Friday, March 31, 2006

FINALLY Friday

and while my desk is still drowning in paper, I'm not anymore!
I even get to start shredding stuff.
This has been the week that felt like it was three weeks long. I'm so glad March-Madness Syndrome is over (that's the best name ever for it Fiona!) and I just hope that it does lead into April Agony...I actually think it will lead into April Ataraxia. I like that word. It's cool.

Reasons why April won't be Agony (not in chronological order)
1. in the words of my very intelligent sister: punk come to vangroovy (I think she sounds like she's imitating a muppet...Elmo or Animal or someone...)
2. punk come to vangroovy to celebrate her champagne birthday (and Kelsey's too)
3. easter
4. road trip to Kelowna with Kelsey and Alex
5. cherry blossoms at UBC
6. Champagne Birthday Party for Kelsey and Rebecca
7. we're going to a wedding
8. dessert with the Mulvis tonight...okay, so not officially April, but it still counts cause it's Friday and tomorrow is April
9. April Fools

YAY! lots of reasons why April is good.

Although I am somewhat distressed that I lose an hour of sleep (well, really an hour of awake time because I will still sleep for eight hours) when the time changes.

Oh and Stephen Harper. I saw the pictures yesterday of Mr. Harper with Vincente Fox and scary George W. and I wondered who thought it would be fun to dress him for combat at a Mayan pyramid when President Fox and George W. both were dressed in cool looking, natural fibre. Sure, they are both from down there where it's warm and yes, they look like semi-clones of each other, but hey, they look comfortable. Anyway, that's where my train of thought stopped. I mean, why give Mr. Harper and George W. too much of my brain time anyway? So I forgot about it. Until this morning. When, what did I see at the top of the Globe and Mail page, but Leah McLaren asking, "Stephen, what the heck are you wearing?" Yes, she too thought he needed a little help dressing himself. I particularly love the comparison to the Canadian Tire Guy. So, not only is Leah McLaren, one of the must-read columnists in the weekend Globe and Mail, super cool, she probably also agrees with me that a three year old could dress himself better than the man who runs our country. HE.RUNS.OUR.COUNTRY. Now there's frightening thought for a Friday.

Paper is calling...must deal with it!

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Can I just say...UGH

I thought it was Friday.
I wish it was Friday.
I want to sleep in.
My right tonsil wants to be siamese twins with my left tonsil.
Or at least that's what it feels like.

The paper demons multiplied over night. I think I've actually stopped drowning in paper, instead I have died and gone to Hell, but instead of the eternal fires and burning and heat, it's paved in paper, wall-papered in paper and decorated with stacks of paper.

But on a happy note, all the paperwork for the end of the fiscal year is in, signed and done.

I'm going to go to the grocery store now. I'm going to treat myself to some Jell-o, some applesauce and maybe if it doesn't have stuff Shannon can't have in it, I will buy some pudding too. And then I'm going to get some sappy, no brainer movies hang out with Roslyn and the DVD player.

Sheeeeeeesh...I'm pathetic...

AND A WHINER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OOC to brighten your day

Can I smell your thing?

I only use battery operated devices.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Winners and Prizes...

will be announced on Friday (or maybe Saturday, but before Sunday)

there will be prizes for the most creative, but believable answers too...

and I'll tell you the real answers and some of the fun guesses.

Okay...back to year-end torture - I'm DROWNING in paper

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Did She Come Undone?

I don't think we ever answered that question. Which means we didn't answer the next question - if she did come undone, did she ever get done back up again.

Last night was book club night and we met here. There were ten people in my living room. TEN PEOPLE! I don't think ten people would have fit in my old house, let alone in the living room. It was so amazing and not squishy. I could fit more than ten people in my living room. Except after the ninth person, they have to bring their own chairs. I don't have enough places to sit if there are more than nine people.

As it goes with these things, we ate yummy food, drank yummy drinks and didn't talk about the book as much as we talked about other things. Some of them sort of kind of related to the book because the book reminded someone of something that reminded someone else of something else and that's how we ended up not talking about the book.

But we talked about the book too.

And most of us didn't really like Dolores.

And the fish in the kitchen sink part kind of grossed most people out.

And Wally Lamb does a pretty good job of being a man but writing a story from a believable woman's point of view. (is he *really* a man?!?!?!?!?)

And Peyton realized part way in that she had in fact read the book even though she hadn't and had just come to hang out with us.

