Hitting the Slopes

Since it is our Christmas holidays, Brad and I decided to do something fun and have an adventure. So this morning at 7am, joined by Vince, we drove off on the number 1 highway heading west to Cypress Hills and Hidden Valley for some skiing/snowboarding. It was a beautiful day and the snow was pretty good and I caught on again fairly quickly (haven't been on a snowboard in about three years).

Geeks!
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On the Chairlift
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Enjoying a bit of sit
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View from the Chair
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~Yes, they are turkeys. Wild Turkeys in Cypress Hills.
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Christmas at Home

Christmas Eve was spent driving around the city in search of the best Christmas lights displays (honorable mentions to the home with the timed lights to music, and to the home with the inflatable Homer Simpson Santa Claus). When we came home we watched A Christmas Carol (the original from 1951 with Alistair Sims). The on Christmas morning we got up, had some coffee and opened our stockings and prezzies and then had pancakes before heading over to Ben and Brenda's.

Tree, prezzies, and monkey.
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Monkey loves Christmas!
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Brad loves Christmas too!
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Beautiful serving tray from Mum and Da. Can't wait to fill it with pictures!
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I GOT a hippopotamus for Christmas!
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Kim and Me with our Christmas Socks!
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It was a lovely Christmas, and even though it was my first Christmas away form my family, I felt happy and welcome everywhere we went. (Now I can't wait for next year!)

Christmas V.1

Christmas came early yesterday for us. Brad, Nick, Kim and I went to Darlene's house for turkey lunch/supper and prezzies. I have to say, we all got spoiled! It was a very nice relaxing day and after our late lunch and presents Brad, Kim and I all fell asleep. haha!

Monkeys!
~ Me and my monkeys!
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Monkey on your back?
~ Darlene's birdfeeder attracted the most fearless of feathered friends
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CAT!
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Look at all the prezzies!
~ Much to Kim's chagrin, Nick plans to hang his gaint fishing lure on the wall
~ Princess loves paper
~ Darlene's Christmas Angel
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Oh Christmas Tree!

Christmas is only 7 days away (Eek! Yay!) and last Friday Brad and I decorated our tree! We bought an artificial tree. There is some pretty vehement debate over the real/artificial tree issue, but we were finally swayed by the simple monetary factor. We could get a live tree for $27, or an artificial tree for $44. After two years we've paid it off, and a third year and we're ahead! It just didn't make sense. Besides that, real trees are a fire hazard and have a nasty habbit of falling over (personal experience and water-damaged presents tell me this). So we bit the bullet and bought a fake tree. It's very nice actually and we're really happy (plus it's coated in fire retardent stuff!).

So here are the pictures!
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No Ornaments...poor little bare tree!

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LED Lights, Check! Garland, Check! Bobbles...nearly check!

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Almost done!

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Pretty Tree!

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Our first Christmas Tree!

I think Brad and I successfully got into the Christmas season!

Whoopsies...

I have a nose ring. Much to the initial (and quite possibly continued) chagrin of my mother, I had my nose pierced in 2004 after my eyebrow ring rejected. For whatever reason I felt I needed to replace one piercing with another, so I paid someone to shove some surgical steel through my nose causing my eyes to water profusely for several minutes. Since that date I have always had a smallish hoop in the piercing. I've never been one for nose studs. Today, however, I bought one. A small, surgical steel stud with a small steel ball on each end to keep it anchored in my nostril. I bent the end of it into an L shape to better secure it, thinking if I just didn't twiddle with it, it would remain in place.
I also have allergies. They have been acting up lately and making me sneeze, and making my nose run frequently. Today, my nose started to run. So, politely, I excused myself to the washroom where I took some balled up toilet paper and evacuated the contents of my nose partly by blowing and partly by sniffling. I threw the toilet paper in the toilet and flushed. Only then did I notice my nose no longer had a surgical steel post in it. No, it was long gone.
My concern is that I don't know if I blew it out or in fact managed to somehow inhale the thing. I think I probably would have noticed, but stranger things have happened. Furthermore I know I didn't notice the stud in my balled up toilet paper. Wondering what the consequences of ingesting/inhaling steel are?

A long day of Thank You's and Nuts to You's

Yesterday was supposed to be a really neat day. I was supposed to go to the Legislature to see the first session of the new government and to see the Speech from the Throne delivered. So I left in a vehicle that was not mine. I won't say WHAT vehicle our of respect for the dealership it came from, but suffice it to say, this vehicle was not mine, nor would I ever buy this particular model.

