"You look imaginary"

The best line of the Bachelorette today had to be Kasey telling Ali that she "looked imaginary"

The decorative 'birds' on the Bachelorette logo snippet are getting to be eerier- they are starting to look like bats to me. Ali didn't grow on me today. She seemed to be too attention seeking, not only from her suitors but from the media. She seems to be playing to the camera more.

The episode was really about Craig the bully. He was really quite mean to the weatherguy. Didn't he realize his actions were going on national tv? The polar opposite of Ali. I don't think it was hard for her to cut him.

She also cut a guy named Tyler (one of the Tylers) who I didn't remember from the episode. But I thought they said she had to cut 3 guys. I don't remember a 3rd guy saying goodbye to Ali? Maybe I missed one. I keep missing Steve during the episode until he gets a rose at the end and then I'm like- hey it's Steve.

I think the guys who did not get dates on todays episode were her favorites after the first night (episode). She already knew she would give them roses tonight- I think the no-date guys got a 'bye' to the next round, it would seem.

That's the update for today :)- keep looking 'real' people!

(And the answer to both guess questions from the previous post was indeed Al- nice work Marlene!)

Guess

Guess who likes these cookies?

Guess who owns this car?

Day 2 of the yard sale happened today. Lots of selling, connecting with the neighbourhood and eating!

James has his first class of power skating today.

Yard Sale

Today Rustle had day 1 of it's yard sale. Lots of great stuff left if you want to visit tomorrow 8-2.
James came with me- and decided to become Al's tail for the day. He sure does like following Al around. Thanks for your patience with this Al!

In August we are going to vacation with my parents and Nat and Karrie for a few days in Peterborough. James is VERY EXCITED about this. Today he couldn't reach Oma so I helped him out by doing some research online. We found out there seem to be 2 mini-putts. He likes mini-putt (especially winning). I found Milltown Mini Putt which has this interesting photo in its photo stream that shows a guy putting and in the background you see this woman celebrating. Is she celebrating the putt he will make? It is certainly a puzzling photo to me.
There are other activities at this Milltown- batting cages, rock wall, hand wax (make a mold of your hands in wax) and build a bear, so it is not limited to golf.

It's not faster to bike when the bearings blow up

I was biking in to work this morning when one of the springs in my bike seat gave out. This wasn't so bad- driving on a bit of a tilt I could do.
Then 2 minutes later there was a big clang and I could feel the back wheel rubbing. So I stopped and turned the bike over and thought it was just the fender rubbing on the tire, but it wasn't, it was all the bearings in the back tire trying to explode out. I managed to drive slowly in to work but really the bike is now undriveable. I'll have to pull out all the warranty on it- it's only 2 months old! I'm back on my grey brake-less mountain bike until this stuff with the new bike gets sorted out.

Work was pretty quiet overall today which was good as I wasn't in much of a state to cope with much. For some reason I woke up at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep, so at 4am I was up reading "The Winthrop Woman"- I am quite enjoying it, even if I read at odd hours.

James had his last spring hockey game today. I hope he said thank you to the coach.

He did the "Relay for Life" at his school today and now proudly wears his HOPE bracelet.

Biking is faster

Normally, the route I travel by bike is sidestreets and I don't have a lot of traffic with me. Today I biked up Princess St. after work. Princess St. is not a bad street to bike on as it is pretty wide. The traffic was pretty heavy after work and I noticed that my biking was noticeably faster than those driving.

My work was pretty quiet today. I worked on cleaning out my email and the server. I actually learned a lot more than I expected.

An article in Macleans indicates:

When Michelle Obama turned up to serve food at a soup kitchen, its poverty-stricken clientele snapped pictures of her with their cellphones.
Kindof a bit confused over needs and wants.

Very tired tonight- heading to bed at 9:20!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Not the best picture, but my tulips didn't last long enough to get many good photos!

Hope you had a great day!

probability

The supreme court called me today and cancelled my jury duty.

I did exam booklet inventory today and probably pulled a gazillion muscles moving all the boxes around. I'm not used to lugging heavy weights around now that I don't have to carry James about anymore.

