Holy Fools

When I was in London, Chocolat arrived at the Screen on the Hill and so, when Helen, a self-proclaimed chocolate addict, had her birthday, we bought her the book and took her to the movie.

It was a good movie.

It was also a good book.

I can't remember if I read the book first or second, somehow I think in this instance second, although I normally prefer to read the book, then see the movie.

Then I read Blackberry Wine.

Not bad. Kind of cool that there are some of the same characters in both books. Last year I picked up Coastliners in a bargain bin somewhere and seeing as it was Joanne Harris, I thought, hey, I can't go wrong at only $4.00. I liked it, but as I read it, I was slightly annoyed. I'm still not sure at what, but I keep thinking I should go back and reread it and see.

Same thing happened this year. Bargain bin. Joanne Harris book. Yup...annoyed with it. I haven't finished it yet. And it's not that I don't like it, I'm actually quite enjoying it, but I have this slightly annoyed feeling whenever I read it. Sometimes it's with the author, sometimes with the protagonist and sometimes it's just with the book in general. It takes place on the same little island as Coastliners and I'm glad I read Coastliners first because Holy Fools takes place primarily in an abbey, but Coastliners gave a pretty good idea of the island, even if it takes place 350-400 later than Holy Fools.

And all this is contributing to my need to live in France/need to visit Paris obsession. Strange obsession, since whenever I'm actually in Paris, I can't wait to get away!!

Can I invite Amelia Bedelia to work with me?

If you remember Amelia Bedelia, you'll recall that she was a very likeable person except that she took things extremely literally. If my memory is working properly, and it doesn't always like to do that these days, in Come Back, Amelia Bedelia, poor Amelia Bedelia gets fired and tries to find a new job. One of those jobs is in an office and she is asked to file some paperwork. Well, she gets out her nail file and shreds the paper with it...so...that's why I want Amelia Bedelia to come to work with me...the filing won't go away. The paperwork stuff isn't so bad now, it just needs to find a home and I'm its real estate agent. UGH!

Random randomness on a random day

Apparently I'm water and apparently I seem worthless. And I'm okay with that. Besides, I like water. A lot...

Which Biological Molecule Are You?

You are water. You're not really organic; you're neither acidic nor basic, yet you're an acid and a base at the same time. You're strong willed and opinionated, but relaxed and ready to flow. So while you often seem worthless, without you, everything would just not work. People should definitely drink more of you every day.
Take this quiz!


Quizilla

And for your viewing enjoyment, just because I think at one time or another we've all met someone just like this...

Happy Birthday Twinnies

Twenty-five years ago, I woke up in the morning and my parents were standing at the sliding door to the back yard looking at the sky. I knew it was early even though it was light out. My mom had a really big tummy and no lap anymore and I was patiently waiting for my brother and sister who were supposed arrive ten days before. My dad had marked the big day with two happy faces in his diary with tear off corners. Every morning I got to tear the corner off and see how soon my brother and sister should be arriving. I talked to my mom's tummy and lined Fisher Price people up to see which side would kick them off first. The babies talked back to me, that's how I knew I was getting a brother and a sister.

That morning my mom told me I'd been invited to my cousin Melissa's for breakfast and I got to go in my pjs. As strange as that was, I didn't even blink. We drove down Richter in the green Volvo and someone met me at the end of the walk, my mom and dad didn't even come in the house. We had boiled eggs and I only ate the yolks because I insisted the whites were shell. Then we went to the hair dresser and *I* got a phone call there. It was my mom and I had two new sisters. (HEY! What happened to my brother?!?!?) I got to go see them and the nurse scrubbed my dirty hands (I had sand or playdough or something everywhere) and then I got to put on a gown and hold my sisters. The day they came home from the hospital, the new babies bought me a baby of my own named Jean.

I didn't get my brother, but you know, after I went through my just-about-four-years-old angst over two new siblings, recovered from my deafness (yeah right, jealous kid!) and adjusted to my new bedroom, it was all okay. My two new sisters were definitely okay. And now that we're not 3 and 7 or 9 and 13 anymore, they're pretty cool!!!

Happy Birthday Kelsey and Rebecca!!!

