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Friday, December 26, 2008

Merry Christmas to All!

After all of the build up and all of the hype, Christmas has come and gone. It's difficult being so far from my family during the holidays, but Brad and I have started out own traditions, many of them spin-offs from my family traditions. On Christmas Eve, after supper, Brad, Ollie and I got into the Escape and went for a drive around the city looking at Christmas lights and delivering some Christmas cards. We picked up Darlene and came back to our house to watch the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol while enjoying a mug of hot chocolate with Irish Cream...yummers!
On Chrismtas Morning, Brad and I got up and made coffee then opened our stockings and prezzies followed by a fantastic breakfast. It was a perfect morning!
We got dressed and headed out to say hello to Ben and Brenda (and the whole family it would seem!), and then went to Darlene's for the day where we stayed for Christmas supper (I heart turkey and mashed potatoes!)
It's hard to be so far away from my family, like I said, but I still had a very nice Christmas.
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Our tree and Prezzies!
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Stockings! (the little one is Ollie's)
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Ollie didn't quite know what to do with the prezzies, so we had to help him open them)
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Me and Brad in our new comfy pants!
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The greatest hat EVER. Clearly.
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Darlene had a bird feeder right outside her kitchen window and the birds and squirrels were very very very interesting to Ollie.
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Frank and Christi sent us a ton of stuff from Smokescreen. Ollie got a new shirt, Brad got a Oneway toque and a hoodie, and I got a super warm hoodie, original screenprinted t-shirt, and purse.
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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

I Always Wanted A Sister!

On Sunday my big brother Frank called to tell me the night before he asked his amazing girlfriend Christi to marry him! I couldn't be happier for these two! Christi is such a sweetheart and so much fun to be around, and Frank is so kind and caring. They're a fantastic match. I can't think of any two people who deserve this happiness more!
Congrats you two!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

I feel all growed up!

Yesterday, I did something I haven't done in probably about 8 years. I went to the library and got a library card! I then promptly went and found the book I was looking for and checked it out. (Beautiful Boy by David Sheff...very good so far)
This morning, talking to the guys about my new aquisition (the library card, not the book) I remembered how big a part of my childhood the library was. At least, I remember it being a big part. I remember the old library in Surrey and how much I liked the children's room. The new library was neat, but it felt almost too big and organized. It just reminded me how reading has been such a big part of my life.
My goal was to read 52 books this year. Ok, so I'm not even close, but I've made a good honest effort at it! I'm onto my 26th book. So, for 2009, same goal.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Discovery:

-33 with -50 windchill is cold.
That is all.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Finally! It feels like Christmas!

After weeks spent wondering when it would start to feel like Christmas, it's finally setting in, and I'm so excited!
Yesterday Brad and I set up our Christmas tree. It still feels a little early, but I guess it was less than two weeks until Christmas, so why not? I unpacked the rest of our decorations and put them around the house to make it more festive as well
Then it was time to set up for our Christmas Party! Every year Vince and Shay have a party, but this year they have a three week old baby who started to feel under the weather earlier in the week, so they decided it was best to just cancel. Well, since everyone already had planned for the party, Brad and I moved in and invited everyone to our place instead. We made a ton of food and everyone that came brought something too. Surprisingly though, there is literally nothing left over today. NOTHING. I guess that's a good thing though! We had a mini gift exchange and listened to music while watching the fireplace channel (I LOVE that channel!) and then played some Wii. And what party would be complete without Ever Hopeful Ollie trying to mooch some food?


Ashley and Brian came over around 10 and brought Leighton with them. Ollie was delighted to have a new best friend and they chased each other around the house for a couple of ours. Turns out the only thing that can tire out a 3 year old boy and a 10 month old puppy is each other! They finally got pooped out around 1 am when Leighton spotted the movie Cars on my dvd shelf and begged us to put it on.

This was quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life. Bar none.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Holiday Cheer, anyone?