I watched the Bachelorette last night not because I liked Ali last season but I wanted to see the train wreck it would become. I found Ali a bit more palettable than last season but I remembered why I didn't like her when she got rid of PHIL. He was my favorite. She also turfed out the wilderness man- can you see Ali as wilderness girl? I don't THINK so. She's left with 17, which is still quite a few when you're trying to sort people out. I remember the canadians- broken foot guy and Craig with the attitude. The weatherman was pretty funny. The salsa dancing guy got the first impression rose. There was a Kasey who got the last rose- I think I remember him positively. There was also a Steve who got a rose and when he got it I was like - who WAS that?
Then we got snapshots of the upcoming episodes- an ambulance (seems to be one in every season), the broken foot guy walking by the side of the highway (did the limo break down?), the implication that the 'protector of her heart' tried to commit suicide (though these 'leads' tend to turn out not to be quite what they portray in the dramatic trailers- maybe he cut his wrist on a can?), a guy has a girlfriend on the show and she calls Ali and tells her (now this was in the media while they were doing the filming so I believe this one to be true), Ali crying in Tahiti (required) and Ali having a blast around the world (in case you want to watch for the scenery).

There's also another show that is going to be following the Bachelorette starting next week that I also watched last year "True Beauty" where the contestants think they are in a modeling contest for their external beauty but it is really a contest of their (limited) internal beauty.

Those will be my shows for the next few weeks!

whippersnipper

I mowed the lawn and did some badly needed whippersnippering in the afternoon. The delay in whippersnippering has been due to a broken handle on the whippersnipper. But as the edging was a bit out of control, I whipped out the duct tape and tried to hold the thing together. It worked, but was frustrating. Hard to give up a perfectly good whippersnipper because the silly plastic handle is broken.

nests

It seems the robins have abandoned their nest - maybe the eggs were not viable.

Yesterday I had a pretty restful day. Joanne B. spoke at Rustle. It was very good and very clear. I went home, had a small bite of lunch, played with James a bit and then made an early dinner as I was heading out with Kim at 4pm to go to her Church's evening service. The service starts at 6pm but she has her small group from 4:30-5:30. So I sat in the car and read more of "the Winthrop Woman" book. Interestingly, it seems that Kim had a number of symptoms of Scurvy as described in the book. However, her ailment is more likely strep throat or allergies.
In July, Kim is planning on going on a mission trip to the Philippines and Thailand. For a gal who is petrifies of airplanes AND foreign countries, this is a pretty big step for her.
Anyway, the speaker at Kim's church was Rod Parsley's mother. Maybe she has her own name, but I did not catch it. She's 75 years old and pretty vibrant. She spoke from Exodus 23:20. She had 7 points from the chapter, but her teaching was very speedy and a bit hard to follow. However, the stories she told from her life were RICH. She obviously has a lot of life experience being 75 :) She and her husband both had to fight cancer and she has travelled the world. Being American, there were a few different ways of thinking than Canadians, but it certainly was interesting to attend.
While I was there I saw Jennie and Mike who used to go to Next and their little boy and new little girl. Very cute.

This morning, James and I were chilling when there was a phone call. James answered. Apparently the speaker thought he sounded like me as I heard him indignantly say "No, I'm Aphra's SON". It turned out to be very old friends Joanne and Mark S. from when I went to the Living Word. They were in town (they live in Orillia now) and could they visit in 1/2 an hour? So they came over and that was indeed the exciting highlight of the day so far.

It's a beautiful sunny day, so I'm happily hanging laundry again.

Watch-birds

There are some birds that watch over the neighbourhood. They are interesting to watch. To think that the safety of the community depends on the skill of the one to identify predators.

James and I went shopping this morning. One of the grocery guys joked about his maple leafs shirt.

There was a storm around 4-5am but after it all cleared over it turned into a nice laundry drying day- I did 5 loads.

I played my first Wii game- Wii bowling. James is trying to teach everyone Wii. Let him know if you want him to make your Mii on his Wii. He takes requests.

