Games, games, and more games

So...yesterday before our crazy hanging out with friends, looking for a couch, hanging out with more friends day, we took another load over to the new house.

Because there's no furniture, we're a bit limited on what we can actually unpack right now, but we thought we'd put the games in the guest room closet. We know we have a lot of games, but in the blue house they lived in the wardrobe which has dark shelves and is deceptively deep or they lived under the guest room bed.

With the exception of the table hockey game, all of them are now in the closet. And they take up more space than we thought.


So, after we move, you're all invited to come over and play games...seriously, if we have them, we better well use them!

Airport hang out

I got up this morning and started checking the departures from YLW and the YVR arrivals for Kelsey's flight. Even still I managed to get there a good hour before she landed.

I was treated to the super-spoiled family trying to figure out how they'd all fit into two $800/night room at Whistler...because the 12 and 14 year old boys couldn't share a bed and one couldn't take the extra bed in the adjoining room where grandma and the 10 year old girl were sleeping because the boys needed to be together so they could ski together. And even the promise of their platinum credit card was unable to secure them a better room. And the kids got crankier and crankier as the twenty minutes I sat next to them wore on because they all had to share one sandwich because there was to be NO EATING until they got to Whistler. I got to listen to this because the dad took a cab into downtown to pick up their rental car and had to drive back to the airport to get them and then go to Whistler. Huh? Why not all go into town and then go directly to Whistler. Might save a couple of hours.

Anyway, Kelsey arrived and we spent a good four hours at Milestones playing Scrabble. Then, when we had been ignored long enough by our waitress, we moved on to one of the local-seattle-based- soccer-mom-mega-coffee-shop kiosks and set up shop there on one of their couches.


We got a lot of strange looks, not because we were playing Scrabble or because we had a bunch of luggage, or because we sat in the restaurant for hours - it's an airport - people do out of the ordinary things in airports. No we got strange looks because of Kelsey's bike. That's her bike in the mega box there...only one person made a comment about it, the rest just stared, with their mouths wide open, because apparently they'd never seen a box in an airport before...the biggest gapers were the people who formed a huge line up to get on a west bound flight and probably half of them didn't even have suitcases, they had boxes, but Kelsey's box, well, it was definitely a big attraction.

Bye Kelsey...we'll miss you. Have a great time in Australia!

new distraction (ahem...addiction)

So, one of the girls at work told me to add Scrabulous to my crackbook profile...which I did...

I had actually discovered Scrabulous back in the early fall when Alex was working one night, but since I added the application to crackbook, I decided to take a look at the site again.

And now, now I'm addicted.

And even more fun because it's a good way to practice and it's fun is Scrabulous Blitz, which is pretty much solitaire Scrabble.

Anyway, before I rot my brain out with computer Scrabble, anyone want to come over for a real game?

Today we bid two more pieces of equipment farewell...

Gone is the bath bench, providing I am able to take a shower unassisted tomorrow...which I sure hope I can do...I miss taking a shower (don't worry, I don't stink, that's what the silly bath bench is for!)

And the cane is being phased out. It is only to be used if absolutely necessary to avoid jostling in crowds, like on the bus.

And I get to go swimming. Okay, so it's only for ten minutes at a time right now, but it's a start. And the swimming pool has a hot tub and I'm supposed to use that for about twenty minutes each time I swim. And I can go to the gym, but only if I stick to the track and stick to walking. No machines, no weights. And I can lift the water jug and milk jug but not much else. Finally, I fell like we're making some progress. I know I was making progress before, but this feels more real somehow.

Soon, very soon, I hope I shall be also returning to my job and my office near the ocean and real life. My Mom has very kindly returned for four more days of taking care of me, vacuuming and other stuff, but after Friday, that's it. She's got to go back to her life. So, Alex and I will be devising a new schedule for food and walks and grocery shopping and cooking.

And I'm sure you loyal readers will be very glad when I STOP TALKING ABOUT MY BACK...unfortunately there's not much else in my life right now...

