I Give Up

I've tried to post this photo 4 times now after resizing and don't have a clue how to make it turn so I give up on that part of my post. If you turn your head sideways you can see the photo as intended, stretch those neck muscles is all you have to do. 

What I was going to say is... today I was in search of more memory, this one I have obviously isn't as good as it once was.  While on my quest I found Memory Express but had no luck, it seems they only have external memory, can't do a thing for this one I have (or had) so I guess I have to study and work hard if I'm going to get through this next two weeks. Good news on the front, one essay down, three to go! Oh shucks, can't do my happy dance yet, still one presentation, one final exam and more writing in a journal, other than that it's home free. 

"Life is like a box of chocolates" just came to mind, I never know what I'm gonna get... besides to bed and now!

Tucker

Tucker is my son and his wife's dog, they've had him for approximately 7 years. As you can see Tucker is a Jack Russel Terrier. He's an amazing dog who is extremely well trained, he can get hyper when company comes over but settles down after a while, yes, I'm company, relatives don't count by no means, everybody including the mailman dropping off mail is company. The amount of strength this dog has is unbelievable, for a 7 year old dog he could knock me on my butt if he wanted to.... but I love this dog and I'm glad Tucker likes me!

Chair Rails

Finally, I found a color to paint the chair rails that I've been waiting to put up to finish off my dining area. I've been in the process of painting these rails for the past week, it's tough to squeeze in the time with my crazy schedule but I want as much fixing and painting that I can possibly get done finished up before Christmas. 

I'd never realized in the past how much work is required to do a project such as this but it's done now and I'm pleased with the results. It's been a long, full day and I won't bore you with my antics of the day so I'm just going to call it a night, an hour after I came up to go to bed.... sheesh not again. See ya all tomorrow. Oh right Grey Cup here in our city tomorrow but I'm not going, my granddaughters mommy and daddy are and I get to spend time with my precious little princess.

Out for Dinner

Tonight I went out with a couple of awesome friends for dinner, we went to Chili's and I must say that the service was horrible. My one friend ordered a country steak, we couldn't believe it, the steak was battered and deep fried and it was smothered in gravy. I was in the hospitality industry for approximately 25 years and I have NEVER seen anything like this. The steak was sent back, it took approximately half an hour before we realized the waitress wasn't going to come back with a real steak as she had said she would, finally a manager came over. The steak was ordered and arrived with some overcooked veggies and the steak couldn't have been more than 4ozs., it was pathetic. In the meantime me and the other friend were long finished our dinners. We waited forever to get refills on our beverages and it was just a bad experience. 

I must add here that it did end well. When we received the bill I asked to speak to the manager, he came over and I expressed how I felt (in a polite manner) and told him that I felt that my friend with the steak issue shouldn't have to pay for his meal and I told him that the service was appalling. The manager apologized and crumpled up the entire bill, he told us that they were short staffed and how sorry he was for our negative experience. 

Will I go back to Chili's? Yes, in a heartbeat. The manager didn't have to cover the entire bill, it was nice of him and I appreciate that he did this for us, so for sure I'll give it another try. To me this is an awesome manager, he wants repeat business.

The guys were amazed, now they've come up with a plan...whenever the three of us go out one of them will complain about something, they said that I can do the talking and we can eat for free all over the city, NOT! lol

All In A Day

Today was an absolutely beautiful day, the sun was shining, the temperature was above zero and I received a mark that was worth the effort which the group I worked with put into it. I'm extremely pleased. 

Question of the day, why do they call these small little cars "Smart Cars" when they can't even get the door open to get out of the parkade? This driver had to back up 4 times to get out, he just didn't have enough weight to get the door open. I almost got out of my car and offered to go out first but I was enjoying the show too much, I found it hilarious! So how smart is that, they forgot to put a bit of weight to these cars. I tell ya I sure wouldn't want to be in one of these if a big wind came up, I'd be blown clear to the next province! 

The Little Engine That Couldn't

The Album Has Arrived

I'm so happy, the photo album I ordered showed up at my door today. Picaboo did an amazing job with this album and I'll definitely order through this company again. I'm posting a few of the pages so that you can see how this album turned out, this is the one which I had put together for Herb for one of his Christmas gifts and I can't wait to give it to him, but I will. Some of you might recognize some of the photos in here, they're all photos I took while I've spent time out at the farm.