I am reading "The Winthrop Woman"- only a bit of the way in- about a British girl who is an apothecer's daughter in England who goes to North America around the time of Christopher Columbus, I think, as her family is one of the colonist families. It is very well written.

busy bird evening

The birds in the neighbourhood were very busy this evening. Lots of baby birds needing food I expect. The robin's nest outside my kitchen window does not seem to have hatched babies yet. The adult robins come out and watch the little boys playing on the lawn quizzically. Not sure if they are threats or not. They probably would be threats if they knew about the nest, but they don't. That I know of anyway.
A sparrow approached boldly looking for crumbs, so I obliged.
A girl travelling the neighbourhood looking for sponsors for children on other nations asked if James would like to correspond with one. The answer was negative. Writing he does not like.
Playing games he does like. And he certainly doesn't get it from me. Maybe Uncle Nat. He happily plays with the neighbour children who are older and more destructive and don't always treat him very nicely.
James is calling now and I need to make a shopping list for tomorrow. I am ready for bed and it's not 9pm yet!

the robin in the window

As I was washing dishes, I looked out into the tree that is right outside the window and spotted a robin on their nest. They sit so still on the nest. Unless they are perturbed by a squirrel. In which case, they react like a banshee. The squirrel never knew what hit him. Makes more more exciting dish washing!

James' last spring hockey game is a week Friday at 5:30pm at the Invista center. Fittingly, he is playing Green- the team he wanted to be on because his friends were on it but he was on Gold. And he was pretty happy on Gold, after the initial disappointment at the start of the season.

We have a water cooler in the office. Generally either Ryan or Katrina puts the new bottle in. Yesterday, Ryan put the bottle in. Before he did, he put his jacket on. When he puts it on there's always this giant explosion. Yesterday was the biggest by far- he coated all the walls with a giant spray of water. It was rather funny. I think we voted that Katrina does that job from now on.

I am having a bit of trouble sorting out the weather forecast as different websites give conflicting forecasts. It's hard to know which days to hang out laundry and what to wear each day. I should be able to pack away sweaters- except for days that I need to go to Rustle!

Cell phonerey

The great amusement of the evening was that I brought home a work cell phone.
I was trying to get it set up for the summer exams but my work had changed their credit card and the cell company wouldn't accept it.
So after talking to the company on the phone for a lo-ong time, they did the set-up of the cell phone for free and gave me free evening and weekend calling (for a week).
James had IMMENSE fun with it all. He called our home number eleventy billion times and left multiple messages on the phone! I also spent a good amount of time talking to him on the phone this evening!
He was hopeful that it would be HIS cell phone, but I told him he was a wee bit young for that.
Anyway, so far I have paid nothing on the cell phone so we'll see how the one week trial goes!

11 hour steak

I didn't have a recipe for the steak for tonight. What I did was rub seasonings on each side, then beat each with a meat mallet and put it in the slow cooker with a bit of water (so it doesn't dry out) and BBQ sauce. It will have cooked for 11 hours by the time we get to eat it. And in a slow cooker that doesn't mean it gets tough- I'm expecting it to be very tender!

The weather was so good today, I hung lots and lots of laundry before Church.

Jared and Kathy and their boys were at Rustle today, which is always special. Jared spoke from John 17:20-26 about how unity in community can help individuals live out the life that God meant for them.

And how important it is to buy VOLVOs.

He had a quote near the end during the question period at the end that I wrote down as a Jared quotable:
"Evil sucks and it needs to go away"

James invited himself over to Al's to watch the afternoon game as it was being shown on stations that we don't get- TSN, NBC. He is quite proactive for how to improve his life on his own. Thank you to Al and Shari for humouring him.

Survivor tonight!

almost

more tulips that were blown away by the windstorm a few days after the picture was taken.

After dinner I had a cleaning-fest and cleaned the frontroom, playroom(hall) and bathroom. Now I'm pretty exhausted. I still have the bedrooms and the kitchen to do. We'll see what I get done tomorrow.

Fine

This is the tulip that James claimed as his 'own'. My guess is it was planted on our lawn by a squirrel. This tulip (along with most of the rest of the tulips) lost all it's petals in the windstorm (I think last weekend?)

I eradicated dandelions today. It is a weekly chore, but it is nice to see the lawn dandelion-free for one day. I also mowed the lawn and played baseball with James.

The day clouded over so my laundry drying didn't go as well as planned but tomorrow is supposed to be good, so I'm hopeful.

I think Al must have had some extra prayer sessions this week as the Flyers won. Good work Al. lol.

See-attle

Picture from the birthday party last week.

It was another very full week- it feels like ages since the birthday party has been.
I have so much I want to do this weekend- it's just hard to know where to start!