Afghan Update

So...that afghan I've been making for Alex's mom...well, it's slowly getting there. It's just over 1/3 of the way done and I'm hoping I'll make some big progress on it soon. It was supposed to be done 5 weeks ago...then I said, okay, I'm never going to get it done that quickly unless I don't sleep for days and am prepared to have my arms fall off before I'm done, so I was supposed to have it done for last week. I have three weeks now to my next deadline and I am determined to get there!!! Here it is...with a close up of the pretty fans and feathers pattern.

wedding+champagne birthday=super saturday

What a day Saturday was! Alex's younger brother's best friend was getting married and my sisters were having their champagne birthday (and yes, celebrating a few days early).

I woke up on Saturday morning, raring to go, with a cake to ice and all kinds of other stuff to do only to discover...uh oh...no hot water! Well, lucky for us, it came back quickly, but not soon enough to allow our day to proceed at the leisurely pace we had hoped.

After some rushing and scrambling, I gave up on icing the cake and Alex and I made it out the door just in time. The wedding was very beautiful and everyone looked so happy! The wedding was at Hycroft House, which is smack in the middle of Vancouver - I never knew such beautiful houses were right there, just off Granville Street! And it was a PERFECT day for an outdoor wedding. It was so nice - the bride and groom both looked wonderful and happy and very much in love...what more could you ask for!



When the festivities concluded, Alex and I returned home to ice the afore mentioned cake, collect Roslyn, purchase some champagne, and head off to the big, blow out mulvi-style birthday bash. Roslyn said she knew we had left in a bit of a whirlwind when she came home and saw the path of chaos I'd left behind...dishes half done in the sink, garbage that made it out of the can to the door, but not out the door to the garbage bin, coffee maker still full of coffee and still turned on, ironing board and iron (turned off) in the middle of the dining room, hair implements everywhere in the bathroom and let's not get started on the bedroom! Somehow we managed to ditch the semi-formal attire for jeans, make icing and ice and decorate the cake, and make it to the wine store to buy champagne in less than 45 minutes. If you know us, well, that's a record!



The birthday bash was typical mulvi-style. Tons of people, lots of food, an abundance of assorted beverages. Being the old folk we are, we left early, but by all accounts the party went on into the wee hours of the night (next day?!).

Rebecca is thrilled that this year she has officially been around for a quarter century!

Paperchase

you asked for it Heddy!!!



Now you're gonna get it!!!



In something I wrote yesterday, I mentioned Paperchase...again. Heddy asked "ANYWAY I wanted to ask you about paperchase...I don't know this place...(I can hear your *gasp* from here!) AND I was hoping you could tell me about it!"


So here goes...

Look at the pretty pictures...that's some of their pretty stuff that I can't get enough of!



Paperchase is one of my most favourite stores in the ENTIRE world except for the fact that it's in London and I'm not. Although that's probably good because it means my bank account is relatively intact still! Paperchase is all about paper and pens, two of my most favourite things. It's got bright bold paper and prints and cards and postcards and I really, truly, seriously could spend hours in there just looking, touching and smelling the paper. And picking it up and then putting it back and picking it up again and putting it back again and then finally leaving with more than any person in their right mind could ever use, even if they write two or three letters a day, which I don't. Don't get me wrong, even with my lovely computer and all its abilities to communicate with my various friends and relatives scattered around the world, I still like to write letters and every once in while, I actually get one or two back! That's probably not really fair, because the three or four people I write real letters to semi-regularly also write back...it's the ones who I normally email and then out of the blue I spontaneously (yes, I know, redundant) write them a letter and mail it, but still continue to email them who don't write back. And who can blame them. THEY know I check my email and will eventually reply to it! By the way, paper is heavy. I came home with a suitcase I didn't have when I left. Ask Alex.



ANYWAY...there's some cool stuff...although I can't find a picture of my favourite blocks of writing paper. I picked three up for a grand total of £9.00. And each on has 150 pages. I just finished one and am part way through another from when I lived in England in 2001, so the three new ones will last a long time (by the way, each pad has assorted different colours. I'm not stockpiling plain-white-run-of-the-mill-available-for-purchase-in-Canada paper!).



I'm sad sad sad...there are Paperchase outlets in Borders books in the USA...but none here. Even Australia and Singapore have them in some of their Borders. Alex, let's go to Portland or Tacoma just so that I can go to Borders!!!!!!!!



My all time favourite Paperchase is on Tottenham Court Road. It's huge. It's three or four FLOORS of paper and paper products. And there's a coffee shop (it also helped that it was across from EasyEverything). The ones at Charing Cross and Covent Garden are good and I have been known to buy paper at the kiosk in Waterloo Station just before boarding a train for a day trip. Yes, their stuff was worth lugging all over Southern England! The big ones also sell cool stuff. Like picture frames and boxes and other STUFF. I love it!