This is the front, I ordered it in a dark brown leather with a flat binding, that cost a bit more but he's worth it. 

 This is the first page, you can see it from the outside of the book but once you open it I have a quote posted under the photo, you can add text in anywhere you choose to when you put your book together. The quote is:

"Only he can understand what a farm is, what a country is, who have sacrificed part of himself to his farm or country, fought to save it, struggled to make it beautiful. Only then will the love of farm or country fill his heart."

And here's a glimpse of a few more pages.

I loved that I was able to choose from literally thousands of backgrounds and I could change them for each page.

And one last page...

I'd love to post all of the pages but that'd take too much time and I don't want to bore any of you. I just wanted so show you what you can do with some of your favorite photos, I think that these albums are fantastic gifts and the price is reasonable. I love this concept because it is original, nobody can buy this book anywhere and only the person it's intended for will treasure this... or I sure hope he does! :-)

Determination

Today after class I walked over to the University of Alberta, that's about a 20 minute walk. Now normally the walk wouldn't seem like much of anything, just a hop, skip and a jump away but not today, it was freezing! I chose to leave my car in the underground parkade, I had paid for a full days parking after all and wasn't about to pay for more parking at the other university... plus I had on my new parka and mukluks so what's a little cold? I tell ya even with my winter gear after about 10 minutes into my walk I was ready to turn back and head for the warmth of my car, but I didn't.

On the trek back as I was walking through the university grounds this art grabbed my eye, cold or not I stopped to take a photo with my P365 in mind. The art is interesting, not that I'd put anything such as this in my house, I don't think, but stopping to take a photo in -25 is determination. I am determined to see this project through until the year has ended. Now I'm wondering if this was determination, stubborn, insane or just plain stupid as I sit in the warmth of my home wrapped up in a cozy blanket.

Temperature Variance

Today after class I went to the underground heated parkade, got in my car and it was sure nice and warm. As you can see from the photo a beautiful 22 degrees Celsius. 

On the drive home within a half hour my car was reading more like what the actual temperature was outside, a freezing minus 24. That's a difference of 44 degrees, insane or what! 

With wind chills today it was hovering around -35 or colder, it's definitely a night to plug in the car. 

The one nice thing about today, at least the sun was still attempting to shine, not with much success mind you, but it was trying nonetheless.

Perogies

Today was our perogie making day, I went over to my son and his wife's, my daughter came with me and we made perogies all right, 15 dozen of them in about 3 hours. This is definitely the way to go with making these, if I were to make this amount by myself it'd be an entire day. One Christmas dish out of the way, that leaves ... hmmm well a few more but it'll all get done, it always does. 

I made a stew last night and took it over with me so that we wouldn't even have to think about what was going to be for supper, I had to thicken it and my son was showing me how to use a shaker that mixes up the flour and water. Well I've seen these before but have never tried one and for some reason I don't think that my son has used it before neither.

The lid popped open as he was shaking the flour and water mixture. Oooops

And naturally the kids had to boil up some perogies and taste them to ensure they are good enough for Christmas, now wasn't that kind of them? ;-)

Yup, it was a fantastic way to spend a Sunday afternoon and now that I've seen just how much time we saved working as a team I don't think that I'll ever make perogies by myself ever again. Thanks Shayne, Sandy and Michelle and Elyssa next year you can help grandma as well.

Warming Up My Day

Today was yet another cold day so I became creative and found ways to warm my soul. For brunch I whipped up some blueberry pancakes and topped them with good old Canadian Maple Syrup. This syrup is like sipping on liquid gold, it's heavenly... expensive but divine. 

Then this afternoon I went over to my son's place just to pop in and pick up a few things but my little princess was up so I had to go and say hi to her. After spending about an hour loving my baby and visiting with my son and his wife my heart was overflowing with love and gratitude; what an amazing way to find warmth. 

So precious and full of smiles and laughter!

And then tonight between doing tons of other things, I got brave and tried out my new rubber baking pans. I made lemon poppy seed loaf and it was so delicious, it melted in my mouth. 