I left town and put on glorious cruise control. The vehicle would periodically rev a little high while trying to maintain it's speed, but it wasn't revving really high, so I didn't think much of it, just made a mental note to tell someone when I got back to Swift and have it checked out. I managed to almost get to Regina. Almost. The engine started to rev very high (think 6000rpm) and wouldn't switch gears, nor would it go over 80km/hr. The engine light also came on and refused to turn off. I could see the road ahead that you'd turn onto to get to the airport...it's desperately close to the city and made it all the more frustrating to be stuck on the side of the road there.

I called roadside assistance who said a tow truck would be there in about 45 minutes. It was 1pm. I needed to be at the Leg by 1:30 according to the invitation. I resigned myself to the fact I would not, in fact, make it there. The tow truck finally showed up about 1hr 30min later. The guy was really friendly and gave me a ride to the dealership in his truck, which was grubby and WAY too warm inside. The dealership was also very nice telling me that I was next in line to be looked at. That took about 30 minutes and then another 1.5 hours by the time the vehicle was finished being looked at. The man at the dealership said it was a problem with the valve bolt on the transmission (?) and that they had done some stuff to the transmission to make it work. He thought I would probably be able to get it home, so I took the gamble. Wrong move. I was just trying to leave town and the engine light came on again and it started revving in the 6000's again and couldn't get over 80km/hr. I turned around and limped it back to the dealership.

Back at the station, Dave was trying to get me a rental car through Enterprise. It was about 4:45 by this time and he was being told there were no cars available but they were hoping to have one by closing for me. I waited in the dealership until my cell phone died (figures) then called Enterprise myself to tell them I would be reached on a different number. They told me they didn't think they would have a car for me. So I decided to go for supper and take the bus home.

Sitting at the dealership, it was 5:20 and I borrowed a phone book to see about a cab to a restaurant. I called Regina Taxi and waited and waited while it rang. Finally a woman answered. I was feeling particuarly exhausted by this time and not terribly enthused about the idea of a bus home, but even less enthused about the idea of staying in Regina for the night. I asked the woman for a taxi at the dealership. It's a big, well known dealership right along the main drag in Regina. She asked me for the address. I told her I'm from out of town and didn't know the address. She insisted she needed it. I told her it's on Albert and she said she needs the street address. I was almost in tears by this point out of the sheer frustration of it all and told her to hang on and I'll find it. Then she told me she can't hold. So I said "fine" and hung up on her. Thankfully, the woman in the dealership told me their shuttle might still be running and sure enough they were able to drive me to Boston Pizza.

The waitress was really really nice. I almost wondered if she could see the exasperation in my eyes and was being nice out of sympathy. Regardless, I was grateful. I had just ordered my food when Enterprise called to tell me they had a car for me. I changed my order to take out and then left.

I got to Enterprise at 6 (closing time). Jon Potter, a wonderful man, chatted with me about Swift and said he had just moved from here and couldn't leave someone from Swift Current stranded. I was on the road shortly after 6 and home by 8:30, completely exhausted.

All that being said, I have to say thank you to Dave for all of the phone calls back and forth trying to find a way to get me home, thank you to the waitress at Boston Pizza for being so kind, and THANK YOU to Jon Potter at Enterprise who "pulled a car out of his ass" to get me home. I would also like to say a big "Nuts to YOU!" to the lady at Regina taxi who was absolutely no help to a stranded out-of-towner.

And let me also say, climbing into bed last night was one of the greatest feelings ever.

Golden West Radio Christmas Party

Friday was the Golden West Radio Saskatchewan Christmas Party. We bused to Moose Jaw to the Spa for our banquet. It was a relaly nice evening...lots of fun and lots of good people and good food!

Brad and I on the bus to MJ
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My handsome man and me
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Rox told me to be like Paris Hilton...I assumed she meant diva and superstar...who knew?
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The newsroom looking very classy!
Dono, Avan, Me, Colin
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Thanks Dono...
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Much better...the morning show on Magic
~Pouting because Rox told me she was going to switch to red wine which meant less for me. :(
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Door prizes! Second Christmas party for me, and second door prize I've won! Yay! I figure I'm not going to win again for the next six years now...
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Ohhh, scandalous! Not even sure what he's doing...but it looks bad.

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We were home by 11:30, a very reasonable hour and Brad and I went home. A very good evening, indeed!

It's ON!