And well, I haven't found anything even remotely similar here in the Great White North. Heddy, I know you'd also LOVE Paperchase...cause really, some days I think you're just a different me. I'll keep looking for a Paperchase equivalent, but I just don't think I'll find one. Hope that answers your questions. Now everyone knows about my (not so) secret infatuation with paper, in particular paper from Paperchase.

Pop-Quiz

Calculators are allowed!!

UNBELIEVABLE MATH PROBLEM!!!
Here is a math trick so unbelievable that it will stump you.

1. Grab a calculator (You won't be able to do this one in your head).
2. Key in the first three digits of your phone number (NOT YOUR AREA CODE).
3. Multiply by 80.
4. Add 1.
5. Multiply by 250.
6. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number.
7. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again.
8. Subtract 250.
9. Divide number by 2.

Do you recognize the answer?

Kind of cool...sent to me by Julia...and since I have nothing interesting to say, but I've already been harassed because I haven't posted today, this will have to do. Thanks Julia!

Some things that make me smile...

You know sometimes how you just don't feel yourself...no particular reason really, you just feel like someone else...okay or maybe not like someone else, but still like yourself but a different you. Maybe that's a better way to put it?!

Anyway, lately it seems like either I'm not feeling like myself or the things swirling around in my brain aren't things that make me smile.

So, I thought, gotta do something about that. Can't be a boring, grumpy person with bad cardboard glasses who feels like someone else forever. So, I made a list. Of things that make me smile.

And the list in absolutely no particular order:

1. The way I overuse SO and ANYWAY...no matter how silly or serious the tone of what I'm writing is, I always smile when I use SO and ANYWAY because I KNOW I use them way too much.

2. Mail. The kind that appears miraculously on the floor inside the front door and comes on paper, with a stamp on the envelope. (junk mail and bills rarely have STAMPS on them...)

3. Babies...bus babies, grocery store babies, babies in strollers going for a walk...babies I know are the best kind but babies I don't know make me smile too.


Alice makes me smile even though I haven't met her yet, but you're supposed to smile about your goddaughter!

4. Alex.

5. My family and friends. Okay...so (see, there it is again) sometimes we all know that family and friends can induce sighs of exasperation, eye rolling etc, but really, on the whole, my family and friends make me smile. A lot. And often. And they make me laugh. A lot. And they don't make me sigh in exasperation, roll my eyes etc. all that often!

6. Dogs. Friendly, well-behaved dogs. Ones who love you because you're scratching their ears or just patting them on the head, but in that moment, they love no one but you!

7. Sun and green grass and flowers and birds singing (as long as they stay far away from me!)

8. Paperchase...I've already gone on and on about Paperchase, but it really does make me smile. The website is good because I can't (or I haven't figured out how to) buy stuff on line, but it's bad because it doesn't have the same smell that a real Paperchase store has.

9. Crepes from the Hampstead Creperie.


Oh my goodness, I might devour the entire thing in one bite. Look at my face!!!

10. My "book" from Pax Lodge/Our Chalet. If you've worked/volunteered there you know what I mean, if you haven't, well, it's hard to explain.

11. Strawberries.

12. The envelope of pictures from film cameras straight from the developer, before you know what they're of...and the same pictures (and digital ones) after I've looked at them a million times and still can't get enough of them!

13. 5:00 pm and not waking up at 3:00 am anymore.

14. Saturday mornings.

15. Emails that are not work/Guiding related...you know, the ones that are like the letters mentioned above, but in email form.

16. Watching slides in my parents' living room. Oh my goodness, look at my hair/how big my glasses are! What am I/are you wearing? Remember when....

17. Compilation CDs from Kamiah that are full of stuff I normally wouldn't listen to/wouldn't know existed...because it's so not me that it's great!

18. Good wishes from the people around me for the other people around me who need good wishes right now, even if they don't know each other.

19. Lots of other stuff, but I can't really think of them right now...

Remember, up there, I said family and friends make me smile (#5 I think)...well, it's Vibeke's birthday today and she'll know what I mean by #10. Vibeke definitely makes me smile...Happy Birthday Vibi!!!