But it was good. We had some good discussion. We laughed. We ate. ALL GOOD.
Heddy, we missed you. Will you come next time? Maybe it won't be on a VISA reconciliation night!

Nectarines and Strawberries

I made the most amazing discovery yesterday...okay, maybe not amazing to anyone but me, but I'm still calling it amazing!

Nectarines and strawberries.

In the world of Shannon, it can be hard to eat because of all the things I'm not supposed to have and fruit consumption is highly restricted and in the winter often limited to apples and pears...but yesterday I went to the produce store and the nectarines and strawberries were cheap. Well, cheaper than they are in the winter when I ignore their existence because I'm not paying $5 for 10 puny, light pink strawberries picked weeks before they were ripe and imported from who knows where.

Anyway, in my bubble, it's the small stuff that makes me happy.

I'm going to eat some strawberries now.

Monday, March 27, 2006

WORK OF ART #10 (eyes open)

clue: EVENT

marriage proposal

WORK OF ART #9 (eyes open)

clue: THING
gene pool

WORK OF ART #8 (eyes open)

clue: PLACE

maid of the mist

WORK OF ART #7 (eyes open)

clue: PERSON


exterminator

WORK OF ART #6 (eyes closed)

clue: ANIMAL

bumblebee

WORK OF ART #5 (eyes closed)

clue: THING

tornado

WORK OF ART #4 (eyes closed)

clue: ANIMAL

seahorse

WORK OF ART #3 (eyes closed)

clue: THING
bifocals

WORK OF ART #2 (eyes closed)

clue: THING
pot hole

WORK OF ART #1 (eyes closed)

clue: THING
fingerprint

win a prize...

can you guess what these are?!?!

they were drawn blindfolded...okay, not blindfolded, but we did close our eyes to draw (yes, only the artists, peanut gallery, not the guessers)

send your answers to me...if you're reading this, there is a 99.99999987% chance that you know me therefore you have my address in your address book, on a scrap of paper somewhere, memorized it or something...

THERE IS A PRIZE!!!!!!!

Please use the numbers provided next to each WORK OF ART

Each picture will have its "own" post...AND NUMBER

Games!



We've rediscovered games! At a recent family birthday party, a tower of games found its way into the living room where we decided to dust off Scattergories. Hilarity ensued accompanied by shouts of "Hey! You stole my answer. You must have been peeking," usually bellowed at someone far too far away to have seen anything on the other person's sheet of paper without the help of a periscope.

Scattergories was the game of choice in Kootenay House for a while when I was living in residence. We played it endlessly while we should have been studying/writing papers/fudging results on a chem lab. The only additional rules we added were a letter can't be used twice in one game and, after we'd been playing for days, a letter can't be used again on the same list of categories in the same day (consecutive days after we'd been playing for weeks). So, after the birthday party version of the game, I decided I NEEDED my own.

My current game inventory:
Trivial Pursuit
Mindtrap
Wizard
Mastermind
A crib board with no pegs
Yahtzee with no dice
Countless decks of cards

Friday afternoon rolled around and the Lord Brat was out with the boys, so Chandra and I decided to go find Scattergories. The giant, big-box toy store didn't have it and since I live in that part of the world where I'm out of luck unless we wanted to drive 45 minutes, we settled for another game I keep saying I should buy myself - Cranium. The game criteria once I couldn't get the coveted Scattergories decreased from entirely specific to the following:

1. game must not be based on a tv program.


2. reality tv counts as a tv program.
3. game must be playable by candlelight should the power go out (you never know, I might find that I need to move somewhere with unreliable power one day)
4. game must not say ages 8-12. it can say ages 8-adult or all ages or something similar. it also cannot have the word "Junior" in the title.

So Cranium and all its craziness it was. (it does fit into all of those categories)

crazyYes, that is crazy glue, charades style...glue

So, after making lots of noise, adapting the minimum four players rules to minimum two players and too much sushi, I still *REALLY* needed my own Scattergories on Saturday. I made the Lord Brat stop at a Zellers on the way to a friend's birthday party and got me my very own Scattergories. I'm happy.

But I don't think the need to own lots of fun games in pretty colourful boxes is going to end there...we'll see.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

OOC courtesy of Cr*nium

Player 1 - And how does that taste?
Player 2 - Salty....

You're FLOSSING!!! (in this case 3x!=extra huge exclamation)

You got to play with yours, so I get to play with mine

Oh...Friday nights!