I highly recommend these pans, I'm extremely pleased with them. 

Now my warmth is coming from this laptop  sitting on my lap, almost to warm! So it's time to call it a day and head up to my heated bed. It's not that hard to stay warm, not when one is creative.

One Year and Going Strong

I've had my camera for exactly one year today. I remember when I first got my camera being extremely scared to even hold it. I was fearful of turning it on and unsure what the heck to do with it. One year later I'm much more comfortable with this camera, I'm learning slowly but surely what it's all capable of doing and I'd have to say that this has been by far one of my best purchases ever. 

Since I began project 365 back on January 1st of 2009 I view life differently,  I see things which I never noticed before and I have a new sense of appreciation for everything in my life. I'm hoping to have the time to continue on here in the New Year but will have to play that one by ear, my course load is going to increase and my "me" time might dissipate PLUS I want to get out and take some yoga classes or something which might help me to stay sane... or wait, it's too late for that! :-)  

A huge thank you to all of those who come and visit here and leave comments. I enjoy getting to know each one of you through what you choose to post and I appreciate viewing the world through all of your lenses.

Blogger Issues

I wonder how long blogger is going to take to correct the current issues which are transpiring. I came to my computer, cup of tea in hand all ready to unwind and view all of your daily posts but it appears that I have no followers to follow all of your blogs. Yes it says that there's 63 of you, and there are about 20 who are active and I look forward to my "me" time and viewing the world through your lenses.  Until blogger resolves this issue I guess that I'm just going to get lost in a world of essays and painting, things which are patiently waiting for me and aren't going anyplace. 

I'll see you all here again when this issue is resolved, until then...take care and God bless. Watch, blogger will be back when I'm ready to call it a night! :-o 

Brrrrr

It was another cold one today, this poor lady was waiting for the bus doing the cold dance. It's a dance where you turn to one side (avoid the wind), shuffle a bit (keep the blood circulating), turn to the left (see if that bus is coming), and repeat over and over until the bus shows up. A dance that I'm grateful I don't have to do!

Chain Reaction

This, which I had cleared a few hours prior to this photo, 

lead to this...

Which led to this.... 

But I was just checking to ensure the lights worked and I wanted to see what the trees, wreath and garland looked like. I'm not going to put these decorations outside until at least early December, I'm going to hold off for a few more weeks or at least make an attempt to.

I had to take a bit of a break from all the work I've been doing on my computer, I can only compute so much in one sitting then I get antsy, but I came back and got back to work. I completed one essay, transcribed almost one interview, read five papers and peer rated them, and what else, oh ya, I pulled more research for a few more papers I have to do and on that note, I'm going to call it a night. 

For those of you in this deep freeze stay warm, for those of you in warm sunny spots, I'm jealous! ;-)

Cold and Compassion

Today was a rather chilly day, I think that we're about to experience winter... yup I just checked the forecast and we're into the cold, dark, bleak winter months. This poor pigeon, I wonder where he/she's going to find warmth. Just like the homeless man I met today as I was leaving a department store, where's he going to go? I asked him if he'd checked out the shelters, he said that he had and was going to continue trying to get in. I pray that nobody freezes to death out there and I will thank God for my warm home tonight. 

On another note, my niece's husband just found out today that he's going to be deployed to Afghanistan in January for three months with a possible extension of six additional months.  My niece has asked family and friends to make up something special to send with him, words of encouragement, letters to keep him going, etc. I've made up a few photos with what I consider to be love and encouragement. Thanks to this project I had an array of photos to choose from. All that I ask is for those of you who pray, please pray for the safe return of one of my family members. 

Here is one of the photos I'm going to take and have printed out tomorrow, I'm thinking in business card size for him to carry in his pocket if he can. 

God bless and God speed Ian. We love you. 

Sherry, thanks for collecting heart photos. Because of you (when I shot this photo it was with you in mind) I now have this photo to send our love with one of our finest soldiers.