Okay...so that's all...now I feel like me with lots to do because I just spend a good deal of time doing this. At least I'll be doing my lot-to-do with a smile on my face. And when I go home, I might just break out some of the stash of Paperchase products, because other people I know also smile when they get letters on paper with a stamp. And I certainly didn't buy all that stuff just to look at.

Oh...an appendix to #1: I also overuse AND at the beginning of sentences!

No pain...no gain?!?!?!

Except, do I really want to gain?

Stacey took me to the gym this afternoon and got me to sign up...now I'm ready to go...so, we're going to try to go two or three times a week. I feel pretty good right now, but we'll see, there might be some pain tomorrow.

It's good to have Stacey - a workout partner is going to be pretty much the only thing that keeps me motivated for very long...that and the fact that the membership comes out automatically every month so I better well put it to good use!!

Game Inventory Quadrumpled!

Okay, so yes, I made that word up...I like the way quadrumpled sounds...ANYWAY, I went away for the weekend and my little collection of games magically grew!!! I now have all sorts of games to choose from:

Trivial Pursuit - 20th Anniversary Edition
Mindtrap
Wizard
Mastermind
A crib board with no pegs
Yahtzee with no dice
Countless decks of cards
Trivial Pursuit - Genus II Edition on loan from my parents
Sorry!
Monopoly
Bilingual Pay Day
Scattergories
Cranium
A bunch of Sudoku and Kakuro puzzle books (man, are they addicting!)
and a big, difficult 1,000 piece puzzle in a variety of shades of blue (do puzzles count as games, cause I love puzzles too!)

I decided to leave the 3-D Smurfs game in K-town...can't remember the point of it and it's most likely missing most of its pieces!

OOOOoooh...I can't wait to have a game night...it's so exciting!!!!

Spreading the Mulvi-love (or is it the Mulvi-hate)

NEWSFLASH: I go to K-town for the weekend and once again I come to the conclusion that I really enjoy my family. Not just my little family, which is often how we refer to the unit that contains Mom, Dad and three sisters, but my family (which is different from the big family because that includes those relatives that are more than once (?) removed)...We grew up with family. My first playmates were related to me. The running joke is that if you meet someone in K-town and they've been there for more than about five minutes, I'm either related to them, or they know someone I'm related to. It's two degrees of small town K-townness that didn't go away when K-town became a small city.

But that's not the point. The point is, that after four days with assorted family, thinking about the trip back to the big city is kind of depressing. We arrived in K-town not quite in time for a party with some of the big family. Sad to have missed everyone, but it sounds like they enjoyed the party for which the guest of honour stayed home. Then it was on to the arena for almost five periods of sometimes great, sometimes exciting, sometimes horrible hockey...at least the Rockets won. Easter dinner was Saturday night this year and there were all kinds of people there who weren't family but who were absorbed into the gathering as if they were family. There were 35+ people there...the youngest was 6, the oldest 81. And even at 35, not everyone was able to come! The house was packed with people. The food was plentiful and delicious, as usual. The noise level just kept going up and up and up. The laughter was pretty much non stop. The night was full of excitement and ended with some at a local coffee house where cousin Devon of the Mulvi-hate was playing, cheered on by some appreciative...you got it...family members!




We tried to convince him we were spreading Mulvi-love, not Mulvi-hate, but we need to work on that some more. The evening wasn't without its stomach dropping quickly to the ground moments...Bladder Botox conversations can do that. So can Harmony. Harmony walked up to our table and said "Congratulations! Have you heard the news?"

I thought Alex might die, right then and there, when Kelsey got REALLY excited and almost in one breath said:

"YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED! YOU GUYS ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

For the record, we're not getting married and we're not having a baby!

Now it's back to the real world, where there isn't so much family...and I know I'm going to miss it. I do every time.

But at least I had a great weekend...and got to be reminded of just why I think my family is so great!

Hillybilly pancake joint

We left Vancouver on Friday morning in the dreary rain, only to arrive in K-town to a torrential downpour, but on our way, we managed to hit almost every kind of B.C. weather including snow, sleet, rain, wind, and blinding sunshine. Hard to believe it's April.

As we arrived in Merrit, the radio was playing a song about a small town and as we drove through the deserted street, some tumbleweed rolled past. It was so windy, Alex had trouble walking...


We were starved, so we stopped for food at the Cowboy Cafe...or something like that. It was deceptively spacious inside, with interior, flushable outhouses and seemed to be a family run operation.