James woke me up at 5:30am this morning, so I got a good early start to the day (he went back to sleep)
As it is a nice day (finally)- I have laundry out to dry.
Baby birds are hatched in the backyard and cheeping away.
I got my grocery shopping done this morning. I was quite pleased to find a nice big steak for $2 on the last day of sale rack. I'll pop it in the slow cooker tomorrow and it will be nicely cooked even if it is a bit old :)
Today I have lawn care and cleaning on tap. Though Henri managed to shatter my dustpan (I have no idea how!) so I won't be doing any sweeping until I've gone to the dollar store to get a replacement!
Tomorrow Jared's facebook tells me he is at Rustle, so that is something to look forward to and then in the evening it is the Survivor finale. A win-win day!

notes

When I got home today there was a note by my computer in James' handwriting that read
"could not start printer
please check your printer configuration"
It was obvious that he had copied it down. It was just funny to see him use words like 'configuration'

James got up at 6am this morning and had a cuddle with me. He promptly fell back asleep and he's a pretty amusing sleeper. He sleep talks- today it was about little Carty (Duncan's brother) and sleep- giggles. (which cracks me up too)

My spring exam schedule is currently in a bit of a stand off, as I need a certain faculty office to approve it, but they want me to move an exam and my supervisors said no (for the reasons they had). So I'm stuck. But not worried, as I am still ahead of schedule. I guess we'll resolve it one way or another Monday.

We don't get the hockey game station on the tv, but maybe James can watch it on the internet. Game 7 is always exciting?

the wrong 1st floor

I thought this picture turned out rather amusing- doesn't it look like he has laid the eggs? James is the Easter bunny! (The picture is from the Easter egg hunt a few weeks ago)

Today was a good day in that I got the scheduler set up for the spring/ summer exams, so I was pretty impressed with that. I'll work on the actual scheduling tomorrow after I've got the MEDS exams set up. I need to go in early as I have to get the exams to the hall by 8am. I will have to be creative if it is raining. The MEDS exams are in an odd location- there are 2 1st floors. Who would have thought? It took me a while to find the rooms as I was on the wrong 1st floor.

Purple Heart

In his sermon today Al was talking about Lydia (seller of purple fabric)'s conversion and how things moved along in her life because she was an eager listener.

At some point, he mentioned that Next needed some financial support. As soon as Al had finished, James turned to me and anxiously said that he needed to get something from the car. He went out and got the dollar he had been saving and went back and gave it to Al for Next. I would say the boy was eagerly listening and has a giving heart!

I decided in the evening that I would walk over to Bath Rd. Baptist for their 6:30 service. It took me less time to walk there than I thought so I got there a bit earlier than I meant to. I walked in the front door (which is the direct route when walking but everyone else used the side door as they drove) and found the sanctuary, but there wasn't anyone in it, so I wandered into the foyer where there were 2 people sitting. So I stood in the foyer as I didn't really know what was going on, but figured standing was the best option in view of not seeing any others! A guy named Daniel and his wife Uhna (not sure of spelling) arrived shortly after me and they were very friendly. They told me that when it was 6:30 we would go down to the 'Fireside Room'. This I found fairly hopeful as it is so cold that anything fireside sounded good! It was actually a warm room and I could comfortably take my coat off. (hint hint Al- we need a fireside room at Rustle- of course I probably wouldn't ever come out of it!) There was a man who opened the service leading a song and then he prayed. And going to the service just for that prayer made it all worthwhile. It really was a wonderful prayer! Then the pastor spoke from Romans 13. It wasn't very long- they were done by 7:20pm and then they had pizza. (which they seemed pretty excited about!) So it was still quite light on my jaunt home.

I watched a bit of the Amazing race with James, packed his school bag for tomorrow and read his new clone trooper manual to him. Now I have to prepare some bits of the soup to go in the slow cooker tomorrow and then I head to bed!

40% chance of flurries

The weather forecast for this morning is a 40% chance of flurries. Someone apparently forgot to give mother nature the memo that it is spring. Oh, I forgot- she's not reading memos anymore.

James' birthday party went very well. Laser tag appears to be a suitable amusement for the age group. The party was from 12-2. They had their first laser tag game at 12:10. Pizza at 12:30. Second game at 12:50. Then dessert and present opening and then playing the arcade type games in their game room. Nobody cried. Noone was sick. They all seemed really excited about the whole thing, so a success!