Ummmm Ummmm Good

Tonight was one of those nights where I wasn't really hungry but knew I'd best eat something so I scoured the fridge and spotted some cream which was about to come due in a day or so. I also found some mushrooms which I thought I should use up or they'd end up in the garbage like a lot of my perishables do. I just don't have the desire to cook for only myself most nights so I generally just have a snack of some type. Well with what I found in the fridge I made up a pot of homemade mushroom soup and was it ever delicious, no comparison whatsoever to that canned garbage which is ladled with sodium. It's soup season once again which I don't mind at all, one pot of soup should last me a week around here.

Skeptic

I've been looking at these rubber pans for a long time wondering how good they are, being totally skeptical, and today when I was out picking up more Christmas lights and clips I noticed that these pans were on  sale for half price. I picked up a few and I'm going to finally give them a shot. I am still skeptical but what the heck, what's the worst thing that can happen? (As I envision the pans melting and banana bread oozing all over the oven creating an immense mess).

A Letter to our Prime Minister

This is not a part of my P365.  I wanted to share this letter to our PM which  I received in my inbox tonight and it's too good not to share.  The answer to poverty is really quite simple...  A Letter to the Prime Minister

Dear Mr. Harper, Please find below my suggestion for fixing Canada's economy. Instead of giving billions of dollars to banks and car companies, that will squander The money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan: There are about 20 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them $1 million a piece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations: 1)  They MUST retire.  Twenty million job openings -   Unemployment fixed. 2)  They MUST buy a new Canadian CAR.  Twenty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed. 3)  They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed 4) They MUST send their kids to school / college /university - Crime Rate fixed. 5)  They MUST buy $50 of alcohol / tobacco / petrol a week - There's your money back in duty / tax etc It can ' t get any easier than that! Yours truly, Ordinary Joe Canadian   P.S. If more money is needed, have all members of parliament pay back their falsely claimed expenses and second home allowances. ... and here our government spends millions upon millions of dollars trying to rectify or aide in the poverty situation transpiring within Canada, an ordinary Canadian named Joe figured it all out and for free... where is this Joe? He should be out next PM!

A Childrens Christmas Party

Well 'tis the season for Christmas parties to begin and today I helped cater a party for roughly 800 people. Yes that's a lot of people but the menu was so simple, it consisted of hot dogs, chips, veggie trays, desserts and beverages. There were five of us working so the hardest part of my day was getting up at 4:45am to be to work by 6.  We had to be at West Edmonton Mall by 8:30 to set up and the doors opened at 9, the actual event lasted for three hours. 

It was a nice easy shift and what a ton of fun, less the screams from the children on the rides, three hours of that was enough to give almost anyone a headache!  Today while I was working I even managed to sneak away to take some photos, shhhh! :-)

 This ride is the kiddies roller coaster... 

Then there's the Mind Bender which is not for the faint of heart. I was on this one ONCE in the past, that was more than enough! 

 I love the merry go round with the ponies, so I felt compelled to include a photo of this as well. 

The swings are also very pretty, they make my feet tingle, or used to once upon a time when I rode the rides.

And what's a childrens Christmas party with out you know who... 

Yup, the big old fat guy who never changes, that's who!

Before and After (Does it ever end?)

 As you might recall a few days back I posted what color my closets were, my sister pointed out that my photos have been extremely dark lately and today I discovered why. I'm using my laptop and looking down, I adjust my colors according to how I view them from above, not at eye level. So here's the color my entire house WAS, with tons of work (and it's still in progress) the pink is disappearing. This is the before shot...

The bifold doors came off, hinges were spray painted (way cheaper than buying new ones especially when there's 3 hinges on each bifold and I'm doing two sets, then there's the hall closet and the closet in my office to do yet and all 4 doors upstairs, that's a lot of hinges)....

I bought some new door knobs, which I love ... terrible photo but it's the best I can do tonight.

I also purchased these really cool hooks, there's a hinge in them and they can swing from side to side. One hinged hook turns into three, one large one and two smaller ones. I added two of these to one of the closets and might go back and get a few more for the other closet. 

As you can see I painted the baseboards, I take them off and clean under them plus it saves a whole lot of masking. 