This morning after blow-drying my hair I noticed something glinting strangely in the light. I grabbed the tweezers and confirmed that it was, in fact, a white hair. Not pale brown, not even blond...white. And I KNOW it's not just a pale color because I could hear it saying "HA HA!"
What did I do? I ripped that sucker right out of my head! Just like I will the next time it decides to try and grow on my scalp again! That's right...the battle is ON!

Sha-Na-WOOT!

WONDERFUL news! Mare has booked her flight to come see me! Only 84 sleeps! (She arrives Feb 27th, just in case you didn't want to grab your calendar and count ahead 84 nights)
I'll be picking her up in Regina for six fun-hug-cheesecake-enchilada-wine-and-brie-hugs-and-more-hugs days!
Could we be more excited? Nope!

Serendipity?

Last night I had a very vivid dream. I dreamt I was in the press seating at the Saskatchewan Legislature. I think I was showing someone around and how things work. It was one of those particularly realistic dreams and I woke up wondering why it was so strong.

Fast forward to work today. I was given and invitation to the opening of the first session of the 26th government of Saskatchewan next Monday, completely out of the blue.

All morning whenever I thought about my dream I had the strongest feeling that I should be making an effort to go to Regina and sit in on one of the sessions if at all possible. Then it, quite literally, is handed to me.

Not really sure actually...

Feeling out of sorts lately. Not really sure why, but I'm feeling like there's something ominous on it's way. Or something hanging over my head. I can't place the feeling, but it's not pleasant. I almost think I'm forgetting to do something or have forgotten to do something and now it's going to blow up on me. It's disconcerting.
This weekend was good actually, despite things not working out the way I was looking forward to. Ashley and I were supposed to go to Moose Jaw for a bit of shopping on Saturday and mostly just to get out of town for a few hours. She ended up cancelling though due to a tooth infection. It's been plaguing her for the past week and I felt really bad for her. It also made me feel really guilty for feeling disappointed at the same time. It seems like every time we make plans to do something outside of our regular wednesday night activities the plans get cancelled. Obviously not her fault, but still disappointing.
Instead I went to Caronport to visit my friend Lauren who is in her last year of university there. It was good to see her. Seems silly that we don't see each other very often considering we only live an hour and a half away from each other, but still...life always gets in the way. I stayed too long and had to zip home for a quick supper before going to a motivational speaker.
Ashley was feeling better by the evening and so we went to watch Darci Lang speak about attitude and women's perception of other women. Definitely made me feel motivated and gave me lots to think about.
Afterwards I had hoped to hang out with Ashley a little more as I always enjoy our conversations, but she had plans with other friends. She invited me, but I declined. Two reasons really; I didn't really feel like dealing with several people in a conversations (sometimes I just like having a one-to-one talk and dividing my attention between 4 or 5 people isn't appealing), and the other reason is that I don't really relate to her friends at all. I can't seem to find a common ground.
So I went home and stayed up late talking with Brad.
The ominous feeling that is hovering over me didn't really hit until last night. I can't figure out what it is that's causing the feeling. Maybe just a busy month hanging over my head. I don't know. I wish I could remember or figure out what it is that's causing me issues, but it just won't come to me. So I guess I'll just hope for the best.

One More Picture

Everyone bundled at the Christmas Tree Lighting last thursday.

Back row (l-r): Nancy, Sherry, Jeff, Ryan, Dave, Deb, Ken, Me

Front Row (l-r): Trent, Robyn, Chance, Colin

Christmas Tree Lighting

Last night was the lighting of the Christmas Tree in Swift. The event was at the courtyard of the Bank of Montreal. The radio station was serving hot chocolate and I had signed up to help out. I'm glad I went. It was a lot of fun, there were lots of people and everyone, while totally frozen, was in a fantastic mood! I showed off my line dancing skills (much to the delight of everyone as they now had new material to mock me with...but whatevs, I totally rocked the line dancing!). It was terribly cold out, -32 with windchill, which I know isn't the worst it gets, BUT we aren't quite used to that cold just yet. I did get to try out my new snow pants, winter jacket, and long johns. All worked very well, but my toes were terribly cold. They took a long time to thaw.

We stuck it out for just over an hour and then left and warmed ourselves with London Fogs and coffees at Urban Ground (thanks Ryan!!). It was a really nice relaxing way to end the evening. I love that feeling of wearing too many layers as you warm up after being way too cold. It's so cozy feeling. Normally I would have been roasting in my long johns, long sleeves shirt, wool sweater and snowpants, while drinking a hot beverage, but last night it was a welcome heat.

Thanks.