We brought AJ home from the party with us. Gerald had surgery last week and so was still resting so we've kept AJ since the party. He slept over last night and the boys are now playing lego star wars on the Wii (Duncan was well informed on Friday that James got a Wii so this was his present to James!)

I made the boys go to bed at 8:30 last night so the I could watch a movie (I think it's been months since I've seen one!) and I watched "New in Town" that has Renee Zellweger arrive in a Minnesota town to be their plant manager. In a way it clicked with me as I just started this new job and the proctors have been doing this for many years and have their own culture in a way and so it's been a bit interesting for both them and me, just like it was for Renee. Except I don't save the town with my awesome plant managing skills.

Where chocolate cupcakes go to hide

James was up early in the morning. Normally he comes to find me when he wakes up. Today, he went to find the Wii. I have been replaced, but I don't really mind! I'm sure he'll go back to his normal routine when the newness of it all has died down.

I went to Loblaws at 7:30am to pick up snacks for the party (our package includes a pizza lunch but we are supposed to bring the cake, etc.). I went to Loblaws under strict orders to buy chocolate cupcakes (James doesn't like cake, but agreed to cupcakes). James couldn't come with me as he had to play the Wii (really lol)
But when I got there, there was not a chocolate cupcake to be found. Despite it having a bakery and all. So I got chocolate swiss rolls instead. These were marked with James' stamp of approval when I returned home but he's never had them before so we'll see if he actually likes them!

8 "It's my birthday and I got a Wii"

James was super excited about his birthday. He opened his presents this morning. Nat and Karrie did an amazing job (as usual) in picking his presents. They found a Star Wars Lego ship that he did not have. He was awfully pleased with it!
They got him a where's waldo book and on the first page he opened to he found Waldo right away. And I thought- I have a genius child! But the next page he could not find Waldo, so I guess not.
They also got him SEA MONKEYS. Funny because he's my monkey. Let's see if he can keep them alive.
Also a robotic bug, which I am sure will be just great wandering the house! At least there was no corner gas!
My parents and Grandparents teamed together to get him a Wii. As I walked him to the bus after opening his presents, he was telling people on the street that it was his birthday and he got a Wii! He was excited to tell all his friends at school. Also excited that his name would be read over the PA system.
I think it will be a good day, this first day of being 8.

I got a day off work due to my excessive overwork in the last few weeks. And I went shopping! I went to Walmart to pick up some household stuff. Then to the cat center and picked up 2 pairs of 3/4 pants and 1 pair of regular pants. Sears was having a sale- 30% off. I finally used the gift card my parents gave me. Thanks guys!!

So presents for both James and I - the way it should be since 8 years ago it was I that did the work! (well actually the surgeons but I'm taking the credit)

Bronte sisters action figures

Natasha posted this video about Bronte sisters action figures and it was so funny I just had to share.

05 05 10

Yesterday I declined an offer to continue working on my 100 course. I have done it for so long that freedom feels like a wobbly legged giraffe.

My work is still pretty intense with the wrap up of the April exam session and getting ready to schedule spring/summer. I have tomorrow off though! It's James' birthday! His party is on Saturday- 8 little boys for the 8 year old at Laser blast. Should be interesting.

Survivor tonight!

hands down

My hands are completely blistered out from the lawn mowing episode yesterday. So, very painful to wash dishes!

My arms are also super sore. I guess I am breaking in the muscles again after 6 months of no mowing!

I am very tired but fighting it so I don't throw my body off kilter. Though it may already be off kilter, so a nap might help things!

James is supposed to be reading to me now as he has a book report due tomorrow, but he has so far squeezed out of it by doing my crossword puzzle. I shall have to see if I can refocus him.

10 more times

out

Exams make me crazy busy but they finished yesterday. Now I need to get the marks for the 100 course in. I was just going to work on it but there was a bit of a thunderstorm and so my servers down at Queen's appear to have crashed. So the marks won't be done today.

I did the shopping today. The grocery store was pretty busy- I guess because a lot of people got paid yesterday!

I mowed the lawn today- it had been on some sort of growth hormone (as my grass was crazy out of control but my neighbour's is fine) So I mowed it with the push mower but it was so long that it was really hard to do- my arms are pretty sore and my hands are completely blistered. Breaking me in, it is.