This last photo is the closest to the true colors which I chose. I kept the same color as I have in the living room, washed khaki, and I chose a soft green for the doors and trim. The two colors compliment one another I think and now all I have left to do is finish up the doors, hang them and the closets are done. Then it's on to the rest of my bedroom. This is going to have to wait until Christmas break,it's time to get back to essays and assignments before they get too piled up on me here.

 

 

(As I tilt my laptop to ensure the photos aren't too dark!)

Lest We Forget

In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)

Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

 

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

 

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

 To remember the fallen and to those still fighting wars and protecting our great Nation,  thank you and God bless. 

I never realized before tonight that it was a Canadian who wrote this poem, there's some pretty interesting history about it and for those who might be interested it can be found here. 
 

Pink Be Gone

I had to put my painting on hold due to studies but now that it's reading week I'm attempting to get in some studies and paint. Life is hectic right now but the pink is slowly disappearing. Today I painted this closet, this is the before shot, tomorrow I hope to have another two closets and a hallway done, the doors might have to wait but wait they shall.

Vanity

So what does winter gear have to do with vanity? Lets start with the new jacket. It's a 3 in 1 jacket, the inside is down filled and it's a 3/4 length jacket, put that over top of an undershirt and a warm top such as a sweater or sweatshirt and what do you get? An instant 20 lbs., or so it seems. Then you add the scarf, gloves and I choose my mukluks, they're so warm. Inside of the mukluks are warm woolly socks so instantly even the feet get fat. Underneath the jeans goes a pair of thermal underwear on those super cold days and the already snug jeans instantly become lie-down-on-the-bed-do-up-jeans, well that's a bit of an exaggeration but never go to a smorg in your winter gear, something might give! Now put the jacket on over top of everything and when you're 5' 1 1/4" (not so tall), only the knees are visible. I'm at the age where I don't really care what I look like, the vanity is darn near out the window and when it's -40c I want to stay warm.... but I did get everything in black because it's supposed to slim you!

Thankfully there's no snow here as of yet but everything is good to go. I'm not going to freeze this winter... I hope!

Awesome Invitation

My family started a Christmas tradition a few years back, this will be the 4th year I do believe. We all come together and have a pot luck feast and a Chinese gift exchange. This year the event is going to be held at my oldest sisters place and she sure outdid herself with the invitations. I love how she included photos from this past two years Christmas functions and got each and everyone of us into the invitation. What an ingenious idea ~ Jewel you're brilliant!

Last year my oldest son hosted this event and his invitations were also extremely impressive. I wonder once my turn comes up again what I'm going to come up with for invites, if it's going to be half as good as this past two years I'd best get some ideas formulating now. :-)

Here I Go Again

I bought a new bench, one for when guests come in they can sit and take off or put their shoes or boots on or it can be used to pile coats on when the coat closet becomes to full plus it's extra storage.  I had to put this bench together myself. It was going pretty good, I was feeling confident that this was going to work....

I put the top on and only had the hinge left to do... 

So I put the hinge on and lo and behold my bench wouldn't close. They don't have markings where to put the hinge so I guessed and yup, I guessed wrong. 

This is as far as the seat would close. I fixed this, I took off the hinge and will wait until someone comes along and knows how to to put it on properly. Now I'm left wondering what ever happened to the good old days when you bought something and it came already assembled? You know.... back when wood was wood.

The bench is functionable as is, all is well in my world!

Little Girls and Ponies

How could I not pick this up for my granddaughter today as one of her Christmas gifts? Every little girl needs a pony!

Gettin' Ready

Well Halloween's now over, the Christmas sales are on, so why not get the decorations before the rush? It makes perfectly good sense to me. I have my indoor decorations but haven't really decorated outside for years, now that I have my own home this is changing. I've always loved Christmas lights and now I'll have my own!  This is so exciting for me... it doesn't take much to make me happy! :-)

This is only one of the reindeer which will decorate my front lawn but the decorations aren't going to get put up for about another month, if I can hold out that long. I'll post photos once the house is decorated and share my Christmas spirit with all of you, after all Christmas is to be shared. 

I'm wiped tonight, I was up until 4am last night working on a paper and back in class this morning,  so I'll play catch up tomorrow sometime when I'm rested and can really appreciate all of your posts. 'Nite, I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.