The menu had photographs of every dish they served and the food looked yummy enough, until I noticed a big GREEN BLOB on one of the dished. Now, the fare at this place was pretty much limited to breakfast and burgers and the fluorescent blob looked out of place and was somewhat frightening. Until we realized that every picture had a blob of a different colour. It turned out the menu was a very accurate representation of the food being served, right down to the LIFESAVER on each plate.



Oh the adventures of the Interior!!!

uh oh...punk got ahold of the camera

what do you know...and WHY OH WHY OH WHY do people think this is an ATTRACTIVE look, cause you know, IT'S NOT!



we're off on a road trip, hoping the snow isn't too bad this morning....apparently there is snow. I guess Mother Nature missed March 21 when SPRING ARRIVED.

I seem to have a need to write in caps today...sorry.

Oh, and one last thing Heather beat me to...it's so true though!! What's with the relationship pounds!

Home away from home?

Sometimes, I walk out my front door and even though I'm in Vancouver, it smells like London or feels like London or even looks like London....Well, it doesn't look like London, but the light is London-like or something. This time of year, as things come back to life and it starts to warm up, I start missing the strange, humid London air and the Pax Lodge smell. When I was in London in October, I was surprised how much London really does have that London smell and that there really is a Pax Lodge smell. I'm not sure what the Pax Lodge smell is, but the London smell is a sweaty, electrical, humid, just after the rain, underground smell. It's not easily duplicated, but every once in a while I get a whiff of it...usually just before it rains, before Vancouver smells clean. And so, this time of year I miss the places I used to haunt...the Rat and Parrot (now called the George)...Covent Garden...Paperchase, oh how I miss Paperchase. I could spend hours in there just looking and touching and smelling that smell of new paper. I came home with a huge, heavy bag full of Paperchase products in October. It's probably a good thing we don't have Paperchase here yet or there would be no money in my bank account and no room in my house....ah...the paper and pen addiction! What else...H&M...same thing, not enough money in my bank account, not enough room in my house!
Camden Town...home of crazy people, fun shops, stalls of goods, antiques (and not so antiques) galore...Trafalgar Square with Canada House and the National Gallery....All those theatres...Hampstead Heath....and of course the endless balcony parties at Pax Lodge...and every spring it all comes back and I get "homesick" for somewhere I didn't really consider home while I was there. If I could jump in a plane go there right now, I would - not a permanent thing, but just to get a taste of that world that used to be mine. I know that if I went and the people I knew in the time I was there weren't around, it probably wouldn't feel the same, but there are always people around who were there when I was there...so for now it would have that different but the same feeling and I'd be happy to be there. I know it wouldn't last and I'd be happy to come home too, but some days...and today is one of those days...I wish I could pretend I still lived that life...the one where in the summer you got hot and sticky the moment you stepped out of the shower from the humidity...the one where you sleep with a fan blowing in your face in your way up there near the ceiling bed...the one where days off meant wandering through London or catching a train to some other part of the country...the one where 6:00 meant a quick dinner and then a trip to the pub...the one where Nights and Earlies meant staying in...the one where rambling walks with Heather were the norm...yeah...I miss that life sometimes, but then I'm happy to come back to my other life. The one where Nights and Earlies don't exist and I get to sleep in a double bed, a reasonable distance from the floor. I guess it's good to miss it - it means it probably was a good as I remember it! And hey...I can always go back and visit!

Crackberry/Smackberry update

it's fixed and will be delivered this afternoon...yahoooooo...one less thing for me to worry about.

I still think it's a stupid thing and the Great Big Device Company sucks!

Sit down concerts anyone?

So, Kelsey and I went to see Sarah Harmer last night. She performed at the Stanley theatre, which is currently in the middle of a production of Waiting for Godot. The set couldn't be taken down, so there they were, among the grasses and weird tree and big styrofoam moon from Godot. It was a great concert!

When we left we were talking about the last time we'd been to a "sit down" concert and neither of us could remember when that would have been...I figured mine out...almost SEVEN years ago when Anne and I went to Tori Amos in London. I can't believe it's been that long...I think I'm getting old!!

If you can't eat it, it ISN'T a blackberry

Those silly phone/email/web browser "devices" should be banned. No sane person should be allowed to own one. Who *REALLY* needs to be *THAT* connected. Probably not 98% of the people who are.

I hate the "device" that my boss has...it broke. So the Great Big Device Company we got it from sent us a new one, for free, even though the warranty expired because technically it broke before the warranty expired and they didn't fix it then, so they had to replace it now.