Friday, March 24, 2006

it's the little things...

like good coffee...

and the really cool little purple no spill tab

that make evil Friday mornings bearable!

mmm...coffee

Thank goodness for the coffee delivery service part of the Chan Shuttle. Chandra is the best!

Thursday, March 23, 2006

More OOC - poo related this time

You have different flavoured crap

I like that we're the same flavour of anal
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
JUST DON'T ASK (and no, neither of those were mine)

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Green tongues, furniture shopping (or not) and pretty flowers

Alex and I got up bright and early on Saturday morning to go watch Dion play hockey. Brrrr...the rink was freezing!!


zoom

As you see, Dion is a super human - notice the speed lines streaking out behind him!

green tongued alien?His sister Alisha is also a super human, or quite possibly alien, with that green tongue!

Between games, Alex and I were supposed to go furniture shopping for a couch for my new place, because Richmond isn't just home to IKEA...it's also the furniture store capital of Canada. We got distracted by the bright sunshine and drove straight down Number 3 Road, past all the furniture stores and other stuff to the relatively furniture free (or at least big box furniture store free) town of Steveston.

stevestonYeah...it's official, Saturday was the perfect day to wander along the pier, look at the boats and drink some coffee. Hard to believe it was so beautiful all weekend and even on Monday - today it's horrible. When is winter going to leave us for real?!?!?!?! I don't like being teased like this.

So, there are now some pretty flowersreally pretty flowers on my kitchen table, courtesy of Vancouver Area...Yeah...I was surprised and stunned at the AGM when the Silver Merit Award recipient they were describing was ME! I apparently went as red as my vest. I'm still not entirely sure I heard them right, except there's this shiny Silver Merit Award attached debra shannon and annto my uniform. THANKS GUYS :) You made my day (and week and month) with the nice things you said and the amazing surprise of being recognized at the AGM.

OOC Quotes

Chandra and I like to exchange crazy, but unique Out-Of-Context Quotes (OOC Quotes). We think some day they might make a very cool t-shirt line or something. Or maybe they simply serve to entertain us through the day.

a few of my favourites:

If they don't win, I think they might lose.

Boys make girls make noises they don't normally make.

I need to touch stuff.

I don't drink alcohol. I only like vodka.

Friday, March 17, 2006

increasing the stash

It has been decided. After much thought and debate and yarn fondling at the craft shop on Wednesday after work, the scrap of afghan I posted on Wednesday will begrowingyarnstash disassembled and the ball of yarn will be returned to the stash. For now. I have plans for it to be reincarnated, just in a non-afghan form. Instead I bought some very pretty mauves - 100% super soft, entirely washable acrylic. Turns out the colours were being discontinued and were discounted, so I bought all 12 balls....six of each colour. I know, there are only eight in the photo because I went back later to get the other four...I thought about them all night on Wednesday and decided they were probably like puppies and were really sad to be separated from their brothers and sisters and all of them would be much happier at my house. You never know, it could be a really, really, really big afghan or I could have some more yarn to add to the stash when I'm done the afghan.

It is coming along and resembles a bit of an edge of an afghan. It takes a LONG time to get to the end of the row though - there are a mere 234 stitches on the needles. wavy bits of knittingAnd it's so soft. I want to keep it, but I can't. I'd be drowning in an assortment of knit things that I may not ever use/won't ever fit me if I kept all the stuff I made that I wanted to keep even though it was made for someone else. And look...my desk is still tidy. Maybe I've finally managed to train those pesky office elves to wreak havoc on other people's desks only and to stay far, far away from my desk. Not likely. I'm sure they'll be back soon!

Because I've set a deadline for finishing the afghan, I have resorted to knitting EVERYWHERE. At home, on the bus, while on the phone, in the car on the way to work (not to worry, I'm not hockey stardriving), on my breaks/lunch at work...everywhere. Last night I went to see Dion play hockey and I even took my knitting to the rink. And knit while I stood on the bench stomping my feet with everyone else, trying to keep warm. At least my hands were warm. And I didn't drop a single stitch!!! And when I mean everywhere, we went for spaghetti after the game and while we were waiting, out came the knitting. Thankfully my family understands the urgency of completing this particular project (or at least they're humouring me if they don't!) And I did watch the game - I even stopped knitting long enough to take pictures of Dion! It was really exciting because I don't think I have seen him play hockey since he was five! That's a long time. I'll be back at the rink with my knitting bright and early tomorrow morning!!