Although, Alex was away this weekend, so I had to go get "babysat" by my aunt and uncle. I had an adventure navigating public transit on my own and then we played a great card/board game called the Settlers of Catan (click on Catan on the left) that night. It's all about strategy and somehow, on my first attempt at the game, I managed to beat my uncle who had announced at dinner that he was going to kick everyone's butt! Definitely something to invest in when it's time to buy our next game!

Okay, so I guess I can still talk about something that's not my back!!!

And the prizes are...

A long time ago, I promised some prizes for people who guessed what certain bad drawings were. Then I annouced some winners. Then I announced I had some prizes for the winners and said I'd post the pictures when all three winners had their prizes. Ooh, and then I had to reannounce the winners because some of them missed the first announcement.

Well, tonight I delivered the last of the prizes...

So here are the three lucky ladies and their super cool prizes.

Rebecca and her prize

Heather and her prize

Fiona and her prize

peaceful afternoon rudely frightened away

MMMMMmmm....Alex and I spent a quiet, end-of-summer day taking advantage of the good weather and our lovely deck furniture. We spent hours playing Yahtzee and Battleships...yes, we are dorks.

Next weekend we think we'll crack out the Payday or Sorry or Clue game boards...maybe Monopoly. You're all invited (cause I know we're not the only dorks out there)!

I threw two Yahtzees in a row, which Alex promptly imitated!

Our lazy, peaceful Saturday afternoon was rudely pierced by loud screams, emitting from my lungs. I was standing at the stove, making dinner, and I heard a noise behind me. I turned around to see a HUGE raccoon...that evil guy I mentioned earlier...peering in the window at me.

He didn't seem too disturbed by the horrible noises I was making. Alex came running, thinking a person had wandered into the kitchen, saw the raccoon and slammed the top half of the door shut, as the raccoon ambled along the window ledge...I'm sure it was attracted by the smell of food.

It sat under the table for a while and watched us and then climbed over the fence/edge of the deck and went to play with the wasp nest we think it destroyed.

It's kind of hard to see the hanging bits, but really, it's hanging...hanging a lot!

another word about prizes

Shock...surprise...oh no...sounds like some of the prize winners missed the oh-so-colourful announcement of the prizes...

To recap:
"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."

I hope all prizes will be delivered soon and then the lovely photo of punk can grace these pages (joined by photos of fifers and heddy with their awesome, very cool prizes)

remember the prizes?

Remember, I said there would be prizes....Well, they're here!!! I have them. Punk has hers. Heddy and Fifers need to email me and let me know how the prize exchange should happen. Once the prizes have been distributed, they will be revealed! I got them at Stedmans V&S in Osoyoos...cool stuff I'm telling you!

Trivial Pursuit Night!!!

Yay! Trivial Pursuit Night was last night. Due to a variety of circumstances, including a whole lot of spring illness, there were only four of us, but we had fun! We also had a few really easy questions, a few really hard ones and some that just had us shaking our heads. We were playing the GenusII edition circa 1982 and there were a lot of questions like this *WILL* happen in 1992. It is also not so politically correct and when Kelsey got a question about which Indian wrote some poem or book of poetry or something, she answered with an Indian, from India, not thinking that the game was asking for the name of a First Nations poet. We also decided that the grammar in some of the GenusII questions was a little dodgy. Oh, and the questions are full of extra "clues." And of course I can't remember any of them, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

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!!!!

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

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

WORK OF ART #10 (eyes open)

clue: EVENT

WORK OF ART #9 (eyes open)

clue: THING

WORK OF ART #8 (eyes open)

clue: PLACE

WORK OF ART #7 (eyes open)

clue: PERSON

WORK OF ART #6 (eyes closed)

clue: ANIMAL

WORK OF ART #5 (eyes closed)

clue: THING

WORK OF ART #4 (eyes closed)

clue: ANIMAL

WORK OF ART #3 (eyes closed)

clue: THING