Yay.

That made me happy. I just asked and they said sure they'd do it for free. No begging or arguing or being grumpy or anything.

So they sent us a new one. Hiphiphooray! It arrived in time to be set up today and given back to its owner before he departs for far away places on Wednesday.

Except our IT guy got it out of the packaging and started working on it and what do you know, the new battery won't hold a charge. The old battery won't hold a charge. At least in the new "device" but in the old one, the batteries both work fine. Batteries were not the problem with the original "device."

So the Great Big Device Company is sending a replacement "device" for the replacement "device" except they can't tell me when it will arrive. The "device" owner really does need it for this trip - he is part of that 2% - but the company isn't sure it will be here on time. I sent some emails and talked to some people and the Great Big Device Company definitely keeps its employees in the dark. One of the many conversations I had went something like this:

ME: Is there anyone else I can talk to about this? I need to know when the "device" will be arriving.

TECHIE GUY: No. We don't send the "device" to you from this department. Someone in the Device Sending Department does that.

ME: Okay. Could I speak to someone in the Device Sending Department.

TECHIE GUY: No. We aren't connected to the Device Sending Department.

ME: Could you give me the name and number of someone in the Device Sending Department.

TECHIE GUY: No. They don't have those.

ME: They don't have names or numbers?

TECHIE GUY: No. They just have *ONE* email address.

ME: The people who work in the Device Sending Department don't have names or telephones?

TECHIE GUY: No. We just send an email to them and they send the "device" to you.

ME: So no one at Great Big Device Company can tell me when the "device" might arrive.

TECHIE GUY: No. We don't know that information. The Device Sending Department does all of that.

ME (starting to get fed up, exasperated and trying not to laugh at the poor souls in the Device Sending Department who don't have names or telephones and all share one email address): Could you find a way to put me in touch with the Device Sending Department so that I can get an idea of when to expect the "device" - it's rather urgent as we need it for Wednesday and today is Monday.

TECHIE GUY: It's 7:00 now.

ME: ? (silent question mark with rolled eyes that in my brain translates to: What are you talking about crazy techie who won't let me talk to anyone and if he thought that I didn't actually know better, would probably try to convince me he is the one and only person who works for the Great Big Device Company except some ghost or elf or invisible person who sends the "device" to the customer from the fabled and super secret Device Sending Department)

TECHIE GUY: You can have their email address. There is only one for the Device Sending Department. There is no other way to get in touch with them.

ME: Okay, thanks. What is the address?

TECHIE GUY: info@devicesendingdepartment.greatbigdevicecompany.com but it's 7:00.

OH MY. What a frustrating conversation and it meant I missed the gym because I was dealing with the stupid "device" that better arrive before the boss goes away. I wonder if anyone in the Device Sending Department actually reads the info email...I think I might cry (have I mentioned before that I'm pathetic?)

Like I said...if you can't eat it, it's just a pile of plastic, micro chips and wires. Oh, and a big, malfunctioning battery.

Rainy Mondays

Rain and Mondays go well together. If it's going to rain, it should be on a Monday when I have to sit at my desk and work. Rain is good sometimes, but dreary, nasty, Monday rain is only good on a Monday.

Like today.

Definitely a Monday.

I woke up when Ros left the house, except I figured I was totally hallucinating because it definitely wasn't 6:45 yet because my alarm hadn't gone off yet. Which meant it was most certainly before 6:30. Because my alarm GOES OFF at 6:30. EVERY MORNING.

Except today.

Today it didn't go off.

And after I spent a long time having a conversation with myself, convincing my eyes to stay shut because it was before 6:30 and what I heard was most definitely NOT Roslyn, I decided I should at least check the clock. And by then it was 7:00!!!

So I was already behind schedule.

And then I spilled coffee on the first shirt I put on.

And then I got to work to discover I had a somewhat confused boss who I had to run across campus to find because his 10:00 meeting actually isn't until 1:00. I'm sure that somehow that's my fault...it's on his daily schedule at 1:00, but I'm going to take the blame for this one because in the back of my head something tells me I had it on his schedule for 10:00 for a while before I noticed that I'd put it in the wrong time slot.

And to top it all off, Roslyn is leaving in two months. I'm excited for her because she gets to go do some really cool travelling - like taking the train to Toronto and doing a tour of Eastern Europe, but it'll be strange to have her go so early. I was prepared for her to leave in October, so I don't think it's really sunk in yet. But she has to do what's best for her - and I'll survive and adapt. We have a lot to cram into those two months...Trivial Pursuit tournament anyone?