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

a place where strangers soon are friends

Today is the 15th Anniversary of Pax Lodge and I'm not there. Paula emailed me this morning to astrid shannon and paulasay she wished she could be there too. We were both at the 10th Anniversary and it was so much fun. I guess we can't really complain since we were just there in October for a reunion, but the song has it right...Pax Lodge will always be our home.

It's hard to explain to people who haven't worked at Pax Lodge exactly why Pax Lodge becomes so important or how the people you meet there change your life, but it does and they do. At risk of being called cheesy by Doreen, Pax Lodge isn't just a big white building, it is something more. Living and working there changes your life. And apparently it makes you REALLY excited when you get to go back for a visit (even if you miss the 15th Anniversary). So I'll go pout now and do my work...because even if I get on the next flight to England, I'll miss the anniversary...although somehow (YES, MORE CHEESE) maybe if you lived it, even if you're not there for the celebration you're part of it still...

okay, enough cheese, I'll go back to being serious now!

Knitting obsession revisited

At the beginning of February my left thumb and a kitchen knife got into a fight that resulted in a tetanus shot, plastic 3M scotch tape stitch things, and ultimately an inability to knit. Said thumb has now healed (as evidenced by the knitting by candlelight) and I thought maybe I should finish the unfinished Christmas gifts hanging out in the knitting basket.

Off to a great start, I finished the hat for Ros...in the dark...

pretty hat

so I thought...okay, now to tackle the one and a half pairs of mittens left to finish...before summer arrives (or next winter)!

Of course, being me, I sidetracked myself (I am so far resisting the desire to make a cute new hat just for ME) by thinking hey, I should make a nice comfortable afghan for Alex's mom. So I started one...but I'm not sure about the colours and I think I need to get chunkier wool and bigger needles or it will be next January before I'm done it...oh and (as seems to be my new habit) it looks like it might be child sized instead of adult sized...a bit of a problem!

when i grow up i wanna be an afghan

But it's pretty and wavy and nice...someone will get it, one day! (and hey, my desk is tidy today...those pesky office elves haven't been in yet to mess it up!)

Monday, March 13, 2006

The power goes out...then what?

I came home tonight and was sitting in the living room talking to Ros and all of a sudden that buzz happened, you know, the one where all the electronic stuff in the house powers down at once. No power. So what do you do when the power goes out?

We both sat there for a while and then a light bulb went on in my head (only in my head because the power was out!) and I realized that we needed light. This is when I was very happy that both flashlights, my phone (with its convenient and very bright flashlight) and the one lighter we own were all in their proper places. Five minutes later, we had a cozy, candlelit living room. Only problem was that Roslyn's uniform was drying in the dryer when the power went out and she needs it for work tomorrow...at 6 am...

So...on with the headlamp and she trekked to the basement to retrieve her clothes and find a warmish place to dry them. I found a battery operated radio - ycandlelit knittingup, they still exist - and we found a station, but no updates on what was happening. Our downstairs neighbour knocked at the door to make sure we had light and to exchange phone numbers and we settled in for a night in the dark.

But really, no power is kind of nice. I might have to "pretend" the power goes out sometimes. It's so nice and quiet in the house!

And I discovered that we had lit enough candles that I could KNIT IN THE DARK! Yipee...a good thing since I'm attempting to finish Roslyn's Christmas gift (from Christmas 2005) and it's a cold weather garment and it's getting to be spring here. Oh well...better late than never.

Blame it on Heddy!

Okay...I resisted and resisted and then Heddy sent me hers and that was the end of it.

So now I wonder how long this will last.

It might be like the time I thought I'd join a mailing list, but after two days of being bored by the posts I decided I didn't want to be part of the mailing list any more. So I tried to unsubscribe. But I couldn't. And there were 100s of emails flying into my inbox every minute (okay...so I exaggerate) and so instead of simply unsubscribing, I deleted the email account. It worked. I think. I don't know...I don't have the email address anymore.

Or...it might be like the time, after months of ignoring the franchise (silly kid's book, not worth MY time), I picked up my cousin's copy of Harry Potter thinking, "I'll read the first chapter of this silly kid's book and see what the hype is about and then I'll be done with it." Hahahaha! HA! I read all of that one, and most of the second one, that same day...I was done book three by midnight the following night...

So...will I get bored or will I become obsessed....

I guess we'll see!

But whichever...I'm still blaming it on Heather ;)