I would just like to thank the asshole who thought it would be fun to turn on our outdoor faucet on Saturday afternoon. The water was running for probably 2 hours while we were out of the house filling up the backyard. By the time we got home one corner of the basement was under about 2 inches of water, and it kept seeping in as we soaked it up and swept it to the floor drain.

I firmly belive in karma and can only hope one day your day will be ruined by having to clean up the mess someone else caused by doing some sort of useless act of vandalism. Thanks. Jackass.

Charades, anyone?

I've discovered over the past couple of days that I am trying to communicate using only gestures. I am definately one of those people who talks with her hands while I'm talking, but lately I'm using gestures to replace words.

Example 1: Yesterday during the Birthdays on Magic, a lady called in to wish her husband a happy birthday. She said his name and while Chris was talking to her, I began to gesture at him to ask whether her husband worked at the newspaper. My gesture of choice? I pretended to hold a notebook and write. Because that, to me, says "journalism" which would obviously imply Southwest Booster. Clearly. Chris was supposed to understand that my gesture, combined with raised eyebrows was supposed to mean "Is he the one who works at the booster?"

Example 2: I was reminiscing with a friend about older toys and asked if she remembered Devil Sticks (a game were you hold two sticks that look like drumsticks and toss a baton between the two). She was pretty sure she knew what I meant, but not entirely, so I started miming it. I was describing the baton and held my hands out and waggled my fingers to show "tassels". Because that, apparently, is the universal gesture for tassels according to me.

Example 3: This morning on Magic, Chris and I were planning on talking about a giveaway the station is doing today. Ryan was going to the old Canadian Tire parking lot to give toques to the first 97 people to show up. I wasn't sure if Chris remembered that we were going to talk about it so, by way of reminding, I mimed pulling a toque over my head. What did Chris do? Give me a confused look.

Maybe I'm in the wrong field and should learn sign language and work as one of those tv translators on the government channels?

Harumph.

I'm not sure why, but I feel grumpy today. It's just one of those days I think. The grey cloud is hovering over my head and I feel like everything in the world that is malfunctioning is a personal attack. Totally unreasonable, I know.

It's days like this when I wish I could hunch down in my chair, cross my arms and scowl. Just sit there and glare at everyone and everything that's not helping my mood. But, alas, it's time to pick up my socks, put on a smile and motor through. Hoping for the best anyway.

Tag 2

I've been tagged! Soooooo...five things you might not know about me. I've done this once before, so I'm going to have to try to think of something else that you might not know about me....

Here goes!

Things you might not know about me:

I am wildly superstitious.
I won't cross on stairs: if I'm going up and someone is coming down I WON'T move until the other person is off the stairs. I believe bad things come in threes: everything from unfortunate events to big spiders...you will always see three!

I didn't get my license until I was 21.
I got my learners at 16 and then spent the next five years renewing it repeatedly. I didn't like driving. It scared me to know that I was in control of a giant piece of metal that could easily kill someone. Eventually (five years later) I got over it. Now I love driving!

Pretentious people piss me off.
This is more than a pet peeve. It's damn near a neurosis. If someone starts waxing poetic I have to restrain myself from saying something along the lines of "oh cut the crap, it's time to be real". I have yet to meet someone with romantic ideals about existentialism who can actually explain the theory. As a result, romantic ideals of any kind sound hollow and juvenile to me. I am, however, always hoping to be proved wrong. :)

I have terrible luck with hamsters.
1. Flower. Lived roughly a week. Got a tumor and died.
2. Bubbles. Lived around two months. Died unexpectedly.
3. Tickety Boo. Lived two and a half years. Died of old age.
4. Gir. Lived about 5 days. Crawled out of her nest and died of internal (and external bleeding)...ewww.

I was a fan of Pirates long before Disney came along.
My love for the swashbucklers goes back to my childhood playing the Secret of Monkey Island. If the name Guybrush Threepwood means anything to you, then I have a newfound respect for you!

There we go...I don't think I'll tag anyone. I did that once. If you feel like being tagged though, by all means, go right ahead!

It's here

This morning I looked outside to see how much frost I would have to scrape off the windshield and saw the first true skiff of snow. Probably only about an 8th of an inch, it just covered everything with a little layer. I do like that little bit brighter it makes everything look so early in the morning.

To be honest, I'm kind of glad it's here. It is, afterall, over halfway through November and it was starting to feel pretty strange not to have any snow. Now I can finally start feeling like it's maybe getting close to Christmas. And maybe I can start thinking about all of the fun winter stuff we're going to do this year!