But it's all good because:
it's a four day week
it's Easter this weekend
Stacey's making me start at the gym today
there's a Rockets game on Friday night
I'm going to Kelowna for FOUR WHOLE DAYS

And the answers are...

Correct answers are pink...guessed answers are not pink.

1. Finger Print ovary - EYELASHES! - someone making a fist
2. Pot Hole highway - CAR! - dodge ford pickup
3. Bi-Focals eyeglasses - GLASSES! - eyeglasses or saggy boobs
4. Seahorse elephant - A TONGUE! - mermaid/elephant
5. Tornado tornado -TORNADO! - tornato
6. Bumblebee bumblebee - A FIVE-LEGGED WINGED BEASTY!!! - A monkey at the zoo ALL CAGED UP...awwwwwwwww..he looks so sad
7. Exterminator fumigator/exterminator - EXTERMINATOR! - Exterminator...yeah, what they said
8. Maid of the Mist niagara falls - NIAGARA FALLS! - niagara falls? oh wait....the queen of the ...oh I was just there this summer
9. Gene Pool diving pants (this one is very intriguing) - SAND IN YOUR POCEKTS! - uh....a person on the diving board into a pool of water and a knee? My guess will be...I know I'm wrong...a wet suit
10. Marriage Proposal engagement - WEDDING! - Wedding Party. Only cause the stick people seem to be "getting down"...OH NO...he's getting down..ON ONE knee...ahhhhh

And prizes go to (in absolutely NO PARTICULAR ORDER):

fifers for ovaries and being the first to EMAIL her answers as well as the first to ask if she won a mere 30 seconds later!

punk for her super-duper, CAPITALIZED, exclamation-marked answers, and the especially creative "A FIVE-LEGGED WINGED BEASTY!!!" can't you just feel the excitement?!

heddy for the long, entertaining thought process answers and for almost, but not quite getting Maid of the Mist.

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED - answers can now be viewed by scrolling over the pictures with your mousie (or animation anti-carpal tunnel pen thing)

WINNERS WILL BE CONTACTED TO DETERMINE THE MOST CONVENIENT MANNER OF COLLECTING (AND POSING WITH) THEIR PRIZES

Heddy...do you think he's for real?

Heddy, the reason this blog exists, got herself a comment from an admirer.

It's kind of cute in a creepy sort of way.

Is it real? Is it an April Fools joke?

Why April is good already...

so...of my nine reasons from Friday why March Madness will lead into April Ataraxia four of them happened already....

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...)

yay shopping in Vangroovy!!! If you're that hungry, we can get you some real food though...they have that here.

and stop eyeing my drink...MINE!!!

5. cherry blossoms at UBC


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
Okay, so it's not an April Fools joke, but look at the cute baby pints of beer. DARN IT! Sometimes I wish I wasn't allergic to beer.

I love April...there's so many more fun things to come too!!!
Easter
Wedding
Champagne Birthday Party
More punk come to vangroovy

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Birds...birds are everywhere

anyone who knows me probably knows that I have completely irrational fear of birds (yes, that's a phobia)...all birds...dead birds, alive birds, wild birds, caged birds...I hate walking through the bird habitats at zoos (I don't like zoos much either, but that is a different story), the only time I don't mind birds is when they are far away, over there, not close to me or behind glass (or on tv, but in some obscure way, in my brain that counts as behind glass).

So...this morning my heart was beating like mad, my mouth was dry and my palms were clammy by the time I got safely to the office door because our parking lot has been TAKEN OVER BY CROWS. There were 30-40 crows congregated in the parking lot and on the path to the office. They were squawking and fighting and generally being disruptive and I couldn't help but think, "Is there something dead over there?" There were only about 5 crows when I left on Friday....They aren't that prolific are they? And baby crows take more than a weekend to grow up, right?

Thankfully a Plant Ops van drove past in front of me and they scattered, but they were loud, they were way too close and I was convinced they were going to dive bomb me. I've been dive bombed by a crow before and it was SCARY!

And now I'm scared to go get lunch. I can't see if they are still there.

And no, the phobia has nothing to do with Hitchcock's The Birds. NOTHING....I didn't see that until I was in my 20s and I had already been ornithophobic for 20+ years...

I'm hungry...

see...I told you I was pathetic!