I had to share this...
O Holy Night
Rob and Bev played it for me the other day and I haven't stopped laughing since. This guy is INTENSE.
Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 08, 2008

The one thing I really really hate...

I'm going to complain for a moment.
I love Christmas. I really do. I love the lights, the snow, the smiles, buying fun prezzies for everyone... But there is one thing I really really hate about Christmas. I hate how so many holiday treats include nuts. And not because I can't have any and get left out.
Once a year the staffroom and much of the office becomes a danger-zone for me. I think nut trays are the worst. People will go and take a handful of them and then wander around the office and touch things without washing their hands leaving behind dust and oil. I basically have to wash my hands every time I leave the newsroom.
Sure enough, last Friday the staffroom was adorned with a nut tray. Sure enough I went and made coffee this morning, and sure enough my eyes started to itch and sure enough I was having an allergic reaction. I washed my hands carefully and took half of a benedryl to stop the reaction and allow myself to see. The downside is that one side effect of benedryl is that it knocks me on my ass (hence taking just half a pill). I'm sitting here struggling to keep my eyes open and feeling a little bit drunk.
There is a constant conflict in my head between being irritated and frustrated with people who still bring nut/peanut goodies to work even with allergies becoming more and more prominent, and the reasonable side of me that tries to be understanding and asks why I feel like everyone in the world should cater to those like me. Right now, I feel too wiped out and fuzzy feeling in the head to be able to come to a conclusion.
And THAT'S the one thing I really really hate about Christmas.

*(I should add that I did send out an email on Friday requesting that people wash their hands after partaking in the holiday goodies since there are a number of new people who might be unaware, but I guess it went out too late to be preventative...most often people are good about warning me to stay out of the staff room)

Busy Weekends are a Sign of Christmas

It was a busy weekend, to say the least. Friday night was the Golden West Christmas banquet in Moose Jaw. As always, the company buses everyone out to Temple Gardens Spa in MJ for supper and mingling. The meal is always wonderful and it's a nice evening in general. Last year I partook in too much of the wine provided on the tables, but I learned my lesson this year and had only a glass. It's always nice to see Rox from Rosetown and we sat together once again this year.
On the way home from MJ we got a little silly and many of us decided to head out for continued partying once we got back to Swift. It was a bit of a late night and I definitely overindulged (though I thought I was being moderate), so part of Saturday was used up as I paid for my actions the night before. The rest of Saturday was spend baking cupcakes for Shay's Baby Shower on Sunday.
Saturday night was supposed to be Brad's Christmas party, but we ended up going out for supper with his aunts and uncles and cousins and grandma. Nice to see everyone and have a good sit down meal together.
After supper we went home where I proceeded to totally botch my first batch of icing. BRUTAL. Not only was it totally rock-hard, not mixing, and messy, but it also used up the last of the icing sugar. I gave up on the icing and moved on to my other project for the shower: chocolate bird's nests. I had no recipe, so I was just winging it ... the chocolate and shortening just wouldn't cover the noodles right, so they also ended up fairly awful looking. After my second attempt to make something went awry, Brad kicked me out of the kitchen. Probably for my own good. :S
The shower on Sunday went well, even though Kim was totally thrown into it all last minute. I offered my help and we decorated the hall and set up everything to look nice for the guests. I'd say it was a success, little Lily was well behaved and slept the whole time. She looked very festive in her little Christmas outfit. Very sweet.

Friday, December 05, 2008

A pain in the neck...

Literally. Mid-morning on Wednesday I was sitting at my desk (with my amazing posture of feet up on the drawer, typing away in a slouch) when my right shoulder/neck area suddenly felt pinched and spasm-y. That was the start of it and it has yet to end. I've tried everything, heat, pain killers, sleep...nothing works. Dono suggested it was a virus and Jon also suggested the same thing. I don't know what it is, all I know is it SUCKS. I've had enough of this junk. It's super hard to get comfortable at night to sleep, which I'm pretty sure is one of the only things that will actually do me a lot of good. Lame. Super lame. Suggestions anyone?