelters, and even the army being placed on standby to aide. Trees broke with the weight of the layers of ice, taking power lines down, and power poles themselves were breaking. The image on this post is a borrowed image, taken somewhere in western PEI. Crazy, eh? Now this weekend, we have another freezing rain warning... Aside from the weather update - Monday night I made Chris his spaghetti birthday supper, and gave him his prezzies, which included a Canon hat (gf of the year, having to order from the UK to get one); a dock for his ipod, that unfortunately has to be returned; a really nice Bulova watch; some 'geek' gear (keychain and pen holder); a 1kg bag of Mini Eggs; and a capo for his guitar.
  
• Tuesday, dear Christopher FINALLY reached his 30's.
• The rest of the week, as I've been working an odd 10:30 - 7pm shift, I've basically came home from work, watched a bit of tv, and then crashed. Fun stuff.

Now you're up to date - what's the weekend have in store, you ask? Guess you'll have to tune in for the next post ;)